SERMON XVII

SERMON XVII.

The Temptation of Christ.

Matthew iv. 1‒11.

Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones may be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them: and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

DEARLY beloved, to-day you are invited to take a walk into the wilderness, to behold, sympathize with, and get instruction and comfort from a Saviour tempted. In the conflict, he approves himself to be God’s beloved Son; and the Father gives demonstrable evidence, that with, and in him, he is indeed well pleased. Let us with serious attention consider, when, where, and how, our great Michael fought with and overcame the dragon. The Evangelist Matthew is very particular in relating the preparations for, the beginning, process, and issue of this glorious and important combat.

“Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil.” In the close of the foregoing chapter we are told, that the blessed Jesus had been publicly baptized, and was also solemnly inaugurated to his mediatorial office, by the opening of the heavens, by the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, and by a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased;” and then it was, when he came from the solemn ordinance of baptism; when he was about to shew himself openly unto Israel; when he was full of the Holy Ghost (Luke iv. 1.); even then was he led, with a holy unconstrained violence, as a champion into the field, to engage an enemy, whom he was sure to conquer. But whither is this conqueror led? Into a lonesome, wide, howling wilderness: probably, says Mr. Henry, into the great wilderness of Sinai; a wilderness, not only lonesome, but inhabited by wild beasts. Mark i. 13. Hither was our Lord led, not only that he might prepare himself by retirement and prayer, but also that he might be alone, and thereby give Satan all the advantages he could desire. In this combat, as well as that of his last agony, “of the people, there was to be none with him.” Neither does he content himself with praying, but he fasts also, and that “forty days and forty nights,” (verse 2.): as Moses and Elias had done, many years before, it may be, in the very same place. All these fasts were miraculous; and therefore, though we are taught hereby, that fasting is a christian duty, yet, to pretend, in an ordinary way, to imitate them, by fasting for so long a term together, is no doubt superstitious, presumptuous, and sinful: but few people, I believe, need such a caution.

During these forty days, we may suppose, our Lord felt no hunger: converse with heaven, to him was instead of meat and drink; but “afterwards he was an hungered;” exceedingly so, no doubt. And now, the important fight begins. For, then “the tempter,” emphatically so called, because he first tempted our first parents to sin, and hath ever since been unwearied in tempting their descendants; then the tempter, who in an invisible manner had been attacking our blessed Lord all the whole forty days, when he saw him hungering, and in such distressing circumstances, came to him, as it should seem, in a visible shape, and probably transformed into the appearance of an angel of light. And what does he tempt him to? To nothing less, than to doubt of his being the Son of God. “If thou be the Son of God.” What! put an if to this, Satan, after the glorious Jesus had been proved to be God’s son, and repeatedly too in such a glorious manner? Surely, thou thyself couldst not but see the heavens opened, and the Spirit descending; surely, thou didst hear the voice that came to him from heaven, immediately after his baptism, saying, “This is my beloved Son:” And dost thou now say unto him, “If thou be the Son of God.” Yes; but Satan knew, and believed he was full well; but he wanted to make our Lord to doubt of it. And why? Because he was in such a melancholy situation. As though he had said, “If God was thy father, he would never suffer thee to starve to death in a howling wilderness, among wild beasts. Surely, the voice thou lately didst hear, was only a delusion. If thou wast the Son of God, especially his beloved Son, in whom he was so pleased, thou wouldst be taken more care of by him.” Thus he attacked our first parents, by suggesting to them hard thoughts of their all-bountiful Creator: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?” “Hath he placed you amidst such a variety of delicious fruits, only to teaze and make you miserable?” And how artfully now does he labour to insinuate himself into our Lord’s affections, as he then did to ingratiate himself with our first parents. “If thou be the Son of God, says he, come, prove it, by commanding these stones (a heap of which, probably, lay very near) to be made bread: this will demonstrate thy divinity, and relieve thy pressing necessity at the same time.” Thus, as in all his other temptations, Satan would fain appear to be his very kind friend; but the holy Jesus saw through the disguised enmity of his antagonist; and scorning either to distrust his righteous Father on the one hand, or to work a miracle to please and gratify the devil on the other, although he had the Spirit of God without measure, and might have made use of a thousand other ways, yet answers him with a text of scripture: “It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This is a quotation from Deuteronomy viii. 3, and contains a reason given by the great God, why he chose to feed the Israelites with manna; that they might learn thereby, man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This our blessed Lord here applies to himself; and his being in the wilderness, made the application of it still more pertinent. Israel was God’s son: out of Egypt was he called to sojourn in the wilderness, where he was miraculously supported. And therefore our Lord, knowing that he was typified by this Israel, and that, like them, he was now in a wilderness, quotes this scripture as a reason why he should not, at Satan’s suggestion, either despair of receiving help from his Father in his present circumstances, or distrust the validity of his late manifestations, or make use of any unwarrantable means for his present relief. For as God was his father, he would, therefore, either in an ordinary way spread a table for him in the wilderness, or support and sustain him, as he did his Israel of old, in some extraordinary way or other without it: “For man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Thus is the tempter foiled in the first onset; but he hath other arrows in his quiver, with which he will farther strive to wound the immaculate Lamb of God. Since he cannot draw him in either to distrust, or despair, he will now try if he cannot prevail on him to presume. In order to effect this, “He taketh the blessed Jesus up into the Holy City,” or Jerusalem, called by our Saviour, the city of the Great King, and here called holy, because the holy temple was in it, and, we would hope, many holy people. This was a populous place, and therefore, would greatly befriend the devil’s design. And not only so, but “he setteth him on a pinnacle,” a battlement or wing, “of the temple,” the top of which was so very high, that, as Josephus observes, it would make a man’s head run giddy to look down from it. And some think this was done at the time of public worship. How the holy Jesus suffered himself to be taken hither; whether he was transported through the air, or whether he followed Satan on foot, is uncertain; but certainly it was an instance of amazing condescension in our Lord, that he should permit so foul a fiend, to carry or lead his holy body about in this manner. Well! Satan hath now gotten him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and still harping upon his old string, “If thou be the Son of God, (says he) cast thyself down,” and thereby shew to this large worshipping assembly, (who will assuredly then believe) that thou art God’s beloved Son, under the special protection of heaven, and art that Messiah, “who was to come into the world.” This was artful, very artful. But he seems to improve in cunning: for he brings his Bible with him, and backs his temptation with a text of scripture; “For it is written, (says he) he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” But is Saul also among the prophets? Does the devil quote scripture, yea, and seemingly such a very apposite one too? I suspect some design, without doubt: for herein, he would mimic our Lord, who, he perceived, intended to fight him with this weapon; and not liking the sharp edge of it, he thought that if he quoted scripture, the Lord Jesus would not employ it against him any more. “It is written, (therefore said he) he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone: and therefore, since thou art sure of such protection, thou needst not fear to cast thyself down.” This was plausible, and by the length of it, one would be apt to imagine, it was a fair quotation; but Satan takes care, not only to misapply, but also to maim it, purposely omitting these important words, “in all thy ways.” It is true, God had given charge to his angels, concerning his children in general, and his beloved Son in particular, that they should keep him in all his ways; but, if our Lord had at this time, at the devil’s request, and to gratify pride, thrown himself down from the pinnacle, and thereby unnecessarily presumed on his Father’s protection, he would not have been in God’s way, and therefore, would have had no right to the promised protection at all. Satan was aware of this, and therefore slily left out what he knew would not suit his purpose. But is scripture the worse, for being abused or perverted by the devil, or his emissaries? No, in no wise. Our Lord, therefore, lets him know, that he should not throw aside this important weapon upon this account, but puts by this home thrust, with another scripture: “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Still our Lord quotes something out of the book of Deuteronomy, and hath his eye upon Israel in his wilderness state. Originally these words were directed to the Israelites in general, and accordingly are in the plural number; but here our Lord, as before, makes a particular application of them to himself: Satan bids him cast himself down, assuring him, God had promised in his word, to order his angels to take care of him: Now, says our Lord, “It is written in another part of his word, that the Israelites should not tempt the Lord their God, by distrusting his goodness on the one hand, or presuming on his protection on the other: And, therefore, as I would not command the stones to be made bread, needlessly and distrustfully set up to provide for myself; neither will I now presume unnecessarily upon God’s power, by casting myself down, though placed by thee in such a dangerous situation.”