The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 130

understands our battle with evil, for he fought a similar battle himself. 3. His redeemi'lf.g work. Christ came to overthrow the works of the devil. He began by facing and conquering the spirit of evil himself. Satan had never been completely vanquished before. The utter rout of his forces in this battle in the wilderness must have left him weakened for all future encounters. 4. Bis victorious purity. Christ was tempted, yet he did not fall. He came out of the ordeal tested and revealed in his sinless strength. Now it cannot be said that the goodness of Christ is only perfect beca1.iBe be had not an opportunity to do wrong. He was met by the strongest possible inducements to sin. Yet he resisted them. 'l.'he result was all gain. It was good for Christ to be tempted. Therefore be was led by the Spirit to the wilderness. II. THE REVELATION OP TEMPTATION. 1. Temptation may rx>mefrom witliout. St. Jamee shows how it often springs up in our own hearts from the evil lurking there. Old sins shed seeds which spring up as new sins. But this is not the only way in which temptations llrise, or the first m!ln could not have been tempted, nor could Christ. Adam and E1•e were tempted by the serpent, and Christ was tempted by the devil. (1) Therefore a good man is not to expect to be free from temptation. (2) Temptation is no sign of sin. The tempted need not accuse themselves of guilt in their being liable to temptation. Sin only begins when we yield to temptation in our own wills. 2. Temptation lays hold of innocent desires. Christ was tempted by sinful appeals to what was innocent within him. He was tempted to gratify natural desires-hunger, etc., but in a wrong way. Ile bad not onr indwelling sins to urge him to evil, but he had greater powers to keep in control. It would seem that, with the descent of the Holy Spirit at hie baptism, there bad come the consciousness of his great and awful power to work miracles. His temptations were inducements to abuse that power for selfish ends. Every new acquisition is a new ground for temptation ; every enlarge- ment and growth of faculty carries with it fresh possibilities of evil-and also, if th. evil is resisted, of good.-W. F. A. Vera. 2-4.-Tlie temptation of hungl!1'. Thie was a serious encounter. One rebuff was not sufficient to drive off the tempter. The devil is most persevering; only persevering resistance can hope to overcome him. The successive temptn.tions were varied in form. 'l'he tempter is wily and subtle. If he does not succeed in one way ho will try another. Each temptation has its own features; yet there is a common character running through them all. In every case Jesus was urged to use his miraculous powers an,! Messianic privileges for his own ndvantage. 'l'he great conflict raged round one central position-the life-work of Jesus as the Uhrist. Should this be degraded to selfish ends? or should it be carried on in self-sacrifice for its highest purposes? Let us consider the first temptation. I. THE TEMPTATION THROUGH HUNGER. 1. The temptl!1' waited/or I.is opporfonity. For forty days Jesus fasted in the wilderness. All this while the tempter delayed, like a wild beast crouching in the bush and waiting for a favourable moment to pounce on his prey. Would that Christians had Satan's patience in watching for souls! 2. Tlie tempter cliose a wealc moment. When Christ was exhausted by lack of food. Physical wen.lmess mn.y indicate the moment of approaching temptation; much more probably it will come in times of spiritual weakness. 3. Tlie tempter worked on a stron_q natural appetite. Hunger. This is a fund!lmental appetite in o.11 living animals. When it is keenly excited it will turn the gentlest beings into wild beasts. Beware of a hungry man 1 4. The tempter suggested an easy satisfaction. The famished man is haunted by tantalizing visions of food. Nothing is more natural than that the stones of tho wilderness shoulJ. suggest the idea of the bread they resembled in form and colour I II. How IT IS MET. 1. By an appeal, to Scripture. In dark moments we canno~ trust our ow11 thoughts, for temptatio11 is sophMical. Thon, like Christ, we may find the aclvantn.ge of a familiar knowledge of the Ilible. If he needed this extraneous aid -he the Sinless I much more do we whoso thoughts are dark and foolish. 2. By imparting a new current of thouglit. Here was· the use of the recollection of Scripture. So long as bis mind rested on his physical condition ho could not but feel the terrible force of the temptation. Ily a gren.t effort of will he turned the current of his ,hinking into another chan11el. K11owing the Bible from early dllys, he found a helpful scriptural idea flashing through his mind. 3. By considernlion of the dignity of man.  120 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MA1.'THEW. [otr. IV'. 1-26.