satanic Temptations # 4

satanic Temptations # 4

By faith, we are assured of the truth, excellence, and importance of God's Word, and thus oppose the whole Bible to satan's darts. The doctrines and duties, the invitations and promises, the warnings and threatenings, are all useful by turns. Are we tempted by the difficulties and mysteries of some of the doctrines - to disbelief, and error? Faith fixes her powerful eye upon the evidence of the truth, and with a powerful eye upon the evidence of the truth, and with a "Thus says the Lord," to depend upon, receives the truth on the authority of Him who reveals it, and at the same time, conscious of its inability to comprehend even the most common matters in their full extent, bows the intellect into submission to the Scriptures, and admits, without gainsayig, whatever Divine wisdom has revealed.

It is one of satan's masterpieces to induce men to take some one truth of Scripture, and to magnify its importance beyond all due bounds, and to exalt it not only above all other truths - but to the utter exclusion of them, thus founding error upon truth, and heresies upon the sacred Scriptures. Socinianism takes the humanity and example of Christ - but leaves out His Divinity and atonement. Mysticism, perverting the indwelling of the Spirit, insists on the inward light, to the neglect of the work of Christ, and the outward revelation. Antinomianism triumphs in free grace and justification by faith - but is negligent of good works; while self-righteousness is proud of good works to the neglect of faith. Rigid predestinarianism asserts the sovereignty of God to the subversion of man's freedom; while Pelagianism boasts of man's own sufficiency, to the denial of God's decrees and human dependence. But a simple faith takes the whole Word and thus repels the wiles of the tempter.

In like manner, when the temptation is to sinful indulgence, and when the father of lies urges all kinds of arguments, and furnishes all kinds of excuses for sin, that it is but a little offence, or a common one; that repentance can soon follow it; that there is no perfection here; that it is a part of the conflict for us to be occasionally defeated; that it need not be repeated - then faith meets the whole, by this one declaration, "It is still sin! God has forbidden it. How can I do this wickedness, and sin against the Lord?" Thus, as Christ Himself overcame the tempter by quoting Scripture, so does the believer.

The apostle Paul exhorts us to be sober and vigilant, because our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Sobriety means not merely a restraint upon our fleshly appetite, so as not to be intoxicated with strong drink - but a restraint also upon the lusts of the mind, so as not to have the soul intoxicated with the love of the world.  Many a man has a drunken soul, who never had a drink in his life. Beware of spiritual inebriety. What can an intoxicated man do against a roaring lion? He can neither fight nor flee.

And we must add vigilance to sobriety. Watchfulness is an essential duty of the Christian life; none is more necessary; none more frequently or more solemnly enjoined. Who that is asleep can defend himself against a lion? How cautiously, how circumspectly should we walk, if we were in a country where wild beasts are common, and saw the footprints, and actually heard the roar of a lion. Such is our situation. See to it, then, that you do walk circumspectly - looking all around, watching every object, lest it conceal the enemy; your trials, your comforts, your occupations, your tastes, your pleasures, your thoughts, your desires, your besetting sins - and especially watch your hearts with all diligence. An unwatchful Christian is sure to be an unsuccessful one.

To sum up all that I would inculcate on this awful subject, I would remark:

It is a mysterious one, and we should not allow a restless and unwholesome curiosity to pry further into it than God has seen fit to reveal. It is a solemn one, and should never be spoken of lightly or irreverently. it is a scriptural one, and should not be viewed with skepticism and distrust.

We should never allow ourselves to throw the blame of our sins upon satan, nor in the smallest degree plead the strength and subtlety of his temptations, as an excuse for our guilt in complying with them; for though he may entice, he cannot compel. 

John Angell James~

(The End)