The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON II, FIRST QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN 9.

i. linen was jesus leu up Oh lne Oplfl
into the wilderness, to be tempted of thu
devil +" From the beginning to the enc
He was under the guidance and control Of
tho Holy Spirit most fully. The Father
having testified to tho fact that He was
His beloved, well pleasing Son, the Spirit
Vow leads Him into this great conflict
with the devil, at the very beginning OF
Ills public work, that He may meet the
adversary face TO face and overcome him.
And now, in that He Himself bath suf-
fered, being tempted, He is able to succor
them that are tempted (lieb. ii, 49,. He
had been subject for 30 years II all the
temptations of an ordinary human life
but this is something special and, rs DIR.
Weston says, has 10 do with Him as Son
of "Man, Son of God and the Messiah.
2. "And when He had tasted 40 days
and 40 nights, He was afterward an hun
gered Luke iv, 2, says, SIN those days
He did cat nothing" This was not a new
thing on the EARTH for Moses passed
through it twice and Elijah once (Deut.
tx, 8, IS; Kings XIX 81. On the Mount
of TRANSPORTATION we find the three who
tasted 40 days. There must be some won
drous significance connected with it which
we have not yet had revealed to us. In
Mark XII l2, we read of another occasion
on which He was hungry, and one of His
last utterances on the cross was, Il thirst"
John xix, 2S) but what an awful thirst
that must have beenl
3. "And when the tempter came to Him
he said, If thou be the Son of God, COM
mand that these stones be made bread.
God had testified, "This is My Beloved
Son, but the devil questions it to His
face, with this "if. " As in the garden of
Eden he questions the word of God with
his "Yea, hath God said" (Gen ill., y, and
has ever since been doing the same thing,
SO he does not hesitate to face the Son of
God Himself with his devilish doubts.
Think it not strange then, il he oft APP
proaches you in this way, but receive not
his doubts; il Is better not to listen TO him
4. but He answered and said, 1t is
written, man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God. 4" Not the qualification
of our desires, but the will of God, is the
great thing Just as in our words we
show our loved ones our hearts, so God in
His word has given us His heart for us,
and God is love- Shall we be satisfied with
His heart and His way and thus live on
His word, or shall we insist on having all
things minister TO our comfort at all costsY
8. Then the devil taketh Him up into
the Holy City and setteth Him OH pin
nacle of the temple" Up to Jerusalem,
the city of the great king (chapter V, 35)
Do not stop to ask how, but simply believe
and consider the temptation and the vic
tory and ask the Spirit to apply it to your
own soul The wilderness, and the hun
ger, and the stones suggest the hard and
lonely and commonplace things in daily
life, but the Holy City, the temple and
pinnacle thereof suggest holy things and
the heights thereof not so common, but
far more dangerous ground because more
holy.
8. And saith unto Him, If Thou be the
Son of God, cast Thysclf 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" The devil
can quote Scripture, and sometimes quite
freely and at great length but never 60
glorify God nor TO help soul to know
Him. He always perverts it with the pur-
pose of working ruin The man who
thinks that because he is child of God
and controlled by tee Spirit therefore
he cannot sin, nor even make a mistake,
is on a pinnacle of the temple listening to
the devil He would do VOL to consider
these words, "If "A man think himself TO
be something when he is nothing, he de-
ceiyeth himself " IF any man think that
he knoweth anything, he knoweth moth
ing yet as he ought to know" (Gal vi, 3;
Cor. viii, g.
T. Jesus said unto him, II is written
again, Thou shak not tempt the Lord thy
God. Scripture never contradicts Scrip
ture, but explains it and instructs us how
to avert its abuse. Jesus quoted il from
the heart to the glory Of God believing
every word, but the devil uses it only
wiekedly. We may be said to tempt God
when we make a self willcd demand for
His help, or in any way claim His prom
ses for selfish Crds Our Lord lived that
The Father nigh be glorificd, and taught
rs that when we are willing 20 live thus
we can ask whaS we will and receive it.
8. Again the devil taketh Him up into
an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth
Him all the kingdoms of the world. and
he glory Of them. The first temptation
vas to satisfy His physical need, TO satisfy
himself, on the ground that He was en-.
titled to it; the second was to show Him
elf and what great one He was; the
bird was TO accept the world without the
way OF the cross. The prince Of this world
pliers it simply on condition that 1t be nc.
'epted as from him and that he be thanked
or it.
8. And saith unto Him, An these
,hings will give Thee If Thou wilt fall
Town and worship me-" The time will
'ome when the antichrist, the man of
sin, the beast of Rev. xiii, will accept this
)fier OF satan and for a brief period will
10 wondrously, but, oh, how brief his do
how fearful his fall and how aw-
'ul his eternal doon, the lake OF fire and
birthstone foreverl (Rev. xix, 20.)
10. "Then saith Jesus unto him. Get
'hee hence, satan "a it is written, Thou
shalt worship the Lcei thy God, and Him
1nly shalt thou serve" "True wershipers
worship the Father In spirit and in truth,
'or the Father seeketh such 20 worship
Him. God is Spirit, and they that wor-
ship Him must worship Him in spirit and
IN truth" (John iv 23, 24). The wsrd of
3od Is the only guide, the Holy Spirit the
1nly teacher, the Lord Jesus the only way
20 God the Father; so TO worship in spirit
md in truth MEANS that In all things
Jesus Is acknowledged as Lord TO the glory
)f God the Father, and that all Ia done In
lccorciance with the word and in the pow.
II of the Spirit.
IL. "Then the devil leaveth Him, and
Rfah C,Id n -