The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-02-23

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MEMORY VERsES-Matt. 4:3-4.
GOLDEN TEXT-For In that He Him.
self hath suffered being tempted, He i.
able to succor them that are tempted. :
Heb. ais.
Three things deserve special notice
IN connection with the scene OF tina
baptism OF Christ; The baptism II.
self. the descending dove, and tho
heavenly voice.
The baptism Of Christ Ia connected
with the fact that Christ was thirty
years ole. This was the age when Le-
vitical priests were set apart and con.
secrated to their office. The baptism,
therefore, has reference to the priestIy
office OF Christ. BY submitting to bap-
ttsm Jesus Identifies himself with the
worlds sin. He appears As the Lamb
OF God which taketh away the sin OF
the world Christ was born with
specific reference to mans sin, so he
here Identifies himself with that sin.
for removal OF which he had come In.
to the world.
Christ's baptism then was not per-
sonal-for he himself was sinless.
The lesson tells us thar while others.
after their baptism. stood confesslng
their sins In the Jordan, he immedi-
ately went up out of the water, for
ne had no sins to confess-but official
and representative. Christ submitted
10 the anne baptism which the genera
ton OF vipers had received, MOI be.
cause he was one OF them, but because
he was their representative. and had
come to take upon himself their sins.
Christ, In submitting to Johns bap-
tism, set his seal upon the d~ivinely
appointed ministry of John as the full
tiliment of the Old Testament
prophecy. He recognized in Johns
baptism Gods plan for him, and he
submitted to it without questioning.
II any man in his W right did not
need baptism, 1t was Christ. BY this
act, Jesus set his seal upon the rite
OF baptism. a rite which may be aban-
doned only when it nc longer teaches
any truth. Rebellion against customs
and rites for rebellion's sake is vicious
indiyidualism.
The descent Of the Holy Spirit indf-
Gates Christ's equipment for his serv-
Ice. In his ermon in the synagogue
he referred to this truth when he said.
the spirit of the Lord God Is resting
upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel. Even Christ
could not accomplish his life work
without the aid Of the divine spirit.
Nor can we.
The voice from heaven could scarce
ly have been heard by Christ without
his assoclatlng 1t with the identified
ton Of himself with the servant of the
Lord in the prophecy OF Isaiah (chap-
tiers az to COZ.
The temptation is closely allied to
the baptism Of Christ; indeed. 1t is
based on the proclaimed sonship OF
the baptism. From this we learn that
the greatest temptations ofttimes, In
deed generally follow the greatest
blessings.
The temptation vas a real event,
and not a mere mental or soul strug-
gle. The personality of Satan is as
evident as the personality OF Christ
in the narrative. Nor is there any
thine In tho story 10 inHfnntn that IL
Is an ~allegory. but everything predt-
Gates a reality.
All Of the temptations were along
the line Of Christ's intention to estab-
fish the Kingdom of God In the world.
Satan's suggestion to Christ was to
take a short cut to the obtaining Of
the Kingdom. The adversary did not
ask Christ to do a single wrong
thing; he did suggest doing right
things in a wrong way and with wrong
motives, There is nothing wrong In
being hungry and satisfying hunger,
but it is sinful to use wrong measures
to satisfy even so natural an appetite.
Nor Is 1t wrong to trust in the word
and promises of God for d%eliverance
when we find ourselves in places of
danger, but 1t is wrong to unnecessar.
lily place ourselves in compromising
positions because of the temptations OF
the evil one, and then presume to rely
upon the promises of God to extricate
US from a position into which we have
thus been brought. Such Is not an
act Of faith. but OF presumption-it IS
tempting the Lord God. Nor is 1t
wrong to engage In the act OF worship,
but It is sinful to worship anything
or anybody other than God, even
though by thus %worshiping We gain a
worldly ennoblemant thereby.
Christ's method of victory ia signi-
ficant. He does not resort to dazzling
or manifest any attempt at
shrewdness in his answers. He does
not even try to be original. He goes
to the CULVER Of Gods word, and takes
out an arrow that had been polished
by much use, and hurls 1t at the ad-
versary. He examples the psalmist's
expression: THY word have / hid in
heart. that l might not sin
against thee" No doubt Jesus quoted
from memory. Herein lies the bless
ing Of learning gospel texts, and Of
the memory with scripture.
Jesus was tempted in all points Ike
rs we are. We must not think that
three temptations we're the only
ones Christ endured, even in the wild
erness. The narrative says that When
had finished all the whole
cycle Of temptations, he left him for
A season." This implies that there
other temptations, and that his
whole life was beset by temptations.