The Holt County sentinel., 1912-02-23

MEMORY VERSES 49,,
GOLDEN TENT-Fur in that lie Him
self hn'n suffered being tempted, lie IL
abb to succor them that are tempted
Heb ?:iN
Three things deserve special notice
I'm connection with the scene OF the
baptism Of Christ: The baptism II.
self. the descending dove, and the
heavenly voice.
The baptism OF Christ is connected
with the fact that Christ was thirty
years old. This was the age when lie.
yitical priests were set apart and con.
sccrated to their Office. The baptism.
therefore. has reference to the pricstly
Office Of Christ. by submitting to bap.
ism Jesus Identifies himself with the
worlds sin.
Christs baptism then was not per.
sonal for he himself was slnless.
The lesson tells us that while others.
after their baptism. stood confessiny
their sins In the Jordan. he immedi.
a,cly won't M out Of the water. for
he had no sins to confcss-but official
and representative. Christ submitted
10 the same baptism which the genera.
ton OF ylpers had received. no, be-.
cause he was ono Of them. but because
he was their representative. and had
come to take upon himself their sins.
Christ. In submitting to Johns bap-
,ism. So, his seal upon the divinclv
appointed ministry OF John as the ful.
tillmont OF the Old Testament
prophecy. lie recognized In Johns
baptism Gods plan for him. and he
submitted TO II without questioning.
n any man In his own right did not
need baptism. II was Christ. BY this
act. Jesus set his seal upon the rite
Of baptism. n rite which may be aban.
doned only when II no longer teaches
any truth. Rebellion against customs
and rites for rcbcllion's sake 10 Vicious
individuaiism.
The descent Of the Holy Spirit indi.
Gates Chrlst's equipment for his serv-
Ice. In his sermon 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.
y have been heard by Christ without
his associatinG Il with the identified.
ton Of himself with the servant OF the
Lord In the prophecy Of Isaiah tchap.
tiers ~ TO 60).
The temptation In closely allied to
sha baptism Of Christ: indeed. Il IL
tssed on the proclaimed sonship Of
the baptism. From this va learn that
the greatest temptations ofttimes. In.
deed generally follow the greatest
bls6sings.
Tho temptation was q real event.
and not . mere mental or soul strug.
Gle. The personality Of Satan 10 40
evident % the personality OF Christ
In tho narrative. Nor Ia there any.
thing IN the story TO indicate that II
10 an ailegory. but everything predi.
Gates Q reality.
All OF the temptations were along
tho line Of Christ's intention 70 estab-
Msh the Kingdom OF God In the world.
Satan's suggestion to Christ was to
take . short cut to the obtaining Of
the Kingdom The adversary did not
ask Christ to do . single wronG
thing; he did suggest doing right
things In wrong way and with wrong
motives. There IL nothing wrong In
being hungry and satisfying hunger.
but II 10 sinful to use wrong measures
to satisfy even 80 natural an appetite.
Nor Ia II wrong to trust In the word
and promises Of God for deliverance
when We find ourselves In places OF
danger but II 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 eytricate
us from position into which We have
thus been brought. Such Ia not an
act OF faith, but Of presumption--it is
tempting the Lord God. Nor Is II
wrong to engage In the act Of worship.
but 1t Is sinful to worship anything
or anybody other than God.
Christs method OF victory IL signi.
ficant. He does not resort to dazzling
inventions 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
mine heart, that ! might not sin
AGAINST thee" No doubt Jesus quoted
from memory. Herein lies the bless
Ing OF learning gospel texts, and of
storing the memory with scripture.
Jesus was tempted In all points like
as We are. We must not think that
these three temptations were the only
ones Christ endured. even In the wild
erness. The narrative says that "When
Satan had finished all the whole
cycle of temptations. he left him for
a season" This implies that there
were other temptations, and that his