Mexico weekly ledger., 1922-10-19
LESSON FOR OCTOBER %
JESUS TEMPTED

S6OQo t6"F tGO
LESSON TEXT-Luke 4:1-la.
GOLDEN TExT-For in that He Him.
self hath suffered being tempted, He is
able to succor them that are tempted.
Heb. 2:lS.
REFERENCE MATERIAL-PhiI. 2:5-li;
Heb. 2:14-1s; 4:1a-i6.
PRIMARY. ToPIc-Jesus overcomes
Temptation.
JUNIOR ToPIc-Jesus Tempted to Dc
Wrong.
INTERMEDIARY AND SENIOR TOPIC
Overcoming Temptation.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
What Christ's Victory Means to Us.
l. The Place Of ". ~.
The wilderness OF Judea. The first
man, Adam, was tempted in a garden
with the most pleasant surroundings.
The second man, Jesus Christ, was
tempted in a barren wilderness sur-
rounded by wild beasts mark 1873.
II. The Purpose Of ". u. He was
led into a wilderness by the Spirit.
Christ's temptation was Messianic.
Though He was tempted in all points
like as we are" we are not tempted
as He was In this instance, but the
same methods are employed on us.
During the eighteen years Of retire
ment Satan surely tempted Christ as
he tempts US. Satan, NO doubt, would
have gladly escaped this hour, but the
time had come for the Redeemer to
enter upon His medIatorlal work /;
therefore He went from the place Of
amounting and heavenly recognition as
the Son of God to meet and despoil
the arch enemy (Heb. 2:4).
l. 1t was not a preparation for His
work, but rather Its first conflict. In
baptism we have the symbolic act Of
dedication of himself to the work of
redemption through the cross-the
making full a righteousness. In the
temptation, the strong man is spoil
ing the enemy.
2. 1t was not to see If Christ would
stand fast-would fail under the most
crucial test. Christ could not fail.
To SO p~ostulate would make Gods
scheme of redemption to have been
unsettled until after this temptation.
and would have made God guilty of
setting forth a scheme of redemption
On the basis of a possible overthrow.
3. 1t was to show Christ as an OBJ
ject upon which we may rest our faith
with mistaken confidence. He came
as the second Man, the head of a new
race, its very source and life. 1t was
a demonstration Of the inseparable-
hess Of the divine and human natures
in the incarnation.
III. The Method Of wv. 2-12).
Christ as the worlds RedeemeT
sustained a threefold relation-Son Of
Man; Son of4God; and Messiah, there
fore Satan made each one a ground OF
! attack.
/. AS Son Of Man wv. pa. Satan
made his first assault upon Him as
a man by appealing to the instinct Of
hunger. Satan urged Him to use His
! divine power and convert a stone in
to bread. Hunger is natural and sin
less. The temptation vas In salts
flying a right hunger In a wrong way
To have yielded In this case would
have been to the human lin
itations which He had taken for oul
sakes. To use divine power to satisfy
human needs would have been to fai
as Saviour and Redeemer.
2. AS Messiah wv. $50. Here the
temptation was to grasp His right
full dominion by false means. The
devil offered to surrender unto Hin
the world If He would worship him
The force of this temptation was IL
the fact that the kingdoms of the
world are Christ's by Gods covenan'
with Him. Gods method by Which
Jesus was to possess the world wa!
the cross. The temptation Satan il
pressing upon the church today is tt
get possession of the world by othel
means than the cross.
8. As Son of God wv. 9-12). Herr
Satan tries to induce Christ to pre-
sumo upon Gods care. He quotes {
Messianic Psalm to induce Him to 81
act. To do the spectacular thing ii
order to get notice is to fall into Sa
tan's temptation. For Jesus to havt
placed himself In danger in order Il
get Gods special help In delivering
Him would have been to sin. To pu
ones self in moral and spiritual peri
in order to test Gods faithfulness Il
to sin. Satan is never quite so dan
erous as when he quotes Scripture.
Nv. chrlst's Defense wv. a, 8, 12).
1t was the Word Of God. He me
and repulsed the enemy with ut Il
written" Our defense is Gods Word
May every Sunday school teacher
know how to use It'll
v. The Issue ". 49,.
Satan is y~anquished. If We win bu
trust God and use His Word we to,