Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-07-22
Golden Text-'In that He Himself
hath suffered being tempted, He
IS able to succor them that are
tempted Heb. 2:S.

Golden Text-'In that He Himself
hath suffered being tempted, He
IS able to succor them that are
tempted" Heb. 2:S.
The thirty years of silence had
been broken; Jesus of Nazareth had
come to be baptized of John and had
entered upon His public ministry as
the Servant of Jehovah, had come to
take His place as the Lamb of God.
At His baptism tleA- SA0ly Ghost de.
scended urt.. - - 49, +s-T-~~ G., a
dove and the Father hau rxpressl'
His approval of Him in the voice out
of heaven. Thus at the very begin
ming of His public ministry there
had been manifested the Triune God.
But as the servant of Jehovah He
had to be tested. There were GER
tain demands that would be made of
Him In the performance of His duty
and 1t was necessary that He be
tested before they were made of
Him. Moses had been tested; Saul
mad been tested and failed; David
was tested in the matter of Goliath
and met the test. Jesus must be
tested. But this test was to be much
greater for the work He was to do
was SO much greater.
There was another reason why the
Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the
Wilderness Immediately after His
baptism to be tested of the devil. Let
us discover it. When God first
brought order out of the chaos that
the rebellion of the discharged Luci-
Ter had caused. He placed a perfect
man whom He had created amid per-
feet surroundings in the garden of
y Eden and gave him dominion over
all His creatures. Immediately Satan
resented this, for he had usurped
dominion and did not propose to have
anyone question his authority. BY
reaching this perfect man, made in
the image of God and therefore hav-
ing the right of choice, the right to
exercise his free will, through sub
tiety the great adversary still re-.
tanned the dominion and man lost
IT,. Gods plan to win the world back
to- Himself through the agency of \
man who would not be independent
OF Him temporarily failed. There.
lore. when Jesus became the Anoint-
ed one, the Christ, and began His
ministry as such, it was necessary
Tor Him 10 meet the devil in con
met. The first Adam had failed
Goa; what would the second Adam
do?
yielded to hefsame tempts tio 10y that hat
Inc devil had done, and letarm,1ed
TO have his own way, to declare his
independence of God; what would
the Second Man created new
tninS-not born by ordinary eenra-
ton of man, not the illegitimate
son o. Joseph and Mary: but created
by God in the womb of the Virgin
Mary-what would this new Crea.
lion Go? Would He also declare His
independence CT God? Would He
be- deceived? Would He be reached
KY che Of the three avenues o. ap
preach?
Three Avenues
I'm the Garden of Eden the devil,
presented the matter of the woman
SO that when she saw that it was
good Tor food, and pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to
make one wise, she yielded to tire
csNi- and did what he wanted ana
G;Sobeyed GCd. These three ave
nues OF approach were stated by
John to be the Lust of the flesh.
the lust of the eye, and the pride
OF life And these are still the oniv
avenues of approach the devil has
TO your soul, but they are enough!
Now when this Second Man
comes in contact with the devil, it
is not in garden amidst perfect
surroundings, but in a Wilderness
1t is not with everything that His
soul and spirit and body could have
needed, but after forty days and
forty nights of fasting, wien He
was hungry and weak and ex-
hausted.
u- course the devil, had tempted
HIM before, of course, he haC Tempt
ed during all those forty days and
nights: but the temptations %iich
cahie to Him after that period and
ttp the end IF it and which are u
corded here were along a particular
line. The adversary was in conflict
With Him as Second Man, IN The
same kind of effort to secure Ills
allegiance to him and to get Him
to declare His independence of God
as lie had been ableto get the first
man 10 30. Therefore, he approach
ed Him through these s4l> ave
nues-the lust of the flesl. (goct; fer
food. the lust Of the eyes pheasant
t. the eyes,, and the pcGe of lie
desired to make one wise), hoping
and expecting @ that he would lie
just as successful in this conflict as
h. had been with the first man.
The First Test
Therefore, he came to Him when
He was hungry after focty days
fast, anC approached Hin through
Nthe lust of the flesh IF Thou be
}the Sen oe God"-evidertly he mad
been trying through the forty days
20, make Him believe that the voice
IN It He had heard from heaven at
NY baptism was merely 2 delusion
8"cCmmarc these stones that they
+ may be made bread"
Those stones looked like loaves of
! bread. He had the need and the
make Him all the hungrier. Il VAS
q natural thing. If He was the son
! of God He certainly could make
. bread. II clad the nee danG the
power. Wilt would be wrong in
using His power to supply His very