Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1927-01-27
improved Uniform International
Sll1gldaySc1rool.
' Lesson '
tBy REV. p B FITzwATER, DID,. Dean
OF Day and Evening Schools. Moody Bible
Institute of ChicagoD
&C. 1927. Western Newspaper Union.)
Lesson for January 30
THE CHRISTIAN OVERCOMING
TEMPTATION

LESSON TEXT-Luke 4:1-13: Cor
1912, 10.
GOLDEN TEXT-In that He Himself
hath suffered being tempted, He is
able to succor them that are tempted.
PRIMARY TOPIC-Obeying God AL
ways
JUNIOR TOPIC-How to Stand
Against Temptation.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOP
IC-How Christ Helps the Tempted.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOP
IC-How to Overcome. Temptation.
Christs temptation was Messianic.
No one has ever been tempted just
like He was-led into the wilderness
by the Holy Spirit to be tempted Of
the devil (Matt. AID. While we are
not tempted as He was, the devil uses
the same methods on us. This temp
tation was not:
l. preparation for His work. but
rather it's first conflict In His bap-
tism we have the symbolic act of the
dedication of Himself to the work of
redemption through the cross--the
making full righteousness.
2. 1t was not to see If Christ would
stand fast, nor to see If He would fail
under the most crucial test. He could
not have failed.
3. 1t was to show Christ as an OBJ
tect upon which we may rest our
faith with mistaken confidence. He
came as the second man, the head of
the new race. The temptation there
fore was demonstration of the In
seDarableness of the divine and hui
man natures in the incarnation.
!. The Temptation Of Christ duke
abb.
l. The place ". ~.
The wilderness Of Judea. The first
man, Adam, was tempted in garden
with the most pleasant surroundings.
The second man, Jesus Christ. was
tempted in a barren wilderness sur
rounded By wild beasts MARK 1879.
2. The method wv. 2-12).
Christ as the worlds Redeemer sus.
tanned a three-fold relationships
of Man, the Messiah and Son of God,
therefore Satan made each one a
ground Of attack.
~ AS Son of Man (vv. Pay.
Satan made his first assault upon
Him as man by appealing to the
instinct OF hunger. Satan urged Him
to use His divine power and convert
stone into bread. Hunger is nat
ural and sinless. Real human life ex-
periences hunger. The temptation
was In satisfying right hunger In a
wrong way. To have yielded In this
case though His hunger was des-
perate. would have been to renounce
the human limitations which He had
taken for our sins. In the incarnation
He became identified with humanity,
so He chose to abide in fellowship
with man.
(2) AS Messiah wv. 5-s).
Here the temptation was to grasp
His rightful dominions by false means.
The devil offered to surrender unto
Him the world If He would adopt his
methods-worship him. The force Of
this temptation was In the fact that
the kingdoms of the world are Christ's
by Gods covenant with Him. Gods
method by which Jesus was to possess
the world was the sacrificial death on
the cross
.(3) AS Son Of God wv. 9-12).
Here Satan tries to induce Christ to
presume upon Gods care. He quotes
Messianic Psalm to induce Him to
so act To do the spectacular thing
In order to get notice is to fall into
Satan's temptation. For Jesus to have
placed Himself in danger In order to
get Gods special help In delivering
Him would have been to sin
az Christ's defense wv. 4, s, 12).
1t was the Word Of God. He met
and repulsed the enemy with ut Is
written" Our defense is Gods Word
(5) The issue ". 13).
Satan was vanquished
II. The Temptation of Believers Il
Cor. 1912. 49,.
1. Temptation Is to be expected ".
12).
the Garden of Eden on down through
the ages men and women have been
assailed by the tempter. These facts
are Gods admonitions unto us upon
whom the ends of the world are come.
Caution is always necessary. Over
weaving self-confidence is most peril
GUS to those who rest in the security
Of their divine election while neglect
ing q life of holiness.
2. Divine help available ". 13).
All temptations which come to us
are those which are common to the
race. No one should surmise that his
temptation is peculiar. God is faith
full and will not allow the temptation
to go beyond the ability Of the one
tempted. He will provide a way Of
escape.