The Coolidge examiner., 1936-01-17
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Improved 0 SUNDAY
Uniform oC-~~r
-:-LESSON- = =
By REV. P. B. FITZWATER. D. D..
Member of Faculty, Moody Bible
Institute of Chicago.
G Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for January 19
JESUS PREPARES FOR HIS
WORK

lklNl<AI1 IOIlC - w men JSS us
Grew Up.
JUNIOR TOPIC-When Jesus Was
Tempted.
TOPIC-Making a Right Start for
Life.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT
TOPIC-Ffnding Gods Way for Life.
The statement of the subject of
this lesson is not quite satisfactory.
His baptism and temptation were
not means of preparation, but were
respectively his formal entrance
upon his work and the first conflict
with the devil, whose works he
came to destroy.
]. Jesus Entering Upon His Me-
diatorial Work duke 8 81, 22).
1. His baptism ". 2D. In his
baptism we see the symbolic act of
Jesus dedicating himself to the
work of redemption through the
cross, or the act of conservation on
his part to the work of saving the
world through his death and resur-
rection. His baptism did not mean
his obedience to the law of God. but
his entrance upon the sacrificial
work which on the cross of Calvary
made a real foundation for full
righteousness.
2 His amounting ". 22). AS he
thus dedicated himself to the task
of bringing in a Righteousness, he
was anointed with the Holy Spirit.
3. The heavenly recognition ".
22). This act of devotion to the di-
vine will was attended by the dec
laration of divine approval, Thou
art my beloved Son; in thee l am
well pleased"
II. Jesus First Conflict With the
Devil duke 4 4:1-13).
Jesus went from the place OF
amounting and heavenly recognition
as the Son of God to meet and to
spoil the arch enemy (Heb. 2:1D.
Instead of the temptation, therefore.
being preparation for his mes
sianic work, it was a demonstration
of the inseparableness Of the divine
and human natures in the incarna-
ton. 1t is to be noted that the Holy
Spirit, not Satan. led Jesus into the
wilderness to be tempted.
/. The place ". y. 1t was in the
wilderness of Judea. The first man,
Adam, was tempted in a garden,
with the most pleasant surround
ings. The second man, Jesus Christ,
was tempted in barren wilderness,
surrounded by wild beasts Mark
:13).
.. The method wv. 2-12). Christ
as the worlds Redeemer sustained
threefold relationship: the Son of
man, the Messiah, and the Son Of
God. Therefore. Satan made each
one a ground of attack
a. AS Son of man (vv. 2-4). Satan
made his first assault upon Jesus as
man by appealing to the instinct
of hunger. Satan urged him to use
his divine power to convert a stone
into bread. Hunger is natural and
sinless. Real human life expert
ences hunger. The appetite of hun
ger was normal and right. The
temptation was to satisfy right
hunger in a wrong way. To have
yielded in this case, though his hun
ger was desperate, would have been
to renounce the human limitations
which he had taken for our sins. To
use divine power to satisfy human
needs would have been to fail as
Savior and Mediator. To do right
in a wrong way is to fail.
b. AS Messiah wv. 5-S). Here the
temptation was to grasp his rightful
dominion by false means. The devil
offered to surrender unto him the
world, if he would adopt his meth
Od-wOrship him. The force of this
temptation was in the fact that the
Kingdoms OF the world are Chrlst's
by Gods covenant with him.. Gods
method by which Jesus was to pos
seSs the world was the Sacrificial
death on the cross. The temptation
which Satan is placing upon the
church today is to get possession
Of hn xNnrl1 hxy nthn,.
that of the cross. We fall into the
hands of the tempter today when
we resort to worldly means of do
ing the Lords work. To bid for
power by using worldly means is to
follow after the example of Satan.
C. AS Son of God wv. 9-12). Here
Satan tries to induce Christ to pre-
sumo upon Gods care. He quotes
a messianic psalm to induce him so
to act. TO do the spectacular thing
in order to get publicity is to fan
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. To test God as to whether he
will keep a promise is the greatest
distrust; it is to sin and fall.
d. Christ's defense wv. 4, s, 12).
1t was the Word of God. He met
every onslaught of the enemy with
ut is written" Our defense is
Gods Word. May every Sunday
school teacher and believer know
how to use it.