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This difference between Christ’s temptation and ours does indeed imply that it will not suffice to make Him our example. Imitation is not adequate. How can a man whose heart is natively sinful imitate Him in whom is no sin? That is not the kind of help the Lord supplies. He offers, not the inspiration of a noble example, but the succor of a proven champion. We are not asked to meet our temptations by encouraging ourselves with the standard of His victory; we are invited to meet them by turning them over to Him, and letting Him fight for us. A minister, shortly after her conversion, questioned a little lass about her progress in the Christian life. He asked her what she did when Satan tempted her to do wrong. She replied: “Before I took Jesus into my heart, Satan would come and knock at the door of my heart. When I opened the door, he saw that it was just a weak little girl and he burst right in, and before I knew it, I did wrong. But now, when Satan comes to the door, I ask Jesus to answer. When Satan sees Jesus at the door, he says, ‘Oh, please excuse me, I have come to the wrong house.’ And he runs away so fast you cannot see his heels for dust.” “He is able to succor them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:18 R.V.)! Christ Deals with the Prayers of the Saints Our prayers at best are poor things. They are so selfish, so foolish, so formal, so hesitant, so unbelieving. If we could see them under God’s microscope we would wonder how God could ever hear us. Indeed, they do not reach God just as they left our hearts and lips. The passionate supplications of Bishop Andrewes, the lofty petitions of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the thousands of spiritual and eloquent prayers of Christians throughout the centuries were not received at the Throne as these masters of religious expression uttered them. Their inter cession and our feeble prayers prevail only because of the fact that our great High Priest deals with the prayers of the saints. “And another angel came and stood -over the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand” (Rev. 8:3, 4 R.V.). What is done with our prayers? First they make con tact with the altar, and there touch the precious blood with which our High Priest entered once for all into the holy place. Thus they are cleansed from all defile ment of the flesh. Then “much incense” is added to them —all the fragrance of the manifold virtues and worth of our exalted Lord. Thus embellished, they are offered as “ a sweet savour of Christ” ! Beloved, we would not recognize our prayers in the condition in which t h e y reach God’s throne; Christ makes them consistent and pure. Prayer in the name of Jesus, however simple, how ever weak, w ill reach Him so purged with blood, so enriched with incense that it Will be received by the Eternal Father as a personal petition from the well-be loved Son. How tremendous the effect of such prayers! “And the angel taketh the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it upon the earth; and there fo l lowed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earth quake” (Rev. 8:5 R.V.). The poet affirms that— “ Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.” I do not know whether he does or not, but he should, for by such prayers the mighty works of God are wrought in the earth; by such prayers the Church of Christ is being built; by such prayers the powers of darkness will fa ll; by such prayers the kingdom of God w ill come.
already,” but the saint “shall not come into condemna tion.” The sinner is “ alienated from the life of God,” but the saint is a child of God, a present possessor of life everlasting. The sins of the sinner but confirm his lost estate. The sins of the saint do not touch his eternal justification, his sonship, but they do affect his fellow ship with the Father. When we sin, joy departs; peace, and freedom, and power are lost; our testimony is ineffec tive. Thank God, that is the time the faithful Father exercises discipline, and takes measures to effect re pentance and confession leading to restoration, i What basis has God established for securing a sin ning saint in his position of grace, and for restoring him to the place of fellowship? “ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1,2). Advo cacy based on propitiation: that is God’s answer to the sins of the saints. i'/.i . “ Five bleeding wounds He bears Received on Calvary; They pour effectual prayers, They strongly plead for me: By the- blood of Christ we are saved; by the same blood we are secured; and by the same blood we are restored. The advocacy of Christ assures the perpetual efficacy of the blood. Christ Deals with the Temptations of the Saints T “ For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted” (Heb. 2:18 R.V.). Temptation is not sin. We are certain of that, be cause our Lord Jesus was “ tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15 R.V.). The old Sunday school hymn expresses it well: “Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin.” Temptation may provide occasion for uncovering the depths of sin that lie in the secret recesses of the heart, ready to respond to the appropriate appeal. If this revelation of our inner corruption drives us to God with a cry for cleansing, it will be a whole some experience—an instrument of sanctification. There is a vast difference between our Lord’s temp tation and ours. “He was tempted in all points like as we are, apart from sin" (Heb. 4:15, marg.). This state- inent signifies more than that Christ did not yield to temptation. There was no original sin in Him to respond to evil suggestion; nothing in His nature that corre sponded to Satan’s insinuations. On one occasion, Jesus stated: “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). The powers of darkness had established no “ beachhead” in our peerless Lord! Would that this might be said of His children! It may be felt that this difference is a barrier between Christ and us; that He is not in a position to understand completely our easy yielding to temptation when He did not hide a “fifth column” in His nature as we do. This is not the case. The man who yields to sin is not the one who knows the full force of temptation. He who valiantly fights temptation to a standstill and exhausts it in utter defeat really knows the power of the devil. It was so with Christ. Temptation hurled its complete weight at the Lord Jesus. Christ, only to be beaten back in confusion. Temptation has met its match, nay, its Conqueror! This mighty Conqueror has become the Cham pion of all His tried and tempted children. Forgive him, O forgive, they cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”
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