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thieves, then I am serving Jim as he wants to be served.” God wants service as well as praise.— Gospel Trumpet,
upon God, absolute confidence in God, and absolute obedience to God. And in the combination of these three attitudes lies the .secret of all victory over Satan and over sin. We should carefully note in this passage the personality, power, methods, and malignity of Satan; the nature, source, and use of temptation; and the power, use, and purpose o f the Word of God. Points and Problems 1. The baptism, told in Luke 3 :21, 22, is properly put by the Lesson Committee in immediate connection with the Tempta tion of 4:1-13, for the genealogy which separates the two is inserted parenthetical ly. The connection in Matthew’s account is striking. After the story of the baptism, Matthew writes: “ Then was Jesus led . . . to be tempted” (4 :1 ). There is a great lesson here for all of us. Quite often our highest spiritual experiences are immedi ately followed by a plunge into the sever est tests of temptation. First the mountain top ; then the valley. First the voice of G od; then the voice o f the tempter. 2. “Jesus . . . was led by the Spirit” (4 :1 ). Sometimes, when we see a human soul caught in the toils o f trouble and trial, we are inclined hastily to say, “This man must have gotten out of the will of God. If he were walking in the path of right eousness, he would have escaped all this difficulty.” And at times this judgment would be correct, but not always. Our Lord Jesus Christ was sinless, never de parting from the will o f the Father, con stantly led by the Holy. Spirit, yet the di vinely chosen path for Him led into the wilderness of temptation. If this experi ence could happen to our sinless Lord, we should not complain if temptation be the will o f God for us who are sinners. 3. Too often, when we are led into temptation, we are led not by the Spirit but by our own sinful lusts. And such leading invariably results in utter defeat. But when the Spirit leads into temptation, we are led in triumph. The Greek verb in 4 :1 is an imperfect, suggesting that our Lord was led continuously by the Spirit. I f we as believers wish to share in His victory, then we must submit ourselves to the con tinuous leading o f the Spirit. 4. “When the devil had ended all the temptation” (4:13). The American Revi sion translates, “had completed every temp tation.” The Expositor’s Greek New Tes tament makes it still stronger, “ every kind o f temptation.” It was Joseph Parker, I think, who remarked on this text that the devil’s program is strictly limited. He is not infinite in resources, thank God. All he can do is to repeat the same old temp tations. Let us study prayerfully this les son. Beyond what is here, the devil has nothing new. Golden Text Illustration A converted cowboy gives this as his idea o f what religion is : “ Lots o f folks that would really like to do right think that serving the Lord means shouting themselves hoarse praising His name. Now, I’ll tell you how I look at that. I am working for Jim, here. Now, if I should do nothing but sit around the house here telling what a good fellow Jim is, and singing songs to him, I would not suit Jim. But when I buckle on my straps and hustle among the hills and see that Jim’s herd is all right, not suffering for water and feed, or being driven off the range and branded by cow
j u u u u u u y y u u y y u y y y y There is a Reason!—
When Jesus Grew Up L uke 3:21, 22; 4:1-15
For the present 20 per cent, increase over last year in Wheaton’ s Enrollment. It is Th is:—
Memory Verse: “Jesus increased in wis dom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Lk. 2:52). Approach: The Bible doesn’t tell us very much about what the Lord Jesus did when He was a child. He lived at home
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in the little town of Nazareth, where Jo seph had a carpenter shop. He probably helped in the shop. He probably learned to read and write in the village school, and helped His mother take care of thé other children. I have often wondered when it was that the
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Lord Jesus first began to know who He was and what big work He had to do. The Bible tells us about a trip that Jesus made to Jerusalem when He was twelve years old. And we know that He knew at that time that He was God’s Son, and that He had a special work to do, for we read that He stayed in the temple listening and talking to the priests about the things of God. Lesson Story: In our story today, Jesus is grown up, and it is time for Him to begin teaching and preaching to the people. There was some one who didn’t want Jesus to begin this work. Tins was Satan. Satan came to Jesus when He was alone in a mountain praying and getting ready for His work, and Satan tried three times to make Jesus forget that He was the Son o f God who had come to obey His Father’s will. Satan tempted Jesus to use His power for Himself. First, because Satan knew that Jesus had not eaten for a long time, he said : “If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.” Then the Lord Jesus did just the thing that we should do when we are tempted to do wrong. Jesus tiàed the Bible for His an swer to Satan. Quickly He remembered a verse in the Old Testament: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God,” He said. Twice again Satan tempted Him, and each time Jesus an swered with a Bible verse, and Satan had no power over Him. Jesus had hidden God’s Word in His heart, and thus He knew what to do when He was tempted.
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Object Lesson T ried a n d T r u e Objects: Two pencils, and an iron bolt about the same size as the pencils. Lesson: John, see whether you can break this pencil. “ Sure, that’s easy.” Yes, it was quite easy for you. It was easy for Satan in the Garden o f Eden to tempt Adam and Eve and to win a great victory over the human family.
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