Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

serve."serve."wi' scripture."ways."tribal lands, telling them not to forgetthe promise that they had made. Verysoon afterward Joshua died. He cantrulybe called a servant of the Lord.Something to do:Draw a picture of Joshua under theoak tree as he sets up the stone to helpthe Israelites remember their promiseto the Lord, and color it.SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONOctober 23, 1955Rev. W. J. McBurney(Lessons based on international Sunday SchoolLessons; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education.)STRUGGLE EV THE WILDERNESS(Lessons based on TEMPERANCE)Luke 4:1-13Memory Verse: Luke 4:8, "Thou shaltworship the Lord thy God, and him onlyserve."shalt thouTempted in all points like as we are.There are three basic temptations; (1)To satisfy our natural desires by unnatural means; (2) To win the world'sfavor by bowing to Satan; (3) To presume on God's power.Christ received baptism that Hemight join in man's covenant with God.He endured temptation that He mightfulfill man's covenant with God. Thiswas not the only time that Jesus wastempted. In this He met the three classes of temptation,and overcame them all.But Satan left Him only for a season.Like a general when defeated, he withdrew his troops, to rearrange them foranother attack. Satan had tempted manout of his Holy and Happy estate inwhich he was created. And now, thatGod had provided a Way by which mancould return to God, Satan was puttingforth every effort to destroy that Way.The First TemptationSatan was given the opportunity totry his strength against the Son of God.Christ was led by the Spirit into thewilderness to.be tempted. Satan is notomniscient. He did not know the powerof Christ, or he would not have madethe useless effort. He had defied Godand been cast out of Heaven. Now hesaw God in the form of a man, and became very bold and earnest to entrapthis sinless man in sin. He had conquered many men; he didn't know thatChrist could not be conquered.Christ was hungry. He had not yetdemonstrated His divine power. Satansuggested a way for Him to do twothings at once; demonstrate His divinepower and so prove that He was theSon of God, and satisfy His humanap-218petite. Satan seemed to doubt Christ'spower. But his plan was deep; if He didhave the power, and would use it tosave His humanity from conditionsthat men must meet, that would destroyChrist's relation to man. Christ met thetemptation with an answer that anychild of God might have given; "Mymeat is to do the will of God."The 40 day fast was not miraculous.It has been demonstrated that a normalman can live 40 days without food. Thedisease that follows famine is not fromlack of food, but from eating what isnot fit for food. That is, by satisfyinga natural desire by unnatural means. Aman near death from thirst will shortenhis life if he tries to quench his thirstwith whisky. Thirst creates a naturaldesire. A temperate man will not tryto satisfy that desire by drinking whatis not suited to his nature.Forty is a common measure of affliction. The flood lasted 40 days. Mosesinterceded for his people 40 days. Nineveh fasted 40 days. Ezekiel bore thetransgression of Judah 40 days. Israelwandered in the desert 40 years. Thelimit for whipping was 40 stripes. Ourword quarantine comes directly fromthe Latin word forty.Christ endured physical hunger to thelimit of human power, and refused tosatisfy it by a way that was not possibleto man.The Second TemptationChrist fully shared the Love by whichHis Father sent Him into the world tosave those who would believe. Men wereslow to believe. Satan had them in hispower. So Satan proposed a compromise; he was called the god of thisworld. He did not know the limitationsof his power. He thought he could do alittle trading to his own profit. Hewould give Christ favor with this world,if Christ would just bow a few times tohis power. Just use the deck or thebones to decide the game, or the disposing of money, and then pray to Godfor skill in using the cards that Satangives you by his alluring device, chance,and he will give you lots of fun, perhaps(you hope) some money, and then youcan sit very reverently in church withno offence to Satan.Satan's proposal was for a dividedservice. He was satisfied to settle for apart-time service. He failed with Christ,so the way is open for all who will accept salvation through faith in theChrist who won our salvation by perfectrighteousness. "Thou shalt worship theLord thy God, and him only shalt thouThis involves Christ's relation to nations. Satan did not know that Christwas even then King and Ruler of all thenations of the world. That nations denyHis right does not change His right orpower. He is the Ruler, and eventually,He will bring all nations into subjection.We have had an epidemic of riotsand rebellions in prisons. Prisoners refused to obey, they fought, destroyedproperty, endangered the lives of themselves and others. Yet all that time,they were under both the authority andpower of the civil government that theydefied. They could have been destroyedby it. We wonder sometimes at themercy with which rioters are treated.Such mercy is not shown among nationsthat have not met the influence ofChrist's teaching.In "Thy Kingdom Come," the mannerof its coming is realized in man's acceptance of it. We pray "That the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it andkept in it." The Kingdom of Glory isrevealed to us and in us, as we approachour proper relation to the Kingdom ofGod. May it be hastened!"Him only shalt thouWorshipand service go hand in hand. Satan mentioned only the Worship. Christ put thetwo together as one.The Third TemptationSatan suggests a beautiful demonstration of God's power, that would amazethe worshipers and make Christ popular,and "nailed itHe omitted a very important line from thepromise in the Ninety-first Psalm; "Heshall keep thee in all thy Thatwould include keeping him from doinganything for vain show. Christ was enduring and overcoming our temptations.We are tempted to tempt God.God alone can decide the issues of theshuffled deck, the spinning arrow or therolling bones. If we attribute that powerto chance, that is idolatry. If we trustto God's power to control these thingsto decide our conduct for pleasure orprofit, that is tempting God. But theysay, "You are trusting to chance whenyou plant a field of wheat."Perhapsthey are. The plowing of the wicked issin. It is gambling with the weather,trusting in chance. The Christian plowsand plants, trusting God for the harvest.Satan asked Christ to break His ownlaw. That raises a question concerningmodern entertainment. I refer to thepopular disregard of physical laws incheap fiction, funny strips or TV. NowDaedalus and Darius Green did not defygravitation; they tried to fly by using it.They failed, and so did many otherpioneers before gravitation was success-COVENANTER WITNESS