Thomas Watson · 32 of 36

The Sixth Petition in the Lord's Prayer · Part 4

Christ succours them that are tempted by ‘interceding for them.’ When the devil is tempting, Christ is praying. The prayer which Christ put up for Peter when he was tempted, extends to all his saints. Lord, said Christ, it is my child that is tempted; Father, pity him. Luke 22: 32. When a poor soul lies bleeding of the wounds the devil has given him, Christ presents his wounds to his Father, and, in the virtue of those, pleads for mercy. How powerful must his prayer be! He is a favourite. John 11: 42. He is both High Priest and a Son. If God could forget that Christ were a Priest, he cannot forget that he is a Son. Besides, Christ prays for nothing but what is agreeable to his Father’s will. If a king’s son petitions only for that which his father has a mind to grant, his suit will not be denied.

Christ succours his people, by taking off the tempter. When the sheep begin to straggle, the shepherd sets the dog on them to bring them back to the fold, and then calls off the dog; so God takes off the tempter. He ‘will with the temptation make a way to escape,’ he will make an outlet. 1 Cor 10: 13. He will rebuke the tempter. ‘The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan.’ Zech 3: 2. It is no small support, that Christ succours the tempted. The mother succours the child most when it is sick; she sits by its bedside, brings it cordials; so, when a soul is most assaulted, it shall be most assisted.

I have dealt unkindly with Christ and sinned against his love, and surely he will nor succour me, but let me perish in the battle!

Christ is a merciful High Priest, and will succour thee notwithstanding thy failings. Joseph was a type of Christ; his brethren sold him away, and the ‘irons entered into his soul;’ yet afterwards, when his brethren were ready to die in the famine, he forgot their injuries, and succoured them with money and corn. ‘I am,’ said he, ‘Joseph your brother.’ So Christ will say to a tempted soul, ‘I know thy unkindnesses, how thou hast distrusted my love, grieved my Spirit; but I am Joseph, I am Jesus, therefore I will succour thee when thou art tempted.’

(4) Another rock of support is that the best man may be most tempted. A rich ship may be violently set upon by pirates; so he who is rich in faith may have the devil upon him with his battering-pieces. Job, an eminent saint, was fiercely assaulted. Satan smote his body that he might tempt him either to question God’s providence or quarrel with it. Paul was a chosen vessel, but how was this vessel battered with temptation! 2 Cor 12: 7.

Is it not said, ‘He that is begotten of God, that wicked one toucheth him not’? 1 John 5: 18.

It is not meant that the devil does not tempt him, but he toucheth hint not, that is, tactu lethali, Cajetan, with a deadly touch. ‘There is a sin unto death.’ 1 John 5: 16. Now, Satan with all his temptations does not make a child of God sin ‘a sin unto death.’ Thus he touches him not.

(5) Another rock of support is that Satan can go no further in tempting than God gives him leave. The power of the tempter is limited. A whole legion of devils could not touch one swine till Christ gave them leave. Satan would have sifted Peter till he sifted out all his grace, but Christ would not suffer him. ‘I have prayed for thee,’ &c. Christ binds the devil in a chain. Rev 20: 1. If Satan’s power were according to his malice, not one soul should be saved; but he is a chained enemy. It is a comfort that Satan cannot go a hair’s breadth beyond God’s permission. If an enemy could not touch a child further than the father appointed, he would do the child no great hurt.

(6) Another rock of support is that it is not having a temptation that makes guilty, but giving consent to it. We cannot hinder a temptation. If we abhor the temptation, it is our burden, not our sin. We read in the old law, that if one forced a virgin, and she cried out, she was reputed innocent; so if Satan by temptation would commit a rape upon a Christian, and he cries out, and does not consent, the Lord will charge it upon the devil’s score. It is not laying the bait that hurts the fish if the fish do not bite.

(7) Another rock of support is, that our being tempted is no sign of God’s hating us. A child of God often thinks God does not love him because he lets him be haunted by the devil. Non sequitur, this is a wrong conclusion. Was not Christ himself tempted, and yet by a voice from heaven proclaimed, ‘This is my beloved Son’? Matt 3: 17. Satan’s tempting and God’s loving may stand together. The goldsmith loves his gold in the fire; and God loves a saint, though shot at by fiery darts.

(8) Another rock of support is that Christ’s temptation was for our consolation, aqua ignis [water to fire]. Jesus Christ is to be looked upon as a public person, as our head and representative; and what he did, he did for us: his prayer was for us, his suffering was for us; when he was tempted, and overcame the temptation, he overcame for us. Christ’s conquering Satan was to show that elect persons shall at last be conquerors over Satan. When Christ overcame Satan’s temptation, it was not only to give us an example of courage, but an assurance of conquest. We have overcome Satan already in our covenant head, and we shall at last perfectly overcome.

(9)Another rock of support is that the saints’ temptation shall not be above their strength. The harper will not stretch the strings of his harp too hard, lest they break. ‘God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.’ 1 Cor 10: 13. He will proportion our strength to the stroke. ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’ 2 Cor 12: 9. The torchlight of faith shall be kept burning, though all the winds of temptation are blowing.

(10) Another rock of support is that these temptations shall produce much good.

They quicken a spirit of prayer in the saints. They pray more and better. Temptation is orationis flabellum [fan], the exciter of prayer. Perhaps before, the saints came to God as cold suitors in prayer — they prayed as if they prayed not. Temptation is a medicine for security. When Paul had a messenger of Satan to buffet him, he was more earnest in prayer. ‘For this thing I besought the Lord thrice.’ 2 Cor 12: 8. The thorn in his flesh was a spur in his sides to quicken him in prayer. The deer when shot with the dart runs faster to the water; so a soul that is shot with the fiery darts of temptation runs the faster to the throne of grace; and is earnest with God, either to take off the tempter, or to stand by him when he is tempted.

God makes the temptation to sin a means to prevent it. The more a Christian is tempted, the more he fights against the temptation. The more a chaste woman is assaulted, the more she abhors the attempt. The stronger Joseph’s temptation was, the stronger was his opposition. The more the enemy attempts to storm a castle, the more is he repelled and beat back.

A godly man’s temptations cause the increase of grace. Unus Christianus temptatus mille; ‘one tempted Christian,’ says Luther, ‘is worth a thousand.’ He grows more in grace. As the bellows increase the flame, so temptation increases the flame of grace.

By these temptations God makes way for comfort. After Christ was tempted, the angels came and ministered unto him. Matt 4: 2. When Abraham had been warring, Melchizedek brought him bread and wine to revive his spirits. Gen 14: 18. So after the saints have been warring with Satan, God sends his Spirit to comfort them. Luther said that temptations were amplexus Christi, Christ’s embraces, because he then manifests himself most sweetly to the soul.

That I may further comfort such as are tempted, let me speak to two particular cases.

I have horrid temptations to blasphemy, say some.

Did not the devil tempt Christ after this manner: ‘All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me’? Matt 4: 9. What greater blasphemy can be imagined than that the God of heaven and earth should worship the devil? Yet Christ was tempted to this. If when blasphemous thoughts are injected, you tremble at them, and are in a cold sweat, they are not yours, Satan shall answer for them; let him that plots the treason suffer.

But my case is yet worse, say others; I have been tempted to such sins, and have yielded; the tempter has overcome me.

I grant that, through the withdrawing of God’s grace, and the force of temptation, a child of God may be overcome. David was overcome by temptation in the case of Bathsheba, and in numbering the people. There is a party of grace in the heart true to Christ; but sometimes it may be overvoted by corruption, and then a Christian yields. It is sad thus to yield to the tempter. But yet let not a child of God be wholly discouraged, and say there is no hope. Let me pour in some balm of Gilead into this wounded soul.

(1) Though a Christian may fall by a temptation, yet the seed of God is in him. ‘His seed remaineth in him.’ 1 John 3: 9. Gratia concutitur, non excutitur [Grace is shaken, not destroyed]. Augustine. A man may be bruised by a fall, yet there is life in him. A Christian foiled by Satan may be like the man going to Jericho, who fell among thieves, and was left ‘wounded and half dead;’ but still there is a vital principle of grace; his seed remains in him. Luke 10: 30.

(2) Though a child of God may be overcome in praelio, in a skirmish, yet not in bello, in the main battle; as an army may be worsted in a skirmish, but conquer at last. Though Satan may foil a child of God in a skirmish by a temptation, the believer shall overcome at last. A saint may be foiled, yet not conquered; he may lose ground, and not lose the victory.

(3) God does not judge his children by one action, but by the frame of the heart. As he does not judge a wicked man by one good action, so neither a godly man by one bad action. A holy person may be worsted by a temptation; but God does not measure him by that. Who measures milk when it seethes and boils up? God does not take the measure of a saint when the devil has boiled him up in a passion, but he judges of him by the pulse and temper of his heart. He would fear God; and when he fails he weeps. God looks which way the bias of his heart stands; if that be set against sin, God will pardon.

(4) God will make a saint’s fall by temptation turn to his spiritual advantage.

He may let a regenerate person fall by a temptation to make him more watchful. Perhaps he walked loosely, and was decoyed into sin; but for the future he will grow more curious and cautious in his walking. The foiled Christian is a vigilant Christian; he will take care not to come within the lion’s chain any more; he will be shy and fearful of the occasion of sin; he will not go abroad without his spiritual armour, and will gird on his armour by prayer. When a wild beast gets over the hedge and hurts the corn, the farther will make his fence stronger; so, when the devil gets over the fence by temptation, and foils a Christian, he will be sure to mend his fence, and be more vigilant against temptation afterwards.

God sometimes lets his children be foiled by temptation that they may see their continual dependence on God, and may go to him for strength. We need not only habitual grace to stand against temptation, but auxiliary grace; as the boat needs not only the oars, but wind, to carry it against a strong tide. God lets his children sometimes fall by temptation, that, seeing their own weakness, they may rest more on Christ and free grace. Cant 8: 5.

By suffering his children to be foiled by a temptation, God settles them the more in grace. They get strength by their falls. The poets feign that Antaeus the giant, in wrestling with Hercules, got strength by every fall to the ground; so a saint, when foiled in wrestling with Satan, gets more spiritual strength. Peter had never such strength of faith as after being foiled in the high priest’s hall. How was he fired with zeal and steeled with courage! He who before was dashed out of countenance by the voice of a maid, now dares openly confess Christ before rulers and the councils. Acts 2: 14. As the shaking of the tree settles it the more, God lets his children be shaken with the wind of temptation, that they may be more settled in grace afterwards. Let not those Christians whom God has suffered to be foiled by temptation, cast away their anchor, or give way to despairing thoughts.

May it not make Christians careless whether they fall into temptation or not, if God can make the temptation advantageous to them?

We must distinguish between being foiled through weakness and through wilfulness. If a soldier fights, but is foiled for want of strength, the general of the army will pity him, and bind up his wounds; but if he be wilfully foiled, and proves treacherous, he must expect no favour; so, if a Christian fight it out with Satan, but is foiled for want of strength, as it was with Peter, God will pity him and do him good by his being foiled; but if he be foiled wilfully and runs into temptation, as it was with Judas, God will show him no favour, but will execute martial law upon him.

The uses remain.

Use 1. See in what continual danger we are. Satan is an exquisite artist, a deep headpiece, he lies in ambush to ensnare; he is the tempter, it is his delight to make the saints sin; and he is subtle in tempting, he has ways and methods to deceive.

(1) He brings a saint into sin, by making him confide in his habitual graces. He makes him believe he has such a stock of grace as will secure him against all temptations. Thus he deceived Peter, he made him trust in his grace; he had such a cable of faith and strong tacklings, that though the winds of temptation blew ever so fierce, he could weather the point. ‘Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I;’ as if he had more grace than all the apostles. Thus he was led into temptation, and fell in the battle. Man may make an idol of grace. Habitual grace is not sufficient without auxiliary. The boat needs not only oars, but a gale of wind, to carry it against the tide; so we need not only habitual grace, but the gale of the Spirit, to carry us against a strong temptation.

(2) Satan tempts to sin by the baits and allurements of the world. Faenus pecuniae funus animae [The gain of money is the ruin of the soul]. One of Christ’s own apostles was caught with a silver bait. Those whom the devil cannot debauch with vice, he will corrupt with money. ‘All these things will I give thee,’ was his last temptation. Matt 4: 9. Achan was deluded by a wedge of gold. Sylvester II sold his soul to the devil for a popedom.

(3) Satan tempts to sin, sub specie boni, under a mask and show of good; his temptations seem gracious motions.

[1] He tempts men to duties of religion. You might think it strange that Satan should tempt to duty; but it is so. He tempts men to duty out of sinister ends. Thus he tempted the Pharisees to pray and give alms, that they might be seen of men. Matt 6: 5. Prayer is a duty, but to look asquint in prayer, to do it for vainglory, turns prayer into sin. He tempts to duty when it is not in season. ‘My offering and my bread for my sacrifices, shall ye offer unto me in their due season.’ Numb 28: 2. Satan tempts to duty when it is out of season; he tempts to read the word at home when we should be hearing the word. He tempts to one duty, that he may hinder another. He tempts some to duty that it may be a cloak for sin. He tempts them to frequency in duty that they may sin and be less suspected. He tempted the Pharisees to make long prayers that, under this pretence, they might devour widows’ houses. Matt 23: 14. Who would suspect him of false weights that so often holds a Bible in his hand?

[2] He tempts men to sin out of a show of love to Christ. You might think this strange, but there is truth in it. Many a good heart may think what he does is in love to Christ, and all the while he may be under temptation. When Christ told Peter he must suffer at Jerusalem, Peter took him and rebuked him. ‘Be it far from thee, Lord,’ as if he had said, Lord, thou hast deserved no such shameful death, and this shall not be unto thee. Matt 16: 22. Peter did this, as he thought, out of love to Christ, but he was under temptation. What had become of us if Christ had hearkened to Peter, and had not suffered! So when Christ washed his disciples’ feet, Peter was so mannerly that he said, ‘Thou shalt never wash my feet.’ John 13: 8. This he did, as he thought, out of love and respect to Christ. He thought Christ was too good to wash his feet, and therefore would have put him off, but it was a temptation; the devil put Peter upon this sinful modesty; he struck at Peter’s salvation, insomuch that Christ said, ‘If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.’ So when the Samaritans would not receive Christ, the disciples James and John said, ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ Luke 9: 54. They did this, as they thought, out of love to Christ; they wished for fire to consume his enemies, but they were under temptation; it was not zeal, but the wild fire of their own passion. ‘Ye know not,’ saith Christ, ‘what manner of spirit ye are or.

(4) Satan tempts to the sin to which a man’s heart is naturally most inclinable. He will not tempt a civil man to a gross sin, which is abhorrent to the light of nature. Satan never sets a dish before men that they do not love. He will tempt a civil man to pride, and to trust in his own righteousness, and to make a Saviour of his civility. As the spider weaves a web out of her own bowels, the civil man would weave a web of salvation out of his own righteousness.

See, then, in what danger we are, when Satan is continually lying in ambush with his temptations!

See man’s inability of himself to resist a temptation! Could he stand of himself against a temptation, the prayer were needless, ‘Lead us not into temptation:’ no man has power of himself to resist temptation, further than God gives him strength. ‘O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.’ Jer 10: 23. If Peter, who had true grace, and Adam, who had perfect grace, could not stand against temptation, much less can any stand by the power of nature, which confutes the doctrine of free will. What freedom of will has man, when he cannot resist the least temptation?

Here is matter for humiliation, that there is in us such an aptitude and proneness to yield to temptation. We are as ready to swallow a temptation as the fish to swallow the bait. If the devil tempt to pride, lust, envy, revenge, how do we symbolise with Satan and embrace his snares! Like a woman that has a suitor, and does not need much wooing, but readily gives her consent, Satan comes wooing by temptation, and we soon yield; he strikes fire, and we are as dry tinder dial catches the first spark; he knocks by temptation, and it is sad to think how soon we open the door to him, which is as if one should open the door to a thief.

See hence that a Christian’s life is no easy life. It is military: he has a Goliath in the field to encounter with, one that is armed with power and subtlety, and has his wiles and darts. A Christian must be continually watching and fighting. Satan’s designs carry death in the front. ‘Seeking whom he may devour.’ I Pet 5: 8. Therefore we had need always have our weapons in our hand. How few think their life a warfare! Though they have an enemy in the field, always laying snares, or shooting darts, yet they do not stand sentinel or get their spiritual artillery ready; they put on their jewels, but not their armour. ‘They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ,’ as if they were rather in music than in battle. Job 21: 12. Many are asleep in sloth, when they should be fighting against Satan; and no wonder the devil shoots them when he finds them asleep.

Use 2. They are reproved who pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ and yet run of themselves into temptation. Such are they who go to plays and masquerades, and hunt after strange flesh. Some go a slower pace to hell, but such as run themselves into temptation go galloping thither. We have too many of these in this debauched age, who, as if they thought they could not sin fast enough, tempt the devil to tempt them.

Use 3. Let us labour that we be not overcome by temptation.

What means should be used, that Satan’s temptations may not prevail against us?

(1) Avoid solitariness. It is no wisdom, in fighting with an enemy, to give him the advantage of the ground. We give Satan advantage of the ground when we are alone. Eve was foiled in the absence of her husband. A virgin is not so soon set upon in company. ‘Two are better than one.’ Eccl 4: 9. Get into the communion of saints, for that is a good remedy against temptation.

(2) If you would not be overcome by temptation, beware of the predominance of melancholy, which is atra bilis, a black humour seated chiefly in the brain. Melancholy disturbs reason and exposes to temptation. One calls melancholy balneum diaboli, the devil’s bath; he bathes himself with delight in such a person. Melancholy clothes the mind in sable; it fills it with such dismal apprehensions as often end in self-murder.

(3) If you would not be overcome by temptation, study sobriety. ‘Be sober, because your adversary walketh about.’ I Pet 5: 8. Sober-mindedness consists in the moderate use of earthly things: an immoderate desire of these things often brings men into the snare of the devil. ‘They that will be rich fall into a snare.’ 1 Tim 6: 9. He who loves riches inordinately, will purchase them unjustly. Ahab would swim to Naboth’s vineyard in blood. He who is drunk with the love of the world, is never free from temptation. He will pull down his soul to build up an estate. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames? [Oh cursed hunger for gold, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of men?] Virgil. Be sober, take heed of being drunk with the love of the world, lest ye fall into temptation.

(4) Be always upon your guard, watch against Satan’s wiles and subtleties. ‘Be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about.’ I Pet 5: 8. A Christian must excubias agere, keep watch and ward; he must see where Satan labours to make a breach, see what grace he most strikes at, or what sin he most tempts to. ‘I say unto all, Watch.’ Mark 13: 37. Watch all the senses, the eye, the ear, the touch; for Satan can creep in by these. Oh, how needful is the spiritual watch! Shall Satan be watchful, and we drowsy? Does he watch to devour us, and shall not we watch to save ourselves? Let us see what sin our heart most naturally inclines to, and watch against it.

(5) Beware of idleness. Satan sows most of his seed in fallow ground. It was Jerome’s counsel to his friend to be ever busied, that if the devil did come, he might find him working in the vineyard. Idleness tempts the devil to tempt. The bird that sits still is shot. He that wants employment never wants temptation. When a man has nothing to do, Satan will bring grist to the mill, and find him work enough.

(6) Make known thy case to some godly friend. Hiding a serpent in the bosom is not the way to be safe; when the old serpent has got into your bosom by temptation, do not hide him there by keeping his counsel. If a spark be got into the thatch, it is not wisdom to conceal it, it may set the house on fire. Conceal not temptation. Keeping secrets is for familiar friends: be not so great a friend to Satan as to keep his secrets. Reveal your temptations, which is the way to procure others’ prayers and advice; let all see that you are not true to Satan’s party, because you tell all his plots and reveal his treasons. Besides, telling your case to some experienced Christian, is the way to have ease; as the opening of a vein gives ease, so the opening of your case to a friend will give ease to the soul, and temptation will not so much inflame.

(7) Make use of the word. This the apostle calls the ’sword of the Spirit,’ a fit weapon with which to fight against the tempter. Eph 6: 17. This ’sword of the Spirit’ is gladius anceps, a two-edged sword: it wounds carnal lust and it wounds Satan. He who travels a road where there is robbing will be sure to ride with his sword; we are travelling to heaven, and in this road there is a thief who always besets us in every place where we go. He meets us at church, he does not miss a sermon, he will be tempting us there; sometimes to drowsiness: when any sleep at sermon, the devil rocks them; sometimes he tempts by distracting the mind in hearing, sometimes he tempts by questioning the truth of what is heard. He tempts in the shop to use collusion and deceit. ‘The balances of deceit are in his hand.’ Hos 12: 7. Thus we meet with the tempter everywhere; therefore, this thief being in the road, we had need ride with a sword; we must have the ’sword of the Spirit’ about us. We must have skill to use this sword, and have a heart to draw it out, and it will put the devil to flight. Thus when Satan tempted our blessed Saviour to distrust and blasphemy, he used a Scripture weapon, ‘It is written.’ Three times he wounded the old serpent with this sword. Christ, with his power and authority, could have rebuked the prince of the air as he did the winds; but he stopped the devil’s mouth with Scripture, ‘It is written.’ It is not our vows and resolutions that will do it, it is not the Papist’s holy water or charms that will drive away the devil; but let us bring the word of God against him: this is an argument that he cannot answer. It was a saying of Luther, ‘I have had great troubles of mind; but so soon as I laid hold on any place of Scripture, and stayed myself upon it as upon my chief anchor, straightway my temptations vanished away.’ There is no temptation but we have fit Scripture to answer it. If Satan tempts to Sabbath-breaking, answer him, ‘“It is written, Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.”’ If he tempts to uncleanness, answer him, ‘“It is written, whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”’ If he tempts to carnal fear, say, ‘“It is written, Fear not them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do.”’ No such way to confute temptation as by Scripture; the arrows we shoot against Satan must be fetched out of this quiver. Many people want this sword of the Spirit, they have not a Bible; others seldom make use of it, but let it rust; they seldom look into it — no wonder, therefore, they are overcome by temptations. He who is well skilled in the word is like one who has a plaister ready to lay upon the wound as soon as it is made, and so the danger is prevented. O study the Scripture, and you will be too hard for the devil; he cannot stand against this.