They Were Tempted

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Hebrews 11:37-38

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins…

I. THE UNIVERSAL TRUTH OF THE STATEMENT. It is not true that all the saints were scourged, nor all imprisoned, neither were all stoned, nor all slain with the sword, but it is true that they were all tempted. The word "tempted" bears two meanings; first of all, that of being tried or afflicted; and secondly, that of being enticed to sin. In the first aspect of it God did tempt Abraham, that is, He tried him; and this He does with all His people. God had one Son without sin, but He never had a son without trial. Count it not therefore a strange thing that you should have a cross to carry. As for the other sense of the word "tempt," the bad and hard one, in that sense also the statement is universally true. All the people of God have been tempted to sin. Satan no sooner perceives a child of God renewed in heart than he endeavours to mar the work of the Holy Spirit, to ruin the happiness of the believer, and to weaken his usefulness by leading him into sin. The world is always tempting God's people, and there is no position in life which is free from peril. Whether our path be rough or smooth we are liable to be tripped up unless a hand unseen shall hold us up. This is true of all who have gone before us .... they were tempted." At times Providence permits those who are in authority to exercise great power of temptation. So it was with the saints of old: those who were in power accounted them as sheep for the slaughter. But if there were no devil and no wicked world it would still be true that the saints were tempted, for every man is tempted when he is "drawn away of his own lust, and enticed"; and there is that within the best of men which might make them into the worst of men if the grace of God did not prevent. This fact that all the saints have been tempted should put an end to all murmuring upon that score. Somebody says, "Mine is a hard lot; I have to follow Christ under great disadvantages. My foes are those of my own household." Yes, your lot may be hard, but if you could just peep within the pearly gates and see that brilliant company, who are the peers of the realm of heaven, you would see none but those who once were tempted. Dare you demand a better lot than theirs?

II. THE UNLIMITED BREADTH OF THE STATEMENT. "They were tempted": it does not say how. If one form of temptation had been mentioned, we should have surmised that they did not suffer in other ways, but when the statement is, "they were tempted," we shall not be wrong in concluding that they were tried in any and every form. Whatever form temptation may take, in some or in all the saints, that temptation has been endured. We may say of Christ's mystical body as we may say of Christ's self — "tempted in all points like as we are." The saints who are in heaven were tempted in all ways. They were tempted by threats, but they were equally tempted by promises. They were equally deaf to either form of solicitation: they could not be driven, and they could not be drawn; however the net might be spread they could not be taken in it. They have been tempted in subtlest fashion: reason and rhetoric, threat and scorn, bribe and blandishment, have all been used, and used in vain. They were tempted both with trials peculiar to themselves, and with trials common to us all.

III. THE SPECIAL POINT OF THE TRIAL. All these temptations, according to the connection of our text, were aimed at the faith of these holy men. Let us see to it that we become strong in faith, for that is true strength. Feed your faith well. Know the truth, and know it thoroughly. Read the Scriptures, and understand them. Make sure of the eternal verities. Live much upon the promises of future bliss. The sorrows of the way will grow light as the eternal weight of glory is revealed.

IV. THE INTENSITY OF THIS TRIAL. That I gather from the position of our text, which is very strange. The more we think of it the more we shall see that being tempted is worthy to be put side by side with being sawn asunder, and being slain with the sword; for many of those who are daily tormented with temptations will tell you that it is as painful to bear as any form of death. I want to answer the question which naturally arises — Why then does God permit His people to encounter so much temptation? Why is the road to heaven so beset with foes? The Lord answers many designs at one and the same time.

1. Persecution and temptation are a sort of sieve, to sift the Church of God. There must be these fiery persecutions, that the drossy hypocrites may be purged out.

2. Trial and temptation also discover the reality of conversion. Now the fact that he can stand against temptation is one of the very best evidences that he is born again and made a new creature in Christ Jesus; and those who see such a change confess that this is the finger of God.

3. Again, it is by this that men are left without excuse, inasmuch as they refuse the light. I sometimes wonder why ungodly men cannot let Christian people alone. But no; the moment a Christian appears among working men they are all upon him as though they were so many dogs worrying a hare. What does this show but that they know the truth and hate it? They know the light, but would fain quench it, and therefore they put from them the candle which God sends to them. This leaves the ungodly altogether without excuse; it is God's purpose that it should do so. Meanwhile it does saints good; for painful as it is to them, it drives them to prayer. Many a man lives near to God in prayer who would not have done so if he had enjoyed an easier position. His prayerfulness strengthens him; trial makes him grow in faith and in every grace, and he becomes a better Christian. I believe that persecution is overruled by God for displaying the work of the Divine Spirit. Men see in Christian patience, in Christian courage, and in Christian zeal what the Holy Ghost can work even in such poor raw material as our human nature is. God is magnified by the successful struggling of His people out of love to His name. Moreover the life of the Church is the life of Christ extended and drawn out in His people. It seems to me the trials and the temptations of this life are all making us fit for the life to come — building up a character for eternity.

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