1 Corinthians 10:13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful… I. TEMPTATION COMES TO ALL. It came to the writer of this Epistle, to all the apostles, to Christ himself. It has come to the great and good in all ages, as well as to the insignificant and evil. It will come to us. The conditions of our life on earth make it unavoidable. It must not be regarded as indicative of Divine disfavour or as an evil altogether. The salutary effect of the hour of temptation has often been shown in the hour after temptation. Many who have fallen "into manifold temptations" have been led to "count it all joy" (James 1:2). II. TO BE TEMPTED IS NOT TO SIN. We need to remember this. Some sensitive natures conclude that they must be very sinful because they are so much tempted, whereas multiplicity of temptation is often rather an evidence of faithfulness and integrity. The strongest attacks are made upon the strongest forts. Satan does not waste his ammunition. He would not be so earnestly seeking to capture us if we were already completely his captives. Repeated temptation argues the existence of resistance. Sin is consent to the temptation. Where there is no acquiescence there is no sin. The greatly tempted Christ was the perfectly sinless Christ. III. TEMPTATION IS NOT COMPULSION. Some dread temptation, because they think it will force them to that which is evil. But since the world was, no man has ever been compelled to commit a single sin. Satan has no power of compulsion. Indeed, to be "compelled to sin" involves a contradiction in terms; if we are compelled, there can be no sin. We could not be responsible if we were under compulsion. Temptation at its strongest is only inducement. Satan said to Christ, "Cast thyself down;" he can say no mere to us; he cannot cast us down. Here the responsibility of sin comes in. Every sin that we commit is voluntary. We do it - no one else. IV. GOD'S GRACIOUS PROVISION FOR HIS TEMPTED PEOPLE. 1. He will not allow them to be unduly tempted. Our temptations are under his control. His eye is upon us whilst we are tempted. His hand is stretched out. His voice says, "Thus far." Though he never tempts us in an evil sense, every temptation is weighed by him before it reaches us. He is faithful to his covenant with believers (1 Thessalonians 5:24). 2. He will provide the appropriate means for dealing with the temptation. A "way of escape," not necessarily from the temptation, but from the peril of it. As with Job, Daniel, Paul (2 Corinthians 12:8, 9). "The way of escape" as it should be rendered - the precise way in which the temptation should be received, borne, resisted. This way of escape comes with the temptation: when the temptation comes, this comes also; to the true believer the two are inseparable. With the sickness comes the cure, with the shaft the shield. In temptation we should look to God; from him cometh our help. When the enemy comes in like a flood, he lifts up the standard against him. The promise is only to those who are in alliance with God. Others go down under temptation, not because they are compelled, but because to the invitation from without there is a quick response from within. We should enter into covenant with God through Christ; then we shall be in his hands who can "keep us from falling" and who will. - H. Parallel Verses KJV: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. |
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