{"id":4270,"date":"2009-03-25T23:17:33","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T03:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/april2009\/?p=93"},"modified":"2009-03-25T23:17:33","modified_gmt":"2009-03-26T03:17:33","slug":"matthew-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/2009\/03\/25\/matthew-41\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 4:1"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be<br \/>\n       tempted of the devil.&#8221;<br \/>\n              &#8212; Matthew 4:1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A holy character does not avert temptation-Jesus was tempted. When<br \/>\nSatan tempts us, his sparks fall upon tinder; but in Christ&#8217;s case, it<br \/>\nwas like striking sparks on water; yet the enemy continued his evil<br \/>\nwork. Now, if the devil goes on striking when there is no result, how<br \/>\nmuch more will he do it when he knows what inflammable stuff our hearts<br \/>\nare made of. Though you become greatly sanctified by the Holy Ghost,<br \/>\nexpect that the great dog of hell will bark at you still. In the haunts<br \/>\nof men we expect to be tempted, but even seclusion will not guard us<br \/>\nfrom the same trial. Jesus Christ was led away from human society into<br \/>\nthe wilderness, and was tempted of the devil. Solitude has its charms<br \/>\nand its benefits, and may be useful in checking the lust of the eye and<br \/>\nthe pride of life; but the devil will follow us into the most lovely<br \/>\nretreats. Do not suppose that it is only the worldly-minded who have<br \/>\ndreadful thoughts and blasphemous temptations, for even<br \/>\nspiritual-minded persons endure the same; and in the holiest position<br \/>\nwe may suffer the darkest temptation. The utmost consecration of spirit<br \/>\nwill not insure you against Satanic temptation. Christ was consecrated<br \/>\nthrough and through. It was his meat and drink to do the will of him<br \/>\nthat sent him: and yet he was tempted! Your hearts may glow with a<br \/>\nseraphic flame of love to Jesus, and yet the devil will try to bring<br \/>\nyou down to Laodicean lukewarmness. If you will tell me when God<br \/>\npermits a Christian to lay aside his armour, I will tell you when Satan<br \/>\nhas left off temptation. Like the old knights in war time, we must<br \/>\nsleep with helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the arch-deceiver<br \/>\nwill seize our first unguarded hour to make us his prey. The Lord keep<br \/>\nus watchful in all seasons, and give us a final escape from the jaw of<br \/>\nthe lion and the paw of the bear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.&#8221; &#8212; Matthew 4:1 A holy character does not avert temptation-Jesus was tempted. When Satan tempts us, his sparks fall upon tinder; but in Christ&#8217;s case, it was like striking sparks on water; yet the enemy continued his evil&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}