There is a vast difference between “falling into temptation” (or “enduring temptation,” as in James 1:2,122My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (James 1:2)
12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12)), on the one hand, and “entering into temptation” (Matt. 26:4141Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)), on the other. We should be clear in our souls as to this difference, for as the one is blessed, the other is the utmost possible danger for the soul. There is nothing more strengthening than to “endure temptation”; nothing more perilous than to “enter into” it. The wording is similar, and we might easily slur over the difference. But the contrast is complete, for in the one case it is an honor that God puts upon us, and in the other a snare that Satan presents to us.
Which of these two things do we know best? How far do our souls know what it is to fall into various temptations, or to endure temptation? Blessed are we if we do, for falling into temptation or enduring it is that in which God delights. In Genesis 22 we find that Abraham was in a condition in which God could try him, and He loves our being in such a condition. But this is not so unless we are governed by the sense of the presence of God, and the flesh is judged.
Not Enduring
Salvation is not merely an incomparable favor that God has shown to us in our need, but it is inseparable from the dealing with self in the presence of God, and so much so that where this is not learned at the beginning, it must be more painfully taught in the course. And then what dishonor to God! How grieving to His Spirit! Such failure, to teach us what we are, is not enduring temptation, nor is it in the least the same as God’s trying us. In such a state the Lord has rather to buffet us for our faults, as those who bear the name of the Lord Jesus in an uncomely way.
How grievous that those who have such a salvation should so little have used it to deal with self, the most hateful of all things to God! There is nothing so bad as self, yet this is the very thing that every one of us carries with us. The question now is, How far has grace acted upon our souls to lead us to judge it fully in the presence of God? Where this is the case, the Lord can try us, that is, He can put us to the proof by what is not at all a question of evil, because God does not tempt by evil any more than He is tempted by evil things.
Abraham
When God asked Abraham to give up his only son, this was not evil, but a most blessed trial. It was proving whether Abraham had such perfect confidence in God that he would give up the object that was dearest to him, in whom were centered all the promises of God. And by grace Abraham could. Of course, he did it with the perfect certainty that if Isaac were then to die, God would raise him up, for Abraham perfectly well knew, before the sacrifice was asked, that Isaac was to be the child of promise. It was therefore really the good of God’s own heart that was reflected in what He asked of Abraham’s heart, and Abraham was brought into greater communion with God in that which was the counterpart of the gift of His own Son.
Just so it is with the trials by which God is pleased to try us. It is a proof of the greatest confidence on God’s part if there is in us such a groundwork of walking before God that He can try us with something that is like Himself — some prize to give up, some suffering to endure in grace — whatever it may be that is according to His own mind. It is in this sense that temptation is spoken of in James 1:2,122My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (James 1:2)
12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12).
After this (James 1:13,1513Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (James 1:13)
15Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15)), we immediately turn to temptation spoken of in a bad sense, and this connects itself with Matthew 26:4141Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41). Both are words of great importance for our souls. The Lord had looked for His disciples to watch with Him. He says to them, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation,” for it is not any power conferred by the Spirit of God that keeps (even though He is the Spirit of power); it is not energy which keeps, but dependence; it is the sense of weakness that watches and prays, and thus has the power of Christ resting on us. His strength is made perfect in weakness.
The greater our knowledge of the Word of God, the greater our need of watching and prayer.
There is nothing that so tends, where it is severed from Christ, to destroy dependence as a large knowledge of the Word of God. The greater our knowledge of the Word of God, where it is separated from the sense of utter weakness, and consequently from the need of watching and praying, the greater the danger. This is a solemn warning for our souls. There may be plenty of knowledge of Scripture and of what is called intelligence of truth, but do our souls keep up this sense of our weakness and need and the expression of it to God? “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.”
The Will at Work
What does our Lord mean by “entering into temptation”? It is the will going into a place where nothing but a judged will, leaning on Him, can be kept; that is, the will goes in where failure is inevitable, just because it is the will at work. So Peter himself soon proved. Peter went where he could not stand, unless the Lord had called and kept him by faith. He entered into temptation and fell. He would have endured, had he gone in by grace, obedience, watching and praying, instead of trusting in his own willingness to die for his Master. When our Lord says, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak,” He is looking at nature in man, and nature is incapable of such a trial. None but God can sustain, and therefore it would require God’s will expressed in His Word to lead us rightly into such a scene of temptation, and His grace sustaining in faith to keep us in it.
It would have been an abomination in Abraham to sacrifice his son, unless God had spoken the word. But faith, where self is judged, strengthens the soul to endure temptation. We do not enter into temptation where we abide in dependence and self-judgment. Then when we fall into various temptations, we count it all joy, and as we did not enter of our own will, so we do not fall in them, but by grace endure.
The Lord give us to watch and pray, so much the more because He has blessed us with such a knowledge of His Word and of Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ.
W. Kelly (adapted)