1 Corinthians 10:13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful… 1. St. Paul was writing from Asia to Europe. Many things divide us: time and place, rank and worth, age and country, and yet, in Christ, all may be one; and St. Paul can write, under the shadow of Diana, to dwellers in another idolatrous city, and touch a chord to which their hearts vibrate as one, because Christ is the theme, and the Spirit of Christ the inspiration. And that theme and that inspiration enables us to read, as if written to us, this ancient Greek epistle, though Ephesus and Corinth have passed away. 2. And there is yet another thought in this obliteration in Christ of all natural distances and differences. Mark how St. Paul freshens into new life the old histories of the Bible — makes these Corinthians see in Israelite wanderings the type of all human wanderings and in Israelite judgments the history of the dangers and catastrophes of their own. Such is the setting of my text. 3. Temptation is another word for trial. It is exploration. It is the probing or the sifting which shows what is in us, how much and what kind of natural or acquired evil — how much, if any, of the grace of God's Holy Spirit, sought and cherished by prayer. 4. Though St. Paul would have us be serious, he would not have us to be despondent, and therefore he adds three words of encouragement about this life of trial. I. DO NOT IMAGINE THAT YOU ARE ALONE IN THIS EXPERIENCE. YOUR TEMPTATION IS QUITE COMMON. Every physician of the soul knows it perfectly well. 1. There is consolation even in the sympathy of faith. It is no selfishness, it is nature as God made it, to find comfort in the fellowship of suffering. On this principle, in part, the Cross was uplifted. "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them." If you could place yourself in imagination among the first readers of this letter, you might have said to yourself, "I live here in a city wholly given to idolatry. My own house — wife or husband, sister or mother — scoffs at my faith in Jesus, and threatens me with excommunication if I confess it. How can St. Paul tell me that I am under no temptation but the commonest of all? "But when we turn to our own life, with Christians all around, ought we not to say, "I, at all events, cannot call myself exceptionally tempted." 2. Yet there is not one who has not some imaginations of a peculiarity in his own temptation. One says, "If my disposition were but passionate instead of being sullen!" Or, "If my snare were only temper instead of being the flesh!" Or, "If I had but a parent who could feel with me, or a husband who was helpful, it would be so much easier to be a Christian! But as things are with me, there is a force in my temptation which is not common at all." 3. Now let this message straight from God weigh with you in this matter. "Depend upon it," St. Paul says, "there is more of equality than you reckon in the spiritual circumstances of God's creatures. Temptation is not so disproportioned as you, in your own little instance, may imagine, and if you knew all you would admit it." II. ST. PAUL AFFIRMS THAT, IF IT WERE NOT SO, THERE WOULD BE A BREACH OF ENGAGEMENT, where we are quite certain there cannot be, IN GOD HIMSELF. 1. If God did suffer this, He would not be faithful. It is like St. John saying, "God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." There is nothing in the religion of nature which binds God to forgive sin, or to so temper temptation as to make Him unjust if He did not do so. But the gospel, which is God's covenant in Christ, has introduced new equities; God has promised salvation; therefore all things that accompany it, strength as the day, and a Fatherly hand so guiding that all shall work together for good. It cannot work for good that a man should be overpowered with evil; therefore the promise that the temptation shall be coerced into an exact adaptation to the strength given, i.e., grace, is involved in the promise that faith shalt save. 2. What a serious hue does this give to being tempted! With many of us it is a light thing. It is but to sin and be sorry, and all will be well again. St. Paul assumes the terribleness of sin, and says that God Himself would be unfaithful if He left you to it. III. THE TEMPTATION COMES, BUT WITH A WAY TO ESCAPE. "The exit" — "the way out." 1. It may have happened to one of you, on some dull November evening, to find yourself surprised by a sudden transition from twilight to darkness. You have been, perhaps, in a meadow, surrounded by woods. There was one little wicket gate somewhere, but you could not find it. You went round and round the enclosure, but the light was gone, and you might remain there till morning. Accident or Providence at last guided you to it; and then you could understand what St. Paul means — the one way out which makes all the difference between a hopeless entanglement and a remediable perplexity. 2. There is a moment in every temptation when God makes the exit. There is a pause between the suggestion and the execution of every wrong thing, which leaves room for escape. An angry retort is upon your tongue: it need not become articulate. A passionate impulse is upon you: you need not strike. A sinful desire is in your heart: you need not take that turn which will lead you by the house of danger. When lust conceives it bringeth forth sin; but it takes time.Conclusion: 1. If no temptation is above the common, away with our excuses for being what we are. 2. If God adapts the temptation to the strength, you must pray. It is not the strength of nature, but the strength of grace. 3. When temptation is upon you, look out for the way of escape. It is there: take heed that you miss it not. God makes it: it is yours to watch for it, and not to lose it. (Dean Vaughan.) 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. |
    |