46 Sermon Illustrations on Temptation

Jesus had been in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights without food. He must have been extremely hungry when Satan approached Him! Always expect Satan to tempt you in your weakest moments. He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread" (Matthew 4:3). Jesus failed to respond to this temptation, so Satan attempted pride (Matthew 4:6). With another failure Satan "upped the ante" and offered Jesus greater THINGS than food; He offered the world. He said, "all these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9). With this statement, Satan finally arrived at the real issue: "Fall down and worship ME." All sin stripped of its glamour and laid bare is the dethroning of God to make some THING (living or non-living), a god. Satan can offer you only THINGS; nothing more. Jesus offers you abundant life; life to its fullest (John 10:10). The life Jesus offers you has promises for both the present life and the life to come (1 Timothy 4:8). People are foolish. They look for life and peace in THINGS, but Jesus says that you can have life and peace and joy with or without things (Matt. 5-7). Paul accepted what Jesus had to offer and said of himself, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:12-13). THINGS cannot bring life and happiness because they are temporary. Only a foolish person spends his life acquiring THINGS to the neglecting of the life Jesus offers. Jesus once told of such a man (Luke 12:16-21). The man acquired so many "things" that he had to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. With a sigh of relief, he said, "Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:19). "But God said of you: then whose shall those THINGS be which you have provided?" (Luke 12:20). THINGS have an end but ETERNAL LIFE is forever. The THINGS Satan offers you are in no way certain because he is a liar. Jesus says, "There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). Satan cannot offer you anything without telling a lie. On the other hand, Jesus is TRUTH (John 14:6). Jesus cannot promise you anything that He will not or cannot fulfill. Just as Satan offered Jesus ALL THESE THINGS, he offers them to you today. Are you accepting his offer? If your day-by-day life is consumed in acquiring THINGS, you have accepted. Satan is saying to you, "ALL THESE THINGS WILL I GIVE YOU" but I believe Jesus' estimation of Satan. You are being lied to!

At an evangelistic meeting someone was converted. The next day one who was at the meeting saw the newly converted man put his hand into a chicken coop. "Say," called the older Christian, "I thought you were converted last night." Of course, it was evident that he was about to steal a chicken. His answer was, "I was converted sir, certainly I am, but I am just trying out the strength of my resolution." The wise reply of the older Christian was, "It is safer to fight Satan on your own ground than on his."

"The man set his house on fire, he is liable to the law; if it be fired by others, or by an ill accident, he is pitied and relieved." We are to take up our cross when laid upon our shoulders by God's providence; but we are not to make trouble for ourselves. We are not to fill our own cup with gall and wormwood, but to drink it off when God puts a bitter draught into our hand. We are to meet temptation and overcome it; but we may not venture into temptation on our own account, or we may have to rue our foolhardiness. The figure of the burning house is a very apt one, and capable of many illustrations. A man who partakes of wine or strong liquors wilfully fires his own house, and, whatever may be the result of his intemperance, he can only blame himself. He who reads sceptical works, or frequents infidel society, cannot be pitied if he loses faith and comfort, for he runs a wanton and useless risk. To be taken at unawares by a fierce temptation, is to be like a building fired by a malicious hand, and this is a grievous calamity; but to go wilfully into temptation is another matter, and is comparable to the crime of arson, in which a man collects combustible materials and secretly kindles them, that his house may be burned down. Lord, evermore keep me from being my own destroyer. Let me not, like Absalom, grow my hair for my own hanging. "Let not any iniquity have dominion over me."

A poor man who fell into bad habits, on being rescued, reformed, and converted, often spoke of himself as a "brand plucked from the burning." "What do you mean by that?" asked one of his former associates. "Come, go with us, and have one more drink."

"Look here!" answered the man. "You know there is a difference between a brand and a green stick. If a spark fall on a brand that has been partly burned, it will soon catch fire again. Not so with a green stick. I tell you I am that brand plucked out of the fire; and I dare not venture into the way of temptation for fear of being set on fire again."

Cires is fabled to have dwelt in a palace embowered in the Ææon Isle. There were flowers, music, and many attractions. Whoever came to her, she by her powerful magic changed into lions, tigers, wolves, swine, or some of the various kinds of animals, till her grounds were thronged with them. She first feasted her guests with delicacies, and gave them wine, and then touched them with her wand, and transformed them. Such is the influence of the strange woman, of wine, or of sin in any form.

The African leopard catches and destroys the antelope through an appeal to this animal's curiosity. Concealing himself in the long grass, or among the leaves of green branches fallen, or trailing on the ground, he awaits the approach of his intended victim. He knows that curiosity is a weakness of the antelope; and, when the graceful creature comes near the cunning foe, he stirs the green covering, which attracts the closer inspection of the antelope. In another moment, the leopard springs upon the incautious visitor, and lays the bleeding carcass at his feet. We are reminded, almost daily, of this artful destroyer by the folly and ruin of a wicked and dangerous curiosity among men.

As apothecaries cover their pills with some sweet substance, to make them go down easier; so the Devil, under the sport and pleasure of dances, maketh men to swallow lustful desires; and if they proceed to no greater iniquity, yet this is a mortal wound to the soul, accursed in the sight of God. Cairdray.

As a pile of small dry wood is quickly kindled, and flames out mightily, so lust is greatly provoked by rioting, banqueting, and continual pampering of the body, and by the absence of lawful and honest exercise, giving it to idleness, sloth, and ease.

— Cawdray

A young man who had been prayerfully trained came to the city to enter a place of business. His fellow-clerks invited him to join in their pleasures and pastimes. For a time, he resisted; but at length he thought he would go to the theatre, only once, just to please his friends, and see what a theatre was. The Devil was the switch-tender that night; and the course of that young man subsequently lay through the paths of extravagance, gambling, shame, and the grave. Hoven.

Mr. Pullen, a farmer in Africa, watched a snake in the water, which had fixed its eye upon a frog sitting amongst the grass on the bank. The frog, though greatly alarmed, seemed unable to stir, until Mr. Pullen gradually pushed a rush growing near, so that it intervened between the eye of the snake and its intended victim; when the frog, as if suddenly liberated, darted away. Mr. Pullen's ideas were in accordance with the popular notion that the snake has the power of exercising some mesmeric or other influence through the steady fixing of its eye; and whatever intercepts this gaze breaks the charm, and sets the prisoner free. Ellis.

It is said that Napoleon once ordered a coat of mail. When the artisan completed it, he delivered it to the emperor, who ordered him to put it on to himself. Then Napoleon, taking a pistol, fired shot after shot at the man in armor. It stood this severe test; and the emperor bestowed upon the maker a large reward.

We read a story of a virtuous lady that desired of St. Athanasius to procure for her, out of the number of the widows fed from the ecclesiastical corban, an old woman, morose, peevish, and impatient, that she might, by the society of so ungentle a person, have often occasion to exercise her patience, her forgiveness, and charity. I know not how well the counsel succeeded with her: I am sure it was not very safe. And to invite the trouble, to triumph over it, is to wage a war of an uncertain issue, for no end but to get the pleasures of the victory, which oftentimes do not pay for the trouble, never for the danger. Ep. Taylor.

Temptations are enemies outside the castle, seeking entrance. If there be no false retainer within who holds treacherous parley, there can scarcely be even an offer. No one would make overtures to a bolted door or a dead wall. It is some face at the window that invites proffer. The violence of temptation addressed to us is only another way of expressing the violence of the desire within us. It costs nothing to reject what we do not wish; and the struggle required to overcome temptation measures the strength in us of the temptable element. Men ought not to say, "How powerfully the Devil tempts!" but, "How strongly I am tempted!" Beecher.

As a founder when he has cast a bell, does not at once fix it in the stoeple, but first tries it with his hammer, to see if there be any flaw; so God tries his saints on earth before he takes them to heaven. Bowes.

St. Anthony of Alexandria was left great riches, a noble name, and an only sister. He felt himself called to a hermit-life, sold his possessions, distributed the money to the poor, and, staff in hand, hastened to the desert. Here he dwelt for some time in great sanctity and rigid self-denial; and, observing the lives of the hermits around him, he thought to attain perfection by imitating from each the virtue for which he was most distinguished, — the chastity of one, the humility of another, the silent devotion of a third. He would pray with him who prayed, fasted with him who mortified his body, and mingled contrite tears with him who wept. Thus he united in himself all their various merits, and became, even in his youth, an object of admiration and wonder and reverence to all. But the sight of such amazing virtue and sanctity was naturally displeasing to the enemy of mankind, who had sagacity enough to foresee that the example of this admirable saint would lessen his own power in the world, and deprive him of many votaries: therefore he singled him out as an object of especial persecution, and gave him over to his demons to be tormented in every possible way. They began by whispering to him in the silence of his cell, of all that he had sacrificed for this weary life of perpetual rigor and self-denial; they brought to mind his noble birth, his riches, and all that riches could obtain, — delicate food, rich clothing, social delights. They pictured to him the fatigue of virtue, the fragility of his own frame, the brevity of human life; and they sang to him in sweetest accents, "While thou livest, enjoy the good things which have been provided for thee." The saint endeavored to drown these promptings of the Devil in the voice of prayer. He prayed till the drops stood on his brow; and at length the demon ceased to whisper to him, but only to have recourse to stronger weapons: for, seeing that wicked suggestions availed not, Satan raised up in his sight the sensible images of forbidden things. He clothed his demons in human forms; they spread before Anthony a table covered with delicious viands; they hovered round him in the shape of beautiful women, who, with the softest blandishments, allured him to sin. The saint strove against this temptation with all his might, and prayed and conquered. But, in his anguish, he resolved to flee yet farther from men and from the world; and, leaving the company of the hermits, travelled far, far away into the burning desert, and took up his abode in a cave, whither, as he hoped, Satan would not follow to molest him. He fasted more rigorously than ever; ate but once a day, or once in two or three days; slept on the bare earth, and refused to look upon any living creature. But not for this did the cruel demon relax in his persecution. As he had already tried in vain the allurements of appetite and pleasure, so now he thought to subdue the saint by the influence of pain. Spirits in hideous forms pressed round him in crowds, scourged him, tore him with their talons, chased him from his cell; and one of the hermits he had left behind, who was wont to carry him food, found him lying on the sands senseless, apparently dead. Then he flung down the food he had brought; and, taking the miserable sufferer in his arms, he carried him to one of the cells, where, after a long time, he was restored to his senses and recollection. But no sooner had Anthony opened his eyes, and beheld around him his sympathizing brethren, than he closed them again, and desired to be taken back to his cave; which was done, and they laid him on the ground and left him. And Anthony cried out, and defied the demon, saying, "Hail thou Arch-Tempter! didst thou think I had fled? lo, here I am again, I, Anthony! I challenge all thy malice; I spit on thee; I have strength to combat still!" When he had said these words, the cavern shook; and Satan, rendered furious by his discomfiture, called up his fiends, and said, "Let us now affright him with all the terrors that can overwhelm the soul of man." Then hideous sounds were heard; lions, tigers, wolves, dragons, serpents, scorpions, all shapes of horror, "worse than fancy ever feigned, or fear conceived," came roaring, howling, hissing, shrieking, in his ears; scaring him, stunning him: but, in the midst of these abominable and appalling shapes and sounds, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light, which fell upon Anthony, and all these terrors vanished at once; and he arose unhurt, and strong to endure. And he said, looking up, "O Lord Jesus Christ! where wert thou in those moments of anguish?" And Christ replied in a mild and tender voice, "Anthony, I was here beside thee, and rejoiced to see thee contend and overcome. Be of good heart; for I will make thy name famous through all the world." So he was comforted; but he resolved to go yet farther from all human intercourse, all human aid. And he took his staff and wandered forth, and, as he traversed the desert, he saw heaps of gold, and vases of silver, lying in his path; but he knew full well they were the delusions of Satan: he would not look upon them, but turned his eyes away, and, lo! they dissolved into air.

One night, as St. Dunstan was working at his forge, the most terrible howls and cries were heard to proceed from his cell. The Devil, as he related, had visited him in the form of a beautiful woman, and endeavored to tempt him from his holy work. He seized the disguised demon by the nose with his red-hot tongs, which caused him to roar with pain, and to flee discomfited.

— Mrs. Jameson

Any thing else were the height of rashness. Who sleeps by a magazine of gunpowder needs to take care even of sparks; who walks on slippery ice, let him not go star-gazing, but look to his feet, and take care of falling. Whatever provokes sin, though beautiful as Bathsheba; what is in its nature calculated, and by the cunning fiend intended, to draw us into transgression,—is a danger against which we cannot be too much upon our guard. Though in themselves innocent, pleasures are sought at too great hazard that grow on dizzy crag, or among the grass where adders creep, or in the folly crevice of stone tottering wall, or on the brink of a swollen flood. Dr. Guthrie.

Not to be tempted of the Devil is the greatest temptation out of hell. The Devil's war is better than the Devil's peace. Carnal hypocrisy is a dumb and silent thing; but it is terrible to be carried to hell without any noise of feet. The wheels of Satan's chariot are sometimes oiled with carnal rest; and then they go without rattling or noise.

Gotthold saw a bee flutter for a while around a pot of honey, and at last light upon it, intending to feast to its heart's content. It, however, fell in, and, being besucared in every limb, miserably perished. On this he mused, and said, "It is the same with temporal prosperity, and that abundance of wealth, honor, and pleasure, which are sought for by the world as greedily as honey is by the bee. A bee is a happy creature so long as it is assiduously occupied in gathering honey from the flowers, and by slow degrees accumulating a store of it. When, however, it meets with a hoard like this, it knows not what to do, and is betrayed into ruin."

died years ago, but is to put to 600-1. WEALTH, Unhappiness of. The name of Cræsus, the fifth and last King of Lydia, who reigned five hundred fifty-seven years before Christ, is become a proverb to describe the possession of immense riches. When Solon, the legislator of Athens, and one of the most celebrated of the ancient sages of Greece, came to Sardis, where Cræsus held his court, he was received in a manner suitable to the reputation of so great a man. The king, attended by his courtiers, appeared in all his regal pomp and splendor, dressed in the most magnificent apparel. Solon, however, did not discover surprise or admiration. This coldness and indifference astonished and displeased the king; who next ordered that all his treasures, his magnificent apartments, and costly furniture, his diamonds, statues, and paintings, should be shown to the philosopher. When Solon had seen all, he was brought back to the king, who asked whether he had ever beheld a happier man than he. "Yes," replied Solon, — "one Tellus, a plain but worthy citizen of Athens, who lived all his days above indigence, saw his country in a flourishing condition, had children who were universally esteemed, and, having had the satisfaction of seeing those children's children, died gloriously fighting for his country." Such an answer, in which gold and silver were accounted as nothing, seemed to Cræsus to indicate a strange ignorance and stupidity. However, as he flattered himself with being ranked in the second degree of happiness, he asked him whether, after Tellus, he knew another happier man. Solon answered, "Cleobis and Biton of Argos, two brothers, perfect patterns of fraternal affection, and of the respect due from children to their parents. Upon a solemn festival, their mother, a priestess of Juno, was obliged to go to the temple; and, the oxen not being ready for her chariot, they put themselves in the harness, and drew it thither amidst the blessings of the people. Every mother present congratulated the priestess on the piety of her sons. She, in the transport of her joy and thankfulness, earnestly entreated the goddess to reward her children with the best thing that heaven could give to man. Her prayers were heard: when the sacrifice was over, they fell asleep in the temple, and there died in a soft and peaceful slumber." — "What, then!" exclaimed Cræsus, "you do not reckon me in the number of the happy?" — "King of Lydia," replied Solon, "true philosophy, considering what an infinite number of vicissitudes and accidents the life of man is liable to, does not allow us to glory in any prosperity we enjoy ourselves, or to admire happiness in others, which, perhaps, may prove only transient or superficial. No man can be esteemed happy but he whom heaven blesses with success to the last. For those who are perpetually exposed to dangers, we account their happiness as uncertain as the crown to a champion before the combat is determined." It was not long before Cræsus experienced the truth of what Solon had told him. Being defeated by Cyrus, King of Pernia, and his capital taken, he was himself taken prisoner, and, by order of the conqueror, laid bound upon a pile to be burnt alive. The unfortunate prince now recollected the admonition of the Athenian sage, and cried aloud, "O Solon, Solon, Solon!" Cyrus, who with the chief officers of his court was present, was curious to know why Cressus pronounced that name with so much vehemence. Being told the reason, and reflecting upon the uncertainty of all sublunary things, he was touched with commiseration, ordered the monarch to be taken from the pile, and treated him afterwards with honor and respect.

GOO5. WEALTH, Useless. An Arab once lost his way in the desert, and was in danger of dying from hunger. At last, he found one of the cisterns out of which the camels drink, and a little leather bag near it. "God be thanked!" exclaimed he. "Ah! here are some dates or nuts: let me refresh myself." He opened the bag, but only to turn away in disappointment. Alas! they were only pearls. What value were they to one who was, like Esau, "at the point to die"?

GOO6. WEALTH, Way to. The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, "industry and frugality;" that is waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and, with them, every thing. Franklin.

GOO7. WELL DOING, Conseless. As the sun never leaves off shining, though clouds sometimes obscure its light; so we must never cease to do well, even to our enemies and persecutors.

Goodray. GOO8. WELL DOING, Important. It was said of one of the emperors of Rome, that he was careful of what was done by him, but careless of what was said of him. Bradford says, "Do well and bear ill" is written upon the gates of heaven.

GOO9. WICKED, Danger of the. As a man cannot maintain himself upon the ice, or upon slippery shelving rocks; so the wicked glide swiftly yet surely to their ruin, while "hell from beneath is moved to meet them at their coming."

GO10. WICKED, End of the. Their frail vessels, though built of the best materials, yet corrupted by the worm of sin, being conveyed by the ebb of time down the smooth river of life, are now hurried beyond the bar of death into the fiery and unfathomable sea of divine wrath. In this most tempestuous ocean, tossed by the furious winds of Almighty indignation upon the raging billows of insupportable torment, they suffer a speedy and an eternal shipwreck. Dashed upon the rocks of ruin, or swallowed up in the gulf of despair, they are entirely lost; and not one broken piece of holiness or happiness remains, nor so much as a single plank of hope, upon which they may expect, though after millions of ages, to escape to some land of rest. But—

"The hopeless soul, Bound to the bottom of the flaming pool. Though loath, and ever loud blaspheming, owns 'Tis justly doomed to pour eternal groans; To talk to fiery tempests, and implore The raging flame to give its fury o'er; To writhe, to toss, to pant beneath its load, And bear the weight of an offended God.'

And now they have no sleepy opiates to make them forget for one moment their misery; no amusement to divert their attention from their intolerable pain; and no consolation left to lighten, in any degree, the dreadful weight of their sufferings. J. Benson.

There is an Oriental story which describes an enchanted hill, whose summit concealed an object of incomparable worth. It was offered as a prize to him who should ascend the hill without looking behind him; but whoever ventured to secure this treasure was told, that, if he did look backwards, he should be instantly changed into a stone. Many a princely youth, allured by the tempting prize, had ventured up that fatal hill; and as many had been changed into stones; for the adjacent groves were filled with most melodious voices, and with birds of sweetest song, whose bewitching strains and enticements followed each youth as he ascended, until he suffered his curiosity to control his hopes and fears, turned his head, and instantly became a stone. Hence, said the story, the hillside was covered with stones. To every young man, life is such an enchanted hill, with its thousands of alluring voices, and its unnumbered victims, who have listened to some fatal charmer, and have perished.

— Dr. Wise

Mr. Rumsey, a pious physician, speaking of his sinful infirmities, observed, "I have to lament the irritability of my temper in my old age." He had been fond of repeating a conversation which he had in the early part of his life with a pious friend. He observed to this

### 179. FRII

The Rev. Mr. Cushman, a missionary among the Choctaw Indians, in a letter, dated March, 1833, writes:—

That you may have a clear view of the trials and temptations to which the Christian Indians are exposed, I will relate one circumstance. A man in this neighborhood, who is very deaf, gave evidence of piety, and was received into the church. His example as to industry and Christian deportment was worthy of imitation; and his unblemished character no doubt rendered him a more desirable prey for the enemy. At length he was besieged by them, and every art and stratagem was made use of, till he finally parleyed with the tempter and drank a little. Their prey was taken. He finally drank till he became completely intoxicated. After he became sober, his wife, who appears to be truly pious, told him that they had professedly set out together in the road to heaven; that they had walked together for a while; but that he had now turned out in the road to hell. She told him further, that if he would continue to go on in that way, he must go alone, and they could walk together no more; for she could never leave the bright path that she had found. She then fell upon her knees, and prayed in the most melting fervent manner, for the soul of her poor husband. This touched his heart. He melted also, confessed his sin, and resolved never more to taste the accursed thing. After this he was again attacked by the enemy. He was requested to drink, but refused. It was urged that he had drank once, and he might as well drink again. He still refused. Finally, every thing was said that could be thought of to influence him to drink, but he stood firm. Having failed in all this, they seized him and held him fast, and forced whisky into his mouth, but as often as this was repeated, he ejected it without swallowing a drop. Finding all their efforts fail, one said, "This man has done nothing amiss, and he now takes all this ill treatment patiently, and we do wrong to use him so; if he has a mind to be a Christian, let him be a Christian."

### 285. Privations and Perils of Missionaries.

"He that is not satisfied," says Bishop Wilson, "that plays are an unlawful diversion, let him, if he dare, offer up this prayer to God before he goes, 'Lord, lead me not into temptation, and bless me in what I am now to be employed.' There are many other occupations and amusements, in which the same advice is worth attending to.