For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
~ Hebrews 4:15-16
Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
~ Hebrews 5:2
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
~ Hebrews 5:7-9
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
~ Matthew 4:1-3
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
~ Matthew 26:37-39
When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
~ Luke 22:53
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
~ Hebrews 7:25-26
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
~ John 10:29
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
~ 2 Timothy 1:12
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
~ Jude 1:24
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.
~ 1 Corinthians 10:13
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
~ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
~ 2 Peter 2:9
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
~ Revelation 3:10
Christ Is Able to Help, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
—Hebrews 2:18
Ye that are tempted—and I suppose the major part of this present (readership) are included in the list—ye that are tempted—and indeed if you know yourselves, you are all in your measure thus exercised—ye that are tempted, listen to me this morning whilst I endeavor to speak of your temptations, and in parallel lines of the temptations of Him Who, having known your trials, is able to help you at all times…They that are tempted have great need of help, and Christ is able, having Himself been tempted, to help them that are tempted.
Of course, this is true of Christ as God. Apart from any temptation He has ever endured, He would be able to help the tempted; but we are now speaking in our text of Christ as a High Priest, in which we are to regard Him in His complex character as God-man. For Christ is not only God but man and not only man but God. The Christos, the anointed one, the High Priest of our profession, is in His complex character able to help them that are tempted. How?
Why, first, the very fact that He was tempted has some help in it to us. If we had to walk through the darkness alone, we should know the very extremity of misery; but having a companion, we have comfort. Having such a companion, we have joy. It is all black about me, the path is miry, and I sink in it and can find no standing. But I plunge onwards, desperately set on reaching my journey’s end. It frets me that I am alone, but I hear a voice—I can see nothing—but I hear a voice that says, “Yea, though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” I cry out, “Who goes there?” and an answer comes back to me, “I, the faithful and true witness, the Alpha and the Omega, the Sufferer Who was despised and rejected of men. I lead the way.” At once, I feel that it is light about me, and there is a rock beneath my feet. For if Christ my Lord hath been here, then the way must be safe and must conduct to the desired end. The very fact that He has suffered, then, consoles His people.
But further, the fact that He has suffered without being destroyed is inestimably comforting to us. If you could see a block of ore just ready to be put into the furnace, if that block of ore could look into the flames and could mark the blast as it blows the coals to a vehement heat, if it could speak it would say, “Ah! Woe is me that ever I should be put into such a blazing furnace as that! I shall be burnt up; I shall be melted with the slag; I shall be utterly consumed!” But suppose another lump all bright and glistening could lie by its side and say, “No, no, you are just like I was. But I went through the fire, and I lost nothing thereby. See how bright I am—how I have survived all the flames.” Why then that piece of ore would rather anticipate than dread the season when it too should be exposed to the purifying heat and come out all bright and lustrous like its companion. “I see Thee, I see Thee, Thou Son of Mary, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh! Thou hast felt the flames, but Thou art not destroyed. The smell of fire has not passed upon Thee! Thine heel has been bruised, but Thou hast broken the serpent’s head. There is no scar, nor spot, nor injury in Thee. Thou hast survived the conflict; and I—bearing Thy name, purchased with Thy blood, and dear to God as Thou art dear to Him—I shall survive it too. Therefore will I tread the coals with confidence and bear the heat with patience. Christ’s conquest gives me comfort, for I shall conquer too.”
And you will please remember, too, that Christ, in going through the suffering of temptation, was not simply no loser, but He was a great gainer, for it is written that it pleased God “to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb 2:10). It was through His suffering that He obtained the mediatorial glory that now crowns His head. Had He never carried the cross, He had never worn that crown, that transcendently bright and glorious crown that now He wears as King in Zion and as leader of His people whom He hath redeemed by blood. God over all blessed forever He would have been, but as God-man-mediator He could never have been praised unless He had been obedient even unto death, so that He was a gainer by His suffering. And glory be to His name, we get comfort from this too; for we also shall be gainers by our temptations. We shall come up out of Egypt enriched; as it is written, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold” (Psa 105:37); so shall we come forth out of trial with better than these treasures! “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall obtain a crown of life” (Jam 1:12). The deeper their sorrows, the louder their song; the more terrible their toil, the sweeter their rest; the more bitter the wormwood, the more delightful the wine of consolation. They shall have glory for their share; they shall have honor for their contempt; they shall have songs for their sufferings and thrones for their tribulations.
But more, in that Christ hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to help us who are tempted by sending His grace to help us. He was always able to send grace, but now as God and man He is able to send just the right grace at the right time and in the right place…Now it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell (Col 1:19), but where should the Son of Man earn His diploma and gain the skill with which to use the fulness aright? Beloved, He won it by experience. He knows what sore temptations mean, for He has felt the same. You know, if we had comforting grace given us at one time of our temptation, it would tempt us more than before; even as certain medicines given to the patient at one period of the disease would aggravate the malady, though the same medicine would cure him if administered a little later. Now, Christ knows how to send His comfort at the very nick of time, to afford His help exactly when it will not be a superfluity; to send His joy when we shall not spend it upon our own lusts. How does He know this? Why, He recollects His own experience! He has passed through it all! There appeared an angel unto Him strengthening Him; that angel came just when he was wanted. Jesus knows just when to send His angelic messenger to strengthen you, when to lay on the rod more heavily, and when to stay His hand and say, “I have forgiven thee; go thou in peace.”
Once more, dear friends, lest I keep you too long. Having suffered Himself being tempted, Christ knows how to help us by His prayers for us. There are some people whose prayers are of no use to us because they do not know what to ask for us. Christ is the intercessor for His people: He has prevalence in His intercession, but how shall He learn what to ask for? How can He know this better than by His own trials? He hath suffered being tempted. You hear some brethren pray with such power, such unction, such fervor. Why? Part of the reason is that they are experimental prayers: they pray out their own life. They just tell out the great deep waters over which they themselves sail. Now, the prayer of our great High Priest in heaven is wonderfully comprehensive: it is drawn from His own life, and it takes in every sorrow and every pang that ever rent a human heart because He Himself hath suffered being tempted. I know you feel safe in trusting your case in the hand of such an intercessor, for He knows the precise mercy to ask for; and when He asks for it, He knows how to put the words and frame the petition so that the mercy shall surely come to you at the right time.
Ah, dear friends, it is not in my power to bring out the depth that lieth under my text, but I am certain of this: when through the deep waters He shall cause you to go, or you are made to pass through furnace after furnace, you cannot want a better rod and staff, nor a better table prepared for you in the wilderness than this my text: “In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” Hang this text up in your house; read it every day; take it before God in prayer every time you bend the knee, and you shall find it to be like the widow’s cruse, which failed not, and like her handful of meal, which wasted not…
Will not my text suit the awakened sinner as well as the saint? There are timid souls here. They cannot say they are saved; yet here is a loophole of comfort for you, you poor troubled ones that are not yet able to get a hold of Jesus. “He is able to succour them that are tempted.” Go and tell Him you are tempted: tempted, perhaps, to despair; tempted to self-destruction; tempted to go back to your old sins; tempted to think that Christ cannot save you. Go and tell Him that He Himself has suffered being tempted and that He is able to help you. Believe that He will, and He will; for you can never believe anything too much of the love and goodness of my Lord. He will be better than your faith to you. If you can trust Him with all your heart to save you, He will do it! If you believe He is able to put away your sin, He will do it! If you can but honor Him by giving Him a good character for grace, you cannot give Him too good a name.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you forever. Amen.
In his nature, (the devil) is both a spiritual and an intellectual essence. In each of those respects, his advantage is very great over man, who in the most refined and supreme part of his being falls as far short of an angel as a small glittering spark does a fair and well-polished diamond.
—William Spurstowe
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