Blessed 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. (13) Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (14) But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The case of a single person is here stated, but all are included, of such as endure temptation; that is, so endure all the fiery darts of Satan and his emissaries, that, like a Target shot at, he doth not give way; but his bow remaineth in full strength, and the arms of his hands are made strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, Genesis 49:24. And we shall see the blessedness of this enduring, and rising above all Satan's devices, through Christ, if we: consider a few particulars of this holy war, and the interest all the faithful in Christ have in it. The Apostle, a few verses before; called upon the brethren, to count it all joy, when they fail into divers temptations. And here he declares the blessedness of enduring temptation, and the sure crown of victory, in spiritual, and eternal life in Christ. Reader! let you and I attend to the subject a little. There can be no crown of victory without a battle. And the very enduring of temptation, which is this battle, is declared to be blessed.
And first, It is so, because Satan makes this furious attack upon the child of God, because he is the child of God. His bitterness is against Christ and his seed, Christ and his Church. Hence, blessed is the man that endureth temptation on this account. The Lord said at first to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman: and between thy seed, and her seed, Genesis 3:15. And here it is seen to our joy; in the Devil's malice to Christ's seed, and on Christ's account.
Secondly. The issue of these temptations, is never doubtful, as to the final termination of the contest; For though Satan may, and sometimes doth indeed, get a point upon the Child of God, yea, to the extent of deep wounds, as in the instances of David, and of Peter, and multitudes of God's dear children beside; yet it is the end, which crowns the action. Soldiers in battle, may be hardly put to it at times, and sometimes taken prisoners, and sometimes receive dreadful wounds; yet, if victory at length is obtained by them, they lose sight of former skirmishes, prisons, or wounds, in the joy of a complete conquest at last. Such is the sure termination of all conflicts to the faithful. During the hour of temptation by the powers of darkness, it is deeply distressing: as our Lord found it, so do we, Luke 22:53. Some of the Lord's best soldiers may be thrown into prison, some in tribulation ten days; Revelation 2:10. but the time is limited, and neither his prison, or his devilish malice, Shall go further. The God of peace will bruise Satan under our feet shortly, Romans 16:20. Hence, the sweet scripture still holds good: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.
Thirdly. The consciousness that victory is sure, and that every temptation, when sanctified of the Lord, leads to good, and not to evil, makes this enduring of it, be it what it may, blessed. The foe of God and man is dreadfully angry, and ashamed to be baffled, and put to flight, by poor human nature, and especially in its present humbled state, to which, by his cursed wiles in the fall, it is brought. To be conquered by Christ, to be subdued by legions of angels, as we read Michael and his angels did vanquish Satan; this is nothing so humiliating as when the Worm Jacob is made to thresh the mountains; and a sinner saved by grace, is enabled through grace, to resist the devil, and to bruise his head, who in the members of Christ, may be said to bruise his heel. That temptation ministers to make a child of God blessed, when such ends are induced by it.
Fourthly. One of the sweet offices of Christ, the believer finds the blessedness of in seasons of temptation, while enabled by grace, to look up to Jesus, under them. Like the Prophet's servant in the mount, when the Lord opens the eyes to see, we discover more to be with us, than all that are against us. 2 Kings 6:16. To behold Jesus, our Almighty High Priest, looking on, watching the enemy, keeping the feet of his Saints, and causing the wicked to be silent in darkness before him, watering his tried ones every moment, to quench the fiery darts of the enemy; and, while Satan accuseth, Christ becomes our Advocate, and Propitiation: Oh! it is blessed to endure, such temptations, when by such temptations, we see Christ more immediately coming forth for us; and while Satan storms, Jesus sooths, while the Tempter fawns, the Lord rebukes him, surely all temptations cannot but be blessed which are productive of such gracious effects; and seeing Jesus for us, with us, and putting the foe to flight, we disregard the whole, conscious that the Lord's strength is made perfect in our weakness; and even in the hottest part of the battle, we cry out with the Prophet: rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me, Micah 7:8
Lastly. To mention no more. The blessedness which ariseth out of the enduring temptation, and even in those instances, where for a time, the enemy gains advantage; yet, if thereby, the child of God learns more to discover his own nothingness, and the Lord's all sufficiency; the trial is very blessed, and very profitable. So that every recovery induceth less confidence in self, and more in Christ. And very sure I am, that when the Lord raiseth up his fallen ones, as in the case of David and Peter, and every renewed wound, induceth more wariness and caution, and makes Christ more precious and endeared; so nothing tends to confound the Devil more than when the Lord pulls the lamb out of this Lion's mouth; makes him drop his prey, and skulk away as an enemy defeated. Reader! do you know anything of such transactions? If so, you will know also, how to join in the Apostle's words, of the blessedness of that man, that endureth temptations.
But while the Apostle pronounceth a blessedness to the man that endureth temptation; (and very blessed, beyond a doubt, all such must be, where the child of God endureth, that is, sustaineth the attack of Satan, through grace, and ultimately is the better for it;) the temptations to evil, and which terminate in shame and disgrace, have a very different beginning and end; and, of consequence, are without blessedness, Let no man among the carnal, dare to charge this upon God. God is not the Author of such; neither can be. But the whole begins in the corrupt affections of a man's own fallen sinful nature. And the Apostle represents the progress of those affections by a climax, which riseth one upon the other, from the first seed of sin, until ripened into death. This is nature unrenewed. The other is grace contending with it. The Apostle bids the Church to notice this, and not err. And where these different causes and effects are considered, under divine teaching, no error in the apprehension will follow. See Chapter 4:7 (James 4:7), and Commentary.