The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from the lifetime of works from the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The following excerpt is from The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, volume 20, sermon number 1,208, "Infallibility--Where to find it and how to use it.""He had a great choice of weapons with which to fight with Satan, but he took none but this sword of the Spirit—'It is written.'"
Our Lord might have overcome Satan by angelic force; He had only to pray to his Father, and he would presently have sent him twelve legions of angels, against whose mighty rush the arch-fiend could not have stood for a single moment. If our Lord had but exercised his godhead, a single word would have sent the tempter back to his infernal den.
But instead of angelic power or divine he used, “It is written”; thus teaching his church that she is never to call in the aid of force, or use carnal weapons, but must trust alone in the omnipotence which dwells in the sure word of testimony.
This is our battle-ax and weapon of war. The patronages or the constraints of civil power are not for us. And neither dare we use either bribes or threats to make men Christians: a spiritual kingdom must be set up and supported by spiritual means only.
Our Lord might have defeated the tempter by unveiling his own glory. The brightness of the divine majesty was hidden within the humility of his manhood, and if he had lifted the veil for a moment the fiend would have been as utterly confounded as bats and owls when the sun blazes in their faces. But Jesus deigned to conceal his excellent majesty, and only to defend himself with, “It is written.”
Our Master might also have assailed Satan with rhetoric and logic. Why did he not discuss the points with him as they arose? Here were three different propositions to be discussed, but our Lord confined himself to the one argument, “It is written.”
Now, beloved, if our Lord and Master, with all the choice of weapons which he might have had, nevertheless selected this true Jerusalem blade of the Word of God, let us not hesitate for a moment, but grasp and hold fast this one and only weapon of the saints in all times. Cast away the wooden sword of carnal reasoning; trust not in human eloquence, but arm yourselves with the solemn declarations of God, who cannot lie, and you need not fear Satan and all his hosts. Jesus, we may be sure, selected the best weapon, and what was best for him is best for you.
You have only to turn over your Bibles, find a text, and hurl that at Satan, like a stone from David’s sling, and you will win the battle. “It is written,” and what is written is infallible; here is your strength
in argument. “It is written.” God has said it; that is enough. O blessed sword and shield which the little child can use to purpose, fit also for the illiterate and simple-hearted, giving might to the feeble-minded, and conquest to the weak.
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