Among his expositions of Scripture are “Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons” (Works 1, 258–336). In Sermon 1 on Matthew 4:1, Manton followed the classic Puritan plain style of preaching, opening with the scope of the text, structuring his sermon along the lines of the text itself, deriving doctrines, and offering uses of those doctrines for his hearers’ souls’ sake. This sermon is full of biblical imagery, doctrine and comfort. Listen to this line as Manton expounded the lesson that temptations come not by chance but from God himself: “If tempted, when we are in Satan’s hand, remember Satan is in God’s hand” (Works 1, 259). Beautiful! Sounds like Luther’s famous line, “The devil is God’s devil.”

In expositing the point that Christ’s temptation occurred immediately before he entered his prophetical office, Manton offers the following lesson: “Experience of temptations fits for the ministry” (Works 1, 261). Manton did not merely moralilze this principle out of thin air to perk up his congregations’ attention, but he derived it from the Christology of the text itself. His point was that we as ministers are prepared for the ministry just as Christ was prepared for his prophetic office by means of temptation. Why? What was the purpose of Christ’s being tempted first, and congruously, what is our purpose in undergoing temptations? God’s purpose for Christ as for us was “for the recovery of poor souls out of their bondage into the liberty of the children of God” (Works 1, 261). In a word, Christ was tempted that he might help those who are tempted. And the same is true of us as ministers of the gospel. We cannot help those in bondage to sin unless we ourselves know what it is to be filthy, depraved sinners who constantly feel the Devil’s breath upon the back of our necks. Manton went on to say that God gave his Son to temptation by the Devil that “he should experimentally feel the power of the tempter” that assaults and endangers our souls (Works 1, 261).

Have we as ministers come to grips with just how depraved our sinful nature is? Are we in a constant and conscious war with Satan? We must for we minister best what we know and need ourselves. As Manton concluded:

Ministers should not only be men of science, but of experience.