Chapter 246—Resists Satan
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
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Will man take hold of divine power, and with determination and
perseverance resist Satan, as Christ has given him example in His conflict
with the foe in the wilderness of temptation? God cannot save man against
his will from the power of Satan’s artifices. Man must work with his human
power, aided by the divine power of Christ, to resist and to conquer at any
cost to himself. In short, man must overcome as Christ overcame. And then,
through the victory that it is his privilege to gain by the all-powerful name of
Jesus, he may become an heir of God and joint heir with Jesus Christ. This
could not be the case if Christ alone did all the overcoming. Man must do his
part; he must be victor on his own account, through the strength and grace
that Christ gives him. Man must be a co-worker with Christ in the labor of
overcoming.
The victims of evil habit must be aroused to the necessity of making an
effort for themselves. Others may put forth the most earnest endeavor to
uplift them, the grace of God may be freely offered, Christ may entreat, His
angels may minister; but all will be in vain unless they themselves are roused
to fight the battle in their own behalf....
Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary
or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held in bondage to the lower
nature, they are to rule every appetite and passion. God has not left us to
battle with evil in our own finite strength. Whatever may be our inherited or
cultivated tendencies to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He
is ready to impart.
The strongest temptation cannot excuse sin. However great the pressure
brought to bear upon the soul, transgression is our own act. It is not in the
power of earth or hell to compel anyone to do evil. Satan attacks us at our
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