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Proof Against Every Temptation, March 24
Yield yourselves unto God, ... and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you.
Romans 6:13, 14
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There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the hearts of
men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ.... His grace alone can
enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature.
The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our redemption reveals
the fact that sin is a tremendous evil. Through sin the whole human or-
ganism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted. Sin
has degraded the faculties of the soul. Temptations from without find an
answering chord within the heart, and the feet turn imperceptibly toward
evil. As the sacrifice in our behalf was complete, so our restoration from
the defilement of sin is to be complete. There is no act of wickedness
that the law will excuse; there is no unrighteousness that will escape its
condemnation. The life of Christ was a perfect fulfillment of every precept
of the law. He said; “I have kept my Father’s commandments.”
John 15:10
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His life is our standard of obedience and service.
Today Satan presents the same temptations that he presented to Christ,
offering us the kingdoms of the world in return for our allegiance. But
upon him who looks to Jesus as the author and finisher of his faith, Satan’s
temptations have no power. He cannot cause to sin the one who will accept
by faith the virtues of Him who was tempted in all points as we are, yet
without sin.
The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. True, we have no
power to free ourselves from Satan’s control; but when we desire to be set
free from sin, and in our great need cry out for a power out of and above
ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the
Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of
God.
God will have a people zealous of good works, standing firm amid the
pollutions of this degenerate age. There will be a people who hold so fast
to the divine strength that they will be proof against every temptation.
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