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Promise to the Overcomer, November 7
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
.
We must not think that by walking in the path of obedience, we shall escape
trials, for the enemy will do all in his power to hinder us from gaining heaven.
But the Saviour has promised to help us. Have you trials? So had Jesus. Are you
tempted? So was He—in all points like as we are. “He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and
his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God” (
John 1:10-12
)....
When Christ was upon this earth, the people flocked to hear Him. So simple
and plain were His words that the most unlearned among the people could under-
stand Him, and His hearers listened as if spellbound. This enraged the scribes and
Pharisees. They were filled with envy because the people listened so attentively
to the words of this new Teacher. They determined to break His hold upon the
multitudes. They began by attacking His character, saying that He was born in sin,
and that He cast out devils through the prince of the devils. Thus were fulfilled the
words “They hated me without a cause” (
John 15:25
; cf.
Psalm 69:4
). The Jewish
leaders maligned and persecuted the One who is chiefest among ten thousand and
altogether lovely.
As we separate from the world and its customs, we shall meet with the dis-
pleasure of worldlings. The world hated the One who was the very embodiment
of virtue, because He was better than they were. The servant is not greater than
his Lord. If our ways please God, the world will hate us. If the Majesty of heaven
came to this world, and endured a life of humiliation and a death of shame, why
should we shrink back because obedience involves a cross? If He was persecuted,
can we expect better treatment?...I point you to the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world. He will comfort and sustain all who come to Him for help....
An eternal weight of glory, and a life that measures with the life of God, await
the overcomer. Our minds should be constantly dwelling on the goodness of God
and the future home of the saints, and we should ever be striving for perfection of
character, that at last we may be given entrance into the City of God.—
Manuscript
30, November 7, 1886
, “The Christian Pathway.”
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