"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have
dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the
great transgression." Psalm 19:13.
"The great leading temptations wherewith man would be beset, Christ met and
overcame in the wilderness. His coming off victor over appetite, presumption,
and the world shows how we may overcome. Satan has overcome his millions
in tempting the appetite and leading men to give up to presumptuous sins. There
are many who profess to be followers of Christ, ... who, with hardly a thought,
plunge into scenes of temptation that would require a miracle to bring them forth
unsullied. Meditation and prayer would have preserved them and led them to
shun the dangerous positions in which they have placed themselves and which
give Satan the advantage over them.
The promises of God are not for us to claim rashly, to protect us while we rush
on recklessly into danger, violating the laws of nature, or disregarding prudence
and the judgment God has given us to use. This would not be genuine faith but
presumption.... Satan comes to us with worldly honor, wealth, and the pleasures
of life. These temptations are varied to meet men of every rank and degree,
tempting them away from God to serve themselves more than their Creator. “All
these things will I give thee,” said Satan to Christ. “All these things will I give
thee,” says Satan to man. “All this money, this land, all this power, and honor,
and riches, will I give thee”; and man is charmed, deceived, and treacherously
allured on to his ruin. If we give ourselves up to worldliness of heart and of life,
Satan is satisfied.
The Saviour overcame the wily foe, showing us how we may overcome.
He has left us His example, to repel Satan with Scripture. He might have had
recourse to His own divine power, ... but His example would not then have been
as useful to us. Christ used only Scripture. How important that the Word of
God be thoroughly studied and followed, that in case of emergency we may be
“throughly furnished unto all good works” and especially fortified to meet the
wily foe."
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