The Mighty Power to Overcome Temptation—Victory Assured
By G. W. Reaser
The strength of temptation is in exact ratio to the susceptibility of the individual to be tempted. “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” There is a point in Christian experience where the individual may say, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” “He that is dead [to temptation] is freed from sin.” Victory in the hour of temptation is a distinct triumph of the indwelling Christ over the lusts of the flesh. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” The most potent declaration of the Sonship of Christ with the eternal God, was in the resurrection from the dead, as it is written, “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” So also the most potent declaration of our sonship with the living God is in the act of appropriating, by faith, that degree of resurrection power vouchsafed to us in the gift of the ever-present, resurrected Saviour. By this faith and power we triumph over sin and live lives of holiness to the Lord. As it is declared, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”