Christ Knows Just How to Help Us Overcome

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Christ Knows Just How to Help Us Overcome

Today's Text: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him. Deuteronomy 6:13

The Message:      We should not present our petitions to God to prove whether He will fulfill His word, but because He will fulfill it; not to prove that He loves us, but because He loves us.      "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain ... and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."      This was Satan's crowning effort. Into this effort he threw all his beguiling power. It was the charm of the serpent. He exerted the power of his fascination upon Christ, striving to make Him yield His will to him. In His weakness Christ laid hold of God. Divinity flashed through humanity. Christ stood revealed as the Commander of heaven, and His words were the words of one who has all power. "Get thee behind me, Satan," He said, "for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."      Satan had questioned whether Jesus was the Son of God. In his summary dismissal he had proof that he could not gainsay. He had no power to resist the command. Writhing with humiliation and rage, he was forced to withdraw from the presence of the world's Redeemer. Christ's victory was as complete as had been the failure of Adam.      Christ knew of the long years of conflict in the future between human beings and their subtle foe. He is the refuge of all who, beset by temptation, call upon Him. Temptation and trial will come to us all, but we need never be worsted by the enemy. Our Saviour has conquered in our behalf. Satan is not invincible. Day by day he meets those who are on trial, striving by his wiles to gain the mastery over them. His accusing power is great, and it is in this line that he wins more victories than in any other. Christ was tempted, that He might know how to help every soul that should afterward be tempted. Temptation is not sin; the sin lies in yielding. To the soul who trusts in Jesus, temptation means victory and greater strength.      Christ is ready to pardon all who come to Him confessing their sins. To the tried, struggling soul is spoken the word "Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me." Thank God, we have a high priest who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, for He was in all points tempted as we are.-Manuscript 113, 1902.

Commentary: My friend, the victory that Christ gained in our behalf is made available to us if we would but yield our hearts to Jesus, allowing Him to reign within our hearts.  Let us lay hold of our Redeemer that He may obtain the victory for us.  The Son of God became a man and was tempted as we are, and though He was divine, He was also human and therefore was subject to the same temptations that we are.  In His humanity He suffered as we do, and was tempted as we are.  In the weakness of His humanity He could have yielded to the power of Satan, but He laid hold of the power of God and gained the victory over sin.  Today Jesus offers us His victory in place of our defeat. It is only through the life of the Son of God living within us that we may overcome sin.  He is acquainted with the very trials and temptations that we are going through, and He knows just how to give us the victory, for He was also tempted as we are and yet without sin.  If we are to gain the victory over sin we must have Christ living within our hearts. The reason why there are so many in the church today that have not gained the victory over sin is because they are looking unto a being that cannot give them the victory.  The trinity teaches that the Holy Spirit is a separate being from the Father and the Son, and that it is through the intercession of this being that we are to overcome sin.  Yet this being is not the Son of God who came as a man and was subject to temptation.  This being does not know how what it is like to be tempted in the flesh and therefore cannot give us comfort and victory over sin. My friend, the Scriptures are very clear that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have the victory.  1 Corinthians 15:57 says "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."   May you look away from the trinity and unto the One true God through our Lord Jesus Christ today, that His victory may be your. God bless,

Video of the Week The Amazing Work of Christ in You - Dr. Allen Davis Part 3 of 6, A response to the trinitarian symposium held in the Central California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.  Dr. Allen Davis presents the most important message of the work that Jesus is to accomplish in all that are to be saved.