Keeping Christ's Word Against Temptation

From Triumph Over Temptation (Houston, John M. Triumph Over Temptation. Colorado Springs: Victor, 2005)

"Three things merit our consideration concerning keeping this word: knowing it, valuing it, and obeying it." (179)

1. "First, anyone who desires to keep this word must know it...As a word of grace and mercy, the word of Christ's patience saves us...As a word of holiness and purity, it sanctifies us...As a word of liberty and power, it ennobles us and sets us free from the guilt of sin and wrath...As a word of consolation, it supports us in every circumstance so that we lack nothing." (179-180)
2. "Second, we must value the word of Christ's patience, keeping it as a treasure (1 Tim. 1:14)." (181)
3. "Third, we must obey the word of Christ's patience." (181)

If we have intimate acquaintance with the gospel in all its excellence, knowing the word as one of mercy, holiness, freedom. and consolation, we will value it as our chief and only treasure. We will also make it our business to give ourselves to it in absolute obedience. Then when there is opposition and apostasy that tests the patience of Christ to the utmost, God will preserve us from the hour of temptation. (181)