“Men must not seek to resist Satan’s craft with craft, but by open defiance. He shoots with Satan in his own bow, who thinks by disputing and reasoning to put him off. As soon as a temptation shows his face, say to the temptation, as Ephraim to his idols, ‘Get you hence, what have I any more to do with you?’ (Hosea 14. 8). Oh! say to the temptation, as David said to the sons of Zeruiah, ‘What have I to do with you?’ (2 Sam. 16. 10). You will be too hard for me. He that doth thus resist temptations, shall never be undone by temptations.
Make strong and constant resistance against Satan’s temptations. Make resistance against temptations by arguments drawn from the honour of God, the love of God, your union and communion with God; and from the blood of Christ, the death of Christ, the kindness of Christ, the intercession of Christ, and the glory of Christ; and from the voice of the Spirit, the counsel of the Spirit, the comforts of the Spirit, the presence of the Spirit, the seal of the Spirit, the whisperings of the Spirit, the commands of the Spirit, the assistance of the Spirit, the witness of the Spirit; and from the glory of heaven, the excellency of grace, the beauty of holiness, the worth of the soul, and the vileness or bitterness and evil of sin, the last sin being a greater evil than the greatest temptation of the world.
And look that you make constant resistance, as well as strong resistance; be constant in arms. Satan will come on with new temptations when old ones are too weak. In a calm prepare for a storm. The tempter is restless, impudent, and subtle; he will suit his temptations to your constitutions and inclinations. Satan loves to sail with the wind. If your knowledge be weak, he will tempt you to error; if your conscience be tender, he will tempt you to scrupulosity and too much preciseness, as to do nothing but hear, pray, and read; if your consciences be wide and large, he will tempt you to carnal security; if you are bold-spirited, he will tempt you to presumption; if timorous, to desperation; if flexible , to inconstancy; if proud and stiff, to gross folly; therefore still fit for fresh assaults, make one victory a step to another. When you have overcome a temptation, take heed of unbending your bow, and look well to it, that your bow be always bent, and that it remains strength. When you have overcome one temptation, you must be ready to enter the list with another. As distrust in some sense is the mother of safety, so security is the gate of danger. A man had need to fear this most of all, that he fears not at all. If Satan be always roaring, we should be always a-watching and resisting him. And certainly he that makes strong and constant resistance of Satan’s temptations, shall in the end get above his temptations, and for the present is secure enough from being ruined by his temptations.
For a close of this, remember, that it is dangerous to yield to the least sin to be rid of the greatest temptation. To take this course were as if a man should think to wash himself clean ink, or as if a man should exchange a light cross, made of paper, for an iron cross, which is heavy, toilsome, and bloody. The least sin set home upon the conscience, will more wound, vex, and oppress the soul, than all the temptations in the world can; therefore never yield to the least sin to be rid of the greatest temptation.”
May this excerpt find you strength to press on in the race, for which the ultimate reward is our Lord Jesus Christ.
A great introductory book to the Five Points of Calvinism. This book is totally worth buying just for the second chapter where it defends each point which just loads of Scripture – no bias, no opinions – just Scripture.