Our Greatest Need Ron Spear - The Eternal Gospel Church

34 OUR GREATEST NEEDtheir ambition. God’s plan of education was set aside,His authority disowned.In the rejection of the ways of God for the ways of men,the downfall of Israel began. Thus also it continued, until theJewish people became a prey to the very nations whose practicesthey had chosen to follow.As a nation the children of Israel failed of receiving thebenefits that God desired to give them. They did not appreciateHis purpose or co-operate in its execution. . . .The experiences of Israel were recorded for our instruction.. . . With us, as with Israel of old, success in educationdepends on fidelity in carrying out the Creator’s plan.Adherence to the principles of God’s word will bring as greatblessings to us as it would have brought to the Hebrewpeople. Education, 49–50.Lessons In Purity of LifeThe Israelites, who could not be overcome by the armsor by the enchantments of Midian, fell a prey to her harlots.Such is the power that woman, enlisted in the service of Satan,has exerted to entrap and destroy souls. “She hath castdown many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slainby her.” Proverbs 7:26. It was thus that the children of Sethwere seduced from their integrity, and the holy seed becamecorrupt. It was thus that Joseph was tempted. Thus Samsonbetrayed his strength, the defense of Israel, into the hands ofthe Philistines. Here David stumbled. And Solomon, the wisestof kings, who had thrice been called the beloved of hisGod, became a slave of passion, and sacrificed his integrityto the same bewitching power. . . .Satan well knows the material with which he has to dealin the human heart. He knows—for he has studied with fiendishintensity for thousands of years—the points most easilyassailed in every character; and through successive generationshe has wrought to overthrow the strongest men, princesin Israel, by the same temptations that were so successful atBaalpeor. All along through the ages there are strewn wrecks