Again, the believer must not only meet the impossible demands of a heavenly position, but he is called upon to face a world-ruling foe, who, with all his kingdom and power, is seeking to break and mar that life into which the Divine nature has been received.  The revelation that Satan is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, presents a truth that should disarm the believer of all self-confidence and cause him to dread, above all things else, the subtle devices of this foe.  In this connection Eph. 6:10-12 may well be restated:  “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenlies.”  In view of this opposition of Satan, it is still more evident that the requirements of the Christian life are beyond any human power.

So, also, there is a fallen human nature within the child of God, which is prone to dishonor God, and is itself beyond the control of the human will.  This important and much misunderstood truth is taken up at length in Rom. 7:14-25:  “For we know that the law is spiritual:  but I am carnal, sold under sin.  For that which I do I allow not:  for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing:  for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  For the good that I would I do not:  but the evil which I would not, that I do.  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

This battle between the old nature and the new is, then, never gained for God by human power or by religious exercise:  but through Christ alone.

Thus the believer is confronted with a threefold impossibility as he contemplates his heavenly responsibility.  First:  The heavenly position demands a manner of life that is beyond any human possibility.  Second:  The enemy is stronger than he, and can thwart every resolution.  Third:  His own fallen nature entices him to do positive evil when he would do good.  Notwithstanding this threefold impossibility, there is a clear call to a victorious life, wherein every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 10:5), and if he fails by one degree, he will dishonor the God who has called him.