There is one trouble with this program of human effort co-operating
with divine power. _It always leads to defeat_, bringing the struggling
man under the dominion of sin. It produces the man pictured in the
seventh chapter of Romans. It is the program followed by nearly all
Christians.
And that is why nearly all Christians are living in defeat practically
all of the time.
It is not that defeats come now and again in the face of difficult
temptations; the distressing thing in the experience of most earnest
Christians is the consciousness that complete victory is _never_
enjoyed; the occasional bad falls are but indications of a chronic
condition of defeat.