The Gospel condemns the old life of the flesh in which men do their own sinful wills and offers new life in the Spirit in which they do the will of God. Judgment must fall on the first, there can be no judgment but only approval for the second.
Adam failed at the first incitement to do his own will. The Lord was tested in every possible way, even to death — the giving up of His life — and nothing made Him do His own will. He died to continue the path of obedience.
We have to deny our own wills. When we yield and do what pleases ourselves, we do not suffer but are gratified, though we may suffer from a bad conscience afterwards.
Faith — that most precious, priceless, divinely-wrought principle, positively delights in being called to lean absolutely and abidingly upon the living God. But it must be the real thing. It is of little use talking about faith if the heart be a stranger to its power. Mere profession is perfectly worthless. God deals in moral realities. "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he have faith?" He does not say, "What doth it profit though a man have faith?" Blessed be God, those who, through grace, have it, know that it profits much every way. It glorifies God as nothing else can do. It lifts the soul above the depressing influences of things seen and temporal. It tranquillizes the spirit in a most blessed manner. It enlarges the heart, by leading us out of our own narrow circle of personal interests, sympathies, cares and burdens, and connecting us livingly with the eternal, exhaustless spring of goodness. It works by love, and draws us out in gracious activity towards those who are of the household of faith. It is faith alone that can move along the path where Jesus leads.