THE MAN GOD USES – CHAPTER V – Oswald J Smith
THE VICTORIOUS LIFE
THE saddest thing in the Christian life is the presence and power of sin. Many there are who would give all they possess if only they could resist temptation and live a life of unbroken fellowship with God.
It is a painful but familiar fact that there are thousands of men and women the world over who know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, but who have never experienced anything beyond conversion, Christ is not the supreme passion of their lives. Their experience is one of victory and defeat; to day on the mountaintop, tomorrow in the valley; the wilderness journey instead of Canaan’s rest; the seventh chapter of Romans instead of the eighth.
When everything goes right, and nothing arises to interrupt the harmony of their lives, their victory is perfect; but when things go wrong, and they are upset in their plans, when provocation and opposition cross their pathway, when dark and foreboding clouds hover on their horizon, when trouble and adversity surround them, then their victory takes wings and flies away.
But there is a life, praise God, so far above the ordinary that it can only be compared to the brilliancy of the noonday sun in contrast to the light of the evening star. It is beyond the fondest hopes and dreams of multitudes of dissatisfied and disappointed Christians.
And yet it is possible for all. Yea, more! It is God’s will for every child of His, “Sin shall not have dominion” (Rom. 3:14), declares the inspired Word. And when Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” He is able to answer with absolute assurance: “I thank God . . . Jesus Christ out Lord” (Rom. 7:24-25).
And, oh, what a joy it is to be free! To have the fetters snapped, the power of sin broken! That old besetting habit that held me in bondage so long, that unholy desire that conquered me again and again— what a joy it is to know that the chains are gone. Oh, yes, I tried, tried time after time to free myself. Vows were taken and resolution made, but all in vain. I was chained and shackled until there seemed to be no hope of freedom. Sinning and repenting, praying and failing, weeping and indulging again. This was my experience. Oh, the bitterness of sin.
But at last, at last, praise God, I was free; as free as the Israelitish slaves when they stood on the other shore and watched their enemies perish beneath the waves. 44 How my soul rejoiced! What peace was mine! Oh, the heart-rest that followed! Free, free at last! “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
There are two classes of sins that men are guilty of committing. First, there are what might be designated “Outward Sins”; and, second, “Inward Sins.”
Perhaps if we were to ask ourselves some very-personal questions, it might help. We are not now referring to the first class; namely, Outward Sins, such as murder, theft, adultery, etc.; for if we are Christians at all, we are no longer guilty of these; but those sins which unseen by the eye of man rob us of the victory which Christ purchased for us, and are the cause of all our unhappiness and defeat.
1. Have I been delivered from worry and anxiety?
Now, worry is sin. “In nothing be anxious” (Phil. 4:6, R.V.), and “Be not anxious for your life” (Matt 6:25-34, R.V.). Hence, to worry is to break the definite command of God. Moreover, worry shows a lack of trust. As some one has said, “Worry is a useless burden weighted with distrust of God.” Jesus never worried. His life was calm, serene and trustful under all circumstances. Even amid the raging storm He could remain ”asleep on a pillow.” 45
2. Have I been delivered from discouragement and despondency?
Discouragement! 46 That was the sin of Elijah. It is Satan’s most formidable weapon, and it was frequently used on the Israelites during their wilderness journey. Then, too, there are despondent Christians, Christians who have lost their joy, confidence, cheerfulness and hope. Jesus was never discouraged nor despondent.
3. Have I been delivered from irritation and discontent?
Do little things irritate and annoy? Am I dissatisfied? Do I murmur at my lot? (Philippians iv. 11). This was the besetting sin of the wilderness journey. Jesus never showed the least sign of irritation or discontent.47
4. Have I been delivered from anger and malic?
Is there any malice, spite, hatred or enmity in my heart? 48 Do I cherish grudges; and have I refused to be reconciled? Are there uprisings within? Is it true that I still lose my temper? Does Wrath hold me at times in its grip? Such a heart was foreign to Jesus Christ.
5. Have I been delivered from jealousy and pride?
When another is preferred before me, does it make me envious and uncomfortable? Do I become jealous of those who can pray, speak and do things better than I can? Am I puffed up? Do I think a great deal of my own position and attainments? How free Jesus was from these things.49
6. Have I been delivered from lust and impurity of thought?
Do I allow my mind to harbor impure and unholy imaginations? Through the silent hours of the night, the lonely hours, am I addicted to such vices? Could we conceive of such a thing in the heart of Jesus?50
It is not a question of Sinless Perfection, or Eradication. These phrases are neither in the Bible, nor have they been demonstrated in Christian experience. We believe in Christian Perfection; namely, that degree of holiness which is within the reach of man and which God expects His children to attain; but we do not believe in Godly, Angelic or Sinless Perfection, for we still come short of the Divine standard—the glory of God.
Nor do we believe in Suppression. It is not a case of anger controlled. A story is told by Charles G. Trumbull of an old Quaker woman who had smiled most sweetly under a most distressing provocation A young woman was with her at the time, and turning to the older one, exclaimed:
“I cannot understand how you were able to keep your temper.”
“Ah!” exclaimed the Quaker woman, “thee didst not see the boiling inside.”
And she thought that that was victory. She had been able to suppress her feelings and to control her anger so that no one could witness it. But whether on the inside or the outside, it really made no difference. It was a sin just the same, and so far as God was concerned, she might just as well have exploded; for He could see the boiling on the inside. The boiling was simply the outcome, the manifestation of sin. To control it did not make it less sinful. There is no victory in that. But, thank God, there is deliverance from all inward sins. God’s children do not need to boil.
Dr. Simpson, so I am told, was one time listening to an argument between those who believed in Sinless Perfection and those who believed in Suppression. And as the debate waxed warmer and warmer, it was observed that something of a rather red hue was rising in the faces of both parties. The very thing that those who claimed Sinless Perfection or Eradication declared did not exist began to manifest itself in the heated words and rising color of the speakers. And the others who taught Suppression seemed unconscious of the fact that somehow the cover had come off, and that it was not just then suppressed, at least not wholly so.
Finally, Dr. Simpson arose and spoke, “Brethren,” he said, “it is not Eradication; and, brethren, it is not Suppression, but it is Habitation.”
Thank God for Habitation! Oh, the joy of it! “Christ in you.51 Christ liveth in me. I in you.” God-inhabited. “An habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. ii. 22). This is the secret—Christ our Victory. Hallelujah!
In my heart the Saviour lives;
Victory over sin He gives;
By His wondrous grace divine,
Resurrection life is mine.
Wondrous secret, yet how true,
Christ the Saviour lives anew.
Lives to reign within my heart
And His risen life impart.
Oh, how precious—can it be
I in Him and He in me?
Life abundant, life divine—
God’s eternal fullness mine.
In the old days it was victory, if any, with effort. Now it is victory without effort. Another has taken up the fight. “The battle is not yours but God’s. It is control now, not by self and will power, but by another. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” 52 Mark you, it is the Spirit who goes forth to meet the enemy now, and I hide behind the standard. Like the little girl who had just been saved. Jesus, she said, was in her heart. And when questioned as to what she would do if Satan knocked at the door, responded by saying: “Why, I would send Jesus to the door.” She had the secret all right, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle, Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you this day.”53 Oh, glorious truth! The righteousness of the law is now fulfilled, not “by” us, but “in” us, by the Holy Spirit (Rom. viii 4).
It is not our struggling to rid ourselves of the works of the flesh, not man’s efforts to give up and get rid of sin; but being so filled with the Holy Spirit, so God-inhabited that we have no room for sin. In order to light a room, we do not drive the darkness out; but we let the light in, and, lo, the darkness disappears. Neither do we labor in the spring to remove all the dead leaves from the trees. That would be an impossible task. But by a law of nature there flows up the trunk the life-giving sap, and signs of new life soon appear. Then the old dead leaves just naturally fall off. At the bitter waters of Marah they did not cleanse the stream by trying to locate and get rid of whatever caused the bitterness; but they threw in the bough of a tree, and, lo, the waters became sweet. 54 It is “the expulsive power of a new affection.” The stronger destroys the weaker. The sweet expels the bitter. The light overpowers the darkness, “He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.”55 It is victory by another. In Rom. vii. it is “I,” “ME,” “MY” forty times, while in Rom. viii. the Holy Spirit is mentioned nineteen times. He now indwells the believer and fights his battles.
“Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” 56 demanded Joshua of the man who stood over against Jericho.
“Nay,” responded the One addressed, “but as Captain of the Lord’s host am I now come.”
“What saith my Lord to his servant?” cried Joshua, falling to the ground. Why did he take such an attitude? Would we have acted so? Or would we have replied something like this:
“Well, Captain, I appreciate your offer; but really I do not need your help, I have a large army, well armed, and we are able to capture Jericho alone.”
Had he said that Jericho never would have been taken. And yet this is what Christians are doing all the time. Self-effort, will power, striving and struggling—these are our methods. But God tells us to lay down our weapons; stop trying, cease struggling, and let Him undertake. We are no match for the enemy. He alone can win the victory, “Christ in you”—this is our only hope, He defeated Satan at the Cross, 57 and He can easily do it again.
Now shall we not “Let go and let God?” Admit our own inefficiency and weakness, and from this moment trust Him to undertake for us. He alone is sufficient. The drowning man who continues to struggle is hard to save. But the moment he has sense enough to give up, surrender, yield himself to the one who would rescue him, there is every hope. Self-effort can never avail. I live because “Christ liveth in me.” He is my victory. I trust Him. Praise the Lord.
The question is often asked; “Can victory be sustained?” Well, it is simply a matter of His keeping power. Is He able? Can He keep for a minute, for an hour? And if for one hour why not for a day? Then if Christ can keep His child victorious for a whole day, why not for a year? Ah, yes, thank God, there is uninterrupted victory!
It is a question of “looking unto Jesus.” 58 Peter looked at the waves, and immediately be began to sink.59 But as soon as he got his eyes on Jesus again he was safe. How often we look at the difficulties that surround us on every side! And seeing it is impossible for us to look two ways at once, we must of necessity take our eyes off Jesus in order to see our problems. Then to turn them on Him once more is to take them off the things around us, Keep “looking unto Jesus,” and victory will be maintained.
As long as the trolley is on the wire, the car can keep going, but the moment the two are disconnected the car stops. We are not like storage batteries. God does not charge us up and set us going independent of Himself. We must keep in touch, in vital connection all the time, for we are “Kept by the power of God through faith” (1Pet. i. 5). It is a faith life, “Without me, apart from me, severed from me, ye can do nothing,” 60 said Jesus.
As long as the Holy Spirit holds sway, just so long will victory be maintained? He can be slighted, grieved and quenched until He no longer dominates. 61 “Ye shall receive power,” declared Jesus, “when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” But then, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” 62 Power over sin? Yes, but sustained power by a sustained walk, yielded to and controlled by the Holy Spirit, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.” 63
The author of that beautiful hymn “Moment by Moment.” said that the inspiration came to him from “I need Thee every hour.” “That would never do,” he declared, “I need Him every moment.” And so he sat down and wrote those wonderful words that so perfectly set forth the secret of sustained victory:
“Moment by moment I’m kept in His love.
Moment by moment I’ve life from above.
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.”
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44 Exodus 14:21-‐29
45 Mark 4:38
46 2 Chronicles 32:7; Joshua 1:9, 8:1, 10:25
47 1 Timothy 6:6-‐8; Hebrews 13:5
48 Ephesians 4:31
49 Proverbs 27:4; 1 Corinthians 3:3; Galatians 5:20b
50 Romans 8:6; Colossians 3:5
51 Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 3:16
52 Isaiah 59:19
53 2 Chronicles 20:17
54 Exodus 15:22-‐25
55 1 John 4:4
56 Joshua 5:13
57 Colossians 2:15
58 Hebrews 12:2
59 Matthew 14:30
60 John 15:5
61 Ephesians 4:30; Isaiah 63:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:19
62 Galatians 5:16
63 Ezekiel 36:17
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