In what is perhaps the slightly more informal
atmosphere of an afternoon meeting, and unless we're
very careful could be a more sleepier atmosphere
of an afternoon meeting, may I just be
allowed to say what a joy it is
to be back in Keswick this year and
to have the privilege of little share in
the ministry at this convention, and of course
to be back in the home country again.
Remember when I was first in Chicago nearly
10 years ago now, somebody came up to
me after a meeting which I'd been speaking
and said to me, you know, you don't
speak bad English for a foreigner.
Well you know that's enough to keep any
Englishman humble, but having spent a lot of
my life in England and then in America,
now in Scotland, I wonder what sort of
accent will be by the end.
I trust however that you won't have any
problem that Americans here might recognize just some
little things that they will understand, at least
from their own country.
It's a joy to see many of you
here today who I am sure are visiting
this convention from different parts of this land
as well as from overseas, and especially our
missionary friends.
I'm sure that all of us desire to
be very sensitive to the voice of the
Holy Spirit these days, not least of us
those who have the responsibility of ministry, which
is no light thing.
In the opening meeting on Saturday night, Mr.
Duncan said that he trusted that this convention
would be disturbing, and maybe already we have
found it to be just that, and some
of us have been really disturbed and really
shaken.
And as we move on through the ministry
and teaching of the week, we are indeed
concerned that the Lord may truly come to
grips with us, that this may not just
be a vague time of blessing when we
are able to go away and say, well
it was a good convention, another Keswick has
gone into history, but that it has been
for hundreds of us a true transaction with
God that may mark the turning point in
our Christian experience.
I acknowledge to you a deep sense of
concern for this afternoon's gathering and for the
message, for in seeking to be sensitive to
what the Lord would say to us, I
felt directed toward a word which I had
not intended to give today when I came
here on Saturday, but my heart was deeply
moved as I listened to God's servants both
last evening and this morning at the Bible
study hour.
I'm sure that God is making us tender
to his word, that's what needs to happen
in a convention.
I once heard a man pray rather an
unusual prayer in the United States when he
said, Lord, tenderize us.
That's perhaps a strange word in this country,
but you know what he meant, and I
think that's what we need, just to be
made tender, tender and sensitive to the voice
of God's spirit.
And so in seeking to be this in
my own heart, I was redirected even this
morning to this passage of scripture, because we
have been facing the ugliness of sin, the
awfulness of it and the tragedy of it
in the Christian church, in the life of
a child of God.
I said on Sunday evening, that which I
would just repeat for a moment here, I
am sure that the only answer to all
the pressures of evil that come upon the
Christian church today, the only answer to it
is the power of God the Holy Ghost
liberated through a repentant church, a repentant heart,
and that can begin with you and me
this week.
Just to know a new freedom and a
new liberty, and a new sense of the
authority of the blessing of God upon our
hearts, my, what a transformation that would be.
And I want to take as a basis
for our message today, God's provision for victory,
because God has made a complete provision for
victory.
It is never impossible for a Christian to
sin, but bless the Lord, it's always possible
for him not to sin.
For God's provision for victory is perfect.
May I just say one word by way
of introduction to this theme this afternoon, which
I trust may speak to your heart and
to mine.
Temptation is part of God's plan for your
life.
Let me repeat that.
Temptation is part of God's plan for your
life.
This word temptation in the Bible actually has
two different meanings to it.
In the first place, it means to be
tested, to be proved.
You have it used in that sense both
in the Old and New Testament.
For instance, in Genesis chapter 22 and verse
1, we read, and God did tempt Abraham.
And that word really means tested him.
In this sense, the word is being tempted,
not with any suggestion of being enticed into
evil.
But God did test Abraham.
You have the same word in the 8th
chapter of Luke and the 13th verse, where
our Lord is giving to the disciples his
interpretation of the parable of the sower, and
he speaks about those who received the seed
on rocky ground.
And these are they who received the word
with gladness and endured for a while.
But in time of temptation, fell away.
In time of testing, when things got a
bit tough, they fell away.
That kind of temptation, or better, that kind
of testing comes to us from heaven.
And God designs it in order that we
might learn how utterly weak we are, and
learn therefore to be driven back upon him.
Have you read Hebrews chapter 11 lately?
That wonderful picture gallery of the heroes of
faith, have you said to yourself in reading
it, my what mighty men these were, how
strong they were?
You are wrong.
They were the weakest men who have ever
lived.
It was out of weakness, says the scripture,
that they were made strong.
God's first work with a Christian is to
teach him to be weak.
And testing is brought to us for that
very purpose, to show us our weakness.
But of course the word is also used
in the Bible, in the suggestion of being
tempted with a view to falling into sin.
And in this sense, that kind of testing
and that kind of temptation comes from the
devil.
God tests us for our good.
Satan tempts us for our downfall.
And that's the battlefield for every one of
us here today.
What a comfort it is, isn't it, in
the moment of temptation to remember that there
is one, the name that is high over
all, before whom devils fear and fly.
There is one whose name is Jesus, who
has been tempted in all points like as
we are, yet without sin.
And he, at the moment of our new
birth, has come to live in us.
And friend, if you've never tasted the victory
yet, bless the Lord, you have the victor
in your heart, and therefore there is never
any need to go down.
No matter how severe the attack may be,
defeat needn't happen.
Do you believe that?
Jesus' power is boundless, boundless as the sea.
Jesus is always able, able to help me.
There is provision, therefore, for the Christian for
victory.
And I want, I want the sense of
that, the knowledge of that, the thought of
that, even now at this moment, to grip
your heart.
For if you have been living in defeat
as a Christian, as well you may, for
years.
For remember, it is possible to be indwelt
by the Holy Spirit, but to be mastered
by the flesh.
It is possible to be out of Egypt,
but not in Canaan.
It is possible to have our sins forgiven,
but to know nothing of deliverance from the
principle of sin.
This can go on in the Christian life.
But let the thought grip your heart today,
that if it has been going on, it
need not continue one minute longer.
Now, of course, this is a subject which
causes us all to meet on common ground.
When you talk about a theme like this,
you're bound to touch everybody.
There is no temptation that has taken you,
but that is common to man.
But God, who is faithful, will never suffer
you to be tempted beyond that you are
able to bear, but will, with the temptation,
not before it, nor after it, but with
it, at the right moment, for God is
never late or never early with his supplies
to his harassed people.
He will, with the temptation, provide the way
of escape that you may be able to
run away, no, that you may be able
to stand your ground, that you might be
able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10, 13, that is.
Let me illustrate what I mean.
He is an engineer, and he's testing a
new machine, which is a very expensive machine,
very costly, and he's subjecting it to severe
pressures of heat.
And as this machine is going through intense
pressure of heat, he is watching a dial
which is registering the amount of the pressure.
And as he watches the machine and watches
its reactions to the pressures of heat, suddenly
he sees that dial go up to the
danger point.
And when he sees it there, at a
point where the machine would be damaged if
the pressure continues, he releases a safety valve
that the machine might be able to bear
it.
The way of escape that God provides is
not for me, but bless the Lord, it's
for the devil.
It's not for me to run away, but
he knows, he knows the moment when the
pressure has gone on long enough and the
time has come for him to release the
safety valve.
He will never suffer you to be tempted
beyond that you're able to bear.
Oh dear, that's only the introduction.
Now, let me consider with you one or
two things this afternoon, quickly, in shorthand nearly,
because we'll need to get through.
But some important principles on this whole matter.
Oh, may the Spirit of God just wing
these things to your heart.
First of all, this.
When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit
imparts a new nature to your life.
He imparts a new nature to your life.
2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 4.
There are given to you exceeding great and
precious promises whereby you are made partakers of
the divine nature.
Colossians 1, 27, Christ in you, the hope
of glory.
Ephesians 4, 24, put on the new man
which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.
The new man is not the old man
regenerate.
We receive this new nature at the moment
of our new birth.
It is at that moment that the Holy
Spirit comes to take up his permanent residence
in the life of the child of God.
At that moment you are baptized by the
Spirit into the body of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 12, 13.
And that new nature, or shall I put
it this way, the Holy Spirit has then
become your second nature.
And he cannot sin.
It is impossible for the Holy Spirit to
sin.
Therefore, you have received within you a new
life to whom sin is anathema.
He cannot sin.
And given freedom of action in your heart
and in your life, he will produce nothing
but good fruit.
Recognizing that at this point I'm about to
tread on somewhat thin ice and on something
of a controversial character, let me nevertheless look
at 1 John chapter 3 verse 9 and
suggest to you that this is what this
verse is saying.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit
sin, for his seed remaineth in him.
And he cannot sin because he is born
of God.
Now many people interpret that verse to say,
now of course what it really means is
that when a man is born of God,
he does not continue in the practice of
sin.
He'll sin occasionally, sometimes, but he won't continue
doing it habitually.
But you see, the verse doesn't say that.
The verse says that he that is born
of God doth not commit sin.
Why?
Because his seed remaineth in him.
And he cannot sin because he is born
of God.
The seed of heaven, the very life of
Jesus, cannot sin because that life is born
of God.
So you have received, as a Christian, a
new nature that cannot sin.
The second thing that I would say to
you this afternoon is this, that the old
nature remains in the regenerate life.
The Christian will always keep to the very
end of his journey what the Bible calls,
in Romans chapter 8, among other places, the
flesh.
In this chapter, which everybody regards as the
great charter of victory for the Christian, the
victory chapter in the word of God, the
theme is the conflict between the flesh and
the spirit.
In the first 13 verses of Romans 8,
no less than 13 times have you the
word flesh.
Similarly, in Galatians 5, 16, and 17, Paul
says, Walk in the spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh, so that you
cannot do the things that ye would.
Now, what is the flesh?
The flesh is not simply what you and
I think is bad about ourselves.
The flesh is not simply this body in
which we live.
It's much more than that.
The flesh is all that we are.
Spelt backwards, and with the H left off,
it spells self.
This is the flesh, all that I am,
when I am not in Christ.
You remember that Paul said in Romans 7,
verse 18, I know that in me, that
is in my flesh, that is his definition,
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing.
So you see, the new man is Christ
in us by the spirit, and the old
man is self without Jesus, and the flesh,
says the scripture, is sold unto sin.
And that is a condition which is incurable,
and the grace of God does not set
out to cure it.
And the gospel of Jesus Christ and his
redemption does not refine, or polish up, or
Christianize, or make religious the flesh.
It is unchanged in the life of the
Christian.
And all through your life, the flesh will
always offer unyielding opposition to the spirit.
It cannot be improved, it cannot be sanctified,
God can only do one thing with the
flesh, to free us from its power, and
that is crucify it, slay it, and put
it to death.
How he does that, we shall see in
a moment.
But I am persuaded that the vast majority
of Christians, especially in the early years after
conversion, spend most of their time trying to
polish up the flesh.
Having received forgiveness of sins, we then say,
now you watch what a good Christian I
am going to be.
And we set about our daily quiet time,
and our daily reading of the Bible, and
our attendance of church, and we substitute in
our diaries, for a whole round of social
entertainment, another round of religious activity, and the
flesh looks really wonderful.
Suddenly the whole thing has got religious.
And then having received forgiveness of sin, we
decide now, with God's help, and by reading
my Bible, and saying my prayers, and going
to church, as God helps me this way,
I am going to make myself, my flesh,
really live a Christian life.
And that ends up with the psychiatrist, and
coffee, and tranquilizers.
It ends up over and over again with
a Christian disillusioned, and shattered, and bewildered, and
often saying to himself, this Christian life is
absolutely useless, it's not for me.
Of course it isn't for you, it's for
Jesus in you, by his name.
Remember therefore, it is possible for a Christian
to live after the flesh.
Romans 8, 5, they that are after the
flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
They that are after the spirit, the things
of the spirit.
And it would just be well, perhaps, for
us to take a moment and ask yourself
today, what are you minding?
Are you minding the things of the flesh,
or are you minding the things of the
spirit?
What do you mind?
Those who willingly and knowingly continue to live
after the flesh, betray the falsity of their
profession of faith in Christ.
The old nature continues to exist in the
regenerate life.
The third thing I would say to you
today is this, that the Holy Spirit who
has come to impart his nature within you,
has power at every moment to overcome the
flesh.
Romans 8, 2, the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death.
2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17, where
the spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty.
Yes, the spirit of God within has the
power to overcome the flesh.
And the basis for that victory was laid
for us at Calvary.
Let me remind you, dear friend, that the
Holy Spirit only comes to fulfill and make
real in you what Jesus did for you
at the cross.
It is Dr. Schofield who says, we need
the Holy Spirit to make actual in life
what Christ did for us at Calvary.
And at the cross, the Lord Jesus not
only bore away our sins and forgave them,
but he also took away this self-life
and condemned it and crucified it.
How did he do that?
Because every moment of his life, without exception,
he was dying to the whole principle of
sin.
He never lived to please himself, he lived
to please God.
He never lived to serve himself, he lived
to serve others.
He lived entirely for the glory of his
Father.
And in so doing, here is a man
who is dying all the time to the
sin principle.
Living on the principle of submission, living on
the principle of obedience to God.
And this life which had died to sin,
he took to the cross and there condemned
sin in the flesh, as Romans 8 verse
3 says.
For by his obedience and by his holy
life, he has triumphed over all the activity
of the flesh, over that root principle of
sin which before your conversion has driven your
body into evil action.
And Jesus rose from the dead and ascended
into heaven and received of his Father the
promise of the Spirit and baptized every poor,
beaten, bankrupt, hopeless life that came to him
in repentance and faith with this new principle
of life, his own life, by his Spirit
to live within you.
So that now, by the power of that
new life, the old principle which drove your
body into sin should be put to death.
And the new principle in your life should
drive your body into holiness.
Now there's the very root of Christian experience.
In Jesus Christ, the sin principle, say, Christ
in you by his Spirit to keep it
dead.
Christ in you by his Spirit to reproduce
his life of holiness and victory.
It is therefore through the Spirit, says Paul,
that we keep in subjection the work of
the flesh.
But listen, if you and I are not
on our guard constantly, that old nature which
is so lively in every one of us
will always seek to regain control.
You are dead to sin in Christ, but
sin is never dead to you.
There are some people who think and even
teach that the old self has ceased to
exist, that somehow every root of sin has
been plucked out and eradicated forever.
Well that would make life so easy.
Wouldn't that be easy?
But I find no scriptural authority for that
statement.
If that was true, Romans 8 wouldn't be
in your Bible.
Dead to sin in Jesus, but sin never
dead to me.
And day by day, if we are left
to ourselves without the power of the Spirit
of God, we shall go down.
But as we yield to Holy Spirit control,
he will deal with that old self of
ours and keep it in the place of
death.
Let me illustrate what I mean.
Here's a judge and a jury, and before
them there's a prisoner.
And this prisoner is arraigned for murder.
And the jury, having heard all the evidence,
finds him guilty of murder.
So the judge immediately passes sentence upon the
prisoner of death.
But listen, the judge does no more.
He doesn't take a gun out of his
pocket and shoot him.
If he did, he himself would be guilty
of murder.
What the judge does is to pronounce the
sentence of death upon the prisoner and then
hand him over to the executioner, who alone
has the authority to put him to death.
Listen, when you and I are in the
thick of the battle, and the heat is
on, and we're being tested and tempted almost
to the point where you begin to say,
I can't take this anymore, God watches in
all his enabling power, and he waits to
listen for his child passing the sentence of
death upon that temptation and saying, Lord, this
is the self-life, not the Christ-life.
Lord, Lord, I want this to die.
And Lord Jesus, I come to you and
I hand this temptation over to you and
I ask you now to say it.
And when I yield to Christ, though that
old self remains unchanged and sin has the
same hold upon it, and if left to
myself, sin would irresistibly attract me, by the
power of his Spirit he takes possession and
he ensures the constant crucifixion of that self
-life as day by day I yield to
him.
I do trust today that that truth has
gripped your heart.
There are several ways in which a man
may kill himself.
He may shoot himself.
He may drown himself.
He may poison himself.
He may even hang himself, but he can't
crucify himself.
Jesus has done it for you.
See?
And all he asks is that every moment
of your life as a moral, free agent,
that you, in facing temptation from the enemy,
as it comes to attack, pronounce in your
will a sentence of death and say no,
and look up to him and trust him
for the power to put it to death.
Let me just therefore conclude by one further
word.
What is our part in this life of
victory?
The provision in the Holy Spirit is there.
The fact that the self-life remains and
is just the same and is unchangeable, that
is there.
Yet the Holy Spirit in us has power
to overcome.
Then, then, what is my part in this
situation?
First, the moment by moment surrender of my
will into the hands of the Lord Jesus.
Romans 6, 13, yield your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God.
God can set me free.
I know he can, for my Bible tells
me so.
And for that purpose to give me victory,
he has come to live in my heart.
As long as I cease to resist him,
he will fill my life and he'll go
on delivering me from the enemy.
But if I cease to submit to Jesus,
he ceases to work in my heart.
The moment I cease submitting, at that moment
he ceases working.
And that halt in the operation of God
the Holy Spirit is not brought about often
by open rebellion, but far more often by
our desire, strange desire to try and fight
the battle ourselves.
And the moment I take it out of
his hands and seek to try and fight
the battle with God's help, at that moment
I go down.
God expects nothing from your self-life except
total failure.
He has written it off, he's sentenced it
to death, he's judged it at the cross,
he's finished with you altogether.
He expects nothing of that but failure.
But he has given you the Holy Spirit
that you need never fail.
Oh, but you may say, well I somehow
feel I haven't got enough strength of will
to maintain a constant surrender.
How many people come to us at Keswick
and say, look I tried this before and
it didn't work.
I've yielded to Christ and it didn't work.
I've gone on yielding to Christ and somehow
it didn't work.
I haven't been able to keep it up,
I haven't been able to maintain my surrender,
I withdrew it.
Listen, have no fear.
For the Lord only asks for a will
today that is sincere, regardless of how weak
it may be.
For listen, to make your will strong is
God's business not yours.
Philippians 2.13 It is God who worketh
in you to will and to do His
good pleasure.
It's not for you to try to make
your will strong it's for you to hand
over that will in all its weakness and
let Him work in you to will and
to do His good pleasure.
The first, therefore, requirement is yieldedness.
The second is a constant faith.
Romans 6.11 Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin and alive unto God.
By faith you received forgiveness.
By faith you received victory.
Not by your tears or your prayers or
your striving or your labor or your struggle.
All of this ends in failure.
Just fix your gaze upon Jesus and count
upon Him and in the same way as
you received forgiveness in that way you'll receive
victory.
Now that requires from you friend and from
me a definite act of faith and commitment.
It involves a new starting point in your
Christian life.
I'm not preaching a second blessing if you
ask me if I believe in that I
do because I believe in a million blessings.
One, two, three, four, right away through.
And a day without a blessing would be
a very unpleasant day and a very unhappy
day.
But I am quite sure that there are
many Christians today who have taken the step
of faith and received Christ for pardon.
But they have never taken a step of
faith just as clear, just as definite to
yield themselves to Holy Spirit control that they
might receive by faith deliverance from sin.
Would you take that step today?
Salvation is by faith.
Holiness is by faith.
Not by effort but by faith.
And here in this tent today at about
eight minutes to four on July the 16th
1963 there can come from some weary, beaten,
struggling, defeated, disillusioned Christian a commitment, a step,
a faith by which now they take the
very gift of God, life and victory through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Thanks be unto God who giveth us the
victory today through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But you must take the step of faith.
You took it for forgiveness.
You've never dared take it for victory.
You thought you had to work for that
with a bit of help from heaven.
You thought you had to sweat it out,
fight your own battles with God's help.
You haven't, my friend.
From right now at this moment you can
enter into a new principle of life altogether.
I tell you when a Christian does this
it's like being born again all over again.
It's getting out from under the burden and
finding yourself on top of it in Jesus
Christ our Lord.
How many Christians, and you ask them how
they're getting on, they say not so bad
and then the next word, under the circumstances.
Isn't it tragic when a Christian is there
under the circumstances?
Under them!
Not on top of them, but under them.
But the Lord Jesus is calling I believe
not only to this group at Keswick today
but to the Christian church everywhere to recognize
that his resurrection life indwelling the life of
a child of God spells victory.
And that victory is for you to take
by faith right now.
I would ask you therefore as we close
today I would ask you just to bring
before your mind just to bring before your
mind the impossible situation in your life.
The thing that's got you down the thing
that's kept you under, the thing that's taken
away your testimony and the smile from your
face and the joy of the Lord has
gone and the thing that's just got you
thoroughly bogged down.
I wonder what it is God knows about,
the thing you're thinking about just now as
I talk to you.
Holy Spirit knows and you know.
And I tell you it's got you down
for so long hasn't it bless your heart
that you've stopped praying for victory you've assumed
that you know you're the victim of temperament
or heredity well your mother had that problem
and therefore you must have it it's in
the family or may it be missed the
previous generation it's come out again in you
the psychologist tells you therefore it's inevitable that
you're made like this in the mold, just
the same mold as everybody but a bit
moldier than other people and there you are,
you're stuck like that in the mess, defeated
bless your heart there is no temptation that
can ever come to you that God is
faith would you dare today in the name
of the Lord Jesus the name that's high
above all to step by faith to the
very throne in heaven and claim the victory
that Jesus won for you at the cross
I was brought up as a child on
a very strict principle my parents were not
Christians but they used to come to me
and my father would say to me many
times this word my son there is no
such word as can't and then he would
administer that with the appropriate means on the
part of my anatomy that was designed to
take it and many and many a time
it was more comfortable for me for a
couple of days thereafter to walk than to
sit while I tried to learn the lesson
there is no such word as can't I
am quite sure that he was utterly sincere
utterly sincere in his conviction but I want
to tell you that it was only when
Jesus filled and flooded my heart and life
that he changed the can't into the can
and Christ can do that for you in
any situation right now my favorite life verse
has always been since I became a child
of God Philippians 4 13 I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me and
I just love it in Phillip's letters to
young churches I am ready for anything by
the power of the one who lives within
me could you say that today are they
ready for anything by the power of the
one who lives within you take a good
look at the impossibility take a good look
right now at the thing that's got you
down to the point of despair got it
in your mind well before you come on
now bring it right before your mind you
know what it is a beastly temper a
most unpleasant and critical tongue an awful heart
that's full of jealousy and lack of love
and coldness perhaps some secret sin which dominates
your life and has driven you to tears
and you fought the battle alone hour after
hour till almost now you've given up struggling
with it yes I know bring it well
before your mind got it now just look
right off to Jesus and say to him
Lord Jesus I long to be perfectly whole
do you mean that you really want salvation
more than you want sin very well tell
him so and having told him so just
say thank you Lord I take the victory
that you won for me and I take
it now not only here at Keswick I
take it now in that situation at home
in business in my own personal life when
I'm alone with my thoughts Lord Jesus I
take the victory let's bow together in prayer
soldier soldier fighting in the world's great strife
on thyself relying battling for thy life trust
thyself no longer trust Christ he's stronger I
can all things all things do through Christ
who strengthens me Lord make this wonderful truth
real thy provision for moment by moment victory
in the power of thy mighty conquering spirit
may the grace of the Lord Jesus the
love of God the fellowship and communion of
the spirit be our portion now and until
our dear Lord shall come again and then
forever more.
Amen.