Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The longer I live and learn about the experiences of most Christian people, the more I long to hear them, because they unfold glimpses of that life of peace, power, and victory over sin, which our heavenly Father has made possible for us. Blessed secrets in the Bible are hidden from the wise and prudent but are revealed to babes, and once these are understood and accepted, they will wipe away many a tear and shed sunshine on many a darkened pathway. That which eye has not seen nor ear heard neither has entered into the heart of man is that which God has prepared for those that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).
The bitterest experience with most believers is the presence and power of sin. They long to walk through this grimy world with pure hearts and stainless garments, but while they desire to do good, evil is present within them. They consent to God’s law − that it is good; they approve it; they even delight in it according to the inward man. They do their best to keep it; but, even so, they seem as helpless to perform it as a person with a brain struck with paralysis is helpless to walk straight. Rivers of salty tears have fallen on the open pages of the Penitent’s Psalm (Psalm 51), shed by those who could repeat every word of it by heart. And regiments of weary feet have walked the Bridge of Sighs (Romans 7), which vividly sets forth the experience of a person who hasn’t learned God’s secret.
Surely, our God must have provided for all this. It wouldn’t have been like Him to fill us with hatred toward sin and longings for holiness if there were no escape from the tyranny of the one, and no possibility of attaining the other. To save us from sinning on the other side of the pearly gates would be a small matter, but we want to be saved from sinning now in this dark world. In fact, we want it for the sake of the world so it can be involved attracted and convinced. We want it for our own peace, which can’t be perfected while we groan under a bondage worse than the Egyptian’s. We want it for the glory of God, which would then be reflected from us, with undimming brightness, like sunshine from burnished metal.
What Does the Word of God Lead Us to Expect?
Before Abraham arose to walk the length and breadth of the Land of Promise, God told Him to lift up now thine eyes and look (Genesis 13:14). And before we can enter into the enjoyment of our privileges in Jesus Christ, we must know what they are − something of their length and breadth, and depth and height.
Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). He tempted our Lord, and he will tempt us. He will entice us to do wrong using every avenue of sense, pouring his evil suggestions through eye, ear, touch, mouth, and mind. If he doesn’t attack us himself, he can set any one of his countless agents on us. They will softly step behind us and quietly suggest many serious blasphemies, which we will think proceeded from our own mind.
But temptation isn’t necessarily sin. A man may ask me to share the spoils of a burglary, but if I indignantly refuse and keep my doors shut tight against him, no one can accuse me of receiving stolen property. Our Lord was tempted in all the ways we are, yet without sin. You might go through hell itself, abounding with all manner of awful suggestions, and still not sin. God wouldn’t allow Satan to tempt us if temptation automatically led to sin, but temptation doesn’t do so. As long as the will refuses to comply with the solicitation or strike at the bait, there is no sin.
Temptation may even be a blessing to a person when it reveals his weakness to him and drives him to the almighty Savior. Don’t be surprised, then, dear child of God, if you are tempted at every step of your earthly journey, and almost beyond what you can endure. You won’t be tempted above what ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).
When we are born again, a new life − the life of God − is put into us by the Holy Spirit. But the old self-life, which in Scripture is called the flesh, is not taken away. The two can coexist in the same heart. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (Galatians 5:17). The presence of this old self-life within our heart can be detected by its rising up, upsetting us, wearing us down, and moving us toward sin, when temptation calls to it from outside. It can seem as still as death when facing the increasing power of the new life is noticeable, but that old nature is still present in the depths of our makeup, like a Samson in the dark dungeons of Philistia. The possibility and a fear of its strength growing again to our shame and hurt is always there.
Don’t ignore the presence of a sinful nature within you, with its tendencies and possibilities for sin. Many people have been deceived into neglect and ignorance by the idea that the root of sin had been plucked from their heart, and that for this reason they wouldn’t sin again. Then, in the face of some sudden uprising of their old nature, they are filled with agony and shame, even if they haven’t dropped back into a sea of ink for a moment. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us (1 John 1:8).
There is a difference between sin and sins. Sin is the root-principle of evil, the flesh, the old self-life, the bias and tendency to sin, which can be kept in check by the grace of God, but which remains in us, though in diminishing power, until we leave this world. Sins are the outcome of this − manifestations in act of the sinful nature within. Through the grace of Jesus, we can be saved from these daily. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). To put the matter clearly, sin isn’t dead in us, but we can be dead to sin so it won’t bear the deadly fruits of sins.
What is sin? It is the “Yes” of the will to temptation. It is very difficult to express the delicate workings of our heart, but when we are tempted, doesn’t something like this happen to us? A temptation is presented to us suddenly and makes a strong appeal. This can immediately cause a quavering movement of the old nature, like the way strings of a violin or piano vibrate in answer to sounds exciting the air. Some don’t feel this tremulous response; others do, though I believe it will get fainter and fainter as believers treat it with continued neglect, so that finally, in the matured saint, it will become almost imperceptible. This response indicates the presence of the evil nature within, which is in itself hateful in the sight of our Holy God, and should be regretted and confessed and always needs the presence of the blood of Jesus to counteract and atone; but that tremulous movement hasn’t as yet developed into an actual overt sin for which we are responsible and for which we need to repent.
Sin is the act of the will and is only possible when the will agrees to some unholy influence. The tempter presenting his temptation through the senses and emotions makes an appeal to the will, which is our real self. If that will instantly shudders, like chickens when the hawk hovers in the sky above them, and cries, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” and immediately looks to Jesus, then there are, so far as I understand, no sins. If, on the other hand, the will begins to trifle with temptation, to linger with it, and to yield to it, then we have stepped out of the light into the dark. We have broken God’s law, splashed our white robes, and brought ourselves into condemnation. We are accountable for this as long as we are in this world, for we can live a godly, righteous, sober life for years; but if we look away from God for only a moment, our will can suddenly be mastered, in the same way Louis XVIII was mastered by the mob that invaded his palace. And, like David, we can be hurried into a sin which will destroy our peace and blacken our character for the future.
Now, what are the secrets of victory over sin?
It is sweet to notice the present tenses of Scripture in Psalm 103:3-6. The Lord forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, and executes righteousness and justice. But the sweetest of all is the blood of Jesus Christ, . . . cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). It cleansed us when we first knelt at His cross. It will clean away the last remnant of sin as we cross the golden threshold. But it does cleanse us every hour, in the same way the brook flows over the stones in its bed until they glisten with lustrous beauty, and like the tear constantly cascades over the eye, and keeps it bright and clean, in spite of all the filth that darkens the air.
Having a sinful nature is an evil that always needs an antidote. The risings and stirrings of that nature under the enticement of temptation always need cleansing. The permission of things we now count harmless in our life we will someday condemn and put away in the midst of increasing light − all these need forgiveness. But for all these needs, there is more than enough provision for us in the blood of Jesus, which is always crying to God for us. Even when we don’t plead it or remember it, or realize our need of it, it accomplishes for us and in us its unceasing ministry of blessing.
Sin has no power over a dead man. Dress it in its most bewitching guise, and it still doesn’t cause him to stir. Tears and smiles and words and blows all fail to awaken a response from that cold corpse. No plea will stir it until it hears the voice of the Son of God.
This is our position with respect to the appeals of sin. God looks on us as having been crucified with Christ and being dead with Him. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). In Him, we have passed out of the world of sin and death and into the world of resurrection glory. This is our position in the mind of God, and it is for us to take it up and make it real by faith. We might not feel any big difference, but we must believe there is and act as if there is. Our children sometimes play at make-believe; we too are to make believe, and when we do, we will soon come to feel as we believe. Then, when a temptation solicits you, say, “I am dead to you. Don’t spend your energies on one who is oblivious to your spells and callous to your charms. You have no more power over me than over my Lord and Head.” Likewise also reckon yourselves to be truly dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ, Jesus, our Lord (Romans 6:11).
The Holy Spirit is in the heart of every believer. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person is not of him (Romans 8:9). But sadly, too often He is shut up in some meager attic in the back of the house, while the world fills the rest. As long as it is like this, there’s one long, weary story of defeat and unrest. But He is not content. Do ye think that the scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy? (James 4:5). Those who yield to Him are happy. He will fill them like the tide fills the harbor and lifts the barges off the banks of mud. He will live in them, extensively shedding the perfume of the love of Jesus and will reveal the deep things of God.
With the Spirit of God, we can always tell when we are wrong. Our conscience darkens in a moment when we have grieved Him. If we are aware of such a darkness, it is best never to rest until we have discovered the cause revealed by His electrifying light, and confessed it and put it away.
Besides this, if we live and walk in the Spirit, we will find that He will work against the risings of our old nature, counteracting them in the same way disinfecting power counteracts the germs of disease floating in an infected house, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (Galatians 5:17). These are some of the most precious words in the New Testament. If you have never tried it, I implore you to begin to test it in your daily life. Walk in the Spirit hour by hour, through vigilant obedience to His slightest promptings, and you will find that ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
Flee to Him quicker than a chicken runs beneath the shelter of its mother’s wing when the falcon is in the air. In the morning, before you leave your room, commit yourself definitely into His hands, confident that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him (2 Timothy 1:12). Go from your room with the assurance that He will cover you with His feathers and from under His wings you will trust. And when the tempter comes, look instantly up and say, “Jesus, I am trusting Thee to keep me.”
This is what the apostle Paul calls using the shield of faith. The upward glance of faith puts Jesus like a shield between the tempter and yourself. You can go through life saying a hundred times a day, “Jesus saves me,” and He will never let those who trust in Him be ashamed. He is powerful to keep you without sin and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). You can be pressed with temptations externally, and may feel the workings of evil within, and yet as your will looks intently to Jesus, you will remain steadfast, immovable, and unyielding. No weapon that is forged against you in the armory of hell will prosper.
I was first taught this by a gray-haired clergyman, in the study of the Deanery, at Southampton. Once, when tempted to feel great irritation, he told us that he looked up and claimed the patience and gentleness of Christ. Since then, it had become the practice of his life to claim from Him the virtue which he felt deficient in himself. In times of unrest, “Your peace, Lord.” In times of irritation, “Your patience, Lord.” In times of temptation, “Your purity, Lord.” In times of weakness, “Your strength, Lord.” For me, it was a message straight from the throne. Until that time, I’d been content with ridding myself of burdens. Now I began to reach out in view of a positive blessing, making each temptation the opportunity for the new acquisition of gold leaf. Try it, dear reader.
When I have spoken in this way in public, I have been met at times by the objection, “Ah, sir, it is quite true that the Lord will keep me if I look to Him, but I often forget to look in time.” This arises from one of three causes.
Perhaps the heart and life have never been entirely surrendered to Jesus. Constant defeat always indicates a failure in consecration. You must not expect Christ to keep you unless you have given your heart and life entirely over to Him, so that He is king. Christ can’t be keeper if He is not king. And He will not be king at all unless He is king of all.
Or perhaps there is a lack of watchfulness. Christ will not keep us if we carelessly and shamelessly put ourselves into the path of temptation. He will give His angels charge over us in every path of duty, but not to catch us every time we like to throw ourselves from the jutting height. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation (Matthew 26:41).
Or perhaps there is a lack of feeding on the Word of God. No one can live a life of faith without times of prolonged waiting on God in the loving study of the Bible and in prayer. The man who doesn’t make time for private devotions in the early morning can hardly expect to walk with God all day. And of the two things, the devout meditation on the Word is more important to soul-health than even prayer. It is more necessary for you to hear God’s words than it is for God to hear yours, although the one will always lead to the other. Focus on these things and it will become both easy and natural to trust Christ in the time of afflictions or temptations.
If, despite all these helps, you are still deceived into a sin and overtaken by a weakness, don’t lose heart. If a sheep and a sow fall into a ditch, the sow wallows in it, but the sheep bleats pathetically until she is cleansed by her master. Go at once to your compassionate Savior. Tell Him in the simplest words the story of your fall and the sorrow you feel. Ask Him to wash you at once and to restore your soul, and, while you are asking, believe that it is done. Then go to anyone against or with whom you have sinned, and confess your faults one to another (James 5:16). In this way, the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7), and will return to roost in your heart and to guard it like a sentry-angel in shining armor.
And if you live in this way, free from the power of sin, you will find that the Master will begin to use you as never before and to tell you His heart-secrets and to open to you the royal magnificence of a life hidden with Himself in God.
May this be your happy portion, dear reader.
Frances R. Havergal, “I Am Trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,” Lutheran Hymnal, 1874.