WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.280 This little heart -to -heart talk may change 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:09.160 your way of thinking, living, experience, everything 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:15.019 completely. I mean just exactly that. You may 00:00:15.019 --> 00:00:18.920 have felt that you were living a victorious Christian 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:25.440 life and yet it was only a matter of you using 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:33.600 your own willpower. Restraining yourself in not 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:36.259 doing the things that you really wanted to do. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:43.299 It's restraint on your part. You're trying to 00:00:43.299 --> 00:00:49.100 exercise your own willpower. The Bible teaches 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:55.799 that there is a place where literally Jesus takes 00:00:55.799 --> 00:01:01.539 the want to out of your heart, the want to do 00:01:01.539 --> 00:01:09.280 wrong things, as long as you want to do things 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:16.219 that are wrong, as long as you want to sin, then, 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:20.739 my friend, that miracle has not yet happened 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:25.540 within. And the miracle has got to happen within. 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:29.599 I told you in our last little heart -to -heart 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:33.599 talk that our Lord wishes us, it's his plan, 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:40.319 that his children should be happy, joyful, always, 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:45.780 everywhere, under all circumstances. And this 00:01:45.780 --> 00:01:50.239 life of victory is a life of trust. And that's 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:52.840 a kind of a life that glorifies the Lord Jesus 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:58.260 Christ. Mm -hmm. But there are a lot of folk 00:01:58.260 --> 00:02:03.959 who are being kidded by the devil. The devil 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:09.039 does all he can to entice us to accept a counterfeit 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:17.659 victory. If you analyze it, you don't have victory 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:26.659 at all. You are just using restraint. And in 00:02:26.659 --> 00:02:31.979 using restraint, you find yourself a very miserable 00:02:31.979 --> 00:02:39.800 person. Aren't we the happy? No. Many Christians 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.819 pride themselves on the fact that they exercise 00:02:41.819 --> 00:02:46.139 such self -control over everything, their temper, 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:49.860 their meanness, that none of these things ever 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:54.620 gets the better of them. Mm -hmm. You know... 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:59.759 No doubt most of our listeners have heard the 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:02.340 story of the old Quaker lady who apparently never 00:03:02.340 --> 00:03:06.580 lost her temper. Never. Oh, I have visualized 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:11.360 her more than once. Can't you see her? Under 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:16.599 the most trying circumstances, she always remained 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:23.120 unruffled. Oh, she was so even in her temperament 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:27.210 and her disposition. No matter what happened, 00:03:27.349 --> 00:03:35.949 she remained absolutely unruffled. Then one day, 00:03:35.990 --> 00:03:40.389 a very close friend complimented her on this 00:03:40.389 --> 00:03:44.770 and said to her, I can't for the life of me understand 00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:51.689 how you always keep so delightfully sweet. How 00:03:51.689 --> 00:03:54.460 in the world do you do it? If the things happened 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:58.180 to me which happened to you, believe me, I'd 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:04.300 just boil with rage. But you never do. And the 00:04:04.300 --> 00:04:12.199 dear old Quaker lady quietly replied, Well, perhaps 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:17.600 I do not boil over, my dear. But thou dost not 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:22.120 know what boiling is going on on the inside of 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:27.459 me. Ha ha. That's what I'm trying to tell you. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:33.420 That is not victory. There is no victory in keeping 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:35.819 our sinful feelings from expressing themselves. 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:42.740 If they're there, if you're still boiling on 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:46.459 the inside, and you're trying to keep from showing 00:04:46.459 --> 00:04:49.040 it, that's not victory. The miracle has not happened 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:52.670 on the inside of you. You're just using restraint. 00:04:53.389 --> 00:04:59.250 You're just using willpower. And a sinner can 00:04:59.250 --> 00:05:03.610 use willpower. Why, I know some people who have 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:06.550 never been born again who can control their feelings. 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:11.069 They have absolute control over their feelings. 00:05:13.649 --> 00:05:19.089 They exercise their own willpower over their 00:05:19.089 --> 00:05:27.160 feelings. That's not spiritual victory. Mm -hmm. 00:05:28.540 --> 00:05:31.240 There's no victory in keeping our sinful feelings 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:34.680 from expressing themselves. We may do that simply 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:37.560 because we're ashamed to let others know how 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:41.899 sinful we really are. Moreover, it does not require 00:05:41.899 --> 00:05:44.420 the grace of God to enable a man to hide his 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:50.899 temper. Many a sales clerk... God knows it takes 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:54.579 patience to deal with the public. I feel sorry 00:05:54.579 --> 00:05:59.680 for any person who is a sales clerk behind a 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:05.680 counter. Oh, God bless them. These poor women 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.300 in the notion department. These poor women in 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:15.569 yardage. I stood there and watched them. Oh, 00:06:15.589 --> 00:06:18.149 and you know good and well that on the inside 00:06:18.149 --> 00:06:23.110 of them, they could explode sometime. If they 00:06:23.110 --> 00:06:26.509 could only give vent to what they are really 00:06:26.509 --> 00:06:29.730 feeling. But the only reason they don't give 00:06:29.730 --> 00:06:32.670 vent to what they really feel on the inside is 00:06:32.670 --> 00:06:33.790 because they know good and well they'll lose 00:06:33.790 --> 00:06:42.709 their job. That's right. Sure. A businessman... 00:06:43.019 --> 00:06:45.360 will do the very same thing just to get an order. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:52.379 A salesman will take a lot of gaff. A salesman 00:06:52.379 --> 00:06:57.660 will take an awful lot from a client. He feels 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:00.240 like killing him. He could just clobber him all 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.699 over the place. But he doesn't do it. He uses 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:08.079 restraint. He uses willpower because he's after 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:16.120 an order. Mm -hmm. A gentleman will do it to 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:22.500 avoid bad form. A society lady does it for social 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:32.779 reasons. But this is not a victorious life. All 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:38.339 these things are very well so far as they go, 00:07:38.459 --> 00:07:42.350 but they don't go far enough. There is a place 00:07:42.350 --> 00:07:46.850 where literally we become a new person in Christ 00:07:46.850 --> 00:07:53.509 Jesus, where the miracle begins on the inside 00:07:53.509 --> 00:08:01.410 of us, where it is as natural to be sweet, as 00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:05.129 natural to be patient, as natural to be forgiving, 00:08:05.490 --> 00:08:12.490 as natural to be happy. As it is to breathe. 00:08:14.069 --> 00:08:18.370 That is real victory. And only the Lord Jesus 00:08:18.370 --> 00:08:23.689 Christ can give that kind of victory. Someone 00:08:23.689 --> 00:08:29.990 tells the story of a lady missionary who surrendered 00:08:29.990 --> 00:08:34.649 everything to Christ but had never looked to 00:08:34.649 --> 00:08:38.590 him for complete victory. Imagine a missionary 00:08:38.590 --> 00:08:42.460 on the mission field. She felt she had made the 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:45.620 full surrender, and she had made the full surrender 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:48.159 to the extent that she was even willing to give 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.279 her life to go on the mission field. But when 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:57.399 it came to this thing of complete victory, she 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:02.600 found her temper was not improved by the tropics. 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:10.809 Oh, sure. Mm -hmm. You go out and live under 00:09:10.809 --> 00:09:14.809 certain circumstances, certain environments. 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:22.250 She was pretty good until she got out in the 00:09:22.250 --> 00:09:26.730 tropics. And she was much distressed about her 00:09:26.730 --> 00:09:31.029 failures and her struggles. She tried in vain 00:09:31.029 --> 00:09:35.269 to counter her temper. However, a friend showed 00:09:35.269 --> 00:09:42.240 her that there was through simple faith in Christ. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.899 And she claimed it as a gift from God. And so 00:09:47.899 --> 00:09:50.159 writing to this friend sometime afterward, she 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.039 told her the wonderful thing that had happened 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:57.600 to her in the spiritual life. And I quote, she 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:01.279 wrote, I wanted to write to you at first, but 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:06.960 I was afraid my wonderful victory would not last. 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:12.299 But it has lasted. Do you know that for three 00:10:12.299 --> 00:10:16.779 months, not only have I not once slammed the 00:10:16.779 --> 00:10:18.779 door in the face of any of those stupid Indian 00:10:18.779 --> 00:10:22.220 servants that used to get on my nerves, but I 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:30.000 have not even wanted to. Not once. Now that, 00:10:30.059 --> 00:10:35.759 my friend, is the victory. Mm -hmm. Those were 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:42.610 her own words. Now that's something. That's real 00:10:42.610 --> 00:10:49.769 victory. But I have not even wanted to, she said. 00:10:49.990 --> 00:10:54.590 Not once. I'd like to recognize such a thing 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:59.409 as a miracle. No good resolutions, no willpower 00:10:59.409 --> 00:11:05.909 can alter our likes and our dislikes. Only God 00:11:05.909 --> 00:11:12.559 can. Let's face this thing of likes and dislikes. 00:11:12.740 --> 00:11:16.600 In the natural, you cannot control your likes 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:22.259 and your dislikes. In the natural, there's some 00:11:22.259 --> 00:11:25.440 folk you absolutely cannot force yourself to 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.740 like. You can't do it. Only God can change that. 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:34.740 He can take away from us all desire to do sinful 00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:40.149 things. All right, now follow me. Bad temper 00:11:40.149 --> 00:11:43.710 is not the only sin of Christian people, but 00:11:43.710 --> 00:11:48.330 many Christians have the sweetest dispositions. 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:54.049 The best test of all is the matter of love. Do 00:11:54.049 --> 00:11:57.789 we love our enemies? Those who despitefully use 00:11:57.789 --> 00:12:03.909 us or persecute us? Do we still love them? Oh, 00:12:03.970 --> 00:12:06.850 it's easy to love the lovely. Some folks are 00:12:06.850 --> 00:12:09.960 the easiest things in the world to love. But 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:16.620 do we love our enemies? If you want him to love 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:25.080 you, if you really want him to love you, you're 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:29.600 going to have to, first of all, show him you 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:35.519 love him. We usually kind of hesitate to see 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:37.159 whether the other person is going to like us 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:41.399 or not. before we trust our love for him. You 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:44.200 know, it's kind of like that. Oh, it's easy to 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:46.340 love somebody when you know they're crazy about 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:49.559 you. But when somebody says, isn't she the worst 00:12:49.559 --> 00:12:51.460 thing? I can't stand her. I can't stand her voice. 00:12:51.539 --> 00:12:53.799 I don't like anything about her. Her personality 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:56.620 annoys me. Knowing that that person feels that 00:12:56.620 --> 00:13:00.440 way about you, can you still love them? Now, 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:03.360 that takes a miracle. That takes the grace of 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:09.120 God. But it's possible. Uh -huh. And it's got 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.279 to be spontaneous. It isn't forcing yourself. 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:22.100 It's spontaneous. Mm -hmm. Oh, I know. It's in 00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:25.980 the small things that we're tested. It's in the 00:13:25.980 --> 00:13:29.039 small matters that I think that we're tested 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:33.460 most. How often we hear Ernest Christian saying, 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:39.840 well... I simply cannot love the unlovable. No. 00:13:41.340 --> 00:13:45.299 It's impossible for human love to do this. We 00:13:45.299 --> 00:13:50.779 cannot make ourselves love another. No judge 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:55.720 in anybody's court can make a man love his wife 00:13:55.720 --> 00:14:06.100 when he doesn't. No court can force A woman to 00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:12.860 love her husband when she doesn't. No law in 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:20.139 the land can make men love each other when they 00:14:20.139 --> 00:14:27.220 don't. You can't do it. We cannot make ourselves 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:32.240 love another. Human love is kindled only by what 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:35.740 it... thinks is lovable. The love of God, Christ's 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:41.899 love, embraces all and sees everyone to be lovable. 00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:45.899 I know that I'm talking about something that 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:50.659 seems absolutely impossible, so far -fetched 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:55.220 in the minds of thousands and thousands of people, 00:14:55.340 --> 00:14:58.659 but I am talking about something that's real, 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:03.980 that the Bible teaches, and it's there. When 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:09.159 Christ dwells richly in our hearts, we shall 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:16.299 love even our enemies. There is victory when 00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:22.440 the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:30.639 to the expulsion of all unlove. Then and then 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:38.240 only. There we have a definition of real victory. 00:15:40.100 --> 00:15:48.340 No. We can legislate all we want to. We can pass 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:57.639 laws all we want to. We can use force and might 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:05.639 all we want to. But you'll never make one man 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:11.919 love another, one race love another, one people 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:19.799 love another, unless it's in the heart. And God 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:25.820 and God alone can put that love there. And when 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:29.879 he puts it in our hearts, it's the greatest thing 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:36.179 that can happen to us. And that's the miracle 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:46.120 that we need in the world today. The greatest 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:51.120 power in the world today is not force, my friend, 00:16:51.259 --> 00:16:57.740 but the greatest... power in the world today. 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:01.759 And the only thing that will save this civilization 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:10.640 is love, the love of Jesus Christ our Lord. God 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:11.059 bless you.