Well, sir, a lady writes to me and let me see,
where does this come from? It comes from Los
Angeles. No, it comes from Sacramento. Sacramento,
California. And she said, Miss Gorman, I want
to be fully consecrated. I try, but fail. There
must be more to it than crying. Would it be possible
to tell someone how this full consecration comes
about? I have struggled. I have worked. I have
agonized. But nothing happens. She signs her
full name. There's a postscript. Please pray
especially that God will give me a good dose
of consecration. That's simple. That's down to
earth. The same question that literally thousands
are asking right now. And so again today. We're
going to have another one of those old -fashioned
heart -to -heart talks. You know, I've been talking
to you about this thing of victorious living,
a victorious life. I want you to remember something.
If you forget everything else that I might say
in the next 20 minutes, remember this one thing.
This life is a gift. The victorious life is a
gift by the greatest of all givers, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. When I see people agonizing,
when I see them struggling, I feel so sorry for
them. I'll tell you something truthfully, and
I'll make a confession. This thing of sanctification
nearly made an infidel out of me when I was not
more than 15 years old. I'll just take the lid
off of my heart and be perfectly honest with
you about these things, because you can't give
any more to anyone else than what you have experienced
yourself. Now, I believe in sanctification. I
believe in holiness. I have to. The Word of God
teaches it. But in my stupidity, I didn't understand
it, and it almost threw me. Oh, sure, in Oskaloosa,
Iowa. Years and years, and it's been years ago.
Well, you can imagine how many years ago it has
been. Because right after my conversion, I was
only about 15 years of age. And how many years
ago that's been is, well, I'm not going to tell
you. Anyway, I was so hungry for more of God.
Oh, beloved, you'll never know. I was so hungry
that on the inside, actually, it hurt. You know
what I'm talking about? Every part of my being
just cried out. I wanted to be sanctified. I
wanted to be made holy. I wanted a complete consecration.
And they were having a holiness camp meeting,
preaching holiness. I was too young to understand
most of it. But every time there was an altar
call, in the morning session, in the afternoon
session, at night, they would give an altar call
for those who wanted to be consecrated, those
who wanted to be sanctified. The first one down
the sawdust trail was a red -headed, freckle
-faced teenage girl. And I would kneel down and
cry and cry and cry until my eyes were almost
swollen shut. Sometimes they did swell completely
close. Agonizing, struggling. What happened?
Nothing. I... was struggling for something that
was a gift and the Lord Jesus Christ was more
willing to give to me than I was to receive from
him but in my ignorance I didn't know how to
receive this gift. A gift is a gift. This victorious
life is a gift and it's not to be secured by
any struggling or striving or agonizing on our
part. It's not a thing to be attained by long
and laborious effort. It's not a thing that we
can reach gradually by growing more and more
like Christ. These things that I'm saying to
you right now are most important to you. They're
vitally important. And I'm telling you these
things so that you don't make the same mistake
that I made when I didn't have anyone to teach
me. All life comes as a gift. Our physical life,
we just receive it. Our spiritual life is the
gift of God. Read it. 6th chapter, Romans, the
23rd verse. The life more abundant. And believe
me, there is a life that is more abundant. It's
a gift. We cannot receive a gift gradually. There
may be some hesitation or there may be delay
in taking it. There may be a struggle before
we are willing to receive it. But a gift... is
accepted, not gradually, but in a moment. The
victorious life, then, can be received by a definite
act. Now watch something. There is, of course,
a growth in grace in the man who has been wholly
sanctified. A going on to perfection as his capacity
increases. Oh, don't think that I don't believe
that there is a growth. There is a daily growth.
For instance, you'll never know how often I have
wondered recently, dear Lord Jesus, you're putting
such responsibility on me. There are thousands
of doors that are opening everywhere. Why didn't
you do this years and years ago? Why? And you
know he gives me the same answer. Child of mine,
you couldn't have handled it years and years
ago. You weren't the mature Christian years and
years ago that you are now. You didn't have the
deep spiritual experiences years and years ago
that you have now. There has been a constant,
a continual growth every day and every day. And
if there isn't a daily continual growth in your
spiritual life, there's something wrong someplace
with your relationship between the Lord and yourself.
There's your little baby. Maybe at this very
moment, that child is just an infant in your
arms. Or maybe a child is there crawling near
your feet on the rug beside the chair where you're
sitting. Now, if that child is a healthy child,
if it's a healthy baby, every day there will
be a growth in that physical body. Constantly.
If it's healthy, if it's strong, if it's nourished
properly, if it gets the right food, it'll continue
to grow and grow. There's a daily growth. It
will not remain a baby for the next 12 years,
5 years, 3 years. And so it is in our spiritual
life. Of course, there is a daily, a constant
growth. But this life, this life that is more
abundant is a gift. And we receive it. Now watch.
This life that I am talking about, is in His
Son. When we accept the Son as the Lord of all
of our being, when we accept Jesus, we say, as
our personal Savior, we receive as a gift this
life, this life that is eternal. It is something
that God does for us, but not only for us, but...
in us. That's the reason we become a new creature
in Christ Jesus. This is our second birth. The
first birth is the physical. That is something
that we all have in common. The first birth.
The physical birth. But there is a spiritual
birth. That's the reason we call it the second
birth. The new birth. And Jesus said, ye must
be born again. For that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. The one thing we all have in
common. But that which is born of the spirit
is spirit. And when we accept the son as the
Lord of all of our being, we receive as a gift.
We haven't worked for it. We don't deserve it.
It is a gift. the gift of life. It is something
that God does in us. It's not a long struggle
before surrender. Many a Christian has a terrific
struggle before he's willing to yield himself
wholly to Christ. But this is before the victorious
life begins. Victory begins only when... gruggling
ceases. The moment you surrender yourself entirely
to Christ, the very moment that you look to him
in faith to dwell in your entire heart, that
moment he comes and takes control of you. Now
this indwelling is quite independent of any feeling
on your part. It's independent of any ideas of
your own as to how he should manifest his spirit.
presence. You must just take him at his word,
rest upon his word. That's where trust, that's
where confidence enters in. It doesn't rest upon
any feeling. It rests upon facts. You may have
a wonderful thrill of joy, or you may feel nothing,
nothing unusual whatsoever. It is a definite
transaction. You take God at his word, a God
who has never lied. When you read his promise,
when you read God's word, remember something.
A God who cannot lie has promised. You take God
at his word and you can stake your very life
on thus saith the Lord. You trust his word. It's
a definite transaction. Whether there's any feeling
or not. My goodness, a life. Think of the important
transactions that you make daily or that you
make during your lifetime. Important transaction.
Much is involved. Millions of dollars can be
involved. the property that's involved. And yet
there may not be any feeling, physical feeling,
or any emotion whatsoever. It's there. It's a
transaction. Do you know why so many people are
still crowding to the altar every time there's
an altar call given? Still seeking. for this
experience of being born again, it's because
they're seeking feeling. They expect some feeling,
some great thrill, some great emotional experience.
Search the Bible. You'll not find that he promised
anything like this. It's a definite transaction.
You take him at his word. Now watch it. Every
Christian has to decide whether he'll be wholly
consecrated to God or whether he'll remain content
to live the Christian life on a low level, which
is always a powerless one. Always. And a person
like that will never receive anything more than
his second best, his third best. Don't be satisfied
to live this Christian life on its lowest level.
When I sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ as a
teenage girl, I went into it lock, stock, and
barrel. I never did anything halfway. When I
was a kid, When I did anything bad, it was all
for bad. Oh, my, that's the reason I got so many
beatings. Nothing was ever done halfway. Never.
I went out for it for everything there was in
it. And that's the way I determined to serve
the Lord Jesus Christ. I wanted everything he
had for me. Let me change that. I continue to
want everything that he has for me. It's like
that. Now watch. This decision for holiness is
a crisis in a Christian's life. There are many
who are... Absolutely satisfied just knowing
if their sins are forgiven. And that is wonderful.
That's glorious. Now, if you feel that that is
all that there is for you as a Christian, just
to be satisfied that you've been born again and
you've received the gift of salvation, then so
far as you are concerned, that's all there is
for you because you're not... expecting anything
more. You're not desiring anything more. And
so you just stop. But it doesn't change the fact
one iota that the greatest saint that ever lived
never received all of God that God had for that
one. There is a place that Christ can and does
give victory over all known sin not gradually
but instantaneously let me give the scripture
it's in second corinthians the seventh chapter
having therefore these promises let us cleanse
ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and
spirit perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.
There it comes. After this definite step of wholehearted
dedication of oneself to God, there comes a lifelong
process of sanctification, a going on from strength
to strength, from glory to glory. to glory, a
process under which the believer becomes more
and more conformed to the life and the character
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The new birth experience
is a gift. It's instantaneous. But when it comes
to this thing of consecration and sanctification,
it is a marvelous, daily, day -by -day process.
A constant and continual growth. The baptism
of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Holy
Spirit, is not what I have just been talking
about. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is instantaneous.
Get it? But when you talk about sanctification,
my friend, it is not agonizing. It is not struggling.
It is not straining. is not torturing yourself.
It is as natural a growth, a spiritual growth,
as there is a physical growth in a little baby's
physical body. I pray that this little heart
to heart talk with you today will have meant
much in your spiritual growth. God bless you.