How to Get the Victory Over Every Sin
By G. W. WHITE
“I SAW that none could share the ‘refreshing,’ unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action.”—“Early Writings,” page 71. “Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them. It is left with us to remedy the defects in our characters, to cleanse the soul temple of every defilement.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, page 214. “I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful, and were looking to the time of ‘refreshing’ and the ‘latter rain’ to fit them to stand in the day of the Lord, and to live in his sight. O, how many I saw in the time of trouble without a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation, therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have to fit them to live in the sight of a holy God.”—“Early Writings,” page 71. What timely instruction! what solemn admonition! In getting this victory, as in every other problem which may confront the heaven-bound traveler, God has a clear, definite, and systematic method marked out by which we may with certainty obtain the desired result. In Col. 2:6 we read: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” As ye have received. How did you receive Christ into your heart and life?—You gave yourself to God, to obey and serve him. You could do nothing to atone for your life of sin; so you confessed it all to him, and believed that for Christ’s sake he forgave you and made your record clean. By faith you received Christ as your Saviour. Well, “as ye have therefore received Christ,” so—in like manner—walk ye in him, by faith. You are to give all to Christ, and by faith you are to take all he purchased for you on Calvary; and one of those things was victory over every sin. Those are wonderful words in Col. 1:12, 13: “Giving thanks unto the Father, . . . who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.” Do you realize what this means? It means deliverance from every spot and stain, from every defilement, from Satan’s power, and every sin, if we will only believe it. Deliverance, freedom—O glorious truth! “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36. Let us believe it, and take it, and rejoice in it; and “being made free from sin,” let us “stand fast in the liberty wherewith5Christ has made us free.” Gal. 5:1. This is just what the Lord of heaven came to this earth and died for. “The Lord hath . . . sent me,” he says by the mouth of the prophet, “to proclaim liberty to the captives.” Isa. 61:1. God Gives Complete Victory
Some one will say, Is it true that I may not only be made free from sin, but may be kept from its power? In 2 Peter 2:9 we read: “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.” It matters not how fierce or how numerous the temptations may be, God knows how to deliver us out of them. Again, in Jude 24, we read: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” From these words we learn that God is able to give us complete victory. He knows how, and he is able; but is he willing? Will he give us the victory? In 1 Thess. 5:23 we have this prayer: “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Preserved blameless! “Holy and without blemish,” “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Eph. 5:27. But how long am I to be kept from sin?—“Unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, listen: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” 1 Thess. 5:24. Then, God is willing to give complete victory. Praise God, he knows how, he is able, and he is willing to give us complete victory over every “besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action,” and thereby prepare us for the reception of the latter rain. However,— We must commit ourselves to him in faith. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.” 2 Tim. 1:12. God can keep us only as we commit ourselves to him, in faith. “Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1 Peter 4:19. Let them that suffer what?—Let them that suffer anything,—temptations, trials, difficulties, afflictions,—anything that God permits to come to them. In any or all of these, let the suffering one “commit the keeping of himself unto God;” and the arm of Omnipotence is pledged to deliver him, and keep him “unto the coming of the Lord.” “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: . . . who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” 1 Peter 2:21, 23. When he was reviled, he was tempted to revile again, to give as good as was sent; but he did not. He committed himself to the Father, to be kept through that special time of temptation. When he suffered; when the nails tore through his hands and feet; through the long, soul-racking hours of that terrible day, he was tempted, no doubt, to call for power from heaven to smite his persecutors; but instead, he committed himself to the Father, to be kept through that hour of conflict. Brother, sister, can we not do that? When the enemy comes in like a flood, in whatever form he may come, can not you, in that simple, definite manner, commit yourself to him who is able, knows how, and is willing to keep you? Some one may say, How can God keep me in the time of such fierce temptations as will surely come to me? We do not know all about how he will keep us, but we have his unqualified pledge to do it, and that should satisfy us. For our encouragement he has told us something of how he will keep us: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, . . . make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight.” Heb. 13:20, 21. Wonderful words! Who is it that has promised to do this work for us?—It is “the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus.” This is his assurance that he is able to do the work. Yonder is the Lord Jesus. His bruised and broken body is cold and still in death, lying in Joseph’s tomb; a great stone is rolled to the door, which bears the seal of the Roman empire; Roman soldiers are guarding the sepulcher, assisted by myriads of evil angels, in an endeavor to keep him in the tomb. But in spite of all these things, God brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. This is the same God who will “make you perfect in every good work to do his will.” And he will do it by “working in you.” We do the committing, the trusting, the believing; God does the working in us. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” You say: Yes, that is just what I have been trying to do for years, and I have made a failure of the whole affair. Of course you have, and you will continue to fail until you learn the next verse: “For it is God which worketh in you.” Phil. 2:12, 13. What does God work in us?—First, he works in us “to will,” changing our wills, making us willing to do his will. When our wills have been changed, and made to conform to his will, he works in us “to do of his good pleasure.” He works in us to change our will, and to do the works, so we can say, “The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10. “If we consent, he [Christ] will so identify himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to his will, that when obeying him, we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing his service.”—“Desire of Ages,” page 668. Beloved, remember these words if you forget everything else in this article. “If we consent,” God, through Christ, will come into our heart and so change our mind and heart that when we are obeying him, we shall be carrying out our own impulses, doing our own will. “If we consent”—that is all. Truly our “sufficiency is of God.” 2 Cor. 3:4. O, how good the Lord is to us! What wonderful liberty he has purchased for us, and at what an infinite price! Shall we not forsake every sin, commit ourselves to him for his keeping, and by faith claim this wonderful victory over “every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action,” cleansing our “soul temple of every defilement”? Then “the Spirit of the Lord will be graciously manifested. The church will see the providential working of the Lord of hosts. The light of truth will shine forth in clear, strong rays; and, as in the time of the apostles, many souls will turn from error to truth. The earth will be lighted with the glory of the Lord.” And “then the latter rain will fall upon us as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost.”