In this sermon, the preacher shares two stories of individuals who struggled with sin and their journey to victory. The first story is about a lad who had a transformative experience after praying and accepting that he had died to sin and risen with Christ. The preacher emphasizes that victory over sin can only come from accepting and believing in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The second story is about a young man who was burdened by his sin despite being a Christian. The preacher guides him through the book of Romans, showing him that even the apostle Paul struggled with sin, but ultimately found victory by reckoning himself dead to sin through Christ. The sermon emphasizes the importance of faith and gratitude in experiencing victory over sin.

In the peaks of redemption. Some years ago down in Columbia, I was speaking to young people at a retreat, and a young man called me aside at the close of a meeting. He said, what am I to do? I took him to my room. What am I to do? He laid bare his heart, his sin, and he surely had plenty to be hanging his head in shame about. What am I to do? He said, I do love Jesus. I am a Christian, but I can't. Well, I said, that doesn't surprise me. Paul couldn't. No. And I read him Romans 7. Paul couldn't. No one can. Only God could and did. Well, that brought a degree of comfort to his heart, and then I took him through Romans 6. And Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3 opened up to him the word as regards the Christian's position. For God judges him as one who in Christ died to sin and with Christ arose. I said, now my boy, you accept this by faith. You haven't been able to overcome. You've been proceeding on a wrong basis. The basis of struggle. Your own efforts. What you haven't been able to do, the Lord Jesus has already done for you. Just thank him. Begin all over. That you died. Sounds rather strange, doesn't it? Yes, he would. We got on our knees, but he couldn't. He began to beg. Oh, Lord, help me. Help me, Lord. Help me. I had to quiet him, stop him. No, I said. Then I opened the word again to him. This is already yours as a believer. Just accept it by faith and give thanks. Then it will begin to work. So I went over the ground afresh and invited him to get down on his knees and give thanks. He couldn't. All he could do was beg. And I had to stop him again. And went over the ground again with him. I said, the Lord, since this is a fact, the old man was crucified. That's yours. Believe and give thanks. A third time we went to our knees, but he couldn't. So I had to stop him afresh and say, now my boy, I'm going to say the prayer. Will you just repeat it? Yes? So I just offered a very short prayer. Thank you, Lord. You see, I died to sin. Thank you, Lord. But I rose with thee. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Amen. You know, when he got up from his knees, I saw a transformed lad. And here's the proof. Four years later, I was again in Columbia, preaching here and there. One evening, there in Cali, a lad walked in with a princely air and sat down. I said to myself, I know that lad. Who is he? To close, he came forward to shake hands with me. Are you the boy over at the camp with whom I was in prayer? Yeah. How was it, my boy? Victory! Hallelujah! Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. You shouldn't be surprised. For according to God's word, this is the fountainhead of victory. And there is no other. How dare you expect from some other source this, which cost the Lord Jesus Christ so much on Calvary's cross? No. No other. It says, oh, you're like that nag, you know, you just keep at it, you keep turning the wheels, and there you go, but you get nowhere. You're making no progress, actually, in the Christian life. Real progress. Now, I don't know, I'm going to say something here, you may call me to time. Dare I say this categorically, that there's no real progress until you come through Romans 6? How could there be? How could there be? With the old man still in the saddle, and you just fighting, you just struggling. Yes? As a Christian. I did it for eight years, preaching the gospel. But finally, oh, my defeat was so great, and my shame. I think I'd have died if the Lord hadn't opened up his word to me in a new way. Slipping away one day to the temple where I was wont to preach, I bowed to the knee and I said, Lord, I accept this now. I'm here to reckon myself dead to sin and alive unto God, in and through thee. Thank you, Lord. Oh, when I left that chapel, it was as though you had taken a mountain of oppression from me. And that was the beginning. Oh, yes, I had begun as a Christian. But I hadn't passed through Jordan into the promised land of all life and victory and fullness. In union with the Lord Jesus Christ in death and in resurrection. It's for you, my dear brother, my dear sister. It's for you. Don't worry about the mystery of it. Just make up your mind right now to do what God commands you to do. No getting around. You believe Christ bore your sins, now believe tonight that he bore you and took you to death. As he also took you in the power of his resurrection into what has been called throne life. May we just have, you know, sometimes after giving the message of Romans 6, I ask those to stand. And then I'm always sorry afterwards. We're willing to seal this by some act of acknowledgement. I'm always sorry afterwards and I feel reproved for this reason. It's for all. And so let's just bow our heads for a moment. And you do with it, of course, it's up to you. But if you will, in silent prayer, say, Amen, Lord, I accept it. It's the end of me, but it will be the beginning of you in your fullness, the fullness of the blessing of the gospel in a new way. Amen, Lord.