In this sermon, the speaker shares his personal journey of seeking holiness and a deeper relationship with God. He describes how he believed that holiness could be attained through diligent use of spiritual practices. However, he experienced a breakthrough when he read a letter that emphasized the importance of faith in Christ and the provision of divine grace for victory in every circumstance. The speaker highlights the need for surrender and the value of paying a high price for spiritual growth. He also mentions the slow understanding of believers and suggests that understanding can be gained by examining the experiences of devoted individuals.

In the riches of divine grace, a wonderful provision has been made for every one of God's precious children. A provision has been made for constant, unbroken victory on the part of every child of God. A victory that's unaffected, absolutely unaffected by circumstances, however adverse, however depressing these circumstances may be, provision has been made by God for every one of His children for literally an unbroken victory, an unbroken fellowship. The gift in large measure is unaccepted, partly because of ignorance as to its nature and value, and also on the ground of its terms. And its terms require a surrender which the average Christian is unwilling to make. A surrender that the average Christian is unwilling to yield. You see, things gotten cheap are usually cheap, you know. The things that you have to pay most for are usually the things that are most valuable and that we appreciate most. It's kind of like that. And the most extraordinary thing about the victorious life is that although it's so clearly taught in the scripture, yet it is so frequently unrecognized by Bible students. That's something that's been very difficult for me to understand. Why it is that so many men in our pulpits today, so many of our seminary students, so many, many of our spiritual leaders have not recognized this wonderful life of unbroken victory with the Lord Jesus Christ. Many who have a thorough knowledge of the Bibles know nothing of this truth experimentally. And you cannot give to someone else, no minister can give to members of this congregation more than he has experienced himself. And I do hope that there are many ministers of the gospel following me in these heart-to-heart talks. Not because of me, not because I'm giving them, but because they are based on the very word of God. And if you can catch the glory of the truth that I've been trying to give to you, then you can go into your pulpits and give to your people something that will revolutionize, will change their entire spiritual life. It will change you as a minister. I mean exactly that. It's been one of the greatest truths that it has been my privilege to receive from the Master. How is it that we're so slow of heart to understand? Probably the best way to put the case is to describe at some length the inner experiences of two men who had long been devoted to the service of God. Born again? I would not question the fact that they had never been born again. If you have read regarding the lives of these men, you would readily agree with me, they were God's precious children. Oh, sure. They were devoted to the service of God. And take for instance Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China, was one of these men. He's left a letter, and the letter was written to his sister, a record of his search for holiness, his search for a deeper walk with God, a constant abiding in Christ Jesus. And in his letter, he tells of his total inability to see how to get it, how to obtain it, although the way lies so clearly on the pages of the Scripture. You cannot help seeing this wonderful truth as you read the Word of God. And yet, I suppose, only the Holy Spirit can make it real to the hearts of men and women. And so, in this letter, written to his sister, Hudson Taylor, that great missionary to China, expressed the deep feeling, his great search for this experience that I've been talking about in these heart-to-heart talks. I quote from the letter. I prayed, fasted, agonized, made resolutions, read the Bible more diligently, sought more time for retirement and meditation, but all without effect. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed. Then came the question, is there no rescue? Must it be this to the end? Constant conflict instead of victory? Too often defeat? I hated myself, I hated my sin, and yet I gained no strength against it. I felt I was a child of God. I knew I was a child of God. But how to rise to my privileges as a child? I was utterly powerless to see. I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to be gradually attained by a diligent use of the means of grace. I felt there was nothing I so much desired in this world, nothing so much I needed. And when my agony of soul was at its very height, a sentence in a letter was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God refielded the truth of our oneness with Jesus. And do you want to know? Do you desire, even as I desired one day, to know what was in that letter? What was that sentence, just one sentence, that gave to Him that which He had sought so long? All right, I continue. Oh, this is thrilling. This is priceless. I read from the letter. By faith a channel is formed by which Christ's fullness plenteously flows down. The barren branch becomes a portion of the fruitful vine. He is most holy who has most of Christ with him. Let me repeat that one sentence. It's profound. If you forget everything else that this letter includes, if you do not hear another word that I may say in this heart-to-heart talk, remember this one sentence. He is most holy who has most of Christ with him. It is defective faith which clogs the feet and causes many a fall. Abiding. Not struggling or striving. It's looking to Him. It's trusting Him for present power. Trusting Him to subdue all inward corruptions. Trusting in the conscious joy of a complete salvation. A salvation from all sin. Willing that He should be truly supreme. That is not new, and yet, said Hudson Taylor, it is new to me. I seem to have gotten to the edge only, but to the edge of a sea that is bondless. Not a striving to have faith. Not a striving to increase our faith. Not a struggle at all. But a looking to the faithful one. Looking to Jesus seems all we need. Resting in the Lord. Just resting completely entirely on Him for time and eternity. That is the secret. And that was the letter. That was the sentence which arrested Hudson Taylor's attention. That one sentence. Not a striving to have faith. But a looking off to the faithful one seems all that we need. And it's just that. I shall never forget. Years ago, after my conversion, at the age of 14, in that little Methodist church in Concordia, Missouri. And then, it was sometime after that, God so definitely gave me a call to the ministry. And that call was as definite as my conversion. Oh, it seemed that every atom of my being cried out for more of Him. I'd known physical hunger, but I have never known a physical hunger in my whole life that it was as great as the spiritual hunger that I had for Him. And I was so ignorant. I was so stupid when it came to spiritual things. I'd had no training. Nothing whatsoever. And then, I shall never forget those holiness camp meetings in Oscaluso, Iowa. Oh, that's been years and years ago. Do they still have those holiness camp meetings? I don't know. I only attended years ago, right after I became a Christian. And before I knew anything about the Holy Spirit. Before I knew anything about the baptism with the Holy Spirit. All I knew was I'd been born again. Jesus had forgiven my sins. And I can remember that old-fashioned sawdust on the ground. Maybe I'm talking to someone who has attended one of those holiness camp meetings. Maybe you were there years ago when I was there. So hungry for more. And every time an altar call was given, whether it was after the morning session, the afternoon session, or night, there was a red-headed, freckled-faced teenage girl who was the first to walk down the aisle and kneel in that sawdust, crying and crying, seeking holiness, seeking some experience I knew not what. After every one of those morning services, that red-headed, freckled-faced girl would rush to the altar, my head buried in my arms, weeping and crying. And when the noon hour would come for dinner, everyone else would leave, but she was still there. She would still be there when the afternoon service would begin. She was the first at the altar when the call was given again for those who wanted to be completely holy and seeking holiness. I never found what I was seeking there. I was that girl. I was seeking for some experience, some ecstasy. It was years later that I found out that Jesus is our holiness, and the one who has the most of his holiness is the one who has the most of Jesus. You talk about the experience of holiness, of sanctification, it is still a matter of seeking Jesus. You talk about the wonderful experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, it's still more of Jesus. And even after one has been filled with the Holy Spirit, remember my friend, the Holy Spirit himself always magnifies and glorifies Jesus. He is most holy who has most of Jesus with him. No, it's not striving to have faith. It's not striving for some experience, but it's looking to Jesus, receiving more of him, and that is your answer. Please stop your machine at this point and turn your cassette over.