In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of finding victory through Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that victory cannot be earned or worked for, but is a gift from God. The preacher encourages the audience to identify their own personal struggles and sins and seek deliverance through Jesus. He invites those who want to find victory to come to an inquiry room where he will lead them in accepting Jesus as their victor.

You'll find my text tonight in 1st Corinthians, the 15th chapter, the 57th verse. 1st Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 57. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The saddest thing I know anything about in the Christian life is the presence of the power of sin. For a man to be on the mountaintop today, then to be back in the valley tomorrow, for a man to be in the 8th chapter of Romans today, then to be back in the 7th chapter tomorrow, for a man to be in the promised land today, and then to be back in the wilderness tomorrow, for a man to be living a life of victory today, and then a life of defeat tomorrow, I say that's the saddest thing I know anything about in the Christian life. Because God has declared in unmistakable terms, sin shall not have dominion over you. When the Apostle Paul comes to the end of that dreadful 7th chapter of Romans, he throws up his hands in despair as it were, as he cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? And then as though a voice spoke from the blue, there comes the answer, I thank God, Jesus Christ, my Lord. So then victory is possible. Victory is within the reach of each and every one of us. You and I do not have to be conquered by sin. You and I can be victorious through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are only two kinds of sins known to humanity. First of all, they're what we call outward sins. Then there are what we call inward sins. Now by outward sins, I mean the sins with which we're all more or less familiar. Drunkenness, swearing, cursing, and these sins that the eye of man can see. If you have been saved, then you have already been delivered from outward sin. If you have not been delivered from outward sin, there isn't any evidence that you have ever passed out of death and into life. I'm talking tonight about inward sin. I'm speaking to the people of God. I'm talking tonight, for instance, about such sins as anger and wrath. I'm talking about the sins of hatred and malice, grudge-bearing, the losing of one's temper, unforgiveness, the sin of bitterness, jealousy and pride, covetousness, the sins of worry and anxiety, the sin of criticism and gossip and quarreling, and the sin of impurity of thought. These are the sins that dog the footsteps of the Christian. These are the sins that make it impossible for God to answer his prayers. These are the sins that rob him of victory in the Christian life. These are the sins over which he must get the victory, if ever he's going to be used of the Lord Jesus Christ in his service. I'm not talking anything about the doctrine. I'm not saying anything about sinless perfection. I haven't a word to say about eradication. I'm not saying anything at all about suppression. These terms are not found in the Word of God. Therefore, I do not use them. I'm not interested primarily in the doctrine. I'm interested in the outcome. I would rather a thousand times be wrong in my head and right in my heart than to be right in my head and wrong in my heart. I'd rather have the doctrine wrong and have the theory wrong, but have the practice right than to have the practice wrong and then have the theory and the doctrine right. I want an outcome. I want something that will work. I want results. I want to know the secret of victory. Now whenever I think about suppression, I think about one or two amusing stories that I heard some years ago. First of all, the story of two women. One was an elderly woman. She was a Quaker woman. She had been a Christian for many years. The other was a young woman, a new convert. She hadn't known Christ very long. Presently, terrible provocation crossed the pathway of the elderly Quaker woman. But during the entire time of the provocation, she continued to smile just as sweetly as she had been smiling before. After it was all over, the younger Christian turned to her and said, I can't understand how you could keep your temper under a provocation such as that. The old Quaker woman, thinking that she knew the secret of victory, turned to this young Christian. This was her answer. She said, Thee didn't see the boiling inside. And because she had kept it on the inside, she thought she was victorious. My friend, if it's boiling, it's boiling. It doesn't matter whether it's on the inside or on the outside. If it's boiling, it's boiling. If it's there, it's there. So far as man is concerned, if you can keep it on the inside, well and good. But so far as God is concerned, you might just as well explode and be through with it all at once. Because if it's boiling, it's boiling. Have you ever had that experience? I think of another story. Two boys were wrestling. One was a big boy. The other was a little boy. After a while, to the amazement of everyone, the little fella got the big fella down. And as soon as the little fella got the big fella down, instead of walking away, he just got on top of him, sat there astride him, and kept him down. After a while, people walked by. They wondered why the little fella didn't get up and let the big fella go. Presently, a young man came along. Say, he said, to the little fella, You won the wrestling match. Why don't you get up and let him go? The little fella, with a grin on his face, looked up into the eyes of his questioner. Ah, he said, I can feel him arising, sir. I can feel him arising, sir. And he knew that if he ever arose, the tables might be turned. And he might be underneath, and the big fella might be on top. So he thought he better sit tight and hold what he had while he had what he had. I can feel him arising, sir. You know what I'm talking about. Or am I speaking some kind of a strange Canadian dialect that you can't understand? You know, just when you're holding a wonderful church party, you want to be on your very best behavior. Somebody knocks the tray out of your hand. Somebody steps on your toe. Somebody criticizes you behind your back. And in a moment, you feel him arising. And before you realize it, there's been an explosion, and you've lost your temper. You fly off the handle, and you've got to go back and get right with God again before anyone will have any faith in your testimony. You know, it's an awful thing to have to sit on a safety valve all your life. Safety valves have a habit of blowing off at unexpected moments. I'm so glad I found someone who can take care of the safety valve for me while I go out and serve him. Have you ever had that experience? Do you know the secret of victory over those inward sins of yours? Or is there still a rising on the inside? Do you still every now and again boil? And do you sometimes lose your temper and boil over and thus lose the victory that you ought to have in the Lord Jesus Christ? I think Dr. A.B. Simpson, the great founder of the Christian Missionary Alliance, that outstanding Presbyterian minister, I think he put it perhaps best when he wrote the little couplet, Everything in Jesus and Jesus everything. And that little couplet went out all around the world. And men and women who have been trying to obtain the victory by believing a doctrine at last came to realize that victory is not in a doctrine. Victory is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they stepped out of defeat into glorious blood-bought victory. Then others who thought that victory was through an experience obtained at an altar realized at last that victory is not in an experience. Victory is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they too stepped out of defeat into glorious blood-bought victory. Victory through another. Everything in Jesus and Jesus everything. Why you have it a way back in the Old Testament Scripture, He shall not need to fight in this battle. Did you ever hear of a battle in which there was no fighting? Here's one. He shall not need to fight in this battle. Stand ye still and see the salvation, the deliverance of the Lord, which he will work for you. For the battle is not yours, but God's. I could get everyone in this congregation tonight to leave this building saying with every step, the battle is not mine. The battle is not mine. The battle is God's. The battle is God's. It would spell the difference between defeat and victory. The battle is not yours, but God's. Do you remember when Joshua captured the city of Jericho? Do you remember how he went out and viewed the walls and how suddenly he saw a man standing over against him and he challenged him. He said, art thou for us or for our adversaries? Nay, he said the man, but as captain of the Lord's hosts am I now come. What did Joshua say? Did he say, well, captain, I'm glad to see you, but I don't need your help. I'm a great general. I have a large army. Jericho is a very small city. We can easily capture Jericho alone. If he had talked like that, Jericho might never have been captured. How did he answer? What saith my Lord? Unto his servant. Now on that never to be forgotten day the captain of the Lord's hosts placed those invisible angels everywhere on the battlements and suddenly gave a single word of command. Those mighty angels gave one tremendous shout and over the walls went and the Israelites were victorious. Listen to me. The captain of the Lord's hosts is here tonight. He's going from heart to heart from life to life. He's saying my child you've been defeated in the past. You've made resolution after resolution. You have broken every one of them. You've made vow after vow and you've broken all your vows. You've gone down again and again before the enemy. Now let me take over the conflict. Let me take charge. Let me fight your battle. I'll win the battle and then I'll give you the credit for the victory. You can't do your own fighting. I don't care what kind of a willpower you have. You're not strong enough to do your own fighting. You'll go down time after time unless you let someone else fight on your behalf. Let me do your fighting. The Lord Jesus Christ. One time a little girl was saved. Her teacher said to her little girl, where is Jesus now? Little girl answered. She looked up in the face of her teacher. Why teacher? Jesus is in my heart. Yes, said the teacher. Jesus is in your heart little girl. What are you going to do tomorrow if Satan comes and knocks at the door of your heart? Little girl thought for a few moments. Then she gave an answer that very few of us would have given. Why teacher? She said, I'd send Jesus to the door. Of course, you wouldn't send Jesus to the door. You'd go to the door yourself. You have such a willpower. You think you're so strong. You would go directly to the door and meet Satan yourself and then you go down once again in defeat. The little girl had sense enough to say, I'd send Jesus to the door. Suppose tonight you fail to grasp the secret of victory. Tomorrow Satan comes, knocks at the door of your heart. The same old besetting sin. The same old temptation that you faced in years gone by. Without a moment's thought you hurry to the door. Satan stoops down, looks through the keyhole. He sees you coming. He grins to himself. He has conquered you often before. He knows he can conquer you again because he knows your weakest point. He knows exactly how to attack you. You don't throw the door wide open. Nobody ever sins like that. You just open the door a little bit, look out, and have a little talk with Satan on the side. And turn the temptation over as a sweet morsel. Then when you're not watching, Satan slips his foot in the crack. Then you can't get the door shut again. And he edges around and around and around and at last Satan is on the inside. And you've gone down in failure and defeat once again. But suppose tonight you grasp the secret of victory. Tomorrow Satan comes and knocks at the door of your heart. Jesus, Jesus, you cry out. Yes, my child, what is it? That's Satan. That's my old besetting sin. That's my temptation. Yes, my child. What about it? Jesus, will you please go to the door and meet Satan on my behalf? Yes, my child. You just sit here and trust me. I'll go and do the fighting on your behalf. Then I'll come back and give you the credit for the victory. And Jesus starts for the door. Again, Satan stoops down. He looks through the keyhole. This time he sees coming toward him the Son of God. Jesus has always conquered him before and he knows he can conquer him again. Jesus throws the door wide open, steps out on the porch, and I doubt if he'll see Satan for dust down the street. He'll be gone. Then he'll come back and he'll say, my child, you've won the victory. You'll say, I've won the victory? Why, no, Lord, you've won the victory. No, my child, you have won the victory. But Lord, I haven't done anything. I've just been trusting you, my child. That's the way you and I will fight your battles in the days to come. You're going to sit still and do the trusting. I'm going to go out and do the fighting. And then I'm going to come back and give you the credit for the victory. And thus you'll always be victorious. Isn't that a wonderful way to fight? Why don't you let Jesus fight your battles? Why don't you let Jesus become your victor? I say that's a wonderful way to fight. You don't get hurt when you fight like that. And you're always victorious. When I was at school, I had a very difficult time. I wasn't big and robust and strong like I am now. I used to be delicate and thin weak and sickly when I was at school. For months, I used to be kept out of school because I was so delicate. I could never take my own part. If I ever got into a fight at school, I had to go and find a friend, a big boy. And I used to have to ask him to take the fight off my hands. He was always willing. And all I had to do was to stand there for a few minutes with my arms folded and watch. And then turn and walk off the field victorious. I always won the fight. Because this bigger boy always defeated my opponent. And I got the credit for the victory. And that's the way I used to fight when I was at school. But you know, most boys won't fight like that. Oh, you're so strong. You're so powerful. You're so courageous. You're so mighty. You have such a willpower. You want to do your own fighting. I never wanted to do my own fighting when I was at school. If I had done my own fighting, I would have been defeated every time. But I had sense enough to get someone else to do my fighting for me. And by getting someone else to do my fighting for me, I was always victorious. I never got hurt. I was always victor. And I always left the field with a good feeling. That's a wonderful way to fight. Will you let me use a very crude illustration tonight? I think you'll understand what I'm trying to say if I use it. Did you ever hear of a great American evangelist by the name of Paul Rader? Paul Rader was one of the greatest of American evangelists. Many and many a time, he used to go away to hold an evangelistic campaign. He called me on the telephone, asked me to leave Toronto and go to Chicago and take over his work while he was away. Night after night, I used to face his audience of 3,000 people. For his tabernacle was always filled to capacity. And I used to see those aisles filled with men and women coming forward to decide for Jesus Christ. Very often I'd bring him to Toronto and I'd have him preach in my church for me. But Paul Rader was not only a great evangelist, he was also a very famous pugilist. He weighed about 240. He had fought 33 ring battles and had never been knocked out. And there were those who talked about him as the future heavyweight champion of the world. One day I was spending an evening with him in Toronto and I said to him, I don't know why I said it. I became curious. Why I don't know. But suddenly I turned to Paul Rader and I said, Mr. Rader, will you let me feel your muscle? And he looked at me. He didn't know what to think of at first. Will you let me feel your muscle? He never said a word. I can remember it as though it were yesterday. He just got up from the chair upon which he had been seated, took off his coat, folded up his left arm like that. Then he looked at me and he said, put it there. And I put my fingers on those great steel muscles of his. I can feel them right now while I'm talking about it. I'll never forget the feel of those muscles. Now suppose Paul Rader had turned to me in that moment and challenged me to a fight in the ring. Without a moment's hesitation, I would of course answer why yes, Mr. Rader. I'll be glad to meet you in the ring. And of course, I know when I say it that he'll never have to strike me once. He'll just pat me gently and I'll lie down unconscious. Just pat me a little bit and I'll see stars. I know that the moment I say yes. When I say yes, Mr. Rader, I'll take you on. Then I hurried away to Jack Dempsey. I say, Mr. Dempsey, I've got a fight on my hands. This man, Paul Rader, may become the next heavyweight champion of the world. Would you mind taking my name for a few minutes on the night of the fight? And would you mind taking this fight off my hands and meeting Paul Rader on my behalf? And Jack Dempsey answers, why of course not, I'll be delighted. He of course was the heavyweight champion of the world. The night of the fight comes. I take a seat somewhere outside the ropes in an easy chair. Now, I've never been at one of those affairs and I never will be as long as life lasts because I'm a Christian and I wouldn't go. But if I were to go, I'd be sitting somewhere outside the ropes. I'd be sure of that. Presently as I watch, I see the great form of Paul Rader coming out of his corner. And I look at those great steel muscles of his and I say to myself, I'm mighty glad I'm sitting outside the ropes tonight. Then I look in the other direction. I see another man stepping into the ring and I know the other man is Jack Dempsey, but nobody else knows that. He has been advertised as Oswald J. Smith. Everybody else thinks the other man is Oswald J. Smith. Jack Dempsey steps into the ring. The referee gives the instructions. The fight starts. Suddenly, Jack Dempsey strikes the decisive blow. And for the first time in his life, Paul Rader goes down for the count. And then the referee lifts the hand of the other and he cries out to those gathered throngs, Oswald J. Smith has won. And then in the newspapers of the world, in the American newspapers in type a foot and a half deep, new heavyweight champion of the world, Oswald J. Smith, heavyweight champion of the world. I haven't struck a blow. I'm not even hurt. And yet I'm on my way to be heavyweight champion of the world. You see what I'm saying? What ought you to do when Satan attacks you? You would be a fool to go up against Satan. You wouldn't have a ghost of a chance. I would be a fool to go up against Paul Rader. I wouldn't stand a chance. What should you do? Find someone bigger. And the only one I know bigger and stronger than Satan is my savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when I go up against Satan, I go directly to my savior and I ask Jesus Christ to take the fight off my hands and to defeat Satan on my behalf. And in that way, I can always be victorious. When you say, Dr. Smith, can a man live a life like that? Let me ask you a very simple question. Has Jesus Christ ever kept you in victory for one minute since you've been a Christian? Have you lived for one minute without committing deliberate conscious known sin? Have you? Well, you say yes. I have. All right. If Jesus Christ has power to keep you for one minute, can he not keep you for one hour? And if he can keep you for an hour, can he not keep you for a day? And if he can keep you for a day, can he not keep you for a week? And if he can keep you for a week, why can he not keep you for a month or for a year? Takes just as much power to drive the tram one mile as it does to drive it ten miles. The same amount of electricity must be fed every moment. You're not a storage battery. God doesn't wind you up and leave you to run down. You're in contact with a vital wire. And as long as you're in contact with the wire, there's power and you're victorious. As long as the iron is in the fire, the fire is in the iron. As soon as you take the iron out of the fire, the fire comes out of the iron. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on the water. As soon as he got his eyes off Jesus, he commenced to sink. The moment he got his eyes back on Jesus, he walked again. It's a moment-by-moment experience. Major Whittle read that hymn, I Need Thee Every Hour. That'll never do for me, he said. I need him every moment. And Major Whittle sat right down. He wrote the hymn, Moment By Moment. I'm kept in his love. Moment by moment, I've life from above. It's a moment-by-moment experience. And unless you're in contact with Jesus Christ, moment by moment, you'll never know the meaning of the word victory. It's a moment-by-moment experience. But now let me say something that will surprise you. You cannot live the victorious life. There isn't anyone in the history of the world who has ever lived the victorious life. Apart from one person. The only one who has ever lived the victorious life in the history of this world is the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the victorious life? Listen. The victorious life is the outliving of the indwelling Christ. You're only the channel. Jesus Christ lives the victorious life in you and through you. You do not live it. Now if you step into victory tonight, people will look at you and they'll say, she's living the victorious life. He's living the victorious life. You'll know that you're not. But you'll know that Jesus Christ occupies the throne of your heart, that he's reigning within, and he's living out his own glorious victorious life in and through you. You're not living it, he's living it. Let me show you what I mean. I've seen many orange groves. I've seen them in Palestine. I've seen them in California. I've seen them in Florida. I've seen them in many parts of the world. I have never yet seen an orange tree stand in the midst of all the other orange trees, weeping and lamenting and wailing, and saying to itself, I'm so nervous. I'm so afraid. I'm so upset. I'm afraid I may make a mistake this spring and bear crab apples instead of oranges. I've never heard an orange tree talk like that. Have you? What does the orange tree do? It just stands still in the midst of the orange grove and the sap of the orange flows up through its bark and out into its branches. And without any effort, without any struggle of any kind, whatever, it just automatically produces oranges. And it never once makes a mistake and produces crab apples. Always oranges. What is in comes out. If Jesus Christ lives and reigns in that life of yours, his life will be lived out through you. But he must live within. He must reign within. He must occupy the throne of your heart. Now, let me ask you a vital question. There was a time when you received Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior, when you were converted. Now, you remember that time. I was 16 years of age, as I'll tell you, on Thursday night when I made that great decision. You can remember the time when you opened your heart and asked Jesus Christ to come in as your Savior. But let me ask you this question. Has there ever been a time since then when you have opened your heart and received Jesus Christ as your victor, or have you never done that? You have received him as your Savior. Have you ever received him as your victor? It's just as important for you to receive him as your victor as to receive him as your Savior. Was there ever a time when you made that kind of a decision? If not, then that's the reason you're not victorious. There has to be a starting point. Just as there has to be a starting point to your Christian life, so there has to be a starting point to your victorious life. And if you want a victorious life, you'll have to accept Jesus Christ as your victor. And you'll have to be definite about it. And put him on the throne of your heart, not just as Savior, but as victor. That's what I want to give you a chance of doing tonight. I've done it all over the world. I've seen hundreds upon hundreds respond. I've seen them step out of defeat into victory just by spending three or four minutes and definitely taking Jesus Christ as victor and walking out with him as their victor. And I was in South Africa holding nationwide campaigns among the three million white people of South Africa, the great Dutch Reformed churches. A medical doctor came to me one day. He said, Dr. Smith, I've got to give up my practice. I'm a dope fiend. I'm a dope addict. I can't conquer it. I can't overcome it. It's driving me crazy. I'm going to have to give up my practice. I can't be a doctor any longer. But he had been listening to me and he'd become concerned, interested. And I said, Doctor, these are the steps that you must take. You've got to be willing now to bow here with me and receive Jesus Christ as your victor. After talking to him for some considerable time, going over the steps one by one, at last he bowed with me there on that veranda in South Africa and received Jesus Christ as his victor. And that medical doctor went out that day never again to fight his own battles, never again to go to the door himself, henceforth to send Jesus to the door, henceforth to recognize Jesus as his victor. He went out living a victorious life through the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen so many step out of defeat into the victory. Now, I don't know what your temptation is. I don't know whether you lose your temper or not, whether you get angry, I don't know whether you're addicted to impurity. I don't know whether you're proud and jealous. I don't know whether your sin is that of anxiety and worry, pride. But you know what it is. You know the sin that has dogged your footsteps. Wouldn't you like to be delivered? I'm going to ask you in a moment to leave your seat. I'm going to ask you to quietly walk through that door on my left into the inquiry room waiting there to receive you. And a few moments later, I'm going to be in there with you. We're only going to spend five minutes together. But I'm going to lead you as you take the steps for victory, as you definitely receive Jesus Christ as your victor. We did it in Melbourne last week. We're going to do it here tonight. I'd like to see scores upon scores of you come. Because there is one last illustration that I want to give you that will make the way of victory so clear, so plain that you'll never misunderstand again. But I'm not going to give that illustration here. I'm going to give it in this other room just to those who come. It's for you. I'm going to take two or three minutes to give you my final illustration. So that as you leave this auditorium tonight, you can leave a victorious Christian knowing that Jesus Christ has made you victorious. Thanks be to God which giveth us a victory. You can't earn victory You can't work for victory. You can't merit victory. Victory is a gift. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory. Through our struggles, through our efforts, through our endeavors. No, it doesn't say that. Through the Lord Jesus Christ and not until you find victory in Christ will you ever find victory. For the only victory I know anything about is the victory that comes through Him. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that means that you've got to make a decision. It means you've got to step out from your seat and show God that you want victory. It means that you're interested in becoming a victorious Christian. The hymn we're going to sing is hymn number nine. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Now listen, this is what I want you to do. I do it everywhere. We're going to stand together in a moment and sing this hymn. While we're singing the first verse, I want all those who want to accept Jesus Christ as victor. You want to take these steps tonight. I want you to quietly walk into that room. The workers will be there to lead you in and show you the way. Get you seated and I'll be there in a few moments to lead you in the steps that must be taken. But listen, I do not want you to come after the benediction has been pronounced. I have discovered in my work around the world that if people are not interested enough to come, while the invitation is being given, they'll get nowhere if they come by slipping in after the benediction has been pronounced. If you're going to come, I want you to come while we sing that first verse and just quietly walk into that room with all the workers and be seated there and I'll meet you just in a moment or two. Let's stand together as we sing it. You come as we sing.