Newspaper Page Text
4
from faith Unto Taith Triday Nights With Tpmans
By Reb. Len G. Broughton
Perhaps a word of explanation just here is nec
essary. These Friday night lectures by Dr. Brough
ton to his large, popular Bible class at the Taber
nacle were so rich and strong, that the stenograph
er’s notes have been worked out and carefully
revised by Dr. Broughton for The Golden Age.
There are sixteen of them, and The Golden Age
will be glad to furnish back numbers to new sub
scribers. It is confidently expected that they will
be eagerly received as they contain the best work
of Dr. Broughton’s life and will greatly aid the
busy Bible student. Editor.
LECTURE 11—(Concluded).
The Life of Victory.
ch. vni.
We have been considering the life of self. Now
let us consider the life of victory:
1. Mind the things of the spirit.
2. Under the domination of the Spirit.
3. Spirit mortifies deeds of the body.
4. Quickens bodies.
First, we saw that the life of defeat or of the
flesh meant minding the things of the flesh.
Secondly, enmity against God.
Thirdly, not subject to the law of God, neither
can be.
Fourthly, cannot please God. That is true of the
man who lives after the flesh.
Now then, the man who lives after the Spirit
minds the things of the Spirit, is under the dom
ination of the Spirit. The Spirit puts to death the
deeds of his body, the Spirit will quicken his mortal
body.
First, minds the things of the Spirit. Awhile ago
we saw him minding the things of the flesh. Now
he is getting victory; has given up the things of
the flesh, and he finds himself minding, concerned
about, desiring the things of the Spirit.
Now it is very easy to find out what the things
of the Spirit are. We know what the Spirit of
God is concerned about, and as we will see, that is a
very easy question for us to settle. What is He
concerned about? What is He here in this world
fur? He is here first of all to save lost men. Now,
the man who is living a life of victory finds his
chief concern the salvation of lost men. That is
the first consideration, and not only during revival
meetings or Bible Conferences, but all the lime.
Then, the Spirit of God is concerned about build
ing up souls and strengthening them in every good
work. He is concerned about the comfort of peo
ple; about binding broken hearts; looking after
temporal interests; helping a man when he is
down. In other words, he is concerned about every
thing that looks toward the interest of humanity.
Is that true of us? We will be if we have entered
upon this life of victory. We will be if we give
up self and begin to look to God for the filling of
His Spirit that will empower us to live after the
likeness of Jesus Christ
Then Paul says we are under the domination of
the Spirit. If the Spirit has been put on the throne,
it is very easy for us to live the life of victory.
If self is on the throne, there is no life of victory.
If self gets off and the Spirit gets on the throne,
then it is easy It comes when we bow our knees
and yield absolutely to the Holy Ghost. When he
takes complete and perfect control, all of self
passes out.
Then the Spirit will quicken our mortal bodies;
He will awaken powers that are not our own. He
will produce in these bodies of ours feelings and
longings and aspirations to do and to be that we
never felt before.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
made me free from the law of sin and of death.’’
Everything has laws that govern it. Electricity,
steam, psychology, science of every kind, are all
governed by certain fixed laws, and so it is with
the Spirit. He operates by certain fixed laws, and
jf we would enjoy the fruits of the Spirit, we must
The Golden. Age for October 17, 190?.
understand and appropriate, and live up to the
laws.
Now, what is the law of the Spirit in endeavoring
to produce the life of victory? First, definite ded
ication of one’s life to God. The Holy Spirit will
not operate upon the life of any one until there is
that complete and definite dedrcation of himself
and all of nis powers to God. So long as one holds
back anything from God, there will be no operation
of the Holy Ghost in his life. He must have an
absolutely surrendered heart and life.
'Then, in the next place, there must be definite
supplication to God for the life of victory, then
tiiere must be definite and complete appropriation
of the Spirit of God for victory. These three
things must be: Dedication, supplication, appro
priation. Definitely dedicate to God these bodies
with all the faculties they contain. After dedication
must come supplication, asking God for the thing
that we desire, definite asking of God, the contin
uous asking of God for the thing we are seeking
after; and then definite appropriation from God
of the things we are asking for.
There can never be any proper domination of the
life until there is a definite dedication; until there
is the willingness to do what God wants us to do.
I was kept out of the ministry for years because I
was not willing. 1 thought God wanted me to go
to China as a medical missionary. I wish 1 had
known then what 1 know now. If I had known
God then I would have said, “If God wants me to
go to China that is the place for me to go. ’ ’ Final
ly I could not stand it any longer, and I gave my
self for a medical missionary, but before I got
heme God took that off my heart. When I got
willing to go to China God gave me another work
to do. God was holding that over me to master
me, and when He mastered me at that point, then
He gave me my life plan, and I never would have
been able to do what the .Lord has permitted me
to do in His service, if it had not been that at the
very beginning of my career I gave all to Him.
The law of the Spirit is the law that gives power.
Submit to the Holy Ghost and you will have vic
tory, for when He gets on the throne there is noth
ing else for one but victory. Why should anybody
hold back their lives from God? God cannot fail,
and He will not let us fail. If you will put your
hand in His and let Him direct there must be vic
tory.
Why, look at Moses. He was coming along from
where he had been minding the sheep. He met
God. God was getting ready to give him the plan
of his life. Moses did not know it. God said to
Moses, “What have vuu in your hand?”
Notice, God did not start out by saying, “I am
going to make you the greatest man in the world.”
Moses would have said, “Yes, yes, that is just what
I want.” God started with the simplest thing he
could touch, and these are the things that hold us
away from victory. God began with Moses’ walk
ing stick.
“Moses, what is that you have in your hand?”
“A stick.”
“Well, lay it down.”
Why should Moses lay that stick down? It had
net been doing him any harm. He needed it to
climb the mountains with. He had gotten it some
where and crooked it to have it just as he wanted
it. But he laid it down, and it turned into a snake.
I suppose Moses was frightened. God told him to
take it up by the taik
I have no doubt Moses thought, “I don’t under
stand this. I had it when it was a stick doing no
body any harm, and I obeyed Him, and now He
is punishing me for my obedience.” But thank
God Moses did what God told him to do, and the
moment he took it, God turned it back into a stick,
and it was the very same stick that he had held
a while ago.
God revealed to Moses that a stick, when it is
all that one has and is laid down and wholly given
up to God to work on as he sees fit, and taken up
only at the command of God, that that same stick
when lifted over' the rolling sea drives back the
waters and drie j the passage.
If Moses had lot done that he would have been
there today, if he had lived this long, minding
sheep, and that old stick would never have done
anything but helj him to walk and drive the sheep.
There never wc dd have been any power in the
life of Moses.
My brethren, T he question is, are we willing to
lay down that which we have in our hand—our
all? Are we wi ling to let God work on it? Are
we willing to let God turn the thing that we have
loved and whic i has helped us, into something
that He wants! Are we willing to take it up and
do with it what He directs? If we are, then we
may expect oui little sticks to become rods of
power.
Now then, let us take this aspect of the life of
victory—its resiJts. Take the fifteenth verse:
“For ye received not the spirit of bondage again
unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Here appears
another one of those pivot words —“Adoption.”
What does it mean? It comes from two Greek
words meaning, “placing one in the position of a
Son. ”
There was an old Roman law at the time when
Paul wrote this epistle that an adopted son was
not only expected to share the benefits of his
adopted father, but he was also expected to share
the burdens of his adopted father to the fullest ex
tent.
Now, Paul takes that to explain the relation that
we have to God through Jesus Christ His Son. We
are adopted sons of God, and as adopted sons of
God we are not only expected to enjoy the privil
eges, but we are to share the burdens. When we
enter the life of victory we are going to be just as
much concerned about the burdens of the Father’s
business as we are about the blessing.
If this be true, how few of us have entered the
life of victory? We are all anxious to get the
blessings; how few of us are anxious to get the
burdens? We all want to get the front seat at the
Conference, but few 7 of us are willing to go back
into the kitchen and cook so that the rest may en
joy staying there.
Now take verse 16, the verse of assurance.
“The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spir
it that we are the children of God.”
Is there a man here who is in doubt about his
salvation? If so, let him apply to Him who has
been enthroned in his heart, if he has been. Let
him cry: “Oh, Holy Spirit, bear witness
to my spirit. Let me know if I am a child of
God.” No man who earnestly does that will come
away with any doubt about it.
It is astonishing to see the number of Christian
people who have not ssurance. When Gipsy
Smith asked for every man to stand up who had
the witness of the Spirit of God, not half of our
own church members stood up. I suppose they were
honest; but it is not because it is not their privil
ege. It is because they have not appropriated it.
Then there is the minification of suffering in
verses 17 and 18. The man living the life of vic
tory is not defeated by the suffering of this life,
no matter what kind of suffering comes to him.
These things do not defeat him. They may pain
him but he looks beyond these days of physical,
mental or spiritual suffering to the day when he
shall at last be crowned with the glory with Jesus
his Lord.
Then again we have divine aid in prayer (v.
26, 27). The man who is living the life of victory
is living the prayer life, because the Spirit is con
stantly forming in Him prayers that are after the
will of God, and while he may not be constantly
dropping down on his knees, he is in that relation
with the Holy Spirit where the prayer is formed in
his desire, and as he goes about his business there
is the prayer desire that goes out to G;d. That is
the man who gets things from heaven; whose life
is power; that is the man the devil hates and