INTERNAL FOES.
Now if we are going to overcome, we must begin inside. God always
begins there. An enemy inside the fort is far more dangerous than one
outside.
Scripture teaches that in every believer there are two natures warring
against each other. Paul says in his epistle to the Romans:--"For we
know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For
that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what
I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto
the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do
not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I
would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I
find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
Again, in the Epistle to the Galatians, he says: "For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would."
When we are born of God, we get His nature, but He does not
immediately take away all the old nature. Each species of animal and
bird is true to its nature. You can tell the nature of the dove or
canary bird. The horse is true to his nature, the cow is true to hers.
But a man has two natures, and do not let the world or Satan make you
think that the old nature is extinct, because it is not. "Reckon ye
yourselves dead"; but if you were dead, you wouldn't need to reckon
yourselves dead, would you? The dead self would be dropped out of the
reckoning. "I keep my body under"; if it were dead, Paul wouldn't have
needed to keep it under. I am judicially dead, but the old nature is
alive, and therefore if I don't keep my body under and crucify the
flesh with its affections, this lower nature will gain the advantage,
and I shall be in bondage. Many men live all their lives in bondage to
the old nature, when they might have liberty if they would only live
this overcoming life. The old Adam never dies. It remains corrupt.
"From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in
it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment."
A gentleman in India once got a tiger-cub, and tamed it so that it
became a pet. One day when it had grown up, it tasted blood, and the
old tiger-nature flashed out, and it had to be killed. So with the old
nature in the believer. It never dies, though it is subdued: and
unless he is watchful and prayerful, it will gain the upper hand, and
rush him into sin. Someone has pointed out that "I" is the centre of
S-I-N. It is the medium through which Satan acts.
And so the worst enemy you have to overcome, after all, is _yourself_.
When Capt. T-- became converted in London, he was a great society man.
After he had been a Christian some months, he was asked;
"What have you found to be your greatest enemy since you began to be a
Christian?"
After a few minutes of deep thought he said, "Well, I think it is
myself."
"Ah!" said the lady, "the King has taken you into His presence, for it
is only in His presence that we are taught these truths."
I have had more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other man who
has crossed my path. If I can only keep him right, I don't have any
trouble with other people. A good many have trouble with servants. Did
you ever think that the trouble lies with you instead of the servants?
If one member of the family is constantly snapping, he will have the
whole family snapping. It is true whether you believe it or not. You
speak quickly and snappishly to people and they will do the same to
you.
Appetite.
Now take _appetite_. That is an enemy inside. How many young men are
ruined by the appetite for strong drink! Many a young man has grown up
to be a curse to his father and mother, instead of a blessing. Not
long ago the body of a young suicide was discovered in one of our
large cities. In his pocket was found a paper on which he had written:
"I have done this myself. Don't tell anyone. It is all through drink."
An intimation of these facts in the public press drew two hundred and
forty six letters from two hundred and forty six families, each of
whom had a prodigal son who, it was feared, might be the suicide.
Strong drink is an enemy, both to body and soul. It is reported that
Sir Andrew Clarke, the celebrated London physician, once made the
following statement: "Now let me say that I am speaking solemnly and
carefully when I tell you that I am considerably within the mark in
saying that within the rounds of my hospital wards today, seven out of
every ten that lie there in their beds owe their ill health to
alcohol. I do not say that seventy in every hundred are drunkards; I
do not know that one of them is; but they use alcohol. So soon as a
man begins to take one drop, then the desire begotten in him becomes a
part of his nature, and that nature, formed by his acts, inflicts
curses inexpressible when handed down to the generations that are to
follow him as part and parcel of their being. When I think of this I
am disposed to give up my profession--to give up everything--and to go
forth upon a holy crusade to preach to all men, 'Beware of this enemy
of the race!'"
It is the most destructive agency in the world today. It kills more
than the bloodiest wars. It is the fruitful parent of crime and
idleness and poverty and disease. It spoils a man for this world, and
damns him for the next. The Word of God has declared it: "Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, . . .
nor _drunkards_ . . . shall inherit the Kingdom of God."
How can we overcome this enemy? Bitter experience proves that man is
not powerful enough in his own strength. The only cure for the
accursed appetite is regeneration--a new life--the power of the risen
Christ within us. Let a man that is given to strong drink look to God
for help, and He will give him victory over his appetite. Jesus Christ
came to destroy the works of the devil, and He will take away that
appetite if you will let Him.
Temper.
Then there is _temper_. I wouldn't give much for a man that hasn't
temper. Steel isn't good for anything if it hasn't got temper. But
when temper gets the mastery over me I am its slave, and it is a
source of weakness. It may be made a great power for good all through
my life, and help me; or it may become my greatest enemy from within,
and rob me of power. The current in some rivers is so strong as to
make them useless for navigation.
Someone has said that a preacher will never miss the people when he
speaks of temper. It is astonishing how little mastery even professing
Christians have over it. A friend of mine in England was out visiting,
and while sitting in the parlor, heard an awful noise in the hall. He
asked what it meant, and was told that it was only the doctor throwing
his boots downstairs because they were not properly blacked. "Many
Christians," said an old divine, "who bore the loss of a child or of
all their property with the most heroic Christian fortitude, are
entirely vanquished by the breaking of a dish or the blunders of a
servant."
I have had people say to me, "Mr. Moody, how can I get control of my
temper?"
If you really want to get control, I will tell you how, but you won't
like the medicine. Treat it as a sin and confess it. People look upon
it as a sort of a misfortune, and one lady told me she inherited it
from her father and mother. Supposing she did. That is no excuse for
her.
When you get angry again and speak unkindly to a person, and when you
realize it, go and ask that person to forgive you. You won't get mad
with that person for the next twenty-four hours. You might do it in
about forty eight hours, but go the second time, and after you have
done it about half-a-dozen times, you will get out of the business,
because it makes the old flesh burn.
A lady said to me once, "I have got so in the habit of exaggerating
that my friends accuse me of exaggerating so that they don't
understand me."
She said, "Can you help me? What can I do to overcome it?"
"Well," I said, "the next time you catch yourself lying, go right to
that party and say you have lied, and tell him you are sorry. Say it
is a lie; stamp it out, root and branch; that is what you want to do."
"Oh," she said, "I wouldn't like to call it _lying_." But that is what
it was.
Christianity isn't worth a snap of your finger if it doesn't
straighten out your character. I have got tired of all mere gush and
sentiment. If people can't tell when you are telling the truth, there
is something radically wrong, and you had better straighten it out
right away. Now, are you ready to do it? Bring yourself to it whether
you want to or not. Do you find someone who has been offended by
something you have done? Go right to them and tell them you are sorry.
You say you are not to blame. Never mind, go right to them, and tell
them you are sorry. I have had to do it a good many times. An
impulsive man like myself has to do it often, but I sleep all the
sweeter at night when I get things straightened out. Confession never
fails to bring a blessing. I have sometimes had to get off the
platform and go down and ask a man's forgiveness before I could go on
preaching. A Christian man ought to be a gentleman every time; but if
he is not, and he finds he has wounded or hurt someone, he ought to go
and straighten it out at once. You know there are a great many people
who want just Christianity enough to make them respectable. They don't
think about this overcoming life that gets the victory all the time.
They have their blue days and their cross days, and the children say,
"Mother is cross to-day, and you will have to be very careful."
We don't want any of these touchy blue days; these ups and downs. If
we are overcoming, that is the effect our life is going to have on
others, they will have confidence in our Christianity. The reason that
many a man has no power, is that there is some cursed sin covered up.
There will not be a drop of dew until that sin is brought to light.
Get right inside. Then we can go out like giants and conquer the world
if everything is right within.
Paul says that we are to be sound in faith, in patience, and in love.
If a man is unsound in his faith, the clergy take the ecclesiastical
sword and cut him off at once. But he may be ever so unsound in
charity, in patience, and nothing is said about that. We must be sound
in faith, in love, and in patience if we are to be true to God.
How delightful it is to meet a man who can control his temper! It is
said of Wilberforce that a friend once found him in the greatest
agitation, looking for a dispatch he had mislaid, for which one of the
royal family was waiting. Just then, as if to make it still more
trying, a disturbance was heard in the nursery.
"Now," thought the friend, "surely his temper will give way."
The thought had hardly passed through his mind when Wilberforce turned
to him and said:
"What a blessing it is to hear those dear children! Only think what a
relief, among other hurries, to hear their voices and know they are
well."
Covetousness.
Take the sin of _covetousness_. There is more said in the Bible
against it than against drunkenness. I must get it out of me--destroy
it, root and branch--and not let it have dominion over me. We think
that a man who gets drunk is a horrid monster, but a covetous man will
often be received into the church, and put into office, who is as vile
and black in the sight of God as any drunkard.
The most dangerous thing about this sin is that it is not generally
regarded as very heinous. Of course we all have a contempt for misers,
but all covetous men are not misers. Another thing to be noted about
it is that it fastens upon the old rather than upon the young.
Let us see what the Bible says about covetousness:--
"Mortify therefore your members . . . covetousness, which is
idolatry."
"No covetous man hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of God."
"They that will be (that is, desire to be) rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men
in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows."
"The wicked blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth."
Covetousness enticed Lot into Sodom. It caused the destruction of
Achan and all his house. It was the iniquity of Balaam. It was the sin
of Samuel's sons. It left Gehazi a leper. It sent the rich young ruler
away sorrowful. It led Judas to sell his Master and Lord. It brought
about the death of Ananias and Sapphira. It was the blot in the
character of Felix. What victims it has had in all ages!
Do you say: "How am I going to check covetousness?"
Well,--I don't think there is any difficulty about that. If you find
yourself getting very covetous--very miserly--wanting to get
everything you can into your possession--just begin to scatter. Just
say to covetousness that you will strangle it, and rid it out of your
disposition.
A wealthy farmer in New York state, who had been a noted miser, a very
selfish man, was converted. Soon after his conversion a poor man came
to him one day to ask for help. He had been burned out, and had no
provisions. This young convert thought he would be liberal and give
him a ham from his smoke house. He started toward the smoke-house, and
on the way the tempter said,
"Give him the smallest one you have."
He struggled all the way as to whether he would give a large or a
small one. In order to overcome his selfishness, he took down the
biggest ham and gave it to the man.
The tempter said, "You are a fool."
But he replied, "If you don't keep still, I will give him every ham I
have in the smoke-house."
If you find that you are selfish, give something. Determine to
overcome that spirit of selfishness, and to keep your body under, no
matter what it may cost.
Mr. Durant told me he was engaged by Goodyear to defend the rubber
patent, and he was to have half of the money that came from the
patent, if he succeeded. One day he woke up to find that he was a rich
man, and he said that the greatest struggle of his life then took
place as to whether he would let money be his master, or he be master
of money, whether he would be its slave, or make it a slave to him. At
last he got the victory, and that is how Wellesley College was built.
Are You Jealous, Envious?
Go and do a good turn for that person of whom you are jealous. That is
the way to cure jealousy; it will kill it. Jealousy is a devil, it is
a horrid monster. The poets imagined that Envy dwelt in a dark cave,
being pale and thin, looking asquint, never rejoicing except in the
misfortune of others, and hurting himself continually.
There is a fable of an eagle which could outfly another, and the other
didn't like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day, and said to him,
"I wish you would bring down that eagle."
The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to
put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow
was shot, but didn't quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too
high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling
them out until he lost so many that he couldn't fly, and then the
sportsman turned around and killed him. My friend, if you are jealous,
the only man you can hurt is yourself.
There were two business men--merchants--and there was great rivalry
between them, a great deal of bitter feeling. One of them was
converted. He went to his minister and said,
"I am still jealous of that man, and I do not know how to overcome
it."
"Well," he said, "if a man comes into your store to buy goods, and you
cannot supply him, just send him over to your neighbor."
He said he wouldn't like to do that.
"Well," the minister said, "you do it and you will kill jealousy."
He said he would, and when a customer came into his store for goods
which he did not have, he would tell him to go across the street to
his neighbor's. By and by the other began to send his customers over
to this man's store, and the breach was healed.
Pride.
Then there is _pride_. This is another of those sins which the Bible
so strongly condemns, but which the world hardly reckons as a sin at
all. "An high look and a proud heart is sin." "Everyone that is proud
in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though hand join in hand, he
shall not be unpunished." Christ included pride among those evil
things which, proceeding out of the heart of a man, defile him.
People have an idea that it is just the wealthy who are proud. But go
down on some of the back streets, and you will find that some of the
very poorest are as proud as the richest. It is the heart, you know.
People that haven't any money are just as proud as those that have. We
have got to crush it out. It is an enemy. You needn't be proud of your
face, for there is not one but that after ten days in the grave the
worms would be eating your body. There is nothing to be proud of--is
there? Let us ask God to deliver us from pride.
You can't fold your arms and say, "Lord, take it out of me"; but just
go and work with Him.
Mortify your pride by cultivating humility. "Put on, therefore," says
Paul, "as the elect of God, holy and beloved, . . . humbleness of
mind." "Be clothed with humility," says Peter. "Blessed are the poor
in spirit."