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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks About the Tempter (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 088. The Wondrous Name
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The Wondrous Name
And then a last word must be put in for the hour of stress. When the temptation comes so subtly, and crowds so hard, remember this word—claim Christ's victory. Remember that the victory has been won. Claim that victory as your own. Go in the strength of what Somebody else has done. The victory you are needing just now, when the temptation comes with a wild rush, and nearly sweeps you off your feet at once, remember that victory has been won. It is an accomplished fact. Claim it as your own, and it will be your own in fact. There is far more victory just within grasp than you have realized. Reach out your hand and take as your very own what has been done for you.
That victory has been enshrined in a Name. All the power of the Nazareth victory, and of the Wilderness victory, all the power of the great climax victory of Calvary, and of the Resurrection morning—all is packed into one word, a Name, the Name of Jesus. There is far more, infinitely more practical help and power in that Name than we have dreamed of; certainly far more than we have ever used. The Name of Jesus is the most valuable asset of the Christian life.
I remember a young man coming up to me at the close of a service in London. He told me of how sorely he had been tempted, how he seemed to make no headway against the struggle in his Christian life, until the suggestion came to him of the practical value of that Name above every name. Instantly he began using it, reverently, prayerfully, eagerly, and relief and victory came. And the look of eye and face revealed how real was the victory and peace that had come to him.
A missionary in South Africa has told a story of her experience in the use of that great Name. The story has a simplicity and a power, that makes one feel all afresh that we have not used that great Name as we may and should. She was travelling in Bechuanaland, camping by the banks of a badly swollen river. The discomforts of heavy rains, bad roads, poor food, and stinging insects were very great. But sorer far was the moral havoc being wrought within sight, by the wayside canteen where liquors were sold to the hundreds of poor dark-skinned natives. The distress of the situation seemed unbearable. In her almost despair of soul she was drawn away to pray, then in calmer mood was led to go over toward the canteen.
Her thought was directed to one man, very old, very poor, clad in a few filthy rags, with a bloated face, bleared eyes, and loathsome sores, all the result of his drinking the cheap adulterated liquor kept in the canteen. He was just staggering towards the canteen when she called him. And as he stopped to speak with her, she asked him why he drank when it was ruining him.
With a wild laugh he said, "Why? I can't help it. I am enslaved by this vile white man's drink. I would gladly quit, but I can't." And she told him there was a way out into freedom from his slavery. It was in a name. "A name," he said with a touch of awe coming over him. "Yes, a name," she said. And would she tell him that name. Praying for guidance, she told him as simply as she could the story of the Gospel, and of the power in the Name of Jesus. And the old black wreck repeated the Name, Jesus, which was but a new sound to him. And they knelt in prayer among the trees and parted.
Her journey took her away, but weeks after, on returning, she met the old black man's wife, and from her gleaned the fascinating sequel to the story. The poor old enslaved heathen man had gone away, and when the fever for drink came upon him, he had with great earnestness repeated the Name of Jesus over and over. And in his simple speech, the fever left him, the craving for the drink went away, and he felt as if he had never tasted the stuff. He said his mouth felt clean as a little child's, and his body had become strong and well.
One day he had allowed an old drinking companion to persuade him to go with him. As they started toward the canteen, the old fever for drink came upon him. He could feel it burning within his body. He tried to break away from his companion, but the old slavery gripped him anew and held him fast. Then he remembered, and with all the earnestness of his soul he repeated the Name over, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." And he said, "A coolness came over my brain, and my body, and I was free again, and turned quickly away."
The meagreness of the man's knowledge of the Gospel makes the story seem almost startling. But the earnestness of his purpose, and the simplicity of his faith, fully made up for lack of knowledge, and supplied the sure link with the Lord Jesus, and through that link the power came in the hour of his sore distress.
I have no doubt that if spirit-beings were visible, any one standing by watching the old black man, would have seen evil spirits hanging about and haunting him, and driving him on in his mad thirst for the drink; and then fleeing, frightened and terrified, before the Name of their Victor, as the old man repeated it, over and again so earnestly.