Another popular sermon for Billy Sunday during the 1915-1916 campaigns was the Secret of Failure.
In “Secret of Failure,” Billy Sunday argues that failure in life is not accidental but rooted in disobedience to known truth. Using Jeremiah 5:5, he contends that God’s blessings are available, but people forfeit them by breaking His laws. The central issue is not ignorance but willful rebellion—people know what is right yet refuse to do it. Sunday emphasizes that sin is often subtle and socially acceptable, not just gross immorality, and that even church members can live in quiet compromise. He warns that partial obedience, moral neglect, and conformity to the world lead to spiritual defeat. External religion—church attendance, respectability, or profession of faith—cannot substitute for genuine obedience and transformation. True success, he insists, comes from aligning one’s life with God’s revealed will. The sermon builds toward a direct appeal: stop excusing sin, confess it honestly, and live out what you already know to be true, or failure—spiritual and moral—is inevitable.
Quotes from the sermon
“Your failure isn’t because you don’t know better—it’s because you won’t do better.”
“God tells you what to do, and you nod your head—but you never move your feet.”
“Some men are too good to be counted among the wicked—and too bad to be counted among the saved.”
“A half-obedient man is a whole failure.”
“You can sit in church and hear the truth every week—and still go to hell with a Bible in your lap.”
Curated from September 24, 1915 Omaha Daily Bee.
Secret of failure-Omaha_Daily_Bee_1915_09_24_2
Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) 