What In The World Is God's Grace-Part 3

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been talking about the different ways the Bible explains how God's grace works in the life of the believer in Christ. First of all, we saw that "God's grace" means that God accepts us unconditionally and shows us His unmerited favor. Secondly, we discovered that the grace of God describes the power which God gives us for life and ministry. This week, we are going to look at the third and final aspect of God's grace: His cleansing from sin.

So where does this third aspect of God's grace show up in the Bible? Here's one extended but poignant example:

Romans 6:14-18: "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."

This third and final aspect of grace, as I suggested before, deals with the way in which God has cleansed us from sin through His grace. This seems pretty straightforward, but it is actually somewhat controversial. Why might that be?

I think the radical nature of this third and final aspect of grace can be best understood when we look at how God's grace addresses the problem of human sin. First of all, God's grace deals with the penalty of sin. By becoming a man in Jesus of Nazareth, God the Son lived a perfectly sinless life, and He died to take the penalty of our sin in our place. Most evangelicals today get this; we call it a number of different things like "substitutionary atonement" or "vicarious atonement". If God had only dealt with the penalty of our sin, that would be fine. But there's more! God also deals with the power of sin (we see this above in Romans 6:14-18)-God doesn't just forgive our sin and consider us His own children, but He also gives us new power through the Holy Spirit to live holy lives! A third aspect of sin that God deals with is the presence of sin-that is, the temptation to or the tendency toward sinning. The presence of sin in our lives will ultimately be dealt with when we receive new resurrected bodies and becomed perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.

Now as I said, most people agree that God has dealt with the penalty of sin, there's not much disagreement here. But what about the power and the presence of sin? Contrary to what some people teach (or at least seem to teach), I actually do believe that in His grace, God has given us the power to not sin! Am I out of my mind, here, or could this actually be true? Look with me at one incredible passage:

Galatians 5:16-18: "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law."

What I understand Paul to be saying in this passage is precisely this: there is a real battle going on in the life of the believer; the flesh is at war with the Spirit. As Christians, both the flesh and the Spirit are very real realities, but they exist in such a way that we can't live according to both realities at the same time. So this third aspect of God's grace, then, relates precisely to how He gives us His grace in this battle. If you find yourself just wracked with temptations on every side and unable to find any way in yourself to get away, God in His grace has promised that if you walk by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desire of the flesh! In other words, if you do things God's way rather than the way that comes naturally, you will not sin. This is an incredible aspect of God's grace, and perhaps one that makes the most obvious difference on a day-to-day basis in the life of a disciple. I think this is what Charles Wesley was getting at when he wrote in his hymn, "O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing":

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

How would this teaching on God's grace actually make a difference, then? For me, it's been incredibly freeing and empowering! I once believed that there were some temptations and sins that were so powerful and that I seemed to fall into so easily that I simply had no hope of deliverance. I consigned myself to the thought that God must have allowed these sins to remain in my life for some reason, and that I just needed to suck it up and get used to it. But this was an enormous lie of the devil! What I have learned from studying the New Testament is that we will never come across a single temptation-not one!-that we must succumb to, and if we do, it wasn't God's fault. God's grace and God's power is always available to us to help us successfully overcome sin, and I suspect that as we walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh more and more, it will become so much more natural to us that it becomes "second-nature" so to speak. This dimension of God's grace is simply marvelous and unspeakable if you haven't experienced it, and if you want some guidance about how to begin "walking in the Spirit", I would love to talk with you some time and give you some insight from what I've learned.

So we've got these three aspects of God's grace, and we've seen just briefly how they operate in the life of a Christian. But there's one more thing we actually need to look at: how do we keep our understanding of God's grace properly balanced? In other words, is it possible to emphasize one aspect of God's grace to the detriment of the others? This is an incredibly real and pressing danger, and we will spend some time need week learning how to keep a proper perspective on this most important of issues...

Shocking

"It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation whenever a cat kills a sparrow can hear the story of the killing of God told Sunday after Sunday and not experience any shock at all." (Dorothy Sayers)





(Picture and quotation taken from http://blog.christianitytoday.com/images/2009/03/march-23-1.html)

What In The World Is God's Grace-Part 2

Last week, I began talking about God's grace, and I specifically tried to focus on how the Bible describes God's grace as His unmerited favor and unconditional acceptance of those who are in Christ. This is an important place to begin, because this aspect of God's grace obviously forms the foundation of anything else we might have to say about grace. At the same time, we cannot leave any discussion of God's grace here, because there is a lot more that the Bible in general and the New Testament in particular have to say about the matter.

The second aspect of God's grace that I want to examine has to do with God's grace as His work in empowering and equipping us. We see this aspect of God's grace in a few different places in the New Testament:

Acts 4:33: "And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all."

Acts 6:5, 8: "The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit... And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people."

1 Cor. 15:10: "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

2 Cor. 12:9: "And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

As you read through these passages, you will begin to see that this dimension of God's grace specifically relates to how God empowers us and equips us for life and ministry. When taken in connection with what we discovered about grace last week, we see that God not only unconditionally accepts us and shows us His unmerited favor, but He also gives us power and equips us to live boldly for Him throughout the rest of our lives!

In practical terms, this aspect of God's grace could work itself out in a number of different ways. It is important to note that this aspect of God's grace is often connected with the Holy Spirit, showing that it is through the Holy Spirit that this grace comes to us. Because of this, I suspect that one of the biggest ways that we experience this side of God's grace is through the way in which God equips us with spiritual gifts.

Maybe another way that we experience this dimension of grace is through our new life in Christ. If you haven't actually experienced this new life, it would be pretty difficult to describe it very well to you, but I think this might be what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote in Romans 14:17: "For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." When you experience the new birth which only God through His grace can bring, you will realize an entirely new source of energy, strength, and motivation for living and showing the love of Christ to the world.

Beyond this, there might be more that we could say about this aspect of God's grace, but there is certainly not less. For me, this aspect of God's grace is so incredible because it shows me just how much God is for us, and not against us. What I mean is this: if God had chosen simply to unconditionally accept us and show us His favor, that would have been enough (and even more than we deserve!). God not only accepts us, however; He also freely chooses to give us power through His Holy Spirit and give us the new life we need in order to successfully bear witness to Him in this broken and sinful world. To me, that is incredible, and if that was all God ever did for me, it would cause me to praise Him throughout all eternity without growing tired or bored for one minute! As you might have guessed, though, there is more-next week we will finish this discussion by looking at how God's grace is the power by which He cleanses us from sin...

In keeping with this theme, I came across this song by Keith Green recently, and I think it represents really well the message of God's grace bringing power and new life to those of us who are in Christ. Watch it as you have time, and I pray that it will be a blessing and an encouragement to you as you strive to become more like Jesus each and every day!

How Can German Pietism Help Us Strengthen The Church In The Twenty-First Century?

My attention was captured recently by the founder of German Pietism, Philipp Jakob Spener. Spener, who was a remarkable man in a number of ways, impresses me mainly because of the reforms he called for within the Protestant Germany of his own day. The German Lutheran Church in many respects had grown overly-academic to the detriment of experiential religion, thus making it cold, and in light of this Spener suggested a number of changes to be made. Mark Noll summarizes these changes in his book Turning Points by remarking:

Spener’s six proposals for reform became a banner for Pietism in general. First, there should be "a more extensive use of the Word of God among us." The Bible, said Spener, "must be the chief means for reforming something." Second, Spener called also for a renewal of the "spiritual priesthood," the priesthood of all believers. Here he cited Luther’s teaching as a way to urge all Christians to be active in the work of Christian ministry. Third, he appealed for Christian faith to be expressed in authentic practice, arguing that Christianity was more than a matter of simple knowledge. Fourth, Spener urged restraint and charity in religious controversies. He asked his readers to love and pray for unbelievers and the erring and to adopt a moderate tone in disputes. Fifth, he called for reform in the education of ministers. Here he stressed the need for training in piety and devotion as well as in academic subjects. Last, he implored ministers to preach edifying sermons, understandable by the people, rather than technical discourses, directed at other clergy. (230-231)

The thing that captures my attention when I read these proposed changes is that they strike me as being incredibly genuine. While he may appear to others differently, Spener strikes me as an individual who had met God in a real and powerful way, and he desperately desired for those in the churches of Germany and beyond to experience this same encounter. Furthermore, Spener’s proposals also strike me as incredibly practical. While some reformers tend to "bite off more than they can chew" or propose vague reforms which cannot very well be defined (much less pursued), Spener was arguing for changes which could be made relatively quickly, and which could be measured relatively accurately. Thus, in light of Spener’s genuine concern for reform and practical suggestions toward this end, it is not surprising that German Pietism had the large impact that it did, ultimately becoming a key forerunner to modern evangelicalism.

Beyond being a series of proposed reforms for his own day, I believe that Spener’s previously mentioned suggestions can also be instructive for our own. We certainly do not live in the same context and situation as Spener found himself, but nevertheless we do live in a Christian culture that constantly finds itself drifting too far either in the direction of academic pursuit or an existential spirituality that is divorced from the Bible. As such, we ourselves could stand to implement several of Spener’s recommendations.

Firstly, we live in a culture which has more access to the Bible than probably any other culture in history, yet people seem to read and understand God’s word less than ever. The need to return to Scripture as our source of authority and guiding principle is obvious. Secondly, there is an ever-present danger within American evangelicalism to relegate the work of ministry to the paid clergy, which reminds us of the need for a renewed emphasis of the priesthood of all believers. Thirdly, the false doctrines of "free grace" apart from discipleship and "decisional regeneration" which have infiltrated the American mindset within the last fifty years constantly make it necessary for us as Christians to emphasize the necessity and importance of a personal encounter and genuine relationship with God on the individual level. Fourthly, the need for charity and grace in our disputes remains is an obvious deficiency today much as it was in Spener’s day. One only needs to raise the question of "Calvinism versus Arminianism" in order to see the lack of charity inherent in modern theological discussions. Fifthly, many Christian institutions are badly in need of new methods to help those they are educating in terms of soul-care and spiritual development. Sixth and lastly, I believe we could all say that we have sat through sermons that were directed at some controversy being addressed by the minister rather than anything actually touching the life-experience of the congregation, and thus we see the need to return to practical Biblical exposition. Thus, each and every one of Spener’s proposed reforms is applicable to our own generation, just as they were to his own.

What is the take-home value of this entire discussion? I suppose the most important point in all that I have been discussing is that Philipp Jakob Spener was primarily significant because he recognized the importance of having religion be internal and vibrant rather than merely external and stale. Through calling for reforms within the church of Germany in his own day that grew out of his own encounter with God, he hoped to see others come into a similar experience and revitalize the church. This need for revitalization is equally pressing in our own day, and as such we all could stand to listen just a little more carefully to what wisdom this Godly German from several hundred years ago had to offer. May God give us the wisdom and grace to learn from the wisdom of the past, and the insight to know how to live that wisdom out practically today.

What In The World Is God's Grace?

When I was at church this past Sunday, we sang the song "And Can It Be?" written by Charles Wesley back in 1738. In this hymn, Wesley wrote in one of his verses:

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

The thing that strikes me, and even haunts me in a sense (since I can't get it out of my mind), is how Wesley described God's grace. He speaks of God the Son leaving His place of privilege, honor, and power with the Father, and freely coming to the earth. We know from the Bible that this 'coming to earth', this "incarnation", involved the Son becoming flesh, and limiting Himself in certain ways to adopt a human form of existence. All of this (and more), Wesley speaks of as the Son's "grace". These few short lines and the immense weight that they carry got me thinking, "What in the world is God's grace?"

This is an important question, and one which I hope to spend the next few weeks discussing here on the blog. What I intend to do is walk through a series of answers that one of my professors at Western Seminary-Gerry Breshears-gave to this question, and through explaining how each of the aspects of grace that I will describe has impacted my own life, allow you to see just what exactly grace might mean, and what implications it might have for your own life. For more on Gerry Breshears, I highly recommend his blog "Living Grace to the World" (http://breshears.net/).

With this question in mind, the first thing that I think is important to recognize is that God's grace means that God unconditionally accepts and shows unmerited favor toward those in Christ. Where exactly does this understanding of grace show up in the Bible? Here are a few places:

Luke 2:52: "And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor (Greek: charis, also translated as "grace") with God and men."

Romans 11:5-6: "In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace."

2 Timothy 1:8-9: "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity..."

There are more places than this which speak of God's grace as His unconditional acceptance and unmerited favor toward those in Christ, but these are good examples of the kind of thing that the Bible describes along these lines. I want to emphasize, while talking about grace in this way, that God's grace (when described as such) is a gift from God which cannot be earned or merited by any human being. Rather, God's grace is God's gift that is freely given based on His own unconstrained choice. In the first example I listed (Luke 2:52), it speaks of Jesus growing in favor or grace with God, and I listed this verse to demonstrate that grace refers to the acceptance of God. In the other two passages, however, grace unambiguously speaks of God's undeserved favor, kindness, and acceptance toward those who are in Christ Jesus (that is to say, toward those who have repented of their sins and placed their trusted in Christ Jesus alone for salvation). This, then, is the first way that the Bible speaks of God's grace, and this understanding will be foundational for what we discuss in the weeks to come.

You might be wondering now, why is it that we must start this discussion here? The reason we must start with this concept in mind is because if we do not, we might be tempted to believe that God's grace is something that we earn, whether through our good works, our own Godliness, our refraining from sin, or any other such thing. Rather than being something we could ever possibly earn, God's acceptance is something He bestows on us in response to our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This order is crucially important, because if we were to say that God's acceptance is something that is earned, we would quickly find that God's grace is no longer grace, but rather a prize or reward that we must diligently strive for. What I want to stress, then, is that God's acceptance of us forms the foundation of the Christian life, and it is from this foundation that we then grow in Christ, mature, and work diligently for God in this present age.

At this point, I also want to share how I have personally experienced this aspect of God's grace. As some of you know, I grew up going to church from the time I was born, and as with most kids who grow up in church, I came to learn pretty quickly how to behave and what to say so as to make others at church think I was a Christian. I even said a prayer of commitment to Christ when I was about five years old. From outward appearances, I was a Christian, but on the inside I was unchanged. My problem chiefly was that I had not encountered the grace of God which I described above.

So what changed in my life, so that I went from being an unconverted kid who went to church to someone who loves God and wants to tell the whole world about it through this blog? To make a long story short, when I hit 15 and got into high school, I came to be more and more rebellious in my heart and in my actions. I rebelled against my parents, I disrespected my family, I burned bridges in my life; in general, I made a huge mess of things. It was at that point, when it seemed like I had screwed up just about everything there was to screw up, I realized one very significant truth. God showed me at that point that the situation I was in-having damaged relationships, little trust with anyone significant in my life, etc.-was exactly where I ended up when I was in charge of my life. I realized that the place I was at in life represented the best I could do apart from God. It was at that point that I realized I needed God's forgiveness, God's grace, and God's acceptance. At that point-when I was 15 years old and about to become a sophomore in high school-I repented of my sins and trusted in Christ alone for salvation. The journey has been an incredible one since then, sometimes difficult, at other times exhilarating, but it has always been worthwhile.

This is my story about how God's grace radically made an impact on my life; it's actually a story that's still being written. What I've experienced in my life is exactly what the Bible talks about-when I repented of my sins and trusted in Jesus, God accepted me unconditionally, and now He shows me His unmerited favor. How about you, then? Have you repented of your sins, trusted in Christ alone to save you, and thrown yourself on the mercy of God? If you haven't, then I would plead with you not to put this decision off, but rather to throw yourself on the mercy of God demonstrated toward us in Jesus Christ. You have God's promise on this: if you will give your life to Him, He will embrace you without conditions, show you His favor, kindness, and help, and never turn you away.

So that's about all I have to say today about the first aspect of God's grace. As you might realize by now, this is actually the aspect of God's grace that is spoken of most often today in evangelical churches. But there are two more aspects to examine, so stay tuned! Next week, I want to look at how the Bible speaks of God's grace as the means by which He empowers us and enlivens us...

What Can The Anabaptists Teach Us About Living As The Church In The World?

I recently read a chapter in Bruce Shelley’s "Church History in Plain Language" about the Anabaptists, and the example of the Anabaptists has caused me to do some serious thinking and reflection in the last few days and weeks.The Anabaptists are inspirational to different people in different ways. For some, their example of faithfully living out their convictions even unto death is primarily striking. For others, the desire to exalt the individual conscience (via the individual’s understanding of Scripture) above ecclesiastical authority and pronouncements is most memorable. For me, however, the most remarkable thing about the Anabaptists is their view of the church.

In describing this new (or in my judgment, re-discovered) understanding of the church which was taught by the Anabaptists, Shelley wrote:

The true church, the radicals insisted, is always a community of saints, dedicated disciples, in a wicked world. Like the missionary monks of the Middle Ages, the Anabaptists wanted to shape society by their example of radical discipleship-if necessary, even by death. They steadfastly refused to be a part of worldly power including bearing arms, holding political office, and taking oaths. In the sixteenth century that sort of talk was inflammatory. (249)

The biggest thing that is striking to me about this Anabaptistic view of the church is not the particulars, but rather the larger vision. I personally am not entirely convinced that it is always wrong in every circumstance for Christians to bear arms, hold political office, or take oaths. Instead, I am challenged by their vision of the church as a radically Christian counter-culture (a phrase coined by Bible teacher Steve Gregg) that lives within the present world system while having distinct values, virtues, customs, habits, etc. It should be noted that a counter-culture is different from a subculture in that a counter-culture is a “subculture with an attitude”. As such, the church is to be a counter-culture living within this corrupted and broken world, living out distinctively kingdom-oriented values and lifestyles which act as a prophetic witness against the dominant, Godless way of life. This may have been a revolutionary vision of the church when viewed against the backdrop of the medieval Catholic church, but it certainly should not startle us when viewed in light of New Testament Christianity.

If, as I have suggested, the Anabaptistic view of the church is indeed the Biblical one, why then should I find it so challenging and counterintuitive? For myself (and, I suspect, for many American Evangelicals), I was raised believing that the church necessarily ought to play a role in the affairs of this world, using every means available to us to influence the course of affairs around us in a Godly direction. I still believe that there is a kernel of truth in this sentiment, but I also see a foundational flaw in this style of reasoning. I have come to realize (partly through the wisdom and insight of the Anabaptists) that it would not be a victory in any Biblically-informed understanding of the word for Christians to coercively place Christian standards, customs, values, and virtues on the unbelieving and unregenerate world around us through the methods of this world, since in the long run we would still be leaving those around us in their lost condition and bound for destruction. What is more, enforcing Christian practices and standards on the unregenerate who are unable in and of themselves to produce the righteous kind of life that God requires could lead to a great sense of bitterness, resentment, and hard-heartedness toward the gospel. I believe that in the United States, we are currently witnessing this kind of backlash against American Evangelicalism primarily because we have sought to impose a novel version of “Christendom” on the society as a whole through political effort. What I am finding as opposed to these methods I once whole-heartedly accepted is the New Testament teaching which has reemerged at times throughout church history that the body of Christ is an eschatological community of the Spirit (or a radically Christian counter-culture, if you will) that God has ordained to live out the values and virtues of the coming kingdom through the power of His Spirit as a prophetic voice in the present age. I have come to this conclusion over a period of time and based on a number of different influences, but every time I learn more about faithful men and women of God such as the Anabaptists, I am encouraged. I hope and pray that as the Anabaptists before me and even others before them, I will be able to spend my life in faithful service to this radical Christian community which Jesus loved so much that He bought her with His own blood.

A Vision Of The Lost

I just came across William Booth's "Vision Of The Lost", and I was so moved by it that I felt it was worth quoting in full here. William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army; he had such a passion to see the lost come to faith in Jesus that he had a profound effect on all that he came in contact with.

On one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window, I was led into a train of thought concerning the condition of the multitudes around me. They were living carelessly in the most open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare. As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all . . . millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant - willfully ignorant in many cases - and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the whole mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the Throne of God. While my mind was thus engaged, I had a vision.

I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung heavily; through them every now and then vivid lightening flashed and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.

And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with it’s summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety.

On looking more closely I found a number of those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders, ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water, regardless of the consequences in their passion to "rescue the perishing." And I hardly know which gladdened me the most - the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a place of safety, or the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.

As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different "sets" or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea.

But what puzzled me most was the fact that though all of them had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And what seemed equally strange and perplexing to me was that these people did not even seem to have any care - that is any agonizing care - about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes . . . many of whom were their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters and even their own children.

Now this astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of ignorance or lack of knowledge, because they lived right there in full sight of it all and even talked about it sometimes. Many even went regularly to hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state of these poor drowning creatures was described.

I have always said that the occupants of this platform were engaged in different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them were absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to make gain, storing up their savings in boxes, safes and the like.

Many spent their time in amusing themselves with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting pieces of cloth or in playing music, or in dressing themselves up in different styles and walking about to be admired. Some occupied themselves chiefly in eating and drinking, others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning creatures that had already been rescued.

But the thing to me that seemed the most amazing was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice and felt that they ought to obey it - at least they said they did - those who confessed to love Him much were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken - who worshipped Him or who professed to do so - were so taken up with their trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to the cry that came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself gone down into the sea. Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed it. They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.

And then I saw something that seemed to me even more strange than anything that had gone on before in this strange vision. I saw that some of these people on the platform whom this Wonderful Being had called to, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out to Him to come to them!

Some wanted Him to come and stay with them, and spend His time and strength in making them happier. Others wanted Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He had written them. Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock - so secure that they would be quite sure that they should never slip off again into the ocean. Numbers of others wanted Him to make them feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the mainland someday: because as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had walked so carelessly as to loose their footing, and had fallen back again into the stormy waters.

So these people used to meet and get up as high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the mainland (where they thought the Great Being was) they would cry out, "Come to us! Come and help us!" And all the while He was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning creatures in the angry deep, with His arms around them trying to drag them out, and looking up - oh! so longingly but all in vain - to those on the rock, crying to them with His voice all hoarse from calling, "Come to Me! Come, and help Me!

And then I understood it all. It was plain enough. The sea was the ocean of life - the sea of real, actual human existence. That lightening was the gleaming of piercing truth coming from Jehovah’s Throne. That thunder was the distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling and agonizing in the stormy sea, was the thousands and thousands of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of drunkards and drunkard makers, of thieves, liars, blasphemers and ungodly people of every kindred, tongue and nation.

Oh what a black sea it was! And oh, what multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were all so unalike in their outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one thing - all sinners before God - all held by, and holding onto, some iniquity, fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled by the foul fiend from the bottomless pit!

"All alike in one thing?" No, all alike in two things - not only the same in their wickedness but, unless rescued, the same in their sinking, sinking . . . down, down, down . . . to the same terrible doom. That great sheltering rock represented Calvary, the place where Jesus had died for them. And the people on it were those who had been rescued. The way they used their energies, gifts and time represented the occupations and amusements of those who professed to be saved from sin and hell - followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The handful of fierce, determined ones, who were risking their own lives in saving the perishing were true soldiers of the cross of Jesus. That Mighty Being who was calling to them from the midst of the angry waters was the Son of God, "the same yesterday, today and forever" who is still struggling and interceding to save the dying multitudes about us from this terrible doom of damnation, and whose voice can be heard above the music, machinery, and noise of life, calling on the rescued to come and help Him save the world.

My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters, you are on the rock, He is in the dark sea calling on you to come to Him and help Him. Will you go? Look for yourselves. The surging sea of life, crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the very spot on which you stand. Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact - a fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the cross, as real as the judgment day will be, and as real as the heaven and hell that will follow it.

Look! Don’t be deceived by appearances - men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea! Look at them from the standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And He is calling on you to jump into the sea - to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? That is, will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?

A young Christian once came to me, and told me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into the fight. In other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. As when a man from the shore, seeing another struggling in the water, takes off those outer garments that would hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people’s opinions, your love of ease and all the selfish loves that have kept you back for so long, and rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and women.

Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so. There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who beckons you from the sea however, knows what it will mean - and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.

You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises - very much of heaven on earth.

Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.

You must do it. With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty. Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them.

Now what will you do?