Christian life; Free Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English; Young men
that the "eye would be useless did not the light come to it, and that
the brain would have nothing to work on, were not objects from without
brought for our perception." [1] Which means that immanence alone
would be powerless apart from some transcendent influence. Unless this
be so, what are we to say of the multitudes which sit in darkness and
the shadow of death? Our salvation is in the answer of the life
immanent to the life transcendent, and the connecting and combining
power is the Holy Spirit.
But what, in the next place, is our part in this matter? How is this
power to come? How, to use a better term, are we to realize it? Have
we to wait for something, or have we to do something to make it a real
experience?
A youth, let us say, or a girl, is beginning to learn music, to play
the violin or the piano. At first it is drudgery, and its immediate
results are a trial unto all that are in the house. The parent or
teacher says: "Persevere, obey instructions, and as you pass through
routine into the soul, the task will soon be lost in the pleasure."
The beginner may not believe it; but granted the facility is there, and
determination to bend to the task of learning, and the reward comes.
That which is within is brought out, and by the only way it can be
brought out: "Stir up the gift that is in thee."
This hints to us the answer to the question, Have we to do something
that salvation may become a known and felt reality? We have to do
something. We have _to do_, as we are told by Him who only can tell us
what it is we have to do: "Will to do the will," says the Christ, "and
ye shall know." And if we are really seeking a basis of assurance in
His saving power, we ought surely to take Him at His word, when He
tells us how to find it. It is not first through assured belief that
we become sure of Christ, it is by doing Christ's will that we become
sure of our belief. Have we to explain to a child the mechanism of its
limbs before it can attempt to walk? The impulse comes, and the child
walks, that is all. But the child has to walk to know that it can walk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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