Footholds To Life

Northern Advocate, 17 November 1941, Page 3

Footholds To Life

THE SABBATH HOUR

(Sermon preached by Rev. C. Oldfield, Methodist Church, Rawene; Text: 1 Cor. 15:1 (Moffalt).—“l would have you know the Gospel in which you have your footing.” No words are needed lo draw a picture of a world in distress. Life is ciisiurncd, the dream bubble has burst. Man has found, too, today that much in which lie ! o usted iias proved inadequate. Nearly all the props to life have broken under strain of war. There is no security in society, or scientific discovery, nor yet again in man himself; his veneer has fallen away, revealing his soul's poverty. Mere tragic still, many have found the faith they had cannot stand the stra.n today; they have' found themselves destitute. It is good to realise amid this collapse that there is a foothold somewhere. *We are driven to God Himself to find that foothold. It is so. The Gospel affirms three elements of this truth. (If The Supremacy of God.—Man may become absorbed with things and bo self-deceived he moves creation. It's false. Man never was in control. It is God Who is supreme. Man may cause the skein of life to become twisted, but it is His skein, and He weaves the pattern. God inspires our confidence because of what He is. Experience reveals Him to be holy love, righteous, good. This is the message of the Bible. Here is a foothold, for this provides courage and hope to be assured that at the heart of the Universe is God with His truth working His will and way among- men. The advent of our Lord affirms God to be in our life, and that He shall by truth and righteousness overcome the tyranny of evil, and win out of man's feeble ways the mightier victory of His will and love. God is a Rock amid the ruins of the ages. (2) Finality of Jesus. —He is God’s answer to the world’s sin. When we meet Him we are compelled to own Him Lord of life, victor over all. He waits to implant His Life in that of man. Is there a greater than Jesus? Man knows of none. Is there any other Saviour? The world knows of none. He alone has power of universal and individual redemption. He alone brings the wider world of God to the soul, and ushers forgiven man into a new relationship with God. Jesus is final. Are there other Kingdoms? Yes. They are disrupted, confused; they worship false gods; feverishly seek ways out of their troubles. They rise and fall. The Kingdom of Jesus is of a different kind. It never dies. It is a kingdom of life, of God’s rule and reign in life. This kingdom unites into a fellowship; creates order out of chaos: knows no frontiers: before it barriers fall. Citizenship in Ris Kingdom becomes real when Jesus is acknowledged as Lord. Jesus is final. (2) The Triumph of Faith—When you choose to place your life in God through Jesus faith is born that moment. You will know an inner triumph of life by the release of the personality in God. Faith is not blind vision, to deceive the mind in this world of ours. No. It clarifies the sight and mind, for God is seen, through His Son, working His Kingdom into men. Faith is vision and nerve to work with God. It works because God works. Amid all the wreckage of man’s ways and the ruin of our generation, there is a Rock on which he who builds will stand firm. Know the Gospel of God through His Son: experience the triumph of faith: and possess a foothold to life.