"CHRISTIAN SALVATION"

White Ribbon, Volume 31, Issue 3, 1 July 1959, Page 2

"CHRISTIAN SALVATION"

W.C.T.U. Convention Church Parade

Conclusion of Sermon preached by Rev. A. K. Petch, 8.A., at Durham St Methodic I hurch. Sunday evening, 15th March, P 59

What, then, it the Nature of this Salvation Christ

Offer*?

It can be summed up in one word- DELIVER. ANCE. Christ came and lived and died and again to set men free from the thraldom oi ifo and the bondage of fear

I. Christian Salvation is, first of all, deliverance from the guilt of sin. You recall Bunyan's description of the Christian pilgrim as "a man clothed in rags and a great burden upon his back" That burden every man is compelled to bear—the burden of his own guilt. It is this burden, perhaps more than any other, which today weighs so heavily upon men and women, in some cases quite overwhelming them—robbing them of sleep, giving rise to all kinds of mental and physical disorders and bringing many to nervous and mental breakdown It is a burden you cannot get rid of by your own unaided efforts. But it can be got rid of! The burden can be removed. Writes Bunyan, "So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the Cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from off his back and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in. and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart 'He hath given me rest by His sorrow and life by His death'" It is Christ on His Cross who alone c;m loose from 'ntr lives the burden of sin's guilt. the labours of my hands Can fulfil the laws demat. Could my zeal no re.>f s te Could my tears for c\t Re ■/. All for sin could not a * ric Thou must save and Tlu j alone Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy Cross I cling. T lere in the Cross of Christ we behold what sin is what it does to Cod and v!<it it docs to us. But we behold something more Wonder to tell, ire behold God's forgiveness of our sin and at such cost. Let a man in dead earnestness and humility, of heart accept tfoe gift of forgiveness which Christ offers from His Cross and in that moment he will know the burden of his guilt loosed from him. And like Christian, he will be glad and lightsome and merry of heart—for the joy of the Lord will be his possession. Christian Salvation is deliverance from sin's guilt. 11. It is also deliverance from sin's power. The New Testament and the history of the Church are full of the songs and shouts of men and women who have experienced release from the vice-like grip of self and sin It is something they can never get over. The wonder of it is with them all their days. Cries St John the Divine "Unto Him that loved us and loosed us from our sins by His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God to Him be Glory and Dominion for ever

and e\er" Writes St Paul "1 can do all things through Christ who strengthened me" Sang Chas. Wesley. nf my imprisoned spirit i. Past bound in sin and nature's night: I hine eye diffused a quickening ray—ke, the dungeon flamed with light, My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed thee. No condemnation now I dread Jesus and all" in Him is mine!" John Wesley tells us how, after that heart warming experience of Christ's delivering power m a little room in AJdersgate Street, London, on May 24th, 1738, he returned home and was much buffeted with tempation. He writes in his journal, "And herein I found the difference between this and my former chiefly consisted. I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I was always conqueror."As St Paul puts it, "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us". The salvation Christ offers, my friends, is deliverance from the power of sin. 111. But Christian Salvation is not only deliverance from, it is also deliverance to something. It has not only a negative, but alio .» positive character Christ comes not only to release you from sin's guilt and power but also *o release in you the power and fulness of an endless life. You are deli\crcd from the power of evi! that you might enjoy and practice the power of L',o<i. Said Jesus, "I am come that they might have lit and that they might have it more abundantly". Christian Salvation introduces you to Life more abundantlife with a new depth md fulness and meaning, life with a new dimension to it. Life in its wholeness—mental, spiritual and physical wholeness Christian Salvation is deliverance from sin to a life of wholeness, for which the Bible name is holiness. It means that Christ generates within you, the power to be the man, the woman He wants you to be and that you, in \<>ur truest moments, want to be He shares with you His life. His love, His power, till you more and more like Him Strangely enough, He iutroduccs you to a life where you are wondrously released t self-concern, from pre-occupation with yourself and your own need, even your own salvation—a life distinguished by an out-going love and com Tin for the needs of others It is such Christlike love which is the distinguishing mark of Christian holiness—a love which consecrates itself for others —which is prepared to deny itself for its weaker brethren Here is the Christian motive and dynamic for total abstinence —a I<a e which refuses to put a stumbling block in the way of a brother for whom Christ died; which refuse! to compromise with customs and social habits which hinder men

and women from coming to wholeness of life in Christ.

But Christian Salvation is Salvation not only t<» a life of Personal Holiness. It is also Salvation to Social Holiness. Not only the lives but also the institutions of men are to be brought into captivity to Christ. Social wholeness means death to every evil and selfish institution, custom and combine—to everything which is in connect with the Mind of Christ. Here is our justification for the unrelenting struggle witii the liquor traffic ,in Christ's Name John Wesley declared that Methodists were raised up to preach Scriptural Holiness throughout the land and one of the fruits of such preaching was the growth of a social conscience among the people called Methodists.

The person who holiness that he has no concern for the wholeness and health of society has not yet awoken to the tremendous and epoch-making nature of Christian salvation The story has often been told of a traveller who was journeying through a section of Cornwall. He stopped in a village to lock for a public house where he could get a drink Not finding one, he accosted one of the villagers he met with the remark, "Tell me why it is that a man cannot find a dramshop herealn utl where he can get a drink". The man replied, "A man named John Wesley came down this way a hundred years ago. There have been no dramshops in this village since."

Such is the power of ChnM t<» transform both men and societies Christian Salvation it salvation to a life of personal and social Holiness. But it IteKins in an hcur of deliverance when Christ the Great Rescuer draws near and by His touch releases a heart and life from the prison-house of self and sin. Only in the strength ot this newfound freedom are we adequate for the fight to set men free from the evil f orces which, today, threaten to enslave them. In the words of Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" let us pray—"As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free, while God is marching on".