Focus on Jesus LORD, SAVE US!
And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Matt. 8:26.
The essence of Jesus' teaching was self-surrender (The Desire of Ages, p. 523). Until he has given up on himself, no one understands how obedience and victory can be spontaneous. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why we can have so much trouble with the question of whether obedience is natural or deliberate. The person who insists on deliberate obedience, on forcing himself to obey, is the one who hasn't surrendered himself yet. But the one who has given up on himself and realizes that he can't do it is the one who begins to experience natural and spontaneous obedience. And if self-surrender was the substance of Christ's teachings, then this places obedience by faith rather high on the priority list.
When the disciples were sinking out on the sea, they didn't say, "God, help us." They said, "Lord, save us!" A person who looks toward Heaven and says, "God, I need some help" may be admitting something about his lack of surrender. If I say to you, "I wish you'd come over and help me mow my lawn," and you, being in a friendly sort of mood, say, "Yes, I'll come over," what do you expect? Do you expect me to say, "There's the lawn, here's the mower, and I'll be out back in the hammock"? What do we mean by the word help? We mean we'll do it together. You'll do part, I'll do part. In fact, the word help usually indicates that the person to be helped does most of the work, and the one "helping" just adds a little extra.
When a person is going down in the water for the last time, he doesn't say, "God, help me." He says, "God, save me!" What does that mean? It means, "God, You're going to have to do it all." Peter, when he was sinking, said, "Lord, save me."
In Matthew 13:45, 46, Jesus talked about the pearl of great price. He said that you have to sell everything you have in order to get the pearl. In Luke 14:33 He said that we can't be His disciples unless we have given up on everything--it will cost everything we have. And all through the Gospels, Jesus speaks of the cross--our cross--which is death for us. We must die, we must give up on ourselves, before we can understand what sanctification and obedience and victory is all about.
And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Matt. 8:26.
The essence of Jesus' teaching was self-surrender (The Desire of Ages, p. 523). Until he has given up on himself, no one understands how obedience and victory can be spontaneous. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why we can have so much trouble with the question of whether obedience is natural or deliberate. The person who insists on deliberate obedience, on forcing himself to obey, is the one who hasn't surrendered himself yet. But the one who has given up on himself and realizes that he can't do it is the one who begins to experience natural and spontaneous obedience. And if self-surrender was the substance of Christ's teachings, then this places obedience by faith rather high on the priority list.
When the disciples were sinking out on the sea, they didn't say, "God, help us." They said, "Lord, save us!" A person who looks toward Heaven and says, "God, I need some help" may be admitting something about his lack of surrender. If I say to you, "I wish you'd come over and help me mow my lawn," and you, being in a friendly sort of mood, say, "Yes, I'll come over," what do you expect? Do you expect me to say, "There's the lawn, here's the mower, and I'll be out back in the hammock"? What do we mean by the word help? We mean we'll do it together. You'll do part, I'll do part. In fact, the word help usually indicates that the person to be helped does most of the work, and the one "helping" just adds a little extra.
When a person is going down in the water for the last time, he doesn't say, "God, help me." He says, "God, save me!" What does that mean? It means, "God, You're going to have to do it all." Peter, when he was sinking, said, "Lord, save me."
In Matthew 13:45, 46, Jesus talked about the pearl of great price. He said that you have to sell everything you have in order to get the pearl. In Luke 14:33 He said that we can't be His disciples unless we have given up on everything--it will cost everything we have. And all through the Gospels, Jesus speaks of the cross--our cross--which is death for us. We must die, we must give up on ourselves, before we can understand what sanctification and obedience and victory is all about.
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