The Tupelo journal., 1903-08-14

Faith can carry the disciple to Jesus
even when He is treading the uncer-
tain waters. No limits to faith! How
bold seems the request OF Peter! How
rash seems his quick response! And
yet what revelation OF the power Of
faith and Gods recognition of that
faith as Peters feet rest on the rolling
wave and he draws near to his Lord.
Here we have the sublime heights to
which human faith may rise! But
how soon the faith-inspired Peter,
walking on the water to meet his Lord,
is changed to the sinking Peter. who.
seeing the boisterous wind and the
rolling waves, takes his eyes off Jesus.
But somehow l am glad we have this
picture of sinking Peter. 1t is SO hu-
man. 1t brings encouragement to the
failing heart. For it shows us the arm
Of Jesus outstretched to save. Never
does the cry go up from the human
heart: Lord, save mel" but that
Jesus is there to hear and ready to
clasp in His strong arms the sinking
form. 1t vas lack of faith which was
vi oS6lA CtCl UCACdlu JuC Qdlh wa
tiers upon which he had but just been
walking. 1t is always lack OF faith
which carries the Christian beneath
the waves of surrounding circum-
stances. But he need not sink hope
lessly and helplessly! Let the cry go
up, even while he is blaming himself
for his lack of faith, and knows he de-
serves no help, and Jesus saving hand
is felt drawing to His blessed side,
where are shelter and safety.
DUT we believe there is in this incl
- dent a blessed message for the un-
saved soul. II Jesus hand is out
stretched to save the sinking Christian,
how much more, think you, is He eager
to snatch from the bottomless pit and
eternal death those who are sinking
therein, for that is His mission to the
world. "He came to seek and to save
that which was lost And If Peter,
the disciple, was in danger of sinking.
what think you is the peril Of the one
who is a stranger to Christ. who has
not yet believed upon Him to salvation?
There are three elements in the pic
ture which our text brings before us:
The sinking man, the helpless compan-
ions, the saving Lord. Here in minia-
ture is a picture of the perishing world.
People everywhere sinking beneath the
wave of sin into eternal death; human
hands unable to save but Jesus stand
ing ready to respond to the cry for help
and salvation. The sinking sinner!
Every sinner is a sinking sinner, wheth-
er he is conscious of it or not, and
less the cry for mercy and salvation
goes up before deaths waters close over
his head forever, he is lost! What sad
words are those: He is lost!" We
know the anguish which tears the heart
as we bow before the dead loved one.
What a scene was that over the lifeless
form Of that girl who persisted in Wis
consin the other day. She had gone
down underneath the dark waters, and
no human voice could call her back
to life again, no human hand could
raise her up. She was dead! Oh, the
agony of those moments which wit
messed her last struggles! How des-
perate was her condition, But, oh! the
condition of the sinking sinner Is in
finitely worse. The death of the soul
is as much more terrible thar the death
of the body as eternity is greater thar
time. If the drowning girl needed
help, the sinking sinner needs help.
A ND Jesus is the only One Who can
n saw The last thing the soul is will
ing to give up is confidence in itself. The
world to-day is blindly cropping about
for help from its growing Ills. The
waves of sin are rolling higher and
higher, and human hands are being ex-
tended to lift up, to save. But the
hope of the world is not in itself. 1t is
in Christ. But as in the day of Noah
so it is to-day. The world is blind to
it's peril. No human power could save
from the ever-rising waters, and no hui
man power to-day can save the world
perishing in it's sins. Noah, as he looked
the destruction OF all about him, could
but lift his heart to God and thank
Him for his own d~eliverance. FoT it was
God Who had warned him; it was God
Who had showed him how to build the
ark. And as he saw the u~nrepentant
and unbelieving people of the world
sinking t. death in the waters of the ris-
ing flood, he must have said over and
over again: "They might have been
saved! They might have been saved!"'
And so they might If they had not re-
jected Gods message to them, If they
had not trusted in their own strength,
in their own resources. And as in the
days of Noah there was salvation only
in the ark which God caused to be built,
so to-day there is salvation in no other
name under Heaven, except in the name
Of Jesus. Jesus is the only ark of safety
in which the sinking inhabitants of the
world may take refuge from the death
waters of sin. The ark of Noan's time
was a type Of the Christ who was to
) come. And in the fullness Of time God
sent His Son into the world that He
might save the world.
THERE Jesus stands. Look, sinner,
look! There He stands while the
surging waters of sin, like a flood, are
+ swallowing up hundreds and thousands,
and bearing them to eternal death. He
stands and waits, o, sinking mes! His
ear is open to hear the cry for help. He
does not want anyone to perish. He
purchased by His life's blood the right