Be sure of the abysses of God - Chambers, Oswald
As christian workers we must never forget that salvation is gods thought, not mans; therefore it is an unfathomable abyss. Salvation is not an experience; experience is only a gateway by which salvation comes into our conscious lives. We have to preach the great thought of god behind the experience.
Judgement on the abyss of love (1 peter 4:17)
Never sympathise with a soul who finds it difficult to get to god; god is never to blame. We have to so present the truth that the spirit of god will show what is wrong. The element of judgement must always Come out; it is the sign of gods love. The great sterling test in preaching is that it brings everyone to judgement; the spirit of god locates each one. Never allow in yourself or in others the phrase i cant; it is unconscious blasphemy. If i put my inability as a barrier, i am telling god there is something he has not taken into account. Every element of self-reliance must be slain by the power of god. The people who say i cant are those who have a remnant of self- reliance left; a true saint never says i cant, because it never occurs to him that he can! Complete weakness is always the occasion of the spirit of god manifesting his power. Never allow anything to be in you that the cross of Christ condemns.
Conscience on the abyss of the cross (2 Corinthians 5:10-12)
The most universal thing among men is conscience, and the cross is gods conscience in supreme energy.
Conscience must be educated at the cross. As a worker always bring the conscience of others to face the cross of Christ. Is my life worthy of what Jesus Christ did on the cross? Are there the elements of ability and power and peace stamped with the almightiness that comes through the cross? If not, i am not where i should be. The cross of Christ means that the spirit of god can empower me almightily until every virtue we possess, and every victory won, and every thought of holiness, are his alone. We imagine we have to do these things for our- selves; we have not, we have to keep steadily in the light of the cross, relying on the spirit of god, then we will live out the life he wants us to live. Whenever we get our eyes off Christ and his cross and build up on our own experience, now god has sanctified me, i am all right, we become betrayers of the very power that saved us. When we walk in the light, with the whole of our attention taken up with Jesus Christ, there is manifested in us a holiness that glorifies god in every particular. Never get off on the intellectual line, think proper thoughts. Live proper lives! And you will think proper thoughts. The cross of Christ is the self-revelation of god, the way god has given himself. In the preaching and writing of to-day there is much brilliant stuff that passes into thin air because it is not related to this tremendous fact of the self-bestowal of god that lifts up humanity to be in accordance with himself.
Morality on the abyss of the atonement (2 Corinthians 5:2021)
The mind of the worker must brood much on the atonement because every bit of our life, physical, moral and spiritual, must be judged by the standard of the atonement, viz. , holiness. Never say gods holiness does not mean what it does mean. It means every part of the life under the scrutiny of god, knowing that the grace of god is sufficient for every detail. The temptation comes along the line of com- promise, dont be so unbendingly holy; so fiercely pure and uprightly chaste. Never tolerate by sympathay with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy god.
Liberty on the abyss of the gospel (Galatians 5:1)
We have to present the liberty of Christ, and we can- not do it if we are not free ourselves. There is only one liberty, the liberty of Jesus Christ at work in my conscience enabling me to do what is right. If we are free with the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free, slowly and surely those whom we influence will begin to be free with the same freedom. Always keep your own life measured by the standard of Jesus Christ; bow your neck to his yoke alone and to no other yoke whatever; and see that you never bind any yoke on others that Jesus Christ himself does not place. It takes a long time to get us out of imagining that unless people see as we do they must be wrong. That is never Jesus Christs view. Our true sympathy lies with the one who is absolute tenderness, and every now and again god gives us the chance of being the rugged stuff that he might be the tender one. We have to be sacramental elements in the lords hands.