Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

ward the end of his journey Phideas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World
in Eighty Days finally approaches the coast of England in a steamship, he
runs out of fuel to power the boilers. As a last resort he began to feed them
with wood stripped from the ship. Eventually the ship was “burnt out.” In the
story it was safely “beached” just on time for Fogg to hurry to London and
arrive there before his deadline. However, a Christian who burns what he
thinks he possesses in the ship of his life will never arrive. He will sink himself!
Furthermore, the subjects of so-called burn-out are frequently told to
take heart because only “the best” burn out. Others do not even “try.” Of
course, this only aggravates the problem since it adds fuel to the fire of a subtle
or not so subtle self-reliant pride, whether consciously or not. No, Christ’s
Church should be informed in no uncertain terms that no one has anything to
“burn,” except the fuel provided by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Abide in
the vine, and you will bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, always continuing
fruit. Refuse to do so, and you will wither, be thrown out, and be burnt (John
15:1ff).
Oh, that the true conviction of one’s total inability (John 15:5), would
once again capture the hearts of God’s people, under the mighty operation of
the Spirit! A revival would be the inevitable result. It will produce prayer,
more prayer, much prayer, ever continuing prayer, “You shall seek me and
find me when you shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13; Dan.
9:1ff; see also Acts 1:14). This means in the context of Jeremiah, first, “a little
revival,” the return from the exile (Ezra 9:8; Ps. 85:1-3). Then in the context
of Scripture, “the great revival,” the revival that flows forth from Calvary
and Pentecost (Ps. 85:4-6), which displays itself in mighty prayer and mighty
preaching resulting in mighty conversions and mighty holiness (Acts 2:1ff).
In closing, correctly understood, victory over sin is invariably “instantaneous.”
This does not seem to agree with the Christian’s experience. To explain
this, I would like once again to make the distinction between the struggle
with, and the mortification of sin.
If the premise is correct that the Christian is called to a struggle with sin,
it will be taken for granted that this translates into a protracted undertaking.
However, if it is biblical that sin needs to be killed, it will either be done or
left undone. If it is done, the moment of victory is there, instantaneously, in
that very instance! If it is left undone for whatever reason, defeat is experienced.
Since this is intolerable, there will be a humbling before God, and a
calling on God, until the strength needed for mortification is present. This
may take time. But once the strength is there, and the “kill” takes place, the
victory will, once again, be “instantaneous.” In short, the “preliminaries” may
take some time, intermediate time, or much time, but the victory itself does
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