Willing and Able to Save; or, Grace Darling’s Story.

ABOVE the swirling waters of the North Sea, off the coast of Northumberland, rise the Farne Islands. Gaunt and desolate, and almost uninhabited, they are anything but inviting in themselves, and yet they possess a great interest, for it was from the lighthouse of one of them—the Longstone—that Grace Darling, started forth on the morning of September 6th, 1838, to save the shipwrecked crew and passengers of the steamship Forfarshire.
Few there are who have not heard of this heroic maiden and of the deed which has made her name so famous, yet I here re-tell the story in order to illustrate another of the greatest importance to you. Grace Darling had lived for years with her parents in the Longstone Lighthouse and had doubtless become used to the fierce storms which raged about her sea-girt home; but rarely had she seen one so terrible as that which she braved on that memorable morning.
All through the preceding night, the inhabitants of the lighthouse had been unable to rest, for before the sun went down, they had seen an ill-fated vessel battling with the gale, and they thought they heard above the noise of the sea, some cries of distress. They were not mistaken, for at four o'clock in the morning, the vessel had struck a rock about one mile away. At daybreak, the lighthouse keeper descried the wreck, and could also see that the crew were still clinging to the mast, and in constant danger of being overwhelmed by the great waves that were beating about them.
One thing was certain—those poor sufferers were in great danger; they needed not to be told of this; they well knew that any moment might find them engulfed in the sea.
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Has it ever struck you that your case is illustrated in theirs? I know the application may not be very pleasant, but it is awfully true. If you are unconverted, whether young or old, you are in great danger—in danger of being engulfed for ever in the sea of righteous judgment.
Those perishing souls upon the Forfarshire needed a saviour, and so do you.
So madly ran the sea, as William Darling watched the struggles of those sailors, that he judged it impossible to save them, and so also thought the people on the mainland, for the boatmen of Bamborough refused to run the risk of an attempt. But Grace Darling had taken the glasses, and she watched with pitying eyes the perishing sailors. Her pity nerved her to urge her father to attempt a rescue, and to her joy, he yielded to her entreaties. The father, mother, and daughter launched the boat and father and daughter, each taking an oar, began to row that tempest-tossed mile.
Ah! some had appeared who were willing to save them! None could doubt that, as Grace Darling and her father bravely stepped into the boat. Whether they were able was another question; but the fact of the attempt being made, proved their willingness.
We have glad news to declare, though your danger is worse a thousandfold than that of those shipwrecked mariners. A Saviour has appeared, who is willing to save you. He is none other than Jesus, the Son of God.
As the heart of Grace Darling was moved to pity as she looked out from her lighthouse home, so was the heart of the Son of God as He looked forth upon perishing men, and the love and pity of His heart prompted Him to come forth to save them.
It was the will of God that He should do so, and He said, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God” (Heb. x. 9).
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But before sinners could be saved, the Saviour had to go through a storm of judgment and death—a storm the fierceness of which no tongue can tell or mind conceive; and Jesus the Saviour, knowing this, came forth. He stepped from Heaven to earth, and onward to Calvary's tree.
Oh, there can be no doubt as to His willingness to save. This has been proved by His wondrous down-coming. He undertook to rescue sinners from sin and death and judgment. He loved them so much that He died for them. 
You are a sinner. Jesus loves you and has proved how willing He is to save you by dying for you.
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But let us finish our story. The task that Darling and his daughter had undertaken was an almost impossible one. At every instant during that fearful journey, they were in danger of being swamped by the sea, and yet they kept on until at length, they reached the wreck.
There were only nine survivors, and they were so numbed by the cold, weak, and exhausted, that it was with difficulty, they were got into the boat; but God's mercy was over them, and at length, they were all safely housed in the lighthouse. Grace Darling had accomplished her desire. She proved that she was not only willing to save them, but able also.
"Willing and able to save"—let these words fasten themselves on your memory, for they are so true of Jesus. If He had not been willing to save, He would never have come down from Heaven to die. If He had not been able to save, He would never have arisen from the dead; but His resurrection proves that He has finished the work which He came to do. He has come out of the storm; yea, He has quelled it for ever for those who trust in Him. He is now in Heaven; yes, Jesus the Crucified is now enthroned at God's right hand, and He is there as a Saviour, willing and able to save, even to the uttermost.
You are not too far away; you are not too great a sinner. He is greater than your sins, greater than the judgment your sins deserved; and this great Saviour is waiting to be your Saviour. Oh, will you not trust Him now? 
"He is willing, He is able,
Doubt no more."
On a tablet to Grace Darling's memory is inscribed:—
"Out of her silent grave
She bids us this lesson prove:
The greatest power for good below
Is the might of unselfish love."
An epitaph well-fitting her self-forgetting act on that terrible September morning. But if you would see unselfish love in all its perfection, you must look to the Cross of Jesus. And how mighty is His unselfish love! It has subdued the hearts of millions; it has taken more hearts captive than tongue of men can count. Heaven will be filled to its utmost bounds with a multitude from earth, and every soul there will have been won and saved by the exceeding might of the Saviour's unselfish love. May you be amongst the number.
—Dr. John T. Mawson.
"The Railway Signal" Oct. 1914