I heard a gospel message this  morning which included an illustration of  God throwing a life preserver to a drowning  person. It was a powerful sermon  and lives  were changed; however, something about  this illustration doesn’t sit so well with me.  The illustration isn’t  wrong, but rather it  seems to me like the illustration is incomplete.

In this illustration, the utter helplessness of sinful man without God’s assistance is emphasized. The drowning man is in serious condition. He cannot save himself. However, he is still alive. He can still stretch forth his fingers. His fingers are the crucial link to salvation. His destiny depends on what he does with his fingers.

But Paul describes the sinner as DEAD. Not drowning. Not dying. DEAD. It is futile to throw a life vest to a man who has already drowned. Therefore…

God just doesn’t throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea, pulls up a corpse, takes him up on the bank, breathes the breath of life into him, and makes him alive.