STRIPPED of his raiment, wounded, half dead, disregarded by priest and Levite, there lay, between Jerusalem and Jericho, a poor helpless man! Friendless, forlorn, and dying, he could but bewail the folly of the journey that he had taken from the city of God to that of the curse. His course had been “downward,” and each step only increased the descent. Perils abounded. The eye of a watchful enemy eagerly followed him; thieves fell upon him, who not only appropriated his goods, but murderously assaulted him. They then fled, and he lay down to die.
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion on him.” So we read in Luke 10:3333But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, (Luke 10:33) to the undying honor of this Samaritan. Such an act of honest charity redounded to the credit of this stranger.
A “stranger”! Yes, and more, for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. Religious animosity and pride of caste had placed an insuperable barrier between these two nations, and mutual disdain kept them apart. Yet, on this occasion, compassion reigned in the heart of the Samaritan, and outweighed all such feelings. Humanity overcame pride, and love led to supernatural kindness Man may, after all, deal thus with his fellow; but the story has a far deeper meaning than any such act of human kindness.
For just as the Samaritan came where the waylaid man was lying, and did for him all that compassion could do, so “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom,” said Paul, “I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)). Was ever man more deeply wounded, or more thoroughly stripped of all religious raiment, than he who could truly call himself the chief sinner? Was ever compassion more rich than that demonstrated by Him who came into the world to save sinners? Never! Yet the blessed fact is divinely true and unspeakably welcome.
Paul gently draws aside the curtain of his soul, and while frankly and truthfully declaring himself the chief of sinners, he discloses a heart of infinite gratitude as he writes of such a Saviour. He points upward to the glorified Man, the Son of God, now passed through death and resurrection, and seen in heavenly glory, and rejoicingly says, ― “It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He had proved the compassion of this more than good Samaritan, had felt His undeserved but perfect healing, had learned the entire suitability of His grace to his own lost condition, and could therefore proclaim that faithful saying, that favorite maxim, and one worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The fact had been more than life to him; he therefore commended it to universal acceptance. He came! He, the Creator, came, ―came into manhood, suffering, rejection, ignominy, crucifixion, and death! He came! Raised out of death, ascended, and known in glory as “the Man Christ Jesus,” His blessed brow is now crowned with honor and glory. He came! ―but He came to save.
Such was the grand specific object of His first coming. His second coming will be in judgment. But―
“He saw us ruined by the fall,
Yet loved us notwithstanding all.”
And, in proof of that love, He gave His soul an offering for sin, in order that by His sacrifice we might be saved. Oh! what tongue can describe the heights and depths of such grace, or the fullness of the compassion that induced our heavenly Saviour to take such a journey in order to find us where we were― to come right down to our place under the judgment due on account of sin, and to bear that judgment; to make us His own thereby, and never leave us until His grace shall end in glory―His and ours―with, and through Him!
It is a charming story, and will engage our ransomed souls forever. The love of Christ, in all its ten thousand details, will be our endless and untiring theme in yonder sunny land of song, just as even here, and now, we have learned its first exquisite notes, and can lisp a little of its melody―this “faithful saying”! There is nothing that makes a man value God’s salvation like feeling his own personal demerit―the more the better. The lower down you go in self-depreciation, the more correct will be your appreciation of the work of Christ; the blacker you see your sins, the greater will be your value of the blood of Christ. Don’t shrink from going down before God, for down you are, stripped, wounded, more than half dead, undeserving, without a claim; therefore own your case. Paul said he was the chief sinner, ―a true testimony, ―and hence his high estimation of God’s redemption, and hence too his sunny cloudless life as a Christian.
Christ Jesus came to save sinners—only such? and He accomplished the mighty work on Calvary. That coming is a fact—a blessed fact—authenticated by the thankful experience of myriads of ransomed souls, and confirmed by God Himself. It is divinely true.
Dear reader, get to know the grace of His first coming, else you must feel, in endless shame, the condemnation of His second coming in judgment; get to know the meaning of God’s faithful saying, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”―to save you! Then can you sing—
“We bless our Saviour’s name,
Our sins are all forgiven;
To suffer once to earth He came;
He now is crowned in heaven.
Lord, let us ne’er forget Thy rich,
Thy precious love;
Our theme of joy and wonder here,
Our endless song above.”
J. W. S.