A YOUNG man residing in one of our country towns where runs a deep river, has, in various flood times, nobly rescued three drowning children, by diving into that river at great risk to his life, for which he has been awarded a gold medal by the Royal Humane Society, gained good county honors, and received much gratitude from the parents, who were poor, the children being deep in the water, far gone, and quite powerless to help themselves.
All this of course is very praiseworthy of one who put himself to so much inconvenience for the sake of others, but it is a very small picture indeed of what the Lord Jesus has done for utterly helpless sinners who have departed far from God, and are sunk deep in sin. That Savior left glory's heights for Calvary's depths, to rescue lost and helpless ones from distance, ruin, death, judgment, and the eternal lake of fire, and to raise those who accept Him as their Deliverer to life, peace, relationship, and to fullness of joy with Himself in eternal glory.
That youth dived to where those poor children were and saved them from a certain death; so Jesus, as the good Samaritan, came to where we were:—" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead; and by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on 'the other side.
“But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed, CAME WHERE HE WAS, and when he saw him, HE HAD COMPASSION ON HIM and WENT TO HIM, and BOUND UP HIS WOUNDS, POURING IN OIL AND WINE, and SET HIM ON HIS OWN BEAST, and BROUGHT HIM TO AN INN, and TOOK CARE OF HIM. And on the morrow when he departed he took out two pence and gave them to the host, and said unto him TAKE CARE OF HIM; AND WHATSOEVER THOU SPENDEST MORE, WHEN I COME AGAIN I WILL REPAY THEE" (Luke 10:30-35).
Reader, have you yet seen your soul's state in God's sight to be like the condition of this man at Jericho's roadside, and do you know this Good Samaritan as having come in love and grace to where you were and had compassion on you, and rescued you from Satan's power and endless misery? If not, hasten to commit yourself into His loving hands, and rest in His finished work, and trust His precious blood. We beseech you never to rest till you can truly say you are on your way to that glory He came from, to which He has returned to prepare a place for His own and from which He is so soon coming again to take all His blood-bought ones into. He went into death itself for those dead in trespasses and sins.
“He passed through death's dark raging flood to make our rest secure.”
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2).
Dear soul, sinners may sniff, and sneer, and jeer, and turn away, but depend upon it, God is not going to be mocked in the face of this love and grace shown by His beloved Son! No, no, by-and-by He will laugh at your awful calamity and will mock when your terrible fear cometh, for He will still be a holy God. How much longer you will still be left on earth to reject God's salvation during this day of His grace and long-suffering mercy, with your deluge of privileges, God only knows! But once more you are entreated to wake up to your lost and helpless condition, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved ere it be too late, and it be all over with you forever!
Trust Jesus now, and when you are saved you will find endless opportunities for gratitude, praise, thanksgiving, and worship to flow out “unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood "(Rev. 1:5). J. N.