WE picture to ourselves a shipwrecked crew, brought to shore in safety by the life-boat, and, as we view them rescued from the sea, and placed securely on land, we have before us one idea of salvation. They are saved from the sinking ship, saved from the stormy sea, saved for-the security of the land, and saved by their deliverers. But as we look upon the rescued people, we do not need to be told that they cannot be left as they are on the shore. Such would be for them an imperfect salvation; they require care and nourishment, and so we picture to ourselves the kind villagers leading or carrying the poor people to their own homes.
The salvation of God cannot be separated from Him who is the Savior. His strength, His tenderness, His care must be before us, it we would rightly consider His salvation.
The Good Samaritan who found the stranger by the wayside, stripped of his raiment,, wounded, and half dead, "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." (Luke 10:3434And 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. (Luke 10:34).)
Here are five distinct actions of the savior:
He went to him—the man was too far gone to move towards his savior; the movement of love—" he saw him, and had compassion— "was from the heart of love, and to the perishing stranger the Samaritan went.
And he bound up his wounds, pouring in and wine. The savior saved him from imminent death—he stanched his wounds, and lavished upon him healing and refreshing grace.
Thus far the savior saved the dying man from death. To use the idea of the illustration of the shipwreck, the perishing man is saved from the peril of his journey. But in the parable, the person of the Savior is so graciously presented to the heart, that we feel it would be impossible for such a Friend of the needy to do other than complete the work He had begun. And if we could keep this impossibility before our minds, when contemplating the salvation of our Savior, we should do well. The Good Samaritan had no such thought within his heart, as that his mercy to the wounded man was to cease with the man's salvation from bleeding to death by the wayside!
He set him on his own beast. In love he became the formerly dying man's servant, placing him upon his own burden-bearer, and walking by his side. Thus does Jesus give the sinner He has saved a strength to bear him up and on—a strength which is not his own, but is bestowed upon him, which belongs to the Savior. “If I become a Christian, how shall I continue one? " is a question frequently asked by such as desire to be freed from the thieves and robbers that frequent life's pathway. The answer lies in the strength and love of the Savior, who not only saves, but keeps.
The good Samaritan, further, in his love to the man who had fallen among thieves, brought him to an inn. He carefully upheld and tended him, until a temporary home could be found for him. Reverting to the illustration of the villagers. They bring the shipwrecked crew to the cottages; they do not leave them, saved from the sea, to perish on the shore, or to shift for themselves as best they may. Certainly our Savior’s salvation excels that of all others. David knew His Savior, and said, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock "—but more, "awl established my going,." (Psa. 40:22He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalm 40:2).) Salvation merely from destruction is by no means complete salvation. Ours is complete, for it is of God. When Israel sang their song of salvation, they said not only to God their Savior, "Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed," but, " Thou hast guided them in Try strength unto Thy holy habitation." (Exod. 15:1313Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. (Exodus 15:13).) The Good Samaritan brought the wounded man away from his place of danger, and unto a place of rest.
And when there, he "took care of him." The wounded man learned what a neighbor, what a friend had found him. It is precisely this very thing that Jesus the Savior does for all His people, and He does this for them personally and individually, according to the need of each, and according to His own heart of perfect love and wisdom.
The evangelists are wealthy in incidents expressive of the tenderness and care of Jesus for those upon whom He showed mercy. The man out of whom He cast the legion, was not merely delivered from the power of Satan, great as such deliverance is, he was also “Clothed." He had been a torture to himself, and a torment to others—which is by no means too terrible a description of many a slave of Satan this very day—but Jesus, who saved him from the enemy by one word, brought him to rest in Himself, and then the man sat at the feet of Jesus. (Luke 8:3535Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. (Luke 8:35).) In like manner, when Jesus had raised up from the dead the little girl of twelve years of age, “He commanded that something should be given her to eat." (Mark 5:4343And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat. (Mark 5:43).) His miracle had filled all “with a great astonishment," but He thought of the child's needs, even at a moment when a mother might be so overjoyed in embracing her child as to overlook them.
Jesus keeps those He saves.
Our Savior is a Person, and His work for us is wrought out of the fullness of His love toward us. “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." (John 13:11Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. (John 13:1)) There is no break in His love. It embraces the object in view, and pursues its course till the end.