CHRIST JESUS CAME TO SAVE SINNERS--B.B. WARFIELD

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1Timothy 1:15).

The saying that it was to "save sinners" that Christ Jesus came into the world is a faithful one, and worthy of all acceptation. And that means that it is not the primary function of Christianity in the world to educate men, though we shall not get along without teaching; or to ameliorate their physical and social condition, though we shall not get along without charity; but to proclaim salvation from sin. It exists in the world not for making men wise, nor for making them comfortable, but for saving them from sin. That done and all is done—each result following in its due course. That not done, and nothing is done. All the wisdom of the ages, all the delights of life, are of no avail so long as we are oppressed with sin. The core of the gospel is assuredly that Christ Jesus came to save sinners.

We need, however, once more to adjust the emphasis more precisely in order to gain the whole message of our passage. What Paul declares to be a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, is that Christ Jesus came to save sinners. Put the emphasis now on the one word "save"—Christ Jesus came to save sinners.

Not, then, merely to prepare salvation for them; to open to them a pathway to salvation; to remove the obstacles in the way of their salvation; to proclaim as a teacher a way of salvation; to introduce as a ruler conditions of life in which clean living becomes for the first time possible; to bring motives to holy action to bear upon us; to break down our enmity to God by an exhibition of His seeking love; to manifest to us what sin is in the sight of God, and how He will visit it with His displeasure. All these things He undoubtedly does. But all these things together touch but the circumference of His work for man. Under no interpretation of the nature or reach of His work can it be truly said that Christ Jesus came to do these things. For that we must penetrate deeper, and say with the primitive Church, in this faithful saying commended to us by the apostle, that Christ Jesus came to save sinners.

We must take the great declaration in the height and depth of its tremendous meaning. Jesus did all that is included in the great word "save." He did not come to induce us to save ourselves, or to help us to save ourselves, or to enable us to save ourselves. He came to save us. And it is therefore that His name was called Jesus— because He should save His people from their sins. The glory of our Lord, surpassing all His other glories to usward, is just that He is our actual and complete Saviour; our Saviour to the uttermost.

(From The Person and Work of Christ; Presbyterian and Reformed, c.1950; some emphasis mine cw)

THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS--HARALAN POPOV

On the other side of the island, wooden poles had been washed out by the torrents of flood water, now rising menacingly ever higher, so we were sent to dig new holes and set up the poles again. It was now 24th December. We worked in icy, rapidly flowing water up to our waists to retrieve the floating poles and load them on to a raft.

Having loaded one raft I climbed aboard it and began to punt it back to the shore. I was in the middle of the flooded river, when suddenly the raft simply came apart beneath me and I was deposited in the freezing water. I was a half-mile from the shore, caught up in the swollen, raging river with a heavy coat and boots on and so frozen that I couldn’t move. I was dragged downstream by the current and went under several times, but somehow managed to come up again. I was frozen through by the icy water, the boots dragged me down, the swift current pulled me along.

There was no human way out of this. Death was as certain as it could be. My arms, my legs, my whole body were numb from the icy water. The swift current, the heavy boots and coat were dragging me under again and again. Still I fought my way back to the surface, only to go under again.. My strength was completely gone. I gave up struggling. Death had its embrace around me.

With a final breath I cried out, “Lord, help me!” Suddenly a surge of strength shot through my frozen, exhausted body. I began swimming towards the shore with powerful strokes. Incredibly, I was able to pull myself along, heavy, sodden boots and all. It was truly God’s strength for I had none left. A strong swimmer would have had trouble making it, much less I in my condition. Yet, I could see I was making progress. I said over and over “Thank You, Lord.” Later, I remembered that beautiful hymn:

“Though sometimes He leads through water deep.
Trials fall across the way.
Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep.
See His footsteps all the way.”

Those watching from the shore had already written me off as dead and had turned away and gone about their work. After all, life was so cheap, one prisoner more or less meant nothing. We had seen so many die, death was commonplace.
I struggled closer and closer to the shore. Finally, I could see the shore and saw two figures in black. They were nuns. At that time a trial against Catholic priests and nuns had just concluded, and they, too, had been convicted of espionage. More than fifty priests and nuns were condemned to prison and two Bishops and two priests were executed. The two nuns before me were floundering in the mud on the river bank while a woman guard commanded them to keep going. The guard brutally kicked one of the nuns, causing her to fall flat where she sank into the soft, oozing mud. She pulled herself up with great effort.

The village of Belene was about a mile and a half from us. It was Christmas. The bells of the church began to ring out with the glad tidings of the Christian faith. At the moment the bells began pealing, the two nuns down at the river bank were floundering and sinking in the mud without anyone to help them and I, an evangelical pastor, had just used my last ounce of strength to swim ashore and lay exhausted. The bells seemed to be saying, “God is born in the form of a man. God is revealing Himself through His Child.”

I’ll never forget that Christmas. I was lying exhausted and the two nuns were sinking deeper into the mud. We stopped our struggling and listened. It was dark and freezing cold. I was almost a solid block of ice. The bells could be heard faintly far off in the distance ringing out the message of the Saviour’s birth.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I lay there. They were tears of joy because I had not drowned and tears of sorrow because neither the nuns nor I were here for any crimes we had committed. We were here for His sake – He who was born in a stable on that night so long ago.

The author, Haralan Popov, a Protestant pastor in Bulgaria, spent 13 Christmases in prison. This is taken his book, Tortured for His Faith, which was published by Zondervan in 1970, and currently is out of print, but used copies are available online at Amazon. A new expanded edition is available for a donation at Door of Hope, Box 303, Glendale, CA 91209. See web site for information; http://www.dohi.org/index.asp

TOOLS OF THE TRADE----CHARLES WOODRUFF

Some preachers in our area don't believe you should consult any books but the KJV Bible. Some, although perhaps much fewer now than yesteryear, don't believe that church members should bring their own Bible to church. My former pastor, many years ago was harassed and practically attacked for bringing his own Bible to the pulpit in a church he was visiting.

My view is that the Bible is number one. That is what must be preached. However, books can be consulted, even quoted, as helps to preaching a rounded message. I certainly do not have as many as Mr. Spurgeon had. He made good use of thousands, including many Puritans.

Being informed of current events is also good. The apostles were. Later preachers such as Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones were. We must use every legitimate tool available to get the true message of Christ to the people. That is what we are doing with these blogs and Sermon Audio and Twitter. "Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
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