We Do So For the Lost

“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.” 1 Timothy 1:15

I was reminded early this morning that Jesus came to save sinners. Pretty simple, huh? No, not really.

There’s something so profound in the thought that Jesus lived to save sinners…the lost…. Yes, while He lived only thirty-three years; actively ministering for three, He finished His work as a servant during that time—the son of man for eternity, then. Today? High Priest and King of Kings.

While the Father foreknew His seed, it was for those whom the Father chose that Jesus went searching; not that he came to offer only a means of salvation and leaving it to men from that point on to decide; thus, to consummate the transaction. Jesus came to save the lost. For the lost, Jesus’ life was a consummate act of obedience rendered to His Father and a consummated and final action for the redemption, sanctification and glorification of sinners. It was for us to wait until the moment that we heard His voice first speaking, and then knowing it, to repent and follow Him. We did not petition nor coax from God from eternity such a great salvation and neither could we thereafter. God’s ways are purposeful and perfect in design; thus, within Him, there is no variableness or turning. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The lost, however, were from the beginning known unto themselves as sinners. They knew it; hated it and as clear glass bottles tossed into a filthy ditch, they had this innate longing for their gathering and redemption. But who would take them up? Then they heard the name Jesus and His tender voice…not from the outside (though that’s how most hear and react, relying on their own feelings and works of transport) but the whisper came from within; where the heart finds its sins nailed to the cross and the mind next raced, as did Peter, to an empty tomb. As Zacchaeus, O’ to climb that tree and higher still was the song of the heart, and His reply, ‘Come hither’!

Yes, once abandoned glass bottles, we are now redeemed and carry within us that blessed message of hope: Jesus saves sinners. We carry that message to untold lands and times. Why? Like our Master, we do so for the lost; while not knowing whom the Father eternally called and will draw to the cross, what is that to us? We do so because that was how the Gospel was carried and conveyed to us.