"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)
THANK GOD for this tremendous word of Scripture. It is as the shadow of a rock in a weary
land, as the life-giving waters of the desert oasis, as the lights of home to the weary traveller. It is
simple, sublime, satisfactory; so simple that a child may understand it; so sublime that it
embraces the very majesty, the very glory, the very dominion and power of GOD; so satisfactory
that it is the Great Physician's balm to the wounded soul, to the feverish spirit.
We need this uttermost SAVIOUR. We need this uttermost salvation. The awfulness of sin, the
terrors of death, the dread of the judgment day, the yawning jaws of hell, require a champion of
champions, a conqueror whose arms have never seen or suffered defeat. JESUS is that Victor.
The immortality of His nature - "But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an
unchangeable priesthood"; the perfection of His character - "For such an high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens"; the efficacy of His sacrifice - "Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to
offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once,
when he offered up himself" - these insure and assure for us a positive, permanent salvation.
For almost two thousand years JESUS has amply demonstrated His wonderful ability. His
superlative power. In never a case has He failed. Never a client has He lost. Never a one has
come to Him to find in Him aught that was exaggerated, aught that was unsatisfying, aught that
was undesirable. Grace for sin, fullness for poverty, peace for turmoil, power for weakness,
health for disease, good measure, pressed down, running over, has He constantly bestowed upon
His votaries, upon those who by faith claimed Him as their REDEEMER.
Now, without any hesitation, without any peradventure, without any doubt, as dogmatically as
GOD gives me utterance, I offer to everyone of you JESUS CHRIST, the Son of GOD, the
blood-stained Man of Calvary, the eternally glorified GOD of Joseph's open tomb, to save you
from the uttermost depths of depravity, to keep you in pressure of the uttermost degree of
temptation, to sustain you through the uttermost duration of time.
I stand to make this offer on the four pillars of our blessed faith. I know that JESUS is the
uttermost SAVIOUR, that He offers you an uttermost Salvation, because He was appointed by
GOD for that task, GOD having sent Him into the world to seek and to save the lost; because He
died on the cruel cross for the sins of everyone of us and His precious blood, by the guarantee of
the Word, cleanses us from all sin; because GOD raised Him from the dead for our justification;
because He is even now at the right hand of GOD interceding for us.
Let us, therefore, delve into this matchless text, and, as the HOLY SPIRIT gives us guidance and
understanding, analyze it so that we shall understand the mighty message of GOD contained in
it. Let us, then, remember that JESUS has saved and can save the worst of sinners, that He can
reclaim and revive the worst of backsliders, that He can save from the power of sin, that He can
save from the consequences of sin!
I. HE IS ABLE TO SAVE THE WORST OF SINNERS
That has been His mission for 1900 years. He has never turned down a petitioner, never failed a
client, never lost a patient. From the king's throne room to the cheapest hovel, from the banker's
counting house to the murderer's death cell, from the queen's boudoir to the harlot's den, from the
ends of the earth, from every country, continent, clime, and condition men, women, children,
have found Him able to save to the uttermost all those who came unto GOD by Him. The great
Mayo brothers in Rochester did not get their reputation for medical and surgical skill by setting
the sprained finger of some child, or even by removing a pair of tonsils. When the doctors of any
given city have given up a patient; when the loved ones of the sick one, in desperation, have sent
or brought the sufferer to Rochester, these mighty men, by their almost magical skill of diagnosis
and treatment, in numberless cases have restored health and vigor to the diseased bodies.
Clarence Darrow did not get his fame as a national and international lawyer by defending a man
for speeding in some local police court, or even by obtaining a non-contested divorce decree.
When the bar, the papers, the country, have adjudged by a common opinion a criminal to be
guilty unto death, this brilliant man's forensic ability has stepped in to cheat the gallows, and
sometimes even the prison bars.
It is so with JESUS. When society has ostracized, outlawed an individual for transgressions that
have stained his soul, stigmatized his character, brought upon him the obloquy of his fellow men,
the Lord CHRIST by His mighty passion and power has lifted that person out of the pit and from
the miry clay, has put his feet on the rock, the song of Moses and the Lamb on his lips, and sent
him home by the way of the cross rejoicing.
There are men preaching the Gospel today in all the lands of this world, whose lives were
entrapped by Satan, enmeshed in sin, defiled, degraded by every kind of evil. CHRIST has
redeemed them, released them; relieved them, regenerated their souls. They are shining
illustrations, unswerving exclamation points, eternal amens to my contention that JESUS is able
to save the worst of sinners.
I had an experience in a Denver mission about two months after my own conversion.
Scheduled to preach there one Tuesday night, I was standing in the pulpit by the side of the man
in charge. A testimony meeting was in progress. One after another, men and women stood up
joyous-faced, clear-accented to testify what CHRIST JESUS had done for them and meant to
them. A woman rose to her feet. How shall I describe her? Her dress was grayish-brown with
age. Her hat was torn, and wisps of hair stuck out through the rents. Her face was lined, aged,
tired. Looking up to the superintendent by my side, she said:
"Jimmy, it is eighteen years ago tonight since you led me to CHRIST right here in this room. Do
you remember?" The man nodded his head.
"Do you remember what I was before I became a Christian?" The man bowed his head, but failed
to answer. Again she spoke:
"You need not be ashamed, Jimmy. They all know about me. It is all past and gone. I was a
streetwalker, just as common as the cheapest trash. You found me. You were patient with me.
You told me about CHRIST. You broke my heart with your tears. You made me surrender and
JESUS saved me.
"It has been a hard grind, Jimmy, but I have stayed with the Lord, and surely He has stayed with
me. You Know when I was young, after I became a Christian, it was not so hard. I was strong
and could do almost any kind of work. I nursed babies. I scrubbed floors. I laundered clothes. I
made my way pretty well. Now, I am getting old and tired. People don't want me about much.
There are days when the sun is shining, and it is dry and clear. I get me something to do and earn
a dollar or two, enough for supper and a bed. Before I go to sleep, Jimmy, I kneel in prayer, bow
my head in my hands, and say, 'Lord JESUS, You have been good to me. All that I am and all
that I have I give to You.'
"Then there are days when it is cold and wintry, raining or snowing. Nobody wants any laundry
done. Nobody wants any children minded. Nobody wants any floors scrubbed. I come to the end
of the day without a penny in my pocket. Sometimes somebody gives me a hand-out. Sometimes
I have to go hungry. Sometimes I sleep in the park under a bench, or in an empty store, or in the
cheapest flop-house. But, Jimmy, I want you to know that even then, before I go to sleep, I lift
up my heart to the Lord and say, JESUS, I am old. I am tired. I am hungry, but I love you. I can't
give You much but all that I have is Yours for keeps.'
Brethren and sisters, that is just what I am trying to tell you. This JESUS has the power to take
the weakest, vilest soul, to cleanse it in His own blood, to fill it with His own SPIRIT, to tie it to
Himself with the strongest bonds of love, of loyalty, of gratitude. Scan the pages of Christian
history. They are stained with the penitential, grateful tears of those whom the REDEEMER has
lifted out of the very pit of hell. There are few of us in this crowd tonight who do not know of
some vile sinner, some weak and sordid soul finding pardon, peace, power in Him who loved us
and gave Himself for us.
II. HE IS ABLE TO RECLAIM THE WORST OF BACKSLIDERS
That, too, has been His mission throughout the ages. The Bible contains records of it. How far
did David backslide in his terrible sin with Uriah and Bathsheba? It seems to me that that was
about the limit of a man's drifting from GOD. Yet JESUS found him, broke his heart, brought
him to his knees, restored him to His own gracious favor.
How far did Peter backslide when pressed by that servant girl? He denied JESUS, whom he
claimed to love, with such bitter words of rejection and cursing. Was he lost? Of course not.
CHRIST loved him too well for that, as He loves every other backslider. The look in JESUS'
eyes brought Peter to his shamed senses. He went out to weep, and in the gusty penitential
passion of his tears found his way back to the Master.
There are countless other cases in the Bible and outside of it recording the misadventures of
those who for a time took their eyes off GOD, thus opening the way for the inroads and
encroachments of Satan. But CHRIST has never lost any of His own. He always and ever leaves
the ninety-nine behind, to go into the desert to find the wandering one. He is doing it now,
seeking out everywhere those who once knew the fervor of constant affection, the fire of loyal
zeal, who have now grown cold by prayerlessness, by Biblelessness, by churchlessness, by
disobedience, by sin. Now He is beckoning to you to come once more into the graciousness of
His love, to taste once more of the fullness of His mercies, to sit once more at the banquet table
of His compassion.
Who does not know the story of Jerry McAuley? He was converted in Sing Sing penitentiary.
Upon being, discharged, he tried for a while to go straight, but circumstances pressed against
him. He went back to his old tricks, becoming, if anything, even worse than, before his reported
salvation. He got himself a woman by the name of Marie and lived with her in open disregard of
the claims of conventional society. One early morning he started towards the downtown section
of New York. Stopping on a street corner to light a cigarette, he was accosted by a well-dressed
gentleman, whom he did not seem to know.
"Aren't you Jerry McAuley?" asked the man. "What's that to you?" answered Jerry.
"I have been looking for you, Jerry," spoke the man.
"I was one of those who came to Sing Sing to help you in trying to lead some of the other
prisoners to CHRIST. Where have you been?"
"Oh, I've been around."
"You don't mean to tell me that you have gone back into your old life after your marvelous
profession of CHRIST?"
"Well, a fellow's got to live, and if these bulls don't leave me alone, why I'll just do anything. I
am not going to starve to death." He accompanied his words with some very bitter curses.
"Jerry, I am the cashier of one of the banks in New York. I have plenty of money. You can have
any of it, or all of it, if it will help you go straight. The Lord needs you. You have served the
devil long enough."
Jerry looked up at the man. "Mister, you don't mean - you don't mean you would give me money
to go straight?"
"Yes, Jerry." The man reached into his pocket, pulled out his purse. "How much do you want?"
Jerry studied for a minute. He dropped his cigarette. Raising his right hand, he drove his
clenched fist into the palm of his left hand, and cried out:
"Man, I am not going to take a penny of your money. But, so help me GOD, I am going straight
from now on if it kills me." He wheeled around, hastily walked back to the apartment he shared
with Marie, and asked her to put on her hat and coat, to come with him.
"Where are we going?" she said.
"To the City Hall to get married. I am going straight. I mean every word of it."
The woman threw back her head and laughed.
"Boy, oh, boy, that is funny! You are good enough for me just as you are, and if I am not good
enough for you just the way I am, why you know what you can do. But I am not going to any
City Hall with you or anybody else."
Jerry pleaded and begged, but the woman was adamant. He left her. He went through torment
and suffering and sacrifice. He kept straight. The Lord blessed him, raised up friends for him.
They helped him open a mission, helped him win Marie to CHRIST and marry her. Today the
Bowery Mission is a monument to the fact that JESUS is able to reclaim the worst backslider.
III. BE IS ABLE TO SAVE FROM THE POWER OF SIN
That is what we need. Everyone of us, next to our salvation, more than anything or everything
else in all the world,
needs some one stronger than circumstances,
mightier than sin,
wiser than Satan.
We need some one who can encamp around about as an army with conquering banners.
We need some one who can give us, the grace, the wisdom, the power, to resist the devil that he
may flee from us.
We need some one who never tires or sleeps, some one whose watchful eye is keeping vigil over
us by day and by night.
Where shall we find such a one? In JESUS, blessed JESUS. The truth of GOD's statement, "For
this purpose the Son of GOD was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the
devil," has been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt: in the hundreds of years that have passed
since CHRIST ascended to the Father. The contention, "Now unto him that is able to keep you
from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding
joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both
now and ever, Amen," has been the mighty weapon, the source of encouragement, the fount of
inspiration to the generations of Christians who have claimed CHRIST as SAVIOUR. By the
indwelling presence of the HOLY SPIRIT, the Lord JESUS makes us more than conquerors over
the evil that besets us.
It was Dr. Venting of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary who told a class of us this
story. Years ago he was pastor of the great, tremendously rich Euclid Avenue Baptist Church,
Cleveland, Ohio. The organist of that church was a young, marvelously skilled musician named
Roland. He was married, had a beautiful wife and two precious children. He was not a Christian.
His besetting, killing sin was drink. One Sunday night there was a baptizing in the church. The
crowd had gone when Dr. Venting stepped out of his dressing room through his study, through
the auditorium to the rotunda of the church. Roland was just starting down the stairs. Dr. Venting
stopped him. They talked for a while about small things. Then the pastor began to plead with him
for CHRIST. The night was beautiful. The SPIRIT of GOD seemed to be reaching down from
the balmy skies. Roland was touched, moved, melted. The two men knelt in the shadow of a
great column. Dr. Venting raised his voice in passionate prayer to GOD. When he was through,
Roland gloriously accepted and confessed CHRIST as his personal SAVIOUR.
The next morning Dr. Venting was walking to town to the ministerial conference, when he
noticed a familiar figure ahead of him. It was Roland. The preacher watched him. It was before
prohibition days. There were saloons, one to almost every block. The young organist walked up
to the first saloon, stopped, started to go in, clenched his hands, shook them, turned around and
walked on. He did that at least a half dozen times before he came to the building where his studio
was located.
Dr. Venting kept on following him, entered into the building just a few steps behind him, took
the next elevator up and stepped into Roland's office.
"Good morning, Dr. Venting."
"Good morning, Roland. How do you feel this morning?"
"Oh, Dr. Venting, I am the happiest man in all the world. I did not know there could be such
joy!"
"Roland, I wasn't spying on you, but tell me what were you doing in front of those saloons when
you stopped, started in, then turned away and walked on?"
The young musician coloured like a schoolgirl. Great tears came to his eyes.
"Dr. Venting, JESUS and I were having a good time."
"What do you mean, Roland, 'JESUS and I were having a good time'?"
"Well, brother pastor, you know my sin, don't you? That is what kept me from coming to
CHRIST a long time ago. I did not want to be a hypocrite. I was worried about myself. This
morning I knew I had to fight it out or it would whip me. I stopped in front of those saloons. The
smell of gin, of wine, of beer, warm, tempting, tantalizing, assailed me. I could not keep from
walking in. My strength was too small. It was then that I asked JESUS to give a guy a hand. Dr.
Venting, He did. He kept the devil from me. He gave me grace to turn away, to go on."
Together in that modern office building, the two men once more fell on their knees to lift up their
grateful hearts and voices to GOD, to thank Him that JESUS is able to save from the power of
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