Uttermost Salvation

Opening address of the Victorious Life Conference, June 23, 1920.

“Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” —Hebrews 7:25

Whenever people visit the city of Jerusalem they are shown a number of sights and wonderful places, and, if you believe everything you are told, you would believe a great deal. But, of course, whether the places are accurately stated or not every visitor goes to see what there is to be seen, and the most important place in Jerusalem in the opinion of practically everybody who goes is call the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There they show you the place where they say Jesus Christ was actually buried.

It is an interesting things that, although they will show you other places, this is the central and most important. They will point out the place where He died, called Calvary, and they would like you to believe that certain riven rocks were those which were rent asunder when Jesus Christ died.

It is a curious and significant thing however that they do not look upon Calvary as the most important place, but the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I believe, notwithstanding a great deal that we do not like and that we feel is absolutely non-scriptural, the fact that they have chosen the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the central place bears witness to the spiritual instinct that Jesus Christ is not dead but alive, and that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre bears witness to the fact of His burial and the fact that He arose from the dead and is alive. When they point this out we naturally think of the Gospel and of the New Testament, because, while we are thankful for the Lord having come to this earth as a child, while we are thankful that He lived, and are particularly thankful that He died and was buried, yet, beyond all else, we are thankful that He is now alive and that we are concerned not with the babe, nor with the man on the cross, but with the One who is alive.

It is recorded of a man who was once walking along a street, that he saw a boy looking into the window of a print cellar, at a picture of Christ on the cross. The gentleman pretended not to know what it was and said, “My boy, what is that you are looking at?”

The boy answered, “Don’t you know, sir? That is Jesus Christ.” Very briefly he told the circumstances of our Lord’s sufferings and death. “Oh,” said the gentleman, “is that so?” and he walked on. He had not gone very far before he heard some footsteps running behind him. He looked around and breathlessly the boy said, “Sir, but I wanted to tell you that He is alive.”

Ah yes, He is not on the cross. That is what He Himself said in the few last words He uttered in Revelation 1:18, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” That is the heart of this Epistle to the Hebrews, as it is the heart of everything in the New Testament, that Christ is alive. And it is a living Christ and what he means that I want to present for your consideration and acceptance this morning.

“To The Uttermost”

The text which I have read to you is the very core and center of this epistle. There is nothing after it that is more important, and everything before it leads up to it. “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” The first thing I want to ask you to notice as the key note of everything you will hear in connection with the victorious life is the greatness of salvation. “He is able to save to the uttermost.” “to save,” it is a continuous salvation, for the word could be translated in this way, “He is able to keep on saving.” Salvation is a much larger word than sometimes we are accustomed to understand.

If someone came to me this morning and said, "Dr. Thomas, are you saved?" I could say, "Yes and No," because salvation concerns the past, the present, and the future. Salvation concerns the past and we have salvation from the penalty of sin; salvation concerns the present, and we have salvation from the power of sin; salvation concerns the future, and we shall have salvation from the presence of sin.

Salvation from the penalty of sin is concerned with the death of Christ; concerned with the resurrection of Christ; and salvation from the presence of sin will be connected with the coming of Jesus Christ. So salvation, I repeat, is a very much larger thing than we are accustomed to imagine. It covers everything. It is one of the greatest words because it expresses one of the greatest realities in the Bible, salvation—saved, past, present, and future. Our salvation, you see, is a momentary blessing,—He is able to keep on saving.

Not only so, it is also a complete salvation—He is able to save to the uttermost. TO THE UTTERMOST. There is only one other place in the Bible where that word is found—“to the uttermost.” You cannot find it very well in the English because it is not clearly stated; but there is one place, and Bible students will be glad to know it if they do not know it already.

In Luke 3:11 we are told of a poor woman who had had what we call curvature of the spine for eighteen years, and she could not lift up herself “to the uttermost.” I want you to note the contrast. She could not “to the uttermost.” He can “to the uttermost.” It is a complete salvation.

To The Uttermost Of Our Need

First of all it is to the uttermost of our need—the uttermost of our need through sin. Oh the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that there is no heart too hard for Him, no sin too great for Him, to the uttermost of our need through sin. Whatever the sin may have been in the past life of any of us, He is able to save to the uttermost.

Some years ago there was a man in Glasgow, a thoroughly good fellow at his work when he was sober; but, unfortunately, he gave way to drink again and again until at last he had to be dismissed. The poor fellow, when he came to his senses, was utterly ashamed of himself, and, knowing what it would mean to himself, to his wife and to his family, he determined to commit suicide. He did not know quite how to do it, but thought it would be possible for him to do it by jumping overboard from a boat. On a Saturday night he took a boat from Glasgow to Dublin just across the Channel from Scotland to Ireland. He had decided that when the boat was in the middle of the Channel he would jump overboard and put an end to himself.

Here is the first link in the chain. When he got on board, one of the storms so well known in that Channel sprang up. Everything was fastened on deck. They were kept in the cabin and everything was battened down, everything fastened firmly and no one was allowed to walk on deck. So he could not throw himself overboard.

On Sunday morning about five o’clock he was landed in Dublin. He had no money and could not buy himself anything to eat. He said, “I will walk about the streets of Dublin and go down to the wharf by the River Liffey tonight when it is dark and will jump in there.” He walked about the streets of Dublin all that Sunday, and, as he walked along Sackville Street in the evening, he saw the announcement of a meeting at the Y.M.C.A. I had this from the secretary a week after it happened, so I know it is true.

He thought it still too light to go down to the river, and so he said, “I will go into this meeting.” He went, and listened to some words. They may have been interesting, but they did not affect him very much.

The meeting was over about ten o’clock, and he walked down Sackville Street toward the Liffey intending to jump into the water there. As he was walking down the street, something flashed through his mind that he heard in that meeting, and, in a moment, he realized that something had happened, and that something was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ commencing to save him.

At once he turned away from the wharf, walked down the street and said, “Lord, something has happened. I do not want to commit suicide now. You will have to take care of me.” So he began to pray. That is one of the marks,—“Behold he prayeth.”

He walked and walked and sometimes when he was tired he sat down on doorsteps. He had had nothing to eat all day. He slept and dosed and walked. About five o’clock on Monday morning it was light, and he got up and said, “Lord, help me. I don’t know what to do, but I know that something has taken place. I don’t want to put myself to death now.” As he was walking along the street, he saw a coin in the gutter and felt that was God’s answer to his prayer,—an English coin answering to our fifty cent piece. When a coffee house opened, he went in and got some breakfast. Then he went down to the secretary of the Y.M.C.A. and told his story.

The man, thinking that perhaps he was not all right said, “Very well, I will telegraph to your wife and employer in Glasgow to see whether all this is true.” He got an answer from both, the wife, of course, very thankful, and the employer saying, “If that change has taken place, I will take him back because he is a good workman.” On Monday night that man went down to the boat and went back to Glasgow a changed man, saved to the uttermost through the Lord Jesus his Saviour.

Our Need Through Inherited Disposition

So we are saved to the uttermost of our need through sin; but not only so, we are saved to the uttermost of our need through inherited disposition.

During the last fifty years we have been told a great deal about heredity. We are told that we inherit certain tendencies, and so powerful are these tendencies that we cannot get rid of them. Sometimes the tendency is to drink, sometimes it is to impurity, sometimes it is this, that and the other, and we are told by men of science that there is an awful law of heredity through the body and through the mind which drags us down almost (if not literally) like fate. Rudyard Kipling, among others, says

“The sins that you do
By two add two;
You must pay for
One by one.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost of inherited disposition. I do not care what your father or your grandfather gave to you through inheritance, I do not care how far a man may have gone in sin through his own tendencies or through those which he has inherited from his forefathers, the grace of God is able to take that man and snap those chains and to save him to the uttermost. We do not believe in fatalism of that sort or any other sort. We believe in the grace of God, and the grace of God is able to take any man or every man, whatever his past may have been and save him to the uttermost.

Able To Save From Acquired Faculties

He is able to save to the uttermost from inherited tendencies, and not only so, but to the uttermost of acquired faculties. Sometimes men have not inherited tendencies, but they have attained a great many things of their own that have more than weakened them. They are not, perhaps the victims of heredity, but the victims of their own self will, the victims of their own weakness, victims of their own willfulness, and they have acquired a number of faculties for evil in thought, word and deed.

A young man came to me a few days ago at the close of one of our meetings and said, “I long to live the victorious life, but I find myself defeated again and again.” He had, no doubt, acquired quite a number of these tendencies, and they were showing themselves in the weakness of his life.

The Lord is able to save to the uttermost of these acquired faculties, and however weak you may be, my brother; however much you may be the victim of your own willfulness, my sister, the Lord this morning is able to save to the uttermost of those acquired faculties.

To The Uttermost Of Fear

The Lord is also able to save to the uttermost of our need through fear, discouragement, and despair. A good deal of trouble is caused through fear. A well-known theologian has analyzed and counted a number of kinds of fear that people have. He has reckoned up 140, and he says the list is not complete. So you see we are troubled with fear.

But there are only three kinds of fear that need concern us in the least, and even one of those three need not concern us very long. The first of the three is this—the fear of troubles that never come. Just like the old lady on board the ship, who, when the wind was blowing and freshening, went up to the sailor and said, “Sailor, is there any fear?” “Yes, madam,” he said, “plenty of fear, but no danger.”

A man once said a great deal of his life had been surrounded by troubles, the most of which had never come. That is one kind of fear that we are saved from—the trouble that never come, the fear of that which is absolutely imaginary. Let us remember that this kind of fear the Lord is able to take away by the assurance of His own presence, peace, and power.

Fear Of Sin

The second kind of fear is the fear of sin, and there is no doubt that that ought to be faced,—the fear of sin, the fear lest we should do wrong, the fear lest we should grieve God by what we are and say and do. It is an awful thing, sin is, and there ought to be very much more fear of sin than there is.

I was sitting once in a room with a friend. Suddenly a fly touched the leaf of a plant, and the leaf curled up. As I looked at it, I said to my friend, “What is the name of that plant?” “That is called the sensitive plant,” he replied. It was a long time before that leaf opened again. Just the touch of a fly and the leaf closed right up. Our hearts and lives should be like that, sensitive to the faintest approach of evil, sensitive to sin.

Fear Of God

The third kind of fear is that which takes the second away, and that is the fear of God. If you fear God, you never need fear sin. The best way to avoid the fear of sin is to be occupied with God. The fear of God means—not the abject terror of the slave, but the reverential awe of the Son, and if you and I are occupied with the fear of the Lord, we shall find from Scripture and our experience, that, as we are occupied with Him, all other fears vanish, and they need not trouble us in the least. So He saves to the uttermost of our fear or despair.

Fear Of Death

The Lord is able also to save us to the uttermost of our need through death. That is often a trouble. There are people who all their lifetime are subject to bondage through fear of death. They are afraid not so much of death, but of what Shakespeare calls that “undiscovered country, that bourn from which [sic] no traveler returns.” The Lord is able to deliver us from the uttermost of our need through the fear of death, because He is the Prince of Life.

To The Uttermost Of Time

The uttermost of our need, the uttermost of time as well,—past, present, and future. If the Lord has saved you in the past, He is saving you now, and He will save you tomorrow and the next day because His is an everlasting salvation,—the uttermost of time.

Not only to the uttermost of need, and the uttermost of time, but to the uttermost of place. Wherever we are, He is able to save to the uttermost.

The Uttermost Of Place

I remember once being at a missionary meeting when we were invited to give texts to a number of missionary friends who were leaving. I gave this as my text which some of the friends present had not seen before, “Under His shadow we shall live among the heathen.” There you see that wherever we go He is able to save to the uttermost; whether we are working at home, in the city or in the village, China or Korea, India or Africa, He is able to keep on saving to the uttermost. Therefore, however you like to put it, in need, in time or place, He is able to keep on completely saving.

The Guarantee Of Our Salvation

The second I want you to notice this morning is the guarantee of our salvation. Why is this salvation so great? Because “He ever liveth to make intercession.—HE EVER LIVETH.

There are two things that you and I need: We need to be right up there, and we need to be right in here (in our hearts). We need to have a right position, and we need to have a right condition. He ever lives in regard to our position, and He has given the Holy Spirit in regard to our condition. Christ ever lives. That is the glory of His ascension. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

You and I need beyond everything else to be right with God, and the only way of being right with God is by having the Lord Jesus Christ up there as our representative.

Some years ago in one of the great London railway stations, there was a man at the gate. You know in England they do not examine and collect the tickets on the train as they do in America, but they examine the tickets of commuters, and collect ordinary tickets at the station when people arrive. One particular morning, at about half past eight, when all the people were rushing into the city to business, there was a man at the gate who insisted upon seeing every ticket and collecting those that had to be collected.

A number of the businessmen who were hurrying to their business, and who went through every morning, thought it was a little hard for them to have to get out their tickets and just show them to make sure that they had them. They thought the man at the gate ought to know them, but he insisted upon everyone showing his ticket. When the crowd had all gone, and onlooker went up to the man and said, “You had rather a tough time this morning.” The man smiled and said, “Yes, but I do not mind in the least as long as I am right up there,” pointing to the manager’s office. He did not mind so long as it was right up there.

It is that way also with the Christian. It does not matter what happens to us down here as long as we are all right up there. We have, not we shall have, not we had, but we have an Advocate with the Father; and that Advocate with the Father has given to us another Advocate, another Comforter who dwells within, and He is working within to transform us so that by and by we shall not only be with Him, but be like Him. These are the two things that we need,—position above and condition below; first, our standing and then our state. Our state means that we are ruled by the Holy Spirit and transformed into His likeness. Jesus Christ reigns and the Holy Spirit rules, and the two together constitute the guarantee of our salvation. He is able to save because “He ever liveth.”

The Gift Of Salvation

My third point is the gift of salvation,—“He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” Only those who come unto God by Him, those who approach God through Him, He is able to save. And coming, as we know, is the approach of surrender, the approach of trust, the approach of a loving, living, childlike, restful confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. “He is able to keep on saving those who keep on coming,” because the word in both cases implies a continuous coming as well as a continuous salvation, and this is the secret of all the Christian life. We keep on coming, and He keeps on saving, and thus we have the unbroken attitude of the soul as it continually comes to Him who continually saves. The remarkable and glorious thing is that the more we come the more He saves, and the oftener we come the oftener He is able to deal with us unto the uttermost, and so we have a perfect salvation.

Someone went up to a friend of mine once in connection with a Victorious Life Conference in England, and said to my friend: “Don’t you people at this conference believe in sinless perfection?” “No,” said he, “We believe in a perfect Saviour. We do not believe in a perfect sinner or a perfect saint, but a perfect Saviour.” That is the thought of my text, “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.” I repeat, the more we come, the more we will be able to see the power and the glory of His salvation.

I read an illustration of this a little while ago that struck me as not only interesting but somewhat novel. During the war there were two British officers who had to go from Arabia to India by aeroplane. It was a long journey, and they had to cross over the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean to get to India with a message. They started off from Arabia, just on the right of Mesopotamia. As they were going up they heard a scratching in the aeroplane, and it dawned upon them that a rat had gotten into the machine. They tried as well as they could (of course, they were fastened in), to locate the rat, but still the scratching went on. When they landed at the first place in Arabia on the Persian Gulf, if I remember aright, they tried to locate this rat, but could not. When they went up again the scratching began again. The thought came to them, “What if he should get into the mechanism and disturb something that is important. We shall go down with a crash.”

They did not know what to do. Then it dawned upon them that the rat was accustomed to living in a warm country, and they thought if they went higher and higher into the colder atmosphere it would be too much for the rat. So instead of going on toward India they went up and up until at last the air was fearfully cold, and the rat came out and dropped right down onto the earth. It was too cold for him. So they were saved by going up.

Oh, and if there is anything in your life and mine that is gnawing it may be at the vitals, you and I may not be able to locate it; but, if we will go up into the atmosphere of communion with God—it will not be too cold, it will be warm; but, if we go up and up, the trouble will come out of its hiding place and, like the rat, will drop. “He is able to save to the uttermost those who keep on coming to Him.”

Yes, ours is a continuous and a perfect salvation because we have a continuous and perfect Saviour. That is the message that we want by the grace of God to deliver—a continuous salvation because we have a continuous Saviour; a perfect salvation because we have a perfect Saviour, one who is able to save to the uttermost, past, present, and future.

Do you know the old word which was known hundreds of years ago in Latin and is now known equally well in English, “sursum corda,”—lift up your hears? In the old services, when they had them in Latin, the minister used to say to the people, “sursum corda,” “lift up your hearts.” And the people would answer, “We lift them up unto the Lord.”

That is the message for you and me today. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord, be occupied with Him. Do not trouble too much about what happened in the past, however thankful we may be for Calvary; but be occupied with Christ now as a living, loving Lord and Saviour, and be occupied with the thought that He is coming by and by. I do not know how soon,—He may come at any time, in order to be our Saviour from the very presence of sin.

Let us glory in this complete salvation in Him who is our perfect Saviour. “Belssed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings,” all uncounted, all unpriced.

Let our high and holy calling
And our strong salvation be
Theme of never ending praises
God of sovereign grace, to Thee.