Rescue the perishing

1
Rescue the perishing,
  Care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
  Weep o’er the erring one,
  Lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.
  Rescue the perishing,
  Care for the dying;
Jesus is merciful,
    Jesus will save.
2
Though they are slighting Him,
  Still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive;
  Plead with them earnestly,
  Plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe.
3
Down in the human heart,
  Crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
  Touched by a loving heart,
  Wakened by kindness,
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.
4
Rescue the perishing,
  Duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
  Back to the narrow way,
  Patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.
54
Joel Metzger

Eaton, OH, United States

St. Luke 19:10

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.


Ameyaw Lambert Ansu

Wenchi, Bono, Ghana

Amazing!! How the fathers of Old wrote the unadulterated word of God as songs. God is still doing great. Thank you so much for theses hymns.


Anonymous

Greater Accra, Accra, Ghana

The song is a great blessing for all the saints of Christ.


Anne Harris

Rochester, New York, United States

Thank you! Great old song. God is always with us.


Samantha

Mandeville, Manchester, Jamaica

This is very powerful. Thank you Jesus Christ for inspiring this song.


Nudamu

Yola, Adamawa, Nigeria

What a powerful song that reminds us of the love of our Lord and the need to extend it to the dying souls.


Janette Olivier

Cape Town, WC, South Africa

Blessed song. May we keep on keeping on to pray for the lost and wandering ones to come into the fold. Jesus came for all. Thank you Jesus there was room at the cross for me.


Taku Cherom

Bandardewa, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Heart touching song and very nice


Stevie

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

The hymal reminds me of the love of God towards all willing to come back to him in total submission. His love to forgive and forget all sins and peace found in His grace.


Bondu Manyeh

Freetown, Sierra Leone

The whole Lines are not just teaching how sweet the song is but, a reminder to get back to the great commission... Evangelism and remember that Jesus is the only way. Glory to God.

During those years, the fire of the gospel was indeed burning among us. However, we did not reach the stage of going out and compelling people. In Luke 14:23 the Lord Jesus told us that to go out and bring people in, we even need to go to the roads and hedges and compel people. According to the original Greek, to compel people means to force people. The Lord said, "Go out into the roads and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled." Our burden is to teach you how to compel others. The Lord Jesus spoke of our need to compel others.

In verse 23 the Lord said that we should compel people to come in. Then in verse 26 He said, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate." These two matters spoken of in Luke 14 are quite harsh. First, we have to go out and compel people to believe in the Lord. Second, after they believe, they have to "hate." Seemingly, this is against what Christianity teaches about being kind, loving, and broad, but this is indeed the Lord's word. Not only do we have to hate our parents and our wife, we also have to hate our self. The teaching of the Lord Jesus' is quite particular. Hymns #664 in Chinese says, "Rise up quickly and preach the gospel!" But the Lord's word goes even further; He wants us to rise up quickly and compel people. The secret to preaching the gospel is to have a zealous heart, to be crazy. A person who is crazy does not care for himself. Forty years ago I was crazy whenever I preached the gospel. However, I was not crazy to the extent of compelling others. For this reason, I feel that I am still indebted to the gospel.

Our main impression concerning the Gospel of Luke is that it is a sweet gospel. It tells us that the Lord Jesus is a good shepherd who is full of compassion. In His tender love He looks for us, He embraces and bears us, and He brings us back to His flock (15:1-7). This Gospel also tells us that the Lord is a good Samaritan. We are wounded and on the verge of death, but He binds our wounds and pours oil and wine on them (10:25-35). However, we never saw the matter that the Lord Jesus wants us to go and compel others, nor did we see that the Lord wants us to hate.

In Adam we were sentenced by God to die, to perish in the lake of fire forever (Heb. 9:27; John 3:16b; Rev. 21:8). This is man's destiny. This is why we need to give up the world and spend our time to preach the gospel to rescue fallen man from the lake of fire. Fanny Crosby, a sister who lived in the last century, wrote many hymns. One of these hymns (Hymns, #921) is concerning rescuing the perishing sinners. The first stanza and chorus of this hymn say:

Rescue the perishing,

Care for the dying,

Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;

Weep o'er the erring one,

Lift up the fallen,

Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.

Rescue the perishing,

Care for the dying;

Jesus is merciful,

Jesus will save.

We should be inspired by this matter. All the people on this earth are busy doing many things, but eventually they will perish. We need to have a heart to rescue the perishing, to care for the dying.

Hymns, #921 was written by Fanny Crosby, an American sister who was blind.

Piano Hymns