When the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, left his disciples to return to heaven, he entrusted them with the mission of announcing salvation to the whole world. They needed to proclaim the good news of the forgiveness of sins to every creature.
But to his mission order, Christ adds a precision which often goes unnoticed, He enjoins his disciples to begin with Jerusalem. In these few words lies an unimaginable wealth of grace, because the men of Jerusalem were precisely those who had rejected Christ and put to death the Prince of life. Yet, in His immense grace, Christ commands His servants to begin to proclaim and offer salvation to these greatest sinners.
Relying on this unfathomable wonder of grace, John Bunyan himself announces the Gospel to those who see themselves as the worst of sinners. Man has nothing to contribute to his salvation except his sin. But, precisely, the grace of God, far from being stopped by this sin, is manifested first to those who have the most!
John Bunyan, the author of the famous Pilgrim's Journey, doesn't just speak in theory. He himself had been a sinner of the worst kind, and yet he knew what it was like to be pardoned beyond all hope.
There is therefore here a hope which is addressed even to the worst of men, since Christ has such a desire to touch him for salvation that he dispatches his servants to him first. No sin keeps him who wants to be saved from being saved, even if he is the greatest of sinners. But the little sinner himself, when he grasps the reality of his sinful state, can also place himself among the worst, and receive salvation first.
Pages filled with the grace they announce and the fervor that Christ communicates. They will be a great consolation to anyone seeking salvation, as well as an encouragement to those who proclaim it.
Author: John Bunyan
ISBN: 9782914562004