Hymns With A Message: OUR GREAT SAVIOR (JESUS WHAT A FRIEND TO SINNERS)

Sunday, August 27, 2017

OUR GREAT SAVIOR (JESUS WHAT A FRIEND TO SINNERS)

"Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable " (Psalm 145:3). Unsearchable - beyond our ability to fully comprehend. And because of His greatness, He is surely deserving of great praise, thanksgiving, and worship. This week's hymn of adoration reminds us that He is a great and true friend to sinners. It also reminds us that He is our strength in our weakness. "Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing, He, my strength, my vict'ry wins." And He is our guide and keeper no matter how bad our storms of life may be. "Storms about me, night o'ertakes me, He, my pilot, hears my cry." How precious is the truth that "I am His, and He is mine." "Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end." Hallelujah, what a Savior! These words were penned in 1910 by J. Wilbur Chapman (1859 - 1918), a Presbyterian evangelist in the late 19th century. Chapman took on several pastorates before shifting to the evangelistic circuit. He began preaching with D. L. Moody in 1893, as well as leading many evangelistic events of his own. Among Chapman's disciples on the evangelistic circuit was Billy Sunday. In late 1895, he was appointed Corresponding Secretary of the Presbyterian General Assembly's Committee on Evangelism, overseeing the activities of 51 evangelists in 470 cities. In 1904, Chapman began work on an evangelistic campaign to maximize the efforts of his field evangelists and result in more converts. The testing ground for his theories was Pittsburgh, which he divided into nine zones in which simultaneous tent meetings would be occurring. Syracuse, New York was the second city in the campaign, meeting with a satisfactory level of success. in 1907, he joined forces with popular gospel singer Charles McCallon Alexander to launch the "Chapman-Alexander Simultaneous Campaign." The duo assembled an impressive team of evangelists and song leaders and took to the streets. Their first joint campaign was held in Philadelphia from March 12 to April 19, 1908. They partitioned the city into 42 sections covered by 21 evangelist-musicians teams. They spent three weeks on each half of the city, resulting in approximately 8,000 conversions. Chapman was also heavily involved in the promoting of religious summer conferences. He was at one point the director of the Winona Lake Bible Conference in Indiana and also helped to establish Bible conferences in Montreat, North Carolina and the Stony Brook Assembly summer conferences on Long Island. It is said that he never spared himself, and he suffered at least thirteen serious breakdowns in his health from 1902 on. These sick spells and surgical operations laid him aside for extended periods during the latter years of his life. He died a few days after a gallstone operation, his third operation in the last two years of his life. While I have been able to find considerable information about his life as a pastor and evangelist, I have found very little about his work writing hymns. In addition to this hymn he is also credited with writing "One Day" and "Tis Jesus". But I have found nothing about what led him to write this hymn. We can only assume that the words came from his personal experience and walk with the Lord. From this he could write that the Savior is our Friend who loves us, who provides His child with strength, protection, and comfort when we need it. He is also our Guide and Keeper in the storms of life. Hopefully this, too, has been your experience. If it isn't, then receive Jesus as your Savior today and you will find "more than all in Him". And if He is your Savior. then rejoice and thank Him for "saving, helping, keeping, loving" and being with you to the end. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

1 Jesus! what a friend for sinners!

Jesus! lover of my soul;

Friends may fail me, foes assail me,

He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!

Hallelujah! what a friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving,

He is with me to the end.

2 Jesus! what a strength in weakness!

Let me hide myself in Him;

Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing,

He, my strength, my vict'ry wins.