“Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake” (Psalm 106.8.)
Introduction. In looking upon creation, two questions occur to the thoughtful mind: Who made all these things? And for what purpose were they made? The first question is easily answered. If man looks to the mountains, they seem to say, ‘The hand that made me is divine.’ The second question is not easy to answer apart from Scripture. The answer is that God made all things for his own glory and pleasure. What holds good in the works of creation holds good in the works of salvation. Lift up your eyes on high, higher than the stars. Who saved the glorified beings? And why were they saved? ‘He saved them for his name’s sake.’ Here, now, are four things from the text.
(1) A Glorious Saviour. ‘He saved them.’ Who is to be understood by that pronoun ‘he?’ Jesus Christ is the Saviour of men, but not more so than God the Father, or God the Holy Ghost. The Father gave the Son; the Son redeems; the Holy Spirit regenerates. Moses stretched forth his rod, and the sea parted. But it was God who saved. Israel did not deliver itself. God did it. The preacher, under God, may be used to arrest man’s attention. But God gives the increase, and God must have all the glory. I would not cross the street to make a Baptist. But I would, under God, be the means of bringing men to Christ. Unless God converts, conversion shall not last.
(2) The Favored Persons. ‘He saved them.’ Who are they? Respectable people? First, they were a stupid people. Moses says, “Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt.” God sends his gospel not always to the wise, but unto fools. Do not think that because you can barely spell your name that you cannot be saved. Next, they were an ungrateful people. Moses says “they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies.” God delivered them times without number; but they still rebelled. That is like you, my hearer. God has provided for you and kept you from the grave until now; but how ungrateful you have been! Yet some of your sort have been saved. ‘Nevertheless he saved them.’ And note, they were a provoking people. Moses says “they provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea.” Ah! how many people are provoking to God. Have you provoked God? If you repent, God has promised to save you. Sinner, I comfort you, not in your sin, but in your repentance. The saints of heaven were once as bad as you have been. Are you a drunkard, a swearer, unclean? “Such were some of them; but they have been washed.”
(3) The Reason of Salvation. ‘He saved them for his name’s sake.’ Nothing in the sinner can entitle him to mercy, neither his goodness nor his talents. What does ‘his name’s sake’ mean? I think it means ‘his nature’s sake.’ He manifested his love by giving us the sun and stars. But he wanted to reveal himself still more. So he gave his Son to die in order to save the very worst of men. He has manifested all his attributes on the great balcony of salvation. Some say that God is a cruel tyrant. He saves the worst of sinners to vindicate his name and to make sinners love him.
(4) The Obstacles Removed. ‘Nevertheless he saved them.’ The broken law demands blood. But Jesus silenced the law by keeping it and by paying the sinner’s penalty for breaking it. Further, his sprinkled blood silences the accusing conscience. And any covenant the sinner ever made with death and hell is nullified by the redemption that came before. The sinner is not his own.
Selection from Conclusion. “Sinner, whatever be the ‘nevertheless,’ it shall never the less abate the Saviour’s love…On thy knee weep out a sorrowful confession; look to his cross.”
