“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so” (Psalm 107:2).
I read of a precious woman of God, Jeanie Nihiser, who wrote of a time passed when people would lick the back of S & H Green Stamps and stick them in a little booklet. Jeanie said that, if she closed her eyes, even though it has been decades since the green stamp era, she could still taste the green stamp glue. Young families today cannot relate to taking a book full of stamps to the store and redeeming it for a kitchen item or some household item. “As a new bride,” said Jeanie, “I was always eager to redeem some for some household item to brighten my house. I remember one item I bought or redeemed. It was a set of six glasses, turquois on the bottom and white on the top, as was the slender pitcher that came with them and spoke of ‘elegance.’ They all were sitting on a shelf in my kitchen. They were so delicate and pretty. I admired them each time I passed by them sitting on their special shelf exuding the love and grace the Redeemer had given.” Jeanie also reminds us that all of God’s children were redeemed, not with green stamps, but with the very blood of Jesus shed on the cross. Jeanie encourages us also to remember one of her favorite Bible verses, Psalm 107:2, in the NASB says, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.” In the NIV translation, we find: “Let the redeemed of the Lord, tell their story.” The NLT renders: “Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!” (https://sermonillustrator.org/2025/04/20/taking-a-licking/).
Friends, God’s saved, redeemed children are to not only let their lives speak of the salvation of the Lord, but they are also to open their mouths and declare the praises of the Lord Jesus who rescued them from certain, eternal damnation and brought them into right standing with God and into the forever family of God. If you are one of the Redeemed, you must say so. You must tell your salvation story. You must tell others how Christ will redeem them. You must speak out, and spread the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to everyone you possibly can.
I read about a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur and a little life-saving station operating on that coast. The building was primitive, and resources were few. There was just one boat, but the members of the life-saving station were committed and kept a constant watch over the sea. When a ship went down, they risked their lives unselfishly, day or night, to save the lost at sea. Because so many lives were saved by the members of that station, it became famous. Consequently, many people gave their time, talent, and money to support its important work. New boats were bought, new crew members were recruited, and a formal training session was offered. As the membership in the life-saving station grew, some of the members were dissatisfied that the building was so primitive and that the equipment was so outdated. They wanted a better place to welcome the survivors pulled from the sea. So, they replaced the emergency cots with beds, and put better furniture in the enlarged and newly decorated building. Afterward, the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members. They met regularly to enjoy each other’s company. The love and concern they shared for one another was apparent to all. They greeted each other, hugged each other, shared memories, and recounted events that were happening in their lives. The problem became that fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired other lifeboat crews to do this for them (https://bible.org/illustration/life-saving-station).
Friends, this same scenario is played out in Christian churches all over the world in every period of history. Over time, churches become more like social clubs than life-saving stations from which members are dispatched to find those who are lost and perishing, share to good news of salvation in Jesus, and compel the lost to turn from their sins, believe in Jesus as the Savior who died on the cross to pay their sin debt, and receive Him as Lord of their lives. The preacher A. T. Pierson once said, “There is enough jewelry, gold, and silver plate buried in Christian homes to build a fleet of 50,000 vessels, ballast them with Bibles, crowd them with missionaries, and supply every living soul with the gospel in a score of years. Only let God take possession, and the gospel will wing its way like the beams of the morning” (https://bible.org/illustration/what-they-said-about-world-evangelism). No doubt Pierson cut to the chase and zeroed in on the real problem concerning evangelism and fulfilling Christ’s great commission. It is not a shortage of resources—not people, material, or financial—it is that churches slowly become more like social clubs, where the saved enjoy one another’s company so much that the urgency of reaching the lost with the gospel wanes, until the fire of evangelism all but goes out. Christians love the ease of fellowship so much that being inconvenienced by the perishing souls of mankind is an unwanted distraction, and they leave laboring in the harvest field for Christ’s sake to other people.
George Murray of the Bible Christian Union explained how this phenomenon became a reality in his own life when he said that for years he was “willing to go, but planning to stay.” Not until he became “willing to stay, but planning to go” did God change his life, and make him a public witness of the gospel of Jesus (https://bible.org/illustration/what-they-said-about-world-evangelism). The great missionary, Hudson Taylor, who spent fifty-four years as a Christian missionary in China and is credited with seeing more than 20 thousand people come to faith in Christ, once said, “I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up asking Him to do His work through me” (https://bible.org/illustration/what-they-said-about-world-evangelism). Both of these men of God point us to the real hindrance in our participation in Great Commission activity. First, until we quit planning to stay where we are, and start planning to go where God wants us to go, we will never be seriously involved in winning the lost to faith in Jesus. Second, until we quit putting our own selfish interests ahead of God’s interests, and make Jesus’ will and plan for our lives foremost, we will remain unengaged with rescuing perishing souls from eternal damnation.
One great hymn of the Christian faith that has been sung in all Baptist churches for decades is “Rescue the Perishing.” Listen carefully to the words: “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. / 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. / 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. / 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.” The chorus pleads, “Rescue the perishing, / Care for the dying; / Jesus is merciful, / Jesus will save.”
At the meeting of the International Missionary Council in Jerusalem in 1928, the following resolution was formulated and passed: “Herein lies the Christian motive: it is simple. We cannot bear to think of men living with Him. We believe in a Christlike world. We know nothing better; we can be content with nothing less” (https://bible.org/illustration/what-they-said-about-world-evangelism). Would that every Christian adopt this resolution for their own. Without a doubt, this is the will of Christ and the command of Christian. Before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, He gave His disciples this instruction in Matthew 28:18-20: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This is Christ’s Great Commission given to His church on earth. We must seek out the lost and win them to faith in Christ through sharing the Gospel with them. It is, indeed, our great privilege, great honor, and great duty. Friends, the Great Commission is for every true follower of Jesus, God’s great non-negotiable.
Would you, today, say to Jesus, “Lord, lead me, guide me, help me, and I will be your witness in this world of the salvation that is in You, indeed, to everyone that I possibly can?” Would you make that promise today and mean it? If you will, God will meet you right where you are, and He will use you for His glory, for His honor, for your good, for the building of the church on earth, for the honor of Jesus, and for the extension of the Kingdom of God everywhere, from right where you are to very ends of the earth.