"COME TO THE SAVIOR"
"Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts..." (Heb. 3.7-8)
INTRO.: A song which urges the sinner to hear the voice of the Lord and respond today is, "Come To The Savior (make no delay)." The text was written and the tune was composed both by George Frederick Root (1820-1895). A native of Sheffield, MA, he became a well-known music teacher and song writer, under the name G. Friedrich Wurzel, of cantatas and minstrel songs. After becoming associated with the firms of Root and Cady of Chicago (co-owned by his brother) and John Church in Cincinnati, he produced a number of gospel songs, including "Why Do You Wait," and tunes for songs by others, such as "When He Cometh," "Jesus Loves the Little Children," and "Ring the Bells of Heaven," that have appeared in many of our books.
"Come To The Savior" was first published in the 1870 collection The Prize which Root edited for Root and Cady. Its popularity was the result of its inclusion in Bliss and Sankey's 1875 Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs. Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord's church during the twentieth century for use in churches of Christ, it appeared in the 1935 Christian Hymns (No. 1) edited by L. O. Sanderson and the 1963 Abiding Hymns edited by Robert C. Welch. Today it may still be found in the 1986 Great Songs Revised edited by Forrest M. McCann, as well as the 2007 Sacred Songs of the Church edited by William D. Jeffcoat.
The song is designed to encourage those in sin to come to the Lord for salvation.
I. In stanza 1 the sinner is offered the invitation.
"Come to the Savior, make no delay;
Here in His Word He's shown us the way;
Here in our midst He's standing today,
Tenderly saying, 'Come.'"
A. The sinner should make no delay in coming to the Savior because "now is the accepted time": 2 Cor. 6.2
B. The means by which we know how to come to Him is that in His Word He's shown us the way, since the scriptures provide everything that we need in our relationship to the Lord: 2 Tim. 3.16-17
C. The song is apparently picturing an assembly such as a gospel meeting where Jesus is identified as standing in the midst and saying, "Come," not literally, but through the preaching of the gospel which is His power to salvation: Rom. 1.16
II. In stanza 2 the sinner is asked to make a choice.
"'Suffer the children!' O hear His voice!
Let every heart leap forth and rejoice;
And let us freely make Him our choice:
Do not delay, but come."
A. Jesus is spoken of as inviting sinners to come to Him and become spiritual children of God just as He invited little children to come to Him: Matt. 19.14
B. The way that a person can "leap forth and rejoice" is to do as the Ethiopian eunuch did, hearing the gospel and responding to it in faith and baptism to go on His way rejoicing: Acts 8.35-39
C. When people thus freely make Him their choice by repenting, even the angels of heaven rejoice with them: Lk. 15.10
III. In stanza 3 the sinner is admonished to think about his need.
"Think once again, He's with us today;
Heed now His blest command, and obey;
Hear now His accents tenderly say,
'Will you, My children, come?'"
A. Again in a figurative sense, Jesus is still with us today, the One who died for our sins: Rom. 5.8
B. Therefore, because He paid the price for us, we should heed His blest commands and obey: Heb. 5.8-9
C. To do so, we must first listen to His tender accents which say, "Come unto Me": Matt. 11.28-30
CONCL.: The chorus expresses the great joy that accompany salvation, both for the sinner and those who have had a part in his conversion:
"Joyful, joyful, will the meeting be,
When from sin our hearts are pure and free;
And we shall gather, Savior, with Thee,
In our eternal home."
Although this song has been omitted from many of our more recent books, it could still serve a useful function as a rousing and earnest means of inviting those who are yet out of Christ but have heard the word to "Come To The Savior."