Charles Wesley - Sinners, Believe The Gospel Word Lyrics
Lyrics
1 SINNERS, believe the gospel word,
Jesus is come your souls to save
Jesus is come, your common Lord;
Pardon ye all through him may have,
May now be saved, whoever will;
This man receiveth sinners still.
2 See where the lame, the halt, the blind,
The deaf, the dumb, the sick, the poor,
Flock to the friend of human kind,
And freely all accept their cure;
To whom did he his help deny?
Whom in his days of flesh pass by?
3 Did not his word the fiends expel,
The lepers cleanse, and raise the dead?
Did he not all their sickness heal,
And satisfy their every need?
Did he reject his helpless clay,
Or send them sorrowful away?
4 Nay, but his bowels yearned to see
The people hungry, scattered, faint;
Nay, but he uttered over thee,
Jerusalem, a true complaint;
Jerusalem, who shedd'st his blood,
That, with his tears, for thee hath flowed.
Video
Come Sinner To The Gospel Feast - Charles Wesley
Meaning & Inspiration
Charles Wesley's profound hymn, "Sinners, Believe The Gospel Word," released as part of the collection *Come Sinner To The Gospel Feast* in 2012, stands as a powerful testament to the unwavering inclusivity and boundless mercy of God offered through Jesus Christ. The core of this hymn is an urgent yet tender invitation, directly addressing those who recognize their own spiritual brokenness. Wesley doesn't shy away from the reality of sin; instead, he frames it as the very reason for Christ's coming. The opening stanza immediately establishes Jesus as the "common Lord," implying a universal claim and a shared salvation for all humanity. The declaration that "Jesus is come your souls to save" echoes the angel's announcement to Joseph in Matthew 1:21, "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Furthermore, the assurance that "Pardon ye all through him may have" aligns with the Apostle Paul's message in Romans 3:23-24, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." The hymn emphasizes that this salvation is readily available, as stated in the powerful line, "This man receiveth sinners still," a direct callback to Jesus' own words in John 6:37, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away."
The subsequent stanzas paint a vivid picture of Jesus' earthly ministry, serving as irrefutable evidence of his compassion and redemptive power. Wesley meticulously lists those whom Jesus embraced and healed – "the lame, the halt, the blind, The deaf, the dumb, the sick, the poor." This catalog mirrors the accounts found throughout the Gospels, where Jesus consistently ministered to the marginalized and afflicted. We see parallels in Mark 2:17, where Jesus declares, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick," and in the pervasive accounts of his miracles, such as healing the blind man in John 9, or the paralytic in Mark 2. The rhetorical questions posed by Wesley – "To whom did he his help deny? Whom in his days of flesh pass by?" – challenge any notion that Jesus' mercy has limits. His ministry was not selective; he demonstrated profound empathy for all who came to him, never turning away those in genuine need, as evidenced by his healing of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5:25-34, who, despite her shame, was met with healing and reassurance.
Wesley deepens this exploration of Christ's compassion by highlighting his supernatural interventions. He reminds us that Christ’s power extended to casting out demons, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead. These are not mere acts of kindness but divine pronouncements of authority over the spiritual and physical realms, aligning with passages like Matthew 12:28, where Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God arriving through his exorcisms, and Luke 7:22, where he points to the healing of the sick and the raising of the dead as signs of his Messiahship. The hymn continues to emphasize Jesus' unwavering care, asking, "Did he reject his helpless clay, Or send them sorrowful away?" The answer, implicit and resounding, is no. This resonates with the Lord's own deep affection for humanity, described in verses like Isaiah 49:15, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"
The final stanza offers a poignant and perhaps the most challenging aspect of the hymn, bringing the focus to Jerusalem and its rejection of Christ. Wesley speaks of Jesus' "bowels," a biblical idiom signifying deep, visceral compassion. This yearning for the lost is evident in Jesus' lament over Jerusalem in Luke 13:34, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling." The blood shed by Jerusalem, the city that ultimately condemned him, is presented as flowing alongside Christ's tears, underscoring the immense personal cost of human sin and the profound sorrow it brings to the divine heart. Yet, even in this lament, the underlying message of the hymn remains unchanged: the sacrifice made on the cross is sufficient for all. "Sinners, Believe The Gospel Word" is a masterfully crafted piece that not only recounts Christ's compassionate actions but also presents a timeless invitation to embrace the salvation he so freely offers, a salvation that transcends all our failures and brokenness.