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"FROM THE GUTTERMOST TO THE UTTERMOST" "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)When it says, “He is able,” it simply means that Jesus alone is able to save. Not a pastor, not a church, not some religious ritual, but Jesus alone can and does save. His salvation can reach anyone, anywhere, and redeem them from what I've always referred to as going from the gutter to the utter.Well-known Evangelist liked to call this “gutter-most” salvation, as in being saved from the stench-filled gutter. Often used the personal illustration of how Jesus saved him from the gutter because he was a gutter-living drunk when God got a hold of him.Now, what does it mean to save someone to the uttermost? It means to reach down to the bottom of the barrel of filth, and rescue someone who is covered with the dirt of degradation and lifting them up to walk in newness of life.The salvation by grace given them was perfected by Christ's one-time sacrifice, presented to those who were at one time separated from God by their sin, and permanent and everlasting according to the Scriptures. And that therefore no condemnation is forever theirs, no matter how hopeless from a human point of view their situation seemed. Jesus Christ is not only able to bring folks out of that muck and mire lifestyle they were stuck in, and He is also able to bring them all the way to Heaven. It is also comforting to know that Jesus is always before God the Father representing and interceding for His own. We need someone to make intercession on our behalf, and who can do that more powerfully than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.There is a story from the Civil War of a Union soldier who asked to be released from service after his brother and father were killed. He wanted to go home and help his mother and sister with the family farm. He went to Washington D.C. to plead with the President for an exemption.But when he arrived at the White House, the guards wouldn’t allow him in. He went and sat on a bench nearby where a young boy spotted him and asked what was wrong. The soldier told the little fella his problem. The boy took his hand and led him into the White House, past the guards and straight to President Lincoln. The boy stopped in front of the president and said, “Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you.” The boy was Lincoln’s son.Oh friends, how much more, and oh, how greater it is when the Lord Jesus approaches God the Father and pleads for those great needs for you and me.