Chapter 18: Christ's Invitation to Sinners, Laid Down in These Words: "Come Unto Me."
3. God also does this to serve as a stumbling block to the wicked, that they might stumble at the afflictions of the saints and perish because of it.
Various other reasons might be given, but all this makes way for what is to come. The Lord calls not only those who labour under the burden of sin, under the burden of the Law, and so forth, but also poor creatures who labour under the burden of affliction, poverty, and the like, to come to Him for ease and rest.
Chapter 18 Christ's Invitation to Sinners, Laid Down in These Words: "Come Unto Me."
Opened in five particulars:
1. It is to look to Christ as an All-sufficient Saviour.
2. It implies an unsettledness in the creature.
3. A stirring of the heart after Christ.
4. A laying of all our burdens upon Christ.
5. A leaving of the soul with Christ for life.
Now we come to the invitation itself: "Come to me," says Christ, "Come to me"; that is, believe in me. For, among many other expressions of believing in Christ, or of accepting the condition of the Covenant of Grace, the Holy Ghost expresses this believing and acceptance of the Covenant of Grace by "coming to Christ." Believing in Christ is very often described as "coming to Christ." In John 5:40:
"You will not come to me that you might have life." They did come to Christ in his outward presence, Christ conversed with them, and they with him; yet Christ says, "You will not come to me that you might have life."
Similarly, in John 6:37: "All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and I will by no means cast them out." All whom the Father has given me from eternity to redeem, they come to me—that is, they believe in me. And in verse 44: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them"; that is, no one believes in me unless my Father draws them. And in verse 45: "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me"; that is, believes in me. This is also the meaning of Isaiah 55:1: "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, buy wine and milk without money and without price"; that is, believe in me.
All of you who labor under these burdens, come to me, believe in me, and I will give you rest.
But this must be explained more fully. In this invitation, there are five things I wish to open unto you and impress upon your hearts.
First, what does Christ want us to do, more specifically, when he bids us to come to him?
Secondly, what kind of invitation does Christ give to those the Father gives to him, those who shall indeed come to be saved by him? How does Christ call and invite them to him?
Thirdly, all that Christ requires as a condition of the Covenant of Grace for rest unto our souls is to come to him. Nothing else is the condition of the Gospel by which we come to possess Christ but this: to come to him. "Come to me," says Christ. This is the great
condition of the Gospel—only to come to Christ.
Fourthly, there are some rules to be proposed and observed for our coming to Christ.
Fifthly, the laboring to draw your souls unto Christ.
For the first: "Come to me"—what does that mean? What would Christ have you do?
To open this up in particular: when Christ calls you to come to him, you are to understand that this indicates a movement toward Christ, a turning of your soul toward him in faith and trust.
First: It implies beholding, a looking unto Jesus Christ as the Allsufficient Saviour, to save our souls from all the evils that are upon us, and to supply us with all the good we stand in need of. As if Christ were saying, when he says, "Come to me," O! poor, troubled sinners, who are under these burdens: Do you behold me as the great
Mediator who has come into the world to stand between the wrath of my Father and your souls, and to bring life and salvation to you?
That is, you must know where you are going, and to whom you must go. So Christ says, "I am the great Redeemer, sent into the world by my Father for that very purpose, that I may ease poor souls of their burdens." Souls like yours are to look unto Christ, therefore, as the great Reconciler of God and man, the great Mediator between God and man, having the fullness of all mercy and goodness in him, the great channel of all the grace and riches of God the Father to sinful souls. This is the first work of believing in Christ: to look to him as the one whom God the Father has offered to us. That is the first step, but yet the soul has not fully come.
Secondly: The second point goes further. Coming to Christ implies an unsettledness. When we come to something, there is a terminus a quo (the point from which we come) and a terminus ad quem (the point to which we go). We come from something. So, Christ says, you have settled your hearts upon creature comforts and have looked upon them as the things in which your good and happiness consist.
But now, your hearts must be taken off from those things. You must come to me.
That is, there must be a removal from the position you were in, from that state of settlement you were formerly in. I cannot go to another place and stay where I was as well. In the same way, the heart cannot come to Christ and remain in the state it was in before. Therefore, this implies that, whereas you poor creatures have settled your hearts upon creature comforts, and even upon sinful things in the past, now let your hearts be taken off from all those things. Know that your good, your happiness, your peace is not there. If you stay here and settle in this state, you are lost and undone creatures forever.
Let it not grieve your souls to part with the comforts that are here below, in the things of this world, for certainly, you are mistaken if you think your good and happiness lie there. So, when the soul begins to stir after Christ, it is taken off from the creature, from all creature comforts. It looks upon everything as vanity. The soul says,
"I am fully convinced that my happiness lies higher than the things here below." These are the reasonings of a heart in motion toward
Christ.
And not only must we be unsettled from the creature, but we must also be taken off from ourselves, from all our own righteousness and duties. I must not think to satisfy God by anything I can do. No, I must be convinced that something greater is required to make peace
with God than anything I can accomplish. Therefore, my heart must be taken off from these things. Previously, I rested in duties, thinking
I was not as bad as others, but now I see there is another kind of righteousness that I must have in a Mediator. Though these duties are good in themselves, they cannot save my soul. If I am to have peace with God and stand before him on the great day, it must be through another means than what I have experienced. If I had continued thinking that I could make satisfaction with God by my own actions, I would have been a lost creature.
Yes, my heart must be taken off my own foundation, no longer resting in anything that is in me. Instead, I must go out and deny myself, looking for the source of life outside of myself. This is the second point: "Come to me" means first to behold me, to see and believe that I am the great Mediator who has come into the world to save your souls. And secondly, it means that your hearts must be unsettled, taken off from whatever they were previously settled upon, so that you may be removed from that place and take a new course for life and happiness in Christ.
Thirdly, "Come unto me," that is, let there be a working and stirring of your hearts after me. Christ calls for the hearts of sinners. After He is revealed to them, their hearts should be in a working, stirring disposition, reaching after the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking union with Him to the utmost of their ability. The thoughts should be working, the conscience working, the will opening itself to receive the grace of God, and the affections should be stirring. The whole soul should be in a working disposition toward Him.
"Incline your ear and come," as if Christ were saying, "Though you are under great burdens, do not sink under them in discouragement and lie down in a dull and heavy way. No, let your hearts be stirring,
working, and acting after me continually. Be careful to keep your hearts in a stirring and working way after Christ, and after the grace that is offered to you in Christ." This is something young believers should observe with particular attention. If God is beginning to work upon your hearts, you must take great care to keep your hearts in a stirring, working, and active frame toward Christ. Above all things, beware of a dull, heavy, dead spirit at this time, when God calls you to come to Christ. As the Apostle says of himself in Philippians 3:14,
"I press on toward the goal." So it should be with every poor soul that God is drawing to Christ; they should always be in a coming disposition and press hard toward the goal of the high prize of the calling that is set before them.
Christ is set before you. God sets His Son before you with the treasure of grace, and you should press and follow hard after God (as expressed by David in Psalm 63:8), with a hard following, stirring, and working of the soul after the Lord. As David said to his son
Solomon in 1 Chronicles 22:16, "Arise and work, and the Lord will be with you," so I say to all to whom the grace of God is offered: you must not be dull and sullen, but rise and be doing.
As the Apostle speaks in Philippians 1:20, "According to my earnest expectation." The word translated "earnest expectation" in the original signifies to stretch out the neck, to look eagerly after something one desires. This is the proper meaning of the word in the original text. So it should be in coming to Christ—that is, when Christ is presented in the gospel, there should be a stretching out of the soul, eagerly looking after the Lord Jesus, and a stirring of the soul after Jesus Christ, keeping the soul working and stirring after Him.
Many poor souls, whom God is beginning to work His grace upon, lose much time and comfort for lack of this—keeping their hearts in a
working and stirring frame after Christ. They spend their time in afflicting their souls, but they do not keep their hearts actively moving towards Jesus Christ. As Jacob said to his sons when they lacked bread in Canaan, "We have heard that there is corn in Egypt, so why do we stand here looking at one another?" (Genesis 42:1).
Had you gone, he said, you might have returned by this time and brought us bread. So I say to many burdened souls: Have you not heard that there is grace and mercy in Jesus Christ? If your soul had been working, stirring, and kept in an active frame toward Jesus
Christ, you might have returned and found rest for your soul by now.
But you stand, looking at one thing or another, poring over your corruptions. Had you kept your heart continually stirring in a working frame after Christ, the work might have been done by now.
Fourthly, "Come to me," says Christ, "and lay all your burdens upon me. Come and roll your hearts upon me. Whatever burden it may be
—whether of your soul or of outward afflictions, whatever your fears and troubles—come and cast all your burdens upon me. I am willing to bear them all."
This is a special work of faith: for the soul to roll itself upon Jesus Christ, to cast itself with all its burdens upon the infinite, rich, free grace of God in Christ. As if Christ were saying, "Is it the burden of sin? I have borne the burden of sin already. Is it the wrath of God that is a burden to you? Come, cast this burden upon me, for I have borne the wrath of God. Or is it the burden of the Law? I have borne that burden for you. I was made an offering for you. I was made under the Law to deliver you from it. Is it the burden of affliction?
That, too, was upon me." It is true that the burden of corruption was not upon Him, but Christ will deliver us from that as well.
"Come to me," He says, "and whatever burden is upon your souls, cast it upon me. Roll your souls and all your burdens upon me, and I will give you rest.
Fifthly, and lastly, "Come to me" means come and leave your souls with me, commit them to me for life, for salvation, for peace, and for whatever good you desire. Be willing to entrust me with your souls, be willing to entrust me with all your comforts, with both your present and eternal estate. In all your transactions with God and dealings with God, trust me with everything—that is coming to Christ. When Christ bids us come to Him, it is as if He says, "Come to me, and leave your souls, leave all your cares, and commit everything you have to me. Commit yourselves wholly to me, to be disposed of by me for all good whatsoever, and I will take charge of you. I will engage myself, and all my faithfulness, to care for you, supply your needs, strengthen you under all your burdens, carry you through all difficulties, and bring you at last to life, salvation, and perfect rest with my Father and myself." This is what Christ means when He says, "Come to me."
So the Apostle says in 1 Timothy 2:12, "I know in whom I have believed, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him." What is that which he has committed to Christ? His very soul, his life, his peace, his comfort—all his happiness. He had left all with Him.
Now then, take all these things together. When Christ calls the sinner to come to Him, He is saying: O sinner, first believe this—that I am the great Redeemer who has come into the world to stand between God's wrath and your soul, and to make peace between God and you. Let your heart be unsettled from whatever it rested in before, whether creature comforts, your own righteousness, duties, self-
respects, or any other thing. Let your heart be taken off from them all, and now be in a stirring, working disposition toward me. Let your whole soul be stretching out to me. Come, cast all your burdens upon me, and leave your soul with me. I will take care of them. Come to me in this way.
Now then, when any soul that is thus burdened responds to this call of Christ and says, Lord, I come, this is the very voice and answer of faith. When the soul can say, Oh, Lord, I come! I see you to be the blessed Mediator between God and my soul. Whatever my heart has rested in before, it shall do so no more. My heart begins to stir after you, and I stretch forth my soul to you, O blessed Redeemer. Here, I cast my burdens upon you. None can ease me but you. I leave myself with you, I commit all to you, and entrust my eternal estate to you. Lord, I come,—this is the soul that truly comes to Christ.
The soul may be said to come to Christ when there is an answer in these five particulars. All of this is contained in the word come, though you may not apprehend it until it is unfolded. It is like a piece of needlework: when it is folded up, all the work is within, but we cannot see it until it is laid open and spread before us. Then we can see all that is in it. Likewise, there are many expressions in Scripture that we do not immediately understand, but they are there. This is the work of the ministry—to spread them out, lay them before you, and open them up so that you may see the grace of God more clearly when it is unfolded.
In this way, Christ calls those who are burdened to come to Him.