Chapter 20: That There is Nothing Required of Sinners But to Come to Christ, with Nine Consequences
of grace. He will not break the bruised reed or quench the smouldering flax. In this way, Christ's invitation comes with more than just words—it comes with strength and assurance to bring the soul fully to Him.
Chapter 20 That There is Nothing Required of Sinners But to Come to Christ, with Nine Consequences Arising From This, and What Has Been
Laid Down in the Two Former Chapters.
1. There is no worthiness required in those who come to Christ.
2. The soul need not be troubled about the time and measure of its humiliation before coming to Christ.
3. Nor about its interest in Christ before coming to Him.
4. The least degree of faith will give the soul an interest in Christ.
5. The work of faith is supernatural.
6. Faith is a humbling grace.
7. Believers, after coming to Christ, should be willing to do and suffer much for Christ.
8. Those who are in Christ will never be cast off.
9. They know not what to do when they lose their sense of interest in Christ.
Now, the third point is this: that there is nothing else required.
Christ says, "Come to me, and I will give you rest." Blessed Christ! Is this all that you require? Yes, "Come to me, and you shall have rest."
You often see this expressed in Scripture. For example, "Come, buy
wine, milk, and honey without price;" it is simply a matter of coming, and indeed, the very act of coming is the act of buying.
Similarly, in Revelation 22:17, "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come,' and let him who hears say, 'Come,' and let him who is thirsty come; and whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." Here, it says "come" three times, and there is nothing else required, nothing you need to bring with you—only come. Remember how I explained this: what it means to "come." And once you understand that, there is nothing else required but to come. This sheds light on several points.
1. There is no unworthiness in any sinner—no matter who they are —that can hinder them from coming. Why? Because Christ does not say, "You who have been vile and wretched must first do this or that, and then come to me." No, whatever you have been, the first thing Christ requires to give you ease, rest, and peace is to come to Him. It is true that some things are necessary in the process of coming, but these are not conditions of the Gospel.
Rather, they are prerequisites because it is impossible to come without them. I would explain it like this, using the previous metaphor: suppose the King tells a traitor, "If you come to a certain place at a certain time, you will receive your pardon."
Now, all that is required for his pardon is to be at that place.
What if this man is far away from the designated place, facing storms, bad weather, and other obstacles like friends trying to stop him? This implies that he must deeply understand the value of his pardon and the misery of his situation if he is not pardoned. This would stir up in him a strong resolution to overcome all difficulties. However, these resolutions and difficulties are not conditions for the pardon—the only condition is to be in that place at that time. Still, it follows that if he overcomes the difficulties and reaches the place, it was his deep
understanding of the value of pardon that drove him to resolve to face the challenges.
Likewise, with the soul: the thing that brings your soul to pardon, rest, and peace with God is coming to Christ. But because there is a great distance between Christ and us, and many obstacles in the way
—such as the wickedness of our hearts, various temptations, and lusts—we cannot come to Christ without becoming aware of the value of the pardon, which will stir strong resolutions to overcome all difficulties. There is no reason God troubles anyone about their sins except to give them such a sense of the value of pardon that they are driven to resolve to reach Christ. However, these resolutions are not conditions of the covenant; the only condition is to come to Christ, not to be afflicted, not to focus on seeing your sins—just to come.
2. It also follows that no man or woman whom God is leading to come to Christ needs to trouble themselves about the degree or duration of their humiliation. Many people criticize preaching that emphasises humility, calling it "legalistic," when it is said that one must be humbled before coming to Christ. I know of no preacher who insists that people must first be under the law for a certain length of time before they can come to Christ. But if you want to know what degree of humility is necessary, it is simply this: as much as will bring you to Christ—enough to stir your heart to resolve to overcome all difficulties to reach Him.
Once you have this, you need not be concerned about the time or depth of your humility. Do not worry about whether you have been humbled as long or as deeply as someone else. If you come to Christ, that is enough.
For if I come to Christ, I must know what I am coming for—a pardon.
A pardon for what? For my sin, for the sin that condemns me. There
must be a sense of this, and if you come this far, you need not trouble yourself about the degree or length of your humiliation. God will accept your coming. Once you come to Him, God will not ask, "But friend, how much have you been humbled in your coming?" God knows the difficulties you have passed through. He knows that you would never have valued Christ unless you had first understood the misery of being without Him. But God will not reproach you for that —He will welcome you when you come. Let the sinner be what he may, Christ will receive him.
3. This helps us understand how to come to Christ. You may ask, "Come to Christ, but how shall I know that I have any right to come to Him?" This very point answers the question: nothing is required but coming. The only thing that has ever given any soul, from the beginning of the world, an interest in Christ is simply coming to Him. Your coming to Christ gives you the right to Jesus Christ. If the grace of God leads you to come, that very act of coming gives you an interest and right in Him, even if you had none before. There is no other right or claim to Christ except God's offering of Him to you in the Gospel, and your coming to Him.
But now (for it would be a pity to let this pass), some might think, "Won't this lead to looseness and carelessness, to say that nothing is required but coming to Christ?" I know this truth is often abused in many ways. When we preach the Gospel, if at any time we preach about the miserable condition of men to humble them, some will say it's a contradiction. But I ask you to be careful of these vain-spirited people who do not seek Jesus Christ in the way of the Gospel.
Though it may be due to their weakness or the corruption of their hearts that they do not see the way of the Gospel, they will come to young people and weak Christians and claim there is a contradiction.
However, things that may seem contradictory are actually very much
in agreement. If we tried to judge the Scriptures with limited understanding, we would think they contradict themselves. But those who are well-versed in Scripture and understand God's mind can reconcile these things, even when others believe them to be at odds.
For example, in Paul's letter to the Romans, he says we are justified by faith without the works of the Law. Yet James says we are justified by works. A stranger might think these statements contradict each other, but those familiar with the way of Scripture can understand how they fit together. Similarly, those who accuse the preaching of God's ministers of contradiction are strangers to the way of the Gospel. If they truly understood the Gospel, they would know how to bring harmony to such things, instead of misleading young and weak believers into thinking there is a contradiction.
Therefore, I affirm, and hope we will always affirm, that the condition of the Gospel is only to come. The weight of our souls and eternal estates lies not in our humbling, but in coming to Jesus
Christ. Do not say this leads to looseness, for the soul that sees Christ as the glorious Mediator who comes to save, this very sight of Christ has great power to sanctify the heart. When I see Christ, I understand that I have to deal with God, and that I need a Mediator between God and me, for my sins have made such a breach between God and my soul. This truth does not lead to carelessness.
As explained before, coming implies moving from one condition to another. It also means that my heart must be taken off from the world, from my lusts, and from my corruptions. Coming to Christ implies this. Furthermore, when I consider the purpose of my coming, what my soul seeks, it is to be saved from the power of sin, as well as from the guilt of sin. I come to Christ as the source of all my happiness, for life, grace, and all good. I come to Him that I may
live in Him, and that I may live for God through Him. Certainly, to say that Christ requires only coming to Him does not lead to looseness. I come to Christ to commit my whole soul to Him. Is this not a sanctifying grace? Indeed, to preach that you may come to Christ and no more pleases Libertines, but when we understand the way of the Gospel, we know we must first understand what it means to come, then know that we must leave something behind. We must come to Him for life, for salvation, for union with God the Father, and for everlasting communion with Him. This leaves no room for looseness, but rather establishes the true condition of the Gospel, in the way of the soul's coming to Christ.
4. It follows from this that the weakest and smallest degree of faith will give us an interest in Christ, because nothing but coming to Him is required. It is not "run to me," or "come strongly to me," but simply come. If I can get to Him, even if I am crawling, even if I come in the weakest, poorest way imaginable, that is enough. By coming and closing with Christ, the soul finds rest. If the condition for receiving a pardon is to be at a certain place, then whether one arrives walking, crawling, or on hands and knees due to weakness, they will still receive the promised pardon. Similarly, even if the soul comes to Christ creeping with great weakness, that very act gives it an interest in Christ. It is not the strength or degree of faith and confidence that matters.
Some poor, weak Christians may be troubled by this, thinking they lack the confidence and assurance that others seem to have. They may be filled with doubts and fears. But understand this: it is not the strength or degree of faith that is required in coming to Christ, but simply the act of coming. "Come to me," Christ says, even if you come trembling, shaking, or filled with fear. If you come to Christ, even with all your doubts and uncertainties, you will find rest.
5. It follows from this that the work of faith, and the bringing of true rest to the soul, is a supernatural work. It involves coming to Christ, which means looking beyond ourselves, towards a righteousness that is not our own. It is about leaving behind our own righteousness, not resting in it, nor confiding in what we have, are, or can be enabled to do by the power of God. The way in which the soul finds rest in Christ by faith is supernatural because it requires the soul to deny itself—whatever it has, whatever it does, or whatever it can be enabled to do by the power of God. The soul does not rest upon anything within itself, or even upon anything that God's infinite power enables it to do; instead, it rests in Christ alone. Therefore, this coming to Christ means going out of ourselves, which is a supernatural act. Nothing is more natural to mankind than to rely on oneself, to want control over one's own situation, to lean upon some sense of worthiness or goodness within oneself. This is the most natural inclination of a rational creature—to rest upon something it does to make peace with God and be counted righteous before Him.
It is a mighty work of God to strip the heart of this self-reliance. The heart might acknowledge that it can do nothing of itself but that it does everything by the grace of God. Yet for the heart not to rest even in this grace-driven righteousness within itself, but instead to go beyond it and rest only in Christ, is the hardest thing in the world.
Though people may be convinced intellectually that they should not rest in themselves, actually moving beyond this and looking for rest in Christ alone is extremely difficult. This is what makes the work of faith the hardest thing in the world—it leads the soul out of itself, away from its own foundation and principles. The misunderstanding of this truth has been the undoing of thousands who live under the sound of the Gospel. They reform their lives to some degree and think they are capable of good works, yet they rest in that, failing to look outside themselves for true rest in Christ.
Question. You might ask, "What? Should we not rest upon what we do and are enabled to do by God's grace? Isn't faith itself a resting upon Christ?"
Answer. No. You must observe this: in your coming to Christ, you must not rest upon your coming but upon Christ Himself. Even here, there can be deceit. Some rest upon works of humiliation, upon mourning for sin or reforming their lives, and they think this is their rest and peace. Others go further and say they must believe in Christ, yet they rest upon their believing and not upon the object of their belief, which is Christ. We must be careful not to rest in our coming to Christ or even in our believing, but rather rest fully and entirely in Christ alone. This is why faith is a supernatural grace—because it takes us away from reliance on ourselves and brings us to rest entirely in Christ.
6. From this, it also follows that faith is a humbling grace. It must humble the soul wherever it is, for it is the greatest form of selfdenial in the world. For a creature to be willing to rely on free grace and to be so emptied of itself as to acknowledge there is no worthiness or goodness in it at all, and yet to be content to live eternally upon mere alms—this is the ultimate act of self-denial and the ultimate glorification of God. Is there anything harder for any of you than to live as a beggar all your days, dependent on others for everything? For the soul to be emptied of itself and to live eternally upon mere alms, upon nothing but free grace, depending entirely on a source of life outside itself, is a mighty work of humility and selfdenial.
This is why, in Romans 10:3, it says of the Jews: "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God." This plainly shows that resting on God's righteousness by faith requires the heart to submit, to lay itself down and humble itself. This is why the Lord humbles the spirits of men and women when He brings them to Christ, because coming to Christ is an act of the greatest self-denial, where the heart is emptied of its own pride.
It is hard for people to live without some sense of their own worth, to live without a "stock" of their own, but in Christ, we must live on what He provides alone.
Indeed, in this humility, man becomes more humble than Adam in his innocence. Adam had a "stock" of grace in his own hand, a principle of life that God gave him to live by. But now, in the second
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the situation is different. Our life, our "stock" of grace, is not in our hands but in Christ's. He holds it all, and because of this, our life is better and safer than Adam's ever was.
We cannot fall from God because the principle of life is no longer within ourselves but within Christ. This is a great mystery, one that we can only glimpse in the Word of God.
7. If nothing is required but to come, then another consequence follows from this, namely, that believers who come to Christ should learn to be willing to do and suffer much for Christ after they come.
This is because nothing was required of them for the pardon of their sins but simply to come. I strengthen this inference as follows: if God had said, "I have sent a mediator to pacify my wrath and pardon your sins, but before you come to rest, I require you to suffer for so many hundred years in torment," and that suffering was a preparation for coming, then after enduring such suffering, you would receive rest.
Suppose this had been the condition of the covenant. We would all have reason to fall on our faces and bless His great name, thankful to have peace on any terms. We would have been not only willing to
accept these terms but also to magnify God's grace that we could be saved at last.
But the Lord has not required that we suffer such hardships before coming to Christ. Rather, He calls upon us to come first, requiring nothing before. Therefore, before we can serve the Lord in any way,
He first accepts us, pardons us, heals us, makes us His own, takes us as His children, and makes us heirs of heaven and eternal life—all of this before we have ever been able to serve Him. What infinite grace of God is this! How graciously He goes ahead of us! He calls the greatest sinner, burdened by sin, and says, "I require nothing before receiving you in mercy—simply come and cast your soul upon me."
You may say, "Lord! We who have been guilty of so many sins for so many years—might it not be just that God should require us to live for many years to His honour and service before pardoning us?" No, says God. "I will receive you and accept you upon your coming, before you are able to do me any service." No, says God, "Come to me, and you shall have my favour first, you shall be accepted and pardoned first. Then, indeed, I expect service from you. Then I expect you to live as the redeemed ones of the Lord, and all that you do afterward will be an act of thankfulness to me for my grace."
And indeed, this is how believers live in the world. Though they see their actions as duties, they do them in gratitude. The grace of God in His Son is the driving force behind all the duties God now requires of them—much more so than before. God does not call upon you to suffer first and then pardon your sin. No, says God, "I will bestow my favour first upon you, and then I will test whether you will suffer for me and serve me." He does not behave as men do, who test whether someone will suffer and deserve their favour before bestowing it. No, says God, "I will first bestow my favours upon you, and then I will see
if you will suffer for me and serve me." Therefore, the less God requires as a condition before we come to Christ, the more willing we should be to do for God after we come to Christ.
It is like a man who receives a poor child into his family and makes him his heir. The less the child did to earn the man's favour, the more, if the child is truly grateful, he will do in thankfulness. If the child's friends had bargained with the man, promising him a hundred pounds, the child would not feel so indebted to his master.
But if the child was found at the door, with no friend to look after him and not a rag to wear, and the man took him in, taught him his trade, and made him heir to all he possessed—oh! How infinitely indebted the child would be, knowing his master had done all this for him without anything being done to earn his love. Thus, Jesus Christ is gracious to us, saying, "Come to me—only come, and you will have rest."
8. From this, another important lesson arises. Since nothing is required but to come to Christ, we have a strong ground for assurance that those who are once in Christ will never be cast away but will have eternal life. The distance between eternal life and the members of Christ is not as great as the distance between someone in their natural state and being made a member of Christ. Now, God has done more for you in bringing you to Christ than He will do when He brings you to heaven. There is a greater distance between you and Christ than there is between you, as a member of Christ, and a glorified saint in heaven. If God brought you over this great distance, purely by free grace and requiring nothing but your coming, now that you are a member of Christ, surely He will not shut you out of heaven. You now have the right to heaven through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and God has placed a principle of life within you to live for Jesus Christ—an everlasting principle of life,
when before there was none. If God has brought you to Christ purely by free grace, surely He will not cast you out of heaven.
This should be a tremendous encouragement. If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to Christ, how much more shall we be saved by His life? If, when I was in the gall of bitterness and bound by iniquity, God gave me mercy upon coming to His Son, surely He will not cast me out of heaven.
9. Another lesson from this is that if believers, through negligence, sluggishness, or failure, lose the assurance of God's love in Christ, lose their rest in Christ, they have here a direction on what to do.
Consider how you first found rest in Christ. It was not through your own righteousness, nor through your humiliation (though that may have paved the way). So, now, as a believer, when you have lost the assurance of Christ's love and the comfort of rest in Him, you must return the same way again. Christ calls even those who are already believers to come to Him. If you have lost the assurance of faith, the way to regain rest is to renew the act of coming to Christ, just as you did before. Though God humbled you, what truly brought you rest was coming to Jesus Christ. So, all the more now, as a believer, when you lack the rest in Christ you desire, renew your act of coming to Him. You will regain your rest more quickly and securely this way than by focusing on whether your evidences of grace are valid, or questioning whether your humiliation and sanctification are genuine. Renewing your act of faith in coming to Christ will restore your rest sooner and more safely, and through it, you will also see your sanctification more clearly.
Thus, the renewal of faith brings rest, just as it did in your first conversion.