Chapter 22: Nine means to draw sinners to Christ
Chapter 22 Nine means to draw sinners to Christ, namely:
1. He who calls us is the Son of God.
2. He is our near kinsman (in which three strong arguments are included: first, the terror of God's glory is removed; second, He is infinitely inclined to do good to the sons of men; third, in uniting the divine nature with the human, He has done a greater work than saving a soul).
3. He is the mediator.
4. He deserves that we should come to Him.
5. The soul gains infinite good by coming to Christ, illustrated by four particulars.
6. We are miserable in ourselves.
7. Christ will certainly receive those who come to Him, which is explained in three particulars.
8. We stand in great need of Christ.
9. Not coming to Christ will aggravate all other sins.
With answers to some objections.
Now, we come to the second part of the text: the invitation itself, where we focus on drawing the hearts of sinners to come to Christ.
The task before us is found in Luke 14:17, where He sent His servants at supper time to say to those who had been invited, "Come, for everything is now ready." There, the gospel is presented to us as a great man making a wedding supper. After preparing all the rich foods, he sends his servants to invite the guests, saying that all is ready. This wedding feast represents the excellent things in the Gospel, the excellent things in Christ. The servants are the ministers
of the Gospel, sent out to call sinners, the guests, to come because everything is prepared.
So, in the name of Christ, I call to all burdened sinners to come to Him. And to draw the souls of those burdened sinners, several things must be considered:
ARGUMENT I
First, consider who Christ is who calls us. "Come to me," says Christ.
What is Jesus Christ like, who calls you to come to Him? The very knowledge of who He is would be a powerful argument to move your heart to come to Him. He who calls you is the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, the brightness of the glory of God, and the exact image of His person, as described in Hebrews 1:3. He is equal with the Father and possesses the glory of the Father. He is the glory of heaven and earth, adored by angels, and in Him resides the fullness of all good things.
If a great prince were to call to you in the street and say, "Come to me," wouldn't you quickly make your way towards him? When Christ calls you, it is far greater than if all the angels in heaven were to call you. Once the soul understands who it is that calls—recognising
Christ's voice and knowing who He is—this becomes a powerful argument to draw the soul towards Him.
But you might say, "Alas, Christ is so glorious, how can I come to Him? His glory is enough to overwhelm me!" When angels appeared in their glory, even prophets and holy men were unable to stand before them. How, then, can we come to Christ given His glory?
To answer this, know secondly that while Christ is indeed glorious— the radiance of heaven—He has taken our nature upon Himself. He has clothed Himself in our humanity, becoming united to us in a
hypostatic union, so that He is the same person as the second person of the Trinity. This is the greatest mystery in the world. It is the greatest work God has ever done—far greater than creating heaven and earth— to unite our human nature with His Son. This is what
God has done: Christ, who calls you to come to Him, is not only God, blessed forever, equal with the Father and full of glory, but He is also your kinsman. He is your near kinsman, having taken on your flesh.
Now, if you had a near relative who had become the emperor of all the world, and he called you, saying, "Come to me," would you not immediately rush to him? Jesus Christ has your nature with Him in heaven, united in hypostatic union with the divine nature. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, as we read in Colossians 2:9. This is the One who calls you to come to Him.
Certainly, there are great things in Him and great things to be received from Him, as we shall soon see.
Now, consider this particular truth: who Christ is that calls you to come to Him. In considering this, there are two or three very strong arguments that should persuade the soul to come to Christ.
Firstly, the terror of God's glory is taken away. Although Christ is full of glory, He has come near to us in His humanity. The majestic and overwhelming glory of God, which would otherwise crush us, has been mediated by Christ's incarnation, making Him approachable.
Secondly, Christ is infinitely inclined to do good to the sons of men.
In taking on our nature, He demonstrates His deep love and commitment to our welfare, showing that He is not a distant deity, but a compassionate Saviour, willing and able to bring blessing to those who come to Him.
Thirdly, in uniting the divine and human natures, Christ has performed a greater work than simply saving a soul. His incarnation is the most profound act of God—greater than creation itself—since it brings together the divine and human in one person for the purpose of redeeming and elevating humanity. If God has done this incredible work, how much more is He willing to save the soul that comes to Him?
First, in that Christ is the Son of God, and yet also man—God and man united—hence the terror of the glory of God is removed, allowing poor wretched flesh to converse with God, since His divinity is veiled in our own nature, with God being veiled in flesh. It is true, if God in His own glory, as He is in Himself in the highest heavens, were to call us to come to Him, we might fear being overwhelmed by His glory. We cannot stand before Him; we cannot even look upon the glory of the sun, so how could we stand before the glory of God?
Could we approach the sun itself? No, it would consume us. So how can we approach the glory of God? Now, because the Lord knows that His glory is so great, He has graciously provided a way to remove the terror of His greatness. Although we are frail flesh, the Lord has done what should encourage us to come to Him: He has veiled His glory with human nature. Through Christ, we are now able to stand before and converse with the infinitely glorious God. This is a profound mystery—the greatest—that God has taken on our flesh and veiled His glory with it, so that His terror might be removed, enabling us to come to Him. One key purpose of Christ becoming man was so that the Lord might deal with us in a more familiar way than would otherwise be possible.
Secondly, in that Christ, who is God and man in one person, calls us to come to Him, we can draw this meditation: that certainly, the Lord is infinitely inclined to do good to the children of men. This is a
mighty encouragement for all poor souls to come to Christ. When you hear that Christ, the Son of God, is also man in one person, you can conclude that God is infinitely inclined to do good to the children of men. God would never have performed such a remarkable work— uniting our nature with His Son—if He did not intend to do some infinite good for humankind. The Lord has provided a clear demonstration of this by uniting human nature with His own Son. It is as if a king were to marry his son to one who is your closest relative. You would naturally conclude, and all your family and friends would agree, that the king intends great good for your family and is strongly inclined to favour you. So, when God is pleased to unite His Son with our flesh—taking our nature into an even closer union than that between husband and wife—we can infer that God intends much good for the children of men. Therefore, come to Him.
Thirdly, from considering who Christ is—God manifested in the flesh—we can find this encouragement to come to Him: that the Lord, in uniting the divine and human natures in Christ, has already done a greater work for the children of men than the mere saving of their souls. The saving of your soul is a difficult work. You may think,
Alas! For me to come and expect to be saved by Christ—this is too great a thing, too good to be true. It is not possible that such a poor sinner as I should be raised to the glory described in the Word, the glory to which God will raise His saints. You may think that the salvation of your soul is so great and mighty a thing that it discourages you from coming. But when you hear what Christ is, and how God has united the divine and human natures together in one person, you can take this encouragement: that God has already done a greater work than merely saving your soul. Indeed, it is a greater work for God to unite the divine and human natures in one person than it is to save all the souls in the world.
It is as if Christ were to say, Oh, come to me. Know who I am. I am the Son of the Father, of the same nature and being, and I am also made man. God the Father has united my divine nature with your flesh, and in doing this, He has accomplished a greater work than the saving of your souls. In this, He has revealed His intentions for the good of mankind, and in this, the terror of the Almighty is removed. Therefore, come to me.
This is the first argument: come to Christ.
ARGUMENT II.
Secondly, come to Christ. Why? Because Christ has already come to you. Do you come to Him, for He has come to you. In order to come to you, Christ even came from the bosom of the Father, and for a time was willing to have His glory eclipsed by coming into this world, taking the form of a servant, and living in a lowly condition here on earth. Christ has endured more in coming to you than you could ever endure in going to Him. He was content to come from the Father to you—what is it that you must leave behind in order to come to Him?
In the Book of the Canticles, Christ is described as "leaping over the mountains," overcoming all obstacles to come to you. If you think there are difficulties in your way to Christ, remember that there were far greater difficulties in His way when He came to you. Yet, whatever stood in the way, He resolved to go through it all, and He did come and live in the world, in the flesh, to save you. Now, He who has come to you calls you to come to Him.
ARGUMENT III.
Thirdly, you must understand that Christ is the great Mediator who stands between God and the children of men. He has undertaken the greatest work ever known in the world—to mediate between the infinitely offended God and your sinful, wretched soul. Your sins
have created such an infinite distance between you and God that it would have been impossible for you to ever come to Him without this
Mediator. This is an argument of great importance if rightly understood and thoroughly considered: the vast distance that sin has created between God and sinful creatures means that no one can come to God except through the glorious Mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is both God and man. He was appointed by God the Father as the Head of the second covenant, and He has undertaken to make up for all the wrongs your sins have caused to God, to pacify
His wrath, and to satisfy His justice. He is the One who has undertaken to make peace between the Father and you, and now He calls you to come to Him.
If there were a group of prisoners in danger of death, and someone came to the prince to mediate for them—to make peace between the prince and them—and they knew that this mediator was the prince's only son, the delight of his heart, sent by the prince himself to make peace and plead on their behalf, and if this son came to the prison doors and called to the prisoners lying in their dungeon, saying, Rise and come to me, listen to what I bring to you, follow my direction, and peace will be made between the prince and you. You shall have pardon, you shall have your lives, would this not stir them to listen eagerly and come to him at once?
In the same way, Christ has come into the world for this very purpose. God the Father sent Him to be the Mediator between Himself and poor, wretched, sinful creatures like you. Now, He comes to you and calls, Come to me. If you truly understood who Christ is and what His work in coming into the world was, it would powerfully draw your heart to Him when He calls.
ARGUMENT IV.
Fourthly, Come to me, says Christ, for if anyone deserves to be listened to and followed when He calls, it is certainly I. For I have not only undertaken to be a Mediator, but it has cost me my blood. I have demonstrated such love for you that I laid down my life for you. I shed my most precious blood and was willing to become a curse—all for the sake of saving your soul. My love for you has been greater than my love for my own life, for I laid down my life for you. Yes, I undertook to mediate between my Father and you, but it has cost me dearly. Yet, out of love for you, I have done this. All my blood is shed, the work is done, the price is paid. Come to me that you may have life.
This is the meaning of the parable mentioned before, where the servant is sent to invite guests to the feast, for all things are ready. So here, Christ has completed the work—the greatest work that ever was or ever shall be undertaken in the world. Christ says, Come to me, for the work is finished. Our forefathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob— did not have this argument to draw them. Christ could not say to them, Come to me, for I have laid down my life for you, shed my blood for you, and paid the price already for you. I have purchased your souls, and the work is finished. But now, this argument is yours to draw your heart to Christ, for the work is finished. The greatest work that ever was, or ever will be, is completed. And upon the completion of this work, Christ calls you to Himself, saying, Come to me.
ARGUMENT V.
Fifthly, consider the infinite good that your souls shall receive by coming to Christ. This indeed draws the heart, not only because of who it is that calls you—(as commonly, when we hear someone call, we ask who it is, and if it is someone from whom we expect good, we
are more willing to go)—but also because of the infinite good that your souls shall gain when you come to Him. The very first moment you come to Christ, you will be blessed creatures, and there will be an infinite change in your condition. Consider these points:
First, if there is any good to be had in all the mercy that is in God Himself—if there is any good to be had in God the Father, in the divine essence, in the infinite and eternal first-being of all things—it is to be had by coming to Christ. For Christ says in John 14:6, No man comes to the Father but by me. You cannot come to God except through Christ. As mentioned before, the distance between God and us due to sin is such that you cannot come to God until you recognise that Christ is the great means of conveying all good from God to His creatures. Christ is the great channel through which all good comes to us. The Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 3:23, All things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Everything belongs to God, but how does it become ours? All things are yours because you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
While others may seek mercy from God by going directly to Him, thinking that if they ever receive any good, it must come straight from God, they fail to recognise the necessary mediator. All things are indeed God's, but they are also yours because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. In other words, God is the infinite fountain of all good, and Christ is the cistern into which all the mercy and goodness of God is conveyed. Believers, by faith, each have a conduit, so to speak, that connects them to this cistern, allowing them to receive all the fullness of divine grace. They are united with Christ, and through Him, all mercy flows from God to them.
This is a strong argument to draw your heart to Christ because He is the great means by which all good from God is conveyed to your soul.
Is not the mercy of God sweet to a soul burdened by sin? This mercy is found only in Christ, for without Him, you will never taste even a drop of it. Because of our sins, the channel of all God's mercy is blocked, and no amount of crying out for mercy can open it. No, it is
Christ alone who can open this conduit of God's infinite grace to pour out upon the children of men.
When we consider God's grace, we must first understand that our sins have blocked the flow of His mercy. Christ is the only One who can unblock this channel. He says, Come to me, all you who desire mercy. Do you desire mercy? Yes, it is true that we desire mercy, but we find that our sins have blocked God's mercy. Christ, however, invites us, saying, Come to me, for through me, all the sluices of God's grace and mercy will be opened to your soul.
We know that God is a God of mercy, the God of all consolation (2 Corinthians 1:3), the Father of mercies. He is infinitely merciful, so when we come to God, we come to the God of mercy, the God of all comfort, to Him who is infinite in mercy, whose very nature is mercy.
Compared to Him, all the merciful creatures in heaven and earth are nothing. Imagine if all the merciful saints in the world, with their most compassionate dispositions, were combined into one person.
You would say, "This is a truly merciful person." Now, if all the mercy in all the hearts of every saint that ever lived were concentrated in one man, would you not think him to be exceedingly merciful? If such a person called you to come to him for mercy, would you not come? Yet, even such a man would be cruel in comparison to the infinite mercy that resides in God.
If we were in great distress and turned to someone renowned for their mercy, we would be relieved to fall into such a compassionate person's hands. But as a poor troubled sinner, if you come to Christ,
you come into the arms, into the very heart of the infinite God, who is far more merciful than all the combined mercies of heaven and earth. Therefore, come to Him.
Secondly: Furthermore, not only do you come unto the bowels of mercy, but by coming to Christ, you come to God as a Father. Come to me, saith Christ, and not only shall you come to the Father, but the very first moment you come to me, I will present you to God as His child, and God to you as your Father. The infinite God is a deadly enemy to all who are outside of Christ, but by coming to Christ, there is peace with Him. You come to have union with Him, to be made one with God, entering into the nearest union with God—second only to the hypostatic union.
There are various sorts of union with God. The hypostatic union is one, but next to that is the mystical union, which the saints enjoy.
The soul, which was formerly an enemy to God and cast out from Him, the very first moment it comes to Christ, enters into this mystical union with God—a union as close as any creature can have, second only to the human nature of Jesus Christ.
Thirdly: Yes, not only will you be united to Him, but you will also immediately have His image stamped upon you, His Spirit placed within you, enabling you to live the life of God. You will have communion with Him here and be saved. The very moment you come to Him, you will receive righteousness to stand in the presence of the infinitely holy God.
You may say, If we come to God by Christ, how can we stand before Him, being sinners and He a righteous God? This is answered thus:
The first moment you come to Christ, He will clothe you in the holy robes of His righteousness, which will make you able to stand before the infinite God. Whatever you are in yourself, it is impossible for
God not to be well pleased with you, and to take delight in you as His own. You may walk freely in the presence of God, for He sees you clothed in the robes of Christ's righteousness.
Fourthly: Furthermore, the very moment you come to Christ, you will be safe for eternity. All risk of eternal loss is over the instant you come to Christ. This is the assurance you have in the first moment of coming to Jesus Christ, and it is a great comfort for those who come to Him. More of these particulars shall be discussed when we come to the promise given in the text: And you shall have rest.
ARGUMENT VI.
Sixthly, for a further argument to draw the heart unto Jesus Christ when He calls you to come to Him, consider what a poor wretch you are in yourself: a vile, base, forlorn, deformed, miserable, helpless, and shiftless creature—a beggar. If a prince, as he walks along the streets, were to see a poor beggar lying on the ground in the dirt and were pleased to call to such a creature and say, "Come to me," would it not revive his spirit? If someone were to tell him, The king, the prince, calls you, how would he stir himself? Now, you are the poorest creature in the world; never has any poor creature lying in the dirt, full of sores and wounds, been in a worse condition than you. When you see such a one, think that your condition is far worse than his.
If the king, dressed in his robes, were on his way to Parliament and saw such a poor creature lying by the walls, took special notice of him, and called him to come, saying, Let that poor creature come to me, it would encourage him exceedingly. This invitation from Christ is just the same, for the Lord Jesus Christ sees you lying in your own gore and blood, as described in Ezekiel 16, where the miserable condition of those in their natural state is so eloquently set forth.
They lay in their blood, and no one pitied them, but then God says, I came and said unto thee, "Live," and this time was the time of love.
So when you lie in your poor, wretched, miserable condition—in your filth, in your baseness, in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity
—this blessed Redeemer, this great Prince of all the world, calls to you and says, Oh, you poor creature, come to me.
You might say, "This is the very thing that discourages me. I would be glad to go to Christ; the Lord knows my soul longs to go to Christ, but I am such a poor, vile creature—so wretched and miserable—that it is impossible for me to be accepted." You tell me this is an argument, but it is the greatest discouragement to my heart because I am so vile and wretched. This is what discourages me from coming to Christ.
ARGUMENT VII.
To that, I answer, seventhly: Come to me, and I will certainly receive you, whatever you are. Christ will surely receive all those who come to Him, whatever their condition. For this, consider three things that make it plain.
First, the solemn expression of Christ for this purpose, which you find in John 6:37: All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. He does not say, he who has been such a great sinner, such a vile, wretched sinner, but He speaks indefinitely: he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Now, what is translated in your Bibles as "in no wise cast out" has even greater force in the Greek. There are two negatives used, and while in English two negatives may form an affirmative, in Greek, they strengthen the affirmation. So, it may be read as: He who comes to me, I will not, I will not cast out, as if Christ were saying,
He who comes to me, I will not, I will not cast out. Just as we, when
expressing the fervency of our spirits, might repeat our words, so Christ, to express the fervency of His spirit, doubles His statement:
He who comes to me, I will not, I will not cast out.
Secondly, whoever you are, upon coming to Him, He will not cast you off, for this was the very purpose for which Christ came into the world: to receive poor, troubled souls and to ease poor, burdened sinners. This was the very reason Christ came into the world; it is the work that God the Father sent His Son into the world to do: to receive such poor, wretched, sinful creatures as you are. If He were not to receive those who come to Him, He would lose the very purpose for which He came into the world. Therefore, He will receive you when you come because, otherwise, Christ would lose the purpose of the greatest work ever done since the beginning of the world or that will ever be done throughout eternity: His work of mediation between God and you. If Christ did not receive poor souls that come to Him, that great work would be in vain—the work in which both the Father and the Son are glorified. Indeed, this is
Christ's glory, and He saw so much glory in this that it moved Him to come into the world and take such a course as this to save souls.
Christ knows that He will be magnified for all eternity by angels for saving souls like yours. Furthermore, Christ knows that the Father will love Him even more for it, for He says, The Father loves me, because I lay down my life for the sheep (John 10:17). This is what delights the Father; it is this that makes God the Father delight in the Son. It is by this that Jesus Christ achieves the very purpose of His death. Until He laid down His life and made His soul an offering for sin, He was not satisfied. This is what satisfies Him: that He should see His seed, and among them, you are one. You who come to Christ are part of the seed that satisfies Jesus Christ so fully that He gains the very purpose for which He laid down His life for you. Certainly,
Christ will not cast you off but will receive you. Therefore, come to Him.
Thirdly, He will receive you, for He has previously received wretches as vile as you are.
You may say, "There was never anyone as vile as we are." It is true that we ought to judge ourselves as vile as the worst. Though we may not have committed such outward sins as others, because we do not know the hearts of other men, nor do we know what means others have had, we should judge ourselves as vile as any. But know that Christ has received others as bad as you. Those who pierced Christ, those who shed His blood—Christ received three thousand of them in one day. He received three thousand of those who had stained their hands with His blood, and the account stands in Scripture as an everlasting monument to encourage poor sinners to come to Christ.
Moreover, though you are a vile sinner and a wretched creature, know that the greater you have been in sin, the more the grace of God in Christ will be magnified. Certainly, there is such grace in Christ that it can swallow up great sins as well as little ones—just as the infinite ocean can swallow up great vessels as easily as small ones. Would it not be a foolish thing, when casting a vessel into the sea, to say it is too great a vessel? God is willing to have His grace magnified in you, even if it means the hardening of many thousands.
If there is an infinite ocean in God to swallow up both great and small sins, then, as long as this keeps you from coming to Christ, you dishonour the infinite grace of God in Christ.
If God's mercy were only like His common bounty toward other creatures, this might keep you away. But now, since it is the infinite ocean of mercy in His Son, purchased by Christ, it is an infinite dishonour to the grace of God in Christ to stand on ceremony and
refuse to come. What do you think mercy is worth, when it cost the blood of Christ? You think you are a great sinner, and that it will require extraordinary mercy to save your soul. That is true, and it is good that you think so. But consider further, sinner—what do you think of mercy that is worth as much as the blood of the Son of God?
Is it sufficient for Him to be made a curse for sinners? If so, you may come to Him.
How much do you think the mercy of Christ's coming to take man's nature upon Himself is worth? If He will do that, you may come to Christ. Yea, further, know that the Lord Jesus Christ never receives anyone who comes to Him except beggars—none but beggars, none but miserable creatures, none but those who are wretched and vile.
Christ has never yet, from the beginning of the world, received any man based on the idea that he was not as vile as another man. Christ does not say, "Here is one who is vile, but here is another who is not so vile, so I will receive him on this ground, because he is not as bad."
That has never been the basis. When He receives them, He does so by free grace, and therefore it does not matter how vile you are. For this is the glory of Christ: to save vile creatures. He saves none but those who come as beggars, those who see themselves as vile, wretched, worthless, unworthy, miserable, damned dust and ashes.
Only such are the proper objects for the heart of Christ to rest upon.
Rather, make your vileness an argument to drive you more to Him, as David did in Psalm 25: O Lord, have mercy upon me, pardon my sin, for it is great. Likewise, say, Lord, I am vile, I am wretched, I am unworthy. Therefore, Lord, receive me; Lord, I come unto Thee.
Do not say, as Peter once did, Master, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. No, rather, you should say, Master, come to me or Master, I come to Thee because I am a sinful man. So, you should
not say, O Lord, depart from me because I am a sinful creature, but Lord, come to me, because I am a sinful wretch.
And know that when you come to Him, you will have a wonderful welcome, far greater than anything your heart can imagine. O, the great embrace that Jesus Christ gives to the souls that come to Him!
This is the very reason why poor sinners, at their first conversion, have their hearts so filled with joy—because, at their first coming to Christ, Christ gives them such wonderful embraces until they are strengthened, and then perhaps Christ will have them live more by faith than by sense.
It is in the new birth as it is in the birth of nature: children, when they are first born, grow rapidly. A child that is small when born grows considerably in the first few months—each limb increases in size. But by the time they are ten years old, they do not grow as much as they did in the beginning. The reason is that, upon first leaving the womb, nature hastens to strengthen itself. Likewise, when people first come to Christ, they shoot up and grow quickly in spiritual enlargement, perceiving it sensibly, and others also notice their great growth at the beginning. This is because Christ strengthens them against all discouragements when they first come. Christ uses them tenderly and does not upbraid them for their former sins. He will not say, "What! You, who have lived a profane life, profaned my ordinances, scorned my ways, and scorned my people?" No, Christ will not upbraid the soul. He will be tender with you, pass by your sins, and heal your weaknesses. He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.
ARG. VIII
Eighthly: Consider further, the infinite need your soul has of Jesus Christ, and let that drive you to Him if the other arguments do not
draw you. Oh! Let this compel you to Jesus Christ: you are an undone creature forever without Him. All the mercy in Heaven can do you no good without Christ; all the ordinances can do you no good without Christ; all the duties you perform can do you no good without Christ. Before you come to Jesus Christ, none of your prayers, none of your duties, none of the services you offer to God can be accepted. This is a sad condition—that all your duties, your prayers, your services are cast away until you come to Jesus Christ.
Certainly, this is true. For you must know that Jesus Christ is not only the great conveyer of all good from God to us, but also that everything that comes to us from God must go through Him.
Therefore, there is cause for you to hasten to Christ and never be at peace until you have some comforting evidence that your heart has closed with Jesus Christ! There is an infinite necessity for this because all ordinances, duties, and services will do you no good until you come to Christ.
ARGUMENT IX
Ninthly: Furthermore, Christ is one whom all creatures will one day see a need for. Yes, all who live under the sound of the Gospel will see a need for Him, and they will curse themselves for not coming to Jesus Christ when they had the chance, instead of satisfying themselves in the lusts of their spirits. Christ came from Heaven once in the days of His flesh, but know that Jesus Christ will come again in His glory with all His angels and saints about Him. How happy will those appear who, during their lifetime, when they were called by the ministry of the Gospel, came to Jesus Christ. When
Christ comes in His glory, perhaps you will want to go to Him then.
No, my friend, if you wait until then, you will hear a different voice from Christ. He will not come to call sinners to Himself at that time; instead, He will come to tell them to depart from Him. For all that the Father gives Him will have come to Him before that time.
ARGUMENT X
Moreover, let me tell you this: while you have heard the Word of God through a poor minister, in the name of Christ calling you to come to Him, if you reject this invitation and others like it from the ministers of the Gospel, know that this will prove to be the greatest of all the sins you have ever committed in your life. This sin will aggravate all your other sins. Perhaps some of you think, "Well, this is an encouragement to sinners. We are called to Christ, and we are told that the vilest may come to Him and that Christ will receive them."
That is true, but if you reject this invitation and continue to give your heart to vanities and to the satisfaction of your sinful lusts, this invitation of Jesus Christ will be the greatest aggravation of all your sins, more so than anything you have ever committed. Your fornication, drunkenness, swearing, and all your Sabbath-breaking will not weigh as heavily against you as this one act of rejecting
Christ's call to come to Him.
Therefore, take heed not to abuse the grace of Christ in calling you to come to Him. For know this: if there were ever a sign that could indicate who is reprobate and who is not, I would point to this sign— a person who, after the grace of God has been opened to him and he is invited to come to Christ, nevertheless hardens his heart and walks away in sin. I would consider this to be one of the clearest signs of reprobation. There is no sin that hardens the heart of God more than this.
Let me give you one Scripture as evidence. In Luke 14:16-17, when God, as the master of the great feast, sends His servants to invite people to come to the wedding, it is truly the same as what I have been doing all this while—inviting poor sinners to come to Christ.
But many make excuses. Some have bought oxen, others have bought farms, and others have married wives. Well, notice what is said in
verse 24 about those who did not come despite the invitation: Verily, says God, those men that were invited shall never taste of my supper. What! says God to His servants, have you invited them to come in, and will they not come? No, they have other things on their minds—their farms, their oxen, their profits, and pleasures. What!
Will they reject such grace and favour when I invite them to come to the marriage of my Son? Verily, says God, they shall never have any benefit from Jesus Christ. Oh! What a dreadful sentence to be passed upon any soul! God forbid it should be passed upon yours. Yet, when we come to preach the grace of God in Jesus Christ, in the ministry of the Word, we cannot speak of it without trembling hearts, fearing that some will be hardened. And so God, provoked by their resistance to His grace, will say: This man, this woman, sitting there, not moved by the grace of God offered in Jesus Christ, they shall never taste of my supper.
Beloved! Sermons of mercy are quicker to affect the heart than any other sermons whatsoever. Men and women may sit under a minister of the Word, who may preach many wholesome points of divinity and many moral truths against drunkenness, swearing, profaning the Sabbath, deceit, cozening, and cheating. They may sit a long time under such a minister, and God may be patient with them even though they do not obey the voice of the minister. But when the Lord comes to invite men and women to come to His Son, then let them take heed! God expects them to fall down before that infinite grace of His, to admire it, for their hearts to be taken by it, and for them to join with Him and say, Oh Lord, we come, and our hearts do close with this bountifulness of Thine in Thy Son! The neglect of not profiting from such sermons, and casting out what they hear, letting it pass from them, does the quickest work to seal up men's hearts to condemnation: Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.
Therefore, take in what has been spoken to you and labour to work it upon your hearts.
Question: You will say, Here are many things that have been spoken to poor sinners to come to Christ. If these things are so, what is the reason that more do not come to Christ? How is it that the hearts of men and women can stand out against such offers as these?
Answer: Would you know the reason? Christ Himself gives it to you in John 6:43, after He had been inviting some to come to Him and told them that He was the bread of life. Jesus answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. There were some who murmured against Christ, and Christ's words did not prevail with them. It is no wonder, then, that the ministers of Christ do not always prevail when even Christ's own words, His own preaching, did not prevail with many. They murmured at Him, went away from His sermons, and rejected His words. In verse 44, Christ says, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
Question: You will say then, Why are you speaking all this time to exhort people to come to Him? We are dead, and you may as well speak to dead men.
Answer: The answer is this: God the Father often draws those souls that belong to His eternal election through the ministry of the Word.
Through exhortations like these, God the Father uses the ministry of men to set before poor, miserable souls the excellency of Jesus
Christ, and so to draw their souls to Him. Therefore, if you belong to God's election, God will make use of His ministry to draw your heart to come to Christ. Has God begun to draw you by the ministry of His
Word? Have you found God, through the ministry of His Word,
beginning to draw your soul? Oh, do not draw back again, as though you were loath to leave your sins, to leave such a sweet pleasure, such a profitable lust. If God has taken hold of your heart to draw you to Him, Oh, do not draw back.
Indeed, the Scripture says, Many are called, but few are chosen; few come to Christ. But you are all called to come to Christ. Oh, let not that Scripture prove true in your case: Many are called, but few are chosen. If you find God drawing your heart, and your heart is ready to answer unto the Lord, that is an argument that you are not only called, but one of the chosen ones of the Lord.
There are three ways that God the Father draws those to His Son whom He intends shall be saved forever by Him.
Firstly, He draws them by the cord (as I may say) of illumination, by enlightening their minds, by showing them who His Son is.
Secondly, He draws them by the cords of mercy.
Thirdly, He draws them by setting conscience upon them to spur them forward. When the Lord is drawing the soul to Christ, He uses the consciences of men and women to urge them to come to Christ.
Oh, wretched soul, is not what you hear in the Word the truth of God? Is it not the Word of the Lord? Have you not received a gracious offer? Is it not a mercy that you are not in hell this day? Is it not a mercy that you were not drowned at sea, but that you have been brought to land to hear one more offer to come to Christ? Will you yet go on in your sins? Will you still prize your lusts above all the infinite good that is in Jesus Christ? Do you think this will end in peace? How will you be able to look God in the face on the final day? You need mercy, and mercy you must have, or else you are
forever miserable. Will you reject this mercy? Oh, that the Lord would stir your conscience to help with this work.
I hope that through all that has been said, some illumination about Christ has been granted to you, and that some cords of mercy have been fastened upon your hearts. Now, if God would stir your conscience and give it a command to never let you be at peace until you come to His Son, until your heart is taken off from all things that hinder you from coming to His Son, what a happy thing it would be!
If God would give this command to your conscience, that many might respond to this invitation of Christ, so that when Christ says,
Come to me, all you who are heavy laden, the soul responds, Lord, I come.
Question: You may say, Suppose God has been calling me, and I have rejected Him. I was once inclined to come to Christ, but my lusts have drawn my heart back again. For you tell us that the Lord is quick to act when sinners reject His grace. Do you have any word of comfort for such as these, if they come after having abused God's grace and mercy?
Answer: I will give you one Scripture for that. Oh, that the Lord would fasten this Scripture upon your heart! In Jeremiah 3:22 it says, Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Here is the response: Behold, we come unto you, for you are the Lord our God. In the name of God, I present this
Scripture to those of you who have drawn back from the grace of God, who once were in a good spiritual condition and now are backsliders. Once more, in the name of God, I call to you: Oh, return, you backslider! The Lord Jesus Christ is ready now to heal your backslidings.