Good News For You

Good News For You
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 5, 1862, BY REV. C. H.
SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was." Luke
10:33.
THE good Samaritan is a masterly picture of true benevolence. The
Samaritan had no kinship with the Jew, he was purely of foreign origin,
yet he pities his poor neighbor. The Jews cursed the Cuthites and would
have no dealings with them, for they were intruders in their land.
There was nothing, therefore, in the object of the Samaritan's pity
that could excite his national sympathies, but everything to arouse his
prejudices, hence the grandeur of his benevolence.
It is not my intention, this morning, to indicate the delightful points
of excellence which Christ brings out in order to illustrate what true
charity will perform. I want you only to notice this one fact, that the
benevolence which the Samaritan exhibited towards this poor wounded and
half-dead man, was available benevolence. He did not say to him, "If
you will walk to Jericho, then I will bind up your wounds, pouring in
the oil and wine." Or, "If you will journey with me as far as
Jerusalem, I will then attend to your wants."
Oh, no, he came "where he was," and finding that the man could do
nothing whatever for his own assistance, the good Samaritan began with
him, then and there, upon the spot, putting no impossible conditions to
him, proposing no stipulations which the man could not perform–but
doing everything for the man, and doing it for him as he was, and where
he was.
Beloved, we are all quite aware that a charity of which a man cannot
avail himself, is no charity at all. Go among the operatives of
Lancashire and tell them that there is no necessity for any of them to
starve, for on the top of Mount St. Bernard, there are hospitable monks
who keep a refectory, where they relieve all passers-by. Tell them they
have nothing to do but to journey to the top of the Alps and there they
will find food enough. Poor souls! They feel that you mock them, for
the distance is too great.
Penetrate one of our back streets, climb up three pair of stairs into a
wretched room, so dilapidated that the stars look between the tiles.
See a poor young girl dying of consumption and poverty. Tell her, if
you dare, "If you could get to the seaside, and if you could eat so
much beef steak, you would no doubt recover." You are shamefully
laughing at her–she cannot get these things. They are beyond her
reach–she cannot journey to the seaside–she would die before she
reached it. Like the wicked, your tender mercies are cruel.
I have noticed this unavailing charity in hard winters. People give
away bread and soup tickets to poor people who are to give sixpence and
then receive soup and bread. And often I have had persons come to
me–"Sir, I have a ticket. It would be worth a great deal to me, if I
had sixpence to go with it to get the relief. But I have not a farthing
in all the world, and I cannot make out the good of giving me this
ticket at all." This is hardly charity.
Think you see Jeremiah, down in the low dungeon–if Ebedmelech and
Baruch had stood over the top of the dungeon and called out to him,
"Jeremiah, if you will get half way up, we will pull you out," when
there was not a ladder, nor any means by which he could possibly get so
far, how cruel would have been this charity. But, instead thereof, they
took old rags from under the king's treasury, and put them on ropes and
bade him put the rags under his armholes and sling his arms through the
ropes and then they pulled him up all the way. This was available
charity. The other would have been hypocritical pretense.
Brethren, if in the description of a good Samaritan, Christ describes
him as giving to this poor wounded man a charity of which he could
avail himself, does it not seem to be strongly probable–no, even
certain–that when Christ comes to deal with sinners, He gives them
available mercy–Divine Grace which may be of real service to them?
Therefore, permit me to say I do not believe in the way in which some
people pretend to preach the Gospel. They have no Gospel for sinners as
sinners, but only for those who are above the dead level of sinnership
and are technically styled sensible sinners. Like the priest in this
parable. They see the poor sinner, and they say, "He is not conscious
of his need, we cannot invite him to Christ." "He is dead," they say,
"it is of no use preaching to dead souls." So they pass by on the other
side, keeping close to the elect and quickened, but having nothing
whatever to say to the dead, lest they should make out Christ to be too
gracious and His mercy to be too free.
The Levite was not in quite such a hurry as the priest. The priest had
to preach, and might be too late for the service, and therefore he
could not stop to relieve the man. Besides, he might have soiled his
cassock, or made himself unclean. And then he would have been hardly
fit for the dainty and respectable congregation over which he
officiated.
As for the Levite, he had to read the hymns. He was a clerk in the
church, and he was somewhat in a hurry, but still he could get in after
the opening prayer, so he indulged himself with the luxury of looking
on. Just as I have known ministers say, "Well, you know we ought to
describe the sinner's state and warn him, but we must not invite him to
Christ." Yes, Gentlemen, you must pass by on the other side, after
having looked at him, for on your own confession you have no good news
for the poor wretch.
I bless my Lord and Master, He has given to me a Gospel which I can
take to dead sinners, a Gospel which is available for the vilest of the
vile. I thank my Master that He does not say to the sinner, "Come half
way and meet Me," but He comes "where he is," and finding him ruined,
lost, obdurate, He meets him on his own ground and gives him life and
peace without asking, or expecting him to prepare himself for Grace.
Here is, I think, set forth in my text, the available benevolence of
the Samaritan. It is mine this morning, to show the available Grace of
Christ.
I. The sinner is WITHOUT MORAL QUALIFICATION FOR SALVATION but Christ
comes where he is.
I want, if I can, not to talk about this as a matter having to do with
the multitude that are abroad, but with us in these pews. I speak not
of them and those, but of you and me. I want to say to every sinner,
"You are in a state in which there is nothing morally that can qualify
you for being saved, but Jesus Christ meets you where you now are."
1. Remember first, that when the Gospel was first sent into the world,
those to whom it was sent were manifestly without any moral
qualification. Did you ever read the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to
the Romans? It is one of those awful passages in Scripture, not
intended to be read in congregations, but to be read and studied in the
secrecy of one's chamber. The Apostle gives a portrait of the manners
and customs of the heathen world, so awful, that unless our
missionaries had informed us that it is exactly the photograph of life
in Hindustan at the present moment, infidels might have declared that
Paul had exaggerated.
Heathendom in the time of Paul was so desperately wicked that it would
be utterly impossible to conceive of a sin into which men had not
fallen. And yet, "We turn unto the Gentiles," said the Apostle. And the
Lord Himself commanded, "Go you into all the world, and preach the
Gospel to every creature." What? To Sodomites, whose very smallest sin
is adultery and fornication? To thieves and murderers, to murderers of
fathers and mothers? Yes, go and preach the Gospel to them!
Manifestly, the fact is that the world was steeped up to its very
throat in the filth of abominable wickedness, and yet the Gospel was
sent to it. This proves that Christ does not seek for any qualification
of morality, or righteousness in man, before the Gospel is available to
them. He sends the Word to the drunkard, to the swearer, the harlot,
the vilest of the vile. For such is the Gospel of Christ intended to
save.
2. Remember again, the Biblical descriptions of those whom Christ cared
to save in the world proves to a demonstration that He comes to the
sinner where he is. How does the Bible describe those whom Christ came
to save? As men? No, my Brethren–Christ did not come to save men as
men, but men as sinners. As sensible sinners?–No, I think not. They
are described as, "dead in trespasses and sins." But to the Law and to
the Testimony, let me read you one or two passages. And, while I read
them, I hope you may be able to say, "There is hope for me."
First, those whom Christ came to save are described in 1 Timothy 1:15
and many other places, as "sinners." "This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief." "Sinners," without any adjective
before the word. Not "awakened" sinners, not "repenting" sinners. But
sinners, as sinners. "Surely," says one, "I am not shut out." Another
account is found in Romans 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died"–for whom? Those who had some desires after
God? Some respect to His name?
No, "for the ungodly." Now, an ungodly man means a man without God, who
cares not for God. "God not in all his thoughts," and therefore he is
not what men call a "sensible sinner." The ungodly are like "the chaff
which the wind drives away." Even these are the persons that Christ
came to save. In the same chapter, 10th verse, you find them mentioned
as "enemies." "When we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son."
What do you say to this? They are not described as friends. Christ laid
down His life for His friends in one sense– "But God commends His love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Enemies to God were the objects of Divine Grace, so that in enmity
Christ comes and meets man where he is.
In Ephesians 2:1 we read of them as, "dead in trespasses and sins."
"And you have He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Christ, then, does not ask the sinner to make himself alive. The Gospel
is not only to be preached to those who have some good notions, some
good desires, some trembling of the heavenly life within, but to the
dead as dead. To the dead does Christ comes, and meets them in the
grave of their sin.
Again, Ephesians 2:3–they are "children of wrath." "We were by nature
the children of wrath even as others." Yet the Gospel came to such. Can
you see anything hopeful in a child of wrath? I ask you to look over
him from head to foot–if this is his name and character–can you see a
spot of goodness as large as a pin's point in the man? And yet such
Christ came to save.
Once again, they are mentioned as "accursed." "Ah," says one sinner, "I
have often cursed myself before God, and asked Him to curse me." Well,
Christ died for the accursed, Galatians 3:13, "Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us." That is, for us
who were under the curse. And, once more, they are described by the
dreadful word "lost." They are lost to all hope, to all consideration
for themselves. Even their own friends have given their case up as
hopeless.
"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke
19:10). If I understand those passages which I have read in your
hearing, they mean just this–that those whom Christ came to save have
no good whatever in them to co-operate towards their salvation. And
Christ does not look upon them in order to find anything that is good
in them. I am bold to say the only fitness for cleansing is filthiness.
The only fitness for a Savior is being lost. And the only character
under which we come to Jesus is as sinners, lost, dead and accursed.
3. But, thirdly, it is quite certain from the work of Divine Grace
itself, that the Lord does not expect the sinner to do anything or to
be anything in order to meet him, but that He comes to him where he is.
Look, Sinner, Christ dies on Calvary, a weight of sin is on His
shoulders, and on his heart. In agonies the most awful, He shrieks
under the desertion of His God.
For whom did He die? For the innocent? Why for the innocent? What
sacrifice did they need? For those who had some good thing in them? Why
all these agonies for such? Surely a less price might do for them if
they could eke it out themselves. But because Christ died on account of
sin, I take it that those whom He died for must be viewed as sinners
and only as such. Inasmuch as He paid a dreadful price, I gather that
they must be dreadfully in debt, and that He died for those who had
nothing to pay with.
But Christ rose again, rose again for our justification. For whose
justification? For the justification of those who were justified in
themselves? Why, this were to perform an unnecessary work! No, my
Brethren, for those who had no justification of their own, not a shadow
of any, who were condemned, utterly condemned on account of their own
works. Moreover, I hear Him by the ear of faith pleading before the
eternal Throne. Who does He plead for? For those who have something to
plead on their own account?–that were needless.
Do men give their money to the rich? Do they spend their charity on
those who do not need it? If men have something to plead for
themselves, then why does Christ plead for them? No, Brethren, He
pleads for those who have nothing whatever, that they can bring as an
argument with which to enforce their prayers. But Christ ascended and
received gifts. Who for? For those who merited rewards? No, verily, let
them get them for themselves. But He received gifts for men– yes, for
the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.
But he gives the Holy Spirit. To whom does He give the Holy Spirit? To
those that are strong, and good, and can do all themselves? O, my
Brethren, no! He gives the Holy Spirit to those that are powerless,
weak, dead. He gives the Holy Worker to those who are all unholy and
full of sin. He puts the Omnipotent Influence into those who were
slaves to the spirit of evil. Brethren, the work of Christ supposes a
lost, ruined, rebellious sinner–and so I say–Christ meets the man
where he is.
4. Yet more, for I would clear up this point before I leave it, the
godlike character of the Grace of God proves that He meets the sinner
where he is. If God forgives little sinners only, then He is little in
His mercy. If the Lord does not do something more than men can think,
then we have made too much noise about the Gospel, and have exalted the
Cross above measure. Unless there is something extraordinary in Divine
Grace, then I cannot understand such a passage as this, "As high as the
heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways above your ways, and
My thoughts above your thoughts."
I venture to say, Brethren, that many of us have thought of forgiving
our enemies. It has sometimes been our happy portion to do good to them
that hate us. Now, if God would be godlike in His Grace–and I am sure
He will–He must do something more than that. He must not only forgive
His enemies but they must be enemies of such an atrocious character
that no man would have forgiven them–
"Who is a pardoning Godlike You, Or who has Grace so rich and free?"
But where is the meaning of this boast, if the Lord merely pardons
sinners who are sensible of their sins and lament them? The marvel is
in this–that while they are yet enemies He calls them by His Grace and
invites them to mercy. Yes, more, He blots out their sins and makes
them friends–thus meeting the sinner where he is.
5. The spirit and genius of the Gospel utterly forbid the supposition
that God requires anything in any man in order to save him.
If salvation is offered to man upon a condition, they who fulfill the
condition have a claim to the blessing. This is the old Covenant of
Works. The substance of the legal Covenant is, "Do this and I will
reward you." When the man has done it, he deserves what has been
promised. Yes, and if you make the condition ever so easy, yet, mark
you, so long as it is a condition, God is bound by His own Word, the
condition being fulfilled, to give man what he has earned. This is
works and not Divine Grace.
It is debt and not free favor. But, inasmuch as the Gospel is free
favor from beginning to end, I am absolutely sure that God requires
nothing–neither good wishes, good desires, nor good feelings of a
sinner–before he may come to Christ. But that he may know that
everything is of Grace, the rebel is commanded to come just as he is,
bringing nothing, but taking everything from God, who is superabundant
in mercy, and therefore meets the sinner just where he is.
I say to the sinner, wherever you may be today, if you are without any
virtue, and if you are filled with all vice. If there are no good
points in your character. If there is everything that is bad against
man and against God in you. If you have committed every crime in the
catalog, if you have ruined your body, and damned your soul, yet still
Christ has said it–"Him that comes unto Me I will in no wise cast
out." And if you come to Him, He can no more cast you out than if you
had been the most virtuous, the most honorable, and the most devout of
all living men.
Only today believe in the mercy of God, in Christ, and cast yourself on
Him and you are saved to the praise and glory of that Divine Grace
which meets you just where you are, and saves you from sin.
II. In the second place, there are very many of the lost race of Adam
who say that they are WITHOUT ANY MENTAL QUALIFICATION. This is their
excuse–"But, Sir, I never was a scholar. I was sent out as a boy to
earn my own living, so that I never had a week's schooling. I am so
ignorant that I cannot read any book and if anybody were to ask me to
make a prayer I could not, I have not sense enough."
Now, you see the Lord Jesus meets you just where you are. And how does
He do this? Why, first, the saving act is one that requires no mental
power. Faith lays hold on eternal life. Now, a child whose faculties
are ever so little developed can believe what it is told. The child
cannot reason, cannot argue, cannot dispute, cannot spilt hairs, cannot
see a knotty point in theology, but it can believe what it is told.
Faith requires so little mental vigor or intellectual clearness, that
there have been many who were idiots in other things, who have been
made wise unto salvation by the act of faith in Christ.
You remember our Lord's own words, "I thank You, O Father, Lord of
Heaven and earth, that You have hid these things from the wise and
prudent and have revealed them unto babes." But this never could have
happened had not the act which brings us into communion with Christ
been the lowest act of the human faculty–that of simply trusting to
Christ–as the result of crediting that which is told us upon good
testimony.
But then, again, to meet this defect of mental power, remember the
singular simplicity of that which is believed. Is there anything more
simple in the world than the doctrine of the Atonement. We deserve to
die, Christ dies for us. We are in debt, Christ pays for us. Is not
this plain enough for a Ragged School child? It is so plain, that many
of our learned doctors of Divinity try to take it out of the Bible.
They think, "If this is the marrow of it all, then any fool can be a
theologian." So they kick against it.
What is Unitarianism but a stumbling at the simplicity of the Cross.
There were Unitarians who stood at the Cross when Christ died. they
said, "Let Him come down from the Cross and we will believe on Him."
That has been the Unitarian character ever since. They will receive
Jesus anywhere but on His Cross. But up there, dying in man's place, he
is so commonplace, that these great gentlemen run to philosophy and
vain deceit sooner than lay hold on that which the most common may as
fully understand as they.
Yet more. To meet any mental deficiency in man, while the Truth of God
itself is simple, it is taught in the Bible under such simple
metaphors, that none can say they cannot understand it. How simple is
the metaphor of the brazen serpent, held up before the snake-bitten
Israelites, while they are commanded to look and live? Who does not
understand that a look at Christ, who dies in the place of men, will
make them live? "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink."
Who does not understand the figure of a fountain flowing in the
streets, that every thirsty passerby may put his lips down and drink?
"Behold the Lamb of God." Who does not understand the sacrifice? Here
is a lamb killed for the sin of Israel, and so Christ dies for the sin
of those who believe in Him. The act of faith is simple, the object of
faith is plain. The metaphors make it clear, and he is without excuse
who does not understand the Gospel of Christ.
To crown all, to you, my Beloved Hearers, Christ has given you
abundance of teachers. There sits in your pew with you today a man of
your own rank and calling, who will explain to you the Gospel, if you
do not understand it. Here are many of us, who are but too glad if we
can roll away the stone from the door of your sepulcher. Here are
children of God themselves, saved by Sovereign Grace, and if you really
do not know the way, do but touch your neighbor and say to him, "Can
you explain to me yet more clearly what I must do to be saved?"
Now, this is meeting you, let your brains be the very smallest. This is
coming down to you, though you sit on the lowest step of human
intellect. Jesus Christ meets you just where you are.
III. But yet again. I think I hear another say, "I am in despair, for I
CANNOT FIND ANY REASON IN MYSELF, OR OUT OF MYSELF, WHY GOD SHOULD
FORGIVE SUCH A PERSON AS I AM."
So then, you are in a hopeless state–at least you see no hope. The
Lord meets you where you are, by putting the reason of your salvation
altogether in Himself. Shall I remind you of one or two texts which
will surely satisfy you? "I, even I, am He that blots out your
transgressions." What for? "For My own sake." He cannot pardon you for
your sake, you clearly see that. And you feel that He cannot pardon you
for other people's sake. But for "My own sake," says He, "that I may
glorify Myself." Not in you but in His own mighty breast He finds the
motive, that He may make His own mercy illustrious. For His own sake He
will do it.
Or take another–"For My name's sake, even for My name's sake, will I
defer My anger, that I cut you not off." Here it is again–for His
name's sake, as if He knew He could not find any motive, so He puts it
all on Himself. He pardons, that He may honor and glorify His own name.
Sinner, you can not say that this does not meet your case–for if you
are the most hellish good-for-nothing sinner that ever cursed God's
earth, and polluted the air you breathe, yet He can save you, for His
own sake. There is still room for you to hope. For the bigger the
sinner you are, the more glory to Him if He saves you. And if salvation
is given for a reason only in Himself, there is, therefore, a reason by
which He can save you, even you.
Remember that He puts His own design before your eyes to show you that
if you have no reason in yourself, that is no hindrance to His saving
you. What is God's design in saving men? When He brings them to Heaven,
what will be the result of it? Why, that they may love and praise His
name forever and sing, "Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in His blood, unto Him be glory." You are just the man. If you are
ever saved and brought to Heaven, oh, will you not praise His Grace?
"Yes," said one old man who had long lived in sin, "if He ever does
bring me to Heaven, He shall never hear the last of it, for I will
praise Him throughout eternity." Why, do you not see that you are the
man? You are the very man that will answer God's design, for who shall
love so much as he who has had much forgiven? And who shall praise so
loudly as he whose mighty sins have been overcome by the mighty love,
and goodness, and Grace of God? You can not say that it does not meet
you, for here is a motive and a reason–though you can find none in
yourself.
Here is another reason why God should save you–it is His own Word, the
Word of Him that cannot lie. I will bring up that text again, perhaps
there is a heart here that will be able to cast anchor on it–"Him that
comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out." You say, "But if I come, I
can see no reason why He should save me." I answer, there is a reason
in His own promise. God cannot lie. You come. He will not cast you out.
He says, "I will in no wise cast out." "But," you say, "He may for
such-and-such a reason."
Now, this is a flat contradiction. The two cannot stand. If there is
anything that is necessary in order for a soul to come, and you come
without it, yet there is the promise–and as it has no limit in it,
plead it–and the Lord will not refuse to honor His own Word. If He can
cast you out because you have not some necessary qualification, then
His Word is not true. Whoever you may be, whatever you may not be, and
whatever you may be, if you believe in Jesus Christ, there is a reason
in every attribute of God why you should be saved.
His Truth cries, "Save him, for You have said 'I will.' " His power
says, "Save him, lest the enemy deny Your might." God's wisdom pleads,
"Save him, lest men doubt Your judgment." His love says, "Save him."
His every attribute says, "Save him." And even Justice, with its hoarse
voice, cries, "Save him, for God is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, if we confess our sins."
I am trying to fish in deep waters after some of you that have long
escaped the net. I know when I have given free and full invitations,
you have said, "Ah, that cannot mean me." You are without faith in
Christ, because you think you are not fit. I will be clear of your
blood this morning. I will show you that there is no fitness wanted,
that you are commanded now to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as you
are, for Jesus Christ's Gospel is an available Gospel, and comes to you
just where you are. Without moral or mental qualification, and without
any sort of reason why He should save you, He meets you as such and
bids you trust Him.
IV. We proceed to our fourth point. "Oh," says one, "but I am WITHOUT
COURAGE. I dare not believe on Christ. I am such a timid, trembling
soul, that when I hear that others trust Christ, I think it must be
presumption. I wish I could do the same, but I cannot, I am kept under
by such a sense of sin, that I dare not. O Sir, I dare not, it would
look as if I were flying in the face of Justice if I were to dare to
trust Christ and then to rejoice in the pardon of my sin."
Very well, Christ comes to meet you where you are, by very tender
invitations. "Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he
that has no money, come you, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price." "Come unto Me, all you that labor and
are heavy laden and I will give you rest." "The Spirit and the bride
say, come. And let him that hears say, come." "And let him that is
athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely."
How sweetly He puts it to you. I do not know where more wooing words
could be found, than those the Savior uses. Will you not come when
Christ beckons, when with His loving face streaming with tears, He bids
you come to Him? What? Is an invitation from Him too little a thing for
you? O Sinner, trembling though you are, say in your soul–
"I'll to the gracious King approach,
Whose scepter pardon gives;
Perhaps He may command my touch,
And then the suppliant lives."
Knowing that you would neglect the invitation, He has put it to you in
the light of a command. "This is the commandment, that you believe on
Jesus Christ whom He has sent." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you shall be saved." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.
But he that believes not shall be damned." He thought you would say,
"Ah, but I am not fit to accept the invitation." "Well," says He, "I
will command the man to do it."
Like a poor hungry man with bread before him, who says, "Ah, it would
be presumption on my part to eat," but the king says, "Eat, Sir, or I
will punish you." What a generous and liberal command! Even the threat
itself has no anger in it. Like the mother, who, when the child is near
to die, and nothing will save it but the medicine, and the child will
not drink, she threatens the child, but only out of love to it that it
may be saved. So the Lord does add threats to commands.
For sometimes a black word will drive a soul to Christ where a bright
word would not draw it. Fears of Hell sometimes make men flee to Jesus.
The weary wing made the poor dove fly to the ark–and the thunderbolts
of God's justice are only meant to make you fly to Christ the Lord.
Beloved, once more, my Master has sweetly met your want of courage by
bringing many others, so that you may follow their example. As fowlers
sometimes have their decoys, so my Master has decoys that are to draw
others to Him. Other sinners have been saved, others He has cleansed
who did but trust Him. There was Lot. Ah, Lot! Guilty of drunkenness
and incest, and yet a saint of God. David the adulterer and murderer of
Uriah and yet washed "whiter than snow."
Manasseh the bloody persecutor, who had cut Isaiah in two, sawing him
in halves, and yet he was taken among the thorns, and God had mercy on
him. What shall I say of Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of God's
people? And the robber dying on the Cross for his crimes, and yet
saved? Sinner, if these do not induce you to come, what can overcome
your sinful diffidence? "But," says one, "you have not hit my case yet.
I am an outrageous sinner!"
Well now, I will hit it this time. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, hear the Word
of the Lord, "Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but you are washed, but
you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God."
Why, Brethren, what horrible descriptions there are here! There are
some of them so bad that when we have read the description, we wish to
forget the sin. And yet–and yet, glory be to Your Almighty Grace, O
God!–such have You saved and such You save still. O, timid Sinner, can
you not trust in Jesus after this?
Hear the Word of the Lord again in Titus 3:3-5–"For we ourselves also
were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving many lusts and
pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man
appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to His mercy He saved us."
Now, you hateful sinners, and you that hate others. You that are full
of malice and envy, here is the gate open, even for you, for the
kindness and love of God towards man appears in the Person of Christ.
Listen to another, for God's Words are more than mine, and I do hope
they will attract some of you. In Ephesians 2:1-3–"Dead in trespasses
and sins. Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now works in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with
Christ, (by Grace you are saved), and has raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." What for?
"That in the ages to come"–mark this–"He might show the exceeding
riches of His Grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."
One more passage and I will not weary your attention. O that this last
passage might comfort some of you! It is Paul who speaks in 1 Timothy
1:13, "I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor and injurious: but I
obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the Grace
of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which is in
Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying." See how he puts it from his
own experience, "and worthy of all acceptation." And therefore worthy
of yours, poor sinner, "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief."
"Ah" says one "but he would not save any more." Let me go on–"Howbeit
for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."
So that if you trust as Paul did, you shall be saved as Paul was, for
his conversion and salvation are a pattern to all those who should
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, unto life everlasting. So Sinner,
timid as you are, here Jesus meets you. O, I wish I could say a word
that would lead you poor tearful ones to look to Jesus! O, do not let
the devil tempt you to believe that you are too sinful. "He is able to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him"–
"Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream."
Fitness is not needed–do but come to Him. You are black in sin, and
you do not feel your blackness as you ought– that makes you all the
blacker. Come, then, and be clean. You are sinful, and this is your
greatest sin, that you do not repent as you ought. But come to Him and
ask Him to forgive your impenitence. Come as you are–if He rejects one
of you, I will bear the blame forever. If He casts one of you away that
shall trust Him, call me a false prophet in the day of the
resurrection. But I pawn my life upon it–I stake my own soul's
interest on this–that whosoever comes unto Him, He will in no wise
cast out.
V. I hear one more complaint. "I am WITHOUT STRENGTH," says one, "will
Jesus come just where I am?" Yes, Sinner, just where you are. You, you
say, cannot believe, that is your difficulty. God meets you, then, in
your inability. First, He meets you with His promises. Soul, you can
not believe. But when God, that cannot lie, promises, will you not
believe, can you not believe, then? I think God's promise–so sure, so
steadfast–must overcome this inability of yours, "Him that comes to
Me, I will in no wise cast out." Cannot you believe now? Why, that
promise must be true!
But next, as if He knew that this would not be enough, He has taken an
oath with it–and a more awful oath was never sworn–"As I live, says
the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, but had
rather that he should turn unto Me and live. Turn you, turn you, why
will you die, O house of Israel." Can you not believe now? What? Will
you doubt God when He swears it? Not only make God a liar but–let me
shudder when I say it–will you think that God can perjure His own
Self?
God forbid you should so blaspheme! Remember, He that believes not has
made God a liar, because He believes not on the Son of God. Do not do
this! Surely you can believe when the promise and the oath compel you
to faith. But yet more, as if He knew that even this were not enough,
He has given you of His Spirit. "If you, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Surely with this you can
believe.
"But," says one, "I will try." No, no, do not try. That is not what God
commands you to do–no trying is wanted. Believe Christ now, Sinner.
"But," says one, "I will think of it." Do not think of it. Do it now,
do it at once for this is God's Gospel. There are some of you standing
in these aisles, and sitting in these pews, who I feel in my soul will
never have another invitation. And if this is rejected today, I feel a
solemn motion in my soul–I think it is of the Holy Spirit–that you
will never hear another faithful sermon, but you shall go down to Hell
impenitent, unsaved, unless you trust in Jesus NOW.
I speak not as a man but I speak as God's ambassador to your souls, and
I command you, in God's name, trust Jesus, trust Him now. At your peril
reject the voice that speaks from Heaven, for "he that believes not
shall be damned." How shall you escape if you neglect so great a
salvation? When it comes right home to you, when it thrusts itself in
your way, oh, if you will neglect it, how can you escape? With tears I
would invite you, and, if I could, would compel you to come in. Why
will you not?
O Souls, if you will be damned, if you make up your mind that no mercy
shall ever woo you, and no warnings shall ever move you, then, Sirs,
what chains of vengeance must you feel that slight these bonds of love?
You have deserved the deepest Hell, for you slight the joys above. God
save you. He will save you, if you trust in Jesus. God help you to
trust Him even now, for Jesus' sake. Amen.