COME AND WELCOME

COME AND WELCOME

(No. 3000)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1906.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST
19, 1876.

"Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

[This Sermon is the 3000th that has been published in regular weekly
succession since No. 1, "The Immutability of God," was issued in
January, 1856. The Lord's-Day morning Sermons, with many of those
preached in the evening, were published during Mr. Spurgeon's lifetime.
The rest of the evening Sermons are now being issued and there are
still sufficient unpublished manuscripts to last for some years. The
whole of the 3000 Sermons are kept in stock, and any quantity of any of
them can be obtained of the publishers, Messrs. Passmore a Alabaster,
Paternoster Buildings, London, EC. No. 3000 has been especially
selected in harmony with Mr. Spurgeon's custom of issuing, on such
memorable occasions, a striking and simple Sermon that might be even
more widely distributed than the ordinary issues. Those previously
published have been as follows: Volume 17, NUMBER ONE THOUSAND–OR,
"BREAD ENOUGH AND TO SPARE"; Volume 25, NUMBER 1500–OR, "LIFTING UP
THE BRONZE SERPENT"; Volume 33, NUMBER 2000–OR, "HEALING BY THE
STRIPES OF JESUS"; Volume 43, NUMBER 2500–OR, "ENTRANCE AND
EXCLUSION." The publishers are always pleased to quote special terms
for quantities, and to send post free to all applicants their Textual
Index of over 2900 Sermons, and a full List of C. H. Spurgeon's books
at reduced prices. It is almost needless to say that in the whole
history of religious literature, there has never before been such an
event as the issue of 3000 of one Preacher's Sermons in weekly numbers
for nearly 52 years! It is a remarkable fact that more than 750 of
these Sermons have been published since Dr. Spurgeon was "called Home"
on January 31, 1892. Will all believing readers pray for the Lord's
blessing upon the whole of the 3000 Sermons now issued?] [Thought you
might enjoy this quote of the publishers–EOD]

WHILE I was trying to prepare a sermon for this evening, someone called
at my door–I daresay the friend is here tonight, (I hope so)–and left
this little note–"I entreat you to pray, especially this evening, for
a most unhappy case– for one who is in great agony of mind, that God,
in His Infinite Mercy, would send one ray of light into the dark soul.
Please ask all the converted ones in your congregation to pray for me,
that Grace may be restored to a most unhappy soul." Well, I am sure
that all Christians here will earnestly pray that the light may break
into the thick darkness and that the troubled spirit may find rest,
but, after all, there is a very strong temptation to a heart in trouble
to rest in the prayers of others rather than to go immediately to
Christ for relief. Yet all the prayers in the world cannot, by
themselves, help a man who is in despair. The light can never come into
that dungeon except through one window–and that is a window through
which the tearful eyes may always look–the window of everlasting love
as revealed in the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

I thought that the text which I have selected might, by the blessing of
the Spirit of God, be made the means of comfort, not only to that
person who wrote to me, but to many others who may be seeking the
Savior. There was also another circumstance which led me to select this
text. A gentleman who pressed my hand very earnestly one day, said to
me, "Do you remember preaching at the sawmills in the Old Kent Road?" I
replied, "Yes." "I also remember it," he said, "indeed, I can never
forget it. You preached from this text, 'There shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defiles.' My comfort was that towards the close
of the sermon, you said, 'I have preached upon this terrible no wise.
Now, before I have done, I will preach upon a blessed no wise,' and
then you began to talk to us about that text, 'Him that comes to Me, I
will in no wise cast out,' and that message yielded me comfort which I
have never lost."

Well, medicine that has worked so well in one case may, perhaps, be
just as efficacious in another. And if the Holy Spirit blessed the text
when it was only brought in at the end of a sermon, perhaps He will
bless it even more, now that we set it in the very forefront of our
discourse. No, we know that He will, for we have asked His blessing
upon it and, therefore, we expectthe blessing to come. Dear Friend in
trouble of soul, I hope it will come to you!

I. I am going to make five brief observations upon this passage, "Him
that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." The first observation is
that OUR TEXT IS FROM THE LIPS OF JESUS HIMSELF.

And because Christ Himself said it, we dare not doubt that it is
absolutely true. Imagine that you see Him standing here just now–that
same Jesus who fed the multitude and loved the souls of men even unto
death. And then imagine that you hear these words from His lips which
are like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Oh, with what wondrous
accents would He say, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast
out!" I can but feebly repeat what He must have uttered in the purest
heavenly tones, yet I still pray you to remember that it is Jesus who
still speaks to you, from His Word, even from Heaven! Do not dare to
doubt this, or to question the truth of what He said. It was true
before He died, but now that He has sealed His testimony with His most
precious blood and proved His love to sinners by laying down His life
for them, oh, do not doubt the truth of His utterance, but confide
fully in Him who thus speaks to you from Heaven!

The message, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out," must
be true, for it fell from the lips of Jesus! And next, it is eminently
consistent with His Character. You cannot conceive of Him as casting
out a soul that came to Him! The scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a
woman taken in the very act of adultery, yet He did not condemn her,
but said to her, "Go, and sin no more."–

"His heart is made of tenderness; His heart melts with love."

He was sometimes angry, but it was with self-sufficient Pharisees and
self-righteous hypocrites who flaunted their lies before His face–but
He wept over the doomed city of Jerusalem. He had a gentle word for the
woman in the city who was a sinner, and tender compassion for the
little ones that were brought to Him. To those who would have driven
them away, He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and
forbid them not; for of such is the Kingdom of God." Look up into His
face and then look upon His hands and His feet which still bear the
scars of His passion and ask yourselves, "Is it consistent with the
Character of Christ–with the heart of Christ–with the Person of
Christ–with the great objective for which He came to this earth–for
Him to cast out any soul that comes to Him?" No, the words of our text
must be true, for Jesus uttered them and His whole life tallies with
them!

Remember, too, that when Jesus spoke these words, He spoke as One who
knew everything. If you and I make a promise, or a statement concerning
our future mode of procedure, we may not be aware of the position in
which we may one day be placed–and it may become impossible for us to
keep the promise. Or the course of action which we thought we would
surely follow may become too difficult for us. But our Lord Jesus
Christ knew all things–all things about Himself and all things about
sinners–and when He said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise
cast out," He included all possible contingencies with regard to
Himself–if there can be any contingencies with Him–and all possible
contingencies that have to do with those who come to Him. "He knew what
was in man," and He also knew what was in His own heart and, therefore,
when He spoke, He spoke deliberately and accurately–and with full
knowledge of all the surroundings and circumstances of those who would
come to Him!

Let me also remind you, Brothers and Sisters, that this message has
been true up to now. What Jesus said to these Jews has stood fast for
more than 18 Centuries. There is not a sinner, now living, who can bear
testimony that he has come to Christ and that Christ has cast him out.
There is not a soul in Hell that, with all the fully-developed sin of
that dreadful place, dares, even in blasphemy, to say, "I came to Jesus
and He cast me out." Nor shall there ever live in the universe one
soul, however guilty and defiled, that shall be able to truthfully say,
"I came to Him, but He shut up His heart of compassion against me and
cast me out."

Well, if it is so–that Jesus spoke this message and, therefore, it is
true. If it is just, like He and exactly according to His whole method
of procedure, then let us believe it and let us plead it! If you want
to come to Him, but have the haunting fear that He may, perhaps, cast
you out, oh, lay hold upon Him and say to Him, "Lord, You have said,
'Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out.'" Remind Him of His
own words! Plead His promise and you will never find Him run back from
it, or revoke the word which has gone forth out of His lips! In your
direst despair, when it seems as if He frowned upon you–when you call
unto Him and yet receive no answer–when, as He spoke to the
Syrophenician woman, He seems to give you harsh words instead of
gracious promises–lay hold upon Him, grasp the hem of His garment and
say to Him, "I will not let You go, for You have said, 'Him that comes
to Me, I will in no wise cast out.' Lo,

I come to You! I know You cannot lie–give me a welcome, or else I
shall die. I know You cannot be false to Your word and here, if I
perish, I will perish pleading the precious promise on which my soul
would gladly stay herself!"

II. The next observation is this–THESE WORDS WERE SPOKEN IN THE
SINGULAR. "Him that comes to

Me."

This is all the more remarkable because the first part of the verse is
in the plural–"Allthat the Father gives Me shall come to Me."And,
naturally and grammatically, the second clause should run, "and those
that come to Me I will in no wise cast out." But it is not so worded.
There is a change from the plural to the singular and Jesus says, "Him
that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." And, I think, with
admirable reason, for the Lord is always wise even in the choice of
numbers and there is a motive for this change.

It may be this–here is personality recognized. You have been one of a
crowd before, but you are all alone now. You used to think of a sort of
national Christianity and say, "Yes, we are all Christians because we
are Englishmen." But you know better than that now. You used to reckon
that you might consider yourself a Christian because your father and
mother were godly people–you belonged to a Christian family. But you
know better than that now. You know that the mere hereditary faith
which comes to men by natural birth is of no spiritual value, for "that
which is born of the flesh is flesh." "You must be born-again." You
feel one by yourself–to use an old metaphor, you are like the wounded
stag which retires into the glades of the forest to bleed and die
alone. I daresay, when you now hear a sermon, if it is full of threats,
you think that it is all meant for you. You have begun to read the
Bible and to look for texts that may speak to you. And though, as yet,
you have not lighted on a promise that seems like a lone star to shine
especially for you, yet you are looking for such a promise and you hope
that you will find it. At any rate, you are now cut loose from
everything and everybody else–you feel yourself to be a separate
individual that is to be judged, before long, before the bar of God
and, you fear to be cast away forever beneath His wrath. Think
now–Jesus puts this message in the singular–"Him that comes to Me, I
will in no wise cast out," and you, also, are in the singular! Does not
this message just suit your personality?

It is very possible that there is also in you a singularity suspected.
You think that there never was anybody exactly like you. If you were
like others, you would have hope, but there are certain points about
your sin, certain aspects of your character and certain doubts and
fears with which you are assailed which set you apart as a lot out of
all catalogs. You feel that you are quite alone–you are the odd man or
the odd woman. You cannot think that even the most general promises can
relate to you. You consider that the act of indemnity exempts you from
its operations–even if it does not exempt anybody else, it exempts
you. It is for this very reason that Jesus Christ puts the matter as He
does. He speaks to you odd people, to you solitary people, to you
singularities, to you odds and ends of the universe and He says, "Him
that comes to Me"–though such a man as he has never lived
before–though he is the one exception to all rules, yet, "Him that
comes to me"–any "him" in all the world "that comes to Me, I will in
no wise cast out." What a blessed thing it is that thus, by using the
singular number, Christ seems to meet our suspicions of being singular
and calls the singular ones, the odd ones, to come to Him!

And here, too, perhaps, there may be a kind of desertion supposed. You
think you could come to Christ if the friends of your youth were with
you. You could come if a beloved teacher or a godly parent could pray
with you. But, possibly, you have sinned yourself out of society–your
transgressions have made you to be like the leper whom they put outside
the camp and they will not allow you to come in among the tribes of
Israel lest you should pollute the rest. Well, poor leper, you that are
set apart–you that feel yourself to be given up even by those who once
had some sort of hope concerning you–you for whom good people scarcely
venture to pray because you seem to have committed the sin which is
unto death–you have staggered their faith and disappointed all their
hopes yet here still stands the text and it is addressed to you,
deserted and alone as you are! If nobody will help you, and nobody will
pray for you–if your tears of repentance must fall in secret–if
everyone who hears about you thinks you are only a hypocrite, trying to
whine yourself into favor–yet, still come to Christ all alone, for He
has said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out!"

Perhaps this message is put in the singular for one more
reason–emptiness confessed. Some people, when they come to Christ,
bring with them a great deal that is not worth bringing. That is a
false coming. But there are others who are so destitute that they feel
that if they do come to Christ, they will have to come alone because
they have nothing to bring to Him. Yet Christ does not say, "If you
come to Me with good feelings. If you come repenting. If you come with
this, or that, or another Christian excellence, I will in no wise cast
you out." No! If you come to Christ as naked as you were when you were
born and as naked as you will have to be when you go back to the
earth–if you come with nothing whatever–as long as you come–Christ
puts the word in the singular that it may mean you, and only
you–bringing with you nothing but that which is your own, namely, your
sin and your misery, your emptiness, your needs, your inability, your
spiritual death and everything else which now crushes you well-near to
despair–if you come, you, you, you, you, whoever you may be–if you
come to Him, He will in no wise cast you out! Thus have we tried to say
something which God may bless to the comfort of the singular ones.

III. Notice, next, that THE TEXT DESCRIBES THE PERSON COMING TO CHRIST
WITH VERY

WONDERFUL SIMPLICITY. "Him that comes to Me" John Bunyan truly says,
"That means any 'Him' in all the world." And I venture to say that it
means anyone in all the world who does but come to Christ. In Christ's
day there were some who came to Him doubtingly, like that man who said,
"Lord, I believe; help You my unbelief," yet He did not cast them out!
There were some who came to Jesus limping, for they were lame. There
were some who came to Him with very great difficulty, for they were
paralyzed in part of their bodies–but they did come to Him and He did
not cast them out. And there were some who came blindly. They could not
see who He was, nor what He was, but, nevertheless, they came to Him
and He did not cast them out because they were blind. There were some
who had to be carried to Him, yet, since it was with their own consent
that they were carried, as long as they did but come, He did not cast
them out! One man, you remember, came to Him through the ceiling–his
friends had to take away the covering of the house to let him down into
the Presence of Jesus. Well, if you get to Jesus over hedge or ditch,
over the wall, or through the ceiling, or down the chimney–if you do
but come to Him, it matters not how you come as long as you do but
come!

IV. My fourth observation shall be this–THE TEXT CONTAINS AN ABSOLUTE
NEGATIVE. "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out"

Indeed, it is more than one negative, for it might be rendered "I will
not, notcast out," or, "I will never, never cast out." In our language,
one negative cancels another, but in the Greek language, negatives
strengthen one another. Indeed, we sometimes use similar expressions
and do so very properly in order to make our meaning clear and
forcible, as when we sing–

"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, He will not, He will not
depart to his foes. That soul, though all Hell should endeavor to
shake, He will never, no never, no never forsake!"

The difficulty which many feel is this–perhaps they are not elect–and
if they are not, then, even though they come to Jesus, He must cast
them out. Now, that is supposing what never did occur, because no
non-elect soul ever came to Jesus! But I need not go into that matter,
for my text suffices without any explanation. Read the first part of
the verse– "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." There
Christ is speaking about election and with that subject distinctly
before His eyes, not forgetting the Predestination of God and His
eternal will and Purpose, Jesus, knowing what He was saying, said, "Him
that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." So, Predestination and
Election cannot be inconsistent with the Truth of God in this text and,
though you may sometimes fear that your ship will split on that rock,
it really is not a rock in the harbor's mouth when Christ is the
harbor! If you come to Him, you need not trouble about the secret
decrees and purposes of God. There are such decrees and purposes, but
they cannot, any one of them, be contrary to the Truth which Christ so
explicitly declares here, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast
out." In the prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord says, "I have not spoken in
secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek you Me in vain." I have often blessed the Lord for that
text–it does not tell us what God has said, but it tells us what He
has not said, and that is, that He said not unto the seed of Jacob,
"Seek you Me in vain." He never tantalizes us! He never bids us seek
Him with the reserve in His own mind that we shall not find Him. So,
speaking broadly, yet truthfully, Christ says, "Him that comes to Me, I
will in no wise cast out." There is no secret purpose of God, nothing
written in the great book of human destiny, nothing in the mysteries of
eternity which can ever make this declaration of Christ untrue to you,
or anyone else! "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out."

"I am not troubled about that matter," says one. "My difficulty is of a
more practical kind. I can leave the mysteries, but there is something
that I cannot leave, and that is my past sin." Well, Friend, when the
Lord Jesus said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out," He
looked right down the centuries to the end of time. He did not say,
"Him

that comes to me today, I will in no wise cast out." The declaration,
"Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out," is as true at this
moment as it was when the words first fell from Christ's lips. He knew
then, for He knew all things, what a sinner you would be and you were
in His mind then, for that mind of His is Infinite and Divine! And He
knew that there would be such a man, or such a woman, as you are–and
that you would sin just as you have done. Yet, taking all that into
consideration, He said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast
out."

I do not know what your special sin may have been. Perhaps it would be
wrong for me to try to guess, but this I do know, if you come to
Christ, "though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." It may
be that you have to mourn over long years of aggravated
transgression–sins against light and sins against knowledge. I cannot
read your life story and I do not want to read it–it is sufficient for
me that Jesus said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out."
If you came to Him and He cast you out because of these long years of
sin, His declaration would not be true. If you had lived as long as
Methuselah. If you had sinned as grossly as Manasseh. If you had lived
a life of dishonesty and unchastity, yet, if you really came to Him, He
could not, being a true Christ, cast you away! If all the sins that men
have ever committed could be laid to the charge of one poor sinner, yet
if that sinner came to Christ, He could not cast Him away! The phrase,
"in no wise," has such a wonderful sweep that it comprehends the
grossest of crimes and the most heinous transgressions.

"Ah," says another, "it is not my past sins which trouble me so much as
my present hardness of heart. My heart is like the nether millstone. My
eyes never weep for sin. No, I can even think of sin almost without
alarm." So, dear Friend, you judge yourself, but probably your judgment
is a great mistake. Yet, even were it true, remember that Christ has
not said, "Him that comes to Me, I will only cast out because his heart
is hard," or, "because he refuses to weep." He has not put in any
exception! He met your case when He said, "Him that comes to Me, I will
in no wise–not even for that reason–cast out." If your heart is like
iron, where will it ever be softened except in the furnace of His Love?

"Oh," says another, "I have been thinking of my sins and I have tried
to repent." Yes, but you must remember that–

"Law and terrors do but harden All the while they work alone. 'Tis a
sense of blood-bought pardon That dissolves the heart of stone."

When a soul comes to Christ, then it gets repentance, it gets
tenderness of heart, it gets all that it really needs! And all attempts
to get these things beforeyou come to Christ are like trying to get the
effect before you get the cause–to get the fruit before you get the
root! O Soul, however old your condition may be, come to Christ, for He
can cure you! A good deal of preaching has been addressed to persons of
a certain character, and sinners who listen to that
character-preaching, keep asking, "Is that our character?" In this way,
their eyes are fixed upon themselves and their own characters, instead
of upon Christ! That is a gospel which will do them no good. But
Christ's Gospel turns a man's eyes away from his own character. It says
to him, "Admit, once and for all, that your character is incorrigibly
bad and that you deserve to be sent to the lowest Hell. But, that being
the case, the Gospel still says to you, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved.'" Some gospels might help a man if he
could get a certain distance on the way to Heaven, but the good
Samaritan came just where the poor wounded traveler was–and Jesus
Christ comes to sinners just where they are, and just asthey
are–hard-hearted, callous, thoughtless, careless, yet often conscious
of all this and, strange to say, lamenting that they cannot lament, and
crying, "I would feel if I could! I feel that it is a pain to think I
cannot feel. I am sad to think I am not sad, and weary to think I am
not weary." Well, then, Jesus says, "Just as you now are, come unto Me.
Leave your care, just as it is, in My hands, and I will undertake it
for you."

Did I hear somebody say, "Oh, but I am so ignorant"? Well, my dear
Friend, so are all of us! The only difference between a very wise man
and a very great fool is that the wise man knows that he is a fool, and
the other does not. When all the knowledge of our wisest men is put
together, it makes but a very small book compared with the vast volume
that contains what they do notknow. Why, the most highly-educated man,
now living, has only just gone to an A. B. C. school as yet, and as for
those very learned divines–the D. D.s and the LL. D.s, and those
doctors who think they know so much that they know better than the
Bible–well, after all, their knowledge, as compared with what is yet
to be known, is only the information of an ant or a magpie–nothing
more! We are all fools together and what a mercy it is

that the Lord Jesus Christ does not require a lot of knowledge of us!
It is to know Him that suffices us. To know yourself as a sinner and
Christ as your Savior is all the knowledge you really need in order to
find eternal life. Never let your ignorance stand in your way, for
Christ virtually puts the matter thus, "Him that comes to Me–though He
cannot read a letter in the Bible, and hardly knows that twice two are
four–if he does but come to Me, I will in no wise cast him

out."

"Ah, yes," says another, "but I am so poor!" Well, that is the very
last thing that you should ever mention as a hindrance to your coming
to Christ, for His Gospel is especially preached to the poor. One of
the proofs that He gave of His Messiahship was this, "the poor have the
Gospel preached to them." And, oftentimes, He has "chosen the poor of
this world, rich in faith," to be the "heirs of the Kingdom which He
has promised to them that love Him." So that you cannot truly say that
you are too poor to come to Christ.

"Ah," says another, "but I am so tried and troubled." Suppose you are?
You do not imagine that the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Him that comes to
me, I will not cast out unless he is tried and troubled," do you? Why,
poor Soul, if there is one who could notbe left out, it is just the one
who is most troubled! What is it that moves the heart of Jesus towards
us? Nothing but His pity and love. And the more trouble you have, the
more cause there is for His pity to display itself upon you. Instead of
keeping back from Christ because you have so many troubles, come to Him
to find comfort under them!

"Everybody has been so unkind to me," says one. "My heart is broken."
Well, the Savior, who uttered our text, could truly say, "Reproach has
broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to
take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none."
So He understands all about you and He will bind up your broken heart!
"Ah, but I am so despised, and slandered, and misrepresented." So was
He. They called Him "a gluttonous man, and a winebibber." He is exactly
the Savior you need. "Ah, but I have lost my husband and all my friends
are dead and gone. I hardly know where to find my daily bread." Christ
said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but
the Son of Man has not where to lay His head." He can sympathize with
you in the deep affliction of your poverty, so go to Him! You should
go, above all others–you who have not a comfortable home, before whom
the whole earth seems a desert–you who seem to have been turned out of
Paradise and there is nothing before you but the land which brings
forth thorns and thistles–it is in your ears that I would especially
repeat the ancient promise, "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the
head of the serpent." You shall overcome all your enemies if you but
come to Jesus Christ!

It is a sweet thing to think that the text is so comprehensive–"Him
that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Have you ever read Mr.
John Bunyan's "Comeand Welcome" He very wonderfully expounds this text
and, if I remember rightly, he makes the sinner say, "But I am so great
a sinner." "I will in no wise cast you out." "But I have sinned against
knowledge." "I will in no wise cast you out." "But I have been a
thief." "I will in no wise cast you out." "I have been a fornicator and
adulterer." "I will in no wise cast you out." "But I have been a
murderer." "I will in no wise cast you out." "But I cannot believe as I
would." "I will in no wise cast you out." And he keeps on, page after
page, supposing all things that he can well think of–but I will not
keep on so long–I will just say this–Suppose what you like and though
it is a fact, yet, still my text covers it–"Him that comes to Me, I
will in no wise cast out!"

V. My last observation is this, OUR TEXT PLEDGES OUR LORD'S PERSONAL
ACTION. "Him that comes to

Me, I will in no wise cast out."

He does not say anything here about what His servants will do. Some of
them look with disapproval at big sinners. They have been known to do
so before now and some of them are still a little like that elder
brother who said, "As soon as this, your son, was come, which has
devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted
calf." But Christ says to the prodigal, "I will not cast you out. Your
brother may be unwilling to receive you, but I will welcome you."

Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ does not cast us out, it really does not
matter who else wants to do so. So long as the Master of the feast does
not reject us, we may keep our place at the table! It is a very
suggestive thing that my text is in the very chapter which records the
great feast when thousands sat down upon the grass and were fed by
Christ. I daresay they were some very strange characters there that
day. None of them were too good, but I expect that among that crowd of
loafers around the Savior–for loafers many of them were, for they had
followed for the sake of the loaves and that is just the meaning of the
word, "loafer"–there were some fine gentlemen from Jerusalem who said,
"Well, if that is the

Messiah, He has a pretty following, indeed!" On another occasion they
called Him "a friend of publicans and sinners." And they said, "This
Man receives sinners, and eats with them." He never denied it, He
rather gloried in it! He said that He was sent to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel and that "they that are whole have no need of the
physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." He loved to have them about Him–loafers
and vagabonds as they were. I do not read that He said to Philip, and
Peter, and Andrew, "Now, look. We are going to give a feast, but it
must be on the principle of the Charity Organization Society and we
must not give anything to people who are undeserving." It is true that
God gives to the unthankful and the unbelieving, but modern charity
says, "That is wicked!" Well, I daresay there is a good deal to be said
for that view of the matter, but Jesus Christ did not believe in that
view. There were many undeserving people there and He fed them all!
Christ did not feed any man there because he was good, but because he
was hungry. He saw that they were tired and faint, so he multiplied the
loaves and the fishes, and fed them till they were satisfied.

And today, Jesus Christ does not give His mercy to any man because he
deserves it, or because there are any good qualities in the man that
may merit the display of His Grace–He saves people because He loves to
save the unworthy– and He would not have them perish. "As I live, says
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that
the wicked turn from his way and live." That is His only reason and,
blessed be His name that it is His only reason for saving sinners,
because you and I, who are among the most unworthy persons who have
ever lived, may come and sit at the feet of His Grace and know that He
has pledged His personal honor and His own private Character for it
that him that comes to Him, He will not cast out! If HE does not cast
us out, who can? As He says, "I will in no wise cast you out," rest
assured that all His servants and all His enemies, even if they wanted
to cast us out, would be quite unable to accomplish the task!

When Jesus says, "I will not cast out Him that comes to Me," He means
that He will let him stay with Him. If you get into Christ's family by
simply trusting Him, you shall always be in His family. If you get into
my Lord's house by simply trusting Him, you shall always be in His
house! He will not cast you out, but He will receive you, pardon you,
cleanse you, bless you. You shall have the power, the right, the
authority to become a son of God–and you shall have the nature of a
son, you shall receive the Spirit of adoption whereby you shall be able
to cry, "Abba, Father." You shall have the blessings of a son–you
shall be provided for, educated and trained for the skies. You shall
not be denied any blessing or favor which is given to God's family. If
you do but come to Christ, His Grace shall be free to you, His House
shall be free for you, His city and His Kingdom shall cost you nothing,
His heart shall be free for you and, by-and-by, His Heaven shall be
free for you, for where He is, there shall you be also–and as He sits
at His Father's right hand, so shall you sit down with Him upon His
Throne!

I have known the time when if I had heard such a sermon as this, I
think I would have leaped for joy to think that there was such mercy to
be had by me! I would not have needed any fine speaking, or any display
of oratory. I would only have needed to be assured that Jesus would
receive me and I would at once have come to Him! And this I know–every
truly hungry soul here will come and feed on this Truth of God tonight,
and every thirsty soul will come and drink! But if there are any here
who think they are good enough–if there are any who fancy that they
have not sinned against God and so do not feel that they are in any
great danger, or have any great needs–well, it will be according to
the old rule, the full will loathe the loaded table, but to the hungry
man even bitter things will be sweet!

I can only give you the Gospel invitation and leave it with the Lord to
incline you to accept it. May you be led to come to Jesus by a
spiritual act of faith this very hour!