A Straight Talk

A Straight Talk

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 12, 1890,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
19, 1889.

"I cannot come." Luke 14:20.

THERE are different ways of replying to the invitation of the Gospel
when you mean to refuse it. They are all, at best, bad, and they may
all be classed under one head, for, "they all with one consent began to
make excuses." But yet some are more decently worded than others and
have a greater show of reason about them. The first two sets of people
who were invited to the supper said to the servant, apologetically,
with some appearance of courtesy, "I pray you have me excused." But the
third man did not beat about the bush at all, or pray to be excused–he
said tersely, bluntly, sharply–"/ cannot come." This was a final
reply. He did not intend, nor wish to come to the supper. "I cannot
come," was a snappish reply but as he had married a wife, he thought
the idea of his coming was utterly unreasonable and he needed no sort
of excuse.

Now, what did that mean? Well, it meant that he thought very lightly of
the giver of the feast. He had no respect for this "certain man," who
had made a great supper. He had an opportunity of slighting him by
refusing his invitation and he did so outspokenly, saying, "/ cannot
come." It also showed that he had a very low opinion of the supper
itself. It might be a respectable meal, but he did not need it–he
could have quite as good a supper at home. He was better off than those
people in the streets. Those hedge birds might be glad enough to get a
supper for nothing, but he was not dependent upon anybody and he could
do very well for himself.

Do you not know many in this world who have no opinion of Christ, no
love to God? Religion is to them mere nonsense–an unpractical, dreamy
matter about which they have no time to concern themselves. It is a
pitiful thing that they will not even think of the God whom angels
worship! And the Christ who is the loveliest of the lovely–in Him they
see no beauty! And the priceless provisions of mercy, the pardon of
sin, the salvation of the soul, Heaven of God–they neglect these
things as if they did not need them–or could get them whenever they
please. Thousands are proudly independent of the free Grace of
God–they are good enough and virtuous enough–they need not cry for
mercy as the wicked and profane.

In their own judgment they are quite able to fight their own way to
Heaven. They need not the charities of the Gospel. Contempt of the
great Feast-Maker and contempt of the feast itself–these two pieces of
proud disdain induce a man to say, "/ cannot come." But there was more
than common pride in this brief, gruff speech, for this man had, at the
first, made a promise to come. He had been invited to come and it is
implied in the parable that he had, at that time, accepted the
invitation. He had accepted the cards of invitation to the supper and,
though he had done so, he now flies in the face of himself and says, "I
cannot come."

I think that I am addressing some here who have pledged themselves many
a time to come to Christ. If I remember rightly you asked the prayers
of friends and promised that you would be in real earnest. You looked
your wife in the face and said, "I hope that it will not be long before
I am with you in the Church of God and shall no longer have to go away
and leave you alone at the Lord's Table." You asked some of your
Christian friends to make a point of praying for you– but you have
never carried out your intention of becoming a true Christian. Your
resolutions may be still read in God's eternal book of record–but they
are there as witnesses to your falseness and changeableness. The
counterfoils are there but there is no fulfillment of any of the
resolutions.

God remembers them although you have forgotten to carry them out. You
accepted the invitation on the spur of the moment but when worldliness
got the upper hand with you, you went back to your old obstinacy and
said, "I cannot come." Perhaps you have not said it in quite as sharp a
tone as I used just now, but it has come to the same thing, for you

have not come to the Gospel Supper. It matters little whether you say
it angrily or quietly–if you do not come, the practical result is the
same. I think I hear some of you, even now, say, "Do not ask me so
often. I cannot come! It is of no use to worry me about it. I do not
wish to be uncivil or unkind. Though I said I would come, I retract my
words! I cannot come."

In saying, "I cannot come," the man intended, as it were, to dismiss
the matter. He wished to be understood as having made up his mind and
he was no longer open to argument. He did not parley. He did not talk.
He just said, matter-of-factly, "I need no more persuading! I cannot
come and that settles it." Certain of our hearers have come to such a
condition of heart that they would gladly silence our Gospel
expostulations–with a kind but determined tone they would say–"/
cannot come. Do not trouble me anymore."

I suppose that this man, after he had made that positive declaration,
felt that there was truth in what he had stated. He said, "Therefore I
cannot come." He had a reason to support him in what he said and he
went home, sat down and enjoyed himself. He felt that he was a
righteous man, quite as good as those who had gone to the supper and
perhaps rather better. He could not blame himself, for when a man
cannot do it, why, of course, he cannot do it! And why should he be
censured for an impossibility? "I cannot come"–how can I help that? So
he sat down with a cool indifference to eat his own supper. It was
nothing to him whether the great giver of the feast was grieved or
not–whether his oxen and fatlings were wasted or not. He had said it
to his conscience so often that he half believed it–"I cannot come,
and there is no disputing it."

I have no doubt that many who have never come to Christ have made
themselves content to be without Him by the belief that they cannot
come. Although the impossibility, if it did exist, would involve the
greatest of all calamities, yet they speak of it with very little
concern. Practically, they say, "I cannot be saved. I must remain an
unbeliever." What an awful thing for any mortal to say! Yet you have
said it till you almost believe it and you wish us, now, to leave you
quite alone for this dreadful reason. You do not want to be troubled
tonight. The text already begins to startle you a little and you do not
like it. You are almost sorry that you are here.

If the Lord helps me, I will trouble you far more before you go out of
this place! I have heavy tidings from the Lord for you! I shall
endeavor, if I can, to pull away those downy pillows from your sleepy
head and wake you up to immediate anxiety lest you perish in your sins!
With kindly importunity I will plead with you and try to show you that
this little speech of yours, "/ cannot come," is a wretched speech! You
must throw it to the winds and prove that you can come by coming at
once and receiving of the great feast of love and honoring Him that
spreads it for hungry souls.

Two or three things I would like to say about this case, for it is very
serious. It was bad enough for this man to say, "I cannot come," but it
is far worse for you to say, "I cannot come to Christ." Remember, if
the invited guests did not come, and come at once, they could never
come for there was only that one supper and not a series of banquets.
The great man who made the feast did not intend to prepare another. A
very grave offense would be committed by their not coming to the one
supper.

My dear Hearers, there is only one time of Divine Grace for you and if
that is ended you will not have a second opportunity! There is only one
Christ Jesus–there is no more sacrifice for sin. There is only one way
of eternal love and mercy–do not forsake it. I pray you, do not turn
away from the one door of life, the one way of salvation! If it is
slighted now and the feast is over–as it will be when you die–then
you will have lost the great privilege and you will have been guilty of
a gross neglect, from the consequences of which you never will be able
to escape! Note this and beware!

Besides, it is not merely a supper that you will lose when you say, "I
cannot come." To lose a supper would be little and might soon be set
right when breakfast came round. But you lose eternal life and that
lost in time can never be found in eternity! You lose the pardon of
sin, reconciliation to God, adoption into the family of love–those are
heavy losses! You lose the joy of faith for life and you lose comfort
in death–who can estimate this damage? Lose not your immortal soul!
Oh, lose not that! For if you gain the whole world it will not
recompense you for such a loss! Lose what you will, but lose not your
soul, I pray you! Seek that salvation without which it had been better
for you that you had never been born.

Besides, once more, if you do not come to Christ it will imply the
greatest insult that you can put upon your Maker. You have already
grieved Him by breaking His Laws–but what will be His indignation when
you refuse His mercy?

When you turn your back on His Son? When you refuse not only your God,
but your crucified Savior hanging there with outstretched arms,
bleeding His life away, that He may save you? Do not turn your back on
your own redemption! No blood was ever sprinkled on the threshold of an
Israelite's house for he must not trample on it–that would be ruinous,
indeed. The blood was on the lintel and on the two side posts, but
never underfoot. Trample not upon the blood of Christ! And you will do
so if you refuse His great salvation. If you will not come to Him to be
saved, you have as good as said that you will be damned rather than be
loved by God–that you will be damned rather than be saved through
Jesus Christ His Son. It will prove a costly insult to you, as well as
a grievous affront to your Lord.

Having said so much by way of preface, I am now going to take those
words, "/ cannot come," and handle them a little with the hope that you
may grow ashamed of them.

I. First, this man declared, "I cannot come because," he said, "I HAVE
MARRIED A WIFE." He had promised to come to the supper and he was bound
to fulfill his promise. Why did he want to get married just then?
Surely he had not been compelled to marry all in a hurry so that he
could not keep engagements already made! He was bound to keep his
promise to the maker of the feast and that promise was claimed of him
by the messenger.

He could not say that his wife would not let him come. Such a
declaration might be true in England but in the East the men are always
masters of the situation and women seldom bear rule in the family! No
Oriental would say that his wife would not let him come! Nor in these
Western regions, where the woman more nearly gains her rights, can any
man truthfully say that his wife will not allow him to be a Christian.
I do not believe that any of you will be able to say, when you come to
die, that your wife was responsible for your not being a Christian.

Most men would be angry if we told them that they were hen-pecked and
could not call their souls their own. He must be a fool, indeed, who
would let a woman lead him down to Hell against his will! The fact is,
a man is a mean creature when he tries to throw the blame of his sin
upon his wife. I know that Father Adam set us a bad example in that
respect, but the fact that this was a part of the sin which caused the
ruin of our race should act as a beacon to us. You certainly, as a man,
ought not to demean yourself so much as to say, "I cannot come, for my
wife will not let me."

If one of you, however, continues to whine, "My wife is my ruin. I am
unable to be a Christian because of my wife," I must ask you a question
or two before I believe your pitiable story. Do you let her rule you in
everything else? Does she keep you at home each evening? Does she pick
all your companions for you? Why, my dear Man, if I am not much
mistaken, you are a self-willed, cross-grained, pig-headed animal about
everything else! And then, when it comes to the matter of religion, you
turn round and whine about being governed by your wife? I have no
patience with you!

It is more than probable that the very best thing that could happen to
you would be to have your wife on the throne of England for the next
few years. Upon such a solemn matter as this do not talk nonsense. You
know that the blame lies with yourself alone–if you wished to seek the
best things–the little woman at home would be no hindrance to you.
This man said, "/ cannot come." Why? Because he had a wife! Strange
plea! For surely that was a reason why he should come and bring her
with him!

If any man, unhappily, has a wife opposed to the things of God, instead
of saying, "I cannot be a Christian, for I have an unconverted wife,"
he should seek for double Grace that he may win his wife to Christ. If
a woman laments that she has an unconverted husband, let her live
nearer to God that she may save her husband. If a servant has an
unconverted master, let him labor with double diligence to glorify God
that he may win his master. Thus you see there are two reasons why you
should come to the Gospel banquet–not only for your own sake, but for
the sake of your unconverted relatives.

My neighbor's candle is blown out–is that a reason why I must not
light mine? No, but that is a reason why I should be all the more
careful to keep mine burning, that I may light my neighbor's candle,
too. It is a pity that my wife should be lost, but I cannot help her by
being lost myself. No, but I may help her if I take my stand and follow
Christ the more resolutely because my wife opposes me. Good Man, do not
allow your wife to draw you aside! Good Woman, do not let your husband
hinder you! Do not say, "I cannot attend the house of God, nor be a
Christian while I have such a husband as I have." No, that is the
reason why you should take your stand the more bravely in the name of
God that, by your example, those whom you love may be rescued from
destruction.

How do you know, O Wife, but that you may save your unbelieving
husband? How do you know, O Servant, but that you may save your
unbelieving master? I remember hearing Mr. Jay tell a story about a
Nonconformist servant girl

who went to live in a family of worldly people who attended the Church
of England. Although they were not real Believers–they were outside
buttresses of the Church but they had very little to do with the inside
of it–and outsiders are generally the most bigoted.

They were very angry with their servant for going to the little Meeting
House and threatened to discharge her if she went again. But she went
all the same and very kindly but firmly assured them that she must
continue to do so. At last she received notice to go–they could not,
as good Church people–have a Dissenter living with them! She took
their rough treatment very patiently and it came to pass that the day
before she was to leave her situation a conversation took place
somewhat of this sort. The master said, "It is a pity, after all, that
Jane should go. We never had such a good girl. She is very industrious,
truthful, and attentive."

The wife said, "Well, I have thought that it is hardly the thing to
send her away for going to her Chapel. You always speak up for
religious liberty and it does not look quite like religious liberty to
turn our girl away for worshipping God according to her conscience. I
am sure she is a deal more careful about her religion than we are about
ours." So they talked it over and they decided, "She has never answered
us pertly, nor found fault with us about our going to Church. Her
religion is a greater comfort to her than ours is to us. We had better
let her stay with us, and go where she likes."

"Yes," said the husband, "and I think we had better go and hear the
minister that she goes to hear. Evidently she has got something that we
have not got. Instead of sending her away for going to Chapel, we will
go with her next Sunday and judge the matter for ourselves." And they
did, and it was not long before the master and mistress were members of
that same Church!

Do not say, therefore, "I cannot come because my master and mistress
object to it." Do not make idle excuses out of painful facts which are
reasons why you should be more determined than ever, even if you have
to go to Heaven alone, that you will be a follower of Christ. Keep to
your resolve and you may entertain the hope and belief that you will,
by His Grace, lead others to the Savior's feet.

II. A second reason is even more common. It is not everybody who can
say, "I have married a wife," but everywhere you can meet with a person
who pleads, "I HAVE NO TIME." You say, "Sir, I cannot attend to
religion, for I have no time." I remember hearing an old lady say to a
man who said that he had no time, "Well, you have got all the time
there is." I thought that it was a very conclusive answer. You have had
the time and you still have all the time there is–why do you not use
it?

Nobody has more than 24 hours in a day and you have no less. You have
no time? That is very singular! What have you done with it–you
certainly have had it! Time flies with you, I know, but so does it with
me and with everybody. What do you do with it? "Oh, I have no time,"
says one. I say again, you have had the time and that time was due, in
part, to a solemn consideration of the things of God. You have robbed
God of that part of time which was due to Him and you have given up to
some inferior thing what your great Lord and Master could rightly claim
for the highest purposes.

You have time enough for common things. See here, I never meet any of
you in the middle of the day in the street in your shirtsleeves. I do
not find you going up and down Cheapside half-dressed. "Oh, no, of
course not! We have time to put on our clothes." You have time to dress
your bodies and no time to dress your souls with the robe of Christ's
righteousness? Do not tell me that! I do not meet any one of our
friends saying, towards evening, "I am ready to faint, for I have had
nothing to eat since I got up. I have had no time to get a morsel of
meat." No, no! They have had their breakfast and they have had their
dinner, and so on.

"Oh, yes, we have time to eat," says one. Do you tell me that you have
time to feed your bodies and that God has not given you time in which
to feed your souls? Why, it is not commonsense! Such statements will
not hold water for a moment! You must have time to feed your souls if
you have time to feed your bodies! People find time to look in the
mirror and wash their faces and brush their hair. Have you no time
whatever to look at yourself, to see your spiritual spots and to wash
in the fountain that is open for sin and for uncleanness? O dear Sirs,
you have time for common things and you must certainly have time for
those much more serious and important matters which concern your souls
and immortality!

You have no time? How is this, when you waste a good deal? How much do
many of us spend in silly talk? How much time do certain persons spend
in frivolous amusements? I have heard people say that they have no time
whom I am sure I

do not know what they can have to occupy themselves! Are there not many
people about who, if they were tied in a knot and thrown into the Bay
of Biscay, would be missed by nobody for they do no good to any mortal
being? They are living without an object–purposeless, aimless
lives–and yet they talk about not having time!

Such pretences will not do. When you plead with God, say something that
looks like commonsense. You have no time and yet you undertake more
secular work? You keep a shop, do you not? "Yes, I have a large shop."
You are going to enlarge it, are you not? Will you have time, do you
think, to attend to it when the business grows? "Oh, yes, I dare say
that I shall find time–at any rate, I must make time, somehow or
other."

You are going to take a second shop, are you not? How will you manage
it? "Oh, I shall find time." Yes, my dear Sirs, you can find time for
all those enlargements and speculations and engagements! Now let me be
frank with you and say that you could find time for thought about your
soul if you had a mind to do so. To plead that you have no time for
religion is a fraud! It will not do! It is lying to God to say that you
have no time! When a man wants to do a thing, if he has no time, he
makes time. I beg the idle man not to go on deceiving himself with the
notion that he has no time.

"Where there's a will there's a way." Where there is a heart to
religion there is plenty of time for it. Blame your unwilling minds and
not your scanty hours! You will have time enough when your hearts are
once turned in the right direction. Besides, time is not the great
matter. Did the Lord demand of you a month's retirement from business?
Did we command you to spend two days a week in prayer? Did we tell you
that you could not be saved unless you shut yourself up an hour every
morning for meditation? I would to God you could have an hour for
meditation! But, if you cannot, who has demanded it of you?

The command is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and forsake
your sin–and this is a matter which will not interfere with your daily
work. A man can turn the potter's wheel and pray. A man can lay bricks
and pray. A man can drive the carriage and pray. A man can walk behind
a plow and yet he can be walking with God. A woman can scrub a floor
and commune with God. A man can be riding on horseback and yet he can
still be in communion with the Most High. A woman can be sewing dresses
and growing in Divine Grace. It is not a matter in which time comes in
so much as to interfere with any of the ordinary duties of life.

Therefore throw away that excuse and do not say any longer, "I cannot
come because I have no time." At once repent of your sin and believe in
the Lord Jesus–and then all your time will be free for the service of
the Lord and yet you will have not a moment less for the needful duties
of your calling.

III. There is a third form of this excuse and a very common one–"I
HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO." Now, come on! I will have you by the
throat over that. I shall contradict you daily. You have nothing more
important to do. That would be utterly impossible! Nothing under Heaven
can be of one-hundredth part of the importance of your being reconciled
to God and saved through Jesus Christ! What is that more important
business? To make money? Where is the importance of that? You may get a
pile of it and the net result will be greater care and the more to
leave when you die!

But you tell me you must have an opportunity for study. Well, that is
better, but what are you going to study? Science? Art? Politics? Are
these important compared with the saving of your soul? Why, if you have
an educated mind and it is lost, it will be as bad to lose it in
culture and learning as to lose it in ignorance. Your first duty is to
be right with your God who made you! Put nothing before your God. Has
Christ redeemed you? Rest not till you know the truth of that
redemption by being reconciled to God through the death of His Son.
Nothing can be so important to a man as to be obedient to his Maker and
enjoy his Maker's love. Nothing, therefore, can be so important to a
man as to be pardoned through the Savior and changed by the power of
the Holy Spirit from an enemy of God into a friend of God.

"Oh!" you say, "But my business occupies so much of my time." Yes, but
do you not know that very likely your business would go on better if
you were right with God? Many a time a business goes wrong because the
man is wrong– and sometimes it is even incumbent upon God to be at
cross-purposes with a man because a man is at cross-purposes with Him.
If you walk disobediently towards Him, He will walk contrary to
you–but when you are obedient to Him, He can make other things
subservient to you.

In a little church on the Italian mountains I saw, among many absurd
paintings, one picture which struck me. There was a plowman who had
turned aside at a certain hour to pray. The rustic artist drew him upon
his knees before the opened heavens and, lest there should be any waste
of time occasioned by his devotion, an angel was going on with the

plowing for him! I like the idea. I do not think an angel ever did go
on with a man's plowing while he was praying, but I think that the same
result often comes to pass and that when we give our hearts to God and
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things
are added unto us.

If religion does not make you richer, which it may not do, it will make
you more content with what you have. The blessing of God with a dinner
of herbs will make it better than a stalled ox without that
benediction. He that would make the best of this world and have the
greatest enjoyment here of the truest and best kind will do well to
give his first attention to his Savior–and his whole heart to faith in
Him–and diligence in His service. You have no more important business,
I am quite sure, that the business which concerns God and eternity.

IV. I have heard some use the excuse "I CANNOT AFFORD TO BE A
CHRISTIAN." Well, my Friend, let us have a talk about that. Cost you
more than you can afford? What do you mean? What cost? Cost you money?
It need not. It will cost you no more than you like to spend upon it
with a glad heart. God will give you a generous spirit which will make
you love to support His cause and to help the poor and contribute your
share to all Christian mission work. But in the Kingdom of Christ there
is no taxation!

Giving becomes a gratification, liberality a luxury! Nothing will be
dragged from you by force. Surely our God abhors money that comes into
His treasury by anything but the freewill offerings of loving hearts.
It will not cost you much in that way, I am sure, for you are only to
give as God has prospered you. Suppose man should say, "Well, I must
take a seat in the chapel if I would comfortably hear the Gospel." Very
well. Will it be unjust that you bear your proportion of necessary
expenses in supporting the man who gives all his time, thought and
ability to you? Will you pay as much in a year to hear the Gospel as
many pay for one night at the play?

Yes, and do not many at a horserace spend a hundred times more than
they ever gave throughout their whole existence either to the poor or
to the Church of God? What you save by holy, gracious, thrifty habits
will render this no loss to you, but a gain! "Oh, but I meant that I
could not afford it, for I should have to lose several friends." Is
that friend worth keeping who is an enemy to God? The woman who would
lead you away from God or the man who would keep you out of Heaven–are
friends of that sort worth having? Be brave and end a connection which
will otherwise endlessly connect you with the bottomless pit.

"Oh," says one, "but I mean that I should lose so much in trade." Ah,
well, I will not ask you to explain what you mean by that–for there is
an ugly look about that statement. You know more about your trade than
I do. No doubt there are trades which pander to the vices of men and
become all the more profitable in proportion to the growth of
drunkenness and impurity. These must be given up! Moreover, there are
traders who live by puffery and lying and cheating–and I do not
recommend you to profess to be a Christian if that is your line of
things. It is better to give up all profession of religion when you go
in for unrighteous gain. What? Did I hear a hint about adulteration?
Did I also hear that you do not give full weight and true measure? Ah,
my dear Fellow, give up that game at once, whether you become a
Christian or not! But certainly, if that is what you mean, the loss of
dishonest profits will be a great gain to you–both for this life and
the next.

"Well," says one, "I should have to give up a good many pleasures."
Pleasures which block the road to Heaven ought to be given up at once!
You may think me a very melancholy sort of person but I fancy that I am
about as happy as any man in England. I appreciate a merry thought and
a cheerful speech as much as anybody. I can laugh and I can enjoy good,
clean, humorous remarks as well as most people. And having now served
the Lord for nearly 40 years I bear my witness that I have never had to
relinquish a single pleasure for which I have felt a deliberate desire.
As soon as you are renewed in heart, you are changed in your
pleasures–and that which might have been a pleasure to you, once,
would then be a misery.

If I had to sit in some people's company and hear what some people talk
about, it would be Hell to me! One night, having to preach up in the
North of England, this unfortunate circumstance occurred to me. When I
got down to the railway, I was put into a first-class carriage with
five racing gentlemen who were going to the Doncaster races. Happily
they did not know me but from the beginning to the end the conversation
of these gentlemen was garnished with expressions which tortured me.
And at last they fell upon a subject which was unutterably loathsome. I
pray God that I may not be condemned to dwell with such people forever,
for it would be Hell to me!

Ladies and Gentlemen, you need not think that I rob myself of any
pleasure when I do not go to racetrack, or associate with the
licentious! It is my pleasure to keep far off from the pleasures of
those men of pleasure, in whose company I was forced to spend that
evening. The pleasures of this world are so full of dust, dirt and grit
that he who has once washed his mouth clean of them, declines another
meal of such bunk. You will lose no pleasure if you come to

Christ!

V. I hear one other person say, "I cannot come." Why not? "Well, Sir, I
do not mean that I shall not come one of these days, but IT WOULD NOT
BE CONVENIENT JUST NOW. I could not yield my heart to the Lord
tonight." No. I know. You have an engagement tomorrow which must be
attended to and it would not be quite the thing for a Christian. Just
so. It would not be convenient tonight, nor on Monday, nor will it be
on Tuesday, depend upon it–your anxious thoughts will have gone by
then.

It will not be convenient to be saved? You want to see a little "life,"
do you not? "Life" in London means death. "Oh, but just now I am only
an apprentice!" Then at once be bound apprentice to Christ! "But I am a
journeyman. When I get a little business of my own, then will be the
time." Will it? Oh that you would become a journeyman to Christ! "But I
have associations just now that render it difficult." That is to say
God must wait your convenience. Is that the way the poor treat the
doctors who receive patients gratis? Do they say, "Doctor, it is not
convenient for me to call upon you before 10 or 11 o'clock in the
morning. It is not convenient for me to come to your house. I shall be
glad to see you if you come to my house about half-past 11 in the
evening."

Would you send a message to a physician in the West End that you will
be pleased for him to attend to you for nothing if he will come at your
time? "Oh," you say, "I should not think of insulting a doctor like
that, if he is kind enough to attend to me for nothing." And yet you
will insult your God! You mean that God is not worthy of your strength
and health now–but when you are old and worn out–then you mean to
sneak into Heaven and cheat the devil! It is dirt mean of you! I can
say no better.

Though the Lord is exceedingly gracious and merciful, yet when men make
up their minds to it that they will only give Him the worst end of
life–it is small wonder that they die in their sins! What must God
think of such treatment? Do not say, "I cannot come." Come at once. The
Lord help you to come!

VI. I have heard people say, "I cannot come, Sir, for I CANNOT
UNDERSTAND IT. I am a poor man. I never had any education." What is it
that you cannot understand? Can you not understand that you have broken
God's Law and that the just God must punish you for it? You can
understand that! Can you not understand that if you trust the Lord
Jesus Christ, then it is certain that He took your sin and bore it in
His own body on the Cross and put your sin away, for His name is the
"Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world"?

Can you not understand that if you trust in Him you have Him to stand
in your place–for the Scripture says, "He has made Him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him"? You can understand it if you wish to do so. There is nothing in
the Gospel which the poorest and the least educated cannot understand
if their minds are made willing to know and receive the Truth of God.
If the Spirit of God will come upon them, they cannot only understand
the Gospel, but grasp it and enjoy it and begin to teach it to others,
too–for the Lord makes the babes to have knowledge and discretion in
His ways–while the wise and learned in scientific matters often miss
the way to the eternal kingdom.

I have done. The sound of the bell tells me that my time has fled.
Another bell will one day warn you that you have done and that your
life is over, even as my sermon is over. But I need to say just this.
If there is any man here who says, "I cannot come," I beg him to
express himself properly and speak out the sad fact as it ought to be
spoken. Here is the style–"Unhappy wretch, I cannot come to Christ!
Millions in Heaven have come but I cannot come! My mother died in a
good hope, but, 'Mother, I cannot come.' My father has gone home to be
with Jesus but I cannot come."

I thank God that this statement is not true, but if you say it and
believe it, you ought never to rest anymore, for if you cannot come to
Christ you are the unhappiest person in the world! Is there any woman
that cries, "I cannot come," or any man that pleads, "I cannot come"?
Wherever you are sitting or standing, let the bell that told out the
death of the last hour warn you of your spiritual death! For if you
cannot come to Christ and eat of His supper, you cannot be saved! You
cannot escape from the wrath to come–you are doomed forever!

May I ask you to do another thing? If you still intend to say, "I
cannot come," will you speak the truth now? Will you alter a word and
get nearer the truth? Say, "I will not come." "I cannot come," is
Greek, or double Dutch–but the plain English is, "I WILL NOT COME." I
wish you would say that rather than the other because the recoil of
saying, "I will not come; I will not believe in Jesus; I will not
repent of sin; I will not turn from my wicked ways"–the recoil, I say,
from that might be blessed by God to you to make you see your desperate
state. I wish you would then cry, "I cannot sit down and make my own
damnation sure by saying that I will not come to Christ."

Will you now, instead of refusing to come, resolve to come at once?
Say, "I will come to Jesus. Tell me how." You can only come to Christ
by trusting Him. Trust yourself with Him and He will save you! Never
did anyone trust Jesus in vain! Trust has a powerful influence over the
Lord Jesus. He comes to the rescue of a soul that leans wholly upon
Him. He will do all things for you–He will change your nature as well
as forgive your sin! And your nature being changed, you shall lead a
new life from this time forth and grow in Divine Grace until you become
like He in whom you trust!

And then He will take you to be forever with Him. Washed in the blood
of the Lamb, you shall walk with Him in white amidst the glorified!
Thus I have talked tonight in a very homely way. I pray the Lord to
bless words which are intended to be faithful, plain and impressive.
May we meet in Heaven! There are very many strangers here tonight–may
you not be strangers to the Lord Jesus! Many of our friends are away
and some of you have come out although it is a nasty wet evening–I
take this as a token for good.

God bless you! I pray that you may get the double blessing and may
remember this gloomy, dark, December-like evening in May by the
blessing that God shall put upon you through Jesus Christ His Son.
Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Luke 14.