Buying Without Money

Buying Without Money

(No. 1726)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 17, 1883,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"He that has no money; come, buy, and eat." Isaiah 55:1.

THERE is a semicolon in our translation, but we need not take notice of
it. It should not be there, since the text is the second of two
parallel sentences arranged according to the method of Hebrew poetry–

"Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, And he that has no
money, come, buy, and eat." We have before us the figure of a merchant
selling his wares and crying like a chapman in the market, "Ho!" To
attract attention he calls aloud, "Come! Come! Come!" three times; and
he adds to this the cry of, "Buy! Buy!" Shall the Great King thus liken
Himself to a trader in the market, earnest to dispose of His goods? It
is even so and I, therefore, call upon you to admire the mercy of the
Lord! In the 53rd and 54th chapters, this Divine Merchantman has been
spreading out His wares. What treasures they are! Look at the 53rd
chapter–what do you see there?

Behold that Pearl of great price, the Lord Jesus Christ! Behold Him
wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities! This is
so costly a treasure that Heaven and earth could not match it! Where
else could we find a Sacrifice for sin, a Justifier of many? This
Anointed One of God, upon whom the chastisement of our peace was
laid–who would not have Him to be his Savior? Surely with such a
treasure to display, we ought not to cry long for buyers, for every
truly wise man will exclaim, "This is what I need! Not only a Savior,
but a great one! An atonement for sin is the one thing necessary for
me." To this you are invited in these words, "He that has no money,
come, buy, and eat."

In the 54th chapter the Divine Merchantman sets forth the rare
possession of His everlasting love. Read from verse seven, "For a small
moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.
In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your
Redeemer. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but
My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the Covenant of My
peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you." What more can
be set forth to win men's hearts? First, a full atonement and now, love
everlasting, making a Covenant confirmed by oath! Should there be need,
often, to cry, "Come and buy," when such celestial wares are displayed
before us?

Added to this, we see a little further on, the blessing of heavenly
edification. Notice the 11th verse–"I will lay your stones with fair
colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. And I will make your
windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders
of pleasant stones." This is a rare building, is it not? There should
be a quick market for such an array of choice things! Sapphires and
agates–what more would you have? Here are all manner of precious
stones and all of these given freely! The only terms are, "everything
for nothing! Heaven for the asking!" All the treasures of God are
freely bestowed upon the sons of men who are willing to accept them as
gifts of Grace!

As if this were not enough, the Lord brings out a fourth blessing,
namely, everlasting safety by faith–"In righteousness shall you be
established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear:
and from terror; for it shall not come near you. No weapon that is
formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise
against you in judgment you shall condemn." Security is worth
infinitely more than gold! To be protected by Divine Wisdom from every
possible harm is the portion of Believers in Jesus! To be saved and
made safe forever–is not this worth worlds? Never was there a market
like the Gospel market! And never were such wares spread out before the
eyes of men as those which are here presented to you!

I shall, therefore, with the more hopefulness, speak to those who have
not yet been buyers, and urge upon you the invitation of the text, "He
that has no money, come, buy, and eat." In handling this text we shall
notice, first, the description of the buyer, "He that has no money."
Secondly, the selection of this particular buyer–why is he invited be-

yond all others? Thirdly, the invitation to purchase, "Come, buy, and
eat." And fourthly, we shall add the assurance that this Gospel market
is no deception, for these things are really to be had.

I. First, then, here is A DESCRIPTION of the buyer. I believe he is
here this morning. I hope he will recognize his own portrait, though it
is by no means a flattering one. It is the Truth of God itself, a
photograph taken by the sunlight of Heaven. It is the portrait of a
poor, penniless, broken-down creature reduced to the extremity of need.
Here it is–"He that has no money." Of course, by this is meant, among
other things, the man who literally has no money. Among the Jews of our
Lord's day there existed an idea that a man who had money was at a
great advantage with regard to heavenly things, so that when the Lord
said, "How difficult shall they that have riches enter into the
Kingdom," they exclaimed with wonder, "Who, then, can be saved?" as if
they thought that if the rich could not be easily saved then none could
be.

The Word of God contains nothing to encourage such a notion. The rich
man is never extolled in the Old Testament, but he is often spoken of
most slightingly. It is the glory of the Messiah that "the poor have
the Gospel preached to them," and it is the glory of the Gospel that it
is freely provided by the bounty of God for the beggar on the dunghill!
Let no man's heart fail him this day because he says, "Silver and gold
have I none." Having nothing, you may yet possess all things! You are
at no disadvantage in God's market because your pockets are empty–you
may come penniless and bankrupt and receive the exceeding riches of His
Grace!

But we understand the reference of the text to be mainly spiritual and
so the portrait, here, is that of a man who has no spiritual money, no
gold of goodness, no silver of sanctity–he it is that is invited to
come and buy the wine and milk of Heaven. His fancied stock of natural
innocence is spent. At first he thought himself to be pure as the newly
fallen snow, forgetting the question–"How can he be clean that is born
of a woman?" They told him that he was made "a member of Christ, a
child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven" while he was
yet a babe–and thus he was led to think that he had started life's
business with a respectable stock in trade.

He knows better now. He has seen this fancied goodness melt away like
the mist of the morning. He has gone, like the prodigal, into the far
country, and there he has wasted his substance till not a coin remains.
If he searches himself through and through, he cannot find a relic of
innocence. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint–from the
soles of his feet even to his head, he is all wounds, bruises and
putrefying sores. There is no health in him. Innocence is utterly gone,
if it was ever there. He thought that he had accumulated some little
savings of good works, but his imaginary righteousness turned out to be
counterfeit! Had he not been honest? Had he not been sober? Had he not
attended a place of worship and repeated forms of prayer? Did not all
this make up a little fortune of righteousness?

He thought so, but then he was ignorant and deluded. He knows better
now, for he has found out that all his righteousness is base metal–he
could not pass a penny's worth of it in the shop of his own conscience,
much less in the market of Heaven. He knows that it would at once be
detected and nailed to the counter. He finds that his silver is white
metal of the basest sort and that his gold is a sham–he has not the
face to offer it anywhere! Yes, he is so afraid of being seized by
justice as a counterfeiter that, like a wise man, he has hidden his
sham righteousness in the earth and has run away from it. He is now
more afraid of his righteousness than of his unrighteousness! He would
think it just as possible for him to be saved by cursing and swearing
as by the merit of his own works!

His good works are an ill odor with his conscience, for he sees them to
be defiled within and without with sin–a rottenness is in the bones of
his righteousness and thus he is without merit of any sort. Look at his
poverty–his original stock is gone and all his savings have melted
away! He is in a still worse plight, for he is also too poor to get
anything, the procuring power is gone, for he has "no money." Now that
he has come to his sober senses, he would repent, but he cannot find a
tender heart. He would believe, but he cannot find faith. He has no
money–that is to say, nothing with which he can procure those good
things which are necessary unto salvation and eternal life! He sees
them all before him, like many a poor man who walks the streets of
London and sees just what he needs behind the glass of the shop
window–but he puts his hand into his pocket and despairingly passes
on, for he has no money.

As without money nothing is to be bought in the world's market, so is
this poor man afraid that no blessing of Grace can ever be his because
he has no good thing to offer, no righteousness to give in exchange. If
God would sell him even a penny's worth of righteousness, he has not
the penny to buy it! And if the Lord would pardon all his sins for one
sixpenny worth of holiness, he has not so much as that to offer–he has
no money! Moreover, his stock with which to trade is gone. Money makes
money and he that has a little to begin with may soon have more–but
this man, having no stock to start

with–cannot hope to be rich towards God in and by himself. He cannot
open the smallest shop, or sell the most trifling wares, for he has no
money to start with.

Even the poorest will buy a few matches and hawk them about the
streets, but this poor creature has "no money" and cannot even invest a
two-pence in goods. He has no power, even, to think aright, much less
to act aright, so as to become pleasing to God. He is as much without
strength as without merit. Not only is he without good, but he appears
to himself to be without power to get good. He is a broken trader who
cannot, again, try his fortune, for he has "no money." He is worse than
a common beggar, for he does not even know how to beg–"We know not
what we should pray for as we ought." He even needs to be taught how to
beg! What a pass to come to!

There is your portrait, my poor Friend! Do you recognize it? I hope you
do. I hear you say, "Yes, that is myself. I am without money." Then to
you the word of this salvation is sent–"He that has no money, come,
buy, and eat." "No money!" Then he cannot pay his old debts. His sins
rise up before him, but he cannot make amends for them. What a long
file is needed to hold the record of his debts–it must be deep as the
bottomless pit and high as Heaven! He owes 10,000 talents and has
"nothing to pay." He has not a sliver–he has no money whatever! He is
reduced to bankruptcy and cannot pay a farthing in the pound.

Moreover, he cannot meet his present expenses. Poor man! He must live.
He must eat the Bread of Heaven and he must drink of the Water of
Life–but he has nothing with which to procure these good things. His
soul hungers, yes, even faints after the Mercy of God, but he has no
price with which to procure it. This day he would pluck his eyes out to
be pleasing to God, but he has nothing to offer which the Lord could
accept. He is reduced to such beggary that, like the prodigal, he
cries, "I perish with hunger!" He cannot face the future. He hardly
dares to think of it and yet the thought of it will come in. He
remembers the needs which will surround him on a dying bed and the
terrible demands of the Resurrection Morning when the ringing trumpet
shall introduce him to the dread Assize and he shall stand before his
God to render his account.

He knows that he cannot answer Him for one sin in a thousand. He dreads
the thought of the world to come! He has nothing with which to meet the
demands of the eternal future. He has "no money"–nothing that will
pass current in the Day of Judgment. He is brought to the last stage of
spiritual destitution–poverty has come upon him like an armed man.
This is a terrible plight to be in, yet I wish that every sinner here
might be reduced to it, for when he is so reduced and brought low,
Grace will come in and the tide will turn! The only hope for a man who
has "no money" must be outside himself. It is idle for him to look into
his own coffers–he must look away from himself–and his only chance in
thus looking is to appeal to charity and plead for mercy's sake. He
cannot buy–it is only God's mercy that talks about his buying–he must
beg, he must entreat for love's sake.

This is an essential part of spiritual poverty and I would that every
unregenerate person knew that in him there dwells no good thing–and
that he were convinced that he must look out and look up for
salvation–and that upon the ground of mercy since he cannot expect to
obtain any blessing upon the footing of justice or as a matter of debt.
This is the man who is called to buy Heaven's wine and milk! Do you
need a fuller picture of him? Look at the 21st verse of the 14th
chapter of Luke's Gospel, where He that made the feast said, "Bring in
here the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind." This man is
so poor that he cannot buy bread, so maimed that he cannot run for it,
so halt that he cannot stand up to receive it and so blind that he
cannot see it! Yet such a person we are to bring into the royal banquet
of mercy!

If you would like another picture, turn to Revelation 3:17, 18–"You
know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked." This portrait was taken by John, who had an eagle's eye, and
saw deep into the inward misery of the heart. To the "wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," the Lord says, "I counsel
you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and
white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your
nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that
you may see." Gospel riches are sent to remove our wretchedness and
mercy to remove our misery! It is to these wretches, these blind
beggars, these naked vagrants, that the Gospel is sent!

This day I have to present the promise of God and the exhortation of
mercy to those who have failed in life, who are down at the heel,
broken and crushed. Oh, you utterly lost ones, to you is there opened a
door of hope! The Lord has come into the market and He bids you buy of
Him without money and without price!

II. Now a minute or two upon the second point–THE SELECTION of the
buyer. It is a strange choice and it leads to a singular
invitation–"He that has no money, come, buy, and eat." In the streets
round about this Tabernacle, especially on a Saturday evening, you may
note the salesmen standing before their shops and crying out
vociferously, "Buy! Buy! Buy!" No one can refuse to hear their noise,
but if they knew that a person had no money, I think they would save
their breath so far as he is concerned. They need ready-money customers
and plenty of them. What would be the use of crying, "Buy! Buy!" to a
man whose purse is empty?

Yet these are the very persons whom the Lord selects and to them He
cries, "Come, buy, and eat." What is the reason? Well, first, these
need mercy the most. Oh, poor Souls, when the Lord Jesus looks on you,
He does not look at what you have, but at what you have not! He does
not look at your excellences, but at your necessities! He is not
looking out for a man's fullness, but for his emptiness! The Lord Jesus
never gave Himself for our righteousness–He "gave Himself for our
sins." Salvation is by Grace and it is presented to those who are lost,
for they are the people whom it will suit– how should those who are
not lost value salvation? I say that God selects the most
poverty-stricken, first, because this character most needs His pitying
love! The greatness of your necessity is that which gives you a first
call from the God of all Grace. Not merit, but demerit! Not desert of
reward, but desert of wrath is the qualification for mercy!

Again, this character is chosen because he is such an one as will
exhibit in his own person the power of Divine Grace. If the Lord Jesus
Christ takes one that is wretched, miserable, poor, blind and
naked–and if He satisfies all his necessities by being riches for his
wretchedness, comfort for his misery, wealth for his poverty, eyes for
his blindness and raiment for his nakedness, then all the world will
see what a great Savior He is and how wonderfully His salvation meets
the necessities of the case! If you and I were only little sinners, I
do not see how Christ could be anything but a little Savior to us. And
if He only met our smaller needs, a small supply would suffice. Ah,
Friends, it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell
and He wills that this fullness should be seen!

When He takes a man whose needs are as large as the sea and as many as
the sands on the shore, whose danger is deep as the bottomless pit and
whose sin is black as Tophet's midnight–when He makes that man into a
child of God and an heir of Heaven, ah, then all intelligences are
amazed and cry out, "What a Savior is this! What precious blood is
this! What a fullness this must be which satisfies such immeasurable
needs!" As it is one end of Christ's work to glorify Divine Grace,
therefore He calls, first, upon those who have the most need, for in
them His Grace will be best displayed.

Next, the Lord Jesus delights to make evident the freeness of His
Grace. Now, if those were first called who have the money of merit, it
might be imagined that they had paid their way. But if those are called
who have no good thing in them, it is clear that Grace is free! When a
poor wretch cannot do a stroke of work, or contribute a button to you,
then your lodging him must be of pure charity and nothing else. The
Lord Jesus is very jealous of the freeness of His Grace. He will not
let a sixpence of our merit cross His hand lest we should glory in our
flesh and think that we have made Jesus rich. If you ask me, yet again,
why is he who has no money so expressly called, I would answer because
he is the kind of man that will listen. The man who is needy is the man
that will listen to the tidings of a full and free supply. It is the
guilty man who loves to hear of pardon! It is the bond-slave whose ears
are charmed with the word, "redemption."

If you are no sinner, you will not care about a Savior. Only real
sinners rejoice in a real atonement! The Lord sends the Gospel to every
creature under Heaven, but He knows, as we do, that the most of men
will not regard it, for they fancy that they don't need it–but if
there is one that has no merit or claim, he will listen with eagerness
to the tidings of mercy! He that has no money is the man for Christ's
money! He that is shivering in his nakedness will rejoice to be
clothed! A wretched sinner jumps at mercy like a hungry fish leaping at
the bait. When a soul is empty, then it longs for the fullness of
Christ, but not till then. Full souls quarrel over honeycombs–they are
not sweet enough for them–but to the hungry man, even every bitter
thing is sweet! A man who is conscious of sin will not quibble about
the way of Grace, but if pardon is to be had, he will have it at once.
Whoever may be silent, you will hear his voice crying aloud, "Son of
David, have mercy on me!"

Let me add that such an empty, penniless soul, when he does get mercy,
will prize it and praise it. He that has been shut up in the dark for
years values the light of the sun. He that has been a prisoner for
months–how happy he is when the prison doors are opened and he is at
liberty again! Let a man once get Christ, who has bitterly known and
felt his need of Him, and he will prize Him beyond all things and find
his sole delight in Him! The impotent man at the beautiful gate of the
Temple, when his ankles received strength, walked away and ran, yes,
and leaped! He leaped, praising God,

before all the people! He could not do enough to show his delight and
his gratitude! Oh, for a few leaping Christians! The Lord Jesus loves
us to prize the mercy which cost Him so dearly. Shall He die on the
Cross and give us blessings to treat with contempt? No, no! We will
love Him much because of His priceless gifts to us.

Therefore the Well-Beloved delights to invite those who manifestly have
no merit and no spiritual power because He knows that when they taste
of His love, they will overflow with praise to His name forever and
ever! You have heard of the old woman who said that if ever she got to
Heaven the Lord Jesus Christ should never hear the last of it? Many of
us, by His Grace, are of that mind–we shall never praise the Lord
sufficiently throughout eternity! If I do but once cross the golden
threshold and stand within the pearly gate, my heart, my soul, my
tongue shall extol my Redeemer, world without end! This shall be the
one and only contention among the birds of Paradise–who shall sing the
most sweetly to the praise of infinite compassion!

None of us will yield the palm in that contest–we will see which can
sink lowest in sense of obligation, which can rise highest in adoring
love. Singers are needed for the celestial choirs and there are no
voices so sweet as those which have known the force of spiritual hunger
and thirst! These take the alto notes and sing, "Glory to God in the
highest." In any case, be the reason what it may, it is clear that
there are special invitations issued for the royal feasts and these are
all directed to those whose need has reached the extremity of distress.
But I may not linger. How I wish that I knew how to preach! I long with
my whole heart to use great plainness of speech. I would not utter a
single sentence which would seem to have the wisdom of words in it. I
aim not at fine language, but only to get at poor sinners' hearts!

Oh that I could bring the sinner to his Savior! Extravagant oratory has
been the curse of the Christian Church–it has hidden the Cross under
roses and taken men's minds away from Christ. To strain after eloquence
when preaching the Gospel is a sin worthy of eternal destruction! To
point the sinner to Christ must be our only desire! Pray for me,
Brothers and Sisters, as I go on, for I need aid from the Holy Spirit.

III. I have now, in the third place, to notice THE INVITATION. The man
who has no money is to come, buy, and eat. It looks odd to tell a
penniless man to come and buy, does it not? And yet what other words
could be used? "Come and buy" has a meaning of its own not to be
otherwise expressed. In buying there are three or four stages–and the
first is desiring to have the thing which is exhibited. The man who
buys has, first, the wish that the property in the article should be
vested in himself. Will you not desire that Christ, that forgiveness,
that eternal life, that salvation should become yours? Do you not long
for the Lord to grant it to you?

Men in the streets, as I have said before, cry, "Buy! Buy!" because
buying means business. They are not unwilling that people should stop
and look at their goods–they even ask them to walk in and see for
themselves–but they aim at finding buyers and not gazers! If a man
were to come into the shop and turn over all the goods and never
purchase anything, the tradesman would begin to cry, "Buy! Buy!" with
quite another accent, for he does not want a crowd to look at him–he
wants people to buy from him! Many of you who are here this morning
have only come to hear what the preacher has to say–and to criticize
his style and language. I pray you rise to something better than that!
Come, and buy! Let us do business, this morning, for God and for our
own souls!

Do not waste the precious market day of the Sabbath. People come and
go. They hear sermons, read books and all for a sort of amusement–they
do not come to do business with the Lord. Look how they select striking
sentences and cull sparkling and delightful extracts and take notes of
telling anecdotes! But all this is comparatively wasting time. "Come,
buy! Buy! Buy!" Do you mean business? Then come and buy! Do not stand
huckstering by the years together! Come to terms and make an end of
hesitation. If you have no desire, you will not buy, and I shall effect
no sales. Again I cry, "Come, buy, and eat." Oh that the Spirit may
work in you that strong desire without which no man will ever buy!

Alas, there are thousands who are always discussing knotty points, not
because they have a wish to understand the Gospel, but because they do
not care to come to serious dealings! Perhaps you have read the story
of a governor of one of the American States who called at an hotel
where there was a black waiter who was well known to hold Calvinistic
opinions and was, therefore, made the butt for many a jest. So the
Governor said to him, "Sam, you do not really believe that doctrine of
election, do you?" "Deed I do, Suh," he said. "Well, then," replied the
Governor, "tell me whether I am elect or not." "Suh," said the Negro,
"I did not know you were a candidate and I know nothing about a man's
being elected if he has not put up for it."

Now, that is common sense! It is a business-like way of answering an
absurd question. Certain people who are not even candidates for Heaven
will yet shelter themselves behind wrong ideas of
predestination–playing with the blessings of Grace instead of desiring
them! Have you not seen a man with a pack stand at a door trying to
sell a few trinkets to a servant? He does not mind half-an-hour's talk
about his goods, but when, at last, he finds that the maid does not
mean buying, see how he shuts up his boxes, folds up his packages and
indignantly takes off, saying by his gestures, "I wish I had not wasted
so much time on you." It is just so with earnest preachers! They grow
sick at heart when they see that men will not come to business. They
cry, "Who has believed our report?" and are anxious to carry their
heavenly burden to another people. Oh, dear Hearers, let us not have to
shake the dust off of our feet for a testimony against you! Oh, that
you would hunger and thirst after Christ and His salvation–and then we
should soon do a trade with you!

"Buy!"–This means, next, to agree to terms, for there cannot be any
purchasing, however much the buyer desires to buy and the seller to
sell, till they agree to terms. Now, our difficulty with God's goods is
this–whereas ordinarily the buyer cannot be brought up to the seller's
price–in our case we cannot get men down to God's price. They will
persist in offering something or other as a price. They talk to us
thus–"I cannot be saved, for I do not see any good thing in myself.
Sir, if I had a deep sense of need, then I could be saved." Or, "Sir,
if I could pray better." Or, "Sir, if I had more repentance, or more
love, I could then believe in Jesus."

Oh, yes, if you had a price in your hand, you would pay for Heaven's
blessings, would you not? But then, you see, they are not presented to
you upon such terms! Price is out of the question! God's terms are that
there shall be no terms of purchase at all–you are to be nothing–and
Jesus is to be your All in All. When you will come down to that, then
take the goods–the bargain is made–Eternal Life is yours! The next
thing in a purchase is that when the terms are carried out, the buyer
appropriates the goods to himself. If I buy a thing, it is mine, and I
take it into my possession. You do not see a man buy a thing and then
leave it behind him for the seller to do as he likes with it, do you?

In the things of God you are to appropriate the blessing to yourself.
Put out the hand of faith and say, "Here is Christ for a sinner. I am a
sinner and I take Christ to be my Savior. Here is washing for the
filthy. I am filthy and I wash. Here is a robe of righteousness for the
naked. I am naked, I take the raiment to be mine." Make Christ your own
and He has made you His own! Take the Lord by an appropriating act of
faith to be yours forever and the bargain is struck! But the text says
a little more than that–it says, "Buy, and eat," as much as to say,
"Make it yours in the most complete sense." If a man buys a loaf of
bread it is his, but if he eats it, then all the lawyers in the world
cannot dispute him out of it–he has it by a possession which is not
only nine points of the law, but all the law!

When a poor soul has confidence enough to take Christ and to live upon
Him as his own, saying, "This Christ is able to save me. I take Him
into me and I am saved," why, the devil, himself, cannot unsave him!
What is to divide him from Christ? There is the bath and I wash in it
and am clean! What then? Who can obliterate the fact that I have
washed? The righteousness of Christ is bestowed upon me and put on by
me–who can tear off that glorious dress? Christ fed upon is ours
beyond all question. No method of possession is more sure and safe than
that of eating what you have bought. Feed, then, on Christ, the Bread
of Heaven, and though you are, in yourself, the poorest of the poor,
yet He is yours forever and ever!

See, then, the blessed invitation–the whole of God's mercy in
Christ–infinite love and boundless compassion are to be had for no
price at all! They are freely given to every man who has no money with
which to procure them! The height of love meets the depths of poverty
and fills them up. He that has nothing is invited to have all things,
for he is the person for whom they were provided in the eternal
purposes of God.

IV. I conclude now by saying a few things by way of ASSURANCE, to show
that this is all real and true, and no make-believe. Every needy,
thirsty soul may have, this day, all the Grace of God! Oh, if the
Spirit of God makes him willing, he shall have all the blessings of the
Covenant of Grace to be his own forever and ever! This is no
sham–there is an honest offer made to everyone who is conscious of
soul-poverty! For, first, it is not God's way to mock men. He has,
Himself, declared, "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek you My face
in vain." God has not said one thing in one place and another in
another to contradict Himself!

He has not, in the Scriptures, bid men come to Him with the promise
that He will not cast them out, all the while meaning of some of them
that He will cast out! No, there are no exceptions made in the promises
of God to empty sinners who come to Him! You must not dream of
exceptions, which do not exist. Jesus says, "He that comes to Me, I
will in no

wise cast out," and this includes all who come. I am speaking to some,
this morning, who have come across the Atlantic and are not yet
saved–you may have been careless and thoughtless all your lives–but
if you come to Jesus Christ, this morning, He will not refuse you His
salvation!

Many have come in from the country, today–oh, that this may become
their spiritual birthday! Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, my Friend, and
He will welcome you! He has never rejected one and He never will! He
will not find pleasure in tantalizing you. He is too good, too true to
become a deceiver even to one poor lonely seeker! His Word of promise
to you is true and real–every word is full of meaning–sweeter meaning
than you dream of! Grace shall be had by you at once if you will but
take it "without money and without price." Men mock men, but God never
deludes. We may say of Him, "Your word is Truth."

Note that these mercies must be really meant to be given free to the
poor because God is under no necessity to sell His benefits. He is not
impoverished! He is so rich that none can add anything to His wealth.
All things are His, therefore He must give freely since it would be
beneath His all-sufficiency to be chauffeuring for compensation, or
demanding a price at a creature's hands. He means the penniless to have
everything for nothing, since nothing can be imagined to be a price to
Him! If a poor tradesman began to give away his goods, you would say,
"There is some trick about this." But when the Most High God, the
possessor of Heaven and earth–WHO HAS EVERYTHING–freely gives to us,
then there can be no design for His own advantage! His motive must be
pure compassion!

There is no adequate price that we could bring to God for His mercy.
How could there be? Would it be mercy if it could be bought? Grace is
without price because it is priceless! You can buy gold if you
will–there is some medium of exchange for the purchase of every finite
thing–but what medium of exchange could there be for the purchase of
infinite blessings? Huge heaps of such things as the native Africans
call money would be of no value to us–and what self-righteous men call
merit is utterly despicable to God! Is there any comparison between a
man's giving all his wealth and the possession of eternal Glory? No
comparison can be instituted between carnal and spiritual joys!

As you cannot bring any price, I pray you believe that God is honest
when He declares that He will give you pardon of sin and all the
blessings of His Grace without money and without price. You cannot have
them otherwise! Believe that He means you to receive them by Grace!
Remember that Jesus must be meant for sinners, for if sinners had not
existed there never would have been a Savior. When the Lord Jesus
Christ set up in business to save, He must have known that there was no
sphere for His operations except among sinners and, therefore, He
entered in His office with the view of saving sinners. If a doctor
comes into a town and there is nobody ill–and it is certain that
nobody ever will be ill–he had better drive off somewhere else! He
will do most business where there is most sickness.

When Christ Jesus became a Soul-Physician, He had His eyes on the
spiritually sick and on them, alone. They are the patients who make up
His practice and they, only. If, then, you are sick even unto death,
put your case into the hands of Christ, for He will heal you! Remember,
too, that it must be true that God will give these blessings to men who
have no merits–and will bestow them as gifts–because Jesus, Himself,
is a Gift! Did anybody ever dream of buying Christ? Stand at the foot
of the Cross and say to yourself, "Could I ever have procured this vast
display of love by any merit of my own? Could I have done anything
which could have merited that the Son of God should become Man and,
being found in fashion as a man, He should die such a death as this for
me?"

Salvation must be a gift, for Jesus is a Gift! Away with your
sacraments, your ceremonies, your prayers, your alms, your good works!
If these are made the brass penny with which you hope to buy such
inestimable things as pardon, son-ship, Heaven–forget it! Salvation is
seen to be such when it is given to those who have no money of their
own. Beside that, Christ is All in All. Men have no notion what Christ
is when they talk of getting ready for Christ, or bringing something to
Him. What would you bring to Christ? Everything is in Christ and,
therefore, you cannot bring anything to Him. "Oh, but," you say, "I
must come with a broken heart." I tell you, no! You must go to Christ
for a broken heart! "Oh, but I must come with a sense of need." I tell
you that a true sense of need is His work in you! True repentance and a
sense of need spring from His Grace–you must get them from Him without
money and without price.

"Ah, but I must be something." Say, rather, you must be nothing! We
cannot drill this into men's brains! No, if we were to use steam power
to work upon the mind, we could not get this thought fixed in their
proud hearts! They will cling to merit! They must be something, feel
something, say something, do something! Away with your somethings!
Subside into nothingness! The Spirit of God brooded, of old, over
chaos, so that order was clearly His work–and when the

mind seems to be all chaos and darkness, then the Spirit of God is sure
to work–and the Lord's voice is heard, saying, "Let there be light!"
Go to the Lord Jesus just as you are! You will never be better–you may
be worse! Go NOW, just as you are, to Jesus, and buy and eat without
money, means, or merit!

One thing more I would say, and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ is
blessedly free from all clogging conditions because all supposed
conditions are supplied in Christ Jesus. We have heard of men
advertising to give things away, but when you read the advertisement,
carefully, you find that you are to pay, after all. The Gospel is not
so! Its freedom is real! Many a good thing is to be had, but when you
see how it is to be obtained, you say to yourself, "the conditions shut
me out." But the conditions of Eternal Life shut no man out who needs
to be saved and wills to be saved. Over the gate of Heaven is written,
"Come, and welcome."

But you remind me that it says, "Buy," and you insist upon it that,
therefore, you must pay. Not so! Salvation is already paid for–all the
paying has been done by Him who opened His veins to find the only price
that is current in Heaven–the sin-atoning blood! If price may be
spoken of–that price was all paid long before you were born– the
purchasing work was done nearly 1,900 years ago on Calvary's Cross!
Jesus bowed His head and said, "It is finished." Will you add to that
which is finished? Will you tag on your rags to the Lord's glistering
cloth of gold and add your base farthings to the infinite price which
He poured forth so lavishly at the foot of the Eternal Throne? Oh,
don't do it!

To yoke you with Christ can never be! You and Christ together? An
archangel and an ant would make a better pair than you yoked with
Christ! No, my Friend, sink, sink, sink–by a mighty descent sink to
nothing–and let Jesus rise, rise, rise, till He fills the whole
horizon of your thoughts and hopes, for then are you saved! Let us
sing–

"'Tis done! The great transaction's done! I am my Lord's and He is
mine! He drew me, and I followed on, Charmed to confess the voice
Divine."