O sinner! you say you dare not come to Christ because you have nothing to
recommend you. He does not want anything to recommend you; He will not save
you, if you have anything to recommend you, for His says, “Not for you sake
do I this.” Go to Christ with earrings in your ears, and jewels upon you;
wash your face, and array yourself with gold and silver, and go before Him
and say, “Lord, save me; I have washed myself and clothed myself; save me!”
“Get you gone! Not for your sakes will I do this.”
Go to Him again, and say, “Lord, I have put a rope about my neck, and
sackcloth about my loins; see how repentant I am, see how I feel my need;
now save me!” “No,” saith He, “I would not save you on account of your
flaunting robes, and now I will not save you because of your rags; I will
save you for nothing about you; if I do save you, it will be from something
in my heart, not from anything you feel. Get ye gone!”
But if today you go to Christ and say, “Lord Jesus, there is no reason in
the world why I should be saved– there is one in Heaven; Lord, I cannot
urge any plea, I deserve to be lost, I have no excuse to make for all my
sins, no apology to offer; Lord, I deserve it, and there is nothing in me
why I should be saved, for if thou wouldst save me I should make but a poor
Christian, after all; I fear that my future works will be no honour to
Thee–I wish they could be, but thy grace must make them good, else they
will still be bad. But, Lord, thou I have nothing to bring, and nothing to
say for myself, I do say this: I have heard that thou hast come into the
world to save sinners–O Lord, save me!
‘I the chief of sinners am.’
I confess I do not feel this as I ought, I do not mourn it as I ought; I
have no repentance to recommend me; nay, Lord, I have no faith to recommend
me either, for I do not believe thy promise as I ought; but oh! I cling to
this text. Lord, thou hast said thou wilt not do it for my sake. I thank
Thee thou hast said that. Thou couldst not do it for my sake, for I have no
reason why thou shouldst. Lord, I claim thy gracious promise. ‘Be merciful
to me, a sinner.”‘ Ah! you good people, this doctrine does not suit some
of you; it is too humbling, is it not? You that have kept your churches
regularly, and been to meetings so piously, you that never broke the
Sabbath, or never swore an oath, or did anything wrong, this does not suit
you. You say it will do very well to preach to harlots, and drunkards, and
swearers, but it will not suit such good people as we are. Ah! well, this
is your text–”I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance.” You are “whole”–you are; you “need not a physician, but they
that are sick.” Go your way. Christ came to save such as you are. You think
you can save yourselves. Do it, and perish in the doing of it.
But I feel that the same gospel that suits a harlot suits me, and that that
free grace which saved Saul of Tarsus must save me, else I am never saved.
Come, let us all go together. We are all guilty–some more, some less, but
all hopelessly guilty. Let us go together to the footstool of His mercy,
and though we dare not look up, let us lie there in the dust, and sigh out
again, “Lord have mercy upon us for whom Jesus died.”
“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”
Sinner, come now; come now, I beseech thee; I entreat thee, come now. O
Spirit of the living God, draw them now! Let these feeble weak words be the
means of drawing souls to Christ. Will you reject my Master again? Will you
go out of this house hardened once more? You may never again have such
feelings as those which are aroused in your soul. Come, now, receive His
mercy; now bend your willing necks to His yoke; and then I know you shall
go away to taste His faithful love, and at last to sing in Heaven the song
of the redeemed–”Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
his own blood, unto him be glory forever. Amen.”
“O thou great eternal Jesus,
High and mighty Prince of Peace,
How Thy wonders shine resplendent,
In the wonders of Thy grace:
Thy rich gospel scorns conditions,
Breathes salvation free as air;
Only breathes triumphant mercy,
Baffling guilt, and all despair.
“O the grandeur of the gospel,
How it sounds the cleansing blood;
Shows the bowels of a Saviour,
Shows the tender heart of God.
Only treats of love eternal,
Swells the all-abounding grace,
Nothing knows but life and pardon,
Full redemption, endless peace.”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
