Can you do it? Can you trust him now? Is it a full trust?
Are you leaning on your feelings? Give them up. Are you depending a little on
what you mean to do? Give that up. Do you trust him wholly? Can you say, “His
blessed wounds, his flowing blood, his perfect righteousness, on these I
rest. I do trust him, wholly?” Are you half afraid to say you do? Do you
think it is such a bold thing? Do it then; do a bold thing for once! Say,
“Lord, I’ll trust thee, and if thou cast me away, I’ll still trust thee; I
bless thee that thou canst save me, and that thou wilt save me.” Can you say
that? I say, have you believed in him? You are saved, then; you are not in a
salvable state, but you are saved; not partly, but wholly saved; not some of
your sins blotted out, but all; behold the whole list, and it is written at
the bottom of them all: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all
sin.” But I hear one say, “It is too good to be true!” Soul, wilt thou be
lost through thinking little things of Christ? “Ah!” says another, “it is too
simple; if this be the gospel, we shall have all the ragamuffins in the
streets believing in Christ and being saved.” And glory be to God if it be
so! For my part I am never afraid of big sinners being saved. I would have
every harlot, I would have every whoremonger and adulterer to be saved. I
would not be afraid that they would go on in their sins if they believed in
Christ. Oh! no; faith in Christ would change their nature; and it will change
yours too; for this is salvation: to have the nature changed, to be made a
new creature in Christ, and to be made holy. Come, soul, wilt thou trust him?
I do not like you all to go away after crowding in here without getting that
blessing. Some of you have come up to the Handel Festival; but here is better
music if you trust Christ, for you shall hear the bells of heaven ringing,
and all the music of the angels as they rejoice over you as a brother
redeemed. Many of you have come up to see the Great Exhibition; but here is a
greater wonder than that, if you came into this place this morning in a state
of nature, and go out in a state of grace, only to wait a little while, and
then to reach a state of glory! Some of you have come up to see the great
Cattle Show; but here is something better to see than ever was reared on
English pasture; here is food for your souls; here is that whereof if a man
eateth he shall live for ever; and here it is held out to you. Nothing can be
plainer. Trust Christ and you are saved. Outside in the street there is a
drinking-fountain. When you get there, if you are thirsty go to it; you will
find no policeman there to send you away. No one will cry, “You must not
drink because you do not wear a satin dress.” “You must not drink because you
wear a fustian jacket.” No, no, go and drink; and when you have hold of the
ladle and are putting it to your lips, if there should come a doubt-”I do not
feel my thirst enough,” still take a drink whether you do or not. So I say to
you, Jesus Christ stands like a great flowing fountain in the corners of the
street, and he inviteth every thirsty soul to come and drink. You need not
stop and say, “Am I thirsty enough? Am I black enough?” You do want it
whether you think you do or not. Come as you are; come as you are. Every
fitness is legality; every preparation is a lie; every getting ready for
Chrst is coming the wrong way. You are only making yourselves worse while you
think you are making yourselves better. You are like a boy at school who has
made a little blot, and he gets out his knife to scratch it out, and makes it
ten times worse than before. Leave the blots alone. Come as you are. If you
are the blackest soul out of hell, trust Christ, and that act of trust shall
make you clean. This seems a simple thing, and yet it is the hardest thing in
the world to bring you to it; so hard a thing that all the preachers that
ever preached cannot make a man believe in Christ. Though we put it as
plainly as we can, and plead with you, you only go away and say, “It is too
good to be true;” or else you despise it because it is so simple; for the
gospel, like Christ, is despised and rejected of men, because it has no form
and comeliness, and no beauty in it that they should desire it. Oh! may the
Holy Ghost lay this home to you; may he make you willing in the day of his
power. I hope he has; I trust he has, so that ere we go we may all join in
singing this one verse, and then separate;-
“A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On Christ’s kind arms I fall;
He is my strength; my righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all.”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
