[BBC List] sinners - run to Christ

[Mike Abendroth]

Sinners Welcome to Come to Jesus Christ


by Archibald Alexander

   _____  


Our blessed Lord knew how prone convinced sinners are to unbelief as it
regards the reception which he is disposed to give them if they come to him,
and therefore he graciously uttered, and has left on record this precious
encouragement, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." No,
though your sins are very great, the kind Redeemer will not cast you out;
even if that were true which you sometimes think, that you are the greatest
sinner who ever lived upon earth, he will not cast you out. "His blood
cleanseth from all sin." It is as easy for him to save a great as a small
sinner. No one was ever saved because his sins were small; no one was ever
rejected on account of the greatness of his sins. Where sin abounded, grace
shall much more abound. If your guilt is very enormous, the greater honor
will redound to that Deliverer who plucks such a brand from the burning.
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

But is there not one sin which never has pardon, neither in this world nor
in that which is to come? There is; but no one who committed that sin ever
desires to come to Christ; and even that sin world not be unpardonable, if
the sinner who is burdened with its guilt should come to him. It is not
unpardonable because the blood of Christ has not adequate efficacy to remove
it, but because the miserable blasphemer is abandoned by the Spirit of God
to his own malignity, and therefore never does nor can desire to believe on
Christ.

Christ will not cast you off because you have long continued to sin against
God, though it be even to gray hairs and the decrepitude of old age. It is
indeed a wicked thing to continue one day in rebellion against the King of
heaven; and no one can calculate the debt of guilt incurred by spending a
long life in continued acts of transgression. But however long you may have
continued in rebellion, and how ever black and long the catalog of your
sins, yet if you will now turn to God by a sincere repentance, and believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not be cast out. He that cannot lie hath
declared, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." I heard a
preacher declare from the pulpit that there was no example in the Bible of
anyone being converted in old age; but he was undoubtedly under a mistake.
Was not Manasseh, one of the wickedest men who ever lived, brought to
repentance in old age? The ages of those converted on the day Pentecost and
at other times are not given. It is enough for us to know that the aged no
more than the young are excluded from the free invitations of the blessed
Savior. He invites all the laboring and heavy-laden, and of course those who
are burdened with the infirmities of declining years as well as of
unnumbered sins.

Aged sinner, you are not excluded from mercy by any word of God in the whole
book of divine revelation. God has set before you an open door which no man
has a right or power to shut. If you should be shut out, it will be by your
own unbelief, and not for want of a warrant to come. Enter, then, without
delay or hesitation. None can less afford to delay than the aged sinner. Now
is the time. Now or never. You have, as it were, one foot already in the
grave. Your opportunities will soon be over. Strive, then, I entreat you, to
enter in at the strait gate.

But do you ask whether a man may not outlive his day of grace, and be given
over to judicial blindness before life is ended? Undoubtedly he may; but as
I said before, such a one, I believe, is never found inquiring what he must
do to be saved. The devil often tempts aged sinners, and others too, to
believe that it is now too late for them to repent; that the time of their
visitation is gone by, and that there is no hope for them. And many
miserable souls are long held entangled in this snare. He may even quote
Scripture to prove that there is a boundary which, when passed, all hope of
salvation is to be relinquished. But as long as we are in the body we have
the overtures of mercy made to us by the authority of God, and whether we be
young or old, "he that cometh," Christ has declared, shall not be cast out.
Take him at his word. Venture on him. If you stay away you must perish, and
you can but perish if you go. But see, the golden scepter is held out. This
affords full assurance that if you draw near and touch it you shall live.

Some are convinced that there is salvation in no other but Christ the Lord,
yet they hesitate to come because they feel themselves to be so vile and
unworthy. They cannot be persuaded that so great and holy a being as the Son
of God will look with favor on creatures so abominably polluted and stained
with iniquity. Such feelings as these very naturally arise in the minds of
persons made sensible of the sinful defilement of their nature; but they are
most unreasonable when we take into view the character of Jesus Christ, and
the errand on which he came into the world. If he had become incarnate and
had died on the cross only for the benefit of the pure and righteous, then
this excuse for not coming to him would have some validity; but when we know
that he bears the character of a Savior of sinners, and that his name was
called Jesus by the angel who announced his birth, because he should save
his people from their sins; when we consider his repeated declaration, that
he came to seek and save the lost — not to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance, and that he exhibits himself as the Physician, not of the
whole, but the sick, we must pronounce this objection most unreasonable.

If you were not a sinful, polluted, helpless, and miserable creature, this
Savior would not be suited to you, and you would not be comprehended in his
gracious invitations to the children of men. But the deeper you are sunk in
sin and misery, the greater reason you have for coming to one who is able to
save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. If you were covered
with leprosy, and a fountain was opened for washing away every sort of
uncleanness, would you stay away because you were so polluted? Or if deadly
sick, would you refuse to apply to the physician? The awakened, convinced
sinner is the very one to whom Jesus especially directs his attention. And
it is a preposterous thing for such to delay coming, under the delusive hope
of making themselves fit. This they never can do, and if they could they
would not need a Savior. What, will you wash yourselves in a muddy pool to
prepare for being cleansed in a pure fountain?

But some one may be ready to say, "All admit that none ever come to Christ
until they experience conviction of sin, but I have no conviction, or none
worth mentioning. My mind is so blind that I can perceive nothing clearly,
and my heart is so hard that what I do see to be true I cannot feel. O if I
could experience some tender relenting — if I could get this adamant heart
broken into contrition — if I could even feel pungent pain or alarm on
account of my sins, my case would not appear so hopeless. But how can I come
to Christ with this blind and stupid heart?"

Now, my friend, I beg you to consider that this blindness and unyielding
hardness is the very core of your iniquity, and to be convinced that you are
thus blind and stupid is true conviction of sin. If you had those feelings
which you so much covet, they would not answer the end of conviction, which
is, to show you how sinful and helpless your condition is. But if you felt
as you wish to feel, you would not think your heart so wicked as you now see
it to be. And the truth is, that you are now in a better situation to come
to Christ than you would be if you had less conviction of the hardness and
stubbornness of your heart. The use of conviction is to show your need of a
Savior, and to set clearly before your mind your utterly helpless and
hopeless condition in yourself, and that a holy God would be perfectly just
in leaving you to your own fruitless efforts, and in punishing you for ever
for your sins.

"Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him."

Take words, therefore, and go immediately and fall down before him, and say,
"Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou
judgest." Confess the righteousness of the sentence which condemns you, and
accept the punishment of your sins as just. Cry with Peter, when sinking in
the sea, "Lord save; I perish." Or with the blind man, "O thou Son of David,
have mercy upon me!" Or with the Syrophenician woman, "Lord, help me." Or
with the penitent publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Say, like the
royal penitent,

"My lips with shame my sins confess
Against thy law, against thy grace.
Lord, should thy judgment grow severe,
I am condemned, but thou art clear.

Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord,
Whose hope, still hovering round thy word,
Would light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure support against despair."

But here is another poor soul, more bowed down than any which have
considered. It is an awakened backslider. This man verily thought that he
was a true Christian, and under that impression applied for admittance into
the church, and was received, and for a season seemed to run well; but by
the snares and baits of the world, and the deceitfulness of the riches, and
insidious lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life, was by the degrees
seduced from the paths of piety. After a while the profession of religion
was laid aside as an inconvenient thing; since which time, until lately, he
has been sinking deeper and deeper into the spirit of the world which lies
in wickedness. But recently, by a sore visitation of affliction, his
conscience has been awakened to a consideration of his woeful state, and he
inquires with most earnest solicitude whether there is any ground of hope
for such a backslider, who has sinned much more egregiously since he made a
profession of religion than he ever did before. Now to such a one I feel
authorized to say, Christ invites even backsliders like you to come and be
saved. I find no clause excluding the returning backslider, guilty as he is
in the sight of God. He says in regards to this man as others, "Him that
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

There is indeed mention made in Scripture of some backsliders who turned
back unto perdition, and never can be renewed again unto repentance; these
never come to Christ, and never truly desire to come. For them nothing
remains "but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to
devour the adversaries."

But we read in Jeremiah of the Lord calling upon his backsliding Israel to
return, Jeremiah 3:12; and in Hosea, God says, "I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely." Hosea 14:4. This is a most gracious
and encouraging promise, and we find in fact that God has received great
backsliders upon their repentance, and freely pardoned their enormous sins.
I believe that the deplorable backslidings of David, and his subsequent
pardon and restoration, were left on record that convinced backsliders might
not despair of mercy. And our Lord intimates that Peter, when recovered from
his shameful fall, should make it his business "to strengthen his brethren."
Some of this class may perhaps allege that they are afraid that they never
were truly of the number of the Israel of God. That perhaps is a question
which you will never be able to solve in this life. But as to the point in
hand it matters not; if you will now come to Christ, you will be received.
Come, and he will in no wise cast you out.

It is commonly said that men are forward to believe whatever is connected
with their own interest. This in common cases is true; but it is also true,
that when some very great and unexpected good news is brought to us, we find
it very difficult to credit it. It seems too good to be true. When Jacob's
sons returned to their father after Joseph had made himself known to them,
and informed him that his son Joseph was alive and governor of all Egypt,
the old man could not believe the report until he lifted up his eyes and saw
the wagons which had been sent to convey him to Egypt. So the convinced
sinner finds it very hard to believe that a free and full salvation is
offered to him, and that Christ stands ready to receive him, and not only to
pardon all his sins, but give him a sure title to heavenly inheritance. It
seems a thing almost impossible that he should be thus highly favored, and
therefore, when he should with humble confidence lay hold on eternal life,
he stands parleying, hesitating, and demurring. He is prone to think that
there must be some mistake in the business, and that this good news cannot
be true, at least in relation to himself. But when the truth stands out
clearly revealed, he begins to understand what he never did before, the
absolute and perfect freeness of salvation, and how it is that Christ
receives the coming sinner just as he is, in all his guilt and vileness.
Then, indeed, he cannot but rejoice and wonder at the suitableness of the
plan of salvation to his character and necessities; that it comes down to
his wretched and helpless circumstances, and takes him out of the horrible
pit and miry clay, and sets his feet on a rock, establishes his goings, and
puts a new song into his mouth, even praise unto God.

Since awakened, convicted sinners are so prone to unbelief on this point, it
will not be a superfluous labor to offer some cogent reasons to convince
such that Christ will not cast off any who come to him, whatever may have
been their former character or sins.

And I would first mention, that all who come are drawn by the Father. "No
man," says Christ, "can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw
him." Those who do truly come are such as were given to him by the Father.
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." Now this drawing of the
Father is the fruit of his everlasting love. "We love him, because he first
loved us." And surely Christ will not cast out those whom the Father has
loved and given to him, and effectually drawn by his grace.

But you may be ready to reply, "How shall I know that I am of the number
given by the Father to the Son?" I answer, that you need no other or better
evidence of it than your being willing to come. Surely you know that you did
not make yourself willing. If you have come to Christ, or are willing to
come, I am sure that you will ascribe it entirely to the grace of God.
Others, as good by nature and practice as you, remain in love with the world
and under the power of sin. Why is it? You must say with Paul, "By the grace
of God I am what I am." The choice did not commence with you, but with him.
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." And as Christ concurs with
the Father in this drawing, for he says, "And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men unto me," he surely will not cast out the poor penitent whom he
has drawn to his feet. No, no; never. "Him that cometh he will in no wise
cast out."

Again, Christ redeemed, by the shedding of his precious blood, every soul
that comes to him, and the impelling motive which induced him to die for
sinners was love, unspeakable love: "who loved us, and gave himself for us."
Can any one then think or suspect that when Christ sees the travail of his
soul coming to him, he will cast them out? It would be like blasphemy to say
that he would. No; he delights to see the fruit of his painful suffering
even unto death. It was predicted, in connection with the impressive
description of his sufferings and death, that he should "see the travail of
his soul, and be satisfied."

Again, the Holy Spirit is the agent in convincing men of sin and bringing
them to Christ; and this Holy Spirit is sent by the Son as well as the
Father to accomplish this work; and when it is effected, when the soul is
made willing to bow his neck to the easy yoke of Christ, will he cast him
out? Impossible.

But the honor and glory of the Redeemer is concerned in this matter. God is
not glorified in any transaction upon earth so much as in the conversion of
a sinner. There is joy in heaven at the repentance of one sinner, more than
over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. And every redeemed
and renewed soul is a jewel in the mediatorial crown.

We may learn the willingness of Jesus Christ to receive sinners, not only by
his frequent gracious declarations, but by his conduct in regard to such as
applied to him. Christ's personal ministry was confined to people of Israel,
and when he sent out the twelve, and afterwards the seventy, their
commission was restricted within the same limits. Yet when a woman of Canaan
came to implore his aid, he did not reject her, though she descended from as
accursed race. At first, indeed, he seemed to give her repulse, but it was
intended only to bring more clearly to view the strength of her faith. And
his address to her in the end is truly remarkable: "O woman, great is thy
faith; be it unto thee as thou wilt." And when the centurion, another pagan,
applied to him to come and heal his child, he did not reject his suit
because he was a heathen, but said of him, "Verily, I have not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel."

When the vilest sinners, as publicans and harlots, came penitently to his
feet, he rejected none of them, although his gracious attention to such
greatly injured his reputation in the view of the scribes and Pharisees. His
condescending behavior towards that woman who was notorious as a sinner, is
in the highest degree touching. He was dining in the house of a Pharisee,
and this infamous but penitent woman, urged by the strength of her feelings,
found her way into the house, and while he was reclining on a couch at
dinner, she came up behind him and wept such a flood of tears on his feet,
that she is said to have washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with
the hairs of her head. This led the Pharisee to entertain a suspicion that
Christ could not be a teacher sent from God, or he would have known the
infamous character of this woman. Jesus knowing his thoughts, uttered the
beautiful parable of the two debtors, and then making the application to the
case of the penitent woman, said, "Wherefore I say unto you, her sins, which
are many, are forgiven."

When our blessed Lord was hanging on the cross, he was applied to by one of
the malefactors crucified with him. This man being one of the two selected
from all the prisoners in Jerusalem for public execution on this occasion,
was no doubt deeply stained with the guilt of enormous crimes; but was his
suit denied? O no; the response was full of mercy: "This day shalt thou be
with me in paradise." Who can fathom the freeness and riches of the grace of
Christ? It is indeed "unsearchable riches."

Paul may with propriety be here introduced. According to his own
acknowledgment, he was a murderer and a blasphemer, but he obtained mercy,
and was made an apostle, a chief instrument in propagating that gospel which
he once attempted to destroy, among the Gentiles. Many of the first converts
from among the heathen were notorious for the foulest and vilest crimes, for
the apostle in writing to the Corinthians, after giving a black list of
crimes which exclude the persons guilt of them from the kingdom of heaven,
says, "And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified,
but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God."

But perhaps no example of the extent of divine mercy and its sovereign
freedom can equal the pardon extended to the very persons who had imbrued
their hands in Christ's own blood. The blood which they shed procured their
salvation. And Christ seems to have had special compassion for the bloody
city of Jerusalem. Before his death he wept over it and lamented its doom;
and after his resurrection, when he met his disciples in a body, he gave
direction that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his
name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Accordingly, on the day of
Pentecost, Peter charges the sin of crucifying the Lord Jesus upon the
consciences of those whom he addressed, saying, "Therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this they were pricked
in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" Did Peter tell them that as they had committed
this enormous crime, Christ would not pardon them? By no means. He calls
upon them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. And these
greatest of sinners were that very day received into the church, and
continued steadfast in their attachment to Christ and profession of his
name.

Innumerable instances since that day have occurred of the repentance of the
greatest sinners, and no true penitent has ever been rejected. If one
instance could be produced of any sinner being rejected who ever came to
Christ, this might create some doubt in the soul agonized with a sense of
guilt. But as there is no such example, the trembling sinner, feeling that
he is justly exposed to the wrath of God, need not hesitate nor delay to
come at once to Christ, with the assurance that however vile and guilty he
may be, he shall meet a welcome reception. O sinner, you are welcome to come
to Jesus Christ.

All difficulty as to Christ's willingness to receive returning sinners
being, as it is hoped, removed, the only thing which remains to be
considered is, what is to be understood by coming to Christ, and what are
the steps which the sinner must take to come. It is too obvious to need any
remark, that a mere bodily approach is not the thing intended. Many of
Christ's bitterest enemies were often near his person, as Judas when he
betrayed him with a kiss, the soldiers that bound him, that smote him, that
scourged him, that nailed him to the cross; but this kind of approach to
Christ did those who came near him no good. The coming to Christ of which we
have been treating, is the act of the anxious mind which seeks salvation
from the burden of sin, and apprehending that Christ is the only Redeemer,
trusts in him. Christ is exhibited in the gospel as the only Mediator by
whom we can be reconciled to God, and offers to do for the sinner whatever
is requisite to save him from the curse of the law, and from the blindness
and pollution of sin itself; and coming to him is the same as receiving him
in that character, or as sustaining those offices which relate to salvation.

There is but one step to be taken, strictly speaking, in coming to Christ,
and that is believing in him with all the heart. We are not required to
repent and do good works before we come, but to come to him to give us
repentance unto life, and to create us anew to good works. But though the
act of coming is a single act, yet there are some things which are
experienced before this act can be rationally performed. No unawakened,
careless sinner, remaining in that state, will come; for the "whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick." The sinner who knows nothing of Christ
as he is revealed in the Scriptures, cannot come until he is instructed in
regard to the character of Christ. Faith therefore comes by hearing the
word. A soul perverted by erroneous opinions respecting the fundamental
doctrines of religion, cannot come until he is delivered from these errors.
That man who believes Christ to be the promised Messiah, but thinks that he
is no more than a good man and a prophet, cannot come to Christ until this
fundamental error be removed. The soul that truly comes to Christ must be
persuaded that he is indeed the Son of God, and possessed of divine
perfections.

The soul convinced of its sins first seeks Christ as he is an atoning
Priest. That which it wants is the pardon of sin, and reconciliation with an
offended God. Christ, as the great High-priest, has offered up himself as an
atoning sacrifice for sin; and as a priest he has entered into the holy
place made without hands, there to sprinkle, as it were, his life-giving
blood, and to intercede for all who come unto him. When in this character he
is apprehended by the seeking sinner, confidence in him is produced. It is
seen now how God can be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly who
believes in Christ. It is seen that God having accepted Christ's atoning
sacrifice, can receive the guilty sinner into favor and adopt the rebel as a
child. These views, accompanied by this trust in the Lord Jesus as having
made a complete atonement for our sins, is the act of coming to Christ. But
as the soul that is regenerated feels sin itself to be a burden, it looks to
Christ for a deliverance from all the disorders of the depraved mind. He is
therefore received and trusted, to deliver the soul from the deep stains of
iniquity, and by the light of his truth to guide it in the right way.

Let it be remembered that this coming to Christ is not a solitary act of
believing soul; it is one which must continually repeated. The justified
sinner is every moment dependent on his Savior, without whom he can do
nothing. As he is at first justified by faith, so he lives by faith, walks
by faith, and by faith overcomes all his enemies, and brings forth the
fruits of holiness and peace.

But some will be ready to say, "There is no coming to Christ unless we are
drawn, and why then are we blamed for not coming?"

This is not the language of the truly convinced sinner, for he sees and
feels that he is guilty of the damning sin of unbelief, and that he deserves
to be punished for this sin above all others; for it is this which seals the
guilt of all others upon his soul. Dead in sin, it is certain that he will
perform no holy action, but he is still a rational and accountable being.
The law of God does not lose its authority to command because we have become
sinful. It will never do to plead sin as an excuse for sin, or to attempt to
justify sinful acts by pleading that we have an evil heart. This instead of
being a valid apology, is the very ground of our condemnation. If you feel
that your heart is thus blinded and depraved, this conviction of your
miserable, sinful state should humble you deeply in the dust, and induce you
to cry more earnestly to God for his life-giving Spirit. Often, however,
when Christ sends forth his gracious invitation to believe, he enables the
soul by the energy of his Spirit accompanying the call to come and receive
his grace. He accompanies his word with a quickening efficacy, and "the dead
hear the voice of the Son of God and live." Our whole dependence is on the
influence of the Holy Spirit. "Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God
giveth the increase."

Let us now review the truths which have been inculcated.

1. Christ is an able and willing Savior, who will in no wise cast out any
soul that comes to him.

2. The grace of God, through Christ, is perfectly free; that is, he requires
no qualification or merit in those who come. They are invited to apply to
him in all their guilt and pollution, that they may from his gracious hands
receive pardon and renovation.

3. There is no obstacle in the way of any sinner's coming but what exists in
himself. The door of mercy cannot be set wider open than it is; the
invitations of Christ could not be more kind and full.

4. The whole blame of the sinner's ruin who refuses to come to Christ, will
lie at his own door. The only obstacle is his own perverseness and
unwillingness. Christ was willing to give life to his greatest enemies if
they would come to him; for he complains, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye
may have life."

5. The conversion of a single soul is the work of God only. The same power
which caused light to shine out of darkness, must shine into our hearts.
Creation is a work proper to God only, but conversion is a "new creation,"
and requires power as really divine as that by which the worlds were formed.

6. God has directed the gospel to be preached to every creature without
discrimination; and every one who hears it has a divine warrant to receive
it; and if he does, he has the faithfulness of God pledged for his
everlasting salvation.

7. As the efficacy of the word depends on the energy of the Holy Spirit, all
Christians should be incessant and fervent in their supplications for this
Spirit of grace to be poured out, that sinners may be converted.

8. We have encouragement to hope that the time is coming, and perhaps
drawing near, when conversions will be multiplied far beyond the experience
of former ages; when the Jews shall, as a nation, obtain mercy of the Lord,
and when all the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of his Christ. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Amen.

 

 

Charis, 
  
Mike Abendroth 
  
"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to
be contented with half truth when whole truth can be won.  Endow us with
courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns
to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth
are in jeopardy."

 - West Point Military Academy Cadet Prayer 

 

HYPERLINK "http://www.bbcchurch.org"www.bbcchurch.org 
  

 


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