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SUBJECT: 34 LUK 15:2 An Appeal to Sinners
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An Appeal To Sinners
September 14th, 1856
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"This man receiveth sinners."- Luk_15:2.
It was a singular group which had gathered round our Saviour, when these
words were uttered; for we are told by the evangelist-"Then drew near unto
him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him." The publicans-the very
lowest grade, the public oppressors, scorned and hated by the meanest Jew-
these, together with the worst of characters, the scum of the streets and the
very riff-raff of the society of Jerusalem, came around this mighty preacher,
Jesus Christ, in order to listen to his words. On the outside of the throng
there stood a few respectable people, who in those days were called Pharisees
and Scribes-men who were highly esteemed in the synagogues as rulers, and
governors, and teachers. These looked with scorn upon the Preacher; and
watched him with invidious eyes, to find some fault. If they could find none
in him personally, yet they could easily find it in his congregation; his
deportment towards them shocked their false notion of propriety, and when
they observed that he was affable with the very worst of characters, that he
spoke loving words to the most fallen of mankind, they said of him what they
intended for a disgrace, albeit it was highly to his honour: "This man
receiveth sinners." I believe that our Saviour could not have wished to have
had a sentence uttered concerning him, more evidently true or more thoroughly
consistent with his sacred commission. It is the exact portrait of his
character; the hand of a master seems to have limned him to the very life. He
is the man who "receiveth sinners." Many a true word has been spoken in jest,
and many a true word has been spoken in slander. Men have said sometimes in
jest, "There goes a saint;" but it has been true. They have said, "There goes
one of your chosen ones, one of your elect," they meant it as a slander, but
the doctrine they scandalized was to the person who received it a comfort; it
was his glory and his honour. Now the Scribes and Pharisees wished to slander
Christ; but in so doing they outstripped their intentions, and bestowed upon
him a title of renown. "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them."
This evening I shall divide my observations to you into three parts. First,
the doctrine, that Christ receiveth sinners, which is a doctrine of holy
writ. Secondly, the encouragement it affords the sinner; and thirdly, the
exhortation naturally springing from it, to the same character.
I. First, then, THE DOCTRINE. The doctrine is, not that Christ receiveth
everybody, but that he "receiveth sinners." By that term we, in common
parlance, understand everybody. It is in the present day quite fashionable
for everybody to lie against what he believes, and to say he is a sinner,
even when he believes himself to be a very respectable, well-to-do man, and
does not conceive that he ever did anything very amiss in his life. It is a
sort of orthodox confession for men to make, when they say that they are
sinners; though they might just as well use one formula as another, or repeat
words in a foreign tongue; for they mean no deep and heartfelt contrition.
They have no true apprehension that they are sinners at all. These Scribes
and Pharisees did virtually assert, that they were not sinners; they marked
out the Publicans and the harlots, and the worthless, and they said, "These
are sinners, we are not." "Very well," said Christ, "I endorse the
distinction you have made. In your own opinion, you are not sinners; well,
you shall stand exempt for the time from being called sinners-I endorse your
distinction. But I beg to inform you, that I came to save those very persons
who, in their own estimation and in yours, are reckoned to be sinners." It is
my belief that the doctrine of the text is this-that Christ receives not the
self-righteous, not the good, not the whole-hearted, not those who dream that
they do not need a Saviour; but the broken in spirit, the contrite in heart-
those who are ready to confess that they have broken God's laws, and have
merited his displeasure. These and these alone, Christ came to save; and I
reassert the subject of last Sabbath evening-that Jesus has died for such,
and for none other; that he has shed his blood for those who are ready to
confess their sins, and who do seek mercy through the open veins of his
wounded body, but for none other did he designedly offer up himself upon the
cross.
Now, let us remark, beloved, that there is a very wise distinction on the
part of God, that he hath been pleased thus to choose and call sinners to
repentance, and not others. For this reason, none but these ever do come to
him. There has never been such a miracle as a self-righteous man coming to
Christ for mercy; none but those who want a Saviour ever did come. It stands
to reason, that when men do not consider themselves in need of a Saviour,
they never will approach his throne; and surely it is satisfactory enough for
all purposes, that Christ should say he receiveth sinners, seeing that
sinners are the only persons who will ever come to him for mercy, and
therefore it would be useless for him to say that he would receive any but
those who most assuredly will come.
And mark, again, none but those can come; no man can come to Christ until he
truly knows himself to be a sinner. The self-righteous man cannot come to
Christ; for what is implied in coming to Christ? Repentance, trust in his
mercy, and the denial of all confidence in one's self. Now, a self-righteous
man cannot repent, and yet be self-righteous. He conceives that he has no
sin; why, then, should he repent? Tell him to come to Christ with humble
penitence, and he exclaims-"Ay! you insult my dignity. Why should I approach
to God? Wherein have I sinned? My knee shall not bend to seek for pardon,
wherein I have not offended; this lip shall not seek forgiveness when I do
not believe myself to have transgressed against God; I shall not ask for
mercy." The self-righteous man cannot come to God; for his coming to God
implies that he ceases to be self-righteous. Nor can a self-righteous man put
his trust in Christ; why should he? Shall I trust in a Christ whom I do not
require? It I be self-righteous, I need no Christ to save me in my own
opinion. How, then, can I come with such a confession as this,
"Nothing in my hands I bring,"
when I have got my hands full. How can I say, "Wash me," when I believe
myself white? How can I say "Heal me," when I think that I never was sick?
How can I cry, "Give me freedom, give me liberty," when I believe I never was
a slave, and "never in bondage to any man?" It is only the man who knows his
slavery by reason of the bondage of sin, and the man who knows himself to be
sick even unto death by reason of the sense of guilt: it is only the man who
feels he cannot save himself, who can with faith rely upon the Saviour. Nor
can the self-righteous man renounce himself, and lay hold of Christ; because
in the renunciation of himself he would at once become the very character
whom Christ says he will receive. He would then put himself in the place of
the sinner, when he cast away his own righteousness. Why, sirs, coming to
Christ implies the taking off the polluted robe of our own righteousness, and
putting on Christ's. How can I do that, if I wittingly wrap my own garment
about me? and if in order to come to Christ I must forsake my own refuge and
all my own hope, how can I do it, if I believe my hope to be good, and my
refuge to be secure; and if I suppose that already I am clothed sufficiently
to enter into the marriage supper of the Lamb? Nay, beloved, it is the
sinner, and the sinner only, who can come to Christ; the self-righteous man
cannot do it; it is quite out of his way-he would not do it if he could. His
very self-righteousness fetters his foot, so that he cannot come; palsies his
arm, so that he cannot take hold of Christ; and blinds his eye, so that be
cannot see the Saviour.
Yet another reason: if these people, who are not sinners, would come to
Christ, Christ would get no glory from them. When the physician openeth his
door for those who are sick, let me go there full of health; he can win no
honour from me, because he cannot exert his skill upon me. The benevolent man
may distribute all his wealth to the poor; but let some one go to him who has
abundance, and he shall win no esteem from him for feeding the hungry, or for
clothing the naked; since the applicant is neither hungry nor naked. If Jesus
Christ proclaims that he giveth his grace unto all who come for it, surely it
is sufficient, seeing that none will or can come for it, but those whose
pressing necessities prompt them. Ay! sufficient; it is quite sufficient for
his honour. A great sinner brings great glory to Christ when he is saved. A
man who is no sinner, if he could attain to heaven would glorify himself, but
he would not glorify Christ. The man who has no stains may plunge into the
fountain; but he cannot magnify its cleansing power for he hath no stains to
wash away. He that hath no guilt can never magnify the word "forgiveness." It
is the sinner then, and the sinner only, who can glorify Christ; and hence
"this man receiveth sinners," but it is not said that he receiveth any else.
"He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." This is the
doctrine of the text.
But allow us just to amplify that word: "this man receiveth sinners." Now, by
that we understand that he receives sinners to all the benefits which he has
purchased for them. If there be a fountain, he receives sinners to wash them
in it; if there be medicine for the soul, he receives sinners to heal their
diseases; if there be a house for the sick, an hospital, a lazar-house for
the dying, he receives such into that retreat of mercy. All that he hath of
love, all that he hath of mercy, all that he hath of atonement, all that he
hath of sanctification, all that he bath of righteousness-to all these he
receives the sinner. Yea, more; not content with taking him to his house, he
receives him to his heart. He takes the black and filthy sinner, and having
washed him-"There," he says, "thou art my beloved; my desire is towards
thee." And to consummate the whole, at last he receives the saints to heaven.
Saints, I said, but I meant those who were sinners, for none can be saints
truly, but those who once were sinners, and have been washed in the blood of
Christ, and made white through the sacrifice of the lamb.
Observe it then, beloved, that in receiving sinners we mean the whole of
salvation; and this word in my text, "Christ receiveth sinners," graspeth in
the whole of the covenant. He receives them to the joys of paradise, to the
bliss of the beatified, to the songs of the glorified, to an eternity of
happiness for ever. "This man receiveth sinners;" and I dwell with special
emphasis on this point,-he receives none else. He will have none else to be
saved but those who know themselves to be sinners. Full, free salvation is
preached to every sinner in the universe; but I have no salvation to preach
to those who will not acknowledge themselves to be sinners. To them I must
preach the law, telling them that their righteousness is but as filthy rags,
that their goodness shall pass away as the spider's web, and shall be broken
in pieces, even as the egg of the ostrich is broken by the foot of the horse.
"This man receiveth sinners," and receiveth none else.
II. Now, then, THE ENCOURAGEMENT. If this man receiveth sinners, poor sin-
sick sinner, what a sweet word this is for thee! Sure, then, he will not
reject thee. Come, let me encourage thee this night to come to my Master, to
receive his great atonement, and to be clothed with all his righteousness.
Mark: those whom I address, are the bona fide, real, actual sinners; not the
complimentary sinners; not those who say they are sinners by way of
pacifying, as they suppose, the religionists of the day; but I speak to those
who feel their lost, ruined, hopeless condition. All these are now frankly
and freely invited to come to Jesus Christ, and to be saved by him. Come,
poor sinner, come.
Come, because he has said he will receive you; I know your fears; we all felt
them once, when we were coming to Christ. I know thou sayest in thy heart,
"He will reject me. If I present my prayer, he will not hear me; if I cry
unto him, yet peradventure the heavens will he as brass; I have been so great
a sinner, that he will never take me into his house to dwell with him." Poor
sinner! say not so; he hath published the decree. It is enough between man
and man usually, if we count our fellow creatures honest, to obtain a
promise. Sinner! is this not enough between thyself and the Son of God? He
has said, "Him that cometh I will in nowise cast out." Durst thou not venture
on that promise? Wilt thou not go to sea in a ship as staunch as this; he
hath said it? It has been often and again the only comfort of the saints; on
this they have lived, on this they have died: he hath said it. What! dost
thou think Christ will lie unto thee? Would he tell thee he will receive
thee, and yet not do so? Would he say, "My fatlings are killed, come ye to
the supper," and yet shut the door in your face? No, if be has said he will
cast out none that come to him; rest assured he cannot, he will not cast you
out. Come, then, try his love on this ground, that he has said it.
Come, and fear not, because remember, if thou feelest thyself to be a sinner,
that feeling is God's gift; and therefore thou mayest very safely come to one
who has already done so much to draw thee. A stranger calls at my house, he
asks for alms, and he tells me at first very plainly, that he never saw me
before, that he has no claim upon my generosity, but he throws himself
entirely upon any benevolent feeling that I may chance to have in my breast.
But if I had done anything for him before, he might say, supposing I were a
rich man, "Sir, you have done so much for me, I think you will not give me up
at last; I believe you will not let me starve, after so much love." Poor
sinner! if thou feelest thy need of a Saviour, Christ made thee feel it; if
thou hast a wish to come after Christ, Christ gave thee that wish; if thou
hast any desire after God, God gave thee that desire; if thou canst sigh
after Christ, Christ made thee sigh; if thou canst weep after Christ, Christ
made thee weep. Ay, if thou canst only wish for him with the strong wish of
one that fears he never can find, yet hopes he may-if thou canst but hope for
him, he has given thee that hope. And oh! wilt not thou come to him? Thou
hast some of the king's bounties about thee now; come and plead what he hath
done, there is no suit that can ever fail with God, when ye plead this. Tell
him his past mercies urge you to try him in the future. Down on your knees,
sinner, down on your knees; tell him this-"Lord, I thank thee that I know
myself to be a sinner; thou hast taught me that; I bless thee that I do not
wrap up my sin, that I know it, that I feel it; that it is ever before me.
Lord, wouldst thou make me see my sin, and not let me see my Saviour? What!
wilt thou open the wound, and put in the lancet, and yet not heal me? What,
Lord! hast thou said, 'I kill?' And hast thou not said in the same breath, 'I
make alive.' Hast thou killed me, and wilt thou not make me alive?" Plead
that, poor sinner, and thou wilt find it true, that "this man receiveth
sinners."
Doth not this suffice thee? Then here is another reason. I am sure "this man
receiveth sinners," because he has received many, many, before you. See,
there is Mercy's door; mark how many have been to it; you can almost hear the
knocks upon the door now, like echoes of the past. You may remember how many
way-worn travellers have called there for rest, how many famished souls have
applied there for bread. Go, knock at Mercy's door, and ask the porter this
question, "Was there ever one applied to the door that was refused?" I can
assure you of the answer: "No, not one."
"No sinner was ever empty sent back,
Who came seeking mercy for Jesus's sake."
And shalt thou be the first? Dost thou think God will forfeit his good name,
by turning thee away? Mercy's gate has been open night and day, ever since
man sinned; dost thou think it will be shut in thy face for the first time?
Nay, man, go and try it; and if thou findest it is, come back and say, "Thou
hast not read the Bible as thou oughtest to have done;" or else say thou hast
found one promise there which has not been fulfilled-for he said, "Him that
cometh I will in nowise cast out." I do not believe there ever was in this
world one who was suffered by God to say that he sought mercy of him
sincerely, and did not find it. Nay more, I believe that such a being never
shall exist, but whosoever cometh unto Christ shall most assuredly find
mercy. What greater encouragement do you want? Do you want a salvation for
those that will not come to be saved? Do you want blood sprinkled on those
that will not come to Christ? You must want it, then; I will not preach it to
you. I find it not in God's Word, and therefore I dare not.
And now, sinner, I have yet another plea to urge with thee why thou shouldst
believe that Christ will receive all sinners who come to him. It is this,
that he calls all such. Now if Christ calls us and bids us come, we may be
sure he will not turn us away when we do come. Once on a time a blind man sat
by the wayside begging. He heard-for he could not see-he heard the trampling
of the many feet that were passing by him. He asked what all this meant: they
said that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. Loudly did he cry, "Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me!" The ear of mercy was apparently deaf, and the
Saviour walked on and heeded not the prayer. The poor man sat still then, but
cried aloud, though he did not move. Yet when the Saviour said, "Come
hither," ah! then he did not delay an instant. They said, "Arise, he calleth
thee;" and, pushing them all aside, he made his way through the crowd, and
offered the prayer, "Lord, let me receive my sight." Well, then, thou who
feelest thyself to be lost and ruined, arise and speak; he calleth for thee.
Convinced sinner, Christ says, "Come;" and that thou mayest be sure he says
it, let us quote that Scripture again, "I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance." Thou art called, man; then come. If Her Majesty were
riding by, thou mightest scarcely presume to speak to her; but if thy name
were called, and by her own lips, wouldst thou not go to her carriage, and
what she had to say to thee wouldst not thou listen to? Now, the King of
heaven says, "Come." Yes, the same lips that will one day say, "Come, ye
blessed," say this night, "Come, ye poor distressed sinners, come to me, and
I will save you." There is not a distressed soul in this hall, if his
distress be the work of God's Holy Spirit, that shall not find salvation in
the wounds of Christ. Believe then, sinner, believe in Jesus, that he is able
to save even thee unto the very uttermost.
And now just one point more, to commend this encouragement to you. Indeed,
poor souls, I know when ye are under a sense of sin it is very hard to
believe. We sometimes say, "Only believe;" but believing is just the hardest
thing in the world when sin lies heavy on your shoulders. We say, "Sinner,
only trust in Christ." Ah, ye do not know what a great "only" that is. It is
a work so great, that no man can do it unaided by God; for faith is the gift
of God, and he gives it only to his children. But if anything can call faith
into exercise, it is this last thing I shall mention. Sinner, remember that
Christ is willing to receive thee, for he came all the way from heaven to
seek thee and find thee out in thy wanderings, and to save thee and rescue
thee from thy miseries; he hath given proof of his hearty interest in thy
welfare, in that he hath shed his very heart's blood to redeem thy soul from
death and hell. If he had wanted the companionship of saints, he might have
stopped in heaven, for there were many there. Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob
were with him there in glory; but he wanted sinners. He had a thirst after
perishing sinners. He wanted to make them trophies of his grace. He wanted
black souls, to wash them white. He wanted dead souls, to make them alive.
His benevolence wanted objects on which to exert itself; and therefore
"Down from the shining seats above,
With joyful haste he fled,
Entered the grave in mortal flesh,
And dwelt among the dead."
Oh, sinner, look there, and see that cross. Mark yonder man upon it!
"See from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?"
Dost thou note that eye? Canst thou see languid pity for thy soul floating in
it? Dost thou mark that side? It is opened that thou mayest hide thy sins
therein. See those drops of crimson blood; every drop is trickling down for
thee. Hearest thou that death-shriek, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" That
shriek in all its deep-toned solemnity is for thee. Yes, for thee, if thou
art a sinner; if thou dost this night say unto God, "Lord, I know I have
offended thee; have mercy upon me for Jesus' sake." If now, taught by the
Spirit, thou art led to abhor thyself in dust and ashes, because thou hast
sinned, verily, before God-I tell thee in his sight, as his servant, thou
shalt be saved; for Jesus would not die for thee and yet let thee perish.
III. Now the last point is AN EXHORTATION. If it be true that Christ came
only to save sinners, my beloved hearers, labour, strive, agonize, to get a
sense in your souls of your own sinnership. One of the most distressing
things in the world is to feel yourself a sinner; but that is no reason why I
should not exhort you to seek it, for while distressing, it is only the
distress of the bitter medicine which will effectually work the cure. Do not
seek to get high ideas of yourself. Seek to get a low opinion of yourself; do
not try to deck yourself with ornaments; let it not be your endeavour to
array yourself in gold and silver; do not seek to be made good in yourself,
but seek to strip yourself; seek to humble yourself. Do not soar high, but
sink low. Do not go up, but go down. Ask God to let thee see that thou art
nothing at all. Ask him to bring thee to this, that thou mayest have nothing
to say but
"I the chief of sinners am;"
and if God hear your prayer, very likely Satan will tell you that you cannot
be saved because you are a sinner. But as Martin Luther said, "Once, when I
was racked with pain and sin, Satan said, 'Luther, thou canst not be saved,
for thou art a sinner. 'Nay,' said Martin Luther, 'I will cut thine head off
with thine own sword. Thou sayest I am a sinner; I thank thee for it. Thou
art a holy Satan,' (he says it in mockery no doubt,) 'when thou sayest I am a
sinner. Well, then, Satan, Christ died for sinners, therefore he died for me.
Ah,' said he, 'if thou canst but prove that to me, Satan, I will thank thee
for it; and so far from groaning, I will begin to sing, for all we want is to
know and feel that we are sinners." Let us feel that; let us know that, and
we may receive this as an undoubted fact of revelation, that we have a right
to come unto Christ, and to believe on him, and receive him as all our
salvation, and all our desire. No doubt Conscience will come and stop you;
but do not try to stop the mouth of Conscience, but tell Conscience you are
much obliged to him for all that he says 'Oh, you have been a desperate
fellow; you sinned when you were young; you have sinned even until now. How
many sermons have been wasted on you! How many Sabbaths you have broken! How
many warnings you have despised! Oh, you are a desperate sinner.' Tell
Conscience that you thank him, for the more you can prove yourself to be a
sinner, not by outward acts, but in your inmost heart, the more you know
yourself to be really guilty, the more reason have you to come to Christ and
say, "Lord, I believe thou hast died for the guilty; I believe thou intendest
to save the worthless. I Cast myself on thee; Lord, save me!" That does not
suit some of you, does it? It is not the kind of doctrine that flatters man
much. No; ye would like to be good people, and help Christ a little, ye like
that theory which some ministers are always proclaiming. "God has done a
great deal for you; you do the rest, and then you will be saved." That is a
very popular kind of doctrine; you do one part, and God will do the other
part; but that is not God's truth, it is only a delirious dream; God says, "I
will do the whole; come and prostrate thyself at my feet; give up thy doings;
let me undertake for thee; afterwards, I will make thee live to my glory.
Only in order that thou mayest be holy, I desire thee to confess that thou
art unholy; in order that thou mayest be sanctified, thou must confess that
thou art as yet unsanctified. Oh, do that my hearers. Fall down before the
Lord; cast yourselves down. Do not stand up with pride; but fall down before
God in humility; tell him you are undone without his sovereign grace; tell
him you have nothing, you are nothing, you never will be anything more than
nothing, but that you know Christ does not want anything of you, for he will
take you just as you are. Do not seek to come to Christ with anything,
besides your sin; do not seek to come to Christ with your prayers for a
recommendation; do not come to him even with professions of your faith; come
to him with your sin, he will give you faith. If you stop away from Christ,
and think that you will have faith apart from him, you have made an error. It
is Christ that saves us; we must come to Christ for all we want.
"Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
All in All in thee I find:
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick, and lead the blind."
Jesus will do so and more also; but you must come as blind, you most come as
sick, you must come as lost, or else you cannot and must not come at all.
Come then, to Jesus, I beseech you, whatever may up to this time have kept
you away. Your doubts would keep you away, but say, "Stand back, Unbelief;
Christ says he died for sinners: and I know I am a sinner."
"My faith will on that promise live,
Will on that promise die."
And there is one thing I want to say, before I have done. Do not stop away
from Christ, when you know yourself to be a sinner, because you think you do
not understand every point of theology. Very often I get young converts with
me, and they say, "I do not understand this or that doctrine." Well, I am
very glad, so far as I am able, to explain it to them. But sometimes I get,
not young converts, but young convicts, those who are under Conviction of
sin; and when I am trying to bring them to this, that if they are but sinners
they may believe in Christ, they begin with this knotty point, and that
knotty point-and they seem to imagine that they cannot be saved till they are
thorough theologians. Now, if you expect to understand all theology before
you put your faith in Christ, I can only tell you you never will; for live as
long as ever you may, there will be some depths you cannot explore. There are
certain unquestionable facts which you must hold; but there will always be
some difficulties through which you will not be able to see. The most
favoured saint on earth does not understand everything; but you want to
understand all things before you come to Christ. One man asks me how sin came
into the world, and he will not come unto Christ till he knows that. Why, he
will be lost beyond hope of recovery, if he waits till he knows it; for
nobody will ever know it. I have no reason to believe that it is even
revealed to those who are in heaven. Another wants to know how it is that men
are bidden to come,-and yet we are taught in Scripture that no man can come,-
and he must have that cleared up; just as if the poor man who had a withered
arm, when Christ said, "Stretch out thine arm," had replied, "Lord, I have
got a difficulty in my mind; I want to know how you can tell me to stretch
out my arm when it is withered." Suppose when Christ had said to Lazarus,
"Come forth," Lazarus could have said, "I have a difficulty in my mind; how
can a dead man come forth?" Why, know this, vain man! when Christ says
"Stretch out thine arm," he gives you power to stretch out your arm with the
command, and the difficulty is solved in practice; though I believe it never
will be solved in theory. If men want to have theology mapped out to them, as
they would have a map of England; if they want to have every little village
and every hedgerow in the gospel kingdom mapped out to them, they will not
find it anywhere but in the Bible; and they will find it so mapped out there
that the years of a Methuselah would not suffice to find out every little
thing in it. We must come to Christ and learn, not learn and then come to
Christ. "Ah! but," saith another, "that is not the ground of my misgivings; I
do not perplex myself much about theological points; I have got a worse
anxiety than that: I feel I am too bad to be saved." Well, I believe you are
wrong then; that is all I can say in reply to you; for I will believe Christ
before I will believe you. You say you are too bad to be saved; Christ says,
"Him that cometh he will in no wise cast out." Now, which shall be right?
Christ saith he will receive the very worst; you say he will not. What then?
"Let God be true, and every man a liar." But there is one matter of counsel I
wish you would accept; I desire of God that he may bring you to come and try
the Lord Jesus Christ, and see whether he will turn you away. What concern is
it to me, that I am so often reproached for making my appeals to the worst of
Sinners? It is said that I direct my ministry to drunkards, harlots,
blasphemers, and sinners of the grosser sort. And what if the finger of scorn
he pointed at me, or if I shall be accounted as a fool before the public; do
you think I shall be deterred by their irony? Do you think I shall stand
abashed at their ungenerous ridicule? Oh, no: like David, when he danced
before the ark of the Lord, and Michal, Saul's daughter, jeered at him and
taunted him as a shameless fellow, I shall only reply, if this be vile, I
purpose to be more vile yet. While I see the foot-tracks of my Master before
me, and while I see still more his gracious sanctions following my labours;
while I behold his name magnified, his glory increased, and perishing souls
saved, (as thanks be to God we have witness everyday;) while this gospel
warrants me, while the Spirit of God moves me, and while signs following do
multiply the seals of my commission,-who am I that I should stay myself for
man, or resist the Holy Ghost for any flesh that breatheth? Oh, then, ye
chief of sinners, ye vilest of the vile, ye who are the scum of the city, the
refuse of the earth, the dregs of creation, whom no man seeketh after, ye
whose characters are destroyed, and whose inmost souls are polluted, so black
that no fuller on earth can whiten you, so debased that ye have sunk beyond
the hope of any moralist to reclaim you! come ye-come ye to Christ. Come ye
at his own invitation. Come, and you shall be surely received with a hearty
welcome. My Master said that he received sinners. His enemies said it of him,
"This man receiveth sinners." In deed and in truth we know of a surety that
he does receive sinners, the enemies themselves being witnesses. Come now,
and yield the fullest credit to his word, his invitation, his promise. Do you
object that it was only during a few days' grace in the time of his sojourn
on earth that he received sinners? No, not so; it is confirmed by all
subsequent experience. The apostles of Jesus echoed it after he had ascended
into heaven, in terms as unqualified as he himself expressed it when on
earth. Will ye not believe this: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief?" Ye despisers, go away and laugh at this; go away, and scorn
the preached gospel if you will, but one day we shall meet each other, face
to face, before our Maker, and it may, perhaps, go hard then with all those
who have despised Christ, and laughed at his gracious words. Is there an
infidel here who says he shall be well enough off if he shall die the death
of annihilation, and shall not live in a future world? Well, my friend,
suppose all men die like dogs, I shall be as well off as you are, and I think
a little better off, even as to happiness and peace in this world. But if;
(and mark you I do not put it so, because I doubt it)-if it be true that
there is a world to come. I would not like to stand in your place in the next
world. Be it so that there is a judgment-seat; let there be a hell-(l put it
hypothetically, not because I have a doubt about it, but because you tell me
you doubt it; though I do not think you really do)-if there be such a place,
what will ye do then? Why, even now ye shake if a leaf falls in the night; ye
are terrified if the cholera is in the street; ye are alarmed if ye are a
little sick, and ye rush to the physician, and anyone can impose upon you
with his physic, because you are afraid of death. What will you do in the
swellings of Jordan, when death gets hold on you? If a little pain affrights
you now, what will you do when your body shall shake, and your knees shall
knock together before your Maker? What wilt thou do, my hearer, when his
burning eyes shall eat into thy very soul? What wilt thou do, when, amid ten
thousand thunders, he shall say, "Depart, depart?" I cannot tell thee what
thou wilt do; but I will tell thee one thing that thou durst not do; that is,
thou durst not say, that I have not as simply as ever I could tried to preach
the gospel to the very chief of sinners. Hear it again-"He that believeth on
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." To believe is to trust in Christ; to
drop into those blessed arms that can catch the heaviest laden sinner that
ever breathed; to fall flat on the promise; to let him do all for you, until
he has quickened you, and enabled you to work out what he has before worked
in you, "your own salvation;" and even this must be "with fear and
trembling." God almighty grant, that some poor soul may he blessed to-night!
You that are on shore, I do not expect to do you any good. If I have a rocket
to send abroad into the sea, it is only the stranded vessel, the shipwrecked
mariner that will rejoice at the rope. You that think yourselves safe, I have
no necessity to preach to you; you are all so perilously good in your own
sight, it is no use trying to make you better; you are all so awfully
righteous, you can go on your way well enough, without warning from me. You
must excuse me, therefore, if I have nothing to say to you except this, "Woe
unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" and allow me to turn myself to
another class of people, the vilest of the vile. I should not care if I
gained the cognomen of the preacher to the basest and the vilest; I should
not blush to be reviled like Rowland Hill, as the preacher to the lowest
orders; for they want the gospel as much as any creatures under heaven; and
if nobody will preach it to them, God helping me, I will endeavour to preach
it to them in words that they can understand. And if genteel people do not
like preaching in that style, they have the option of leaving it. If they
want to hear men preach in intellectual strains, above the capacity of common
sinners, let them go and hear them; I must content myself with following my
Lord, who "made himself of no reputation,"-to go after out-of-the-way
sinners, in an out-of-the-way fashion. I would sooner do violence to pulpit
decorum, and break through pulpit decency, than not break through hard
hearts. I count that sort of preaching to be the right sort, that does reach
the heart somehow or other, and I am not particular how I do it. I confess,
if I could not preach in one way, I would in another; if nobody would come to
hear me in a black coat, they should be attracted by my wearing a red one.
Somehow or other, I would make them hear the gospel if I could; and I would
labour so to preach, that the meanest understanding should be able to get
hold of this one fact: "This man receiveth sinners," God bless you all, for
Christ's sake!
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, NJ, USA 08022
Internet: hyperlink