Come To Jesus - Just As You Are

J.C. Ryle 

The Upper Room, Being a Few Truths for the Times

Chapter VII John 7:37-38 “Let Any Man Come”, a sermon delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, 1878.

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/ryle/upper_room.ix.html  

"I am the bread of life: he that cometh unto Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on ME shall never thirst." John 6:35

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." John 7:37-38 (John 4:14)

"I am the Light of the world: he that followeth ME shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12

" I am the (Gate): by ME if any man enter in, he shall be saved." John 10:9

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by ME." John 14:6

"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 3:37

In Him, as our Redeemer and Substitute, crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification, there is an endless supply of all that men can need, pardon, absolution, mercy, grace, peace, rest, relief, comfort, and hope. This rich provision Christ has bought for us at the price of His own precious blood. To open this wondrous fountain He suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). 

Old Paths

http://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/old-paths-ryle.pdf 

Matthew 11:28 "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

If you are "labouring and heavy-laden", Jesus says, "Come unto Me".

There is a grand simplicity about the three words now before you. Short and plain as the sentence seems, it contains a mine of deep truth and solid comfort. Weigh it; look at it; consider it; ponder it well. I believe that it is one half of saving Christianity to understand what Jesus means, when He says, "Come unto Me".

Mark well, that the Lord Jesus does not bid the labouring and heavy-laden "go and work". Those words would carry no comfort to heavy consciences: it would be like requiring labour from an exhausted man. No: He bids them "Come!". He does not say, "Pay Me what thou owest". That demand would drive a broken heart into despair: it would be like claiming a debt from a ruined bankrupt. No: He says, "Come!". He does not say, "Stand still and wait". That command would only be a mockery: it would be like promising to give medicine at the end of a week to one at the point of death. No: He says, "Come!". Today, at once, without any delay, "Come unto Me".

But, after all, what is meant by coming to Christ? It is an expression often used, but often misunderstood. Beware that you make no mistake at this point. Here unhappily, thousands turn aside out of the right course, and miss the truth. Beware that you do not make shipwreck at the very mouth of the harbour.

(a) Take notice, that coming to Christ means something more than coming to church and chapel. You may fill your place regularly at a place of worship, and attend all outward means of grace, and yet not be saved. All this is not coming to Christ.

(b) Take notice, that coming to Christ is something more than coming to the Lord’s table. You may be a regular member and communicant; you may never be missing in the lists of those who eat that bread and drink that wine, which the Lord commanded to be received, and yet you may never be saved. All this is not coming to Christ.

(c) Take notice, that coming to Christ is something more than coming to ministers. You may be a constant hearer of some popular preacher, and a zealous partisan of all his opinions, and yet never be saved. All this is not coming to Christ.

(d) Take notice, once more, that coming to Christ is something more than coming to the possession of head-knowledge about Him. You may know the whole system of evangelical doctrine, and be able to talk, argue, and dispute on every jot of it, and yet never be saved. All this is not coming to Christ.

Coming to Christ is coming to Him with the heart by simple faith. Believing on Christ is coming to Him, and coming to Christ is believing on Him. It is that act of the soul which takes place when a man, feeling his own sins, and despairing of all other hope, commits himself to Christ for salvation, ventures on Him, trusts Him, and casts himself wholly on Him. When a man turns to Christ empty that he may be filled, sick that he may be healed, hungry that he may be satisfied, thirsty that he may be refreshed, needy that he may be enriched, dying that he may have life, lost that he may be saved, guilty that he may be pardoned, sin-defiled that he may be cleansed, confessing that Christ alone can supply his need, then he comes to Christ. When he uses Christ as the Jews used the city of refuge, as the starving Egyptians used Joseph, as the dying Israelites used the brazen serpent, then he comes to Christ. It is the empty soul’s venture on a full Saviour. It is the drowning man’s grasp on the hand held out to help him. It is the sick man’s reception of a healing medicine. This, and nothing more than this, is coming to Christ.  

Let every reader of this paper accept at this point a word of caution. Beware of mistakes as to this matter of coming to Christ. Do not stop short in any half-way house. Do not allow the devil and the world to cheat you out of eternal life. Do not suppose that you will ever get any good from Christ, unless you go straight, direct, thoroughly, and entirely to Christ Himself. Trust not in a little outward formality; content not yourself with a regular use of outward means. A lantern is an excellent help in a dark night, but it is not home. Means of grace are useful aids, but they are not Christ. Oh, no! Press onward, forward, upward, till you have had personal, business-like dealings with Christ Himself.

Beware of mistakes as to the manner of coming to Christ. Dismiss from your mind forever all idea of worthiness, merit, and fitness in yourself. Throw away all notions of goodness, righteousness, and deserts. Think not that you can bring anything to recommend you, or to make you deserving of Christ’s notice. You must come to Him as a poor, guilty, undeserving sinner, or you might just as well not come at all. "To him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5). It is the peculiar mark of the faith that justifies and saves, that it brings to Christ nothing but an empty hand.

Last, but not least, let there be no mistake in your mind as to the special character of the man who has come to Christ, and is a true Christian. He is not an angel, he is not a half-angelic being, in whom is no weakness, or blemish, or infirmity - he is nothing of the kind. He is nothing more than a sinner who has found out his sinfulness, and has learned the blessed secret of living by faith in Christ. What was the glorious company of the apostles and prophets? What was the noble army of martyrs? What were Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, James, John, Paul, Polycarp, Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Ridley, Latimer, Bunyan, Baxter, Whitefield, Venn, Chalmers, Bickersteth, M’Cheyne? What were they all, but sinners who knew and felt their sins, and trusted only in Christ? What were they, but men who accepted the invitation I bring you this day, and came to Christ by faith? By this faith they lived; in this faith they died. In themselves and their doings they saw nothing worth mentioning; but in Christ they saw all that their souls required.

The invitation of Christ is now before you. If you never listened to it before, listen to it today. Broad, full, free, wide, simple, tender, kind, that invitation will leave you without excuse if you refuse to accept it. There are some invitations, perhaps, which it is wiser and better to decline. There is one which ought always to be accepted: that one is before you today. Jesus Christ is saying, "Come! Come unto Me".

John Livingstone (1603–72) in Michael Haykin “Mapping Revivals: Five Marks”

The Son of God, by tabernacling in our nature, and obeying and suffering in it, is the only refuge and covert from the storm of divine wrath due to us for sin. His merits and mediation alone are the screen from that storm, and none but those who come to Christ just as they are, empty of everything, and take the offered mercy at his hand, will have the benefit of this shelter. 

Auguste Francke, Memoirs

I add nothing more than to direct you all to him. Go to the Lord Jesus and receive from him grace for grace. Stay not away thinking it too late for you to return to him. He will never reject the sinner who returns … Do not suppose that they only should come, who are sanctified, in part, from sin … You cannot, and you must not, attempt to prepare yourselves by your own righteousness to come to him. He must begin, and carry on, and complete the work of your salvation. Go and believe in him.

William McCulloch Feb. 4 1742, the day the Cambuslang Revival began

If you be willing to come to Him and accept of Him, I can assure you in His name, He is willing to accept of you. Whatever you have been, whatever you have done, come to Him, and He will not reject you. When there is a willingness on both sides—He is willing, and you, I think, are willing—what should hinder the concluding of the blessed bargain; the match between Christ and your soul?

Joseph Hart “The Fountain of Christ”

https://hymnary.org/text/the_fountain_of_christ_lord_help_us_to_s

The poorer the wretch, the welcomer here;

Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare;

You can’t come too filthy; come just as you are.

Octavius Winslow  Daily Walking With God                                                                                                                                         

Jesus is mighty to save; He died for a poor sinner; His death was a perfect satisfaction to Divine justice; and without a single meritorious work of your own, just as you are, poor, empty, vile, worthless, unworthy, you are welcome to the rich provision of sovereign grace and dying love.

Dear reader, Do you want Christ? Then take courage, and go to Jesus. Go to Him simply, go to Him unhesitatingly, go to Him immediately. That desire is from Him; let it lead you to Him. That secret longing is the work of the Spirit; and having begotten it there, do you think that He will not honor it, and welcome you when you come?  Go to Him just as you are; if you cannot take to Him a pure heart, take an impure one; if you cannot take to Him a broken heart, take a whole one; if you cannot take to Him a soft heart, take a hard one—only go to Him. The very act of going will be blessed to you. And oh, such is the strength of His love, such His yearning compassion and melting tenderness of heart for poor sinners, such His ability and willingness to save, that He will no more cast you out than deny His own existence.  

The word which Jesus speaks is just the word the weary want. It unfolds a free pardon, complete acceptance, perfect reconciliation with God, and all-sufficient grace to perfect this work in holiness. It bids me as a sinner approach just as I am; my poverty, my vileness, my guilt, my utter destitution forming no just hindrances to my salvation, because His atoning work has made it a righteous thing in God to justify the guilty, and a gracious act in Jesus to save the lost.