Works of John Bunyan: The Greatness of The Soul And Unspeakableness of the Loss Thereof; Advantages To The Man That Comes To Christ, 274

 

Reader, if thou loves thy soul, take this caution kindly at the hands of Jesus Christ. Thou sees thy sickness, thy wound, and thy necessity of salvation. Well, go not to King Jareb, for he cannot heal you nor cure your wound (Hosea 5:13). Take the caution, I say, lest Christ, instead of being a Saviour unto thee, becomes a lion, a young lion, to tear you and go away (Hosea 5:14).

There is a coming, but not to the Most High; there is a coming, but not with the whole heart, but as it were feignedly; therefore, take the caution kindly (Jer 3:10; Hosea 7:16).

“And him that cometh TO ME;” Christ as a Saviour will stand alone because his own arm alone has brought salvation unto him. He will not be joined with Moses, nor will John Baptist be tabernacled by him. I say they must vanish, for Christ will stand alone (Luke 9:28–36). Yea, God the Father will have it so; therefore, they must be parted from him, and a voice from heaven must come to bid the disciples hear only the beloved Son. Christ will not suffer any law, ordinance, statute, or judgment, to be partners with him in the sinner’s salvation. Nay, he saith not, and him that cometh to my WORD; but, and him that cometh to ME. The words of Christ, even his most blessed and free promises, such as this in the text, are not the Saviour of the world; for that is Christ himself, Christ himself only. The promises, therefore, encourage the coming sinner to come to Jesus Christ, and not to rest in them, short of salvation by him. “And him that cometh TO ME.” The man, therefore, that comes aright, casts all things behind his back, and looked at, nor hath his expectations from ought, but the Son of God alone; as David said, “My soul, wait for thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He is only my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved” (Psa 62:5,6). His eye is to Christ, his heart is to Christ, and his expectation is from him only.

Therefore, the man who comes to Christ, has deep considerations of his own sins, slight thoughts of his own righteousness, and high thoughts of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ; yea, he sees, as I have said, more virtue in the blood of Christ to save him, than there is in all his sins to damn him. He, therefore, set Christ before his eyes; there is nothing in heaven or earth, he knows, that can save his soul and secure him from the wrath of God, but Christ; that is, nothing but his personal righteousness and blood.

“And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” IN NO WISE: by these words, there is [First,] Something expressed; and [Second,] Something implied.

First, That which is expressed in Christ Jesus, his unchangeable resolution to save the coming sinner; I will in no wise reject him, or deny him the benefit of my death and righteousness. This word, therefore, is like that which he speaks of the everlasting damnation of the sinner in hellfire: “He shall by no means depart thence;” that is, never, never come out again, no, not to all eternity (Matt 5:26; 25:46). So that as he that is condemned into hell-fire hath no ground of hope for his deliverance thence; so him that cometh to Christ, hath no ground to fear he shall ever be cast in thither.

“Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord” (Jer 31:37). “Thus saith the Lord, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob” (Jer 33:25–26). But heaven cannot be measured, nor the foundations of the earth searched out beneath; his covenant is also with day and night, and he hath appointed the ordinances of heaven; therefore, he will not cast away the seed of Jacob, who are the coming ones, but will certainly save them from the dreadful wrath to come (Jer 50:4,5). Therefore, it is manifest, that it is not the greatness of sin, nor the long continuance in it, nor yet the backsliding, nor the pollution of thy nature, that can put a bar in against, or be a hindrance of, the salvation of the coming sinner. For, if indeed this could be, then would this solemn and absolute determination of the Lord Jesus, of itself, fall to the ground, and be made of no effect. But his “counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure,” that is, his pleasure in this; for his promise, as to this irreversible conclusion, arises of his pleasure; he will stand to it, and will fulfill it, because it is his pleasure (Isa 46:10, 11).