Fourth. I will add yet another
encouragement for the man who is coming to Jesus Christ. Art, thou coming? Art,
thou coming, indeed? Why,
1.
Then this thy coming is by God’s call. Thou art called. Calling goes
before coming. Coming is not of works but of him that calleth. “He goes up into
a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would, and they came unto him” (Mark
3:13).
2.
Art, thou coming? This is also by virtue of illumination. God has made
thee see; and, therefore, thou art coming. So long as thou was darkness, thou
loves darkness, and could not abide to come, because thy deeds were evil; but
being now illuminated and made to see what and where thou art, and also what
and where thy Saviour is, now thou art coming to Jesus Christ; “Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,” saith
Christ, “but my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 16:17).
3.
Art, thou coming? This is because God hath inclined thine heart to come.
God hath called thee, illuminated thee, and inclined thy heart to come; and,
therefore, thou come to Jesus Christ. It is God that worketh in thee to will,
and to come to Jesus Christ. Coming sinner, bless God for that he hath given
thee the will to come to Jesus Christ. It is a sign that thou belong to Jesus
Christ because God has made thee willing to come to him (Psa 110:3). Bless God
for slaying the enmity of thy mind; had he not done it, thou wouldst as yet
have hated thine own salvation.
4.
Art, thou coming to Jesus Christ? It is God that giveth thee power to
pursue thy will in the matters of thy salvation, is the gift of God. “It is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do” (Phil 2:13). Not that God worketh
will come, where he gives no power; but thou shouldest take notice, that power
is an additional mercy. The church saw that will and power were two things,
when she cried, “Draw me, we will run after thee” (Song 1:4). And so did David
too, when he said, “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt
enlarge my heart” (Psa 119:32). Will to come, and power to pursue thy will, is
double mercy, coming sinner.
5.
All thy strange, passionate, sudden rushing forward after Jesus Christ,
coming sinners know what I mean, they also are thy help from God. Perhaps thou
feel at some times more than at others, strong stirrings up of heart to fly to
Jesus Christ; now thou hast at this time a sweet and stiff gale of the Spirit
of God, filling thy sails with the fresh gales of his good Spirit. Thou ride at
those times as upon the wings of the wind, being carried out beyond thyself,
beyond the most of thy prayers, and also above all thy fear and temptations.
6.
Coming sinner, hast thou not now and then a kiss of the sweet lips of
Jesus Christ, I mean some blessed word dropping like a honeycomb upon thy soul
to revive thee, when thou art in the midst of thy dumps?
7.
Does not Jesus Christ sometimes give thee a glimpse of himself, though
perhaps thou see him not so long a time as while one may tell twenty?
8. Hast thou
not sometimes as it were the very warmth of his wings overshadowing the face of
thy soul, that gives thee as it were glad upon thy spirit, as the bright beams
of the sun do upon thy body, when it suddenly breaks out of a cloud, though
presently all is gone away? Well, all these things are the good hand of thy God
upon thee, and they are upon thee to constrain, to provoke, and to make thee
willing and able to come, coming sinner, that thou mightiest, in the end, be
saved.
