Having thus touched upon this, we will now proceed to show you what kind of people they are that come to God by Christ, and then draw some inferences from this also.
[Who are the people that come to Christ.]
There are, therefore, three sorts of people that come to God by Christ. First, men were newly awakened. Second, men turned away from backsliding. Third, the sincere and upright man.
[Of the newly awakened coming to Christ.]
First, men were newly awakened. By awakened, I mean awakened thoroughly. So awakened as to be made to see themselves, what they are; the world, what it is; the law, what it is; hell, what it is; death, what it is; Christ, what he is; and God, what he is; and also what judgment is.
A man who will come to God by Christ aright must, precedent to his coming, have competent knowledge of things of this kind. 1. He must know himself, what a wretched and miserable sinner he is before he will take one step forward to his coming to God by Christ. This is plain from a great many scriptures; as that of the parable of the prodigal, (Luke 15); that of the three thousand, (Acts 2); that of the jailer, (Acts 16), and those of many more besides. The whole has no need of a physician. They were not the sound and whole, but the lame and diseased that came to him to be cured of their infirmities; and it is not the
righteous, but the sinners that do well know themselves to be such, that come to God by Christ.
It is not in the power of all the men on earth to make one man come to God by Christ, because it is not in their power to make men see their state by nature. And what should a man come to God for, that can live in the world without him? Reason says so, experience says so, and the Scripture bears witness that so it is of a truth. It is a sight of what I am that must unroots me, that must shake my soul, and make me leave my present rest. No man comes to God by Christ but he that knows himself, and what sin hath done to him; that is the first. (Job 21:7-15)
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