COME by Rev. R. S. Hutton, M. A.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 25, 1876

FromThe Review and Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 21.

COME

By Rev. R. S. Hutton, M. A.

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37.

You are invited to go to Christ. He is your great High Priest, he once offered himself up for our sins. He stood as your surety in the most momentous of all positions. He suffered, the just for the unjust. He bore your griefs, and carried your sorrows. The Lord laid on him your iniquities. If you go to him, receive him as your Saviour, and put your trust in him; he will in no wise cast you out.

He is infinitely able to save. Man is powerless to save; angels are powerless to save; but nothing is impossible to him. You may be deeply sunk in sin, but he can raise you from the horrible pit and the miry clay. You may be stained with sins of crimson dye, but he can purge you, and make you whiter than the snow. A multitude which no man can number have already been washed in his precious blood, but the cleansing virtue of that blood is as great now as ever.

And he is infinitely kind. You may be a sinner of the greatest enormity; you may have had godly parents; your teachers may have been earnestly religious; you may have waited on a faithful and impressive ministry; but you may have drowned convictions in worldliness and sin. You may have spent many a long year in infidelity and vice; you may now stand on the shore of a dark eternity, worn out with sin; but you need not despair. The mercy of the Lord reacheth unto the clouds. Christ is still willing to receive you. Beyond all knowledge is his love. It is an ocean which no line can fathom, and no shore can bound. Sinners as great as you he has saved, and his mercy endureth forever. Tell me not that your iniquities are too black to be forgiven. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.

An excellent and pious man, when on his death-bed, was for some time under considerable darkness respecting his spiritual state, and said to a friend: “For all that I have preached or written, there is but one scripture I can remember or dare grip to; tell me if I dare lay the weight of my salvation upon it: ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’” The friend replied: “You may depend upon it, though you had a thousand salvations at hazard.” It was a most true and wise reply. A man may make a promise, and may change his mind, and be unwilling to perform it. Not so Christ. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. A man may make a promise, and be afterward placed in circumstances in which he is unable to fulfil it. Not so Christ. All power in Heaven and in earth is his. A man may make a promise, and be indifferent whether it be realized or not. Not so Christ. He longs with unchanging love for your eternal weal. You may then depend on his word, though you had a thousand salvations at hazard.

Do not distrust the Saviour’s promise. Take him at his word. You may rely on him with assured confidence. “This man receiveth sinners.” You may be deeply unworthy; you may have wandered from him ever so far; you may have brought discredit by many a year of worldliness and sin on the name of Christian; but Jesus is waiting to be gracious. He invites, encourages, beseeches you to come to him; and you may be sure that, if you do so, he will prove true to his promise, and never cast you out.—Rev. R. S. Hutton, M. A.