p. 11 | I am not Worthy

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 9, 1862

I am not Worthy.

If you imagine that any sinner is worthy of salvation, you quite mistake the nature of the gospel. It is a free gift, not a reward. No one is worthy. Paul, Peter, John, were not worthy. But Jesus is so full of love that, unworthy as we all are, he invites us to come. If he makes our sin no objection, why should we? Jesus knows that filthy rags cover you, that a nauseous disease infects you; yet he says, “Come unto me.” On account of these very things, he says, Come. How unreasonable, then, for you to refuse because you are unworthy. You might as well say you are too hungry to eat, or too poor to receive help, as that you are too unworthy to come for pardon. Yonr very unworthiness makes you welcome.

But you say you cannot come as you ought. Then come as you can. Jesus did not say, “Come unto me running, or walking upright,” but simply, “Come.” Come in any manner, and you will be received. Come creeping, crawling—any way—only come. You say you do not repent enough. You never will; for penitence, like all other graces, is ever growing, and no one's penitence can equal his sins. But we are not saved because we repent enough, but, if we do repent at all, we are saved because Jesus died.

You say you have not love enough. You never will have till you get to heaven. But we are saved, not because we love God, but because he loves us. You say you have not faith enough. True, and every Christian needs to pray, “Lord, increase my faith.” But if you truly look to Jesus for salvation, this is faith; and, though very weak, none who possess it can perish.

But perhaps you say your heart is totally hard, and therefore that your mere cries of distress are not prayers which God can accept. Be encouraged by the case of Simon Magus. His “heart was not right in the sight of God;” he was “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity;” yet Peter said, “Pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee;” which means, “If you indeed pray to God, your sin will be forgiven.” Your condition cannot be worse than his; yet he was encouraged to come to Jesus. Come with a broken heart, that he may heal it; or as Leighton says, “If thou find it unbroken, yet give it him, with a desire that it may be broken.” However unable to come aright, make the effort: come as you can, only come; and Jesus will not, cannot reject you.—Sel.