Methinks I see several ministers standing in the way. They are of such high doctrine that they dare not invite a sinner, and they therefore clog the gospel with so many conditions. They will have it that the sinner must feel a certain quantity of experience before he is invited to come, and so they put their sermons up and say, "You are not invited, you are a dead sinner, you must not come; you are not invited; you are a hardened rebel." "Stand back," says Christ, "every one of you, though ye be my servants. Let him come, he is willing — stand not in his way." It is a sad thing that Christ's ministers should become the devil's aiders and abettors, and yet sometimes they are, for when they are telling a sinner how much he must feel, and how much he must know before he comes to Christ, they are virtually rolling big stones in the path, and saying to the willing sinner, "Thou mayest not come." In the name of Almighty God, stand back everything this morning that keeps the willing sinner from Christ. Away with you, away with you! Christ sprinkles his blood upon the way, and crises [sic] to you, "Vanish, begone! leave the road clear; let him come; stand not in his path; make straight before him his way, level the mountains and fill up the valleys; make straight through the wilderness a highway for him to come, to drink of this water of life freely. 'Let him come.'"
C.H. Spurgeon. Excerpted from a message entitled "Come and Welcome" preached on October 16, 1859. The Park Street Pulpit, Volume 5, p. 752
profoundly interesting and deeply moving. Oh, that the LORD would prick the hearts of the men of God and pour forth such preaching to the preachers of men. May another awakening come to America and spread to the uttermost parts of the earth. selahV
Posted by: hariette | 2014.04.08 at 08:08 PM