Come Unto Me

The words, “come to me” are important. To do this is to have no hope but in him, no hope in self or in duties of any kind. When the woman kissed the Savior’s feet and washed them with tears, one there said, “She is a sinner,” and thus found fault with Christ because he suffered her to come near him. No doubt this man believed that we must be good and worthy before we come to him. We read of some who faulted Christ for receiving sinners and eating with them. They thought that those who come to him must be worthy. How sweet the words, “Look unto me all the ends of the earth.” The outside cases are here meant. The thief was an extreme case, so was the poor woman who bent over his feet and kissed them. She had no self-righteousness to trust in, no sinless life to plead. It was, “I am a sinner,” “but Christ came to save sinners.” If these lines ever come to one of “The ends of the earth,” I would say, once I was situated just as you are. I was an outside case; none were so far away as I. I tried my prayers, and those of others. I tried to become fit to go to him, but at last I went to him, or I looked to him, or I depended on him, with no plea but his mercy. We need not look to duties and say these will put away sin, nor to the church, nor to friends. Paul says, “I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Christ is not engaged to supply what we lack, but he is to be the whole Savior and to have all the glory of it.

We come to him as criminals, and not as claimants. If you feel that you are a criminal against God, then come to him as such. A self-righteous man cannot do this, but the thief did, and met a sweet response. His prayer was, “Remember me,” and Jesus responded, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

“I have sinned too long or against light so that mine is an extreme case. I have vowed to do better and have not kept my vows; mine is an outside case. So I feel no encouragement to go to him. Others can be saved, but not me. I see no good in my prayers—so empty, so formal, so cold. Were I to be made judge of my own case I could not decide favorably.” I have been all over this way.

I feel, after a long experience, that it is a good sign for one to see his sin, to feel it as a burden. If sin troubles you here, it will not trouble you hereafter. Those who are troubled over sin are laboring and heavy laden. It is better to be troubled over sin than to be careless. If your heart aches for sin and your tears flow, this is better than to be indifferent. You once were indifferent, could sin all day and sleep well at night, but now it is different with you. Our text says, “Come to me.” Till yet I try to come to him and my sins are in my way, and it is good to remember that he came to save sinners. We can say, “Lord, I am a sinner and I crave mercy.” This is the plea—no claim for reformation, no plea that I have done my part. I come to thee as a sinner, trusting only in thy mercy. “No sinner shall ever be empty sent back who comes seeking mercy for Jesus’ sake.”

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