Sweet and perfect dispeller of every doubt, full and complete answer to every fear! Balm for the wound, assurance for the heart, and a firm foundation for the soul, are in this declaration of the Saviour’s grace.
What more can be needed and how can suspicion lurk when He says, “him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out?” How completely do the three words, “in no wise” banish and scatter to the winds all the fears, all the misgivings, all the objections of unbelief — “in no wise” — on no account, on no consideration!
Unbelief — that God-dishonoring, sin-producing principle, what sorrow, what heavy clouds of darkness does it create! How it sinks the soul, marring its joy, disturbing its peace and blighting its hope. Unbelief and self are companions close companions, too, but miserable and wretched. Unbelief has to do with self, its badness on the one hand, and its supposed goodness on the other. It circles round self and is chained to it. It never has to do with God.
Faith — the God-honoring, the divine and joy-producing principle, what liberty, what freshness, what energy, what holiness does it create! Faith, having acknowledged that self is thoroughly bad, that in it “dwells no good thing,” and that it is only fit for the cross and for death there, turns away from it and has to do with God, and with what He says. Now he who lives by this principle is called a just man. “The just shall live by faith.” It is said by some that they are not such great sinners as to need salvation, but it is unbelief that prompts them to such an expression. They do not really believe that they have “sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And unbelief tells them that, because they are at least equal to their neighbors in moral conduct, they therefore need not trouble themselves as to the future. In this way unbelief succeeds in deluding, and souls are lulled to sleep by thoughts of “peace, peace, when there is no peace.”
It is said by others, who have been awakened by the Spirit of God to find that because of immoral, or despite of moral conduct, they have “no peace,” they “have sinned” and are in themselves “lost,” — that there is no hope for them. So great are their sins, and so hard, so impenetrable, so rebellious are their hearts, that there cannot be salvation for them. This, too, is the utterance of unbelief. It knows not God, nor His salvation, and seeks to occupy the awakened soul with its sins and hardness. Such a soul knows not where to turn. Above, all seems dark; within, all feels hopeless. Not one ray of sunshine is seen.
Others, again, admit the hardness of their heart, and confess their total vileness, and see, to a certain extent, that this does not, in itself, preclude them from salvation; yet are they troubled as to the means of obtaining it. They acknowledge that Christ alone can save, and that He would suit their case, that they are called on to come to Him and be saved. Yet, knowing this, they are occupied with the manner of their coming, rather than with Him to whom they do come —with their faith rather than with the object of their faith, and hence their uncertainty, their misgivings, their fears. They belong to a class who may be strangely denominated. “unbelieving believers.” They are true believers, yet unconscious of their standing as such.
Upon the ears of the first mentioned class of people, the words of the Saviour fall dull and meaningless. They know not their own deep need, nor do they care for His grace. But to the second and third, those who feel the heavy load of their sins and long for relief, and those who are occupied with the means rather than the end, their faith rather than faith’s blessed Object, Christ Himself, to them do these precious words carry peace, liberty, assurance and joy.
Need I say that all the charm dwells in the “Me” of the verse “him that cometh unto Me I will no wise cast out?” As if to disentangle the gaze of the soul from every other object; as if to fill the entire horizon with Himself, the Lord says, “Him that cometh unto Me” —unto Me, who am the Saviour of the lost; unto Me, who in love untold relinquished all I had with the Father, and traveled from Bethlehem’s manger to Calvary’s cross; unto Me who there suffered for sins, bearing their judgment, and thus taking the sinner’s place, and accomplishing the work needed for his salvation, that on the ground of that all-effectual work might be proclaimed the forgiveness of his sins; unto Me who am able therefore to save to the uttermost, both as to extent of moral degradation and as to time, all that come unto God by Me unto Me whose blood can cleanse from all sin; unto Me who stand with arm outstretched to rescue and enfold the veriest and vilest of Satan’s victims. Be assured, O sinner, of the truth, the verity, the certainty of the provision of that blessed One that “him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” Let thy sins no more enthrall thee. Behold the flash of Sinai quenched on Calvary. Witness the word of justice falling on Jesus, so that the hand of mercy might succor thee, and rest assured of this, that thou, even thou, wilt “in no wise be cast out” by Him to whom thou comest.
“But suppose I fail to come in the right way — suppose my faith be one of the head, and not of the heart, that it should not be of the right kind or of the right amount, what am I then to think?” says some troubled heart. Oh! dear soul, why perplex thyself in this way? The text does not say “Him that cometh to the right kind or quantity of faith,” but “Him that cometh unto Me.” Thou art turning thy faith into a Saviour, thou art looking for a resting ground in the work of the Spirit within thee, rather than on the work of the cross, and the word of the Lord outside. Salvation is in Christ, and not in thy faith or thy feelings, and the cause of thy trouble is to be found in the fact of the dishonor thou art thus doing — though unintentionally — to Him to whom in very truth thou hast come.
But notice that the way of thy coming is not taken into question at all, for the Saviour says, “I will in no wise cast out.” He wants thee, for He loves thee. He wants thy confidence, not that faith which thou art really turning into a merit or purchase-price. He wants the entire surrender and trust of thy heart, and hence He says, “I will in no wise cast out.” Therefore, doubt no more, trample thine, unbelief under foot henceforward, and make His word of promise thy sheet anchor forever. So that now being delivered, out of the hand of thine enemies, thou mayest serve Him without fear.
“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come.”
J. W. S.