If ever you would get an interest in Christ and so, by gaining an interest in Him, be possessed of all the riches and glory that come by Him, then be sure to get your hearts possessed with these nine principles that follow.
[1.] The great end and design of Christ’s coming into the world was the salvation of sinners. Get this principle rooted in your spirits. “I came not to call the righteous,” He says, “but sinners to repentance” (Mt 9:13, Mk 2:17). And “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). Christ takes a journey from heaven to earth, and all to save poor lost sinners. What Christ had most in His eye and upon His heart, in His coming into the world, was the salvation of sinners. Lay up this truth; feed upon this honeycomb.
[2.] Get this principle rooted in your hearts, No one ever yet obtained an interest in Christ but unworthy creatures. When you are pressed to get an interest in Christ, you are ready to say, O, I am unworthy; will Christ ever look on such a one as I am? I answer, Yes, for this is a most certain principle: no one ever attained an interest in Christ but unworthy creatures. Was Paul worthy before he had an interest in Christ? What worthiness was in Matthew when Christ called him from the receipt of custom? What worthiness was in Zaccheus when Christ called him down from the sycamore tree and told him that this day salvation was come to his house? Was Manasseh or Mary Magdalene worthy before they had an interest in Christ? Surely no. Though you are unworthy, yet Christ is worthy; though you have no merit, yet God has mercy; though there is no salvation for you by the law, yet there is salvation for you by the gospel. Again Christ requires no worthiness in any man before he believes,2 and he that will not believe before he is worthy will never believe. If you look upon God with a gospel eye, you shall see that he that is most unworthy is most capable of mercy. A real sense of our own unworthiness renders us most fit for divine mercy. This objection, I am unworthy, is an unworthy objection and speaks out much pride and ignorance of the gospel and of the freeness and riches of God’s grace.
[3.] Let this principle dwell in you: Christ has lost none of His affections to poor sinners by going to heaven. O how did His bowels work toward sinners when He was on earth! And certainly they work as strongly towards them now that He is in heaven. His love, His heart, His good will, is as much towards them as ever. Christ is Alpha and Omega; the phrase is taken from the Greek letters, of which Alpha is the first and Omega is the last (Rev 1:8) – I am before all, and I am after all. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever” (Heb 13:8). Christ is the same before time, in time and after time. Christ is unchangeable in His essence, in His promises and in His love to poor sinners.
[4.] Fourthly, Get this principle riveted in your hearts, “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” (Heb 7:25). “He is able to save to the uttermost”;3 that is, to all ends and purposes, perfectly and perpetually. He needs no one to help Him in the great business of redemption; He is a thorough Saviour; He has trod the winepress alone (Is 63:3).
1Taken, with editing, from The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, in Brooks’ Works, vol 3. Brooks (1608-80) was a noted Puritan minister.
2Such as seek to prove He does require worthiness, must make a new gospel, a new Bible.
3The word in the original Greek implies all manner of perfection.