Thomas Brooks
[5.] Get this principle riveted in your hearts, The lack of such preparations or qualifications that many men lay great stress on shall be no impediment to hinder your soul’s interest in Christ, if you will but open to Him and close with Him.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). Tell me at whose door Christ stood and knocked? Was it not at the Laodiceans’ door? Did they not think that their penny was as good silver as any? Did they not say that they were rich and had need of nothing, when Christ tells them to their very faces that they were poor and miserable and blind and naked. None were more unprepared, unqualified and unfitted for union and communion with Christ than these lukewarm Laodiceans; yet the Lord Jesus was very ready and willing that such should have intimate communion and fellowship with Him.
“If any man . . . open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” You have further evidence of the truth of this in Proverbs 1:20-24, 8:1-6, 9:1-6. All these scriptures, with open mouth, speak out the truth asserted: the lack of preparations or qualifications shall not hinder the soul’s interest in Christ, if the soul will venture itself by faith upon Christ. I ask, What qualifications and preparations had they, in Ezekiel 16, when God saw them in their blood, and yet that was a time of love, and God even then spread His skirt over them, made a covenant with them, and they became His? What qualifications or preparations had Paul, Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus and Lydia? Yet these believed in Christ; these had a blessed and glorious interest in Christ.
But some may object, What is the meaning of that text, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28)?
There is a threefold answer to be given to this objection:
First. Though the invitation is to those that are weary and heavy laden, yet the promise is made to coming, to believing.3
Second. This text shows only that those that are burdened and bowed down under sin, and under the sense of divine wrath, are to come to Christ, and that there is no way for them to obtain ease and rest but by coming to Christ. But this text does not show that only these must come to Christ, or that only these may come to Christ.
Third. No one scripture speaks out the whole mind of God, and therefore you must compare this scripture with the scriptures and instances already cited, and then you will clearly see that souls may believe in Christ and come to obtain an interest in Him, though they are not in such and such way prepared, nor in such and such way qualified, as some would have them.
[6.] Get this principle rooted in your hearts, Christ is appointed and anointed by the Father to this very office of receiving and saving poor sinners.
Turn to Isaiah 61:1-4, John 6:29 and Psalm 68:18, “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive; Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also [what for?] that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Christ has received gifts for rebellious sinners, for rebellious Sabbath-breakers, for rebellious swearers, for rebellious drunkards and others. That is, that He might have near communion and fellowship with them.
[7.] Get this principle rooted in you, It is the delight of Christ to give poor sinners an interest in Himself.
He is not only able to do it, but it is His delight to do it. Christ’s soul is in nothing more than this. Witness those many sufferings and deaths that He went through in this world; witness those gospel acclamations (Mk 16:16, Rev 22:17); witness those persuasive exhortations and gracious entreaties (Ezek 33:11, Mt 11:28, 2 Cor 5:20); witness divine directions and threatenings (Jn 5:40; Mt 11:21); witness those lamentations (Mt 23:37, Lk 19:42, Ps 81:13); and witness the inward moving of His blessed Spirit (Gen 6:3). All of these speak out Christ’s great willingness and delight to save poor sinners; so in Psalm 40:7,8, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart;” or, as the Hebrew has it, “It is in the midst of My bowels”. Now note, the will of the Father was the salvation of sinners. This was the will of the Father: that Jesus Christ should “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10). Now, says Christ, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God” – it is the joy and rejoicing of My heart to be seeking and saving lost sinners. When Christ was hungry, He did not go to a place where He could buy food, but into the temple and taught the people for most of the day, to show how much He delighted in the salvation of sinners.5
[8.] Get this principle riveted in your hearts, As there is nothing in Christ to discourage you from looking after an interest in Him, so there is everything in Christ that may encourage you to get an interest in Him.
Look upon His name:6 “Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love Thee” (Song 1:3). The name of Jesus has a thousand treasures of joy and comfort in it, says Chrysostom; and so have all His other names. If you look upon Christ in His natures, in His offices, in His graces, in His beauties, in His gifts and in His works, you will find nothing but what may encourage you to believe in Him and to resign up yourselves to Him. Ah, poor sinners, what would you have? Is there not power in Christ to support you, mercy in Christ to pardon you, grace in Christ to heal you, goodness in Christ to relieve you, happiness in Christ to crown you, and what would you have more? O that you would believe!
[9.] Let this principle be rooted in you, The surest and the shortest way to mercy, and to get an an interest in Christ, is by decidedly casting the soul by faith on Christ.
There is no way under heaven to have an interest in Christ but by believing. There is no way to get an interest in the riches of Christ but this, “He that believeth shall be saved”, let his sins be never so great; “and he that believeth not shall be damned”, let his sins be never so little.
1This piece contains the remaining five principles, which are taken, with editing, from The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, in Brooks’ Works, vol 3. The first four principles appeared last month.
2There are some men that want to have men become better Christians before they come to Christ – before they believe in Christ – than usually they prove after they have come to Him. Surely, if legal preachers would seriously weigh the following scriptures, they would not so vehemently press the absolute necessity of such and such qualifications before faith in Christ, as they do: Mk 16:16; Jn 3:34; Heb 11:6; Rom 14:23; Jn 5:12; Mt 7:17,18, 12:33; Rom 8:2; Gal 5:6.
3The dove found no rest till she returned to the ark. No more will the troubled soul till it returns to Christ.
4Moses was faithful in his office as a servant, but Christ as a Son (Heb 3:2-6). Christ would never have entered into glory if he had not been faithful in His offices.
5Christ did so much delight, and His heart was so much set upon the conversion and salvation of the Samaritans, that He neglected His own body to save their souls, as you may clearly see in John 4.
6“The name of a Saviour is honey in the mouth and music in the ear and a jubilee in the heart” (quoted from Bernard).