John Flavel
Question 12. Will Christ receive me if I go to Him?
Answer. Yes, yes; He is more ready to receive you than you are to come to Him. “He arose, and came to his father. But, when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion on him, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Lk 15:20). The son did but go; the father ran. If he had but received him into the house, it had been much; but he fell on his neck and kissed him. He spoke of him much as the Lord expressed Himself to returning Ephraim: “My bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him” (Jer 31:20). There is nothing in all the pages of free grace to exclude a soul that is sincerely willing to come to Christ.
Question 13. How can I know that Christ is willing to receive me?
Answer. Make trial of Him yourself. If you only knew His heart to poor sinners, you would not question it. Believe what He says in the gospel; there you shall find that He is a willing Saviour; for therein you have, firstly, His most serious invitations: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden” (Mt 11:28); “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (Is 55:1). These serious invitations are, secondly, backed and confirmed with an oath: “As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezk 33:11). Thirdly, they are amplified with compassionate wishes, sighs and groans: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day” (Lk 19:42). Fourthly, they are delivered in undissembled tears. He wept over it, and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem” (Mat 23:37,38). Fifthly, Christ has shed not only tears, but blood, to convince you of His willingness. View Him in His dying posture upon the cross, stretching out His dying arms to gather you, hanging down His blessed head to kiss you; every one of His wounds was a mouth opened to convince you of the abundant willingness of Christ to receive you.
Question 14. But my sins are deep-dyed; I am a sinner of the blackest hue; will He receive and pardon such a person?
Answer. Yes, soul, if you are willing to commit yourself to Him: “Come
1Taken with editing from Flavel’s Works, vol 5. Written with a particular consciousness of the dangers seamen faced in the days of sail, the Catechism applies to everyone, for we must all die. The previous question was, “What is it to go to Christ?”
now, and let us reason together . . . though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Is 1:18).
Question 15. This is comforting news but may I not delay my closing with Him for a while, and yet not hazard my eternal happiness, seeing I resolve to come to Him at last?
Answer. No, there must be no delays here: “I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments” (Ps 119:60).
Question 16. Why may I not defer it, at least for a little while?
Answer. For many weighty reasons, this work can bear no delays. First, The offers of grace are made to the present time: “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb 3:15). There may be a few more days of God’s patience, but that is not known to you. Second, your life is uncertain; how many thousands have gone into eternity since last night? If you can say to sickness when it comes, Go, and come again another time, that would be something. Third, sin is not something to be dallied with. Who should be willing to lie down one night under the guilt of all his sins? Fourth, delays increase the difficulty of conversion; sin roots itself still deeper: habits are further strengthened and the heart still more hardened.
Fifth, there are thousands now in hell who perished through delays. Their consciences often urged and pressed hard upon them, and they had many resolutions, as you have now; but they were never put into effect in an appropriate way, and so they perished. Sixth, your way of sinning now is desperate, for you are acting every moment against clear light and conviction; and that is a dreadful way of sinning. Seventh, there can be no solid reason for one hour’s delay, for you cannot be happy too soon. Be sure of it, if ever you come to taste of the sweetness of a Christian life, nothing will more pierce and grieve you than this, that you did not enjoy it sooner.
Question 17. The pleasures of sin attract me to it; how shall I break these cords and snares?
Answer. That snare may be broken by considering solemnly these five things. First, to take pleasure in sin is an argument flowing from a most deplorable and wretched state of soul. What a heart you have! Have you nothing to find pleasure in but what makes the Spirit of Christ sad, and the hearts of saints ache and groan? What dug hell and let in endless miseries upon the world? Second, the misery it involves you in is infinitely beyond the delights it tempts you by: it only delights the senses, but will torment your immortal soul for ever. The pleasure will quickly go off, but the sting will remain behind. “I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand”, said Jonathan “and, lo, I must die” (1 Sam 14:43). Third,
this is not all; the Lord proportions wrath according to the pleasures that souls have had in sin. “How much she hath lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her” (Rev 18:7).
Fourth, what do you pay, or at least pawn, for this pleasure? Your soul, your precious soul, is put at risk for it. In effect, this is what you are saying when you defer closing with Christ in order to enjoy the pleasures of sin a little longer: Here, devil, take my soul into your possession and power; if I repent, I will have it back again; if not, it is yours for ever. O dear-bought pleasures! Fifth, It is a gross mistake to think you shall be bereaved of all delights and pleasures by coming under the rule of Christ. One of those things in which His kingdom consists is “joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17). Indeed it allows no sinful pleasures to its subjects, nor do they need them, but from the day you close in with Christ, all your pure, real and eternal pleasures and delights begin. When the prodigal returned to his father, then “they began to be merry” (Lk 15:24; see also Acts 8:5,6). No, soul, you shall lack no joy, for the Scriptures say, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures; for with Thee is the fountain of life” (Ps 36:8,9).