PARDON FOR THE GREATEST SINNERS

Had I not better wait till I shall have made myself better, before I presume to come to Christ. I have been, and see myself to be very wicked now; but am in hopes of mending myself, and rendering myself at least not so wicked; then I shall have more courage to come to God for mercy.

In answer to this: —

1. Consider how unreasonably you act. You are striving to set up yourselves as your own saviours; you are striving to get something of your own, on the account of which you may the more readily be accepted. So that by this it appears that you do not seek to be accepted only on Christ’s account. And is not this to rob Christ of the glory of being your only Saviour? Yet this is the way in which you are hoping to make Christ willing to save you.

2. You can never come to Christ at all, unless you first see that He will not accept of you the more readily for anything that you can do. You must first see that it is utterly in vain for you to try to make yourselves better on any such account. You must see that you can never make yourselves any more worthy, or less unworthy, by anything which you can perform.

3. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in Him for your pardon, though you are no better than you are. If you do not see the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of Him. The way to be accepted is to come — not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but — on the mere encouragement of Christ’s worthiness, and God’s mercy.

4. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must come to Him to make you better. You must come as a patient comes to his physician, with his diseases or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before Him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account; and say as the psalmist in the text, not Pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was, but, “Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.” — Psalm 25:11.

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