COME, WITHOUT ANY PREPARATION

 
AUGUST 24
 
COME, WITHOUT ANY PREPARATION.
 
"This man receiveth sinners, 

   and eateth with them. ." 

                                LUKE 15:2.
 
Though you need to be prepared for Heaven 

  before you can enter there; 

  you need no preparation to come to Jesus. 

If you come aright, you will come just as you are.

With all your guilt upon you, that he may pardon it.
With all your filth, that he may cleanse you from it.
With a heart as hard as adamant and as cold as winter,

  that he may remove it, and give you an heart of flesh.

Full of disease, that he may restore you to health.
Naked, that he may clothe you in his 

   own glorious righteousness.
 
Make no preparation whatever.

But as the blind beggar at Jericho, 

  when he heard that Jesus was passing by, 

  cried out, 

    "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!"

 
So do you.

  Cry out unto him. 

     In simple prayer approach him. 

Tell him all you feel, and all you fear.
Tell him what you have been, 

   and what you have done.

Hide nothing.
  Excuse nothing.
    Tell out the whole simple truth, 

       without trying to make anything 

          better or worse.

Cast yourself upon his mercy.
 
Ask him to take you as you are, 

   and make you what you ought to be. 

Tell him you come for a whole salvation, 

  for you have nothing but sin, and 

   without him you can do nothing but sin. 

Let not your feelings keep you back, 

  whatever they may be. 

Let not your thoughts cause you to delay,

  whatever they may be.
 
Think not that to-morrow will be better than today. 

  It will not be. 

  It cannot be. 

Everything you want, Jesus has, and he invites you 

  to come to him for it.

"Am I, then, to bring nothing to Jesus?" 

        Nothing!

"Am I, then, to do nothing before 

    I come to Jesus?" 

           Positively nothing.

"Am I not to wait until my heart softens, 

   my tears flow, and 

      I feel sorry for my past sins?" 

Wait for nothing, but

   if as hard as steel,

   if it is leprous all over, 

   if it is sinful beyond degree,

       COME JUST AS YOU ARE.
 
 Christ also received us to the glory of God. 

      Romans 15:7
 
James Smith 1855