The following is an excerpt from Dr. Roger Duke’s book, in which he co-authored with Phil Newton, entitled Venturing All for God: Piety in the Writings of John Bunyan. Venturing All for God is published by Reformation Heritage Books.
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A Great Sinner’s Encouragement to Come to Christ[1] [2]
But I say, what is this to him that would fain be saved by Christ? His sins did, as to greatness, never yet reach to the nature of the sins that the sinners intended by the text had made themselves guilty of. He that would be saved by Christ, has an honourable esteem of him; but they of Jerusalem preferred a murderer before him; and as for him, they cried, Away, away with him, it is not fit that he should live. Perhaps thou wilt object, That thyself hast a thousand times preferred a stinking lust before him: I answer, Be it so; it is but what is common to men to do; nor doth the Lord Jesus make such a foolish life a bar to thee, to forbid thy coming to him, or a bond to his grace, that it might be kept from thee; but admits of thy repentance, and offereth himself unto thee freely, as thou standest among the Jerusalem sinners.[3]
Take therefore encouragement, man; mercy is, by the text, held forth to the biggest sinners; yea, put thyself into the number of the worst, by reckoning that thou mayest be one of the first, and mayest not be put off till the biggest sinners are served; for the biggest sinners are first invited; consequently, if they come, they are like to be the first that shall be served. It was so with Jerusalem; Jerusalem sinners were they that were first invited, and those of them that came first—and there came three thousand of them the first day they were invited; how many came afterwards none can tell—they were first served.
Put in thy name, man, among the biggest, lest thou art made to wait till they are served. You have some men that think themselves very cunning, because they put up their names in their prayers among them that feign it, saying, God, I thank thee I am not so bad as the worst. But believe it, if they be saved at all, they shall be saved in the last place. The first in their own eyes shall be served last; and the last or worst shall be first. The text insinuates it, ‘Begin at Jerusalem’; and reason backs it, for they have most need. Behold ye, therefore, how God’s ways are above ours; we are for serving the worst last, God is for serving the worst first. The man at the pool, that to my thinking was longest in his disease, and most helpless as to his cure, was first healed; yea, he only was healed; for we read that Christ healed him, but we read not then that he healed one more there! (John 5:1-10). Wherefore, if thou wouldst soonest be served, put in thy name among the very worst of sinners. Say, when thou art upon thy knees, Lord, here is a Jerusalem sinner! a sinner of the biggest size! one whose burden is of the greatest bulk and heaviest weight! one that cannot stand long without sinking into hell, without thy supporting hand! ‘Be not thou far from me, O Lord! O my strength, haste thee to help me!’ (Psa 22:19).
I say, put in thy name with Magdalene, with Manasseh, that thou mayest fare as the Magdalene and the Manasseh sinners do. The man in the gospel made the desperate condition of his child an argument with Christ to haste his cure: ‘Sire, come down,’ saith he, ‘ere my child die’ (John 4:49), and Christ regarded his haste, saying, ‘Go thy way; thy son liveth’ (verse 50). Haste requires haste. David was for speed; ‘Deliver me speedily’; ‘Hear me speedily’; ‘Answer me speedily’ (Psa 31:2; 69:17; 102:2). But why speedily? I am in ‘the net’; ‘I am in trouble’; ‘My days are consumed like smoke’ (Psa 31:4; 69:17; 102:3). Deep calleth unto deep, necessity calls for help; great necessity for present help. Wherefore, I say, be ruled by me in this matter; feign not thyself another man, if thou hast been a filthy sinner, but go in thy colours to Jesus Christ, and put thyself among the most vile, and let him alone to ‘put thee among the children’ (Jer 3:19). Confess all that thou knowest of thyself; I know thou wilt find it hard work to do thus: especially if thy mind be legal; but do it, lest thou stay and be deferred with the little sinners, until the great ones have had their alms. . . .
I have one thing more to offer for thy encouragement, who deemest thyself one of the biggest sinners; and that is, thou art as it were called by thy name, in the first place, to come in for mercy. Thou man of Jerusalem, hearken to thy call; men do so in courts of judicature, and presently cry out, ‘Here, Sire’; and then they shoulder and crowd, and say, ‘Pray give way, I am called into the court.’ Why, this is thy case, thou great, thou Jerusalem sinner; be of good cheer, he calleth thee (Mark 10:46-49). Why sittest thou still? arise: why standest thou still? come, man, thy call should give thee authority to come. . . .
Is not this an encouragement to the biggest sinners to make their application to Christ for mercy? ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,’ doth also confirm this thing; that is, that the biggest sinner, and he that has the biggest burden, is he who is first invited. Christ pointeth over the heads of thousands, as he sits on the throne of grace, directly to such a man; and says, ‘Bring in hither the maimed, the halt, and the blind; let the Jerusalem sinner that stands there behind come to me.’ Wherefore, since Christ says, ‘Come,’ to thee, let the angels make a lane, and let all men give place, that the Jerusalem sinner may come to Jesus Christ for mercy.
Would Jesus Christ have mercy offered, in the first place, to the biggest sinners? Then come, thou profane wretch, and let me a little enter into an argument with thee. Why wilt thou not come to Jesus Christ, since thou art a Jerusalem sinner? How canst thou find in thy heart to set thyself against grace, against such grace as offereth mercy to thee? What spirit possesseth thee, and holds thee back from a sincere closure with thy Saviour? Behold, God groaningly complains of thee, saying, ‘But Israel would none of me.’ ‘When I called, none did answer’ (Psa 81:11; Isa 66:4).
[1]John Bunyan, The Jerusalem Sinner Saved; Or, Good News for the Vilest of Men (Carlisle, PA.: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005), 72-75. This is a reprint of what was “First Published in London, 1691.”
[2] In the “Preface to Offor Edition, 1854” there is an explanatory footnote. It states, “The present edition is based on the text in the 3-volume edition of Bunyan’s works published in Glasgow in 1854 and edited by George Offor (reprinted Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1191; ISBN 0 85151 598 3, the set of three volumes). For the present edition, some of the language and grammar have slightly modifies to make the work more accessible to present-day readers.” [vii].
[3]This treatise is Bunyan’s extended exposition of Luke 24:47. He explains the idea of the “Jerusalem Sinner” on pp. 2-3 as: “Jerusalem, as I told you, was the place and seat of God’s worship, but now decayed, degenerated, and apostatized. The Word, the rule of worship, was rejected of them, and in its place they had put and set up their own traditions: they had rejected, also, the most weighty ordinances, and put in the room thereof their own little things (Matt. 15; Mark 7). Jerusalem was therefore now greatly back-slidden, and became the place where the truth and true religion were much defaced.” Bunyan uses the “Jerusalem Sinner” as an extended metaphor throughout the treatise as a “great sinner” who needs to come to Christ for mercy.
December 18, 2011
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