John Bunyan :: Use Second: A Use of Examination

USE SECOND: A USE OF EXAMINATION.

We come now to a use of examination. Sinner, thou hast heard of the necessity of coming to Christ, also of the willingness of Christ to receive the coming soul, together with the benefit that they by him shall have that indeed come to him. Put thyself now upon this serious inquiry, Am I indeed come to Jesus Christ?

Motives plenty I might here urge to prevail with thee to a conscientious performance of this duty. As,

• 1. Thou art in sin, in the flesh, in death, in the snare of the devil, and under the curse of the law, if you are not coming to Jesus Christ.
  
  

• 2. There is no way to be delivered from these but by coming to Jesus Christ.
  
  

• 3. If thou comest, Jesus Christ will receive thee and will in no wise cast thee out.
  
  

• 4. Thou wilt not repent it in the day of judgment if now thou comest to Jesus Christ.
  
  

• 5. But thou wilt surely mourn at last if now thou shalt refuse to come.
  
  

• 6. And lastly. Now thou hast been invited to come; now will thy judgment be greater and thy damnation more fearful if thou shalt yet refuse than if thou hadst never heard of coming to Christ.
  
  

Objection.

• But we hope we are come to Jesus Christ.

Answer. It is well if it proves so. But lest thou shouldst speak without ground, and so fall unawares into hell-fire, let us examine a little.

First, Art thou indeed come to Jesus Christ? What hast thou left behind thee? What didst thou come away from in thy coming to Jesus Christ?

• When Lot came out of Sodom, he left the Sodomites behind him (Gen 19).
  
  

• When Abraham came out of Chaldea, he left his country and kindred behind him (Gen 12; Act 7).
  
  

• When Ruth came to put her trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel she left her father and mother, her gods, and the land of her nativity, behind her (Rth 1:15-17; Rth 2:11-12).
  
  

• When Peter came to Christ he left his nets behind him (Mat 4:20).
  
  

• When Zaccheus came to Christ he left the receipt of custom behind him (Luk 19:1-10).
  
  

• When Paul came to Christ he left his own righteousness behind him (Phl 3:7-8).
  
  

• When those that used curious arts came to Jesus Christ they took their curious books and burned them, though, in another man's eye they were counted worth fifty thousand pieces of silver (Act 19:18-20).
  
  

• What sayest thou, man? Hast thou left thy darling sins, thy Sodomitish pleasures, thy acquaintance and vain companions, thy unlawful gain, thy idol-gods, thy righteousness, and thy unlawful curious arts, behind thee? If any of these be with thee, and thou with them in thy heart and life, thou art not yet come to Jesus Christ.
  
  

Secondly. Art thou come to Jesus Christ? Prithee, tell me what moved thee to come to Jesus Christ?

Men do not usually come or go to this or that place before they have a moving cause, or rather a cause moving them thereto: no more do they come to Jesus Christ (I do not say before they have a cause, but) before that cause moveth them to come. What sayest thou? Hast thou a cause moving thee to come? To be at present in a state of condemnation is cause sufficient for men to come to Jesus Christ for life, but that will not do except the cause moves them, the which it will never do until their eyes be opened to see themselves in that condition. For it is not a man's being under wrath, but his seeing it, that moveth him to come to Jesus Christ. Alas! all men by sin are under wrath, yet but few of that all come to Jesus Christ; and the reason is, because they do not see their condition. "Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Mat 3:7). Until men are warned, and also receive the warning, they will not come to Jesus Christ.

Take three or four instances for this.

• 1. Adam and Eve came not to Jesus Christ until they received the alarm, the conviction of their undone state by sin (Gen 3).
  
  

• 2. The children of Israel cried not out for a mediator before they saw themselves in danger of death by the law (Exo 20:18-19).
  
  

• 3. Before the publican came he saw himself lost and undone (Luk 18:13).
  
  

• 4. The prodigal came not until he saw death at the door, ready to devour him (Luk 15:17-18).
  
  

• 5. The three thousand came not until they knew not what to do to be saved (Act 2:37-39).
  
  

• 6. Paul came not, until he saw himself lost and undone (Act 9:3-8, Act 9:11).
  
  

• 7. Lastly, Before the jailer came he saw himself undone (Act 16:29-31). And I tell thee, it is an easier thing to persuade a well man to go to the physician for cure, or a man without hurt to seek for a plaster to cure him, than it is to persuade a man that sees not his soul-disease to come to Jesus Christ. The whole have no need of the physician; then why should they go to him? The full pitcher can hold no more; then why should it go to the fountain? And if thou comest full, thou comest not aright, and be sure Christ will send thee empty away, "but he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds" (Mar 2:17; Psa 147:3; Luk 1:53).

Third, Art thou coming to Jesus Christ? Prithee [archaic; read as "I pray, or Please - BLB Ed], tell me what seest thou in him to allure thee to forsake all the world, to come to him? I say, what hast thou seen in him? Men must see something in Jesus Christ, else they will not come to him.

• 1. What comeliness hast thou seen in his person? thou comest not, if thou seest no form nor comeliness in him (Isa 53:1-3).
  
  

• 2. Until those mentioned in the Song were convinced that there was more beauty, comeliness, and desirableness in Christ than in ten thousand, they did not so much as ask where he was, nor incline to turn aside after him (Sgs 5; Sgs 6).

  There be many things on this side heaven that can and do carry away the heart, and so will do so long as thou livest, if thou shalt be kept blind and not be admitted to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus.

Fourthly. Art thou come to the Lord Jesus? What hast thou found in him, since thou camest to him?

Peter found with him the word of eternal life (Jhn 6:68). They that Peter makes mention of found him a living stone, even such a living stone as communicated life to them (1Pe 2:4-5). He saith himself they that come to him, etc., shall find REST unto their souls; hast thou found REST in him for thy soul? (Mat 11:28).

Let us go back to the times of the Old Testament.

• 1. Abraham found THAT in him that made him leave his country for him, and become for his sake a pilgrim and stranger in the earth (Gen 12; Heb 11).
  
  

• 2. Moses found THAT in him, that made him forsake a crown, and a kingdom for him too (Heb 11:24-26).
  
  

• 3. David found so much in him that he counted to be in his house one day was better than a thousand; yea, to be a doorkeeper therein was better in his esteem, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness (Psa 84:10).
  
  

• 4. What did Daniel and the three children find in him, to make them run the hazards of the fiery furnace, and the den of lions, for his sake? (Dan 3; Dan 6).

Let us come down to martyrs.

• 1. Stephen found that in him that made him joyful, and quietly yield up his life for his name (Acts 7).
  
  

• 2. Ignatius found that in Christ that made him choose to go through the torments of the devil and hell itself, rather than not to have him. (Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. 1, p. 52, Anno. 111. Edit. 1632.)
  
  

• 3. What saw Romanus in Christ when he said to the raging emperor who threatened him with fearful torments, Thy sentence, O Emperor, I joyfully embrace, and refuse not to be sacrificed by as cruel torments as thou canst invent? (Ibid., p. 116).
  
  

• 4. What saw Menas, the Egyptian in Christ when he said, under most cruel torments, "There is nothing in my mind that can be compared to the kingdom of heaven; neither is all the world, if it was weighed in a balance, to be preferred with the price of one soul? Who is able to separate us from the love of Jesus Christ our Lord? And I have learned of my Lord and King not to fear them that kill the body, etc." (Ibid., p. 117).
  
  

• 5. What did Eulalia see in Christ when she said, as they were pulling her one joint from another, "Behold, O Lord, I will not forget thee? What a pleasure it is for them, O Christ! that remember thy triumphant victory?" (Ibid., p. 121).
  
  

• 6. What think you did Agnes see in Christ when rejoicingly she went to meet the soldier that was appointed to be her executioner? "I will willingly," said she, "receive into my paps the length of this sword, and into my breast will draw the force thereof, even to the hilts, that thus I, being married to Christ my Spouse, may surmount and escape all the darkness of this world?" (Ibid., p. 122).
  
  

• 7. What do you think did Julitta see in Christ when, at the Emperor's telling of her that except she would worship the gods she should never have protection, laws, judgments, nor life, she replied, "Farewell life, welcome death; farewell riches, welcome poverty? All that I have, if it were a thousand times more, would I give rather than to speak one wicked and blasphemous word against my Creator." (Ibid., p. 123).
  
  

• 8. What did Marcus Arethusius see in Christ when after his enemies did cut his flesh, anointed it with honey, and hanged him up in a basket for flies and bees to feed on, he would not give (to uphold idolatry) one halfpenny to save his life? (Ibid., p. 128).
  
  

• 9. What did Constantine see in Christ when he used to kiss the wounds of them that suffered for him? (Ibid., p. 135).
  
  

• 10. But what need I give thus particular instances of words and smaller actions when, by their lives, their blood, their enduring hunger, sword, fire, pulling asunder, and all torments that the devil and hell could devise, they showed their love to Christ after they were come to him?

What hast THOU found in him, sinner?

What! come to Christ, and find nothing in him, when all things that are worth looking for are in him! or, if any thing, yet not enough to wean thee from thy sinful delights, and fleshly lusts! Away! thou art not coming to Jesus Christ.

He that has come to Jesus Christ, hath found in him that, as I said, that is not to be found anywhere else.

• 1. He that is come to Christ hath found God in him reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and so God is not to be found in heaven and earth besides (2Co 5:19-20).
  
  

• 2. He that is come to Jesus Christ hath found in him a fountain of grace, sufficient not only to pardon sin, but to sanctify the soul and to preserve it from falling, in this evil world.
  
  

• 3. He that is come to Jesus Christ hath virtue in him—THAT virtue that if he does but touch thee with his Word, or thou him by faith, life is forthwith conveyed into thy soul; it makes thee wake as one that is waked out of his sleep; it awakes all the powers of the soul (Psa 30:11-12; Sgs 6:12).
  
  

• 4. Art thou come to Jesus Christ? Thou hast found glory in him—glory that surmounts and goes beyond. "Thou art more glorious than the mountains of prey" (Psa 76:4).
  
  

• 5. What shall I say? Thou hast found righteousness in him; thou hast found rest, peace, delight, heaven, glory, and eternal life.

Sinner, be advised; ask thy heart again, saying, Am I come to Jesus Christ? for upon this one question, Am I come, or, am I not? hangs heaven and hell as to thee. If thou canst say, I am come, and God shall approve that saying, happy, happy, happy man art thou; But if thou art not come, what can make thee happy? yea, what can make that man happy that for his not coming to Jesus Christ for life must be damned in hell?