I Offer Jesus Christ to All

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. MATTHEW 11:28

There is a sentence in Whitefield’s sermon Christ the Best Husband that could stand over his whole ministry. He is preaching to a society of young women in London, and after describing the beauty and faithfulness of Christ as a bridegroom he says simply, “I offer Jesus Christ to all of you.” He goes on: however notorious for sin they may have been, even if they had been as great a sinner as Mary Magdalene, once they are joined to Christ they shall be forgiven. That offer — made freely, urgently and to everyone — is the warm centre of Whitefield’s preaching, and it is what drew the crowds.

Christ for the weary

In Christ the Only Rest for the Weary and Heavy-Laden, Whitefield explains who the invitation is for. It is not for the self-satisfied: the Pharisees who think they do well enough, and those who can laugh away their sins at balls and horse races. They are not weary, and so they do not come. But those whose sins are grievous to them, who cry out under the burden and do not know where to turn, are exactly the people Christ calls. They have tried their own works and found no rest. Now they are invited to come without them.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ISAIAH 55:1

“Let me, my brethren, beseech you to take Jesus without anything of your own righteousness,” he pleads in that sermon. Go to Christ, he says, tell Him you are lost and undone, and you shall find rest before you come away. Do not let anything short of Christ be your rest.

No sinner too far gone

Whitefield never tired of saying that the greatness of a person’s sin is no bar to coming. In What Think Ye of Christ? he answers the one who says, I am the chief of sinners: that, he says, will be no hindrance, if you lay hold on Christ by faith. Look at how kindly Jesus treated the disciples who had fled and denied Him. His first message after the resurrection was, Go tell my brethren.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 1 TIMOTHY 1:15

The same note sounds in The Indwelling of the Spirit, where Whitefield bids his hearers not to delay until they have made themselves fit. Joseph, when called out of prison, stopped to change his clothes before he went to Pharaoh. Not so here: come poor, miserable, blind and naked as you are, says Whitefield, and God the Father will receive you with open arms.

To every kind of hearer

Whitefield’s offer crossed every boundary his society drew. He preached it to the colliers of Kingswood and the aristocrats in the Countess of Huntingdon’s drawing room, to servants and merchants, to Scottish Presbyterians and New England Congregationalists, to young women and old men. At the end of The Lord Our Righteousness, after addressing old and young and busy merchants, he turns to the enslaved Africans in his congregation. He does not mention them last because he despises their souls, he says; “Jesus Christ had died for them, as well as for others.” He reminds them of the Ethiopian eunuch, who believed and was baptised, and tells them that in Christ there is neither bond nor free.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. GALATIANS 3:28

That word was true, and it was powerful. Many enslaved people heard the gospel through Whitefield and his successors, and the churches that grew among them in the following generations drew deeply on the evangelical preaching he helped to spread. But it must be said that the man who preached it was, at that very time, arguing for slavery in Georgia. He offered Christ freely to people whose freedom he did not defend. Chapter sixteen will not let that pass.

Election and the open door

Whitefield was a convinced Calvinist. He believed that God had chosen His people from eternity and that all whom the Father had given to Christ would come to Him. In The Gospel Supper he says that every soul for whom Christ shed His blood shall finally be saved. Some have thought this sits awkwardly with his passionate appeals to everyone to come. Whitefield did not think so. He did not know who the elect were, and he did not need to. His task was to hold out Christ to all, and to trust God to draw His own. The doctrine of election, for him, did not narrow the invitation; it guaranteed that the invitation would not be in vain.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. JOHN 6:37

Where care is needed

Whitefield’s appeals were sometimes intensely emotional, and he sometimes pressed for an immediate response in ways that could confuse feeling moved with coming to Christ. He also leaned hard on the terrors of hell to drive people to the Saviour. There is a place for warning, and Christ Himself warned. But the freeness of the offer should never be buried under its threats. The weary come to Christ because He is gentle and lowly in heart, not only because they are afraid.

Come

What makes Whitefield’s offer so moving is that he believed it himself. In What Think Ye of Christ? he speaks of the sweetness of Christ’s presence and tells his enemies that all the harm he wishes them is that they might feel the same. He was not offering a doctrine. He was offering a Person, and he could not bear that anyone should go away without Him.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. REVELATION 22:17

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Are you weary and heavy laden? Then the invitation is for you. Go to Christ today and tell Him plainly what burdens you.

2. If you have been waiting until you are better before coming to Christ, stop waiting. Come as you are.

3. Think of someone you have privately judged too far gone for the gospel. Pray for them by name, and look for a way to offer them Christ.

4. Ask whether any boundary — of class, race, background or church — narrows the offer of Christ in your own practice.

5. Read Christ the Only Rest for the Weary and Heavy-Laden in the Ochorus library and notice how often Whitefield simply says, Come.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You said, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. I come, not with my own righteousness but with my burden.

Thank You that no sinner is too far gone for You, and that You cast out none who come.

Make my heart as wide as Your invitation. Forgive me where I have narrowed it by pride, prejudice or fear.

Let me hold You out to others as freely as You have been offered to me. Amen.