Jesus Christ is able to save you, my hearers. There is no heart so hard that he cannot soften it; there is no man among you so lost that Jesus cannot save him. Blessed be my dear Master, no case ever did defeat him; his mighty power reaches beyond the uttermost of all the depths of human sin and folly. If there be a harlot here, Christ can cleanse her. If there be a drunkard or a thief here, the blood of Jesus can make him white as snow. If you have any desire towards him, you have not gone beyond the reach of his pierced hand. If you are not saved, it is certainly not for want of power in the Savior.
Moreover, your poverty is no hindrance, for my Master asks nothing from you - the poorer the wretch, the more welcome to Christ. My Master is no covetous priest, who demands pay for what he does - he forgives us freely; he wants none of your merits, nothing whatever from you; come as you are to him, for he is willing to receive you as you are. But here is my sorrow and complaint, that this blessed Lord Jesus, though present to heal, receives no attention from the most of men. They are looking another way, and have no eyes for him.... My Master is not wrathful with you who forget him and neglect him, but he pities you from his heart. I am but his poor servant, but I pity, from my inmost; heart, those of you who live without Christ. I could fain weep for you who are trying other ways of salvation, for they will all end in disappointment, and if continued in, will prove to be your eternal destruction.
From a sermon entitled "Jesus At Bethesda; Or, Waiting Changed For Believing," delivered April 7, 1867. Image by James Jordan under Creative Commons License.
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