COME-IF-BUT

"COME now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord;, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

IF ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.

BUT if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isa. 1:18, 19, 20.)

C

-O-M-E; I-F; B-U-T; How much is expressed in the three opening words of the three above verses. The whole Gospel is embodied and expressed through these concise, plain statements of God. First of all let us take the word

C-O-M-E.

Dear sinner, Jesus loves you. His arms are outstretched toward you, His voice is calling you, He has prepared a glorious Salvation for your body, soul and spirit, and His great heart and love and life are composed of one great, loving c-o-m-e! c-o-m-e! c-o-m-e!

No matter how deep you may have fallen into sin, Jesus says, "Come, I will forgive you and wash you whiter than the driven snow."

No matter how black and vile your heart may be, no matter how evil your mind and filthy your appetites, or how strong your sinful habits, COME, and I will take away your sin-filled heart and give you a new heart-a clean heart filled with pure, holy thoughts; I will fill your mind with thoughts that are in heavenly places, and your mouth with praises; I will break the fetters of every evil habit and cause you to walk forth a free creature in Christ Jesus.

"No matter if you have been a moral professor, striving to live well in your own way you must come to Me just as you are," says Jesus. "You must be born again; nothing but the blood can save. All your righteousness is as filthy rags."

Let the little children come, the aged with their white heads and mis-spent years, the colored and the white, the yellow and the brown-come unto Mc, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. COME! COME!! COME!!! The call goes forth to the Queen upon her throne and to the poorest wretch in the convict's cell alike; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; all have need of His great salvation.

Come, let the weeping tears be dried and the discouraged, hopeless soul take new courage, and find new hope, for Jesus is the hope of the hopeless. Plunge beneath the crimson flood that flowed from His wounded side, and thou shalt know that there is indeed balm in Gilead, and gladness in the house of the Lord.

Let the giddy, laughing, thoughtless sinner, dancing on the brink of Hell, be sobered and come to Jesus in repentance, confessing his sins, or he will be eternally lost in that land where laughing and dancing are never known. The invitation is extended to all mankind, irrespective of race, creed, color or age; all alike need Jesus, and without Hin are undone; it will avail nothing to gain the whole world and lose one's own soul. "Come, now, and let us reason together," saith the Lord, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." No matter how great or how small your sins may be, Jesus will forgive and pardon you, and, better still, He will remember them against you no more if you will turn to Him today whilst there is yet time.

I-F.

"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." I-F-dear sinner, Jesus has done His part, He has sent forth the great call, "Come," throughout the world; He has laid down His life and shed His blood to redeem you; He has prepared a great and glorious feast and builded a glorious, heavenly city for you to live in. But now we come to the great, middle word of our test, "I-F." It does not look like a very big word to read it, yet it is of such gigantic proportions and looms up such a mountain that your whole soul's eternal salvation or damnation depends upon that one little word-"IF."

God has left you a free-will, moral agent; He will plead with you to come; He will endeavor to win you to His salvation and love, but He will never force you to accept it. There must be a willingness upon your part to accept this Saviour as your Lord and King, a willingness to let Him give you a new heart, and shape your life and pattern it after our great example, Jesus. Here, then, is the whole key to the situation:

"If ye be willing, and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." First-Willing; Second-Obedient, then ye shall eat the good of the land; there is nothing too good for the Lord's children. Has He not told us that “All that I have is thine"? and that "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly"? The good of the land, with its joy, its peace that flows like a river, its heaven for evermore, are yours IF ye be willing and obedient to the calling and commands of the Lord. And O, His yoke is easy and His burden light. Hallelujah!

B-U-T.

But, then we come to the only other alternative, the solemn, dark, grim punishment of the wicked.

"But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." There are only two paths: one leads to life, the other to endless death; one leads to hope and joy, the other to despair and utter darkness.

God hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but longs that all should turn from the error of their ways, hearken to His great, eternal invitation, expressed in the word C-O-M-E, be willing and obedient, and inherit life everlasting. But, if you refuse His invitation, and rebel instead of obeying, you choose your own path, and thereby seal your own doom, signing your own death warrant, and shall surely be overtaken with God's sword of judgment, which will fall upon all who have rejected Jesus the Christ.

If ye be willing and obedient, and become a child of King Jesus by being born again and accepting His salvation, you will dwell in the courts of His glory forever.

But if ye refuse and rebel, and choose rather to remain in sin, and continue to walk on as the devil's child, you will, of course, share in the devil's home and reward, and be devoured with the sword. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and no matter who has tried to tell you destruction will not come, nor sorrow overtake those who refuse and rebel, they cannot change the true facts of the case, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

O, dear sinner, heed this simple message today. Come to Jesus as you are. Will you not kneel down just where you are this moment, and cry out— “O, Jesus, you have invited us to come, poor, wretched, sinful, vile. O Lamb of God, I come. Forgive my sins, create in me a new heart, make me obedient and true to You forever. Take all desire for the world, the flesh and the devil from