Present Room for Sinners in Christ's House
Thomas Boston, 1676–1732Ettrick, May 28, 1721
LUKE 14:22 "And yet there is room."
IN the first part of this verse, the servant reports that he had obeyed his master's second order, and that many had complied with the invitation. But though these had come in, he adds, and yet there is room. In Christ's house, there is much empty room for more guests. This is a comfortable word for those who have not yet complied with the invitations of the gospel; the doors are not yet shut, and such sinners may yet have access to Christ.Our Lord has often covered a table for us in the gospel, and no doubt some have answered the gospel call, and by faith sit down at the gospel feast. But while some have risen up at God's call, have not many sat still? While some have gone to the marriage, have not many stayed in the tents of sin; when some have been pursuing the interest of their souls, others have been minding nothing, but the world and their lusts. We come yet to you, O slighters of Christ, with the glad news that yet there is room. We are allowed doctrinally to open the doors of Christ's house to you, and invite you all to come in; being not without apprehensions that the peaceable and ordinary dispensation of the gospel among us, may be drawing near an end. Sinners out of Christ are out of God's favor, covenant, and family. Slighters of Christ have refused the privilege, but yet there is room or place for them.
Doctrine. For those who have not yet embraced and closed with Christ in the offer of the gospel, yet there is room.
There are three very different voices sounding this day, in the ears of rational creatures out of Heaven.
1. The fallen angels hear a dreadful voice, that there never was, is, nor shall be, room for them. They sinned, but no Mediator was ever provided for them. They were the first who ventured to break over the hedge of the law, and God made them dreadful instances of his justice and severity. "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." Their chains you see are everlasting, their prison darkness; and nothing awaits them but judgment. They left their habitation, and there is no room for them any more. They see a feast is provided, but they know they shall never taste of it, but stand gnashing their teeth at distinguishing grace.
2. Damned sinners hear another voice, namely, That there was once room for them, but there shall be room no more forever. "The master of the house has risen up, and has shut to the door." They had their day, but in their day, they knew not the things which belonged to their peace, and now they are hidden from their eyes. Those with whom they sat in the same church, and heard the same gospel, are now in Heaven: but now all they can hear is, There was room. And while there was room for them, they only sought after the world, and their lusts: but now the door is shut upon them, and that there was room, gnaws, and will gnaw, their conscience forever.
3. You hear this day a blessed joyful voice, Yet there is room. Sinners! you are standing without, you have hitherto slighted Christ. But the door is not yet shut on you. What is wrong may be rectified. Yet there is room.
In discoursing upon this subject. I shall,
I. Inquire for what there is yet room.
II. Where there is yet room.
III. Confirm the doctrine. We are then,
I. To inquire for what there is yet room. Sinners, yet there is room.
1. For your retracting your refusal of Christ, and his salvation, for your taking your word again. Christ has been offered to you, but many of you have said in effect, We will not have this man to reign over us. You would have none of him. Now if he should take you at your word, you are ruined without remedy. Should he pass that sentence "I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." Then there is no more hope forever. He might have dealt thus with you, yes, he might have dealt with you as with Ananias and Sapphira. But yet there is room. Take your word again; and if yet you will consent to take Christ, you shall have him.
2. There is yet room for your subscribing the covenant. God in Christ has sent down an open copy of the covenant of grace among us, and sent his ministers to gather subscriptions to it, by which souls may be entered into the covenant. Many have set their names to it. "O my soul, says David, you have said unto the Lord, you are my Lord. And gather, says God, my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." But after all, yet there is room. "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." God is yet saying to you, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Believe this word with application to yourselves. Embrace the covenant, for yet there is room.
3. There is room for repentance. You have been fools and madmen, working out your own ruin without fear or trembling. You have done what will destroy yourselves, if it be not undone again. Yet there is room for repentance. There was room for it in the first covenant, it was a piece of work, which once marred would never put right again. There is no room for it in Hell. But here there is room. Esau despised the birth-right, and there was room for repentance to him. But yet the voice of the Lord to you is, after all that you have done, "Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Though it be the eleventh hour with some of you, yet there is room.
Lastly, There is room for you, the worst of you, may yet come in, "Whoever will let him take of the water of life freely." And again, "Behold, says Jesus, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Despisers and rejectors of Christ, he yet calls you. He has no need of you nor me, but his house is not yet filled, and it must be filled, and yet there is room. "All that the Father gives me, says he, shall come to me; and him that comes to me, I will in nowise cast out." Many has he taken in, who were among the worst, and he has room for more even of that kind. "Go, says he to his servants, into the highways, and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." We proceed,
II. To show where there is room. There is room,
1. In the door for you, that you may enter in by it. Jesus Christ himself is the door. "I am, says he, the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." He is willing to receive you. The door is opened in the offer of the gospel. It is wide opened, so as the worst of sinners are declared capable of access to the Father, coming by him. "And such, says Paul to the Corinthians, were some of you," even the worst of sinners, "But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." But without Jesus Christ there is no access. "I am, says he, the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes unto the Father but by me." It is true in these days in which the doctrine of the gospel is sinking, the door is opened by some, only so far as to let in those that are so and so qualified, as if men behooved to be half cured before they may come to the physician. But God's word sets it wide open. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting life. And the Spirit and the bride say come. And let him that hears say, come. And let him that is athirst come. And whoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Thus you see the Word of God sets the door wide open to let in all who will enter, be their case what it will. Enter then, O sinner, no angel with a flaming sword stands here to guard the tree of life. The partition wall is broken down, strangers are welcome to come within the holy ground. Christ is the door. Let not the brightness of his face so terrify you, nor the divine glory so affright you, as to make you stand back from him, for the divinity is veiled with humanity, that sinners may see God and not die. "Having therefore boldness, brethren, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."
2. There is room in the house for you. Christ's house is not yet filled. If it were so, the door would be shut. Sinners you are without, wandering up and down on the mountains of vanity, a ready prey to the devouring lion. Why will you not come in, where you may be safe? There is room enough for you in our Father's house, and all who are in it, have bread enough and to spare, why then will you perish?
There is room for you in the lower house. There are two great families on earth. Christ's family, and the devil's family. We are born members of the devil's family, but Christ is willing to take you into his, yes, he invites you into it. "Wherefore, come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father's house." You that are standing at the foot of mount Sinai, within the dominion of the law, as a covenant of works, you are welcome to mount Zion, the city of the living God, to an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly of the church of the first-born; where, though you be under the discipline of the family, you shall be beyond the reach of the curse. There is room for you here in the quality of servants. He is saying unto you, "Why stand you here all the day idle? Go you also into the vineyard, and whatever is right, that shall you receive." Our Lord is saying to you once more, "Choose you this day whom you will serve?" Christ or your lusts? He has no need of you, nor your service. He has thousands of angels to minister unto him, yet he has left room for you to be taken in among the number of his servants. And can you choose such a glorious, yes, such a gracious Master? He binds his service on believers with the cords of love, first gives them a title to the eternal reward, and then bids them work, and even the rods laid on them, remove not his free love, Psalm 89:23. and downwards.
There is room for you as friends, which is yet more. "Henceforth, says he, I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his Lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." It is no small matter to be a friend of the house. But yet there is room for you to be Christ's bosom friends, though before enemies. Friends to whom he will communicate his secrets. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant." He is a friend that can do you good, when all other friends are helpless to you, even at a dying hour; your friends in the world may then close your eyes, prepare the cold winding sheet, get the grave ready, but he can carry your soul to God the Judge, and present you blameless before him in the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
There is room for you, as sons and daughters, to be children of the house. "I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." He has many children, a numerous, a powerful seed, a mighty offspring, the fruit of the travail of his soul; and has made a glorious appearance with them already before his Father, saying, Behold, I and the children which you have given me. Yet there is room for more. Adopting grace is not yet exhausted. The inheritance is large, there is enough for all that will come to him. He will not quarrel your extraction, though base, nor the wretched condition in which he finds you, if you will but now come in, Ezekiel 16.
You may be received in the quality of the spouse of Christ. He says to you, "All things are ready, come you to the marriage." The everlasting marriage covenant is proposed to you. If you be willing to match with him, he is willing to match with you. Believe the promise of the gospel with particular application to yourselves. Say amen to the covenant, and he is yours and you are his.
There is room for you in the upper house. The veil is rent in twain, and there is access for you into the holiest of all. Christ has opened Heaven to us, which Adam's sin bolted against us; and good news, In Christ's Father's house there are many mansions, and he is there employed in preparing a place for you. If you will come to Christ, You shall be pillars in the temple of God, and go no more out. It is a holy place where no unclean thing can enter, but he will make you meet for it by the sanctification of his Spirit.
3. There is room for you at the table. Christ's table is well furnished, even the table of gospel ordinances in this lower world. "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat things, full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." There are many excellent dishes on it. Peace, pardon, joy in the Holy Spirit, even all the benefits of the everlasting covenant. Whatever is suitable to your case. Gold tried in the fire, to enrich you, white clothing to clothe and adorn you, and eye salve, to anoint your eyes that you may see. And at this table there is abundance of room. "Ho every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he who has no money: come you, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk, without money, and without price."
4. There is room for you in the heart of the Master of the feast. Why does he call you, if it were not so. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Set but your face homeward, and the Father's affections will yearn towards the returning prodigal, he will meet you by the way. Why were Christ's arms stretched out on the cross but to embrace you, and his side pierced; but to show that there was room in his heart for you. We are now to proceed,
III. To confirm the doctrine. Consider,
1. The mercy of God lying open to sinners through Christ. "God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." I say then through Christ, for God out of Christ is a consuming fire to sinners, as so much dry stubble, Hebrews 12 last. This is seen in devils and reprobates that reject Christ. But coming to God through him, you will find a fountain of mercy overflowing. Mercy is one of the great letters of God's name. "He is the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands." If misery be with you, mercy is with him. "Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy." Are your sins many, well he is "not only merciful and gracious, but he is plenteous in mercy." There is a multitude of mercies with him. He delights in mercy. It is a pleasure to him to show mercy to the miserable. If a little mercy will not serve your purpose, then one mercy shall be added to another. For God has said, mercy shall be built up forever. Have your sins in effect carried you down to the lowest Hell, mercy will bring you up again. "For great is your mercy toward me, says David, and you have delivered my soul from the lowest Hell." Do your sins reach the clouds, God's mercy is above them, for it is in the heavens.
2. Consider the sufferings of Christ to procure room for sinners, Hebrews 10:19–22. The first Adam forfeited our room in God's favor, but the second Adam by his death has made room again for those who were thrust out. And here cast your eyes upon the following things.
1. The quality of the person that suffered. The divine nature in the person of the Son, was united to the human nature, and so the blood shed for the redemption of sinners was the blood of God. "To feed, says the apostle, the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood." In these our unhappy days, in which there appears a conspiracy against our glorious Redeemer, and the doctrine of the gospel is a going and entering into a cloud of darkness, not only is the purchase of Christ for his people much dishonored, but the foundation of Christianity is struck at, in denying the supreme Godhead of the Son and his equality with the Father, which has been at length followed with monstrous blasphemies, and blasphemous practices against the ever blessed Trinity. But Woe, Woe, to mankind sinners, if Christ be not supreme God. The saints are yet in their sins, their faith and hope and all is vain, razed from the foundation. For then his sufferings not being of infinite value, cannot equal the offence done to an infinite God. But know assuredly, sinners, that yet there is room, upon the account of Christ's sufferings, for he is the Father's fellow, Zechariah 13:7. the Father's equal, Philip. 2:6. "He is Jehovah, as for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the holy one of Israel. And this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness."
2. The nature of his sufferings. They were of various kinds. He suffered in his good name, in all his offices, in his body and in his soul. He bare the curse. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He endured the wrath of his Father in our stead. Under this, "He was poured out like water, and all his bones were out of joint; his heart was like wax, it was melted in the midst of his affections." He met with no indulgence. God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. He answered all the demands of justice, and the law, in favor of elect sinners. Now,
3. The end of his sufferings, was to make room for sinners in God's favor. To redeem a forfeited Heaven, and to bring back to God those who were expelled his house in the loins of Adam their father.
Now finally, For these great purposes, his sufferings were fully efficacious. "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin. And this blood purges our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." However deep the guilt and stain of our sins be, the blood of Christ is able to take it away, as an ocean poured upon a house on fire would quench it instantly.
4. Consider that the holy scriptures plainly hold forth Christ to be an able and willing Savior. "His name is Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us; who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." He complains that sinners will not come to him, that he might save them. "You will not come to me that you might have life." He is lifted up on the pole of the gospel, that sinners may look to him and be saved: And the command is, "look unto me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth." Jesus is the rose of Sharon, the rose of the field to which every one may have access. There are in him waters for washing the most polluted, and every one that thirsts is invited to come to these waters. There are in him streams of water to refresh and fructify the desert and the wilderness. If the streams may be thought capable of drying up, there is in him a fountain, open and free, A fountain for sin and impurity. If that be too little there are rivers; for the man Jesus, Shall be as rivers of water in a dry place. And if these are not enough, there are depths of the sea. You Lord will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
5. Consider all things are ready for your reception and entertainment. "All things are ready, come you to the marriage." If all be ready, surely yet there is room for you. The Father is ready, and well pleased that sinners be matched with his Son and become heirs of glory. Of Jesus, he says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear you him. The glorious Bridegroom is ready to receive you into the marriage covenant, "I will, says he, betroth you unto me forever, yes, I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies." The Holy Spirit is ready, and says unto you, come. The marriage contract is ready, the covenant drawn up, no more to do but to set your name to it; the marriage feast is ready: there is nothing wanting but your consent.
6. Consider that you are invited to come in, yes, we are authorized expressly, "To compel you to come in, that his house may be filled." Now would that be the case, if there were not yet room? And in the invitations consider that they are very large and extensive. "Ho every one that thirsts, come you to the waters. And whoever will may take of the water of life freely." If you had these invitations of your own framing, could you make them more comprehensive? Say not sinners, you are not fit to come to Christ: sure I am, you are not fit to stay away from him. Come to him for all you need, and embrace a full Christ, for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Besides the invitations are made with an express provision, that your sinfulness and unworthiness shall not prevent your welcome to Christ, if you will come. "He who has no money, come you buy and eat, yes, come buy wine and milk, without money and without price." Yes, these invitations are commands which you are peremptorily enjoined to obey upon your peril. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.
7. Consider that all who have gone before you to Christ, have found there was room, and why will you not venture forward. They are made to sing that blessed song, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." Turn over the Bible, look at the history of past times, who did ever perish that came to him. Was not Paul welcome, and that for an example to others. "Yes, for this cause he obtained mercy, that in him first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, the thief on the cross, the very murderers of the Savior, the Corinthians, all have found room in his house, and a welcome reception. Go then thither, where others have succeeded so well before you. And if you die there, and make your grave at his door, I assure you, if it be so, you will be the first, there is yet no broken ground there.
8. Consider, that if unworthiness, vileness and misery, would have turned away the eyes of Jesus from the children of men, he had never taken in one of them. His door would have been shut forever upon them. Did not he find all the fair ones now in glory, at one time lying in their blood with no eye to pity them, nor hand to help them! All the company of the redeemed must cast down their crowns at his feet, and give glory to them that washed them in his own blood. If you stand back until you be worthy, you will never come.
Lastly, Consider that the great end of the plan of man's salvation through Jesus Christ, is to exalt the riches of free grace. It is of faith that it might be by grace. The more desperate your disease is, the more glorious will the cure be. Your sinfulness will serve to exalt free grace in Christ Jesus. Will you then give him the glory of your salvation or not? "Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart."
Use. 1. Come in then, O sinners, come off from your natural state, from your sins, from the mountains of vanity; come into Christ, into the covenant, into the state of favor with God, through him. Yet there is room for you. And that every one of you may either be obliged to come into Christ, or be left without, inexcusable this day, I shall lay before you, what may solve all your objections.
1. Though there be many in already, yet there is room for you. Many have come from the east, and from the west, from the south, and from the north, and have sat down with Abraham in the kingdom of God. But the house is not yet full. The Master is still expecting more guests. Days have been in which souls have flocked to Christ like doves to their windows. And yet there is room. If it were not so the doors would be shut and the servants called in from inviting any more.
2. Though there be many attendants at the feast, yet there is room for you. Christ and believers feast together even in the lower house, at the feast of fat things, which he makes unto all people. And the angels are his attendants, yes, they are ministering spirits unto them that shall be heirs of salvation. But the hallelujahs of angels will not make the King forget the cries of a poor sinner on earth coming to God through him. He will look through the crowd about the throne, and give you a healing look, and make room for you. Look then again towards his holy temple, his heart will be instantly with you, if you can but turn your eyes towards him. His love will make its way through cherubim and seraphim, and lift you up from the lowest gulf of misery. You will be made to say, "You Lord have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back."
3. Though you have been very long a coming, yet there is room. Many have come into the world after you, and gone out of it before you to Jesus Christ. You have sat still, while others have been fleeing from the wrath to come. Yet there is room. It is an honorable thing to be among the first to embrace Christ. Paul speaks in this sense of some that were in Christ before him; but our Lord will not shut his door upon the last. As long as there is one wandering sheep looking toward the fold, the door shall not be closed.
4. Though you have sat many calls and given Christ many refusals, yet there is room. He allows you to take your word again. He still says, "Will you not be made clean? When shall it once be?" How peremptory were the people in their refusal, Jeremiah 2:25. "I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. Yet, chapter 3:1. Yet return again to me says the Lord." Christ stands at the door and knocks, gives you one offer after another. Why so, but because he would have you yet to be wise and open to him.
5. Though you have been at the door more than once, and yet turned back again, and put an affront on him, by your backsliding, yet there is room. "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding." Has not the Lord given you convictions of sin and duty, now and then, and have not you thereupon resolved that you would go to Christ and embrace the covenant; yet your goodness has been like the morning cloud and early dew that passes away. Have not some blossomed fair, whose blossom has afterward gone up like dust? Christ has drawn some half way to Heaven, and they have slipped the cord of love and run away from him. Yet he says, I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely.
6. Though you have slighted Christ in your prosperity, yet there is room for you, be your condition as low as it will. "The wind shall eat up all your pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness." It may be you have had days of outward prosperity and neglected Christ in them, and now the case is changed and the world for which you cared so much, cares little for you. Yet there is room for you. He is content to take you when cast off at all hands. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
7. Perhaps you have grown old in sin, and your grey hairs are found in the way of wickedness, yet there is room for you. He calls even at the eleventh hour. Aged sinners, is your time for repentance and reformation not yet come? When you were young you delayed until you should come to old age. An unhappy resolution! But will you come now, then delay no longer. There is room for old sinners in the house of our everlasting Father. In a day of power a man may be born again even when he is old, and sovereign grace can pluck up by the roots the sin fixed with bands of iron and brass.
8. Though there be less hope of your case than ever there was, yet there is room. The same grace that reached Paul in his way to Damascus, breathing out rage and fury against Christ and his followers, can reach you in your career, and pluck the prey out of the lion's mouth. In a word, whatever your case be, yet there is room. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Come then sinners while yet there is room.
Consider, It is dear bought room, to be thought so light of. Had not Christ died, and by his precious blood opened the way to the favor of God, which Adam's sin had closed, there had been no more room for fallen men, than for fallen angels. How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation. I beseech you by the love of Christ, in dying for sinners, to yield up yourselves to him.
Again, Consider, that there will not always be room. The door will be shut before long, and then you will call in vain for admission; therefore seek the Lord while he is to be found. God has waited long on these sinful nations, his patience with the generation will wear to an end, if we reform not; and there is no appearance of that, but the contrary. He has waited long on sinful us, but he will not wait always. Finally, you cannot tell how soon it may come to that, there will be no more room. Few communions, but they are the last to someone in the congregation. Your life is uncertain, and your enjoyment of gospel ordinances is uncertain, They who will not come into Christ while there is room, must soon take their room in the pit of destruction, Revelation 21:8.
Use 2. Make room then for Christ with you. Room in your hearts, room in your houses. I would call unto all, "Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight." Christ is coming once more among us in a solemn and awful manner, in the holy ordinance of the supper. O Christians, communicants, make room for his triumphant entry. "Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be you lift up, you everlasting doors; and the king of glory shall come in. Make room for him and all his salvation; As made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Be persuaded of your own utter emptiness, your need of all things, that you may take him for your all.
Again, Make room for him, in all his offices, as a prophet, priest, and king. Search out the rebels, lay all your sins before him, that he may remove the guilt of them by his blood, and break the power of them by his Spirit; and thus redeem you from all iniquity, and purify you unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Finally, Make room for him and his cross. Consider what you do, lay your account with all the hardships you may meet with in following him wherever he goes. Amen.