He Can, and He Will!
Francis Bourdillon, 1873
"Do you wish to be forgiven?""Wish?" said the sick man. "Oh, if you knew how I wish it! I feel as if I would care for nothing, not for the pain or anything else—if I could but think God would forgive me. But how can He forgive me? You don't know what I've been."
"No, I don't know any further than you have told me, but God knows."
"Ah, it is what troubles me. He knows all. What a wicked life I've led! And He knows it." And the sick man groaned aloud.
"I don't know your past life; but one thing I know, and that is that God is ready, for Christ's sake, to forgive you all."
"No, not such as me—not such as me. It is not as if I hadn't known. I did know—and yet I went on in wickedness. It's too late now. I'm a dying man, and what is to become of me?"
"Do you think God can forgive you?"
"Yes, He can. He can do anything, but He won't. Oh, if only He would!"
"Let me read you something." Then the minister read to the sick man as follows: "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.' Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!' Immediately he was cured of his leprosy." Matthew 8:2-3
"That man," said the minister, "was like you. He had a dreadful illness which nobody could cure—so have you. I am not speaking of your body—but of your soul. Guilt and sin are your leprosy—no mere man can cure them. The leper believed that Jesus had power to make him clean, and you believe that God can make you clean. But the leper did not feel sure that Jesus would: "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean," he said. You say "if" too; but he said it hoping that Jesus would—whereas you seem hardly able to hope at all. But now see what Jesus did: in a moment, without the least delay, without another word, "Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said. 'Be clean!' Immediately he was cured of his leprosy."
What had become of the "if"? There was no "if" in the matter, no more an "if" in the "willing" than in the "can." Jesus was as willing as He was able. That dreadful, incurable disease was completely under His power; He could make the leper clean, and He did, for, "Immediately he was cured of his leprosy."
The sick man had covered his face, and was weeping. Tears stood in the minister's eyes too, as he went on: "Yes, such grace and mercy may well make us weep, but not in despair. There is no room for despair, when God, for Christ's sake, is both able and willing to forgive us and save us. Perfectly able, perfectly willing—and that now, immediately. This is true, and true for you. God knows what you have been, and what you are. Every sin that you have ever committed was done in His sight. Every wicked word that you have ever spoken was said in His hearing. He knows all, and yet He can make you clean. He will make you clean this very moment—if you ask Him as earnestly and sincerely as that leper did.
God gave His own dear Son to shed His blood upon the cross, on purpose to wash away guilt, and make the guilty clean! It was love that led to that, and He loves still. It is through His grace and love, that this message comes to you by me today. It is His grace and love which, by His Holy Spirit, has stirred in your mind even a faint desire for mercy. God has ordered it so. Can you think that He will not forgive you? He who gave His own dear Son to save sinners, He who desires not the death of any sinner, He who holds the pardon in His hands, as it were, at this very moment, He who can forgive—will He not forgive you? Will He say "No," when you ask Him? Will "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered him up for us all"—will He say, 'I can, but I will not?'
See how gracious Jesus was to the leper. His faith was so weak that he hardly even asked. All that he said was, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean!' But there was in his words just a breath of prayer, just a spark of faith; and Jesus heard and answered, 'I will.' He said, 'Be cleansed.'
Will He be less gracious to you? Go to Him now with those very words, if you cannot raise your thoughts higher; say to Him, 'Lord, if You are willing—You can make me clean!' But while you say the words, remember that Jesus did make him clean; and let that thought give you hope and faith.
"Immediately he was cured of his leprosy." Is Jesus less willing to cleanse the soul, than the body? Let not Satan make you think so; for it is he who would keep you from Jesus. Do not listen to him. Listen rather to the Holy Spirit, and believe. Jesus is as able as He is willing—to forgive, cleanse, and save you. He can, and He will.