Jesus Loves Sinners

John 7:37-39 says,

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive later.

Jesus called, “Come.” He didn’t say it softly, so that only the people close to Him could hear it. He said it loudly so that they could all hear it, and He is saying it to you too, through the radio, “Come.”

“Oh,” you may say, “that could be something for others, for my respectable neighbor, who goes to church so regularly and is so decent, but it’s not for me, because I am too sinful. No, I wouldn’t dare to. Oh, no, becoming religious is not for me; I am much too bad for that.”

Look, if you say that now, Jesus is precisely what is needed.

There was only one sort of person whom the Lord Jesus did not accept when He said, “Come.” They are the ones who said to Him, “Yes, here I am, Jesus, and I’m very good and very virtuous.” Some of them were called Pharisees. To them the Lord Jesus said, “Are you very virtuous? Then I am sorry, but I can’t help you.”

If such a Pharisee were to say, “In other people’s eyes I am virtuous, but there is sin in my heart,” then the Lord Jesus would say, “Then come to me, I’m going to help you.” If you now say, “I am too bad to come to Jesus,” then you are exactly the person He wants to help and is able to help.

So just come!

Jesus loves sinners. He only loves sinners.

He has never turned anyone away who came to Him for forgiveness, and He died on the cross for sinners, not for respectable people. It was exactly for sinners that He suffered so terribly on the cross, so much so that it was almost impossible for Him to bear. So dreadful, that He said,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me? —Mark 15:34

He did all that for sinners like you, so just come. And then when you come to Him, He will deliver you from your sins. But you also have to confess them and bring them to Him. If you look to Jesus in His great love, if you look at Him in faith, then you will be ashamed of yourself, then you’ll pray, “Oh Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

And do you know what is so wonderful? He is merciful to sinners and you can take your sins to Him now. You can say, “Lord, that is so wrong, and I said that, and thought that,” and if you then confess that, it’s just as if a great weight falls from your shoulders.

In that wonderful, classic book The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, Pilgrim arrives at the cross, and the heavy burden of his sins on his back falls from him. That is the reality if you come to Jesus; the burden of sin will fall from you. You can confess them to Him; you may and you must confess them to Him. And it’s not just that you confess them, but you repent of them. John says,

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9

Look! You haven’t just confessed your sins, but the great miracle takes place in your life when Jesus cleanses you with His blood. Yes, what’s that? The blood of Jesus? I can’t understand it either, but I know that it works. You see, I also know what it points to. Jesus gave His blood on the cross to purchase you and me. A terrible, heavy, and expensive price. If you speak of the blood of Jesus, you think of the completed work on the cross. But, as it says in the Bible, if you bring your sins to Jesus now, He will forgive you, and He will cast your sins into the depths of the sea.

I think there should be a sign saying “No fishing,” because the Devil likes to make things difficult for you about all these sins that have been confessed. But sins which have been brought to the Lord are dead. It says that He removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. He makes them disappear, just as a cloud disappears.

Now, if a cloud disappears it never comes back. Then the Lord gives you His Spirit in your heart, with the fruit of the Spirit. Just the opposite of your sins. Love, joy, goodness.

Won’t you be tempted anymore? Yes, of course. The Devil definitely won’t leave you alone, but now I can recommend a wonderful habit, and that is to bring your sins to the Lord immediately. You need to do that immediately, because otherwise the Devil will accuse you. It says in the Bible that he accuses the children of God day and night.

But it’s so wonderful that if you’ve brought them to the Lord, even if it’s just two minutes before the Devil comes to accuse you, you have nothing to fear. Then the Lord will say, “I have already cast these sins into the depths of the sea; they are gone.” So the Devil has nothing left to say.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming to save sinners, to make them joyful, to set them free. To give them peace instead of discord. Thank You that those today who have understood that for the first time may also come, that You stretch out Your hand to them and say, “Come.” Lord, did you see that? Of course You saw it! You heard when they said, “Yes, I come, Lord Jesus.” Oh, how wonderful, Lord, that now You are going to do that wonderful thing in their lives, that they stand firm in the battle. That You will make them more than conquerors, that You will fill them with Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You make sinners happy, that You deliver them. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Amen.

Excerpted with permission from I Stand at the Door and Knock by Corrie ten Boom, copyright Stichting Trans World Radio Voor Nederland en Belgie.

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Your Turn

If you’re a sinner, there’s good news! Jesus loves all of us sinners! He doesn’t sit with, walk with, eat with, and live with people who don’t need or want Him; He walks with us sinners who desperately need the work He did on the cross for us. Come receive that today! Share your thoughts with us on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily