John 5:31-40 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.… If there is any man here who says, "I cannot come," I beg him to express himself properly, and speak out the sad fact as it ought to be spoken. Here is the style: "Unhappy wretch, I cannot come to Christ! Millions in heaven have come, but I cannot come. My mother died in a good hope; but, 'Mother, I cannot come.' My father has gone home to be with Jesus; but I cannot come." I thank God that this statement is not true; but if you say it, and believe it, you ought never to rest any more; for if you cannot come to Christ, you are the unhappiest person in the world. May I ask you to do another thing? If you still intend to say, "I cannot come," will you speak the truth now? Will you alter a word, and get nearer the truth? Say, "I will not come." "I cannot come," is Greek, or double Dutch; but the plain English is, "I will not come." I wish you would say that rather than the other, because the recoil of saying, "I will not come: I will not believe in Jesus: I will not repent of sin: I will not turn from my wicked ways" — the recoil, I say, from that might be blessed by God to you to make you see your desperate state. I wish you would then cry, "I cannot sit down and make my own damnation sure by saying that I will not come to Christ." (C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. |
    |