Whoever comes to me I Will Never Cast out.
I know, he responds..
I\'ve really messed up, in all kinds of ways.
No, wait--we say, cautiously approaching Jesus--you don\'t understand.
He knows we tend to deflect Christ\'s assurances.
Bunyan understands us.
Even when we run out of tangible reasons to be Cast out, such as specific sins or failures, we tend to retain a vague sense that, given enough time, Jesus Will finally grow tired of us and hold us at arm\'s length.
We are factories of fresh resistances to Christ\'s love.
Fallen, anxious sinners are limitless in their capacity to perceive reasons for Jesus to Cast them out.
He says, I Will Never Cast out. . .
We say, But I .
What is Bunyan after? Jesus\'s statement in John 6:37, and the book Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, and this quote at the center of that book, all exist to calm us with the persevering nature of the heart of Christ.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I have no good thing to bring with me, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I have sinned against mercy, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I have sinned against light, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I have served Satan all my days, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I am a backsliding sinner, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I am a hard-hearted sinner, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I am an old sinner, say you.
I Will in no wise Cast out, says Christ.
But I am a great sinner, say you.
For this word, in no wise, cuts the throat of all objections; and it was dropped by the Lord Jesus for that very end; and to help the faith that is mixed with unbelief.
I gather it from the largeness and openness of the promise: I Will in no wise Cast out.
This observation is implied in the text.
Using his KJV rendering (Him that cometh to me I Will in no wise Cast out), Bunyan writes: They that are coming to Jesus Christ, are often times heartily afraid that Jesus Christ Will not receive them.
He confronts our innate suspicions of Christ\'s deepest heart.
In this particular book he takes John 6:37 and zeroes in on it, looking at it from every angle, wringing it dry.
One of the loveliest is Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, written in 1678.
But he also authored fifty-seven other books.
John 6:37 John Bunyan is most famous for The Pilgrim\'s Progress, which is, besides the Bible, history\'s bestselling book.
Whoever comes to me I Will Never Cast out
