All You Who Have Come to Him
The key to a fulfilling Christian experience is to remain in close fellowship with Christ, understanding that the call to come to Him means to come and remain with Him.
Andrew Murray emphasizes the importance of maintaining a close relationship with Jesus after initially responding to His call. He acknowledges that while many have experienced the joy and blessings of coming to Christ, they may later feel disappointment when those feelings fade. The key to a fulfilling Christian life lies in understanding that the invitation to 'come to me' also means to 'remain with me' in constant fellowship. Murray encourages believers to dwell in the presence of Christ, enjoying the fullness of His love and blessings rather than wandering away. He reminds us that true satisfaction and joy come from abiding in Him.
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No doubt you have never regretted responding to His call and coming to Him. You experienced that His word was truth; all His promises He fulfilled; He made you a partaker of the blessings and the joy of His love. His welcome was heartfelt, His pardon full and free, His love most sweet and precious, was it not? You more than once, at your first coming to Him, had reason to say, ''The half was not told me.''
And yet you have had some disappointment. As time went on, your expectations were not always realized. The blessings you once enjoyed were lost; the love and joy of your first meeting with your Savior, instead of deepening, have become faint and weak. And you have often wondered why, with such a mighty and loving Savior, your experience of salvation was not a fuller one.
The answer is very simple. You wandered from Him. The blessings He bestows are all connected with His ''Come to me,'' and are only to be enjoyed in close fellowship with Him. You either did not fully understand, or did not rightly remember, that the call meant ''Come to me and remain with me.'' This was His object and purpose when He first called you to himself. It was not to refresh you for a few short hours after your conversion with the joy of His love and deliverance, and then to send you forth to wander in sadness and sin.
No, indeed, He has prepared for you an abiding dwelling with himself, where your whole life and every moment of it might be spent and where the work of your daily life might be done as you enjoy unbroken communion with Him. Who would be content, after seeking the King's palace, to stand in the door, when he is invited in to dwell in the King's presence and share with Him in all the glory of His royal life? Let us enter in and abide and enjoy fully all the rich supply His wondrous love has prepared for us!
(Excerpted from The Andrew Murray Daily Reader in Today's Language, pg. 27)
Sermon Outline
- The Call to Come to Him
- Disappointment and Wandering
- The Answer to Disappointment
- The Importance of Remaining with Him
- The Abiding Dwellings Prepared for Us
Key Quotes
“You either did not fully understand, or did not rightly remember, that the call meant ''Come to me and remain with me.''” — Andrew Murray
“Who would be content, after seeking the King's palace, to stand in the door, when he is invited in to dwell in the King's presence and share with Him in all the glory of His royal life?” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- Make a conscious effort to remain in close fellowship with Christ, understanding that the call to come to Him means to come and remain with Him.
- Recognize that the blessings of coming to Christ are only to be enjoyed in close communion with Him.
- Seek to abide in the presence of Christ, enjoying unbroken communion and sharing in His glory.