To meet with the President, one must pass multiple layers of security vetting and background checks, not to mention convincing a plethora of White House staff that your request is important enough to warrant a meeting. Even many members of Congress can’t simply shoot the President a text. The earthly elite are closely guarded from the masses.
But what about the King of kings, Jesus Christ? In 1868, Charles Spurgeon sheds light on the approachableness of Christ in the following sermon.
Although He is the most powerful Potentate, Jesus is not surrounded by Secret Service agents and a twelve-foot fence. He does not reject those who come to Him by faith but instead, welcomes sinners with open arms. His requirements are simple: if you want Him, you may have Him.
No one is too far gone to draw near to Jesus. Your most reckless mistakes do not provoke Him to scorn. There is no need for a self-clean-up before coming to Jesus; in fact, to attempt to do so is a kind of self-righteousness that disdains His sacrifice.
But Jesus Himself kneels down to bring us into His innermost abode. The Savior invites us into “nearest and dearest intimacy” with Him. He is the almighty and all-powerful God, causing fear in even the most stout-minded, but He is also Jesus, our Mediator and Savior, who removes all obstacles and makes us worthy to approach the throne. Christ ushers us into His grandest halls, welcoming even the lowest of sinners as friends.
Jesus meets us with an embrace of compassion. He is patient, kind, and gracious; compelled to move toward sinners because mercy streams from His heart. If we could see Him, we would long to gaze upon Him, in all His beauty, forever. We need not be afraid to approach Jesus; He is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. “There is such mercy to be had,” so come, and welcome!
Excerpt:
“What is the way for a sinner to come to Christ? It is simply this — the sinner, feeling his need of a Saviour, trusts himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the perplexity of my boyhood, but it is so simple now. When I was told to go to Christ, I thought “Yes, if I knew where he was, I would go to him — no matter how I wearied myself, I would trudge on till I found him” I never could understand how I could get to Christ till I understood that it is a mental coming, a spiritual coming, a coming with the mind. The coming to Jesus which saves the soul is a simple reliance upon him, and if, to-night, being sensible of your guilt, you will rely upon the atoning blood of Jesus, you have come to him, and you are saved. Is he not, then, approachable indeed, if there is so simple a way of coming? No good works, ceremonies, or experiences are demanded, a childlike faith is the royal road to Jesus.”
Read the rest of the sermon here.