And now there is just one _I will_ that I want you to say, and that is
the _I will_ of the sinner. You have got the eight "I wills" of
Christ: (1) He will give us rest; (2) He will not cast out the vilest,
but will receive all that come; (3) He will make us clean; (4) He will
confess us as His; (5) He will make us successful winners of souls;
(6) He will not leave us comfortless; (7) He will raise us up at the
last day; and (8) He wills that we be with Him in glory.
And now I want sinners to say,
"I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER."
Who will say it this afternoon? Who will come to God as the poor
prodigal did? I can see him now. Perhaps he is looking over those blue
hills; and away in the distance he can see the home he has left, and
he knows that there's a loving father, a grey-headed man there; and he
says, I perish here in a foreign land, while there is bread enough and
to spare in that home which I have left; "I will arise, and go to my
father." That was the turning-point in his life. That was a glorious
thing to do, was it not, sinner?
When Mr. Spurgeon preached the other day in the West End, he summed up
the things his audience had got over. Some of you, he said, have got
over the prayers of faithful Sabbath-school teachers who used to weep
over you, and come to the house and talk to you. You resisted all
their entreaties, and got over their influence. And you have got over
your mother's tears and prayers, and she, perhaps, sleeps in the grave
to-day; you have got over the tears and prayers of your father and of
your minister, who has prayed with you and wept with you, a godly,
faithful minister. There was a time when his sermons got right hold of
you, but you have got over them now, and his sermons make no
impression on you; you have been through special meetings, and they
have made no impression on you, they have not touched you. Still, you
say, you are getting on. Well, so you are; but bear in mind, you are
getting on as fast as you can to hell, and there is not one man in ten
thousand who can hope to be saved after he has grown so hard-hearted.
Oh, my friends, say I will arise to-day! Let there be joy in heaven
to-day over your return. We read in Luke xv., "There is joy in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth." May many return now, and live.
I am lost, and yet I know,
Earth can never heal my woe
I will rise at once and go,
Jesus died for me.