Let's open our Bibles again to
2 Chronicles 6. By God's grace, one more time,
I'm going to tell all of us, starting with me and to all of
you, come to Christ. The title of the message is,
Whatever Your Need, Come to Christ. The book of Second Chronicles
tells us of God's constant, unending grace and mercy to His people.
When His people forsake God, they fall into sin, they turn
the wrong way, God will not let His people go. He will eventually
come to His people in grace and bring them back to Him. And it's
God's faithfulness to His people that encourages us to be faithful
to Him, to walk after His way. The first Seven chapters of 2
Chronicles tell us about Solomon building the temple. And the
temple and the tabernacle are both pictures of Christ. Some
time ago, we did a whole study on the tabernacle being a picture
of Christ. The tabernacle in the wilderness
was just meant for a temporary place of worship that the children
of Israel would use during those years that they were in the wilderness
before they came to the promised land. that gave us a picture
of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father prepared a
body for Him. And that time of our Savior's
humiliation of appearing in human flesh and the weakness of human
flesh was just temporary, just for a time He tabernacled among
us. And He accomplished in that body
the redemption of His people. Now, Christ does not appear in
humiliation. He reigns on the throne of glory
because he's already accomplished the salvation of his people.
Now the temple, that was a fixed permanent place of worship. This
was the place of worship of God. That temple was a picture of
Christ. Our Lord referred to his body
as a temple that must be destroyed and three days later raised again. That temple was the sole place
of worship in Israel. God could only be worshipped
there. Today, God can only be worshipped. And it's true in
that day too, they just had a temple there, but God can only be worshipped
in Christ. No matter what building you're
in, He can only be worshipped in Christ. Christ is the sole
object of our worship. The temple was the place. This
temple that Solomon built was the place where God would meet
with men. Well, that's a picture of Christ.
The only place God will ever meet in mercy with men is in
His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Both the tabernacle and the temple,
they give us pictures of salvation in Christ. In the temple was
the mercy seat sprinkled with blood, showing us there's redemption,
there's forgiveness of sin. We've broken God's law, that
mercy seat covered with blood. It covered the broken law of
God in the ark. showing us there's forgiveness
of sin, there's redemption in the blood, in the blood of Christ.
In the temple was the brazen altar where the burnt offering
for sin was slain, showing us there's salvation, there's forgiveness
of our sin through the death of the sacrifice. In the temple
was the golden altar where the priest, he bring the coals and
the incense, he put on that golden altar The sweet-smelling smoke
would go up, giving us a picture of the intercession of Christ
for his people. In that temple was the Holy of Holies. Behind
the veil where the presence of God dwelt, the Shekinah glory
of God shone over the mercy seat between the wings of the cherubims. And that's telling us the only
place we'll ever see the glory of God is in the face of Jesus
Christ. And Solomon built this temple
and it was finished. He gathered Israel together and
he dedicated the temple with this great prayer that we read
in 2 Chronicles 6. And in that prayer, we read a
portion of it just a minute ago. Solomon spoke of men in different
situations turning and praying toward the temple, didn't he?
Well, now you know he did not mean that you're to turn in whatever
direction that temple might be. and pray toward it. You know
he didn't mean that. That'd just be idolatry. What
he means to tell us in this is turn to Christ. Look to Christ
and pray for the forgiveness of your sin. Pray for acceptance
with God in the person of Christ. In Christ who finished the work
of redemption for his people. Now I want us to look at these
different situations Solomon describes. A person could find
themselves in these situations. He knew they would over the course
of the future. And he said, now if your people,
in all these different situations, if they come and pray toward
the temple, forgive their sin, hear them. And I want us to see,
as we look through this, you'll find no matter what situation
you may be in, you look to Christ. No matter what situation you're
in, You come to Christ. And very important, I want us
to see each of these situations in a spiritual light. No matter
who you are, no matter what you think your particular need is,
we all have one need. No matter who you are, whatever
your need, you come to Christ. Now what Solomon says about the
people praying toward the temple, he means that we turn to pray
in Christ's name, pray towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
verse 18 of 2 Chronicles 6. Solomon says, but will God in
very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, the heaven and the heavens
of heaven cannot contain thee, how much less this house which
I have built. See, this is what he's talking
about. The true reference here is to the Lord Jesus Christ.
A building can't contain him. The whole creation can't contain
him. So where did God dwell with men?
In the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where God dwelt
with men. And we pray to him. Now look here in verse 21, where
we began reading earlier. Solomon says, hearken therefore
unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel,
which they shall make toward this place. Hear thou from thy
dwelling place, even from heaven, and when thou hearest, forgive. You know, God hears the prayers
of His people. God humbles Himself to hear the
prayers of His people. And when we pray, look in John
chapter 14, we're to pray for Christ's sake. We're to pray
in Christ's name. Our Lord taught us to pray that
way. In John 14, verse 13, Whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that will I do. that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. Now that doesn't mean that we're
just gonna end every prayer saying in Jesus' name and then just
expect whatever it is we ask for, you know, will just automatically
happen. That's like saying abracadabra
or something. That's not what our Lord's saying
at all. What he's saying is if we ask anything in his name,
for the glory of his name, If we ask for anything by the merit
of the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll do it. Solomon is talking about
the forgiveness of sin. It would you hear from heaven
and when you hear forgive, well, if our prayer is Lord, would
you save me by the merit of Christ? Not by my merit, by his merit. Would you forgive me? Would you
forgive my sin in the blood of your son? Lord, forgive my sin
and the cleansing power, power of the blood of Christ. Wash
me from my iniquity and guilt and filth in his blood. Lord,
would you make me righteous? Not by just giving me righteousness,
but would you make me righteous by giving me your son to be my
righteousness? Lord, would you save me by getting
glory to your name? Save a wretch like me because
nobody else can. And get glory to yourself by,
would you do that? Our Lord said, the Father will
grant that prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
let's look at some of these examples that Solomon gives us. We pray
for Christ's sake. No matter what your need, come
to Christ. Come to Christ. seeking righteousness
and justice for your sin. Verse 22, 2 Chronicles 6. If
a man sinned against his neighbor and an oath be laid upon him
to make him swear an oath come before thine altar in this house,
then hear thou from heaven and do and judge thy servants by
requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head and
by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his
righteousness. Now what Solomon means here,
if a man did something that would harm his neighbor, there were
no witnesses to it. Nobody know, you know, this fella
says this happened, this fella says this happened. Nobody knows
who's telling the truth. Well, they make him swear to this happened,
but they both swore. They both swore, well, I'm telling
you it's the truth. Then they come to the temple before the
altar and the Lord will reveal who's telling the truth and who's
lying, who's the wicked and who's the righteous in this situation.
Well, I know who we are in this situation. We're the sinner,
we're the wicked. There's no point in us trying
to deny that. That's who we are. And you know what? The only way
we'll ever find that out? Go to Christ. That's the only
way I ever found out how wicked I really am. When I saw Christ
and his glory, then I saw, oh, I'm in trouble. We're sinners
and we must be made righteous. God can't accept us otherwise,
can he? It does us no good to sweep our sin under the rug and
pretend like it's not there. This message of modern day religion,
I told you they preach this because they lost the book. They just
pretend, they say, God's just sweeping your sin under the rug.
Well, that doesn't do a sinner any good because my sin's still
there. If God's going to accept us,
we've got to be made actually righteous. Well, are you a sinner
who needs to be made righteous? then come to Christ and be made
the righteousness of God in him. Now I can tell you how God makes
sinners righteous, makes his people righteous. He does it
by imputing our sin to our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He puts
our sin upon the sacrifice and then he punished his own son
fully for that sin, puts it away through the blood of his sacrifice.
And God imputes the righteousness of Christ to the sinner. And
that sinner is made righteous. Now that great transaction is
done in justice. And it's very important that
that transaction be done in justice. That way later on, nobody can
come back and say, you know, that's not just, all you did
was give them a get out of jail free card. No, that's not the
way it happened. This thing is done in justice. If you're one of God's elect,
the full price of your sin was paid for by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ died for you, he made
you righteous and he did it in justice. He satisfied justice. So you can never perish ever.
If Christ died for you, he's made you righteous and God's
justice demands you have eternal life. Now, if you're a sinner,
you come to Christ seeking righteousness and justice for your sin. Second,
come to Christ because you need forgiveness of your sin. This
is so important. Don't come to Christ because
you want to be religious. Don't come to Christ because
you're trying to find out if you're one of God's elect. You
know, if I just find out I'm one of the elect, I'll believe.
No, you won't either. You come to Christ because you're
a sinner and you need forgiveness. Look at verse 24. And if thy
people Israel be put to the worst before the enemy, because they've
sinned against thee, if they return and confess thy name and
prayer and make supplication before thee in this house, then
hear thou from the heavens and forgive the sin of thy people
Israel and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest to
them and to their father. Now Solomon knows this, in the
future, Israel's going to forsake God. He knows it. He knows they're
going to turn to idols. And he knows when they do that,
God will turn from them. He'll allow the enemy to come
and take them captive. They'll lose the battle and they'll
be carried away captive. But Solomon says, Lord, if your
people to Israel, if they turn to thee, they call on thee for
mercy, forgive them. Bring them back to the land that
you gave their fathers. Now that's grace. ask for the
forgiveness of our sins. We're asking for it in grace,
aren't we? Solomon says, Lord, these people, they're gonna turn
from you, they're gonna worship an idol. But would you bring
them back anyway? What else do you call that but
grace? He's pleading for grace. Now,
all of us are sinners. We're smitten with sin. We've
been brought to the worst because of sin, and we've been brought
into captivity to sin. Well, does that captivity make
you miserable? Are you miserable in your sin? Then come to Christ. Turn to
Him. Confess your sin. Just confess
your sin nature. Confess what you are. Confess,
Lord, I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness. Oh, would you
forgive my sin? Confess your sin and confess.
The only hope I have of forgiveness is the Lord Jesus Christ. Would
you hear me in his name? Would you forgive me in his name?
Just beg for forgiveness for Christ's sake. God says, I'll
set him free. He will return and bring you
back to the land he's given your father and forgive your sin. Do you need forgiveness? Come
to Christ. Thirdly, come to Christ. because you thirst for the water
of life. Look at verse 26. When the heaven
is shut up and there's no rain because they've sinned against
thee. See how this is a constant theme of 2 Chronicles. The people
sin, God in his mercy always brings them back. Yet if they
pray toward this place and confess thy name and turn from their
sin, when thou dost afflict them, then hear thou from heaven and
forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy people Israel. when
thou hast taught them the good way wherein they should walk
and send rain upon thy land which thou hast given unto thy people
for an inheritance. Now Solomon knows in the future,
he knows the people, he knows their nature because that's his
nature. He knows there will be times in the future the people
will sin, they'll turn to idolatry, they'll turn away from the Lord
and God will send drought upon the land. The land flowing with
milk and honey is going to suffer drought because of sin. But Solomon
says, if the people come to the temple, they gather here before
your altar, and they pray, and they turn from their sin, God,
would you send rain to them? Now again, this is us. We live
in a land of spiritual drought, don't we? We sin. It's brought this drought. Sin's
all we do. We're dead in sin. There's no
moisture of spiritual life in us. Well, does that make you
thirsty? Nobody by nature has the water
of life in them. Nobody has the moisture of life
in them by nature. But the only people who are thirsty
are the people who realize there's no moisture, there's no water
in me. Well, are you weary of your spiritual thirst? Are you
weary of your spiritual deadness? Are you weary of thirsting for
something you don't have? Do you realize you don't have
any righteousness? Do you thirst for it? Do you hunger and thirst
after righteousness? As the deer panteth after the
waterbrook, is that how your heart pants after God? Do you
know you don't have any holiness in you and you thirst for holiness? Do you know you don't have the
Lord Jesus Christ and you thirst for Him? Oh, do you long for
Him? Are you thirsty? Then come to
the water. Come to Christ. Look over in
John chapter 7. Now I tell you, go to Christ. Come to Christ. I don't mean
go to religion. You go to religion, you're just
going to get more thirsty because you're going to be drinking the
sand of man's religion. Come to Christ. Come to the water
of life. In John chapter 7, it was time
for their annual feast of the tabernacles. This was one of
the very important ceremonies and feasts that the Jews had. All the males were required to
go to Jerusalem for this feast. At the end of the feast, the
last thing they did to close out their big ceremony is they
had a big old parade. They call it the pouring of the
water. What they do, they go to the temple and they get one
of those golden vessels and they go down to the pool of Siloam
and they fill that golden pitcher with water. and they'd carry
it back to the temple. They'd make this big parade,
carrying the water back to the temple, and they'd dump the water
out on the altar. And that show of religion was
the highlight of the week. This was it, the great day of
the feast. And also during this ceremony,
as they're pouring out this water, they would pray for rain for
the upcoming year. They knew they can't live without
water. God might send drought, you know. We can't live without
it. So they prayed for this. And if anybody was honest, you
know what they'd tell you? Everybody I know says this is
a great day of the feast, but I got no spiritual blessing from
it. I got nothing. And you know why
they got nothing? That ceremony was so full of
flesh, it was spiritually empty. The people got no blessing from
it. They saw this water being carried and dumped and they prayed
for rain. And you know what it made them
do? It made them thirst because it showed them how empty they
were. In the midst of the failure of
man's religion, when water was what was on everybody's mind,
our Lord cried. See how our Lord preached to
people where they were at? Right where they were at. right
at the point of their need. Christ himself preached Christ
to them and he showed them, come to Christ. He's the answer to
your every need. Now look at verse 37, John chapter
7. And that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man
thirst, Let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. Our Lord Jesus stood in a prominent
place. The feast is over. Everybody's
going home. They're getting ready to go back
home and they're all going home empty. But he stands in a place
where everybody beginning their journey could see him. And he
cried. He cried because he's got an
urgent message. You know, it's urgent that you
hear the gospel. I'm kind of an intense kind of
guy. And this worship service is so
urgent to me. Just every service is urgent. It's urgent. that you believe
Christ. This is not just my personality. This is God's Word. It's urgent
that you come to Christ. If you're here this morning without
the Lord Jesus Christ, your soul is in eternal peril. Come to Christ. Our Lord cried
because it was urgent that thirsty sinners come to him and drink.
And our Lord said, if any man thirst, I'm so glad he said that. If any man thirst, it doesn't
matter your background. It doesn't matter what you've
done, what you haven't done. Here's what matters. Do you thirst? Do you need Christ? Then our
Lord said, come any man. Now I know salvation is for God's
elect. I know Christ died for his elect.
But salvation in Christ is for anyone. Anyone. It's not for
everyone, but it's for anyone. Are you anyone? Then come to
Christ. The only qualification is thirst. Do you need Him? Then come to
Him and drink all you want. Spiritual thirst is realizing
There's something I need that's not in me. I don't have the righteousness
that I need to stand before God. I'm full of sin. I need the forgiveness
of my sin. There's nothing in me to commend
myself to God. I'm completely empty. I'm completely
hollow. I'm lost. I'm going to hell.
And that's exactly what I deserve. I need a savior. Now, if you're
thirsty like that, if you crave the Lord Jesus Christ, then come. He's everything you need. Come
to Christ. The only way your thirst will
ever be quenched is coming to Christ because whatever it is
you need, He's it. He'll fill your every need. Our
thirst is quenched because Christ, our substitute, took the thirst
of his people. He took that spiritual thirst
when he was made a sacrifice for sin and his dying agony,
he cried, I thirst. So everyone would know he's suffering
everything his people deserve. So his people will never thirst
again. Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty? Come to Christ. He's the water of life. Come
to him and be filled. Fourthly, come to Christ because
you're hungry. You need the bread of life. Look
at verse 28 back in our text, 2 Chronicles 6. If there be dearth
in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting or mildew,
locusts or caterpillars, If their enemies besieged them in the
cities of their land, whatsoever sore, whatsoever sickness there
be, then what prayer or what supplication so ever should be
made of any man or of all thy people Israel, when everyone
shall know his own sore and his own grief and just spread forth
his hands in this house, then hear thou from heaven, my dwelling
place and forgive and render under every man according to
all his ways. whose heart thou knowest, for
thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men." Solomon
again, he knew in the future Israel would sin, they'd turn
from God and God would send famine and pestilence and maybe the
crop was just getting ready to harvest and he'd send locusts
to eat it all up and the people would be starving to death. But
if the people would come to the temple and they'd pray, and they
confess their sin. Now, it's not somebody else's
sin, not my neighbor's sin that's brought this drought and this
pestilence and this famine upon the land. No, it's my sin. It's my fault. This is my sin. And if I begged God for mercy
for my sin, Solomon said, would you send food to your people?
Would you make the land fruitful again and cause the people to
walk in your ways? Well, are you hungry for spiritual
food? Look at John chapter six. Are
you hungry for spiritual food? Now, again, I'm not talking about
religion. I'm not talking, are you hungry
for that warm, fuzzy, you know, religious feeling? I'm talking
about, are you hungry for real spiritual food that gives real
spiritual life that will sustain you now and for eternity? Are you hungry? Then come to
Christ. Look at John six, verse 47. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. Not will have it, has it right
now. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat man in the
wilderness and are dead. See, don't go to the religion
or religious ceremonies. That'll leave you dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat
thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now,
are you hungry? Come to Christ. Ask God to give
you Christ and enable you to eat, to feed upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, to feed upon his sacrifice by faith. Now, that sounds strange,
doesn't it? I know it does. It sounds strange.
I was looking at my notes this morning and, you know, to somebody
who doesn't know what the scriptures say, that sounds strange. But
all that means is this, when we say eat Christ, eat his sacrifice,
eat his flesh and drink his blood, this is what we mean. That God
give you union with Christ. When we eat food, you know, we
chew it up and we swallow it. That food gives us union with
all the qualities of that food, doesn't it? When you eat food,
it gives you all the life-giving nutrients that are found in that
food. We were sitting eating yesterday afternoon. I had roast
and potatoes and carrots, you know, and I thought, well, that
looks good. I mean, that's healthy. This
is good food for me. And then I did two plates of
dessert over here, too. But you know, I ate all that.
And that food is union with me. The carrots and the meat and
the potatoes, that gave me health and strength and the desserts,
I have union with that too, maybe my pants too tight, but either
way, however you eat, you have union with it, it becomes part
of you. Union with Christ is vital. To eat Him means to have all
the life-giving power that's found in His sacrifice. That's
what He says in verse 52. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
You're not talking about physical. See, religion is always caught
up in the physical, not the spiritual. Then Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son
of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. He has life
because he's got that vital union, his life in him. And I'll raise
him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I dwell in him. As a living Father
has sent me, and I live by the Father, so that he that eateth
me, so he has union with me, even he shall live by me. This
is that bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. He that eateth
of this bread shall live forever. Well, are you hungry? Then come
to Christ. Come to Christ and seek union
with him. Everything he is, you'll be if
you're found in him. Fifthly, back in our text, 2
Chronicles 6, come to Christ because you're a stranger in
the land. You come to Christ because by nature, God's grace
is foreign to you. Verse 32. Moreover, concerning
the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but has come
from a far country for thy great namesake. Long way off, he heard
of the God of Israel and he came to find out who this God of Israel
is. He's come from a far country for thy great namesake and by
mighty hand, this God's hand that brought him, a nice stretched
out arm, If they come, these strangers and foreigners, if
they come and pray in this house, then hear thou from the heavens,
even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that
the stranger calls to thee for, that all people of the earth
may know thy name, and fear thee as doth thy people Israel, and
may know that this house which I have built is called by thy
name. Now God's grace is for sinners. It's for sinners of every nation,
every tribe, every kindred, every walk of life, not just for the
Jews, but even for the Gentiles. And I'm so glad Solomon said
this. I'm so glad God's word says this, that anyone, Jew or
Gentile, anyone, if they come to the temple and they call on
God for mercy, God will forgive their sin so that people know
there's a God in Israel, that God forgives sin. Now, all of
us here, We're strangers to the covenants of promise, aren't
we? None of us are Jew, physically. We're aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. And we've made ourselves strangers to God because we've
run away from Him. We've just gone as far away from
God as we can. We're aliens from God's kingdom
by birth. We've been born in the wrong
country. We've been born in Adam, in the kingdom of darkness. But
if you're tired of the darkness, if you're tired of being an alien, Come to Christ. Come to Christ
and ask for mercy for Christ's sake, for his name's sake. God
said, he'll forgive your sin. God said, you beg for mercy,
I'll show mercy. So all the earth will know God
is God. Come to him begging for mercy.
Sixth, come to Christ if you're in a warfare. I remember my grandmother
telling me about her uncle. I don't know that I ever met
him, but she told me about him. He fought in World War I. And
she said he came back from the war, and years and years and
years and years, he was never the same. She said he was shelf-shocked. There's a loud noise, he'd jump
under the table. Her mother was getting pots and
pans out, he'd jump under the table. We call it PTSD, he's
shelf-shocked. Are you self-shocked? I mean,
you're just shocked. You're in this warfare and you're
shocked. You're in this warfare with sin,
sin from within. I see myself, I'm like, I'm shocked. What? What am I doing? What am I thinking? And you see
this world without, and you're shocked. Are you shell shocked?
Look at verse 34. If thy people go out to war against
their enemies by the way that thou should have sinned them,
and they pray unto thee toward this city, which thou has chosen
the house, which I built for thy name, then hear thou from
the heavens, their prayer, their supplication and maintain their
cause. If they sin against thee, For
there's no man which sinneth not. See, that's why Solomon
knows all these situations are gonna come up. For there's no
man which sinneth not. And I'll be angry with them,
and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry
them away captives unto a land far off, or near. Yet, if they
bethink themselves in a land where they're carried captive,
and they turn, and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity,
saying, we've sinned, we've done amiss, and have dealt wickedly,
If they return to thee with all their heart, with all their soul,
in the land of their captivity, whether they have carried them
captive, and pray toward their land, which thou gavest unto
their fathers, toward the city which thou hast chosen, toward
the house which I have built for thy name, then hear thou
from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, their prayer
and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive
thy people which have sinned against thee. Now Solomon knew
the people would sin and the Lord would send them war and
he'd enable their enemies to carry him away captive. They'd
lose the battle and he knew this would happen because that's all
men do is sin, all of us, it's all we do is sin. Now fight against it. I know
all we do is sin, I know that. But don't give in to it, fight
against it. And I can tell you right now,
fight against it. You're gonna find yourself in a losing battle.
There's a battle you can't win. Solomon knew that people would
be carried away captive. And that's us. We've been carried
away captive by sin. Now, don't give in to it. Fight
against it. But we're captive to sin, aren't
we? If you don't think you're captive to sin, just try not
sinning. For two seconds, try it. You
can't do it. You know why? We're captives
to sin. Well, do you not like being a
captive? Do you hate that when you do good, evil's present with
you? Do you hate that it's your heart's desire? That just for
today, could I be like Christ? Could I be holy? Could I not
sin? Are you tired of being captive? The sin got you shell-shocked?
So that you yourself get on your own last nerve? Your nerves are
frayed because of your nature? Then my friend, come to Christ. Come to Him for freedom. Come
to Him for rest. Come to Him for peace. Call on
Christ to set you free. Look in Isaiah 61. Call on Christ to set you free. Do you know that's exactly why
He came? To set His people free. Then ask Him to set you free. Isaiah 61, verse 1. The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted. Are you brokenhearted? Come to
Christ. He sent me to proclaim liberty
to the captives, the opening of the prison to them that are
bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day
of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness, that they might be called the trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Come to
Christ. Whatever your need, you come
to Christ. And let me give you this quickly,
here's the result, verse 40. Now, my God. And what a phrase
the son of Adam can say, my God. God's my God, he's made me his. Now my God, let I beseech thee,
thine eyes be open and let thine ears be attentive to the prayer
that's made in this place. God hears the cries of his people. You come to Christ, God will
hear you, and he'll accept you. Verse 41, now therefore arise,
O Lord God, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy
strength. Let thy priest, O Lord God, be
clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. You come to Christ. Weary sinners
have rest in Christ. You come to Christ. Naked sinners
who don't have anything are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
You come to Christ. Sorry sinners have joy in Christ. Verse 42, O Lord God, turn not
away the face of thine anointed. Remember the mercies of David
thy servant. You come to Christ. There's mercy
for sinners in Christ. It's God's covenant mercies.
You come, God will never forget his covenant of grace. He's got
covenant mercies for his people in Christ. Then come, come as
a mercy beggar and he'll accept you. Whoever you are, whatever
your need, come to Christ. Come to Christ right now. Right where you sit, come to
Christ. Let's bow. Our Father, we thank
you for your word. How we thank you for covenant
mercies in our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you that you've
commanded all men to come to your son. And because of your
goodness and your grace, your electing love, you're gonna bring
your people to your son. Not one will be lost. There's
not any chance any of your people can be lost. That everyone who
comes to Christ will find forgiveness of sin. Will find His righteousness
for our depravity. Will find the robe of His righteousness
for our nakedness. Will find the flow of His precious
blood for all of our sin. Will find the water of life for
our thirst. We'll find a bread of life for
our hunger and our emptiness. Oh Father, how we thank you that
the Lord Jesus Christ is all and in all. He's all we need. And how we beg of thee that you
keep us from ourselves. that you keep us from turning
after our own way and keep us constantly coming to Christ. Peter said, to whom? Coming. Keep us constantly coming to
Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
looking unto Christ who's everything we need. It's in his precious
name we pray and give thanks.