Good morning. I don't see the
mic, son. I do covet your prayers. I'm
confident you folks have been praying for me. I was thinking that while we
were singing those songs, if anything, it'll make you cling
to seem like every word in every song. It's to know you have to
be right here, that you're trusting the Lord to help you and help
me to speak what I feel that he's laid on my heart. We want to remember our dear
pastor while he's away. He texted me this morning, thinking
of me. I told him I sure do thank him
for that, praying for me. And I know you folks have too.
The servo that's out this morning, as I look around, Please pray
for them. Brother Chuck, sorry brother
if you listen, I couldn't even think of your name. He's not
here for this morning for whatever reason. Brother Eric's having
some health problems and just different ones. Just pray for
him and I'm satisfied John. I know they cut at your prayers. Times like that are no fun, are
they? But the Word tells us that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to His purpose. So that gives us some comfort
to know that the Lord is doing this for our benefit, for our
good. And we're just so thankful for
that. So let's look to Him in a word
of prayer before we I look at our lesson this morning. Our gracious and kind and heavenly
Father, we bow before you this morning through the merits and
the worth, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanking the Lord
for him who loved us and gave himself for us. Took all of our
sin dead that we owed. Bored in his own body on the
tree. bored away, satisfied all of your holy justice on the behalf
of all the people that you gave him before this world ever began. Lord, we thank you for each one
that's gathered here today. Lord, I pray that you would be
with us. Lord, those that are not here,
whatever the reason might be, we ask you, Lord, to visit them.
Keep your hand upon them. Be with our dear pastor this
morning as he preaches to the congregation there in Crossville.
Lord, we pray that you give him freedom, liberty of speech, and
help him, Lord, to declare Christ plainly as he has in this place.
We thank you for him. Thank you for each one here this
morning. Lord, we ask you to forgive us of our sins. Cause
us to ever look to Christ and to not to lean to the arm of
the flesh, but to lean upon Him, to trust in Him. Lord, I ask
You to help me this morning as I endeavor to speak a few words
to this people. I pray, Lord, You'd be pleased
to take it to their hearts and that they might see Christ in
what we have to say this morning. We ask these things in His precious
name. Amen. Turn with me to John chapter
5, if you will. We spoke a few weeks ago in John
6, we mentioned the verse there where the Lord says that no man
can, no man can, no man has the ability to come to Him. And here in John chapter 5 and
verse 40 He says, and you will not come to Me. That's every man's ability by
nature. That's their doing by nature.
They will not come to Christ. They cannot come. They cannot
come. They cannot come. Why? Why won't
man come to Christ? Why will a man not come to Christ? Christ said, I am the light.
I think better put, I am light. He is light, He's not only the
light, He is light. And men are in darkness, but
yet the Lord said, you will not come to me that you might have
light. In John chapter 3 there in verse
19 and 20 said, and this is the condemnation, that light is coming
to the world, and men love darkness not better than light, but He
said, rather. They love the darkness rather
than light. And this is why. Because their
deeds are evil. And in verse 20 there it says,
For every one that doeth evil, they hateth the light. Neither
cometh to the light. And here's the reason why. Because
it reproves their deeds. It reproves their deeds. And
first of all, before I speak on this particular verse here,
son, I want us to turn to three different places here and read
where the Lords were. These people came, these different
individuals came to the Lord Jesus Christ for help. And I want to go that direction
before I look at this verse here. over Matthew chapter 8 if you
want to turn there with me. I want to read a few verses there. Then Matthew 9 and then over
Mark chapter 10 I believe it is. In Matthew chapter 8 here
we have this account of a leper coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says in verse 1 here of chapter 8 of Matthew, He said, When he
was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
And behold, There came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, not if you can, not if you had the ability to,
but he said, Lord, if you will, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Now on over in Matthew chapter
9 and verse 20, we have another account here of a woman that
had the issue of blood that came to the Lord Jesus. And a ruler had just came to
him in our verse 18 and said that his daughter was dead, and
the Lord got up and followed this man, was going to follow
him to his daughter, And then the scripture says in verse 20
here, And behold, a woman which was diseased, with an issue of
blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his
garment. And one preacher said, and I
think it's true, that this indicated that this woman came crawling,
because she touched the hem of his garment. She came crawling
to the Lord Jesus. For she said within herself,
If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. And then over in Mark chapter
10, we have an account of the blind man, Barnabas, who came
to Christ. Let's read that. Beginning at
verse 44 in chapter 10. I'm getting the right place here. beginning at verse 46, Mark chapter
10. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
wayside begging. And when he heard that Jesus
of Nazareth, that it was Jesus of Nazareth He began to cry out
and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged
him that he should hold his peace, but he cried out the more a great
deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
still and commanded him to be called, and they called the blind
man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth for
thee. And he, casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said
unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. So there we
have three accounts of people that came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And my question is here, what
did all three of these people here that came to the Lord Jesus,
what did they have in common? They had something in common
that caused them to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was
a need, wasn't it? They each one had a need. They
all had a need. The leper. He said, the Lord
asked him, what will you that I do for you? He said, Lord,
that I may be clean, that I may be clean. The woman with issue
of blood, she said, that I shall be whole. And then blind Bartimaeus,
he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. So we see that all
of these men, they had something in common, didn't they? Another
thing they heard, they heard about Christ, didn't they? They all came to the Lord. Two
of them said, Lord, what I need, you can do if you will. And in Romans, and the reason
I mention the word need here, and that they heard, we don't
come, I'll just read it here. In Romans 10, you all know the
scriptures here, it said, for whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And then Paul, the writer, asks
some questions here. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? Can't do it, can they? A man
can't do it. And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? These people heard. The Scripture
does not, all of them does not declare that they heard in that
particular place, but they have to hear. You cannot trust an
unrevealed Savior, can you? A man just won't do it. How shall they believe in Him
whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sinned? So they all heard, didn't they?
They all heard. They all had a need. They all
heard of Him, and by coming to Him, they recognized and acknowledged
that this man that they came to was the only one that could
supply their need. Nobody else could. I think the
Scripture records that that woman that had the issue of blood,
she'd went to many physicians and spent all the Scripture says
that she had, and she was no better. She wasn't any better.
So they came to the right place, didn't they? They came to the
one that they'd heard about, that they knew and believed that
could supply the need that they had. And in Luke 9, 11, we find
these words. He, talking about the Lord Jesus,
he says that he healed all that had need of healing. That's when
a man can get help in him. When he realizes that he has
a need and he comes to the right place. Comes to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But what did the Lord say? They
will not come. Why do men not come? Well, it's
in our text. It's in those verses here that
we read. They do not have a need. Men, men today, for the most
part, do not have a need. They do not see the need of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, they don't come. Christ
said, you will not come to me. You don't have a need. You find me, you find me one
individual that knows, that knows, I'm not talking about thinking
about it in his head, that knows in his heart that he is a genuine
sinner. And I've got a man that's going
to come to Christ, or has already come. He'll come to Christ. We got to realize, we got to
find out, that we have that need, don't we? People will come to
the front of the building to a piece of wood, but they won't
come to Christ. They'll come to a priest, but
they won't come to Christ. They'll come to the preacher,
but they won't come to Christ. It's all right. I don't have
anything against a man coming and talking to the pastor, but
he can't help them. He can point them to one that
does. He can point them to one that does. They won't come. Why? They have
no meat. Christ said, you will not come
to me. Evidently, if He came, the way the scripture reads here,
He said, I'll give you life. You come to me, I'll give you
life. That's what I have to give, is life. They wouldn't come.
In John 6, 35, Christ said, I am the bread of life. And what did
the Jews say? What did they do? They murmured,
didn't they? This man says he came down from
heaven and he's the bread of life? They murmured, they murmured. They would not come because they
did not believe. That's what our scripture tells
us here. In verse, in John 5, 38 and verse 37, Jesus said His
Father had sent Him. And in verse 38, And ye have
not his word abiding you, for whom he hath sent ye believe
not. So we see here that they would
not come because they did not believe. They thought he was
just an ordinary man, didn't they? They said, and one of the
Scriptures said why, we know his father and his mother and
his brothers and sisters are with us. And this man is telling
me that he came down from heaven. They did not believe. They did
not believe. John 5.39 there, just that verse
there, the Lord told them there, He said, Search the Scriptures,
talking to these Jews. He said, Search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of Me. They thought by their searching
and their outward form of godliness, they had eternal life. There
is no life, and I don't say this to no disrespect to the Word
of God, to the Scriptures. I'm so glad for the Scriptures. But there is no life in the searching
of the Scriptures unless we see Him whom the Scriptures reveal. But Christ said you search the
Scriptures, for in the Scriptures you think you have eternal life.
They're testifying of me. You don't see me in the Scriptures.
You don't believe that I am the one that He sent. In John 5, 24, our Lord said
these words, He that heareth My words, and believeth on Me
that sent Me, what does He have? The Lord says that man has everlasting
life. Everlasting life. In John 5,
44, The Lord asked this question. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? Well, the Lord says they can't
do it, didn't He? Here's another reason why you will not come
to Me. You're seeking honor one from
another. That's exactly what He's telling her. You're seeking
honor one from another instead of seeking it from God only.
And men don't come to Christ I'm going to, you can turn if
you want to with me, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I want to read these. 2 Corinthians 4 verses 3 and
4. Here Paul wrote, but if our gospel
be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image
of God, should shine unto them. So here we see another reason
why men don't come. They're spiritually blind, aren't
they? You know, they're not blind naturally, as Barnabas was, but
they're blind spiritually, aren't they? There, when I first started
my lesson, and when I said that Christ said He's the bread, And
men love darkness rather than light? It don't mean that they
love the darkness that we see at night when it gets that dark.
It's men, they didn't love the light that the gospel reveals
to a man when it's declared to them. That's the light, that's
the light that they hated. They loved that kind of darkness. So they don't come to Christ
because they're spiritually dead, aren't they? So men won't come because they're
blind. And men don't come because they can't see. A blind man can't
see, can he? And that's what the scripture
is talking about when it talks about a man being blind. He's spiritually blind. Every
man. And that's no exception with
the whole human race, isn't it? Everybody being spiritually blind.
Every man, every woman, every boy and girl that's been born
into this world, They are spiritually blind. Matter of fact, the scripture
says that they come from the womb speaking lies. That's pretty
early, isn't it? They come from the womb speaking
lies. And as I said before, if you
come to Christ, you believe on Him. And if you believe on Christ,
you're always coming to Him. Those two go together, believing
and coming. In John chapter 10 verse 24 through
27, Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him,
How long dost thou make us doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. You didn't believe. That's why
they didn't. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But listen to this, but you believe
not because you are not of my sheep. And I'm satisfied the
religious preachers of our day hate such a verse in the scriptures.
They want to reverse this, don't they? You believe not because
you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. You will
not come to me. Why? You believe not. And Christ said, you believe
not. Why? Because you're not of my sheep.
The religions of our day, they've got this reversed, don't they?
They've got this reversed. They want to say you're not my
sheep because you don't believe. If you would believe, you'd be
a sheep. That's nonsense, isn't it? I've never read, never heard
of a sheep being turned into a goat or a goat being turned
into a sheep. If a man is a sheep, the Lord
speaks of us as being sheep in the Scriptures, we've always
been a sheep, always. The Lord's never turned us from
a goat into a sheep, has He? And He don't turn a goat or a
sheep into a goat. No, no, we don't reverse the
Scriptures, do we? And I was thinking when I read
that scripture there that I'm so thankful for the written word
of God. When we go somewhere and hear
the word declared, we've got this book that we can open up
and look at. And that's what the Bereans did, the scripture
says. They searched the scriptures daily when they heard the men
of God preach. They searched the scriptures
to see if what they were telling them were true. And that's what
we can do in it. I'm thankful for this book. And
if we didn't, there's no telling what these religious hucksters
will tell us if we didn't have this book to look at. In Romans 8, you can read that sometime. I won't read it all. I'm just
going to comment on a couple of verses here. Romans chapter
1 verses 18 through 32. In verse 28 he said, and even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. See they
had a knowledge, they had a knowledge of God, but they didn't want
to retain God in their knowledge. What did God do? God gave them
over to a reprobate mind. And that's a mind that's void
of judgment. He gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient. And then
down in verse 32 he said, Who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death, and not
only do the same, but have pleasure or consent with in them that
do them. You will not come to Christ.
Come to anything but the Lord Jesus Christ. That's us by nature. That's the flesh by nature isn't
it? In Romans 9 we have the account of Jacob and Esau. God loving
Jacob and he hated Esau. And the scripture tells us that
this took place before they were ever born. Neither child having
done any good or evil. And the Lord told us the reason
why. That the purpose of God according
to election not stand. That's why He done it, isn't
it? Not of works, But it's of him that calleth. Then we have
those that say, well that's not fair. That's not fair. He loves Jacob, but he don't
love Esau. That's not fair. That's not fair. Is there unrighteousness with
God? Oh no. No. Paul said, God forbid. God forbid. This is the problem. You will not come to me. You
will not come to me that you might have life. There are some
that will come. I'm thankful for that. In John
6, 37, the writer tells us who will.
All that the Father giveth me. All that He giveth. They're going
to come. They're not going to want to come. They're not going
to try to come. He said they shall come. They shall come. I like those positive words like
that. And in John 6, 45, every man therefore that hath heard
and learned of the Father, what he did, he comes to the side.
He comes to me, the Lord says. Yes, yes, some will come. I'm
thankful for that. May the Lord bless these words
to your heart. If you'll stand, we'll be dismissed in a word
of prayer. you