I believe it's very important
that we be alert while we worship, so I've asked Hannah to randomly give us a wake-up note. Well
done. Well done. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19, let's begin
reading in verse 13. Then were there brought unto
him little children that he should put his hands on them and pray,
and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, suffer little
children, and forbid them not to come unto me. For of such
is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them
and departed hence. In this chapter, verse two says
that great multitudes of people were following the Lord Jesus
Christ. Great multitudes of people. Many
people were coming to him for healing. And it says at the end
of verse two, he healed them. He healed them there. All who
came to him, he healed them. And some brought their little
children to him for healing. Their children had infirmities
too, and it's because their children were sinners just like they were.
They had infirmities too. But as these parents were bringing
their children to the Lord, and I want to just acknowledge how
wise they were for doing this. If we desire spiritual healing
for our children, we need to bring them to the Lord, meaning
bring them to the place where the Lord said he would be. Bring
them to the place where God gathers with his people, the place where
at least two or three are gathered together in his name. The place
where the gospel is preached. If we desire for him to touch
our children and heal them, and I mean spiritually, eternally
heal them. He said that his means of doing
so was through the preaching of the gospel. And we would be
so wise to do everything in our power to make sure they're under
the hearing of it. But in this moment, as these
little ones were physically being brought to the Lord, the disciples,
for whatever reason, rebuked them. Maybe they thought the Lord was
too busy. Maybe they thought that the children
weren't important enough or worthy of it. But whatever the reason, the
disciples rebuked them and they tried to stop them from coming.
And the Lord said, absolutely not allow it. Allow it. He said, forbid them not to come
to me. Let them come to me. He said,
of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them
and he healed them. Now, what can we learn from this?
What do we see in this? Number one, we see that our Lord
receives all ages of people. I have a very simple message
today. And I am speaking to everybody
here. Everybody here. I have such a
simple message. Impossible with man, but such
a simple message. And I'm talking to everybody
here. Our Lord receives all ages of people. One of these days,
maybe we adults will learn that. You don't have to be a certain
age to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have to be
a certain age. If you want to come to him, you
can come to him right now, no matter how old you are, how old or how young. We can
come to the Lord in our hearts, and that's how we come to the
Lord, in our hearts, saying, Lord, I come to you. I come to
you. We can come to the Lord no matter
how old we are or how young we are. And with that, we can also see
that no one should forbid anyone from coming to the Lord, no matter
how old or how young they are. No one should. If a person wants
to come to the Lord, he said, let them come. Let them come. God's people are referred to
as his children. Children of God, they're called
the children of Israel. The scripture says, my little
children, They're referred to as children. Children represent
God's people, God's chosen people, God's elect people, God's particular
people. And the direct commandment from
our Lord to his servants is forbid them not to come to me. Don't forbid any of them to come
to me, no matter who they are, No matter how old they are, how
young they are, whosoever will, let him come. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Heaven is populated by them. Who? Who is in the kingdom of
heaven? All who come to Christ. All who come to Christ. So based
on the authority of God Almighty, if you want to come to Christ,
come to Christ. In your heart, in your soul,
in your need, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you,
this message, you just heard it, this message is so simple,
okay? If you want to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to
Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse 1, this is what
it says. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
if you are thirsty, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come Buy wine and milk without
money and without price. That means if you want to come,
come freely, bringing nothing with you, freely. If you want
to come, come. Look at John 7 with me. John 7 verse 37 says, In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
Let him come unto me and drink. That has always been just such
an amazing verse of scripture to me. Think about that scenario. Our Lord stood up. He exalted
himself. He lifted himself up and he cried
for everybody to hear. Everybody to hear. He said, if
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. And verse 39 says, he was talking
about the Holy Spirit of eternal life. But this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the
Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet
glorified. Does that amaze? Any of us who
know something of what this word says? He was talking about the
Holy Spirit of God, eternal life. He said, if any man or woman,
when it says man, it means woman too. If any man thirst, if any
man needs, you know, when you get thirsty, what's happening
is your body is telling you, I need something. That's what,
that's what's going on. If any man or woman needs, if
any man or woman desires mercy, redemption, think about what
the word redemption means. Forgiveness, does anybody need
forgiveness? If anybody thirsts after forgiveness
and needs forgiveness and life, life in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he said, come to me, come to me. We learn a little something
about election and we learn a little something about these truths
of the word and you know, God's preachers get up there and go,
oh, wait a minute now, wait a minute, hold on now. We're going to build a fence.
We've got to build a wall first. He said, don't do that. He said, you tell him, come on.
If you're thirsty, you come to me. Revelation 22 verse 17 says
the spirit and the bride say, come and let him that heareth
say, come. and let him that is a thirst
come and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Now let me tell you what man's sinful
problem is. He won't. Isn't that sad? Man naturally will not take it
freely. Man will not take it freely.
He can't and he won't. He just has to add his hand to
it. He just has to add his payment
to it. He just has to earn it somehow. He has to somehow in his mind
Man naturally cannot and will not come to Christ for finished
salvation freely. Free grace alone freely. That's what our Lord told us
in the gospel of John. Don't turn over there. But John
5 verse 40, he said, you will not come to me that you might
have life. John 6, 44, he said, no man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Now, do we want to hear the loving
kindness of God? I believe that this will be a
real blessing to all of us. Do we want to hear the loving
kindness of God? This announcement goes out to
all the world. This announcement goes out to
all the world. If any man thirst, if any need
healing, whosoever will let him come. That's the loving kindness
of God. Do we want to hear the total
wicked, sinful depravity of all mankind? Nobody will. Nobody will. Not on God's terms. They will
on their own terms. Their own terms is I do something
and I take part and I share the glory and I this and I that.
God's terms is man does nothing. God does everything. Man gets
none of the glory. God gets all the glory. Salvation
has nothing to do with man and everything to do with Jesus Christ
alone. Man doesn't want it that way.
No, I don't want to come that way. God is sovereign and he
does what he wants, with whom he wants, when he wants. No,
I don't want that God. I want the God that I have made
up in my imagination. But this is the announcement
that has gone out from God Almighty. Whosoever will, let him come.
Whosoever will, let him come, and man won't. Brother Henry
Mahan, told the story of a man who came to his office one time
and he was talking with Henry about some things and got on
the subject of God and election. God did elect the people to save.
God did choose people to save. And he started talking about
Noah's Ark and how, you know, the Lord's coming back. And he
said, it's going to be as in the days of Noah. And the disciples,
once they really understood what the Lord was saying, they kept
saying, who then can be saved? Who is going to be saved? Wait
a minute. Are you saying few? How many were saved in the days
of Noah? Eight. How many were on the earth? A
lot more than eight. I mean, really? As in the days
of Noah, and this, this man got on the subject of Noah and talking
about this and that, and, and the door was open and this, and
the man said, a soul couldn't have got on that arc if he wanted
to. And Henry said, hold on now.
Now, wait a minute. Don't put man's condemnation
on God. Don't make it God's fault. God,
in his kindness, he left the door of that ark open for seven
days. Anybody who wanted to come into
that ark could have come into that ark. And I think about the
fact that our Lord said a day is as a thousand years. All right,
we're since the time of man, we're in 6000. You know. I believe this thing's about
over. I believe the Lord's about to
rest from all his labors, but he left that open for seven days.
Whoever wanted to come in. could come in. Noah was a preacher
of righteousness and nobody wanted to go in. Nobody wanted to go
in. The only reason Noah and his
family went in is because God put them in there. God made them
willing to go in there. God gave them a heart to go in
there. But you cannot put the condemnation
of man on the goodness and kindness of God. Listen to this. A man wrote this,
and this is so true. He said, it is not mental inability
that keeps a person from coming to Christ. A person can study the Bible
as well as any other book. We can say prayers as easily
as we can curse. We can believe that Jesus died
on the cross as easily as we can believe Columbus discovered
America. Man's inability to come savingly
to Christ lies not in his body or his mind. It is because of
his nature. It's because of his nature. Through
the fall of Adam, our fallen nature and will, they are so
depraved, so corrupt, so debased. We love, delight, and enjoy all
that is contrary to God. And can we not say that that's
so? Does this nature in this flesh
not naturally gravitate to everything that's sinful and contrary to
God? And then he quoted quite a few
scriptures. John through John 5. You will
not come to me. You have not the love of God
in you. But he said. See that sheep. He is tame. And can be petted. He will eat
grass. He will come when the shepherds
called when the shepherd calls. See that wolf. He will not be
petted. He will not eat grass. He will
not come. He hears the call but will not
come. And it's because they have two different natures. That's
the whole reason. Why is it this way and why is
it that way? There's two different natures
there. If a man or a woman is going to come to Christ, and
I mean come to Christ as God says to come to Christ. That
man or that woman is going to have to be made willing to come
to Christ. That man or woman is going to
have to be given the ability and the life to come to Christ,
drawn by the Father to come to Christ. So if a man or a woman
wants to come, God did that. God gets the glory for that.
Outside of God performing a work in a person, no one will come. You say, well, I want to come.
God did that. God gets the glory for that.
If there is a heart to come, if there is a need to come, God
started that work. God is performing that work and
God will finish that work. So come. Come. Now, to be clear about this,
and I don't have much longer, OK, I'm almost done, but to be
clear about this. Let's set this clearly forth,
OK, coming to Christ. Is coming to Christ. If we are
going to come to Christ. We are going to come to Christ.
I want to tell you something that I hear all the time and. And I feel so sorry for men and
women when I hear people say this because. It exposes. A lost state, it exposes what men
and women do not see about who Christ is and what salvation
really is. But you've heard this. You've
heard people say this. People say. I gotta get back
in church. I just I've got to I just got
to get back in church, you know, I just need to do it. That's coming to church. That's not coming to Christ.
That's coming to church. I need to do better, man, I just
I need to be better. That's it. I'm changing. I'm
going to do better. That's coming to good works. Coming to good works is not coming
to Christ. You know, I think I need to be
baptized again. I was baptized as a kid and I just, I don't
even know if that one counted. I think maybe just to be safe,
I'll be baptized again. That's coming to baptism. Coming to baptism is not coming
to Christ. Men and women, men hopefully
will stand up in pulpits and talk and talk and talk until
they get people feeling so guilty they come down front. Coming
to a guilty conscience is not coming to Christ. Listen to this. Coming to salvation
is not coming to Christ. You ask anybody, would you rather
go to heaven or hell? Pick one. Everybody's going to
say heaven. Everybody, even if they want
to be cool and act like they picked the other one, you get
down to the heart of the matter. Everybody, everybody coming to
a desire for eternal happiness and easy street is not coming
to Christ. Coming to Christ. is coming to
the man who loved you. And in the goodness of his grace
and the mercy of his blood, laid down his own life to pay your
debt and set you free. Come see a man. Come see a man. If you want to
come to this man, Come on. Nothing is standing in your way. Nothing is standing in your way.
If God has removed the hindrance of your own self-righteousness,
the only thing that stands in the way of a sinner, the only
thing that stands between a sinner and Christ is his own self-righteousness
and his own worth, his own works, his own everything. If God has
removed you from you, If God has gotten you out of the way and removed your desire to add
your work to His, and to add your worthiness to His, and to
add your obedience to His, and to add your glory to His, if
God has removed every bit of that, and if He has given you
a new nature and a new heart and a new desire to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ freely, on the full merit of his works and
the full payment of his blood freely, then come on, come on,
come to the Lord Jesus Christ and don't move a muscle. Sit
right there in your seat and come in your heart. Come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. On the commandment and the authority
of God our Savior, he said, do not forbid my children from coming
to me. If you hear his voice in his
word saying to your heart, yes, you too. Yes, sinner, but I'm a sinner. Yes, sinner, you too. You can come too. Come on. The Spirit, I love this part,
and the bride. Don't you want more people to
come to the Lord Jesus Christ? Don't you say, if they are God's
sheep, come one, come all. We have to tear this building
down and build a bigger one. Come on. The Spirit and the Bride
say, Come. God the Father says, Come. The Son himself says, Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you
rest. Nothing hinders you. Nothing
forbids you. As a matter of fact, everything
in the scripture commands you. Everything in the scripture commands
you. I was going to turn to two more places, but we're not. John
6, 37 says, all that the father has given to me shall come to
me and him that comes to me, I'll in no wise cast out. Matter
of fact, I'll raise you up at the last day. That's the end
result of every soul who comes to Christ. Lord, we come to you. No man can come except the father
which hath sent me. Draw that man and the man or
woman who comes to me. I'll raise him up at the last
day. Lord, we come. That's a promise to every soul
who comes to Christ. He said, I will. I will. In John 10, he said, my sheep
are going to hear my voice, and it's because I know them. To
some, he'll say, I never knew you. But to all of his sheep,
he said, I know you. I know you. How do I know he knows me? Because
I'm a sinner, and he knows sinners. And he said, they're going to
come to me. They're going to follow me, and I'm going to give to them
eternal life, and they're never going to perish. That is the
promise of God Almighty. If you have been given a desire
for that, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me close with
this. Really, how? Really, how? How? Okay, I want to. How? If you have been given a desire
to, you already have. If you have been given a heart
to Lord, I need you. I want to come to you. I want
to be I don't wherever you are. I don't care if there's golden
streets or not. If you have been given a heart
to you already have, if you have that heart, what that means is
he has already come to you and drawn you to himself. It means
he's already started the work. He'll finish the work. How does
a sinner come to Christ? Here's how. Rest. You want to
come to Christ? Here's what you do. Rest. Cease
from all your works as God has ceased from his. Rest in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's coming to Christ. So here's
my final word to everybody, oldest to the youngest. Come on. Come on, whosoever will, let
him or her come. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, I pray he'll draw us. Lord, draw us and we'll come.