1 Peter 2. Let's read the first
five verses again of 1 Peter 2. Therefore, laying aside all malice
and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the that ye may grow
thereby. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. You also as lively or living
stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. This should be, I hope to make
this a short message, and to the point. any really urgent, any really important message
will be short and plain. The more important the message,
the more you want it to be understood. Like fire. Fire. That's short and to the point,
isn't it? to Jesus Christ. That's my message this morning.
Verse four, To Whom Coming. That's my text, and that's the
subject, and that's the question. And this is life. Have you come to Jesus Christ? What does it mean? What does
it mean to come to Christ? What does it mean? Look at verse
4 again, and let's just take these words and look at them.
To whom come? To whom? To whom come? I ask, have you
come to the Lord Jesus Christ? 1 John 1. Turn over there, it's
just a few pages. 1 John 1. Look at it with me. 1 John 1. To whom? Who are we
talking about? 1 John 1. Look at verse 3 with
me. John said, 1 John 1. Let's read the first
three verses. John said, which was from the
beginning," and Genesis 1, 1 says, "...in the beginning, God." That. John 1 says, "...in the beginning,
the Word." That which was from the beginning,
or God, which we have heard, John said, we've heard We have
seen with our eyes, we have seen God manifest in the flesh. We have looked upon, our hands
have handled the word of life. The one who created life was
manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life. which was with the Father, and
was manifest unto us, that which we have seen and heard, declare
we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us." Truly
our fellowship is with the Father, with his Son, Jesus Christ. Over in chapter 5 verse 20, 1
John 5 verse 20, and we know And we know that the Son of God
is come. To whom coming? The Son of God. The Son of God. The Son of God
is come. The Son of God is come. God sent his Son. The Son of
God is come. Not a prophet. God came. God came. God manifested in faith. Why'd he come? Why did he come? He said, I am
come, I am come to seek and to save the lost. Now, all men and
women are born lost. whether they know it or not,
whether they believe it or not, whether they feel it or not,
they are lost. God, by his mercy and grace,
reveals to some that they are lost. And Christ said, I've come
for those people. And he's coming again for those
people. He calls them his sheep. And he says, I know them. The
Father gave them to me. I'm looking for them, and when I find them, I'll call
them by the gospel, they'll hear my voice, they'll come to me."
You need to have your spiritual hands
cupped over your spiritual ears this morning, if you want to
be one of these sheep, to hear his voice, so that you'll come
to him. Have you come to Christ? Christ said, I have come that
they might have life. You say, I have life. No, you
don't. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son
shall not see life. Say, I'm alive. No, you're not. If you don't have Christ, if
you haven't come to Christ, you're dead in trespasses and sins. Well, I'm alive and doing well.
No, you're not. You're dead and trespassing sin,
and it will not be well with you in the here. Have you come
to Christ? This is indeed an important message. We need to make, give diligence
to make this call in election sure, and know for a fact that we have come to Christ.
Have you come to Christ? It's an urgent message. He said,
I've come that they might have life more abundant. That is real
life, spiritual life. Look at 1 John 5 again. Look
over there again, 1 John 5, verse 11. Look at this again, 1 John
5, 1 John 5, verse 11, it says, This
is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, that you may believe
on the name of the Son of God, who has come, the Son of God.
Son of God. He has come. He has come, he
said, to seek and to save. Call his name Jesus, he'll save
his people. How? By living a life that they
haven't lived, establishing a righteousness that they need for God to accept
them when this life's over. and give him that righteousness
to them. And then by going and bearing
their sin, being punished on their behalf, shedding his blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. Shedding his blood for the remission,
for the putting away, for the pardoning, for the atoning of
their sin. Some people, he said, I've come
to say, And he did that. When he was hanging on the cross,
after he had shed his blood and he was about to die, he said,
I have finished. He said it on behalf of my family. And he bowed his head, gave up
the ghost, three days later rose from the grave and went back
to heaven. And some people like Mary came
to seek him, came to where he was laid, this dead Jesus. And the angel said, he is not
here. He's risen, just like he said. Just like he said. He's not here. He has risen. He's ascended back
to the right hand of God. He's reigning and ruling there,
but he is coming again. He is coming again. Make no mistake about it. Just
like he said the first day, in three days I'll rise again. They didn't believe him. Neither
did his disciples believe him. They went fishing. He said, I'm
coming again. And three days later, he walked
out of the tomb. And they were shocked. They were
scared. Suppose they'd seen a spirit.
He said, it's me. I told you I was coming again,
and someday Christ is going to split the heavens open. He's
coming again, and people are going to be shocked. He said,
I told you I was coming again. He's coming. So he came, he did
his job, saved his people, sent his Holy Spirit to round them
up, went back to heaven and said, I'm coming again to receive my
own. That where I am, there they may
be also. Now, he says, you come to me. See, every eye, every human being
will stand before this Holy Lord, this great Lord and King. Every
eye shall behold him. Every human being will stand,
every person, young person, will stand before this great King
to do with them as he will. They will come before him. is for him to draw you to him
now. He says, now, before he comes the next time. Before he
comes the next time. See, he came the first time in
salvation, and he went back. He says, come unto me. Now is
the day of salvation. He says, come unto me. And he
went back. He said, now I'm coming again.
And the next time he comes, it's going to be the day of destruction
and damnation. except for those who come out. Do you see how important this
message is? Have you come to Jesus Christ? Well, what does it mean, preacher?
All right. Anybody interested? Anybody not
sure? Well, I'll tell you what, I'm
interested, and I think I'm sure. But I want to know for sure.
Have I come to Christ? Look at John 7. Have you ever heard the old saying, You can lead a horse to water,
but you can't make it drink? Have you ever heard that? That means something to me now. I know what that means. It doesn't
matter how fresh the It doesn't matter what color the bucket
is. It doesn't matter. If he ain't thirsty, he ain't
going to drink. But I tell you what, if there's
water, you ain't going to stop him from coming to drink if he's
thirsty. And I ask everyone in here, have
you come to Christ? But there's only one person who's
going to come to Christ. is somebody that needs him. John
7, verse 37, look at this, it says, John 7, verse 37, it says,
At that great day, in the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me. If any man thirsts, what is it
to come to Christ? That's it, number one. It's to
feel a need for Christ. And I apologize sometimes if
I sound mad and aggravated and almost angry at people who don't
come to Christ. The fact is, if you won't come
to Christless, you need Christ. And I have no control over that. No control whatsoever. If I sound
the way I do, it's because it's so urgent. And it's compelling
them to come in. Like Christ told the parable
of the feast. He said, go out and compel them
to come in. Compel them. Urge them. Say,
have you come to Christ? Tell them! Come to Christ. To come to Christ
is to feel a need for Christ. Christ said, If any man thirsts,
if any man thirsts. Is anybody thirsty right now
for this water? I am. I am. And I'm going to take it, and
I'm going to drink it. That was good. Not as good as
my water, but it's good. I was thirsty. It may not appeal
to you. Steve, you may not be thirsty
right now, right? You don't need it. Anybody that comes to Christ
needs Him. Christ said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after what? Righteousness. Who needs righteousness? A sinner. A guilty, vile sinner. They say, people have said this
about us here, this preacher and this church, that we talk
too much about sin. That we preach too much about
sin. Why? Because only sinners are going
to be Christ. Only people that actually come
to a knowledge and a felt need for Christ for forgiveness
of sins. Only those who repent of sin
are going to come to Christ. People come to Jesus to get their
bank accounts straightened out, to get a new car, to get a new
job, to get a wife or a husband, to get all these things, a sugar
daddy, but he ain't no sugar daddy. He's the Lord and Savior.
He's a savior of sinners. He said, I'm not come to call
the righteous. I'm not come to even heal or make rich. I've come to seek and save the
lost. I've come to justify the guilty.
I've got a righteousness. Anybody hungry for it? Oh, I
am. I'm the worst. I'm the worst. I mean, the only way I can get
God through this righteousness that Christ has, and he's the
only one to have it, yes! How do I come? I want it. I'm
coming. How do I come? To feel a need. Just to come,
that's the first thing. To feel a need. Do you feel a
need? I'm asking you to ask yourself. Do you feel a need? That's how
you come to Christ. Do you feel a need? You need
mercy? You might need mercy. Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. That's what mercy is. What do
you deserve? What do you deserve? You deserve for God to pat you
on the back? You deserve fine things? You deserve salvation?
You're not going to get mercy. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. What do we deserve? The wages
of sins, death, hell, judgment. You feel that? That's what you've
earned? That's what you deserve? This
life? What do you need? Mercy? That's
how you come. You feel a need for mercy. A
need for grace. Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are the poor. The poor. I have nothing. Those
brethren of Joseph, if we had no pasture, would you just let
us dwell here? They come for mercy, they come
for grace, they come for pardon. Do you have anything that needs
pardoning? Day with, mercies anew every
morning. Cleansing. Lord, cleanse me. David came. The publican in the temple, he
came. That Pharisee, he came to church. The Pharisee came to church.
The publican came to Christ. That's exactly what I'm talking
about. That's exactly what I'm talking about. That illustrates
it better than anything. The Pharisee came to church. The
publican came to Christ. Lord, have mercy. What are we
here for this morning? We come to church. We come to
Christ. Mercy. Have mercy on me. That
leper came down from the mountain. The leper came down from the
mountain. And Christ said, What do you need? He said, Lord, that
I might be clean. That blind man, blind Barnabas,
came to Christ. And he was come to him, and Christ
said, What would you have that I do unto you? What do you need?
Why are you come? Brian Barnum has said, Lord,
that I may receive my sight. That's why. Receive your sight. Why have you come? I've come
to Christ for mercy, he said. You get it? Why have you come? I've come
for grace. You get it? Grace and mercy and
peace from God the Father unto you. I've come to hear from God. I want to hear from God. He said,
you get it? He calls his sheep. They hear his voice. He says,
they hear my voice. They hear it. Have you come to
Christ? Number one is to feel a need
to come to Christ. Number two, to come to Christ It's evidently someone in heaven,
because there's someone in here right now just absolutely not
interested in this. To come to Christ, for those
who are, to come to Christ, have you come to Christ? To come to
Christ is to believe Christ meets that need, and only Christ. Only Christ will meet that need.
Hebrews 11, verse 6 says, then, says, He that cometh to God must
believe that he is. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. And who is? That there is a God?
No, the devils believe that and tremble. Like that woman told
me, well, I believe there's a God. That's a big deal. That won't
save you. One second, the devils believe
it and tremble, James said. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, Hebrews 11 says. Who is? That Christ is the only
way to God. See, Hebrews 11, John, he'd already
been talking about the only way to God for ten chapters. Through
a high priest. that we must have, and a blood
atonement that we must have, and he that cometh to God believes
that he is. He is what? My wisdom. You need wisdom? I don't know
about you, but I feel down as an ox most of the time. Not necessarily in this physical
world, but spiritually, I need wisdom. I don't know whether
I'm coming or going half the time spiritually. He's made unto
us wisdom. He chooses a way forward. Righteousness,
I need that. Sanctification, I need set apart
from this mass of corruption that's headed toward hell itself. I need set apart. That's what
sanctification is. Call that girl out. Don't let
her go into the pit with the rest of them. Deliver her from going down in
the pit. Yeah, her! I found a ransom for
her. Come. You need to hit that button. Come. I need sanctification.
I need Christ to call me out of the bunch. to pluck me like
Amos said, as a bone from the burning, don't you? Or I'm going
like a barrel headed over a waterfall. Like all we black sheep have
gone astray, we'll go over the precipice. Rebecca, if he doesn't
say, stop that one! Turner, Lord Turner, soon will
be turned. Now come to me. His sheep Have you come to Christ? He's my sanctification, my redemption. My redemption. To believe that
He is, that Christ only meets that need. You haven't come to
Christ. No one's come to Christ who is Christ plus baptism, or
Christ plus their own works, or Christ plus their confession,
or Christ plus—it's not Christ plus anything. It's Christ only. You come to Christ, you come
believing that Christ only, he that believeth on the Son of
God. Him and him only. Not Christ
if either. And that's my next point. Scripture
says that Abraham believed God. And it goes on to say he believed
that What God had promised, God was able to perform. Do you believe he's able to subdue all things unto himself? Do you believe he's able to save
to the uttermost, the guttermost, if that's you? I hope it's you.
I'd love to find a guttermost center. other than myself, that is. I
believe there's some in here, but oh, one that's never seen
it. He's able. Well, is he willing? Is he willing? To come to Christ
is to believe that only Christ meets that need, and thirdly
is to believe that Christ will fill that need. He will feel
that need. Some people, I believe, maybe. I don't know. It's really kind
of confusing me, although I kind of remember being at this point. Some people, I believe they believe
this gospel. I believe they do. I believe
they see a need for Christ, have a need for Christ, and repent
of their sins and see that Christ is their only hope, but for some
reason they're waiting on something. Like a sign or something. I don't know. I remember being
there. The way I feel it more. The way I feel more of a need. The way I feel more sinful. The
way I feel more spiritual. Wait'll I something, wait'll
I wait'll you nothing. Do you believe he's willing?
Or do you believe you need him? Do you believe he's able? Is he able? He said, all authority
is given unto me in heaven and earth. Come on now. Do you believe he's willing? Do you believe he's willing? I'm
thirsty again. Here's water. There's water. I'm thirsty. Well, there's water. But how do I drink? How? Nothing. But there's water. Take it! All right? You mean I can? Oh, it's there. Drink it. I think I will. It did make my knee. Well, it did. That's all there
is to it. Come unto me. He admits it first. Let him take to the water of
life freely. But, but, but, but, but no buts.
He says, Go ahead, drink. Go ahead, believe. I think I
do believe. Believe! Why, I think I do believe! on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved." You say, Lord, there he is. Lord, there
he is. I believe. I believe! Help my unbelief. That's it! Huh? Have you come to Christ? I believe. Here's a big banquet,
and once it goes back to this thing of need again. That's the reason I stand up here so
much and call us dogs and worms. Hoping there's a dog as I'm a
fib chef out there. A dog. All dogs go to heaven. All dogs get to sit at the table. All sinners get saved. Here's a big banquet spread out,
and the owner of the house, he's spread this big table with all
manner of delectable things. It's high, it's heaps high with
things. All things are prepared. The
front door of his house is wide open. Got a double door, eight
feet wide. Wide open. Here you stand outside
a beggar in rank. It's cold outside. You haven't
had anything to eat for a day or more. You're starving to death,
and that door is wide open, and the man standing in the door
is saying, Come! Come! Come on! Come on! The door's wide open. What are
you going to do? What you going to do? What would
you do? I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd
come. When you say it, if I'm hungry,
Well, here I come. If they kick me out, they kick
me out. But that fellow owns a place to come. You walk in
that door, and nobody's going to cast you out. Christ said,
He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Somebody said, look at that fellow.
Boy, look at him. Dirty. Terrible. Look at him. You don't
know what a death penalty is, are you? I said him that cometh. I would have known why I was
cast out. But he's the worst. He's the hungriest. Well, that's
who needs food, isn't it? He's a sinner. That's who needs
mercy. Come. Come. He that cometh to me, That's
great. I want to know why. Does that
mean at no time? At no time. You've come to Christ at no time. Now or in your future, will he
ever cast you out? Isn't that good news? If anybody's
ever come, that's just right there on shouting ground. I will
in no time, at no time, for any reason But I said, yes, that's
what you are. That's what you are when I got
you. That's what you are when you leave this place. I knew
what I was getting when I got you. When I said, girl, that's
what I was getting. I will in no wise cast out. Now, I'll tell you, like, this morning's
study, Only one reason he would cast anybody out. Only one reason.
That is, if you don't have on that wedding garment. If you
don't have on that wedding garment. Because Christ said that about
a man who came into the wedding feast and didn't have on a wedding
garment. And he said, how did you get in here without that
wedding garment? Cast him out. And that's a picture of somebody
coming to God with their religion, or their works, or their righteousness,
or their goodness, or their morality, or their baptism, or their confession,
or the fact that they came to Christ. Well, I believe don't
come with that. You come naked, you see, to be
clothed. You come hungry to be fed. You
don't bring some Hershey's Kisses. You come empty. You come guilty
to be pardoned. Don't clean your life up first,
come to cry. Come as you are, just as I am. But I'm rotten. He only takes
bad apples. You know, this is one husbandman,
Henry, one great owner of the fruit trees, who only takes bad
apples. He normally bakes a pie out of
bad apples. You'd take a good cook, wouldn't
you, Roberta, if all the apples you put in the pie were bad to
start with? And if the pie turned out all
right, whew, you're the best cook there ever was. That's just God's salvation. He only takes bad apples that
are rotten to the core, and he makes them something great. That
proves his greatness. Anybody can take a good apple.
I got, if I got the best apples, Granny, what is it, Granny, Granny
something, Granny Smith, Granny Jones, or Golden Delicious, or
Stayman, or whatever, I believe the best, I believe I could throw
them in a little, mash up some something, Rebecca, some crust
of some sort, and throw those apples in there and dump brown
sugar All that that you dump over, a little sentiment, I believe
it tastes somewhat good. But I can't do it with bad apples.
You get the picture? And it's the only kind he takes. Come, come, come. Now look back at the text, and
I'll quit. All right? Look back at the text. This says
in verse 4, to whom coming as unto a living stone." A living
stone. And I want you to turn over to
Isaiah chapter 8, and this is where this is found. And Peter
goes on to quote this. Isaiah chapter 8. Turn over there
in just a couple more minutes. Isaiah
8, look at verse 14. Verse 13. Isaiah 8, verse 13, "...sanctify
the Lord of hosts himself." That means set him apart. Let him be your fear, your goal,
your dread, the one you're coming to. "...he shall be for a sanctuary."
A sanctuary. There's a story over in 1 Samuel,
chapter 22, where it says of David, David was down in a cave,
cleft of a rock. King David, whom the Lord had
chosen to put over his throne. King David was down in a cave.
And it says that when his father's house heard it, they went down
to him. And it says everyone that was
in distress, oh, were troubled Everyone that was in debt, we
owe. Everyone that was discontented,
not happy, gathered themselves unto him. They came to David,
and he became captain over them. He said, I'll take care of you
boys. You've come to the right place. Just enter into the cleft
of this rock with me. Hide going to blow over in a little
bit, and you're going to come out with me. Reigning and ruling
with me. He's in his sanctuary. But, verse
14, for a stone of stumbling, a rock of a fence. Our Lord said,
he that cometh to me over in, I didn't write it down, Mark
chapter 8, I believe it is. He said, he that cometh to me he that cometh to me, let him deny himself." Deny himself. See, to come, I came to church
this morning. I came to the building, that
is. Came to this building this morning. What did I do? I left
that mobile home to come here. I forsook, as it were, everything
there to come here. To come to one place, you've
got to leave one place to come to that place, you see. And Christ
said, let him forsake all that he hath. Forsake what? Now listen, worldly ambition
can't serve God and man. I'm going to make my way in this
earth. I'm going to see, I'm going to
get all settled, get me a nest egg and build bigger barns and
so on and so forth. And then, at a convenient time,
I'll seek the Lord." There ain't no promise of that. Today, tonight, thy soul is required
of thee. We don't know. Boast not thyself
of tomorrow. That's the reason today is the
day of salvation. Come unto me. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. But I need a husband. Oh, you need your maker to be
your husband first. Because if you find you a husband,
he may leave you. You need one that won't ever. Oh my, there's only one. See,
Kim Ferger. It's to leave all that. It's
to deny yourself. Now, and this goes back to that
thing of need. Turn over to Matthew 21, and
I'll quit with this verse. I'm just going to read this in
closing. But to deny yourself, folks. You know, there's some people,
really, some people are somewhat interested in God and Christ
and the gospel and the word of God and these things and salvation,
somewhat interested. But salvation is not to be somewhat
interested. You see, Paul talked about some
people's God being their belly. They serve their belly. And there
are some people who are just more interested in this life
and the things of it than they are God. And to come to Christ
is to deny yourself everything about you. To come
to Christ. I've got to have him. It's to
deny your old acquaintances. It's to deny your own well-being. Christ said you'll suffer persecution. Some people are not willing to
go through that. Some people are not willing to
give up because they don't need Christ. They haven't seen Christ.
great enough, haven't seen Christ as all. They're pearl-seekers,
but they haven't seen the great pearl. They're treasure-seekers,
but they've never seen Christ as the treasure of all treasure. And they're just not willing
to give it up. And he's going to have to make them willing
from the day of his power. Just read this in closing. Christ
says, All right, whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. To come to Christ is to come
and fall at his feet for mercy. He said, You'll be broken. Well,
we need that, don't we, John? We need to be broken. He said,
I dwell with him that is of a broken and a contrite heart. You cast
yourself at his feet like Mary who was cast at his feet. He'll
lift you up a little while later. He'll lift you up. He'll stoop
down where you are, and he'll lift you up with him. He said,
come on, let's go. You fall on him, you'll be broken. That's all right. It's a good
breaking. Let the righteous smite me. It'll
be a kindness. But, he saith, on whomsoever
it shall fall to be ground to powder." And Christ is coming again. He's coming again. He is coming
again. Played the same old tune, didn't
it, for 120 years. What was that hammer saying? It's going to rain. It's going to rain hard. There's an ark. We'd better get in it. Same old tongue preacher, same
old message in it. Yep, there's a nail in a sure
place. There's an ark and the door is
wide open. If you don't go in, it ain't God's fault. All right, Sherry. I don't care
if I did sound Arminian this morning.