I am here for you. Yeah. Yeah. you. Hmm. Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 256. 256. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this blest assurance control. that Christ hath regarded my
helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin was a bliss of this glorious
thought. My sin not in part, but the whole. is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it in glory. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And, Lord, haste the day when
my faith shall be signed, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall be slain. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Be seated. There's a, I keep thinking of
it, I was looking for it. There's a verse of scripture
says, say ye to the righteous, it is well with them. God says
say ye to the righteous, it's well with them. If you want to, turn with me
to First Corinthians, I think chapter two. This meeting has
just meant more to me than I could ever tell you. It's just been
so much to me. Chapter three, excuse me, chapter
three. My wife and I were talking this
morning. And what people miss about God
and how he does things, he does things on purpose. But what they
miss about him, his wisdom, in devising everything that's ever
happened. God's wisdom governs not only
His righteousness and His justice, but His wisdom. And you think
of the wisdom of God that made the way for rebels,
God-haters, Christ-rejecters, made a way in His wisdom God,
stay just, stay holy, stay righteous, and yet save the most ungodly
people that ever lived and done it in such a way that he could
do it and stay God. Never, I never have got over that. I
can't get, I've been That's just the most astounding news I've
ever heard in my life. God stays exactly as He is and
always has been. And here in His wisdom and in
the power that He put forth to bring it to our hearts and souls
and make us understand that He saved us in such a way that He satisfied everything
about Himself and upheld everything about Himself and yet gave us
life and never lost anything by it. And, ah, just, it's a, what news,
what news, what glorious news, what blessed truth. That's why we sing amazing grace. That's why we sing Jesus paid
it all. That's why we sing holy, holy,
holy. Oh, my. Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, I'm going
to read down to verse 8. You know, so many things about
us as preachers that shows us that, you know, if God don't
do it, it don't get done. And thy brethren could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as under carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. I have filled you with milk and
not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, yet
neither are you now able. For you are yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you
not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am Paul,
and another, I am Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom ye believed? even as the Lord gave to every
man. I planted, Apollos watered, but
God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that
watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor. See, sores and waterboys. Father, Father, Father, Father,
our blessed Lord Jesus, our Master. What a blessing to be able to
come into your presence. Come into the holiest of holies.
and come with some liberty, some boldness, some comfort, some
assurance that we'll be received, we'll be accepted, we'll be heard. Oh, we bless you for that. Oh, we
praise you that we can come. And Lord, we come with great
rejoicing and thanksgiving for what you've blessed us to hear,
blessed us to enjoy. blessed us to understand the
blessed truths of your gospel and these dear men that you blessed
to come and be with us. What a privilege, Lord, to be
able to sit and hear men declare the truth of God, the grace of
God, the salvation of God, bring glory and honor to your holy
name. Thank you for our congregation and all they've done to provide
for this meeting. Thank you for all the labor that's
been done, all the love that's went into it, all the care that's
went into it. And, Lord, we understand that
without you, nothing would happen, nothing could happen like this.
But, oh, Lord, how we so rejoice, so bless your holy name. Lift
up our very hearts and souls to you. There's none like you,
but just God and a Savior. Saved us by grace. Keeps us saved. And one day,
bless your holy name, we'll be eternally saved. Leave this old
world. Be eternally, oh Lord, that never
have to deal with this world again. God bless these dear saints
who's gathered out, blessed by two brothers as they come to
preach. And we thank you again for what you've done for us.
Meet our needs again today for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Item number 204. 204. O soul, are you weary and troubled? Though light in the darkness
you seek, There's life for a look at the Savior, And life more
abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, the
fool with his wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting,
He passed and we followed Him there. Over us in no more half
the means. Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look
full in His wonderful face And the kings of earth will through
streams lead Him In the light of His glory and praise. His word shall not fail you,
He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. You can't go to a world that
is dying. His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,
And thus things of earth will grow strangely dear, In the light
of His glory and grace. Well, we've come to the most
wonderful part of the service for me, here in preaching. Here in preaching. We are so
thankful to have Caleb and his wife, Bobby, with us. Caleb Hickman. Caleb, you come and bring the
Lord's message and make yourself at home, brother. Take back what I said about having
this elevated would be all right. This is much better. You took
the platform off. First, I want to say thank you
for all the hospitality, all the hard work. Any pastor knows
the efforts that the congregation has to go through in order to
pull off a conference, and you all have certainly done a wonderful
job. We're very, very honored, very
thankful. Thank you, Donnie, for having
us. Thank you. Shirley, appreciate y'all so much. Let's turn to
John chapter five this morning, if you have your Bible. Greg said John last night, and
he said chapter six, and I didn't know what chapter he was going
to, so my heart dropped. So I'm thankful he didn't go
to five, but the Lord's word doesn't return void. Just as
he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, his word is the
same. And so I would have just preached what the Lord had given
me if it's the same thing he'd have said, it'd have been all right. John
chapter five. Now here in our text, the Lord
had just healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda. If you remember, he had been
impotent for 38 years. And you remember that story,
he said, Lord came to him and said, will thou be made whole?
And he said, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to
be put therein. And what would happen is the
angel of the Lord would come down once per year and stir the water
and the first person in the water, they were healed of their infirmity. And he rightly said that, I have
no man. And that's us by nature, isn't
it? We have no man to help us. get
rid of this condition, this sin condition that we have, only
the Lord Jesus Christ can come to where we are and say, wilt
thou be made whole? And so the Lord healed him of
his infirmity, but it was the Sabbath day. And that upsets
some people. That made the Pharisees mad.
The Pharisees, they were the religious group, as you all well
know. that they hated the truth. They
hated the truth. And they, in a certain point,
even in this chapter, I believe in chapter six, even said, for
what, for what good work, that was chapter six, wasn't it? For
what good work do you stone me? What good work would you kill
me? And they said, not for good work, but that you being a man,
make yourself to be God. But he was just telling them
the truth. And so they hated him for the truth. And that that's
evidence they're going to hate his people for the truth also.
So they persecuted him and then they sought to slay him. Look
in verse 16 through 19, chapter five. It says, and therefore
did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because
he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered
them, my father worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews
sought to kill him. They're the more to kill him
because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that
God was his father making himself equal with God. Then Jesus then
answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, the son of the son can do nothing of himself, but what
he see it, the father do for what things soever he do with
these also do with the son. Likewise, don't you love the
Lord's authority? They're trying to kill him. They're
saying, we're going to kill you. And he says, the son can do nothing
but that which the father has given him to do what he saw the
father to do. And oh, I love when the Lord speaks. He just
shuts us up. He shuts up the flesh. He shuts up our opinions,
our notion. What did what did Job say when
the Lord said, where were you, Job, when I laid the foundation
of the world? And after a few chapters of telling Job the truth
about who he was and revealing who Job was. What was Job's response?
Well, the only reason I'm going to answer you, Lord, is because
you're asking me and making me, but I'm going to put my hands
over my mouth and not speak anymore. Behold, I'm vile. I'm vile. And that's what our Lord does
when he speaks. So they were trying to kill our
Lord. This is what was transpiring. And our Lord is in complete control
of the entire situation. There were so many times they
tried to take him or would have taken him by force, but he passed
through. The multitude or as it was said
last night. He went his way. They couldn't
see him I find it interesting because if you look at this Impotent
man to begin with all the people that would have been surrounding
this pool. This was the place that they knew the healing was
People would have been gathered there by the by the groves I
mean they didn't know when the angel of the Lord would come
and stir the water. So they were all You can imagine there would
have been a bunch of people laying around there, a bunch of sick,
impotent, lame. Lord walks through every single
one of these people to one individual that we have recorded, this impotent
man. Why? Why? Because he delights
in showing mercy on whom he will show mercy. He delights in showing
grace to whom he will show grace. And he had purpose to heal this
impotent man for his glory and for his honor. Now, the. Pharisees here. Pharisees here were speaking
to none other than the creator of the universe, they were speaking
to the Lord Jesus Christ, they were speaking to God and they
couldn't see him and they didn't know him, they couldn't see him. and they didn't know him. And
you and I are the same exact way by nature. Unless he reveals
himself, we won't see him. He can't be sought out. He can't
be found. He must be revealed. And I love
what it says in the book of Revelation, the very first verse. You know,
many people get worked up over Revelation, thinking about futuristic
things and prophecies and whatnot. You know what it says? The revelation
of Jesus Christ. That's what all this scripture
is. That's what all this scripture is written for. The revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now in verse 31 through 47, I'm
not going to read all of that, but there's another message in
this all by itself. There's five witnesses revealed
by our Lord. The five witnesses that he's
telling the Pharisees, I don't speak of just myself, but I have
witnesses. The first one, was John the Baptist. And then he says, my father is
a witness also. My own works do testify the scriptures. And we're going to read that
part in a second. But the last one was Moses and the law. Yet,
even though with all this information that they have, all five of these
witnesses, they still could not see the king of glory in their
presence. Couldn't see him. Couldn't see
him. That's important. They had healed this man of 38
years. And you can think, I mean, if
you had Seen someone miraculously healed, you would just rejoice
in it. You'd be happy about it. Not the Pharisees, not the Pharisees,
because they he did it on their Sabbath. And that's important
because Christ is the Sabbath. Christ is the Sabbath. He is
the Sabbath that the father rested on. He is the Sabbath that the
Lord's people rest on. And yet these Pharisees could
not see the Sabbath, they said, but you healed on the Sabbath.
So they were angry at him. They were just angry at him.
Well, the Lord tells him plainly in this chapter, you will not
come to me that you might have life. You will not come to me. I've titled this message, Why
Men Won't Come to Christ. And I have four points this morning.
Number one, they're not drawn. He says right here, you've not
heard my voice. You've not heard my voice. The
second one is that they're spiritually dead. Scripture says right here,
You've not seen the Lord's shape. Well, he's a spirit. He's a spirit.
He has to be revealed. You haven't seen him. You're
spiritually dead. The third one is you have not
his word in you. They weren't born again. They
weren't born again. And the last one is, is they
were self-righteous. That's why he said, you will
not come to me. They had a righteousness outside of Christ. Now let's
read our text together. John, chapter five, and we're
going to read 37 through the end of the chapter. And the father
himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me, ye
have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding
in you, for whom he hath sent him ye believe not. Search the
scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they
are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor. I receive
not honor from men, but I know you that you have not the love
of God in you. I am come in my father's name
and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe
not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Why Won't men come to Christ? Why won't men come to Christ?
Well, number one, he tells us in verse 37, Father himself hath
sent me, hath bore witness of me. Ye have neither heard his
voice at any time nor seen his shape. They cannot hear his voice. This is the gift of God by grace
alone. In John chapter 10, verse 28
through 31, he said, My sheep, hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them
from my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them from my
Father's hand. I and my Father are one." And you know what the
next verse says? They took up stones to stone him. They took
up stones to stone him. Oh, the Lord has to give ears
to hear. He has to give ears to hear. He has to give eyes
to see. I had one woman one time come up to me after preaching,
and she said, my ears work just fine. I heard everything you
said. And I said, OK. I didn't know how to respond
to that exactly. She said, I chose Jesus, and
I made a good choice. And I said, you didn't hear a
word I said. You didn't hear a word I said. I'm not talking
about physical ears, brethren. I'm talking about a spiritual
hearing. We're born spiritually dead. We're not talking partially
dead. We're talking dead in trespasses
and in sin. I use the term dead dog sinner.
Whenever Mephibosheth came into the king's presence, King David,
he fell upon his face and did reference. And David said to
him, fear not. I'm going to show you kindness
for Jonathan's sake. He said, what is this dead dog that you should
have any good thing to do to him? We're dead dog sinners by
nature. We're outcasts. No hope of life. Think of Lazarus. What hope did
Lazarus have of life whenever he was laying in that tomb? There
was no hope outside of no hope in himself. It had to come through
and by the word of the Lord. And it's the same today. Lord
has to say, live, receive thy sight, receive thy hearing. And
it's all by his grace alone. What does he say to us? Lazarus,
come forth. Now, is that an offer? Not an
offer. The Lord only offered himself
up one time, and that was on the cross of Calvary. That was
when the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself up to the Father for
the salvation of his people. He only offered himself up one
time. He does not offer himself to the likes of us creatures.
That's what we creatures of dust. And yet men believe that they
have some righteousness in and of themselves, some goodness
whereby they can present to God and God would be satisfied. No,
no. It has to be the Lord that says
live. It has to be the Lord that says,
let there be life. It's the Lord that doesn't offer,
he commands. He commands the winds and the
waves. He commands salvation. He's the ruler of the heavens. He's the ruler of the earth and
under the earth. He's completely sovereign in
all things. And as we heard last night, none can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? He's God. He's God. Oh, he only offered himself once,
and it was to the father. People talk about Lord's Offering
you salvation. No, he's not. That's a lie. No, he's not. He offered salvation
once unto his father when he was bearing the sin of his people
on the cross of Calvary, bearing the sin of his elect on the cross
of Calvary, shedding his precious blood that we might be redeemed
from this sin that we are, the sin that we do, the iniquity
that we do to try to fix the sin that we are. He shed his
own blood for that. What the Lord talked about in
Isaiah 53, the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all,
and he had by himself purged our sin. He sat down. No, the
Lord was satisfied with that offering, with that sacrifice.
How do we know what the Lord said? It is finished. It is finished. And he cannot lie. He cannot
lie. Now the gospel goes out by the
preaching. The foolishness of preaching,
as the scripture calls it, to men. I mean, it's foolishness
to men, but to us that believe, it's life. It's life. And only those who are unable
to hear believe. I had somebody tell me one time,
even recently after service, they were coming for a bit and
they were listening and they started asking some questions
after services. And I got excited a little bit because the questions
were really good questions. And they caught me in the vestibule
or what we would call a vestibule. And he said, are you telling
me salvation is not a choice? Tell me salvation is not a choice. I said, sir, I want to make something
very clear. Salvation is absolutely 100 percent a choice, just not
yours or mine. Salvation is God's choice. And
if he doesn't choose to save, none can be saved. None can be
saved. It's all by grace alone. Second
Thessalonians 2 13 tells us that we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Salvation is of the Lord. That's why men will not come. They want some part in it. They
want to be able to have some glory in their self. Men want
glory. Men want praise. The Lord says,
no, he gets all the glory. He gets all the glory. Why won't
men come to Christ? Well, first, they cannot hear
his voice. And second, notice the end of
verse 37. Haven't. You have neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his shape. What does he mean seeing his
shape? God is a spirit. That's what the Lord told the
woman at the well. God is a spirit and they that worship must worship
in spirit and in truth. We can't see spiritual things
with carnal eyes. We can't see his shape, his isness. We can't see the eternal I am
unless he gives us eyes to see. So first of all, we don't have
the ears. That's why men won't come to Christ. Second of all,
we don't have the eyes. That's the first two. We are
born dead, born blind. How dead do I mean? Well, utterly,
completely, totally. I want to leave no doubt we're
born that dead. I mean, there is no hope of us
doing anything whatsoever in this flesh in order to earn or
become alive spiritually. That is the gift of God by grace
alone. Philippians 3, 3 tell us this,
tells us this. We learn this, too, as the Lord's
people. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We know that we can't do anything
in the flesh that would please God. The Lord told us that they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. So we know that if
that's the case, we're going to remain dead unless he does
something. We can't see him. We can't hear
him. We can't know him unless there's
an interjection that says, but God. who is rich in mercy, but
God who is rich in mercy. If he's the one that does it,
we'll be saved. But if we fool ourselves thinking
that we can do anything, none can be saved. The flesh is enmity
against God. As we heard yesterday, it's hostile.
You understand that word hostile? I might have said this yesterday,
forgive me if I did, but hostile is, there's a lot of hostility
going on right now. with wars and rumors of wars.
We're talking two countries, if they're at war, they're hostile.
That's our flesh towards God right now. Our flesh can't please
God. It hates God. It wants to be
its own God. That's the problem. Paul put
it this way in Romans 7, 18, in me, that is to say in my flesh. Dwelleth a little bit of good?
No. Dwelleth no good thing. No good thing. And the Lord says
no good thing. I mean, that's clear. That's
just absolutely crystal clear. We sometimes men want to debate
certain things. They want to argue certain points.
But when the Lord says no good thing, there is no gray area
there. There's nothing good in us, in
me and in you. That is to say our flesh. Well,
it's no good thing. Don't be fooled, brethren, I
had Had a lady come up to me after service and she said to
me, don't you see yourself getting better and better? And I said,
what are you talking about? She's like, well, I was reading
this book and it was talking about, and she was talking about progressive
sanctification is what she was talking about. And I said to her, you're
telling me that you see yourself getting better each day? And
she said, well, not every day, just over time, I can just see
that I'm not doing the same things that I used to do. I said, okay,
so that's moral reformation. That's not getting better. You're
just changing your lifestyle. As far as God's concerned, there's
none good, no, not one. And they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. Christ becomes the Lord. The
Lord makes Christ unto us all of our wisdom, all of our righteousness,
all of our sanctification, and all of our redemption. If I'm
getting better, I'm missing it. Because Paul said, oh, wretched
man, that I am right now. Not that I was. I'm getting worse,
not better. The way up to the Lord, the growth
is down. Not we see less and less of ourselves,
less confidence in ourselves. Some of you older ones, you know
what I'm talking about. You have more confidence in your
flesh now or less. It's less, isn't it? Why? Because
you see the vile creature that we are by nature. And unless
the Lord intervenes miraculously, I have no hope of salvation,
no hope whatsoever. But you tell a man that and they
say away with this man. Let his blood be upon us and
on our children. Do you know why? They don't have eyes to see.
They don't have ears to hear. There is good news in this. Though
the outward man perisheth, the inward man's renewed day by day.
The Lord renews the inward man with what? Fresh manna, the washing
of water by the word, the preaching of the gospel. He feeds his sheep.
He feeds his sheep, he leads me beside still waters, he restoreth
my soul. That's what the scripture says.
This is why Christ must be our sanctification. I want men come to Christ because
they haven't seen his shape, his isness, that he's a spirit. He's God, can't see him as God
unless he reveals himself. Can't see him as God. And because
they haven't heard his voice. Because they're spiritually dead. Now, the third one. I want men
come to Christ. He says here, verse 38, and you
have not his word abiding in you. How do you know? Well, for
whom he hath sent him, ye believe not. Have not his word abiding
in you. Lord told Nicodemus, you must
be born again. Nicodemus did not understand
that, and neither can our carnal mind understand that. He said,
how can a man, when he is old, entered into his mother's womb
a second time and be born? Lord said, that which were born
of the flesh is flesh. That which are born of the spirit
is spirit marble. Not that I say unto thee, you
must be born again. Lord goes on to say this. Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, And of
the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Well, how's a
how is a man born of water? Well, scripture talks about sanctifying
and cleansing the church with the washing of water by the word.
This is the preaching of the gospel. We're born from above
by the Lord's spirit. When the Lord gives us ears to
hear, to believe his gospel. This is the good news of the
miraculous salvation that our Lord accomplished on the cross
that he does every bit of. We're just the benefactors by
grace, by grace. Question that I have for us is
this, what part did we have in our first birth? Our first birth,
think about this, our very first birth, what did you contribute
to it? Other than pain, other than grief,
maybe? Nothing, did we? We didn't decide
to be born. We didn't decide to cause our
mothers to deliver us. No, it was God that, in the fullness
of time, caused that to happen. What did we contribute? And yet
us creatures of dust believe that we can contribute something
to our spiritual birth. Not true, is it? It's not true. We contribute nothing. As a matter
of fact, if we put our hand to it, oh, everything we touch,
we defile. Everything we touch, we defile. But oh, I love The message last
night, touching the hem of the garment, she touched him. But
really, you understand what I'm saying. Whatever he touches,
oh, he purifies, he perfects, he makes righteous. And that's
what we need is that touch. Oh, brethren, we cannot birth
ourself into the family of God by a decision that we make. Salvation
is the Lord's decision. And it's not made in time. It was made in eternity before
time ever began. God chose a people in the covenant
of grace to redeem them, to save them in spite of themselves and
despite of themselves. We had nothing to do with that.
He did it all. And say, well, that Jesus in
your heart, you got to make that decision. Jesus don't want our
heart. It's deceitful of all things
and desperately wicked. No, I need a new one. Mine's
broke. I don't need a quadruple bypass, Donnie. That's what men
are preaching. We can fix it by doing this and
do it. No, we can't. We don't need a
quadruple bypass. I need a new one, not a stony
one. And that's what the Lord tells us that he'll do. In Ezekiel
chapter 36, a new heart will I give you also, a new spirit
will I put within you, and I will take out, I'll take away the
stony heart out of you, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Oh,
David said, created me a clean heart, oh God. Renewing me a
right spirit. Everything about us is bad. Everything
about us is corrupt. Lord, you're going to have to
make me a new creature in Christ if I'm going to be acceptable
in your sight. There's nothing good that I can do to please
you. I need a substitute. I need a
surety. I need a savior. And yet you
preach this and men say away with this man. No, there's something
I can contribute. There's something that I can
do. There's a choice I can make. A prayer I can pray. I've done
this and I've done that. I had a woman put her finger
in my face and said, I chose Jesus and I made a good choice.
I said, OK, I understood. I mean, I wasn't going to argue
with the woman. But the poor woman don't understand that the
Lord is the one. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of us, meaning that
we are not the author nor the finisher of it. We can't make
God's salvation effectual by something we do. And brethren,
I love this. We can't mess it up either. We
can't do anything to mess it up. Salvation is of the Lord.
That means I can't do anything to acquire it, to merit it, to
earn it. But there's nothing I can do
to prevent it either. If the Lord's going to save me,
he's going to save me all by his grace, all by his grace. The Lord renews, though the outward
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. I didn't
say this, but I want to now. What does that mean? The inward
man is renewed day by day. Well, I'm reminded of the Syro-Phoenician
woman that came to the Lord. She needed help. Her child was
sick and to death, and she said unto the Lord, help. Her daughter
perished. And the Lord said, it's not meat. Well, at first
he said, I come not to the, but to seek and to save the lost
house of Israel is what he said. And then he said, it's not meat.
give the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And see, that
had been very insulting to this young lady. But she said, truth,
Lord. Truth, Lord. But the dogs desire
the crumbs that fall from the master's table. How is that inward
man renewed day by day? The crumbs that fall from the
master's table. Whose purpose those crumbs, the
master? It's his table. Whenever he so
chooses, he drops handfuls of purpose, just like he did in
Ruth. at the time that you need it, whether we know it or not,
it's at His time. We know that that's true. It's
at His appointed time. He drops the handfuls of purpose.
I love that that says, not handfuls on purpose. I always heard that
as handfuls on purpose. Well, that's true, but they're
handfuls of purpose. You see the difference there?
It's His purpose. It feeds His children. It renews us. It restores our soul all by His
grace. Brethren, that's the one thing
needful is the crumb from the master's table. Why won't men come to Christ?
Well, they're not drawn, they haven't heard his voice, haven't
heard his voice. Number two, they're spiritually
dead, not seeing his shape. Number three. They have not his
word in them, they're not born again, they're not a dog, they're
not a dog. Lastly, number four, they're
self-righteous. He says, In verse 40, and ye
will not come to me that you might have life. The reason that
men won't come to Christ is, I think this has already been
said. It's not because of their sin. I know somebody that says,
well, I can't come to church because I'm too sinful. No, that's
not true. That's not true. You have a righteousness. Righteousness,
self-righteousness is the reason men will not come to Christ.
Their own self-righteousness, whatever they're clinging to.
And it could be something as simple as a prayer prayed. It
could be something as simple as a habit stopped. It could
be something as simple as shaking a preacher's hand. We will make
a work out of anything and we'll call it our righteousness, whether
intentionally or unintentionally, unless the Lord gives us ears
to hear, eyes to see, and births us into his family, causing us
to see I am but a dog, a dead dog sinner that is in need of
a savior. Men live, they don't live it,
they try to live the law. Now what do I mean by the law?
The law can be broken down into three categories. You have the
moral law. That's how you live your life.
That's the things that you do and you don't do as righteousness. Then you have the civil law,
how you treat other people. And a lot of people have a lot
of righteousness because they've done good things to other people.
I know somebody that told me recently that when they get to
heaven, they're just going to talk to the Lord and explain
all the good things that they've done to their neighbors and the
Lord will understand. And I tried to explain that that's not true.
No, that's not true. Everything we touch, we corrupt.
And then lastly is the ceremonial law, and the ceremonial law is
how we approach God or how we worship. Now, within those three,
men have a self-righteousness, and sometimes it's all three
at the same time. But our God is not going to accept any law-keeping
whatsoever. It said you're a debtor to the
whole law and you're under the curse thereby if you try to keep
the law. Paul said, you that want to be
under the law, do you hear the law? Do you hear the law? The
law was given so that every mouth would be stopped and the whole
world was made guilty. No, unless the Lord shows us
that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness sake and
shows us that there is no righteousness by the law and the law was not
given to make a man righteous, but to make us guilty before
God, show us that we're guilty before God. Oh, we'll never,
we'll never come to Christ. The Lord has to make us a sinner.
This self-righteousness that men have causes them to refuse
to bow to the Lord in so much men and women will live their
life, live their entire life thinking that they have done
something good enough for God. And when they hear what you know,
what the Lord says at the Judgment Day, they say, Lord, we've done
this. Lord, we've done all these wonderful
works in your name. Isn't that what it says? All
these wonderful works. in your name. And what does the
Lord say? Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew
you. I never knew you. See, the Lord is not looking
to you and I for our righteousness. He's looking to Christ, the Lamb
of God, for the righteousness of his people. So what is my
hope? That I'm in Christ. For if I'm not in Christ, I have
no righteousness. The law does not give righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Men will not come to Christ because
they look to self. They look to self. Said this
before our congregation, the law is like a mirror. Is the
mirror gonna clean you up? No, it's just gonna reveal what's
already there. Only the Lord can make a leper
white as snow, make him clean. Only the Lord can, only the Lord
can cleanse. that which needs to be cleansed
and make pure that which is corrupt. Only the Lord can do that. It's
the work of the Lord, all by his grace. What is our hope? What is our
hope? David, I love the fact that the
Lord called David man after God's own heart, because David was
a murderer. David was an adulterer. And if
you look at his life, it was a life of violence and turmoil
and chaos. Even on his deathbed, we heard
from Greg yesterday, he said, even though be not so with my
house, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant.
There's our hope, the everlasting covenant. David had committed
sin with Bathsheba, and he pretended like nothing happened. It was
about the space of a year, give or take a little bit. And the
Lord sent Nathan, the prophet, down to David and gave him this
parable. He said, David, there was a rich
man that had many flocks and many herds, and there was another
man that was a poor man that had one ewe lamb that he loved,
and he treated it like one of his own family. The time came
where the rich man was going to have feast and he took of
the one new lamb And he killed it and he gave it to them instead
of taking from his own flock He said what should be done unto
the man and David was furious now Do you not love our Lord's
ability to prick our hearts? David was a shepherd David was
a shepherd. He would have been tender and
towards a lamb in his heart. He had spent many a night, before
he was king, he was a shepherd. He had spent many a night looking
after lambs, tending to them, nurturing them, maybe bottle
feeding them. I mean, he would have been looking
at, he would have been, he was furious about this. He said,
the man that did this shall surely die. Nathan looked at him and
said, David, you are the man. You are the man. This is what
the Lord does when he comes to his people in mercy, is he shows
us that we are the man, we are the woman, we are the individual,
the guilty sinner, and that we only have one hope. And as Nathan
reads off or communicates to him the judgment, he says these
words, But fear not, David, the Lord hath put away thy sin. You shall not die. See, there's
the hope in the gospel. Men do not ever see themselves
as being the man, the man that's the center. Oh, they see themselves
as being the man. Look at me. I'm the man. I'm
awesome. I'm this. I'm that. They don't see themselves as
being the center, the chief center. That's the gift of our Lord by
his grace alone. Well, how did the how is it that
the Lord put away the sin of David? Scripture tells us in
2 Corinthians, for God hath made Christ sin for us who knew no
sin, that we, his people, might be made the righteousness of
God in him. By this one offering, he hath
forever perfected them that are sanctified. The Lord was looking
to the cross. That's how David could be called
a man after God's own heart. He put away the sin of David.
This is the only way that you and I will come to the Lord is
if he gives us ears to hear, eyes to see, births us into his
family, causes us to see that we're the sinner, gives us repentance
and faith toward God, and allows us to believe by faith. That's
it. That's the only way. In closing, I want to say this. I've said why
a man doesn't come, but what makes a man come to Christ? God. It's that simple. What makes
a man or a woman come to Christ? God. God. The Lord has to cause us to come
to him or we will not come. The Lord said salvation is of
the Lord. He's the author of it. He's the
finisher of it. He's the giver of it to whomsoever
he will. Whomsoever he will. He alone
has the words of eternal life. Does that make you say, Lord,
speak to me? Calls me to cry out, calls me
to know you. Difference between these that
won't come to Christ and those that do is either he is everything
to you or he is nothing to you. It's that simple. Everything
to you or is he nothing to you? Examine yourself. Examine yourself,
if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as all your wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. If so, God is the doer of it,
and if you won't come, then it's because you've not been drawn,
not been drew, not heard his voice, you're spiritually dead
still yet. Have not heard his word, not been born again, and
you have self-righteousness. This is why men will not come
to Christ, but thank God in the next chapter, you know what it
says? All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he that
cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. Come to Christ. Pastor. Y'all take five minutes if you
do. Is that what I said? After you
get done singing. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul, O my soul? What wondrous love is this, O
my soul? What wondrous love is this that
calls the Lord of bliss? To bear the dreadful curse for
my soul, for my soul. To bear the dreadful curse for
my soul. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul, O my soul. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul? What wondrous love is this that
calls the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul? For my soul. To bear the dreadful
curse for my soul. When I was sinking down, sinking
down, sinking down. When I was sinking down, sinking
down. When I was sinking down beneath
God's righteous crown. Christ laid aside his crown for
my soul, for my soul. Christ laid aside his crown for
my soul. To God and to the Lamb I will
sing, I will sing. To God and to the Lamb I will
sing, To God and to the land, who is the great I am. While millions join the theme,
I will sing, I will sing. While millions join the theme,
I will sing. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing on, I'll sing on. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing on. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing and joyful be. And through eternity, I'll sing
on. I'll sing on. And through eternity, I'll sing
on. What wondrous love is this, oh
my soul, oh my soul. What wondrous love is this, oh
my soul. What wondrous love is this that
caused the Lord of Bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul,
for my soul? To bear the dreadful curse for
my soul. I'll take five minutes or so, and we'll gather back. Thank you very much. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.