Well, our pastor had originally
planned to be here this morning, so I'm just as surprised to be
here as you are to see me here. He's holding a meeting in the
wild and wonderful West Virginia, up there in the hollers of West
Virginia, a place called Dengas. Him and Paul Mahan's preaching
up there. I hope he can find his way out of there. It's kind
of a rugged place. Been there one time. I'm from
West Virginia. I ain't never seen a place like
that before. But I trust the Lord will be pleased to meet
with us and bless us together and enable us to worship Him. And I invite your attention for
a scripture reading this morning, Luke chapter 7. It's not where
I'll be preaching from, but it's a related verse of Scripture. I may refer back to it. Luke
chapter 7, beginning in verse 36. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within
himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have
known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him,
for she's a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have some what to say unto thee. And he saith,
Master, say on. There was a certain creditor
which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the
other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my
feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore
I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she
loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Let's pray. Turn back with me to the book
of Luke, this time Luke chapter 15. And I propose to you all this
morning that we consider verse 2 together. Let's read verse
1 and 2 together. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and
scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them. This man receiveth sinners. Do you not feel as I do that
this is a most profound and moving verse of Scripture, considering
who this man is and who we are as sinners, and that this man,
the God-man, receives sinners, receives such as we? It's a verse of Scripture that
excites the emotions to me, and I suspect you as well, but it's
one that causes our hearts to beat a little faster in love
to our dear Savior, and it livens our hopes. And I'm caused to
conclude by what we read in this Scripture, that if Christ receives
sinners, And he does. Surely, he'll receive me. Surely, he'll receive me. Not maybe. Surely, he'll receive
me. Can I take my place as a sinner
with nothing, not just a sinner in word, but knows I'm nothing
but sin in my heart, in my nature, in my will, in my way, in my
mind? I'm nothing but sin. And this
truth is borne out throughout the Scripture. And we're going
to look at some things this morning. It says in one place, Christ
Himself said, I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners,
to repentance. They that are whole, they don't
need a physician. They that are sick, He said,
I came to seek and to save that which was lost. He said, in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Apostle Paul
said this is worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners and I'm the chief one. I'm on the top
of that list. Paul concluded that, didn't he?
That if this man receives sinners, he'll surely receive me. We read
that Christ healed them that had need of healing and he always
does. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. I'd like for
you to imagine with me a moment, the impossible. Just imagine
something that is impossible. Imagine the unimaginable. We
remember the thief on the cross as he hung there with our Lord. And he looked over at our Lord
and he said, Lord, remember me. Imagine the impossible. Imagine
the unimaginable. Our Lord turning a deaf ear.
Has ever a man turned to God in Christ, come to Christ, come
to God in Christ, and Christ turned a deaf ear? That's why
he came to this earth, to hear the cries. and deliver us from
our sin, deliver his people from their sins, to hear their cries. Oh, never has it been recorded
in scripture that he turned away from the cry for help. We read
of accounts in the Gospels where a leper said, Lord, if thou will,
you can make me clean. And our Lord reached out and
touched him. that filthy leper. We hear the
blind beggar. He heard Jesus was passing by. He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. In the only preclation scripture
we read, our Lord stood still. He stopped. He had mercy on that
blind beggar. We're going to look at five things
this morning, quickly. We're going to look at things
that proclaim the approachableness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. We're going to look at a few
of His offices. There's no way we can tell it
all or cover all of them. We're going to look at His names
and His titles that proclaim His approachableness. We're going
to look at His person, His word, his actions, and then last of
all, we're going to talk about an encouragement to come to Christ. So back in our text, in Luke
chapter 15, our Lord is one most approachable
and easily entreated. There's a verse over in James
chapter 3 that I'd say you're familiar with, but it says this,
James 3, 17, but the wisdom that is from above, and I take
that to mean our Lord Jesus Christ, the very wisdom of God, but the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, it's pure, pure wisdom,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy
and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. that wisdom
from above, that speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
great men of our day, they're not easily approached and do
not often have conversation with common folks, invite them in.
They live in a different world and have nothing in common with
the lowly. They're in a higher class, a
higher status in the world. But he who is greater than all,
this man that our text speaks of, the Lord Jesus Christ, God
himself in human flesh, this man is the greatest of all men. As a matter of fact, he's the
only holy man that ever lived. Holy. No sin. Perfect in every way. This man,
who's the greatest of all, he's easily approached, easily entreated
by all who will come to him. Sinners are comfortable with
him, and he's comfortable with sinners. The lowly, he himself
was lowly. He said, I'm meek and lowly.
He's comfortable with all who will come to him, no matter their
rank or their station. He said, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. But these philosophical teachers
in our day, the Pharisees and the scribes, whom our Lord despised,
he said, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, called them vipers,
called them snakes, but they would keep no company with these.
He said, he received sinners. made a distinction between them
and the sinners that came to hear our Lord. They considered
sinners to be inferior to them, and they would never talk familiarly
with them, but stood apart from them, declared themselves to
be above them. But our Lord never drove a sinner
away because of his ignorance. He never refused one that sought
him. He said, he that seeks me will
find me, He that asks, receives. Never turned away a thirsty soul.
Never turned away one who come to Him with a need. They drew near unto Him. They
did so for to hear Him, to hear what He had to say. You know,
we read over in Luke 10 where our Lord tells Martha, He says,
Martha, Martha, you're cumbered about with many things, but Mary
hath chosen that good part. And what did Mary do? He called
it the one thing needful. She sat at his feet and heard
his word. Oh, Lord, teach me. Give me ears
to hear what you've got to say. Look to him for instruction,
for guidance, for instruction in righteousness, in salvation,
in deliverance. But these Pharisees and scribes,
they murmured, they criticized. There's a place over there in
Luke 19, you remember Zacchaeus. He got up into the tree to get
a view of the Lord as he passed by. And the Lord looked up and
told him, said, Zacchaeus, get down. Today I've got to abide
in your house. Well, these religious Pharisees
and uppity people, they said, well, he's going to be guests
with a man that's a sinner. There he is again, eating with
sinners. Doesn't that delight your soul?
It does me. The Pharisee sees in the scribes,
and you would think that any man with a heart at all, with
any kind of heart, would be happy to see all men come to see the
Lord of glory who's so easily approached. But they were offended
at it and found fault with it. How can anyone have anything
to do and have company with these kind of people, the riffraff
of the earth? sinners, publicans, the lowlifes. Well, my focus today, as I mentioned
a moment ago, is to focus our attention upon our Lord and take
encouragement to ourselves in sinners approaching Him, seeing
sinners approach Him, and how He reacts to them and how He
deals with them. and encourage us as we approach
God as sinners, as like-minded sinners. But our Lord and His
gentle manners, it's a beautiful thing to see. And the more we
look into it, the more beautiful it becomes. This scripture we
have here, this man receives sinners and eats with them. He
communes with them. He fellowships with them. Calls
them his friends. Just to dwell on that We take
that for granted, don't we? The fact that we, as sinners,
can approach God through Christ anytime, anywhere, and we're
welcome. And we can approach the throne
of grace boldly because of Him. And we're nothing but sin. God
is entirely holy. Oh, we take that for granted,
but what a blessed privilege. What a Savior. What a mediator
we have between us and God that we can come as sinners and not
pretend to be something we're not, come as we are, no pretense,
confessing what we are, and be blessed and helped and saved
by coming to Him. Oh my, we take it for granted,
but it's a wonderful thing. But let me mention some of his
offices which clearly proclaim his approachableness. And I touched
on this a minute ago. He's our mediator. Between God
and man, and as a mediator, must be akin to both parties. He said,
I'm one with the Father. I and the Father are one. So
we know that he's, as God, he is God. He's the second person
of the Trinity. But he must be approachable by
the other party, which is us, the sinners. That's the office
of a mediator. What he must do, mediate between
two parties that are at odds. He's one with the Father, and
he's the son of man. He himself is a man. He's God,
and he's man. What a mediator. Now, that's
beyond explanation. And I heard Greg Elmquist say
this the other day. We don't understand anything
that we believe. And that's pretty much the truth
of it. We believe it, that Jesus Christ
is God, and Jesus Christ is man. As much man as if he's never
God, as much God as if he was never man. In one person, the
fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in that one man, this
lowly, meek man that dwelt on this earth and died. It's beyond
explanation. God give us grace to believe
his word regarding this and everything in his word. Another office our
Lord occupies, he's our priest, our great high priest who offers
on our behalf. The great high priest, and he's
a true brother of the people, chosen from among the people,
he's made flesh as we are flesh. And our great high priest says
the scripture, he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
And he was tempted. in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. Our great high priest is one
that can be touched. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He experienced what we experience
as men. He hungered, he thirsted, he
got tired, and he's our great high priest that offers himself
on our behalf before God. We read about or we see worldly
priest these days, so-called. And doesn't that just sicken
you to see men pretend to be some kind of a priest and put
on the gaudy dress and the outfit, the costume, and parade in front
of their parishioners? But they stand apart from other
worshipers. They call themselves a reverend.
They're a couple steps higher than the other people, at least. They're to be despised. They
are to be despised. And worst of all, they profess
power to forgive sin. They're hucksters. and they're
to be despised. But our Lord alone can pardon
sin and effectually fulfill the office of priest. And though
he be the basest of men and our iniquities be ever so great,
the great friend of sinners is willing at this moment that publicans
and sinners draw near to him. And then thirdly, A third office. He's our Savior. Our Savior. What a blessed word. Savior,
we sung that song, Seth picked out, Savior, Savior, hear my
humble cry. We call on Him as our Savior
to save us. We cannot save ourselves. You
remember the bleeding man who lay in the road to Jericho? And
the priest and the Levite, they saw him laying there and they
went over to the other side to avoid him and passed by the priest
and the Levite. But the certain Samaritan who
came to know where the man was. He came where he was and stooped
over him and took wine and oil and poured in his wounds. And
he lifted him up with tender love and set him on his beast
and took him to the inn and took care of him. And we already talked
about that leper. Lord, if you can, you can make
me clean. And our Lord went to him and
reached out and touched him. Our Lord went to Him. Doesn't
He come to us when we call for Him? Lord, help me. How many
times has He come and spoke peace to our hearts? Our Lord is our
Savior. He comes where we are to save
us. We can't get up from where we are. He comes to us, our Savior,
in our wounds of sin. No matter how putrid, we'll not
drive Him away from you. Oh, our offenses, it's a nauseating
thing in the nostrils of God, the holy and righteous God, our
righteous judge. But that won't stop our Lord
from coming to us. It shall not be overcome. His love for us will not be overcome
by our wickedness, our sinfulness. And now consider with me just
a few minutes some names and titles of our Lord. The scripture
said, our Lord is the Lamb of God, a lamb. Oh, what a blessed
name, the Lamb of God, taketh away the sin of the world. Who's
ever been afraid of a lamb? You ever been around a lamb?
Every child around a lamb just wants to touch him, put his hand
on the head of that lamb. It's an instinct to put his hand
on the head of that lamb. And our Lord said to be the good
shepherd, the great shepherd of the sheep, who cares for the
sheep. And our great shepherd gave his
life for the sheep. Oh, my. The great shepherd, the
good shepherd, and the sheep are never timid in approaching
the shepherd. The shepherd watches out for
them. The shepherd cares for their safety. There's nothing
in a good shepherd, our good shepherd, to drive us away from
him. But everything we see in him entices us to come to him,
our great shepherd. And then he's called our brother.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is our brother. We've been adopted in
the family of God, our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, we're brothers. A brother is one who do all he
can to help in time of trouble. And what is it that our Lord
is not able to do? He's able to do all things above
all that we think or ask. Even so, Christ, scripture says
the brother born for adversity, the brother born for adversity
we can approach Him and call upon Him for help, because He's
our brother. He's in our family. He's family. Fourthly, He's also called our
friend. The Lord of glory is our friend,
the friend of sinners. John 15 and verse 15, we read,
Henceforth, our Lord said, I call you not servants, for the servant
knoweth not what his Lord doeth. but I've called you friends.
For all things that I've heard of my father, I've made known
unto you." And what a genuine friend is he. He's a friend in
good times and a friend in bad times. He's a friend in times
of rejoicing, in a time of want and sorrow and lack. He's a friend,
truly, that sticketh closer than a brother. And then think with
me now for a few minutes some things regarding his person,
and we've touched on this already as well. He is man and he is
God. He is both in one person, the
God-man. If he were God only, we might
well stand in fear at approaching him. We might well keep ourselves
at a distance if he were God alone and shudder at the splendor
of his majesty and view him as he is outside of Christ, a consuming
fire. But as man, he was a man of sorrows,
a man, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, familiar
with grief. This world is full of grief and
sorrow, and our Lord experienced that. He's familiar with it.
He himself endured it. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He had no place to lay his head.
He was born in a manger where the ox fed, where the cows fed. He hung on a woman's breast.
He was obedient to his parents. He is precisely as we are in
all things save sin, our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, all
man, a real man, the only real man. Does this not cause us to
desire to draw near to him? He's a man. He's our brother.
He's our shepherd. He's the lamb of God. He's God
Almighty robed in human flesh. Nothing's too hard for Him. He
said, He that asketh, receiveth. Come to Me. I will in no wise
cast you out. Does this not proclaim to all
the world His willingness to be approached by men? You know,
men like to criticize great believers, great preachers. We insist that
God doesn't love everyone. And the scripture bears that
out. God does not receive every man. God does not love every
man. The scripture teaches he receives
sinners. He loves sinners. Oh my, we ought
to rejoice in that. God bring us to that blessed
state that we're sinners. But he so identified himself
with us that he is as much man as if he were never God, and
as much God as if he were never man. And the scripture says,
without controversy, how great is the mystery of godliness.
We don't understand it. Like Greg said, we believe it.
How great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
How great is that mystery. And then here's some more of
our Lord's words. He says, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart
and ye shall find rest under your souls. For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light. What an encouragement. Come take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. I'm meek and lowly. I'm not
high and harsh. Come to Him, the meek and lowly
one. For He said also, this is a promise,
listen to this, just take this to your heart, Him that cometh
to me, I shall in no wise cast out. That thief said, Lord, remember
me. He didn't cast him out. He didn't
look and say, well, now's a fine time for you to ask me to save,
to remember you. Can't you see the condition I'm
in? But no, he said, today. He saved him completely, eternally,
right then and there. Oh, what a salvation, what a
Savior. Come, come. Our Lord stood in
that last day, that last great day of the feast, and he said,
if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Let him come
to me and drink. And what will happen? He said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Rivers of living
water. Come to me thirsty, go away from
me with rivers running out of your belly. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
our Lord says, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them
which are sent to thee. You hated my prophets. You hate
me. Oh, you that killed the prophets,
you that stoned them which I sent to you, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings. I would have, and you would not. What an awful thing. What an
awful, how awful sin is that will not come to Christ, will
not come to Him who would have them come to Him and do them
good. Our Lord says this too, some
more of our Lord's words, come now and let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, though you're a sinner, not one
sound spot on you. Though your sins be scarlet,
dark, dyed in the wool, red blood, sins as scarlet, they shall be
white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Why don't men come to Christ?
Why don't men come to Christ? He says, let the wicked forsake
his way. Forsake your way. Give up on
your way and your thinking and your will. And the unrighteous
man, his thoughts. Give up your thoughts. Your thoughts
are evil. Your thoughts are wrong. And
let him return to the Lord. And what will he do? He'll have
mercy on him. Anybody like the sound of that
word, mercy? And to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon. Not just pardon, abundantly pardon. He told that thief on the cross,
you're going to be with me in paradise today. That's abundant
pardon, isn't it? That's abundant pardon. Yet with
all this that the Scripture tells us and our Lord speaks to us
in the Scripture, The Scripture says of man, you will not come
to me that you might have life. You won't do it. I would, but
you would not. Christ is willing, but man is
not. There's a verse over there in
chapter 14 of Luke where it says a certain man made a great supper
and he sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden.
And look there in verse 18 of chapter 14. And they all with
one consent began to make excuse. And listen to this. The first
man said unto him, I bought a piece of ground and I must needs go
and see it. I must do this. I must go look
at this piece of ground. I must go see a piece of ground,
the marriage supper that God's provided. But I must forego that
and go look at a piece of ground. Man will not come to Christ.
And further, the scripture bears this out too. It says, you cannot
come to me unless the Father which has set me drawing. A man
has to be brought to the place where he doesn't say, I must
go do this and must go do that, but I must get to Christ. My
situation is desperate. I lie on the brink of eternity
and my soul is lost and my sin will destroy me for all eternity. And there's a fountain for the
soul unclean and it's found in our Lord Jesus Christ who bids
sinners to come to Him. And I've heard of Him, and I
must get to Him. I must get to Him. Let the world go. I don't need
to go see a piece of ground. I need to get to Christ. And
that only comes by the Holy Spirit convincing men of sin, causing
them to realize who they are, what they are, and that's nothing.
No claim on God. Nothing they can offer God. and
who He is. And we must have a mediator. We must have a Savior. And then, think briefly of some
of Christ's actions. We'll try to wind this up fairly
quickly. When some of the disciples said
that the Master must not be disturbed by children, Our Lord rebuked
their harshness." That's harsh. Our Lord's not harsh. He's kind. He's gentle, easily entreated. He said, "'Suffer the little
children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'"
Our Lord's a child's friend, and He stoops to hear the simple
prayers and praises of little children. If you're a child here
this morning, Never too early to call on Christ. Come to Christ
in your heart. If you're a young person, Jesus
doesn't drive you away because of your youth and lack of experience,
lack of years. Come to Him. Seek Him now and
seek Him early. There's a verse in Proverbs 8
and verse 17. I'll not have you turn there,
but it says this. They that seek me early shall
find me. That sounds like a promise. Isn't
that a promise? They that seek me early, they'll
find me. What an encouragement. There
was a woman in the city who was a sinner. Her sin had caused
her to be shunned by everyone. But having been forgiven in gratitude,
she poured precious ointment on the Savior's feet and then
wiped them with her hair. We read that in Luke 7 a little
bit ago. And then when Simon the Pharisee
would have rebuked her, the loving master said, she loves much because
she has been forgiven much. He's approachable by all, even
the worst, even the harlot, need not fear to draw near to him.
And then our Lord's actions, another thing, our Lord was always
preaching. And he was often weary. We know
he was weary. He got tired. He never uttered
an angry, irritable syllable. He was approachable by all at
all hours. As He hung on that cross, suffering
the wrath of God for all of His people, He heard the cry of a
sinner. Not once was He harsh toward
His inquirers. He graciously receives the weak
and feeble ones who come to Him, and He sends none empty away."
None empty. But here's the crowning argument
the crowning encouragement, look yonder to Calvary. See the bleeding, suffering Savior
paying for sin, not His own. And oh, how He suffered. And in the midst of His suffering,
one approached Him as He hung beside Him and cried to Him,
saying, Lord, remember me. Our Lord, in His dying hour,
spoke to this sinner in grace and said today, thou shall be
with me in paradise. There is no inopportune time
to come to Christ. Come to him now, right where
you sit. Never move a muscle. You can come to him in your heart
right this moment. He's near. He's approachable. He's passing by this moment.
Your needs to supply, reach out and touch him. Draw near to him. And then he ever liveth to make
intercession for us. Because he lives, we live. And
he's exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. There's no reason a man should
stay back, but every reason why we should come boldly to the
throne of grace. There is a throne of grace. It's
for sinners to come and bow at His feet at the throne of grace.
And we have a high priest who's passed into the heavens and intercedes
for us and hears our cries and hears the prayers of a sinner.
And then in what manner must we come to Christ? We touched
on that a minute ago. Come to Him where you sit. Never
move a muscle, never bat an eye, and you can come to Christ. Must
an aisle be walked or a hand be raised? Must we climb up to
reach a certain height or place? Is there an obstacle for us to
come to Christ? Must we, with great effort and
overcoming of obstacles, approach Christ? A thousand times no. Coming to Jesus, which saves
the soul, is this one thing. Simple, whole reliance on Him. That's it. Quit your doing. Seizing of your effort. Falling
down. Falling down before Him. No good
works, no ceremonies or experiences are demanded. A childlike faith
is the way to Jesus. There's no qualification. They
talk about qualifying what qualifies you as a sinner. Scripture says
He receives sinners. You get to Christ any way you
can. Come to Him right where you sit. And God gives you the
grace we need to approach Him. He brings you to a point where
you can do nothing. You must come to Christ. You
can't not come to Christ. He brings you to that point.
You see your need of Him. Oh, by nature we have no desire
to come to Him. It's a striking thing that we
whom we so greatly offended by our sin and rebellion is so willing
to receive us. And so convincingly in scripture
confirms this to us. The prodigal son, that's another
one. The son went out and spent all
he had on righteous living. But his father was watching for
him and saw him coming over the brow of the hill. And he ran
out to meet him, smothered him with kisses, killed the fatted
calf, put a ring on his finger, put the best robe on him in spite
of who he was and what he did. He came home. He came back to
his Father. And in like manner, we must come
to Christ. Come to the Father through Christ.
Come and welcome is what you'll hear. Come and welcome, sinner. Come and welcome. I've been looking for you, waiting
for you, watching for you. And lastly, if Christ be so approachable
by all needy ones, and needy one, anybody needy, come and
welcome and come now. Come and find a warm welcome
and great rejoicing in heaven over one who comes and is delivered. And there's no such thing as
fitness. That's why we come. We have no fitness. That's why
we need to come. That's why we must come. We're
not fit for God's heaven. And how great the folly of those
who never come to Christ. Oh, may God deliver each of us
from our own will, and our own way, and our own stubbornness,
and our own self-love, that we will not give up what we think
of ourselves. We're surely something better
than those sinners. those publicans and sinners that
Christ received. Our guilt will be our own if
we don't come to Him. Our ruin will be upon our own
heads. Despise not mercy. Despise not
mercy. Come and come now. Hear Him say,
welcome. You may. You may come. What hinders
you? It's not Christ that hinders
you. It's not the scripture. We went
through a lot of scriptures. Is there any scripture we read?
Any hint of hindrance to him that would come? Both Christ
and the scriptures encourage you to do so. Yea, even command
you to come to Christ. Hear him speak words of life.
Why will you die when Christ is so nearby? If you have no
grace, come to him for grace. You don't wait till you have
grace. You come to Him for grace. If you don't have a tender heart,
come to Him for a tender heart. Come to Him. If you have no faith,
come to Him for faith. Come to Christ to learn. Not
learn and then come to Christ. Come to Christ to be taught of
Him. And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that hears
say, come. And let him that is a thirst,
come. And whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. That's a good scripture to end
on. Take of the water of life freely, no cost. Let's bow in
prayer and we'll be dismissed. Oh, our kind and gracious Heavenly
Father, we trust, Lord, that what's been said and set forth
here this morning was honoring and truthful and honest and blessed
to the hearts of your people and use it to your honor and
glory to call out your sheep. Oh, give us all that need of
Christ that we cannot live without Him. And knowing that when we
do come to Him and we must continue to come to Him, that He'll supply
our every need. And He does supply our every
need and has supplied our every need. There's no one of anything
for the believer. Oh, how Great is our Savior. Help us to love Him and to serve
Him and honor Him. Keep us, we pray. Keep us trusting
and believing and keep us coming. And go with us through the remainder
of the day. Bring us back again tonight to worship again in Christ's
name. Amen.