How Do I Come to Christ?

Q: What does the Bible say about coming to Christ?

The Bible teaches that coming to Christ is essential for salvation, which involves recognizing one's sinfulness and relying on Him for righteousness. The act of coming to Christ is a pivotal theme throughout Scripture, particularly seen in passages like Matthew 11:28, where Jesus invites all who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest. This coming is rooted in an acknowledgment of our own sinfulness and inability to save ourselves. John 6:44 reinforces that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them, emphasizing the sovereign grace of God in the process of salvation. Thus, coming to Christ begins with a heart transformed by the Holy Spirit, leading us to believe in Him as our Savior.

Q: How do we know that faith is necessary for salvation?

Faith is essential for salvation as it is through faith in Christ that we receive the righteousness needed to be justified before God. The necessity of faith for salvation is a central tenet in Reformed theology. Ephesians 2:8-9 states, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Faith allows us to accept the grace of God that justifies us before Him. Our faith is not a work of our own, but a response enabled by the Holy Spirit, affirming that salvation is solely the work of God. Romans 10:9 also calls us to believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, highlighting the importance of faith in the process of salvation.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to come to Christ as sinners?

Coming to Christ as sinners is crucial because it acknowledges our complete reliance on His grace for salvation. Understanding our identity as sinners is fundamental to the Christian faith. Romans 3:23 teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, making it clear that no one can approach God without recognizing their own sinfulness. This acknowledgment is not merely an admission of guilt but an understanding that we are utterly dependent on Christ for righteousness. When we come to Christ, we are not bringing our worth or deeds but our brokenness, trusting in His perfect sacrifice for our salvation. This reliance on Christ as illustrated in John 10:30-42, is what transforms our hearts and lives, leading to genuine faith and repentance.

So thankful for that. He only receives sinful men, but he receives every one of them. Every single one that he makes to see their sinfulness. Sinful. Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 11, or John chapter 10, I'm sorry. John chapter 10. I've titled this message, How Do I Come to Christ?

How do I come to Christ? Just as the world that is to come, wherever we speak, the first hour this morning, is the end of our faith. So coming to Christ, is the beginning of our faith. Our experience in faith begins and continues with coming to Christ. The preaching of the gospel has as its objective the call to come to Christ. It is the message that begins in the heart of God himself and is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit to the hearts of sinful men to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe on him is to come to him. No one has ever believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. No one has ever come to Christ and been turned away. No one.

Not if we come the way God says come. All we can do is articulate the audible call, the outward call. We speak the things of God. We say what God has said. to the ears of men, knowing that if the Holy Spirit does not make those words effectual to the heart, if he doesn't issue forth the inward call, if he doesn't cause one to be willing and to come, we'll just hear them as words from another man.

That passage you were reading, Adam, goes on to say, Lord, I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even so, it seemed good in thy sight. God reveals his gospel. He reveals Christ. to those who have no strength in themselves, those who are babes, those who can't do anything to save themselves.

And when God makes us sinners, that's what happens. We come to that conclusion. I am fully responsible for all my sins, no one else's fault. Can't play the blame game with God. Faith never plays the blame game with God. We've been playing the blame game ever since the garden, haven't we?

It's the woman that thou has, that thou gave me. She gave it to me and I did eat. Oh, we can justify ourselves and accuse others for our own sin very easily, but not before God. The Lord brings us in the spirit of Christ to the throne of grace. We have to bear full responsibility for our sin and full inability to do anything about it. Lord, I've got to have Christ. I've got to have a savior. I've got to have a righteousness completely outside of myself.

That's what it means to come to Christ. And only God the Holy Spirit can do that in the heart. The Lord Jesus said, no man can come unto me except the father which sent me draw him. The father must draw him. And if the father doesn't draw him, he won't come. You cannot hear my voice because you're not on my sheep.

Coming to Christ, it is the call. It's the call of the preacher, it's the call of scripture, it's the call of the Holy Spirit. All men everywhere are commanded to repent and to believe. The Bible ends with this call. It is the conclusion of the matter, if you will. Turn to me to Revelation chapter 22, Revelation 22, the very end of God's word.

Verse 16 of Revelation 22, I, Jesus, have sent my holy angel. Now an angel is a messenger and the beginning of the book of Revelation, the preachers in the seven churches of Asia Minor are called angels in God's hand. That's not means that they're holier than thou, it just means that they've been given a message from God to disperse to the people of God. And so I, Jesus, have sent my holy angels, my angels, to testify unto you these things in the churches.

We just say what God has said. We don't add to it. We don't take away from it. We just are faithful to declare what the Lord has said. We don't speculate. Preaching the gospel is, thus saith the Lord. It's never, well, you know what it seems to me. It doesn't matter what it seems to me. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about it. What's God say about it? Just tell me what God says. And here's the message.

I am the root. The life of a tree is in its root. Job said, the root of the matter is in me. I am the root and the offspring of David. I am not only the root of the tree, I'm the fruit of the tree. I am the bright and morning star. I believe that is a reference to Venus. That's that brightest star in the sky just before the sun comes up. That's how I understand this. What is the Lord saying? You see me, the bright and morning star? Sun's fixing to come up. The night's fixing to end. The day's about to start. and it's going to be an eternal day when that sun rises. Never gonna get dark again.

Verse 17, and the spirit, that's the spirit of God, that's the effectual call, that's the inward call, that's the voice of God speaking to the hearts of sinners, and the bride, that's the church, Right now, I am your audible voice, just telling you what God says. So the church, when you share the gospel with your friends, when you talk to people, you are the bride of Christ, agreeing with the Spirit of God.

And what are you saying? What are you saying? Do you hear? Come. Let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Do you have ears to hear? Do you hear the message of the gospel? Do you hear that you are a sinner and that Christ Jesus is the successful savior of sinners? Come, come to Christ.

Let him who is a thirst, Do you live in a dry and thirsty land? Do you live in a desert? Do you find that in this parched land there is no water? Well, there is a river. There is a river that flows clear as crystal from the throne of God. Come and drink from the water of life. If any man drink of this water that I shall give you, he shall never thirst again. You're not gonna go looking for water somewhere else. You're gonna find all that water in Christ. He's for the thirsty soul. He's the rock that the rod of Moses smoked in the wilderness out from which came the water of life.

Whosoever will, are you willing? Have you been made willing in the day of his power? Are you taking pride in the fact that that will is a decision on your part? Well, that's not being made willing. God made me willing. If any man wills, come. What is the message of the gospel? Come to Christ. Come. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and take of the water of life freely.

Now, if you will, turn with me to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. We often quote from this passage, sometimes not perfectly, sometimes just in part, but I want us to read these verses together. Matthew chapter 11. This is the verse that I was thinking of when the Lord said, even so, Father, in verse 26, it seemed good in thy sight.

Look at verse 28, come. This is the words of Christ. This is the Lord Jesus concluding his message. Come, come unto me. You don't come to a man, you don't come to a doctrine, you don't come to an altar, you come to Christ. This is something that's done without moving a muscle of your body. This is something that's done right there in your heart, in the power of the Spirit of God, through the act of faith, coming. Come unto me.

All ye that labor. Now the whole world's laboring. Everybody's trying to labor with themselves. They're trying to make themselves better. They're laboring with the trials of life. Everybody's laboring. All ye that labor and are heavy laden. Now that word heavy laden means you're crushed by your labor.

You can't labor anymore. You've come to your wit's end. You've come to the end of your strength. You can't do anything about your sin. You can't do anything about your circumstances. You've got to have, you've got to have Christ. You've got to have God. Come unto me all ye that labor and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.

Yes, they shall all be taught of God and When we are called of God, the Lord teaches us. The Lord speaks truth to our hearts. The Lord causes us to say, yes, those words that I'm hearing in my ear, the Lord is making true to my heart. I'm being taught of God. God is speaking.

But more importantly, I'm learning of Him, not just by Him. He's not only the teacher, but he's the subject of the lesson. He's teaching me who he is and what he's done. Come take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. I'm not here to browbeat you. I'm not here to beat you into submission or threaten you with the law. I'm here to love you.

I'm here to show you the goodness of God. That will lead you to repentance, that will break your heart, that will cause you to come. Adam was gripped with fear in the garden and fear led him to try to clothe himself with fig leaves, fear led him to try to cover his nakedness with his own works, fear led him to hide among the trees of the garden. Fear caused him to run from God. I am meek and lowly. My burden is light. My yoke is easy. I've already bore the burden of the law. I've bore the curse of God. Come, get in the yoke with me. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to love you.

And you shall find rest for your soul. Not you might, not well in time you'll get there. No, you shall find rest for your soul. You come to Christ, you've got a place to rest. Rest from your labors. Christ being our Sabbath, no longer trying to work our way to heaven. We're resting in the one who is in heaven. the one who was welcomed by his heavenly father, the one who sent his works before him and was received back into glory and took his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on high. My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

So the scriptures conclude with the spirit and the bride say come. The Lord Jesus in this message concludes the message by saying, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. When Peter was preaching the first message after the ascension of Christ on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, the scripture says this, that Peter's concluding Word was this, this same Jesus whom you have crucified, God has made to be both Lord and Christ. He's the reigning Christ. He's the reigning Lord. And the scripture says that those listening to Peter on the day of Pentecost were pricked in their hearts.

And they said, what can we do? What can we do? Did Peter say, nothing you can do? No, Peter said, come, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repent, every one of you. That's the outward call. When the Philippian jailer was about to fall on his own sword in fear of what would happen to him by his superiors having not been able to keep the prisoners. And Peter said, don't harm yourself. We're all still here. And what did the Philippian jailer say? What must I do to be saved? Peter didn't say, well, you know, there's nothing you can do.

Just go home and wait and see if God does something for you. Wait for a feeling, wait for a voice from heaven. Know the call of the gospel is always to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You see, if we take the sovereignty of God in salvation, as some have done, to what we might consider to be its logical conclusion, If we react against those who make coming to Christ a work, that make coming to Christ a decision, if we react against that by saying, well, you know, there's nothing you can do. Just wait and see if God does something for you. We've not been faithful to scripture and we've erred in the other direction. We have a tendency to do that, don't we? We have a tendency to swing the pendulum from one extreme to the other.

No, the call of the gospel is always believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Come. It is the conclusion of every message. As heaven is the goal for our souls, so the call to come to Christ is the conclusion of every message. But it's not a sudden conclusion that, where'd that come from? It's the natural conclusion of everything that's being said. In other words, the whole message of the gospel is come to Christ. at every point from beginning to end.

We are calling on men to believe. We are calling on men to come. And if you're thirsty, it's because God made you thirsty. If you're willing, it's because God made you willing. If you're heavy laden, you're overwhelmed with the burden of your sin, it's because God made you to be a sinner. Come. Come. How do I come? Well, we've already made our first point, haven't we? We come as a sinner. A sinner.

One who has nothing to offer God but their sin. One who is, as we've read, In Matthew chapter 11, overwhelmed with the burden of their sin and unable to do anything to lift it. One whose righteousness is, that's the best thing about them, is as filthy rags before God. That's a miracle of grace. That's not the natural man's conclusion about himself. The natural man believes himself to have some ability. He believes himself to have some goodness.

Except you become as a little child, you should not enter the kingdom of heaven. That little child is not a toddler. That little child is an infant. Suffer the little children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of God. What can an infant do for itself? It can't feed itself. It can't express its needs. It's completely dependent upon someone else to care for everything in its life or it will die. That's how we come. That's a sinner. All an infant can do is cry and mess itself up and that's all we can do before God. Why did the Pharisees hate Christ so much. The same reason that Cain hated his brother Abel.

Let me show you that. Turn with me to 1 John 3. Right before Revelation, 1 John 3. Now in the context of what John's saying here, he's talking about loving our brethren, but there's something very telling about Cain's feelings toward his brother Abel and what the natural man's feelings are towards Christ. Verse 12, 1 John chapter 3, not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Why did Cain kill his brother Abel? Here's the reason. Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Jealousy.

Abel's offering was accepted by God because he brought the firstlings of the fruit of the flock. He brought a blood sacrifice and God had respect for Abel's sacrifice and received Abel's sacrifice. Cain brought the works of his hands. He tried to put his dirty hands on the altar. He tried to offer God something that he had done. Why did Cain kill his brother Abel? Because Cain's works were evil and Abel's works were righteous, nothing's changed. The first murder was the same reason why when God gave man the ability to kill his son, they killed him, same reason.

Let me show you that, John chapter three. The Lord is speaking to Nicodemus, an outwardly righteous man. A man that if you had lived in Jerusalem, you might have agreed with everybody else. If Nicodemus doesn't go to heaven, none of us have got a chance. Look at that man. He knows the Bible, he's living an exemplary life concerning the law, he's blameless. The Lord said, Nicodemus, except you're born of the Spirit of God, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was clueless, he didn't know. And so in verse 20, the Lord tells Nicodemus. Verse 19, Nicodemus, this is the condemnation.

Light has come into the world, the Lord Jesus being the light of the world. He's the one who reveals the truth. He reveals the truth about man's nature. He reveals the truth about God. Only the light of God can show us in our hearts what we are before God, sinners. Light has come into the world.

And men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Now, does that mean that men won't come to Christ because they're engaged in all sorts of shameful activities and behavior that they know they would have to change if they came to Christ? Well, yeah, but that's not all of it. It goes back to Cain and Abel. Cain's gifts were evil because they came from his hands.

Men will not come to Christ because he is righteous and they are evil. And they're trusting in their righteousness for their salvation. Verse 20, for everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, that their deeds should be Discovered, that's the word there, reproved. Doesn't just mean corrected, it means discovered, it means unveiled, it means exposed for what they are. Men will not come to Christ because in coming to Christ, their righteousness is exposed for what it is, filthy rags before God. The best thing about them is exposed. It is revealed, it is reproved by God.

But, verse 21, he that doeth truth, what is it to do truth? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to come to Christ. That's to do the truth. He that cometh, he that doeth truth cometh to light that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God. It was God that gave me the faith to come to Christ. This was His doing in my heart. And if there's any virtue in my life, it's to the glory of God. I'm His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. He's the one that gets the glory, I can't. I can't get any credit for that. Every time I looked at anything I do, all I see is the part that I've touched.

The prophet Isaiah said it like this, come, buy and eat. without money and without price. Now, that word price that Isaiah uses is the word barter. Don't try to pay for it and don't try to bargain with God. Don't say, well, Lord, I'll come if you'll save me and I'll do this or that and, you know, we're making deals with God. No. No, you come without money and without price, empty-handed. Lord, I don't have anything, I can't do anything, I don't know anything, I'm dependent upon you.

That's how a sinner comes to Christ. Go back with me to our text. I think I asked you at the beginning to open to John chapter 10 and we never did really. I want to show you a couple of words in our text at the end of John chapter 10 that got me thinking about what it means to come to Christ. What does it mean to come to Christ? How do I come? I come as a sinner. But there's a couple of words in this passage that intrigued me and I looked them up and they're not translated come in our King James Bible but in the original language they are the verb to come.

And one of them was kind of curious. If you look in verse 39, therefore they sought again to take him. Why were they going to take him? Because he said, I and my father are one. I'm God. And they wanted to take him. And verse 39 says, and they wanted to deliver him to the Sanhedrin, they wanted to crucify him. but his hour had not yet come. When his hour came, he gave himself to them. Whom seeketh thee? Jesus of Nazareth, I am. And those soldiers fell backwards. My hour has come. The Lord Jesus was in complete control of all the events of his life and death, still is. He wasn't the victim. He laid down his life for his sheep.

Verse 39, therefore, they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand. Now we usually use the word escape to describe an evasive maneuver, slip away, unbeknown, just kind of, it's the verb to come. but the emphasis is on the word is where he's coming from. In other words, it's kind of like, but he left them. Not he escaped, he didn't have to be evasive. He just walked away and they didn't see him. He just hid their eyes from who he was and where he was going and he left them.

And so this coming to Christ has something to do with where we come from. Verse 40, and he went away again beyond Jordan, on the other side of Jordan, into the place where John first baptized, and there he abode, there he stayed. What's on the other side of Jordan? Wilderness. And many, you see that next word, resorted, these are the two words, escaped and resorted. One has to do with, the escape has to do with where one comes from and resorted is also the verb to come, but it has to do with where one comes to.

So this coming to Christ involves coming from a place and it involves coming to a place. Many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracles, but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there. Where did the Lord Jesus come from? He came from self-righteous works religion. That's what these men represented.

That's why they hated him. He left them to themselves. He never went back. John chapter 10 verse 39 is a very, very dark, sad commentary on the Jews. because he never goes back to them again. It is the end of his public ministry among the Jews. He will go into the wilderness, spend six months. When he comes back, he will lay down his life at the cross. The disciples once said, Lord, you've offended the Pharisees. What did the Lord Jesus say? Leave them alone. They are blind guides leading the blind and they all fall into the ditch. Just leave them alone.

Coming to Christ has to do with something that you leave, a place that you come from. Where do we all live by nature? We live in our own self-righteousness. Whether a person has had experience in a works religion, a freewill religion, or whether they've sat under the gospel, the natural bent of the natural man before they hear the voice of God is to trust themselves for their own salvation, to go about trying to establish their own righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness of God.

You got to come out of that. Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Now, when we were in self-righteous religion, professing ourselves to be better than the irreligious and better than the life that we were living before we, quote, got saved, we thought coming out from among them meant that we don't do the things we used to do. But that's not what the Lord is talking about. He's talking about what he's talking about. You escape. You come out of that, you can't come to Christ without leaving a place.

These are the men that hated Christ because he was righteous and they were evil. They were jealous of what he was saying. They were going about trying to establish light has come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. The light exposed them for what they were and they wanted to kill him. And he came out of that. He just left them.

The apostle Paul said, I was a Jew of Jews. I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was circumcised the eighth day. I was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was concerning the law. He said, I was blameless. There's nobody that could charge me with being a lawless man.

But when the commandment came, when God spoke effectually to my, he knew the law of God. He knew the 10 commandments. But when the law of God came to his heart, he said this about himself, sin revived and I died. I thought that I was alive. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. When God spoke truth to my heart and told me that this matter of sin is a matter of the heart, not what men see, but what God sees. When God looks down the throat, he sees an open sepulcher. He sees that the heart is desperately wicked.

Paul said, those things that I thought were gained to me, I now count but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Coming to Christ mean that I had to come from something. I had to come from something. I've met people, know some people right now. Claim to believe the gospel won't come out. Won't come out. Trying to play both ends towards the middle. No, when the Lord shows you who Christ is and what he's done, you can have no part in that legalistic religion anymore. There is a place that you leave.

Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. I'm sorry, Hebrews 13. We're gonna look at Hebrews 11 in a minute, but let's look at Hebrews 13. Verse 11. For the bodies of those beasts, now the writer of Hebrews is talking about all the sacrificial animals that were shed, that were killed in the old covenant as a foreshadowing, as a type, as a picture of what the Lord Jesus would accomplish.

For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. A part of those sacrificial bodies were taken outside of the camp and they were consumed by fire. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate. They took him outside the city to Mount Calvary. He died outside the gate.

Verse 13. Let us go, therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Let us follow Christ. He went outside the gate. The animals in the Old Testament were taken outside the gate. Coming, how do I come to Christ? That's the message. How do I come to Christ? You come to him as a sinner, but coming to him means that you escape something. It's a place that you came from and you can't go back.

Hebrews chapter 11, look at Hebrews 11. We'll look at that real quick. Look at verse 13 in Hebrews chapter 11. These all died in faith, the Old Testament saints, but not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers, aliens. and pilgrims just passing through.

This world was not their home. For they that say such things, here's what it means to come to Christ. We say the same thing. We're strangers to this world. We're pilgrims in this world. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have opportunity to have returned, but now they desire a better country. That is a heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. This coming to Christ involves coming out of something. But it also involves coming to something. Go back with me to John chapter 10. They, verse 41, resorted unto him. They came to where he was. Where was he?

Beyond Jordan. Now Jerusalem's on the west side of Jordan. Jordan was the dividing line. The east side of Jordan was desert, wilderness. It's where the children of Israel came when Joshua brought them across. They followed the Lord Jesus into the desert. What does the desert represent? It's this world in which we live.

There's no food in the desert. The only food for a hungry soul in the desert is the manna that comes down from heaven. So if we followed Christ to the other side of Jordan, if we followed Him into this wilderness, we're confessing that he is our daily bread. And that for our souls to be sustained in the desert, we're gonna have to feed on that manna that came down from heaven. There's no water in the desert.

We're gonna die of thirst if we have to depend upon what the desert can give us to quench the thirst of our soul. And we're not talking about physical water and physical food. There's plenty of food, plenty of water in this desert. We're talking about spiritual things here. And if I'm going to drink, I'm going to have to go to the river of life that flows from the throne of God. There's no roadmaps in the desert. Abraham, who's called the father of the faithful, left the area of the Chaldees. He didn't know where he was going. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. He didn't know where they were going.

That pillar of fire by night and that pillar of cloud by day, that's Christ. So in order for me to know where I'm going in this desert that I have followed the Lord Jesus into, I'm gonna have to look to him and depend upon him. I'm gonna have to walk by faith.

And this faith is not a blind faith. It's not a blind faith. you know, motivational speakers used to call the power of positive thinking, you know, and I want to be a positive person, I want to think positive about stuff, but the way they think about it, now what they call it is manifesting. You heard that term? the motivational speakers of the day, those out in the desert or out on the west side of the Jordan telling people how to live, they call it manifesting, visualizing.

What they say is if you see it in your mind's eye and you believe it and you believe it strong enough, you can manifest it, you can make it happen. Now that's exactly what the Pentecostals have been saying for years in religion. And they get the whole congregation to repeat words. And you just say these words, you can make it happen. I'm going to manifest something. And they call that faith. That's not faith. That's self-righteousness. That's putting yourself on the throne of God. That's presumption. That's a pipe dream. Our faith is not blind. We're not trying to manifest something by believing it strong enough. We're not thinking that if we can just visualize something, we can make it happen. No, we've been given clear instructions on how to walk. Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 19. Psalm 19.

We're in the desert. We've come from a place and we've come to a place. We as the Lord Jesus have escaped from the self-righteousness of legalistic free will religion. We have escaped out of this world. We're now walking by faith. We followed him to the other side of Jordan. We're feeding on the bread of life. We're drinking the water of life. We're looking to Christ for our life and all the hope of our salvation. And we're not doing it like men do it.

We're doing it by the word of God. Verse seven. Now, law, statutes, commandments, these are all words used to describe the word of God. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than fine gold, sweeter also than honey on the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. In the world, one man says, well, this is right and this is wrong. God's given us his word. We just believe God. Faith is not believing that God will do something if we believe it strong enough. Faith is believing God. Let's believe what God has said.

What did they say? They said in our text, they said, that Christ performed these great miracles? We believe what John said about him. What did John say about him? Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. I must decrease, he must increase. And they left John and they followed Christ. And the Lord Jesus asked those who left John to follow him.

What seek ye? What are you coming for? What are you looking for? And what did they say? Lord, where do you abide? Where do you abide? We just wanna be where you are. He abides among his people. He abides in his word. He abides in heaven. He abides in our hearts. We come to Christ as a sinner, looking to him for all the hope of our salvation, rejoicing in wherever it is he abides. Lord, I just want to be where you are. Brother Tom, I'm sorry. I forgot. Give me one more minute.

I wanted to conclude this message with a hymn that I think we've sang it once before. This hymn was written in the mid-1800s by Charlotte Elliott and then in my lifetime In the early 50s, the 1950s, Billy Graham stole it from the church. And he used it to try to manipulate men to come forward in his revival meetings. And free will churches ever since then have used this hymn to try to manipulate men to walk an aisle and come forward.

That's not coming to Christ. And when Charlotte Elliott wrote, I Come, I Come, she wasn't talking about coming to an altar. She wasn't talking about coming to a preacher. She wasn't talking about getting out of their seat and walking down an aisle. She asked a man by the name of Caesar Milan. He preached the gospel. He was kicked out of the established church and he was an itinerant preacher and she heard him preach one time. And everything he said was, come to Christ, come to Christ, come to Christ. And Charlotte Elliott said, how do I come to him? And Caesar Milan said to her, come as you are. Come just like you are.

This is a good hymn. There's one word we're gonna change, not because it necessarily needs to be changed. It's hymn number, by the way, 249. Open your hymnal, if you will, to number 249. The very last stanza, stanza five. Just as I am, thou wilt receive. Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve.

The word because. Now, in light of everything I've read about her and she believed the gospel, Caesar mom believed the gospel, there's nothing wrong with because I believe faith is the evidence of our salvation. But let's change that word because to Christ is. Christ is the promise, I believe. It's not, my faith is not what gives me cause to come but Christ the promise I come." We call on men to come to Christ.

Everything in this hymn as we sing it together think about the words and see if this is how you're coming. It's how Charlotte Elliot came. She suffered 50 years with a debilitating chronic illness that was never diagnosed. She felt useless. She had bouts of discouragement and even despair. But she came to Christ and wrote these words. We can sing them in the spirit in which she sang them. not the way they've been abused more recently. Let's stand together. Number one, 249, number 249. ♪♪

How Do I Come to Christ?

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How Do I Come to Christ?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about coming to Christ?

How do we know that faith is necessary for salvation?

Why is it important for Christians to come to Christ as sinners?

Sermon Transcript

About Greg Elmquist

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