Well, good morning everyone.
It's very good to see everybody here this morning. If you would
open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 10. Mark the 10th chapter. Before
we begin, let's bow before our Lord in prayer. Our Father, we're so thankful
to be able to meet together with our brothers and our sisters
this morning and be able to bow before you in worship, be able
to hear your gospel and sing your praises, come before you
in prayer, and offer before you our praise and thanksgiving.
Father, we're so thankful that you've enabled us to be here.
Father, I pray that you'd be pleased to bless us, ascend your
spirit upon us, and give us an hour of true worship. Speak to
us through your word, I pray, Father, you be our teacher, apply
your word to our hearts, that we might believe on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we, our love for him may
be increased, our faith for him might be increased, and our knowledge
of him may be increased. Bless us, Father, I pray. And
what we pray for ourselves, we pray for your people, everywhere
that they are meeting together today. Father, bless your word. for your great namesake and for
the good of your people. Father, as we go through this
world here below, we learn more and more and more
clearly how much we need. We need to hear your word preached. We need you to bless your word
to our hearts. We need your presence. We need your mercy. We need your
grace. Father, be with us, I pray. Be with those, Father, who are
sick and hurting and those who are away from us father bless
them with your presence we pray that you would heal and deliver
as soon as it could be thy will but until it is your will to
heal and to deliver father i pray you give them a special portion
of your presence in their hearts that they may learn by experience
you will never leave nor forsake your people and that your grace
is sufficient Now Father, all these things we ask and we give
thanks to that name which is above every name, the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's for his sake and his glory
we pray, amen. Now I've titled the lesson this
morning, People Who Come to Christ. You know, the commandment of
the gospel is this, is to repent and to believe on the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent, turn away from that idol
that you've made up, that you're trusting in, and turn to Christ,
trust Him. That is the commandment of the
gospel. Come to Christ. The theme of
my ministry, I hope, that you hear me say this in every message,
come to Christ. Right now, where you sit, in
your heart, you come to Christ. And coming to Christ simply means
this, to believe Him. This is the commandment of the
gospel, to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Coming
to Christ means that you believe Him. that you believe that he
is all it takes to save you. That is the commandment of God
to all men. The Apostle Paul in Acts 17 verse
30 said that God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So all men are commanded
to come to Christ, aren't they? All men certainly should come
to Christ, shouldn't we? Because we need him. He's our
only hope of salvation, he's our only hope of Forgiveness
is our only hope of eternal life. All men should come to Christ.
But sadly, most men do not come to Christ. But I know who will. I know who will come to Christ.
And this morning, I wanna give you five descriptions of people
who come to Christ. And I hope that you find this
is the spirit and attitude that the Lord's given you. Number
one, people who are like unto little children. They come to
Christ. Look here, Mark chapter 10, verse
13. And they brought young children
to him that he should touch them. And his disciples rebuked those
that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was
much displeased and said unto them, suffer the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom
of God. The people who fill up the kingdom
of God are like these little children. Now you think about
this scene, that these people are bringing their little children
to the Lord and the disciples, you know, the preacher's job
is to bring people to Christ, to point people to Christ, isn't
it? Here the parents are bringing their little children to the
Lord and the disciples are trying to keep them away from the Lord.
You know, they're not important enough. And the Lord rebuked
them. You know, there's no one who
is more important to the Lord. than his little children. And
that's who these little children represent. They represent God's
little children. And God always blesses his little
children when they come to him. Look at verse 16. And he took
them up in his arms and put his hands upon them and blessed them. They brought these little children
to the Lord. And he said, the kingdom of God,
the people who fill up the kingdom of God are like these little
children. And the Lord took them up in his arms and he blessed
them. The Lord blessed those little
children. Now that tells me that I want to come to Christ as a
little child. You know, people who come to
the Lord in faith, believing him, they come as little children. And they're always accepted.
I looked up this word, little children, and from what I can
gather, mostly, usually, that this term refers to toddler age
children. Sometimes it can refer to babies,
but usually it is used referring to toddler-aged children. So
I thought I would use some of the traits of toddler-aged children
to illustrate what the Lord is saying about what is the attitude
of His little children, those who come to Christ and are blessed
of Him. You know, toddlers, they know that they don't know everything. They know they hardly know anything
at all. That's why toddlers ask so many
questions. What's that? What's that? What's that? Why
is the sky blue? Why are you doing that? Why is
this this way? They know they need to be taught.
Then come to Christ as a little child who needs to be taught.
Come asking the Lord, Lord, teach me, teach me your way. Lord,
teach me who you are. Teach me who I am. Teach me how
much I need you. Lord, teach me I don't know everything.
You know, that's a big problem most of us have. We think we
already know everything. Lord, teach me that I don't know
anything. Teach me how gracious and tender
you are. Teach me how I can always depend
on you. Lord, teach me. Look over at
John chapter six. I tell you, those who the Lord
teaches, they'll come to Christ and they'll never leave him.
That's why we should come praying, Lord, teach me. John six, verse
44. No man can come to me, except
the Father which has sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day, as it's written in the prophets, and they shall
be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. If the Lord ever teaches you
who Christ is, you're gonna come to him. So come to God, come
to Christ as a little child who needs to be taught. And you know
what? The Lord's going to take you
up in His arms and bless you. Here's another thing I know about
toddlers. At this stage in my life, I'm
pretty intimate, intimately familiar with what toddlers do. I got
a grandson who's a toddler. Toddlers can't reach stuff. You
know, they can't reach the countertops. They can't reach in the upper
cabinets, you know. Now, my grandson, he knows what's
on the countertop. He knows what's in every cabinet
up there in the in the kitchen. And when he wants something,
he just goes and points at it. Now, if Papa's there, he's going
to get it. Whatever it is, he's going to
get it. But toddlers can't reach nothing. They need somebody else
to get it for them. And they're not afraid to ask,
are they? Then come to God. Come to Christ as a little child
who cannot reach what God requires of us. I cannot reach, I cannot
attain unto the holiness that God requires of me. Then my prayer
is, Lord, reach down to me. Reach down to me and give me
that holiness that you require. Reach down to me and lift me
up, because I can't reach. I cannot attain to what you require
of me. I can't reach high enough to
see the Lord. I can't reach high enough to
be on the plane where I can see the Lord. Then Lord, would you
reach way down here to the bottom of the barrel and lift me up
and enable me to see you? Lord, lift me up because I can't
reach. Lord, I can't reach the door handle. I can't open the
door myself, and I want to come in. Lord, would you open the
door for me? Lord, would you be the door for
me, the door of the sheep for me, and let me go in and out
and find pasture? I tell you, come to Christ like
a little child who can't reach what God requires of you, and
he's going to lift you up, take you in his arms and bless you.
Then toddlers, they have accidents, don't they? They need their diaper
changed or their pull-ups or something, trying to potty train
them. They have accidents. They make messes. Come to God
as a little child. Lord, I'm a mess. I don't just
make a mess. I am a mess. Lord, would you
change me? Would you clean me? Would you
wash me? Would you cause me to be born again? I can't do it
for myself. Lord, would you cleanse me in
your blood? If you come that way, asking
to be cleansed in the blood of Christ, almighty God will take
you up in his arms and he'll bless you. That's what he said. Toddlers, they also, they do
a pretty good job of feeding themselves. But you know, even
when they're feeding themselves, they make a mess. and they certainly
don't know what's best for them to eat. Come to God as a little
child. Lord, would you feed me? Feed
me with food that's convenient for me. Feed me what's best. Lord, would you put me in the
green passages of your word and feed me? Lead me and guide me
in your word. Would you feed me in your word?
I'll tell you, if you come to Christ as a sinner who needs
to be fed, Fed in God's word, I promise you this, the Lord
will take you up in his arms and bless you. And then toddlers,
they're afraid of the dark. You know that when they're little
babies, they're not afraid of the dark, but eventually they normally
grow to be afraid of the dark. And they just need to be snuggled,
don't they? They just need to be just up
against the body of mama or daddy or somebody that loves them.
Sometimes they're not even afraid of the dark. They just need to
be snuggled. They just need to feel loved and secure. I'll tell
you, come to Christ as a little child who needs to feel secure
in the Savior's love. Lord, I need your love. I need
your presence. I crave your presence. You come
to God, come to Christ as a little child like that. He'll take you
up in his arms and he'll bless you. He'll bless you with his
presence. And I tell you this, come to
Christ as a little child, because if you don't, if you don't come
to God, come to Christ as a little child, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven. Look what the Lord says in verse
15 in our text again, Mark 10. Verily I say unto you, whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he
shall not enter therein. That's why it's so important
why I'm telling you, come to Christ as a little child. People
who come to Christ as little children, they're blessed. They'll
enter the kingdom of heaven. All right, here's the second
thing. People who come to Christ, they're spiritually hungry. David
said in Psalm 107 verse nine, for he satisfied the longing
soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Now I'll tell
you what David's talking about there. He's talking about feeding
souls. feeding the souls of sinners
on Christ because he's the only one that's good. And he has to
be talking about feeding the spiritually. He says he satisfies
the soul. He's not talking about feeding
every hungry belly in the world because for whatever it is, God's
purpose and reason is for it. There are plenty of people hungry
in the world right now whose bellies have not been filled.
But I tell you this, there's not one sinner on this planet
who's hungry for Christ, who will be left hungry and empty.
Not one. He's gonna satisfy that soul
that longs after Christ. He's gonna satisfy them with
Christ. You know, we feel hungry. You know, our belly is empty. And I'll just venture this guess
that there's nobody in this room who's ever truly been hungry. Not truly. I mean, I don't go
more than four hours or so without eating, you know? except at nighttime. But when we're truly hungry,
you know, we're malnourished or whatever, you feel the effects
of hunger in your organs and the cells of our bodies because
they're not getting the nutrients that they need. You know, we
feel lightheaded. We can't think straight. We don't
have any energy because our body is lacking what it needs to function
properly. Well, that's us spiritually,
isn't it? When we're spiritually hungry, The Lord has given us
the realization, I don't have what I need in me. I'm lacking. I'm empty. I'm empty of righteousness. I'm empty of goodness. I'm empty
of anything that God requires of me. I'm empty. I feel lifeless
because I am lifeless. I don't have any life without
Christ. And we can't think straight. When we're spiritually hungry,
we don't think straight. We don't think straight about
God, and we don't think straight about ourselves. We don't, do
we? And there isn't anything we can
do to fill ourselves and make this hunger, the spiritual hunger,
go away. Well, look at John chapter six. That hungry sinner, I'll tell
you what he needs to do. He needs to go to Christ. John
chapter six, verse 32. Then Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For
the bread of God is he. The bread of God is not a thing.
The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. And they said, Lord evermore,
give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life. He that cometh to me, remember
coming to Christ means believing on him. He that believes on Christ.
He that comes to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. Now you come to Christ as a hungry
sinner. And what did he say here? If
you do, he'll fill you. He'll fill you with Christ. He'll
fill you with righteousness. He'll fill you with eternal life.
And you'll never hunger again. Now you'll hunger in the sense,
boy, Sunday rolls around, I want to hear the gospel again. I need
to be fed the gospel again. Wednesday rolls around, you say,
I'm hungry again, need to be fed again. But you're not hunger
in the sense that you'll ever be without Christ ever again.
He'll fill you. The Lord said, you come to me
as a hungry, empty sinner, and I'll fill you. I want to ask
you a question. Why would you wait? Why would
you wait? The Lord says, whoever it is
that comes to him hungry will be filled. Look at verse 50.
The Lord says, this is the bread which cometh down from heaven,
that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread,
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
if any man believes on Christ, when he's speaking about eating
his body, he's talking about believing on him. Any man who
eat this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I give for the light of the world. Notice what the Lord says here,
I give it. You don't have to come earn it.
You don't have to come buy it with your own good works and
your own righteousness. The Lord said, I give it. Now come to
Christ as a empty, hungry sinner, and he'll fill you. He'll fill
you with the living bread. All right, here's the third thing.
People who are spiritually thirsty, they come to Christ. Now thirst
is our body's way of telling us we don't have enough fluids
in us. And real thirst, that's more
than just having a dry mouth. If you become dehydrated, your
whole body is screaming for fluids. You feel dizzy, you've got a
headache, your muscles are cramping. I find this fascinating about
dehydration. When you're dehydrated, you throw
up. Even though you need to hang
on to every ounce of fluid that you got in your body, you throw
up. Your body's not working right,
is it, when you're dehydrated? It's hard for me to think of
a better description of a sinner than that. Sinners are thirsty. We don't have in us by nature
what God requires of us. Most people don't know that.
But if you're a thirsty sinner, you know why you're thirsty?
Because the Lord's been pleased to give you a revelation that
you need something that's not in you. You need something that
you can't produce for yourself. You need something from outside
of you to be put in you, to satisfy this thirst. If you're a thirsty
sinner, you realize, I need righteousness, and I don't have any. I need
holiness, and I don't have any. The Lord's given you the realization,
you need spiritual life, but you don't have any. That's what
a thirsty sinner is. Now look over a page of John,
or first back at John chapter four. John chapter four. I'll tell you where a thirsty
sinner should go. If you're spiritually thirsty here this morning, I'll
tell you what to do. Go to Christ. John 4, verse 10. I won't read this whole encounter
with the Samaritan woman at the well, but just a couple of verses
here. Verse 10. Jesus answered and
said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God. See, this is
the gift. It's not something you have to
earn. It's something God gives. It's the gift of God. And who
it is that sayeth to thee, give me to drink, Thou wouldest have
asked of him, and he would have given thee living water, living
water, water that satisfies your spiritual thirst. Verse 13, Jesus
answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing
up unto everlasting life. And then verse 26, this is how
this conversation concluded with this thirsty sinner. Jesus saith
unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. I'm he. I'm the living water. Now you
come to me and believe on me and you'll never thirst again.
You'll have all righteousness. You'll have all holiness. You'll
have all forgiveness. You'll have eternal life. Come
to Christ and he'll fill you. You won't thirst, you won't need
anything else but Christ. Now look over at John chapter
seven. This is what the Lord has to
say to thirsty sinners. John seven, verse 37. In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst,
let him come unto me. He's not talking about physical
water there. He's talking about spiritual water. Let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. Now, are you a thirsty sinner?
I mean, has the Lord given you any realization whatsoever you
don't have in you what God requires of you? Then I tell you what
to do. to Christ, and why would you
delay? The Lord says here he gives the
water of life freely to every thirsty sinner that comes to
him. Now are you thirsty? Come and
drink, come and drink. And I'll tell you what I know
about this. You'll go to Christ when the Lord gets you thirsty.
If the Lord will get you thirsty, this is why I always, in every
message, point out our total depravity. We have no righteousness. We have no goodness. We have
no morality. We have nothing that God requires
of us. I tell you that, hoping God will
make us thirsty. If God ever gets you thirsty,
you're gonna come to Christ. And when you do, you'll never
thirst again. All right, here's the fourth
thing. People who are spiritually weary
come to Christ. Now the law of God, the law of
God, it's holy, it's just, it's good, but God's law is a burden
to us, isn't it? And you know why it's a burden
to us? Because we can't keep it. We cannot do what God's law
says. The law requires infinitely more
than we can ever produce. And that's a burden. The burden
of the law just crushes us. So we can't go on. We can't carry
it. The law is a never-ending taskmaster. Suppose for a moment that you
could obey the law for a second, two seconds. You know what the
law would say? You got to keep doing it. You
got to keep doing it. You got to keep doing it. You
got to keep doing it. And if at any point in your history,
from the time of your birth till now, you've ever not obeyed the
law, the law says you must be condemned because the law requires
Perfection. The law does not require the
best we can do. The law requires perfection.
More obedience and more obedience and more obedience. So for that
reason, the law can never give you rest. The law doesn't give
you rest because it's always requiring, no matter how much
you've done in the past, you've got to do more. Now that's a
burden, isn't it? It's a burden that we cannot
carry. You know, people who are under works religion, They have
to keep on keeping on, they have to keep on doing more, they have
to keep on doing more. I just think at some point, don't
you get tired? Don't you get tired? And if the
Lord is ever pleased to show you that you cannot do enough
to satisfy his holy character, you'll finally feel the crushing
burden of the law. And if you feel that burden of
the law, you feel that law pressing on you, requiring you to do something
that by nature is impossible for you to do. If you've got
a job to do and you have the skill to do it, it's not a real
burden. I mean, I can get it done eventually.
You know what a burden is? Having a job to do that you don't
have the ability to do. Now, if God's given you a burden
like that, I tell you what to do. It's the happiest, most joyful
thing in this world. Come to Christ and rest. Look
at Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. Verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, you got a burden you can't carry, you're
so tired, you're so bone weary, the Savior says, come to me and
I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you learn of Christ,
tell you what, you shall find rest for your souls. Now if you've
been trying and failing to keep the law well enough to please
God, thinking that you can do enough, more good than bad, Whatever
it is, you're trying to do something to please God and you realize
you can't do it. Tell you what to do. Don't sit
under that burden. Come to Christ. He himself promised
he'll give you rest. He'll give your soul rest from
the law. You'll rest in Christ. You know
why? Because Christ has already done everything that it takes
to save you, to make you righteous. He's already done everything
God requires of you. Now you come and you rest in
him. Rest, rest from the burden of
the law because Christ kept it for you. Then here's the last
thing. People who are sinners come to
Christ. Now do you know why people don't
come to Christ? This is the reason. They don't
think they're sinful enough. Yeah, I do some things wrong,
but I'm not a sinner. I'm not that sinful. I'm not
that bad. If you're here this morning and
you have not come to Christ, you have not believed on Christ,
I'll tell you why you haven't. I mean, this is kind of ugly,
but it's the truth that we need to hear. If you have not come
to Christ, here's why. You think you're good enough
so that you don't need Christ. That's exactly why. But sinners,
and by sinners, I mean sinners, sinners who know they're sinners,
sinners who know that they need to be forgiven. Sinners who know
they can't do anything but sin. Sinners who know that there is
nothing but the blood of Christ that can pay for their sins.
There's nothing but the blood of Christ that can cleanse them
from their sin so that God will accept them. Sinners. Those people come to Christ and
they always find forgiveness. They always find peace with God.
Always. Look back at Matthew chapter
nine. Matthew 9, verse 10. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners, not
a few, but many came and sat down with him and his disciples.
Now, why did many sinners, why did many sinners come to Christ?
Well, read on, verse 11. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, They that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice, for I'm not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Many publicans
and sinners came to sit with the Lord and eat with him because
they needed him. They're the people that Christ came to call,
sinners. Now, are you a sinner? Look at
Luke chapter seven, and we'll close here, Luke chapter seven. For time's sake, I won't read
this whole story. I'd say everybody here is familiar
with it. It's the story of the woman who
came and anointed the Lord's feet. She's a sinful woman. In verse 47 of Luke chapter 7, the Lord is sitting in this Pharisee's
house and didn't do anything for him, didn't wash his feet.
But this woman came and washed his feet with her tears. Why
did she do that? Why did she come to Christ like
that? Verse 47. Wherefore I say unto thee, her
sins, which are many. This one was a sinner. She had
many sins. She couldn't do anything but
sin. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. If you don't think you need Christ,
you think you just need a little bit of forgiveness, you won't
come to him. And he saith unto her, Thy sins
are forgiven. Now, are you a sinner with many
sins? Somebody that can't do anything
but sin? Then come to Christ. You come to Christ as a guilty
sinner with many sins, and you'll hear the same thing that this
woman heard. Thy sins are forgiven. Now, I ask you, if you're a sinner,
why delay? Come to Christ and come right
now where you sit and he'll forgive your sin. All right, that's who
comes to Christ. I hope that we find that's a
description of us. All right, Lord bless you.