I have a lesson this morning.
I'm pretty excited about it. It's a message that is a good lesson for every one
of us here, I don't care who you are, old and young, the believer
and unbeliever, from the babe in Christ to the old man and
the older woman in Christ. It's what I always try to tell
you. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Come to Christ. Come to Christ.
I titled the lesson, They Came to Christ. These people came
to Christ. I wanted to look at that and
see if we might learn something about coming to Christ. We'll
begin reading in Mark chapter three, verse six. And the Pharisees
went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against
him, how they might destroy him. But they're not gonna succeed
in that endeavor. Jesus withdrew himself with his
disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed
him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and
from beyond Jordan. And they about Tyre and Sidon,
a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he
did, came unto him. Now our Lord had just showed,
we looked at this last week, how he is indeed the Lord of
the Sabbath and how that is always right to do works of kindness
and necessity on the Sabbath day. Works of kindness and mercy,
necessity, that never violates the law of God. But now the Pharisees,
you know, that's their stick. And they hated the Lord so much
for teaching that, for making it so obvious, they wanted to
kill him for it. And I think it's interesting,
this desire to take the Lord and put him to death started
very, very early in the Lord's public ministry, didn't it? So
the Savior just left him. And every single time I read
that in scripture, It just makes it hard to breathe for a second.
That's a scary thought to think. The Lord could be with someone
and then leave them. He could be near them. He's not
leaving someone that trusts him. He could be near someone and
they reject him, they hate him. They don't want to hear from
him and he'll just let them have their way and leave them. That's what
he did with those Pharisees. Now he withdrew himself. He went
to a place, you know, he withdrew himself or, you know, it wasn't
so easy to find him, but that multitude found him, didn't they?
They followed the Lord where he went there near the sea. These
folks were serious about getting to the Lord and they wouldn't
let anything stop them from getting to him. Look at verse nine. And
he spake to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him
because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. For he
had healed many insomuch that they pressed upon him for the
touching, as many as had plagues." Everybody that had a plague,
everybody that had a need, they were thronging the Lord. They
pressed upon him just so that they just might touch him. John
Gill says these words mean people were literally just falling all
over each other, trying to get to the Lord. They were so serious
about getting to him because they had a need. They had diseases,
they had a need of healing. Now I want us to look at this
picture. These folks coming to the Savior,
they're in such urgency to get to him, and he healed every one
of them. There wasn't a case there that
was too hard for him to heal. And that's a picture of the Savior
giving spiritual life to his people, and him healing all of
our spiritual wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. There are
five things in our text that are always present when the Lord
gives life to his people. Number one is this, there's an
effectual call of grace. Now we preach the gospel to all
men. I mean to in as many places,
to as many people as the Lord will ever give us opportunity,
we preach to them, we preach Christ to them. Every one of
us here this morning is hearing a general call of the gospel. You're hearing the gospel preached. Now let that sink in for a minute. That is a blessing, isn't it?
Almighty God has allowed you and me to hear the message of
His dear Son. There's nothing more dear to
the Father than His Son, and He's given us the privilege to
hear His Son preached. That's a blessing. God has allowed
us to hear His message to men. This is how God saves sinners.
This is how God has glorified himself in the saving of his
people. That's what we hear when we hear
the preaching of the gospel. But now that's what we term a
general call. That's not the effectual call
of grace to the heart. The Pharisees, they heard this
message. They heard the message of Christ.
They heard it from Christ himself. It was a general call, that's
all that they heard. The Pharisees heard that general
call and they hated the Savior for it. They hated Christ for
it. That's not an effectual call
of grace, is it? That's just them hearing a general call and
their reaction to it is the reaction of the human heart. But when
there is an effectual call of grace, You don't just hear the
words of a man. Now you're gonna, we'll touch
on this a little bit. You're gonna have to hear the
words of a man. But when there is an effectual call of grace,
God the Holy Spirit makes you hear. He's the one that speaks
to the heart and he makes you hear. He applies the gospel to
your heart and you love it. You love it. Now, how can you
know the difference between hearing a general call of the gospel
and hearing the effectual call of grace? How can you know the
difference? Well, the general call that we hear, that might
pique our interest. Maybe we never heard this before.
I've seen this happen many times. This is something new. The gospel
of God's grace is something new and it piques their interest.
They hear a new doctrine and this doctrine makes sense to
them and it piques their interest for a while. Maybe it makes you
interested in some of the people that believe it. Maybe it makes
you interested in hearing a gifted preacher. But when the Holy Spirit
makes you hear the effectual call of the gospel, I tell you
what you're interested in, Christ alone. That's the difference. You're interested in, you've
got to have him. I want to learn more of him. I want to hear more
of him. Preacher, tell me more about Christ. He may be a gifted
preacher. He may not be so gifted, but
as long as he's preaching Christ, you're blessed. Tell me more
about Christ. That's hearing the effectual
call of the gospel. And every time God reveals himself
to one of his people, there's that effectual call of grace.
All right, number two. We're gonna hear that effectual
call, the gospel, by hearing the gospel of Christ preached
by a man. Look at Romans chapter 10. This
just makes such obvious sense. Nobody can believe on Christ
until somebody tells us who he is, right? I mean, this just
makes perfect sense, and that's what Paul tells us here in Romans
chapter 10, beginning in verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how then shall they
call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how should they
hear without a preacher? Somebody's got to tell us who
the Lord is. You know, left to our own devices could be we'll
believe that another Jesus. Remember the Apostle Paul talked
about that. There is another Jesus being preached. Left to
our own devices, that's more likely who we'll believe. Somebody's
got to tell us who Christ is before we can believe on him.
And that's what gospel preaching is. All gospel preaching is,
is telling all about Christ. It's all about his person. It's
all about his work. You know, the gospel is not just
a set of doctrines that you put together in the right order,
like you're putting together a puzzle. Gospel preaching declares
Christ. It tells us the good news of
who he is. It tells all about his person.
Now, I say that, and I want to make this clear to us, Good doctrine,
right doctrine is vitally important, vitally. You can't preach Christ
by telling a lie, right? You gotta tell actually. So good
doctrine is vitally important, but salvation is not believing
the doctrine. Salvation is seeing Christ and
believing Christ. And I guess you can only know
what I'm talking about if you've experienced that. You know, as
long as I've understood language, I've been a Calvinist. But there
was a whole lot of those years I understood the right doctrine.
I didn't know Christ. That's the difference. And there
can be no salvation. There can't be any giving of
eternal life without hearing the gospel preached. It's an
absolute necessity. And that's why I'm so serious
about what we're doing here. When we meet together here, I'm
so serious about it because this is a matter of life and death.
I mean, it really is. It's a matter of life and death.
If God's gonna save you, I'm telling you, you must hear the
gospel preached. There's no salvation apart from
it. Now, you know, God can do, he has the power to do whatever
he wills, right? God could have chosen to save
his people some other way, but he didn't, but he didn't. I want to read to you what Brother
Fortner said about this in his commentary. He said, the Lord
could have chosen to send angels and pull us into heaven by our
noses once the atonement was made for us, but that's not his
pleasure. If you knew Brother Don, you
can just hear his voice saying that, can't you? The Lord couldn't
have sent angels and just pulled us up to heaven by our noses.
He could have done that, but he didn't. That was not his pleasure. The pleasure of God is for sinners
to hear another sinful man telling them about the Savior. God does
it in that way so that the means, the man preaching, isn't worth
nothing. It's the gospel that's important,
but isn't it glorious? Isn't it glorious to hear the
gospel of Christ from somebody just like you? Just another cracked
clay pot. I mean, that's all we are, you
know, but God has chosen. This is the way it's going to
save his people. This is the way he's going to bless the hearts
of his people. This is the way he's going to comfort his people.
This is the way he's going to edify his people and cause them
to grow. It's by hearing one sinful man tell other sinful
people about Christ. That's how God's chosen to do
it. Now that's God's will. And I want us to look at a couple
of scriptures on this because I want us to see the importance
of preaching. This is not just I don't know what the right word,
a byword. This is vital. Look first at
Romans chapter one. There can't be any salvation
apart from hearing the gospel preached. Romans one verse 15. So, as much
as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at
Rome also. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in this gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it's written, the just shall
live by faith. Now the just are going to live
by faith, but what came first? Hearing the gospel preached.
All right, look at 1 Corinthians 1. This is just what I was saying
a moment ago, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, by its wisdom, knew not God.
So it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Now the natural man calls it
foolishness, but this is how God's pleased to save them that
believe. It's by them hearing the gospel
first. All right, one more verse, Ephesians one, verse 13. Ephesians 1 verse 13. in whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. Now you believe the Holy Spirit
sealed you, he preserved you, but what came first? First, you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and
then you believe Christ. And notice what Paul says here,
you heard the gospel of your salvation, in whom you trusted,
It's a person. They didn't hear the gospel of
your salvation and then believe the doctrine. They believed in
whom? In whom? They believed in Christ. Now,
there are a whole lot more verses that we could have turned to,
many of them, that say the same thing. But those three, now that
nails it down, doesn't it? Brother Henry told me one time,
he said, this is the easiest place in the world to preach.
He says, you make your point and you can write it down with
one verse of scripture and move on. Well, I brought it down with
three. It's nailed down pretty good
in it all. All right, so if we're gonna
believe on Christ, somebody's gotta tell us who Christ is.
Somebody's gotta tell us what he's done. Somebody's gotta tell
us why he did it. Somebody's gotta tell us where
he is now. Well, that brings me to the third thing. We come
to Christ because of what he has done. Not because of what
he will do, but what he has done. Look back here in our text, verse
eight, at the end of the verse. He said, this great multitude,
they came to Christ when they had heard what great things he
did. He did. These people came to
Christ because they heard what he'd already done. If you and
I come to Christ today, we're going to come for the very same
reason. It's because of what he's already done. We don't come
to Christ to make his work effectual. No, we come to Christ because
he's already done that. He's already made his work effectual. I'll give you a few examples.
We come to Christ because of what God's already done. We come
to Christ because in eternity, the Father chose a people to
save. And he did it because he's merciful. He did it because he
set his love upon those people. We don't come to Christ to get
God to choose us. We come to Christ because God's
already chosen us unto salvation. That's just so merciful. We hear
what he's done, that makes us come to him. God choosing a people
to save. Not because there's any good
in them, but just because God's good. He chose a people to save
to glorify his son when his son would save those people. That's
the only thing that gives a sinner like me hope. Because I know
I can't do anything to get God to choose me. I can't do something
that's so good God would say, well, I'll choose him. I don't
have any hope. My only hope is that God's merciful
and he would choose to save a sinner like me. That's why I come to
him. We come to Christ because of what God's already done. He
said, I've already loved you with an everlasting love. That's
why I've drawn you to myself. God loved his people long before
we ever came on the scene. I don't come to God to get him
to love me. I come to him because he already
does. He's already set his love upon
me. That is so mind boggling to me. That just thrills my heart
so much. That makes me come to Christ.
I can't stay away from him. We come to Christ because Christ
has already made atonement for our soul. I don't come to Christ
to get him to make an atonement for my soul. I come to Christ
because he already has. I come to Christ when I see he
already has been crucified for my sin. And when I see him lifted
up and what he willingly suffered for the likes of me, man, I can't
stay away from him. Of course I'm gonna come to him. That just melts my heart. We
come to Christ because he's already saved us and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. I don't come to Christ because
I've decided to let Jesus into my heart. He can come into my
heart because I've decided to accept him. I come to Christ
because he already saved me. And he's the one that called
me by his grace. If almighty God calls you by
his grace, you're not going to need some preacher trying to
talk you into doing something. If God calls you by his grace,
you're going to come running. Here's another great thing. This
is something the Lord's already done. The son of God, equal with
the father, was made flesh, made in the same flesh you and me
have, yet without sin, so that he could be the representative
of his people. Now I hear the son of God. I mean, how high
above us is he? When I hear that God limited
himself to the flesh, he limited himself to the weakness of human
flesh, and he did that so that he could be made under the law
and do for me what I can never do for myself. He was made flesh
so he could obey the law for his people. I run to him. He humiliated himself
like that so he could save me? He won't be able to keep me away
from Him. I'm just going to be falling all over each other to
see who can get to Him first, aren't we? Well, I hear that Christ,
He already has been made sin for me so that He could take
my sin away by the blood of His sacrifice. There's not words. There's not
human words. The son of God, the holy, righteous
son of God was made sin for his people so that he could put their
sin. He willingly suffered that. He
took that sin. I mean, the horror in the garden
of being made sin, just the thought of it, made blood run out of
his pores. I mean, I can't biologically
explain how that happened, but something is so horrible going
on in his body. It drew that physical reaction,
and he prayed to the Father, Father, I'm gonna die right here
if you don't send angels to strengthen me. I'm gonna die right here,
just the thought of it. I'm not even gonna make it to
the cross. And he willingly suffered. He willingly endured that. He
willingly endured his father turning his back on him. He willingly
endured the father pouring out his wrath upon his son, when
from eternity all the son had known is the father's love. He
said, I was daily his delight until the day Calvary came. And
he willingly endured that. I'm never gonna be able to get
over that the Lord did that for somebody like me. But I tell
you what it's gonna make me do, it's gonna make me run to him.
I can't explain it, I can't fully declare the glory of it, but
I tell you this, I'm gonna run to him, aren't you? Here's another
thing. This is a great thing. Something
else the human mind can never comprehend. The son of God died. Life himself died in my place
so that I'll never die. He died in the place of his people
to satisfy, this is what justice demanded, there's gotta be death
for sin. So life himself died. My soul. But the story didn't
end there. Three days later, he rose again,
didn't he? The man, Jesus of Nazareth, by his own power, raised
himself from the grave. Now that's a great thing the
Lord's done, isn't it? And it's not just that Christ
arose from the dead. I mean, that's power, miracle
enough, isn't it? But scripture tells us he rose
again as proof positive his sacrifice justified his people. He rose
again for our justification. And I hear Christ did something
like that to justify the likes of me? You ain't gonna have to
talk me into running to him. I'm gonna run to him. And then
right now, right this very, very present minute, the Lord Jesus
Christ lives. making intercession for his people. Now, if you and I were making
intercession for each other, I could sin against you enough
to make you quit making intercession for me. I could wear you out
and you'd quit making intercession for me. when I hear that despite all
of my sin, I don't want to, I mean, you didn't get up this morning
thinking, what are all these new ways I can sin today? I mean, you know,
you didn't think that. I don't want to, but that's all
I can do. And when I hear that all my sin
does not wear the son of God out, doesn't make him strike
me down and make him quit making intercession for me. that at
this very minute, he sits with the scars of his sacrifice in
full view of his father, making intercession for me. The father
sees those scars, that's the proof, justice has been satisfied. So he forgives my sin. That's
what Christ has already done. He's doing, that makes me run
to him. Oh, what a savior, that makes
me run to him. See, the gospel of who Christ is tells us what
he has already done for his people. What he's already done. All right,
here's the fourth thing. Coming to Christ is believing
Christ. Now I understand, especially those of you that
maybe have, I don't know how to term it, you haven't come
to Christ, maybe you haven't, Henry talked about closing with
Christ, but you hear the preacher say, you hear this preacher say,
how many other preachers say, come to Christ, come to Christ,
and you don't understand, what does that mean? Well, here's
what it means. Coming to Christ means believing
it. Coming to Christ is not a physical movement of your body. It's a
movement of heart. It's believing Christ. It's trusting
Christ. The writer of the Hebrews said
this, Hebrews 11, verse six. Without faith, it's impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is. See, coming and believing, it's
the same thing. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. So come to Christ. Come to Christ
trusting He's everything that you need. He's everything. Come
to Christ for everything. Come to Christ because He's everything
you need. Come to Christ for everything. If you don't have
faith, you say, well, you know, I don't believe Christ. I wish
I did, but I don't believe Christ. Come to Him for faith. Come to
Him asking Him to give it to you. Faith is a gift of God,
doesn't that just make sense? Come to him for faith. Come to
him, ask him to give it to you. Come to Christ for repentance.
Say, well, I haven't repented. I haven't turned from trusting
in my idols and turned to trust Christ. Well, come to Christ,
ask him to give it to you. Come to Christ for life. Say,
well, I don't have spiritual life. I don't have eternal life.
Well, come to Christ for it, asking him to give it to you. No believer will tell you I've
got enough rest, I've got enough peace, and I've got enough assurance.
Not one person here thinks that, do you? You can't answer the
question no once I've phrased it to you that way, but nobody
here thinks, oh, I've got enough rest. I don't need any more assurance.
I've got enough peace of heart. Then come to Christ for it. Come
to Christ for peace, come to him for rest, come to him for
assurance. You know what would give you
assurance? Seeing Christ. Then come to him, ask him to
reveal himself to you. That'll give you rest, that'll
give you assurance. And don't ever forget this, coming to Christ
is not a one-time act. You know what the life of a believer
is? It's constantly coming to Christ,
constantly. That's why Peter said, to whom
coming? to whom coming. The believer,
we're constantly believing Christ, aren't we? The flesh is trying
to get us to not believe him, the new man's constantly believing
Christ. We're constantly coming to Christ for everything, aren't
we? Because we don't have anything and he is everything, so I constantly
come to him for everything. So I think some of the most comforting
words that a believer can hear from the Savior is this, he that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Doesn't that encourage
you to come to it? Okay, here's the last thing.
This is always present. Sooner or later, it's always
present when a believer comes to Christ. There will be a public
confession of faith. Look at verse 11 back in our
text, Mark chapter three. And unclean spirits, when they
saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, thou art the
son of God. and he straightly charged them
that they should not make him known. Now these unclean spirits,
they had possessed people. Some of the folks that came for
healing was because they'd been possessed of a demon, of an evil
spirit. But when the body of that person
that that demon is possessing, when they came to Christ, that
evil spirit threw that body down on the ground in front of Christ,
confessing Jesus is the Son of God. Now those unclean spirits
knew who Christ is. Now they didn't believe him.
They didn't trust him. They didn't ask him for mercy,
but they knew who he was and they confessed, this is the son
of God. But the Savior wouldn't let them
keep saying it. He charged them that they, don't you tell any
man. Now I have no idea of all the
many reasons that the Savior would have done such a thing.
But I feel pretty confident in this one. You know why the Savior
told those evil spirits, don't you tell anybody I'm the son
of God? It's because he didn't need the devil to tell people
who he is. He didn't need the devil to put
his seal of approval. Yeah, this is the Christ. He
didn't need devils to astound men. These evil spirits say this
is the Son of God. So yeah, I'll believe it because
I heard it from this evil spirit. The Lord did not use evil spirits
to publish who he is. He didn't then and he doesn't
today. He doesn't use evil spirits to publish who he is. He's never
gonna use a false gospel to publish who he is, never. But if a needy
sinner comes to Christ confessing he's the son of God, you know
what the Savior will do? He'll never tell you don't you
tell anybody that. You know what he'll say to you? Now you go
home and you tell your friends and neighbors what great things
God has done. Back to my first point, what
he's already done for you. He's never going to tell a needy
sinner who comes to him begging for mercy, go away, don't you
tell anybody else about it. He'll accept you. He'll give
you mercy. He said, I go home in peace.
And you tell your friends and your family what great things
God's done for you. That's preaching the gospel.
You don't have to stand up here to preach the gospel. There's
many of you, if I ask you now, now Wednesday night I want you
to come and prepare to preach, you wouldn't show up. But you
can go home and tell your friends and family what God's done for
you. That's preaching Christ. All right, well I hope God will
bless that to you.