Alright, let's begin by opening
our Bibles again to 1 Peter 2. This will be our text and kind
of a jumping off point this morning. I've titled the message, Why
Should I Come to Christ? And this message was born from
the lessons that I taught our young people to open our Bible
school each morning. I've expanded it a bit. but to
some of you this will be a review and that's good because if you're
like me, the best way you learn is by reviewing here and over
and over and over again. And I trust that this will be
a blessing to the youngest person here and to the oldest believer.
Peter says in verse four, first Peter chapter two, to whom coming
as into a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious. I tell you so often to come to
Christ. I tell you why I tell you that
often, because scripture says it often. Come to Christ. Peter says to whom coming. He
tells believers you come to Christ and you keep coming to him. So
before we get into the subject, why should I come to Christ?
I want to cover for just a few moments. What does it mean to
come to Christ? What is it to come to Christ? Simply put, it means to believe.
To believe Christ. That's what it means. To come
to Christ is to obey Him. He commands us to come to Him. He doesn't command you to keep
the law to be saved. He commands you to believe Him.
To come to Christ is to obey Him. And it's to believe Him. I'll tell you why I come to Christ. Because I believe He's able to
save my sinful soul. To come to Christ is to come
to Him for righteousness. because Christ is the only righteousness
there is. I don't have any, but He is righteous.
I come to Him to be made righteous and holy, without which no man
shall see the Lord. That's why I come, because He
can make me what I need to be. To come to Christ is to come
to Him for forgiveness of sin. I come to Christ because I believe
His blood is the only way my sin can be forgiven. To come
to Christ is to come to Him for spiritual life. I'm dead. and I believe he can give me
life. Scripture says I died in Adam, I believe that. Why come
to Christ? To be given life in him. Isn't
this what the Lord told the Pharisees? You will not come unto me that
you might have life. So to come to Christ is to come
to him for life, to receive life from him. And to come to Christ
is to come to the sovereign king, begging him for mercy, begging
him for salvation. We don't come to the king to
make a bargain with him. You know, now I'll do this if
you do this. You don't do that with sovereign. You come to the
sovereign begging for mercy. God doesn't owe me anything but
wrath. I'm coming begging him to not
give me what I deserve. Give me mercy. And I beg for
mercy from the sovereign savior. Because I believe Christ is the
only one who has both the sovereign power and the willingness to
cleanse me of all my sin. My sin is so filthy and vile,
only Christ has the sovereign power to put it away. And he's
the only one with the willingness and the compassion to do that
for somebody as sorry as me. That's why I come to the sovereign.
That's what it is to come to Christ. Now, one thing that we
preach here that is very different from what you hear in false religion
is what is called the doctrine of election. God's electing law. I don't even like the, because
of what the world is attached to the meaning to this doctrine
of election. I'll tell you what's taught all
the way through the Bible is God's electing love, electing
love. The word elect means chosen in
his love for his people. God chose to save a people out
of Adam's fallen race. He chose the exact people that
he would say, He chose them by name on purpose. That's what
election is. And I'm telling you, that's a
loving truth. What a loving thing. What can
be more loving than the father choosing to save a people who
would never choose him and would never love him unless he chose
them and loved them first? What could be more loving than
that? And those people that the father chose to save, he chose
to save them, he gave them to his son to save, And I'm telling
you what, they will be saved. They will be. Christ came to
die. God the Son came in the flesh
to die for the sins of those elect, and only those elect.
He didn't die to give everybody a chance to be saved. He died
to accomplish something, to accomplish the salvation of the people he
called his people. They're my people, the people
that the Father gave me. I came to put away their sins. And since God the Son died for
their sin, it's utterly impossible for them to perish. He saved
God's elect from their sin. Now look over at Psalm 14. I
only point this out because people say this. People say, well, God
looked down through time and he chose the people to save that
he saw would choose him. He looked down through time,
he saw who would accept him and he chose to save them. Brother
Donny Bell says that's just God taking credit for something man
would do anyway. God didn't do that. God did not look down through
time and see somebody good and choose to save them. This is
what David said God saw when he looked down through time.
Now God did look down through time, but David said this is
what he saw. Psalm 14 verse 2. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. And this is what God saw. They're
all gone aside. They are altogether become filthy,
and there is none that doeth good, no, not one. God looked
down through time, and he saw that every human being who would
ever live is bad. Every one of them is sinful.
They're all fallen in Adam, and because they're fallen in Adam,
their nature died in Adam, they don't have the ability to do
anything right or good. Their nature is born hating God. God chose to save him anyway.
Now, that's electing grace, electing love, grace that God's people
do not deserve. Now, that truth of God electing
a people and Christ coming to save those people is taught all
through the Bible. It's an undeniable fact of scripture. Now, some people, me at one time,
think, well, salvation is a done deal and there's nothing I can
do about it, nothing I can do to change it, nothing I can do
to be saved. I have been a Calvinist, a strong
Calvinist, as long as I can remember. I believe the truth of election
as long as I can remember. But this is what a dead person,
a spiritually dead person, thinks about that. Well, nothing I can
do about it then. It's all decided, nothing I can
do about it. God's elect will be saved. I mean, I just got
no doubt about that, but nothing for me to do until I find out
if I'm one of God's elect. If I could ever find out I'm
one of God's elect, then I'd believe. If I'm one of the leg,
I don't have to do anything about it, because I'll just be saved.
And if I'm not, then I do change it. Now, I'm telling you, nothing
could be more wrong than that. And I don't want anybody that
I preach to to ever think that way. Now, it is true that there's
nothing we can do to save ourselves. It's true there's nothing that
we can do to get God to save us. But that doesn't mean there's
nothing that we can do. You can ask God for mercy, can't
you? Can't you pray and ask God to save you? Can't you pray and
ask God, would you please forgive my sin? I know I don't deserve
to be heard, but Lord, would you save me even though I don't
deserve it? You can ask that, can't you? God saves his people
by the foolishness of preaching, by the preaching of his word.
Well, if you'd like for God to save you, couldn't you make sure
you're here where the word's preached? Could be, Lord. Be merciful to you. Could be.
We can come and ask God to save us. And I'm telling you, I've
read this whole book, and there's not one person, there's not one
example in the whole Bible of anybody who ever came to the
Lord and asked Him for mercy, and God said no. Not a single
one. The Lord always saves people
who come to Him begging for mercy. Now, not people trying to make
a bargain now. Not people saying, well, I'm gonna find out if the
Lord will save me. That's making a bargain with God. You're not
making a bargain, you're begging. And the people that come to God
begging for mercy, you know what they find out? They find out
they were one of God's elect all along. See, nobody ever comes
to Christ because they know they're one of the elect. People come
to Christ because they're a sinner who need to be saved. I'm a sinner,
Christ is a savior, and I come to him begging him to save me.
I heard this illustration many years ago, and it's a good one.
Salvation is like a doorway, like that doorway back there.
And that's a good illustration, because Christ said, I'm the
door. I'm the door of the sheep. Salvation is like a doorway,
and on one side of the doorway, over top of the door, is written
in great big letters, come unto me. Come, all ye that are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. Now, the Lord doesn't say you
can't come except you're one of the elect, does He? He says
if you're thirsty, let Him come. The Lord doesn't keep stopping
anybody from coming to Him. He said if you're thirsty, let
Him come. You're allowed, let Him come. So the tired and thirsty
sinner goes through that door. They say, well, that's what I
need. I'm weary. I need rest. I'm thirsty. I'm thirsty for righteousness.
I'm thirsty for mercy. I'm thirsty for salvation. I'm
thirsty. I need a drink. I come through
that door because that suits my need. Christ suits my need.
And I come through the door and have rest. I come through the
door and drink. And then I turn around on the
other side over the top of the door. It's written, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn you. Oh, I find out. God loved me first. God chose me first. I can because
God called me. What can be more loving than
that? The election is not a hard, mean doctrine. It's the loving
mercy and grace of God that set in motion His purpose to save
His people from their sin. Now, I want to give you three
examples of why we come to Christ and beg Him to save us. Look
first at Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. We come to
Christ, number one, because we need help. We need help. Matthew 15 verse 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. but he answered her not a word.
And the disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I'm
not sent, but into the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now this
woman, can you imagine her, her broken heart, her, her desperate
need, her daughter was grievously vexed with the devil. And she
came begging the Lord for mercy for her daughter. Looks to me
like she's doing the right thing, doesn't she? She came to the
right person. She did the right thing, begging for mercy. And
the Lord didn't even answer her. He didn't even answer a word.
Just acted like she wasn't even talking. And you know what she
did? She kept begging. I'll tell you,
if you ever come and beg God for mercy, tell you what? Keep
begging. Keep begging. He'll answer you
in due time. But now, in this case, when the Lord finally did
answer her, he told her, I've only come to save my elect. I've
only come to save spiritual Israel. And she didn't say, well, that's
not fair, and just storm off, go home, did she? She didn't
say, tell her poor daughter, grievously vexed with this devil,
she didn't pat her daughter on the head and say, well, honey,
I tried, nothing we can do about it, let's go home. No, this woman needs help. She kept begging for mercy. Verse
25. Then came she and worshipped
him. Saying, Lord. Help me. Help me. This is what she's telling
the Lord. I see you came to save the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I don't know if I'm one of your
elect or not, but I do know this. I need help. Lord, help me. That's why I come to Christ.
I need help. In verse 26. But he answered and said, it's
not me. It's not right for me to take the children's bread
and to cast it to dogs. And here the Lord told her again
clearly about election. I've only come to save my elect,
and you're a dog. That's tough for somebody to
talk to you that way, isn't it? And she didn't get mad and say, you
know, he offended me, and I don't have to take this. I'm going
home. She didn't take that. She didn't storm off and say,
I can't believe you called me a dog. This woman needed help. It didn't matter that the Lord
told her, I've only come to save my leg. She kept begging for
help. Verse 27, she said, truth, Lord,
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's
table. She says, Lord, everything you're saying about me is truth.
Your truth, everything you say about me is truth. I am a dog.
I am a dog. And I see this. You've only come
to save your elect. That's your right. You're the
Lord of glory. It's your right to save whom
you will. It's your right to have mercy on whom you will have
mercy. But Lord, I need help. And just
a crumb from a master as great as you will be everything that
I need. In verse 28, Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great
is thy faith. It's interesting, great faith
is not taking a rod and parting a red sea. Great faith is not
going into battle with 300 men against the five armies of kings
and defeating them all, is it? Great faith is staying at the
feet of the Savior, begging for help. The Savior himself said,
that is great faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. She
kept begging for help. and the Lord healed her daughter.
He gave her the help that she needed. Now, here's the picture. You and I are sinners and we
need help. We need the Lord to do something
for us that we cannot do on our own. You know, it's not like,
well, Lord, I've done my part. Now you do the part that I can't
do. Lord, I need you to do all of the same. I need you to do
it all. See, we don't come to Christ
because we know we're one of the elect. We come to Christ because
I know I need help. And Christ the Savior has the
power and the right to help me. We come to Christ and we say
everything that the Bible says about me is true. I mean, the
Bible paints an ugly picture of our nature, doesn't it? Oh,
an ugly picture. We're all gone out of the way.
We're all become unprofitable servants. We've all got the poison
of asps under our lips. But if God starts working on
a sinner, they're going to say, that's true. Everything the Bible
says about me is true. I'm just a dog. I deserve for
God to cast me into hell. If God cast me into hell, he'd
be right to do it. Absolutely right. My sin is,
he'd be right. And that's why I need help. That's
why I need help. And that's why I come to Christ.
And just like this poor woman, The Lord never once has ever
turned a beggar away who's come begging for salvation. He's never
told them, no, I won't be merciful to you. Then by all means, we
should come to him for help, shouldn't we? Doesn't make you
want to come to him for help. He always helps everyone begging
for mercy. Right now, number two, look back
at Matthew chapter eight. We come to the Lord, we come
to Christ, spiritual healing for healing Matthew 8 verse 1 And when he was come down from
the mountain great multitudes followed him and behold there
came a leper and Worshipped him saying Lord if thou wilt thou
can smite me clean now this man had a leprosy and Leprosy in
scriptures given to us as a picture of our sin, and it's a good picture
You know, we think of leprosy as a disease of the skin, don't
we? Because it turns the skin all white and dry and their fingers
and extremities and things, you know, fall off. We think of leprosy
as a disease of the skin, but really leprosy is a disease of
the blood. Leprosy rots us from the inside
out. And that's sin. Sin is not what
we do. Sin is what we are. We commit
sin because we are sinners. We commit sin because we've got
this spiritual disease of sin. Sin is like snake venom. Remember
the children of Israel were bitten by those fiery serpents and they're
all dying. They're dying from the inside
out because that venom, that's what sin does to us. It's killing
us. It's rotting us from the inside out. It's what we are.
Now at this time, There was no cure for leprosy. There's cures
and treatments for leprosy and things today, but there's no
cure for leprosy in that day. And that's what sin is. There's
no human cure for it. You can't cry enough tears to
wash it away. You can't quit sinning enough
to make yourself righteous. You can't obey the law well enough
to put your sin away, make yourself righteous. There's no human cure
for sin. And the old Jews, called leprosy
the living death. Somebody could live with leprosy.
They'd be alive physically, but they ain't gonna be for long.
That leprosy's gonna kill them in a horrible, painful, ugly
way. It's just gonna keep making the
body uglier and uglier and uglier. It's gonna keep making it suffering
and suffering and suffering. One of the accounts of this story
said this leper was full of leprosy. His fever was just sky high. They say that a leper in this
stage of leprosy, his fever was so high, he could pick an apple
off a tree and hold it in his hand for an hour, and it would
just dry up. Oh, he's so hot with fever, wracked
with fever, and there's no cure for it. That's what sin is. There is no human cure for sin. We might be alive for a while. We are alive physically, aren't
we? but it's not gonna last long. We're gonna die physically because
of sin, because we're dead spiritually. And you don't find scripture
calling leprosy a disease. The Bible calls leprosy an uncleanness. And that's another good picture
of sin. Sin is not just breaking the rules. It's an uncleanness. We put forth the stench of sin
because of this uncleanness that's in us. Now that's the disease
that this man had, the disease that was killing this leper.
Oh, he was so miserable. I mean, can you imagine how he
looked? How he looked coming to the Lord in his leprosy, full
of leprosy. I mean, the end of his nose probably
wasn't there. The end of his fingers and toes
and wracked with pain and wracked with this fever. I mean, this
man looked disgusting. And boy, if we get a glimpse
of ourselves as we are, by nature. We'd see how disgusting we are.
The Lord never even shows us the full picture of it because
in this body, we couldn't take it. It drives absolutely mad.
And this man was full of leprosy. And you know what the law said
about this man? The law said he's not even allowed to come
around other people. The law forbid him to come talk
to the Lord Jesus. And he came anyway, begging. because of his uncleanness. He
said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. My problem
is an uncleanness. It's a sin, a nature that's in
me. And Lord, if you will, you can
make me clean. Now we can mistakenly think,
well, there's no use in me coming to ask the Lord to save me. There's
no use in me coming to ask the Lord to forgive me or cleanse
me of my sin, because God's only going to save the elect. And
you know, if I'm one of the elect, God's going to do that anyway.
There's no use in me coming and asking the Lord to do anything
for me. We might mistakenly think the doctrine of election keeps
me from coming and asking for mercy because I don't know if
I'm going to elect or not. Do you know every single one
of us has the right to come to God and ask him for mercy? Every single one of us has the
right to come to God and ask him to make us clean. It's the
Lord himself who gave us the right. When he said, come unto
me, he gave you the right to come to him. He said, let them
come. He's the one who gave you the
right. There's nothing ever stopping us from coming to the Lord and
asking him to forgive us and save us of our sin. The wall
says stay away, doesn't it? But Christ says come, come. And
I love what this leper says. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And that's worship. He worshiped
him. That's what Matthew says. Worship
is not worshiping because the Lord does something for you. Worship is worshiping the Lord
for who he is. Worship is recognizing my uncleanness
and his power to make me clean, if he will, and begging him for
mercy. That's worship. This leper didn't
know if Christ had mercy on him or not. But he did know this. Christ had the power to heal.
and the decision is all Christ's. It's all the Lord, Lord, if you
will. And you know, that's the way you and I should come to
Christ begging for mercy. I don't know if I'm going to
elect or not, but I do know this, the Lord can have mercy on me
if he will. The whole question is, Lord, will you? I don't know
if the Lord have mercy on me. I don't know if he'll cleanse
me, but I do know this, he has the power to do it if he will.
I know the Lord does not have to have mercy on me. I understand
that. That's why I'm begging for mercy. He doesn't have to
have mercy on me, but I know this for a fact. He can save
me if he will. Well, what did the Savior do?
Verse three, Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying,
I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. You know, the Lord didn't come.
This man, poor man, begging Him for mercy. The Lord didn't say,
what are you doing here? You're not allowed to come to
me. The Lord has been in a big meeting. He just got done preaching
the Sermon on the Mount. I mean, all the people that were
there. And He didn't tell the slepper, you're messing up the
picture here. I mean, all these nice people around. Here's you.
He didn't say you're not allowed to come to me. He didn't say,
ain't you read the law? The law says you can't be doing
this. The Lord always lets sinners come near to Him. Every time
he's traveling, he stops somewhere. Who was around him? Who just
gathered to him like metal to a bank? Republicans and harlots
and sinners. They're always comfortable in
his presence. This man goes begging for healing. And the Lord didn't say, well,
let me think about it. Let me get back to you. I might
heal you if I find, are you sorry enough, really? I mean, are you
sorry enough? You wish you hadn't done this,
whatever you've done to get lepers. If you're sorry enough, I'll
heal you. He didn't say, now go back to the leper colony and
do some good works. If you do enough good works, I'll heal
you. The Lord immediately said, I will. And he touched him. And that leper was healed instantly. Here's something else the law
said. The law said you can't touch a leper. Why could the
Savior touch him? Because shortly he's gonna be
made sin. He's gonna take the disease of
that leper, the sin of that leper, the sin of all of his people
and his own body on the tree and put their sin away by the
sacrifice of himself. He could touch a leper and not
be made a leper. See, there's no human cure for
leprosy. But the Lord had the power to
heal him, didn't he? The Lord stopped in a field one day and
people in town heard he was there. And they brought everybody in
town that was diseased to the Lord. He stayed there all day
long and healed all that had need of healing. The question
is not, are you sick? The question is not, are you
diseased with sin? The question is this, do you have a need?
The Lord healed all that had need of healing. And that's a
picture of sin, that there is no cure for sin, but there's
no sin so black, so deep, so awful, so filthy, that the blood
of Christ can't wash it white as snow. See, it's the power
of the Lord to heal. His willingness, his compassion
for sinners, that's what makes me want to come to Christ for
healing. He has the power and the compassion to do it. Now
are you dead in sin? Has sin defiled your soul? Then
come to Christ for spiritual healing. He'll do for you just
exactly what He did for this leper. He'll say, I will. And immediately you'll be healed.
Alright, number three. Look across the page here. Matthew
chapter 9. We come to Christ because we
need Him. We need Him. Verse 20 of Matthew
chapter 9. And behold, a woman, which was
diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him
and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself,
if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. Now for twelve
years this woman had been suffering with a very, very painful disease.
It was worse than this, but it was her time of the month for
twelve straight years. Unending years. Now she needed
healing, didn't she? She needed healing from the Lord.
She needed help from the Lord. She'd been to every doctor that
there was, and not only could they not help her, they made
her worse. But she knew this. If I can just
touch the Lord, if I can just get up behind Him and touch just
the hem of His garment, I'll be made perfectly whole, perfectly
healed. See, she needed the Lord, didn't
she? She needed everything that He is. But you know, just like the leper,
a woman with this sickness, she wasn't allowed to go out in public.
Whatever she would touch would become unclean. She had to stay
home. She had to stay in private. And
she'd been, as best she could, staying away from people for
12 years. She was lonely. She was lonely. Not only did she need healing,
she needed a friend. You think how lonely she was.
She needed companionship. She needed Christ. Now, salvation
is not just not wanting to go to hell. Nobody wants to go to
hell. Somebody tells you they don't
care if they go to hell or not. They're lying. They're just lying. Salvation
is not just wanting to go to heaven. Everybody wants to go
to heaven. Of course somebody wants to go to heaven. Salvation
is not a place. Salvation is a person. Salvation
is knowing and trusting and loving a person. Salvation is wanting
and needing to be wherever Christ is. I need to be where He is. See, salvation is not, and I
hate to say it this way, it's not just to be forgiven of my
sin. We desperately need that. Salvation
is needing Christ. Salvation is needing a relationship
with Him. Because if I have Christ, I have
everything my soul needs. If I have Christ, I have righteousness.
I have cleansing. I have forgiveness of my sin.
I have salvation. Salvation is just not wanting
to have things. It's not wanting, oh, the blessing.
I want the blessing of salvation, the blessing of righteousness.
It's not just wanting the blessing. Salvation is needing the blesser
himself. Does that make sense? Salvation
is not knowing the doctrine. Salvation is having Christ in
the heart. It's hearing the gospel of Christ. That's what makes
me happy. That's what thrills my soul.
That's what feeds my soul. What I'm trying to say is this.
I just don't want the things that Christ can give me. I need
him. I need a relationship with him.
I need to be found in him because that's salvation. Now verse 22,
this woman did, she crawled up behind him, she touched the hem
of the Lord's garment. And verse 22, but Jesus turned
him about, and when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good
comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And the woman was made whole from that hour. Now this woman
came to Christ because she needed him. She needed healing, but
what she saw was she needed him. She wasn't planning on coming
and asking for anything, was she? She thought, if I could
just be with Him, I'll have everything I need. She needed Him. And she
came to Him. You know what she found out?
She found out she was one of God's elect all along. She touched
the hem of His garment and the Lord turned. And He looked at
her, crawling up behind Him down there in the dust, and He looked
at her down there. Can you imagine His eyes looking
at her? The eyes of the Master. And He called her a daughter.
All she knew was she was diseased, and she came to the Lord and
found out, I'm a daughter of God. Far as I know, I'm pretty
sure this is true, this is the only woman the Lord ever called
daughter in his earthly ministry. She found out she's part of the
family of God. If you're a daughter, you're
part of the family, aren't you? Now I can tell you this as a father
with daughters. A father loves his daughter.
It's a special love, it's a special care. The Lord healed this woman,
but she got something so much more important than physical
healing. She got a relationship with the Savior. She needed a
friend, and she found a friend of sinners.
Well, we were singing a little bit ago. She'd have been the
one singing the loudest. What a friend we have in Jesus. She
found a friend of sinners. She needed some companionship.
And Lord let her know, I'm your father. You're my daughter. He's going to take care of her.
He's going to be with her. He's going to be in her heart.
He's going to be with her and love her forever. She's going
to be forever under the love of God Almighty. She didn't need
anything else. See, she needed Him. She needed
Him. And that's why we come to Christ.
We need Him. See, Christ is everything that
we need. The life of a believer begins
by coming to Christ. And like Peter says, it continues
coming by coming to Christ. To whom? Coming. We constantly come to Him for
forgiveness. Constantly look to Him for righteousness. Constantly come to Him for peace,
comfort, assurance, and companionship. Constantly. We're coming to the
worship surface to hear more of Him. I said this in the class. You have been here many years.
You haven't heard anything different this morning than you've ever
heard. Anything different you heard Thursday night when Eric
preached, or last Sunday, or the Wednesday before that, Sunday
before that. The gospel is the same, we just preach the same
message from different passages of scripture. Well, why do you
keep coming? Why is it so important for you
to come here? Why is when the gospel is preached
here in the public worship service, why is it more special to you?
Let me tell you, because you need Him. The Savior said, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the
midst of them. It's not, I hope I say this right,
it's not just the words of the gospel, that's so important,
but what makes it special, what makes it thrill your soul is
Christ is here. Because if you believe him, you
need him. You need him. I hope that's clear. It's clear in my head, I hope
it's clear to you. I pray, Lord, take this message.
I pray, oh, bless it to your heart, and cause you to come
to Christ. I'm telling you, right where
you sit this morning, without moving a muscle, you come to
Christ. Come to Him. Maybe it'll be for
the first time, or maybe it'll be for the 10,000th time to Him
coming. Come to Christ. I'm telling you,
He's all you need. He's all you need. Alright. Let's bow together. Our Father,
Oh, how we thank you for your purpose of mercy and grace to
your people. How we thank you for the Lord
Jesus Christ, a faithful Savior who fully and completely saves
his people from their sin and has such a heart for his people,
a compassion and a care for his people. Him who careth for you. Oh, Father, how we thank you.
Father, I beg of you that you take your word as it's been preached. Father, cause it to enable us
to see the glory of Christ our Savior. Father, cause each of
us to run to Christ, to come to Him, to find in Him everything
that we need. Father, we ask these things for
Your glory. We do ask for our good, how we
need Your help, how we need healing, how we need Your presence. But
Father, for Your glory, Would You get glory in saving Your
people, feeding, comforting, and edifying Your people through
the preaching of Your Word, we pray. All these things we ask
in the name of, for the glory of Christ our Savior. Amen. Alright, now if you would, I
haven't been checking names yet, but like I said, I'm going to
be checking names and checking off a naughty and nice list.
If you have not signed Riley's Bible, Please, before you leave,
do so today. Because I hate before you get
on my naughty list, OK? All right. He can't have it till you all
sign it. We want it so. All right. You know the drill.
So I'll come leave this in the closing.