Well, it's finally here. Like
Christmas, it finally got here, didn't it? If you would open
your Bibles with me to Psalm 92. I'd like to begin our weekend reading
this precious Psalm, Psalm 92. It is a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord, and sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to
show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness
every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the
psaltery, upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord,
hast made me glad through thy work. I'll triumph in the works
of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not, neither
doth a fool understand this. When the wicked springeth the
grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is
that they shall be destroyed forever. But thou, Lord, art
most high forevermore. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
for lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall
be scattered. But my horn shalt thou exalt,
like the horn of a unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh
oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and
mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against
me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They should be fat
and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my
rock. and there is no unrighteousness
in him. Let's bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy, sovereign,
and merciful Heavenly Father, we bow in your thrice holy presence
this evening, thankful that in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we can come before a throne of grace and call you our Father. Oh, how thankful we are. And
Father, we're so thankful that you've brought us to this time
and this place. And Father, I beg of you that
you would meet with us this weekend in the person of your spirit
and enable us to worship. I pray that you bless these men
that you've brought our way, that you bless them mightily
in preaching, that you fill them with your spirit, and that you'd
open their mouth and enable them to, in clear and simple terms,
Proclaim the glory of Christ our Savior. And Father, I pray
you'd unstop our ears and that you'd open our hearts as we listen,
that you'd apply your word to our hearts. Enable us to believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thrill our hearts one
more time at hearing of his great mercy, his great love for his
people that would cause him to be sacrificed to put away our
sin. Father, let us be taken up with Christ our Savior. We're thankful for the time of
fellowship, seeing friends from other places, but Father, set
our affection on your word, on the preaching of your word, that
we might know and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in his
precious name, for his glory, we pray. Amen. Now there are
probably several housekeeping issues that I'm forgetting. We'll just get through the weekend
as it goes, but I do, we'll tell you this, tomorrow evening, at
6 p.m. where I have a cookout at Simpson
Valley. And if you're not from here and
you don't know how to get there, ask somebody that looks like
they belong here and we'll get you there, okay? So I think that's
it. So Isaac, you come lead us in
our singing if you would. Stand and turn to page one. you all glorious above, and gratefully
sing his power and his love. Our shield and defender, the
Ancient of Days, pavilion in splendor and girded with praise. O tell of His might, O sing of
His grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space, His
chariots of wrath, the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is His path on
the wings of the storm. Mountiful care, what tongue can
recite? It breathes in the air, it shines
in the light. It streams from the hills, it
descends to the plain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. Frail children of dust, and feeble
as frail, In Thee do we trust, nor find we to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how
firm to the end, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. Stay standing and turn to 206. Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater
than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe
it? Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting
my spirit free. For the wonderful grace of Jesus
reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the
mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all-sufficient grace for even
me. Broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame, O magnify
the precious name of Jesus, praise His name. Wonderful grace of Jesus, preaching
to all the lost. By it I have been pardoned, saved
to the uttermost. Chains have been torn asunder,
giving me liberty, for the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, Higher than the
mountain, Sparkling like a fountain, All-sufficient grace for even
me. broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of
Jesus, praise His name! Wonderful grace of Jesus Reaching
the most defiled Highest transforming power Making Him God's dear child
Purchasing peace in heaven For all eternity And the wonderful
grace of Jesus Reaches me Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, higher than the mountains,
sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me. Broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame, Oh magnify
the precious name of Jesus, praise his name. You may be seated. Before Todd comes and preaches
for us, David Edmondson has conceded to sing as a special. We're putting
him to work this week, but he said yes, so we let him. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow, For
nothing good have I, Whereby thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In
the blood of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
and Thine alone Can change the leper's spot. and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had let the crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne, I
stand in hymn complete, Jesus died my soul to save My
lips shall still repeat Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Sin had left the crimson stain,
? It whined as snow ? Thank you, David. I didn't know a man could
sing like that and preach. That's something else, isn't
it? Oh, blessed man. Well, our first speaker this
evening, Pastor Todd Nyberg, needs no introduction from this
place. He's Asheville's favorite son. He's just one of my dearest,
dearest friends, and a faithful, faithful, gifted preacher of
the gospel. Todd, we're very anxious to hear
what the Lord's given you. You come preach to us. Would you turn with me to Mark
chapter 1? While you're turning there, I'm just so happy to be
with you. I guess it's been three years,
because you know what? But it is such a blessing to
meet with you. I'm thankful to be here. Verse 40. And there came a leper to him. What does it mean to come to
Christ? What does it mean? I don't think we could possibly
consider anything any more important than that. What does it mean
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ? In John chapter six, verse 37,
The Lord identifies this as the evidence of election. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. The evidence of divine
election. The Lord said to a group of people
in John chapter five, verse 40, you will not come to me. that
you might have life. Coming to Christ, whatever it
is, is the act of spiritual life. Those who have spiritual life
come to Him. Peter said in 1 Peter 2, verse
4, to whom? Coming. not to whom you came, not to
whom you intend to come, but to whom coming. You see, this
is designed for unbelievers. I want you to hear what coming
to Christ means, and it's designed for believers. This is something
that identifies what a believer is. He's someone who comes to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean To come
to Christ. Let me reuse some other scriptures.
Revelation chapter 22 verse 17. And the Spirit and the Bride.
God the Holy Spirit and the Church. This is their message. Come.
Not go and do. Not get this straightened out
first. Not stop doing this before you come. Right now. Come to
Christ. Let him that hear say come. That is the message of the gospel. Not go away. Not wait till you
get better. Not wait till you learn more. Not wait till you have more victory
over sin. Right now. Come. To the Lord Jesus Christ. He that's a thirst. let him come. Whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. If any man thirst, let
him come to me and drink. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, laboring under a burden of sin, heavy
laden under the crushing weight of your own sin. Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You know, the Lord is able to
do that. With these scriptures in mind,
what does it mean to come to Christ? If I don't personally come to
Christ, I won't be saved. If you don't come to Christ,
whatever that means, you won't be saved. If I don't come to
Christ, I'm going to hear those awful words, depart from me. Ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. I don't want to hear those words.
What does it mean to come to Christ? Now you came to church
tonight. And what you did, you came from point A to point B.
And you know what it took to get there. But this is not at
all like that. You see, coming to Christ is
nothing physical. It's spiritual. It's done in the heart. Without
making a move. And it's not a long journey.
You arrive at the destination as soon as you come. What does it mean to come to
Christ? Now, the only way that can be
answered is from the scriptures. Because if I tell you what I
think it means to come to Christ, all I'm going to do is darken
counsel with words without knowledge. I'm going to confuse you and
I'm going to confuse myself. So this is not something I'm trying
to come up with a good way to explain it. The only way we can
really see how a sinner comes to Christ is by looking at an
example of a sinner who did in fact come to Christ. And that
verse of scripture I just read says, and there came a leper
to him. Now, whatever it is to come to
Christ, it's to come the way this man did. There came a leper
to him. Now, you'll not find anything
in the Bible about coming to Him by responding to an altar
call. That's not in the Bible. Matter
of fact, it wasn't found in the professing church for the first
1800 years. That didn't come about until
the 1800s. You don't come to Christ by asking
Him into your heart. What's that mean? You don't come to Christ by accepting
Him. as your personal savior. Statements like that are really
contrary to the gospel. They're foolish. They don't even
make sense. What does it mean? To come to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let me say this. I know
this man came to Christ. A leper came to him. And in this man, we will see
what it means to come to Christ. And I'll tell you what, I want
to do that. I want to do that tonight. I want you to do that
tonight. Don't you want to come to Christ?
Whatever it means. Now, I have to begin with the
term John chapter six. This is kind of an odd way. It's
the right way to begin, but it may seem odd. to begin the message
on what does it mean to come to Christ by this statement,
you can't come. Now that's where we gotta begin.
You can't come to Christ. You lack the ability to come
to Christ. Now, listen to this scripture,
John chapter six, verse 44. No man can come to me. He didn't say no man may come,
but he said no man can come to me. Except the Father which has
sent me draw him. Now, what do you say about that? The
Lord said, no man can come to me. If I'm left to myself, I
cannot come. I don't have the ability to come. And that doesn't get me off the
hook. That doesn't mean, well, if you can't come, why worry
about it? No, that doesn't take away my responsibility to come.
But the Lord pointed. this out. Look in verse 65 of
the same chapter. He repeats himself. Therefore
said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
to him of my father. You've never come until you see
you can't. This is where we begin. You've
not come unless you see personally that you lack the ability to
come. Have you ever brought there?
I can't go. It's not until you see that you
can't that you do. And when you see you can't, that
is when you're coming. You're coming for the right reason.
You're coming for life. You're coming for mercy. Any
other time, if that's not settled, you're trying to strike a deal.
You're trying to bargain. You're trying to, I've done this,
you do that. Can't come that way. Now, whenever you learn, whenever
I learn that I can't come, unless I'm drawn, unless it's
given to me, what do I say? Lord, draw me. That's what the Shulamite woman
said. Draw me and we'll run after thee. Song of Solomon 1.4. Draw me. Give me the grace to
come. Now somebody says, why in the
world would you tell people to come to Christ and then tell
them they can't? Because the Bible says it. That's enough
of a reason. Because the Bible says this. And I love what the Lord said
to his servants, go out into the highways and the hedges and
compel them to come in that my house may be full. Somebody says, how can you call
upon men to come to Christ if he didn't die for everybody,
if God didn't elect all of them? How can you sincerely do that?
Easy, come to Christ and you'll be received. You will be. You will not be turned away.
You come to Christ, you will be received. Now that ought to
be encouraging to you. If you come to Christ, you will
be received. There's no one in the history
of the universe that's ever come to him for mercy that he turned
away. There came a leper to him. Luke's account says, behold,
a man full of leprosy who seeing Jesus. Perceiving who he is. That means more than a physical
sight. This man knew who he was. Now this is the very heart and
soul of saving faith, knowing who he is. I'm not asking you
if you know you're saved. I'm not asking you if you know
you're one of the elect. I'm not asking you if you know
that Jesus Christ died for your sins. I'm asking you, do you
know who he is? You're the thief on the cross.
When he was first nailed to the cross, he didn't know who he
was. but sometime during that time that he was hanging on the
cross, he knew who he was. Don't you fear God? Seeing you're in the same condemnation,
he knew he was God. We receive the due reward of
our deeds. We're getting exactly what we
deserve. This man hath done nothing amiss. He knew he was. He knew he was sinless. Lord! You reckon people snickered when
he said that? He thinks he's Lord? He knew
he was because he knew who he was. Remember me when you come
into your kingdom. I know you're not going to stay
dead because I know who you are. Oh, when you come back as a mighty
reigning king, remember me. Now what that is, is knowing
who he is. And this leper knew who he was. How'd he know? Same way you know
it. You know it in Revelation. If
you know who he is, it's because God has revealed to you who he
is. There's nothing more precious
than that. To know who he He's the Lord. I know that. He's the creator. He's the son of God. He's the
second person of the Blessed Trinity. He's the one who controls
everything. I know who I know who he is. Now, that is the very content
of saving faith to know who he is. What he did is completely
dependent upon who he is. And this leper that came to him,
seeing Jesus. He knew he was God. And somebody
says, how do you know? Well, look at Matthew's account
for just a moment. Chapter 8, verse 2. Matthew, chapter 8, verse 2. And behold, there came a leper,
and what worshipped him. Now, he hadn't done anything
for this leper yet. And he didn't know whether he
would. The leper, well, I mean, the leper didn't know if the
Lord was going to do anything for him. He came with this request, if you will,
you can make me claim that he didn't know if he would, but
he worshipped him before the Lord did anything for him. And
here's why. He worshipped him for who he
was. Now that's worship. If the Lord let you drop into
hell and didn't show you mercy, would he be worthy of worship? Now, we're not gonna get anywhere
until that's settled. Is he worthy of worship? Without
regard, whether he does something for you, if he doesn't do anything
for you, is he worthy of worship because of who he is? The leper knew that. And behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him. Coming to Christ begins with
knowing who he is. and you worship him for who he
is without reference to what he does for you because of who
he is. You see, if you don't come like that, you're coming
with a sense of entitlement. You're coming thinking, well,
he needs to do this. If I did that, he needs to do this. You
don't come to Christ that way. I can't come to Christ that way.
He's to be worshiped for who he is. He's the Lord. He's God. He's the creator. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's who He is. He's
all that God is. Look in verse 2 again of Matthew
chapter 8. We'll stay there for a few moments.
And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord, Every believer, everybody who knows who he is,
might be even a better way to put it, knows that he is Lord. And what's that mean? Well, he's Lord of creation.
He spake the world into existence as an act of his own will. He's
the Lord of providence. Everything that happens is his
will being done. Can't take that too far. He is
the cause. And he's Lord of salvation. And
that means if you're saved, it's up to him. Can you say amen to
that? I'm not asking you to say it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying
to look for a response, but. My salvation is in his hands. It's up to Him. He's everybody's
Lord. I love that scripture in Romans
14, 9, it says, For this end Christ both died and revived,
that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. You
know the fellow in Russia? Christ is his Lord. In his hand. Every unbeliever, you know, the
goats, they're his goats. He's Lord. He's Lord. of the believer. Like Thomas
said, my Lord and my God, he is the Lord. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. He is the Lord. Now, if I come to Christ, this
is not a one time thing. This is not the way I came when
I first came. It's where I'm coming right now.
If I'm coming, this is continual to who coming. Now, let's look
at what this man did that we know came to him. And behold,
there came a leper and worshiped him, saying, Lord. If thou. Will. When a sinner comes to Christ,
he always acknowledges his sovereignty. You don't come like that, you
haven't come at all. Behold, a leper came and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, if you would If you will. Not Lord, I will
that you make me clean. Wow, what insolence. Lord, it would not be fair if
I asked you to make me clean. You don't do it. Nothing like
that. Lord, if you will. Now, what does? His sovereignty
mean it is so simple, it's who he is. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. You see, he has a will. Jesus
Christ has a will. God has a will. There is such
a thing as the will of God. And not only does he have a will,
he has the power to make his will come to pass. We don't. I can will anything. powerless. But anything he wills must come
to pass. And you know what? He always
does make his will come to pass. Where's your God, David? Our
God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he has
pleased. And do I need to say he has the right to do so? Can I not do what I will with
my own? Now, that's the way this leper
came. And if I'm going to come to Christ, I'm going to come
that way right now. I'm going to come worshiping
him. For who he is. Because I know
who he is, and you know who he is. You'll worship him. I mean,
I have no question about that. You'll worship him. And you will
say, Lord, if you will, my salvation is utterly in your hands. I can't make myself clean. I
can't save myself. I can't get you to do anything.
It's all up to your will. Lord, if you will, here's what
happens next. You acknowledge his ability.
Lord, if you will, you can. If you will, You can. Can you say this? Are you? Can you say it with this man?
You worship him? Lord, if you will, you can. Now, his ability. His ability. Now unto him that is able. to keep you from falling and
to present you faultless. Now do you hear that? Faultless. Before his throne. You know what
that means? That was it. Faultless. Holy. Unblameable. Unreprovable. In his sight. Faultless. Do you believe he's able to present
you that way? You know, I really do. I believe
he's able. I love what Paul said in 2 Timothy
1, 12. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed to him against that day. Now, once you commit to
him, Paul, Lynn and I like to watch those cooking shows. And
when the time is up, you know, they hands off. You know, when
they do that, hands off, you know, it's over, hands off. Well,
they cook something and they did something, said hands off.
And my hands off, I didn't do anything. That's what I'm waiting
on. That's what I'm relying on. I'm relying on this, that everything
God requires of me, everything, he looks to his son for. And
I am relying 100% on that. I don't have a plan B. All my eggs are in that basket.
When he said it is finished, my salvation was finished. Do you believe he's able to save
you with absolutely no contribution from you? Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down. By himself. I mean, you didn't have your
hand in this. By himself. Lord. If you will. You can. Make me clean. Now, the way this man came to
Christ. He came with some understanding,
and I just mean some understanding. of the fact that he was unclean. There is an acknowledgement of
my uncleanness. In Luke's account, if you'll
turn with me there, I'd like you to see it. Luke chapter five,
verse 12. And it came to pass when he was
in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy. Full. You know what that means? That means every square inch
of his body was covered by leprosy. He was nothing but leprosy. He was nothing but sin. And that's what that means. Full
of leprosy. Let me show you something in
the Old Testament. Would you turn back to Leviticus
chapter 13? I'm sorry, Leviticus chapter
12. No, go back to 13. Leviticus
chapter 13. Verse 12. And if a leprosy break out abroad
in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that
hath the plague, from his head even to his foot, where so ever the priest looketh,
Then the priest shall consider, and behold, if the leprosy have
covered all his flesh, so there's nothing but leprosy, he shall
pronounce him..." What? Clean. Clean. It all turned white. He is clean. But when raw flesh appears, and
that means living quick flesh, the quick, the living, what still
has pain. If there's any good flesh, any
healthy flesh, he shall be unclean. What does this mean? It means if I come to Christ
with nothing but sin, all I do is sin. I cannot not sin. And I'm not
a victim in this. It's all my fault. I can't blame
Adam. I can't blame my circumstances. It's all my fault. I can't sit
in judgment on anybody for anything. For me to judge anybody would
be grotesque hypocrisy. And I have no claim on God by
way of merit. When I come all together from
my head to my foot, unclean, I'm pronounced clean. And if
I have anything good, back to the leper colony. Send him away. Back to the leper colony. Utterly unclean. Now this leper comes unclean. Isaiah said we're all as an unclean
thing. And our righteousnesses RS Filthy
Rags. He came in his uncleanness. But what I love about this man
is he came for the right thing. He came to be made clean. Now that's what I need. I need
to be made clean. He didn't come to have his marriage
improved. He didn't come to have his finances
improved. He didn't come for help in some
kind of trouble he was in. He didn't even come to be saved
from hell. He came to be made clean. And that is what I need. I need
to be clean before God. I know that because I know who
he is. And I know I can't be in his presence unless I'm utterly
and completely clean. And I know I can't make myself
clean. And I know only he can. Now, this is the way this leper
came to him. He came and he worshiped. Before he received anything from
the Lord, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now let's go back to the text
in Mark chapter one. Verse 41. And Jesus. moved with compassion. Now, any time any sinner comes
to him like this leper, here we have the description of the
God man. He is moved with compassion. You come any other way, he won't
be moved with compassion. But you come this way, scripture
says he was moved with compassion. And he put forth his hand and touched him. Now I I'm reading something into
the text that it doesn't say, but I dare say he had not experienced
that human touch in a long time. Would you have touched him? But the Lord moved by compassion,
reached forth his hand and touched that man. You know. When we think of coming
to Christ. We could understand why he. Would not have compassion on
us. I can understand. I can understand
why the Lord would pass me by. Do you know what? When we think that way, it's
just because we don't know him very well. He delights in mercy. He delights in saving all who
come to Him. He delights in saving sinners. That's who He is. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth His hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will. Be thou clean. Now, if the Lord says you're
clean, what are you? You're clean. What he says is
as it is. And what happened? Verse 42. And as soon as he had spoken
immediately. The leprosy. Departed from him. And he was cleansed. Now this
is important for us to understand is that leprosy went somewhere,
didn't it? It didn't just all of a sudden dissipate. It went
somewhere. It departed. It left him. and it went somewhere else. And
I know where it went. It was in that cup that the Lord drunk dry in Gethsemane's
garden, when all of the sins of all of God's elect were put
into that cup, that he said, Father, if it be your will, let
this cup Pass for me and I can't say that don't understand it.
Don't know what all that means, but I know this. When he saw
that cup. He knew what's in. He knew the
evil seed. You and I don't really. I mean,
we know so little, but. But he took that cup. And he
drank the content. Dry. And he was made sin. And that man's leprosy departed
from him. That man's sin departed from
him and went to the sin bearer. Just like when the high priest
put his hands on the head of that scapegoat and symbolically
all the sins of Israel were transferred to that goat and he's led by
a fit man into the wilderness to be seen no more. It wasn't
symbolic with Christ. That sin departed. Christ put
it away. And the perfect righteousness
of Christ is given to that man. And he is clean. And listen to me. If you come
to Christ. If I come to Christ. Like this
man did. Worshipping. He should be worshipped. Without
reference to what he does for me, whether he does make me clean
or doesn't make me clean, he should be worshipped because
of who he is. You acknowledge he's the Lord. You acknowledge,
if it be thy will, you acknowledge his ability. You can! He came
in his uncleanness. Paul didn't say, oh, wretched
man that I used to be before God saved me. Oh, wretched man
that I am. You always come like that. If you will, you can make me
clean. The Lord says, with regard to
you, be thou clean. And what he says is as it is. Amen. I started bouncing up and down
my seat. Todd said what his title was, because those who attend
here and hear me preach regularly know I try to say, I hope I remember
to say this in every message I preach, come to Christ. Look
to Christ. If you ever want to know what
that means, just go back and listen to that message, because that's
what coming to Christ is. I'll tell you this, Todd, I came
to Christ again tonight. That was so good, wasn't it?
So good. All right, we're going to take about a 10 or 15 minute
break. When you hear the music, start playing. Come back to your
seat because I don't want to waste no time, all right?