Hi, everybody. Would you turn with me to Mark
chapter 1? Verse 40. And there came a leper to him. We're going to look at the rest
of this passage, but the point I want us to consider is there
came a leper to him. And I'm asking this question,
what does it mean to come to Christ. Could we possibly consider
anything more important than that? What does it mean to come
to Christ? This leper did. Have I? Have you? What does it mean to
come to Christ? Now, the Lord said in John chapter
6, verse 37, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Coming to Christ is the evidence
of divine election. If you're elect, this I know. If I'm elect, this I know. We
will come to Christ, whatever that means. In John chapter 5,
verse 40, the Lord said to some people, you will not come to
me, but you might have life. Coming to Christ is the act of
life. Coming to Christ is the act of
spiritual life. And then Peter said in 1 Peter
2, verse 4, and this is so important, he said, to whom coming, not
to whom you came, not to whom you intend to come, to whom coming,
as into a living stone. This is what believers are always
doing. coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when the Lord said
in John chapter 14, verse six, I am the way, I am the truth,
I am the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me. When I come to the Father, it
is only coming by the Lord Jesus Christ. So this gives us an idea
of how important this is all the time. To whom? Coming. In Revelation chapter
22, verse 17, we read these words, and the spirit and the bride. That's God, the Holy Spirit,
and the church. This is their message. And the spirit and the
bride say, come. Not go and do. Not get yourself
ready. Not improve this area. Stop doing
this and start doing that. Right now, come to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not go away, come. The Lord said, come unto me all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. That's laboring under the burden
and sense of your own personal sin and guilt. Come unto me. Not go away. Come unto me and I will give
you rest. Only he can do that. What does it mean to come to
Christ? If I don't personally come to
Christ, I'll not be saved. I'll hear those awful words,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. What does it mean to come to
Christ? You know, you came to church
this evening, and it was a physical act. You did whatever it took
to get from point A to point B. It was purely physical. Now, I hope we all came here
to be spiritually fed, but coming to this place, coming from point
A to point B is a physical thing, and there were certain things
that were done in order to get here. You all know what they
are. But coming to Christ is a purely spiritual act. You come without moving a muscle. What does it mean to come to
Christ? Now the only way that can be
answered is from the scriptures. If I tell you what I think it
means to come to Christ, you know what I'm gonna do? Confusion.
That's it. I'm gonna darken counsel with
words without knowledge. If I give my opinion as to what
it means to come to Christ. Now, I know this, you will not
find anything in the Bible about coming to him by responding to
an altar call. That's not even in the Bible.
You won't find anything in the Bible about coming to Him by
accepting Him as your personal Savior. That's not found in the
scriptures. You won't find anything in the
Bible about asking Him into your heart. I repeat, what does it mean to
come to Christ? I want to do that tonight, don't
you? Whatever it means to come to Christ, may God give every
one of us the grace in our hearts to do this. Like I said, it's
the evidence of divine election. It is the mark of spiritual life,
and it's what believers do continually. It's not a one-time act. What
does it mean to come to Christ? We read here in verse 40, and
there came a leper to him. Now we know this man came to
Christ, don't we? You don't know if I have, I don't know if you
have. Not in our hearts, but we know this man did. This is
a man who came to Christ. And in this man, we will see
what it means to come to Christ. And this individual, and wouldn't
it be a blessing, a blessing of grace, if me and you, right
now, in our hearts, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I have
to begin this message by saying that this thing of
coming to Christ is impossible unless God enables me. I've gotta be here. Turn with
me to John chapter six. Somebody says, why do you tell
me to come to Christ if I can't? Well, because the Bible says
that. That's a good enough reason isn't it? That's what the Bible
says. Look in verse 44. John chapter six, verse 44, no
man can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me. Why is that? It's called being
dead in sins. That's what it's called. And
that's why the Lord says this. No man has the ability to come
to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. Now, unless the Father draws me, that could mean drags me in,
with my full consent, yes, but it's, Invincible irresistible
grace that I can't say no to Now the Lord says this Look in
verse 65 of this same chapter Therefore said I unto you that
no man can come unto me, except it were given him of my father. You can't come, I can't come
except God draw me, except God give me the grace to do it, except
God give me the life to do it. It's impossible for the natural
man. Now here's my point. You haven't begun to come to
Christ until you find out you can't. And it's only when you
find out that you personally cannot come that you come. You
begin there. This is a beginning point. I
need to find out that I cannot come to Christ unless he does
something for me. I'm in his hands. Now, in this thing of coming
to Christ, it's not a long journey. You get there as soon as you
come, you're there. It's not a long, arduous point A, point
B, point C. You get there as soon as you
come, but you can't come except he draw you. Now, you know what
the church says in Psalm of Solomon, chapter one, verse four? Draw
me, and we will run after thee. Now, here is what somebody does
when they find out they can't come to Christ. Cause me to come. You haven't come until that's
been your prayer. Draw me, give me the grace to come. I can't
do it, I won't do it unless you're pleased to do something for me.
Now, we gotta begin there. Somebody says, that doesn't make
sense to preach on coming to Christ and tell people they can't.
Well, it might not make mental sense with men, but it's the
way God's Word presents it, and it's the way it must be presented.
You have not come to Christ until you personally find out that
you cannot come. That is when you begin. There came a leper to him. There came a leper to him. Coming to Christ begins with
knowing who he is. There came a Christ to him. As
a matter of fact, you won't come to him until you find out who
he is. There came a leper Luke's account
says, behold, a man full of leprosy who seeing Jesus, perceiving
who he really is. No man will come until he sees
who Jesus Christ really is. When you see who he is, you will
come. Everybody who sees who He is comes to Him. That's where
we begin. First you find out you can't
come, and the reason you find out you can't come is because
you see who He is and you see your deadness and your sinfulness,
and then you do come when you see who He is. You see, when you talk about
irresistible grace, you must have Him. And you won't have
that desire until you see who he is. Isaiah chapter six, verse one
says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. High and lifted up, sitting on
a throne. and his train filled the temple. And we know from John's account
that Isaiah is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ because John
says, these things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake
of him. Now, you know who he is when
you see that he is the Lord sitting on a throne, not pacing back
and forth, sitting, having finished his work, filled with glory,
his train filled the temple. This leper had no lower view
of Christ than Isaiah had of Christ when he saw him high and
lifted up and sitting on the throne. When you see him, you
see him high and lifted up. You see he's God. You see him
sitting on the throne and you come to him as such. Now somebody says, how do you
know that the leper came like this? How do you know he saw
who he was? Well look, you can turn to Matthew's
account if you want to, Matthew chapter eight, verse two. And behold, there
came a leper and what? Worshipped him. This leper came and worshipped
him for who he is. He knew who he was. I can't express the importance
of this when that thief on the cross When he went to that cross,
he didn't know who he was. He was cursing like the other
thief was. But all of a sudden, something
changed. And he knew who the Lord Jesus
was. This is what faith is. It's knowing
who he is. He knew who he was. And he worshipped him. Now I
want us to think about this. This man worshipped him for who
he was. before he got anything from him.
He hadn't even asked him for anything yet. He worshiped him. Now I want to ask you this question.
Is the Lord Jesus Christ worthy of worship, even if he doesn't
do anything for you? If you know who he is, you know
yes. He's to be worshiped as God. And if he lets me drop into hell,
he's still worthy of divine worship because of who he is. Do you believe that? This man
came and he Worshipped him and he worshipped him before he did
anything for him now He's worthy of worship. You don't worship
God And this man knew that Jesus Christ was God. He came asking
him to do only what God could do anyway. Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. He knew Jesus Christ was God,
the only one who could make him clean. Coming to Christ, I repeat,
is knowing who he is. Now, do you know he's God the
Son? Do you know that? Do you know he's the creator?
Do you know he's the absolute sovereign of the universe? Do
you know he is to be worshipped and you're in his hand? If you
do, you know who he is. That's the first reason someone
comes to Christ in their own experience. Well, first of all,
they come because they're drawn by the Father, but they come
because they know who he is. Now, Stay with me here in Matthew
chapter 8. Look what it says. And behold,
there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord. Now isn't that the same thing the
thief on the cross said? Lord. You're the Lord. I know you're
not going to stay nailed to this cross. I know you're going to
come back as a mighty reigning king because of who you are. He's the Lord. Now, what does
this mean, He's the Lord? It means He's the Lord of creation. All things were created by Him
and for Him. He is before all things and by
Him all things consist. He's the Lord of creation. He's
the Lord of providence. You know what that means? He
controls everything that happens. Everything. You can't take that
too far. He controls everything that happens. He is completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. Now, we do what we want
to do. When we see Him, we see Him because we want to see Him.
We can't blame God. And yet he's in complete sovereign
control over everything, every event. I don't care if it's a
worm crawling through the ground, he's in control of that or the
destruction of an empire. He's in control of that because
he's Lord. And most especially, he is Lord of salvation. So when I come into his presence,
I know my salvation is entirely up to him. That's the way this
man came. He came and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, you call me master and Lord, you say, well, so I am. He's the Lord. I love it when
The disciples don't recognize him as first after the resurrection
when he's on the beach and they're out in the boat and they've caught
nothing. And then they hear someone say,
children, have you any meat? And all of a sudden, John said,
it's the Lord. What did Peter do? He jumped
into the water after him. It's the Lord. He's the Lord.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. Now, when a man comes to Christ,
he always, without any exceptions to this, acknowledges his sovereignty. There came a leper and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, if you will. Nobody has ever come to Christ
who did not acknowledge his sovereign will. Lord, if you will. Now what does sovereignty mean? Now if I come to him, I'm gonna
be acknowledging this. I'm gonna be bowing before him
just like this. Lord, if you will. What does his sovereign
will mean? Well, he has a will. There is
such a thing as the will of God, the will of Jesus Christ. He
has a will and he has the power to make his will come to pass. He does make his will come to
pass all the time. And he has the right to make
his will come to pass. all the time. Can I not do what
I will with my own or his very own words? You come acknowledging
his sovereign will. If you come to him, that's what
you do. Lord, if you will, you don't say, Lord, I will that
you make me clean. Why, that would be evil. That's all you could call it.
Lord, I'm coming to you to make me clean. It would not be fair
if you didn't make me clean. I mean, I'm coming to you. No,
you don't come that way to the Lord. That's the way religious
people come, thinking it's obligation and it's not fair for him to
do what we ask him to do, but you don't come that way if you
know who he is. You come just like this leper
did. Lord, if you will, But let's look at what this man
says next. Lord, if you will, you can. You believe that. If you will,
you have the ability to make me clean. Now anytime somebody
comes to Christ, and this is all the time with a believer,
we come this way all the time. We don't come dictating him what
our will for him to do is. Lord, if you will, you can. You have the ability to make
me clean. Now listen to these scriptures
with regard to his ability. Jude 24 says, now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling. Now, if you could fall away,
you would fall away. You believe that? If you could,
you would. If I could fall, I will fall. But now unto him that's able
to keep you from falling. and to present you faultless. You know what that means? Sinless. That means without guilt. That
means perfectly justified. That means holy and unblameable
and unapprovable. You don't need to look behind
your back. It's all taken care of. You're holy. You've never
sinned. Faultless. Do you believe he's
able to do that? Do you believe he's able to present
you as one who has never sinned? That's what justification is.
Perfect in God's sight. Listen to Paul's words in 2 Timothy
1.12. I know whom I have believed.
And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed to him. against that day. Now he's talking
about the Day of Judgment. You're talking about death, same
thing. I'm persuaded that if I die,
if I'm driving home tonight and wreck the car, I'm dead. Well, him probably lives. Gets
to marry somebody better than me, some down the way. Why am
I saying that? That's stupid. The point is, I have committed the entire salvation
of my soul to Him. My hands are off. It doesn't
have anything to do with my works. I've committed that to Him. And He's able to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day where on that day I'm
going to be justified. Do you believe in His ability?
I love what those blind men came into him saying, Jesus, have
mercy on us. He says, what will you that I
should do unto you? Said, that we may see. He said, do you believe
I'm able to do this? They said, yea, Lord. I believe
he's able. I believe he's able to present
me faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. Now, the
next thing that I would notice about this man, and this is always
there in coming to Christ. He said, if you will, you can,
make me clean. Now here's the point. I'm not
clean. When I come into his presence,
there is an understanding of this. I am not clean. Let me show you a passage of
scripture. You probably have seen this before, but if you
haven't, this will be a blessing. Turn to Leviticus chapter 12.
It's about the cleansing of the leper. Leviticus chapter 12. 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, wheresoever
the priest looketh. Now before we go on reading,
Luke's account says a man full of leprosy. All there was, was leprosy. There was no healthy flesh, completely
covered with this filthy disease, full of leprosy. Now this is
the one the Lord is describing here. In this verse 12, and if
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, wheresoever the priest looketh, then the priest shall
consider and behold, if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh, he
shall pronounce him clean. It's all turned white, he's clean. But, verse 14, when raw flesh
appeareth in him, now that word raw is living, quick. Uncovered with leprosy. If there's
one spot of him that is healthy flesh, you know what? He's sent
back to the leper colony. The only way you can come to
Christ is like this man did, full of sin. To where all you
are, in and of yourself, all I am, in and of myself, is sin. From the top to the foot, everything
in between, I in myself, right now, am nothing but sin. Now when I'm preaching to you, I realize I've got a new nature
that I didn't have before. But I've got an old nature that
is no better than it ever was. And I struggle with sin just
as much as I ever have. I am filled with sin. And that is the person who comes
to Christ. Someone who is utterly unclean. Now this man was utterly unclean. He was completely covered. And that's the only way a sinner
ever comes to Christ. Completely filled with sin. And this man came to the right
thing. He said, if you will, you can make me clean. That's what I need. I need to
be made clean. I need Him to do something for
me about my sin. I need to be made clean. I can't
make myself clean, but He is able to make me clean so that
I'm accepted before God. Now, I'm not coming to have my
health restored. I like being healthy, but that's
not why I need him. I want to be healthy. I'm not saying I
don't, but what I need is to be safe from my sins. I need
to be made clean. I don't need to be healthy. I
don't need to be wealthy. I don't need to have everything
going my way. I need to be made clean so that when God sees me,
he sees no sin. I love the way David said, hide
thy face from my sin so that you don't see anything there.
That is what I need. I need to be made clean. And he stopped. And here's a man who came to
Christ. This man knew who the Lord was. He worshiped him for who he was.
He acknowledged his lordship, Lord. He acknowledged his sovereign
will, if you will. He acknowledged his ability,
you can, He acknowledged his uncleanness and his need to be
made clean. I turn back to Mark in chapter
one, verse 40. And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling
down to him, you see, he knew who he was, and saying unto him,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. You know, he wasn't
sure that the Lord was willing to do it, was he? He said, if you will, you can.
But he wasn't sure if the Lord was willing. But look how willing the Lord
is to cleanse all who come to Him. Just like that. And Jesus, verse 41, moved with
compassion. Now this move the Lord to compassion. Now this leper, like I said,
he wasn't sure whether the Lord was willing to do this, but that's
because he didn't know the Lord as he should. He delights in
saving sinners. He was moved by compassion. And the scripture says, he reached
forth his hand and what? Touched him. Would you have touched
him? I probably would get my hands
in my pocket. I mean, I don't want to get this man's disease.
But the Lord moved with compassion. I bet this man hadn't been touched
as far as human touch in so long. And the Lord Jesus moved with
compassion. You know, if you come to Christ
like this man did, if I come to Christ like this man did right
now, the God of glory is moved with compassion. He's so glorious. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand and touched him, and saith unto him, I will. That's one thing for me to say,
I will, with regard to anything. You going to do this tomorrow?
Yeah, I'll do it. Well, I don't know whether I will or not. I
don't even know whether I'll be alive tomorrow. If the Lord will, I'll
do that. But oh, the power of His, I will. Father, I will. The day that you have given me,
be with me where I am. Now that is, this is He who is
equal to the Father because He's God. He said, I will. Any sinner who comes to Him,
like this leopard did, hears the same thing. I will be thou
clean. And look what it says in verse
42. And as soon as he'd spoken, immediately,
just like that, The leprosy departed. Now it
didn't just dissipate. It departed. It went somewhere. It went somewhere. Now my sin went somewhere. It went to Him. This is how God
saves people. You see, sin can't be two places
at once. When it left me, it went to him. The scripture says
he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. That leprosy departed,
it went to him. It went to him. And he is made
perfectly clean. Now that's how you and I can
stand before God without guilt. Because my sin departed, it's
gone, it's not there. What happened to it? He put it
away. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. That word
departed is there for a reason. They didn't just disappear, they
went somewhere. And he put them away. And that's why I can stand before
God, not having to worry about something coming back up, because
it's all gone. I stand before God just, without guilt, without
sin. I don't have to worry about looking
behind my back. It's a just salvation. It glorifies
the justice and the righteousness of God. His leprosy departed. And he was cleansed. And he straightly charged him,
and forthwith sent him away, and said unto him, See thou say
nothing to any man, Go thy way, show thyself to the priests,
and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded
for a testimony unto them. You can read about that in Leviticus
chapter 13, about what a leper who was cleansed. Remember, the
one who was pronounced clean was the one who was completely
covered. He was the one pronounced clean, and he told him what to,
he said, you go offer up whatever Moses commanded you to offer
up, but, verse 12, 45, he went out and began to publish it much,
and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no
more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places,
and they came to him from every quarter. Now, did the man disobey
the Lord? I reckon he did. I don't know
how else you can say it. The Lord told him not to do it,
and he did it. But put yourself in, I'm not justifying disobedience
in any way, but put yourself in that man's place. He began
to blaze abroad the matter. Why does the Lord say not to
tell anybody? Well, the Lord wasn't looking for a following.
You know, if I was able to heal somebody, the first thing I'd
say, you better tell everybody about it so they'll know they'll
come to me and they'll see. Not the Lord. He didn't come
to gain a following. He came to save his people from
their sins. And that's exactly what he did. But that man, he
couldn't resist. He began to blaze abroad the
matter. And I hope the Lord will, in
obedience to him, blaze abroad the matter as to how he made
us clean. Behold, there came a leper, full
of leprosy, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
reached forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And immediately, no steps he
had to take, no cleaning himself up. Immediately, his leprosy
departed from him. May you and I come to Christ
even now, same way this man did. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would draw us and give it to us to come to thy son and
that we might be enabled to come just like this leper did. Bless your word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray.