I appreciate that hymn, Brother
Mike. That's one of my favorites. That
was written in the year 700 and something. That's old. I not only love the words, High
King of Heaven, my victory won. Written back in the day. It was
an Irish hymn. And I not only love the word,
but I like the Irish melody written back in a day when they knew
the value of a victorious king against the many enemies that
surrounded them. Thank you all for all that you've
done thus far, for the food and all that goes into making one
of these meetings. Thank you so much for everything. Thank your pastor and his wife
and all of you who for the work you've done. Look with me now
at the Gospel of John. John chapter 6. John chapter 6. I want to read one verse, a very
familiar verse to most in here. Verse 37, the Lord Jesus Christ
is speaking and he says in verse 37, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. I hope tonight that will be your
favorite verse in the Bible, at least tonight. There was an old preacher years
ago, one of the first sovereign grace preachers in the South,
along with Barnard and a few others named A.D. Mews, and he
used to He was a country fella, southern man, and he used to
say, now this is cornbread and tater-row preaching. Cornbread
and tater-row preaching. By that, I think he meant good
old plain gospel preaching. Same food, that you grew up eating
and liking and can't get enough of. I know some of you, I know you
like food that you have been eating for years and can't get
enough of it. That's the way it is with the
gospel. The foundational truths. One way that you know the gospel
is gospel to you That is good news. If it's always good news
when you hear it. Never gets old, but rather good
news. Very simply, I got three points
to this message. Who will come to the Lord Jesus
Christ? Who will come to the Lord Jesus
Christ? What does it mean to come? to Christ. And thirdly,
what do they receive when they come to the Lord Jesus Christ? Alright, who will come to Christ? Verse 37 again, our Lord said
very plainly, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. The Lord is talking about the
elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God. The chosen. Those chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. In verse 44, our Lord
said this. He said it twice. Here and in
verse 65. He said, No man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. Why? Man, it
really is dead in trespasses and sin. He cannot come. Lazarus
wouldn't have come out of that grave had not the Lord called
him, would he? No man can, no man will. Over in chapter 5, he said, you
will not come unto me that ye might have life. It's not of
him that willeth, is it? But of God that calleth. Well,
down in verse 60, Many who heard this, they said, this is a hard
saying. Who can hear it? It's a hard
saying. Who can hear it? I went to the
radio station one day a few years ago to drop off a tape for the
broadcast and a man stopped me on the way out of the station
And he said, a preacher, he said, I hear, you know, you preach
on that election a lot. At least he was listening. But
he said, you know, that election, it's hard to understand, isn't
it? I said, no, not really. It's hard to receive. Yea, impossible. unless a man is given it from
above to receive it. It's hard on man's pride, isn't
it? It's hard on man's will. It kills
man's little decision that he has made. It gives God all the
glory which man wants part of. It makes salvation of the Lord
from the choosing, to the calling, to the drawing, to the bringing,
to the saving, to the keeping, to the glorifying. Makes it totally
of the Lord, doesn't it? Let me ask you what our Lord
asked these people who heard Him in verse 61. He said, Doth
this offend you? Doth this offend you? No man can come. All the Father
giveth me shall come. And I don't know why, does this
offend you? Well, old Simon answered on behalf
of all of us, didn't he? On behalf of all believers, look
at what Simon said. He said in verse 68, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Hard? No, this is life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Our Lord answered
then and said, have not I chosen you? It's obvious that I've chosen
you or you wouldn't believe. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, He said, but my Father which gave you to me,
which chose you. Chosen by God here's what listen
to the to Isaiah. Oh how I love this these verses
in Isaiah the Lord says I Even I am the Lord I have chosen
you that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he
Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after
me. I, even I, am the Lord. Beside me there is no Savior.
I have declared, I have saved, I have showed, or revealed, when
there was no strange God among you. Therefore you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, that I am God." He says to his people, I have
chosen you that you may know that I have chosen you. The world
doesn't believe that. They think it's hard. Before the day was, he said.
Look at Mark chapter 3. Go over to the Gospel of Mark
chapter 3 with me. Mark chapter 3. If you listen
to these preachers, Pastor here, Brother Nybert and others, and
you will hear them talk about God's sovereign electing grace
quite often. Why is that? Because God talks about it quite
often. That's why. It's the language
of scripture, isn't it, Brother Tom? That's what He calls His
people, doesn't it? The elect. Christ referred to
His people as the elect. Why do we talk about God's sovereign
electing grace? Because it gives God all the
glory in the choosing. Because it's the truth. That's
why. Look at Mark chapter 3. How I
love this verse. Verse 13. The Lord, it says,
he goeth up into a mountain and calleth unto him whom he would. Whom he would, he called whom
he would. According to his will, according
to his good pleasure, he called whom he would. What did they
do? They came. They came. Everyone. All that
the Father giveth me shall come unto me. All that the Father
hath chosen and given to me shall come to me. Who are these? Who
shall come? John 10. John chapter 10. Go over there with me. Oh, this talks about the Good
Shepherd. John chapter 10. And he's talking about his sheep. Christ's sheep. He's the Good
Shepherd. And the Great Shepherd, the Chief
Shepherd, and these sheep were given to him by the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Good Shepherd. God the Father owns all things
and chose these sheep and gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at it, verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. his sheep verses 14 and following
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine
as the father knoweth me even so know I the father and I laid
down my life for the sheep not goats not all men but for the
sheep a particular redemption a particular death for a particular
people an effectual death Verse 16, and other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. I must bring. Verses 26 and following. He said to some who didn't like
this, he said, you believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said unto you. My sheep,
hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Verse 29, My Father which gave
them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. Who shall come to cry? All that
the Father giveth to cry. And you know what that is, don't
you? That's a covenant. that God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit made with one another before the world began. Get tired
of hearing that? Our salvation depends on a covenant,
doesn't it? Ordered in all things and sure. That's what David said.
This is all my salvation. That God made this everlasting
covenant, brother Jeff, concerning his people and nothing can change
it. No man. And God the Father chose
a people which no man can number, bless His name, but He has a
number. He has a number. As the stars of the sky for multitude,
as the sands of the sea for multitude, but He has a number. And he gave
them, he purposed to save them, gave them to his son to be their
redeemer, to be their surety, to be their substitute, to be
their sin offering, to be their covenant head, to come down here
and redeem them, to pay for their sin, to establish a righteousness
for them. Did he do it? Absolutely. Hanging on Calvary's tree, he
said, it's finished. It's finished. and went back
to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to round them up. Every one of
them. One time they argued with Spurgeon. They said, why if I believe that
election like you, why preach? He said, why don't you just preach
to the elect? Brother Tony Spurgeon said, well
I would if they had an E on them. I would. I wouldn't bother to preach to
anybody. But the commission is going to all the world and preach
the gospel. They do have an E on them. We
can't see it. God does. They've got blood on
them. We can't see it. God does. And he said, my sheep,
for whom Christ came to die, they will hear my voice and they
will come. I'll say in Isaiah 43, he said
this, I'll say to the north, give up. I'll say to the south,
bring my people from afar. I'll say it and they'll come.
Because I'm the good shepherd. This is the gospel call, and
those who have not heard this call, the world, who have not
heard this powerful gospel call, cannot understand how merely
standing up and declaring who God is, and declaring who Christ
is and what He's done, is enough for people to come. That you
don't beg and plead and invite and do all of this and cajole
and all that, that people will come. You need to invite people.
You need to have that altar call. There needs to be an invitation. Gospel is not by invitation.
Listen to this. David said in Psalm 71, Thou
hast given commandment to save me. Salvation is a command. It's not an invitation. That's
not in the Bible. Invitation. Not an offer. The only offer made was Christ
made this offering to his father, and the father accepted it on
behalf of his people. But the gospel is command. Thou
hast given commandment to save me. Aren't you glad that salvation
is by command? That he didn't ask you, would
you come? Because you would not come unto
me. He said. All that the Father giveth me
in that covenant of grace shall come unto me." That's the powerful
call of the Lord. They all come. You've probably
heard all my dog stories, but I'm going to tell one again.
I have a dog, and I chose that dog. He did not choose me. I went down to a kennel and in
the litter in which I found him there were 12 pups in that litter.
That dog did not choose me. I chose him out of that according
to my good pleasure. I bought him. I paid money for
that dog. That's amazing in itself. That
you pay good money for a dog. I bought that dog and I brought
that dog home with me and I said, you're mine. You're mine. I own you from here on out. And
Mother Toni, I taught him, trained him, taught him well. One of
the first things I taught him was, come. I taught him to come. I taught him to follow me, to
heal. And that dog comes when I call
him. He comes. Because I'm a good
dog caller. Well, our Lord is a good shepherd.
Thank God. And he says my sheep, which are
prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I
love, he's a good shepherd. He's never lost a sheep. And
he goes after every one of them, finds them. And he does it through
this gospel. And he calls them. And bless
God, they come. They come. Because the voice of the Lord
is powerful. Breaking the cedars, the psalmist
says. Hardest heart. Making hinds to
calve. That's a new birth, isn't it?
And centers to come. Well, what is it to come to Christ?
That's who will come. All that the Father had chosen,
all that Christ died for, all that the Holy Spirit sends the
gospel to, they will come. What is it to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, look over in John chapter
6 verse 24 through 26 with me. The Lord Jesus Christ attracted
a crowd wherever he went. There were great multitudes that
followed him. Verses 24-6, When the people
therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples,
they came and took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for
Jesus. They wanted to see this man,
Jesus, and His miracle working and so forth. And when they found
Him on the other side, they said unto Him, Rabbi, Teacher, when
camest thou hither? The Lord answered and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Seek Me, not because you saw the miracle,
but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. You got
your belly filled. You seek Me for what you can
get from Me. In another place He said to some, You seek Me
because of the miracle. And there are many still today,
are there not, who are very interested in this Jesus, miracle worker,
but what they can get out of Him. And preachers promise them all
sorts of things, you know, financial healing and marital healing and
deliverance from various addictions and so forth, and that's why
people are interested in that. What is it to come to Christ
of? Listen to what our Lord said again. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. It's me they seek. You read that there in Psalm
70. Those that seek Him. Find their joy in Him. Look at
Matthew's Gospel chapter 8 with me. Matthew chapter 8. To come
to Christ. To come to Christ is to come
to Him. Come to Him. To come to Him as
Lord and Master. To come worshiping Him. It's
to come as a leper, come as a sinner. This is the story here in Matthew
chapter 8. Look at verse 1. When he was
come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him,
followed Jesus. Again, because of the miracles
and so forth. And behold, no. Stop that myth. Look at this. There came a leper. and worshipped him. This leper,
multitudes followed him, multitudes were attracted to his miracles
and so forth, but this leper of all people, behold, this leper
came to him. And look at what he did, first
thing he did, he worshipped him. He worshipped Him. He came to
worship Him before He got anything from the Lord. Before He asked
for anything, He first worshipped Him as Lord, as Master. See, this is what our Lord said
in John 6, 45. He said, they'll all be taught
of God. Taught what? This is your Lord
and Master. Bow to Him. As the brother said,
hear Him, bow to Him, worship Him. Let all the angels of God,
he said, worship Him. Let everything that hath breath,
worship Him. First, before anything is given
to you, worship Him. Worship Him. I think it was either
Bunyan or Calvin won. They asked him one time, mocking
him and deriding him, they said, what if you looked at the Lamb's
Book of Life, what if you could not see your name as one of the
elects, John Calvin, would you still worship the Lord? He said,
yes I would. Because he's worthy. Whether he does anything for
me or not. We come, the Lord, this is what
the Lord does for his people first of all. When they come,
and many of you, you remember as a young believer coming and
you just love to hear about this sovereign God, this sovereign
Lord, about his majesty. And you almost felt presumptuous
to think that you were one of his elect. You remember that,
Brother Tom? You just thought, I just want
to be here and listen. I don't know if I'm one of these
or not, but I sure like who I'm hearing. Worship Him. Lord, Master. Saying, here's
what He said. Here's how He came to the Lord,
the leper. Verse 2, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt. You don't hear this, I have decided,
do you? I have decided to let you. Lord, if thou wilt, if you're willing,
not I will, but if you're willing, if you're willing, him that cometh
to God, Hebrews 6,11 says, must believe, what? That he is. For coming to a king. You don't let kings do anything.
There in Isaiah 43 again, he said, I will work and who will
let me? He's Lord, he's sovereign, he's
king, he's the despot. He needs no one. Certainly doesn't
need a leper. This leper knew that. Doesn't
need a leper, he does as he will with whom he will. What do you
say to these things? Does this offend you? No, this
is just personal. The God that men speak of today,
that they let be God? The Jesus men speak of, you know,
that they let into their hearts? Joseph, somebody once said, you
know what the hand of God would do to your heart's door if it
was knocking on it? Huh? That's not the God of the Bible
who will work according to His own will. To come to Christ is
to first come to Him as the sovereign Lord who can save me or damn
me. That's right. We're talking about
mercy. Mercy is undeserved, isn't it? Mercy is always sovereign by
definition. To come to the Lord Jesus Christ
is to come to Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, in whose hands we are to accept or reject. Men
have it backwards, don't they? The message of Pentecost that
struck fear in the hearts of everyone who heard it and had
been crying for mercy was of a Jesus that they thought to
be just a man, who is Lord and they're in His hands to do with
as He pleases. And that struck the fear of the
Lord. Saving wisdom is the fear. The fear of the Lord is saving
wisdom. And caused them to cry out, what are we going to do?
What are we going to do? To come to Christ, like this
fellow, is to come to Him as Lord, If you will. It's to come to Him as a leper. To come to Him as a leper. You
know what a leper is, don't you? We really don't know what a leper
is. We've never seen one. It's been years since there's
been actual lepers. I know there's lepers, but not
like back then. It was an incurable disease.
It was always fatal. Leprosy. And the leper we're
speaking of here is a man who's covered from head to toe. A Leviticus 13, 13 leper. Have you ever seen that? I know
you have. You've been taught well here. Over in the book of
Leviticus, it said that if a man came to the high priest and there
was no soundness in his flesh, From the sole of his feet to
the crown of his head he was covered with leprosy. That man
and that man only would the high priest pronounce clean." That's
a paradox, isn't it? A Roman 711 sinner, 718. In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's how you come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. An Isaiah 1 6 sinner. From the crown of the head to
the sole of the feet to the crown of the head, no sound of the
sinner. That's why you come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. You come as a sinner needing
a Savior. Those who come to Christ are
those He came for. Listen to Him. He said, I'm not
come to call the righteous. The well don't need a position.
Those that are whole don't need a position. But those that are
a mess... Those that are undone, they need
a position. I'm not come to call the righteous
to come. I am come to call sinners to
come. And they come. It's to come dirty, filthy, in
need of washing. And there's only one thing that'll
wash away our sin. Nothing but the blood. of the
Lord Jesus Christ. My little granddaughter was sitting
in her high chair. You didn't think I was going
to go too long without bringing her up, did you? She was sitting
in her high chair the other day, well a few weeks ago, and she
was eating something. She's two years old. and you
know she had she finally got it all over her from her head
to toe just everywhere I don't know what it was she just covered
with it and she got this from her mother and her grandmother
she doesn't like to be too messy but she was and finally she just
had the awful look on her face like she's going to cry and she
said Paw Paw I make a mess And you know my heart just went
out too. And I said, it's alright honey. I'll clean it up. Papa will clean it all up. And we are a mess. We've made
a mess of everything. And we'll continue to do so. Lord, I want to be clean. That's what
this leper said. What wilt thou? I want to be clean. To come to Christ
is to come to Him as our prophet. Lord, would you tell me all things?
I hear what men are saying, but would you tell me? Would you
tell me what my future holds? He said, I will. You'll be with
me in paradise. You can't lie. God who promises. God who cannot lie promised us
eternal. It's to come to Christ as our
priests. The only one priest of old was
the one who, the high priest, was the one who went to God with
the prayers, with the blood, with the sacrifice. Only one
man, by one man could go into the Holy of Holy. There's a bunch
of false ones today, aren't there, that men confess their sins to. Well, we truly go to the Lord
Jesus Christ and confess all of our sins. And he's faithful and just to
forgive us. He's able to forgive us all our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's to come
to Christ as King like the thief on the cross. Lord, you're coming
into a kingdom. Would you remember me? Can I
be a part of this kingdom? It's your kingdom. I have no
right to it whatsoever. Can I be a part of it? Barely,
barely. I say unto you, the kings, to
come to Christ is hungry. Blessed are they that hunger. Hunger and thirst after righteousness.
That hunger, He's the bread. That thirst, He's the water.
You know the story of Joseph. Do you love the story of Joseph?
Pharaoh said of Joseph, he said, I've committed unto Joseph all
the storehouses. I've given everything into the
hands of Joseph, and if anybody's hungry, if anybody wants anything,
you're going to have to go to Joseph. He's in charge of the
storehouse. But didn't our Lord say, all
things are delivered unto me of my Father? Didn't He? He said, the Father hath given
me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given me. And I'll tell you this, He'll
give it to those that ask, to everyone that asks. He's never
turned one away. Never. All that the Father given
shall come to me, and Him that cometh won't turn away. Won't turn away. It's to come
to Christ in need of mercy. Need mercy? Go to Christ. Need grace? Without
Him we can do nothing. Need help? Need strength? Need comfort? Leave security,
leave assurance, leave peace, leave rest. Come unto me, I'll
give you rest. Sayeth the Lord. So to come to
the Lord Jesus Christ is to come, first of all, worshiping Him.
It's to come seeing your need of Him. Now listen to that. To
come to the Lord Jesus Christ is to leave all others. By that I mean to renounce everything
and everyone, to turn from our idols to serve the living and
true God, the true Christ. No one is saved who does not
know, believe, and confess the true God and the true Christ.
No one is saved apart from the truth. Right, Brother Nyberg? No one is saved under a false
gospel by a false prophet. Not one. But only by hearing, believing,
bowing to the true God and His true Christ. This is the gospel. There is no other. There is no
other. And the first thing a person
does when they see the true God and the true Christ is they confess
that old one that I had was not the right one. It's the wrong
one. I didn't know God back then. That's what Paul said. That's
what Saul said. He could quote the Bible from
cover to cover, but he said, I didn't know God. Blameless, morally blameless,
I thought. And I thought Jesus was in my
hands. Boy, little did I know. I didn't know the Lord Jesus.
I had another Jesus. That's what it is to come to
cry. This cry is to confess Him. This cry. And by confessing this
cry, he renounced that past. Paul said, all of my past religion
was garbage. Done. Everything I ever did was
done. Right? To come to Christ. To
renounce the past. And you know every believer renounces
yesterday's faith. It's to come to Christ. That's
my next point. To come to Christ is to keep
coming to Christ. It's not a one-time thing. It's
not what I came to Christ years ago and now I'm saying, no sir,
it's a lifelong thing, it's a daily thing. Peter said, to whom coming,
didn't he? And coming, and coming, and coming.
Listen to the Lord. He said, him that cometh. Him
that cometh and cometh. Right? And what a blessed... Would you stay with me just a
minute? said Him that cometh. He doesn't qualify that. Whoever
it is. Him that cometh. Now we know
all the Father given. We know that's who will come.
He said Him. Whoever it is. And this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation. That Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners. Even the chief, the chief of
sinners can come. May come. And it was said. Him, but Lord, I'm too sinful
Him that cometh Him that cometh But Lord, He left She left, she departed Are they coming back? Well yeah,
but Him that cometh Would you get a hold of this? Huh? Would
you get a hold of this? Him that cometh. Wait a minute.
He's falling away. He's gone away again. Again! He's falling right back into
the rut, the pit that he was in before. Surely, you're done
with him. Is he coming back? Well yeah,
here he comes. Him that cometh. I will in no
wise cast out. Again. And really, every time
we come to hear the gospel, we're coming to Christ again. Just like we came the first time. How did we come the first time?
Like that leper. Alright, now we're better. Now
we've gotten rid of all that. No! We come again and again and
again for the same thing. For mercy, for grace, for our
high priesthood. Can you tell me, Lord, I'm coming
back. Will you have me again? He'll never say. Here's what
he will not do. He said, I will in no wise cast
him out. For no reason ever. I will never
say. No more. Isn't that good news? He never changes, that's why.
He's the same Christ yesterday, today, and forever. That's our
salvation. We don't know what tomorrow may
bring. We don't know what we would do,
will do. But we can rest and trust This
Lord who never changes, who said, Him that cometh to me, where
to whom shall we go? Where are you going to turn? Right back to Him. I don't know if I've told this
or not. Probably have, but I love my old dog almost as much as
I do my granddaughter. He's been a faithful companion.
He's a well-trained dog. Can an old dog get into trouble
like a young puppy? Let me ask you this, can an old
sinner fall back into the world and do the things that he did
when he was young? My dog, there was a pack of dogs
outside. Have I told you this time? I
don't know. Somebody hadn't heard it. There's
a pack of dogs outside my house one day. Mindy said she's got
a little shih tzu that she was worried about and that she lets
out and she said there's a pack of dogs out there and I'm worried
about them and I went outside and sure enough I thought I might
have to do something about them. Most of them didn't have collars
on. I said, well if they're there tomorrow, I'm going to do something
about them. I'm going to take matters into my own hands. You
know what I mean. I went out the next day, sure
enough, there they were, a pack of dogs. They were across the
street. And I looked, and right in the middle of that
pack of dogs was my dog. He knows better, Cheryl. He's
right in the middle of a bunch of dogs that I plan to exterminate. Can a believer get caught up
in a world that the Lord is going to destroy? Absolutely. Ask Solomon. Well, how do you know my dog from the rest? I said come and one dog came with his tail
between his legs and if he could talk Lionel he would have been
saying I'm so sorry I should have I knew better I didn't cast him out I received
it that's how you know God's people the gospel is preached
and we have There's a young man and others who left for a long
period of time. Didn't think we'd see them again. They're back. And happy as a hog in mud. As if they heard the gospel for
the first time. And we act like nothing ever happened. That's
the way the Lord does. What does He do for those that
come? He said, He said, I, this is the Father's will, that of
all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on Him
may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last
day." The Lord said, I give unto them eternal life. What does
He do for those who come to Him? He gives them eternal life. And the Lord doesn't take back
what He gives. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. Without change. Without turning.
No shadow of it. No shadow of a doubt. He gives
life. And you know what? The fact is,
if the reason they come It's because He gave them life. They already had life. Right?
They wouldn't come. He gives peace. He gives rest.
He gives joy. He said no man will take it from
you. He gives a home, a dwelling place. He gives, puts you in
a part of a, in a fold. He gives you a family. He gives
you other sheep that are just like you to resort to and warn
you. It says He raises them up at
the last day and puts them into His blessed kingdom where they
praise His name forever. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Praise the Father who chose them,
election by the Father. Praise the Son who redeemed them,
who saved them, redemption by the Son. Praise the Holy Spirit
who regenerates and calls and brings them. Salvations of the
Lord. Okay. May the Lord bless you.