Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm going to be preaching this
morning on this subject, what does it mean to come to Christ? But before we get into the message,
I want to let you know about a special meeting we'll be having
this weekend, Labor Day weekend, September 2nd through 4th, Friday
night at 7pm, Saturday morning at 10, Saturday evening at 6,
and Sunday morning at 10, we're going to have our Sovereign Grace
Bible Conference. Now somebody says, what do you
mean by sovereign grace? Good question. God is sovereign
and His grace is sovereign. He gives it to whomsoever He
will because He's God. Now in the Bible, God is one
God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. And all three persons of the
Godhead have their part in salvation. God the Father elected who would
be saved before time began. Christ Jesus represented the
elect and saved them, and God the Holy Spirit gives them spiritual
life. And to leave out any of those
aspects of salvation is to fail to preach the gospel. So the
gospel of the sovereign grace of God is the gospel of God the
Father electing. God the Son redeeming, and God
the Holy Spirit giving life. And every one of these eight
different men that will be preaching for us will be preaching a message
that's consistent with the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. And we would love to have you
come out and hear the gospel. Nursery will be provided beginning
this Friday night at 7 o'clock. Now, I'm going to preach on this
subject What does it mean to come to Christ? Now, let me give you some scriptures
before I read my text. The Lord said in John 6, 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. These are the words
of the Lord. The Father giving, all the Father
giveth me, the sinner coming shall come to me, and the son
receding, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. The Lord said in John chapter
5 verse 40, you will not come to me that you might have life. You see, this thing of coming
to Christ is the evidence of spiritual life. It's the act
of spiritual life. It's the evidence of election.
It is the evidence of spiritual life. The Lord said in John 7,
verse 37, if any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink."
Not come down to the front of the church, not come walking
to the altar, let him come to me and to drink. 1 Peter 2.4 says, to whom coming? Now this is what a believer is
always doing. He's always coming to the person
of Christ. To whom coming? The Lord said
in Matthew 11.28, come unto me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, I want to come to Christ
for this thing of rest because I am burdened and heavy laden
with my sin, my inability to please God. I need rest. We read in Revelation 22, 17,
and the Spirit and the bride say, come. Now, this is the message
of the Holy Spirit and the church to this world. Come, not go and
do. Not go and make yourself better.
Come right now, just as you are, to the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you wait, that means you're waiting to do something to make yourself
more fit. All that is is salvation by works. Come now to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let him that heareth say, come. That's the gospel preacher's
message. Come to Christ. Not come to the front of the
church. Not go and make yourself better. Come to Christ right
now. Let him that's a thirst come,
and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. If I do not personally come to
Christ, whatever that means, I will not be saved. Now, what does that mean to come
to Christ? And the reason I ask that question
is because this is a purely spiritual act. Now, if you would come to
the worship services at Todd's Road Grace Church this morning,
you would get in your car, you would drive from point A to point
B, and you would get there. And you have arrived, you've
come to the church building. This is purely physical. But
this thing of coming to Christ is a purely spiritual act. In coming to Christ, you don't
move a muscle. It's something done in the heart. Now, what does it mean to come
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, the only way that can be
answered is from the scriptures. If I give you my opinion or my
personal definition of what it means to come to Christ, all
I'm going to do is confuse you and I will muddy the waters. I'll darken counsel with words
without knowledge. You know, quite often when people
think of coming to Christ, they think of responding to an altar
call. You've come to Christ, or inviting
Him into your heart, or accepting Him as your personal Savior.
You know, that language is not found in the scripture, and I
don't want to be harsh, but it's foolishness. None of that is
remotely close to what it is to come to Christ in the heart.
Now, the Bible tells us about a man who did come to Christ. And if we come to Christ, We
will come as this man did. This is not my take on what it
is to come to Christ. We find in the Bible a man who
actually came to Christ and we learn from this man what it means
to come to Christ. Now we read in verse 40 of Mark
chapter one, and there came a leper to him. This man came to Christ. there came a leper to him. Scripture says he came to Christ. And in this man, we will see
what it means to come to Christ. Now, what I want to begin with
is reading a verse of scripture, two verses of scripture in John
chapter six with regard to this thing of coming to Christ. This
comes first. You've never come to Christ until
you see you cannot come. Now somebody says, why would
you be saying that? Well, listen to what the Lord said. In John
chapter six, verse 44, he said, no man can come to me except
the father which has sent me draw him. And then in verse 65
of this same chapter, he said, therefore said unto you that
no man can come to me. except it were given to him of
my father. You see, if you think you can
come to Christ, it's because you've never seen who God is
and you've never seen who you are. And you really believe you
have some kind of control in this situation. It's only when
you see you cannot come that you begin to come. It's when
you see you cannot come that you'll say with the Shulamite
woman in the Song of Solomon, draw me and we will run after
thee. You find out you can't come.
You see, as long as you feel like you can come, you feel like
you have some kind of spiritual ability. You feel like you have
something that can help you in this thing of salvation. But
you need, I need to be made to see that I cannot come unless
he draws me. I cannot come unless He gives
me the grace to, because I am a sinner. I am by nature, by
choice, by practice, dead in trespasses and sins, and I cannot
come unless He draws me. Somebody is thinking, why call
me to come to Christ if I can't? Why even tell me that? Because
it's what He said. No man can come to me, except
the Father which have sent me draw him, except it be given
to him of my Father." The Lord said that, and it's in, we have
not come until we have seen, by seeing who he is and his holiness,
and us and our sinfulness, we've seen that we cannot come. Now the scripture says, there
came a leper to him, and Luke's account says, behold, a man full
of leprosy who seen Jesus. No man will come to Christ until
he sees who he really is. You don't come to an unrevealed
Christ. You come to Christ when you see who he really is. And that's what happened to the
thief on the cross. He went to the cross not knowing who the
Lord was. But by the revelation of the Lord to himself, he knew
who he was. If you know he's God, let me
repeat that. If you know he is God, Jesus
Christ is God. He's the creator of the universe.
He's a sustainer of all things. He's the only savior of sinners.
He's God the Son, the Son of God. If you know who he is, the
absolute Lord of the universe, the God of glory, if you know
who he is, you will come. Isaiah said, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord, high and lifted up,
sitting on a throne. Now this leper saw the Lord in
the same light that Isaiah did, And if you and I ever see who
he is, we'll come. Now somebody says, well, how
do you know the leper knew he was God? Because Matthew's account
said, behold, a leper came and worshiped him, saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He came worshiping him
as God, asking him to do what only God could do, make him clean. Now in this thing of coming to
Christ, this comes first. worshipping him for who he is. This leper came worshipping him
before the Lord had done anything for him. He was asking the Lord
to do something for him, but he didn't know whether he would,
but he was to be worshipped anyway. You see, if the Lord doesn't
do anything for me, If the Lord doesn't do anything for you and
lets both of us drop into hell, he is still worthy of worship
because of who he is. This leper worshiped him before
he had done anything for him. He is to be worshiped for who
he is. And this is where coming to Christ
begins. First, you find out you can't
because you see who he is, and then you come to him because
you see who he is. He came and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now, when a man comes
to Christ, he acknowledges his lordship. Lord, if you will,
you could make me clean. Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth,
is Lord of all. He's Lord of Creation. He spake
this world into existence. When He said, Light be, the darkness
fled. He is Lord of Creation. He's Lord of Providence. That
means everything that happens is His will being done. controls everything. He upholds
all things by the Word of His power, and by Him all things
consist. He is before all things. He's
the cause of everything. He's the Lord of Providence,
and He's the Lord of salvation. That means, in this thing of
salvation, it's up to Him as to whether or not I'll be saved.
Somebody says, won't you accept Jesus? That's not the question.
Will He accept you? Will He have mercy on you? He's
the Lord. And this leper acknowledged that. He came worshiping Him, saying,
Lord. It won't do you any good to call
on a Jesus who's anything less than absolute Lord. Now, I realize
that there's a Jesus being preached in our day that's not the Jesus
Christ in the Bible. He's a weak Jesus who wants to
have his way, but he can't have his way unless you let him. That's
a non-existent Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lord of glory, serves what must I do to be saved? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now, when a sinner
comes to Christ, he comes acknowledging his sovereignty. This leper said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He didn't say, Lord,
I will that you make me clean. Why? That would be insolence.
That would be arrogance. He doesn't say, Lord, I'm demanding
you make me clean. Or he doesn't say, Lord, it wouldn't
be fair if I asked you to make me clean and you don't do it.
It wouldn't be fair if you didn't do it. No, he said, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. You see, He has a will. He has the power
to make his will come to pass because he's omnipotent. He has
the right to make his will come to pass. He said, can I not do
what I will with my own? He's God. And my dear friends,
he always does make his will come to pass. His will's never
thwarted. And the leper understood that. He said, Lord, if You will,
you can make me clean. This leper acknowledged the Lord's
ability to make him clean. He knew he couldn't make himself
clean, but he knew the Lord, because of who he was, was able
to make him clean. Now, I think of what Paul said
in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able. He is able. To keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day, the day of judgment.
I am relying on Jesus Christ as being able to make me perfect
and accepted on judgment day. All my eggs are in that basket,
His ability. Doesn't have anything to do with
what I've done or intend to do. I love what Jude said, now unto
him that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before his throne with exceeding joy. Do you believe he's able
to present you faultless so that you stand before God without
guilt? The leper believed that. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me Now, the next thing I would notice about this man
who came to Christ, he realized that he was not clean. As a matter of fact, Luke's account
tells us that he came into Christ's presence full of leprosy. There wasn't one square inch
of healthy flesh in his body. He was completely covered by
this leprosy, which represents sin. Now, I want to read you
a passage of scripture from the book of Leviticus. The disease
that's spoken of most of in the Old Testament scriptures is leprosy. And we read in Leviticus chapter
13 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, wherewithsoever the priest looketh, then the
priest shall consider and behold, if the leprosy hath covered all
his flesh, He, the priest, shall pronounce him clean. Now, if he has one square inch
of healthy flesh, send him away. He's unclean. This man came to
Christ full of leprosy, and anybody that comes to Christ for cleansing
knows he is completely unclean. Now, if you're a sinner, if you
believe you're a sinner, let me tell you this about yourself.
If I believe I'm a sinner, I believe this about myself. All I do is
sin. I cannot not sin. And I'm no
victim. My sin is all my fault. And I
can't look down my nose at anybody for anything. I can't sit in
judgment on anybody for anything. And I have no claims on God.
I can't say, God, you need to save me because I did this or
I did that. No, you come like this leper. If you will, you
can make me clean. The next thing I've noticed about
this leper is he came for the right thing. I need to be made
clean. I can't make myself clean. I'm
not looking to be healthy, wealthy, or wise. I'm not looking simply
to be saved from hell. I need to be made clean so that
I'm clean before God. Now this is what it means to
come to Christ. You come the way this leper did.
This leper came knowing who he was. and worshipping Him for
who He was. He's the Lord. He's God. He worshipped
Him. He came acknowledging His Lordship. He came acknowledging His sovereign
will, if you will. He came acknowledging His ability. If you will, you can. He came
acknowledging His uncleanness. If you can will, you can make
me clean. And He came for the right thing.
I need to be made clean. I know that I'm filthy before
God in my sin. My righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. What I need is to be made clean. That's the way this man came
to Christ, and if you and I ever come to Christ, we'll come the
precise same way. Now, back in Mark's account, there came a leper to him, beseeching
him, and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion. Do you know any sinner who comes
to Him just like this leopard did? Christ is moved by compassion. You see, He delights in saving
sinners. He delights in bestowing His
mercy upon miserable sinners. Somebody says, well, I'm not
a sinner. Well, Christ didn't do anything for you then. But
if you come the way this man did, as a sinner, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself will be moved by compassion. Now let's go on
reading. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand, and touched him. Now I have no doubt that
this man had not experienced human touch for a long time. But the Lord looked at this man
and reached forth his hand and touched him. And what did he
say? I will be thou clean. And if I come to Christ, if you
come to Christ like this man did, worshiping Him for who He
is, acknowledging His Lordship, acknowledging His sovereign will,
acknowledging His ability, acknowledging my own uncleanness, coming to
be made clean, I'm going to hear the same words this man did from
the Savior. I will. Be thou clean. And what's it say next? Verse
42. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately, no hesitation, the leprosy departed from him. It went somewhere. It doesn't
just say it disappeared. It says that leprosy departed
from him. It went from one place to another. And this gives us some idea of
how we'll be made clean. If we're made clean, it's because
our sin departed from us and Christ bore our sin in his own
body on the tree and he put it away. You see, sin can't be two
places at once. When my sin departed from me,
the Lord caused it to leave me, Christ bore it in his own body
on the cross, and he put it away, and it is now no more, and now
Christ can say, I will be thou clean, because he put my sin
away, he made it not to be. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. His flesh was perfectly healthy. That represents what the Lord
Jesus Christ does when he saves a sinner. He makes them perfectly
cleansed so that they stand before God without guilt perfectly accepted
in the Beloved, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in the very
sight of God. Now, if you come to Christ like
this man did, You're going to be received the same way He was
and you are going to be made clean. Now let me remind you
this weekend we're having a Sovereign Grace Bible Conferences beginning
this Friday night at 7, Saturday morning at 10. Saturday evening
at 6 and Sunday morning at 10. We're going to have eight different
speakers bringing a message with regard to the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. And we'd love to have
you come out and hear the gospel. We'll look forward to seeing
you. We have nursery provided. This is Todd Nybert, praying
that God will be pleased to make himself known to you, that you
might be like this leper coming to Christ and being cleansed. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.nybert at
gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.