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've entitled the message for
this morning, How a Sinner Comes to Christ. We're going to look
at a passage of scripture where a sinner did come to Christ and
find mercy. And I'm interested in that. How
a sinner comes to Christ. We read in Mark chapter 1 beginning
in verse 40, and there came a leper to him. Now here's a sinner who
came to Christ. And 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,
put forth his hand and touched him, and saith unto him, I will. Be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. How a sinner comes to Christ. In John 6, verse 37, the Lord
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. The Lord said in Matthew 11,
beginning in verse 28, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He said in John 737,
if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. The message of the Spirit and
the bride, the church, is this. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit and the bride say
come. That's the message of the gospel. Now, listen to these
statements. Coming to Christ is the act of
spiritual life. It's what those who have been
given spiritual life, life from the dead, do. The Lord said,
You will not come to me that you might have life. If you have
life, you'll come to Him. Coming to Christ is the evidence
of divine election, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me." Coming to Christ is what all who are taught of God do.
Every man that have heard and learned of the Father cometh
unto me," John 6.45. And did you know that we can't
come unless the Father draws us? John 6.44 says, no man can
come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. And
this thing of coming to Christ is the continual life of the
believers, what they're always doing. First Peter 2.4, to whom
coming. Not to whom you came, not to
whom you intend to come to, but to whom coming. Always coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Always coming to Him for the
same thing. Now this is the life of the believer. Always coming to Christ. And
this is our message. Come to Christ. Not go and do.
Come to Christ right now. Not, well, you need to first
deal with your sins and then come to Christ. No, come to Christ
right now, just as you are, as a sinner needing a Savior. I've heard preachers say, repent
of your sins and come to Christ. That's wrong. Come to Christ.
Not take care of your sins first. Come to Christ right now. Come
to Christ. That's the message of the scripture. Come to Christ and you will find
acceptance. The Lord says, him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise, for no reason cast out. If you come to Christ, you will
be received. I love those words of the Lord,
go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come
in. I had a preacher say to me recently,
how is it that you can call on all men to come to Christ if
you can't guarantee to everybody that God loves them and Christ
died for them? How can you call on men to come to Christ if you
say God only elected some and Christ only died for the elect? How can you call upon men to
come to Christ? It's easy. Come to Christ and you'll be
accepted. That's all I have to say. Nobody that ever comes to
Him is cast away. If you come, you will be received. Now the question is how? How
can, how does a sinner come to Christ? And what we're going
to do is look at a sinner who did come to Christ. It says he
did. And he found mercy, and we can
learn from that man how a sinner comes to Christ. Now, we're going
to look at aspects out of Mark, Matthew, and Luke that all give
different details about this leper who came to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But Mark 1.40 says, And there
came a leper to him. Now, leprosy in the scripture
is the great type of sin. He came as a leper. He came as
a sinner. And as a matter of fact, Mark's,
I mean, Luke's account gives us a very important detail. He
came full of leprosy. And don't miss that. He came
full of leprosy. He didn't have one square inch
of healthy flesh on his body. He was completely covered over
with leprosy. Now that's very significant because
if you read the laws of leprosy in Leviticus chapter 12 and 13,
if the leper came into the presence of the priest with any healthy
flesh, He was sent back to the leper colony, but when he came
completely covered over with leprosy, so that there was nothing
but leprosy, he was pronounced clean. Now, this gives us some
idea of how a sinner comes to Christ. First, he comes full
of sin. full of leprosy. He doesn't have
anything to commend him to Christ, not one good work, not one bit
of merit, not one bit of righteousness. He comes full of sin. Now, are you full of sin so that's
all that there is? Somebody says, no, I'm not that. Well, I can't tell you that you
can come to Christ then. If you ever come to Christ, if
you ever do, First, you'll come full of sin, and you won't come
to Him until you're full of sin. As long as you have something
else, it'll keep you from Him. The only thing that'll cause
you to come to Him is when you come full of sin. Now, Luke gives us another detail. Luke's account tells us that
who seeing Jesus fell on his face. Now, the word see means
more than a physical sight. He knew him. He recognized who
he was. Now, you will not come to an
unrevealed Christ If you come to Christ, you're going to come
to Him knowing who He is. He is God the Son, the God-Man,
Christ Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Creator of
the universe. There's no coming to Christ if
you don't know who He is. He came seeing the Lord Jesus
Christ. You will not come until you see
who He is. There's a passage of Scripture
in John 6, verse 40, it says, Notice the order. You're not going to believe until
you see. And I'm not talking about a physical sight. I mean,
you believe that He is who He says He is. You don't know so
much about yourself, but you know about Him. He is who He
says He is, and you won't come to Christ unless you see who
He is. And what did this man do when
he came to Christ, seeing Jesus? Scripture says, he fell on his
face. He fell on his face. Matthew's
account says, Behold, there came a leper and worshipped him. Now, if you see who he is, you
know what you're going to do? You're going to worship him.
You're going to worship him for who he is. Now, when that leper
first came and worshipped him, he did not know whether or not
Christ would heal him or not. But he still came and worshipped
him for who he is. He worshipped him saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now, you will only come
to him if you come to him as an absolute sovereign that you
worship. You're in his hands. He's not
in yours. Now, what do I mean by sovereign,
an absolute sovereign. Well, the sovereign is the one
whose will is done, always. His will was done in creation,
when He created the universe. Everything that happens in this
thing called time is His will being done. He controls everything.
Even the bad stuff? Even the bad stuff. He controls
everything, and He brings good out of evil. The most terrible
thing to ever take place is the cross, and yet it's the most
glorious thing. He brings good out of evil. And salvation is
up to His will. As to whether or not you're saved,
it is up to Him. It is not up to you. It is up
to Him, and the leper understood this. He came and worshipped
Him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now, whether or not he does anything
for me or you, he's still to be worshipped.
Is he worthy of worship, even if he passes you by? Now, if
you know who He is, you say, yes, He is. He is the Lord, the Creator,
the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His
person, and He will not be diminished if He passes me or you by. Now, you will not and cannot
come to Him until this is settled. He is to be worshipped for who
He is. And Mark's account says He came
beseeching Him. Luke says He besought Him. He knew that He was the only
one who could do anything for Him. And that's why he came beseeching
him. He was very much like the Syrophoenician
woman. Her daughter was grievously vexed
with the devil. And she said, Lord, have mercy
on me. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. And the
scripture says he answered her not a word. He ignored her. Did this stop her? No, she continued
to cry. And then he said, I'm not sent
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What he's saying
is I'm only sent for my people. I'm only sent for my elect, the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. You know what the scripture says
she did? Then she came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. And he said, it's not meat to
take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said,
that's the truth, Lord. But the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. I may be a dog, but I'm your
dog. And I'm totally dependent upon any crumb you send my way. And the Lord said, O woman, great
is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Behold, a leper came and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, Now, you only come to Him as
the Lord. A sinner never comes to Him in
any other way than that of Him being the Lord, the Lord of creation,
the Lord of providence, and the Lord of salvation. And if you
and I ever come, truly come to Him, we'll come knowing He is
the Lord. Now, how does a sinner come to
Christ? There came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me whole. Now, when a sinner comes
to Christ, he always comes acknowledging the sovereign will of Christ. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. What if this leper would have
said, Lord, I will that you make me clean? Irreverence, insolence,
blasphemy. A sinner doesn't tell God what
to do. I will that you make me clean. No, a sinner never comes
that way. He comes this way. Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean." You know, there's never been
a sinner that came to Christ that believed he had a free will.
Now, we do what we want to. Don't misunderstand me. When
you sin, it's not because God's sovereignty caused you to. You
sin because you want to. But as far as a free will, our
will is controlled by our nature. We have an evil nature, a sinful
nature, and we know that we can't just freely decide to be good
or freely decide to come to Christ. We're in His hands. We don't
say, Lord, I will that you make me clean. We say, Lord, if you
will. You can make me clean. There's never been a sinner who
came any other way than that. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Now, when a sinner comes to Christ,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You really believe
that He has the ability to make you clean. You know He's the
only one who can do it. You know it's up to His will.
And you really believe that if He wills it, He has the ability
to make you clean. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is
able, that he has the ability, that he has the power to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. What did you commit to him, Paul?
The entire salvation of my soul. And he has the ability. to do
that. If you will, you have the ability
to make me clean. Now this is what I need. I don't
need to be healthy, I don't need to be wealthy, but I need to
be clean before God. And if you will, you can make
me clean. Yes, cleansed from leprosy, but
more You have the ability to make me clean and holy and pure
and to stand spotless before your holy law. You see, there
is such power in the blood of Christ that he has the ability
to make that person that he's died for holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. Colossians 1, verse 22. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, do you believe
that He's able, that there's such power in His blood because
of who He is? It's Christ who died because
of who He is. There's such power in His precious
blood to make you perfectly righteous before God, to make it to where
you have never sinned. That's what justification is,
being justified by His blood. If you're justified, that means
you've never sinned. You've never broken God's law.
You've always done that which is right. You've never done that
which is wrong. That is what the work of Christ
does. He gives you his righteousness,
his precious blood takes away your sin, and you stand before
God without fault. I repeat, do you believe that
if he wills it, he has the power to make you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight? Now, this is how a sinner comes. He comes knowing He's full of
sin. He comes recognizing who the
Lord is. He's the Lord of glory. He's
the second person of the blessed Trinity. He worships Him for
who He is. He acknowledges His Lordship. He acknowledges His sovereign
will, if you will. It's not up to my will, it's
up to your will. He acknowledges His ability. If you will, you
can, you're able to make me clean. Now, what happens after this? He shuts up. and waits to hear
what the Lord says. Lord, he worshiped him. He fell on his face. He knew
who he was. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. And now it's time to stop speaking
and hear what he says. This leper didn't say, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now, I've said it, now
make me clean. I've done what you said. He didn't have any
kind of sense of entitlement. He came into the Lord's presence,
and that was it. I couldn't help but thinking
of Ruth. Naomi told her to go to Boaz. And he said, you go
and lay at his feet and hear what he has to say to you. Now, when you come to Christ,
you're going to come just like this leper. And then you're going
to wait to hear what he has to say. Now we read in verse 40
of Mark chapter one. And there came a leper full of
leprosy, full of sin 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. put forth his hand and touched
him. I wonder how long it had been
since he had felt a human touch. Jesus moved with compassion,
oh, the compassion of Christ. I wish I could describe it as
ought. Jesus moved with compassion,
reached forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. Now, the Lord is always moved
by compassion when there's a need of His mercy and His grace. Always. Bartimaeus cries. And as he cries, the Lord has
set his face like a flint to Jerusalem. He was going there
to die. And Bartimaeus cried, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the scripture says
Jesus stood still. Now there were many that had
been calling upon his name, but this cry for mercy caused him
to stand still. Any time a sinner comes to Christ,
like this leopard did, he's moved by compassion. You try coming
in your own merit, in your own righteousness, with a sense of
entitlement, making demands, he's not going to be moved to
compassion. He's not going to even receive you. But if you
come like this leoparded, full of leprosy, knowing who he is,
he's the son of God, he's to be worshiped, even if he passes
me by. Oh, if he's willing, he can make
me clean, and that's the way you come? Every sinner who comes
to Christ like that, he's moved with compassion, and he says,
I will be thou clean. That's the divine fiat. I will. Oh, the power of his I will.
I can say, I'll do this, and I'll do that. It means nothing.
But when he says, I will, it must come to pass because of
who he is. I will be thou clean. Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus
came forth immediately at the command of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will be thou clean. Verse 42, and as soon as he had
spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him. and he was
cleansed. Now don't miss this. The leprosy
departed from him. It left him. It went somewhere
else. I think of that scripture, who
his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Now, that leprosy went somewhere
else. That leprosy went to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He bore our sins. He took our
sorrows. He made them his very own. That is how this man was cleansed. That leprosy went somewhere else.
That sin went somewhere else. It went to the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God caused my sin to leave me
and to go to Christ and that's why he died and the scripture
says immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was
cleansed. You remember Naaman in 2nd Kings
chapter 5 when He dipped seven times in the River Jordan, and
he came back, and his flesh was just like a baby's. This leper
was like that, too. He had clean flesh, made clean
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is how a sinner comes
to Christ. Now, let's go on reading. Verse
43. And he straightly charged him,
and forthwith sent him away. This is the Lord speaking to
that leper after he is cleansed. Then he saith, See thou say nothing
to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priests, and offer
for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony
unto them. How often did the Lord do this?
Don't tell anybody about this. I mean, you'd think he'd say,
tell everybody about this so people will come to me. But you know,
the Lord wasn't trying to gain a following. He came to save
his people from their sins. And that's what he did. But the
scripture says, 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 out in desert places and they
came to him from every quarter. Now, if Christ cleanses you,
you're going to want others to know that He is the One who's
done it. Now, how does a sinner come to
Christ? Full of sin. Believing who He is. Worshipping
Him. Acknowledging His Lordship. Acknowledging
His sovereign will, if you will. Acknowledging His ability, you
can, make me clean, and then he waits to see what the Lord
will say. And everybody who comes that
way we'll hear him say, I will be thou clean. Now we have this
message on DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer,
amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.