Would you turn with me back to
Matthew chapter 8? In reading the scripture, I always
want to read the Bible without looking for a message. Whenever
I'm looking for a sermon, it dries up to me. And I always
want to read the Bible simply reading it, seeing what the Lord
says. And when a passage moves me in
a powerful way, I know that I want to preach on that. And this passage
certainly moved me reading it, and I pray that the Lord is in
this. I believe this is what the Lord would have me preach.
I've entitled this message, How Should I come to Christ? Could there be a more important
subject? How should I come to Christ? Now notice what I didn't
entitle this. I didn't entitle this, May I
come to Christ? Yes, you may, if you're willing.
Whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. I didn't entitle this message,
how can I come to Christ? That's answered in John 6, 44,
no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. But I've entitled this message,
how should I come to Christ? Now before we look at Matthew
chapter 8, I'd like you to turn to John chapter 6 for just a
moment. Hold your finger there in Matthew 8. We'll come back
there and turn to John chapter 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." The Father gave Christ a people,
and he gave him these people before time began to be his bride. They are the elect, those the
Father gave to Christ. And the Lord Jesus took full
responsibility for the salvation of these people before time began. I love to think of that. My Redeemer,
my Lord, my Savior, taking full responsibility for me before
the sun ever shined, before the world was made. Election. Let me tell you a couple of things
about election. Election is nothing less than God being God. I like saying that. He's in such
complete control that He controls who will be saved. Ain't problems
with that? If you do, you got problems. I love election because it says
God is God indeed. He's in absolute control of all
things. And it tells me that salvation
really is by grace. You can't believe in grace and
not believe in election. It's impossible. If you believe
grace, you believe election. If you don't believe election,
if you don't believe God chose who would be saved before time
began, you don't believe in grace. You believe in salvation by works.
That's just so. That's just so. Thank God for
election. Election is the sinner's friend.
It opens up the door of grace and mercy. If God didn't elect
the people, no one would be saved. Thank God. I love the way the
Lord says, all that the Father gives me, here's what to do,
they shall come to me. And the reason they come, now
the Lord made this promise, all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. The reason they come is first
of all because they were elected. That's why they come. God chose
them to this. They come because they're drawn
by the Father. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. He says in the same chapter in verse 44,
no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. If you come
to Christ, you've been drawn by the Father to come to Christ. And those who come, they have no place else to go.
It's not like you choose to come to Christ. You come to Christ
really because you have no other options and you have nowhere
else to go. That's why you come to Christ. Now, and look at this
promise our Lord gives 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. This is his promise. Those who
come will not for any reason be cast away. You come, you will
be received. That is the promise of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So the big question is, how should
I come to Christ? Now, if God made me willing,
I can come. If God draws me, I can come.
How should I come to Christ? And the best way to answer that
is to look in the Bible at someone who actually came to Christ and
see how they came. And they were received. And I
want to come like they do. And so this passage of Scripture
just touched me so much, reading the way this leper came to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he was received. Back to our text in Matthew chapter
8. Now I repeat, we could not consider
a more important subject than how should I come to Christ. And it's my prayer that this
morning, this very morning, everybody sitting in this room will come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't that be a blessing of
God's grace if you and I, if I am enabled, if you are enabled
by the grace of God to actually come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and find mercy and grace and acceptance for his sake. Now
we read in this passage of a man who did in fact come to Christ. Look in verse 1 of Matthew chapter
8. When he was come down from the
mountain great multitudes followed him and behold There came a leper. Behold, there came a leper. Mark's account says there came
a leper to him. So we see for sure this is a
man who came to Christ. Bible says he did. The leper
came to him. Now here's the first thing I
want to point out about this leper. This man was in a desperate
condition. What he was doing was against
the law. He had no right to do this. You
see, he was supposed to be banished to the leper colony. And he shouldn't
be coming around healthy people where he could spread his disease.
He was commanded to stay away. But this man knew this. If he
didn't come, he would die. This is the only thing he had
to do. If he didn't come, he would most surely die. Perhaps
if he comes, he'll find mercy. So he comes. He comes knowing he had no right. He didn't come with a sense of
entitlement. He came knowing he's a lawbreaker. He came knowing
the only hope he had was if the Lord would do something for him. That's the way he came. Now Luke's account tells us he
was full of leprosy, completely covered with these ulcers. Perhaps his extremities would
begin to rot away, but he was completely covered. There was
not one square inch of healthy flesh on this man. He came full
of leprosy. And you know the Bible devotes
a lot of time to the disease of leprosy because it's the great
type of sin. The leper was loathsome in his
person. This is what the law says. He
was to stay away from everybody and keep a rag over his mouth
and cry out, unclean, unclean. He was loathsome in his person.
He wasn't allowed to worship. There was no sacrifice for him
as long as he was still in a leprous state. He wasn't allowed to partake
in the worship of God. He wasn't allowed to touch anything.
If something, he touched something, it had to be burned. It was unclean.
Anything he came into contact with was unclean. He was altogether
shut out from society, quarantined, unless he was declared clean
by the priest. Now, this picture is you and
I by nature. You believe that about yourself? Well, whether
you do or not, it's still so. This is me and you by nature,
just like this leper. And the clearest picture I reckon
we have of the filthiness and the vileness of sin, and I wish I knew how to say
this the way it ought to be said, but look in Gethsemane's garden when Christ began to bore our
sin. And he sweat great drops of blood. He knew the filthiness and the
vileness of sin against his father. He was under such stress and
such pressure that he actually sweat blood as he was made the
sinner's substitute. Now, you and I don't really understand
how bad our sin is. I can talk about it. And even
when I'm told, you know, when I talk about a subject like this,
it always makes me feel bad because I know I don't really know what
I'm talking about. I can tell the truth, but I know the closest
you and I will ever see The filthiness of sin is looking what Christ
had to go through to put it away. Like the leper full of leprosy,
you and I are full of sin. And here's the fact, we won't
come to Christ until we're full of sin. Turn with me for a moment to
Leviticus chapter 13. Now when I'm full of sin, I have
no other options. The only hope I have is that
Christ will have mercy on me, and I'll come to him when I'm
full of sin. Now look in Leviticus chapter 13. Chapters 13 and 14
are devoted to the disease of leprosy. Look at this, 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, then the priest shall consider, and behold,
if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce
him clean." Not altogether filthy. but clean. If the leprosy covers all his
flesh, he shall pronounce him clean, that hath the plague.
It's all turned white, he's clean, but when raw flesh appeareth
in him. And that word raw simply means
living. Living. Leprous or non-leprous flesh. Flesh that is healthy. Flesh
that is living. Flesh that is good. When the
raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean, and the priests
shall see the raw flesh and pronounce him to be unclean, for the raw
flesh is unclean, it's leprosy." Now, here's the point. Now, think
of the picture. You come to the priest full of
leprosy with not one square inch of healthy flesh. You're pronounced clean. If you come with any healthy
flesh, back to the leper colony. unclean. Now this leper came
to Christ full of leprosy. If you come to Christ with any
righteousness, with any merits, you will be pronounced unclean. Back to the leper colony. If
you come with nothing but leprosy, from the sole of your feet to
the top of your head and everywhere else. Now you're a candidate
for mercy. You come to Christ like that. Now in coming to Christ, the
first thing this fella did, and this is what must be settled
first, is worship. Worship. Look in Matthew chapter
8 verse 2. And behold, there came a leper. And we know from Mark's account
that he was full of leprosy. And here's what is going to be
settled first. Remember, this is how should
I come to Christ. Here's what's going to be settled first. He
came and he worshipped. He worshipped the Lord for who
he was. Body had not yet been cleansed
or healed and he didn't know at this time whether it would
be. But he came and he worshiped. The word worship means to bow
down and lick like a dog licking his master's hand. This man came
and bowed down. Luke's account says he fell on
his face. As soon as he saw him, as soon as he perceived who he
was, now one thing I can tell you about this leper, he knew
who the Lord was. And as soon as he saw him, he
hit the dirt, he fell down, and he worshipped. Now here's the
point I want to make. I want to make this point every
time I preach. The Lord should be worshipped without reference
to what he does or doesn't do for me. He is worthy of worship
because of who He is. If He passes me by, if He doesn't
have mercy on me, if He sends me to hell, He's still worthy
of worship. He's the Lord. Now this is the
issue that's going to be settled before anything else. Is He worthy
of divine worship because of who he is. And this is where we must begin.
If you come to Christ, here's what you're going to do first.
You're going to worship him for who he is without reference to
what he does or does not do for you. He is to be worshiped. Now, there's no arguments before
his throne. There's no bargaining. There's
no sense of entitlement. Only worship. I'm in his hand
and he can do with me whatever he's pleased to do. Amen. You believe that if you believe
who He is. He is to be worshiped for who
He is, whether He grants my request or not. So I see, how should
I come to Christ? Well, I come full of sin. I won't come any other way. Full
of leprosy. And I come worshiping Him as
God. You know, the only person you
really worship is God. You don't worship anybody else,
but you worship God. You fall down at his feet, and
whatever he does is right. You worship God. Anything else,
you won't really worship. But God is to be worshipped,
and Jesus Christ is God, and is worshipped as God. Next thing
I would notice about this fellow, verse 2, and behold, There came
a leper and worshipped him saying, there's some words in worship. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. There's something you'll say. There's something you'll
understand. When he worshipped him saying, Lord, Lord, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now, if somebody ever
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, first of all, well, first worship
is settled, and then, and these two go hand in hand, there's
a genuine acknowledgement from the heart of His Lordship. He's the Lord. He's the dictator. He's the one who's in control.
He really is the Lord. You know, I've heard and read
of the lordship controversy. People talk about the lordship
controversy. Well, I know this. There's no
controversy with a believer. He's the Lord. He's my Lord. He's
your Lord whether you know it or not. Did you know that? He's
your Lord whether you know it or not. You're in His hands.
He's the Lord of creation. He's the creator of the universe.
I love thinking about that. He's Lord of creation. He's Lord
of providence. That means everything that happens
in time, no exceptions to this, everything that happens in time
is His will being done. He's Lord of providence. He upholds
all things by the word of His power, and by Him all things
consist. He's in absolute control of everything. Everything that happened to you
yesterday was His will being done for His glory. Everything
that will happen to you today is His will being done. Everything
that will happen to you tomorrow is His will being done. Are you
saying He's the author of sin? No, I'm not saying that, but
I'm saying He's the Lord. I am saying that, and I'm saying
He's in control of everything that takes place. And I wouldn't
want it to be any other way, would you? He's the Lord. This
man came and worshiped him saying, Lord, Lord. I love to think of the thief
on the cross. You know, the Lord said regarding
himself, as the father raises the dead and quickens them, even
so the son quickens whom he will, because he's the Lord. I love
thinking about the thief on the cross. He was nailed to that cross as
an unbeliever. He had no love for Christ, no
belief in Him. He was cursing Christ just the
way his buddy was. When he was first nailed to that
cross, it was in unbelief. But he heard something while
he was up there. He heard the words of the Lord and a mysterious
change took place in this man's heart and mind. He was given
a new heart is what it was. He heard the gospel and he was
given a new heart. And while his fellow malfactor
continued to curse Christ, he said, don't you fear God? Seeing
you're in the same condemnation, And I have no doubt that he's
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ as God. Don't you fear God? seeing you in the same condemnation.
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our
deeds. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. He believed in the absolute sinlessness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he looked at Christ,
and you think about this, Christ was nailed to a cross. He seemed
so helpless, everybody making fun of Him. He seemed like He
was all by Himself. And he looked at that one hanging
on a cross and said, Lord, Lord, you're the Lord. You're not going to stay on this
cross. You're going to come back as a mighty reigning king in
your kingdom. Whatever you do must be successful. Lord, remember me when you come in
your kingdom. And there's a man who understood
that Jesus Christ is Lord. His man understood this, his
leper. He came full of leprosy. He came worshiping him for who
he was. And he came acknowledging his
lordship, Lord, Lord. Look what he says next in verse
two. And behold, there came a leper and worshiped him saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, if you are willing, You can make
me clean. Now this man came acknowledging
the supremacy of the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not sure whether or not
the Lord was willing at this time, but he knew that it was
up to the will of the Lord as to whether he would be clean.
How should I come to Christ? Understanding it's completely
up to his will as to whether or not I'll be made clean. Lord, if you will. Can you imagine
this man coming up to the Lord and saying, Lord, I will that
you make me clean. Such daring presumption and insolence
No, that's not going to happen. Not somebody knows who he is.
He would never come up and say, Lord, I will that you make me
clean. No, Lord, if you will, if you will, you can make me
clean. Now, I realize that for centuries,
the whole religious world has argued over free will, man's
will, whosoever will and God's will. And you can argue and debate
if you want. But I know whose will is going
to be done. He doeth according to His will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou? His will is supreme. And my salvation is completely
dependent upon His will. Now, if you believe in free will,
quite frankly, you've never seen the Lord. You've never bowed
the knee to Him. You think your will can trump
His will. You know, a God whose will can be trumped isn't much
of a God. It's a weak God, it's a pygmy God, it's a God that
can't save anybody. I wouldn't give you a plugged
wooden nickel for that kind of God. Oh, but the God who is in
absolute control. Lord, if You will. Now, if we approach the master
to obtain mercy, the prayer of our heart and lips must be, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. If I ever come to Christ, I will,
like the leper, acknowledge his ability. Lord, he came and worshiped
him. How should I come to Christ?
Worship. He came acknowledging His Lordship, Lord. He acknowledged
the supremacy of His will, if you will. And He acknowledged
His ability. Now this is the very heart and
soul of the Gospel, the ability of Jesus Christ to save. If you will, you can. You have the ability. to make
me clean. I love the question the Lord
asked those lepers who came to him in Matthew chapter 9. He
said, do you believe that I am able to do this? Now I want to
ask you a question. Do you believe in the ability
of Jesus Christ the Lord to save you? Do you believe he can do it without
any help from you? That's what the leper understood.
If you will, you can make me clean. You see, the Lord Jesus
is omnipotent. That means he's all powerful.
That means whatever he wants to do, he has the power to do.
That's who he is. We believe his ability. What
do you believe? I believe he's able to keep that
which I've committed to him against that day. I believe in his ability.
I believe in his ability to this extent. He has the ability to
make me with no help, with no contribution from me, without
my works. He has the ability to make my sins to be no more.
He has the ability to make me perfectly conformed to the image
of Christ. He has the ability to make me
stand before God in judgment without guilt, totally clean,
perfect and holy, just and righteous. That's the ability He has because
He's God, because He's all-powerful. Oh, I believe in His ability
to make me clean. Now, we truly acknowledge You
know, if you'd ask, if you'd ask almost anybody in any church
in Lexington or anywhere else, do you believe in his ability
to save you, they'd say, oh sure, sure, sure, I believe he's able. Well,
let me put you to the test. Hebrews 1, 3 says, when he had
by himself, without any contribution from
you, without any work from you, without anything you've done,
when he had by himself, purged our sins. He sat down, the work
was finished. He sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Now you really believe in his ability when you really
believe that your salvation has absolutely nothing to do with
anything you've done and that he did it by himself. Believe
that? That's believing His ability. Now look next in verse 2. Remember, how should I come to
Christ? Well, I'm to come the same way this leper came if I
ever come. And behold, there came a leper, full of leprosy,
on his face, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, Thou
canst make me clean. This leper came for the right
thing. Lord, if you will, you can make
me rich. What good would that do? What
would profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
soul? Lord, if you will, you can make me healthy. You know,
I'm thankful for health, but I'm gonna die sometime. You are
too. I'm thankful for health. I'm
also thankful for sickness. Any sickness the Lord brings
my way that brings me to him and shows me my need of him.
He wasn't really just praying for physical health. He was asking
to be made clean. I'm filthy. I need to be made
clean. That's what I need. I need to
be clean before God. I don't need to be healthy. I
don't need to be wealthy. But I need to be clean. I need
to be without sin before God. Perfectly pure. Clean before
God. Oh Lord, if you will, you can
make me clean. That's what I need. I need to
be made clean. I can't make myself clean. I
can't do anything to make myself clean. I'm totally dependent
upon you to make me clean. I'm in your sovereign hand. Oh,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now that is the way a
sinner approaches the Savior. If you and I ever come to Christ,
That is precisely how we will come. Now, here's something else
that's glorious. Everybody who comes that way, without any exceptions, everybody
who comes that way, look at verse 3, and Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him. Now both Mark and Luke's account
says Jesus moved with compassion. You come to Christ like that.
I come to Christ like that. And he is moved with compassion. his compassion for sinners, his
love, his acceptance of sinners. And he reached forth his hand
and touched him. Now one thing's dead sure, if
a leper comes up to me, I'm not touching him. I don't want to
be contacted. by him to catch his leprosy.
I always appreciate it when going out the door, if somebody says
they're cold, says, I'm going to shake your hand. I don't want to catch your,
you know, I don't want you to, that's nice. But your cold won't
kill me, but leprosy would. I doubt that this man had been
touched for many years, but the Lord reached forth his hand and
touched him. And that touch signifies something. Look in this same chapter. Verse
14, And when Jesus was coming to Peter's house, he saw his
wife, mother, laid and sick with a fever, and he touched her hand,
and the fever left her. It went somewhere, didn't it?
It left her. And she arose, and ministered
unto them. And when the evening was come, they brought unto him
many that were possessed with devils. And he cast out the spirit
with his word, and healed all that were sick, that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Now, our sin was imputed to him. But this is not simply a legal
transaction. You don't have sicknesses imputed
to you. You don't bear imputed sicknesses. He actually took
them in his own body. When he touched that leper, that
leprosy became his, because he bare our sickness and infirmities
and sins in his own body. That leper's sickness became
his, and his perfect cleanness came to the leper. That's the
gospel, my friends. That's the gospel. Verse three,
and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And how quick was his leprosy
cleansed? Immediately his leprosy was cleansed because of the will
of Christ, because he touched him. Verse 4, And you know what
the Lord did? He sent him to the law at this
time for the law to see he's perfect. And Jesus saith unto
him, See thou tell no man, but go thy way, show thyself to the
priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony
unto them. Now that's what the law required.
And you know, when the Lord touches me and makes me clean, I can
go to his holy law and say, here I am. And the law says, perfect. I find no fault in him. Now that's the gospel. And that
is how a sinner should come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I come
full of leprosy, full of sin. May the Lord deliver us from
ever coming any other way. Because any other way is a lie.
I come full of leprosy, and I come worshiping Him. He's to be worshiped
for who He is. He's God. He's the God-Man. He's the only Savior of sinners.
He's the Sovereign of the universe. We worship Him for who He is.
Lord, He's the Lord. We acknowledge the supremacy
of His sovereign will. If you will, we acknowledge His
ability. You can! We come for the right
thing. make me clean. And everybody
who comes that way hears these words, I will, I will be thou clean. And immediately that leprosy
is cleansed. Let's pray together. Lord, we come full of sin, acknowledging that. And Lord, we come worshiping
you for who you are. Lord, we acknowledge and love
the lordship of your son. Lord, we acknowledge your sovereign
will, if you will. Lord, we acknowledge your ability. If you will, you can, you're
able. And Lord, we ask for this, that
we might be made clean. May we hear your word, I will. Be thou clean. Lord, take this word and bless
it for your glory and for our good. In Christ's blessed name
we pray, amen. We're going to have a baptism
now. Mark Medley is going to confess Christ and believers
baptism and we rejoice with you, Mark. And Duane, you're going
to lead us in a song while we get ready for that. What page? 117.