John chapter 6, and I just want
to read one verse to you, verse 37. John chapter 6 and verse 37.
I just got mainly one thought I want to leave with you this
afternoon, and that's come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to
Him. John chapter 6, verse 37. All
that the Father giveth me, all that He has given, He has yet
given, and all that He gives shall come to me. And him that
comes to me, I will in no wise cast him out." If you and I have
come to Christ, and I believe there are some of us here this
afternoon who have, we are yet coming. And I trust that it's
our desire, it's our goal, it's our aim for others to come to
Christ too. The theme of the Bible, somebody
said, is not only of the Redeemer, but it's also that the redeemed
are returning to Him who redeemed them. Election is not only a great
truth of the Scripture, but it is coupled with this, the elect
are coming to Him. Blessed are those whom Thou hast
chosen and caused us to approach unto Thee. Return unto Me, for
I have redeemed you. The redeemed are returning. The
Bible is full. with instructions, it's full
of commands, it's full of encouragement to come to the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, you and I might have thought,
when a poor sinner heard that Christ had died, out of great
love that He had suffered upon the cross for poor sinners, that
every sinner would hear that and come to the Savior. But you
know, it's not that way, is it? And it's because poor sinners
are backward about coming. They're just shy about coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have all of these
commandments and all of these verses scattered throughout God's
book encouraging sinners and demanding sinners and inviting
sinners to come to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
one day stood and He cried. The Bible says that He lifted
up His voice and He cried, ìIf any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink.î ìCome, come unto Me and drink.î Let me quote
several passages to you, and I hope you'll look these up sometime
and just meditate. Listen to what blessings these
are. And remember who these are from. Listen to Isaiah 118. Come now and let us reason together. Listen to this. Saith the Lord. Come and let us reason together,
saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet They shall be as
wool, and though they be red like crimson, they shall be white
as snow." Listen to Isaiah 55, verse 1, "...whoever that thirsteth,
come ye to the water. He that hath no money, come ye. He that hath no money, come and
buy. Yea, buy wine and milk without
money and without And listen to Isaiah 55, 6, "...Seek ye
the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thought,
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will abundantly harden."
Listen to Matthew 11, verse 28, "...Come unto me, all ye that
labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come. The Bible is full of this
concept of come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it closes with this,
doesn't it? The Spirit and the bride say
come. And whoever is athirst, let him
come. And whosoever will, just come
and take the water of life freely. And who is the water of life?
It's Christ. It's Christ. Oh, dear Bonar said,
I heard the Savior say, Behold, I freely gild the living water
thirsty one, stoop down and drink and live. And Mr. Bonar said,
I came to Jesus. I came to Him. I heard Him say,
Come and stoop down and drink of this life-giving stream. And
he says, I came. I came to Jesus just as I was. weary and worn and sad, and I
found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad." And
get this, who does the Bible encourage to come but fallen
sinners? If the Lord told us to return
unto Me because you are strong And because you're moral, and
because you're good, return unto me since you've reformed yourself. Some of us may have excuse not
to come, but here's what he says. Return unto me, O Israel, for
thou hast fallen by your iniquity. What a strange word that is.
Don't return because you're strong. Return because you're weak. Don't
return because you're walking. Turn because you've fallen. Don't
turn because you're good. Turn because you're a sinner.
Come unto me, O Israel, because you have fallen by your iniquity. He doesn't tell us to lay aside
our sins and then come to Him. He tells us to come to Him right
in the midst of our sins. Now, isn't that amazing? That's
strange to hear a statement like that, isn't it? Come right in
the midst of your sin. You say, Bruce, can you prove
that? Well, listen to a verse that I just quoted you. Come
now and let us reason together, though your sins be escorted. I don't have any sins anymore.
I've done put them away. Well, you won't come to the Savior
then. You come to Him and bring your
sins with you. And he says, though you are loaded
with sin, they shall be white as snow. If he told you to lay them all
aside before you come, you would probably never come. But he says,
come in them. Come with them. Bring them with
you. Right here at my feet. Jesus,
the blessed Savior, would have blood-red sinners to come to
Him. And listen, it happened to come
now. Come now. If not now, when? There's always a now, isn't there? If we're ever to do anything,
it's now. Whatever kept you from coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ before, then don't let it keep you any
longer. Come now. Now. Right now. It's twenty minutes after one
o'clock. Come now. Don't wait till twenty-six
minutes after one o'clock. Come now. There must be a now. See what he's saying? You know
what? The devil slips in poor sinners'
minds. I'll wait till you get home.
And then when you get home, I'll wait till bedtime. When bedtime,
wait till the morning. But the Lord said now. Did He
not say now? What keeps you from coming now?
Huh? Right now in your heart. Somewhere you've got to come
to it. Sooner or later, you've got to come to it. And he's made
an issue out of this, because you've made an issue out of this.
When will you come? If you don't come now, you may
never come at all. That's why he said, now. Come
now. There's a time when sinners can't
come. They can't come. There's a time
when they won't come. But there's a time when you must
come. And that time is now. Blind Barnabas couldn't come
to Christ. He could not come to Christ because
Christ was not passing by. If somebody had come there to
that blind beggar sitting on the side of the road and said,
why don't you come to Christ? He said, I can't. Christ isn't
near me. Christ isn't passing by. But
when he heard the commotion, and he said, who is it? And they
said, it's Jesus of Nazareth. He began to cry out, Jesus! Now,
Son of David, what did he do? He came then, didn't he? The
woman with an issue of blood, she couldn't come to Christ because
Christ wasn't near her. But when she heard that he was
coming by, she said, I've got to touch him now. Now. Now is the time, you see. This is a word from the Master.
Come now. You come now. You come to me
now. What kept you from the Lord yesterday?
I don't know. But don't let it keep you from
Him today. Was it ignorance? Was it some sin that you just
loved you don't want to let go of at His feet? Is it some procrastination? Is it just flat-out rebellion?
What is it that kept you from Christ yesterday? Don't let it
keep you from Him today. Come now. There's no reason,
you see. There's no excuse for you not
to come. He bids you come to Him. Consider the great promises reserved
for those that come. Oh, what a blessing this is.
The promise of those who come to the Lord Jesus, the Savior,
and to God by Him. Listen to this. See if this appeals
to you. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thought, and let him return unto the Lord,
and here's the promise, for he will have mercy upon you. That's a promise. What is it
a poor sinner needs more than anything else in this world?
Mercy. I need mercy. I tell you, it
won't be a pain to your conscience and it won't be a burden to your
heart if you've laid down on your dying bed and you know that
you've obtained mercy. That'll be something that'll
cheer your soul when you come to face eternity. When you stand
before the Lord in judgment that you've obtained mercy, And here
is the promise that He has made to every soul that comes to Him. I will have mercy. You know He is not obligated,
is He? Mercy is free. Mercy is not something you earn
or something you are worthy of. But here the Lord obligates Himself. He that returns to Me. the Savior,
I will have mercy upon him. What a promise that is. And listen
to this one. Not only will I have mercy upon
him, but I will abundantly pardon. What a promise. I will pardon. No, that's not what he said.
I will abundantly pardon. The Bible says, take with you
words and turn to the Lord and say unto him, take away all iniquity. And here is the promise upon
your returning to him, from a God that cannot lie, I will abundantly
pardon. He will pardon abundantly sins
that have risen over your head like a dark cloud. A thick cloud,
he says, a heavy cloud. He will pardon not only abundantly,
but abundance of sins. And he will do it freely. That's
his promise. You ever feel like your sins,
like the awful mountains have grown upon your conscience and
your heart that you can't carry them? They feel like they're
just crushing your soul down to hell. The Lord said, bring
that load to me and I will abundantly pardon. What are you guilty of? How many sins? Can you number
them? Suppose you can't. What do you
need? Don't you need abundance of forgiveness? That's what he's promised. Return
unto me and I will abundantly pardon. Pardon. Every thought
of foolishness, I'll forgive it. Every lust that you've succumbed
to, I'll pardon it. Every lie that you've told, every
open and profane sin, every secret thing, I'll take it all away. I will abundantly pardon. Don't you love to think about
that? That's what I need, brothers and sisters. That's what everybody
here needs. There's one of the sweetest verses.
Sometimes I think it's my favorite verse in all the Bible. In Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 13, listen to this. And you being dead in
your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath quickened
together with Christ, having forgiven you all iniquities. All of them? Well, he said, come and bring
you words and say, take away all. He said, I've taken them
all. I told you I'd abundantly pardon.
I've pardoned them all. I'm not left to one. I'm not
left a little monster to bear witness against you at the judgment. I've washed them all. I've forgiven
all. The God that you sinned against,
I've forgiven all those sins. Return unto me. I will abundantly
pardon you. There's never been a poor sinner
who took the Lord at His word and came to Him for mercy and
left without it. There's never been a poor, heavy-hearted
sinner that comes to the Lord for forgiveness of sins and left
unforgiven. You find us one. If you can find
us one in all the Bible that came to Him for mercy and He
said, I'm turning you away. I came to Him for forgiveness,
and He turned me away unforgiven. Find us one." It has never happened. It has never happened. I will
pardon. Boy, here's another precious
promise we find in my text. You're on chapter 6, verse 37. This is a wonderful promise.
Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast him out. That word, know-wise, means for
any reason. You know the Lord Jesus knows
everything, don't you? And He said, I can find no reason
to cast you out. I will never cast him out that
comes to me. No matter who the poor man is,
or poor woman is, no matter what nationality they are, what race,
what position in life, no matter what you've done, or how often
you did it, No matter how long you've delayed in coming to Him,
how many opportunities that you've spurned, how you've procrastinated,
yet upon your coming to Me, He says, this is the promise, I
will never cast you out. I'm just saying this, brothers
and sisters. Why? All these verses that the
Holy Spirit has written down about coming to Him, and all
the encouragement and all the promises, why are all these written
in here if sinners are not so backward about coming? If they're such procrastinators? I think the Lord would have somebody
to come to Him this evening. I really do. I think the shepherd
is seeking one of his sheep. Come. And I love this. This promise
has no time or times attached to it. What encouragement this
is for you that have come to him already. I don't care if you come a thousand
times. You're welcome to keep coming. And if you come a thousand
times tomorrow, you'll never be cast out one time. Come to
me again and again and again and again, and every time you
come to me, I'll never cast you out. This doesn't just say our
initial coming, but every time we come, and whoever comes, I'll
never cast you out. Have you sinned? Come to Christ
to be forgiven. He'll never cast you out. Are
you sick in your poor soul? Come to Christ and He'll heal
you. Are you backsliding in your heart?
Come and He'll heal your backsliding. Are you weak and weary? Come
and He'll strengthen you and He'll cheer you with His presence.
Are you walking in darkness? Lord, rejoice not against me,
O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When
I set in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Are you in trouble? Call upon
me in the day of trouble, and I'll answer you. You shall glorify
me. Are you ignorant? Come to Christ,
and He'll be your wisdom. Do you need to be taught? Come
to Christ, and He'll be your prophet. Come, and every time
you come to Him, He'll never cast you out. Now, ain't that wonderful? Ain't
that a wonderful thought? Doesn't that encourage you to
come to Him? If you can find no reason in
yourself to come, look for a reason in Him for you to come. He says
come. And if He says come, come because
He said come. And if the devil says you have
no business here, tell him the Master, the Shepherd, tells you
to come. And the devil's got no business
telling you not to come if the Lord of Glory tells you to come.
Come unto Me. And this promise contains even
more than that. Our Lord is saying, those who
once come to Me, I will never cast them out. to be lost again."
Ain't that what he said? Those who come to me, upon their
first coming to me, I'll never cast them out to be lost again. No man can put them out of my
hand, and I will never cast them out of my hand to be lost. I don't want to be cast out of
His hand. But you know the promise isn't
based upon our desire not to be cast out. The promise has a better foundation
than that. Well, I don't want to be cast
out, so he won't cast me out. What about when your desire fails
you? And you're so cold and you feel so dead inside. You don't
even have any desire. What about him casting you out
then? No, he's not going to cast you out because he says, He wouldn't
cast you out. That's your security, isn't it?
How do you know He won't cast you out? Because He said, I'll
never cast you out. Ever feel like you're cast out?
Cast off. That's impossible. That's just
in your head. Look at the heart of Christ.
Is He true or not? Is He faithful and true? Well,
here's what He said. Upon your coming to Me the very
first time, You'll never be cast out again. You call that what
you want to. But that's what the master said.
Oh, our winter times, our winter times. How often our poor souls
and our hearts and our desire fails us. Our trees have no leaves. Our
trees have no buds. And we wonder if the son of righteousness
will ever rise again with healing and warmth and light in his wings. We want to feel the south breeze
blow upon our garden, don't we? We want the earth of our hearts
to be warmed. We want the gardener to come
in and smell the fruit that he's planted. And sometimes our winters are
so long. It's frightful. It is frightful. But let this cheer you, brothers
and sisters. If you've ever once come to Christ,
you're in Christ forever. And it doesn't depend upon your
weak desires, and your poor fickle will, and
your changing heart and thoughts. It depends upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's got a wonderful, wonderful
foundation for it to rest upon. Why wouldn't He cast you out?
Because you're a gift from His Father. Ain't that what He said? All that the Father gives to
me shall come to me. And if He cast out one who came
to Him, what would He be doing? He'd be showing contempt for
His Father's gift. You're mine by a gift from my
Father. I'll never discard you. I get
a gift from my wife who don't like for me to do this. I'll
get a card from somebody. I'll read it and say, man, that's
wonderful. And I'll throw it in the trash. I bet some of you
do that too, don't you? I just don't leave things laying
around. I just don't keep things like that. But you know something? The Father has given His Son. A great host of people out of
Adam's race. And the Son of God keeps on embracing
them, one after another, as He brings them to Himself. They
just keep coming, He keeps receiving them. And oh, if somebody said,
why don't you cast that one away? Why? He had a poor sense of thought.
He'd be offended at such a thought. That's my Father's guilt. That's
no common guilt. That's no ordinary gift. That's
one the Father gave to me. I prize it. I gave my blood for
it. I gave my life. I gave my everything
for it. I will never cast you out. You ever wonder if you're one
of God's elect? Wouldn't it be wonderful? If
you've ever heard anything about election, that God has already
chosen those He was going to save to salvation. Already before
time put their name in the Lamb's Book of Life, before all world.
He done determined who He's going to save. Now it's a great number.
It's a number that no man can number, but it's a limited number. And God knows them. And you knowing
that this morning, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing? to leave
here this evening knowing that you're one of them. Oh, what
if I ain't one of them? Yeah, but what if you are? What
if you are? Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful? And you know how you can know
it? All the Father gives to me shall
come to You come to Him right now in
your heart, and you can know right now you're one of His.
But if you don't come to Him, you can prove this. You're not
one of Him. You're not one of Him. Now, He
encourages you to come. He even commands you to come.
So come! Let's pray.