I would like for you to open
your Bibles this morning to the book of John, the fifth chapter
of John's gospel. I'll be reading just one verse
of scripture. This is my text and this is my
subject. The text reads in John 5.40,
and you will not come to me, and you will not come to me,
that you might have life. Now here's the subject. What
is it to come to Christ? I want to help you today. I want
you to listen to this message. I'm not just filling in time.
I'm not just following a vocation. I'm here, if possible, to glorify
God Almighty. I'm here to preach his word,
and I'm here to help you if I can. Someone said recently concerning
my ministry, said he's not much of a preacher, but he's a good
teacher. Well, if I can teach you the
way of life, If I can teach you the Word of God, I'll be very
happy about this time that we're spending together. And I'm asking
some questions and dealing with some subjects that need to be
dealt with. What is it to come to Christ? What is it to come
to Christ? Really and truly I'm going to
use several texts. First of all, John 5.40, that
one I just read, you will not come to me that you might have
life. Our Lord had declared in verse
24 of John 5, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life. and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." He's saying,
all who come to me have life, and those who refuse to come
to me do not have life, but they're in eternal death and eternal
condemnation and separation from God Almighty. Now, he goes on
in this same chapter, and he says, John the Baptist, that's
the forerunner, he bore witness of me. And then he said, the
works that I do, they bear witness of me. And he said, The Father
himself hath borne witness of me. The Father said, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well preached. Hear ye him. And
then the Word of God, he says, bears witness of me. And in spite
of all of these undeniable witnesses, these infallible witnesses, these
heavenly witnesses, the forerunner, John the Baptist, The Father
himself, the miracles, Nicodemus said, no man can do what you
do except God be with him. The Word of God, in spite of
all of this, Christ said, you will not come to me. That you
might have like me, they'll come to the church, they'll come to
the altar, they'll come to the priest, they'll come to the preacher,
they'll come to the law, they'll come to anything, but they won't
come to Christ. And these men to whom he was
speaking, they'd come to the feast days, and to the temple,
and to Jerusalem, to the holy days, to the ceremonies. They'd
come to anything religious. But our Lord said, I'm the Messiah,
and your forerunner, the last of the Old Testament prophets,
told you that I'm the Lamb of God, the Christ, the Father told
you. My works, they tell you, the Word tells you, and you will
not come to me. that you might have life. In
John 6.37, listen to the Master in the next chapter. He said,
All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. No man can come to
me except my Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. It's written in the prophets,
They shall all be taught of God. And every man that hath heard
and hath learned of the Father, hath been a disciple of the Father,
hath been a learner of the Father, cometh unto me." Now, listen
to another scripture in Matthew 11, verse 28. Our Lord had condemned
the cities in which his mighty works had been done. He had condemned
Capernaum and Bethsaida and all these different cities. He said,
it will be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, it
will be easier for those wicked cities of the plains in the day
of judgment than for you. And he lifted his eyes to heaven
and he said, Father, I thank you, Lord of heaven and earth,
that you have healed these things from the wise and the prudent,
that you have revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, it seemed
good in your sight. And then he looked out over the
multitude and he gave this call, Come unto me. All you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." What is it to
come to Christ? I could go on through the scriptures
and read many more texts, come to Christ, come to Christ, come
to Christ. You will not come to Christ.
All that have learned of the Father cometh to the Son. If
you come to me, I'll in no wise cast you out. Now then, what
is it to come to Christ? If you come to Christ, you find
life. life for death, pardon for sin, grace for guilt, salvation
from damnation, if you come to Christ, then what is it to come
to Christ? I'm going to ask four questions.
This, I think, will help you to understand the subject. Now,
here are the four questions I'll be dealing with. If you want
to, jot these down, and then jot down the scripture references
that I give to you. The first question is this, why
should I come to Christ? Why should I come to Christ?
That's a good question. The preacher said, come to Christ,
come to Christ. Well, why should I come to Christ? Why should
I? What is there in Christ that
would cause me to come to him? And the second question is this,
what it is not coming to Christ. Coming to Christ, what it is
not. Now, people are willing to come to a lot of places, but
not to Christ. So I'm going to give you this
coming to Christ, what it is not. And then thirdly, then what
is it? Plainly and clearly, Preacher,
what is the Bible talking about when it says, Come to Christ?
And then last of all, what are the results of our coming to
Jesus Christ? Now, here's the first one. Why
should I come to Christ? Why should any sinner come to
Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, here's the
reason. God is in Christ. You can't come to God without
coming to Christ. Christ is in God, and God is
in Christ, and to come to Christ is to come to God. And to refuse
to come to Christ is to have nothing to do with God. That's
exactly right. Listen to the scriptures now.
Listen to the Word of God. Christ said this is one of the
things that raised the ire and anger of the mob against him.
In John 10.30, he said, I and my Father are one. No man knoweth
the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. I and my Father are one. He that
hath the Son hath the Father. He that hath not the Son hath
not the Father." That's what he said. Listen to John 14.6.
No man cometh to the Father but by me. Listen to 2 Corinthians
5.19. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. Here's the clenching scripture.
Here's the one that wraps up the whole thing. When the angel
came to Joseph and announced that Mary was with child by the
Holy Ghost, he said, Joseph, don't be afraid to take unto
thee Mary to be thy wife. That holy thing which is born
of her shall be called the Son of God. Call his name Jesus.
He'll save his people from their sin. This is the fulfillment
of the scripture in Isaiah 7.14. When God said, Behold, the Lord
himself shall give you a sign, a virgin shall be with child,
and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted,
God with us. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
Almighty. That's why I invite you to come
to Christ. That's why Christ invited sinners to come to him.
God is in Christ. God is in Christ. Unto us a child
is born. Unto us a son is given. His name
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. In Hebrews 1.8 the Scripture
says, The Father said unto the Son, Thy throne, O God. is forever. Paul, in speaking
to the elders of the church of Antioch, said, feed the church
of blood which he purchased with his own blood. God's in Christ. So that's how serious this matter
is that we're talking about today. Why should I come to Christ?
Because God's in Christ. Though in the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all
things were made by him, without him was not anything made that
was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. He's the express image, the exact
image of the Father. He felt it not robbery to be
equal with God, yet he made himself of no reputation. Secondly, why
should I come to Christ? All spiritual blessings are in
Christ. Everything is in Christ. Listen to Colossians 2.9. In
him dwelleth all the fulness of God in Christ. dwelleth all the fulness of God
bodily, and you are complete in him." Listen to 1 Corinthians
1.30, "...of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." That's all there
is. That's all there is. Romans 10.4, Christ is the goal,
the consummation, the end of the law to them that believe
it. Christ is our peace, rest, pardon, life, refuge, hope. Everything's in Christ. There's
nothing God has for any human outside of Jesus Christ. That's
why you'd better come to Christ. He's the fountain of life. He's
the source of grace. He's all in it all. He's God's
eternal yes, and everything contrary to him is no. That's why you
should come to Christ. Thirdly, Christ is prophet, priest,
and king. No man ever occupied those three
offices. Moses was a prophet, Levi was
a priest, David was a king. None of them ever held two offices. Christ has all three. He's the
prophet to reveal God. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son. and he to whom the Son will reveal
him. He is the priest, seeing we have such a high priest, let
us come boldly before the throne of grace. He is the King. God
hath exalted him and given him a name above every name, that
at the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess that he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, to
the glory of God the Father, that in all things he might have
the preeminence. That answers the question for
you. Why should you come to Christ? I invite you to come to Christ.
The Scripture invites you to come to Christ. The Spirit of
the Bride say come. Let him that heareth say come.
Let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. Let him come to Christ. Why?
God's in Christ. All spiritual blessings are in
Christ. That's where they are. They're in Jesus Christ. And
thirdly, he is prophet, priest, and king. all that you need. Secondly, what it is not, coming
to Christ, what it is not. Let me tell you this, it's not
coming to the law. I know a lot of preachers out
preaching, do this and do that, and don't do this and don't do
that, and they're giving forth commandments and laws, and there's
nothing wrong with commandments, there's nothing wrong with laws,
but not as a way of salvation. You can come to the law and come
to the commandment and perish, because the scripture says, but
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Even Abraham
was not justified by works, and I sure don't want to book Abraham
at the judgment to find some merit, do you? I sure don't want
to book Abraham at the judgment to find some means of merit in
heaven. If anybody was going to merit
it by his works, it would be Abraham, not you or me. But even
Abraham was not justified by works. If he was, he hath whereof
to glory before God. And the scripture says, No flesh
shall glory in his presence. No flesh. So you needn't come
to the law. You churches can fill out your
standards and your church covenants and your rules and regulations
and your do's and don'ts and hand them out to people and say,
do this and be saved, break it and go to hell, and you're deceiving
multitudes. You're the blind leading the
blind. The scripture doesn't invite you to come to the law.
The law can't save you. It can only show you your sins.
That's all the law can do for you. It's all it can do for any
man, is reveal sin. It's a schoolmaster to point
us to Christ. And secondly, it's not coming
to the ordinances. Oh, there's some beautiful ordinances,
the Lord's Table and Baptism, both symbolic, both pictures.
When we go beneath the water, we're showing Christ's death,
His burial, His resurrection, our own death to sin and burial
and resurrection to walk in newness of life, in holiness and righteousness,
in beauty and integrity. When we take to the Lord's table
and drink the wine, we're saying, this is His blood shed for the
remission of sin. The broken bread says, this is
my body broken for you. But my friends, you can drink
all the wine in the well and eat all the wafers and the crackers
and the unleavened bread and get baptized. Somebody said to
the frogs, know your middle name and still not be saved. Salvation
is not in water and it's not in wafers, it's in Christ. It's
not coming to the ordinances, sacraments, communion, or whatever
you want to call it, confirmation or sprinkling or whatever. I'm
just saying that those things won't save a baby and won't save
an adult. They won't save, they won't redeem,
they won't put away sin. Baptism wasn't crucified for
me. The Lord's table wasn't nailed to a cross for me. He'd memorize
a scripture once saved him. He's not coming to the church.
The church is not the Savior. Christ is the Savior. John 1.11
says, he came unto his own things, people, the Jews, the ceremonies,
and they received him not. They turned thumbs down on him.
But as many as received him. Not his church, not his ordinances,
not his laws, but him. as many as received Him, a living
person, a living Lord, a sovereign Redeemer. To them gave He the
right, the privilege, to become sons of God. It's not coming
to a creed. It's not coming to an altar.
It's not coming to a plan. It's not coming to a law. It's
not coming to a set of rules. It's coming obediently and lovingly
and believingly to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
substitute, our sin offering, our Savior. Some followed him
because of the miracles that he performed. He did not reveal
himself to them. Some followed him for material
gain, the aid of the loaves, and were filled. Some followed
him because of kingdom promises, we want to sit on your right
hand or we want to sit on your left hand. But those who found
him to be the source of life came to him, came to him not
for material gain or miracles or kingdom promises, they came
to him for mercy and forgiveness of sin and pardon and grace and
life everlasting. Now, here's the third question.
Then what is it to come to Christ? Then what is it to come to Christ?
Now, what's the best way to answer this? In preparing this message,
and I came along to this particular point. Now, I want to know and
you want to know. What is it to come to Christ?
How do I answer this so that at least in your head you'll
understand it? from the scripture? Well, I think the best answer
is to be found in the attitude of those who came to Christ in
the scriptures. Let's find some people in God's
word who came to Christ. And I don't mean those who came
to him physically like Nicodemus or some of the others and went
away, the rich young ruler and went away, or the man who said,
let me go and bury my father and went away, and the pharisee
bought a piece of land and had to prove it and went away. I'm
talking about those who came and stayed, and those who heard
Christ say, Thy sins be forgiven thee. Let's see how they came. And if I can find out how they
came, then I can come the same way they came, because I've got
the same need. I've got the same sins. I've got the same Savior. First of all, it's to come to
Christ as a sinner. Our Lord gave a parable or story
of two men who went to the temple to pray. That is, to approach
God, the King to God. The first one was a religious
man, a Pharisee, a very moral, religious, ceremonial legalist. And he came bursting right into
the temple, right down the aisle, down to the altar, down to the
front. And he lifted his eyes to heaven and lifted his hands,
too, I reckon. You see folks waving their hands
to God. And he says, God, I sure thank you I'm not like other
men. I tithe, and I fast, and I give alms, and I'm not an extortioner,
I'm not an adulterer, I'm not even like that publican back
there in the back, and I'm sure grateful that I'm so good. But
there was the other man, Christ said, a publican. a very sinful
man who wouldn't come down the aisle or to the front or to the
altar. He stayed far off, the Scripture says, way back. He
didn't feel worthy of coming into God's presence. And he didn't
let even his eyes, let alone his hands, to glory. He just
smote on his breast, just beat his breast. And he cried, O God,
O God. Be merciful to me, thee sinner."
That's a definite article there, thee sinner. Let thy blood be
propitiation for me on the mercy seat. Oh God, be reconciled to
me, thee sinner. And our Lord said, our Lord said,
that man went home saved, not the other. So that's the first
thing I would advise you in coming to Christ, come as a sinner,
as a sinner. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ died for the
ungodly. Christ came into the world, Paul
said, to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. Secondly, I'd come
to him as a sovereign. A sovereign. What's a sovereign?
Well, the meaning's right there in the word. R-E-I-G-N. He reigns. He's king. He rules. He gives
mercy to whom he will. He doesn't owe any man anything.
That's right. Mercy's optional. Justice must
be given. But here's a man in Matthew 8,
when our Lord came down from the mountain, a leper ran and
fell down at his feet and worshiped him, the scripture says, and
he said, Lord, Lord, Master, if you will, you can make me
whole. It's in your power. Now, you
don't owe me anything. You're not obligated to me in
any way. But you see my condition. I'm helpless and hopeless. I'm
dying. I'm a leper. I'm dying. If you will, if it's in your
will, you can, it's in your power to make me whole." And our Lord
said, I will be thou whole. Now, you better come that way.
Don't you come proud and haughty and lifted up. You better make
your headquarters in the dust and come repenting of your sins
as a sinner before a sovereign who saves whom he will, who shows
mercy to whom he will, who will be gracious, he said, to whom
he will. And then thirdly, salvation is
a gift of God. Gift of God. And then third is
to come to Christ for mercy. A Canaanite woman came to him
one day saying, Lord, have mercy on me. Mercy. And our Lord turned. He didn't speak at first. And
she kept crying, have mercy on me. Not justice. Now, if I get
justice, I'll be damned. But I want justice. I don't want
God to judge me according to my work. I want him to receive
me through the mercies of Christ." This woman kept saying, have
mercy, and our Lord turned to her and he said, I'm sent to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She said, Lord, have
mercy. He said, it's not right to give
the children's bread to dogs. She said, but the dogs eat the
crumbs that fall from the master's table. Mercy is all I ask. Come boldly to the throne of
grace that we may find mercy. Mercy. and grace to help in time
of need. And then fourthly, what is it
to come to Christ? She found mercy. Christ said,
I haven't found faith like that in Israel. And then it's to come
to Christ completely. Now, there was a rich young ruler,
and I'm going to use reverse this time. There was a man who
came and because he didn't come like I'm talking about here,
coming completely. This rich young man came to him and wondered
what he must do to inherit life, and Christ told him to keep the
commandments. He said, I've kept all those. And Christ said, well,
go sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you come
follow me. You sell all of your distractions. You get rid of
those things that divide your affections. You get rid of your
heart that is set on things of this world, and you come to me
completely, unreservedly, leading all others. And that young man
turned and walked away, because he had great riches and he loved
great riches. And our Lord said, No man can
serve two masters. A man cannot serve God and mammon.
Now, I don't know what your affections have set on, but if you come
to Christ, you'll forsake all others. You'll leave all others. And if your right arm, and that's
the most precious thing to you, or your right eye, this is what
Christ is talking about. He's not talking about mutilating
the body by plucking actually the eye out or cutting off the
arm. Don't you ever do that. God doesn't teach us to mutilate
our body. What he's saying is this. He's saying that anything
that is more important to you than your relationship with Christ
has to go. You come to Him completely, completely. All right? Fifthly, is to come
to Christ alone when everything else fails. There was a woman
with an issue of blood, 12 years. She had sought healing from many
positions. In fact, the scripture says she
spent everything she had and wasn't any better, but just grew
worse, continually worse. And finally, when she heard of
Christ, After trying all the other ways, she said, if I can
get to him, I'll be made whole. And she made her way to Christ,
and she touched his garment, and she was made whole. Everything
else had failed. Everything else was to no avail.
She had spent everything, and she came to Christ. Now, you
can try the law and church membership and baptism and good works and
rededication and all these, just keep trying all these things,
but let me tell you this. If you ever get serious enough,
and desperate enough and lost enough that you can say to the
disciples, one day our Lord said, will you also go away? And they
said, to whom? To whom? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life. He's the only, there's a fountain
filled with blood that's drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilt and shame. He's
the only hope of the helpless sinner. He's the only grace for
the guilty sinner. He's the only mercy for the wicked
sinner. He's the only source of life.
He's the only refuge. He's the only hiding place. He's
the only rock in the time of storm. He's the only resurrection
in the life. I must have Christ. I must have
Christ. Now, you come that way. He said,
you seek me with all your heart. You'll find me. But you haven't
come to that place yet, have you? You've still got too many
irons in the fire, and too many play putties, and too many childish
things, and too many toys. And when you're willing to lay
them down, and to lay your... He that saveth his life will
lose it. And that's saving it for the world. But he that'll
lose his life, lost in Christ, dedicated, consecrated to Christ,
he'll find it. He'll find it. Christ is all
and in all. And then it's to come to Christ
our atonement. is to come to Christ our sacrifice
and our sin offering. The scripture says, by one offering
he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. I know Christ
is our example, but that's not why he came into this world.
He didn't need to come and set an example. He wrote one down
in his word. I know that Christ is our provider,
but he provided for us before he came. I know that Christ is
our shepherd, but he led us before he walked on this earth as our
surety. But Christ is our substitute. That's how we come to Him, the
atonement. Just like that great old high priest back in Old Testament
days came under the veil on the day of atonement into the Holy
of Holies with the blood sacrifice which showed Christ, which pictured
Christ, and put that blood on the mercy seat on top of that
broken law, saying, this is my sacrifice, this is my sin offering,
this is my atonement, O God. Be reconciled to me, O sinner,
through the death of thy son. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. By God's grace, I'm heaven-bound.
My only hope, my only plea, is that when Jesus Christ died,
he died for me. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. I'm saying that as positively
as I can say anything. I've been preaching 35 years
nearly, pastor of the same church over 30 years. I have nothing
to claim but Christ. I have no hope but Christ, I
have no foundation but Christ. What's the results of coming
to Christ? He said, I'll give you rest. Rest from your labors,
rest from bondage, rest from condemnation, rest from fear
of death and judgment, rest in the midst of your trials and
affliction. Come into me and drink, and out of your belly
will flow rivers of living water. You'll be a source of life itself
because I live in you.