Open our Bibles again to the
book of Ephesians, chapter 1. The Lord willing, Brother Jay
will be preaching tonight. I want you to be much in prayer
that I'll be able tomorrow evening to make television broadcast. We have We have used old tapes
the last two Sundays because of my inability to go up there
and make the program, and I feel that it is just essential that
although we were pleasantly surprised this week to receive a tremendous
amount of mail from a rerun. Maybe they didn't hear it the
first time and maybe they heard it better the second time, But
maybe we ought to rerun them over and over again until somebody
hears them, but it was pleasant. Jay came over to the house Tuesday
morning and said, look here, 14 letters this morning from
a rerun. But we know something about warmed
over food, don't we? I like that story about the family
that gathered around to say the blessing, and somebody said,
well, if you can find something on the table that hasn't been
blessed two or three times, we'll say a blessing. But did you notice as I read
this scripture, if you don't laugh, you'll cry, I'll tell
you that. That's the way I feel this morning. Did you notice
when I was reading these verses how many times the apostle ascribes
what God has given us to our union with Christ, in Christ,
in Christ, in Christ. You see that? Let's look back
here at verse 3. The last line says, He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. He chose us in Christ. Down here in verse 6, the last
line, He accepted us in Christ in the Beloved. Verse 7, in Christ
we have redemption. All the way through, this is
what it says, in Christ, through Christ, by Christ, for Christ's
sake. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in him. By his Spirit
he dwells in us, and by faith we dwell in him. And he said,
I am divine and you are the branches. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine. Neither can you except
you abide in me. Abide in me and live. And then
by one spirit we are baptized into the body of Christ. And
everything God has for us is in Jesus Christ. Everything God
has. Now by virtue of our union with
Christ, I am nothing apart from Christ. I have nothing, know
nothing, am nothing and can do nothing. Everything of spiritual
value is because of my union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Being
identified with him, being included in Christ, includes me in these
blessings. Let me show you, for example,
five things. First of all, being identified
with Christ and included with Christ, I'm identified with him
in his names. He's the son of God. I'm a son
of God. Beloved, now are we sons of God. That's what John said in 1 John
3, now are we sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know when he shall appear we shall be like
him. To as many as received him, to them gave he the right, privilege
to become sons of God. Oh, I'm not a son of God in the
sense that he's the son of God. There's a sense in which Christ
is the son of God that no other person can be the son of God.
I know that, but I am identified with Christ in his name, in his
title. He's the Son of God, I'm the
Son of God. I'll tell you something else. He's the heir of all things,
and in Christ I'm a joint heir of all things. All things are
yours. That's what Paul said. All things
are yours in Christ. All things. We are heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Not only that, but we're kings
and priests. He hath made us kings and priests
unto our God. And not only that, but we're
Christians. We're called by his name. It
says in Acts 11.26, the disciples were first called Christians
at Antioch. Yeah, I know, they've got Christian
networks and Christian construction companies and Christian everything,
but the only person who is a Christian is that person who is in union
with Christ and has that privilege and that right and that title
and that name by God's grace. He's a Christian. He's a Christian. It's still a precious name. They've
misused it and abused it, but it's still precious. I'm a Christian.
A Christian. And being identified with Christ,
I not only am included in his names and titles, but in his
righteousness. In his righteousness. I found
two verses this week that were a special blessing. Turn to Jeremiah,
chapter 23. I've read this to you before,
but will you look at it again? Jeremiah 23, verse 6, this is
his name, this is his name, whereby he shall be called, Jeremiah
23, verse 6, in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall
dwell safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall be called
the Lord, our righteousness. Do you know, my friend, that
in Christ I have a perfect holiness in God's sight, a perfect righteousness? It's almost impossible for me
to comprehend. It's almost impossible for me
to fathom. Let those who will go about to
establish their own righteousness, but I've got this to say, the
Lord is my righteousness. Paul said, My heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
I bear them record. They have a zeal for God, but
it's not according to right, it's not according to knowledge,
for they're going about to establish their own righteousness and have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, for Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Here's the other verse, Isaiah 45, verse 24. And this one especially
was a blessing to me. Isaiah 45, verse 24. This is the foundation and ground
of all blessings, and that is the Lord is my righteousness.
If I didn't have a righteousness before the law, the law would
condemn me. If I didn't have a righteousness before the Father,
he couldn't receive me. That's what one of the men said
last night, Saturday night, in his message that I listened to
last evening. If I didn't have a righteousness before the law,
The law would condemn me if I didn't have a righteousness before Christ. He couldn't receive me. I've
got to be accepted. Watch this, Isaiah 45, verse
24. Surely, shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. That's where it is.
He's my strength. He's my righteousness. He's my
hope. Surely, one shall say, in the Lord have I righteousness. This is the foundation and ground
of all blessings. Everything else, Paul said, is
dung that we may win Christ and be found in him, not having our
own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. Thirdly, being identified
with Christ, included with Christ in his names and titles, in his
righteousness, in his holiness, in his immaculate, indescribable,
immutable, infinite, eternal, holiness. And I'll tell you this,
God can demand no more and accept no less than his righteousness. And then thirdly, we're identified
with him in his death. I like this statement somebody
made I read this week. I think it was Flavel. His death
is my life. His death is my life. I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. He died In him I died, and because
he died, I live. And all sin is put away, and
my sin, and my sin, O the bliss of that glorious thought, my
sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, it's well with
my soul. His death is my life. Because he died, he said, you
live. All right, fourthly, I'm identified
with Him in His resurrection. He arose and I arose, risen with
Christ. And then fifthly, look back at
Ephesians, our text, chapter 1, verse 3. It says, not only
am I risen with Christ, but I'm seated with Christ. I'm blessed
with Christ with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.
Look at Ephesians 2, 6. God hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heaven and places already. in Christ
Jesus, in Christ Jesus. Is that clear? That everything
God has of any value, of any spiritual value, with any spiritual
nature is in Christ. He's vested it all in Christ.
Christ is the source of all grace and mercy and forgiveness and
pardon He's the source of all life and light and truth and
holiness. And the only way that I can partake
of it is to be in a living, vital union with Him by faith. Now
this is what I'm saying. By faith. Now watch those two
words. Whatever the value of Christ to some people, and of
infinite value is Christ. Infinite value. In Christ. Whatever value He is to some.
infinite value. However the excellency of Christ,
and I doubt not his excellency, not for one moment, how unsearchable
are his ways, higher than the heavens, past finding out the
depths of the riches of the glory of his grace, how excellent is
Christ. I wish I could speak on the excellency
of his name. And whatever the efficacy, and
you know what that means, it just simply means he gets the
job done. He's sufficient. Whatever the
efficacy of his merit. You see what I'm saying? Whatever
the value of Christ to some, however the excellency of Christ,
however the sufficiency of Christ, there are no benefits to me or
to you unless we're in him, I think. Now that's just so, because no
wound was ever healed by medicine unapplied. I may be sick. Here's the best medicine in the
world. Perfect, valuable, sufficient, efficacious, excellent. It'll do me no good, Cecil, till
I drink it. That's so, Bob. I don't care. No wound was ever healed by medicine
unapplied. No body was ever worn by a coat
unworn. This coat may be warm fleece-lined,
taken from the best sheep, excellent, valuable, sufficient, and I may
sit here and freeze to death if I don't put it on. No thirst
was ever quenched by water undrunk. A man can lay down and die. the
cider well of the clearest, coolest, finest water the world has ever
known, if he doesn't drink it. Men died in California in the
1840s, poverty-stricken, and gold was in the creeks. But they
died. And no sinner was ever saved,
delivered or made whole, but by faith in Christ Jesus. That's
so. Somebody said this, as the condemnation
of Adam passes not to us except by our oneness with him, so grace and mercy pass not unto
us except by our oneness with Christ. Miss Christ and you miss
grace. Miss Christ and you miss mercy.
Miss Christ and you miss pardon. Miss Christ and you miss glory.
For as in Adam we die, in Christ we're made alive. Adam's sin
hurts no one but those who are in him. And Christ's blood profits
no one unless he's in Christ. That's so, Charlie. That's exactly
right. No sinner was ever saved, delivered,
or pardoned without partaking of, by faith. the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us? Turn to that scripture, 1 Corinthians
1, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30, this is what it said. Of him are you, see it,
in Christ Jesus. We don't read about him, think
about him, consider him, We receive him. Cast ourselves upon him. Believe on him. Look to him. Rest in him. Who of God is made unto us wisdom. Christ and his benefits are inseparable. We can have no saving benefit
apart from his person. I know there are a lot of people
who would be willing to receive the privileges of Christ who
won't receive the person of Christ, but that's impossible. I wrote
something in the bulletin this morning. I don't know whether
you've had an opportunity to read it or not. I hope that you
have. The importance of faith in Christ. And I made a statement in here
that I want to explain, not that I believe it needs any explanation,
because I believe it's so. But in this article, the importance
of faith in Christ, there's nothing more important than true faith
in Christ Jesus. There's no sin greater than unbelief. No sin greater than unbelief.
There's no grace greater than faith and no sin greater than
unbelief. They couldn't enter in because
of unbelief. Now look at the next paragraph. The free grace
of God is the first and moving cause of our justification. I
know that. I know faith is not the savior.
I know faith is not the planner. God planned it. Christ provided
it. Purchased it. I know that the
free grace of God is the first and moving cause of our justification.
I know the obedience and death of Christ is the meritorious
cause of our justification. But Bill faith is the instrumental
cause. Now that's so. And here's the
statement. Of course, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's scriptural. But here's the statement. Faith
in its proper place is as necessary as the death of Christ. Now,
I wouldn't shock you, my friend, but that's so. That's so, Bob,
in its proper place. I didn't say faith was as important
as the death of Christ. I didn't say that. I said faith
in its proper place is as important as the death of Christ. But I'll
tell you this, you'll never be saved without it. You'll never be saved
if you don't believe. He that believeth shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Christ died on the cross
and was buried and rose again. That's so. But he that believeth
not shall be damned. Paul said Christ in you is the
hope of glory. Not Christ in the manger, not
Christ on the cross, or even Christ in heaven. Christ in you
is the hope of glory. That's the hope of glory. You
remember these four things as long as you live. These four
things right here. They cannot be improved upon
because they're so. Here are four things that you
remember. Don't ever let them be taken
away. Number one, there's no saving benefits apart from a
union with Christ. There's no saving blessings,
and let not any man hope for it. There's no saving blessings
apart from union with Christ. What the sun is to light. There'd
be no light without the sun. We go out here and here's the
brilliant daylight. Well, what makes the light? The sun. If there were no sun,
there'd be no light. And what the light is, what the
sun is to the light, what water is to the well. There's no well
without water, it's just a hole in the ground. You don't have
a well if you don't have water. It's a misnomer to talk about
a dry well. It's no well, it's a hole in
the ground. a well, what water is to the
well, what life is to the body. This body is, they're beautiful
bodies, but if there's no life in that body, it's obnoxious.
They're beautiful bodies that attract us, but if they were
dead, they'd repulse us, right? So life, what life is to the
body. What trees are to the forest. You can't have a forest without
trees. What sand is to the desert? What air is to the bloom? You
don't have a bloom without air. What words are to a speech? That's
Christ to me. That's Christ to me. Without
him, I'm like a well without water, a hole in the ground.
I'm like a world without a sun, no light, a body without life,
a forest without trees. That's foolishness, preacher,
sure, and that's the reason I say you can talk about church membership
and religion and theology and orthodoxy and decisions and all
this thing, but life is in him. He is the light, the way, and
the truth. The second thing, you remember
this. The first thing was there's no
spiritual blessings from God's throne except by union with Christ.
You'll have what you have in and through Christ. In Christ,
through Christ, by Christ, for his glory. By your union with
Christ. God will bless you for Christ's
sake. And through Christ. He'll love you in Christ. And
secondly, there's no union with Christ apart from faith. He that
believeth on the Son hath life. And he that believeth not the
Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him." Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Our
Lord said one day to that man, he said, Lord, can you do anything?
He said, if you can believe, all things are possible to them
that believe. Can you believe? Can I believe
if you can believe? Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. No union with Christ apart from
faith. It's not striving, it's not deciding,
it's believing. And he that believeth hath entered
into his rest. He hath ceased from his own labors.
He hath ceased to strive for forgiveness and hath found it.
He has ceased to strive for righteousness and hath found it. He has ceased
to strive for acceptance. He's found it. He's entered into
his rest. He believes. He believes. Lord, I believe. And then the
third thing is this. There's no saving faith apart
from the preaching of God's word. He hath chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. We're going to have
to restore preaching to where it's supposed to be. Prominence. I'm not talking about the preaching
of foolishness. I'm talking about the foolishness
of preaching. We're going to have to restore it to its place
of prominence. I know everybody in the world has invented everything
in the world to entertain the people of the world who come
to the church. But I'll tell you, sheep come
to be fed. They come to the pasture to be
fed. And our Lord told the apostle
Peter to feed his sheep. We're going to have to, because
he hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Let's look at this for a
moment. Romans chapter 10. This is so clear and concise
and so to the point. It says here in verse 13, of
Romans 10, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. That's the exercise of faith, calling upon the name
of the Lord. The name of the Lord indicates
his majesty and excellency and sufficiency. But how then shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going
to hear without a preacher. And how shall they be preached?
How shall they preach except they be sent? Oh, it's written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach, that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. And then the fourth statement
is this, and I want you to turn to John chapter 6. All the preaching
in the world cannot effect saving faith or union with Christ apart
from the power of God's Spirit. That's the reason I write things
in the bulletin like this. Please pray for the presence
of the Spirit of God in the Bible classes and the worship services.
Without his Spirit All of our words and activities and music
and everything else is just so much vanity and so much flesh.
I'd rather speak five words in the spirit of God than 5,000
words of enticing, intelligent, eloquent man speech. Here our Lord in John chapter
6 had been preaching to these people. John chapter 6 and verse
41. Then the Jews murmured at him,
murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread
that came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus?
Isn't this the son of Joseph? Isn't this the man that grew
up in Nazareth, whose mother and father we know? How is it,
he said, I came down from heaven? Do you see what I'm saying here?
This is, my friends, this is the Lord of glory. And in spite
of the authority of the preacher, can you imagine the authority
with which he spake? You think sometimes that I speak
with a dogmatic tongue or in a dogmatic fashion. They said
of him, no man spake like this man. He spake with authority,
they said, not like the scribes and Pharisees. He said, you're
of your father the devil. That's right, he spake with authority.
And in spite of the authority of the preacher, and in spite
of the holiness of his life, do you know how holy he is? I try to avoid saying he was,
because he is. I am," he said. When he referred
to himself, he said, I am. He didn't say I was, I am. Do
you realize how holy he is? And in spite of his holiness,
and in spite of the truth of his message, I preach a message.
It's not without error. Somewhere in this message are
some things I shouldn't have said. I know that. Joe said last
night, If you won't cut me off or if you won't write me off,
I'm going to say something here. And sometimes we say things that
we ought to be written off, you know. Somebody ought to write
us off. But in spite of the truth of his message, every word he
spake was so. Every word. In spite of the miracles
he performed, they still said, We don't believe you. You see
that? You're a carpenter. We don't
believe you. Which led him to say, You with me? John 6, verse 43. Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves,
no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. That's what I'm saying. Those four things. There is no
blessing, benefit, or grace apart from a vital living union with
Christ, because he's the source, the spring, the well, he's the
fountain. Come, thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace, streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. And there's no union with Christ
apart from faith. You're not going to be slapped
into Christ only by election. You're not going to be slapped
into Christ by some religious leader. You're going to believe. You're going to personally, individually,
lovingly, willingly receive him and come to him. And you're not
coming apart from faith. And you're not going to believe
apart from hearing the truth about him, the Word of God. And we're
not going to be able to preach it to you apart from the power
of God's Spirit. All right, how can I come to
Christ then, preacher? How does one come to Christ?
What is it to come to Christ? Deal with that for a moment.
All right, I'll try to. Stay in John 6 for a moment. Coming to Christ. Coming to Christ
is the same as believing on Christ. Look at John 6.35, Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never
hunger, he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Same thing,
coming to Christ. But the word come, the word come
to Christ is rich in meanings which no other word can convey.
to come to Christ. And I'll show you those meanings.
I'm going to give you just a few. I'm not going to tell you how
many, because you'll know when I'm through. I learned that the other night
listening to a preacher. He told how many points he had,
and I followed him, and I knew when he was going to quit. So I'm going to give you how
to come to Christ, what it means to come to Christ, what is it
to come to Christ. It's the same as believing, but
it just means it's a little richer in meaning. Number one, to come
to Christ is to be convinced of the reality of Christ. Hebrews
11.6 says this, he that cometh to God must believe that he is. All coming to anything presupposes
a fixed object. That's right. Joshua says, come
to me. So he was a fixed object. You
see what I'm saying? You come to the water fountain,
you come to the table. Mother says, supper's ready,
come to the table. You've got a fixed object, the
table. All coming to anything presupposes a fixed object, doesn't
it? Well, sure it does. And to come
to Christ, first of all, primarily, you must be convinced of the
reality of Christ. Who he is. Who he is. What he did. The woman with the
issue of blood had a disease, a need. She says, if I can get
to him, if I can touch him, I'll be made whole. She wasn't coming
to the Pharisees or Sadducees or temple or the law or his teaching. She's coming to him. She believed him. If I can get
to him, she wouldn't accept a substitute. Apostle Peter would have stepped
forward and said, I'll take care of your business this morning.
Oh, no. If I can get to him. I appreciate it, Simon, but I've
got to get to him. It presupposes a fixed object. And it's no mystic or haze. It's
the reality of Christ. He's real. The man, Christ Jesus,
came into this world, loved me, and died for me. Secondly, to
come to Christ is to despair of salvation in any other person
or any other way. If I'm convinced of anything
this morning, I'm convinced of this, that Christ is the only
way of salvation for sinners. For me, I mean for sinners. I don't know about righteous
people. I suppose they could find something
else. But if there's a sinner here, I've got news for you.
Christ is the only Savior. The only Savior. The only Savior. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid. Christ said, don't talk to me
of the water. Don't talk to me of the law. Please don't, because
I'm sorry. The law does nothing for me but
shut my mouth. and strip me and humble me and
show me what I am. I'm sorry, your religious ceremonies
don't meet any need of my heart. I can't live by them and I sure
can't die by them. But when I come to cross that
stream of icy water and I view my home on the other side, I'm
going to look and depend upon Him to take me across. I don't want any boat made out
of the flimsy orthodoxy of your law and rules. It'll sink out
there in the middle. I don't imagine I'd even bear
my weight, let alone sink in the middle. But he's able. Turn to Psalm 107. I want to
show you something. Psalm 107. One of our young men,
Brother Toddy Nybert, came over to the house the other day. We're
going to have to quit calling him Toddy, I'll tell you that. That
don't sound like a preacher. I'm going to have to change his
name back to Charles. But he gave me something. He
said he's going to preach on something. I said, I bet I beat
you to it. And I'm going to. In Psalm 107, I want you to look
at this right here just a moment. What I'm saying is, everybody
who's safe, everybody who comes to Christ, is positively shut
up to Christ. This is what Aaron said last
night. Shut up to Christ. There is no other way. There
is no other way. Look at these verses. Psalm 107,
verse 4. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary, lonely way. They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted. Then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them. They were
shut up to Christ. They wandered, found no place,
no place. They found no place built, no refuge. And when they
found no place, they cried to him. I'll tell you this, the way of
faith is so supernatural that a man won't usually walk in it
until he's tried every other way. Peter walking to Christ
on the water is no more supernatural than you coming to Christ by
faith. Neither one of them can be done in your own strength.
That's so. That's so. If you get to Christ,
you'll come by faith, and the Spirit of God will give you that.
But you'll be shut up. Let's read on. Look at verse
11. That's not all of it. They rebelled against the Word
of God. They contemned the Counselor of the Most High. He brought
down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was
no one to help. They fell down, and there was
no one to help. What did they do then? Then they
cried unto the Lord. And you know what he did? He
saved them. Look at verse 18. Their soul
abhorreth all manner of meat, they draw near to the gates of
death. And then, and then, old Barnard used to say, and then,
they cried unto the Lord, and he saved them. Verse 27. They reeled to and fro, and staggered
like a drunken man there at their wits' end. End of the row. Nothing left to hang on to. And
then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. And he brings
them out of their distresses. And Toddy said, look at verse
43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, he'll understand
the grace of God. There it is. That's all you need
to say. Smart man. Fellas got good sense. If he'll read these things, he'll
understand the loving kindness of God. If he can observe these
things, if he can enter into what it means to be shut up,
to be shut out, and realize that his only hope
is Christ, then he'll understand the loving kindness of God. Here's
the third thing. Coming to Christ reveals a willingness
to come. It reveals a willingness to come.
I know the Father draws, but we come. Psalm 110, verse 3 says,
Thy people shall be willing. They shall be willing. They shall
be willing. Our Lord has no unwilling bride.
His bride submits to Him with a delight and joy. No unwilling
bride. Our Lord drags no sheep into
His pasture. He leads them. He leadeth me beside the still
water. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. But you'll believe it,
and you'll confess him. And then the fourth thing, quickly,
coming to Christ implies a hope, an expectation from Christ. I said a while ago, there's no
coming unless there's a fixed object to which to come. And if there's no hope, why come? Mother says, supper's ready,
come to the table. Well, your fixed object's the
table. But I'll tell you this, if about three times in a row
you get there and there's nothing on it, you won't be coming again. But she's never done me that
way. That's right, and the Lord hadn't either. Come for all things
are ready. Coming presupposes not only a
fixed object, but coming implies, fourthly, a hope, a hope, a hope. All that my Father giveth me
shall come, and he said him that cometh. I will in no wise cast
out. Come ye sinners poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he required is
to fill your need of him." That's right. It implies hope.
You don't come to the table and find it barren. You don't come
to the well and find it dry. It's always rich and full. What
happens is you don't come. You keep thinking of a reason
not to. I can't think of but one reason for you not to come
to Christ this morning, and you know what that is? You don't
need him. Think of any other reason? Just think of any other reason. You don't need him. That's right. Oh, yes, I do. No, you don't. I know I do. I'm a sinner. No,
you ain't. You wouldn't rest today without
a Savior if you were a sinner, because the wrath of God is too
severe. and hell's too long and eternity's too terrible, you'd
come if you needed him. Everybody's thirsty. He said,
Ho! Everyone that's thirsty, come to the water! Man, everybody's
thirsty came. Here's water! Here's water! The last and the principal thing
in coming to Christ is this, the last one. It's a confidence. And I suppose this is the principal
one. There's a confidence. Coming to Christ implies a confidence
in the all-sufficiency of Christ to meet my need. That's why I
came to him. I find in him a resting place,
and he hath made me glad. Hebrews 7.25 says he's able to
save to the uttermost them that come to God by him, to the uttermost
I believe that. Do you believe that? He's able
to say to the uttermost, Paul said, nevertheless I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded, I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. Will you come to Christ? Will you come to Christ? He's
not coming to the front. Not coming to me, not coming
to a handshake, not coming to a pool, not coming to a church
body or assembly. The old Puritans used to say
it's closing with Christ. It's laying hold upon the Son
of God. It's resting, trusting, believing in him. Our Father, honor the message
with the anointing of thy Spirit. Thou art able, O Lord, to do
all things. Thou art able to heal the weak,
the sick, the frail. Thou art able to make whole,
in nothing beyond Thy power, to do Thy will both in heaven
and earth, among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of
this earth. We plead for thy power to be upon us, to heal,
to strengthen, to enable us, to glorify thy matchless name,
and to bless your word, anoint the gospel, make it effectual
to my heart, O that I may know Christ, and to the heart of every person
in this building this morning. Lord, let us, like Paul, forget
those things which are behind. Let us boast not of our heritage,
of our ancestry. Let us boast not of our accomplishments,
and boast not of our acclaim or our blamelessness. Let us count it all but rubbish,
garbage, that we may win Christ and be found in him. Grant that
none of us here shall hear him say, I never knew you. depart
from me. Let thy blessings in Christ flow
to me and to every person in this building this morning through
the conduit of faith, given and granted by thy mercy and grace.
We ascribe all glory to thee, O God. We speak of mysteries
beyond our understanding. We preach in part, we understand
in part, we see through a glass But Lord, what you revealed,
we believe. And what you've written, we believe.
And know that someday you'll reveal it. Help our unbelief. Get glory to thy matchless name,
for Christ's sake we pray. Amen.