Portrait of a Christian

We must be very careful that
we do not make salvation more difficult than our Lord made
it, lest we rob the sheep of Christ of assurance and confidence
in the Savior. I have known many preachers to
do this. But God intends for his people
to have assurance. God intends for his people to
have confidence in the Father, faith in the Son, boldness at
the throne, and rest in their souls. And we must not make salvation
and eternal life so difficult. that we rob the sheep of Christ
of that blessed assurance that Jesus is theirs, that he calls
them his and they call him theirs. And we must not make salvation
and eternal life so difficult that we give the impression that
our works and our duties will prevail with God for the forgiveness
of sin. They won't. The scripture teaches,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, But according
to his mercy, his grace, through Christ, he saves us. Salvation
is Christ alone. Never in my works, never in my
prayers, never in my faithfulness. My works and my duties will not
prevail with God for the forgiveness of sin. Actually, my righteousnesses
are filthy rags. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. And we must not make salvation so difficult that men get the
impression that God's pleased with us in anything we do apart
from Christ. And we must not make salvation
and eternal life more difficult than the Savior makes it, lest
we create a generation of Pharisees. I've seen this done. I've seen
ministers preach separation from the world. Christian duty, the
law and morality so strongly that they created a generation
of Pharisees, a church full of people trusting in themselves
that they are righteous. And these people always spend
their time sitting in judgment on other believers. questioning
their motives, questioning their actions, questioning their words,
questioning their loyalty, questioning their faithfulness, and ceasing
to examine ourselves, we begin to examine others. Who's sufficient
for these things? But we must not make salvation
and eternal life an easy believism that mocks God. We must not make
salvation and eternal life an easy believism, an isolated act
of faith and repentance that promises heaven to a rebel. We
must not be with those who cry, peace, peace, when there is,
and we know it, God knows it, there is no peace. We must not
feed the fires of presumption. We must not allow men and women
to sit under our ministry and go to hell unworn. We must not
give men false refuges in which to hide. They will build their
own, but we must not encourage them. We must not draw disciples
after ourselves lest they miss Christ. That's the reason the
Apostle Paul cried so sincerely and earnestly, Lord, we are the
saver of life unto life and death unto death. who is sufficient
for these things. In 1 Peter 2, the Apostle Peter
gives us a three-word portrait of a believer. And I think this
will solve our problem. I think this will answer our
question. I think this will provide us
with a true picture, a true portrait of a true believer. I think this
will do away with overconfidence or do away with presumption.
In 1 Peter 2, verse 4, three words, to whom coming. To whom
coming. Here is a full and complete picture
of a believer. Here is a full and complete picture
of a Christian. For salvation, eternal life,
is coming to Christ. It's begun that way, it's continued
that way, it's perfected that way in coming to Christ. At no
time is the Christian profession or the Christian experience anything
more than coming to Christ, until the day that we shall be perfectly
conformed to his image. We're coming to Christ. At the
beginning, I came to Christ. Out of my bondage, my sorrow,
and my night, Jesus, I come. Into thy freedom, gladness, and
light, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of my sickness, into thy
health, out of my want, into thy wealth, out of my sin, into
thyself, Jesus, I come. That's how I came at the beginning.
I came to Christ. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. Lay down thy head, weary one,
upon my breast." I came to Jesus as I was, weary and weak and
sad. I found in him a resting place,
and he made me glad. I came to Christ at the beginning.
Throughout the journey, it's coming to Christ. My friends,
it was a great delusion at the church in Galatia, and Paul rebuked
them for this. He said, have you begun in the
Spirit, and are you now made perfect in the flesh? Did you begin with Christ and
now it's your duties? It is not Christ and me at any
time. It's just Christ. He is my wisdom
right now. He is my sanctification right
now. He is my righteousness right
now. He is my redemption right now. I'm the same sinner saved by
grace who came to Christ at the beginning. And in the end, Christ
is all, it's coming to Christ, he is the author and finisher,
he's the Alpha and the Omega, he is the beginning and the end,
he will keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet,
and then he'll bow me safely over where my Savior I shall
meet. And in that day, every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess that he's the Lord. to the glory
of God the Father. When we see him, we'll be like
him. Our song and glory is unto him
who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Paul,
having completed life's journey, finished his course, kept the
faith, preached the gospel, wrote the Bible, led by the Holy Spirit,
established churches, ordained preachers, but yet he said, I
am in a strait betwixt the two, having a desire to depart. And what? Go to my reward? No,
sir. Be with Christ. Be with Christ. That's the way Paul describes
heaven. That's the way he describes that eternal glory, being with
Christ. So this is the three-word picture
of a believer. This is it, to whom coming. That's
the way we begin. That's the way we continue. That's
the way we'll finish, coming to Christ. You who are redeemed
are never through coming to Christ until you are perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you four questions.
Did you one day walk a church aisle and then stop the journey? Did you run for a while and then
lose interest? Did you manifest great zeal and
then lay it aside? Did your faith spring up with
enthusiasm and joy and then become choked by other things? Then
you are not coming to Christ. Turn with me to Matthew 13. I
want you to look carefully at this scripture. This is taken
from a parable which our Lord gave concerning the sowing of
the seed. In Matthew 13, verse 18, Here
our Lord is explaining the parables to his disciples. He says in
Matthew 13, verse 18, Hear ye now the parable of the sower.
This is what I'm meaning. When any one heareth the word
of the kingdom, the word of the gospel, and understandeth it
not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which
was sown in his heart. This is he which receiveth the
seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth the seed
in the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it, and yet hath he no root in himself,
he endureth for a while. But when tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He
also that receiveth the word, the seed among the thorns, is
he that heareth the word, and the cares of this world. And
the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfaithful."
This is a picture of men that sprang up and then wither away.
But the believer, he's coming to Christ, continually coming
to Christ. Now, let me show you that. Go
back, first of all, to John 6. At the beginning, we begin with
Christ, we continue with Christ, and we close with Christ. In
John 6, I want us to look first of all at verse 44. Now, our first coming to Christ was
by divine grace. It was a divine miracle. It was
a work of God, our first coming. Now, look at John 6. Our Lord
says, No man can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. No man can come to me." Now,
God does not prevent them from coming. God does not prevent
them from coming. God is plenteous in mercy. God
delights to show mercy. Our Lord gives a sincere and
free and full invitation to all sinners, coming to me, I'll give
you rest. O Jerusalem, how often I have gathered you unto myself,
as a hen doth gather her brood, but you would not." Coming to
me. You will not come to me that
you might have life. God does not prevent men from
coming. No man can come to me. God doesn't prevent him, and
certainly the Church does not prevent him. Why am I here this
morning? Why am I preaching? Why are we praying? Why are we
sending missionaries? Why can't men come to Christ?
There are three reasons. First of all, they do not see
any need of coming to Christ. A man will never come to Christ
until he is persuaded and convinced of his need of a Savior. Secondly,
they do not see anything in Christ worth coming for. Somebody said
to me one time, if a restaurant serves good food, people will
drive a long ways to eat there. They don't even have to have
good parking, they don't even have to be close by, all they
have to do is offer good food, something people really want
and enjoy, and they'll go out of their way to enjoy it. The
reason men do not come to Christ is they do not see anything in
him worth coming for. If they saw in him the delight
of God If they saw in him the forgiveness of sin, if they saw
in him the beauty of holiness, if they saw in him the peace
of heart and rest of soul that can be attained through Christ,
they'd come running. Thirdly, here's the reason why
they don't come. God doesn't prevent them. The
Church doesn't prevent them. Their loved ones do not prevent
them. You know what prevents men from coming to Christ? their
hearts are so set on other things more important, they have no
room for Christ. One man said, Lord, let me first
go and bury my father. Lord, let me first Go and bid
them farewell at my house. Lord, I've married a wife and
cannot come. Lord, I've bought a piece of
land and cannot come. Lord, this, that, and the other,
I'll see about it later, but not right now. I'm too busy with
things that are more important. Therefore, our Lord says, no
man can come to me. But what's the next line? Except
the Father, not excluding the Son, not excluding the Holy Spirit,
but except the blessed Trinity. Except the Father which hath
sent me, draw him." Now, my friends, this is not a physical force. I never heard any voices when
I came to Christ, and neither did you. I never felt any physical
drawing or physical pulling. This is not a physical work,
it is a spiritual work in the heart. Thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power." When God gives a new nature in regeneration,
when God gives a knowledge of sin in Holy Spirit conviction,
when God gives a knowledge of Christ in Holy Spirit revelation,
God makes us willing to come to Christ. Men come to Christ because, first
of all, they see their need of Christ. We see ourselves guilty,
sinful, evil, rebellious. O God, my sins are ever before
me. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. O God, purge me with
hyssop, wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. O God,
be merciful to me, be merciful to me, the sinner. We see our
need. God revealed it. And we see something in Christ
worth coming for. We see in him the anointed, appointed,
sent Redeemer. We see in him the Messiah, like
the Samaritan woman who went to the men of her town, and she
said, Is not this the Messiah? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. And I'll tell you this, God has
persuaded us and convinced us that nothing is more important
than Jesus Christ. What shall it profit a man if
he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" So our coming to Christ was not
of our own wills. It was not of the will of the
flesh, it was not of the will of man, it was of God. For no
man can come to me. Why? They don't see their need
of Christ, they don't see any beauty in Christ, and the things
of this world are too important. We have come. Why have we come? Because God has convinced us
of our need of Christ. He has shown us the beauty of
Christ, and he has shown us that nothing in this world is as important
as knowing the Son. Solomon found it out. He said,
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. I've tried it all, he said, and
I find it nothing but vanity. Look at verse 37 of John 6. All
that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out." A portrait of a Christian. Our coming to Christ in the beginning
was by his grace. I can take no credit for it,
I can receive no praise for it, I can claim no merit by it. I came because he called me. I came because he drew me. He
drew me. Tis done the great transactions
done. I am my Lord's and he is mine. He drew me and I followed on. Charmed to confess his voice
divine. But it wasn't a physical drawing,
it was a spiritual drawing. I can't explain it. But why do
you feel an acute awareness of sin while many people don't?
I can't explain it except to say God revealed it. Why do you
people who claim to be Christian, why do you talk about the beauty
of Christ and the glory of Christ, and we don't see anything beautiful
about him that we should desire him? I can't explain it. God
revealed it. You Christians, why have you
lost interest in the things of this world and are more interested
in getting together and praying and rejoicing and singing hymns
and preaching and going to conferences and reading the Bible and studying
books about the word of God? I can't explain it. I can only
say God made it so. God made it so. Secondly, our
coming to Christ. I don't want to offend anyone,
but this coming to Christ is a complete coming. It's said
in Numbers 14 of Caleb that he followed the Lord fully. He followed
the Lord fully. Do you know what he means by
that? This is a statement that I want to make, and I want you
to remember it if you can, if you want to jot it down. Our
union with Christ, this vital union, this living union, this
coming to Christ, our relationship with Christ is not just a part-time
association. In other words, the Lord Jesus
Christ is not to us just a fire escape from hell. He's not just
an insurance policy that assures us an escaping judgment and paying
our debts at the end. Our union with Christ is not
a part-time association. But our union with Christ is
such a complete union, such a complete relationship, that it puts everything
else and everyone else in their place as it affects
that union. You see what I'm saying? I'm saying that when a person
comes to know Christ, that everything else and everyone else in his
life and with whom he's associated take their particular place in
regard to his union with Christ, or as it affects his union with
Christ. Some things I have to lay aside
because it affects my union with Christ. I do it willingly. who have been associated with
me in my life prior to conversion that I have to put aside. It's
not that I have any enmity toward them, but they wrongfully affect
my relationship with Christ. There are some things that the
believer has to lay aside, because they have an evil effect upon
that relationship with Christ. You see what I'm saying? In other
words, when a person comes to Christ, it's not just another
idol that he puts on the shelf, another friend that he adds to
his list of friends, another relative that he adds to his
list of relatives. Christ becomes Lord. He becomes
King. He becomes Sovereign. He becomes
Supreme Ruler. He becomes husband, wife, brother,
sister. Father, mother, companion, dearest
friend, he becomes our life. When Christ, who is our life? There's some people I can keep.
There's some friends with whom I can walk. There's some places
to which I can go. There's some things that I can
do, because they have a proper relationship with him. For example, turn to Matthew
12. Matthew chapter 12. This is vital. It may be a person is in a business
and God saves him and he can't glorify God in that business.
He'll have to quit. That's all it is to him, he'll
just have to quit. He'll have to do something else, because
if it has a wrong influence and effect upon his relationship
with Christ, that must not be. That must not be in Matthew 12,
verse 47. Then one said unto him, Behold,
talking to the Lord Jesus, thy mother and thy brethren stand
without desiring to speak with thee. Our Lord was up preaching.
A great crowd there, and somebody slipped in and said, Your mother
is out there, and your neighbor, and your brothers, and your sisters
are out there, and they want to talk to you. Now, some of us would lay down
everything we had and run outside. Some of us, because these things
of life, our business, our earning power, our associates, our fame,
our accomplishments, our families, our relatives, these folks are
first. He answered and said unto them,
who told him that, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples, and he said, Behold, my mother and my
brethren. For whosoever shall do the will
of God which is in heaven, the same is my brother, my sister,
and my mother. That's coming to Christ. That's coming to Christ. And
our Lord said, If any man come to me, and hate not his mother,
father, brother, sister, yea, his own life also, he can't be
my disciple. If any man love these things,
these persons, more than he loves me, he's not fit to be called
my disciple. This union, this coming to Christ.
And I think that the whole world has misread this thing. I think
these hot-shot, high-pressure Hollywood evangelists have misinterpreted
it to people. You want to go to heaven? You
don't want to go to hell, do you? Who does? Well, believe
on Jesus, come down now, believe on Jesus, shake my hand, and
we'll all see in the promised land. Not so. Not a word of truth
in it. He that forsaketh not all that
he hath cannot be my disciple. This thing of coming to Christ
is not coming down to the front, it's not coming to a preacher,
it's not coming to a doctor, it's not coming to a denomination,
it's coming to a Lord. And he becomes the king, he becomes
the master, he becomes the supreme ruler. And everything else and
everybody else takes their proper place as they affect this union. That's so. Turn to John 21. This is an interesting scripture
here. Our Lord, and that's what ministers are sent, they are
sent, the scripture tells us, "...all scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
instruction, correction, And the minister of God must
be ready to do this, and our Lord here rebuked the Apostle
Peter. Now, I want you to see this,
John 21, verse 3. Simon Peter says unto them, I
go a-fishing. And they said, We also go with
thee. Now, that's innocent enough,
isn't it? Brother Brown, you go fishing all the time, don't
you? That sounds innocent enough, but that wasn't innocent at all.
That was a major, major departure on the part of Peter, a major
failing. Do you know what he was doing? Before our Lord saved Peter,
he was a professional fisherman. That's what he did for a living.
Our Lord went by and said, follow me, I'll make you fishers of
me. They left their nets and followed him. Peter was a professional
fisherman. That was his life, that was his
way of life, that was his calling, that was his vocation. And when
our Lord saved him, he had to put it aside because the Lord
called him into the ministry. The Lord called him to preach
the gospel. The Lord called him to walk with him, to lay his
nets aside. Now, Christ had died, was buried,
rose again, had appeared to the disciples, and here they were
in the upper room, and they were sitting around talking. and Peter
thought it was all over. Christ had died, Judas had betrayed him, killed
himself, Peter sat there a few minutes
and said, Well, I'm going back to my old way of life. I'm going
back fishing. This business has fallen through. It's over. Christ is leaving
us. We're left alone. I'm going fishing. And they said,
Well, we think we'll go, too. He resigned from the ministry.
He left his calling. And he persuaded all these other
fellows to leave it, too. That's when our Lord, verse 15,
so when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, he took
him aside, he said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more
than these? More than what? More than the
other disciples? Oh, no. More than your boats, more than
your nets, more than your hooks, more than your fishing. Do you
love me more than these things? Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love
thee. And Peter, get back in the ministry. Get back to preaching the gospel.
Your nets and your boats and your fish must take their proper
place. There's not anything wrong with
fishing. But there's something wrong with it when it comes full
hymnal, when it's put in his place. You leave these things
and you go feed my sheep. This coming to Christ is a complete
union. And I'll tell you something else.
Turn back to the text in 1 Peter 2. It says here in verse 1, talking
to the believer, There's no room in the heart
where Christ dwells for hatred. You can't have that in him, do
you? Lay that aside. There's no room
in the heart of the believer for guile, hypocrisy, envy, jealousy,
speaking evil one of another. Where Christ dwells, that's like
going back to the fishing boat for Peter. There's no room for
that sort of thing. We've left that sort of thing.
We've laid it aside, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk
of the Lord, that you may grow and grow and grow in Christ. What is your concern, trinkets
and toys, or growth in grace? the early church. You know, today
all you have to do to attract a crowd is to figure out who
666 is, and you can get a big crowd to listen to you. All you
have to do today to attract a big crowd is get up and start lecturing
on prophecy and answering unanswerable questions. What position does
Russia have in the final days, or Israel have in the final days,
or the Arabs have in the final days? Because people are interested
in all these trinkets and toys. They like to play with these
things. They like to sit around and argue and discuss and debate, all these
things. That's the way the early Church
was. They got all tangled up with gifts, speaking in tongues,
healing, prophecy, interpretations, and all these things. They were
all tangled up in that. And Paul rebuked them in 1 Corinthians
12. Then he got down here to 1 Corinthians
13, and he says this, "'Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, though I have that gift, so that I could stand
up here and speak in every language that the world And I could speak
it so beautifully that men would hang on every word I said, like
they used to listen to old Everett Dirksen when he spoke, and the
crystal bubbles would float through the air, you know. Though I could
do that and have not love, you might as well stand over
there and beat a gong or tinkle a cymbal. And he says, Though
I have the gift of prophecy, I can foretell who 666 is and
who the beast is coming out of the sea, and I can not only split
the hairs on the horse's tail in Revelation, but even quarter
them for you. And I understand all mysteries
and all knowledge and have faith so that I can remove mountains
and have not love. I'm N-O-T-H-I-N-G nothing. And though I bestow my goods
to feed the poor, and I build orphanages, and I build wayside
houses, and I build halfway homes, and I do all these great things
and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Brethren, this coming to Christ
is something else now. It's coming to Christ in such
a way that everybody else takes his proper place in respect to
him. And you better find out where
that place is. And those things which wrongfully
affect that union with Christ and those people and these waves
of ours that are causing us spiritual sickness, we'd better put them
aside and pray for growth and grace. Walking to whom? Coming. And last of all, our
coming to Christ is a continual coming. Keep on coming. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. I'm coming to him today, too,
as I am, just as I am, without one plea. He said, Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. My friends, there's no permanent rest, there's no final
rest, not in this world. We keep coming to Christ until
we enter into his eternal rest. I like that song that great old
black preacher wrote. If the world from you withhold
of its silver and its gold, you have to get along with meager
fare. Remember in his word he feeds a little bird. Take your
burden to the Lord and leave it there. Your body suffers pain
and your health you can't regain and your soul is almost sinking
in despair. He knows the pain you feel. He
can save and he can heal. Take your burden to the Lord.
Leave it there. Keep coming. A dear little lady called me
yesterday from Alabama. She and her husband had been
married several years, never had any children. They had one
baby a few years ago, and it was born dead. She was expecting
again. I saw her out in Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, and she was so happy. Last month, going to have another
baby. Five months along. Over the hump, she thought. She
called me yesterday and said the baby died. Six months, born,
lived 45 minutes and died. She said, Brother Henry, why? I said, Jan, I don't know why. I don't know why. Well, I know God knows why. God
knows why. And you just have to take it
to Him. And you just have to wait on him. When your enemy
is assailed and your heart begins to fail, don't forget that God
in heaven answers prayer. He'll make a way for you. He'll
lead you safely through. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. It's coming to Christ. If any
man thirsts, let him come to me. out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. If any man come after me, let
him deny himself." And it's a continual denial. It's a continual warfare. Oh, brother, I'll tell you, it
would be great, it would be just great, if when we came to faith
in Christ and when we came to love Christ and when we came
to surrender to Christ, that this old nature would be eradicated
and we'd never have any more temptation. Wouldn't that be
something? Oh, boy. When we came to Christ the first
time, we would be perfectly conformed to his image, and God would just
slay us right there and take us to glory, but that's not the
way it is. Our Lord prayed in John 17, 5,
Father, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, leave them in the world. Surrounded
by all of its cares and conflicts, leave them right here in the
world. But Father, keep them from the evil one. I've come
to Christ, but I still have inward conflicts, temptations, doubts,
fears. They're still there. What am
I going to do about them? Keep on coming to Christ. We
still have family responsibilities and family disappointments. They're
there, and they'll increase with the years. What am I going to
do about them? I'm going to keep coming to Christ.
Business associations, financial responsibilities, debts, these
things are real, just real as ever, just as fleshly as ever.
What am I going to do about them? Just keep on coming to Christ.
And as the gray hair increases and the wrinkles show on our
faces and our shoulders begin to stoop and our steps begin
to get a little slower and earthly sorrows and heartaches increase,
what am I going to do? I tell you what I'm going to
do, I'm going to keep coming to Christ. Keep coming to Christ until one
day like he came to Martha and said, You go tell Mary that I'm
here and I want her. And Martha went in and said,
Mary, the Master has come and he's calling for you. And there
I'm going to go to be with him, and all this is going to be over,
and I won't be coming to Christ anymore, I'll be with him forever.
But until that day, The portrait of the believer is to whom coming,
to whom coming. You want to know if you're a
believer? I ask you this, are you coming to Christ? If you're
not coming to Christ, then you can't consider yourself a believer. To whom coming, to whom coming,
to whom coming. Our Father in heaven, bless the
word to our hearts, how we thank thee for this precious, precious
word of the living God. We're not left to what we think.
We're not left to our own logic or wisdom, which is foolishness
with thee. But we can build on this book
because God cannot lie. We pray for every new believer
in this congregation. May this message be of help.
Pray for every seasoned veteran of the battles of life. Encourage
them. And those who are in the sunset
years awaiting the Master's call, he's come and he's calling for
you. The Lord encouraged them. May we all be able to say with
the Apostle Paul at the end of this journey, I've fought a good
fight, I've kept the faith. Henceforth has laid up for me
a crown of righteousness. Give us a deep, abiding, continual
love for Christ. In his name we pray, amen.

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