Four Things Essential to Receiving Christ

Now let's turn to John chapter
20. The two verses I want to read
over here before I go back to the text. John chapter 20. Now my subject tonight is of
the greatest importance to all of us To those who have not savingly
believed on Christ, who have not savingly closed with the
Redeemer, that you might know him, of course, is the most important
thing in the world. And to those who have received
the Redeemer, that you might have assurance of your interest
in Christ. That's why it's so important.
Actually, in John 20, verse 30, John, in closing his book, says
this, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of
his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these
are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. That's
the first reason for John writing this book. the Holy Spirit inspiring
these words, God providentially and supernaturally preserving
this testimony. These are written that you might
believe. So that's addressing you who
have not believed. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and secondly, and that believing you might have life through his
name. on Christ, you might know you have life, you might be confident
that you have life, that believing you might have an abundant, Spirit-filled
Christ life. Now let's go back to our text. So these things are written for
that twofold purpose, that you might believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name. Now this text tonight, I'm selecting
John 1, verse 12, and my subject is the four essential, four things
essential to receiving Christ. Verse 12 is my text. But as many
as received him, to them gave he power, and the word there
is the right or the privilege to become the sons of God even
to them that believe on his name. Now there's some things that
are essential to receiving Christ. Four of which I want to deal
with tonight. I don't believe you could. I
looked at this carefully and I went over it several times
and I think I can say that you couldn't leave one of these out
and be a Christian. You couldn't leave one of these
out and have a saving relationship with Christ. If any man has or
if any man will receive Jesus Christ, these four things are
essential. The first of which is this. As
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God. The first essential thing to
receiving him is the word of God. the word of God. Now it's by the word of God that
we have any knowledge of the person and work of Jesus Christ
at all. I know the heavens declare the
glory of God. I know the firmament showeth
his handiwork. I know some of the wisdom and
power of God is revealed in the things that are made. But it
is impossible, totally and completely impossible, for any human being
to have any knowledge at all of the person and work of Jesus
Christ without the Word of God. Impossible. Without the Word
of God, you would be totally ignorant of who Jesus Christ
is. Now pray tell me how in this
world you could find out who he is without the Word of God. You say he's the Christ. Tell
me how you can find that out without the Word of God. I'm
not talking about your personally sitting down reading the Word.
There are other ways of receiving the Word. You can receive the
Word of God from someone else, from a preacher, from a tract,
from a Bible, from a book. But it is totally, utterly impossible
for anybody to know who Jesus Christ is without the Word of
God. It's impossible for you to know
what he did without the Word of God. You say he died on the
cross. How do you know? Well, it's been
passed from generation to generation. There are a lot of lives that
have been passed from generation to generation. There are a lot
of old, as they call them, old wives' fables that have been
passed from generation to generation that are not true. There's no
way you could find out who he is or what he did or why he died
on that cross without the Word of God. I repeat this over again, and
I heard a message last week in which this subject was subtly
dealt with from the pulpit in which a preacher was preaching
this. He was preaching that a man can have eternal life and not
hear the gospel without the word of God, and that is the worst
heresy that can descend upon this generation. There is no
greater heresy than that. It is impossible for any human
being to know who Jesus Christ is without the Bible, or what
he did or why he did it, and you can't be saved unless you
trust the Christ of the Bible. And there are many, many aspects
of the Word of God that are profitable to us. All of it's profitable.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. But
the chief purpose of the Word of God is to testify of Jesus
Christ. That's the chief purpose of the
Word of God, is to testify of Jesus Christ. And there is no
receiving of Christ unless we receive him as he's set forth
in the Word of God. Now let me read you some scripture
in 1 Corinthians 15. Now you listen to this, 1 Corinthians
15. It matters a whole lot how he
died. how he was born, how he was buried,
how he rose again. It all has to be done according
to a pattern. What kind of pattern? A scriptural
pattern. I deliver it unto you, verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 15,
that which I also receive, that Christ died for our sins. Now
watch, this is one of the most important phrases in the Bible,
according to the scriptures. And that he was buried and rose
again the third day according to the scriptures. There's no
more important phrase in this Bible than that right there.
According to the scriptures. Now there's some people who receive
a Jesus, a Christ of their own imagination. He can't save. Paul said they'll come preaching
another Jesus, another spirit. If you do not receive the Christ
of the Scriptures, you don't have the Christ of God. And if
you don't have the Christ of God, you don't have salvation.
There are people who talk about receiving Christ as a good man.
I believe Jesus Christ was a good man. They talk about receiving
him as a wonderful leader, a founder, along with other men, of the
Christian religion. That is not receiving Christ.
That is not receiving Christ. To as many as received Him, the
Christ of the Scriptures, who died according to the Scriptures,
who rose again according to the Scriptures, who redeemed us according
to the Scriptures, Jesus Christ must not be received in name
only, but in His redemptive name, in His redemptive work, in His
redemptive purpose. I've said this so many times.
The name of Jesus won't save a flea. There are too many Jesuses running
around in Mexico who can't save. It's the Lord Jesus who saves. That's who saves, and he must
be received as he's set forth in the Scripture. The more ignorant
you are of the Word of God, the more ignorant you are of Jesus
Christ. and who he is and what he did and why he did it. And
the more in danger you are of eternal condemnation. He's revealed
in the Word. The Word testifies of me. He said, the Holy Spirit shall
take the things of man and show them to you. Jesus Christ, if
he's received in a saving manner, must be received as he's sent
forth in God's Word. The Son of God the perfect man,
the king of kings, the sin offering, the substitute, the atonement,
the mediator, the high priest, the redeemer, not just as Jesus. Now, this is so important. What
I'm saying to you now is the very foundation of salvation,
and that is receiving the right Savior. You got the wrong Savior,
you're not saved. If you're worshiping the wrong
Jesus, you're lost. And the only way that you can
find out who he is, or what he did, or why he did it, is to
find it out for yourself. That's the reason the Bereans
search the Scriptures to see if these things be true. And that's the reason when I
talk to anybody about their relationship with God. I try to use the scripture.
God blesses his word. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. I was called to go to Huntington
not so awful long ago to speak to a woman who was dying. In
fact, she did die just less than a week after I talked to her.
But I got to her home, and she was the only one there. And I
went in and sat down beside her bed, and I said, Do you have
a Bible? She said, Yes, I do. I said, Where is it? She told
me, and I went and got it. And I handed it to her. I said,
Can you read? She said, Yes, I can read. I
meant by that, Were you feeling too bad or too sick to read?
She said, I can read. She said, Tell me how to be saved.
I said, All right, you turn to 1 John 5, 11. You turn there
yourself." Well, she didn't know much about the Bible, and I had
to help her find it. I said, all right, now you read.
You read to me. You read what the Bible says.
She started in a very faltering voice, very weak. She said, this is the record. This is what God wrote. That
God hath given to us eternal life. I said, is that what you
want? She said, that's what I want. This life's about gone, I want
eternal life." I said, I do too. I said, read the next line, and
she said, and this life is in his son. And I stopped right
there, I said, what does that say? She said, it says that this
eternal life is in his son. I said, where is it? She said,
in his son. I said, not in the churches.
She said, no sir. I said, it's not in baptism,
is it? She said, no sir. I said, it's not in your morality,
is it? No. I said, who's it in? She said,
his son. His son. And I began to tell
her a little bit about who his son is. And you know where I
got the information I conveyed to her? Right out of this book.
I didn't say, now I think, I think who his son is. No, I went back
in the scripture and I told her what God's word said about his
son. He's the eternal one. He's the everlasting one. He
was in the beginning with God and was God. He came into this world. He set
forth in the Old Testament in the promises. He set forth in
the Old Testament in the prophecies. He set forth in the Old Testament
in the tithes. He set forth in the Old Testament
in the sacrifices. He came forth from the virgin's
womb in person, in sinful flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
And he walked on this earth. That's who his son is. God was
in Christ. And on that cross he died, and
he was buried in Rose again. And let me tell you something,
I don't care about election or covenant or anything, that's
essential information if you're going to be saved. If you don't learn that here,
you'll never rejoice in it in glory. That's what's so important
about going to the, taking the gospel to the mission fields,
and to the prison, over television, other places, because men aren't
going to be saved by this little old silly, easy believism in
Jesus, of whom they know nothing. Why, he could be anybody, he
could be anything, the way they talk. Believe on Jesus. Who?
Jesus who? Well, just believe on Jesus.
Well, who is he? Well, that's not important. I'll
tell you how important it is. You'll never be saved unless
you believe on the right Jesus, because there are too many of
them running around. And I said, now you read the
next line. She said, He that hath the Son hath life. And how can you have the Son,
huh? How does He become yours? Well, He's the gift of God. The
gift of God is eternal life through His Son. It's a gift. You don't
earn it. You don't merit it. You don't
deserve it. It's a gift. But God says you
receive him by faith. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. And I asked her, I said, you
read the last verse now, verse 13. These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Whose
name? The Son of God. Who is he? The
Son of God. Where'd you find that out? Huh?
You that believe, where'd you find that out? Here's where you
found that out. that you may know you have eternal
life." That Ethiopian riding down from wherever he was in
Jerusalem, down to Ethiopia, and Philip stopped and talked
to him. And he said, Who is this prophet talking about? Who is
this prophet talking about? He was ignorant of who Christ
was. And Philip sat down there and showed him who Jesus Christ
is, and he showed him who he was from the word of God. He
began in the scriptures and preached unto him Jesus. And that man
received him and believed. Now, how did you receive him?
And how did you know who you were receiving? Was it not as
you saw him in the word of God? Tell me something about your
Jesus, huh? Well, you tell me. I say, where
did you get that information? Did you dream it? Did you have
a vision? Or did you get it out of God's
word? And if you dreamed it and have a vision, you have no proof
of it, but if you got it out of this book, you've got proof
of it. I believe it because God said it. And so I say unto you,
the first essential thing in the redemption of a soul, the
first essential thing in receiving Christ, is the word of God. The word of God. Receive him
as he set forth in the word of God. All right, the second thing
that is essential in receiving Christ is not only the Word of
God, but the operation of the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm sure that
no one has or will receive Christ except as he's set forth in the
Word of God, and I'm just as sure that no one has ever or
ever will receive Christ unless the Holy Spirit opens his heart
to Christ. It says in verse 13, which were
born, these people who received him, these people who believed
on him, were born. They were begotten. They were
regenerated. They were given life that wasn't
there before. Not by blood, that is family
inheritance. You don't inherit it from your
daddy. You inherit sin from him. And it wasn't of the will of
the flesh. It wasn't of the will of man. He didn't just decide
he'd be born again. But he was born of God. All true
religion is heart work. The Holy Spirit opens the heart
to receive Christ. And all heart work is Holy Spirit
work, and all Holy Spirit heart work is saving work. Now the
preparation of the heart in man to receive Christ is the work
of the Holy Ghost. Turn to John 16. This is the
Lord Jesus talking to his disciples before he ascended back to glory. John chapter 16, verse 7 through
15. And our Lord says in John 16,
7, Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you
that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter, the Holy
Ghost, will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send him
unto you, and when he's come, he will convince the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they
believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father, and you see me no more. Of judgment, because
the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now, albeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak of himself.
But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he'll
show you things to come, and he'll glorify me. For he shall
receive of mine, and show it to you. All things that the Father
hath are mine, therefore said I, that he shall take of mine,
and show it unto you." That's what the Holy Spirit does. Without
Him, we can't learn. One of the old, old, old writers
years ago wrote this. I thought it so good I just cut
it out and pasted it on my note field, talking about the withering,
convicting work of the Holy Spirit. He says, very much of the work
of the Holy Spirit in this matter of salvation is to convince men
of their sins. not merely to convince their
intelligence of it theoretically. We got that. But the work of
the Holy Spirit is to convince my heart of sin feelingly, feelingly,
so that there is a preparation in conviction of sin to receive
Christ as my Savior from sin. My brethren, Being convinced of sin is something
which means everything to those whom the Holy Spirit has regenerated,
because Christ came to save sinners, and they cry, Oh God, that's
just what I need. I need that Savior, because I'm
a great sinner. I need that salvation, because
I'm a great sinner. When the Holy Ghost convinces
you of your helplessness, It is to prepare the way for
Jesus Christ to come in, in his fullness. For he's able to save
unto the uttermost. He's mighty to save. You see,
the Holy Ghost convinces men, feelingly, of their helpless
condition. We are without strength. The
Holy Ghost, as I understand the nature of his work in the soul,
does not encourage people to exercise strength that they already
have, but convinces them that they have no strength. For when
we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. And the
work of the Holy Spirit in saving a sinner is to bring him to receive
Christ who is his help and his hope and his strength and his
wisdom and his righteousness and his sanctification and his
redemption. That's hard work. That's the
Holy Ghost work. You can believe in total depravity,
and you can believe it theoretically and not believe it feelingly.
I know what he's talking about here. You can believe in the
the atonement and believe in it theoretically, and yet not
be precious to you. You can believe in heaven and
hell theoretically, and not believe in it feelingly.
Scripture said at pity cost they were pricked in their hearts. Romans 10, 9 and 10 said, with
a heart man believeth under righteousness. if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart." Over here in Luke 24, verse 32,
right across the page from our text, the Lord Jesus had appeared
to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and after he talked
to them and left them, verse 32, they said one to another,
Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us? You
know, that don't think burns you. Our heads burn when we hear
sermons. We think and we compare and we
weigh and we measure and we do all these things, but I don't
know whether our hearts really burn or not. Whether our hearts
are broken and convicted and contrite and smitten with feelingly,
feelingly, I don't know whether we hear
Nathan's message as David heard it. He didn't hear it either.
Nathan brought that message to him. He didn't hear it until
Nathan said, Thou art the man. And then he heard it. And you
and I hear sermons, but I don't know whether we hear them or
not. We hear them theoretically. We hear them generally. We hear them as they're applied
to the world from the throne of God, but I don't know how
often when God the Holy Ghost comes and says, It's you, old
boy. God's talking about you. God
sent this message to you. And it's not worth a hill of
beans until that happens. Not worth a hill of beans. And
that's the Holy Ghost work. I doubt if I've preached to very
many people's hearts. Some, maybe, but not too many.
I've preached to their heads. I preach to their head, but I
don't preach to many people's heart. But once in a while the
Holy Spirit will take a message and hit some old sinner in the
heart. And he won't go out discussing the doctrine and all these things. He'll go out smitten in his heart,
smitten in his heart. And we're in sad shape till it
happens, but those two things are essential. Number one, the
Word of God. You've got nothing without the
Word We're just going through the motions without the word
of God. That's all. And we're not even going through
the motions without the Holy Ghost. We can theoretically look at
these things and we can study them historically. I care just
about as much about history as I do butterflies. But the main thing is feelingly,
as this old man Delvey said, feelingly, that God might feelingly,
by the work of the Holy Spirit, make this word applicable. Now
I'll tell you the third thing that's absolutely essential in
receiving Christ, receiving Christ, is there must be, there must
be And I'm not trying to reconcile this with our doctrines or anybody
else's doctrines. Virgin said one time, a man who's
trying to be consistent is a consistent fool. A man trying to be consistent
with himself will in the end find himself consistent with
a fool. It's impossible to be consistent
with yourself and preach the word of God, because one time
you'll have Christ standing in crying over Jerusalem, O Jerusalem. He wept and said, How oft would
I have gathered you, but you would not. You have him talking
to that same bunch of religious people and saying to them, No
man can come to me except my Father which sent me, draw him.
Don't try to be consistent with that now. God didn't send me
to explain the gospel, he sent me to proclaim it. He didn't
send me to explain the word of God, he sent me to preach the
word of God. The Holy Spirit will do the explaining.
But you know, believers don't ask God to explain himself. Believers
don't ask God for signs. Believers believe God, whether
they understand it or not. So the third thing that's essential
in salvation, receiving Christ, is an exercise of faith. Faith comes through the Word
of God. Faith comes through the operation
of the Holy Spirit. But there must be and there shall
be an open confession of, because there is an inward exercise of
faith. I must believe. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be
damned." Isn't that what the Bible says? I don't care how
much knowledge you have, I don't care how much exposure you have
to the things of God, to the doctrines of God, if you have
not exercised faith in Christ, you're lost. We're justified
by faith. We're saved by faith. The Ethiopian eunuch again was
riding along there, and Philip talking to him, and he said,
Here is water. What does hinder me from being
baptized? Philip said, If you believe with
all your heart you may. He said, I believe. That's an
exercise of faith. I do believe. I do believe. Now I want everybody to know
it. John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth on him. He that believeth on
the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
hath not life. He does not have life. But what
if he's elect? I don't care if he's elect, he'll
go to hell if he doesn't believe on Jesus. That's right. That's exactly right. He will
believe or he'll perish. He that believeth not will be
damned. And he's going to believe the Christ of the Bible, not
the Christ of his imagination. He's going to receive the Christ
and believe the Christ whom the Word of God reveals, whom the
Holy Ghost reveals. There's a real closing with Christ. There's a conscious, intelligent,
real closing with Christ. I don't care for this, this is
your hour of decision, because most of it's based on decision
or regeneration. But I'm telling you this, there
is a real confrontation with the Christ of the Bible. There's
a real confrontation. The Holy Ghost marks out the
day. The Holy Ghost marks out the time. The Holy Ghost marks
out the event. And the Holy Ghost brings that
convicted sinner face to face. with Christ, and when he's brought
face to face with the Christ of the cross and the Christ of
substitution and the Christ of sovereignty and the Christ of
grace, he receives that Christ and believes that Christ, or
he goes to hell. Not so. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed, I know who he is, I know what
he did, I know why he did it, I know whom I have believed,
he's no stranger to me, he's no historical character, he's
no myth. I know whom I have believed,
I know him, and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I have committed to him. There's a real closing with Christ
on his terms. Sinners aren't saved on their
terms. Well, I'll let God save me if, uh-uh, on his terms. He dictates the terms. When a
country loses a war and unconditionally surrenders, there are no terms
coming from them. They receive the terms. God Almighty's
terms are repentance and faith. And this real, sincere closing
with Christ is a closing with the heart, with desire, with
affection. And it's more than a heaven,
hell proposition. I was telling somebody the other
day, most all of these denominations
and cults and sects of religion around all over the world are
people that have just gotten together and compared notes and
found out that they're agreed on the way to heaven. They've
all got different ways to heaven. This bunch over here says you
can go to heaven if you belong to their group and do what they
say. And this bunch says you can go to heaven if you're premillennial. This bunch says you can go to
heaven if you're baptized by immersion, right after you make
some kind of profession. This bunch says you can go to
heaven, but you might lose it along the way, but you can get
it back and you just go back and forth by your works and so
forth. They've all got different ways to heaven, but that's the
reason for their differences. That's the reason for their differences. But this thing of salvation is
a personal union and committal to a person, to a person, whether
there is a hell or not. Christ is real. Rock of ages,
cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the
blood from thy riven side which flow be of sin the double cure. Save me from its wrath and its
power. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could never atone. Christ must save and Christ alone. These denominations aren't discussing
Christ, they're discussing their particular brand of salvation.
They're not discussing Christ, they're discussing their way
to heaven, all the different routes, all the different roads.
This book testifies of a person. Christ didn't come to save you
from hell, he came to save his people from their sins. From their sins. He's not just
a way to heaven, he is the way. Now the fourth thing that's essential,
now you've got to agree with me, these first three things
that I've mentioned, there's no salvation without them. The
word of God, the gospel, the power of God, and the salvation
to everyone that believes it, whether he's a Jew or a Gentile.
Second thing is the Holy Spirit's work. We're born not of the will
of the flesh, the will of man, but of the Holy Spirit, that
which is born of the Spirit of the Spirit. The third thing is
faith. You don't be saved without faith.
There's no way. I believe in an everlasting work
of grace, too. But I also believe that whom
he foreknew, he predestinated. Whom he predestinated, he called. He called. Whom he called, he
justified. And he justified his glory. Now
the fourth thing is a genuine consciousness of the preciousness
of Jesus Christ. The songwriter said, he is so
precious to me. The Bible talks about precious
promises. Precious promises. And I don't
know but what, and I want you to take this in the way that
I'm trying to And we need guidelines. Doctrines
are precious. Truth is precious. We need those
things to hedge us in, to make sure we're taking the right direction
and so forth. Doctrines are precious. They're
precious promises. And I think sometimes that us
getting wrapped up more in doctrine than in a person is a sign of
immaturity. It's a sign of childishness. Like I said one time, small minds talk about people. Average minds talk about events. Great minds talk about ideas. And sometimes you find in the
kingdom of God, those who know the least about the Lord Jesus
and are the most immature in him, and sit down and argue doctrine. I've been there, I know what
I'm talking about. They'll discuss preachers, they'll
discuss doctrines, argue doctrines. These things need to be discussed.
I'm not discounting them. He said, therefore, leaving the
beginning, let's go on to something greater. The Bible is also about
precious promises. But it says, unto you that believe,
he is precious. You're getting into high school
when you quit talking about people and places and go talking about
Christ. We're beginning to mature a little
bit when our thoughts dwell upon him. Unto you that believe, he
is precious. Brother Barnet one time was listening
to him preach, and he rang this bell here over and over again.
He was preaching from verse 12 of John 1. He said, "...as many
as receive him." Not his doctrine, him! Not his church, him! Not his commandments. You ought
not do this, you ought to do that. Him! It's so much bigger than these
things. This is where most people miss
the message, that many have received Him. Him. I said this on television Monday
night. I had a little bit of liberty
preaching. But I tell you, my friends, after a person has been
to Calvary, experimentally, I'm not talking about He's talked
to somebody else that's been there. I'm not talking about
the fellow that's seen a picture of it. I'm not talking about
a fellow that's read the story about it. I'm talking about the
man that's been there. He's been there in heart. He's
been there in spirit. He's been there guided by the
Holy Ghost. He's been there in reality. He
has seen In that cross, God's eternal love for him, God's mercy
and grace to him. He's seen his awful, wicked sin
laid on Christ, the innocent one. And Christ bear the hail
of God, the wrath of God for his sin. He's been there. I tell
you, when he comes away, he's just lost his appetite for these
little toys of this world. They're just not that important
anymore. It's like I said, trying to get a man interested in Ohio
River who's been to the Grand Canyon. There's a lot of difference. It's like trying to get a man
interested in a two-story garage who stood on top of the Empire
State Building. It just ain't very high anymore.
And when a man's been to Calvary, you just can't get him anymore.
That's so awesome. That's so glorious, that's so
magnificent that you can't get him interested in these little
peanut things anymore. He's not interested in splitting
hairs over nothing, and quartering them, and dividing them, and
falling out, and finding fault, and this, that, and the other,
and arguing about doctrine. He's been to the cross. He's
seen covenant mercies in operation. He's seen God's sovereign mercy. in operation. He's seen the blood
that maketh atonement for the soul. He's seen divine forgiveness. He's seen divine wrath. You don't
need to argue with him about hell being real. He's seen hell.
You don't need to argue with him about what his sins deserve.
He saw what they deserve. And he comes away praying. I
hear people praying, Lord, forgive us of our sins. I don't hear
very many of us praying scripturally, Lord forgive us as we forgive
those who sin against us. It's been 19 years since I've
heard anybody pray that way. I hear people say, Father forgive
us of our sins in Jesus' name. That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says forgive me of my sins as I forgive those who
sin against me. And the reason we don't pray
that way is we haven't been to Calvary in reality and saw what
our sins deserve. So we can come back here and
nitpick. The man that's been to Calvary has gone out of the
nitpicking business. He can't see any moat in his
brother's eye because he's too busy trying to get the beam out
of his own eye. And I'll tell you, this is what
it means to receive Christ. It means by the Holy Ghost's
work to find out who he is from the Word. And it means by the
Holy Spirit's work to have a genuine exercise of faith in him. I know
who he is. And sink or swim, I turn to him. I've committed, Paul said, my
soul to Christ. And I'll tell you something else,
he's more precious to me than husband, wife, brother, sister,
mother, father, health, home, friends, or anything this side
of heaven or hell. Christ is my life. And he's precious. I bought the pearl. I sold out
and bought the pearl. about you. That's the fourth,
that's salvation. And I don't care what you call
it, there ain't nothing else salvation. That's tough to say,
but that's what the Lord said, few there be that find it. Many
go the broad road, but it's so. And if you can show me that salvation
anywhere else but in those four essential things, I don't believe
you can do it in God's Word. I don't believe you can do it. Our Father, we pray in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it may be said of every
one of us in this building, they are the called of Christ
Jesus. They are the redeemed of the
Lamb. They come among us and they say
of a truth, Christ is among them. They know the Lord, the living
Lord. Not a God, the living God. They've
been brought to bow at his holy feet and to look up with Thomas
and say, My Lord and my God, minister to us through thy word.
Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.

Four Things Essential to Receiving Christ

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Four Things Essential to Receiving Christ

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