I want you to open your Bibles
to the sixth chapter of John. In 1954, I brought a message on the subject,
Why Men Do Not Come to Christ. This message was printed in the
Bible Truth Messenger in Swingle, Pennsylvania. It was printed
in the magazine published in Mayfield, Kentucky, Faith and
Southern Baptist. It was published in tract form
and later republished in England and distributed almost worldwide. Why men do not come to Christ. In this message I said Christ
is the way to God. Men without him are eternally
separated from God. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Without Christ, men are separated
from God forever because he is the only way to God. Christ is the light. Without
him, we walk in spiritual darkness. We walk deceived and being deceived. Christ is the only light. Christ
is the truth. Without Him, lies are our portion,
and lies are our refuge. Under falsehood we hide ourselves,
because He is the truth. He's not a truth, He is the truth. And Christ is divine. He said,
I am divine, ye are the branches. Without me you can do nothing.
Without Christ we are lifeless. We are withered branches fit
only for the fire. He is divine. There is no life,
no strength apart from Him. Christ is the rock. Without Him,
we build on the sand. Without Him, we have no sure
foundation. Without Him, we'd be carried
away by the flood of God's judgment. He is the rock. Christ is the
bread. Christ is the water of life.
Without Him, our souls will hunger and thirst forever, and thirst
and hunger in vain. Christ is the sin offering. Without
Him, our sins rise up in judgment to condemn us and damn us forever. There is no other offering but
His blood, and without the shedding of His blood, there is no forgiveness. Christ is the only Mediator.
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, and that
is the Man, Christ Jesus. There is no communion with God
Almighty except in Christ. He is the Rock He is the truth,
He is the life, He is the way, He is the bread, He is the sin
offering, He is the only mediator. And these truths are set forth
so plainly in God's Word that the question came to my mind,
why do men not come to Christ? Since He is the answer, since
He is all of these things, why do men not come to Christ? And
I gave three reasons. First of all, men do not come
to Christ because they're spiritually blind, and they cannot see two
things that are important. They cannot see either their
need of Christ, and they cannot see the beauty of Christ. They
see neither their need nor the beauty of Christ. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. In the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians,
verse 3 and 4, The Apostle Paul writes these words, 2 Corinthians
4 verse 3, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Again Paul said,
I have not seen, that is the natural eye. and ear hath not
heard, that is, the natural ear, nor heart understood." That's
the natural man we're talking about. He has not seen, he has
not heard, he has not understood the things that God has prepared
for them that love Him. Turn to Matthew 13. In the thirteenth
chapter of Matthew, verse thirteen, our Lord says this. The disciples
ask Him, Why do you speak to the multitude in parables and
stories? He said in verse 13 of Matthew
13, Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they see
it. Oh, they can see natural things,
but they see not. And because they hear Him, they
can hear words, but they hear not, neither do they understand. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and your ears, they hear. Men do not come to Christ because
men by nature are blind. They are blind to their need,
and they are blind to Christ who is sufficient to meet that
need. The second reason why men do not come to Christ is because
they're spiritually dead, and they have no desire for God's
life nor God's presence. Listen to these scriptures without
turning to them. Every imagination of the thoughts
of man's heart is evil continually. God says, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. This is condemnation. Light is
coming to this world, and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil. Christ said, You will not come
to me that you might have light. The natural mind is enmity toward
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. I want you to turn to Romans
5, verse 12. The natural man will not come
to Christ because he is not only blind, but he is spiritually
dead. He has no desire for the life
of God, he has no desire for the presence of God, he has no
desire for the grace of God. He is dead in trespasses and
sin. In Romans chapter 5, verse 12,
the Scripture says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and what? And death by sin. Not only physical
death, but spiritual death. That's what we're talking about
here. So death, spiritual death, passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seeketh after God. Christ said, I come
in my Father's name, and you receive me not. Let another come
in his own name. And men are so spiritually dead
and confused that they will receive him. I come in the Father's name,
and they don't receive me. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle
Paul talking about the believers. He says, hath he quickened, who
were what? Dead. You were dead in trespasses
and sin. In times past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the
power of the air. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience worked in you. And we all had
our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, dead in sin. separated from God, unconscious
to the mysteries of the gospel. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. Brother Ralph Barnard, about
forty years ago, pastored a church in Borger, Texas. He was the
only preacher in a town of about 50,000 people. It was a boom
town, an oil town. And he told me that he had an
average of one funeral a day for the two and a half or three
years that he was there. He built a Baptist church there.
It's still there, the First Baptist Church of Borger, Texas. But
he said it was a rough town. People killed one another, people
died suddenly, died mysteriously, and they'd always send for the
preacher. And one day he had seven funerals in one day, in
one twelve-hour period he buried seven people. But he said that
there was a girl in that town known all over the town. She
was a prostitute, her name was Dixie. And he said one day they
were having a dance in one of the dance halls, Uh, some fella
came in who was jealous of her, and another fella was dancing
with her, and he started to shoot the other fella, and he shot
her. And they took her back in the back room of the dance hall,
and laid her on a cot back there, and she was wounded seriously,
and she knew it. And they sent for the doctor,
and while the doctor was coming, she said, send for the preacher.
There wasn't but one preacher in town, and that was Brother
Barnard. So he said he got there almost by the time the doctor
had gotten there, and the doctor was treating her, was kneeling
down beside the cot, talking to her and ministering to her,
and finally the doctor finished and backed off, and she wanted
to see the preacher. So Roth knelt beside her and took her
by the hand, and she said, Preacher, I think I'm dying. Tell me how
to be saved. So Roth knew of her reputation,
he knew of her life and background and character, But he told her
he had good news, that Christ died for sinners, that Christ
was able to cleanse the guiltiest, to lift the most fallen, that
he was able to put away the most wretched sins, that he was able
to receive unto himself any who would come, that he was a merciful
and gracious Savior. He told her about the thief on
the cross, and he told her about all the others that had trusted
Christ who had fallen so low, and when he came to the end of
his message, he said, Dixie, will you trust Christ? Will you
believe on Him? Will you receive Him? And he
said she held tightly to his hand, and in a few moments she
turned and looked at him, and she said, Preacher, there's no
need for me to try to fool you or God or anybody else. If I
get well, if I get up off this bed, I'm going back to living
the same kind of life I've always lived. I'm going back to doing
the same things I've always done. I'm going back to running with
the same crowd I've always run with. So there's no use me lying. I'm not going to receive your
Christ." And she let go of his hand and turned her face toward
the wall, and tears streamed down her face. and she died. You say that's terrible. You
would think that that girl, knowing that she might die facing eternity,
facing judgment, facing God, would receive Christ. Yeah, you'd
think that. But the natural person, apart
from the Holy Spirit's conviction and awakening work, is dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. They
cannot see their need, they cannot see their inability, they cannot
see the efficiency work of Christ, nor the sufficiency of His work,
and they do not desire what they cannot see. The third reason
why men do not come to Christ is this. Number one, they're
blind. You can take a blind man out to look at a beautiful sunset,
and you can tell him all about it, but he can't appreciate it
because he can't see it. You can take a deaf man to the
most wonderful concert, the most beautiful music in the world,
the finest orchestra. And you can try to explain it
to him, but he cannot appreciate it because he cannot hear it.
You can take a dead man out into the most beautiful flower garden
with all of the chrysanthemums and the azaleas and the roses
and all of the other flowers, and he'll not appreciate it because
he's dead. And men do not come to Christ
thirdly because they object to God's terms of salvation. You
say, what are God's terms of salvation? God's terms of salvation
are free grace. All the fitness He requires is
to fill your need of Him. Men will not receive salvation
by grace. They receive it by works. If
you tell a man to crawl on his knees from here to the post office
downtown in Ashland, and he'll go to heaven, he'll do it. If
you tell a man to take a pilgrimage to the holy city and there get
on his knees and do so many Hail Marys or so many counting of
beads and so many acts of penance, he'll do it. If you tell a man
to give so much of his income each week to support the poor
and to support charities and orphanages and other things,
he'll do it. If you give men something to
do to go to heaven, they'll do it. If you tell them to walk
an aisle and shake your hand and be baptized and join the
church, they'll do it. If you tell them to read a chapter
in the Bible every night and pray every night and quit certain
sins and live the best way they can and go to heaven, they'll
do it. But if you tell them salvation is by the free grace of God to
guilty sinners who have nothing, are nothing, know nothing, deserve
nothing, that it comes only as a gift of God, they will not
receive it. they will not believe it. Calling
them sinners offends their dignity. Preaching salvation by revelation
offends their wisdom. Preaching salvation by the atonement
alone offends their pride. And the doctrine of holiness
and devotion to God offends their love for sin. So men do not come
to Christ, first of all, because they're blind. They cannot see
either their need nor Christ's sufficiency. They do not come
to Christ because they're spiritually dead. They not only cannot see,
but they do not want God, they do not desire God. They love
darkness, they love sin, they love evil, they love themselves.
Men do not come to Christ because they strongly object to salvation
as a free gift, but there are some who do come. Made aware
by the Holy Spirit of their great sin against God, they can say
with David, My sins are ever before me. Have mercy upon me,
O God. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me from mine iniquities. They are made aware of their
great sins against God. They are made aware of their
inability to meet the demands of God's holy law and God's justice. They cry with Paul, O wretched
man that I am. who shall deliver me from this
body of death." In Christ they see not only the power of God
to deliver, but they see the wisdom of God, that salvation
can be no other way, that Almighty God in Christ can be both just
and justifier, that Almighty God in Christ can be righteous
and merciful. that Almighty God in Christ can
be truth and yet love. They see in Christ not only the
power of God to cleanse us from sin and to put away our iniquity,
but they see in Christ the wisdom of God. And then they have believed
on Him, they have trusted Him, they have consciously, intelligently,
willingly received Him. There was a black preacher in
Richmond, Virginia, back shortly before the Civil War and during
that time by the name of John Jasper. He was an outstanding
preacher. There's a book of his life story
that I saw just this past week, John Jasper, Richmond, Virginia. Somebody came to him one time,
and he was an uneducated black man, but thousands of people
came to hear him preach because of his sincerity, because of
his devotion to God, because of the content of his message.
He spoke like a black slave, but people came from everywhere
to hear John Jasper preach. And one day someone came to him
and they said, John Jasper, you say you're going to heaven? He
said, yes sir, I is. They said, John Jasper, when
you get to heaven and you stand at the gate, and they ask you,
John Jasper, what right have you got to be here? What are
you going to say? And John Jasper looked at the
individual talking to him, and he said, I'll tell you what I'm
going to say. If somebody asked me, John Jasper, what right have
you got to be here? I was going to say, I ain't got
no right to be here. I ain't got no right at all to
be here. I ain't here on my own rights.
I'm here on the righteousness of another. I see only righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ." That's it. There are some who have come
to Him, made aware of their great sin, made aware of their inability,
both then and now, seeing in Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. They have trusted Him. They have
believed Him. They can say, I stand not on
my own righteousness, but the righteousness of another. I plead
not my own righteousness, but the righteousness of another.
I claim the inheritance incorruptible and eternal and undefiled that
fadeth not away, not on my righteousness, but the righteousness of another,
the righteousness of my Lord Jesus Christ." It couldn't be
put any better. I don't care educated or uneducated,
white or black. 20th century or 19th century. It can't be put any better. I'm
not here on my own righteousness. I'm here on the righteousness
of another. All right, come to our question
now. John 6. Why do they come to Christ? You
say, Preacher, people do not come to Christ because they're
blind. They don't see their need, and they don't see Him able to
meet the need. You say men do not come to Christ
because they're dead. Oh, they're alive to mathematics,
they're alive to science, they're alive to politics, they're alive
to something else. But they're not alive to God.
They're not conscious of God. They're not aware of God. They
don't have any desire for God. They object to salvation as a
free gift, as free grace. But some do come. And why do
they come? Well, we have it right here in
John 6. First of all, in verse 37. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me." They come, first of all, because the Father
gave them to Christ. That's why they come. That's
the first reason why they come. That's why I came, that's why
you came. Because back yonder in eternity past, back yonder
in the counsels of God, Back yonder in the secret chambers
of eternity, unseen by even angels' eyes, the Father, in His love
and in His mercy, gave you to Christ." That's what he says
here, "...all that the Father giveth me shall come to me."
Verse 39, "...this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that
of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing but raise
it up again at the last day. The Savior frequently talks about
those that the Father had given him. Turn to John 10. Let's hear him talk about it
again. Not because he's smarter than
his fellow man, not because he's better. Well, he wasn't raised
in the kind of home I was raised in. He didn't go to the depths
of guilt and sin like I did. He wasn't exposed to the vices
of the world like I was. He wasn't an alcoholic. He wasn't
a drunk. He wasn't a blasphemer. He wasn't
something else. No, that's not the reason they
come to Christ. Whatever he wasn't outwardly, he was inwardly. Whatever they didn't catch him
doing, he did secretly. That's right. All the sin that
comes short of God's glory. None good, no, not one. None
that understand it. None that seek it after God.
They come to God because God gave them to Christ. Now men
can chafe against that, and they can gnash their teeth against
it, and they can say what they want to against it, but that's
what the Lord said. All that my Father giveth me
will come to me. Look at John 10, verse 24. Then the Jews came
round about him, and they said to him, How long dost thou make
us doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. If you're the Messiah, if you're the Savior, if you're
the Redeemer, tell us plainly. He said, I told you, and you
didn't believe me. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. That's the reason you don't believe.
I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and
they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all. He gave
them to me, and no man is going to pluck them out of His hand.
He gave them to me. They're mine. They're His not
only by purchase, but they're His by purpose. God gave them
to Him. Turn to John 17. They come to
Christ, first of all, because God the Father gave them to Christ.
There He is. You can't have them devil. You
can't have them Satan. You can't have them demons. You
can't have them hell. You can't have them eternal separation. They're mine, Christ said. My
Father gave them to me. And you can't have them. Look
at John 17, verse 2. Thou hast given him power, authority
over all flesh. Sure, he's ever man's Lord, but
he's not ever man's Savior. That he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Verse 9, I pray for them,
my father. I pray not for this world, I
pray for those whom thou hast given me. They're thine, and
all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in
them. What belongs to me belongs to my father, and what belongs
to my father belongs to the Holy Spirit. My father gave them to
me. They were given to him before
the world began. They are an innumerable company.
Somebody said, well, preacher, you believe just a handful is
going to be saved? That's right, but what a handful.
God's hand. No man's able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. He holds the nations in His hand
as a drop in the bucket. They are an innumerable company,
God said to Abraham, more than the stars of the sky and the
sands of the seashore. And they're out of every tribe,
kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven. I do not like sectarianism. I do not like denominationalism. I do not like for people to sit
over in a corner and say, we're saved, nobody else is. My friend,
our Lord has a people, given him by the Father. The Scripture
says out of every tribe, out of every kindred, out of every
tongue, out of every people, out of every nation, on the face
of this earth. And they were given to him according
to the Father's will. He said, They received me, and
they were born, not of the will of man, not of the will of the
flesh, but born of God. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And
he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. And
they were given him by the Father to be redeemed by his blood. He said, I lay down my life for
my sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this pasture, my Father gave them to me, and them I will
bring, I must bring, I shall bring, and they will hear my
voice. And there'll be one foe." The
angel came to Joseph and said, this holy child born of Mary,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he's going to save his people
from their sin. That's why he came. So I'll tell
you the first reason why men come to Christ. It's evident
from the Scripture. It's not because of what God
saw in us. If God looked down through the
years and saw anything in us that he didn't see in the rest
of Adam's race, there's nothing recorded about it in this book.
It's not because of anything that we have done or anything
that we will do. It's not because of anything
we have or will have. It's according to the good pleasure
of his own will. The Lord Jesus said, I thank
thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the prudent, and thou hast revealed
them unto babes, even so, Father, it seem good in thy sight. Why
do men come to Christ? If you haven't come, it's because
you haven't seen him. He that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, hath life. If you haven't come, it's because
you are dead in your sins. If you haven't come, it's because
by nature you object to God's way of salvation. If you have
come, the first reason is because God gave you to Christ as His
jewels, His possession, His treasure, His church, His body, His bride,
His people. The Father gave you to Christ.
Secondly, look at John chapter 6 verse 44. Now watch this. No man. No man. Whatever his color, no man. Whatever his age, no man. No
man. Whatever his background, no man.
Whatever his education, no man. Whatever his natural ability,
no man. No man can, is able, hath the
power to come to me, to come to Christ is to believe on him,
to receive him, to savingly trust him, to have a real interest
in him. No man, no man can, is able,
hath the ability, the power to come to me, except, watch it,
my Father which hath sent me, draw him. My Father draw him."
My friends, left to ourselves, we would walk the way of all
flesh. The Scripture says, Oh, we like
sheath have gone astray. We have turned everyone not to
God's way, not to the way of life, but we've turned everyone
to our own way. That's the way of death. That's
the way of destruction. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men. The end thereof is death. The
songwriter said, he drew me, and I followed on, charmed to
confess his voice divine. Turn to Psalms 110, verse 3. It says here in Psalms 110, verse
3, thy people, thy people shall be willing, willing to come to
Christ, willing to take the yoke of Christ. willing to bow to
the Lordship of Christ, willing to submit to Christ. Thy people
shall be willing, willing to lay down their arms of rebellion,
willing to be clothed in the spotless righteousness of thy
dear Son, willing to receive salvation as a free gift, willing
to trust Christ alone. Thy people shall be willing when,
in the day of thy power, My people come to me, Christ said, because
my Father draws them. He draws them through the Word.
He draws them by the power of the Holy Spirit. He draws them
invincibly. He draws them effectually. He
draws them not to a church, to Himself. He draws them not to
a doctrine, to Himself. He draws them not to a standard,
a code, of morality, he draws them to himself. He is our law. He is our life. He is our strength. He is our salvation. He is our
hope. He draws them to Christ. No man
can come to me except my Father draws him to me. A man can get
to the church and not get to Christ. A man can get to the
doctrines. I barely believe a man can believe
all of the doctrines of grace. I believe a man can say, I believe
the Bible from cover to cover and still not be saved. He's
got to be drawn by the Father to a person, to Christ. Salvation's
not in a doctrine. Salvation's not in a decision.
Salvation's not in a profession. Salvation's in a person. Salvation
is a vital union with a living person. Paul said, I prevail
till Christ be formed in you. Not the right attitude, Christ. If you have Him, you have the
right attitude. Not the right doctrine, Christ. If you have
Christ, you have the right doctrine. You don't arrive at Christ through
doctrine, you arrive at doctrine through Christ. Men come to Christ because they
were given to Christ from eternity and because they are savingly,
effectually drawn to Christ. Christ has for them a beauty
that the world doesn't have. Christ has for them a glory which
the world does not have. Christ has for them a magnetism,
an attraction which the world does not have. God draws them
to Christ, and once they see Him, everything else becomes
vanity of vanities. Everything else becomes secondary. Everything else becomes just
insignificant. All other relationships are fine,
but they're insignificant. That's what Stan read a moment
ago in the study, that I might know Him. I count all these things
but dumb, that I might win Christ and be found in Him. The Father
savingly, effectually draws a man to Christ, and once he's drawn
to Christ He'll never leave him because nothing else attracts
him. Nothing else has the beauty of Christ. Nothing else has the
glory of Christ. Nothing else has the meaning
of Christ. Nothing else has the affections which he has for Christ. Nothing else matters. Now the
third reason why men come to Christ. Verse 45. It is written
in the prophets. Watch it carefully now. And they
shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me." Now, brethren,
let me tell you something. Let me be perfectly frank and
honest. There's no way to get to heaven without getting to
Christ. There's no way to get to the Father without getting
to Christ. There's no way to have any part
in the inheritance of glory without coming to Christ. Without coming
to Christ. Now, you can come to the church,
but that's not coming to Christ. You can even come to the fundamentalism
and all these other so-called Bible doctrines and not come
to Christ. You can come to the front of
the church, and most preachers nowadays think that salvation
is synonymous with coming to the front of the church. That's
the reason they get people down to the front. They say he came
forward and got saved. Is that where salvation is? And
when we come forward and we're baptized, that's a confession
of what's already taken place. That's an identification with
a Christ that we've already met. But this is not coming to Christ.
It's not coming to Christ. Coming to Christ is coming to
a living person. It's being brought by the Spirit
of God to a living person. Now then, watch this. Every man
that comes to me is taught of God. God teaches him. Not only did God give him to
the Son, not only did God effectually woo him and draw him to the Son,
and make Christ the most beautiful thing in the universe, and cause
everything else to lose its attraction, but God taught him. He's well
taught. He's taught of the Father. He's
got the best teacher in the universe. God taught him. What God teaches.
Well, first of all, God taught him the guilt and wages of sin.
That's the first thing God teaches a man. Paul said, I was alive
without the law, but God taught me the law, and I died. The Father
taught me. I had not known lust, except
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. God taught me. He taught me my guilt. He taught
me my sin. He taught me my evil. God showed
me myself. I was talking to a couple at
Brother Thornberry's church last week where I was in the meeting.
They came over the house to talk to me. It's so difficult for
this dear lady to see the grace of God. She's trying. She's trying
hard. But she's so good. She's so moral. She's so pure. She's so righteous. She's so religious and so proud
of it. And everybody notices that she's
got something. And she said before we closed
our conversation, she said, well, I guess what God's going to have
to do is show me myself. And I said, yes, that's right,
because you'll never see the need of Christ until you see
yourself. And you'll never come savingly,
believingly, clinging to a Savior who died for sinners until you
become a sinner. And you're not a sinner yet.
Have you ever been lost? Have you ever been a sinner?
It says Christ died for the ungodly. Are you ungodly? It says Christ
died to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. If a man does
not see his guilt, he'll never see God's grace. And the more
he sees of his guilt, the more he'll appreciate God's grace.
The more a man sees of his sin, the more he'll see the Savior,
and the beauty of the Savior, and the greatness of the Savior,
and the glory of the Savior, and the need of the Savior. To
whom much is forgiven, they love much, Christ said. To whom little
is forgiven, they love little. They say, I'd like you all to
go out and commit murder so I can be a great sinner. You've already
committed it. You just haven't realized it. I guess I'll just start swearing,
taking God's name in vain. If that's what you want, you
want a sinner, I'll give you one. You already won. You're
just too blind to see it. You've already blasphemed God.
You live a lie. You breathe a lie. You walk a
lie. You're ungodly. Ungodly. your flesh, your sons of Adam,
your rebels, your God-haters. You tried to throw God off His
throne. Your hands are dripping now with
the blood of God's Son. When you cried, Give us, for
our worse, and crucify Jesus. You don't have to shoot anybody
to be a sinner. You're already a guilty sinner.
You just can't see it. You've got a veneer of self-righteousness
painted over your cancer of sin, and it's rottening and destroying
your soul, and you can't see it! And you won't see it till
you wake up in hell, and then you'll cry for the rocks and
mountains to fall on you. But everybody that comes to Christ,
the Father teaches them. He teaches them their guilt,
and then secondly, He teaches them the impossibility of salvation
by works. He taught the disciples that
until they came to this point. Here's the point the disciples
came to. They finally one day looked at the Lord, Matthew 19,
25, and they said, Lord, who can be saved? Now, we hadn't come to that point
yet. We run right here talking about
how many God ought to save. We run right here talking about
If my mother's not in heaven, nobody is. We're running around
here feeling like some folks deserve to be saved, and the
disciples came to this point, well, Lord, who can be saved? And the Master said, with men
it's impossible, but thank God, with God all things are possible.
By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be saved, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy
He hath saved us. We don't deserve God's mercy. God teaches us the inability
of our works to satisfy His holy law and His righteous claims.
And then last of all, He teaches them the sufficiency of Christ. Turn to Acts chapter five. That
was the disciples' message. Acts the fifth chapter. That
was their message. The sufficiency of Christ. The
inability of man. the sufficiency of Christ, the
total inability of the flesh, the total, absolute, complete
sufficiency of Christ. In Him I am complete. Apart from
Him, I don't have a thing to recommend me to God. In Acts
chapter five, verse thirty, The God of our fathers, Peter said,
raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree, and Him
hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior
and to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin. Jesus
Christ is made to me all I need, all I need. You know why I don't
preach baptism as a condition of salvation? Because I don't
need it. I don't need it. Christ is all
I need. You know why I don't preach joining
the church as a condition of salvation? Because I don't need
it. Not for salvation. I need it
for fellowship, and I need it for growth, and I need it for
encouragement, and I need it for a lot of other reasons. Not
for salvation. He's all I need. You know why I don't preach keeping
the law and doing good works as a condition of salvation?
Because I don't need it. He's all I need. He's all I need. It's like having a table loaded
down with steak and potatoes and beans and salad and rolls
and cornbread and tea and four or five kinds of dessert and
several kinds of vegetables. And somebody comes along and
says, do you want some Jell-O? I say, I don't need it. I've got all I need. I'm not interested. And you can
come along with all these other things, and you can say, now
it's necessary, not for me. He's all I need. He of God is
made unto me. Wisdom, all I need. Righteousness,
all I need. Sanctification, all I need. Redemption,
all I need. And that's what the Father teaches.
And you're not coming to Christ till God teaches you. Why do
men come to Christ? God gave them to Christ. He died
for them. He's their surety. God drew them
to Christ. God made everything else lose
its glory and revealed Christ. And God taught them. We don't
ignorantly, blindly trust Christ. No, not at all. We know whom
we have believed. We know why we believe. We know
who He is. We know where He came from. We know what He did. We know why He did it. God taught
us. God taught us. Our Father in Heaven