Coming to Christ, Part 3

Recap: What Coming to Christ is Not

0:03 Now we come this morning to consider the third in a series of messages on the subject coming to Christ.

0:13 We looked last Lord's Day, both morning and evening, at some of the glorious promises attached to this activity of the soul coming to Christ. The Lord Jesus said that those who are laboring and heavy laden, if they would come, would find rest. Rest is found in coming. He promised that those who came would never be cast out.

0:41 To come is to be received with an everlasting reception. To come, the Lord Jesus said in John 6, 44, is to be raised up at the last day. Then again, our Lord issued some very sober warnings, for he said of those who would not come, that they would forfeit eternal life in John 5 and verse 6. And so the subject is of intrinsic importance, because by its very nature, it's an issue of life and death, whether I come to Christ.

1:18 So we looked into the scriptures to find out what coming to Christ does not mean. It's always helpful in seeking to isolate biblical principles to start with what something does not mean. And we saw that coming to Christ was not a physical activity. In fact, we must ask God to rid our minds of any thought that coming to Christ is identified with coming down an aisle, coming to a sacrament, or coming to an inquiry room, or coming to an altar.

1:51 Coming to Christ is not a physical act. For if this is a physical act, then John 6, 44 is not true. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. All a man needs?

2:05 If coming to Christ is a physical act, he just needs two good legs to come down an aisle and enough courage to be exposed before a public group, and he can come. But coming to Christ, Jesus said, never is the experience of a man until there's been a supernatural work of God the Father drawing him unto Christ. We saw, secondly, that coming to Christ is not a mental act. It is not merely coming to some propositions about Christ and accepting those propositions on the basis of good evidence.

2:38 That's not coming to Christ. For again, no man needs the supernatural drawing of the Father to accept the fact that Christ died for sinners and that he rose from the dead. These are facts that can be proved as any other historical fact can be proved on the basis of credible evidence. And then we saw that coming to Christ was not a mystical experience.

2:59 With many in our day, coming to Christ is simply coming to a concept called the Christ concept. And I somehow commit myself to this Christ. I don't know anything about him theologically. I don't know anything about who he is and what he's done.

3:13 But I've made a commitment and I've had an experience and I feel better and I live better. That's not coming to Christ. For Jesus said, coming to Christ is the result of learning something. In John 6, 45, he said, all that have heard and learned of the Father come unto me.

3:31 So coming to Christ is coming on the basis. Of learning from the Father within the pages of the word of God. And then last of all, we saw that coming to Christ was not a purely volitional act. It was not merely cranking up old Adam's will and saying, I'll decide for Jesus.

3:51 That's not coming to Christ. No man comes to Christ without the activity of his will. But no man comes to Christ sheerly on the basis of the activity of his own unrenewed will. For again, if this is so, that coming to Christ is simply rolling up your sleeves when you get good and ready and saying, I'm going to live for Christ, then John 6, 44 is not true.

4:13 No man can come. The word can is a word of ability. No man can come except the Father draw him. Having then disposed of what coming to Christ is not, we began to consider what is it.

Recap: What Coming to Christ Is (Recognition of Need and Christ's Suitability)

4:28 And we saw two things last Lord's Day. That coming to Christ involves, first of all, the recognition of spiritualism. The spiritual need which only he can meet. Not the recognition of need generally.

4:42 Many people are conscious of need. Psychological need, physical need, family need, social need. Christ is not offered to men as the meter of mere naturally acknowledged needs. This is one of the defects of the preaching of the gospel in our day.

4:59 Are you frustrated? Are you lonely? Then come to Jesus. That cursed chorus.

5:06 That never should have been written. Teenager, are you lonely? Do you need a friend? Take Jesus as your Savior.

5:12 He'll be with you to the end. He'll be your guide. Stay by your side. Teenager, are you lonely?

5:19 Sure, lots of teenagers are lonely. Everybody's out on a date Friday night and you're not. You're lonely. Is that loneliness a basis of coming to Christ?

5:29 No, because that's a mere psychological need. It's not a spiritual need revealed by the Holy Ghost. That's a need that a date could meet.

5:39 Coming to Christ is based in the revelation of need that only Christ can meet. See the difference? All the difference in the world. And that's what Christ meant when he said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

5:53 He invited men who were conscious of the weight of their sin pressing down upon them. And he said, come, come. That's what he meant when he said, If any man thirst, let him come. Thirst is the revelation of the emptiness.

6:09 And meaninglessness of life apart from the living God as the center of that life. That's the revelation of spiritual need, not psychological need. I see that in spite of all that I've tried to fill my life with, life is empty and meaningless. Why?

6:25 Because I've never found the focal point of life in the person of the living God. And so until we've been brought to recognize spiritual need that only Christ can meet, we will not come to him. In the Bible says we may come to have psychological needs met or social need met or marital problem solved. But that's not coming to Christ in the biblical sense.

6:49 I'm sure in a group this size, there's some of you who've, quote, come to Christ, not because you recognize spiritual need that only he could meet. But you had some psychological needs. Maybe it was the fear of hell. That's all.

7:03 And the fear of hell was a purely natural fear. And so you've come to Christ so that you might have your conscience. It's sad that you won't burn, but no revelation of the need that makes you liable to hell, namely your rebellion and sin against God. That's never entered your mind.

7:24 And so coming to Christ is rooted, as we saw last week, in the recognition of need that only he can meet. And then last Lord's Day night, we saw that the second aspect of coming to Christ is the revelation of the suitableness of Christ to our need. And oh, how my own soul rejoiced to preach on this. Subject coming to Christ is based not only upon the recognition of need that only he can meet, but the revelation of the suitableness of Christ to my need.

7:55 A revelation we saw based upon the scriptures. John 639. He searched the scriptures. These are they which testify of me.

8:06 If anyone comes to Christ, he comes to the Christ of biblical revelation. Not a Christ conceived by the. Natural depraved mind of man, not a Christ who's whittled away by the itch of depraved desire so that he's a comfortable Christ and a cozy Christ who fit me in my depraved state. No, a man comes to Christ when there is the revelation of the Christ of the Bible.

8:37 Secondly, that revelation of the suitableness of Christ is not only based on the word of God, but it is centered in Christ. And in his redemptive work, the peculiar work of the spirit in bringing men to Christ is to reveal the suitableness of Christ's person to their need and the suitableness of Christ's work to their need. You see, that's why there's so little understanding of the real meaning of the cross. I have many places preached on the cross and the fact that when Jesus died, he was dying as a penal offering.

9:15 The punishment. Of. Our sins was being meted upon him. He was being judged.

9:20 The wrath of God was breaking upon his head without mercy. And I've had people who've sat in evangelical churches for 20 years saying, I never heard that before.

9:30 I'm not exaggerating. I've had people tell me that all they heard Christ died for your sins. But what did that mean? What happened in that death?

9:39 Well, you see, they saw no real need to find out. Has the wrath of God funneled on anybody else's head on my behalf? For they never felt themselves. Well, as the just objects of that wrath, all they had was some little psychological needs and they came to some Jesus about whom they had some fuzzy notions and they felt better.

9:59 And so all is well, you know, that's not coming to Christ. There must be the revelation of the Holy Spirit, of the suitableness of his person and his work to this spiritual need that's been revealed by the spirit. That's the third thing about that revelation of the suitableness of Christ. It's revealed by the spirit for the God of this world.

10:19 This world is blinded the mind of every man that he cannot see the suitableness of Christ to his need. The natural man does not perceive the things of the spirit of God, their foolishness unto him. First Corinthians chapter two. The Bible says the preaching of the cross is foolishness, not foolishness.

10:37 Ha ha. But foolishness. Ho hum. Preaching the cross.

10:43 You talk about the groans and agonies of the son of God and the wrath of God being poured upon his head. That's fine.

10:53 You see, the preaching of the cross is foolishness, meaningless religious jargon until I see myself as under the canopy of the wrath of a holy God. And I see that I can't run to my works for all my works are stained with sin. I can't run to my past for all my past is is sin. And I can't run to the future for I know that all I'll do is sin.

11:18 And I cry out, where, where, where can I flee from wrath? The Holy Spirit. Shows me that there upon the cross, he who knew no sin became sin for me. And the preaching of the cross becomes, as Paul says, the power of God unto salvation.

The Third Factor: Active Appropriation of Christ (Eating and Drinking)

11:40 I see the suitableness of his work to my spiritual need. Now we come this morning to the third factor involved in coming to Christ. And it's what I'm going to call the appropriation of Christ to actually meet my need. The recognition of my need, the revelation of the suitableness of Christ to my need.

12:05 But coming to Christ involves this third factor, the appropriation of Christ to actually meet my need. Three things I want us to see this morning, that it is, first of all, an active appropriation, an intelligent appropriation, and an exclusive appropriation. Will you turn in your Bibles, please, to John? The Gospel of John, coming to Christ, involves an active appropriation of Christ to meet our need.

12:43 And I'm so glad the Bible describes this appropriation, not in terms of philosophical propositions, but in terms of a practical illustration with which every one of us is familiar. In fact, we're familiar with it at least three times a day and sometimes in between. John chapter 4. I'm going to read a number of verses, then we're going to see the principle that's present in each of them.

13:04 John 4 and verse 14. Or we could back up to verse 13. Jesus answered and said unto her, this woman, the well in Sychar, Whosoever drinketh of this water that comes out of Jacob's well, he shall thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst.

13:26 But the water that I give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Here's the phrase. Whoso drinketh of the water that I give him. Turning over to John chapter 6 and verse 35.

13:44 John 6, 35.

13:51 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Now, what's it mean to come and to believe? Well, look down to verse 47.

14:06 Verse 47. Verily. Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. And now verse 51.

14:15 I am the living bread come down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. Three words used interchangeably.

14:29 Coming, believing, and eating. They are synonyms. They're all saying the same thing from a different aspect. Coming.

14:38 Believing. And eating. One more passage in John chapter 7, verses 37. Well, perhaps just, yes, 37 and 38.

14:49 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink he that believeth. You see what our Lord has done? If any man thirst, that spiritual need revealed. The Lord says, come unto me.

15:10 Eat and drink he that believeth. He equates drinking with believing. John chapter 6, he equates eating and drinking with believing and with coming. Now, do you see what our Lord is trying to convey to us?

15:26 Coming to Christ involves the revelation of need that only he can meet. The revelation of the suitableness of Christ to my need, but then an active appropriation of him, to meet that need, and the illustration he uses is the illustration of eating and drinking. Now, what do you do when you eat and drink? Well, you say, I feed my face.

15:51 Yes, that's true. But now, what are you actually doing?

15:57 I believe this is what you're doing. You check me if I'm wrong. You are consciously appropriating those necessary elements of food and drink to sustain and nourish your physical life. You are consciously and deliberately taking those elements of drink and food which are necessary to the sustaining of physical life.

16:28 Eating and drinking are active, volitional exercises.

16:35 Now, drinking and eating are not simply believing that water is able to quench thirst and food is able to satisfy hunger. That's not eating. It's not sitting at the table when you go home. It's not sitting at the table when you go home.

16:48 It's not sitting at the table when you go to your husband's and writing a eulogy, or rather, not a eulogy, that's usually for someone who's gone, but writing a sonnet, writing an ode to a potato or an ode to the baked ham. And you sit there and take your pen and you get into a very poetic mood and frame of mind and you begin to write an ode. And all the while you're sitting there, your wife's getting frustrated because the meat's getting cold and the potatoes that are baked are beginning to shrivel up like they do when they get cold. Well, you see, eating is not sitting there admiring the food.

17:17 And it's stolen its worth and its ability to meet your need. That's not eating. Eating is not simply confessing that something is good, not simply looking at it and drooling. What is eating?

17:29 Well, you say, Pastor, you're treating us like we're children. Everybody knows what eating is. You actually take the food and by the God-given apparatus that He's given you, your mouth, your teeth, the enzymes and everything else, you appropriate that food into your physical body that it might nourish and sustain you. Now the Lord says, that's what it means to come to Me.

17:52 That's what it means to come to Me. Do you see yourself as lost?

18:00 Do you tremble under the thought of God's wrath about to break upon the head of sinners who have no covering for their sin? Has the Holy Spirit revealed to you the suitableness of Christ to your need? Has He shown in His person as the mighty God and yet Emmanuel God with us? Has He shown you in the works the work of Christ, His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection, that every provision has been made for sinful man?

18:29 Has He shown you the suitableness of Christ to your need? If so, then, oh, the only thing that remains for you is to come or to eat and to drink of Christ, to actively appropriate Him as the one to meet your need. For our Lord said, coming is the same as eating, as eating and drinking of Christ. It's not only an active appropriation, but secondly, it is an intelligent appropriation.

Intelligent Appropriation: Understanding Christ's Person for Our Need

19:05 Now, what do I mean by that? Well, let's look at John chapter 5 again, one of the passages we've referred to again and again in this matter of coming to Christ. John chapter 5, verses 39 and 40. Search the Scriptures, or better translated, ye do search.

19:26 I mentioned to the folk last week the verb form here, and the Greek is the same in the imperative, a command, and in the indicative, a statement of fact. And I believe what our Lord is saying is not commanding them to search the Scriptures, but He's saying to them, you Jews, you're always searching the Scriptures, and the reason you do is you think that in them you have eternal life. And He said, these are they which testify of Me, and ye will not come to Me that ye may have life. The principle I want us to see is, that coming to Christ should be the natural result of learning of Christ within the pages of the Bible.

20:07 So our Lord is saying that coming to Him is an intelligent appropriation. Not only active in terms of eating and drinking, but intelligent in terms of understanding something of who He is in the light of the Bible. And then John 6, 45, the other key text on this, John 6, 45, as it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God, every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me. Every man that hath heard and learned cometh.

20:45 Heard and learned cometh. Indicating that coming is an intelligent appropriation. Now in what sense? Well, I believe basically in two senses.

21:00 It's an intelligent appropriation in the light of His person as it relates to my need, and in relationship to His work as it applies to my need. Do I thirst? Then the Lord Jesus holds Himself off and says, I am the water of life. Drink of Me and you'll never thirst again.

21:24 Perhaps I'm not conscious of thirst, but conscious of my spiritual darkness. I feel that I'm groping in darkness. The meaning of life, the purpose of life hid from my view. I feel that my mind is dark.

21:37 I cannot perceive who God is. I feel conscious of the Stygian darkness of Adamic night. And the Lord Jesus holds Himself forth and says, I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

21:55 Perhaps I'm not so much conscious of thirst or of darkness, but of the terrible power and the burden of my sin. And day by day, I walk beneath that load. Oh, make God bring the day in the North Caldwell Church when there are people like that, going about bowed down with the sense of their guilt until it's about to crush them. They're not conscious so much of thirst or of darkness, but of a pressure of their sins that they feel is about to press them down into hell.

22:33 What does the Lord Jesus say? Come to Me, all that labor and are heavy laden. He presents Himself not as the light of the world to the one whose burden, for the man whose burden doesn't need light. He needs someone to lift the burden.

22:49 And so the Lord Jesus presents Himself as the great burden bearer of heavy laden sinners. Or perhaps the need that the Spirit of God has made you most aware of is that you're dead in your sins, that there is no life of God within your soul, nothing that responds to Him in worship, in praise, in service, in love, no hunger for the Word. You know that you're spiritually dead. There's no capacity to respond to the world of spiritual reality.

23:18 And how does the Lord Jesus present Himself? I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead. And I say, Lord, that's Me.

23:29 He said, He that believeth, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Or perhaps I'm conscious of the bondage of my sin. Not so much the thirst of the soul or the darkness of the mind or heavy laden by the guilt or conscious of the death of sin, but conscious of its bondage.

23:54 I feel like a man who's carrying about chains. And I'm chained by my temperament, chained by my background, chained by my lust, chained by my pride. And I feel as someone who's constricted and bound by fetters. And I long to be released, that I might be free to live to the praise of God.

24:16 How does the Lord Jesus present Himself? He says, Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. He presents Himself as the great liberator of bound sinners. He says, I open the prison house to them that are bound.

24:32 And I set at liberty the captive. Or perhaps I'm more conscious that I'm weak. I've seen the history of my life and the broken vows. I'm not going to do this.

24:45 I will do that. And my life is one history of broken vows. My conscience telling me to move in this direction, but my passions and lusts moving me in that direction. How does the Lord Jesus present Himself to sinners who are consciously weak?

25:01 The Bible says, For unto us a son is given, unto us a child is born, and he shall be called the mighty God. And the Holy Spirit reveals Him as God, mighty God, able to help the weak that they might walk in paths of righteousness. Am I full of turmoil within my sin, my past, my future, in terms of God's law and the judgment? Nothing but that inner perplexity.

25:33 I feel like there are a thousand worlds about to explode within my own breath. The Lord Jesus is presented as the Prince of Peace. And if He sets up His rule in my heart, then He will set up a rule of peace. And so I could go on for the rest of the morning.

25:52 I thoroughly delight to do this. Just to present the Lord Jesus as He presents Himself to the need of sinners. Will you look at my two hands? I don't know how else to explain this.

26:03 Here is the man or woman in his sin. And his need because of sin is many-sided. He's blind. He's dead.

26:12 He's bound. He's ignorant. He's in the darkness of sin. And here's the Lord Jesus in the many aspects of His glorious person as the Savior of sinners.

26:23 He's the light of the world. He's the resurrection and the light. He's the great liberator. He's the great burden bearer.

26:29 Now here's the sinner. And the Holy Spirit may turn him and bring into focus and send the searchlight of truth on this particular aspect of his sinfulness. You're bound. You're a hopeless, helpless slave of sin.

26:43 Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin. And the sinner conscious, conscious of his bondage looks and says, where is there hope? And the Holy Spirit turns and brings into focus this aspect of the person of Christ. He's the great liberator whom the Son sets free.

27:02 He's free indeed. Now another sinner. God brings into focus the fact of his death. There's no response to God.

27:10 No life of God. No desire after God. And how does the Holy Spirit then reveal the Lord Jesus? He turns him about and shines upon him as the resurrection and the light.

27:21 And for every need of the sinner, the Lord Jesus is revealed by the Holy Spirit as perfectly suited to that need. And if the sinner comes to Christ by the drawing of the Father, what does he do? He does not simply admire Christ as the liberator. He lays hold of Christ to set him free.

27:44 He does not merely admire and extol Christ as the great burden bearer. He seizes hold of Christ and says, Lord Jesus, take my burden. That's coming to Christ. Having seen the suitableness of Christ to my need, there is that active and intelligent appropriation of Christ to meet my need.

Intelligent Appropriation: Understanding Christ's Work for Our Need

28:08 An intelligent appropriation of his person in terms of that person as it relates to my need. But it's also an intelligent appropriation of his work as it relates to my need. For you will notice that the Lord Jesus peculiarly and in a special way said that this eating and drinking of him related to his work. Verse 51 of John 6.

28:36 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever. Now notice. And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.

28:54 Verse 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I'll raise him up at the last day. Now he said in verse 44, will you compare the two verses? John 6.44.

29:12 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him at the last day. The Lord says here that those who will be raised at the last day are those who come to the Lord Jesus by the drawing of the Father. Verse 54 he says those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will be raised up at the last day. So what do we learn from that?

29:35 A very simple truth. That coming to Christ is an active and an intelligent appropriation of Christ not only in terms of his person but in terms of his work as the redeemer of sinners through his death and his resurrection. He says you must come to me and feed upon me in terms of my poured out blood and my broken body. Now the church of Rome and other groups have tried to prove from this their doctrine of transubstantiation.

30:07 That when the priest consecrates the host it actually becomes the flesh of Jesus and when you take it into your body you are taking partaking of him and therefore partaking of eternal life. Beloved that's nothing but pure raw cannibalism. And it would shock the sensitive mind of any person who hadn't been brainwashed into thinking otherwise. If that wafer actually is the living throbbing flesh of Christ I'm a cannibal.

30:34 Terrible doctor. For the Lord Jesus said in this very passage the flesh profiteth nothing. Notice verse 63 it's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing. He said I'm not talking about a fleshly mastication of my body.

30:55 He says no I'm talking about feeding on me as Christ crucified and appropriating me as the crucified Lord who died for sinners. Now do you see how this works? Coming to Christ active appropriation intelligent appropriation not only in terms of his person but his work. I see myself guilty lost, condemned.

31:24 Where do I turn? I come to him who bore in his body the sins of men and by whose death a sufficient atonement has been made for the sins of the world. An atonement sufficient that if a billion worlds were to be made and all of them should fall there would be an infinite ocean of worth in the atoning blood of Christ. An atonement that God offers sincerely to all men and he says behold my son behold his wounds flee to his wounds for refuge and coming to Christ is an intelligent appropriation of the suitableness of Christ crucified for my need his sacrifice for my guilt the wrath of God upon him that I might escape the wrath of God. But someone says ah but I don't know perhaps I've gone beyond the bounds of mercy. I need to look at him as the raised up Christ seated at the right hand of the Father and by his very presence there with the wounds in his hands he is surety and pledge that all who come unto God by him will never be turned away. For there in the presence of the Father there's a lamb and how did John see him in the book of the Revelation?

32:46 He said in the midst of the throne I saw a lamb as it had been just slain. That's precious to me. John said before the throne he's like a freshly slain lamb. What is God saying?

33:02 I believe this is part of what he's saying. You come to the throne of the God whom you've offended by your sin and your rebellion. You come in penitence to lay hold of Christ. And as far as God's concerned who dwells in a timeless eternity it's just as though the blood of Christ were shed ten seconds before that you might come and find mercy.

33:28 Mercy. And there is this intelligent appropriation of Christ as my substitute as my high priest for you say yes I could believe perhaps that God would forgive but I know enough about myself to know I'll go right back to my place in my old ways. Ah listen, you need to see Christ in his work as an intercessor for it says he will save not from the uttermost but to the uttermost. All that come unto God by him and if you'll come unto God by him he undertakes to save you to the uttermost even to that hour when you should be like him seeing him as he is.

34:08 This is what it means to eat of Christ's flesh and drink of his blood to actively appropriate his work provided for sinners and make it your own by faith. That's what it means. In the words of that wonderful hymn we sang last Sunday company sinners poor and wretched weak and sinful sick and sore Jesus ready stands to save you full of pity joined with power. Let not conscience make you linger nor of fitness fondly dream all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him.

Exclusive Appropriation: Christ Alone

34:46 This he gives you tis the Spirit's rising being oh that I could somehow constrain you to come to Christ to actively appropriate him as you would your food this afternoon to intelligently appropriate him in all the glories of his person wherever your need is brought into focus see in Christ the one able to meet it and then to appropriate him in terms of your needs of his work he who became man that he might be among us he who died that he might provide forgiveness he who lives that he might keep us. The story is told of a Scotch theologian by the name of Chalmers one of the bright lights in the free church of Scotland back a hundred years ago. Thomas Chalmers the great theologian had gone to a little hamlet somewhere and in a little home he had sat for several hours with an old grandmother who was conscious of need that she could not meet spiritual need she knew she was lost and she knew that simply making a little decision for Jesus wasn't going to fix her up she wanted God to speak peace to her heart and she wouldn't be satisfied with any man telling her all was well

36:12 she wanted God to bear witness that all was well and Thomas Chalmers spoke with this woman for several hours and she couldn't see it it seemed too simple you mean that Christ will receive me simply by resting my soul upon him as he's offered in the gospel and she couldn't get through she said no it's too simple too simple and so the great theologian left discouraged no doubt and as he started out down the path he had to cross a little foot bridge that went over a stream on the back of this woman's property and the Holy Spirit put into his mind this thought that he'd try to teach this woman what it means to appropriate Christ you know what he did as he came near the foot bridge he stood back very gingerly and touched it and rested one foot and then backed off as if he were afraid it was going to break on him touched it and backed off and the old granny looking at the great man of God walking down the path yelled out the window just lip in it lip in it means trust it is that right Mrs. Olsen just means trust it get yourself to it she said you don't need to be afraid of just lip in it lip in it and like that he turned and he says granny lip in it lip in Jesus lip in it lip in Jesus just resist upon it and like that the Holy Ghost sent a shaft of light to her heart and she lit on

37:39 the pillow of Jesus and she trusted a way to her guilty soul upon Christ and she'd found peace with God Oh precious awake and soul this morning I know some of you your sin is bothering you it's plaguing you just lip until Jesus Rest the weight of your soul upon Jesus Appropriate him as he's offered in the gospel Just look until Jesus You say it's too simple Jesus said if you come I'll never cast you out And to come is not only to see my need To see the suitableness of Christ to my need But to appropriate him Actively, intelligently And last of all exclusively Jesus said If any man thirst Let him come to me Not to my church To me Not to my ministers Not to my ordinances Baptism, the Lord's Supper He said no, come to me Not to my laws No, come to me

39:07 It's an exclusive appropriation Not to your reformation He didn't say if any man thirst Let him reform himself And when he feels he's good enough Then let him come He says no If you thirst, come just as you are Don't spend your days Trying to brush up old Adam And make him more acceptable to God For Adam dressed up in his Sunday best Is still old Adam And he can't stand before God They that are in the flesh cannot please God Don't come to your reformation Don't come to your vows Of determination to live for Christ Jesus said come to me And coming to Christ Is not only an active, intelligent appropriation But an active, intelligent appropriation But an exclusive appropriation You lay hold of Christ And Christ alone As he's offered in the gospel I love how the shorter catechism answers it What is saving faith? And the answer in the shorter catechism Is very simple but very biblical Saving faith Faith in Christ is a saving grace Whereby we receive and rest upon him alone I love that one word alone For salvation as he is offered in the gospel The story's told And I say these things Because I think they may be helpful

40:32 Of a man who was a little huckster A man who went around from door to door Selling goods A poor man And one time when he was going around in his rounds He heard an old woman singing this little ditty I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my all in all Well Jack, his name was Recalled that little song And so he said well that just suits me I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my all in all So he began to sing that little ditty And in the process of time The Holy Spirit made the truth real to his heart And saved him Changed him Stopped his cursing and swearing Now remember he didn't stop his cursing and swearing To get saved He got saved as a poor sinner Who was nothing at all But found that Jesus Christ was his all in all And so then his life began to be different So old Jack began to go around And sing his little ditty And everybody saw the change in his life And one day he came to the preacher And said I want to join the church And the minister said well What can you say for yourself What's your experience He said to the preacher Only this I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my all in all And so the pastor said Can't you tell me more than that No said Jack

41:58 I can't because that's my confession of faith And that's all I know Well the minister said I'll have to get you to peer before the Deacons See if you qualify for membership So they got together The deacons And some of the old deacons sat around Like the Sanhedrin Like the elders here When you come in for church membership And so they wanted to see If they could find some fault with Jack Jack stood up And they said Jack Tell your experience How did you come to faith He said well it's very simple I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my all in all And one deacon said Well is that all you have to say Jack said yep That's all I've got to say The minister said Well brethren You want to ask him any questions Ask them So one of the deacons said Brother Jack Don't you have many doubts and fears Whether or not you're saved at times Jack said Well no not really I can never doubt That I'm a poor sinner And nothing at all For I know I am And I cannot doubt That Jesus Christ is my all in all For he says he is And how can I doubt that Well said another But sometimes I lose my evidences Jack you don't know And understand Sometimes I lose my evidences of grace And I have terrible fears And I lose my assurance of salvation Don't you have problems like this Oh said Jack I never lose anything From the first place I'm a poor sinner And nothing at all No one can rob me If I'm nothing at all And in the second place

43:27 Jesus Christ is my all in all And who can rob him He's in heaven I never get richer or poorer For I'm always nothing But I always have everything Then another began to cry Questioning him and say Oh but dear Jack Don't you sometimes doubt Whether you're a child of God And Jack said I don't quite understand you But I can tell you That I never doubt That I'm a poor sinner And nothing at all And that Jesus Christ Is my all in all Well they took him into membership And he got a nickname Before long And his nickname was Happy Jack For here was a man Whose changed life Radiated Christ Oh does the Holy Spirit Make it clear to you this morning You're a poor sinner Then look to Christ Who longs to become your all in all But if you've never seen that That you're a poor Nothing of a true interest in Christ Jesus Christ is not the helper of people Who've got some problems He's the savior of sinners Who have nothing to commend themselves to God And to come to Christ

The Ongoing Nature of Coming to Christ

44:56 Is to appropriate him With an active appropriation And intelligence A diligent appropriation And an exclusive appropriation I trust in Christ alone Some of you are trusting In the decision you made Twenty years ago Do you hear me Your confidence is not in Christ For if it were It would be a living Present tense confidence For the gospel is Paul says The salvation of God Revealed from faith Unto faith And every sinner Who truly comes Appropriating Christ Initially Actively Intelligently Exclusively He goes on the rest of his days Appropriating Christ Actively Intelligently And exclusively And that's why he loves Jesus And that's why he obeys For I can't come to the throne of grace Day by day Conscious of my sin and failure And finding in Christ Nothing but mercy Without loving him And wanting to serve him Right? And that's why some of you Don't love him And want to serve him Because the whole essence Of your coming to Christ Was a certain act in the past And your confidence is in Christ It's in your decision you made And if the Holy Ghost Would only make it clear To some of you It would be the first ray of light Leading to your conversion

46:23 That's why you have no hunger For the word That's why there's no glad confession Like Happy Jack I'm a poor sinner And nothing at all That's not a confession You make once in a lifetime In order to get saved It's the increasing confession Of everyone who is saved That initial coming becomes The abiding principle of the life That's what the hymn writer had in mind When he said as a Christian I hear the words of love I gaze upon the blood I see the mighty sacrifice And I have peace with God Tis everlasting peace Sure as Jehovah's name Tis steadfast as his mercy And mighty throne Forevermore the same My change He changes not The Christ can never die His love Not mine the resting place His truth Not mine the time My love is oft times low My joy still ebbs and floats But peace with him remains the same No change Jehovah knows That's the basic attitude Of someone who's come to Christ Actively Intelligently Exclusively

47:51 Have you come?

47:57 The proof is that you are still coming Peter says to whom coming Present tense That's the attitude of a true Christian What more can I say dear ones?

Plea to Unbelievers: See the Simplicity and Come

48:12 Some of you I've pled often With God for your salvation For your salvation I study to be simple And clear And practical For your salvation I've poured out At least in some measure I trust Not the gospel Only But my very soul Yet I know that I can't bring you to Christ But if the Holy Ghost is pleased To shine upon the face of Jesus As he shined upon your need And you see Dead, bound, ignorant, darkness Whatever it is As he shined upon the Lord Jesus And you see the suitableness of Christ To your need Whatever that need is You see him as an able, willing Savior And you see him as an able, willing Savior And you see him as an able, willing Savior Then all that remains is that you come Come Come Not to an altar Not to a prayer room But to Christ And allow the soul to move on In resting upon Christ alone As I close this morning I share this final thought with you Before a person gets convicted of his sins Coming to Christ is a pretty simple affair You say, sure, I'll come to Christ When I get good and ready

49:41 I'll decide I want to accept Christ And I'll do it Simple Simple gospel And for people like that You know what? You know what I've been praying For some of you for three years? This is the essence of what I'm praying Lord, show them how complicated it is Get some of those people That think everything was fixed up By a little simple knot of the head Twenty years ago Lord, get them to see that you are holy And that their sins cry out For your damnation and judgment And then when a man begins to see How holy God is and how bad he is He says, how in the world Can God do anything but damn me? How could God do anything If he's still going to be God?

50:17 How could he do anything But send me to hell? Now you have to pray, Lord Show them how simple it is Show them how simple it is That guilty souls can just rest upon Jesus As the Holy Spirit's showing you The blessed simplicity Then come And throw the weight of your soul upon him And his promise is sure Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast Shall we pray?