Bible Lesson 104

COMING TO CHRIST
Luke 14:26-33

‘No man can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day’ John 6:44

‘We must come to God who is God, that is, not a god of our own imagination, which is always an idol, but to the true and living God as He reveals Himself to us in His Word.’ Herman Hoeksema

In this lesson we will deal from the Bible with the idea of ‘Coming to Christ’. We can begin by reading together Matthew 11:28, which is where Jesus says to a group of people and made the statement that goes ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Now, if that was all that was in the Bible, we could feel that all we have to do is to decide to come to Christ and we would be saved. However, the Bible has much to say about coming to Christ.
We are not supposed to lift scriptures and base our eternal lives on one or two verses; instead we are to read and know the entire Bible and allow scripture to explain scripture. It would be silly for me to say that where Jesus said there in Matthew chapter 11, that he did not mean it. He did mean it; however the context of the Bible teaches us that those who come must come a certain way, and that they can only come after certain things happen.. Revelation 22:1 speaks to us about a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Then in verse 17 of that same chapter of the Revelation, we find ‘And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts take of the water of life freely.

I’m afraid that we have perhaps taken our theology from some of the fine old hymns that we have been singing for some time. We have been singing a hymn since 1914 that is titled ‘Whosoever Meaneth Me’. The words of that hymn uses the words of the verses there in Revelation chapter 22 and it says, Whosoever will let Him come and take of the water of life freely. As we look at the words of that beautiful old hymn we, if we know our Bibles, know that the theology of that hymn is not sufficient to cause anyone to know the truth about Jesus Christ.

There is another hymn that uses that same thought and it is titled ‘Whosoever will’. Now, can we trust those kinds of bits and pieces of the truth of the Word of God, to fulfill God’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)’ The Bible, in its context, tells us who we come to, and why we come, and further how we come.

Who do we come to’ We come to Jesus Christ, God in the flesh (Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:16-21)). Why do we come’ Because we have been called by God (Romans 8:28). How do we come’ We come loving Christ more than we love parents, spouses, children, or brothers and sisters. We come bearing our Cross (dying to self) and having counted the cost of discipleship.

When we come to Christ we must love Him supremely, more than anyone or anything on the earth (Luke 14:26-33). Would it surprise you to know that no man can come to Christ, unless and until the Father draws (or drags) them to Christ. That may sound strange in our day and our church age, but that is the Biblical truth.

Jesus said that in John 6:44, 65. We have been blinded by the devil to see nothing in the Bible but scripture that promises us something. The church has become so enamored with church growth, and that growth is not always proper. We depend upon professions of faith, which consists of some person saying what they have been taught whether or not it is the truth. We profess to know Jesus Christ when we do not know anything about Jesus Christ. We can profess anything without being able to confess what it is we are professing.

In other words, I can profess to you in this lesson that I am a multimillionaire, but that would be a lie, and I could not confess that to you because it is not the truth. We have become busy with something that it takes God to accomplish. The Church, the true Church, belongs to Jesus Christ and it is His bride, and He says in the Bible that He will build His Church. If you will read Matthew chapter 16:18 you will see that Christ said that on faith like Peter had just evidenced, Christ would build His Church. Modern man cannot be satisfied to simply preach the gospel truths and then be humble enough to back up and leave the results to God. Instead, we rush people to profess whatever we want them to profess and we welcome them into our congregations and baptize them and leave them, normally, unenlightened, unengaged, and unsaved, to sit and listen to the preachers on Sunday mornings.

Why do you think that the visible church would leave the pattern that God set down for salvation to leave God out of the salvation process’ The church slowly came to see that God does not operate on our time schedules, so when one denomination adopts a slogan like ‘A million more in 94′ or something similar, we should know that they are worshipers of church growth. Who knows whether God will decide to draw or drag a million lost sinners to Christ in 94 or any other year’ What we have begun to do is to do an end-run (to use a sports term) around God and begin to save people simply because we need them in our congregations. We move God aside and place man in charge of his salvation and that is far from being Biblical. The visible church in too many instances has begun to work for ‘nickels and noses’ rather than men’s eternal souls. That is why we have ended up with so many ship-wrecks that we had pronounced saved, with slight evidence of being born again Christian.

We have established great facilities where we come and meet, but most worship God in our spare time and with our pocket change. That is the reason that we have churches on practically every street corner, but we are unable to exert any moral influence on our communities. We have become ‘milk-toast’ churches and all that we do is to keep congregations happy in their sin. That’s the reason that instead of preaching the truths of the Bible we lift verses that sound good and we tell congregations exactly what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. For instance, we preach, or too many preach, that Christ died for everyone and that Christ loves you just the way you are. Those are both untrue statements for most of the people in most congregations; because most people in most congregations are not saved.

Christ died for you if you have been called by God according to His purposes, are being conformed to Christ’s image, Justified, and glorified and are obedient to His commandments (Hebrews 5:8-9). We preach as if God would be willing to send His Son Jesus Christ, to die for people who would, in the end, reject Him. That is silly thinking. We preach that Christ loves everybody; but Christ preached that Christ and the Father love those who have the commandments and keeps them (John 14:21-24). We cannot make up scripture or twist scriptures to make it appeal to sinners. We must preach the Word of God, and reprove, rebuke, and exhort sinners until they become acceptable to God (2nd Timothy 4:1-5;). It seems that too many men who stand in pulpits on Sunday are willing to omit or delete passages that deal with salvation to keep peace in their little group, but that is a sure ticket to hell for people who fall for that kind of so-called preaching.

Now, you may be asking yourself, does bro bob think that anybody can be saved’ The answer is yes, but you need to know and understand that everybody that gets saved will have to bow to the God of Glory and give Him praise, instead of thinking that they did anything to deserve, desire or deliver their salvation, it was all of God. Everyone that will ever be saved will require the hand of God in and on their lives. Because, as we stated before, we are born dead spiritually and cannot and will not seek God about anything as far as salvation is concerned (Ephesians 2:1-4). We teach people half-truths and then teach them to sing ‘Whosoever Meaneth Me’, and never get to the facts about the Christian life. Christ-like life is the aim of Salvation. God wants to save people who first really know Him through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. God knows that when His plan is followed that salvation will result in newness of life and a converted individual who will obey God. That gives glory to God because it proves the difference between the devil’s children and the Children of God (John 8:44). Now, living the Christian life does not consist of simply attending church, it consists of those who are truly saved being the church of the living God! We demonstrate the life and Christ and hence the Church of Christ as we live like Christ at home, at work, and play.

I hope that you realize that I am not being judgmental of the visible church, what I am doing is telling the truth about most of the visible churches of our day. Let me ask you a few questions and you answer them as honestly as you know-how and perhaps we can focus on the problem. The first question, ‘Is there more than one Bible”. The second question does the Bible allow for any private interpretation or is it proper for pastors to interpret Scriptures to fit their needs. The third question, shouldn’t denominations be able to work together since they both read the same Bible’ If we ask the Bible those same questions we find that there is only one Bible and that is the Word of God and it is settled forever in heaven (Psalms 119:89).

The Bible does not allow for any private interpretation (2nd Peter 1:20; and we are not to change one jot or tittle (Matthew 5:17-20; Revelation 22:18-19). This being true why is there so many different and diverse denomination and sects etc’ Whenever any person receives Jesus Christ by the Grace of God, whether it is in one of the visible churches or at home or work or play, they immediately become a member of the invisible church, which the church of Christ is. When Christ comes back to judge the quick and the dead, He will not call for the roles of the First Baptist or First Presbyterian, or First Church of Christ, or the First Methodist or any other of the visible churches. Christ will bring the roll for the True Church and those will be the ones who will spend their eternity in heaven.

If you know the Truth as it is written in the Word of God, the Bible, then you are a part of the Bride of Christ, the True Church. If you can find a church and a pastor that will preach ‘Thus saith the Word’ and you can follow along with him to make sure he does not violate the truth, then join that church and do the best you can in the power of the Lord. You cannot be sure what you hear is the truth unless you know the Word of God. Begin a walk that consists of studying the Word of God continually. Make sure you pray and ask God to reveal the truths of His word for you and supply yourself with any helpful aids like Strong’s exhaustive concordance of the bible, Vine’s expository dictionary, a good study Bible with commentaries ( I prefer John Macarthur’s study Bible), and any books by Spurgeon, Pink, J.C.Ryle, John Stott, and many others.

Make your Bible study the priority before you begin to read other authors, if at all possible. When you study your Bible, study it as you would study a rich uncle’s will, really ask it questions, and if you will, God will supply you the answers as you continue to read and understand. Let me warn you, a proper Bible study will not be completed while you live here on the earth, so don’t try to rush through and think you know all there is to know.

If you are a father or mother, it will help you and you will be obedient if you establish a family altar, a time and a place where the family comes together and you read and teach what the scriptures are saying to your wife and children. Children enjoy and learn about the Lord the way they are supposed to, at the feet of their parents. God gave children to parents to raise and nurture in the admonition of the Lord. That is not the responsibility of the Church unless you are not yet qualified to do it. P.S. your job is to get busy and know the Word of God so that you can fulfill your responsibilities.

Coming to Christ is what we each should do, but we have to have God to give us the unction to move toward Him when He quickens us and brings us back to spiritual life. To be saved we have to know what God has said about salvation; and He has said that we cannot come until He sends the Holy Spirit with a call upon our heart, mind, and spirit to come out of the sinful lifestyle that we are born into, and every one of us is born under the wrath of God so do not attempt to ignore your sinful nature. From this point on we cooperate with God in repentance and broken-heartedness, and contrition of spirit. We mortify the deeds of the flesh and we take up a consistent walk in the Holy Spirit.

We are free because we have been reborn in Christ at the hands of our Creator. Nothing involved in our salvation is done by the flesh because our flesh is weak and cannot live to please God, that’s the reason that God sent His son to condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4. In our new birth into Christ, we become the handiwork of God, created ‘in Christ Jesus’ unto good works which God before ordained that we would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). This new creature is In Christ, and the old things have gone and all things are now new (2nd Corinthians 5:17). I want to make it clear that this new creature is not something that evolves as too many churchmen today believe about us all: that we are just some primeval mud that evolved into what we are today. This new creature is a new creature the moment they are saved. We have much to learn but we are a new creature instantly by the power of God and we begin to walk like a child of God.

If you are a preacher today and you are influencing people, then I pray that you will research what I have said. If you find in the Word of God that I am wrong just do not believe it; however if you find it right and I believe a good Bible study will prove what I am saying to you is right, then begin to follow God instead of trying to make Him change His mind. Yes Come to Christ, but wait upon God to draw you. God’s Holy Spirit is irresistible and we cannot resist it. Come to Him loving Him supremely, above everyone and everything on the earth. Consider and be ready to pay the cost of discipleship and never attempt to short cut God’s salvation plan.

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob