HOW WE COME TO GOD
How We Come to God
Bible Text: 2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
—2 Peter 3:9
This week has been such an amazing week of celebration and reflection for our church as we enjoyed our annual homecoming revival. We had some much-needed preaching on the subject of who God is and what God can do.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in who we are, what we have, or what we don't have that it becomes almost impossible for us to go forward or do anything greater for God. But when we hear preaching about who God is, it reminds us that we cannot do all things in ourselves, but we can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth us.
The preaching this week was such an encouragement. I did not tell the preachers what to preach or give them a particular theme, yet God directed every message with an amazing common thread.
Brother John preached about the Almighty God—how He is both powerful and personal.
Brother Brent preached about the God of the impossible and how He wants to do amazing things in our lives.
Brother Kenny preached about the God who sees us in our storms and what to do when the rowing gets tough.
Every message pointed us to a God who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—a God who can perform the miraculous, provide, protect, and still be personal.
I needed the revival meeting. I needed the preaching. I needed the encouragement and fellowship.
But today I want to change course for just a little while.
I don't want to preach only to those who know God. I want to preach to those in the room who may not know God.
We're in a Baptist church on a hot summer Sunday. You could have been anywhere, but you chose to be in church today. I would imagine the majority of people here have a relationship with God. But there could be someone here who doesn't.
If that's you, I want to encourage you to meet the God we've been talking about all week. Get into a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
So today I want to ask a simple question:
How Do We Come to God?
If you're already saved, take these truths and tuck them away. Learn them, study them, and use them to help someone else come to know Christ.
1. GOD TAKES THE INITIATIVE
When we begin a relationship with God, we often think we are the ones searching for Him.
But understand this:
Before you ever started searching for God, God was already searching for you.
Before you sought Him, He was already seeking you.
Before you understood the Bible, God was already working in your life.
Our text says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God wants you to come to repentance. God wants you to know Him.
Jesus said in John 6:44:
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”
God does the drawing.
I believe salvation is by invitation. And when Christ is drawing you, you ought to step out and step toward Him.
There is a story in the Bible about a king who prepared a great wedding and invited people to come. One after another, they made excuses.
“I can't come. I'm busy.”
“I've bought some land.”
“I've got work to do.”
They refused the invitation when it was given.
Can I tell you today, if God is inviting you and God is drawing you to Himself, you ought to accept the invitation.
God takes the initiative.
Before I came to God, He was already drawing me.
Before I sought Him, He was already seeking me.
Before I understood everything, God was already working in my life.
When I look back at my own salvation story, I realize it didn't begin on the day I got saved. It began much earlier.
Somebody reached somebody else.
Somebody prayed for somebody.
Somebody shared the Gospel with somebody.
And it all eventually trickled down to me coming to a saving knowledge of Christ.
It's God. It's always been God.
He's the seeker. He's the One who desires man—not the other way around.
Think about your Bible.
God sought Adam:
“Adam, where art thou?”
God called Abraham.
God called Moses.
God called Samuel.
God called the disciples.
And God calls you today.
“Come unto me, be ye saved.”
Don't think for one minute that you made the first move toward God.
He took the initiative.
2. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS WORD
God is doing the drawing, the pulling, the inviting, and the initiating of the relationship with man.
But how do we know what to do?
God speaks through His Word.
The Word of God is absolutely essential when it comes to people coming to God.
Romans 10 gives us the progression:
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Then:
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I love that word whosoever.
That's how you and I got in!
I'm glad He didn't say the rich.
I'm glad He didn't say the poor.
I'm glad He didn't say one particular race, nationality, political party, or social class.
He said:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Then Paul asks:
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”
And:
“How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”
And:
“How shall they hear without a preacher?”
And finally:
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Do you see the progression?
They have to hear.
They have to believe.
They have to call.
That's why we send missionaries.
That's why we support Bible translation.
That's why we preach.
That's why we teach.
That's why you should tell your coworkers, your family, your friends, and your neighbors.
Somebody has to tell the Gospel story.
And that doesn't just mean a preacher standing behind a pulpit.
That's you at your job.
That's you at school.
That's you in your family.
That's you wherever God has placed you.
We need to be careful about downplaying the Word of God and thinking we just need to get people through the doors and somehow sway them into Christianity.
People need the Word of God.
It's the Word of God that changes hearts.
Paul said:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation.”
The Bible says the Word of God is:
“quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.”
The Word of God does a surgical work in the heart of a sinner.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that.
Isaiah 55:11 says God's Word will not return unto Him void.
So what a waste of time was that church service?
It wasn't.
What a waste of time was that Sunday School class?
It wasn't.
Teacher, maybe you walked out of your class thinking, “They weren't listening. They were running around. I don't think they heard one word I said.”
If the Word of God went out, it was time well spent.
Psalm 119:105 says:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
What does the world need in this dark day?
Light.
And the Gospel gives that light.
Psalm 119:130 says:
“The entrance of thy words giveth light.”
John 17:17 says:
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
James 1:21 says:
“Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
How important is the Word of God?
The Word of God needs to be proclaimed.
3. GOD'S WORD REVEALS CHRIST
God isn't simply drawing people to become religious.
God isn't merely telling people to become better.
God is drawing people through His Word to Christ.
Jesus said in John 12:32:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
Christ must be lifted up.
He was physically lifted up on the cross.
He was lifted up from the grave in bodily resurrection.
And He must be spiritually lifted up through our preaching and proclamation of the Gospel.
Every other religious leader has died.
But there's only One who rose again.
That's Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is not simply, “Believe in God.”
The whole world believes in some kind of God.
Jesus said:
“Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
The Gospel is believing in Christ.
Believing who He is.
Believing that He bore our sins.
Believing that He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Believing in His burial.
Believing in His resurrection.
That's the Gospel.
And what a story of hope and forgiveness and salvation it is!
Sometimes we look at the cross and think, “What a horrible story.”
It was bloody.
It was brutal.
It was a crucifixion.
But for the lost sinner, what a wonderful story of hope!
4. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD
One of the most important statements Jesus ever made is found in John 14:6:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
But Jesus didn't stop there.
He said:
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Jesus didn't say He was one of the ways.
He didn't say you could come to God however you choose.
He said:
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
He is the way for the detoured man.
He is the truth for the deceived man.
He is the life for the dead man.
If you want a relationship with God the Father, you must have a relationship with His Son.
Greater than having a relationship with West End Baptist Church, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Greater than having a relationship with a denomination, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Greater than having a relationship with any organization, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus isn't merely an important part of salvation.
Jesus is the only way to the Father.
Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
There is one mediator.
The man Christ Jesus.
5. GOD HAS BEEN DRAWING YOU
God is drawing sinners all day, every day.
When I look back over my own life, I can see story after story of how God was working long before I ever came to Christ.
I was saved on March 24, 1991. It was a Sunday evening.
I was actually running sound in the service. We had a little sound booth with a window in the wall.
That morning, our youth pastor's wife came forward and said she had never truly trusted Christ and wanted to get it settled.
I thought, If Miss Lynn isn't saved, there ain't nobody saved.
She was a wonderful lady and a good woman.
But she got saved that morning.
And that whole afternoon, God troubled my heart.
I wasn't running from God.
I wasn't trying to avoid Him.
I just began thinking:
Have I ever truly done that?
Have I ever really said yes to God?
And I realized that I had not.
All day long, God was drawing me.
God was encouraging me.
Come.
Come to Me.
That night I went to church thinking, If I can just make it through this service, maybe this feeling will go away.
I was back in the sound booth.
The choir was singing, and I got a lump in my throat.
I was swallowing hard.
I thought, If we can just get out of this service, I'll be okay.
Normally, when the preacher began preaching, I would step out of the sound booth and sit on the back row.
That night I did.
And there was a friend of mine, Kevin Keith.
He hadn't been to church in weeks.
Of all nights for him to come, he came that night.
We sat beside each other.
We whispered back and forth a little, and I felt like the devil was trying to distract me.
I'd get distracted for a moment, then go back to listening.
And the Spirit of God would get on my heart again.
He was working on me.
Drawing me.
Pulling me.
Then the preacher got up and used the Word of God to confirm what the Spirit of God was already telling me.
He preached about the things Christ saw from the cross.
He talked about Jesus seeing His mother.
He talked about Jesus seeing His disciples.
And then, while he was preaching, he said something I'll never forget.
He said that Jesus, while He was on the cross, looked through time and saw me.
He didn't point over here.
He didn't point back there.
He pointed right at me.
The sound guy sitting on the back row.
He didn't know what I was dealing with.
But the Spirit of God had drawn me.
The Word of God had convicted me.
And God used that man of God to tell me, “You're the one who needs to come tonight.”
When the invitation began, I thought about going back to the sound room.
I thought about Kevin sitting beside me.
I wondered what he would think.
Surely he's saved.
Surely I'm saved.
He's going to think I'm crazy if I go down there.
But God said in my heart:
Today's the day.
I stepped out and went to the altar.
I told that preacher:
“I'm not saved.”
He said, “I could stand here and show you every verse in the Bible, and that would be okay. But you know what the Bible says. Get down here and just ask Christ to save you.”
And I did.
As a sixteen-year-old young man, it changed my life.
I'm not who I was before.
I didn't have a horrible past.
I hadn't been incarcerated.
I hadn't been in and out of rehab.
I didn't have great addictions.
But I'll tell you this:
Jesus Christ made a huge difference in my life.
He changed my history.
He changed my life.
He changed my destiny.
He changed my future.
What a wonderful change Christ made when He came into my life!
6. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH CHRIST?
The Word of God gives us the Gospel.
God's will is that you do not perish, but that you come to repentance.
If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ, why not do it today?
I'm not talking about doing something emotional.
I'm not talking about coming forward and telling everybody your business.
I'm talking about bowing your knee and bowing your heart before God and saying:
“God, I want You in my life.”
Maybe when you look back over your life, you can see that God has been drawing you all along.
Maybe today is the day you say:
“God, I'm saying yes to You.”
He is not willing that you perish.
He wants you to come to repentance.
Will you come and receive Christ?
Will you receive what Christ did for you on the cross of Calvary?
7. IF YOU ARE FAR FROM GOD, COME HOME
Maybe you did that a long time ago.
Maybe you remember the day you got saved.
Maybe you remember when you were born again.
Maybe you remember when you committed your life to Christ.
But today you would have to admit:
I'm a long way from that day.
Maybe you're not where you used to be.
Maybe you feel like you've missed God.
Maybe you feel like He's not as close to you—or you're not as close to Him—as you once were.
You have burdens.
You have needs.
You have trouble.
And you're wondering:
“Preacher, how do I get back to where I once was?”
I want to suggest to you that the path is the same.
Realize that God has been drawing you.
He's standing there with open arms saying:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
He's waiting on you.
And then you have the Word of God.
The Bible gives us a clear path back to Him:
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
Think about the prodigal son.
He finally came to himself and started walking toward the Father.
And when he came home, the Father received him.
If you're distant from God today, let me remind you:
He hasn't moved.
If God seems a long way from you, let me remind you:
He hasn't moved.
Take a step toward God.
Come to Him.
Say, “God, I'm broken. I'm desperate. I'm hungry for You.”
Do you know what He'll do?
He'll receive you with open arms.
You can come on the authority of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you wonder, “I want to pray, but I don't know if God will hear me.”
Let me tell you how you have access to the throne room of God:
Come in Jesus' name.
You come before the throne of God and say, “I'm here in Jesus' name.”
And the Father says, “Come on in. That's My Son. Come on in.”
If you know Him, you're welcome in the throne room.
Whatever you're going through today, bring it to God.
CONCLUSION
If you don't know Christ today, today could be your day.
It should be your day that you say yes to God.
Don't battle it.
Don't fight it.
Don't go to bed every night wishing you were a Christian.
Don't get up every morning and go through your workday wondering, I hope nothing happens to me. I hope I make it home. I hope I'm right with God.
You don't have to live that way.
You can know for sure today that your sins are washed away.
You can know that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
You can know that you are in a relationship with God.
You can know it today.
The God who has been drawing you is still drawing you.
The Word of God has told you the truth.
Christ has been lifted up.
The invitation has been given.
Now the question is simple:
Will you say yes?
Bible Text: 2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
—2 Peter 3:9
This week has been such an amazing week of celebration and reflection for our church as we enjoyed our annual homecoming revival. We had some much-needed preaching on the subject of who God is and what God can do.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in who we are, what we have, or what we don't have that it becomes almost impossible for us to go forward or do anything greater for God. But when we hear preaching about who God is, it reminds us that we cannot do all things in ourselves, but we can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth us.
The preaching this week was such an encouragement. I did not tell the preachers what to preach or give them a particular theme, yet God directed every message with an amazing common thread.
Brother John preached about the Almighty God—how He is both powerful and personal.
Brother Brent preached about the God of the impossible and how He wants to do amazing things in our lives.
Brother Kenny preached about the God who sees us in our storms and what to do when the rowing gets tough.
Every message pointed us to a God who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves—a God who can perform the miraculous, provide, protect, and still be personal.
I needed the revival meeting. I needed the preaching. I needed the encouragement and fellowship.
But today I want to change course for just a little while.
I don't want to preach only to those who know God. I want to preach to those in the room who may not know God.
We're in a Baptist church on a hot summer Sunday. You could have been anywhere, but you chose to be in church today. I would imagine the majority of people here have a relationship with God. But there could be someone here who doesn't.
If that's you, I want to encourage you to meet the God we've been talking about all week. Get into a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
So today I want to ask a simple question:
How Do We Come to God?
If you're already saved, take these truths and tuck them away. Learn them, study them, and use them to help someone else come to know Christ.
1. GOD TAKES THE INITIATIVE
When we begin a relationship with God, we often think we are the ones searching for Him.
But understand this:
Before you ever started searching for God, God was already searching for you.
Before you sought Him, He was already seeking you.
Before you understood the Bible, God was already working in your life.
Our text says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God wants you to come to repentance. God wants you to know Him.
Jesus said in John 6:44:
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”
God does the drawing.
I believe salvation is by invitation. And when Christ is drawing you, you ought to step out and step toward Him.
There is a story in the Bible about a king who prepared a great wedding and invited people to come. One after another, they made excuses.
“I can't come. I'm busy.”
“I've bought some land.”
“I've got work to do.”
They refused the invitation when it was given.
Can I tell you today, if God is inviting you and God is drawing you to Himself, you ought to accept the invitation.
God takes the initiative.
Before I came to God, He was already drawing me.
Before I sought Him, He was already seeking me.
Before I understood everything, God was already working in my life.
When I look back at my own salvation story, I realize it didn't begin on the day I got saved. It began much earlier.
Somebody reached somebody else.
Somebody prayed for somebody.
Somebody shared the Gospel with somebody.
And it all eventually trickled down to me coming to a saving knowledge of Christ.
It's God. It's always been God.
He's the seeker. He's the One who desires man—not the other way around.
Think about your Bible.
God sought Adam:
“Adam, where art thou?”
God called Abraham.
God called Moses.
God called Samuel.
God called the disciples.
And God calls you today.
“Come unto me, be ye saved.”
Don't think for one minute that you made the first move toward God.
He took the initiative.
2. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS WORD
God is doing the drawing, the pulling, the inviting, and the initiating of the relationship with man.
But how do we know what to do?
God speaks through His Word.
The Word of God is absolutely essential when it comes to people coming to God.
Romans 10 gives us the progression:
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Then:
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I love that word whosoever.
That's how you and I got in!
I'm glad He didn't say the rich.
I'm glad He didn't say the poor.
I'm glad He didn't say one particular race, nationality, political party, or social class.
He said:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Then Paul asks:
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”
And:
“How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”
And:
“How shall they hear without a preacher?”
And finally:
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Do you see the progression?
They have to hear.
They have to believe.
They have to call.
That's why we send missionaries.
That's why we support Bible translation.
That's why we preach.
That's why we teach.
That's why you should tell your coworkers, your family, your friends, and your neighbors.
Somebody has to tell the Gospel story.
And that doesn't just mean a preacher standing behind a pulpit.
That's you at your job.
That's you at school.
That's you in your family.
That's you wherever God has placed you.
We need to be careful about downplaying the Word of God and thinking we just need to get people through the doors and somehow sway them into Christianity.
People need the Word of God.
It's the Word of God that changes hearts.
Paul said:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation.”
The Bible says the Word of God is:
“quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.”
The Word of God does a surgical work in the heart of a sinner.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that.
Isaiah 55:11 says God's Word will not return unto Him void.
So what a waste of time was that church service?
It wasn't.
What a waste of time was that Sunday School class?
It wasn't.
Teacher, maybe you walked out of your class thinking, “They weren't listening. They were running around. I don't think they heard one word I said.”
If the Word of God went out, it was time well spent.
Psalm 119:105 says:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
What does the world need in this dark day?
Light.
And the Gospel gives that light.
Psalm 119:130 says:
“The entrance of thy words giveth light.”
John 17:17 says:
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
James 1:21 says:
“Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
How important is the Word of God?
The Word of God needs to be proclaimed.
3. GOD'S WORD REVEALS CHRIST
God isn't simply drawing people to become religious.
God isn't merely telling people to become better.
God is drawing people through His Word to Christ.
Jesus said in John 12:32:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
Christ must be lifted up.
He was physically lifted up on the cross.
He was lifted up from the grave in bodily resurrection.
And He must be spiritually lifted up through our preaching and proclamation of the Gospel.
Every other religious leader has died.
But there's only One who rose again.
That's Jesus Christ.
The Gospel is not simply, “Believe in God.”
The whole world believes in some kind of God.
Jesus said:
“Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
The Gospel is believing in Christ.
Believing who He is.
Believing that He bore our sins.
Believing that He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Believing in His burial.
Believing in His resurrection.
That's the Gospel.
And what a story of hope and forgiveness and salvation it is!
Sometimes we look at the cross and think, “What a horrible story.”
It was bloody.
It was brutal.
It was a crucifixion.
But for the lost sinner, what a wonderful story of hope!
4. JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD
One of the most important statements Jesus ever made is found in John 14:6:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
But Jesus didn't stop there.
He said:
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Jesus didn't say He was one of the ways.
He didn't say you could come to God however you choose.
He said:
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
He is the way for the detoured man.
He is the truth for the deceived man.
He is the life for the dead man.
If you want a relationship with God the Father, you must have a relationship with His Son.
Greater than having a relationship with West End Baptist Church, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Greater than having a relationship with a denomination, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Greater than having a relationship with any organization, you need a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus isn't merely an important part of salvation.
Jesus is the only way to the Father.
Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
There is one mediator.
The man Christ Jesus.
5. GOD HAS BEEN DRAWING YOU
God is drawing sinners all day, every day.
When I look back over my own life, I can see story after story of how God was working long before I ever came to Christ.
I was saved on March 24, 1991. It was a Sunday evening.
I was actually running sound in the service. We had a little sound booth with a window in the wall.
That morning, our youth pastor's wife came forward and said she had never truly trusted Christ and wanted to get it settled.
I thought, If Miss Lynn isn't saved, there ain't nobody saved.
She was a wonderful lady and a good woman.
But she got saved that morning.
And that whole afternoon, God troubled my heart.
I wasn't running from God.
I wasn't trying to avoid Him.
I just began thinking:
Have I ever truly done that?
Have I ever really said yes to God?
And I realized that I had not.
All day long, God was drawing me.
God was encouraging me.
Come.
Come to Me.
That night I went to church thinking, If I can just make it through this service, maybe this feeling will go away.
I was back in the sound booth.
The choir was singing, and I got a lump in my throat.
I was swallowing hard.
I thought, If we can just get out of this service, I'll be okay.
Normally, when the preacher began preaching, I would step out of the sound booth and sit on the back row.
That night I did.
And there was a friend of mine, Kevin Keith.
He hadn't been to church in weeks.
Of all nights for him to come, he came that night.
We sat beside each other.
We whispered back and forth a little, and I felt like the devil was trying to distract me.
I'd get distracted for a moment, then go back to listening.
And the Spirit of God would get on my heart again.
He was working on me.
Drawing me.
Pulling me.
Then the preacher got up and used the Word of God to confirm what the Spirit of God was already telling me.
He preached about the things Christ saw from the cross.
He talked about Jesus seeing His mother.
He talked about Jesus seeing His disciples.
And then, while he was preaching, he said something I'll never forget.
He said that Jesus, while He was on the cross, looked through time and saw me.
He didn't point over here.
He didn't point back there.
He pointed right at me.
The sound guy sitting on the back row.
He didn't know what I was dealing with.
But the Spirit of God had drawn me.
The Word of God had convicted me.
And God used that man of God to tell me, “You're the one who needs to come tonight.”
When the invitation began, I thought about going back to the sound room.
I thought about Kevin sitting beside me.
I wondered what he would think.
Surely he's saved.
Surely I'm saved.
He's going to think I'm crazy if I go down there.
But God said in my heart:
Today's the day.
I stepped out and went to the altar.
I told that preacher:
“I'm not saved.”
He said, “I could stand here and show you every verse in the Bible, and that would be okay. But you know what the Bible says. Get down here and just ask Christ to save you.”
And I did.
As a sixteen-year-old young man, it changed my life.
I'm not who I was before.
I didn't have a horrible past.
I hadn't been incarcerated.
I hadn't been in and out of rehab.
I didn't have great addictions.
But I'll tell you this:
Jesus Christ made a huge difference in my life.
He changed my history.
He changed my life.
He changed my destiny.
He changed my future.
What a wonderful change Christ made when He came into my life!
6. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH CHRIST?
The Word of God gives us the Gospel.
God's will is that you do not perish, but that you come to repentance.
If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ, why not do it today?
I'm not talking about doing something emotional.
I'm not talking about coming forward and telling everybody your business.
I'm talking about bowing your knee and bowing your heart before God and saying:
“God, I want You in my life.”
Maybe when you look back over your life, you can see that God has been drawing you all along.
Maybe today is the day you say:
“God, I'm saying yes to You.”
He is not willing that you perish.
He wants you to come to repentance.
Will you come and receive Christ?
Will you receive what Christ did for you on the cross of Calvary?
7. IF YOU ARE FAR FROM GOD, COME HOME
Maybe you did that a long time ago.
Maybe you remember the day you got saved.
Maybe you remember when you were born again.
Maybe you remember when you committed your life to Christ.
But today you would have to admit:
I'm a long way from that day.
Maybe you're not where you used to be.
Maybe you feel like you've missed God.
Maybe you feel like He's not as close to you—or you're not as close to Him—as you once were.
You have burdens.
You have needs.
You have trouble.
And you're wondering:
“Preacher, how do I get back to where I once was?”
I want to suggest to you that the path is the same.
Realize that God has been drawing you.
He's standing there with open arms saying:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
He's waiting on you.
And then you have the Word of God.
The Bible gives us a clear path back to Him:
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
Think about the prodigal son.
He finally came to himself and started walking toward the Father.
And when he came home, the Father received him.
If you're distant from God today, let me remind you:
He hasn't moved.
If God seems a long way from you, let me remind you:
He hasn't moved.
Take a step toward God.
Come to Him.
Say, “God, I'm broken. I'm desperate. I'm hungry for You.”
Do you know what He'll do?
He'll receive you with open arms.
You can come on the authority of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you wonder, “I want to pray, but I don't know if God will hear me.”
Let me tell you how you have access to the throne room of God:
Come in Jesus' name.
You come before the throne of God and say, “I'm here in Jesus' name.”
And the Father says, “Come on in. That's My Son. Come on in.”
If you know Him, you're welcome in the throne room.
Whatever you're going through today, bring it to God.
CONCLUSION
If you don't know Christ today, today could be your day.
It should be your day that you say yes to God.
Don't battle it.
Don't fight it.
Don't go to bed every night wishing you were a Christian.
Don't get up every morning and go through your workday wondering, I hope nothing happens to me. I hope I make it home. I hope I'm right with God.
You don't have to live that way.
You can know for sure today that your sins are washed away.
You can know that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
You can know that you are in a relationship with God.
You can know it today.
The God who has been drawing you is still drawing you.
The Word of God has told you the truth.
Christ has been lifted up.
The invitation has been given.
Now the question is simple:
Will you say yes?
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