Come Believing — Peter Brandon

Coming to Christ Despite Not Seeing Him

Unbelievable. But lots of people have said to me, how can I come? One man said to me, why does he make it so difficult for us? I said, what do you mean? Well he said, when I was married I didn't marry a phantom, a ghost.

My wife was by my side. I said, I will to her. She said, I will to me. We both put rings on our finger, correspondingly, and we were married. But I could see the person. How can you come believing when you can't see Christ?

Well dear friends, the answer is very simple. Seeing isn't believing. The very fact that you are sitting on that seat shows that there is an unseen power called gravity keeping you to that seat, and that's life.

We see that these things are being revolved. There's an unseen power there controlling them. In fact, the things that you see are temple. You work it out. But what you can't see is eternal. Christ is there.

Secondly, if Christ with his glorified body revealed himself to us tonight, all of us would be prostrate on the floor or across the floor. Why? Jesus is not like your next door neighbour, or like your Prime Minister, or like the Queen.

He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is the creator of the universe. One day we shall see him, if we are Christians, and we'll have a body like his. But none of us could look upon him in these bodies.

But you say, well how can I come to him then? That's what I'm going to share with you right now. But before I do so, would you allow me to take off my coat? And I can see you're all nodding. In England we often say, warm up the preacher.

Here I feel like saying, cooling down Lord. I'm going to read from Matthew chapter 11, and we'll read from verse 25. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me by my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Recognizing Our Need Through God's Law

How can a person come to Christ? First of all if we're going to come to Christ, we must come with a need. Now this is absolutely vital. But do we know our need? Unfortunately not. That's one of the great problems in the western world.

We don't understand our need. In the city of Glasgow a few years ago they had mass x-raying for people with TB. And after six weeks of all kinds of instruments being used. Some are even on street corners.

They actually x-rayed one and a half million people. And that was a living miracle. And this is what they discovered. Five million people were walking the streets of Glasgow with active TB. Note what I'm saying.

Active TB. And they didn't know it. Now can I share with you something that will come as a bombshell to you. There are millions of people in Britain. And millions of people in Australia. And many of them we love deeply.

And they have a great need but they don't know it. And they need God's x-ray. You say what's that? When we hear the gospel. We hear the gospel and God applies to us his x-ray. And it's called the Ten Commandments.

And every time you break one of those commandments you sin. I know what some will will mutter immediately. But do we need all those commandments? Yes. How would you like to play a great game of rugby without some rules and a referee?

How would you like to play a game of cricket if there was no umpire? How would you like the country run if there was no prime minister or politician? You see we need law. But remember this. God has only given to us ten commandments.

Only ten. And if you could keep all those commandments without breaking one you would live. But that's impossible. There has never lived a single person that has kept all those ten commandments without breaking one.

Never. The only person who kept them was the person who gave them. And that was the Lord Jesus. In every single detail. But then what does that prove? Now here it comes. Every time you break one of those commandments you sin.

And when you sin it's against God. Now here is a living fact. If you read that first commandment in the New Testament you would find that it would go like this. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.

That means God first in everything. Now let's get it right. If you could put God first in everything you would be the happiest person on earth. Holiness never makes you miserable. It's the secret of happiness.

But none of us have kept it including the poor preacher. We've all broken that commandment over and over again. We put ourselves first and others first instead of God. Ah but you say Mr preacher there's one commandment that I have not broken.

What's that? Thou shalt not kill. Wait a minute. In the Old Testament God is concerned with the action. In the New Testament when full light had come through Christ. His concern with the thought that promotes the action.

Sin, Guilt, and the Judgment of God

Do you know what he says? If you hate your brother you have murdered. What does that mean? You cannot murder until there's one thing that I have kept. What's that? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Now if you've kept that that's wonderful.

Look at the mess that we're in because we have broken that commandment. When I go into the schools in London it paralyzes my heart and I mean that. To hear little children just seven or eight or nine saying I've got six grandparents, four sets of parents and I don't know who I am.

What a state to be in. No wonder judgments coming. You see my dear friends this is what the Lord says. If you look and the last is in your mind you're guilty of the action. And this is a fact. We have broken those commandments as far as God is concerned no less than one million times over a period of 30 years.

That's why we're all guilty before God. And this is what the word says. The law was given that every mouth may be stopped and that the whole world, not some, the whole world might be guilty before God.

Now what do we mean by guilt? I was driving my car just 18 months ago through a dark dark village that I've been through on scores of occasions. And I got a red flash. Do you know what I mean? And then I got a nasty letter.

I had gone four miles over the limit. Four. And then he wanted me to pay 60 pounds. So I wrote a letter back to him said that I had been driving for a number of years and I have kept the limitations of speed very carefully both on the motorways and the villages.

But on this occasion I didn't know there was a camera. Don't you know what he said? He wrote and he said thank you for keeping the law but you've broken it once and you're guilty. Now that's a fact. But now supposing.

Supposing in a fit of temper with another man I pulled out a reviver and shot him. I'd be guilty. But it wouldn't be 60 pounds. It would be a life sentence. Beloved friends let me quote this in love. Because we are guilty before God because we have all sinned.

The sentence is death not just physical. But if we die in our sins we are eternally separated from God. That's why all of us need to come to Christ. And dear friends may I say this to you in love. I trust tonight in this homely congregation God will show to you that you've committed sin like he's shown to me and that we're guilty and we all desperately need forgiveness.

Repentance and Sorrow Over Sin

Secondly we must come to God not only with our need but come to God in repentance. Now what does that mean? Now I was thinking as we were singing how can I put this over to these people without trying to be pretentious.

I think I can. I'm not going to point the accusing finger to you. I'm going to apply it to my own life. Now supposing when my dear wife was alive she said something to me that I disagreed with and then she went on and I blew up and lost my temper.

Stamped my feet like a madman. What happened? The children would see it. My wife would see it and she would say something like this. He seems to be a lunatic. Have you ever been photographed when you were in a heated temper?

You'd never do it again. But all of us have got some sin that holds us down. Now when I lose my temper and shout and roar it affects my wife. It affects my children. But it damages me. But now listen to this.

It hurts God far more. In fact there was a great king whose name was David and he committed immorality and then very craftily murder. And he covered the whole thing up until it was exposed. And he went into the presence of God knowing that he was a damaged man.

And this is what he wrote. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Now if we could see how grieved and hurt the almighty God is by sin. I'm sure we wouldn't sin so easily.

But may I say this carefully. Sin wounds the heart of God far more than it paralyzes us. You say how do you know? If Jesus Christ stood on this platform tonight you would see the beauty of a glorified body.

But if gradually he held out his hand you would see it now. That's the mark of our sin that caused his death on the cross. And that shows how serious sin is. So that when we become Christians we not only confess our need that we have sinned but we hate the sin that we commit and we turn to God with a broken heart.

Oh how we need that. That's the beginning of real salvation. Where I used to live there was a famous decorator. And if you wanted ever to see almost decoration to perfection you had to go and see this man's house.

It was wonderful to see that man at work. He worked on his lounge for six months. Think of that. And when he completed it all the neighbours were invited in. And when they saw his workmanship they were spilled out.

It was almost to perfection. Four days later the little girl got in with a paintbrush. A Reeves paintbrush. With Reeves paint. And there she was painting the wallpaper that was dreadfully expensive. And she was whistling enjoying it.

And when the mother came in she did this. Oh no. Oh no. You naughty girl. What caused grief to the mother caused the little girl to whistle. Friends people whistle over their sins. But it grieves God.

And when we begin to see that our sins cause grief to God. In fact so much grief that his son actually died for our sins. Then we are turned to God from our sins. Like this. We shall look at our sins and paint them.

We shall look at our sins in the presence of God and see that they have hurt him. His son has died and we shall do this. Turning away from them we shall turn to God with a broken heart. With a desire to be done with the sinning one.

Christ's Sacrifice and the Forgiveness of Sin

That's repentance. But then someone will say and rightly so. But how do we get to him? Well thank God there's a wonderful saviour. And that saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ who was totally co-equal with God.

We mustn't imagine that the Lord Jesus was God but just a little bit of God. He was totally like God in every single detail. If I want to know what God is like I look at Jesus Christ and I see a perfect manifestation of God.

And the Lord Jesus came into this world in order to take the punishment that we should have endured. That's why when he came to the cross he actually said these words, mine hour is not yet come. Now that expression is Latin in its origin.

When a Roman general retired from being a soldier he would go all over the Roman world speaking of his great hour. The hour of victory on the battlefield and thousands would come and listen to him. The Lord's great hour was the moment when he was to hang upon the Roman gibbet.

Isn't that wonderful? And on that Roman gibbet he did the greatest thing in the universe. He allowed the Almighty God to bring together the equation of the sin of the world and none of us can even think of it.

He allowed the Almighty God to bring together its corresponding judgment that's called wrath. And from the third hour to the sixth hour when this great feat was to be accomplished God turned all the lights of creation off and there was done darkness.

And that sin and that judgment fell not in part but in whole upon the Lord Jesus. As far as we know there was silence in the sixth, the seventh, the eighth but when the ninth hour something happened. When the Lord Jesus had borne the sin and borne all the corresponding judgment so that the sufferings were all over he let out this great cry.

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That means my God. My God now note the little change. Why didst thou forsake me? Do you know why? Can I tell you? He loved you so much as to bear your judgment. And when it was all finished he did something that was totally supernatural.

He didn't drop his head. He put his head back in the place of triumph. And he said to his father on the eternal throne the greatest thing in the universe took place. And this is what the scripture says.

Once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This man after he had suffered one sacrifice, four sins, forever hallelujah. Sat down on the right hand of God and that's why God can forgive you.

Now I'm going to do this by action I think it will help. When God forgives your sin he forgives your sin on the grounds of the work that Jesus did on the cross. And therefore when he forgives your sins he forgives all your past sins, all your present sins, all your future sins are forgiven once and for all through the death of Christ.

But more than that when God forgives your sins he not only forgives the sins that you know but he forgives the sins that he knows. If you see a thousand he sees a million. When God forgives your present sins all the sins he knows.

And when God forgives your future sins he does it through the death of Christ and that's a once and forever forgiveness that never has to be repeated again. And I can't help saying it hallelujah. What a saviour.

Coming to Christ by Faith

And that's how much he loved you. And that's why we can come to him. We come through the work of the cross. But you say now I'm beginning to understand that I don't need you now Mr. Brendan do I? No. I'm just a signpost.

I've got to get to Christ. And here take me to the Father. Yes. And the Father's longing to forgive you. The Son is longing to forgive you. But he wants you to come. But how do I come? By faith. You know we used to have an evangelist in Britain that was mightily used.

Fred Elliot. Unfortunately he never came to Australia. But he did go to South Africa. And what blessing he saw. He went to a place in Aberdeen and he preached for a month. And 300 souls were saved. 300 were baptised within a week.

And 300 were added to a local church. Think of that. He was preaching in Coombran and the whole of Coombran in Wales was shaken. And night after night people just couldn't get in the gospel hall and there wasn't another hall where they could go.

But there right in the front was a husband and wife. He had been preaching for three weeks. It was a Sunday night. And he preached on this lovely word come. Come. And he would call the people to come to Christ.

And the lady who was sitting right in front said to her husband. I'm coming tonight. Fred Elliot went into a little room and a number of people followed him in. After about 20 minutes they came out and she went up to her husband and she hugged him and said.

John. I've been saved. Meaning his sins were forgiven. And he pushed her away. And as they were going home this is what he said. Mary you go your way. I'm going my way. I'm finished. And what was the source of joy became the source of sorrow.

But the assembly would not give in. They had nights of prayer. When you see people in nights of prayer you know the revival is near. And they were praying for this particular man. When God's people start praying like that.

Quite frankly if I use my old London Cosmic. He hasn't got a dog's job. But on the last night he still wouldn't come. The mother-in-law went round to ask if he could look after the little girl. But no he's not going.

And he was determined never to darken the place. They were sitting by the fire reading the old news of the world. And the little girl says Daddy can we play school? Yes I'll be the teacher. So he got up and she sat down and he knew she didn't like sons.

He said we'll play at suns. Two and four? Six. Six and three? Nine. Nine and two? Eleven. And then he said have you got it? Eleven and five? Sixteen? Yeah. Hundred percent. Now let me be the teacher. Up she got.

Only five. We're going to play at poetry and I want you to say this after me. Just as I am without one plea. Just as I am without one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me. But that thy blood was shed for me.

And that thou bidst me come to thee. And that thou bidst me come to thee. O Lamb of God I come. I come. Daddy. O Lamb of God. He grabbed her. Took her up to her room. Changed her clothing. Never even washed her.

He looked up when he said good night. And he said this. Daddy you gave me a hundred percent. I can't give you a hundred. He went down to the fire. Picked up the news of the world. Tried to read it. Couldn't.

And then he threw it down on the ground. And this is what he said. And his wife walked in the door. He nearly hugged her to death. And said dear. I'm saved too. A living miracle. That God did it. And God saved that man.

And he became a wonderful witness. May God help you to come to Christ. Right now. Right now.