I am so thankful that we're in a place where loyalty is measured by loyalty to Christ and His written Word. That's the historic definition of Christian loyalty. Anything else is less than New Testament and dishonoring to our Lord. I'm so grateful for this ministry. I'm thankful that this is a local church-oriented ministry, but that is also multi-local church-oriented ministry. Many colleges are just tied to one church, and only that one church benefits. But I think it's a mark of great spiritual maturity that many local churches benefit from Ambassador Baptist College. It seems to me it's the best of both. It's local church, but it's multi-local church. There are checks and balances. Many communities benefit from Ambassador Baptist College. It's not just here to build another megachurch It's here to enlarge the body of Christ in numerous cities and towns. And I praise God for that distinctive of Ambassador Baptist College. I recognize that anything that will bring the Lord glory is a team ministry. And certainly, Dr. and Mrs. Comfort want that to be stressed here. This is a team ministry and we love them for that. We respect them for that spirit. But I'm just going to just going to stick tonight with where this school began, though I know that many of you are part of the team and Dr. and Mrs. Comfort could not have come this far without you. It's a team ministry, and we love Ambassador also for that reason. But I believe I'm also supposed to say that as long as this college is standing, and I believe that she'll stand until the rapture. Amen. As long as this college is standing, we just need to acknowledge that In a very real sense, Ambassador Baptist College will be a tribute to the integrity and the testimony of Dr. and Mrs. Ron Comfort. The team is wonderful. And I always say I can't do the work without a team. But there would be no Ambassador Baptist College without the testimony and integrity of Dr. and Mrs. Comfort. And I thank God for all of you and the sweet uniqueness of this school. Dr. Comfort, thank you for the invitation to be with you. I do not take the invitation lightly. I try not to presume upon the invitation that you've given me to be here. Thank you for the lovely room, the fruit basket. I want to thank the housekeeper for the bottle of Pepto-Bismol. and the three extra bottles of Sprite. And I want to thank Zach, wherever he is, for the second box of Pepsod AC. I went through the first one and he went for another one. Thank you, information desk, for the loan of the Scotch tape dispenser. That's how I put my sermons together. I know you're thinking, I noticed. Thank you for the lovely meals, the privilege of having the leadership book sold in your bookstore. John, wherever you are, one of the students, thank you for the very gracious card, which I found just lying by my Bible when I turned around from talking with someone else. You put it there and you quietly left. Thank you, John, for that card. Thank you all for your kindness, your warm fellowship. I'm so grateful for the Ministry of Music. It's just so Christ-exalting. The music was outstanding again this evening. And I'm so thankful for the ministry of all the other preachers in and to my life this week. Every single preacher has ministered to me and been used of the Lord to change me. And yes, I do have my purple tie on tonight. I just couldn't disappoint Tom from Pennsylvania. It's one of the first things I heard when I got in the van. He was in the van with Brother Dietrich, who picked me up. And he said, you know, he said last year, Dr. Farrell preached first and he preached on Barnabas, son of consolation, the encourager. And then as Dr. Farrell went on, he just shortened it. Be a Barney, be a Barney. Encourage people, son of consolation, be a Barney. And then Tom from Pennsylvania said, then you sit up with your purple tie on. Now you do have to watch children's TV to understand that. Turn, please, to Matthew 2. Matthew chapter 2, verse 1. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Notice Matthew 2, verse 1. God's Word reads, When Jesus was born, behold, take a look, there came wise men. There came wise men. The wise men came to Bethlehem to worship Jesus. Now please turn to John 20. John chapter 20. We begin our reading at verse 19. John 20 verse 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me Even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retained, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within. and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus came to his disciples who were huddled in that locked room after his resurrection. My text appears in two of the verses in this passage here in John 20. Note first John 20, verse 19. Look at verse 19. Look at the first three quarters of verse 19 and suspend all the words, just suspend all the words except the adverb, the verb and the subject. What you have remaining are the words, Then came Jesus. And again, observe also verse 26. When you find the third phrase in verse 26, you read the words, Then came Jesus, and these words are the title of this message. Then came Jesus, and a humble little Jewish virgin asked, Who, me? And Gabriel answered, Yes, Mary, you. Then came Jesus, and that same little Jewish virgin said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. When Jesus comes and says, I have a job for you, humble folk, get happy. Then came Jesus, and Mary got happy, very happy. And some people have called her Joy, the Magnificat. Then came Jesus, and Joseph the carpenter said, But what will people think? And Gabriel said, Joseph, when you've got Jesus, it doesn't matter what people think. So Joseph no longer feared to take unto himself his espoused wife, even though she was already with child of the Holy Spirit. Then came Jesus and his unborn cousin, John, late in his mother's womb. Don't you think that it's time to get excited when Jesus enters the room? Little John the Baptist, still in the womb, got excited when Jesus entered the room. I'm sad to tell you that I know far too many other Baptists who never get excited when Jesus enters the room. We could learn a lot from John the Baptist. We could learn to leap a little and have a little joy when we're told that Jesus is in the room. Some Baptist, Jesus comes, the teacher comes, the master comes, and they just yawn. and check their watch to see if it's time to go home and watch more sports. God helped that kind of Baptist in his sin of lukewarmness. Then came Jesus, and an angel said, don't be afraid, to a group of common, despised shepherds who were not used to hearing from an angel. Don't you rejoice that Jesus brings extraordinary news to ordinary people just like you and me and shepherds. Then came Jesus and that angel was joined by a multitude of Seraphic warriors who delivered a singing telegram that had glory, peace and goodwill as its theme. Wouldn't you like to have heard that choir that made Jenny Lind Marian Anderson, Mario Lanza, Pavarotti, and the Vienna Boys Choir sound like they need more practice. Wouldn't you like to have heard that choir? Then came Jesus, and those despised shepherds were invited to their own private audience with the God of forever, and they saw him first after his mother and his stepfather. Aren't you glad that the king gave his first audience to humble shepherds? Aren't you glad that God is no respecter of persons? Aren't you glad that God loves the smell of the stable as much as He loves the perfumes of Solomon's boudoir? He's no respecter of persons. Then came Jesus, and wise men traveled for close to two years so that they could come to Him. He has always attracted wise men and wise women. They like to be near Him, you know. Wisdom attracts wisdom. Are you wise enough to want to be near Him. Then came Jesus, and the lawyers and doctors of the law scratched their heads and said, He can't be just twelve. It's impossible that He's just twelve. Do you need some answers tonight for your life? Come to the One who came to you. There's a beautiful song that says, He came to me. He came to me when I could not come to where He was. He came to me. That's why He died on Calvary. When I could not come to where He was, He came to me. Philippians 2, verses 5-8 read, Christ Jesus being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He came to me and He wants to come to you. Have you ever trusted the Lord Jesus as your own Savior? Have you ever seen that you're a sinner coming way short of the glory of God? Have you ever seen that Jesus the God-man came to live a sinless life? and to shed sinless blood, to pay the price to atone for the forgiveness of your sin. Have you ever trusted the Lord Jesus as your Savior? He wants to come to you. If you've never received Him, you need to trust Him tonight. Then came Jesus, and some ordinary H20 said, I can't believe that the water of life came to this wedding. Why, I'm embarrassed to think that I'm actually here in the presence of the water of life. Oh my, oh my, I think I'm turning red. And it did. And the ruler of the feasts said it was the best grape juice he had ever tasted. When he comes, he always does everything in a superb and excellent way. By the way, do you ever blush when Jesus comes to you? Or have you listened to too many late-night comedians who make fun of Jesus and fun of faith and fun of God? Have you listened to so many blasphemers that you've lost your blushability? You have no sense of holiness. You have no sense of the grandeur of God. Have you lost your blushability in the presence of a holy God? Then came Jesus and cast out the money mongers who had commercialized and trivialized the temple worship. Don't you wish he'd come again and do the same thing in our generation of celebrity hype and the mass marketing of consumer-friendly sweet nothings? It'll take more than a 7-11 song to really lead you into worship of the Holy One. I'm talking about seven words sung 11 times. I want to stand up and say, I heard it the first time. Give me some doctrine, if you please. Don't you wish you'd come again and do some cleansing of the temples and the houses of worship? Then came Jesus and told a member of the ruling religious body, You may know a miracle when you see it, but you don't know God until you've been born again. Marvel not that I said unto you, He must be born again. Then came Jesus and told a Samaritan woman of ill repute, It's not where you worship It's who you worship, and I am He. And I'll fill more than your cup. I'll fill your bucket, and I'll keep it full forever." Oh, then came Jesus, and the sick man said, I sure wish I had a man to put me in the pool of Bethesda when God's angel stirs it up, so I could get well. And Jesus said, who needs God's angel when you've got God? Get up and walk. Who wants to lie in bed for a lifetime when Jesus is around to do something about the sickness? Then came Jesus to a funeral and broke the whole thing up and turned it into a party and gave the widow back her boy. You better know that nobody ever bad-mouthed Jesus again in her presence. Then came Jesus to a stormy sea. Galilee was on its worst behavior, and Jesus said, Hush! Lie down! And the sea lay down with scarcely a whimper, and the disciples asked, What manner of man is this? And heaven replied, This is Jesus. He made the sea. It's just doing what its master tells it to do. Oh, yes. Then came Jesus. Then came Jesus. riding on a donkey, while the stones held their hands over their mouths to keep from shouting, Jesus, don't believe this crowd of fickle fair-weather fellows. These people don't mean their praises. They're going to turn on you. Let us cry out with the stones. Let us cry out. Let us worship you. We haven't forgotten that you made us, but they'll forget. Then came Jesus to an upper room and a towel and a basin and some water and some bread and some grape juice. Then came Jesus to wash the feet of sinners just like me and just like you. Then came Jesus to dip his hand in a dish of fellowship with a very unfriendly friend whose name was Judas. Then came Jesus to a garden, the place of the olive press. He went there to be squeezed and pressed between God and Satan and heaven and hell and right and wrong. and love and hate and grace and law, he went to the garden to be pressed. And when he came out of that spiritual olive press, he was ready for his blood to flow like wine. And it did. And without the shedding of blood is no remission or forgiveness of sins. There is power, power, wonder-working power. in the precious blood of the Lamb. Then came Jesus to Pilate's judgment hall, and Pilate asked, Are you a king? And Jesus answered, I'm the king who made you a governor. Now, which of us do you suppose has the most authority? And Pilate scratched his head and wiped his sweat, washed His hands of God, the only God who could save His dirty soul. Then came Jesus to Golgotha, the place He had come for all along. Jesus came to that hill that looked like a skull and had turned so many men into skulls. And Jesus staggered up that hill panting and heaving. And then when he got to the brow of that hill, he voluntarily spread himself out on that vicious and hard-hearted old cross, and men who laughed at the sight of blood made it flow. The blood, I mean. And there Our Lord Jesus became propitiation or satisfaction for my sins and your sins, and not ours alone, but also for the sins of the whole world. There is no limit. Whosoever will may come. Let him come and take freely. Then came Jesus to a cold, ugly tomb. in a beautiful garden, but he didn't come there for long, just three days and three nights, just long enough to give the devil a false sense of security. On the morning of the third day, Jesus got up and walked out of that grave and shattered the devil's false sense of security to smithereens. and left him cowering in a corner like a rat before a lion. Satan is a rat, you know. He never plays fair. And Jesus is a lion. The lion of the tribe of Judah. One of these days he is going to reign. He is going to reign literally from the throne of his father David in Jerusalem. Then came Jesus. to Mary Magdalene, who did not want to let her master go. But he said, Woman, I'm glad for your gratitude, but let me go. I want to see my father. And there's a world to win. Woman, stop holding on to my feet. And she did. And he is someday going to. When the world and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, He had a work to do. Then came Jesus and said, Peace be unto you. To ten disciples who were afraid of the antagonism of the religious establishment, aren't you glad He comes to us when we're afraid? Then came Jesus and said, Peace be unto you. To the same ten disciples and an eleventh one who was now with him, but still so discouraged he was finding it difficult to believe. Aren't you glad he comes to us when we're discouraged and finding it difficult to believe? And aren't you glad he gives us every reason to believe? came Jesus to the Mount Olivet, and when He had blessed His little flock, the chief shepherd was caught up to heaven in a cloud. They watched Him as long as they could see Him, because this Jesus, who had come, had also changed their lives, and they would never be the same, and planet Earth would never be the same either. Then came the sound of the voices of two men dressed in white robes. The men said, What are you staring at? This very same Jesus who came the first time will come a second time, and He will so come in like manner as you've seen Him go. Oh, yes. Then came Jesus, changing forever world history, the calendar, changing forever art, sculpture, literature, music. Take Jesus away from the art of the world, you'll have empty galleries all over the world. Take Jesus out of the literature of the ages, and you'll have empty bookshelves all over the world. Jesus did come changing literature, music, science and architecture. Then came Jesus turning cannibals into counselors. When Jane and I visited Papua New Guinea, there was still a lady alive who used to eat human beings. And she said, oh, yes, I was a cannibal. And I can tell you which races are sweet and which are sour. That's the truth. But Jesus came to her little bitty thing in Papua New Guinea and changed her. And now she eats the bread of life. She's clothed in her right mind because Jesus came. Then came Jesus turning harlots into saints. Please don't misunderstand us this evening. We are not any better than you or anyone else, and we know we're not. We just want to be sure that you understand that if you have a spiritual need, if you've got some habits that you need to leave behind, that the same Jesus who has by grace changed us can change you. Then came Jesus turning criminals into law-abiding citizens. Oh, I couldn't begin to tell you all the wonderful things that happened when Jesus came. He came to Mary, and He came to Bethlehem. He came to Peter. He came to Paul. But have you Let Him come to you. Have you let Him come to you as your Savior? Have you ever turned in repentance and faith and cast yourself only upon the mercy of the merits of the shed blood of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world? Have you let Him come to you as your Savior? And if you're saved, Do you let him come to you every day to give you a Holy Spirit anointing for service? Do you let him come to you every day so that you can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh? And so you can have the fruit of the Spirit in your life, your testimony and your ministry. Do you let him come to you if you're saved every day to enable you to walk in the Spirit? and live a Holy Spirit-filled life. John 1, verse 11 says, Jesus came. He came unto His own, His own Hebrew brothers and sisters. And His own received Him not, but to as many as received Him. To them gave He power, authority. To them gave He power to become the sons and daughters of God, even to as many as believed on His name. Have you believed on His name? Have you called on His name? Now, it's not just words we say. It must come from a spirit of contrition, godly sorrow for sin in the heart, and, if we believe in the heart, then the confession of the mouth. Israel, have you believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth, making a public profession of faith in a local Bible-believing church? Oh, Dr. Oswald J. Smith from the People's Church of Toronto, Canada, long in heaven now, wrote, their hearts were sad as in the tomb they laid him. For death had come and taken him away. There night was dark, and bitter tears were falling. Then Jesus came, and night was turned to day. When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken. When Jesus comes, the tears are wiped away. He takes the gloom, fills the life with glory, for all is changed. When Jesus comes to stay. And that's the only way He will come. When He comes, He stays. You better be ready for it. He'll ask you to clean up. He'll face you with some needed changes. Because when He comes, He only comes to stay. And He doesn't want to cohabitate with unholiness and spiritual filth and wickedness. Well, has He come to your life? If not, why don't you let Him come to you? Let Him come to you in your loneliness. Let Him come to you in your discouragement. Let Him come to you in your doubt. Let Him come to you in your sin. For if we confess our sins as believers, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He wants to come not only to be our Savior, but also to be our advocate, our defense attorney with the Father. And when we sin as believers, He pleads our case and reminds His heavenly Father of the blood He shed for such a time as that, the forgiveness of the sins of God the Father's children. Oh, let Him come by His Spirit to fill you if you're not living in the Spirit-filled life. Let's all stand, please. Let's all stand. Oh, let him come to you. The brethren are going to come and lead us in our invitation without even waiting for the first words. Why don't you just step out from where you're standing? Let him come to you in your discouragement, your doubt, your need to be saved. If you've never made a public profession of your faith, you need to come. Don't put it off till tomorrow. We're not promised tomorrow. Come and make a public profession of faith in Christ. If you sense conviction for your sin, you have needs with respect to making things right as a believer, needing to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You just step out and come as we have this invitation. Come on.