Some Reasons Why People Do Not Come To Christ

There are four reasons why people will not come to Christ or why people reject Christ.  People are born with stubborn hearts.  By nature, people are stiff-necked.  We are all born with a natural inability.  We are totally depraved people by nature; however, some would dare to say that we have some goodness.   Some would say that claim the name “Christian” that they are people who limp with that as their spiritual nature.  By nature we are fallen creatures in original sin. People do not come to Christ that they may be saved.  We are fully accountable and responsible to Him.  We must come to Christ to repent of our sins and yield our allegiance to Him alone.  My desire in writing this is so that you would come to Christ and repent.  The religious people of Jesus’ day did not embrace Jesus because He claimed to be equal with God.  He also healed in the Sabbath Day; that is, the religious leaders of His day believed that it was sin to do any kind of work on the Sabbath.  They were convicted that Jesus was a sinner; however, Christ knew that He was sinless and the people knew that only a sinless Man could heal in the manner that He did.  We must come to God Incarnate and confess our sins to Him.  He alone can forgiven our sins and make us well in a spiritual sense.

Section 1:  No Knowledge of Christ

We ought to refer to ourselves as “the sinner.”  That is, we are the greatest sinner on the face of the earth.  We have sinned greatly.  If we have broken one commandment, we have broken them all.  How is that not total depravity?   We are ignorant of Christ and His saving unified merit because of our sin.  We are inexcusable for our sin.  The conscience is not a reliable guide to teach us about Christ; however, when we do wrong sometimes it will teach us that it is wrong or it may excuse us.  It is not a safe guide.   If our conscience is guided by the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God, we may act rightly.  We ought to repent of any thought of goodness in us, because there is no goodness in us.  We are children of wrath and we were conceived in sin.  We are neither righteous nor good before God and man.  All goodness comes from God alone.  No goodness comes from man.  The mere ignorance of Christ teaches us that man is no good.  Christ came to call those that are ill.   He called them to repentance.   It is a command of the written text.   It does not save us but Christ alone saves us.  We ought to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and in wisdom and in submission to Him.  It is wrong to say that if a false religion has an element of truth to it that they are saved and unregenerate people.   There is no unsaved saved persons in the world.   The Bible commands us full and exclusive faith in our Lord and Deliverer Jesus Christ.  Without exclusive faith and trust in Him as Incarnate Jehovah, there is no hope for the sinner. 

Section 2:  No Repentance Before God and Following Him

We cannot by nature repent of our sins.  We are devoid of the divine grace of repentance.  We are not born with this holy gift.  We need to be divorced from our sins.  We must repent of our sins.  If we fail to repent of our sins we will enter up in eternal torment.  That does not mean if we miss a sin God will send us to hell.  We must repent according to the Spirit's lovingkindnesses.  We must behold Christ at the Cross and we will know our sin.  We must deny ourselves and take up our Cross and follow Him.  It is an actuality if we do not repent, Jesus will deny us on the Last Day.  He will say, “Depart from Me, you cursed” (Mt. 25:41).  We must come to Jesus on His terms.  We must follow Him in repenting of our sins.  There is no peace for the wicked but there way is hard because they are of transgressors.  We must understand that Jesus is a greater Savior than we are sinners.  It is also good to understand that grace is greater than sin.

Section 3:  No Trust in God’s Promises

It is possible that you are guilty of great sin.  All sin is offense against God and His Person.  Do not repent because of fear of punishment.  You ought to repent because You have offended His person and injured His tender heart.  If you have forsaken sin for your own good and for the sake of others, but failed to renounce them before God you have failed the test.  There is still hope but you need the grace of Jesus.  The evidence of the grace of Jesus is faith toward Jehovah and repentance toward Jesus our Savior.  There is three distinct Jehovah's in the one true being of God; that is, the Father is Jehovah, the Son is Jehovah and the Spirit is Jehovah, but there are not three separate Jehovah's but one Jehovah.  Maybe there is sin in your life you have not noticed.  Sin is exposed by the written Word of God.  Unbelief is a great sin against God.  People do not believe His promises that are required to believe.  It will keep you from entering heaven.  The promises of Jesus are free from conditions and qualifications (Mt. 11:28; Rm. 10:12-13; Jn. 5:24; 6:37).   God says His spiritual salvation is like a wedding feast and all we need to do is come (Mt. 22:4).  God has made all the preparations and He has done all the work that needs to be done.  Jesus in His active obedience (His sinless life) and passive obedience (His sinless death) has completed all that was needed to be done.  If we see His promises and how free they are, we can see how inexcusable our sin is.  We must never refuse God’s free gift of salvation.  We must not linger.  We ought to freely accept His loving gift of His Son and listen to Him (Mk. 9:7).  We must have union with Jesus by faith alone.  There will be no unbelievers in heaven, but heaven will have all kinds of sinners who embraced Jesus (Rev. 21:8).  We ought to practice belief in Jesus.  We need to focus on Him alone.  Jesus in Jn 16:9 speaks of the unbelief of them that did not know Him.   If we remain faithless, He remains faithful to see us through.   But have you repented and trusted Christ?  Have you gone to Christ to be set free of your burden?

Section 4:  Additions to the Bible Alone

Maybe you want to place your face in Jesus but you want a personal word from Him.   However, the Bible alone correctly and infallibly teaches us that it is sufficient to understand faith and morals for life.   That is, only His elect and chosen ones come to Christ.  A personal encounter with Jesus is rare but His Word never fails us.  By God’s Word through His Spirit, you must be convinced that You are of God’s elect.   Some wait for a message from God.  Others wait to see if they have marks of genuine regeneration in their lives.  The words of Divine Scripture are all-sufficient to come to Jesus.  The rich man in hell heard about the testimony of the all-sufficiency of Christ (Lk. 16:29).  Abraham gave the rich man in hell testimony that the Scriptures are enough.  He did not need to hear from the church, a church leader, a council, or a word from heaven.  Do you see that waiting for an additional revelation is inexcusable?  All you need to do is come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and cleansing.  Jesus is the “friend of sinners” and He welcomes all hell-deserving sinners to Him.  Everyone of God’s creation is a hell-deserving sinner.  We are commanded to believe Jesus (1 Jn. 3:23).  He will never cast out anyone who comes to Him.  He will never leave nor forsake you.  Behold, the sinner’s prayer to Jesus, and after this continue to bring every sin before Him,

Merciful Lord,

Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle, and advanced years, of omissions and commission, or morose, peevish and angry tempers, of lip, life and walk, of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of men, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken zeal for his glory, of bringing dishonor upon thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others, of impurity in thought, word and deed, of covetousness is idolatry, of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered, not consecrated to the glory of thee, the great Giver; sins in private and in the family, in study and recreation, in busy haunts of men, in the study of thy Word and in the neglect of it, in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld, in time misspent, in yielding to Satan’s wiles, in opening my heart to his temptations, in being watchful when I know him nigh, in quenching the Holy Spirit; sins against light and knowledge, against conscience and the restraints of thy Spirit, against the law of eternal love.  Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt, confessed and not confessed, remembered or forgotten.  Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.  (The Valley of Vision, 158-159).

Quotes on Thanksgiving

John MacArthur wrote,

A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer’s trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer’s heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord  (John MacArthur, Grace to You, Newsletter, March 2009, © 1969-2008. www.gty.org, Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission).

William Law wrote,

For if [a Christian] cannot thank and praise God as well in calamities and sufferings as in prosperity and happiness, he is as far from the piety of a Christian as he that only loves them that love him is from the charity of a Christian. For to thank God only for such things as you like is no more a proper act of piety than to believe only what you see is an act of faith.  Resignation and thanksgiving to God are only acts of piety when they are acts of faith, trust and confidence in the divine goodness.

William Temple wrote,

It is probable that in most of us the spiritual life is impoverished and stunted because we give so little place to gratitude. It is more important to thank God for blessings received than to pray for them beforehand. For that forward-looking prayer, though right as an expression of dependence upon God, is still self-centered in part, at least, of its interest; there is something we hope to gain by our prayer. But the backward-looking act of thanksgiving is quite free from this. In itself it is quite selfless. Thus it is akin to love. All our love to God is in response to his love for us; it never starts on our side. "We love, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  (William Temple, 3000 Quotations on Christian Themes. Christianity Today, v. 32, n. 17).

Christ and Christ Alone

AW Tozer wrote,

The cross…always has its way. It wins by defeating its opponent and imposing its will upon him. It always dominates. It never compromises, never dickers nor confers, never surrenders a point for the sake of peace. It cares not for peace; it cares only to end its opposition as fast as possible. With perfect knowledge of all this, Christ said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” So the cross not only brings Christ’s life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers. It destroys the old pattern, the Adam pattern, in the believer’s life, and brings it to an end. Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and a new life begins. This, and nothing less, is true Christianity… We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do – flee it or die upon it.  (A.W. Tozer,  The Root of the Righteous, Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1955, p. 61-63).

Here is the Christian hymn that many know of:

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

?Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin?s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life?s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
?Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

I will stand, I will stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground, all other ground
Is sinking sand, is sinking sand
So I stand

Quotations on the Bodily Resurrection of our Lord and Deliverer Jesus Christ

JC Ryle wrote,

We need not wonder that so much importance is attached to our Lord’s resurrection. It is the seal and headstone of the great work of redemption, which He came to do. It is the crowning proof that He has paid the debt which He undertook to pay on our behalf, won the battle which He fought to deliver us from hell, and is accepted as our Surety and our Substitute by our Father in heaven. Had He never come forth from the prison of the grave, how could we ever have been sure that our ransom had been fully paid? (1 Cor. 15:17.) Had He never risen from His conflict with the last enemy, how could we have felt confident, that He has overcome death, and him that had the power of death, that is the devil? (Heb. 2:14.) But thanks be unto God, we are not left in doubt. The Lord Jesus really “rose again for our justification.” True Christians are “begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” They may boldly say with Paul, “Who is he that condemns – it is Christ that died, yes rather that is risen again” (Rom. 8:34. Rom. 4:25. 1 Pet. 1:3).  (Matthew Commentary, Chapter 28).

John MacArthur wrote,

The basic truth of the resurrection undergirds a number of other truths.

1.    It gives evidence that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. Jesus precisely when and in the way He had predicted (see Mt. 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23).

2.    The resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to be, and that He has power over life and death.

3.    The resurrection proves that salvation is complete, that on the cross Christ conquered sin, death, and hell and rose victorious.

4.    The resurrection proves that the church has been established. Jesus had declared, "I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it" (Mt. 16:8)... His resurrection proved that death itself could not prevent Christ from establishing His church.

5.    The resurrection proves that judgment is coming. Jesus declared that the heavenly Father "has given all judgment to the Son" (Jn. 5:22), and since the Son is now risen and alive, His judgment is certain.

6.    The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that heaven is waiting. Jesus promised, "In My house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you" (Jn. 14:2). Because Christ is alive by the resurrection, believers have the assurance that He is now preparing a heavenly dwelling for them.  (Matthew 24-28, Moody, 1989, p. 314-315).

CH Spurgeon,

      We gather together on the first rather than the seventh day of the week because redemption is even a greater work than creation and more worthy of commemoration and because the rest which followed creation is far outdone by the rest which ensues upon the completion of redemption. Like the Apostles, we meet on the first day of the week and hope that Jesus may stand in our midst and say, “Peace be unto you.” Our Lord has lifted the Sabbath from the old and rusty hinges where on the law had placed it long before and set it on the new golden hinges which His love has fashioned. He has placed our rest day not at the end of a week of toil but at the beginning of the rest which remains for the people of God. Every first day of the week we should meditate on the rising of our Lord and seek to enter into the fellowship with Him in His risen life.

Practice Abstinence

Most of us hear the word “will” and instinctively envision a celestial frown. The phrase “will of God” often conjures up the mental impression of an inflexible and colorless lawgiver whose sole concern is for his own reputation. But when I hear Paul speak of God’s “will” for human sexuality I think of his heart’s desire, his yearning, his fatherly passion for our maximum enjoyment of one of his most precious gifts. I hear God saying, “This is what I long for you to experience as a sexual being. I made you. I put those sexual impulses in your spirit and in your body. I created hormones. Trust me when I say that I know far better than you what will bring the greatest joy and optimum pleasure.” The point is simply that God’s “will” for you and me is always an expression of his love. So what exactly is it that God “wants” of us when it comes to our sexual behavior?
(Sam Storms, Sexual Morality, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission).

  

Many men think of the call to give themselves for a woman solely in terms of her protection. They say, “I would defend her if there was trouble. If someone attacked her I would step up for her protection.” But they fail to realize that when a woman enters a dating relationship, she mainly needs to be protected from the sins of the very man to whom she is offering her heart. The enemy that men need to stand up to is the one who lives within themselves: the one who is selfish, insensitive, and uncommitted. It is when that man is put to death that the woman will be safe and will be blessed in the relationship.  (Richard D. Phillips and Sharon L. Phillips, Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, P&R, 2006, p. 72. Used by Permission).