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).
