Four Reasons Why Some Will Not Come to Christ

Introduction: The Tragic Words of Jesus

0:04 This evening worship service was held on July 28, 1991, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now may I encourage you to follow with me in your own Bibles as I read a portion of the fifth chapter of the Gospel according to John. John chapter 5, and I shall read beginning with verse 30 through to the end of the chapter, which is a record of the concluding section of one of the many discourses of our Lord in his encounter with the Jews in Jerusalem. One of the unique contributions of the Gospel of John is that we have these lengthy discourses of the Lord Jesus, which grew. He grew out of his debates and conflicts with the Jews in Jerusalem, and chapter 5 contains one such lengthy discourse. This is the last section of that discourse, verse 30. I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I seek not mine own will, but my own will.

1:27 As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I seek not mine own will, but my own will. But the will of him that sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. It is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

1:46 He hath sent unto John, and he hath borne witness unto the truth. But the witness which I receive is not from man, howbeit I say these things that ye may be saved. He was the lamp that burneth and shineth, and ye were willing to rejoice for a season in his light. But the witness which I have is greater than that of John.

2:13 For the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me. And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. He hath neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form, and ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he sent, him ye believe not. Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life, and these are they which bear witness of me, and ye will not come to me that ye may have life. I receive. I receive not glory from men, but I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not.

3:13 If another come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not? Think not that I will accuse you. For the Father, there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope.

3:40 For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me. For he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

3:56 Now before we turn to the exposition of the word of God, may I ask you with me to pray one very simple prayer. From the youngest to the oldest, you children, adolescents, teens, post-teens, to gray-haired men and women, will you pray one simple prayer as we unite in prayer, and that is that if no one else in this building hears the voice of God through the Scriptures, that you would be that one who hears the voice of the Son of God. Surely, anything Jesus would say from his heart, word to your heart would be in your best interest. What have you to fear by praying, O God, that no one else hears your voice tonight? May I hear your voice speaking to me through the scriptures. Would you make that your prayer as we seek the help and blessing of God the Holy Spirit? Let us pray. Our living Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto you, believing

5:15 that your heart is one full of pity to needy sinners, and we therefore plead that in mercy, in pity, in grace, and in the revelation of the glory of your own salvation, you would speak to hearts this night. Bind the powers of darkness in the virtue of your work upon the cross and in your mighty resurrection, and in your session of the Holy Spirit, and in far above principalities and powers. O Lord Jesus, will you not this night manifest the triumphs of your cross and of your open tomb by bringing to yourself some who at this moment are yet wedded to their sins, blinded by unbelief, but who by the end of this hour will behold the very glory of the Father in your face. Amen. Lord Jesus, for your name's sake and glory, hear our cry. Amen.

6:31 Now this blessed book from which we have read together, this book that we call the Bible, is an utterly amazing book. Being the very word of the living God, it contains truth so profound as to stagger the most brilliant but sanctified mind upon the face of the earth. It contains realities so sobering as to shock into sobriety the most giddy and the most shallow worldling, and it contains words of comfort and encouragement to put hope in the most despondent and despairing heart. But this book that contains things profound, sobering, and encouraging also contains some of the most sad and most sad and most sad words ever spoken upon the face of the earth. Words that taken at face value can only be called tragic words, bitter words, overwhelmingly sad words. And one such statement is found in the passage read in your hearing in John chapter 5, and it is found in verse

7:54 40. Some of the most sad words. Words found in all of the Bible. When Jesus had to say to living men and women who had seen him, who had beheld his mighty works, who had come into contact with his spotless life, men whom he had challenged saying, which of you can convict me of sin? And they were silent. Yet he said to them, ye will not. Come to me that ye may have life. Sad words. Will not come to me in all the plenitude of

8:45 my grace in order that you might have life. True life now and life eternal. Life in communion with God and under the favor and blessing of God. I the author and the giver of life.

9:05 I. Who will purchase life with my death. I stand before you and offer you life and ye will not come to me that ye may. Our Lord in speaking these words has just asserted that his claims with respect to his person have been abundantly attested. There was the witness of John to which he makes reference. The witness of the father. The witness of his works. The witness of scriptures. God said at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be confirmed, but Jesus said there were four witnesses validating that he was all that he said he was in his person and that he would do all that he proclaimed to do for sinners. The witness of John. The witness of the father. The witness of his works and the witness.

10:11 The witness of the scriptures. And all of them attested that he was and is the only savior of sinners. And that he is freely offered to all men in the gospel as the giver of life. He had said to them in verse thirty four I say these very things in order that you may be saved. So here is the author and the giver of life. His own life and his own life. And his mission attested by John, by the father, by his works, by the scriptures. And yet those who saw him and heard him and beheld the witnesses attesting the validity of his claims and of his mission. Concerning them he says these sad words. Ye will not come to me that ye may.

11:12 If this were merely history it would be sad history. But the tragedy is that the words of Jesus represent a tragic ongoing reality. The reality expressed in the lives of some of you sitting in this very building tonight who have had the Lord Jesus set before you in his word and by the attendant ministry of the Holy Spirit. Times without number. And the Lord Jesus has been set before you in the multi-faceted glory of his person and in the perfection of his work. And these words have been spoken to you again and again that you might be saved. And yet tragically it can be said of you ye will not come to him that you may have life.

Reason 1: Ignorance of Your Desperate Need of Christ

12:17 Now why is it? That you will not come. Why is it that these did not come? Surely there must have been in their own minds some rationale for their refusal to come to Christ who only desired that they should be saved and have life. He meant them no harm. He desired to take from them that which would damn them and give to them that which would bring them safely home to heaven with him. Who would refuse such a savior offering to take from them only that which is destructive and to give them that which is only beneficent in kind? What went on in their minds that they would not come to him that they might have life? To make the question more pertinent and personal, what goes on in your mind that you will not come to him that you might have life. For our meditation with this verse is the framework of

13:29 our study. I want you to consider with me tonight four major reasons why sinners, young sinners,

13:39 teenage sinners, young adult sinners, middle-aged sinners, old adult sinners, male and female sinners, polite sinners, notorious sinners, sinners of every kind and stripe and age, do not come to Christ in this place tonight. Four reasons why you will not come to Christ. If you are one who has refused to come to him, would you pray even now, O God, show me where I sit in the picture and give me eyes to behold reality. Why is it that needy sinners sitting here tonight will not come to Christ? Here's the first reason. The first and fundamental reason, and it was true of these to whom our Lord spoke, is ignorance of your desperate need of Christ. Ignorance of your desperate need of Christ. When Christ is set before you as the great burden bearer, as the only

14:55 Savior of sinners, the only refuge from the burning ashes of the world, the only refuge from the anger of God now and in the day of judgment, when Christ is presented before you in his gracious command and in his gracious entreaty that you would repent and believe upon him, that you would in the language of this passage come to him, he entreats, he invites, he reasons, he pleads, but all apparently in vain. Why will you not come to Christ? Why will you not come to him that you might have life? Well, in some of your cases it is because there is ignorance of your desperate need of Christ. It's supposed to be a true incident that a certain Christian had picked up a hitchhiker and as they were driving along the road they saw where someone in what might be a bit unwise zeal had taken a can of paint and painted on a large rock by the highway. Christ is the answer. And so the Christian thought he would take this occasion to open up an opportunity of witness with the hitchhiker whom he had picked up and so he commented

16:15 upon that question, the statement, Christ is the answer. But the hitchhiker said, what's the big deal? For I don't know what the question is. There on the rocker, but what's the question?

16:32 He's showing his utter ignorance of his desperate need. Christ. And therefore the statement, Christ is the answer, meant nothing to him. It was simply a symbol of religious fanaticism.

16:54 This burning question begins to be the question with which you live day and night. When you go to bed and when you awake. When you dress and when you undress. When you go out to play and out to work. When you sit down to eat or go out for recreation. When this question begins to burn within your breast. So can I, a guilty sinner, avoid being swallowed up in the wrath of a holy God because of my sins? That begins to be the burning question. You pass by a rock with the inscription, Christ is the answer. That will be wonderfully good

17:45 news to you. The reason why some of you will not come to Christ, even as these to whom our Lord spoke in his own day, is that you are ignorant of your desperate need of Christ. For it is to these same people that Jesus spoke in another passage in the Gospel of Luke, who were offended that Jesus was eating with the riffraff of Jerusalem. Eating.

18:17 With those who were notorious sinners. I'm sorry, it wasn't Jerusalem. It was in the northern part of Palestine. And they began to murmur and ask the disciples, why do you and your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus said, they that are healthy have no need of a doctor. But they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You see, those people have no felt sense of their own sin.

18:47 They had no felt sense of their need of Christ. And because they had no felt sense of their need of Christ, they would not come to him to obtain life, for they had no awareness that they were in a state of death. That is one of the major reasons why some of you sitting here tonight do not come to Christ. You are ignorant of your desperate need of Christ.

19:13 And this condition of ignorance is utterly, inexcusable. It is utterly inexcusable. The testimony of the word of God concerning your true state and condition as a sinner is as clear as the noonday sun. The Bible says you with me are part of a race that fell in our first father Adam. The scripture speaks explicitly to this issue and says in Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, Romans 5.12, As through one man sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all men, for that all sinned in Adam. This is why the same apostle could write in 1 Corinthians 15.22,

20:08 as in Adam, all die. When our first father partook of the forbidden fruit, the entire race was piggybacked upon him, and when We fell from God. We fell with him and in him. And we are sinners who fell in Adam, our first father, in his first transgression.

20:33 We are sinners by nature. In the language of David, he says, Behold, Psalm 51.6, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin. Did my mother conceive me?

20:48 This is why Paul can say in Ephesians 2, Who we were by nature, without having to do a thing. But be what we were. We were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. We are sinners by practice.

21:05 Romans 3, 10 and following. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth.

21:14 There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none righteous.

21:22 No, not one. And then he begins to describe how sin manifests itself in the disposition of the heart, in the activity of the tongue. And he culminates that description in verse 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

21:38 That is, they look out on life without the fear of God as the glasses through which they perceive all of life. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They do not live in the consciousness of their obligations to God, of the law of God, of the claims of God, of the rights of God. They live under the impulse of their own notions and passions and desires and impulse and appetites and inclinations.

22:09 But the fear of God is not that through which they view all of life and by which they shape all of life. And so for you to be ignorant. To be ignorant of your desperate need of Christ is utterly inexcusable. You have a Bible which tells you your true state.

22:30 Your Bible is like an honest physician of great integrity. He is unconcerned about your feelings ultimately. While he may seek to develop a gracious way of conveying the news of deadly and terminal illness. And while he may.

22:51 Seek to be empathetic and kind and gentle at the end of the day. If he's a physician true to his Hippocratic oath, he'll tell you the truth about yourself. And he will not take a few aspirin and all will be well. If you have a deadly cancer that will put you in your grave in three months.

23:15 And Almighty God has told us the truth about ourselves. And here in his word it's plain for all to see. And to read. But you will not come to Christ because you are willfully inexcusably ignorant of your desperate need of Christ.

23:37 That's why you will not meditate upon the Ten Commandments. You will not reflect upon God's law. You will not reflect upon your life in the light of God's law. Why?

23:48 Because the scripture says he that doeth evil will not come to the light. Lest his deeds. That's inexcusable. He said if you truly believed Moses.

24:01 If you read Moses with understanding and faith. You would come to me. For much of Moses was calculated to demonstrate that man is in the very core of his being a sinner. Whose only approach to God can be by the blood of an innocent sacrifice.

24:19 The great sacrifice being the Lord Jesus himself. My friend. You are inexcusably ignorant. You are inexcusably ignorant of your need of Christ.

24:30 For the testimony of the Word of God concerning your state is clear. And when you're honest the testimony of your own conscience is clear. Romans 2 14 and 15 indicates that even in the conscience of those who've never heard a word of gospel truth. Who've never heard a word of the Ten Commandments expounded from Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5.

24:56 God has left a witness within the breast of every man. breast of every man, and conscience accuses or excuses with respect to our deeds and thoughts and words and desires. Have you not known, if you're honest, that twinge of conscience when you've lied, young person? Have you not known that twinge of conscience when you've cheated at school, when you've mumbled dirty words under your breath, when you've deceived your parents and disobeyed them? Have you not known that twinge of that little moral monitor within who's accused you when you have sinned? Oh yes, you have known it, but you've sought to drown his voice, you've sought to bury his witness, you've sought to ignore his testimony. Therefore, your ignorance of your desperate need of Christ is indeed inexcusable. Now listen to me carefully.

25:58 Sit here tonight as one who will not come to Christ because of ignorance of your need of Christ. Hear me carefully. All men, women, boys, and girls will sooner or later be made very conscious of their desperate need of Christ. You hear me? All men, women, boys, and girls will sooner or later be made aware of their desperate need of Christ. You'll either be made aware of it now, while the door of mercy is open, and in the felt awareness of your need, come to Christ while he yet invites you, or you will meet him in the day of judgment when he will spell out your need before the whole universe. Hear the words, depart from me into everlasting fire, and then you will know too late your desperate need of Christ. But all men will be made conscious of their desperate need of Christ.

27:06 Be forced to acknowledge their need of Christ. Why, why, why, why will you wait until your need is forced upon you at the level of your consciousness? When now the Son of God stands before you entreating, the word of God is open before you, indicting you for your sins, and conscience speaks if you will only listen to his voice. God grant that if this is the reason why you will not come to Christ, you will see the folly of that posture of mind and heart, and own all that God says about you, and all that conscience bears witness to within your own breast. How much must you feel your need of Christ? As the hymn writer said, just so much as to make you know that you're only, and to make you know that you're only, and to make you know that you're only, and to make you know that you're only, and to make you know that you're only, and to make you know that you're only, and to make you know that you're only, the problem of your sin is in him. All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him.

28:19 Must I have enough to come to grips with that I deserve hell? I can't deliver myself, but Christ is able, and Christ is willing. That much, no more is, no less will do. No more, no less will do. Why did these people not come?

Reason 2: Impenitence Before the Demands of Christ

28:51 Because they had, wrapped themselves in their garments of self-righteousness, willfully blinded to their state of heart, and they would not come that they might have life. But then there is a second reason my men and women, boys and girls, do not come to Christ. They did not come in his day. They will not come in this day. Not only is it because of ignorance of your desperate need of Christ, but there's a second reason, and this is more appropriate for some of you. See if you can see yourself in the mirror of the word. Your condition is more likely to be described in this second heading. You are marked by impenitence before the demands of Christ. Impenitence before

29:42 the demands of Christ. You say, Pastor Martin, what do you mean? Well, simply this. The Lord Jesus who invites men to himself and says, come unto me.

29:55 The Lord Jesus who said, ye will not come to me that ye may have life. He is the Jesus who inviting men to come to himself commands them to forsake a course of sin and of self-centeredness. He said, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, follow me. That is, no longer must my will, my notions, my ideas, my goals, my ambitions, my notions of what real life is all about and by what standards I should live. Everything that grows out of what I am as a natural boy, girl, man, or woman centered in myself, my desires, my longings, my notions, my appetites, governing all that I do. Jesus said, you must return. That centeredness and self-sufficiency must be repudiated as the fundamental premise on which you live. And he says, you must follow him. That's to bring over into the language of apostolic

31:17 preaching the words repent. Paul said he preached repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20, 21. In Acts 5, 31, we are told that God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

31:32 God has exalted his son to be a prince and a savior, to give repentance and remission of sins. And there will be no remission of sins, no obtaining of life in Christ, unless we are prepared to bow before the demands of Christ, to be divorced from our sins, and to repudiate a life of self-centeredness. And that's the problem with some of you. You're not insensible to your sin. No, you have a consciousness of your sin.

32:10 You are, some of you, in dread of the judgment of God. Some of you, like me, live with foreboding thoughts of death, as I did every day of my life until I was converted at age 18. Living in the common dread that something might snatch away my life, and I would stand before God and say, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

32:33 I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

32:33 I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

32:35 I fell asleep every night with dread of sleep itself, for fear my sleep might be the very valley that would land me in hell. You know your sin. You're not ignorant of your sin, but here's your problem. You will not part with your sin, especially your darling sin, that you might have Christ.

33:00 And you know enough to know, having Sabbath sound preaching, it's not Christ plus my And here in this very context, notice what Jesus said to these people. What was their crowning sin upon which he focused the spotlight? Verse 44, how can ye believe who receive glory one of another, and the glory that comes from the only God ye seek not? He says it's morally impossible for you people to believe. That is, you cannot come to me until the honor and praise of God is more important than the honor and praise of men. You mean men will go to hell simply for seeking the praise of men more than the praise of God? God, yes.

34:03 Yes! You see the relevance of this to you kids? Oh, how important it is to have peer acceptance. I don't want to be thought weird.

34:16 If all my peers say that the in way to dress is as kooky and far out as people stepping out of a madhouse. Hair curled around your nose. Jeans spattered with every color of paint in the rainbow. Colors that don't match and match and everything, but if they're different, I'll be thought weird.

34:47 Mom and dad under my breath because they won't let me dress in a way that reflects not just innocent changes of style, but imitation of guarded people who are the trendsetters in clothes and bathing suits. I'll be thought weird being covered from here down to here. I'll be thought weird being covered from here down to here. I'll be thought weird being covered from here down to here.

35:21 What will everybody else...

35:24 You see kids, it's getting harder and harder for kids to get saved. Because the pressure of peer conformity pushed down by the commercialism of the clothing industry and the rock industry is tightening its bites. I weep inwardly when my JCPenney sales catalog comes for the fall clothing styles and I see the little kids. I weep inwardly when my JCPenney sales catalog comes for the fall clothing styles and I see the little kids.

35:52 I weep inwardly when my JCPenney sales catalog comes for the fall clothing styles and I see the little kids. With their weird clothes and their funny colored glasses. And with their Walkman rings on their ear-eyes. Here is a picture of kids saying, be like us or you're out.

36:11 You want to get saved? You've got to be willing to be a weirdo for Jesus' sake.

36:28 Keeping some of you from Christ just as it was these. How can you people believe Jesus said? Because you're more concerned about the praise and honor of your peers than the praise and honor of God. Remember the rich young man?

36:45 What was his promise? He wasn't shacked up with some playboy bunny. Robin Banks? He was moral and upright.

37:01 When Jesus probed him with the latter commandments to deal with horizontal relationships, he came up clean, outwardly. All these things have I kept from my youth up and the Lord says it's time now to drop the gloves.

37:16 Jesus loved him, the scripture says. And he said one thing you lack. You want eternal life? Eternal life is in me.

37:25 Therefore, if you want eternal life, you want me. And if you want me, I will have no other gods before me. Go, sell what you have, give to the poor. And thou shalt have treasure in heaven.

37:38 Come and follow me.

37:41 And it says the young man went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

37:46 What did Jesus do? Run down the road and say, fella, I'm sorry. I made it too hard for you. He loved him and let him go.

37:57 And let him go. That's the issue with some evangelists. If you love you, you will not come to Christ. Why?

38:03 Because you know to make one step to Christ is to take steps away from the thing that's most important in life to you. The acceptance of your peers, money, a career, marriage. What is it? What is it?

38:24 Oh, whatever it is, my friend. Is it worth the loss of your soul? Is it worth eternal burnings? Is it worth?

38:33 Is it worth? Is it worth no peace now? No rest of conscience now? No peace in life?

38:41 No peace in death? No refuge in the day of judgment? Oh, what a horrible thing to refuse to come to Christ because of impenitence before the demands of Christ. He is not demanding something unreasonable.

39:01 He is telling you to forsake that which will only destroy you. He is commanding you as a man would command a child, ignorant that the thing he holds is a bomb that will blow him to pieces and says, Son!

39:19 Is that a vicious command? It's a gracious command. And that's why God says, Cast away all your transgressions, for why will you die? Clinging to your sins is clinging to a bomb that will destroy you with everlasting destruction.

39:39 Whatever that thing is, whatever that person is, oh, my friend, may it not be said you would not come because of impenitence before the demands of Christ.

39:58 I would call upon you at the lowest level to behold the scarred, twisted lives of those wrecked by sin. What a cruel master sin is. Romans 6 likens him to a master. But call.

40:13 Calls for the service of our members. And what a grievous thing it is to see people in their twenties and thirties burnt out and blast and wrecked by so cruel a master. Oh, the horrible death of sinners who die with a horrible conscience accusing and go down to their graves to await the day of judgment. But I would ask you above all else to come with me to the cross if that's the issue with you.

40:48 You will not come to Christ because there is an issue that you refuse to resolve, to deal with. And you know you must. But coming to Christ as with a rich young ruler is inescapably bound up with dealing with that issue. Where should you view that issue?

41:10 Well, view it in the twisted lives. Yes, view it in the horrible death of the sinner. View it in the awful specter. The day of judgment for the sinner.

41:21 But above all, view it in the light of the cross. The one who says you will not come to me that you may have life is the very one who in a very short time in the presence of these very people went to the cross by way of Gethsemane.

41:41 Gethsemane with its bloody sweat and its agonizing cries. The cross with its shame and nakedness. The cross with its shame and nakedness. With its blood and gore.

41:52 The cross with its cry. My God, my God, what have you forsaken me? The cross with the shrouded heavens. The cross with the wrath of God being poured upon his only begotten and well-beloved son for human sin.

42:13 No wonder John Newton wrote, a bleeding Savior I have viewed. And now. I hate my sin.

42:24 That's the issue. The acceptance of your peers. Conformity to the standard of the crowd. That person.

42:38 That relationship. That ambition. Whatever it is.

42:46 Can you still coddle and fondle to your breast that which drove the nails into his hands? The spear into his side? Press the crown of thorns upon his brow? The lines of sorrow into his face?

43:04 Yes. From the piercing cry from his breath. My friend, if you can still cling to your sins while looking at that, you deserve to go to hell. If there were no hell, God would have to make one for people like you.

43:22 If you can say, my sins are more precious than the bleeding incarnate God. And God would have to make hell if there were none. He will not come. Why?

Reason 3: Unbelief With Respect to the Promises of Christ

43:39 Because of impenitence before the demands of Christ. But then there is a third. There is a third reason why many do not come. And it applied in that day as well.

43:51 And it's this. It is not so much ignorance of one's need of Christ. Or impenitence before the demands of Christ. But it is unbelief.

44:04 With respect to the promises of Christ.

44:09 With respect to the promises of Christ. The biblical teaching is very clear on this point. That Christ is both ready. Willing and desirous to receive and pardon any and every sinner who will come to Him.

44:28 Let me repeat that. The Bible is clear. That Christ is ready, willing and able to receive and pardon any and every sinner who will come to Him. He says, come unto me, Matthew 11, 28.

44:47 All ye who labor. And are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Again He says, him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.

45:02 John 6, 37. Again in the last book of the Bible. The Spirit and the Bride say, come. Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.

45:17 In the days of His humiliation here on earth. We see the Lord Jesus receiving all kinds of sinners. Notorious sinners. Such as that man, Matthew.

45:32 Who was a well-known chief publican. Harlots. Notorious sinners. Old sinners.

45:40 Young sinners.

45:43 Now how did they come? They all came the same way. By faith in His word of promise that He would receive them. You see, even in the days of His flesh, sinners had to come in terms of their confidence in the word of Christ, that He would receive them.

46:03 And He is not with us in the flesh, but His word of promise is here in the scriptures. We don't need to have someone come up to us at work and say, do you know, Jesus of Nazareth was in our town this weekend, and I heard Him say, him that comes to me, I'm in no wise cast out. And the sinner would say, I can't believe that. That's too good to be true.

46:24 I can't believe that. Well, I heard Him say it. Ah, you didn't hear Him rightly. You see, we need have no such question.

46:31 We can turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28, and we can say, Lord Jesus, this is what you said. This is what you said. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest, Lord Jesus.

46:48 Here is your word of promise.

46:52 And you see, with some of you, this is the promise. This is why you will not come to Christ. It is not because you're ignorant of your need. You feel it very keenly.

47:02 It is not that there's some darling lust, some wicked ambition, some perverse and perverted relationship. But I'll tell you what it is. It is a vile, wicked unwillingness to believe that God does not lie and the Savior does not mock us with empty promises. And of all the saints.

47:27 And of all the sins that will damn us. This is the crowning and the undoing sin. The sins that men regard as vile have all been forgiven by Christ. Murder, adultery, blasphemy, thievery.

47:41 None of those sins shuts the door to heaven if a man will but believe. You have never committed any of those sins if you refuse to believe the door of heaven is shut. It is the only bar to heaven and the unpardonable sin. Whatever that may be.

48:05 Otherwise the door is open. The door is open to any and every sinner who will believe the promise of Christ. And I plead with you children especially who have grown up as it were in the very womb of the gospel. Gospel truth and gospel promises.

48:29 And a bible and gospel conditioned conscience is part and parcel. A gospel of your life. What is it that is keeping you from Christ if it is not your unbelief? The gospel table is spread.

48:48 And all that Christ purchased for sinners is there upon the table. Forgiveness of sins. Peace with God. Acceptance before the court of heaven.

48:59 Adoption into the family of God. The gift of the spirit. The promise that you will be kept in this life and brought. Safe home at last to heaven.

49:09 It is all there at the table. But the Lord Jesus will not force feed you. You must come to the gospel feast. The feast is spread.

49:20 You must come. You must come. And how do you only way any of us have come? We have come as we have laid hold of the promise of God in the gospel.

49:32 And said oh God I do believe that you cannot lie. That you do not mock us. In our need. But that your heart is open to us in the word and promise of the gospel.

49:46 And God says he that believeth not shall be damned. Oh that you would venture on him. Venture wholly. Let no other call to faith.

50:00 To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reason 4: Unwarranted Expectation of Additional Revelation

50:05 Then there is a fourth and final reason why I fear some of you will not come to Christ. And I want you. To listen to me carefully. Because for some of you.

50:18 This is so subtle. It is not that you are ignorant of your need of Christ. It is not that you are consciously standing on some ground of sinful desire and pattern of behavior. Refusing to be budged loose by the grace of Christ.

50:35 And it is not that you have any rank unbelief about the word and promise of Christ. But this is why you will not come. You will not come. Because you have an unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation from Christ.

50:52 You have an unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation from Christ. And what do I mean by that? Simply this.

51:03 You have heard enough to know that God has a people called his elect. The Bible teaches that.

51:19 Safely at last to heaven. You know that in the very next chapter of John. There is a verse that says. No man can come except the father which has sent me draw him.

51:30 You have been well instructed. You have been catechized. Well taught at home. In Sunday school.

51:35 In the preaching ministry. We have unashamedly set before you the biblical doctrine of human inability.

51:46 Take in the devil's logic and said well. If only the elect will come. And all the elect shall come. And I cannot come except the father draw me.

51:57 Then I must wait. For something else to happen until I come. You won't find a verse in the Bible to justify that logic. Not a verse.

52:11 It is a subtle attempt of the devil to damn you. And to keep you from Christ. All under the guise of honoring the God of electing grace. My friend the God of electing grace is the God who says you must come.

52:29 And if you won't come. Based on the command. And you won't come in confidence. Based on the promise that he'll receive those who come.

52:39 God has no additional revelation for you. He has spoken in the word of the gospel. And that's why in the very passage we read last Lord's day. In our consecutive reading in Matthew's gospel.

52:55 Jesus finds no problem. Moving from this very glorious doctrine. Of God's solitude. Sovereignty and salvation.

53:05 In verse 25 of Matthew 11. Right down through to verse 27. He is praising his father. That the father has hid things from the wise and the prudent.

53:19 Has revealed them unto babes. He makes the declaration in verse 27. All things have been delivered unto me of my father. No one knows the son save the father.

53:31 Neither does any know the father. Save the son and he to whomsoever the son wills to heal him. Are we ashamed to preach that verse? No.

53:42 But then Jesus turns and says. Come unto me all ye that labor in a heavy lane. Notice he doesn't say. Come unto me all you that have a revelation from the father.

53:55 He had just said. No one will know me. Except there is a revelation made. By the father.

54:07 You'd think he would then say. Therefore all you that have this revelation come. No he says. Come all ye that labor.

54:15 And I will give you rest. What does he say? May I say it without being irreverent. You leave to God to handle the outworkings of his own sovereignty.

54:27 And you put your attention on your responsibility. And your responsibility and privilege is to God. Without any further revelation.

54:39 By a voice from heaven. Riding in the cloud. Eternally by some of what you would assess to be. Pre-venient work of God.

54:52 Giving you a sense that you're included among his elect. You have no warrant. Anything of that kind.

55:01 God comes to you as he comes to all of us. In the word and promise of the gospel. And if that will not be enough. According to Jesus.

55:12 We'll have to choose to be damned. I want you to turn. To a final passage with me. Where this is so clearly taught.

55:21 In the gospel according to Luke chapter 16.

55:26 Jesus taught it in the passage we've already considered. He said if you would really believe what Moses said. That is the old testament. You would come to me.

55:36 Because there I am the focus. Of the old testament revelation. As well as the new.

55:45 And this is affirmed by our Lord. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In Luke 16. You remember the discussion that is going on.

55:55 Between Abraham and the damned soul of the rich man in hell. And suddenly the rich man in hell becomes very concerned about others. And we read in Luke 16. And verse 26.

56:10 Besides all this between us and you. There is a great gulf fixed.

56:17 The day who would pass from hence to you may not be able. And none may cross over from thence. To us. And he said I pray thee therefore father.

56:25 That you would send him. To my father's house. For I have five brethren. That he may testify unto them.

56:34 Lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said. They have Moses and the prophets. That is they have the written scriptures.

56:44 Promises. Invitations. Warnings from God. In writing they have Moses and the prophets.

56:51 Let them hear. And he said no. It is not enough. Father Abraham if one go to them from the dead.

57:01 They will repent. And he said unto him. If they hear not Moses and the prophets. Neither will they be persuaded.

57:08 If one rise from the dead.

57:12 My friend may I say it this way. If you will not come on the warrant of God's free promise. And certain invitation to all and any sinners. You would not come if God sent an angel from heaven.

57:25 And showed you the way. And showed you the way. And showed you the way. And showed you the way.

57:25 And showed you the way. And showed you the way. And showed you the way. And showed you your name transcribed from the book of life.

57:30 That is the application. You will not come. You are what? You would say no, no.

57:39 The Bible says be not deceived that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. That is a devil's angel sent to deceive me. You see if you are set upon not coming. Even a transcription of your name from the book of life would not give you grounds to come.

57:56 God has spoken in the scripture boys and girls. He is not going to speak in any other way. He spoke in the scripture. He has spoken in his word.

58:04 He has spoken in his promise. And you will not come. Why? Because you have an unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation from Christ.

58:14 And that is exactly what these people did. Though he had been raising the dead. Healing the sick. Opening the eyes of the blind.

58:22 What did they say? They said show us a sign from heaven. It is not enough that the dead are getting up out of their graves. And getting up out of their coffins.

58:31 And walking around. That is not enough. It is not enough. It is not enough that people who have been paralyzed for life now have healthy limbs and run and jump.

58:38 We want you to make the sun and the moon and the stars play leapfrog with one another. Raise your hand and give us some disruption of the celestial bodies. Then we will believe. If Jesus had done that you know what they would have said?

58:52 Well that may be just our eyes playing trick on us. Do it with the next galaxy.

59:00 Jesus said no such sign will be given. He would not.

59:06 There was any validity. Do you see the pressing? On your conscience. You have no warrant to expect some additional revelation from Christ.

59:16 You have Moses and the prophets. And Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and Paul and Peter. And with one voice they say Christ is a willing Savior. Christ is an able Savior.

59:32 Christ is a seeking Savior. Christ is a receiving Savior. Go to him. Come to him.

59:40 He will in no wise cast you out. Don't wait for some additional revelation externally or internally. But conscious of your need. Conscious that Christ alone can meet the need.

59:54 Conscious that anything that would keep you from Christ is not your friend but your cruel enemy who seeks to damn you. Go to as you are where you are. On the ground of his word and promise to receive. Any and all sinners who thus come to him.

Conclusion: A Final Plea to Come to Christ Now

60:21 I close with the words.

60:25 Ye will not come to me that you may have life. What sad words.

60:33 Would the Lord have to write them about you at the end of this day? Another day in which you've heard the word of the gospel. The gracious overtures of the Son of God to you. Coming through his servant by his word.

60:50 Saying I am all you need for this life and the life to come. In the perfection of what I've done for sinners. And in the perfection and power of what I'm able to do for you. Come to me.

61:05 Will it be written of you and he.

61:09 John. She. Mary. He.

61:13 Peter. She. June. Will not come to me.

61:19 That they might have life. I'm closing to this Lord's day. If those words were written concerning you.

61:30 You would not come.

61:33 May it be written in heaven. That this Lord's day. July 28, 1991. That John came.

61:43 Mary came. Peter came.

61:49 And you know what you're going to find? He wasn't playing games. He meant every word he said. That he does receive sinners.

61:58 He does lift the horrible burden. Of an accusing conscience. He does change the record in heaven. And our hearts on earth.

62:07 He does give us the delight of the knowledge of God. And give us a will to serve him and love him. He does not mock us. I ask you young people.

62:19 Get up the courage to go ask some of the gray haired people among us. And some of us with receding hairlines. In the marks of age. Just ask.

62:29 When did you come to Christ? Do you regret you came as early as you did? Ask and see what answer you'll get. For those of us who were saved in our teenage years.

62:43 At times we weep bitter tears that we didn't come. When we were toddlers.

62:52 In years. Some of you who've come at age 25 and 30. You grieve that you wasted those 25 and 30 years. You've never yet met a Christian who said I'm sorry I came too soon.

63:08 But the world. Is full of people who do have a solid hope of heaven who go there. Grieving all the way. That they waited so long to come.

63:19 Don't join their ranks. Come to him who said suffer the little children to come to me and forbid them not. Go to him who welcomes sinners. Go to him now.

63:32 In your heart say Lord Jesus. I didn't fit that first category. I do know my sin. And as best I know.

63:42 There's nothing I would cling to. For it can only damn me. And as best I know. I don't believe you're a liar.

63:50 And I see that I have no warrant to wait for anything else. Lord Jesus. Take me as I am.

64:02 And he will take you. He will receive you. He will pardon. Pleads.

64:08 Forgive you. And he will make you his loving bond servant for life. And then take you to heaven forever. Oh.

64:17 Come. To Christ. That you might have life. Let us pray.

64:28 Oh our father. As we have sought to reason simply and biblically with the minds and the consciences of men and women and boys and girls. We're very conscious that we can only do what we've sought to do. But you oh God.

64:47 Must do what only you can do. And we pray that you would make your word effectual. That this day. There would be some who would mark this Lord's day as the day.

65:01 When by your grace. They came to the savior. Found him to be not only all that he promised. But much more than they could ever have imagined.

65:13 Oh father. For those. Who are in willful ignorance of their need. Pull we pray the blinders from their eyes.

65:22 For those who are clinging to some darling. One sin that will damn them. Show them the ugliness of that sin. In the light of the cross.

65:33 And in the light of the burning pit. For those our father. Who in wicked unbelief. Refuse to credit all you've said about your son.

65:42 Show them the vileness of that sin. And may they flee from it tonight. And for any who've been waiting for some additional revelation. Oh God.

65:52 May your word persuade them. That you've already spoken. In all you'll speak to them until the day of judgment. Oh God make your word effectual.

66:02 And for those of your people who have sat and listened. And prayed as the word has been preached. Give us renewed joy. That you overcame all of these obstacles in our hearts.

66:15 And that by your grace we have come. And oh fill us with a renewed sense. Of the privilege and the responsibility. To urge upon other sinners.

66:26 Who are on their way. To destruction. That they too might come to the savior. Hear our cry and bless your truth.

66:36 To the glory of your son. And to the good of our souls. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.