Reasons Why Some Will Not Come, Part 2

Introduction: The Assertion of Christ and the Problem of Refusal

0:04 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, October 29, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me, please, in your own Bibles to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 5. And we focus our attention upon the very pointed words of our Lord Jesus, spoken to the unbelieving Jews in a setting in which they have persecuted Him.

0:45 They have murdered in their hearts towards Him, persecuting Him because He broke their Sabbath rules by healing a man on the Sabbath. They have murdered in their hearts because they believe Him to be guilty of blasphemy, saying words which made Him equal to God with respect to the very essence of His own being and person. And in this setting in which He is laying out more of the claims that rightly belong to Him as Messiah and Sonatee,

1:29 of God, he says to these very Jews in verse 40 of John chapter 5, and you will not come to me that you may have life. And when our Lord Jesus spoke these words to these Jews in this setting, he is very clearly asserting, first of all, that spiritual life was to be found in him and in him alone. When he said, you will not come to me that you may have

2:08 life, he is clearly asserting that if they go to anyone else, if they turn to any other source, whatever else they may find, they will not find life. For later on, he would say, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. Furthermore, he is not only asserting that spiritual life was to be found in him and in him alone, but secondly, that men would receive that life

2:47 only by coming to him. He says, you will not come to me literally in order that you may have life. The only way to life is the path of coming to Christ Himself. The term coming to Christ being used in Scripture interchangeably with believing upon Him, with receiving Him, with trusting.

3:18 And here our Lord says that as men come to Him, will they receive that life that is exclusively in Him. And furthermore, our Lord is asserting in these words that when men do not come to Christ,

3:43 full of their refusal to come to Him. And you will come to Me. Literally, you have...

3:57 The very Christ who would say in the next chapter, No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him, is the Christ who in this chapter says that when men do not come to Him, they bear the full responsibility of that refusal.

4:41 Now when true life, eternal life is to be had in the Lord Jesus, and when the Lord Jesus offers Himself freely to all men in the Gospel, why do they refuse? Why do they refuse to come to Him in order to receive that life which according to Romans 6.23 is a free gift. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Reason 1: Ignorance of Desperate Need of Christ

5:18 And so we have been seeking to identify some of the major reasons as to why men and women, boys and girls, do not come to Christ. They will not come to Christ that they might find life in Him, seeking to identify those reasons, to show that they are inexcusable and to seek to persuade those of you sitting among us, of whom it can also be said, you will not come to Him. To abandon whatever reason it is that keeps you from coming to Christ, and that you might hear today,

5:59 Today in this place Christ and all of the gracious saving mercy and power that is to be found in him. And so this morning we considered the first of the reasons why some of you do not come to Christ and I described it as ignorance of your desperate need of Christ. He said I came not to call the righteous but sinners will have no need of the doctor they that are sick.

6:37 He said on one occasion he picked up a hitchhiker and as he was driving along the highway he saw one of these large rocky abutments where someone in well-meaning perhaps misguided zeal defaced public property by taking a can of white paint and painting in large letters Christ. As they drove by.

7:06 I am the hitchhiker saw the words Christ is the answer he cynically turned to my friend who had picked him up to give him a ride and said what's the question the answer what's the question. Well you see that's why some of you do not come to Christ because when you hear Christ is the answer you cynically answer what's the question. Well I know of nothing that embodies what the question is.

7:40 And why it is that Christ is the answer more beautifully than that hymn of Vinnie that begins with the words eternal light eternal light how pure that soul must be which placed within thy burning light shrinks not but with calm delight can live and look on thee but how shall I whose native sphere is dark whose mind is dim. Before the ineffable.

8:10 Here and on my naked spirit bear the uncreated deep spirits that surround thy throne may bear this burning bliss but surely that is theirs alone since they have never never known a fallen world like this.

8:31 You see that's the question order of Adam even born in sin just in sin from your mother's womb offending the holiness of the.

8:57 Is hung before that judgment and hear anything but the frightening words depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire Christ is the answer to that question and when the Lord Jesus said to these Jews you will not come to me that you may have life. Ace of many of them the reason they did not come to him was that they were ignorant of their desperate need of Christ.

9:31 They thought that their religious forms and rituals their bloodlines and their privileges these things were enough to give them good standing before God. This is validated by the prayer that one of them dared to piece of God's best presence in the temple when he said is recorded in Luke's gospel chapter 18 I thank you I am not his other men. He brings his feathers of morality and religiosity. And his religious activities thinking that by these things he can find acceptance and life with God.

10:14 And I plead again for any of you who will not come to Christ because of this willful deliberate ignorance of your desperate need of Christ if you have any concern for your never dying soul. Try to God that he would. Show you. And enable you honestly to see what you are in the light of the word of God and how desperately you need that which only Christ can give.

Reason 2: Impenitence Before the Searching Demands of Christ

10:47 And then we saw secondly that the reason why others will not come to Christ that they may have life. Is there impenitence before the searching demands of Christ to save people from their sins. It's consequences it's practice. And if we would indeed be joined to Christ come to Christ to be saved by him on his terms for his ends.

11:25 Then we know that we must be divorced from our sins. We are not asked to break the power of our sins. But we are called on from the heart our sins and to come to Christ that we might be delivered not only from. Their power and their practice as well as blessed be God one day from their very presence.

Reason 3: Unbelief with Respect to the Promises of Christ

11:55 Now tonight I want to pinpoint two other major reasons why it is true even today that our Lord Jesus would say to some in this very building will not come to me that you may have life not only ignorance of your desperate need of Christ in the case of some.

12:18 Impenitence before the searching demands of Christ in the case of others but thirdly unbelief with respect to the promises of Christ in the case of yet others with respect to the promises of Christ. Now the promises of Christ in the gospel are clear and all embracing.

12:49 Fill your words that you might have life. And the only explanation.

13:06 These words of promise of Matthew 11 and verse 28 come on to me that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you should rest reverently more enticing you that labor and are heavy laden.

13:59 And what will happen to you? I do make you to be more heavy laden and burden you down with a bunch of rules that will drive you in a direction to your highest ways and to your best interest. No to me or labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience.

14:36 Annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God.

14:40 And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. And I will give you rest rest from an accusing conscience annoying realization that there's more to life than simply feeding my belly and finding pleasure in the presence of God. and going through the stages of infancy and toddlerhood and childhood and preadolescence and adolescence and adulthood and midlife and old life and dying and rotting in the grave.

14:57 Relief from the horrible, burdenable question of what is life all about. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me. I am Ken Loli of heart. You shall find rest to your souls.

15:21 Could it be that some of these very Jews would hear those very words of the Lord Jesus and yet refuse wretched, horrible unbelief? And the familiar words, Jesus speaking through his servant, the Apostle Paul, quoting the words of an earlier servant of God, the prophet Joel, Romans 10 and verse 13, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall

15:59 a promise be more general, more all-inclusive, certain, more equivocal, who that call upon him. The very chapter of John, chapter 5 and verse 24, one of those statements where the Lord Jesus underscores its seriousness, its veracity and solemnity with his double amen, amen,

16:44 verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you. Look at verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He who hears my word and believes him that sent me has eternal life and comes not into judgment, but into life. The word of the Father.

17:20 The word of the Father in him and through him, and life would be theirs, and yet he said, You will not come to me that you may have life. The integrity of his own being as the incarnate God says, He who hears my word and believes him that sent me has eternal life and comes not into judgment, but is passed once and for all irrevocably, irreversibly, from death unto life. Here is word in chapter 6 quoted this morning,

18:02 but worth quoting again as we think of the promises of Christ. Verse 37. All that which the Father gives me shall come unto me, and him that comes unto me I will in no wise. So difficult to quote and to render the force of the original.

18:28 I will in no wise. I will under no conditions whatsoever in any circumstances. I will in no comes to me. Ah, but you say, Pastor Martin, the verse begins with the words, All that the Father gives me shall come, and I don't know if I've been given.

18:54 No, no knows if he's been given. It is unrevealed. And so the Lord Jesus never seems to be an impediment to our coming. But he says, All that the Father gives me shall come, and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.

19:22 But you say, I dare not come because I don't know whether I'm been given. My friend, you are abusing the promise. It is him that comes. You don't believe the promise.

19:39 You don't believe the promise. One of those faithful sayings, one of those five sayings that had become holy cliches among the early churches recorded in the pastoral epistles is this, 1 Timothy 1.15, this is a faithful, trustworthy saying, worthy of all acceptance, not worthy of admiration, not merely worthy of a theoretical assent that it is true for someone or for someone else, but worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world, literally, sinner,

20:21 trustworthy saying, not in a theoretical sense, life of the soul, and tell me I deserve damnation a hundred times over. Well, this saying is worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners, to save those of sinners, in sizes and shapes of sinners.

21:03 That beautiful illustration of how wide and how free and how utterly suited to all is the gospel provision in Christ in that beautiful illustration of the marriage feast in Matthew 22. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king who made a marriage feast and forth his servants, the original ones who were invited did not respond, and he sent forth other servants saying, tell them that are bidden, behold,

21:47 I've made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, come to the marriage feast. Things are ready, own virtue, that will contribute to the provision. All you need do is come,

22:26 promises of Christ in the gospel are clear, and in the course of his recorded ministry, we see Lord Jesus receiving the sins of sinners. In Luke 7, 36 and following, he receives a notorious sinner. People said if he only knew who she was, he would not be allowing this sinful woman to be showing the affection and gratitude for her forgiveness in the manner in which she is doing it.

23:10 Sinners, remember, there was a man who, times brought legitimate capital punishment, and he's hanging on a cross, and in the first hours of his hanging there, he's even joining in the mockery of the Son of God. It says they both cast the same into the teeth of Christ, and he joined in the mockery, joined in the tragic expression of the unbelief and the hatred of the leaders of the Jews. And yet, at the point where his eyes were opened to see, that in this one hanging on the cross next to him, was God's messianic king,

23:55 was God's appointed savior of sinners, he cries, Lord, remember to come in your kingdom. And Jesus, without adding any conditions or any qualifications, said, today, today, desperate sinner, vile, wretched outcast of society, and put to death, sinner will be with me in paradise. Love to show how he delights.

24:36 This was a blasphemer and a murderer described in the book of Acts as one who was and slaughtered. And yet the Lord Jesus graciously saved him. You see, how can God, I say it reverently, how can God make it any more clear with respect to his promises of mercy, pardon, and forgiveness than he has made it in the promises of his Son,

25:20 in the recorded ministry of his Son. And still, you will not go to this Christ, that you might have life. Why? In your case, it's not that you are ignorant of your need, and it may not be that there is some darling, some wicked ambition, some vile, some fiendish aspect of restitution, many of the things we touched upon this morning.

25:50 But in your case, the issue is this. You are guilty of unwillingness. Credit the testimony of God concerning his Son to cast the weight of your soul upon Christ as he comes to you, wrapped up in the promises. And I didn't know how else to...

26:18 When the shepherds visited the manger scene and found the young child wrapped in swaddling clothes, and they came to Joseph, may I hold this little one of whom the angels have told us is the Savior, Christ the Lord. They could not hold him in any other form but wrapped in the swaddling clothes. The only way you will ever hold Christ to your breast as your Savior is if you hold him wrapped up in his promises. He comes to us wrapped up

26:57 in the promises and of his forgiveness. And there is no sin that he will not pardon, cannot cleanse, and power cannot overcome in your life. But it's wretched, wicked unbelief. And you don't see unbelief as a vile and a wretched and a horrible, soul-destructive sin.

The Gravity of Unbelief as a Soul-Destructive Sin

27:32 But I want you to turn with me to Revelation 21 in verse 8 to see how God evaluates unbelief. Some of you look upon unbelief as though it were a sickness for which you have no responsibility. It's just something that came upon you. Whereas God used it in an entirely different life.

27:57 For in Revelation chapter 21, after speaking of the blessedness of the inheritance of the overcomers in verse 7, he that overcometh shall inherit these things, the things just described, and I will be his God and he will be my Son, but the fearful and unbelieving. Then he goes on to say, and the abominable, the vile, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, those who practice magical arts, dabble in the occult, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,

28:42 which is the second death. And you say, surely I can see while the vile, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, inveterate liars, surely their lifestyle is so antithetical to the moral standards of God that he will have to banish them from his presence in the lake of fire. But listen, who perhaps have never stained their hands with blood, have never defiled their bodies or the bodies of others with fornication, who do not give their minds to uncleanness, who never dabbled in the occult and in witchcraft, who do not have as a pattern of life a tongue that seeks and breathes out lies,

29:27 but they are found in this category, unbelieving, unbelieving, unbelieving. They heard the promises of God concerning Christ, Christ's willingness to save all who would come to him. They heard, agitated by the word of Christ, and why are they standing amongst the sorcerers and liars and murderers waiting to be cast into hell? Because they would not believe,

30:10 and in refusing to believe they would not come. As ignorance of your desperate need of Christ is inexcusable, for the Scripture says God who cannot lie, is the God who has promised. Christ who said, I am the truth, will not deceive. He has said the gospel feast is spread.

30:44 All of the dainties of full forgiveness and peace with God in the staples of justifying grace and adoption and the gift of the Spirit are there for the feast is. And by unbelief you linger outside the banquet hall, lost, condemned, under the wrath of God. Now do you see why when Jesus predicted the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 16 he said these words, And when he is come, that is, to the people of God, and then his influence is felt

31:28 through them upon the world. Notice what he says in verse 8 and 9 of John 16, And he when he is come will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, because they believe not on me. Apart from blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, whatever that sin is, there is no other sin that will keep you out of heaven

32:09 but the sin of unbelief. The presence of the holy people whose mouths are full of the vilest, and yet they will be welcomed as forgiven, cleansed, pardoned, glorified. There will be those that have been the very instrument of every vile, poor, sexual uncleanness, those whose hands have shed beyond the numbers

32:53 of those murdered with those hands, and sinners, and most intense kinds of abandonment to sin will be found cleansed, renewed, and there will be others who by the influence of the Christian family, and the instruction of family worship, and the example of godly mom and dad, and who by the influence of a godly church, and Christian education in the home or in the school, and by the influence of a gospel preaching pulpit will have lived very respectable lives. Their mouths not a conduit of vileness, and filth, and lies,

33:37 and dirty jokes. Their bodies have not been a playground of lust. Their hands have not been guilty of shedding innocent blood. Those who stand in that day and hear the words depart from me.

33:51 Why? They simply refuse to believe to the salvation of their souls. And would God that the Holy Ghost would come tonight and convict some man, woman, boy, or girl in this place of unbelief. Christ in all the glory of his person, in all the perfection of his work, wrapped promises set before you.

34:25 What you're doing if you walk away and you do not come to him. Horrible thing you are saying about Christ. He's unworthy to be trusted. He's unworthy to be believed.

34:41 He's unworthy of my heart's confidence. He is unworthy of my heart's abandonment to him. When anyone says that about the one concerning whom the Father said, this is my beloved son, hear him. No wonder God sends them to hell with murderers and liars and fornicators and idolaters and people who dabble in witchcraft.

Reason 4: Unwarranted Expectation of Additional Revelation from Christ

35:10 You see your unbelief says horrible things about Christ. Will the Holy Ghost break in upon some of you and make you free? It says some wretched things about the Son of God. But then there is a fourth and final category of those of you who will not come to Christ that you might have life.

35:43 And in your case it is not so much ignorance of your need of Christ. Sitting here tonight as a man, a woman, a boy or girl you would acknowledge I know enough of my sin to know and to believe in my heart if I died tonight and from death went to judgment. I know what my destiny would be. You are not ignorant of your need of Christ and to the best of your knowledge you are not impenitent before the demands of Christ.

36:16 To the best of your knowledge there is no darling lust like the rich young ruler's lust for his money. There is no specific issue that looms before you or combination of issues you say if I move toward Christ I know I must move from those into this or that activity and I just cannot conceive how I can bring myself to face the shame the humiliation the financial loss whatever it may be that's not your case. And neither is it a matter of blatant unbelief with regard to his promises. You say yes I believe every one of those promises that all who come to Christ

37:01 will be received. He'll cast none away. I do believe the table is spread things are ready and all who come are welcomed. But what is it that keeps you from coming to Christ?

37:17 Listen carefully this may be the issue for some of you. It's what I'm calling an unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation from Christ. An unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation from Christ. And what do I mean by that?

37:40 Well I mean this you've been brought up in a home from your childhood. Your parents rightly so taught you the word of God catechized you. You were brought up in a church that is held to traditional historic orthodox reformed theology so that from your infancy the terms God's chosen God's elect have been part of your consciousness. You've been made to read your Bible and have your own devotions.

38:09 They've been structured into your life by your parents family worship reading of the scriptures and you know that ultimately only God's elect will come all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. You know that His elect will come and so you've reasoned and said well until I have something to indicate that I'm one of the elect I have no warrant or I must have some additional revelation beyond what is found in the Bible before I can come with confidence that I'm not presuming upon the grace of God

38:54 that I'm not presuming upon the mercy of God for surely the Bible speaks of the horrible sin of presumption and I do not want to take what may not be given to me and so in your mind what you have done is set up a determination that you must have some additional revelation from Christ before you will come to Christ. Now you don't expect that revelation in terms of an audible voice out of heaven no you expect that perhaps somehow in the midst of the regular reading of the scripture family worship

39:39 in your own reading of the Bible in the middle of the night some text that speaks of the mercy and the forgiveness and the pardoning of God will fasten itself upon your mind with unusual power and with unusual intensity and you will say aha this word marking me out as one of his own now I may come or perhaps you're expecting that you must first of all see some evidences of God's regenerating work in you giving you a hatred for sin for the word of God that you've never known and when you

40:24 see some of those marks of regeneration in your own consciousness you say then knowing I'm regenerate I will have a warrant on the Lord Jesus whatever it is it is an unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation from Christ and you know why it's unwarranted because God said in this very setting the Lord Jesus look at our passage John chapter 5 he said to these Jews you search the scriptures verse 39 because you think that in them you have eternal life these are they

The Classroom of Hell: The Sufficiency of Scripture

41:08 which bear witness of me these are they which bear witness of me and you will not come to me in other words what the Bible says that the Lord is not ready for you the Lord is not ready for you to judge you and to put you down and so then he said to Jesus see this is this Sister there is and this is

41:53 an engineer Insisting insight that comes out of hell regarding this fourth reason why some of you will not come to Christ. The insight comes straight out of hell. God wants to teach you in the classroom of hell lest you end up there. Turn to Luke chapter 16.

42:18 The account of the rich man who died and went to hell.

42:27 The beggar dies and is carried to Abraham's bosom. Verse 23. And in hell, in Hades, he, the rich man, lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.

42:48 Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. Abraham said, Son, remember that you and your life. Your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things. But now here he is comforted, and you are in anguish.

43:11 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. The day who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross over from thence to us. Now all of a sudden a man who had no concern for his own soul has a great evangelistic passion for his brethren. And he said, I pray thee therefore.

43:32 Father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. They have the word of God written.

43:55 Let them on the basis of what is written. Assess themselves as worthy of going to the same place. In which you are, let them from the words of God, the words of the prophets, let them hear of God's promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent, let them hear the words of the prophet who pointed to the suffering servant of Jehovah, who would bear the sins of many, and by his suffering and death, justify many. Notice his answer.

44:37 It is clear that Abraham did not answer the Lord's words. And he said, No, Father Abraham. The bareness of scripture is not enough.

44:47 No, Father Abraham. But if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. Some additional revelation is needed. And He said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.

45:08 The doctrine that the testimony of the word of God in its naked authority is not enough. That something more is needed before you will repent and inhale. And if you believe it and keep from Christ, it will take you there.

Arrogance, Not Humility: The Nature of This Unbelief

45:37 Is this why some of you, dear children, young people, adults. The Lord Jesus says to you tonight as he said to the Jews of his days. That you will not come to me. That you may have life.

45:53 And if he were to ask you why will you not come. You would have to say well even your words. You have an elect people and they alone will ultimately come. And yes they shall all come.

46:07 But I don't know if I'm one of them. And for me simply to come on the naked promise. On the bare testimony of the word of God. That's presumption.

46:16 The Lord Jesus says to you. He says no that's arrogance on your part. To say that what I've declared is not adequate.

46:26 That's arrogance. You say oh it's humble. I don't want to presume. No that's not humility.

46:31 That's a screen behind which you're hiding your wretched unbelief. And you're saying you have a better scheme of bringing in God's elect. In addition to the general word and promise and invitation and command of the God. You something he's never promised to give to anyone.

47:01 Who made you God to tell him how to do his work. That's your problem. It's the arrogance of your pride of self-imposed godhood. And get on your face and say oh God.

47:17 I marvel you hadn't sent me to hell before now. That I would dare to tell you that you needed to do more. Than you've already done. That you needed to reveal more.

47:31 Than you've already revealed. And before this night is out you say oh God. By your grace. I will believe Moses and the prophets.

47:41 I will believe the Lord Jesus who says whoever comes to me. Not who comes to me having had some additional revelation that he's one of the elect. No, no he simply says him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. You don't come as an elect sinner.

48:00 You come as a hell deserving sinner. You don't come as a sinner who knows he was chosen in Christ before the foundation. Of the world. You come as a sinner who knows he will sing in hell.

48:15 And for whom there's no hope but in the Lord Jesus and you cast yourself upon him. Don't you make complicated what God has made beautifully simple in his word. Could it be that that's why some of you. The Lord Jesus says to you tonight you will not come to me.

48:37 You have an unwarranted expectation of some additional revelation. from Christ. And I say you do not go to Christ as an elect sinner, but as a needy, hell-deserving, penitent and believing sinner. And you will find His promise true.

Final Plea: Come to Christ on His Terms

49:03 He will in no wise cast you out. So we come around full circle to where we began this morning. In this transitional Lord's Day, before we get locked in to the two new series of studies,

49:19 the great burden of my heart is that there sit among us all together too many of you who have heard all together too many times concerning Christ and the fullness and the freeness of His salvation. You've been urged. You've been invited. You've been threatened.

49:38 You've been warned. You've been wooed. You have been by every biblical means urged to come to Christ. In the confidence that in Christ there is a full and a free pardon for all of your sins. There is a righteousness

49:57 that answers to the very righteousness of God. A righteousness comprised of the stuff of Christ. Perfect life lived on behalf of all who will be hidden in Him by faith. A righteousness comprised of His death upon the cross under the curse of God that satisfies divine justice for all of the sins of all who will be hidden in Christ.

50:25 You have been pleaded with. You have been warned. You have been urged with thunders, with whispers, with tears, with entreaties. And yet alas, Jesus says to you, you will not.

50:40 You will not. You will not come to me that you may have life. Oh may God grant that tonight will be the last time the Lord Jesus ever has to say that to you. And that you may find His promise true.

50:58 Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. On what basis shall I come, Pastor? From the basis of His gracious command. For this is His commandment that you believe on the name of His only begotten Son, 1 John 3.22. On the basis

51:17 of His promise, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Who soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You see that's so simple. Yes.

51:33 And that's why it's a stumbling block to many. There is a profound mystery in the gospel that stretches the mind of the highest intelligence of the most elevated archangel. But there is a glorious simplicity that the youngest child sitting here conscious that what he is is a sinner who deserves to go to hell may say there's much I do not know, but I know my sin will damn me and I believe God's gift of Christ is sufficient for me as a sinner. I come to Him as a sinner.

52:13 I trust myself to Him. I put my sin-sick guilty soul into His hands to forgive, to pardon, to cleanse. I give myself to Him to be His, to follow Him, to serve Him, to trust Him until one day by His grace I go to be with Him. Dear people,

A Solemn Warning and Prayer for Salvation

52:39 for two to three hours I sat in my study yesterday and just read passage after passage from the gospels and particularly from the book of the Revelation and a few from the epistles describing the last day, the separation of the sheep, and of the goats, the casting away of the bad fish, the gathering in of the good, the binding of the tares, and the gathering of the wheat, the great white throne, the separation of the sheep and the goats. As I sat in my study, I said, O God, have mercy on those whom I'll face tomorrow

53:23 who unless you rescue them, they're going to be part of the bundle of the tares, the bad fish, the goats on the left hand, those not written in the Lamb's book of life. Dear people, young people, children, I plead with you, don't take another Lord's day and treat it in a light and frivolous manner. Hear the words of Jesus. You will not come to me that you may have light, and him that comes I will in no wise

54:07 cast out. Our Father,

54:23 we can only cry to you, God of life and saving power, that you by your Holy Spirit will take your word and make it that very word that imparts life and salvation. We pray, O God, that as we have sought to expose the lies and the subtle deviations of the human heart that would keep men and women and boys and girls from coming to your beloved Son, O Father, make your word effectual unto their salvation. And may this day be the

55:06 day that many will mark as the day when no longer could it be said of them, you will not come to me. But, O, that it may be marked as the day when they were made willing in the day of your power and came to the Lord Jesus. We pray for your dear people, that you will increase in each one of us a genuine spirit wrought burden and concern for those all around us who will not come to the Lord Jesus, that they might have life. Grant us increased

55:49 compassion, increased boldness, increased determination, that we shall seek to win them, to woo them, to warn them, to instruct them. And, O God, we ask that we will yet see many who will to lay hold of the Lord Jesus and all the fullness of saving grace and power that is in Him. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are accessible to the neediest of sinners. Thank you for your mighty power. O

56:31 Lord Jesus, we confess that we do love you. We confess we do trust you to save us all the way to heaven. Receive our praise and seal your word we plead. Amen.