As always, it's good to see you. And I do thank the Lord once
again for another time. We have to be able to meet together.
I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles, turn with me to the gospel
according to John chapter six, John six. I was talking with a dear friend
a few days ago, and our conversation was instrumental. And I believe
the Lord moved in my heart to consider this passage of scripture
this evening. It's concerning the preaching
of the gospel but the attitude of man by nature against it. Man's resentment to the truth
of God's free and sovereign grace. And as I read, I was looking
at the passage, sixth chapter, and as I looked over that sixth
chapter, I began to contemplate this absolute truth of why men
will not come to Christ. That's what I've entitled this.
Why men will not come to Christ. Now, we know that according to
the word of God, that all things are ordered by the Lord. All things are ordered, directed
according to his goodwill and purpose. And did I say John 6? Okay, forgive me, John 5, John
5. John 5, I had John 6 look in
there and I thought, well, that's not it. I was looking at John
chapter five, and in verse 40, the Lord is speaking, and here's
what he's saying to a group that's listening to him. And you will not come to me,
that you might have life. You will not come to me. You won't come to me. And you
know me, I'm gonna find out what exactly was he saying. You will not come to me. And
I began to look, and I looked at the word will and not, put
those two words together, and here's what the meaning is. You
will not come. Not in your mind, not in your intent, you have
no resolve, you're determined not to, you have no purpose,
you have no desire, no wish or love to do a thing. You will not come to me that
you might have life. Now, my thought was this. I know it's so. Why? Well, there's a short answer. Well, men are dead in trespasses
and sins. That's true. And they have no
desire. You will not come to me. Now, the Lord had told his hearers
He said in that 40, verse 40, you will not come to me that
you might have life. He told them that their searching
of the scriptures was something that they did. He said in verse
39, he said, search the scriptures. And I have looked and most of
the writers will agree that it's an affirmative statement and
it's saying, you do search the scriptures. You pour over them. You examine them. Search the
scriptures. And here's the reason for, because
in them, you think you have eternal life. And they are they which
testify of me. The Lord had told his hearers
that these scriptures that they were reading, these Old Testament
scriptures, What they were was the record of the Messiah. Now when the Lord was saying
these words, these words had not been penned as of yet. These disciples had not written
them. We have the New Testament right here. But the Old Testament
is what they had. And he was telling them in an
affirmative way. He said, you do search the scriptures
because in them you think that you can find reason. that you've
earned eternal life, that you have eternal life. You know how
many, you know where they are, you can quote them, you find
great, I mean, man by nature is religious. He's a religious
creature, and he likes to brag on it. I had someone recently,
and it's usually when somebody, when they're reminded that you're
a preacher, that's when it just pours out. And it's by nature,
men want to set forth how religious they are. He said, you do search
the scriptures. And so therefore, the problem
is not having the evidence of the scriptures, the evidence
of Christ. The problem is man's arrogant will against what the
scriptures are saying. That's the problem. He said,
you will not come to me. Now, when you tell somebody that
man has no desire to come to Christ, as man has no desire
to come to Christ, the initial reaction is going to be, they're
going to argue with you. But Christ is the setting forth of
the Messiah, that there is a people that God has everlastingly loved,
and he's chosen in the Messiah, the Christ, God, man, mediator. Now, man won't argue with you
if you're telling him that he wants to come to church He wants
to be one scene of man. He's not going to argue with
you concerning that. But when you tell a man by nature that
no man will come to Christ, when the Lord said, you will not come
to Me, He's the Messiah. God has a people. And He's chosen
these people in the Messiah, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world. And He's going to save these
people. He's loved them with an everlasting love. He's going
to effectually call them out of darkness under the preaching
of one message. One message. Now here's where
man will say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You're just getting
a little bit too particular right here. No, I'm saying that which
is so concerning these scriptures. Man, by nature, has no will,
no desire to be saved by the grace of God. Man will say, no, I believe in
salvation by grace. But when you explain to man that
salvation by grace means without any work on your part, Almighty
God does not account anything that all of our righteousnesses
are what? Filthy rags. And they're telling
me, say, are you telling me that God accounts nothing that I do? I said, that's exactly what I'm
saying. For by grace, are you saved? Now just listen
to this scripture. I'm just going to quote it. For
by grace are you saved through faith, through the way of faith
we believe God. For by grace, by the grace of
God, that we're saved, that we're rescued. For by grace are you
saved through faith. Now listen to these words and
let me ask you this. What problem can you see man
having right here? For by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourself. It's the gift of God. Man, by
nature, will not come according to the scriptures. Here's what
the scripture says. Verse 40, John chapter 5, and
ye will not come. You will not come. Man can say,
well, no, I'll come. No, I'm willing to come to the
Christ of this Bible, the Christ that we're talking about. You
will not come to me. You'll come to the altar. You'll
come to the front. You'll come to the preacher.
You'll shake his hand. You'll come to the fellowship
hall. He'll eat dinner with you. The scripture declares the Lord
Jesus Christ said, you will not come to me that you might have
life. So in Adam, here's what the scripture
declares, that man has a hatred, a resentment toward the Christ
of this Bible. You will not come to me. Though man may claim, I come to Jesus as long as he believes
that his coming is a foundation of his salvation. He'll go along
with you. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
says, you won't come to me, Lord, who are you again? Tell me, who
are you? He's the one in whom the Father
has chosen the people. He's the one that has laid down
His life for the sheep. He's the one that has established
and settled all the satisfaction of God's law. And the one in
whom all of God's sheep are securely kept, not of themselves. It's a gift of God. You will
not come to me. Find out who the me is. And when
you find out who the me is, you're going to find out that the Lord
is saying that man is spiritually impotent. Are you telling me that no man
can come except the Father which has sent me draw him? Is that
what you're telling me? You've heard me say this before.
I said, I didn't say that first. The Lord did. Yeah, I say that.
Yeah, I do. But it's the Lord that said that no man can come.
These Jews put all of their hope, all of their foundation of life
in their works, in their obedience. And the Lord told them no man
can come. Verse 41, 42, John chapter 5. I receive not honor
from men, but I know you that you have not the love of God
in you. Our Lord never sought nor hungered
after the applause of men. He said, I receive not honor. I don't receive the good opinion,
is what he's saying. The good opinion of men, the
glory, The fear of man brings a snare. And the Lord Jesus Christ set
forth. He said, I don't receive. I don't receive as valid. I don't
receive as necessary. I don't receive as having any
weight. The applause, the opinion of men. Almighty God, He's coming
to this world to seek His people and save them. And that's what
He's going to do. I don't receive honor. All the
honor, glory, and praise is from His Father. The Father who elected,
the Son who redeemed, the Spirit of God who calls out the people
of God. He said in verse 43, I'm come
in my Father's name. and you receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him you will receive. Now he came
from the Father. He came from the Father with
the Father's evidence of the works that he did while he was
on this earth. He came and he set forth the
glory of his father and the evidence of the miracles that he committed
while he was on this earth, gave evidence to who he was. And he
told them, he said, now, a man may come in his own character. That's what he was saying. He
said, I'm come, verse 43, I'm come in my father's name and
you receive me not. Another shall come in his own
name And we see it, you see it as plainly as it can be seen.
Men come in their own name under whatever title they might have,
whatever denomination they might have. I'm of this or I'm of that. I belong to this establishment.
He said, I come in my name honoring my father and you won't receive
me. You won't honor me. Another will
come in His name. That's what He said. I'm coming
in my Father's name and all that that name entails, all of the
glory that it sets forth. I'm coming in my Father's name
and you won't have me. Now you know, you that are listening
to me tonight, you know these words are so. Number one, you
know because the Lord said it. And you agree with them. But some of you have sat under
this gospel long enough to have witnessed this for years and
years and years. And you know that our Lord is
setting forth the truth of that which He's declared and that
which we've experienced. He said, I come in my Father's
name and you won't have it. You won't have it. If you think
this is not so, You start talking to somebody concerning the gospel
of God's free grace. And you tell them what God has
said concerning His honor and His glory and His sovereign grace.
You tell them. And then you tell me, unless
the Lord does something for them, you tell me what they say. That's
what He's saying. I come in my Father's authority,
my Father's name. my father's character, and my
father's glory. It says name. I mean, it's everything
that that name sets forth that is honorable and good. I come
in my father's name saying what my father said, declaring what
my father said he's going to do, telling you how the father
is going to save a people sovereignly without any input on their part. I come in my father's name and you won't have me. You won't
receive me. You won't accept it. Another shall come in his own
name declaring a lie, declaring a A message that Almighty God
is not going to bless. The saving of the souls of His
people. And Him, you'll receive. We have the evidence of God's
Word. I've heard people tell me this. I believe this book cover to
cover. Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll
see if the Lord gives me a heart to do it. I come in my father's
name and you won't hear him. Another comes in his name, you
receive him. How can you believe, how can
ye believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the
honor that cometh from God only? How can you hear? How can you
hear that which honors man and doesn't honor me? How can you
do that? Well, I can tell you this. It's
because man loves the praise of other men. Not the praise
of God. That's what he's saying. The
carnal heart's chief aim is to win the praise and the applause
and the opinion of other men. That's man by nature. The honor and opinion of the
Lord God is not sought after by man. By nature it's not. Man's desire is worldly honor. He desires the honor of a dying
creature. He desires the praise of one
that can only dishonor the Lord. I mean, this is just the Lord's,
you know, why, this was my original question, why men will not come
to Christ? Here it is. They don't love,
by nature, by nature, they don't love the God of this Bible. This is why they won't come to
Him. They don't love His message. They don't love His Son. They
don't love the truth. And they will not come to Him. The gospel of God's free grace
reveals that God humbles sinners. He brings them down. He puts them in their place.
He makes them to be beggars. Man by nature does not want to
be told that he's a a sinner. I told you about somebody
in my family years ago. I'm telling you that statement
just still rings today in my remembrance of shocking me. Had somebody in my family back
when I was in Louisiana. We'd gone and was listening to
a preacher of the gospel. And this person in my family
told me, he said, I'll never, I'll never, I'll never go to
that church again. And he didn't. My knowledge,
he never did. I'll never, he told me I was
a sinner. And I can remember the snarl
on his face. Man by nature will not come to
the God of this Bible. He will not. And if men say,
I will, unless God Almighty gives him a heart, he won't. He wills
not. He will not come. And he says
in verses 45, 46, 45 through 46, do not think that
I will accuse you to the father. There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe
not his writings, how shall you believe my words? Lord, my heart at this moment,
my prayer this moment is this, Lord, place the A-W-L, the all,
Place the all of your mercy upon my heart and bore by your power
and grace this truth to my heart because here's what I know. According
to these scriptures, there are some in this world and they're
born just like me. I mean, this is not something
that, you know, I'm just so far above anybody that he's talking
about here. Oh, no, no, no. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And I realize this, unless
Almighty God gives me a heart, you a heart, for this right here. You'll hear these words, and
you may sit here, and after I'm done in a few minutes, sing the
songs of glory, outwardly sing the praises unto the Lord, but
unless God Almighty gives you a heart and me a heart, to bow
to Him, unless He does something for me that I can't do for myself,
I know this, there's a judgment coming. Lord, keep us from that. Keep us, Lord, keep us. Unbelievers
will give an account of their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ
and His gospel. There's going to be an account
given. The Lord revealed that there was no need in Him accusing
anyone for not coming to Him, for not loving Him, for not praising
Him. There's an account that's going
to be given. And listen to what the Lord said. concerning the
accusation. This amazed me. You know, I know
what he says. I know what he says. He is the
judge. Man, you're gonna stand before
him. And whenever I read something like this and I'm thinking, well,
now I know he can't be right on that because I've read so
and so. Let me tell you, Whatever he
says is right. If it contradicts something that
you think, if it sounds like it's contradictory, let me tell
you the one that's wrong, you or me, but not him. And I think about his words here,
verses 45 to 46, 47. Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There's one that accuseth you
even Moses in whom you trust. These people were reading, I
told you a moment ago, they were reading the scriptures when it
was the Old Testament. They were reading Moses. They
were reading the books of Moses and the prophets, the Psalms. This is what they had. And he
said, don't think that I'm the one accusing you. He said, the
one that's accusing you is Moses. He's scriptures. I want you to
hold your place and turn to John 12, John 12, 47. John 12, 47,
just a few pages over. John 12, 47, 49. If any man hear my words and
believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world,
but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth
not my words, hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the
last day. For I have not spoken of myself,
but the Father, which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what
I should say, what I should speak. And I know that His commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." The Lord was
telling these people, these hearers, He said, The one that's going
to judge you is the Word that you're hearing
from me. He is the Word. He is the Word
of Life. Moses wrote of these things,
but who moved Moses? It was the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. The writing of Moses, under the
inspiration of God's Spirit, was distinct. It was unmistakable. All these types and these shadows
that we saw, these pictures, directed men to the Savior. All of the setting forth of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in those pictures, that arc,
that arc, that arc is a witness against all men that were not
only in that day, but all men like them. Why did men drown in the flood? Why did they drown? They wouldn't get in the ark.
They would not come to Christ. They wouldn't come to Christ.
They would not. They would not. They willed not. This is what I want to do. I
don't want to come. I don't want to come. When somebody
stands up and preach the free will of man, lies to people,
men will receive that, they'll embrace that, and all that's
fine, that's good. We love that. You let a man stand
up and set forth the absolute sovereignty of God. Did God have
a right to shut the door to the ark? Yes, sir. How many years
did they hear Noah preached, well, according to the scriptures,
I believe it was 120 years. 120 years. And when 120 years
was up, who shut the door? God shut the door. Why didn't any more get in the
boat than did? They didn't want to. They didn't
want to. They did not want to. You can say, well, they were
dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord said, you are without
excuse. Nobody's going to lay the blame
for any man leaving this world without Christ except the man
that will not come to Christ. You will not. You have no intent. You have
no desire. You have no inclination. You will not. I charge all of
us tonight, any man, any woman that is without Christ here tonight,
I'm gonna ask you according to the scriptures, why will you
perish? Why? Why will you perish? Why will you leave this world?
You will not come to me that you might have life. If Almighty God is pleased to
draw a man to himself, a woman to himself. He will. He's got the right to. But I'm
telling you, I have heard it and heard it and heard it and
it was brought back to my memory again this week. The blatant
disregard for God's honor by men, by nature. And when they
hear the message of God's sovereign grace, the first inclination,
the first word, the first thought out of a rebel's heart, mouth,
or whatever it is, that's not fair. And they will lay their
damnation at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's
what the Lord said, you will not come. You will not come,
that you might have life. Oh, but by God's grace, That
is absolute truth. All I've done is just gone right
through these scriptures right here and told you why men will
not come to Christ. And here's the short end of it. Like getting into a lot of long
doctrinal, you know, why you will not come or you intend not
to. I go through all those words.
You have an inclination to not come. You will not. You will.
You will not. You have no desire to come. You
have all of those meanings right there. Here's the long and short
of it. Man doesn't want to. He doesn't
want to. I have no desire to come and
sit under the gospel, the message of life. I have no desire. In
that day, Where's the blame going to be laid? You think on the
Lord? No, sir. You will not come. You will not
come. But if the Lord is pleased to
give life, the Lord is pleased to give a new heart, let me tell
you what happens. The vessel of His mercy sees
as it's revealed in God's Word. That the Lord has mercy and compassion. He's a gracious God. I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Lord, why not me? That song we sing, why not me? I'm going to save my people.
Lord, how about me? It's set forth in the scriptures.
The message of reconciliation is through the preaching of the
gospel, the hearing of the shed blood of Christ, shed in the
redemption of God's people. My question to me and my question
to you, why would we not come? Is it
too costly? Is it too demanding? Is it too
restrictive? Do I have to come every service? I mean, don't you think that
that's a little bit over the top? Let me ask you this. Do you ever tire of hearing how
Almighty God has had mercy on you? on me. I'm just going to talk for myself
and I'm going to hush. Lord, when I think about the
miracle of your grace, that you did not leave me to myself, but
that you were pleased. I'll just, you know, say I know
where I came from, out of Louisiana. I remember years ago being down,
running around with all my cousins and We'd be down there in the
swamps and go crawfishing and stuff like this. To my knowledge,
to my knowledge, of all my cousins, all of my immediate family, I've
got some in my family, some of my kids, but I'm talking about
when I, growing up, down there in Louisiana, to my knowledge,
I don't know one. I don't know one that the Lord
was pleased to call to himself. I don't know of them. But by
the grace of God, he gave me a heart. How was it but for his
grace that he would save a sinner like me? You will not come to
me that you might have life. Lord, would you save me? Lord, would you have mercy on
me? I claim no worthiness. I claim
no worth in myself. I'm just asking you. I'm just
asking you right now. Lord, would you save this sinner?
For Christ's sake, I pray these things.