fifth chapter of the book of
John, John chapter 5. If I had a title for what I'm about to say here
this morning, it would be this, God's Charge Against Us. God's charge against us. And I would use for a text, verse
40 of the fifth chapter of the book of John. John chapter 5,
verse 40. It says, and ye, and you, That pertains to every member of Adam's race. And ye will not come to me that
ye might have life. That's the charge. against Adam's
race, ye will not come to me that ye might have life." A man that comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, when I say man, I mean man, woman, boy or girl. A man who comes to the Lord Jesus
Christ commits his soul to Him for safekeeping. He trusts in Him and he hopes
in Him, in the Lord Jesus alone, for eternal salvation. He comes
to Him alone plus nothing, minus nothing. He comes with nothing in His
hand. He comes with nothing to put
on the table. He comes empty. He comes as He is. hopeless and
helpless to gain favor with God. He comes admitting and confessing
that there is nothing in him, about him, or pertaining to him
that would entitle him to the blessings of God's heaven. He comes like a beggar. He comes
like a pauper. having nothing, owning nothing,
just as He is, trusting in this man called Jesus
alone. Now, he that believes not the doctrine of Christ does not
receive If you don't believe in the doctrine of Christ, you don't receive Him. All that are outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ are condemned already. Over here in verse 36, of this 4th chapter, is it? No, not the 4th chapter. 3rd
chapter, maybe. Verse 17 of the 3rd chapter. I said, those that do not believe
the doctrine of Christ do not receive him because it says in verse 17,
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might
be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. Which is to say that he that
believeth not on him is already condemned. He does not wait to
be condemned. There is a lot of talk today
about judgment to come. And there is a judgment where
the goats will be on one side and the sheep will be on the
other side. But it is not a judgment to determine
the final end of a man. He has condemned right now every
man that does not believe on the Lord Jesus. Every man that
does not come to the Lord Jesus Christ for life is condemned
right now. And he is in what, in common
conversation, he's on death row. The fellow that blowed up the
federal building in Oklahoma. He's been on death row for about
five years. He's isolated. And it's a penalty
of sorts. But he's been condemned. They
had a jury trial of just men and women. And he had an advocate
to present his case The government had an advocate to present their
case and the jury weighed the testimony of both sides and come
to a conclusion that this young man was guilty and chargeable
with this crime of killing a couple of hundred people. And so they
incarcerated him and separated him to himself and locked him
up. And they watch him all the time. He's always under their scrutiny. He's on death row. Condemned. The judge has already
condemned him. The sentence has been pronounced. looks like that the sentence
will be carried out. It looks that way. All of the
victims of that awful catastrophe in Oklahoma desire that that
sentence be carried out. Some now think that maybe there
would be a loophole in justice and justice would not be satisfied. See, justice will not be satisfied
until the penalty is carried out in full. Now, he's on death
row. We're like that if we're out
of Christ. We don't wait to be condemned.
We're already condemned. We were condemned when we came
forth from our mother's womb, speaking lies and hypocrisy.
We were condemned then. We've been under the condemnation
of God all of these years up until the time that God's Spirit
quickened us and gave us life. See, we were dead in trespasses
and in sins, and we had no life. We had a physical life, but we
had no spiritual life. This is the life that counts.
This life which is in Christ is the life that counts because
it's the life that goes on and on and on and on and on. When we came into this world,
we were born condemned. And let's talk about the judgment
to come. that everybody's going to be
gathered before God, and He's going to weigh the good with
the bad. And if you've got more good than you had bad, why, He'll
say, enter into the joy of heaven. But that's not so. That's an
old wives' tale. That's a fairy tale. That's a
tale of gossip. There's no truth to it. We're
already condemned. He that believeth not, is already,
already right now, he's condemned. Who condemns him? God condemns
him because he's a sinner. Because he has not kept the law of God perfectly,
he's condemned and he's under the curse of the broken law. And the wages of the broken law
is death. So he now is in a holding pen. He's on death row now. And in
God's time, God will send him to hell, in God's time. Judgment is not for condemnation. Judgment is to carry out the
sentence. like the boy in Oklahoma. He's
in the holding pen. Sooner or later the sheriff and
his deputies or the warden and his deputies is going to go to
his cell and tell him it's time. You've got ten minutes, ten minutes
from the time that we take you from this place down to that
place where a man never comes back. It will come to pass with
the fellow from Oklahoma. It will come to pass with every
one of us who will not come to Christ for life. Life is in Christ. We are dead
in trespasses and in sin. Ye will not come to me. That's the charge against us.
You won't come to me that ye might have life. You won't come. The multiplied billions of people
alive upon this planet, earth, at any given time are under the
condemnation of Now you wouldn't think that a
fellow that was condemned already and in the holding pen in the
penitentiary in Indiana, you don't think that he would spend
all of his day laughing and joking and telling funny stories and
trying to be funny, joking with people, You wouldn't think that
would take place, would you? No, sir, and it doesn't take
place. When they put you in that holding place, and that door
is shut, and you're awaiting the consummation of the penalty,
you ain't joking. You ain't telling funny stories.
You're not hollering and laughing. You're thinking about something
else. The whole world jokes and laughs, having a good time, thinking
that they're going to live forever. They think that, well, it's all
right, let's have a good time, enjoy this, enjoy that, do this,
do that. No time for God, and the charge
is this, ye will not come unto me and get life. That's the charge against all
those that are condemned. And you don't have to wait to
be condemned if you're here this morning and you know not God
in Christ, you're already condemned. And you don't have to wait to
be condemned. You just wait for the sentence
to be carried out. Here in this third chapter of
the book of John, it says, He that believeth on him is not
condemned. The man that comes to Him, as
he is, hopeless and helpless, looking for a Savior that will
save him from his sins, save him from that penalty which is
the second death. He's not saved from the penalty
of the physical death. He's going to die unless God
intervenes. But he's not saved from this
spiritual death, this second death. He's not condemned. He's got hope in Christ. But
he that believeth not, doesn't believe the gospel, doesn't believe
who Jesus is, doesn't believe who or what Jesus has done, does
not love Jesus with all of his heart, does not follow Jesus,
does not live for Jesus. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. Why? because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He hath not believed. So he that believeth not the
doctrine of Christ and does not receive Christ as his Saviour
is already condemned and he is dead legally. He's dead legally
before the law. The law has declared him dead
legally and he is dead spiritually. So all of you here this morning,
including myself, who do not have life in Christ, are dead
and have no life and do not believe in God. Well, what does God say
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? In verse 37, maybe of the fifth
chapter, let me look. Look at verse 37 in chapter 5. This is the witness of God. What do the witnesses say concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ? Over there, we're talking about
John the Baptist. John the Baptist said, I'm not
he. I'm not the Christ. I bear witness
of the Christ. What do the witnesses say? What
does the Bible say? What does God say about Christ? If you don't believe the Bible,
you don't believe in Christ. You don't believe in the Bible,
you can't believe in Christ. You don't believe in Christ.
You never will believe in Christ if you don't believe the Bible.
The Bible is God's witness concerning his son. What does God say? He says, And
the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of
me, God the Father, the Father of light, the Father of creation,
the Father and controller of time and events, all wise and
all powerful, who has rights. He has the right
to rule, and there is no limit to that right. God has all rights
and all power. There is none like unto God. And God, our Lord says, bears
witness of me. He tells you who I am. Who is he? He is the second person
of the Trinity. He's God's beloved son. This is my beloved son, he said,
in whom I am well pleased. I bear witness of my son, my
only begotten son. I bear witness of him." That's
what our Lord said. He said, the Father himself has
sent me. He comes appointed and anointed. He's the Christ, the Messiah.
The Jews are still looking for the Messiah. He came unto his
own, but his own received him not. But to as many as received
him gave he that power to become the sons of God. They're still
looking. All these Jews that have the little white cap on
their head and the fellow that was running for president or
vice president, Democrat ticket last election time, the Jewish
fellow, I forget what his name is now, but he said that He couldn't
transact government business on Sunday or on Saturday. He
couldn't take his automobile. He couldn't get in his car and
drive down to the temple. He had to walk. He didn't take
the car because it was a sin against God. He doesn't believe
that the Messiah has come! He doesn't believe that. You
say, well, he's a good man. Well, in God's sight, he's condemned! and he's just waiting for the
sentence to be carried out. They don't believe that this
Messiah, whose name is called Jesus, is the sent one. He whom all the prophets talked
about and said would come. As a matter of fact, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the last prophet. He's prophet, priest, and The Father himself has sent me, half-born
witness of me, to tell what you know. When you go to court, Jeff's
a lawyer there, he can tell you. You go to court and to testify
on behalf of the accused or on behalf of the witness, You put
your hand up. They do it every time. Every
time they do it. Put your hand up, do you swear
to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help you God. That's
what they do. That's what it is. You've got
to tell the truth. Nothing but the truth. And if you lie, and
they catch you in that lie, you're going to go to jail. God doesn't lie. God cannot lie. It's impossible for God to lie. He's not a man that he should
lie. And the Father himself, he sent
me and hath borne witness of me. He's telling you who I am
and he's telling you about my work. He's telling you about
what I'm to accomplish. He's telling you how I will enable
him, God the Father, to be just and justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. And he said, Ye have neither
heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have
not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent him Ye
believe not. That's the charge against every
one of us. God's charge against us that
ye will not come to me that ye might have life. And why is it
that we will not come to him? Because we do not believe the
testimony of God. Ah, you can talk about this sick,
late 20th century religion. of hooping and hollering and
jumping up and throwing songbooks and singing and all that bit.
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the religion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking about this man here,
whom he hath sent. Him, ye believe not. Why, I said, search the Scriptures,
read the Bible. I said, if you don't believe
the Bible, you don't believe God, and you're never going to
be saved if you don't believe the Bible. Search the scriptures,
for in them, not them, but in the scriptures, ye think ye have
eternal life. But these scriptures, these Bible
verses, these sixty-some books that comprise the Word of God,
They are they which testify of me. The Father testifies of me,
the Word of God testifies of me, and the charge, ye will not
come to me that ye might have life. That's what the Father
said. Now, let me spend just a few
minutes on this. What is it to believe in God? What does it mean to believe
God? Just to believe in God is not
salvation. Oh, I believe in God. That's
not salvation, to believe in God. The devils believe in God
and are condemned and will go into torment. The devils believe
in God and while they're believing they're like this. They tremble!
They tremble! Devils believe in God and tremble! What does it mean to believe
in God? What does he say? He says that he bears witness
of Christ and that witness is Christ. He's the last prophet. That's who he is, prophet, priest,
and king. What is it to believe what all
these witnesses say? If you believe all these witnesses, you'll come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, if you believe the witnesses. The witness of John the Baptist,
the witness of all the prophets, the witness of God himself, the
witness of Christ, the witness of the Scriptures. If you believe
these four or five witnesses here, You will come to Christ. If you don't believe these witnesses,
you will not come to Christ and have life. Oh, it doesn't make any difference
what you know. Say, well, I know this and I
know that and I've been here and I've been there. It doesn't
make any bit of difference what you know and what you don't know.
If you don't believe these witnesses, if you don't believe the Bible,
if you don't believe God the Father, if you don't believe
the prophets, if you don't believe the written Word of God, then
you will not come to Christ. But if you believe them, you
will come to Christ. Believe these witnesses. believe the prophets. Well, someone
said, Well, what about old Moses? You believe Moses? I believe
Moses. Well, you say, Moses is the law. I believe in Moses. He taught
those people something. You know what Moses believed?
Let me tell you, he's a witness. Look up here in this last verse
of the fifth chapter, 46th and the 47th verse. Well, 45th verse. 44th verse. How can ye believe which receive
honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? All right, now listen to this.
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one
that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust. That's the
law. The Ten Commandments came by
Moses. You're trusting in the Ten Commandments. You're saying,
well, I don't... I don't cuss, I don't smoke,
I don't chew, I don't go to the picture show, and I don't run
with others that do. No salvation in that. You're
under some sort of a law. Well, even Moses in whom you
trust. Now, listen to this. Our Lord
said, If or for had ye believed Moses. Now, you fellows that
are saying you believe in Moses, Had ye believed Moses, ye would
have believed me, for he wrote of me." If you'd have believed Moses,
you'd believe me, because that's what he talked about. He wrote
of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe
my words? He charges us. He says, You will
not come to me. You won't do it. On your own,
you won't do it. It takes a supernatural power
to make us realize what we are in ourselves. Every man, you see, by nature,
by nature, every man by nature is dead and without life. doesn't
have life. Life's in Christ, and if you
won't come to Christ, you haven't got life. Every man by nature is dead and
without life, and you will not come to me that you might have
life. I have life, you say. Well, let me correct you. There
is a life that you need more than the life that you possess,
which is eternal life. And it's in Christ. And ye will
not come to me that ye might have life. You got a life, yeah. You're aware of some things,
but you're already condemned. And you need a better life than
the life that you have now. The life that you have now will
soon end. And you'll wind up, if you go
as you are determined by your nature to go, you'll wind up
in a place so terrible, I dare not think about it. It scares
me just to even think about it. Going into that vast territory, unmarked, uncharted,
that's dark, dark. down in the darkness of that
other world. You can't see a hand in front
of you. You can't see a finger as you
wave it, but it's dark. It's always dark. The light never
shines. Listen, you haven't got life. The life you need is eternal
life. And it's in him. But you won't
come to him to have that eternal life. You say, I have life. Well, if you have life, then
why did he say, come unto me that you might have life? You
don't have no life. You're dead. Legally and spiritually,
before God, you're dead. and you will not come to me."
If we have got to have life, invariably that means that we must be dead. You will
not come to me. If life is in him, we must be
dead. All of us are dead legally by
nature. God said to Adam, God said to
Adam, He said, The day you eat, you will die. He didn't die physically. He didn't die physically, but
he died spiritually and he died legally before the Law of God. Dead. He was considered by the Law
as dead. Now a person that is dead can't
do anything. Used to be a dead man couldn't
vote. Used to be like that. They had
men on the election board that checked these things out and
he couldn't vote if he was dead. But they say nowadays in some
places dead men are able to vote. But we know that a man by the
law is considered dead, and he can't do anything. For instance, there, Joe, is
a nice boat over there in that fella's yard, but it's for sale. It's for sale. But the man that's
dead can't buy it. He can't buy anything. He can't
do anything. because he's dead. Say, well,
there's an excursion coming up. We're going to take a Caribbean
cruise, and it's on a lower price. Instead of costing $500, it only
costs $250. You can't take that cruise because
you're dead, legally dead. All of you, all over society, All of you here this morning
that have not life in Christ are dead legally. Adam was dead
legally because he disobeyed God's holy law and he died. Alive but dead. Alive but dead is where it counts
most. the sentence of death, John 3.36,
condemned already, and says that the wrath of God, the wrath of
God abides on you, not will abide on you, not might happen at some
time or the other between now and death abide on you, but says
the wrath of God abideth on you now. Oh, my soul. Think of it. Death row. Got to know Christ. You will not come to me that
you might have life. You won't come. And you will
not come to me that you might have life. That's a charge. You
don't get nothing else I've said this morning. You remember that
in John chapter 5 and verse 40 is the charge. of God against
the human race. You will not come. You see, the
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ is coming by the grace of God. All of us are unwilling to come.
But when we are made to see, the natural man doesn't see this,
but a man who has some light. The light of God has shined into
his conscience, and his conscience has been aroused. It's a dead
conscience now, but it's been aroused. And he sees himself,
as God sees him, as one without hope. He needs a Savior. He needs his sins forgiven. He needs to have his sins blotted
completely out and never brought up in judgment against him. He
needs that. He needs a righteousness that
will make him sinlessly perfect before God's throne. He needs a life that will never
end. And all of this, forgiveness of sins, justification by faith, a perfect life, a sinless life,
a righteousness that will meet the demands of God's law is only
in Christ. When he sees how bad he is and
all this rolls up, he'll come to Christ. When he believes the
Scriptures, when he believes the Word, when he believes John
the Baptist, when he believes Moses, and when he believes the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, he'll gather himself up and say, I'm
coming to Christ. I'm trusting Him. He'll bring
my salvation. I'll never forsake you. I'll
never leave you. I'll be with you. That's the kind of religion I
believe in. Someone asked and said, well, what kind of a church
you got up there? I said, it's not mine. It's not
mine. I have no part by way of ownership. I said, it's what People would
call it a grace church. Well, they said, what is a grace
church? I said, a grace church is one
that preaches and teaches that man is absolutely worthless,
and it's a church that gives God all the glory.