Now here's the text, John 5,
40. And you, and you will not come to me that
you might have life. Now I want to spend most of my
time in this hour looking at this
particular text But if you'll note, the text begins with the
word, and. So I think we must tie it in
with what our Lord has been saying prior to the text. He says, and
you will not come to me that you might have life. Now our
faith in the person and work of Christ is not based only on
what he said about himself. The Lord Jesus Christ had more
than one witness. He said back here in verse 31,
if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not truth. Suppose a man came along. Suppose
he came along. He was born of Mary and Bethlehem,
and walked out among the people in Judea, Jerusalem, Galilee,
and said, I am the Christ. Well, people did that before
he came. Let me show you that in Acts
chapter 5. We have no reason to believe
it. It appears as the only witness. What he said about himself, that's
what he's saying. If I bear witness of myself,
if I'm the only witness, then my witness is not true. There's no reason for you to
believe it. He says, I am the Son of God. I am Christ. I am
the Messiah. No reason for me to believe that.
His word is the only word I have. Well, over here in Acts chapter
5, verse 33, or verse 34, "...then stood there one in the council,
a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation
among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little
space." They were about to kill the apostles, the Sanhedrin,
the Pharisees. And this man Gamaliel, Dr. Gamaliel,
a man, a doctor of law, a teacher of the Jews, a man held in high
esteem, stood up and said, Now wait a minute, let me say a few
words. And he said unto them, Ye men
of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching
these men. For before these days rose up
Thutas, boasting himself to be somebody. There was a man called
Thutas. And he said he was somebody.
Perhaps he said, I am the Christ. Perhaps he said, I am the King
of the Jews. To whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined
themselves. And he was slain. And all as
many as followed him were scattered and brought to naught. After
this man, Thutis, rose up Judas of Galilee. Not the Judas Iscariot
now, but another. In the days of the taxing, and
he drew away much people after him. He also perished, and all,
even as many as obeyed him, or followed him, or believed him,
were dispersed. Now I say unto you, refrain from
these men. Leave them alone. If this counsel
or work, this work, be of men, it'll come to nothing. But if
it be of God, you cannot overthrow it. lest haply you be found even
to fight against God." So Gamaliel is saying this. This is not the
first man who says he's the Christ. This is not the first man who
rose up and claimed to be somebody special. He's not the first man
who's had a lot of people to follow him. There were 400 men
who followed Judas. There were many who followed
Judas of Galilee. And it all came to because these
men only bore witness of themselves. They had no other witness. So
Christ is saying here in verse thirty-one, if I'm the only witness
that I am the Christ, the Messiah, then you have no reason to believe
me. But look at verse thirty-two, I, there is another that beareth
witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesseth
of me is true. That is John the Baptist. John
the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. John
the Baptist was a man of miraculous birth. He was born when his mother
and father were quite old. God told Zacharias, I believe,
was his father's name, that his wife would bear a child and call
his name John. He was struck dumb because he
doubted God, and when the child was born, he called his name
John, and he came out speaking. John was filled with the Holy
Spirit. from his mother's womb. Christ said of him, None born
of woman greater than John the Baptist. And the Savior is saying
here that John the Baptist bore witness of me. John the Baptist
said, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the one
for whom we look. Jesus Christ is the one who will
baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost. But now read
on. Verse 36, But I have greater witness than John. Christ himself
said, I am the Son of God, I am the Redeemer, I am the Messiah,
I am the one for whom you look, I am the one of whom Moses wrote.
But if I'm the only one who claims that, and who knows that, and
who can bear witness to that fact, don't believe me. But John
bore witness to my kingship and to my lordship. And I have greater
witness than John, for the work which the Father hath given me
to finish the same works I do, that I do bear witness of me
that the Father hath sent me." What did Nicodemus say? Nicodemus
came to him and he said, We know that you are a teacher come from
God. No man can do the miracles which
thou doest, except God be with him. Christ said that these miracles
are credential. These miracles are proof of my
deity. For no man can raise the dead
but Christ. No man can give sight to the
blind but Christ. No man can cause the lame to
walk but Christ. Look at Luke chapter 7, verse
19. Now, when John the Baptist was
in prison, He sent some of his disciples to the Lord Jesus Christ
to inquire of him, Are thou he that should come, or do we look
for another? Are you the Messiah, or do we
look for another? Now, some say John sent these
disciples to Christ for the benefit of the disciples, not that he
had any doubt, but that he wanted his disciples to follow Christ
and not him. And so what did the Lord Jesus
say in verse 20? When these men were come to him,
they said, John the Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art
thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Are you
the Messiah? Are you the Christ? And in that
same hour, the Lord Jesus Christ cured many of their infirmities
and plagues and evil spirits. and unto many that were blind
he gave sight, then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way,
and tell John what things you have seen and heard, how that
the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised to the poor, the gospel is preached,
and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." So these
miracles are witnesses of the deity of Christ. These miracles
which Christ performed are proof of His Sonship, and He is the
Son of the Living God, the Messiah. Then verse 37, Christ said, I
have another witness. Verse 37, And the Father himself,
and the Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness
of me. You've neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his shape, but others heard his voice. At
the baptism of Christ, the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God
descended upon Christ in the form of a dove, and the Scripture
says, the voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And on the Mount of Transfiguration,
when Christ and Peter and James and John went to the top of the
mountain, and Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on either
side of Him, the voice from heaven again said, This is my Son, hear
ye Him. Now the Lord said, If I'm the
only one who says that I am the Messiah, the Christ, the one
for whom you look, don't listen to me. My witness is not true.
But John the Baptist, God's prophet, the last of the Old Testament
prophets, says that Christ is the Son of God. The very works
that he does, no man hath ever done, and no man's doing today.
And then the Father spake from heaven and said, This is my Son.
Now here's another witness. In verse 39, Christ said, Search
the Scriptures. Now many of the men who have
written commentaries on the Word of God says that This should
be translated this way. You are searching the scriptures. These Pharisees and these religious
leaders were scholars. They were men who searched the
scriptures. He said, you are searching the
scriptures for in them you think you have life. They thought in
these laws there was life. They thought in these religious
ceremonies there was life. They thought in the scriptures
there was life. You are searching the scriptures
for in them you think you have life. But there is no life in
the scriptures. There's no life in the law, there's
no life in the ceremony, none here whatsoever. A man can search
the scriptures from the time he's able to read till the day
he dies and go to hell, if he's seeking life in the scriptures.
That's what Christ is saying to them. You are searching the
Scriptures, for in the Scriptures you think you have life. They
are they which testify of me. The Scriptures are given to lead
men to Christ, who is the life and who hath life. But these
Scriptures testify of me. These Scriptures bear witness
that I am the Son of God, that I am the Savior. That's what
the Scriptures were given for, to bear witness to Christ. So
here you have all the witnesses. Christ said, I am He. I am that
prophet, that priest, that king. I am the Messiah. But you don't
only have to take my word for it. John the Baptist says, I'm
the Lamb of God. The miracles that I do bear witness
of my Sonship. The Father has spoken from heaven
and He has declared my Sonship and my Deity and my mission.
And the Scriptures themselves bear witness of who I am. Look up here at verse 46. He said, Had you believed Moses...
Now, Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
When he says, Had you believed Moses, he's talking about, Had
you believed the writings of Moses, you would have believed
me, for he wrote of me. The Scriptures are given to point
me in to Christ. Now this brings us to the text.
Christ said, John the Baptist tells you who I am and why I
came, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The
works that I do, your own leaders, your own religious leaders tell
you that no man could do the miracles I do except God be with
him. The Father from heaven hath declared who I am. You're searching
the Scriptures, hunting life in the Scriptures, but you're
missing the message of the Scriptures, for they testify of me. And,
look at verse 40, and in spite of all this proof, and in spite
of all these witnesses, you will not come to me, that you might have life. I want us to look at this text.
First of all, the word life. Men by nature are dead. There's
no need to seek life if one has life, is there? Christ said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. If coming
to Christ gives us life, staying away from Christ, then we have
no life. If a man already has life, then
there's no need to seek it. There's no reason to go anywhere
to get it. There's no reason to come to Christ for it. But
the life which Christ... You say, but men have life. We're
breathing. The kind of life that Christ
is talking about here, man doesn't have. The kind of life that Christ
is talking about here, man lost in the Garden of Eden. God said,
Adam, in the day you eat, in the day you eat of the tree of
death, that's what it is. you shall surely die." Adam lived
900 years after he ate that fruit. Physically he lived 900 years,
but spiritually he died. And every sinner away from Christ
or out of Christ is dead. He's not dead physically, he's
dead spiritually. Now turn to Ephesians chapter
2, and this is something that most religious people do not
understand. They just do not understand spiritual
death. They can't comprehend spiritual
death. Let me see if I can help you
with it today. Now let us establish this fact
first of all. The kind of life that Christ
is talking about, people don't have. Or he wouldn't have said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. Why should
I come to Christ for something I already have? So I don't have
the kind of life he's talking about. I don't have it. Man doesn't have it, or Christ
wouldn't say, you will not come to me that you might have life.
Man is dead as far as this life Christ is talking about is concerned.
Now, what we've got to determine is what kind of life he's talking
about that we don't have. What kind of death is upon the
human race? Well, first of all, it's spiritual
death. It says in Ephesians 2, 1, you have to equate them who
were dead. not dead physically, dead in
trespasses and sins. Look, if you will, at verse 4.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ by grace are you saved. And he hath raised
us up together, raised us from a spiritual grave, from spiritual
death. Christ said, You can't see the
kingdom of God unless you are born again, unless you have a
new life. Unless you are brought forth
from the state of death, you can't enter the kingdom of God
nor see the kingdom of God. Now, we know what it means when
a man dies physically. Some of you have buried a very
close loved one, and you've stood by the casket, and you've looked
at the body. Now, when a man's body dies,
What happened? Well, his heart stopped. His
physical heart stopped beating. Secondly, his lungs ceased to
breathe. And his eyes see no more. And his ears hear no more. You can shout at him, scream
at him, he can't hear you. And you can stand before him
and he can't see you. And the tongue can't speak to
you. Nothing about his physical body functions. It's all dead. It doesn't function. So he's
dead. You stand there and look at this
body, and the eyes don't see, and the ears don't hear, and
the heart doesn't beat, and the tongue can't speak, and the lungs
can't pump air. What do you say? Dead. He's dead. He's dead physically. What is
spiritual death? Spiritual death is the death
of the soul. And when Adam sinned in the Garden
of Eden, we died spiritually. As far as God is concerned, our
imagination lost its power to think on God. This man in the
casket here can't think. He's dead. And a sinner can't
think on God. And our wills lost the power
to choose God. Our wills were corrupted. and
became dead to God. Our wisdom turned to evil. Our
judgment ceased to function. Our memory became a storehouse
of evil. Virtue, holiness, goodness, righteousness,
honesty departed. That's what happened when Adam
took the forbidden fruit. Spiritually, he lay down in the
grave. Spiritually, he was separated
from God. Spiritually, all of his spiritual
faculty ceased to function like this. And that's our problem
right now. Light is coming to the world,
but men love what? They love darkness. Adam loved
God before the fall. Now men love darkness. Men love
evil. Adam loved good before the fall. But all of these faculties cease
to function, so we're dead in sin. Spiritually, we're dead. And that's the kind of life Christ
is talking about men do not have. They do not have spiritual life.
They have physical life, but spiritual life they don't have.
Spiritually, they're dead. Then secondly, turn to Galatians.
Here's another state in which man is in, another state of deadness. Legally, we're dead. Spiritually
we're dead. Legally we're dead. Look at Galatians
3 verse 10. Now watch this. As many as are
of the works of the law. And that's every human being.
We're all born under the law. When you come into God's kingdom,
you're subject to God's law. Everybody in Ashland is subject
to the laws of Ashland. If you live in this town, you're
subject to the laws of this town. And if you live in God's world,
you're subject to God's law. And when you break God's law,
you're a criminal. And you come under the curse
of the broken law and the penalty of the broken law. Look at it.
Everyone, as many as are of the works of the law, are under the
curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. It doesn't matter whether you break just one law or two
laws or three laws, you're a criminal. That's the reason James says
to offend in one point of the law is to be guilty of all the
laws. I don't have to kidnap, murder, rob a bank, betray my
country, burn down a building, and do all of these, break every
law in the city of Ashton and be a criminal. All I have to
do is break one law and then the law is after me. and the
law condemns me. And I'm under the penalty of
the law and I can be picked up by the law and tried and judged
and executed for one offence. And in the kingdom of God, we're
born under all the laws of God. And to offend in one point of
the law is to be guilty of all the law and is to be pursued
by the law and judged by the law and tried by the law and
executed by the law. He that believeth not, the scripture
says, is condemned already. We're already condemned. We're
legally dead. We're legally condemned. And
there's no appeal. The trial is over, the evidence
is clear and final, and the sentence has been passed. We're awaiting
execution, which brings me to the third thing, and that is
eternal death. What is eternal death? This is
the consummation of spiritual and legal death. This is the
execution of the legal sentence. This is the end of spiritual
death. Christ said, bind him hand and
foot and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. That's the state man is in. Look
at our text again. Christ said, in spite of all
these In spite of all these invitations, in spite of all of these testimonies,
from the Scriptures, from the works I do, from the voice of
the Father, from the prophets of God, that I am the Christ,
you will not come to me that you might have what? Life. You don't have it apart from
Christ. Now brethren, there's no life for the sinner in the
law, the law condemns. There's no life for the sinner
in the works of the law, in the deeds of the law. For by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. What the law could
not do, in that it was weak in the flesh, or through the flesh,
God sending his only Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned
sin in the flesh. There's no life for the sinner
in the church. The church cannot give life. The church is the
family of those who have life. There's no life for the sinner
in the ceremonies. The ceremonies and sacrifices
can never take away sin. There's no life for the sinner
in God the Father. That's right. There's no... The
Jews say they believe in God the Father. They say, we believe
in God, but we don't believe you. But there's no life for
the sinner in God the Father. There's no life for the sinner
in God the Spirit. Where is the life of God? Where
is spiritual life? Where is legal life? Where is
eternal life? Well, turn to 1 John 5, and let
this answer your question. Now, this is what I've established
in this message without one doubt. The sinner's dead. He's spiritually
dead. He can't think on God. Every imagination of his heart
is evil continually. Something's happened to him.
He's died spiritually, just like when a body dies and these faculties
cease to function. When a spirit dies, when a spirit
is separated from God, it ceases to function spiritually. Why
am I like I am? That's what many people say.
Why am I so evil-minded and rebellious and hateful and unlovely? Why am I like that? You're dead!
Why don't I love the word of God? Why don't I love God? Why
don't I understand the gospel?" You're dead. Like a blind man
can't see a beautiful sunset. He can't appreciate it. He's
blind. A deaf man cannot enter into beautiful music. He's deaf. He's deaf. And a man in a coffin
cannot enjoy a conversation with his loved one. He's dead. And
men spiritually are dead, and legally they're dead. They're
under the condemnation of the law. They're just like a man
on death row. They're waiting execution. The
law has already condemned them and pursued them and found them
and damned them. And they're just waiting execution. And that's the condition all
men are in by nature. Where is life then? Where is
spiritual life and legal life and eternal life? Here it is,
1 John 5, 11. This is the record that God had
given to us eternal life. And this life is in the law.
That's not what it says. And this life is in doing the
best you can. And this life is in coming to
the mourner's bench and praying And this life is in baptism.
If you'll obey the Lord and follow him in baptism, you'll be saved.
He says this life's in his Son. That's what it says. In his Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. He's dead. If somebody wants to rise up
this morning, in foolishness and ignorance in the face of
Holy Scripture and say, sinners are not dead. God says they're
dead. They have not life. And a man
who has not life is dead. You come, anybody of any sense
knows that. You come upon a tree and you
look at it and bring in a tree expert, specialist, and he says
the tree has no life. Cut it down. What does he mean? He means it's dead. Your wife
says, what does he mean it has no life? He means it's dead.
If you come up on a body in an automobile wreck and it's lying
there on the highway and a doctor stops by and he listens to the
heartbeat and takes the pulse and listens for breath and he
says, the man has no life. What's he mean by that? He means
the man's dead. Dead. There's no more use for
him. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Whether he's in the pulpit, or
the pew, or the Catholic church, or the Baptist church, or in
the office in the church, if he has not Christ, he's dead.
D-E-A-D, dead. That's what he says. He has no
life. But, brother of mine, I'm not
dead. Look at here. I can pinch myself and feel it.
You're not dead physically. But if you have not Christ, you're
dead spiritually. You can't think on God, you can't
commune with God, you can't know God, you can't enjoy God, you
can't worship God, you can't talk to God, you're dead. You
can't understand God, you're dead. You can't walk with God,
you're dead. Now, in Christ, all of this that
we lost in the garden is restored. Spiritual life, first of all.
Look at Ephesians 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, it says
here, You hath equipped them, verse 1, who were dead in trespasses
and sin. It tells all about you. But verse
6 says, He raised us up together with Christ, made us sit together
in the heavenlies in Christ. God hath raised you up, given
you spiritual life. And then in 2 Corinthians 5,
it says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, a new person,
a new being. Then we have legal life restored
in Christ. Turn to Galatians 3, in the third
chapter of Galatians, verse 13. Listen. Here the fellow is, he's
broken the law of God. He's sitting in his prison cell,
condemned by the law, awaiting execution, awaiting hell. Christ
comes along and says, I have for you a full pardon, because
I've paid you fine, and I've died for you, I've taken your
punishment. Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, from legal death. How did he
do it? He was made a curse for us. Because it's written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And Christ was hanged on a tree. He took our place. He took our
penalty. He took our wages. He took sin's
wages. He took our transgressions and
paid for them. And therefore the law set us
free. It had no further claim on us
because Christ met every claim of the law. Christ met every
charge of the law, satisfied it. And therefore the law Let
me go. And then turn to John 17, 3.
Listen to this. And we have in Christ eternal
life. First of all, I want you to look
at Romans 8, 1. Romans 8, 1. Now here I said there are three
areas that we covered talking about man being dead. First,
he's dead spiritually. Then he's dead legally. Now,
legal death is satisfied or put away in Romans chapter 8, verse
1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Legally, we're
dead no longer. Legally, the law has nothing.
John led us in singing a while ago. shook me up there for a
minute, he started saying, Whosoever will may come, and here I am
preaching on, they won't come. And I thought, what are you doing,
Doc? But he sang that 205, free from
the law, O happy condition, Jesus has bled, and there's no condemnation,
there is remission. That's what it's saying here.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them who in Christ. And in
John 17 3, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now then,
let's turn back to the text a minute, and just briefly let me answer
one or two questions. It says here in John 5 40, Christ
said, You will not come to me that you might have life. You
don't have it out of Christ. You're spiritually dead. Imagination,
will, thoughts, heart. You're legally dead. The law
has sought you and found you and condemned you and judged
you and sentenced you in waiting execution, which is eternal death.
But Christ said, if you come to me because I died for you,
you have spiritual life, you're raised from a spiritual grave,
you now love Christ. You love what you once hated
and you hate now what you once loved. The life of Christ is
within you. The nature of Christ is within
you. Oh, you retain that old nature and will until God takes
you out of this world and destroys it. But you have a new nature.
There's a new person. And you're legally alive because
Christ has satisfied the law and it has no other claims on
you. And you're awaiting eternal life, the eternal aspect of life,
that which lasts forever, which knows no death. But why do not
men come to Christ? Why don't they come? He says,
you won't come. Why won't they come? Well, let me say this.
The problem is not with the Father. Now, I'm a strong believer in
the free grace of God. I know whom God makes willing,
he'll be willing. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. I know that whom the Holy Spirit
awakens, they will come. But really, the problem is not
with the father. We cannot say, well, men are
not saved because God doesn't call them. God delights to show mercy. That's
what Scripture says. God delights not in the death
of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. God is plenteous in mercy. The
problem is not with the father. Secondly, the problem is not
with the son. Let's put the blame where it
belongs. Christ said, All that my Father giveth me shall come
to me, and he that cometh I will in no wise cast out. Christ said,
O Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you unto myself as a
hen doth gather her brood, but, but, but. He said, Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, I will give you
rest. Where is the problem? Well, the problem is with the
sinner. Christ said, You will not come. Oh Jerusalem, how oft
would I have gathered thee, but you wouldn't come." And men are
not going to curse the Father throughout eternity, they're
going to curse themselves. They're not going to curse the
Son, they're going to curse themselves. Why didn't I sue for mercy? Why didn't I seek the Lord? Why didn't I cling to Christ? They'll be blaming themselves.
People in glory are going to praise the Father for saving
them, but people in hell are going to curse themselves. You
will not come. Now, why don't they come? Well,
I can give you three or four reasons. Number one, they love
sin. Why don't they come to Christ? Why doesn't a person get right
up from where he's sitting this morning, come down this aisle,
and say to this congregation, I here and now receive the Lord
Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord and my King, and I shall
serve Him forever. You know why they don't? They
love sin. They have complicated lives. They have divided hearts. They
have hearts that love the world, and they do not want to be identified
with this way of life with this man, Christ Jesus, with this
salvation. I know what I'm talking about.
I have people who listen to our broadcast, and they say that
they admire the way I preach, and they admire what I believe,
what we believe here at 13th Street Baptist Church. And they
say to me and to others that the message preached on this
broadcast is the message of the Bible. If everybody who listens
faithfully to our broadcast and says it's the best preaching
on the air, we're here this morning, this whole building wouldn't
hold them. That's right. Well, you say,
why don't they come? They are identified with something
else. with which they don't want a
part. That's the whole thing. They do not want to be committed
and identified with the Lord Jesus Christ because it demands
a separation. It demands a coming apart. It
demands a personal identification. That's what it demands. And you
can sit outside and admire this message and people will leave
you alone. But once you become identified with this message,
they won't leave you alone. You mean you believe that? You
show you believe it by being identified with it. And they
know while you stand on the outside and admire it, you don't really
believe it. That's right. You are not identified with something
until you become a part of it. And when you become a part of
it, you've got problems. And that's why they don't come
to Christ. That's the first reason. They love sin, they love the
world, they love the honor that comes from the world. They do
not want to be identified with despised, hated gospel. And you can brag on the grace
of God out yonder where you work, and you can brag on this radio
broadcast, and people leave you alone because they know in your
heart you don't believe it, until you become identified with it.
until you come before this congregation and say, I believe it in my heart
so much that I want everybody to know I'm a part of it. That's
why they don't come. These people stood around and
admired him. Why didn't Nicodemus come to
Christ? He never was identified with Christ. This man, Gamaliel,
who said, Leave these men alone. Why didn't they throw him out?
Here he was bragging on the apostles. Why didn't they throw him out?
He wasn't a part of them. You have to be identified with
a thing to become a part of it. And they love their sins, and
they're going to stay with them. Herod went out to hear John the
Baptist. He admired him, but he loved
Herodias, and he wouldn't part with Herodias. He knew if he
joined John, he'd have to leave her, and he wasn't fixated. And then the second reason why
men do not come to Christ, number one, they love the world, they
love the honor that comes from the world, they love the companions
of the world, they love the sins of the world, they love all these
things that are in the world, and secondly, they don't come
because they really don't feel a need for Christ. The sinner thinks his robe of
morality is sufficient. He doesn't know that he's naked.
The sinner thinks that he's not, I'm not really a bad fellow.
He doesn't know that before God he's a rebel. He thinks that
God, I believe, I don't believe a good God will send me to hell,
you wait and see. He doesn't know that he's damned.
He really doesn't believe God will send him to hell. He thinks
that he's alive under God. He doesn't know that he's as
dead, just as dead as a corpse. I'll tell you another reason
why men do not come to Christ. They do not come because they
don't recognize the value of Christ. Before 1492, before Columbus
came to America, to this rich and beautiful and prosperous
land, why didn't people come? They didn't know it existed.
Once they found out about it, boy, they flocked to it. Before
Columbus, though, they didn't come. It was here all the time,
but nobody came. With its gold and silver and
minerals, it was here, but nobody came. But when Columbus discovered
it, they started coming by the thousands. Before he came, they
were ignorant of its existence. If you've never seen Christ,
if you do not know of his grace, if you do not know of his atonement,
If you do not know how sufficient his merit, and how wonderful
his obedience, and how great his salvation, if you don't know
it, you won't come. The man won't come. He doesn't
recognize the value of Christ, the beauty of Christ, the love
of Christ, the grace of Christ, as far as he's concerned. It's just this weak, helpless
Jesus I'm talking about here. That's all he hears about, poor
little Jesus. Poor little Jesus. They call their large brothers
the most high potentate. They call their God Jesus. They call their large brothers
the most worshipful master. They call their God the man upstairs.
Why don't they come? There's nothing to come to. Nothing
to come to. They don't know the value of
Him. They don't know the glory of Him. They don't know the sufficiency
of Him. They don't know the wealth of
Him. The wealth of all heaven is contained in Christ. If I told you over in my backyard
right now was a vein of gold that would make you fabulously
wealthy, everybody here would leave here and go put on their
overalls and grab a shovel and head for my house. But here I stand and tell you
this morning, the wealth of life, the wealth of heaven, the wealth
of the universe, the wealth of all things is in Christ! Why
don't you come to it? Huh? You don't believe me. You don't believe me. You don't
believe that. Why, you'd quit your job tomorrow
to dig for gold. You'd quit your job tomorrow
to dig for diamond. If you knew they were there,
if you knew they were there, and you'd quit your false friends
right now if you knew the value of Christ. If you knew that by
coming to Him you'd have peace and rest and joy and eternal
life and satisfaction and become an heir of God, become the greatest
millionaire in the universe, why, you'd come running to Him
right now. But you don't know the value
of Christ. Christ said you will not come.
And another reason why men don't come, and I'll close with this,
is found in Romans 10. Here's why they don't come. I
know, number one, they love sin. They love the world. Number two,
they don't feel like they need Christ. Now, old John Dillinger
might need him, and Joseph Stalin might need him.
And them awful fellows might need him, but I don't need him.
I'm not really all that bad." And then they don't recognize
the value of Christ, and then fourthly, they don't like God's
way of saving sinners. Paul said in Romans 10, "'Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved, for I bear them record.'" Oh, they have a zeal
of God. They're religious people. They're
not irreligious. They are religious. They have
a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. For they're being
ignorant of God's righteousness, God's way of salvation. They're
ignorant of God's way of salvation. At these churches around this
town right here, ignorant of God's way of salvation. Let me
give you an illustration. Don Fitz and I were riding along
the highway yesterday. We were going through Lake City,
Tennessee, one of those little towns down there between Knoxville
and Chattanooga. And it was a sign out in front
of the Baptist church. Big sign. As big as this Baptist
tree nearly. And it had three words on it.
Three words on the sign. Christ needs men. What's wrong with that? It's
backwards. Men need Christ. But that's what
the message is out here. It's backwards. They've reversed
the gospel. It's twisted. Christ doesn't
need you. That's a lie. That preacher's
preaching a lie. That church is advertising another
gospel. That's what Paul said. It's another
gospel. It's a perversion. Christ needs
men. That's a lie. Men need Christ. And half the preachers in this
town are preaching a perverted gospel. They're appealing to
the flesh. They're trying to build great
buildings and great churches and great crowds. They're trying
to get men to do something for God. Fellow, God needs to do
something for you!