Thursday, May 21, 2009

He will never come to Christ!

(Arthur Pink, "The Sovereignty of God")

"You will not come to Me--that you might have life." John 5:40

"No one can come to Me--unless the Father who sent Me draws him." John 6:44

Why is it, that no one can come to Christ unless he is 'drawn'? The answer is, Because his wicked heart loves sin--and hates Christ! The heart of the every man is so "desperately wicked" that if he is left to himself--he will never come to Christ!

For the sinner to come to Christ that he might have life, is for him . . . to realize the awful danger of his situation;
to see that the sword of Divine justice is suspended over his head;
to awaken to the fact that there is but a step between him and death, and that after death is the 'judgment'! And in consequence of this discovery, to earnestly strive . . .
to flee from the wrath to come,
to cry unto God for mercy,
and to agonize to enter in at the 'strait gate'!

To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner . . .
to feel and acknowledge that he is utterly destitute of any claim upon God's favor; to see himself as 'without strength,' lost and undone; to admit that he is deserving of nothing but eternal wrath, thus taking side with God against himself;
to cast himself into the dust before God, and humbly sue for Divine mercy.

To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner . . .
to abandon his own righteousness;
to disown his own wisdom--
and be guided by Jesus;
to repudiate his own will--
and be ruled by Jesus;
to unreservedly receive the Lord Jesus as his Savior and Lord, as his All in all.

Such, in part and in brief, is what is implied and involved in "coming to Christ." But is the sinner willing to take such an attitude before God? No! For in the first place, he does not realize the danger of his situation, and in consequence makes no earnest attempt to escape. Instead, men are for the most part at ease, and whenever they are disturbed by the alarms of conscience or the dispensations of providence, they flee to any other refuge but Christ!

They will not acknowledge that all their 'good works' are as filthy rags but, like the Pharisee, will thank God they are not as bad as other heinous sinners.

They are not ready to receive Christ as their Lord--for they are unwilling to part with their idols! They had rather hazard their soul's eternal welfare--than give them up!

Hence we say that, if left to himself, the natural man is so depraved at heart--that he has no moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ!

"The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God!" Romans 8:7, 8

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Dead men cannot raise themselves -

3 comments:

Timm said...

People often ask me why I focus so much on the depravity of man. They think I'm too negative. I usually tell them that if other preachers would focus a little more on this clear truth of the Bible, I might not have to spend so much time on it.

Unfortunately, even some preachers are not willing to admit that they are not good people.

Dawg said...

"....if other preachers would focus a little more on this clear truth of the Bible, I might not have to spend so much time on it."

Ouch -

And you smiling preachers know who you are!! (Not that they would ever stop by here of course)

Steve Martin said...

Great post.

While we can and do "good" things for ourselves, our families and our neighbors...we can do nothing good where our righteousness is concerned.

We are born in active REBELLION towards God and only God can turn us around.

Jesus said, "I choose you".

The ramifications of this are very profound.