READ: JOHN 5:1-16/39-47 TEXT: v40
Ye will not come me that ye might have life
Assuming that you are all familiar with Twitter – best described as a social network site – someone tweeted this message during the week:
Friend: "I've come to the conclusion
that, either God didn't choose to show me mercy, or he doesn't exist."
so Calvinists, your response?
This got me thinking as you would expect
So I made reply – limited to the 140 characters:
No. Your friend is saying: "I love darkness rather than light because my deeds are evil" (John 3:19) Keep pressing John 5:40
What this Tweeter’s friend had found was an excuse
They had discovered the doctrine/election as it is revealed in the
word/God, but instead of building upon it and using it to come to the
conclusion i.e. God is a God of mercy/grace to undeserving sinners,
they wickedly decided to use it as a shield/cover for their sins
There is a huge difference between a reason and an excuse
A reason is something that is acceptable and which stands the text
An excuse (quote/Billy Sunday) is the skin of a reason stuffed/lie
In a parable which Jesus told, we read of three people who all began
with one accord to make excuses why they could not come to a great
feast – the great feast signifying the gospel provision
Their excuses were silly excuses which did not stand lightest test
I have married a wife and I cannot come etc.
But even the most elaborate excuse is like the leopard that cannot
change its spots - it is still a wretched rejection of the gospel
In the parable (Luke 14) the excuses made the one who invited them angry
So it is when we snub the gospel invitation & a million times more
so when we try to dress it up in a so called theological argument
I hope this friend soon sees the errors of their ways and gets converted
I hope/pray that he/she will come to love the light more than the darkness
If one sits among us tonight who is still not saved, then let them not
search for the cause anywhere else other than in their own wicked hearts
If you want a good Calvinist/Reformed comment on the cause/condemnation:
“Accordingly, we should
contemplate the evident cause/condemnation in the corrupt nature of
humanity – which is closer to us – than seek a hidden and
utterly incomprehensible cause in God’s predestination.”
(John Calvin Institutes 3:23:8)
Our text (John 5:40) ought to urged upon every sinner
Why are you still unsaved?
Ultimate answer: Because ye will not come to Christ etc.,
Sometimes you can know just enough of the Bible to be dangerous
If you think that God’s sovereignty affords you some cover, then
remember that the same Book teaches man’s responsibility
What the sinner needs is a good sobering dose of man’s responsibility
4 things to observe/text:
1) THE SINNER, DEAD IN HIS TRESPASSES & SIN NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE LIFE IN ORDER TO BE SAVED:
A/ Our text is clear that life is found only in Jesus Christ
It is something to be had upon coming to Him
Those who have not come do not then possess life
B/ Such life is called/Bible spiritual life or “eternal life”
[i] Unsaved people obviously have physical life
They breathe – they think – they talk – they move etc.,
They possess this physical life often for a long time
Then they cease to breathe and cease to live in the physical sense
[ii] Unsaved people may be said to have a business life or a social life
They make contributions to this life by what they say and do
This is not the life that is under review here in our text
C/ Eternal life relates to the soul which every one possesses
We know that man is a lot more than a glorified beast
Man has a conscience and an innate knowledge of the Holy
He cannot live on bread alone (materialism) but by the word/God
Man has a soul that will spend eternity either in heaven or in Hell
The soul has an immortal existence
The body is only the casket that contains the jewel
D/ The soul of man, because of sin, is rightly diagnosed as being dead in its trespasses and in sin (Ephesians 2:1)
What does this mean?
[i] Left to itself, the soul will always run after the sinful
[ii] Left to itself, the soul will always reject the good and holy
[iii] Because of chosen sin, the soul will not seek after God
There is none that seeketh after God (Romans 3:11)
The soul is not merely in danger of death or half dead etc.,
It is in the grip of death
Left
to itself – without regeneration – the soul will pass unsaved out of
this day of grace and offered life into the second death i.e. hell
E/ Here is the true consequences of sin
The Devil must really be the greatest and most successful liar who ever existed!
His propaganda machine has fooled billions into thinking that sin is either good for them or (at the very least) not so harmful
This is not what the Bible says
The Bible says that the way that seems right unto a man are the
ways of death (Proverbs 14:12/16:25) and that this death so envelopes the guilty soul as to render it dead to the things of God
E/ That is why you cannot save yourself
Your soul incurs guilt because of its sin
Your soul incurs a paralysing death because of its sin
Your soul incurs a hatred of divine truth because of its sin
So much so – that the Bible declares two great demanding truths:
The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God & neither indeed can be
No man can come to Christ except he be drawn by the Father (John 6:44)
Sin has rendered man unable to come to Christ
It is not that God has chained man or that a big hand keeps man back
He is his own jailer – bound by his own sin & corruption
He is dead in his own trespasses and sin and needs the life/God in his soul
2) THIS LIFE, WHICH IS FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE, IS OFFERED FREELY TO ALL:
A/ In our text the Lord Jesus declares Himself to be the Giver of life
He does not do so as part of a team or in partnership with any other
Without 100% consistency/accuracy He always used the singular: “me”
B/ Please remember to whom Christ was speaking these words i.e. the Jews
They are those who (v45) claimed to trust in Moses
But what good was their religion doing them?
They claimed they trusted Moses, but this was clearly not the case (v46-47)
Furthermore, their religious profession did not prevent them from seeking to slay the Lord Jesus (v27)
What is this telling us?
[i] No religion can prevent the hold of spiritual death taking grip
[ii] No religion can impart the life that the dead soul urgency needs
You tell me that you are a faithful Protestant!
Indeed, you are a conscientious FP to boot!
Your credentials/impeccable as far as outward religion is concerned
But you could have all things and still be dead in your sins
Sabbath keeping and outward piety is not beyond the dead soul
There is such a thing as Christless Christianity
It abounds on every hand
Paul
wrote to the Corinthians and urged them to examine themselves to see
whether or not they be of the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5)
It was not so obvious without examination
Here’s the bottom line:
If
Jesus Christ and Him alone without your contributions of any kind are
not the sole reason you have for claiming to be a Christian, then you
are still dead in trespasses and sins
C/ But here is the Good news/Gospel:
There is life in Jesus Christ being offered to you
Even though these words/text are a rebuke – yet that very fact supplies the proof of our statement
Why would the Lord Jesus berate the Jews for not taking what isn’t there for them to take?
D/ What is this eternal life ?
It is the life of God that your soul is hungering for
It is the implanting of power to break off the shackles/sin
It is the implanting of power to actually come to Christ
It is restoration into fellowship with God once again
It
is the implanting of a new nature that declares war on sin and falls
continually in love with everything that is holy and pure
In short: it is everything contained in the word Salvation
E/ Earlier on (v25) the Lord Jesus spoke of a time then present:
Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
It is only Jesus Christ in His Divinity who has the power to impart this life
It is His voice that speaks life to the dead soul of man
F/ This One who speaks these words of encouraging rebuke has invited all to come and partake of eternal life
In 3:15/16 He uses the word whosoever and those words can never be whittled down or whittled away
Again, it is appropriate that we quote Mr Calvin on this word whosoever
And he has employed the universal
term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life,
and to cut off every excuse from
unbelievers. Such is also the import
of the term World, which he formerly used; for though nothing will be
found in the world that is worthy of the favor of God, yet he shows
himself to be reconciled to the whole world, when he invites all men
without exception to the faith of Christ, which is nothing else than an
entrance into life. (John 3:15-16)
Yes! We can flee to the Lord Jesus and find a welcome there
Listen again to His words; Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out
3) THIS LIFE IS GOTTEN ONLY BY COMING BY FAITH TO JESUS CHRIST:
A/ Here we must put emphasis on the word come
Jesus said: Ye will not come to me that we ye might have life
B/ There is little use knowing that there is eternal life only to be in found in Christ and yet not come to Him to receive it
This is the major complaint here in this text
C/ Why do we insist that it is by faith?
Or to be more Protestant and Evangelical about it: Faith alone?
[i] To this insistence agrees the whole of the word/God
Your dead in trespasses/sin state prevents you from bringing anything of your own to appease God
Why would God want your self styled good works?
They are so stamped by sin and spiritual death, that they are condemned and dismissed in Isaiah 64:6 as filthy rags
[ii] It is by faith alone because Christ has done everything necessary to secure it for you:
In v46, Christ claimed that Moses wrote of him
So he did – on many occasions
The great occasion Christ Himself drew attention to: John 3:14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
This is a reference to the Cross where Jesus cried: It is finished
If Christ has done all that is necessary to secure our salvation, then
there is nothing we can do but simply receive it as our own
Therefore you need to come to Christ to be saved
You need to come in repentance and faith to Him
Forsake your sin and your self righteousness
Come to Christ in order that you might have life
4) THE SINNER WHO MISSES THIS LIFE MISSES IT BECAUSE HE REFUSES TO COME TO CHRIST:
A/ Two key verses on this matter
Their truths are often foolishly pitched one against the other
That’s no way to treat God’s word i.e. either/or – take both
[i] John 6:44/65 says: The wicked sinner cannot come in himself to Christ
[ii] John 5:40 declares that such will not come
The answer lies in both here
Remember what we said: The sinner binds himself with his own stubbornness
He erects barricades of his own making
He invents excuses – none of which ultimately stand the test
Again it is not amiss to quote John Calvin on the text:
He
again reproaches them that it is nothing but their own malice that
hinders them from becoming partakers of the life offered in the
Scriptures; for when he says that they will not, he imputes the cause
of their ignorance and blindness to wickedness and obstinacy. And,
indeed, since he offered himself to them so graciously, they must have
been willfully blind; but when they intentionally fled from the light,
and even desired to extinguish the sun by the darkness of their
unbelief, Christ justly reproves them with greater severity.
B/ I really must make and press personal application of this matter
What is it that holds you back from coming to Christ
None of your excuses will ever work:
God’s court of law will not uphold one of them
[i] You say: If you knew what I knew about Christians…
Ans: You are not being asked to believe in Christians
You are commanded to believe in Christ – the One who knew no sin
[ii] You say: I have done my own deal with God outside of Christ
Ans:-
Even if your deal was real (It is not) yet it would be of no worth –
because if God changed His mind once & rejected His Son, then he
could change His mind again and scruple your so called deal also
Better men than you talked about deals with God and died in their sisn
C/ Quit the excuses and embrace the Saviour
He is a waiting and a willing Saviour – He invites you to come
Come now and be converted.
Appeal
THE END