There is a verse in my Bible, in
the book of Revelation, which I love and
I often use it as the freeness of
the call to the gospel.
It's Revelation 22, 17, which declares, And the
Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let
him that heareth say, Come, and let him
that is the thirst come, and whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely.
I love that verse, friends, with all its
promises of eternal life to the thirsting individual
who feels their need of a Savior from
sin.
But I think we overemphasize the whosoever will
aspect of that verse because the sad reality
is nobody will.
Nobody will come to Christ until they first
see their need of him.
And that's the title of my message today,
friends.
Nobody will.
In this day of easy believism, we fail
to be honest with folks and tell them
the truth about themselves, that their hearts are
so bad they will not come to Christ
for forgiveness for sin.
Now, multitudes will gladly accept the little Jesus
of the modern gospel who stands helplessly at
the door of the sinner's heart, knocking until
somebody lets him in.
That kind of harmless Jesus is the popular
Jesus of the perverted gospel of our day.
And just about anybody will be okay accepting
him so they can have their free ticket
to heaven punched while they remain unchanged and
sin all they want to.
But the same individual will have nothing to
do with the Christ of my Bible who
demands from every follower of his full allegiance,
first place, and complete surrender to his lordship
and absolute authority over the rule and reign
of a person's life.
They don't want that kind of Jesus who
is a sovereign Lord who has rights and
claims on all followers of his.
They'll gladly accept the shrunken-down, harmless little
old Jesus of modern evangelism that doesn't have
any cost or sacrifice to follow him.
That's why so many in our churches today
live like the devil.
I'll never forget the big Southern Baptist pastor
who, after a Sunday service, made an announcement
to the men in his congregation that every
single male there was to go across the
hall immediately to the big cafeteria for a
brief meeting.
I stood there with 4,000 men beside
me while this pastor made us close our
eyes and respond to his question.
He said, How many of you men here
are looking at pornography?
Raise your hand and keep your eyes closed.
Be honest.
Raise your hand.
I sensed hands go up all around me
as this pastor remarked in disgust.
Well, that's half of you here, and I
know another third are just as guilty but
afraid to raise your hand.
Then he abruptly dismissed us.
Looking back on what that pastor taught as
the gospel, it is no wonder that his
people were mainly unconverted individuals who had merely
accepted his little version of Jesus, but it
never transformed their lives.
And that's the trouble today, friends, when Jesus
was here in his earthly ministry.
As he passed from towns and villages, those
who encountered him experienced change.
The blind that were healed never lost their
sight again.
The lame that were made to leap never
went back to being crippled.
When Christ enters a life in regeneration, then
that person has a new principle implanted in
them by the Holy Spirit, and that principle
can take the vile sinner, transform his or
her heart, give them a disposition for holiness,
and then stick that person back in a
sin-loving society.
But now that person has a power stronger
than him to live above the world.
That's salvation, friend, at least the kind found
in my Bible.
But people will take your little Jesus so
long as he won't get in the way
of their daily living, but they want nothing
to do with a living Lord who must
rule and reign like a prince over their
life.
That's why nobody, nobody will come savingly to
Christ Jesus to take him as their Lord.
They will never seek shelter in the blood
of Jesus Christ until God rains down on
them floods of horror, blood, and fire, and
prick their hearts with their rotten sins and
reveal to them their need of a blood
-stained Savior from sin.
If we continue to preach a watered-down
gospel that we have diluted of its saving
transforming power, then we should not be surprised
if our congregations mirror the wicked society in
which they live.
I feel sorry for the pastor who fails
to call sin black and hell hot and
to warn men to flee from the wrath
to come by repentance and faith and surrender
to a thrice holy God who sent his
only begotten Son to be a scandal hanging
on a bloody cross, who suffered and bled
there, died there, and was buried in another
man's tomb, who rose again and ascended back
into heaven, who sits now at the right
hand of the Father as he rules and
reigns as a living Lord of absolute authority.
If you fail to preach the Christ of
the Bible and warn men of the need
of repentance, then you will one day stand
before the reigning Christ with a bloody suit
of clothes and bloody hands.