ONE OF THE SADDEST UTTERANCES MADE BY JESUS

John 5:40

  1. Intro.
    1. the Lord Jesus had come down from heaven to bring eternal life to man
      1. He gave up heaven with all its glory
      2. He came down to earth with all its shame for one specific purpose, "that men might have life"
      3. He offered it as a free gift to all who would come to Him
      4. in a short time He was to die on the cross of Calvary; an awful, shameful, and agonizing death
      5. the great majority of people of His day, as it is also today, would not come to Him that they might have life
        1. they would come in vast crowds to see His miracles
        2. they would even come to hear His teaching, but they would not put their trust in Him as Savior
    2. one day He was surrounded by curiosity seekers and miracle-mongers
      1. as He looked out over the crowd He saw sickness, misery, and soul-destroying sin and unbelief
      2. His heart went out to them in sympathy and longing, as He uttered the word of our text
    3. these words contain the secret of why it is that any man is lost
      1. they are lost simply because they will not come to Christ and obtain life
      2. Jesus offers life free, full, and forever to anyone who will come to Him
  2. why any man is lost [and ye will not come to Me]
    1. no man is lost because of a desire, purpose, or decree of God
      1. the will of God is that all men should be saved – II Peter 3:9
        1. if men will not repent they must perish, but it is not because it is the will of God
        2. they perish because of their own will not to repent
      2. if God had His way every person would be saved – I Timothy 2:3-4
        1. God does not always get His way
        2. God has provided salvation to everyone at an infinite cost to Himself
        3. there are many today in whom God does not have His way in their heart and life
    2. no man is lost because he needs to be lost
      1. it is true there are many who deserve to be lost, but God has provided salvation for a world that deserves to be lost
      2. Jesus Christ has tasted death for every man – Hebrews 2:9
      3. on the grounds of His atoning death, salvation is offered to every man
    3. no man is lost because of the number or greatness of his sins
      1. it is true that many of us have sinned often and sinned so greatly that we deserve to be lost
      2. everyone of us deserves to be lost eternally
      3. God’s Word tells us the "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners" – I Timothy 1:15
      4. Paul added the fact that when Jesus saved him, He saved a chief among sinners
      5. Jesus has been saving the worst of sinners from that day until now, and He isn’t changing
      6. there is no one that is to hard for Jesus to save
    4. no man is lost because he is to weak to live the Christian life
      1. there is not anyone here that could hold out in the Christian life for 24 hours in our own strength
      2. thank God, there is not one of us so weak that Jesus cannot keep us steadfast if we put our trust in Him
      3. Jesus is all the strength we need to life the Christian life – Jude 24
    5. no man is lost because the way of salvation is difficult to find or hard to follow
      1. the way of salvation is so simple a child can understand it
      2. if we come to Jesus, He will give us rest – Matthew 11:28-30
    6. the only reason that any man is lost is simply that he "will not come to" Christ
      1. those that come to Christ, He will in no wise cast out – John 6:37
      2. eternal life is for everyone, if only you will have it by coming to Him
      3. if anyone ends up in hell, it is because they failed to go to Christ for help
  3. why will men not come to Christ
    1. the love of sin keeps people from coming to Christ
      1. most will not admit that this is the reason they will not come to Christ
      2. many will not even admit this to themselves
      3. if they could keep their sins and have Christ too, they would come to Christ quickly
      4. they are willing to give Jesus the second place, if they can give their sin the first place
      5. if they must choose between Jesus and life on one hand, and sin and death on the other; they will choose sin and death
      6. because they will not give up sin to come to Christ, they must and will perish eternally
    2. the love of money will keep people from coming to Christ
      1. the love of money keeps more people from Christ than the love of alcohol
      2. there is not one good redeeming quality about alcohol, but yet it is legal in our land
      3. many wicked ways are fought for under the guise of "freedom"; but if the truth be known, it is a fight for filthy lucre
      4. they are determined to have it, even if it means the destruction of real "freedom": moral liberty
      5. the love of money is sending millions to hell, because they don’t want to give it up for Christ
    3. the love of pleasure keeps many from coming to Christ
      1. there are many forms of pleasure that are sinful, and wrong for a Christian to participate in
      2. many are not willing to give up some form of pleasure, in order to come to Christ for eternal life
      3. they choose pleasure and eternal death over Jesus Christ and eternal life
      4. many are willing to give Christ the second place
        1. second place to dance, movies, swimming or other forms of questionable entertainment
        2. the Lord Jesus Christ is the King of glory, and He will not take second place
        3. He must have the first place, or He will take no place at all
    4. the love of friends keep people from coming to Christ
      1. there are many who would like to come to Jesus, and feel deeply their need of a Savior; but there is some friend that they fear they will lose if they come to Christ
      2. the best friend to have is Jesus
      3. the time is coming when no earthly friend can help us
      4. if we choose any earthly love rather than the love of Christ, we will live to bitterly regret the day we made that choice
    5. the fear of men keeps people from Christ
      1. how many would come to Christ if they were not afraid of what someone else might say or do
        1. afraid of ridicule
        2. afraid of some other loss
      2. it would be far better to have a few fools to laugh at us now, than to have all the devils in hell laugh at us throughout all eternity
      3. those that laugh at us today because we have accepted Jesus Christ, will some day see that the laugh is on them
    6. pride is the chief reason that many do not come to Christ
      1. pride operates in many different ways to keep people from Christ
      2. pride may keep someone from coming forward in the invitation to find out how to be saved
      3. pride may keep those that live outwardly good lives from admitting that they are lost sinners, just like the drunkard or harlot
      4. if we cannot come to Christ as vile, worthless, hell-bound sinners that we really are; we cannot come at all, and will be lost forever
      5. we have all sinned, and we must all enter heaven by the same door: Jesus Christ