Ye Will Not Come to Me
John 5:40
“And ye will not come
to me, that ye might have life.”
This
article is intended for those who believe the Bible is the inerrant word of
God, and is therefore the only ground of true faith, the solid foundation on
which we lay all our hope of eternal life. It is intended for those who will
not be satisfied with the thoughts of men, if it be found that their thoughts
are contrary to this word; “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah
8:20).
In
the scriptures it is written “And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let
him that heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17). This raises
the question: are any of the sons of Adam willing? That is are they willing to
take the water of life; this is an expression that signifies coming to Christ
for all things that pertain to salvation from sin and death. The meaning of
coming to Christ is that persons believe on Christ as the only Savior of
sinners. So that the question is; are any of the sons of Adam (acting on their
own innate principles) willing to come to Christ for all of salvation; the
scriptures decidedly and consistently answer; they will not come.
Several
instances will be given; “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see,
and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye
shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. Also I
set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they
said, We will not hearken.” (Jeremiah 6:16, 17) “Abraham saith unto him, They
have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father
Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said
unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16: 29-31). “All things are
delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27). (Whom men do not know, they cannot believe
on.) “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:10, 11) “No man can come to
me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John 6:44) “And he said, therefore said I unto you, that
no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father. (John
6:65). “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7) “But the natural man
recieveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I
Corinthians 2:14).
Since the carnal
mind is enmity against God, (Ro. 8:7) men of themselves will not seek after God (Ro.3:11). Since the
things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to natural men they give no
credibility to them, and will not seriously consider them. (I Cor. 2;14). Since
men are born into this world spiritually dead (I Cor. 15:22 with Eph. 2:1) and
since the things of the Spirit of God are spiritually discerned; men regard the
things of the Spirit of God as unworthy of their time and mental labor, (Ro.
3:11). “No man can come to Jesus Christ savingly (John 6:44; 65): and this is
because of the enmity of the natural heart (Ro. 8:7) men will not come to that
which they, (in their heart) hate, and despise; He, that is, Chrsit Jesus “is
despised and rejected of men.” (Isaiah 53:3). Men have no spiritual
discernment; (I Cor. 2:14) and because God is a Spirit: (John 4:24) men cannot
know God; whom to know is life eternal. (John 17:3 & I John 5:20). Very
briefly stated; the natural man will not come to God, because his heart is
enmity toward God, and things of God are foolishness unto him, natural man will
not seek, that to which he feels enmity, nor that which he regards as foolish.
But some do seek after God; why is that?
I John 4:19; We
love Him, because he first loved us. Here, a cause and effect relationship is
set before us; only in this case the effect is stated first and then the cause.
The cause is, God first loved us, the effect is, we love him who first loved
us. The love of God always removes every obstacle to the good of the object of
his love (I John 3:17). The good that God seeks for the objects of his love is;
that they come to Christ Jesus for deliverance from sin and death eternal. The
object that stands in opposition to the will of God for the objects of his love
is the enmity of their heart. The thing that God does to relieve this situation
is; God breaks up the hard and stony heart, the heart of enmity, and gives a
new heart of love; (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; 32:39, 40; Hebrews. 8:10-12)
a new heart on which is imprinted the law of God; this action of God is called
regeneration, or the new birth, men become spiritually what they were not
before. Men left to themselves; “must needs die, and are as water spilt on the
ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doeth God respect any
person: yet doeth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.”
(II Samuel 14:14). God has devised means that his banished ones will return to
him in love, and the mean is the new birth. This introduces the question; is
every man without exception or distinction a member of HIS banished? No!
The answer is no, all men are not of his banished. Who, then, are his banished
ones? And why are they banished?
As to the first
question; who are his banished, the answer is: they are they who were chosen to
everlasting life in Jesus Christ before the world was made. “Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”
(Ephesians 1:3-5). His banished are those who “..God hath from the beginning
chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the
truth:” (II Thessalonians 2:13). His banished are they who were called with a
holy calling, not according to their works, “but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” (II
Timothy 1:9. His banished are the children of promise, (Galatians 4:28) being
the children of the prophets and of the covenant; for God said unto Abraham “in
thy seed shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed.” (Acts 3:25). His banished
are his elect, (Ro.8:33; 11:7; 9:11) they were chosen in Gods eternal decree of
electing mercy, and therefore his whom he gave to Christ in covenant
transaction before the worlds were made. Thine they were, and thou gaveth them
me. (John 17:6; 20) His banished is the elect world, whose sin Jesus Christ put
away; by the sacrifice of himself (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:26). His banished ones
are they whom God has loved with and everlasting love, (Jeremiah 31:3) they are
they whom Jesus Christ has loved and therefore has washed them in his own
blood, (Revelation 1:5) notice Dear Reader; it is not, that they are loved
because they are washed: but they are washed because they were loved; and that
from eternity; for He saith yea I have loved thee, (Jeremiah 31:3). These children
were banished in a covenant of works in Adam, the first of the race of natural
men, and therefore the federal head of all the race of natural men.
When
Adam sinned in the garden, he sinned in union with all that were in him,
therefore all who were in him sinned in him. God had placed Adam and his
posterity in him, under a covenant of works, and commanded him saying “Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.” Or literally; dying thou shalt die. Genesis
2:16, 17) When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he immediately died
spiritually; and began the die physically. And therefore all of Adams posterity being born a natural birth are born
spiritually dead, and under the curse of the broken law, and therefore must die
physically, and if God does not intervene they must die eternally. The children
of the covenant (Acts 3:25) being of the sons of Adam, are born into this world
just as are all the rest of Adams generation; and so far as they know, they are
the children of wrath even as the others of that natural race (Ephesians 2:3).
But God makes a difference, for; “who maketh thee to differ one from another? And
what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why
dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (I Corinthians 4:7) God
makes a difference between the children of the covenant, and the rest of the
race, God makes them to differ by breaking up their hard and stony heart and by
giving them a new heart that is a heart with his law imprinted on it. The new
heart is a heart of love for God and his people, and the gospel of his free and
sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. He saith by the Psalmist “Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power,” (Psalm 110:3). It is God the Holy Spirit that
makes his elect world willing and able to believe the good news of the gospel
of salvation by grace through Jesus Christ. To ascribe the willingness of his
people to themselves is to rob God of his glory, and to make the will of man an
idol; who stands in opposition to the doctrine of the holy scriptures.
A.J.Ison
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