Listen to His invitation:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.Matthew 11:28-30
Yet, despite the simplicity of the invitation, despite the warmness that it offers, the kindness with which it is offered and the blessings that go along with it, some people refuse to accept the invitation of Christ. They refuse to go to Him…why?
Now its true there are those who hear the invitation and decline it, because they don’t want Jesus, they don’t want the life, they don’t want the blessings, they don’t want the Man or the plan. They want the world, the things that are in the world, and they want to live their life their way.
A for those people, Christ is not what they want. They want the world, and they want a life away from Christ. And unless their minds change, they will have a life away from Christ, for all eternity.
But on the other hand there are those, whose hearts are softened, whose consciences are pricked and who hear the message of Christ, and His invitation…and they allll but obey it. They do everything except obey the Gospel. They go just to the line of obedience, but they wont cross it and come to Jesus…why not?
Excuses get in the way.
So let’s consider three very commonly-given excuses people offer as to why they don’t come break down and go to Jesus. Like the song says, Come to Jesus, He will save you… Why won’t you?
Is it because you think your sin is too great?
Is it because you think you have more time?
Is it because you think there’s another way?
Well…
It isn’t.
You don’t.
There’s not.
Come to Jesus…
“I CAN’T…BECAUSE MY SIN IS TOO GREAT!”
Yet, as the song says “come to Jesus He will save you… though your sin as crimson flow.”
But maybe that’s the problem; maybe we can’t get past the red stain of our sins. Other than God no body knows my sins better than me; no body can tell me what horrible things I’ve done in my past like I can. Those are MY sins, and if I have a conscience soft enough to at least LISTEN to the Savior’s message, then I have a conscious soft enough to feel the remorse and the guilt over the sins that I’ve committed.
And here comes Jesus, with an opportunity to take away my sins. He promises to remove my sins even from HIS OWN mind. Just listen to him
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.Hebrews 10:16-17
And so I have this invitation that just seems too good to be true…but its not. Its just simply too good. It’s better than anything I deserve; it’s the Grace of the Savior for a sinner like me. But I know my sins, and I am humble enough, and reflective enough of those sins that the idea that all my sins could be removed is just to hard to fathom. And so I reject the offer of the Messiah. I don’t come to Jesus, because I look at my sins and I say: No…I’m too bad, my mistakes are too many, my sins are too big…God cant forgive THAT sin. God WONT forgive THAT sin.
The reality is, it’s not God…it’s YOU. YOU wont forgive that sin. YOU wont forget that sin. God is ready and willing to forgive you at the drop of a hat, but you have to be willing to forgive yourself, and theres a lot of reasons why a person doesn’t forgive himself. Its not just guilt that gets in the way. Certainly, guilt is a part of it; a person feels too guilty over the sin or sins he’s committed and so he doesn’t’ feel worthy to be forgiven; so even though forgiveness is offered, he wont take it, because HE doesn’t feel worthy of it.
Well that’s why its called Grace: It’s a gift given that you do not demand. It’s a blessing offered that you do not deserve. You’re not supposed to be worthy of it, or feel worthy of it. You cant be…that’s arrogance. But inspite of you He offers salvation, so you have to forgive yourself.
But guilt isn’t the only reason a person doesn’t forgive himself. Another reason is: The person sinning doesn’t want to stop sinning. And unlike those who want nothing to do with God, Christ or His church, this person wants to have his cake and eat it to. He wants to sit in the pews on Wednesday night but he wants to live his life his way on Friday night. She wants to act ungodly on Saturday but be a pretty little Christian princess on Sunday. And so when the invitation is offered…”Oh no I cant do that…if I come to Jesus, then all the sins I commit will be done away with, and I’ll be expected to change my life!”
So whatever the reason is in their mind, when the invitation is offered and the song is sung, they grip the pew, grit their teeth and tell themselves, “this is almost over then I can go home…and I will just keep doing things my way…because I’m not good enough for God!” Or they will say: “I will keep doing things my way, because I’m not going to change for God.”
Meanwhile, your sins as crimson flow.
But if…if…you submit to God, humble yourself and come to Jesus. Like the song says, “If you give your heart to Jesus, He will make it white as snow.”
Come to Jesus…
“I CAN’T…BECAUSE I THINK I HAVE MORE TIME!”
Listen to the words of the song: “Come to Jesus do not tarry, enter in at mercy’s gate, oh delay not till the morrow lest thy coming be too late!”
You know, you can pick any age group and find specific challenges to converting a person because of their age. If it’s someone who is older then they’re set in their ways, leery of change, not willing to throw away a lifetime of beliefs for something new. If they’re middle age, then they’re busy busy busy: work, family, vacations, kids in school. There’s just no time for religion, and even if there is time for it, it’s only in the form of going to worship on Sunday morning, most of the time…more often than not…maybe. No time for Bible class, no time for fellowship meals.
Look, I’m not saying that gathering with other Christians is the sum-total of your Christian life. Because it’s NOT…
It’s the bare minimum.
But then there’s the younger generation. Try to impress upon a person who is 18-35 the need to get right with God “today.” It’s very hard to get someone that age to consider the concept of their own death. Oh sure you can get someone to think about dying in a freak accident, and they’ll give that a moments thought. But most will dismiss it as “too random, it’ll never happen to me.” And it may not, but the fact is, whether its random or planned, sudden or a long time coming: You’re going to die. The Lord may not come back for a thousand years, you may never break a bone in your body, or even be in so much as a fender bender, but you are going to die…eventually.
But that’s a tough sell to some people who walk around as though they are invincible. And they plan plan plan for the future: Tomorrow I will do this; tomorrow I will be this, etc. They give no thought for the possibility that today may be the day that they leave this world.
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.James 4:13-14
So when the invitation comes ringing and the voice says come to Jesus, the person says, “I have more time.” Thus, they tarry. And when the invitation is offered, and the song is sung…though it pierces the heart and pricks the conscience, they grip the pew, grit their teeth and tell themselves “this is almost over then I can go home…if I can just endure this invitation then I wont have to think about it for another week. I’ll worry about it later.” Or they say “I still have plenty of time, I’ve made it this long…”
Meanwhile, while you tarry, the Lord is making ready His return. And it MAY BE in a thousand thousand years…or it may be tonight.
Enter in at mercy’s gate now!
Come to Jesus…
“I CAN’T…BECAUSE THERE’S ANOTHER WAY!”
No, there’s not. But while you search for another way; while you find a false sense of security in a false promise of an easier way, you remain lost. You remain a dying sinner. Listen: other savior there is none! But, He will share with you his glory when your pilgrimage is done!
When you open John 14, remember that the words of Jesus follow His telling the Apostles that He was soon to leave them. And of course they think this is terrible (which is why Jesus says “let not your heart be troubled…”
They ask Him why He’s going, where He’s going and how to get there.
Those are the questions we need to be asking! Because Jesus says I’m going to prepare a place for you (John 14:3). Jesus says he’s going to His Father (John 14:2). Jesus says HE is how to get there (John 14:6)
I am the way…I AM the way…I am the WAY
There is no other way! And though the way is sometimes hard (Jesus calls it the difficult way–Matthew 7:14), it’s worth it.
There is no other way! And though the way is sometimes harassing (Jesus says you’ll be persecuted–Matthew 5:10-12), it’s worth it.
There is no other way! And though the way is sometimes heartbreaking (Jesus says not everyone you love is going to make it–Luke 13:23-24), it’s worth it.
And even if, in my small, shortsighted thinking, I say “its not worth it, its too hard, its too harassing, its too heartbreaking…” It doesn’t matter, because there is no other way. There is no alternate path. It isn’t multiple choice: There is one way to be saved, there is one home of the saved, there is one road of the saved and there is one final resting place of the saved.
So as far as I’m concerned, you can take every book that tells you how to be saved in a way different from the New Testament, and you can take every sermon from every preacher who tells you if you just do what that man says everything on earth will be just swell, and you can take every weak moment in your life that tempts you to leave Christ and his church, or never be a part of it (such problems are really just Satan trying to keep you away); you can take all of that and throw it in the garbage. Because that’s all its good for: It wont get you to Heaven.
Do you want to go to Heaven or Hell? There’s only one way, so when the invitation is offered and the song is sung; when it pierces your heart and pricks your conscious: don’t grip the pew, don’t grit your teeth, don’t you tell yourself, “this is too hard, I’ll find another way” because the One Who is asking you to come to Him, He Himself had His moment when He asked, “is there any other way?” and the answer came back NO.
So He went to the Cross and died for you.
There is no other way to Heaven but through Him. He tells you in His Word…
Believe Him (John 8:24)
Repent of your sins to Him (Luke 13:3)
Confess your faith in Him (Matthew 10:32-33)
Be baptized into Him (Mark 16:16)
Live faithfully with Him (Revelation 2:10)
COME TO JESUS
Why won’t you?
Is it because you think your sin is too great?
Is it because you think you have more time?
Is it because you think there’s another way?
Well…
It isn’t.
You don’t.
There’s not.
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