THE GREAT REFUSAL (1)

Jesus Christ spoke some very sad and solemn words during His earthly ministry, but among the saddest and the most solemn are these:

John 5:40

“And ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.”

These words were spoken to men who professed to believe and love the Scriptures and even searched them to secure eternal life. The very Scriptures they searched pointed everywhere to Jesus Christ as the Author and Giver of life, yet they stubbornly and persistently refused and rejected Him. To Him, they would not come acknowledging themselves as sinners needing Him as their Savior. These men were guilty of the great refusal. They rejected God’s Son as their Savior. The cause of their refusal was self-will. Please note Christ said, “ye will not come to me.” Their rejection of Jesus Christ was not due to inability but to unwillingness. They could come, but they would not. Note, too, that all Christ asked them to do was come to Him so that He might give them what they needed more than they needed anything else.

Their decision determined their destiny. God left it with them to make a choice between their sin and His Son, but having made it, He determined what the result of that choice should be.

John 8:24

“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

John 8:21

“Then Jesus said again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go, ye cannot come.”

To refuse grace is to invite judgment. To retain a sinner’s guilt is to receive a sinner’s doom. If the natural man chooses to live and to die on the natural man’s plane then he must expect the natural man’s destiny.

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been preached all over the world, yet millions upon millions of those who have heard it are living as though Christ had not died, as though God had not taken up the sin question and settled it in such a way as to provide salvation for all men. Throughout the world today are multitudes who are guilty of the great refusal, who are choosing to remain in their sins rather than accept God’s Son as their Savior.

Out of this number are some who apparently have no concern whatever over their souls. Their minds and hearts are set upon the pursuits and pleasures of this life as though there were no God to reckon with and no life beyond this to prepare for. There are others who, through self-righteousness and self-exaltation, refuse God’s way of the cross. It is an offense unto them. They indulge in very shallow and superficial sentiments about the love of God, which they think too great ever to condemn anyone to separation from Him, forgetting altogether that the love of God spent itself on that very cross. Up to the cross, God has infinite love for the sinner, but if in self-exaltation he passes it by and rejects the Savior, then on the other side, that very love is wrath. Others say they want to believe but cannot. Unbelief is never due to inability. It may be due to unwillingness. Thomas was an honest doubter, declaring, “I will not believe except I shall see.” God gave him to see, and he believed. It may be due to ignorance of what faith is and requires. The all-important thing in faith is not its measure but its object. Christ Himself stated this when He said, “Come unto me.” Anyone can come.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Gracious Savior, open the eyes of so many who have not believed in you yet. Help them to understand that by refusing the grace of God, they are choosing judgment for themselves.