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John 3:19-21  WHY MEN REFUSE TO TRUST IN JESUS

 

    In our previous text we learned that the reason that men go

to hell is because they do not trust Jesus Christ as Savior.  In

our text today we learn why men choose not to trust in Jesus.

 

I.  A brief review

 

    Let me first review briefly some of the information from

recent messages.  Because of Adam's sin all men were condemned.

There would have been no need to send Jesus to save men if men

were not already condemned.  They were all condemned and would

have all gone to hell if God had not chosen to send a Savior.

    Also, because of Adam's sin all have inherited the sin

nature.  That is, they all inherited from Adam an exceedingly

strong compulsion to sin.  The very desire to commit the act of

sin is within the heart.  This alone was enough to condemn each

one to hell.  All were thus condemned to hell if God had not

chosen to send a Savior.

    In addition to this all men have personally committed sin.

They have committed all manner of sin.  This is because of the

sin nature that all have inherited from Adam.  Because of the sin

nature all have committed acts of sin.  Thus all men were

condemned to suffer the penalty of their own sin and this means

that all were condemned to hell.  If God had not chosen to send a

Savior all would have gone to hell.

    But God loved man and God chose to send a Savior.  He sent

His Son to the cross to die so that every man would have an

opportunity to be saved.  God's plan is this: If a man will trust

in Jesus Christ for salvation then that man will be saved.  He

will not perish.  He will not go to hell.  He will have

everlasting life.  He will go to heaven.

    Yet if a man fails to trust in Jesus Christ as His Savior, he

is condemned to hell.  He is condemned already and he will go to

hell.  Without a Savior he was already condemned as a result of

Adam's sin and his own personal guilt.  Now since he has failed

to trust in Jesus for salvation he is still without a Savior and

still condemned.

    However, the unbeliever is no longer condemned simply because

of Adam's sin alone.  Through Jesus he has had opportunity to be

saved in spite of Adam's sin.  He is now condemned because he has

failed to place his trust in the Savior who could save him.

    Likewise, he is no longer condemned merely because of the sin

nature which he has inherited from Adam.  If he would trust Jesus

Christ for salvation, he would be saved in spite of his sin

nature.  His sin nature does not prevent him from being saved.

He is condemned because he will not trust in Jesus.

    Furthermore, he is no longer condemned merely because of his

own personal guilt of sin.  In spite of his personal guilt of sin

-- tough his sins be many -- if he would trust in Jesus he would

be saved.  He would be saved in spite of the greatness of his

sins.

    The only reason he is still condemned is because of his

failure to trust in Jesus.  Because of the sacrifice which Jesus

made on Calvary's cross, the only thing that stands in his way of

a sinner going to heaven is his failure to trust in Jesus Christ

as his Savior.  Because he does not trust in Jesus he is

condemned.  He is condemned already.  He is not condemned because

of Adam's sin.  He is not condemned because of his sin nature.

He is not condemned because of his personal guilt of sin.  He is

condemned because he has failed to trust in Christ the Son of God

who came to this world to save him from the pits of hell.  The

destiny of the lost sinner hangs in the balance.  The destiny of

the lost sinner is decided by himself.  If he decides to trust in

Jesus Christ to save his soul then his destiny is heaven.  If he

decides not to place his trust in Jesus Christ to save his soul,

then his destiny is hell.  Each man, woman, boy and girl makes

this decision himself.

 

II.  Jesus, the Light of the world

 

    But now let us look at our text and let us see why men many

men fail to trust in Jesus.  It would seem that all men would

take advantage of the opportunity to be saved.  It would seem

that all men would want to stay out of hell.  It would seem that

all men would want to go to heaven.  Why then do many reject

Jesus Christ as Savior and go on to hell?

    V. 19, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into

the world..."  Jesus Christ is the Light of the world.  John

1:1-4 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with

God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not

anything made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was

the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the

darkness comprehended it not."  In this passage it is said that

the Word is the light.  John 1:14 says, "And the Word was made

flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as

of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

This speaks of Jesus being born in human flesh.

    Jesus is the Light of the world.  He is the Light which

shines to men lost in sin.  He offers salvation.  He offers to

keep them out of hell.  He offers to take them to heaven.  He

lived a sinless life and died on the cross as a sacrifice for the

sins of man.  He brought the opportunity of salvation to all men.

    Jesus not only offers to save all men, but through the

preaching of the gospel He informs men of this offer.  Through

the Holy Spirit of God.  He draws all men to Christ.  He

enlightens them so that they can understand the need of salvation

and how to be saved.

 

III.  The problem: The world's love for darkness

 

    However, very few people who lived in the days of Jesus and

saw Him work miracles and heard Him preach trusted in Him as

Savior.  The great majority rejected Him as the promised Messiah

and Savior.  They refused to believe in Him and because they

refused to believe in Him they remained lost and condemned.

    But why?  Why would men who were familiar with the Old

Testament prophecies about the coming of the Savior reject the

Savior when He came?  Why would men who saw the miracles that

Jesus performed reject Him as the promised Savior?  Why would men

in darkness reject the Light and remain in darkness?  Why would

any man even today who is headed for the fires of hell reject

God's offer of salvation and stay on the road to hell?

    Jesus gave the answer to that question.  (V. 19), "...and men

loved darkness rather than light..."  There was a decided

preference for darkness rather than Light.  There was a

deliberate rejection of the Light in preference for darkness.

There was a deliberate decision to reject Jesus as the Christ.

There was unbelief in their hearts.  They simply were not willing

to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

    It was deliberate unbelief on their part.  It was not that

they could not understand that Jesus truly is the Son of God and

the Savior of men.  Rather it was that they would not allow

themselves to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

They deliberately closed their minds to the possibility that He

is the Son of God.  They would not allow themselves to even

consider the possibility that He is the Christ because they loved

darkness in preference to Light.

    (V. 19), "...because their deeds were evil."  They not only

lived in a world of darkness and sin, but they were filled with

darkness and sin in their own hearts.  Their conduct was filled

with darkness and sin.  Their lives were filled with darkness and

sin.  They loved the sin of the world that they lived in.

    They loved the sin that was in their own lives and they did

not wish to give it up.  They loved their sinful pleasures and

they did not intend to give up those pleasures for any reason.

They most certainly did not wish to give up their sinful ways

just in order to please God.  They were not willing to repent of

their sin.  They would not repent even in order to go stay out of

hell and go to heaven.  They would take their chances on hell in

order to continue in a life of unrestrained unbridled sin.

    What then is the number one reason that men reject the Christ

and die and go to hell?  If you should ask them they may give any

number of reasons.  They may say, "I just have trouble believing

that salvation is so simple.  I have trouble believing that if I

trust Jesus he will save my soul and take me to heaven."  They

may say, "I have plenty of time yet.  I hope to be saved some

day, but not now."  They may say, "I am just as good as most of

the people who go to church.  If they make it to heaven, I will,

too."

    But what is the real reason they neglect to trust in Jesus?

What is the number one reason?  The basic reason they do not

trust in Jesus Christ for salvation is because they love sin and

they want to continue in their sin just as long as they possibly

can before they make preparation for heaven.

 

IV.  The world's hatred for the Light

 

    V. 20, "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light..."

Remember that the number one reason that the unsaved person

neglects to trust in Jesus and be saved is because he loves his

sinful ways and does not wish to turn from his sin.  In the first

part of verse 20 Jesus gives us the number two reason that men to

not turn to Jesus for salvation.  At least, this is the reason

they delay trusting in Him.  They hate the light.  The one who

does evil hates the light.

    I understand that in the original language this verse speaks

not of someone who commits an occasional sin, but rather of one

who sins habitually.  It is his way of life.  He loves a life of

sin.  He has made sin a deliberate choice.  This is the way of

life that he wants and he has no desire whatsoever to change.

    Therefore this man hates the Light which is presented to him.

He hates the gospel message.  He hates the Bible and Bible truth.

He usually hates to go to church.  He is uncomfortable there.  He

does not want to be there.  If he does go, he is glad when he

gets out of there.

    Oh, he is not opposed to religion as such.  He is not opposed

to religion as long as that religion does not hold to the truth

of God.  He prefers heretical religion to Bible truth.  He

especially prefers a false gospel to the true gospel.  He prefers

a gospel message that bases one's hope of heaven on his own good

works.  He wants to feel that he is good enough as he is to go to

heaven or, at least, he wants to feel that he can become good

enough with a little effort.  He does not object to the reading

of the Bible and the preaching of the Bible as long as the Bible

is mis-interpreted.  He may be perfectly willing to go to church

in a church where the gospel of Jesus Christ is twisted and where

the Holy Scriptures are twisted so as to distort the truth and a

lie is preached.  But he despises Bible truth.

    He hates righteous living.  He prefers the way of sin and

ungodliness.  He prefers the way of pretended godliness.  He

prefers hypocrisy to godliness.  It is difficult to get this man

to change his attitude toward God, toward Jesus Christ and toward

Bible truth because he has his mind made up and does not wish to

change his mind.

    (V. 20), "...neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds

should be reproved."  Remember that the number one reason that a

man will neglect to trust in Jesus and get saved is because he

loves sin and does not wish to turn away from sin.  The number

two reason is because he hates the Light.  He hates the Christ

and all that represents the truth pertaining to Christ.

    In this part of verse 20  Jesus tells us the number three

reason that a lost sinner does not want to trust in Jesus and be

saved.  It is because doing so would expose his own guilt of sin.

It would not only be an admission to others that he is a sinner,

but it would be an admission to his own conscience.  He does not

want to acknowledge to anyone that he is an unworthy sinner.  He

does not want to acknowledge even to himself that he is not fit

for heaven.  He does not want to acknowledge that he deserves to

go into the fires of hell.  He desperately wants to hold onto a

false idea that he is not really so bad and that he will surely

make it to heaven by his own merit.

    If he were to come to Jesus he would have to acknowledge his

sin and repent of his sin.  If he were to come to Jesus he would

have to stop depending on his own merit to make it to heaven.  He

would have to depend entirely on the grace of God through Jesus

Christ..

 

V.  The decision of some to come to Christ

 

    V. 21, "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light..." Thank

God not all men refuse to trust in Jesus.  There are some who

have a change of mind and a change of attitude toward their sin

and toward God and toward Bible truth and particularly toward the

gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is called "repentance."  Even the

word, repentancbegins to consider calling upon Jesus and asking

Jesus to save his soul.

    Note that the verse says, "He that doeth truth cometh to the

Light."  This statement does not teach that one gets to heaven by

his own works.  In order that we may know that one is not saved

by his own good works, we need only to look back to verse 18 of

this chapter.  Verse 18 reads, "He that believeth in him is not

condemned..."  It does not say, "He that does enough good works

is not condemned."  It does not say, "He who is worthy of heaven

is not condemned."  But rather it says that if one believes in

Jesus he is not condemned.  This means that salvation does not

depend on one's own good works.  It depends on whether or not one

has placed his faith in Jesus to save his soul.

    Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, "For by grace are ye saved through

faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Not of

works lest any man should boast."  Titus 3:5 reads, "Not by works

of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy

he saved us..."

    Since this statement does not mean that salvation is obtained

by one's good works, that leaves the question:  What does it

mean?  It means that one who does good works is one who has come

to the Light.  He has come to the Lord Jesus Christ for the

salvation of his soul.  He has repented of his sin and trusted in

Jesus for salvation.  He has been born again.  A change has taken

place on the inside which has brought about a change in his

conduct -- in his life style -- in the deeds that he commits.

    It does not mean that he has altogether stopped committing

sin.  But it does mean that his life style has changed because he

has come to the light and has been born again.

    Note also that he comes to the Light in order that it may be

made evident that his deeds have changed.  (V. 21), "...that his

deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."  He

came to the Light that he might be saved.  He continues to come

to the light that he may do the kind of works that God would

approve of.  He looks to the Bible, the word of God, to teach him

the will of God.  He looks to the Holy Spirit of God to help him

rightly understand the will of God.  He leans upon the Christ of

God to help him live for God in a way that will please God.

    This does not mean that he stops sinning altogether.  As long

as he lives in a depraved sinful human body he will continue to

commit sin.  But it does mean that his life style has changed as

a result of the new birth.  He now continuously strives to please

the Lord in the way he lives and the things he does.  He no

longer hates the Light, but he loves the Light.  He loves the

Lord who saved his soul.  He tries to live in a way that will

bring honor and glory to the Lord.  He desires his actions to

please the Lord.  He desires his actions to be wrought in God.

 

Conclusion:

 

    In closing, let me ask you a few questions:  How do you feel

about your sin?  Do you excuse your sin?  Do you pretend that you

have never done anything very bad?  Or do you realize that you

are an unworthy sinner in the sight of God and that you deserve

to spend eternity in the fires of hell?

    If you do realize that you are an unworthy sinner, do you

really want to be saved?  Do you have a desire to be forgiven of

all your sin or do you merely want to find some way that you can

continue in your sin without interference from God?

    Do you realize that God loves you and sent His Son, Jesus

Christ, to the cross of Calvary for you so that you can be saved?

    Are you ready to place your hope of heaven in the hands of

Jesus Christ and trust in Him to save your soul?

    If so, will you call on Him right now and ask Him to save

you?  Will you come and acknowledge Him before men as your

Savior?

   

 

 

 

 

 of sin.  Thus all men were

condemned to suffer the penalty of their own sin and this means

that all were condemned to hell.