A little boy quietly opened the door to the dentist's office and spoke to the receptionist at her desk. "My mother told me to see the dentist about my bad teeth." "Sorry," the receptionist responded, "But the dentist is out just now." The boy sighed in relief and asked hopefully, "When will he be out again?" Sometimes we just don't want the help we most need, because we fear the cure is worst than the disease. Our fear is usually based on ignorance. It is like the child who will not try something new because they don't like it. But how can they know they don't like it if they never try it? You can argue with them, and present all kinds of evidence that it is good, but they stubbornly refuse.
It is not just children who practice this kind of stubbornness. Our text reveals Jesus dealing with the adults of His day on this same level. Jesus came to give them life, and they wouldn't even take it. The evidence that they could give them life was enormous. John the Baptist had come before Him, and witnessed of His coming, but they rejected John's testimony. Jesus came with a powerful display of love and grace. He healed the lepers, and the blind were made to see. The lame walked, the deaf were made to hear, and the dregs of society were changed and began to follow Him and get their lives together. Yet, with all of this evidence, they were not jumping on the bandwagon at all. In fact, they were trying to stop the wagon from rolling.
Jesus said to them that they have all the evidence needed, and that even Moses referred to Him, but still they would not come and receive life. In this text we see the amazing folly of man. There is no question about it, man is his own worst enemy. The problem of history is not God, but man. God has made provision for life. No matter how rotten life can get, God has a solution, and that is why He sent His Son into the world. God is determined that sin and death will not have the last word. Life is God's goal, even though many will not take this gift. It would be understandable if God had made His plan so complicated that it would take a lawyer to figure it out. But the message of Jesus was so simple, even a child could grasp it easily. Come to me is the message of Jesus. The children understood it and came. That is all Jesus required, that people come to Him.
If you want what Wards has to offer, you have to come to Wards to get it. If you want what the Diary Queen has to offer, you have to come to the Dairy Queen. The point is, Jesus has something to offer also, and the only way you can get what He offers is to come to Him and get it. You can't just come to church and get it. You can't just come to a service and get it. You can't just come to a preacher and get it. All of these can bring you to where you hear the offer of Christ, but only by coming to Him can you get life, and life eternal.
You can even read the Bible and pray, two of the best things you can do, but that will not give you life. If you come to my church, or come to my house, or come to my office, and you do not see me, you have not come to me. Christ is a person, and only when you come to Him as a person can you receive life. The good news is, you can come to Jesus and receive life because He died for you, and wants you to have what He purchased by His death on the cross, which is the right to eternal life. If you don't come and receive His gift of eternal life, there is only one reason for it, you will not come.
I can eat liver if I want to, but I don't want to, so I don't. There are all kinds of people who hear the Gospel and can come to Christ if they want to, but they don't want to, so they don't. Jesus hates it when people will not come to Him. He wept over Jerusalem, for He said, "I would, but you would not." They had to suffer the judgment and wrath of God because they just would not come to Jesus. Jesus wept over the rich young ruler, for He could have come to Jesus, but He would not. It is one of the saddest facts of life that men can choose to reject God's best, but God will not rob man of this highest freedom.
Jesus did not say, you cannot come, but, you will not come. The reason you do not receive life is because you refuse to receive it. You could if you would, but you don't because you won't. The problem is man's will. Anyone who hears the offer of the Gospel can come, for God gives everyone the power to say yes to Christ. No man can say I am to bad, or I have sinned away my hope, or I have blown it too often, so I cannot come. The problem is not that you can't, but that you won't, said Jesus. No man will ever be able to raise his fist in hell, and cry out to God, you didn't give me a fair chance. I couldn't get in on life, and it is your fault I am here. Not so, for if a man is lost it is his own choice, for Jesus died for all sin, and if a man refuses to come to Christ for forgiveness, that is not God's choice, but his choice.
Where there is a will there is a way, and anyone who wills to come to Jesus can come.
God will not force you to come. He opens the door and invites you to come, but He will not push you against your will. You must choose to come. If I ran a restaurant and was trying to get more people to come and try my food by giving out coupons, I don't force them on people. Imagine me handing a coupon to a man on the street, and he says no thanks, and refuses it. I may ask why, and he may tell me he never eats out, and he hates to eat out. Wouldn't I be foolish to try and force him to take my coupon? What if I ran after him and slipped one in his back pocket? That would be nonsense. A gift is only of value to one who wants it. God has the greatest gift for man, but He does not force it on us. We must choose to take it. We must choose to come.
The offer is free, and you don't even need a coupon. The rich have no advantage over the poor in getting what Christ has to offer. He offers life, and meets the craving for meaning, and it is free to all who will come. All you need to come to God is your sense of need for what He offers. Are you thirsty? Come to the Water of life. Are you hungry? Come to the Bread of life.
Delay not, delay not, O sinner draw near,
The waters of life are now flowing for thee.
No price is demanded, the Savior is here,
Redemption is purchased, salvation is free.
A minister and a atheistic barber were once walking through the city slums. Said the barber to the preacher: "This is why I cannot believe in a God of love. If God was as kind as you say, He would not permit all this poverty, disease and squalor. He would not allow these poor bums to be addicted to dope and other character-destroying habits. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits these things." The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkempt and filthy. His hair was hanging down his neck, and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face. Said the minister: "You can't be a very good barber or you wouldn't permit a man like that to continue living in this neighborhood without a haircut or a shave."
Indignantly the barber answered: "Why blame me for that man's condition? I can't help it that he is like that. He has never given me a chance to help him. If he would only come to my shop, I could fix him up and make him look like a gentleman!" Giving the barber a penetrating look, the minister said: "Then don't blame God for allowing these people to continue in their evil ways, when He is constantly inviting them to come and be saved. The reason these people are slaves to sin and evil habits is that they refuse the One who died to save and deliver them." The barber saw the point. The invitation to come can be rejected, and so man can choose not to come. But he can also choose to come, and when he does he will receive God's greatest gift in Christ. The greatest choice any man can make in relationship to Christ is to come.
