Why Isn’t Everyone A Christian?
Reasons People Won’t Obey The Gospel
Introduction
“’Gold! Gold! I’ve struck gold! I’m going to be rich…rich I tell you!’ goes up the cry from an excited prospector. We must forgive his excitement, after all, he’s been digging in those hills for weeks and found nothing. Our friend may well become rich but it may take him a little longer than he anticipated. For his excited cry has reached the ears of fellow prospectors, and before you can say ‘penthouse suit at the Ritz,’ the area will be swamped with gold-diggers staking their claims.”
1. Gold is wonderful isn’t it? Everybody likes it, and everybody wants it. In the gold-rush days people would give up everything and even risk their lives to get their hands on it. Why? I suppose because it looks good and promises to transform your life and fill it with happiness.
2. Jesus, too, is wonderful isn’t He? And He, too, promises to transform a person’s life and fill it with happiness. Yet not everybody is interested in what Jesus offers? Why is that?
3. In this lesson we offer several reasons as to why so many people do not become Christians.
I. SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST TOO PROUD AND HARD-HEARTED
A. Jesus, in the parable of the sower, teaches that some will have hardened hearts (Matthew 13:3-4, 19).
"3And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up…19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side." (Matthew 13:3-4, 19)
1. These are people who hear the word but “do not understand it” (Matthew 13:19). Why don’t they understand it? Because they are in bondage to sin:
"43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:43-44)
"31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John 8:31-34)
2. These are people who love darkness and hate the light (John 3:19-20), they prefer to indulge in the pleasures of sin (Cp. Titus 3:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; James 5:5; 2 Peter 2:13).
3. These are people who have been blinded by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:3-4), people who can’t see their need for The Great Physician (Mark 2:17; Luke 15:17; John 8:31-33); like the Pharisee who exalted himself:
"11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess" (Luke 18:11-12)
B. You and I became Christians because:
1. We heard the word, understood it (Matthew 13:8, 23), and accepted it for what it is:
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
2. We believed on Jesus that we might no longer abide in darkness (John 12:46).
3. We renounced the works of darkness (Romans 13:12) and Jesus set us free (Colossians 1:13).
4. We confessed with our mouths Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9-10).
5. We obeyed the gospel (Romans 6:17), our sins were washed away (Acts 22:16), and now we are free from sin:
"3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin" (Romans 6:3-7)
II. SOME PEOPLE JUST DON’T CONSIDER WHAT JESUS HAS TO OFFER AS VALUABLE
"44Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it" (Matthew 13:44-46)
A. Jesus demands a full commitment:
1. Jesus requires that we give our lives (Matthew 16:24-26; Luke 14:26) but many are just not prepared to do this. Sadly, at one stage, the disciples lacked this commitment (Mark 14:26-50). Thus many place more value on their lives.
2. Jesus requires that we give up our wealth (Luke 14:33) but many are not prepared to give up their wealth and possessions (See Luke 18:18-23). Thus many place more value on their wealth and possessions.
3. Jesus requires that we love Him above all others (Matthew 10:37; Luke 14:26) but many are not prepared to do this (Luke 9:61; 14:20). Thus many place more value on earthly relationships.
4. Jesus requires that the kingdom of God comes first (Matthew 6:33) but many are not prepared to do this (See Luke 14:18; 8:14). Thus many value worldly affairs than those of the kingdom.
B. You and I became disciples of Jesus because we were willing to forsake all things to follow Jesus. And we might well ask, “What then will there be for us?” (Matthew 19:27). Jesus’ answer is…
"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matthew 19:29)
Conclusion
1. Many do not obey the gospel because they are just too proud and hard-hearted.
a. They can’t understand the gospel because they are in bondage to sin.
b. They prefer to indulge in the pleasures of sin.
c. They cannot see their need for the Great Physician.
2. Many do not obey the gospel because they place a greater value on things of this world than on spiritual things:
a. They value their life.
b. They value their wealth and possessions.
c. They value human relationships.
d. They value the affairs of this world.
3. You and I have obeyed the gospel because:
a. We believed that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to set us free from the bondage of sin and death.
b. We were willing to forsaking everything to follow Jesus.
4. Brethren…
a. Continue praying for all men because God does desires everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
b. Continue preaching the gospel because it is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16).
"13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13-14)
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