You Can Come If You Will Series

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.