JESUS CHRIST-REJECTED
Objection is
sometimes made to the doctrine of total depravity. If men turn away from God in anger, I can
understand it. If men turn aside form God in justice, I can understand it. But when they so hate God that they will not
even have his salvation, when they refuse pardon through the precious blood of
Christ, when they will sooner be damned than reconciled to God, this shows that
their heart is desperately wicked. The
cross rejected is the clearest proof of the heart depraved.
When a sinner
refuses to come to Christ, he is guilty because he has made a free choice. It
reflects his own state of mind, feeling and attitude toward God and His Son. He
has acted voluntarily without coercion. It is his decision.
Walter J. Chantry
Man's Will-Free Yet Bound, The Banner of
Truth magazine, Issue 140, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. May
1975.
Why do men
not accept the gospel? How can they refuse the tender overtures of the gracious
Son of God? Why do they even take offense at the cross? Let us consider an
analogy. An etiquette book is a very valuable accessory. It is useful on many
important occasions. A good one costs considerable money. Who would not be glad
to have one, if it were given him? You wouldn't? Why wouldn't you be glad to be
given such a book? Because it would imply you needed it! That is the reason
proud sinners do not come to Christ. Their coming would imply they needed Him.
They are too proud and self-righteous in their natural state to admit that!
John H. Gerstner
Theology for Everyman, Moody, 1965, Chapter 6.
To forsake
Christ for the world, is to leave a treasure for a
trifle…eternity for a moment, reality for a shadow.
William Jenkyn
A Puritan
Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by
permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 47.