The Great Refusal

Life On the Highest Plane

Jesus Christ spoke some very sad and solemn words during His earthly ministry but among the saddest and the most solemn are these:

John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.”

These words were spoken to men who professed to believe and to love the Scriptures and who even searched them in the hope of securing eternal life. The very Scriptures that they searched pointed everywhere to Jesus Christ as the Author and Giver of life, yet Him they stubbornly and persistently refused and rejected. To Him they would not come acknowledging themselves sinners needing Him as their Saviour. These men were guilty of the great refusal. They rejected God’s Son as their Saviour. The cause of their refusal was self-will. Please note Christ said “ye will not come to me.” Their rejection of Jesus Christ was not due to inability but to unwillingness. They could come but they would not. Note too that all Christ asked them to do was to come to Him that He might give them that which they needed more than they needed anything else.

Their decision determined their destiny. God left it with them to make the choice between their sin and His Son but having made it He determined what the result of that choice should be.

John 8:24, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

John 8:21, “Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.”

To refuse grace is to invite judgment. To retain a sinner’s guilt is to receive a sinner’s doom. If the natural man chooses to live and to die on the natural man’s plane then he must expect the natural man’s destiny.

The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been preached all over the world yet millions upon millions of those who have heard it are living as though Christ had not died, as though God had not taken up the sin question and settled it in such a way as to provide salvation for all men. Throughout the world today are multitudes who are guilty of the great refusal, who are choosing to remain in their sins rather than accept God’s Son as their Saviour.

Out of this number are some who apparently have no concern whatever over their souls. Their minds and hearts are set upon the pursuits and pleasures of this life as though there were no God to reckon with and no life beyond this to prepare for. There are others who through self-righteousness and self-exaltation refuse God’s way of the Cross. It is an offense unto them. They indulge in very shallow and superficial sentiments about the love of God which they think too great to ever condemn any one to separation from Him forgetting altogether that the love of od spent itself on that very Cross. Up to the Cross God has infinite love for the sinner but if in self-exaltation he passes it by and rejects the Saviour, then on the other side that very love is wrath. There are others who say they want to believe but cannot. Unbelief is never due to inability. It may be due to unwillingness. Thomas was an honest doubter and said, “I will not believe except I shall see.” God gave him to see and he believed. It may be due to ignorance of what faith is and requires. The all-important thing in faith is not its measure but its object. Christ Himself stated this when He said “Come unto me.” Any one can come.

There are countless sins of which every sinner is guilty but there is one above all others for which God is today condemning him and holding him accountable and that is the sin of refusing Jesus Christ as  his Saviour. Wrapped up in that sin are all the others. That is the sin of sins. It is upon that sin the Holy Spirit puts all the pressure of conviction to bring a soul to God. This is His initial work in the sinner.

John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already; because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

John 16:8-9, “And when he (the Comforter) is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me.”

God gives clear and unmistakable warnings to those who are facing the inevitable choice between their sin and His Son. The great refusal means death.

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The great refusal means the wrath of God abiding upon the unbeliever.

John 3:36, “H that believeth on the son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

The great refusal means the judgment of the great white throne.

Revelations 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

The great refusal leads to eternal separation from the presence of God.

2 Thess. 1:8-9, “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

God invites you to receive Christ into your life as Saviour today. To drift is to refuse; to ignore is to refuse; to postpone is to refuse; to face the claim of Christ and to turn silently away is to refuse. The rich young ruler refused and is never mentioned again. A young official in China faced the claim and call of Christ one night but he said, “Tomorrow, wait until tomorrow.” He refused. That night he was assassinated.

2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Hebrews 3:15, “While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”

Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

Isaiah 55:6, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.”

“Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” The Cross of the Lord Jesus Chris is the Great Divide. On which side of it are you today? The choice is inevitable – your sin or God’s Son.

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 1 – “A New Creation Formed”)