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“You will not come to Me–that you might have life.” John 5:40
“No one can come to Me–unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” John 6:44
Why is it, that no one can come to Christ unless he is ‘drawn’? The answer is, Because his wicked heart loves sin–and hates Christ! The heart of the every man is so “desperately wicked” that if he is left to himself–he will never come to Christ!
For the sinner to come to Christ that he might have life, is for him . . .
to realize the awful danger of his situation;
to see that the sword of Divine justice is suspended over his head;
to awaken to the fact that there is but a step between him and death, and that after death is the ‘judgment’! And in consequence of this discovery, to earnestly strive . . .
to flee from the wrath to come,
to cry unto God for mercy, and
to agonize to enter in at the ‘strait gate’!
To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner . . .
to feel and acknowledge that he is utterly destitute of any claim upon God’s favor;
to see himself as ‘without strength,’ lost and undone;
to admit that he is deserving of nothing but eternal wrath, thus taking side with God against himself;
to cast himself into the dust before God, and humbly sue for Divine mercy.
To come to Christ for life, is for the sinner . . .
to abandon his own righteousness;
to disown his own wisdom–and be guided by Jesus;
to repudiate his own will–and be ruled by Jesus;
to unreservedly receive the Lord Jesus as his Savior and Lord, as his All in all.
Such, in part and in brief, is what is implied and involved in “coming to Christ.” But is the sinner willing to take such an attitude before God? No! For in the first place, he does not realize the danger of his situation, and in consequence makes no earnest attempt to escape. Instead, men are for the most part at ease, and whenever they are disturbed by the alarms of conscience or the dispensations of providence, they flee to any other refuge but Christ!
They will not acknowledge that all their ‘good works’ are as filthy rags but, like the Pharisee, will thank God they are not as bad as other heinous sinners.
They are not ready to receive Christ as their Lord–for they are unwilling to part with their idols! They had rather hazard their soul’s eternal welfare–than give them up!
Hence we say that, if left to himself, the natural man is so depraved at heart–that he has no moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ!
“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God!” Romans 8:7, 8
A.W. Pink- 1886-1952
From ‘The Sovereignty of God’
HT – Grace Gems
This is so true…I’m glad he extanded his mercy and called me, and even more move me in respoding to the call. I love it! Be bless!
How hateful to the flesh! As on another post – one compared men who think they can save themselves to worms who imagine they can be brain surgeons. But oh how the worms want to wield the scalpel! ‘Tis love for the worm to show him his condition. And if the Lord be gracious and grant repentance and faith, the worm might be turned. But for sinful man to rightly recognize he is not god is a harsh but necessary Truth. Man’s ego – dashed to the Rock and destroyed; it’s his only hope.
I am just finishing up reading this wonderful work. It is sad that this book is, for the most part, forgotten by many (if they had even heard of it in the first place). It is a broadside shot, ripping through the hull of the seeker-sensitive, Purpose-Driven, me-centered, hip/cool/relevant, push-God-off-His-throne-and-put-me-on-it movements in the church today.
And it was written nigh 70 years ago.
FP,
I’m working on finishing this book up as well! As of last night before bedtime I had gotten to page 203, “GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND PRAYER”.
Overall this tome has been a thorough and sweeping treatment of The One True and Living God’s absolute, unmatched, and undiluted sovereignty. Pink is plain spoken and blunt, but his bluntness comes across with a sense of reverent awe rather than as a scolding school-marm. This being said my disagreements with Pink thus far, few as they’ve been, are profound. In my opinion he’s too high handed in his dogmatic approach to God’s unmitigated hatred for the reprobate, bordering on the unscriptural.
I’m not alone in this view as others have noted the same thing (Phil Johnson & John MacArthur to name a couple), and some have even gone so far as to trot out charges of “hyper-Calvinism”, but I wouldn’t go quite that far. Pink is a higher sort of Calvinist than I am, but I haven’t personally seen enough evidence to classify him as a hyper.
As I understand it the book was edited for reprint so depending on which publisher one has, Pink’s emphasis on God’s absolute hatred (no love or kindness of any kind whatsoever) towards the non-elect will be more or less pronounced (original version more; edited version less). All this being said I highly recommend this book to those interested in a lengthy, scholarly dissertation on the majesty and authority of the God of the Holy Bible.
In Christ,
CD