Calvary Road Baptist Church
“WHY YOU ARE NOT SAVED”
Isaiah 53.3
I want to challenge you to ask yourself, “Why am I not saved?” That is, “Why have not my sins been forgiven?” “Why have I not trusted Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners?”
I am not dealing with that heathen from a pagan nation that has never heard of Jesus Christ. I speak not to the issue of that man or woman, that boy or girl, who has never been told the old, old story of God sending His virgin-born Son to suffer and bleed and die as the substitutionary sacrifice for man’s sins.
Scripture is unambiguous about why the pagan is not saved and is extremely precise in its explanation of why that one who has never been exposed to the good news of Jesus Christ is Hell-bound. Every member of the human race is conceived as a sinner and comes into this world headed in the wrong direction. Psalm 58.3 declares,
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.”
Job 14.1 points out to us,
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”
As well, the Apostle Paul quoted from Psalms when he observed,
“There is none righteous, no, not one,”
Romans 3.10. Then, in Romans 3.23, he rightly concluded,
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
So, it is very clearly shown in God’s infallible Word that the human race is doomed, the human race is fallen, the human race is wicked, the human race is sinful, and the human race is a race in rebellion toward God. I could show you hundreds and hundreds more proofs from the Bible to support that conclusion.
So then, why are the heathen not saved? Why are the pagans of Asia, Africa, and South America dead in trespasses and sins, awaiting death and eternal destruction? Why are the Muslims of Malaysia, Indonesia, and southern Philippines, of the Middle East, and the northern half of Africa still in their sins before a holy God and without hope? Why are the unreached hundreds of millions of China doomed?
I might also ask why the pagans of Scandinavia and the British Isles, the pagans of the Low Countries and Eastern Europe, Germany, France, and Poland are in the same spiritual predicament. Why is it that all of those teeming multitudes will live out their lives and then die and go straight to Hell?
Those people, all those people, from the very young to the very old, and everyone in between, are not saved and will not be saved, will go to Hell when they die for only one reason: they deserve nothing better. After all, “there is none that doeth good, no, not one,” Romans 3.12. All of those billions of people of every color and culture “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” This is what we are told in Revelation 21.8. “But that’s not fair!” You are correct in your thinking.
It is not fair from a human perspective. But it is nevertheless the destiny of the damned, and such a destiny is the just punishment poured out by a holy God as retribution for sins committed against Him.
“I am tormented in this flame.”
That is what the rich man in Hell said in Luke 16.24. That is what each and every person who dies unsaved will scream and cry out throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Such is the destiny of those who have never heard of Jesus Christ or have never heard clearly and distinctly.
Why are they not saved? Why will they not be saved? Why will they suffer hellfire eternally? because it is what they deserve.
My friend, there is nothing wrong with getting exactly what is coming to you. And that is exactly what most human beings will get; exactly what is coming to them. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18.25.
My question for you, however, is not why the heathen are not saved. I know why those sinners who have never heard of Christ are not converted. My question for you happens to be, "Why are you not saved?” “Why are your sins not forgiven?” “Why will you go to Hell?”
You see, you have heard of Jesus Christ, the only Savior of sinners. You have been made aware of your awful sinfulness in the sight of God, and the unspeakable horrors that are associated with anyone who dies without Christ. So, why are you not saved?
Turn your Bible to Isaiah 53, and I will show you why you are not saved. Stand as I read a portion of a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, written some seven centuries before His miraculous birth. We read Isaiah 53.3-6:
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Nestled in this amazing prophecy is the precise reason why you who are here, why you who have been exposed to the truth about Jesus Christ so many times, are not saved. Look at verse 3:
“He is despised and rejected of men.”
That phrase explains precisely why you are not a Christian.
Three comments to make concerning this phrase:
First, THE ATTITUDE YOU HOLD
You have a distinct attitude toward and about the Lord Jesus Christ. Each and every one of you who is not saved has an identifiable attitude toward Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whether you are willing to admit it or not. The Bible declares that you do. It is the objective reality.
Your attitude toward Jesus Christ may be a consciously held attitude. Perhaps your attitude toward the Lord Jesus is as consciously held as was the attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Remember, they reviled the Savior. Maybe your attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ is as consciously held as was former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura’s attitude toward Christianity. He clearly despised the Christian faith, as he indicated when he was a younger man, a Navy SEAL, and later an actor.[1] Or it could be that your attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ is as consciously held as billionaire Ted Turner’s attitude toward Christ. He was very publicly an avowed enemy of Christ and of Christianity, saying it was for losers.[2] There are many in the world today, many of whom have heard the Gospel and are aware of the claims made in God’s Word about Jesus Christ, His Son. Yet despite what the Bible says, or perhaps because of what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, they have an open, outward, conscious, passionate, seething animosity toward my Lord Jesus Christ. I have known people with such a conscious attitude toward Jesus Christ. I have worked with such people. Perhaps you have, too.
On the other hand, perhaps yours is an unconsciously held attitude. Human beings are quite capable of completely and thoroughly deluding themselves.[3] Perhaps you are like that about the Lord Jesus Christ. And is that so hard to imagine? I know many young people who loathe their fathers. If you ask them how they felt about their dads or stepdads, they will almost certainly indicate they loved them. But do you really love someone you want to be nothing like? I have seen it. When the truth comes out, it is astonishing to the young person when he discovers his or her true feelings toward the dad or the stepdad. What if a young person had not yet discovered his true and inner feelings toward his dad or toward his stepdad? Do you have to be aware of something for it to be fact? Of course not. Hatred can exist even when there is no conscious awareness of the hatred. In like manner, it is not required that you be aware of your attitude toward Jesus Christ for you to have such an attitude. You certainly can have an attitude toward Him without realizing it. So, here you sit in the auditorium, unsaved. I have raised the issue of your attitude toward Jesus Christ, held either consciously or unconsciously. Which it is does not matter. What does matter is that your attitude toward Him has to do with you not being saved from your sins.
SO, YOU HAVE AN ATTITUDE TOWARD THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. NEXT, THE ACCUSATION MADE
Our text begins,
“He is despised ....”
According to God’s Word, you despise Jesus Christ. Scripture declares that you think He is despicable. Some of you no doubt have this attitude consciously; you are aware of your innermost feelings toward the Savior. But others of you certainly despise Jesus Christ, but unconsciously. You may even be thinking, “That’s not true! I do not despise Jesus Christ!” Then how do you explain the fact that you are not saved? How do you explain that you don’t want to be saved? How do you describe your present spiritual condition? How can you protest that you do not despise Him?
The Bible declares that you do despise Him. And the burden of proof that you do not despise Him is on you! Prove that you do not despise Jesus Christ! Serve Him. Worship Him. Love Him. Witness of Him. Testify of Him. Seek to bring men to Him. But you won’t do those things, will you? Do you want to know why? Because you despise Him, that’s why?
Do you want to know why you despise the Lord Jesus? Let me show you from God’s Word why you despise Him:
First, you despise Jesus Christ because you love sin. Don’t tell me you don’t love sin, because you obviously do love sin. You not only love sin, but you are also committed to sin. You’re more committed to sin than you are to your family, than you are to your future, than you are to your soul. Don’t suggest that you’re not. The Bible identifies Jesus Christ as the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.[4] And Jesus declared, “I am the Light of the world!”[5] But you love darkness rather than light because your deeds are evil.[6] You love sin because of the pleasures sins provide.[7] You love sin because of the exhilaration and excitement you feel when you are committing sins when you are doing wrong when you are violating your conscience and breaking God’s rules. Oh, how you love breaking the rules. Yes, you love your sin. You love websites. You love the videos. You love vulgar jokes at work. You love flattering attention. You love stubbornness and being hard-headed. You girls enjoy the interest unsaved men show toward you. The rush, the thrill, the pleasure of sin. Oh, do you love it! No wonder you despise Jesus Christ. He’s the Savior from sins.[8] And you don’t want to be saved from your sins, do you? No. You want a little bit of Jesus on Sunday mornings but leave the rest of the week for immodest attire and flirting, for beer and irresponsible spending, for pouting and wallowing in the hog trough of self-pity. Make no mistake about it: you do despise Him. The Bible says you despise Him. God knows you despise Him. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the fact that you despise Him.
But that’s not the half of it. Not only do you love sin, but you also hate God. And don’t you dare protest that you don’t hate God because you do hate God? You hate God because you do not love God, and He has commanded that you love Him.[9] It’s the first and greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. How do I know you hate God? Go to the Old Testament and read the Ten Commandments.[10] Read the one about God being jealous. That’s the one that shows us that if you serve anything other than God, you are showing your hatred of God.[11] Thus, if you do not serve God, and you will serve someone even if you do not serve God, it shows that you actually hate God. You don’t serve God, do you? Even those of you who claim to be saved but who are not really saved. You do not actually serve God, do you? You serve your own belly. You serve your own pocketbook. You serve your own pleasures. You serve your own interests. You serve your own convenience. Perhaps you serve your own spouse or your own child, whom you love instead of God. But you do not serve God, do you? That means you hate God. Oh, I’m sure you witness and may even take a Bible to work and do all the other nice little new evangelical things that are substituted for serving God. However, do you actually engage in ministry in the Church of God, through the Church of God, from the Church of God, First Corinthians 1.2? No. Showing what? Showing that you hate God. What does hating God have to do with despising the Savior? It’s pretty obvious. It’s actually very obvious. In Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Colossians 2.9. And did He not declare that He and the Father are one?[12] He also indicated that if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father.[13] So, despising Jesus Christ is the natural consequence of a sinner like you hating God. And, according to God’s Word, you do hate God. You hate God and despise His Son because they are holy, and you are unholy because they are clean and you are defiled and unclean because they are righteous and you are unrighteous. That’s the real reason you have not come to Christ for forgiveness, for cleansing, for salvation from sins. You despise Him. Thus, saith the Lord.
THE ACCUSATION HAS BEEN LEVELED. NOW, THE ACTION TAKEN BY YOU
What do you do as a direct result of your attitude toward the Lamb of God, this One Who is meek and lowly? Why, you reject Him, of course.
Some of you obviously reject Him. You come to Church and sit in the auditorium during the preaching. But your rejection of Him is quite apparent. You’ve not embraced Jesus Christ. He is not the Lord of your life. You do not choose to live for Him. Your rejection of Jesus Christ is quite evident by your lifestyle. For some people, it is evident in their hairstyle. With others, it’s evident in their clothing style. It is evident in everyone's life priorities. You see, we are told by the Apostle John that it is wrong to love the world and the things that are in this world. We are told that loving the world shows that the love of God is not in you.[14] If you love the world, which is dominated by Satan, the god of this world, you cannot possibly love God and love Jesus Christ. So, you sit here, week after week, month after month, rejecting Christ again and again and again. For some reason, the terror of the Lord doesn’t seem to overcome your hesitation, your resistance, and your reluctance.[15] Want to know why? You despise Jesus Christ. Perhaps you claim there are reasons and concerns. But the real reason you are not saved, the real reason you reject the Savior, is because you despise Him. You think you are young and active, and dealing with spiritual things is not convenient. But the real reason you are not willing to be saved, the real reason you reject the Son of God, is because you despise Him.
But not all are obviously rejecting Him. Others subtly reject Him. Perhaps you claim you are a Christian, insisting vehemently that you truly believe in Christ. But you aren’t saved at all. You reject Jesus Christ just as certainly as the others in this auditorium and for the same Christ-despising reason. Perhaps you are someone who has rejected Him in favor of praying a prayer or believing a doctrinal truth. It’s good to pray, and doctrine is important, but praying doesn’t guarantee anyone’s salvation. you can believe that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day for you all you want and still be lost. Though you pass yourself off as a Christian, in the back of your mind you have a suspicion that you’re not really saved. You’ve observed the deep and profound conviction some in our Church have been taken through by the Holy Spirit, and you’ve never in your life been that concerned about sin and salvation. But will you even consider that you may not be saved? Likely not. Why not? Because you despise Jesus Christ and do not want to really come to Him for salvation. The possibility that you are even now rejecting Him doesn’t move you, persuade you, or provoke you to reexamine your standing before God. And why not? Because you despise Jesus Christ.
Most of you who are lost will soon leave the auditorium, giving little thought to the accusation leveled against you in the Word of God. It won’t greatly trouble you that to you there is no beauty in Him that you should desire Him. It won’t alarm you that sin so distorts your spiritual perception that One Who is altogether lovely should seem so unappealing to you.
No. Your commitment is to sin. You don’t want to serve God and live for Christ; you want to play. You have a hobby to attend to. You have Starbucks to go to. Or, you want your comfortable for now life to continue as it is, undisturbed.
Instead of coming to Christ, you reject the Savior. Why? The reason, the real reason, if you are not consciously aware of that reason, is shown to us in Scripture to be that you despise Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
So, to answer the questions I asked at the beginning, “Why are you not saved?” because you have rejected Jesus Christ. “And why have you rejected Jesus Christ?” because you despise Him.
Oh, my friend, the horror of someday standing in judgment before this one you have despised and rejected should bring sobriety and trembling. By all that is right and holy, you should flee to Him while He bids you come to Him, while He is not at present angry with you, and before His patience ends.
Come to Jesus Christ now and be saved from your sins. Despise Him no longer. You may be thinking, “I disagree with you. I think you might be wrong. I am convinced you are mistaken.”
It is not me you disagree with, but the Bible, which shows that Scripture is not the final authority in your life. You are. And as long as you are the final arbiter of truth, you will remain dead in trespasses and sins.
__________
[1] https://www.socratic-method.com/quote-meanings/jesse-ventura-organized-religion-is-a-sham-and-a-crutch-for-weak-minded-people-who-need-strength-in-numbers
[2] https://www.christianpost.com/news/cnn-founder-ted-turner-talks-prayer-heaven-hell.html
[3] James 1.22
[4] John 1.9
[5] John 8.12; 9.5
[6] John 3.19
[7] Hebrews 11.25
[8] Matthew 1.21
[9] Deuteronomy 6.5; 11.1; 19.9; 30.16; Matthew 22.37; Mark 12.30; Luke 10.27
[10] Exodus 20.2-17
[11] Exodus 20.5
[12] John 10.30; 17.22
[13] John 14.9
[14] 1 John 2.15-16
[15] 2 Corinthians 5.11
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