The Reasons People Don't Come To Christ

The Reason People Don’t Come To Christ
-By Dr. Danny Purvis

“It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

This quote, if you don’t recognize it, comes from Anne Frank. She was 13 years old when she and her family went into hiding to escape the Nazis. She was about 15 when she was discovered by the very people from whom she was hiding.  About six months later she would die in a concentration camp…presumably from Typhus. The plight of she and her family is well known because of the diary she kept which was given to her as a birthday gift just a few weeks before they went into hiding. This quote is one of her most famous and displays an amazing amount of optimism considering the horrific circumstances under which they were living.

I admire her optimism and her courageous desire to cling to her convictions while striving to survive a nightmare. The very fact that she could write something so optimistic is a testament to her dogged resolve to believe the best in people despite all that she and her family had to endure at the hands of her fellow human beings. In fact, she and her family were discovered by the Nazis because someone, it has never been conclusively proven who, betrayed them and revealed their location to the authorities. It would be understandable if she had let those experiences sour her on humanity as a whole. But she clung to the hope that people were, basically, good at heart. But Anne Frank was wrong…at least from a theological perspective.
And it is Jesus Himself that points out this reality. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” This statement provides to us a very heart-breaking reality. The vast majority of people on this planet will never come to faith in Christ. That is simply a cold, hard fact. One that should break our heart and drive us to communicate the Gospel to as many people as we have opportunity. But…have you ever wondered why? Why is it that most people will never see, understand, and embrace the truth of the Gospel? The answer, I believe, is fairly simple. It is because people view themselves as good. But once again…Jesus tells us the truth about that idea as well.
When talking to the Rich Young Ruler…Jesus says this: “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone (Mark 10:17-18).” Obviously this is not the only place in Scripture that describes the total depravity of humanity…but this is a clear declaration of two very important realities. First, the assumption that people are basically good as indicated by the young man’s question. Second, the declaration by Jesus that not one single being on the planet is good except God. Jesus knew that the young man’s presupposition was completely wrong. He also knew that if this young man could not see how wrong he was related to the idea that people are basically good…then he could not be saved. Simply put…if a person really believes that they are basically a good person…then it stands to reason that they will never see a reason for a Savior.
The most diabolical trick our adversary has ever pulled on humanity was convincing people they are, at heart, good people. That doesn’t mean that they think they do not do “wrong” or “bad” things from time to time. I believe most people will acquiesce to that reality. However, in some kind of weird way, people seem to disconnect their “bad” or “wrong” actions from their nature. In other words it seems to go something like this: I do bad things and I do wrong things but that doesn’t mean I am a bad person. So what…doing bad things makes you a good person? I admit I cannot wrap my brain around this. God’s Word tells us that “None are good…no not one” (Romans 3:10). In fact, the third chapter of Romans contains the indictment God has issued for all of humanity. If you haven’t read it…it ain’t good. And here’s the thing…it’s not like we don’t have observable proof that people are not basically good.
Malcom Muggeridge once wrote: “The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.” This doesn’t mean that everyone is a Nazi, or a serial killer, or a robber, or any other horrendous example of inhumanity. But therein lay the problem. Most people gauge their “goodness” against the worst of us in our culture. That just because we may not be a killer, robber, or genocidal maniac…then by process of elimination we must then be basically “good”. But this just makes us not as bad as some people. It surely does not demonstrate our goodness. We have it on very good authority that people are not basically good. God Himself said so. Multiple times.
But as long as we see ourselves…and lie to ourselves…that we are basically good at heart there is one thing that is certain. We cannot be saved. It is impossible. When Isaiah saw God’s holiness and presence for the first time, he cried out: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5a).” He saw immediately his sin, his depravity, and his need for a Savior. He only saw the need for a Savior when he became aware of his sin and how much of a not-good person he truly was.
The vast majority of people will live their entire lives thinking they are basically a good person in spite of how many not-good things they continuously say, do, and think. And as long as someone truly believes they are a good person…they have no need for a Savior. I heard someone say once that Jesus didn’t die to make bad people good…He died to make dead people alive. Our understanding of God’s grace will never rise above our understanding of our own sinful nature. We are not good. But the good news is that through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection…we can be declared not just good…but holy and righteous. That is the essence of the Gospel. How cool is that?

-Dr. Danny Purvis