One of the excuses that non-Christians make why they do not believe the Gospel and become Christians, is that they simply do not and cannot understand the Gospel. They cannot understand this business of the ‘new birth,’ or having to become ‘a new creation.’ These ideas baffle them. Non-Christians ask how it is that an innocent Man (Jesus Christ) can be punished for a guilty man (like you and me), and they say, it’s not right, it’s immoral, it’s unjust. They simply cannot see it.
Nor can they understand how when a sinner puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, their sins are forgiven and they are accepted as righteous in God’s sight. This leaves them stone cold.
Perhaps they start thinking that it is because they are not smart enough to grasp these spiritual truths; but that does not hold water because the smartest people in New Testament times had exactly the same problem with Christ’s teaching and His apostles’ preaching. The Jewish Sanhedrin was at a loss to understand how a lame man could be healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, (Acts 4:9, 10). Nicodemus, one of their number, was unable to understand how someone could be born a second time; in fact, his ignorance was such that he could only think in terms of physical birth, (John 3:4). And he, too, was a very clever individual.
So it has absolutely nothing to do with a person’s intellectual powers or academic abilities. Spiritual understanding has nothing to do with how many degrees a person has, or any other purely human ability.
Paul tells his Corinthian readers that God has not chosen the smart people in the world through whom to do great things, nor the great intellectuals, the Greek philosophers, nor the scientists of the day, (1 Cor.1:26f). Instead, He chose people like you and me, ordinary people. But even people like us cannot understand the Gospel until we are spiritually enlightened or born all over again. Until this happens, you cannot grasp the “message of the Cross” because to you it is both offensive and foolish. To the Christian, however, it is the “power of God,” (1 Cor.1:18). The truly amazing thing here is that those who think they are clever cannot ‘see’ the Gospel. They boast about their great education, and they are proud of their great cleverness. But they cannot understand the simple Gospel.
Now the question we have to ask is this: why do Christians and non-Christians see these same things very differently? Why can very clever people not see the meaning of the Gospel, whereas ordinary people can see it plainly? The answer is that the one is a Christian, but the other isn’t. Paul tells us that Gospel truths are “spiritually discerned.” That means that the reason why you do not understand the gospel, and see no need of it personally, is that you do not have the spiritual equipment to enable you to do it. And only God can give that to you! The fact that you refuse to come to Christ for spiritual enlightenment means that you will never grasp what the Gospel means for you. It will remain foolishness to you. The natural man, the man without the Spirit of God, sees only folly in the Gospel way of salvation. If you think the Gospel is foolish, God will show you just how foolish you are. How does someone know if he will perish in hell forever? Answer this question: is the Gospel message sheer foolishness to you just now? If it is, then you now know what your destiny will be. You are condemning the Gospel at the cost of perishing – not a good deal!
I hope you are beginning to see why you do not understand this Gospel message – it’s because you are spiritually blind. And blind people cannot see! Further, it is because you are living in spiritual darkness, and in the darkness you cannot see, either! These two things are true of you because you are spiritually dead. And dead people cannot know or do anything!
For you to ‘see’ the Gospel and its relevant for you, you must be stripped of your ‘cleverness,’ left totally naked in your thinking, and helpless.
ince you are spiritually blind, you need Christ to heal you; then you will be able to see. This is what He came into the world to do. And He will do it for you if you come to Him confessing your blindness! And since you are in spiritual darkness, you need Christ to shine His marvellous light, not only upon you but into your darkened heart and soul to dispel that darkness. And He’ll do that for you once you come to Him confessing you cannot see. And above all, you are spiritually dead, a spiritual corpse, motionless, lifeless, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, doing nothing. You need Christ, the One Who conquered death when He arose from the dead, to give you new life, a second birth; you need to be ‘born again from above,’ a heavenly birth. Only Christ can perform that miracle.
So what are you to do now? First, you must confess to God that you have found nothing attractive or desirable about the Gospel of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, Who died on Calvary FOR YOU. Second, tell Him you regarded it as foolishness, that you now see your own sinful folly, and that you are truly sorry for that. Third, turn away from your sin, and put your trust NOW in the only One Who can save you, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He loves you, He died for you, and He now wants to save your never-dying soul. He does not want you to perish eternally. Remember, He shed His precious blood and died for you on Calvary. So, trust in Christ NOW.
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