Rejecting Jesus - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

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Rejecting Jesus

John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

I. The Realities of Rejecting Jesus

Multiple times in the Bible, we are reminded that Jesus Christ will be rejected.

Isaiah 52

·       1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

·       2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

·       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.

Jesus referred to Himself as “the stone which the builders rejected.” (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10)

Look at Luke 7:24-35

Jesus indicted them for “rejecting the counsel of God.” (vs. 30)

Jesus prophesied that he would be rejected.

·       Luke 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

·       Luke 17:25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

Look at the text:

When you reject Jesus, you are rejecting His Father.

John 12

·       44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

·       45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

When you reject Jesus, you are rejecting His light.

·       46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

John 1

·       6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

·       7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

·       8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

·       9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

·       10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

·       11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

When you reject Jesus, you are rejecting His words.

·       47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not…

When you reject Jesus, you are rejecting His Salvation

·       : for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

II. The Range of Rejecting Jesus

The many different ways that a person can reject Christ is innumerable.

Rejecting Jesus comes in many styles and versions.

For example:

Herod rejected Christ and tried to have him murdered.

He was so against Jesus coming to earth that he killed all the baby boys.

But Judas Iscariot rejected Jesus too.

And he walked with Jesus for 3 ½ years and rejected him on his last day of ministry.

Herod’s rejection was one of a diabolical prevention; Judas Iscariot’s was a deceitful pretending.

The range of ways that a person can reject Jesus are all over the spectrum.

You have the rejection of the Jews before Pilate that chose a condemned criminal over Jesus.

Screaming to the top of their voices – CRUCIFY HIM!!!

And then you have the “many” in Matthew 7:21 that rejected him while calling Him Lord.

Matthew 7

·       21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

·       22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

·       23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

The crowds in the streets rejected Jesus with cries of malice.

The crowds in Matthew 7 rejected Jesus with lies of ministry.

There is the rejection of the rich man that fared sumptuously every day…

And then there is the rejection of the scribes that wrote about His coming every day of their lives and then didn’t accept Him when He finally arrived.

There is the rejection of the Jews that stoned Stephen in the street just for preaching about Jesus.

And there is the rejection of King Felix that “…trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” (Acts 24:25)

There is the rejection of the heathen as well as the rejection of the hypocrites.

There is the rejection of the Christ-haters as well as the Christ-imitators.

There is the rejection of the rebels and the rejection of the religious.

Rejecting Jesus is not always pushing Him away.

Rejecting Jesus is not always cursing His name and throwing a Gospel tract on the ground.

Rejecting Jesus isn’t always getting up and walking out of church angry during the preaching.

Sometimes, it is getting up after the service has been dismissed, walking out under conviction and shaking the preacher’s hand and telling him you really enjoyed the message.

Rejecting Jesus is not just a person that will never go to the altar.

Rejecting Jesus can be a person that goes to the altar a lot but never gets truly born again.

Sometimes rejecting Jesus is trying to pull Him in to prop up your false profession.

It might be using Him and His Word to try to validate your invalid testimony.

Invoking the name of Jesus to reassure yourself that you’re OK when deep inside you know you’re not.

Hanging out with other Christians to convince yourself that you are one too.

Rejecting Jesus can be stubbornly staying in your pew while being under Holy Ghost conviction.

Rejecting Jesus can be pretending to love the Lord when you don’t even know Him.

Pretending to love His Word when you’re not even listening to it.

Rejecting Jesus can come in a wide range of methods – but they all have the same outcome.

Those that die, rejecting Jesus will spend eternity in a hell, created for the devil and his angels.

III. The Regret of Rejecting Jesus

·       John 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

The regrets are too numerous to list, but here are just a few.

The regret of…

…living your entire life without Him.

…not allowing His words to change your life.

…pretending to receive Him when you really didn’t.

…knowing that so many people were pointing you to Him.

…watching what He could do for others but denying Him the opportunity to do it for you.

…spending eternity in Hell knowing you didn’t have to.

…being eternally separated from God and every Christian that has ever lived.

…standing before God one day without a single excuse for why you rejected His only begotten Son.

There is the regret of falling prey to the Antichrist after the rapture.

The Bible is clear – those that reject Jesus will believe and accept the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2

·       9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

·       10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

·       11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

·       12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The regret of standing before God at the Great White Throne Judgement and be sentenced to an eternity in the lake of fire.

Revelation 20

·       11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

·       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.

·       13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

·       14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

·       15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Conclusion: Your decision to receive Christ or to reject Him is yours and yours alone.

Nobody can make that choice for you.

But if you stop rejecting Him, and receive Him, He can save you, change your life and you can become a part of the family of God.

John 1

·       11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

·       12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

·       13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.