Why All People Cannot Come to Jesus for Eternal Life
Salvation is a divisive subject in the church. Most believe that either all people are saved, because God is love and He would never condemn people to an eternity in hell and the lake of fire; or God provisionally makes salvation a possibility. They say, “Everyone has a chance to be saved by their own free will choice to be saved by Jesus.” Neither of these salvation theories is biblical, however.
In this article, we wish to explore why all people cannot come to Jesus for eternal life, which is the biblical truth.
First, the Bible teaches election and reprobation. Because most Christians do not read their Bibles, and because most church pastors never preach on these doctrines…ignorance abounds.
The doctrine of election is clearly revealed in these passages (Jn 6:44; 10:3; Rom 8:30; 9:23; Eph 1:4–5; 1 Pet 2:9). The doctrine of reprobation is even less known than election. It teaches that God has made some people to be vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:22). The whole of Romans 9 is the best place to study reprobation. John 6:37 is helpful in our study, too. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out.”
God the Father has chosen a people for His own possession (Eph 1:4, 5; 1 Pet 2:9). That number is either all people or some people. If He chose all people, then we must be universalists. If He chose some people, then we must inquire about those people who are not chosen. These are the reprobate.
God the Father gives God the Son the elect ones, and these come to Him (Jn 6:37; 17:2, 6, 24). They have blessed assurance of salvation because God’s promise is to never leave nor forsake His chosen people (Heb 13:5).
Second, if God has made some fitted for destruction, the wicked for the day of evil (Prv 16:4), then it is God’s clear intent not to save these cursed ones. As children of the devil (Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:10), the unrighteous live like their father the devil, and the hatred and wrath of God is against them (Ps 5:5; 11:5; Rom 1:18–32).
Why is it the mission of some Christians to think they can facilitate the salvation of the unsavable? It is the simple fact that they are ignorant of the Scriptures. They have been instructed with bad theology, and they turn and promote unsound doctrine, thinking they are serving Christ.
God the Father must cause them to hear and to learn the truth of the whole counsel of Scripture (Jn 6:45). The fact that not all who name the name of Christ as Lord can hear His voice (Jn 10:3-4), demonstrates there is a distinction between the two groups we see throughout the Bible.
This dichotomy should be an essential teaching, understood by all born again believers. Without the separation of the elect and reprobate, redeemed and unredeemed, believer and unbeliever there will be distorted theology.
When a Christian pastor thinks he can labor for those predestined for eternal hell, his ministry priorities are in the wrong place. He is prone to use the latest church marketing technique to attract unbelieving goats to Christ’s sheepfold. His penchant will be larger attendance numbers and his sentiment will be, “Well, it is good for absolutely everyone to be in church on Sunday.” He never once thinks about the negative impact goats have on the sheep. The reason is that this man is a hireling, who does not love the sheep, although he may tell them he does.
The wasted resources, used to attract and entertain the children of the devil, is in the billions of dollars every year in America. There is no stopping the worldly church, however. Using the techniques of corporation gurus, the carnal church gets bigger and bigger every year. The closure of small churches, for the transfer of goats to bigger venues, opens those properties for other uses: restaurants, bars, mosques, and recreation centers.
Christian, learn this simple truth. God has chosen a remnant of people from the Jews and Gentiles (nations) for salvation (Rom 11:5). Christ Jesus died on the cross to reconcile this remnant to God (Mt 1:21; 2 Cor 5;18–20; Eph 1:7). The Holy Spirit knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19); and He finds every single lost sheep and applies the merits of Christ to the elect of God from every nation, in every generation, causing them to be born again (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).
None of God’s elect are lost in eternity because God saved us (Titus 3:5; Rom 9:23)…but not them (Rom 9:22). They are the ones who cannot come to Jesus for eternal life (Jn 6:44) because they were not given to the Son by the Father, and thus, they do not belong to Jesus (1 Cor 3:23), nor will they ever believe in Him (Jn 10:26). They are not willing (Jn 1:12), nor are they able to come (Rom 8:7), and God is not willing that they should come because He has made them to be reprobates.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
January 21, 2022
