Why Were Not All Converted By Christ's Preaching?
In view of the great amount of preaching being done today, why is the number of conversions, resulting from this preaching so disappointingly small? "Why aren't more people baptized?" is a question frequently heard. The inquiry is worthy of consideration. If the causes back of the failures can be learned, steps may be taken to correct the mistakes and success will more often crown the efforts at conversions.
Much preaching being done is not GOSPEL preaching. The conversion (change) wrought by such preaching is not conversion to Christ. There is no reason to expect conversion to Christ to result from the preaching of error. Satan the father of lies (John 8:44) is the sole and original source of error. If one were converted to Christ by error, it would be a case of conversion by a device of the devil! Satan provides no power unto salvation; all his provisions are unto condemnation. We, therefore, have no reason to expect conversion to Christ to come as a result of preaching error. Preaching another gospel not only brings the curse of God upon the guilty preacher; (Gal. 1:8) it also results in the condemnation of the one receiving it.
Conversion And The Gospel
The gospel "is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16) Hence it is the only thing that can be preached with any reason to expect conversion to Christ as a result. But not all gospel preaching results in conversion to Christ. Why is this? We cannot lay the blame upon the gospel without reflecting upon divine power for it is the power which God designed to save men. The fact that it is the power of God unto salvation guarantees its adequacy. The blame for non-conversions cannot he placed upon the gospel.
Conversion And The Grace Of God
Some hold a human theory of a direct operation of the Holy Spirit. The theory is that the Holy Spirit must operate upon the heart of the hearer in a direct way before the hearer can be converted. This is to blame non-conversion on a lack of divine grace. A direct operation of the Holy Spirit would be an act of God and in every case where the word failed to convert the hearer the reason for that failure would have to be that God withheld his grace in that case. There is no lack in the grace of God "for the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men." (Titus 2:11) The grace of God has brought salvation to all men. Hence the non-conversion of some who have heard the gospel will have to be charged to something other than a lack of God's grace.
Conversion And The Conduct Of Church Members
The mis-conduct of preachers and other members of the church is a thing that too often nullifies the effect of sound preaching. It seems that some utterly fail to realize their responsibility with reference to their influence. Too many have stopped their ears to such admonitions as these: "only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ..." (Phil. 1:27) — "I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called (Eph. 4:1) — "Even so let your light shine before men: that they may see your good work and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16) Those who hinder the truth by their ungodly and unrighteous conduct have a terrible reckoning awaiting them. Of such Paul wrote that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hinder the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. 1:18) Why are not more people converted? In many cases the answer lies in the mis-conduct of preachers and other members of the church and not in the failure of preaching. It is a fact that some gospel preachers by their misbehavior have manifested utter disregard for God's law of marriage and morals; others have apparently adopted the philosophy of Machiavelli that lying is justified when it will enable one to "stay in power." All such misbehavior has a bad effect upon the people of the world. They come to doubt the decency and integrity of all gospel preachers and consequently will not be properly impressed by gospel preaching. There is no defense intended for those who will not distinguish between the divine word and the human mistakes of the one preaching. Blaming the word for the mistakes of the preacher will not relieve the hearer of his responsibility toward the word. But the fact remains the conduct of preachers and members does have a profound effect upon the attitude of the hearers.
These are some of the things which prevent the proper effect from being realized from the preaching of the word. But there are cases of non-conversion which cannot be accounted for by any of the things which we have noticed.
Why Were Not All Converted By Christ's Preaching?
That many non-conversions are not to be charged to any defect in the preacher or in his preaching is evident from the fact that Jesus failed to convert all who heard him preach, and many who for a time followed him, later deserted him because of his "hard sayings."
Christ was an unrivaled preacher. He never made a mistake in what he said or in how he said it. In not one single instance did He ever hinder the truth which he preached by an act of ungodliness or of unrighteousness. He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15) The sufficiency and perfection of Jesus as a preacher is assured by his relation to God. For one to equal or excel Jesus as a preacher he must be superior to God. The officers, whom the chief priests and Pharisees sent to arrest Jesus, returned without him and explained their failure by saying "never man so spake." The disciples "were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes." (Mark 1:22) Christ explained that he spoke not from himself, "but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak, even as the Father hath said unto me so I speak." (John 12:49, 50) Many other passages, to establish that Christ was a perfect preacher, could be cited but these are sufficient to prove the point. Why did not this perfect preacher succeed in converting all who heard him preach?
To what cause did Christ attribute his lack of success in those cases where his preaching failed to convert? When we learn the reason why Christ didn't succeed in converting all, we will know the reason why many in our day, who although they hear the word, fail to be converted.
Christ relied fully upon his preaching in his efforts to convert men. Never is there an instance of Christ's performing a miracle upon the heart of an individual to convert him. Christ did not operate directly upon any person to convert that person. Take the case of the rich man who came to Jesus inquiring, "what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Matt. 19:16) This hearer "went away sorrowful" rather than do what Jesus told him to do. If a direct operation in addition to the word be necessary, why didn't Jesus perform the miracle upon this one? It was not because of a lack of love for this one, for the Bible explicitly states that Jesus "loved him." (Mark 10:21) The reason that this one was not converted to Christ, but went away from him was that "he was one that had great possessions." (Mark 10:22) Even so today those who "trust in riches" fail to be converted when they hear the gospel. This attitude which prevents the word from accomplishing its design is the personal responsibility of the hearer.
People are called to salvation by the gospel — "whereunto he called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. 2:14) Paul called attention to the fact that, "not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called." (1 Cor. 1:26) Why is it that not many from these ranks respond to the call by being converted? Paul explains that God's arrangement was such that "no flesh should glory before God." (1 Cor. 1:29) Not only does "trust in riches" prevent conversion to Christ, but trust in any fleshly accomplishment or position will bring the same result.
In the parable of the sower, Christ taught that unprepared or improperly prepared hearts would fail to produce the results which the word was designed to produce. In explaining the parable, Christ applied it to hearer's of his day and said that their "heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and should turn again, and I should heal them." (Matt. 13:15) Notice the order of conversion as outlined by Christ--(1.) see and hear — (2.) understand — (3.) turn — (4.) healed by Christ. The first three steps are human actions. In divine order, these human actions must precede the divine action of healing (forgiving). The responsibility for these human actions is placed squarely upon the individual hearer. The condition of the heart is a personal responsibility. Perhaps the majority of hearers do not understand and thus cannot turn (be converted) because their hearts are coarse by reason of prejudice, vanity, worldly ambition etc. Their gross heart causes them to close their eyes, and stop their ears to any thing which does not agree with their desires or plans. Gross hearts continue to pervert conversion to Christ.
The refusal to credit the Old Testament scriptures prevents a true acceptance of the word of truth. Some claim to believe in the inspiration of the New Testament but not in the inspiration of the Old Testament. This cannot be for Christ said, "For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words." (John 5:46, 47)
Speaking to some other hearers, Jesus said, "How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not." (John 5:40) What are you seeking?
The answer to the question, "Why were not all converted by Jesus?", is summed up in the language of Jesus. "Ye will not come to me that ye may have life." (John 5:40) God recognizes the exercise of the human will and does not bring any irresistible power to bear upon man to convert him. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation and it is within the power of man to believe it or to disbelieve. He will or he will not come.
In conclusion, God will give the increase if preachers and church members will see to it that the pure seed is planted and will behave as "men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God." (I Tim. 3:15) Each one can discharge his personal responsibility and confidently leave the results to God.