Is it possible for unbelievers to enjoy God?
Jeffrey Johnson explains in this video that unbelievers have a hard time enjoying God. In fact, it is impossible for them to love God. Why? Simply put, because they hate him. What they value is ultimately fruitless and meaningless.
Man is plagued with guilt and dissatisfaction. Why? Because they have no true joy and they know that they have sinned. There is no true rest, no true contentment, and no true enjoyment of God until they are saved.
Revelations 21:4 (NKJV) - "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Unbelievers have a hard time enjoying God because they hate Him. But one of the ways that we can reach them is to teach them how they are inherently miserable. They're full of guilt and they're unsatisfied. They're like addicted to some type of drug that they've had pleasure. They tasted a moment of pleasure that doesn't last.
So they're seeking the next high, they're seeking the next pleasure, they're looking for satisfaction, they're looking for pleasure, they're looking for joy, they're looking for happiness, all the while they're not able to find it. So I think pointing to their inherent misery and loneliness and depression that they have, the dissatisfaction with the things that they have enjoyed, showing them that they're looking in all the wrong direction, and looking to Christ as the only remedy to their inherent misery. Also, I think we have the answer to their guilt. I think man is plagued with two major problems, guilt and dissatisfaction, discontentment. And we can appeal to them in both areas, that you're miserable and you'll never be happy in the direction you're headed in.
And two, you're full of guilt. You know that you've sinned. You know that you've failed. You've got conscience that condemns you. And that will never be eliminated until you come to the one who can save you from your sins and can take your guilt and forgive you of all that you've done through the blood of Jesus Christ.
And so we have the answers to their most burning questions and problems that they have. And that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. You