No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44).
Numerous stories abound of men whose wives didn’t love them when they first met. Some of the women were blunt to tell these men to the face: “You don’t meet my standard”. But these men didn’t relent. They pursued till they won the heart of their love. And behold, a woman, who once didn’t love his guy now madly falls in love.
This is how it is with God. We, as human beings, are in a certain sense like these women. Naturally, we don’t love God. The sinner will have nothing to do with God. The sinner has missed the standard of God’s holiness (Romans 3:23) Sinners will, in fact, go every extent to suppress the knowledge of God (Romans 1:21). Scripture plainly tells us we didn’t love God; but rather, he first loved us. We love him because he loved us:
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1John 4:10).
We love because he first loved us (1John 4:19).
Except the Father Draws
In John 6:44? Jesus tells us of something we are unable to do by ourselves. We cannot come to him on our own to be saved. The text points out our inability and lack of will to come to Christ. In our sinfulness and total depravity, we are dead and lack any ability to come to Christ of our own-selves ( Jeremiah 13:23; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 3:11-12 ). However, the Scripture doesn’t tell us only of what we cannot do; rather, it also tells us of what God does with our inability . He makes it possible for sinners to come to Christ: “except the Father who sent me draws him“. It appears to be the pattern of Scripture. God always state our problem and provides the solution. In Ephesians 2 where Scripture tells of our deadness in sin, in subsequent verses, it tells us of what God can do or has done. The difference in a sinners’ life is made by the word “But” in Ephesians 2.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience —among whom we all once lived in o the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind . But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:1-5).
“But God”; points us to God’s mercy in saving sinners. Romans 5:8 presents us with another picture of God’s love while we were yet in our sins, Christ died for us. God didn’t wait for us to put our house in order so to speak. Because we are unable of ourselves come to God, He brings us to Himself by creating a desire for Him in our hearts which hitherto we didn’t possess. Our natural inclination is simply towards sin. Our every desire is a pull towards sin: (Jeremiah 17:9; James 1:14-15). However, God changes our hearts–He regenerates us and creates a new desire to come after Him. Simply, God gets our attention. He overcomes our resistance and creates a new desire in us (Ezekiel 36:24-27; Jeremiah 31:33).
In Scripture, we see instances where God drew people to himself. He caught their attention if you will.
Moses in the burning bush encounter ( Exodus 3:1-4 )
Jonah in the belly of the whale ( Jonah 1:15;17; 2:1-2).
Jacob in flight (Genesis 28 )
The calling of the disciples (Matthew 4:18-22).
The Prodigal son (Luke 15:17).
Saul on the road to damascus (Acts 9:1-5).
In the covenant of redemption, the Truine God agrees on the salvation of the elect. The Father sends the Son to die and the Holy Spirit produces faith in our hearts to believe. God always take the steps to reconcile sinful humankind to Himself. Just as a man in love doesn’t back away until he wins the heart of the woman he loves; though sinners may resist God’s promptings and convictions, like the man in love, God doesn’t back away on his elect He has called to Himself (Isaiah 62:5b).
Anytime a sinner comes to Christ, we can be sure God drew them to Christ. They didn’t come by their own volition or freewill (John 6:37). “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Jesus said in John 10:27.
Facebook Comments