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Coming to Jesus is the one thing a sinner must do to be saved. The term “coming to Jesus” means leaving one’s own self righteousness and turning to Jesus, receiving His death as our atonement and being clothed in His righteousness.

“Decisionists” think of coming to Jesus as a very easy thing. But they are wrong. They avoid thinking about this text because it clearly shows their error.

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

It is impossible for anyone to come to Jesus unless God the Father draws him to the Saviour.

This verse is very offensive to people in our time. They have learned from our culture that they have complete freedom of choice. They think of it as a basic human right. Thus, even the murder of a helpless baby is called a woman’s “right to choose.” But the Bible does not teach that human beings have that freedom of choice. In the matter of salvation, Christ said we have no ability to choose at all! That is why the words of Christ are so annoying to the modern mind, 

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

The lost sinner dislikes hearing that he has no “right to choose.” He hates to hear that he is utterly helpless and lost unless God intervenes and draws him to the Saviour. He is troubled by the words of Christ,

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

As we think about that annoying text, we will see man’s inability, man’s errors, and God’s drawing.

I. First, man’s inability.

The text says,

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

Why is it impossible for a human being to come to Christ without God drawing him? The answer is simple. Man is totally depraved. Total depravity refers to the universal deformity of human nature, the inbred sinfulness of the human heart. Every human being is born in a state of depravity. David said,

“I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5).

The Bible teaches that every child is born a sinner. Children are not born innocent. They are born sinful and rebellious against God. Each generation inherits a totally depraved nature. There are no exceptions.

Our first parent sinned against God. His sin brought universal depravity to all his descendants, to every human being. The Bible says,

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men…” (Romans 5:12).

Thus, every human being is spiritually dead. The Bible says,

“We were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5).

Furthermore, all human beings are born with a nature that is in rebellion against God. The Bible says,

“The carnal mind is enmity against God…” (Romans 8:7a).

The unconverted human mind is hostile toward God. The human heart is against God and is not capable of changing,

“…for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7b).

The unconverted person is a little antichrist, completely hostile to God and Jesus His Son – and incapable of changing himself.

Also, all human beings in their natural state are incapable of receiving the truth of the Gospel. The Bible says,

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God…neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14).

Thus, the Bible teaches that you were born a sinner by nature. The Bible teaches that you are dead spiritually. The Bible teaches that your very mind is set against God and incapable of self-change. The Bible teaches that you are not able to receive or even understand salvation in your present state. That's what it means to be lost!  Those are plain Bible facts concerning your deformed and ruined nature. These Bible facts were summed up in this correct statement, given in the Westminster Confession,

Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto (Westminster Confession, IX.3).

That was the Biblical position of our Baptist and Protestant ancestors before “decisionism” all but ruined true evangelism. As our Baptist forefather Spurgeon put it,

Through the fall, and through our own sin, the nature of man has become so debased, and depraved, and corrupt, that it is impossible for him to come to Christ without the [drawing] of God… “Now,” says one, “I believe men can be saved if they will.” My dear sir, that is not the question at all. The question is, are men found naturally willing…? We declare, upon Scriptural authority, that the human will is so desperately set on mischief, so depraved, and so inclined to…evil, and so disinclined to...good, that without the powerful, supernatural…influence of the Holy Spirit, no human will ever [come to] Christ (C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Pilgrim Publications, 1981 reprint, volume IV, pages 138-139).

That is why Jesus said,

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

Thus we see, first, man’s inbred natural inability to come to Jesus.

II. Second, man’s errors.

Man in his inherited depravity is not able to come to the Saviour. Jesus said,

“Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).

Take note here, and pay careful attention. Rather than coming to Christ, the depraved human mind will invariably do something else. They will say a prayer, and depend on their prayer, rather than come to Christ. They will believe a Bible verse, and depend on their belief of that verse, rather than come to Christ. They will “try to do their best,” rather than come to Christ. They will try to make Christ the Lord of their lives, rather than simply come to Him. They will have a “good feeling” and depend on it, rather than come to Christ. All of these errors are absolutely fatal! None of these errors will save a single person from judgment and from Hell.

Coming to Jesus seems like the simplest thing in the world. Yet without the drawing of the Father, not a single person will actually come to Jesus Himself. As the Saviour said,

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

In your depraved condition you will not see the value of Jesus. He will not seem important to you in your present state. Speaking of lost mankind, the prophet said of Christ,

“We hid as it were our faces from him…and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

In your depraved condition you will see no real  value in Jesus’ death on the Cross. Though you hear a thousand times that He died in your place, to pay for your sins, that great Gospel truth will have no real meaning to your darkened mind. Though you hear a thousand times that He has risen from the dead to give you life, that great Gospel truth will have no vital meaning to you in your present condition. Though you hear a thousand times,

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” 
      (Acts 16:31)

you will do something else, you will hide your face from Jesus, you will not esteem Him, you will not come to Him. For as He said,

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

Man’s errors will always lead him to exert some human effort rather than bringing him to Jesus Christ Himself – unless God draws him to the Saviour.

III.  Third, God’s drawing.

Let us stand and read the text out loud, paying careful attention to the second clause.

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

You may be seated.

“Except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” The only person who will actually come to Jesus is the one who is drawn to Him by the Father. What does that mean? Spurgeon explained it this way:

I remember meeting once with a man who said to me, “Sir, you preach that Christ takes people by the hair of their heads and drags them to himself.” I asked him whether he could refer to the date of the sermon wherein I preached that extraordinary doctrine…However, he could not. But said I, while Christ does not drag people to himself by the hair of their heads, I believe that he draws them by the heart…Mark that in the Father’s drawing there is no compulsion whatever; Christ never compelled [forced] any man to come to him against his will. If a man [is] unwilling to be saved, Christ does not save him against his will. How, then, does the Holy Spirit draw him? Why, by making him willing…as Ralph Erskine paradoxically puts it, the man is saved “with full consent against his will;” that is, against his old will he is saved. But he is saved with full consent, for he is made willing in the day of God’s power (Spurgeon, ibid., p. 142).

Never think that you will be plunged into a sin-cleansing bath of Jesus’ Blood while you are kicking and struggling to run away from the Saviour!

Now, someone may be asking, “Am I being drawn to Jesus?” If you feel your sin, perhaps you are. If you are aware of the sinfulness of your own heart, perhaps you are. If you are concerned about your sins recorded in God’s books, perhaps you are. If you see the need for Jesus’ Blood to cleanse your sins, perhaps you are.

But how will you know if you are being drawn? Why, that is simple enough! You will know you are being drawn if you come to Jesus! The Saviour said,

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Last night I showed you how people came to Jesus quickly and easily in Bible times. Zacchaeus, the tax collector, climbed down from a tree and came to Jesus. Blind Bartimaeus could not see the Saviour, but he felt his way across the road, came to Jesus, and was saved. A sinful woman crawled under the table and kissed Jesus’ feet. The moment she came to the Saviour, He said to her, “Thy sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). It was easy for these people to come to Jesus because God drew them to Him.  

The Pharisees, Herod, Pilate, Judas and many others did not come to Him, because God did not draw them to the Saviour. He was right there among them, but they did not trust Him. They did not come to Him by faith. But it was easy for those God drew to come to Him. Zacchaeus, Blind Bartimaeus and that sinful woman came to Jesus quickly and easily because God drew them to the Saviour.  

If God is drawing you it will be just as easy and simple for you to come to Jesus as it was for those people in Bible times. Then come to Jesus! Come directly to Him, seated at the right hand of God in Heaven. Come straight to Him by faith. Come and rest in Him. Come and trust Him. Come right to Him and He will wash away your sins with His own Blood. He will clothe you with His own righteousness. Jesus will save any person who comes to Him.

“And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”
      (John 6:37).

Please stand and sing hymn number three on your song sheet. Think about the words while you sing.

Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night,

   Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,

   Jesus, I come to Thee;

Out of my sickness, into Thy health,

   Out of my want and into Thy wealth,

Out of my sin and into Thyself,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss,

   Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,

   Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,

Out of distress to jubilant psalm,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride,

   Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into Thy blessèd will to abide,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,

   Out of despair into raptures above,

Upward for aye on wings like a dove,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,

   Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;

Into the joy and light of Thy home,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of the depths of ruin untold,

   Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,

Ever Thy glorious face to behold,

   Jesus, I come to Thee.

(“Jesus, I Come” by William T. Sleeper, 1819-1904).

(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.realconversion.com. Click on “Sermon Manuscripts.”

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: John 6:35-47.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“Oh, What a Fountain” (by Dr. John R. Rice, 1895-1980).