That God draws men to Himself is without dispute. Who can argue with the very words of Christ in John 6:44?

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The point of contention has always been whether or not a person is able to, in the end, resist God’s drawing power. There are those who maintain, quite adamantly at times, that Christ’s death merely made salvation ‘possible’ for those who, on their own, ‘accept the gift’. There are also those who maintain that Christ not only paid the price for our salvation, but actually secured the salvation of the those for whom He died, just as the angel announced to Joseph (Matthew 1:20 ,21).

God does not ‘force’ salvation on anyone, but He does draw them irresistibly to himself. You could say that God offers His elect an offer they won’t refuse. You could describe it using the four steps shown below. Certain passages of scripture are offered to whet your spiritual appetites and encourage further investigation of scripture into the matter.

Concerning one of His elect, chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1 & 2):

1. God convicts him of sin, and he repents. (Acts 2:36-38)

2. God enlightens him by His Spirit, and He beholds the Christ in all His beauty of salvation. (John 6:45)

3. God allures and attracts, and he longs for the God of his salvation. (1 John 4:19)

4. God seals him, and he appropriates the Christ and all His benefits. (Ephesians 1:13)

Please note that it is God doing all these things, and not man. Especially note that there is a confrontation with sin (the human condition), in all it’s ugliness! It is precisely this initial step of drawing that is either omitted or perverted in much of today’s evangelism. We just don’t talk about it, or we speak of lightly, as if sin is just our little mistakes and boo-boos. We would rather just speak of how much God loves us, what wonderful plans He has for us, how much He wants to fix all of life’s problems, etc., that speak of the real issue. In other words, we would make Christ so appealing to the natural mind and flesh (which is in rebellion against God,) that we produce a host of false converts who merely think they are saved!

God is so gracious however, that when His elect sit among the non-seeking seekers’ (Romans 3:11), He will still convict, enlighten, attract, and seal, in spite of bad preaching!

What a mighty God we serve!

May God richly bless you throughout the new year!