Battle Of The Wills
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Having established that God works all things together according to His will & Purpose
And Foreknows & predestines those who receive His mercy & justice according to His will & purpose
Because of the total depravity of the will power of humanity to choose to be saved
We will see how God saves according to His Sovereign will.
Grumbling is a natural reaction
Looking at Jesus’ response
Notice His assertiveness (STOP) this active sense of dissatisfaction- with the sense that some legitimate claim has not been met
It doesn't seem legitimate to claim that it is only God’s will through the gift of Jesus Christ that can satisfy the need for salvation.
Not human will power/ some merit of goodness in the heart
considered among one another there could be a legitimate case to be made of merit.
In comparison with other people one may seem to be more deserving of grace than another
In light of that the three actions in v44 show us the sovereignity of God will over the will of man in salvation.
These 3 actions should act as a mirror, a source of gratitude, and a spring for a sure hope
What are the three actions?
Coming to Jesus
The Father Drawing
The Son Raising Up
Who CAN come to Jesus?
Everyone & anyone (Lepers, women, adulterers, Pharessies, Romans, etc)
Then what does He mean by no one can come to HIM
The kind of coming Jesus speaks of is one that requires a level of passionate devotion/ a willing commitment to embrace & obey Him
47 “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Are we/you capable of coming to Jesus this way? I anyone CAPABLE?
Notice CAN not MAY (Ability v Permission)
Jesus says there is a universal negative to this question. NO ONE can come.
This action( Lack thereof) should be a mirror to our utter inability to please God by our own merit.
This is important because of our current context- thinking your goodness/ status made you come to Christ or you need to do something/ sin less/ stop some habits before you can come to Him
Bottom line no one can come to Him salvificly ---- UNLESS (conditional preposition) the second action takes place
The Father Draws
Unless this condition is met, you can’t approach Jesus and know Him as your savior & Lord.
You can know Him as a great moral teacher, great prophet of God, you can know Him as someone to look to when life is hard
But He wouldn’t save you from the bondage & punishment of your sins nor would you be able to submit to Him as Lord/ owner of your life without this condition being met.
The Father in His Sovereign Will & Purpose / His foreknowledge & predestination, has to give you to the Son (v37)
2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
He draws (pulls/drags/pulls/hauls) your dead/ totally depraved heart to respond to the gospel of Christ in faith & repentance
13 Who rescued us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love,
Your salvation - is a gift- primarily not to you but in a sense to the Son. The Father gives you to the Son in His sovereign will/purpose/foreknowledge and draws/ pulls you to His Son renders you worthy/ grants you access (v65b)through the Spirit who gives life v63.
How much should you praise God for this? How much does it speak to His Sovereign power & will?
He’s able to accomplish this with you despite your inability (considered individually & collectively)
Bringing you to Jesus in repentance & faith is only the start of your new life (for which your grateful)
But there’s one more action the SON accomplishes
The Son Raising Up
As those who have been drawn by the Father to the Son, the son completes the action by giving you New life as a present possession but is still the goal of resurrection hope and striving
When you come to Christ by the sovereign drawing of the Father you’re given new life you have been made alive while you were dead in trespasses & sins Ephesians 2:1-3 “1 And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
Ephesians 2:5-7 “5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Yet you're looking forward to the consummation of the resurrection as Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 “50 Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the corruptible inherit the incorruptible. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” 56 Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
The sum of all is this… You may know your inability to come to Christ on your own, but to praise/honor/glorify the father who grants you this grace, and be steadfast in your hope of your inheritance because God has sovereignly willed & purposed it.
These doctrines are to be reasons to grow in adoration to our Sovereign like Peter in v68-69 not to grumble.