NONE CAN KNOW JESUS UNLESS OUR FATHER DRAWS THEM
NONE CAN KNOW JESUS UNLESS OUR FATHER DRAWS THEM
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. —John 6:44-47
And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” —John 6:65
You did not wake up one morning and say, “You know, today I think I will call on Jesus to save me from my sin and to a relationship with God through Him.” No, that is not how coming to Jesus happens!
Our Father is the One who draws people to Jesus. Nobody can call on Jesus unless the Father grants this to be so. Then when He does draw a person, the Holy Spirit brings conviction and enlightenment then a person believes in Jesus and has eternal life (John 16:5-15). We do not come to this conclusion on our own. It is impossible.
Why is it impossible? It is impossible because “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4). It is impossible because they need to come “to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (II Timothy 2:25-26). The only way this can happen is if “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ (makes) his light shine in (their) hearts to give (them) the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6). And this happens as “we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (II Corinthians 4:5). Our Father works in and through all of this to draw people to Jesus so “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
“We are co-workers in God’s service” (I Corinthians 3:9). He is Sovereign over all and within that sovereignty He has given us responsibility. We have responsibility to respond to His call to salvation from sin and to a relationship with Him through Jesus and also to share the gospel, the good news with others and to make disciples (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:16-20). All this is out of our love for God (because He first loved us — I John 4:19) and we are to love people as well (Matthew 22:37-40). So… praise God that we know Jesus. This could only be so because our Father drew us to Jesus! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teC0cmS_Y_o
Dear Father in heaven, may I faithfully serve You out of loving gratitude for all You have done, are doing and will do in and through my life. May this be so by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus.