May 9

No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. - John 6:44.

THERE are three things here deserving our regard. The first regards our coming to Christ; implying absence, accessibleness, and application. The second regards man’s inability without divine agency; this inability is moral and universal. The third, the influence by which the soul is brought to the Saviour: it is by an influence divine; it is by the Father, who hath sent the Saviour; it is by the Father’s drawing him. This is not always an alluring and gentle influence. When God is dealing with the souls of men in bringing them to the Saviour they often feel something besides pleasing and gentle attraction. This was the case with the jailor, when tremblingly he exclaimed, “What must I do to be saved?” and with the three thousand, when they were pricked in the heart, and cried out, “Men and brethren, what must we do?” In a general way (for there are some little variations) the work may be described thus.

First, There is conviction of sin: the man is made to see the nature, the pollution, and the number of his transgressions.

This produces, Secondly, Distress and fear: he sees the curse of the law hanging over his offences, and that he is ready to perish. His conscience is awakened, it condemns him; a burden too heavy for him oppresses him. The world no longer can charm him; he feels his need of something now which he never felt before, and he feels that it cannot be derived from himself.

Hence, Thirdly, Self renunciation and despair: he sees that he can do nothing to atone for his former transgressions, to deliver him from the condemnation of the law, and to renew him in the Spirit of his mind.

Yet, Fourthly, Along with all this there is some hope founded upon the declarations and examples of Scripture. This hope for a time may be very weak and trembling, just sufficient to keep him from despair and afterwards from turning back to perdition, and to induce him, as with a rope upon his neck, to go forward towards the merciful King of Israel, saying, “I will go in unto the king: and if I perish, I perish.”

Fifthly, With all this there are new and earnest desires after Jesus; a hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Now he sees the Saviour’s all-sufficiency and his suitableness. His desires are naturally drawn towards him, as those of a hungry man after food, or those of a thirsty man after water. Oh, says he, whatever I may be denied, “that I may but know him, and the power of his resurrection.”

And therefore, Lastly, He is now willing to receive Jesus Christ, as he is presented in the gospel-a holy and gracious Saviour, at once the destroyer of sin and of self; and not only now does he feel a readiness to submit to this plan, but he is able to acquiesce in it, to glory in it, and to say with the Apostle, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”