"I" Sermon: John 6:44

“I”

[John 6:44]

November 18, 2018, Second Reformed Church

            We continue our look at the five doctrines affirmed by the Synod of Dort in 1619.  As we come into the 400^th anniversary of their affirmations, we remember that we consider these to be accurate summaries of the teaching of the Scripture.

            We saw that the Scripture teaches that all mere human beings are born spiritually dead and inclined towards sin.  We saw the astounding love of God Who, for His own reasons, chose to save some out of the mass of humanity.  And last week we saw that the work of salvation that Jesus merited is a gift specifically for each member of the elect – those God chose – not generally for anyone or, even, no one.

            The fourth doctrine, Irresistible Grace, looks at the question of how the gift is applied to the spiritually dead sinner who has been chosen by God and for whom Christ merited salvation.

            Think about our dead friend in the open casket again:  he is dead.  But he is one that God has chosen to raise to spiritual life.  And Christ has specifically merited the salvation of our dead friend.  All he has to do is apply it to himself.  Can he?  No.  He’s still dead.  A dead person can do nothing to help himself.  He must be raised from the dead to be able to do anything.

            Another way of thinking about this is thinking about being born.  How many of you gave birth to yourself?  How many of you caused your birth?

            Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3b, ESV).

            So, how do you give birth to yourself?  You remember how you did it the first time, right?

            Of course not – birth is something that is done to you.  When my niece was born a couple of months ago, her mother birthed her.  Emersyn had no part in choosing to be born or in effecting the act of being born.

In fact, God regenerates the dead elect sinner to spiritual life and gives him the gift of faith, so he can receive the Gospel and be saved.  Again, God regenerates the dead elect sinner to spiritual life and gives him the gift of faith, so he can receive the Gospel and be saved.

Let’s break this down.

First, God regenerates the elect.

We are born spiritually dead – that is the foundation of the whole discussion for the five weeks we are looking at the Synod of Dort and it’s proclamations. 

First, logically, God must spiritually raise the elect from the dead.

Paul writes, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-7, ESV).

All mere human beings are born spiritually dead, incapable of doing any spiritual good.  But God, in that astounding love that we talked about – God chose to love some and raise them to spiritual life – everyone who believes savingly in Jesus.  God raises us to spiritual life as a gift – for His own reasons – that we would know “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us” – so we would glorify our Triune God and worship Him and give Him thanks.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8, ESV).

Jesus tells Nicodemus that regeneration – spiritual life – being born again – is not something that anyone can do or choose – God the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life to those whom He chose from before the foundation of the world.  And we don’t know who those are or when God will cause them to believe.

God regenerates the elect.  God gives spiritual life to the people He chose.

Second, faith is a gift.

Faith is the means by which we receive the Gospel and believe it in our hearts and minds.  Like the gutters and leaders on a house that collects the rain and directs it to where you want it to go, faith receives spiritual truth.  But, spiritually dead people don’t have faith.

Paul writes, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).

Two things must be true for this to happen:  you must be spiritually alive – God must have regenerated you.  And, you must have faith to receive the Gospel – God must give you the gift of faith.  Then you can confess Jesus and believe in Him.

Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV).

“For by grace” – by God’s gift to you – “you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing;” - what is the “this”?  Salvation through faith.  “it is the gift of God,” what is the “it”?  Salvation through faith. “not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And [salvation through faith] is not your own doing; [salvation through faith] is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

God the Holy Spirit raises the spiritually dead elect person to life – God the Holy Spirit regenerates him.  And, God the Holy Spirit gives him that faith he needs to receive the Gospel – “so that no one may boast” – salvation is the gift of God from start to finish.

            This is summarized in the Scripture we heard this morning:

            Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

            Jesus says that no one can – no one has the ability to come to God to repent and believe and confess Jesus – it is not possible for anyone to come to God to repent and believe and confess Jesus – unless God the Father draws him.

            What does that mean?  What does it mean that the Father “draws” him?

            Does it mean that the Father says, “Look at all the rewards you’ll get for being a Christian.  Com’mon – come over to our side’?

            Does it mean that the Father says, “Here human, human, human, come be born again?”

            No.

            It helps to know that the same word that is translated “draw” in this text is used when it is said that someone “draws” water out of a well.

            Now, if you have ever drawn water up out of the well, or if you have seen someone do it, or even if you can imagine what would be involved in drawing water up out of a well, would you stand at the top of the well and draw it up by saying, “Here water, water, come to the top of the well!”?

            No, the water, like the spiritually dead human adds nothing – does nothing – being drawn is done to the water – to the human.  In the case of water, a bucket is lowered down and it is drawn up – pulled up – hauled up to where it is wanted.

            The same word that John uses can also be translated, “compels” – “no one can come to the Father, unless the Father compels him.”

            Something has to be done to the spiritually dead person to make him able to do spiritual good and to be able to receive the Gospel.

            What happens is “irresistible grace.”

            God the Holy Spirit raises the person to spiritual life, gives him the gift of salvation through faith, and the “compulsion,” the desire, the irresistible draw to the Gospel – and he receives it.

            Some have said that the doctrine of irresistible grace forces people to come to Christ against their will – when they don’t want to – but that is a misunderstanding of what this doctrine teaches.  What this doctrine teaches is that when God chooses a person, raises him to spiritual life, and gives him the faith to receive the Gospel – there is nothing else in the world that will keep him from it.  When God raised us and gave us faith, we want Jesus and His salvation – we understand that there is nothing greater and we want it with everything that we are – we want Him with everything that we are – and so we are saved by the work of God alone and that work applied to us.

            When God raises us and gives us the gift of salvation through faith, we run to Christ because we want Him more than anything.  That is irresistible grace.

            Then, third, we exercise our faith and bear fruit.

            Once God chooses us and raises us to spiritual life, applying to us the work that Jesus did specifically for each one of us who believes, we are now able to respond to the salvation God gifted us through being obedient to all He has commanded.  We are to do good works in Jesus’ Name in obedience and thanksgiving to Him, and we can do them because God indwells us and empowers us.

            Our lives are all about showing how great our Triune God is and giving Him thanks in all that we do.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, we thank You for raising us and giving us faith so we would see how amazing grace is – how great is the salvation that Your Son has merited and the Holy Spirit has applied to us.  Grow our astonishment and our love that we would run after obedience – away from sin – and proclaim Your Gospel to the world.  Even at Thanksgiving.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.