This is Vision for Christ World, Toledo, Ohio, USA. My name is Tim Taylor. What does it mean that God draws us to salvation? It means that we lack the natural interest or power to seek God and to reach him. First, bear in mind people are not looking for God in the same way that criminals are not looking for a police officer. Think about it. So you may wonder, how does anyone come to faith in Jesus Christ? The answer is that God has the power to draw certain people to himself for his own reasons. And that reason is not because we are so good and honorable. The Bible in Romans 3.23 states, for everyone has sinned. We all fall short of the glorious standard of God. On the program today, I will be talking about how people become believers by the faith from God. Father God, let me show everyone who you really are and reveal your only Son, Jesus Christ, to those who are listening. Praying in the name of Jesus, amen. The key Bible verse of this ministry is from Matthew 24, 14. This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Submaterial from GodQuestions.org. You can find more about us at vision4christworld.com. Our website works on your internet-enabled mobile phone as well as your computer. You can listen to past, present, and future programs there. Just click on Programs at the top of the page. That website address is vision4christworld.com. John 6, 43 to 44, Jesus answered and said to them, stop grumbling among yourselves. 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 clearest verse on the power of God to draw someone to salvation is what I just read to you, John 6, 44, where again Jesus declares that 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 Greek word translated draw is helkouo, which means to drag, literally or figuratively. Clearly, this drawing is a one-sided affair. God does the drawing to salvation. We who are drawn have a passive role in the process. There is no doubt that we respond to his drawing us, but the drawing itself is all on his part. The Greek word helkouo is used in John 21 verse 6 to refer to a heavy net full of fish being dragged to the shore. In John 18 10 we see Peter drawing his sword, and in Acts 16 19 helkouo is used to describe Paul and Silas being dragged into the marketplace before the rulers. Clearly, the net had no part in its being drawn to the shore, the sword of Peter had no part in being drawn, and Paul and Silas did not drag themselves to the marketplace. The same can be said of the power of God to draw someone to salvation. Some come willingly, and some are dragged unwillingly, but all eventually come, although we have no part in the drawing. Why does God need to draw us to salvation? Simply put, if he did not draw, we would never come. Jesus explains that no man can come unless the Father draws him. John 6.65 The natural man has no ability to come to God, nor does he even have the desire to come, because his heart is hard and his mind is darkened. The unregenerate or unconverted person does not desire God and is actually an enemy of God, see Romans 5.10. When Jesus says that no man can come without the drawing power of God to a person, he is making a statement about the total depravity of the sinner and the universality of that condition. So darkened is the heart of the unsaved person that he does not even realize it. The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17 9. Therefore, it is only by the merciful and gracious drawing of God that we are saved. In the conversion of the sinner, God enlightens the mind. Ephesians 118. In the conversion, God inclines the will toward himself and influences the soul, without which influence the soul remains darkened and rebellious against God. All of this is involved in the drawing process. There is a sense in which God draws all men. This is known as the general call and is distinguished from the effectual call of the elect of God. Passages such as Psalm 19, 1-4 and Romans 1, 20 attest to the fact that the eternal power of God and his divine nature are clearly seen and understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Psalm 19, 1-4 says, The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak. Night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word. Their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. Romans 1 18 to 22 declares, but God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities, his eternal power, and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they would not worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. But people still do deny God and those who acknowledge His existence still do not come to a saving knowledge of Him outside of His drawing them. Only those who have been drawn through special revelation, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God, only those will come to Christ. There are tangible ways in which those who are being drawn to salvation experience that drawing. First, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sinful state and makes us know we need a Savior. John 16a explains, "...and when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of the righteousness of God, and of the coming judgment." Second, he awakens in us a previously unknown interest in spiritual things and creates a desire for them that was never there before. Suddenly our ears are open, our hearts are inclined toward him, and his word begins to hold a new and exciting fascination for us. Our spirits begin to discern spiritual truth that never made sense to us before. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2.14, if someone does not believe in God, they cannot accept the message that comes from the Spirit of God. They think that the message of God is silly. They cannot even understand those things. Only the Spirit of God can explain them to people. Finally, we begin to have new desires. He places within us a new heart that inclines toward him, a heart that desires to know him, obey him, and walk in the newness of life that he has promised. Romans 6.4 states, for we died and were buried with Christ by baptism, and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. John 15, 14-17, where Jesus is speaking to his disciples, just hours before his death. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master does not confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You did not choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command. Love each other. Here now are some additional Bible verses about how the power of God works in the lives of those people who embrace Jesus in true saving faith. Acts 10.38, you will know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Romans 1.16, for I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Romans 15.13, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And in 1 Corinthians 1.18 we see this, Later in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 20, for the kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk, it is living by the power of God. Then in 1 Corinthians 6 14, God will raise us from the dead by his power just as he raised our Lord from the dead. 2 Corinthians 12.9, each time he said, my grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. Ephesians 3.16, I pray that according to the wealth of his glory, he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner person. Ephesians 3 20 now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or even think 2 Peter 1.3, by his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. So let me ask you this. Do you sense the power of God pulling you toward himself? Do you feel a desire to truly give your life in complete surrender to the will of God by faith in his only son Jesus? If you do, then I urge you to express your desire for saving faith to God in prayer, and he will hear you and will save you. Trust him now. Let me pray for you. Father God, in the name of your one and only unique Son, Jesus Christ, I ask you to send your Holy Spirit to touch the heart and mind of every person listening to me right now. Cause them to desire to have their sins taken away, to pray and ask to be granted repentance that leads to life by God, and to repent of their sins, truly turning away from sin, to have that penalty for sin removed. so that through the faith you give them, they may believe in you, Jesus, and have eternal, never-ending life, starting today, by having personal, saving faith in you, Lord Jesus. Amen. Listen to us online at vision4christworld.com. Our Vision for Christ broadcast began as a shortwave broadcast from a Florida radio facility to Sub-Saharan Africa. This is still our primary audience. We have since expanded to Asia on AM medium wave radio, to Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece on FM local area radio, and to Australia, Northern Europe, and the Middle East on shortwave. You may also listen to us online anytime at vision4christworld.com Until the next broadcast, this is Tim Taylor praying the great blessings of God with joy and peace upon your life as you embrace Jesus Christ in personal saving faith. I will leave you today with this text from John 6, 43 to 44. Jesus answered and said to them, stop grumbling among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.