Drawn to Jesus

John 6:44 speaks of that encounter with God when He seeks you and finds you. There, Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." In the Greek, the word "draws" means to influence someone or to cause someone to do something (Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, [AMG International, Inc. 1992, revised edition, 1993], 568). It carries the idea of pursuing someone, finding him, and bringing him back. God is the one who "draws" you to Jesus.

An unregenerate sinner will never come to God of his own accord. It is not in his nature. He must be pursued and found, and his heart must be changed by God, or he will not come to Christ. That is why God pursues you when you stray. It is the only way to bring you back to Himself.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 points out, "For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." No one is just. God searched the earth and found no one from any era that was without sin. All are guilty before God. No one will find their way to heaven based on works or his own righteousness. This verse makes it clear that no one does good. No one is without sin. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).

Psalm 14:1-3 expands on this truth: "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one."

God "looks down from heaven" (v. 2a) and searches the earth for a righteous man, finding none. Apart from Christ no one is just. No one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned away from God and are corrupt. Apart from Christ there is no hope.

Paul quotes from these verses in Romans 3:10-12: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one."

Again, no one is justified in his own right or on his own merit. All have gone their own way. All have turned away from God. There is no one who even tries to find God. Therefore, God takes the initiative and pursues His own. He pursues you. If He did not pursue you there would be no possibility of salvation.

A few verses later Paul declares: "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:19-20).

The law cannot save you. It makes you aware of your sin. It points out how far you have strayed from God and makes clear your need for a Savior. Still, we do not seek after God. If God did not pursue us, we would never know Christ.

So Paul continues: "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:21-26).

If it were not for God, no one would be saved, especially not you or me. We are no different from anyone else. We are sinners who fall short of God’s glory. We do not do good. We do not seek after God. It is God who took the initiative and pursued us. He provided the Savior. He seeks and finds us. He draws us to Christ. He even provides faith. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). Yes, even our faith is God's gift. So if God had not sought after us, we would not know Christ and we would not be saved.

The twenty-third Psalm says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (v. 6). In Hebrew, the word "follow" means to pursue someone in an aggressive manner (Warren Baker, D.R.E. and Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament, [AMG Publishers: Chattanooga, Tennessee, 2003], 1037). David sets up a contrast here. While his enemies pursue him in order to kill him, they cannot do him any real harm because God is pursuing him with all His goodness and mercy. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, God pursues or follows him with everything good to keep him unto Himself and to protect him and guide him. It is clear that God pursues those who are His own. Amen.