the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
John 6:44
Does man have a free will?
Read John 6:35-47
Without question a man is free to do anything he wants to do and has the ability to do. But all reasonable people must acknowledge that a man’s desires and abilities are limited by his nature. A mother has the ability to strangle her nursing baby, but she has no desire to do so; it would be contrary to her nature. The Ethiopian may desire to change the color of his skin, but he has no ability to do so. No, man’s will is not absolutely free. It is limited and bound by his nature.
Because man by nature is a fallen, guilty, sinful and depraved creature, altogether without life towards God, our Lord declares that with regard to righteousness, faith and eternal life, man has neither the desire nor the ability to obtain these things. They are altogether contrary to his nature and beyond his ability. The Lord Christ says, ‘Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life’ (John 5:40). That is to say, in your natural condition, you have no desire to come to Christ. In another place, the Son of God says, ‘No man can come to me’ (John 6:44). The natural man has no ability to come to Christ. He is spiritually dead. He has no spiritual inclinations, desires or abilities. With regard to the things of Christ, he has no free will.
Yet, in order to be saved, a man must come to Christ in true faith, surrendering to him as Lord with a willing heart. How can this be? God the Holy Spirit sovereignly comes to men and women who are dead in sin and gives them life in Christ. He creates a new heart and a new nature within them. By the preaching of the gospel, he calls them to Christ, with irresistible grace and power, and they always come. Grace makes men willing to come to Christ. Grace gives men the ability to come. And grace sees to it that they do come. Well might every sinner cry out, ‘Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved’ (Jeremiah 17:14).
