Christ Centered Evangelism Session 4

in this study of Christ-centered evangelism, doing God's work, God's way for God's glory. We come, if you're following along in the workbook, to, I want to spend a little time talking about the fact that if we're going to be on mission with God, we must realize that there are three things that we are incapable of accomplishing in the salvation of those around us that we long to see converted. But before we get to that, notice Acts chapter one and verse eight there in your workbook.

The Lord Jesus is speaking and He says, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto heaven unto a full and meaningful life unto a wonderful plan for your life unto peace unto health well know you shall be witnesses unto me." The Lord Jesus says. This is what I'm submitting this week. Biblical evangelism is not man-centered. It's not felt-need-centered. It's not even heaven-centered. It is Jesus-centered. It focuses on the person of Jesus, the work of Jesus, and the terms of Jesus. We'll see that obviously Wednesday night.

But notice in your workbook there, if we're going to be on mission with God, we must realize, we must understand that there are three things that we are incapable of accomplishing in the salvation of sinners. The first one, you're very familiar with their letter A. We cannot resurrect sinners from spiritual death. You and I cannot resurrect sinners from spiritual death. Why do I say that? Very familiar passage. Paul is speaking to the church at Ephesus, but he's describing to these born-again believers what their condition was spiritually before they were converted, before that birth from above.

And he says, "And you, God, made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins." Why does he use the word "dead"? Well, he's magnifying the amazing grace of God in our conversion. And he says there that sinners are dead in trespasses and sins. It does not say they're sick or they're critically ill. Unconverted sinners are not on NICU on life support. He uses the word "dead." Now, the most famous of--what does this matter, Brother Ed? The world's most famous evangelist would say that salvation is kind of like this. It's like a man who has fallen off a ship in the middle of the ocean. This man can't swim.

He is in the middle of a storm on this ship. He falls off the deck into the water. There are 20-foot waves billowing over him. He's already gone under twice. He's about to go down for the third time, and he is going to drown. But God is so precise that God can take a life preserver and throw it and hit the back of that man's hand. But that man must grab that life preserver and save himself or he's going to drown. What's wrong with that illustration? From the number one most famous evangelist in the world, well, I wasn't drowning in trespasses and sins in 1980. I was on the bottom, absolutely dead.

And if the Holy Spirit didn't breathe life into me through the gospel, I'd still be dead. Sinners all around us are absolutely dead. And if that's true, and the Bible says it's true, we just read it. Notice number two, what is spiritual death? Remember, Paul is using this illustration of death to magnify the amazing grace of God in the new birth. And he's saying the human heart is so hopelessly wicked without a miraculous intervention of the grace of God that God compares the unconverted heart to a dead person. Let's paint some pictures to remind ourselves the deaths and the desperate reality of this spiritual death.

First of all, this is obvious. Letter A, the person who's spiritually dead, they are without any sign of spiritual life. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. And dear brothers and sisters, a lost person does not become spiritually dead after the first time they sin as a child. Right? They sin the first time because they were already spiritually dead. They were born into this planet DOA, spiritually, dead on arrival, physically alive, but spiritually dead. Born in union with Adam after his fall, and in Adam all die.

Remember what God said to Adam and Eve, "The day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall die." They ate, they died spiritually. And every one of us was born into this world physically alive, but destitute of the life of God in our inner being. Remember, eternal life is to have the life of God and the soul of the man. But this unconverted person that we're longing to reach with the gospel is spiritually void of the resurrection life of God. Here's another picture. This is one we're very familiar with. We're thinking about spiritual death. What is it to be spiritually dead?

Let her be to be separated from the living God. The unconverted person is estranged from the life of God. They are alienated from God because of their sinful condition. Now, when I physically die, my eternal soul is going to separate from this physical body. But to be spiritually dead is to be separated from God. This is why the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 59.2, God says your sins and your iniquities have separated you from the life of God. So that neighbor that I've been praying for and taking opportunities to witness to, and I long to see them converted, I have to understand they are cut off from the life of God.

They are living in a kingdom which is called the kingdom of sin and death. Here's another picture of spiritual death, a person who is spiritually dead. Let her be. They have no union with God. If any man, woman, young person be in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. Paul's writing to people who are in union with God and he says we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in union with Christ. The born again child of God, we are complete in him. You recently studied John 15.2 that says every branch in union with me.

We're talking about a person who is born again has a living connectivity and vital union with the vine. As a matter of fact, the most prominent description of a born again follower of Jesus is the truth that they are in Christ. 164 times in the New Testament this Bible speaks about the believer being in God, in Christ, or in him. And every time without exception, those 164 verses are speaking of a born again child of God. But this person is not in Christ. They've not been planted into a vital union and living connectivity with the Lord Jesus Christ.

They may have a physical attachment to religion but they have no living union with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm painting some pictures of spiritual death. Number three, remember how we began yesterday morning. This is eternal life that you may know you might have a saving knowledge of God the Father and God the Son. Well what is the opposite of that truth? It's to be, number three, they are without any personal relationship with God. They certainly may have all of their physical faculties. Mind, will, and emotions. They may have some degree of conscience. They may be humanly moral. They may be very immoral. They may be religious.

They may be totally irreligious. But this person we're talking about is dead in trespasses and sins. Notice this is not an innocent death. This is a guilty death. They are dead in trespasses and sins. As we think about this person we're praying for and we're looking for opportunities to witness, to long to see them converted to Christ. We must realize, number four, a person who is spiritually dead is a spiritual corpse. They are physically alive. They breathe. They live. They respond. They act. They react. They speak. They have intellectual and emotional faculties but they have no spiritual life within them.

They are existing in a sphere called spiritual death. They are dead to a saving relationship with Jesus. They are dead to the glories of the majesty of the person and the work of Jesus. They are dead to the reality of their guilty, lost, rebellious condition. They are dead to the glorious truth of the complete sufficiency of the person and the work of Jesus to save their soul. Listen, they may have been raised in total paganism like I was or they may have been raised by godly parents.

But they exist in a kingdom called death and they can no more rightly respond to me in and of themselves than a corpse could respond to you and I at the local funeral home tonight. Now it's a morbid illustration but it makes the point. Imagine somebody, everybody in this room knows we'll say it's a man. He's passed away. We're all at the funeral home together for the visitation. This is an open casket. He looks pretty good. They got the makeup on. His hair is fixed and he's got a nice suit on. He looks pretty weird but there's only one problem. He's dead. You know I could walk up to that casket and sing 15 verses of Just As I Am.

What's he going to do? Nothing. He's dead. I could show him the Passion movie which is nothing but Roman Catholicism and the Stations of the Cross. What's he going to do? Oh he's not going to do a thing. He's dead. Well let's bring in the weight lifters. They can lift some weights for him. What's that going to do? Well he's dead. We could have a clown do some magic acts or a puppet show or a drama. Let's show him Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames. What's he going to do? He's absolutely dead and no human technique, no flesh concocted gimmick or gadget will ever resurrect that corpse.

He needs a miraculous call from outside of the reality of his death if he's going to come forth out of that casket. Amen? Amen. Lazarus has been dead for four days but the resurrection and the life comes to town and he tells them to roll away the stone and what does Martha say? Martha tells Jesus that Lazarus is doing the only thing he can do. There is one thing Lazarus can do and that's stink. And there's one thing sinners can do all around us and that's stink. They may have different degrees of stench but they all are stench in the nostrils of the holy God. And that's what Martha says.

By now he's stinking but Jesus the resurrection and the life stands outside of the tomb of a corpse. And he says Lazarus come forth. It's well been said by many a Baptist preacher. I don't know if they know what they're saying but they are well said that if Jesus didn't use the name Lazarus every corpse throughout history would have come forth. But the Lord Jesus on that day was speaking to one particular corpse when he said Lazarus come forth and there was a power within that call, brother Keith, to affect the purpose for which the call was given. And so what did Lazarus do? Shall I come or shall I not come?

Maybe I'll come if they'll sing another verse. Maybe I'll come later. No. He came. Right? Amen? Why did he come? Because there was resurrection power within the call that Jesus gave to a corpse. Listen, if my call is the only call that a sinner hears they will stick their fingers in their ears figuratively speaking. But if my call is accompanied by another call, a heavenly call, they will come forth. Amen? And you, he made alive who was dead in trespasses and sins. We can't resurrect spiritually dead sinners.

There are things we can and must do and we'll begin to see those later on tonight and tomorrow but we're talking about what we cannot do. Let's think a little deeper into this reality that those we long to see converted are spiritually dead. And here's another powerful verse that demonstrates that. It's also in Ephesians. Ephesians 4 18 says, speaking of the unconverted person, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. There it is. Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts.

Now, when we dig into that verse and we're thinking about this person who is existing in the kingdom of spiritual death, notice letter A, there are three powerful obstacles facing us when we present the gospel. Whether I'm at the mission of hope, talking to those 60 drug addicts and alcoholics, or in a prison, or in a home speaking to a very moral man who's unconverted, no matter where if I'm preaching to a congregation, there are always three powerful obstacles facing me when I proclaim the gospel. And what are they? Number one, right out of our text, separation. They're alienated.

This person is excluded from the life of God, estranged from God. They are a non-participant in the spiritual life of God. And there's another powerful obstacle facing us every time we proclaim the gospel, and it's found in the text also. Number two, ignorance. Because of the ignorance that is in them. Listen, they may have 10 university degrees behind their name in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm they are absolutely totally ignorant as far as a saving knowledge of the gospel is concerned.

They may have intellectual knowledge of the gospel and the Bible, but the spiritually dead sinner is ignorant as far as a saving knowledge of the Father and the Son is concerned. And number three, another enemy obstacle facing us. Number three, darkness. Because of the blindness of their hearts. The word blind there is a blindness unto the callousness of the heart. This person is blind to the glories of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Separation, ignorance, blindness.

Now brothers and sisters, in light of what we've just said, notice letter B, what makes these three obstacles so powerful when you're witnessing, when I'm witnessing, wherever it is, no matter the circumstances. Why is this separation so powerful? Number one, because it is spiritual separation. We've already seen that. This person was born in sin, so they were born spiritually dead. And there is an infinite spiritual gulf fixed between this, the holy God of the universe and this spiritually dead sinner. And there is absolutely no way that that spiritually dead sinner can bridge that chasm in and of themselves. Impossible.

Because they are in the grip of their own desperately wicked heart. They are alienated from the life of God, cut off, estranged from God. That's why the separation is so powerful. It's spiritual separation. Why is the ignorance so powerful and obstacle? Number two, because it is willful ignorance. Because they have a desperately wicked heart, their ignorance of the gospel is a fixed, active, deliberate ignorance. This is why Peter says in 2 Peter 3.5, they willfully ignore.

They are purposefully obstinate towards the lordship of Christ, towards the gospel, towards the gospel terms, towards a true conversion to Christ and a commitment into Christ. And listen, "left to themselves that spiritually dead sinner," I said, "left to themselves." Every single time they will deliberately choose not to come to Jesus Christ on his conditions. Amen? They're responsible to. And they'll be accountable if they don't. But they're living in willful obstinate ignorance. This is exactly what Isaiah meant when he said, "All we like sheep have gone astray." We've turned each one, every single one, to his own way.

And that verse pictures not only a wicked sinfulness, we've all gone astray like strange sheep. It also pictures a willful selfishness. We have turned every one of us to our own way before conversion. That's what I was doing for 30 years of my life. I was wandering in my own ways. And if I would have been left to myself without a mighty call of the resurrecting grace of God, I would have continued to wonder until I wandered into hell itself. And you would have also. Right? We're talking about spiritual death. The ignorance is so powerful because it's a willful ignorance. Why is the darkness so powerful?

Notice number three, it is cherished darkness. Cherished darkness. This is what the Lord Jesus said about unconverted sinners. He said they love the what? Darkness rather than the light. What does that mean? Unconverted people, whether they're moral, immoral, irreligious, religious, the unconverted heart loves the darkness of their self-centered, self-directed, self-pleasing life. And they despise, they hate the light of a Jesus-centered, Jesus-directed, Jesus-pleasing life. And if they are left to themselves, they will never leave the darkness that they love to come to the light that they hate. Right? We're talking about left to themselves.

They hate the light. They'll never leave the darkness that they cherish to come to the light that they despise. Left to themselves. And notice number five. Because of this separation, ignorance, darkness, the gospel is foolishness to the spiritually dead. The word there is it's moronic. They consider the gospel to be moronic. They consider it to be irrelevant to them. It's silliness. It's a fable. It's a fairy tale. It's an absurdity to them. They think the gospel is a foolish message proclaimed by foolish messengers and embraced by foolish people.

If they're a lost person who is moral, relatively speaking, they see this salvation stuff for the drug addict, the alcoholic, you know, the bomb. That's good for the prostitute or one of those down and out people who need a crutch. But, you know, I don't need that religious fanaticism. I'm doing pretty good on my own. Maybe that's good for you, but I'm a good citizen. I try to be a good moral person. I pay my debts. I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect, but I'm better than most. Yeah, that's the response of the spiritually dead moral sinner left to themselves because they'll always compare themselves by the wrong standard.

They'll compare themselves to sinners who they think are not quite getting the job done as well as they are instead of comparing themselves to a holy Lord God. If it's a lost immoral person and you're trying to witness to them, pray for them, laugh to themselves, they see conversion that you cherish just as a bunch of religious rules and regulations. They're thinking, you're telling them don't do this, don't do that. You're just trying to put a moral straitjacket on my life. If I do what you're telling me to do, all the partying's going to be over. The fun's going to be over.

You're just trying to force your morality and your religiosity on me. That's the spiritually dead response of the immoral person left to themselves. And this person, because they're in the grip of spiritual death letter A, they are totally unaware of their desperate condition because the human heart is not only desperately wicked, the Bible says the unconverted human heart is deceitful above all things. The greatest imposter in the entire world is the unconverted human heart. And the unconverted human heart is spiritually dead but they don't know it. They're spiritually destitute but they don't realize it.

They are condemned, their life is under the abiding wrath of God, they are headed for eternal wrath and judgment, they are in desperate need of the grace and mercy of God but they don't realize it. They're dead. How dead is dead? Now this spiritually dead person, notice very closely number one, they may have a consciousness of moral standards. They may even have an awareness of biblical standards. If my wife Diane was here she could give her testimony tonight. She was born in a Baptist church, not much larger than this. She was in a Baptist church nine months before she was born as a matter of fact.

And when she was 13 she heard a message about heaven and hell, she didn't want to go to hell. She repeated the sinner's prayer, she came down the aisle, she was squalling tears rolling down her face. The pastor pronounced her say, "I baptized her in a couple of weeks but she did not come to Jesus on his terms." She was not a new creation in union with Christ. Whole things did not pass away, all things did not become new. Now she was in the church and when she was in the church she could act like a church person but when she was out in the world as the teenage years went on she could act like the world too.

But all the while she had a consciousness of what was right and wrong even biblically what is right and wrong. But she had no power to live it because she had not been born from above until the age of 24. This person that is spiritually dead that I'm longing to see converted, they may have a consciousness of what is right and wrong even biblically right or wrong. And one more thing, number two, the spiritually dead person, you in and of yourself, you may be able to convince them that they are a sinner. You know that, you can convince a corpse that they are a sinner and the Holy Spirit may not be within a thousand miles of that person.

Just because you get someone to admit they are a sinner does not mean that the Holy Spirit is present, penetrating their heart and sending down the roots of Holy Spirit conviction and contrition. This is why this Southern Baptist ABC evangelism is so wicked, so ungodly, so pragmatic and humanistic. A, admit you are a sinner. Are you a sinner? Yeah, I'm a sinner. Friend, just because a person admits they are a sinner does not mean the Holy Spirit is reproving them of sin, righteousness and judgment. How many times do we hear this in VBS, even at a youth camp, even with adults? Sin is as easy and simple as ABC. No, it's not.

It's not easy and it's not simple. Jesus said it's impossible with man. Jesus said straight is the gate narrow as the gate difficult is the way that leads to life. It's not ABC, admit you are a sinner. There is an infinite difference between a person admitting they are a sinner, agreeing, giving a sint to the fact that they are a sinner and the mighty presence of the Spirit of God taking the gospel and sending down the roots of conviction and contrition so that that man, that woman, that young person sees themselves as a sinner against God, sees Jesus, God the Son, bearing their sins in his body on the tree so that there is that holy mourning, that godly sorrow that produces repentance leading to salvation.

Peter preached at Pentecost and he preached Jesus and he prosecuted the crowd. He didn't ask him to admit their sinner. He preached the truth and the Spirit of God, the Scripture says pierced their hearts. He so penetrated their hearts that the audience was calling out to the preacher. Sirs, mutt, what must we do? Oh, when the Holy Spirit comes, it's infinitely more than admitting you are a sinner. There's Holy Spirit conviction and contrition which alone leads to conversion. For without conviction and contrition, there's no conversion. And without conversion, there's no salvation.

I've said it here before, I'll say it again, God never plants the tree of his salvation in a person's heart without sending down the roots of conviction and contrition. And that's the only kind of planting that glorifies God. God has never glorified sinners or never converted who just give a mental assent to a set of historical facts about Jesus and give a mental assent to the fact that they admit they're a sinner and parrot a prayer who have never known conviction and contrition. And every tree that my heavenly Father has not planted is going to be ripped up by the roots.

Unconverted people all around us are existing in the sleep of spiritual death and you and I cannot awaken them. We cannot resurrect them. Amen? Number six, who is the only one who can resurrect them from their spiritually dead condition? Well, it's the Holy Spirit. Only he can. But notice, let's move on to page 17. You're with me. We're thinking about three things we cannot accomplish in the conversion of those we long to see, say. There are things we can and must do. But we're thinking about what we cannot do. And I have the verses here for you. Again, letter B, we cannot illuminate spiritually blinded minds.

God uses another picture of the unconverted person. He used the illustration of spiritual death, but now he uses the illustration of spiritual blindness. And it's from the same verse. Ephesians 4, 18 declares that a sinner's mind is blinded, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. What do we need to be reminded of here? That when the gospel savingly comes to a person, it comes by a miraculous illumination, not only a message of information.

There must be a message of information, but there must be more than only a message of information. Amen? There must be a supernatural, miraculous illumination. We cherish Romans 1, 16. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to anyone and everyone who savingly believes. But listen, the gospel must come to this person in more than words. Right? It must come in a demonstration of Holy Spirit power and deep conviction. But this person that I'm praying for, I'm interceding for, this person I'm looking for opportunities to witness to is living in total spiritual darkness.

Their spiritual understanding is absolutely blind as far as having any spiritual perception is concerned. They're living in willful ignorance, cherish darkness, absolutely spiritually dead, blinded to the glories of the gospel, living in darkness and loving it. However, number two, their blinded minds must comprehend and respond to the person of Jesus, the work of Jesus, and the terms of Jesus. And brothers and sisters if this miracle is going to occur then the gospel must come to them, not in word only. It must come to them in the mighty resurrecting and illuminating power of the Spirit of God.

There must be, we know this, there must be a supernatural work to remove the blinders, to obliterate the darkness, to pierce and penetrate the darkened heart so that they might see God as He is in His holiness. They might see themselves in their guilty, rebellious, lost, bankrupt condition. They might see with the eyes of faith the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, being pierced for their transgressions, crushed for their iniquities. They might perceive their desperate need of a savior, a redeemer, a deliverer, but remember the dead. They're blind. They're living in willful ignorance and cherished darkness.

And notice number three and 1 Corinthians 2. This is the Bible. Now you're going to get mad at me again, but remember you have to love me. Notice number three. The natural man, is that a saved person or a lost person? They've only been born once. They've never been born twice. They're still living in their natural, spiritually dead, spiritually blind condition. The natural man does not receive the things of God. For they are, there's the word again, foolishness to Him. Here's a key word. Neither can He know them, savingly know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man is the man, the woman, the young person who is still spiritually dead, still spiritually blind. The little phrase in that verse, the things of God is speaking of the glorious truths concerning the treasures of the person and the work of Jesus Christ. It's speaking of the glorious truths of the gospel. Now what is God saying to us in this verse? He's saying just as a physically blind man cannot see the blazing light of the sun. A spiritually blinded person cannot see the majestic glories of the Son of God and the gospel. That's what He's saying. Notice letter A. What is God saying in this verse?

What is the word of God, the infallible, inspired word of God saying letter A? This sinner, his non-reception of the gospel is the fruit of his non-perception. The unconverted person left to themselves, keep that in mind, does not receive the saving truths of the gospel because he cannot see them. So he will not respond rightly to them. And why can't he see them? Because he has a desperately wicked heart that hates the light and loves the darkness. If you dig into that word desperately in the Hebrew language and you could equate it today to make it very simple, imagine we're in ICU as a family and our loved one is in ICU.

We're waiting for the specialists to come out and give us news and finally the doctor, the specialist, comes into the ICU rating room and he says to us, "Unless a miracle takes place, Brother Keith, the case is hopeless." That's the Hebrew word. The unconverted heart is hopelessly wicked, left to itself. And the glories of the gospel of Jesus that we treasure so much is nonsense to them. It's an absurdity to them. It is ridiculous to them. You're calling me to become a slave of a crucified Jew? Yeah, that's the hopelessly wicked heart. They consider the gospel totally irrelevant. They may respond apathetically.

They may respond antagonistically. But what am I saying? I'll put it in another way. This person, he does not receive the gospel. Why? Because he cannot perceive. He doesn't comprehend the heights of God's holiness. So he doesn't understand the depths of his own wicked heart. He doesn't realize the seriousness of his lost, guilty, condemned condition. He doesn't understand that the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is his only hope, his only refuge from the wrath to come. He doesn't see the radiance of the glory of the gospel.

And the word of God says here, watch it closely, number four, "Neither can he savingly know them." Left to himself. Now we come to a divine antinomy in the word of God. On the one hand, there is an open invitation to any and every sinner on this planet to repent and believe the gospel. Sinners, we are to invite them to come to Jesus. We're to plead with them to come to Jesus. They are responsible to come to Jesus. They'll be accountable if they don't come to Jesus. But at the same time, they are incapable of repenting and believing the gospel left to themselves because they're in the grip of their own hopelessly wicked heart that does what?

Hates the light and loves the darkness. Right? Every wicked heart. I don't care if they're on a church, beer, or bar stool. They despise the light of a Jesus sinner, Jesus directed, Jesus pleasing, light. Neither can he savingly know them. Now, what's the issue here? Notice letter A. May is a word of permission, isn't it? If I stop right now and say, "Brother Chris, I am thirsty. Can I have a drink of water?" Brother Chris, being the grammatic scholar that he is, would say, "You're using the wrong word, brother is." The word is not, "Can you drink water?" The word is, "May I have a drink of water?" May is a word of permission.

Whosoever will, may come. There is a universal invitation to any and every sinner to come. It's an open invitation. There is a free-ness of the gospel's invitation. If any man is thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. Even that Old Testament beautiful evangelistic passage, Isaiah 55.1 says, "Everyone," how many is everyone? Everyone who thirsts come to the waters. I'm saying that every sinner in this county is permitted to come. They are to be invited to come. They are to be urged to come. And when I say come, I'm not talking about coming to a preacher, coming to a platform or coming to a formula.

We're talking about coming to Jesus on his terms. We are to urge them to come. We are to plead with them to come, as if God were pleading through us for them to be reconciled to God. Amen? We are inviting them to come. They are permitted and welcomed if they will come. They are responsible to come. Jesus said, "How I long to gather you unto myself, but you would not come." John 5, 40, the Lord Jesus says, "But you were not willing to come that you might have life." In the last book of the Bible, Revelation 22, 17, "And the Spirit and the Bride," who's that? That's us.

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come and let him who thirsts come.' Whoever desires," listen, "let him drink of the water of life freely." These verses and many more depict the absolute open invitation to any sinner to come, their personal responsibility to come to Jesus on his terms, for they will be eternally accountable if they don't come. May is a word of permission, but the word in this verse is not may. The word in this verse is what? "No man can savingly know." Letter B, can is a word of ability. Right? Is that right? Can I pick up this cup? I'm able to. I have the ability to pick up this cup. Can is a word of ability.

This is why the same Lord Jesus who said, "If anyone's thirsty, let him come to me." The same Lord Jesus says in John 6, 44, "No man," how many is no man? "Not one single person on this planet can come to me unless the Father who sent me," does what? "Draws him." And that Greek word draw back in those days, one of the ways it was used was to draw a bucket out of the bottom of a well. Imagine that bucket is laying there in the darkness of the bottom of that well. It's just laying there. I want to ask you a question. Have you ever seen a bucket draw itself out of the bottom of a well? It's not going to happen.

The word was also used for fishing nets. When a fisherman would draw the fishing nets into the boat. Imagine that boat's about five or six feet above the sea level. Have you ever seen a fishing net draw itself into a boat? It's not going to happen. No single individual has the ability to come to me, Jesus says, "The Father draws them." And when the word draw is used in the biblical realm, he is describing God's gracious work by which the Holy Spirit reveals to a sinner their lost condition, reveals to the sinner the glories of the gospel, reveals to that sinner that Jesus Christ is their only hope, their only refuge, reveals to that sinner their desperate need to repent and believe the gospel and the gracious work of repenting and believing the gospel.

Jesus is saying no man has the spiritual ability to repent and believe the gospel because of their own wicked heart. Now you may be thinking, "I've got a problem with that." You've got a problem with Jesus. This is Jesus speaking. "Whosoever will may come, no man can come unless the Father draws him." Why can't he come? "Because he's in the grip of his own hopelessly wicked heart that hates the light and loves the darkness." He's living in wicked sinfulness, willful selfishness, and left to itself that hopelessly wicked heart will never come. As a matter of fact, Jesus says it cannot come. And that inability is not an innocent inability.

It's a guilty inability. And if you didn't believe Jesus the first time, he repeats in John 665, "No man can come to me unless it has been granted by the Father." Do you see it? Amen? Are you with me? Now what is God saying in this verse? Notice letter C. "The natural man has no desire or ability to perceive and receive the spiritual truth of the gospel." We're talking about the person who's dead in trespasses and sins. We're talking about the person who is spiritually blind. They have no desire to embrace and experience the Lord Jesus Christ as their supreme love above all other people or things.

They have no desire nor ability to embrace Jesus as the sovereign Lord of their life and their all-consuming treasure and pleasure. Now the natural man, he'd like to get out of hell. He doesn't want to go to hell. He'd like to go to heaven. You change the focus of the gospel and focus it on heaven, memorize a little plan about heaven, throw in Jesus as the means to get to heaven. You'll repeat a prayer to go to heaven. This man with a hopelessly wicked heart, he doesn't want to go to hell. Who wants to go to hell? Everybody wants to go to heaven, whether Jesus is there or not.

But you know I'd rather be in hell if Jesus were there than in heaven if Jesus were not there. How about you? For if I were in hell and Jesus were there, hell would be heaven to me. For if I were in heaven and Jesus were not the center of it, heaven would be hell to me. Lots of people want to go to heaven. Take them through a little plan, invent a little plan about how would you like to have a full and meaningful life. Whether a lost man would like to have a full and meaningful life. You're telling God loves him and has a wonderful plan for his life. He'll be thinking, "Well of course God loves me. How can he help it love me?

I'm so wonderful." You're telling me God has a wonderful plan for my life. Well I have a wonderful plan for my life too. I'll repeat that prayer. Oh but if the definition of conversion is coming after Jesus as your master teacher, coming under Jesus as your Lord, experiencing Jesus as the chief object of your devotion and the chief source of your delight. If the definition of conversion is disowning yourself, taking up your cross and becoming a follower of Jesus because if you keep your life for yourself you're going to lose your soul in hell. But if you lose your life for my sake and the gospel is your soul will be saved.

If that's the definition of conversion then a natural man has no taste for that. Left to himself. Whosoever will is permitted to come. No man with a desperately wicked heart has the ability to come unless the Father draws them. Would somebody like to stand up and explain how that is resolved in our puny finite minds? Well we can't do it can we? But they're both in the Bible. So I go all over this planet preaching the gospel and inviting whosoever is thirsty to let him come. All the while knowing that no man can come unless the Father draws him. Kind of like two parallel tracks running side by side that do not compute an arpuni finite mind.

But they resolve perfectly in the mind of God. Let's take a five minute break. Before we do I want to ask you a very important question. You still love me? Alright good.