Human Inability: sermon notes

Likely Title: Human Inability

Likely Text/Passage: John 6:44

Main Theme: No sinner can truly come to Christ unless the Father draws him through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit.

Introduction

• “Coming to Christ” includes repentance, self-negation, faith, prayer, submission to the gospel, and receiving Christ’s righteousness and atonement.
• Though often considered easy, coming to Christ is impossible for anyone unless the Father draws him; the sermon considers human inability, the Father’s drawing, and the comfort found in this truth.

Main Points

1. Man’s Inability to Come to Christ
2. The inability is not physical or merely intellectual; it lies in humanity’s fallen, corrupt nature.
3. The will is obstinate, the understanding is darkened, the affections are depraved, and the conscience is impaired.
4. Human beings lack not only willingness but spiritual power; therefore, moral reform and religious activity cannot save.

1. The Father’s Drawing Through the Holy Spirit
2. The drawing is more than the external preaching of the gospel; it is the divine work of the Holy Spirit.
3. The Spirit turns the will, not by coercion, but by making the sinner willing to come to Christ.
4. He exposes self-righteousness and sin, removes confidence in human works, reveals Christ’s sufficiency, and enables faith.

1. The Comfort and Practical Implications of This Doctrine
2. Those trusting in morality, religious observance, or personal strength must abandon these as grounds of salvation.
3. The sinner should not use inability as an excuse for continued rebellion or spiritual indifference.
4. A person who sincerely cries, “Lord, draw me,” and comes to Christ gives evidence of the Father’s gracious work and everlasting love.

Application

• Reject reliance on church attendance, Sabbath-keeping, prayer, honesty, or moral conduct as the basis of salvation.
• Continue seeking God through hearing the Word, prayer, renouncing sin, and pursuing righteous living, while recognizing that true coming to Christ requires divine grace.
• The careless sinner is urged to tremble before God’s authority and flee to Christ rather than delay.
• Believers who find themselves coming to Christ should rejoice that the Father has drawn them.

Conclusion

• Those who come to Christ do so because the Father has drawn them; this drawing demonstrates God’s saving love.
• Believers may therefore rejoice in God’s eternal choice and preservation through faith unto salvation.

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

1. When have you wanted to do something but found that your desires, habits, or circumstances made it difficult to follow through?
2. What kinds of things tend to shape what people most strongly want, family, habits, fears, friends, or something else?

Diving In (20 minutes)

1. What did the pastor mean by “coming to Christ,” and why did he say it is impossible without the Father drawing a person?
2. In John 6:44, Jesus says, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” What different aspects of human inability did the pastor connect to this statement?
3. The sermon said that although we cannot save ourselves, there are still things we can do, such as attending worship, studying Scripture, turning from outward sin, and living honestly. How might you respond to this teaching in your ordinary Tuesday-morning routines?

Going Deeper (15 minutes)

1. The sermon emphasized both human inability and human responsibility. How can those truths be held together, especially when someone might object, “If I cannot come to Christ without God’s help, why am I responsible?”
2. Where do you most tend to rely on your own goodness, effort, or religious activity instead of trusting Christ, and what would it look like to bring that struggle honestly to him?

Prayer Prompt

• Pray for the Holy Spirit to expose self-reliance, draw people to Christ, and strengthen the group to trust him rather than their own efforts.

Big idea

Because sinners cannot come to Christ by their own power or will, the Father must draw them by the Spirit, exposing sin and leading them to trust Christ alone.

Live it out

• Attend the house of God continually and listen for the Spirit’s conviction through the gospel.
• Study God’s Word diligently, asking the Spirit to open your understanding to spiritual truth.
• Renounce outward sin and pursue an honest, sober, righteous life without trusting those works to save you.
• Pray, “Lord, draw me; help me,” and cast yourself entirely upon Christ’s righteousness and blood.

Closing prayer

Father, we confess that our wills, understanding, affections, and consciences are corrupted, and that we cannot come to Christ unless You draw us. Show us the blackness of our sin and strip away every confidence in our own works. Turn our hearts toward the cross, give us faith to rest in Jesus alone, and make us willing captives of our Lord. Keep us by Your power, and let us rejoice in Your everlasting love and gracious drawing.