When Christ says in John 6; ‘No man can come to me, except My Father which hath sent me draw him’ (v. 44), what does he leave to ‘free-will’? He says man needs to hear and learn of the Father Himself, and that all must be taught of God. Here, indeed, he declares, not only that the works and efforts of ‘free-will’ are unavailing, but that even the very word of the gospel (of which He is here speaking) is heard in vain, unless the Father Himself speaks within, and teaches, and draws. ‘No man, no man can come,’ he says, and what he is talking about is your ‘power whereby man can make some endeavour towards Christ’. In things that pertain to salvation, He asserts that power to be null…But the ungodly does not ‘come’, even when he hears the word, unless the Father draws and teaches him inwardly; which He does by shedding abroad His Spirit. When that happens, there follows a ‘drawing’ other than that which is outward; Christ is then displayed by the enlightening of the Spirit, and by it man is rapt to Christ with the sweetest rapture, he being passive while God speaks, teaches and draws, rather than seeking or running himself. (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
In one sense this short exposition of John 6 by Luther may seem negative; much like the whole denial of ‘free-will’ does to some people. It seems so negative to speak of the bondage of the will and the inability of man. However, what we see on the other hand is the very power of the Gospel. The Gospel of grace alone should instruct us that God saves by grace alone and does not need nor want the help of man. This is to say that for the Gospel of grace alone to be preached, there is nothing left for man to do. The promise of the Gospel is that God will save sinners and He will do that by grace alone. God saves sinners apart from anything they can do to assist in that endeavor.
While it may seem so negative that sinners cannot come to Christ on their own but the Father must draw them, which is actually quite a positive statement. Sinners cannot come to Christ on their own anyway and if they try they will either be deceived or disillusioned. This is only negative in appearance and only appears that way to the proud and fallen human heart. The Gospel is from grace to grace and is all grace in between. It is not that God has finished a work and it is now up to the human being to make a choice, but that God must make the human a new creature. The fallen human heart will never love God unless it is made a new creature. One can only love God by grace alone rather than love Him from a self-centered and self-powered heart.
So much of evangelism in the modern day tries to influence and woo people by outward means, but that only shows the paucity of the theology in our day which starts and ends with self-centeredness. The only ways sinners can come to God is if God draws them in the inner man. While preachers are to preach the Word of God and that is to the ear, yet they are to preach in a way that points to the Spirit who alone can draw men to God. It is the Spirit who alone can bring a true conviction of sin and show men their true need of Christ. It is the Spirit alone who can open the eyes of the soul to the beauty and glory of Christ. This is the teaching that the Father does. He teaches by the Spirit and it is His teaching that shows sinners what sin is and opens the eyes of sinners so that they will flee to the Savior. Sinners are not drawn to Christ by chains and brute power, but they are drawn to Christ when the Spirit teaches them the ugliness and damnable nature of sin and then the beauty of Christ.
As long as men are told that it is in their power to come and that all they have to do is to make a choice, they are left in their own power to do what the unregenerate power of self can do. But when men are left in their own power, they cannot see how dead they are in sin and the greatness of the glory of the teaching of the Father by the Spirit to draw them to Christ. These sinners never learn to die to self and the power of self and to bow low before the Father asking Him for grace to teach them and draw them to Himself.
As long as men are left to the power of ‘free-will’ they are left in the deadness and inability of self. To say that another way, as long as men are told that they must make a choice of their ‘free-will’ they will not see their inability to do what is commanded and they will obey by the power of self. The problem, however, is that they will think that they have done what is needed to be converted and so they will think they are truly converted. The teaching of ‘free-will’ is deceptive and deceitful. It is a false gospel and leads to the destruction of multitudes because it leaves men in the despair and utter inability of self rather than the power of God and His grace for salvation. Luther saw how important it was for sinners to be broken from this ‘free-will’ teaching, but in our day it appears that not many see this at all. However, it is necessary for the Gospel of grace alone. May God open the eyes of many to this vitally important teaching.
God Loves... Himself 
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