For Those With Ears to Hear

There’s a lie that slips into a lot of pulpits, youth camps, and altar calls.
It sounds spiritual.
It sounds biblical.
It sounds good.

But it’s wrong.

And it goes like this,
“God did His part. Now you just have to do yours.”

No.
You don’t have a part.
You don’t contribute to salvation.
You don’t meet God halfway.
You weren’t drowning, reaching for His hand. You were dead at the bottom of the sea, and He pulled you out.

The Bible doesn’t say,
“You were struggling, and then you chose God.”

It says,
“You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1)

Dead.
Not sick. Not weak. Not trying.
Dead.

You don’t save yourself. You don’t wake yourself up. You don’t bring yourself to life.

God does that.

You couldn’t clean yourself up.
You couldn’t turn your heart around.
You couldn’t decide to follow Jesus unless He first made you alive.

Jesus didn’t say you might need to be born again.
He said,
“You must be born again.” (John 3:7)

And newsflash,
You didn’t give birth to yourself.

The new birth is a work of the Spirit. It’s supernatural. It’s one-sided.
It’s not a reward for your decision.
It’s the cause of your decision.

Let’s just say what needs to be said.

You didn’t choose God.
He chose you.
You didn’t chase after Him.
He chased after you.

Romans 3:11 says,
“No one seeks for God.”
Not some. Not a few.
No one.

If you’re seeking Him now it’s only because He opened your eyes first.

People like to talk about “free will.”
But your will isn’t free.
It’s enslaved to sin.

You do what you want, yes.
But apart from Christ, what you want is never God.
What you want is comfort, pride, sin, control, pleasure, self-righteousness, or self-protection.

John 6:44 Jesus says,
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

No one comes.
Unless.
Unless God moves. Unless God calls. Unless God gives life to a dead heart.

That’s why salvation is all grace.
Not grace plus effort.
Not grace plus decision.
Just grace.

God didn’t help you save yourself.
He saved you.

Start to finish.
Top to bottom.
Dead to alive.

You don’t get to take credit for being rescued.
You just get to worship the Rescuer.

If that humbles you, good.
It should.

If it offends your pride, it’s doing its job.
Because the Gospel doesn’t tell you to look in the mirror.
It tells you to look to the cross.

You bring nothing to the table but the sin that made salvation necessary.

And God, in His mercy, in His grace, and in His love brings everything else.