John 6:35-47

Thank you, music ministry.

Have your Bibles turned with me to John

chapter 6, verse number 35.

I don't have the words to, I feel, properly

convey to you the weightiness, the gravity

of this section of John chapter 6.

This is some of the most weighty theology,

words from Jesus himself.

Consider that as we're reading this, that you

will ever read anywhere in the New Testament.

And so we're back into this sixth chapter that

I will remind you is 71 verses long.

And even though this chapter has many moving

parts, I want to take you back, it's been

a while since we've been in John, through the

reality of what the primary issue here

has been as we've been walking our way.

Remember the feeding of the 5,000 and they

follow Jesus back across the Sea of Galilee

and they're wanting to be fed and the whole

context, the whole main issue here is that

of false disciples, if you can think back.

And there were these disciples who were

following Jesus and then they're going to make

, we're

not there yet, but you're going to see toward

the end of the chapter, they make a decision

to walk away from Him, totally, completely.

And as we've been working our way through

these verses, we've been following this

outline,

which we're going to continue today of the

characteristics of a false disciple.

Remember back, just to kind of refresh your

memory, we saw first that the false disciples

are attracted by a big crowd, the bigger the

crowd, remember, the more interest they have.

And then second, they are fascinated with the

promise of the supernatural.

And that's true today, even with the shalitans

of the day that can't deliver anything

supernatural.

So people just go there in hope and they sadly

believe sometimes some of the nonsense that

we see out there.

Thirdly, they are interested only in earthly

benefits.

Remember, remember this crowd, they tried to

take Jesus by force and make Him a king

so that He could heal them, be their doctor

and feed them on a daily basis all the food

that they wanted.

They had no interest, particularly in Him.

They didn't have any interest in Him.

What they did have an interest in, mostly of

all, was what He could provide for them by

way of earthly temporal benefits.

And then we also saw how false disciples have

no interest at all in true, genuine worship.

When Jesus walked on water earlier here in

chapter six, what was the immediate response

of His true disciples in that boat?

The very first response that they had was to

declare Him to be the Son of God and to

worship Him.

That is the right response, the correct

response of a true disciple to Jesus.

And then lastly, we saw, or fifthly, we saw

false disciples seek, kind of connected to

the other one, personal prosperity.

We saw how the people that experienced the

miracle feeding, remember when you add women

and children, that would be over 25,000 people

, they followed Jesus back again across the

Sea of Galilee for one reason, that next

morning they wanted breakfast.

That's all they had on their mind.

You look what He told them, remember what He

told them in verse 27, "Do not work for

the food which perishes."

That's how He responds to them, "Stop chasing

me all over this lake to try to get another

meal."

Instead, keep looking, seek for the food which

endures to eternal life, which the Son of

Man will give to you for on Him the Father God

has set His seal.

Very clear.

And then last time we looked at the sixth

point, false disciples make demands on God.

It's incredible for me to watch that on

television or YouTube today.

They see God as a bank.

They see God as a repository for all that they

want on the earthly level.

And all they really want to know is, "Okay,

what is the mechanism?

What are the steps that I need to follow to

get my breakthrough?"

Right?

You've seen that.

You've heard that.

Remember what they asked Jesus in verse 28?

What shall we do so that we may work the works

of God?

They're demonstrating there, they wanted His

power.

How can we do what you do?

Give us the power so that we can feed

ourselves and heal ourselves.

And Jesus said, "No," verse 29, "this is the

work of God that you believe in Him whom

He sent."

Now, the only work you're going to be able to

participate in is to believe.

And that's all.

And so they said, "Next, okay, if you're not

going to give us the power," verse

30, "what then do you do for a sign so that we

may see and believe you?

What work do you perform?"

In other words, if you're not going to give us

the power to do these things ourselves,

then it's going to be up to you, dude, to do

another miracle.

You've got to keep the miracles coming, then

we'll believe.

So the false followers are the shallow and the

selfish.

They continue to make these demands on Jesus.

They are seekers of personal satisfaction only

, demanding, demanding that Jesus respond

to their needs.

That's the opposite of a true disciple.

False disciples think God exists to do what

they want, but them, true disciples,

understand

that the opposite is true.

True believers understand what it means to

confess Jesus as Lord.

That was one of Brother Ed's big deals in

Christ-centered evangelism.

When a person confesses Jesus as Lord in

saving faith, that is the first act of

recognition

of His divine dominion over our lives.

When you confess Jesus as Lord in salvation,

you give up your sovereignty over your life.

You were the sovereign in your own life, but

for saving faith, right?

You did what you wanted to do.

You got up every morning and did it all day

and all night, whatever you wanted to do.

You were the determiner of your destiny, but

that all changes when you truly come to Christ

on His terms, never again in the life of a

true disciple is life about what you want,

your goals.

It all becomes about what He wants.

He is the King.

You are the servant.

I am the servant.

I can guarantee you with 100% accuracy that I

would not be here doing this right here

today if He had not invaded my life and caused

me and made me willing to believe and I

surrendered

to the Lordship of Him as King over my life.

I would not be doing this today.

I can promise you.

I wouldn't even be here.

First let's be doing this.

But when He came and changed my life, I said,

"Whatever you want, whatever you want me

to do, I want to serve.

I'm so thankful that you got me out of this w

retched, pathetic life that I was living when

I was living life for my self-well-how

pathetic a job I was doing at it."

So here, take it.

You govern.

You do.

You do the opportunities.

And I'm currently in the same opportunity I've

been at for 15 years almost now.

And I'll be here as long as He wants me to be

here because He is the Sovereign.

He is the Lord.

He governs.

That's what my life is about.

And if you're a true disciple, that's what

your life is about, whatever He wants.

So false disciples have a completely selfish

preoccupation that causes them to view God

as the dispenser, the genie in the bottle of

all they want in the temporal life.

And again, they're just giving the steps how

to get there.

And I'll do those steps so I can get what I

need.

And all that brings us to number seven.

False disciples do not find their desires

fulfilled in Christ.

Back in verse 27, again, Jesus said, "Do not

work for the food which perishes, but for

the food which endures to eternal life, which

the Son of man will give to you."

Notice He says, "He will give it to them."

And in verse 35, guess what happens?

We find out what it is that He will give to

them.

Look next, Jesus said to them, "I am the bread

of life."

So He's saying, "I will give you myself."

He gets even more explicit later.

We're not going to get to it today, but we

will at some point where He's talks about,

"You have to eat my flesh and drink my blood,"

which drove them nuts.

Wait till we get to that passage, you'll see.

But Jesus is the soul-satisfying bread that He

is willing to give.

And for the true disciple, when you hear that,

that's all you need.

I say everything.

Christ says everything that the true disciple

seeks.

He is the primary satisfaction far above all

earthly things for every disciple's life.

Paul said, "Oh, that I may know Him."

Paul also said everything else was manure, d

ung when I met Christ.

He considered, think about all of the academic

achievements and all of the learning and all

of the things that he had to go through, toil

and struggle to become a Pharisee, and he

was at the top of the chain and everybody knew

who he was.

He said, "That's dumb."

When he came to Christ, he said, "For me to

what?

Live is Christ.

For me to die, that's nothing but gain.

That's all it means.

If things just get way better when I die,

right?

I am crucified but Christ nevertheless I live,

yet not I, but Christ lives in me."

He understood.

He's teaching us still today in 2025.

A true disciple like Paul, he knows whether

you have a little, whether you have a lot

in this earthly life, your contentment in life

is never found in the things of this

world.

If you're trying to find contentment in those

things, you will be on an endless search that

will never have an ending.

The only contentment that there is in this

world is found in Jesus Christ alone.

Everything earthly really is irrelevant

compared to Christ.

I don't care if you got billions of dollars, I

think I said this last time.

What will any of that count for when you stand

before him on the day of judgment?

It will have no meaning, whatever heights of

your secular job or in politics or anything

that you ever did where man praised you and

said, "Oh, how great this person is."

What will any of those accolades, any of that

money, will it have anything to do with

anything?

When you stand before God, no.

It'll all be done.

You won't even think about it anymore.

It'll be meaningless when you're standing

before the resurrected, glorified Christ.

Christ is the pearl of great price, that the

man in the parable went out and sold all that

he had to buy that pearl.

The pearl in the parable is Christ, the true

disciple.

Goes on this never, well, throughout life, let

me say it like this.

Just learning the supremacy and the supreme

value of Christ.

You learn it deeper and deeper and deeper and

deeper, and you never exhaust the meaning

and the wagginess of the supreme value of what

it means to be in union with Christ as

a believer.

In him we studied it are all the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge, remember that?

In Christ alone, what a redemption, wisdom,

imputed righteousness, blessed with all the

spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, in

Christ Jesus, true disciples understand

that there is nothing that this world has to

offer, nothing.

A true disciple knows this, I might have said

this before, I'll say it again.

If you're genuinely regenerate and somehow,

some way, there could be a legitimate offer

put on the table that you knew was legitimate,

and they said to you, I will give you $10

billion to spend for the rest of your life,

however you want to spend it, I'm just going

to hand you $10 billion, there's only one

thing you need to do for sake Christ, abandon

Christ.

There's not a true regenerate believer in the

world that should ever think, even have

to think about it, you can keep your money,

your money perish with you, like Peter said.

That is the value that a true disciple

understands, the supreme value, the supremacy

of Christ

and all of his goodness in our life, more than

content in Christ.

Your glory in Christ is on our mind, counted

righteous with his righteousness.

We look at everything like that, and

everything in the world, when we enjoy the

good things

of the world, no doubt about that, God wants

us to enjoy the good things of the world,

but compare to Christ, compare to our union

with Christ, dumb, new, counts for nothing.

The false disciple wants more of what already

he has from Jesus, more money, more success,

more fame, more stuff, right?

Eternal life is a free gift already purchased

by Christ, but in a sense, it will be costly

because you will be willing, may not be

necessary, but you will be willing to sell

everything

for him.

That was not a deal that the rich young ruler

was willing to make, remember?

He wanted to hang on to his money.

He wanted Jesus, if Jesus would only just give

him more of what he loved, or even if

he didn't have to part with what he already

had, just let me keep that, and then I'll

come with you, Jesus.

He went away sad, didn't he?

He loved his money.

True disciple says, "Hey, no problem, take it.

I don't need it, forsake everything."

That might not be necessary, that might not

ever be necessary for you, but if it did

become

necessary for you, you would be willing.

Go right now to China, go right now to Africa.

There are people who are forsaking their own

families to death, to uphold Christ, to uphold

the name of Christ.

That's happening in our world right now as we

speak.

They are giving evidence of true discipleship

when that happens.

We deny ourselves, take up our cross, even if

we face death.

True disciple counts the cost.

Jesus said, how about this one, even to the

point of hating father, mother, sister,

brother,

and even their own life, it's necessary.

Now understand, Jesus is making a comparison

there.

That's the intensity of it.

You would be willing, even for that, in order

to love me, to have me.

May not be necessary, probably won't be

necessary.

But you know the true worth of Jesus, if you

're a disciple, whenever the price is.

Why does investors don't put all their money

into one single investment, do they?

They don't do that.

But guess what?

That's what a true believer does.

We put all our investment in Christ.

So look next in verse 36.

This particular day, again, this group had no

real interest in Jesus himself.

Look in verse 36.

He's imploring with them.

Look how he says it.

What I said to you, that you have seen me,

this is a full disclosure.

You have seen me with your own eyes.

You have watched what I do with these miracles

.

This is more than face without sight.

You have sight.

You have what only a very small group of

people in human history had the unbelievable

privilege

of having, seeing Jesus when he was here.

That's what he's saying to them.

You've seen the miracles, hey, you just

participated in a miracle.

You ate the food that I created out of nothing

.

Look what he says.

You have seen me, and yet you do not believe.

They saw his miracles, they heard his words,

no man ever spake like this, and they still

did not believe in him.

That is the natural hardness of the human

heart.

They have no interest in him.

They only want what he can provide.

Give us this bread daily.

They want the power.

They want the provision, but they don't want

him.

This is a powerful blow to Jesus.

I want you to think about how we feel when we

have witnessed a somebody or discipled

even somebody, and they reject Christ and they

walk away.

How does that make you feel?

Think about how that made Jesus feel when he

was here.

This is far beyond anything that we could

experience, because not only is this Jesus,

of course, doing all these miracles daily for

a long time, and still this group doesn't

believe, even with all the clear evidence,

they are not interested in what Jesus is

really

offering.

Much of today's evangelism at this point, you

know what would happen?

Much of today's evangelism would just adjust

to start offering the people what they want,

which is a tragedy.

But how does Jesus handle this rejection?

Now, at this point, I want you to remember

this.

This is Jesus in his incarnation.

We understand he is God in human flesh, but

while he was here, he is also fully 100% human

.

In his humanity, this rejection, after all

that he's done, definitely affects him.

These next verses, starting in verse 37, are

verses that you know.

What we have here is some of the clearest

biblical proof for Reformed theology that

you will find anywhere in the Bible.

You really need to grasp these verses, and you

also really need to understand the context

that I'm bringing you through that's leading

up to what we're fixing to read here, because

this is profound.

This is mountain peak territory in the

mountain range of the Bible.

John MacArthur describes what starts in verse

37 as kind of a talking-to-yourself moment

for Jesus.

You ever talk to yourself?

I do, you know?

And they would have heard what Jesus said here

, but Jesus is also kind of talking to

himself here in light of this rejection.

That's the context, right?

And he's really speaking in a sorrowful way.

Kind of it's defensive.

These words that we're fixing to read from

Jesus in light of this rejection are really

helping Jesus just keep his balance in light

of the extreme rejections, light of these

circumstances, miracles, rejection that he is

experiencing.

Now let me make sure you understand this.

In his humanity, in his humanness as he's here

on this earth, this is during that time,

with all that he offered, Jesus was tempted in

all points as are we and yet without sin,

right?

This is one of those moments where our

substitute in his life is really feeling the

rejection,

the pain of the rejection of these people in

his Messiahship.

Now, I set that up for you to see with impact

how Jesus responds to this rejection.

It's so fascinating.

How does Jesus respond to this unbelievable

rejection that people aren't seeing these

miracles?

How does he respond to the rejection of verse

37?

All that the Father gives me will come to me.

Definite article, all that the Father gives to

me will come to me.

That is a huge theological statement right

there.

And let's flesh this out.

What is he doing right here?

What kind of response is that, Jesus, to these

people rejecting you?

Let me tell you, he's leaning hard on divine

election, the election of God's people.

Guess what he's doing?

He's doing what you and I have to do.

He's doing what we do in this same type of

circumstance.

At the end of the day, think about it, at the

end of the day, in the big picture, when

you go out to witness to your family members,

when you go out to witness to your friends

and they reject, what do you say?

Why don't they get it?

Why don't they come?

Why don't they accept?

Why don't they react?

It's inescapable.

When you go through all those questions at the

end of the day, what do you rest in?

You rest in the sovereign purpose of God when

they don't come.

God is sovereign over salvation.

He's going to have to do it.

He's going to have to draw them.

I can't do it.

I can't convince them.

All I can do is give them the gospel and God

has to do it.

We, in the same way, lean hard on sovereignty

when we face the rejection of others to our

gospel proclamation.

These verses here in John 6 are unmistakably

dealing with divine sovereign elections.

Sovereign calling.

I wouldn't be a very good debater, but I can

tell you what, there are very few things that

I'd be willing to do, a public debate.

I would do a debate with John 6.

If you don't believe that this is giving a

sovereign election, it's so clear.

Jesus knows that no human being could ever

possibly come to him unless, and that is a

big unless, the Father draws them.

Look here in verse 37.

The weight of this, I have a hard time

describing.

I really do.

All that the Father gives to me will, will

absolutely, definitely come to me and the

one who comes to me just to add a little more

to it, I will certainly not cast out.

This is just so clear.

You know what this does?

This leaves no wiggle room at all for any

human being who is not given by the Father.

Why?

Because all that the Father gives to the Son

will come to the Son, guaranteed, all will.

Look at the words.

Jesus adds, just make sure you get it, the

ones who come, I will certainly not cast them

out because they're all coming when the Father

gives them.

Verse 38, "For I have come down from heaven

not to do my own will, but the will of him

who sent me."

As we know, he always does the Father's will.

And what is the Father's will in this context

in which he is speaking?

Verse 39, "This is the will of him who sent me

, that of all that he has given be."

And there it is again, Father giving, I lose

nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

I lose nothing.

I lose none of them.

All that the Father gives the Son will come,

every one of them, every single one of them.

He will never cast them out.

It is the Father's will of that same group of

people that we're talking about here,

given by the Father to the Son that Jesus says

, I will lose none of them, not one of

them, and, and, and I will raise every single

one of them up on the last day.

How can you get around that?

Jesus is making so extremely clear here, this

massive, overwhelming doctrine of sovereign

election and salvation that people lose their

minds about, but it's so clear that no one

is ever going to believe in Jesus, savingly,

unless the Father decides they must believe.

And everyone that he decides will believe,

will most certainly absolutely no question

about it believe, because that's what Jesus

said.

It's not my opinion.

It's not my view.

That's what Jesus said.

He's going to continue to make this point in

verse 44.

Look at verse 44.

No one can, does that word say may, can, you

know this, ability, no one can, no one has

the ability to come to me, to come to Jesus,

unless, huge, unless, unless the Father who

sent me draws him, and then look in verse 65,

and he was saying, for this reason I have

said to you that no one can, no one has the

ability to come to me unless it has been

granted

by the Father.

Tell me wrong.

This is the very nucleus of reform theology

right here, what Jesus is saying.

How in the world can you come away from this

section of John 6 and not concede yourself

to the realities of the doctrines of grace is

certainly a mystery to me.

It really is.

It's not hard to understand this.

These words, it's just, it's just hard to

accept.

It is.

It's hard to accept that this is God's way in

our humanness we just, but let's go back.

Let's go back to the context in which Jesus

said this, these amazing words, again, in

his humanity, I really believe the reaction

here is because he is sad about the fact that

he has just overwhelmingly demonstrated his

deity, the validity of his message, really

for about a year at this point in Galilee, and

they do not be shocking.

So where does he go for comfort?

Where does he go to get his equilibrium, to

find his balance?

He rests in the Father's will, in the Father's

choice.

He rests in the Father's calling, and again,

again, is that not where you go and I go?

When we think about those who are closest to

us who just will not have anything to do

with Jesus, I don't know about you, but I have

to go to the big picture and God's sovereign

purposes all the time in my mind and say, Lord

, it's on you.

All I can do is feebly give the message, you

got to do it.

In the 10th chapter of John, there's a similar

text.

And once again, once again, in this text,

Jesus is facing rejection.

How does he respond will look in verses 26, 29

, but you do not believe because you are

not of my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and

they follow me and I give eternal life to

them and they will never perish and no one

will snatch them out of my hand.

My father, there it is again, who has given

them to me is greater than all and no one

is able to snatch them out of the father's

hand.

Same scenario.

You don't believe and again, those who are the

fathers who are given to me, who then

become my sheep, they hear.

They will most certainly believe and I will

receive them and I will keep them and no one

will ever snatch them away from me, not from

me, nor from my father.

What a confidence Jesus has in sovereign

divine election.

Now go back to John 6, verse 40, you ready for

your head to spin?

Verse 40, "For this is the will of my father,

that everyone," that's a big everyone,

everyone

who beholds the Son and believes in him will

have eternal life and I myself will raise

him up on the last day.

It's the great apparent paradox here we have,

the two sides of the everlasting, never-ending

discussion between sovereignty and

responsibility, verses 37, 38, 39.

The Father gives, the Father wills, it's all

his plan and then verse 40, Jesus just looks

on the other side and he says, "Everyone who

believes."

And there is never, please notice, there's

never any effort to explain the mystery of

this great reality.

"Whosoever will may come."

He doesn't try to explain this but also at the

same time, chosen before the foundation

of the world.

Both things are true.

I will raise all that the Father gives me.

I will raise up everyone who believes.

Let me tell you something.

We should take great comfort in the fact that

even Jesus doesn't even attempt to explain

some middle ground between sovereignty and

responsibility like feeble people try to do

in our day to day.

He doesn't look for some bridge to make the

gap between these challenging realities but

the bottom line for us in this text is this,

they didn't believe.

And Jesus says over and over and over, whoever

believes has eternal life.

You don't believe but then again, no one can

unless the Father draws him.

Look, I can take you to no other place than

where Jesus is right here and have you find

comfort in both realities.

For you to know and for me to know that they

're clear to God even though they may not match

up in our minds to us, you know what that's a

good indication of?

That you're not God.

And that's really important for you to know.

So here are false disciples.

Do not believe drawn by the crowd, fascinated

by the supernatural.

They think of only the earthly things, no real

desire for true worship.

They seek personal prosperity.

See God as a bank, they want to make demands

on him.

They have no real interest in Christ.

This is a kind of superficiality that is

easily disillusioned, let astray, easily

influenced.

And then what happens?

What happens next is the Jews jump in.

Now remember, okay, when John uses that phrase

, the Jews, he's speaking about the Jewish

leadership,

not the local, regular Jewish people who were

not in the Sanhedrin, not the Jews as a whole,

but the Jewish leadership.

Next here, the Jewish leaders in the synagogue

.

All this now, this conversation is happening

in the synagogue in Capernaum.

And verse 39, 59 later tells us that you don't

find that out until verse 59.

So here we go.

We're back at this scene, Jesus in front of

these know it all Jewish leaders verse 41.

Before the Jews were grumbling.

The word for grumble here means to murmur.

You ever heard people murmur?

But they're kind of privately grumbling under

their breath about Jesus.

And of course, I think Jesus, he hears their m

umbling and he knows what they're mumbling

about.

It says next, because he said, this is why

they're grumbling, I am the bread that came

down from heaven.

This is a reinforcing of his incarnation,

verse 42.

This is how their mind is working.

They were saying it's not Jesus, the son of

Joseph, whose father and mother we know.

How does he now say, I have come down out of

heaven?

This is mockery.

This is ridicule.

They're laughing at him.

Isn't this Joseph's boy?

Talking about he came down out of heaven.

Jesus answered verse 43.

I love this and said to them, do not grumble.

Amongst yourselves, he knew what they were

saying.

I want you to just think for a second, of that

scene, of those men, can you just imagine

when that small little particular group of men

died and stood before God and instantly

before God, they were exposed to the full

reality of who Jesus is and then they played

that scene back in their minds that they went

through with Jesus in absolute horror, it

had to be, that they were standing right there

mocking the king.

Now in the context of the situation here, what

are they grumbling about?

Jesus has shattered their hope.

Their hope, free food, free Medicare, get rid

of the Romans, easy life, right?

I mean they would have made great social

gospel people who just want to fix the world

and

live a little better on the surface and listen

, let me tell you something on that subject.

I'm all for helping people, 100%.

I am for providing help for the community,

medical, care, food, social services.

That's a great thing for society.

Where do you think hospitals came from

historically?

You think they came from the Muslims?

No, they came from the Christian faith.

This is all great when churches are engaged in

these ministries, Mary's house of bread

that we give to and some of our people serve

at.

On down the line you can go.

But doing those things, serving the poor and

needy is not the gospel.

Sadly, some people are confused by that.

That's the kind of message everybody will

accept, right?

I mean they're going to like us Christians if

we give money and food to the poor.

They're going to like us if we do social

welfare in the community.

That's just part of being human.

Let me tell you, that's a good thing in and of

itself and it's right.

But I want you to make sure you understand.

I mean that is not the gospel.

There's a lot of things that people think is

the gospel and have nothing to do with

the gospel.

I don't care how poor they are and how much

you give them.

I don't have anything to do with the gospel.

If we had a big church, I would like to do

that on a grander scale, more than we do.

But if we did, along with those things, the

gospel would have to be preeminent or it would

have no eternal value whatsoever to what we

were doing.

It would have to be clearly and accurately

made known, the gospel, in any instance of

social ministry because it's the gospel that

we're called to preach.

Not just helping people with their earthly

needs and clearly here, Jesus was not

interested

in this kind of ministry.

Right here at this point in the text, this is

what Jesus is saying.

Look, he's saying, "I could keep on healing

you every day if I wanted to, but I'm done.

I could keep on feeding you every single day

that I'm here, but I'm done with that.

I'm not feeding you anything anymore.

They had no desire for repentance, no desire

for faith.

They only wanted their temporal means met and

in their minds they didn't need salvation."

Right?

They're the people of God.

They're the chosen people.

And right here in this scene, they're sitting

in this synagogue with scrolls from the Old

Testament that speak all about Jesus, that

prophesy all about this man standing right

here in front of them.

But they mock Jesus and Jesus says, "Stop gr

umbling."

So this is going from, "You don't believe," to

, "You mock."

And where does Jesus go to next with these

people?

He goes to the same place he went before.

Look at verse 44, very next verse, "No one can

come to me.

No one has the ability to come to me unless

the Father who sent me draws him and I will

raise him up on the last day."

Would you please notice that there isn't any

softening of the edges of biblical truth in

order to gain the favor of these people that

have rejected him?

None whatsoever.

He goes straight to divine sovereign election.

He rests on the Father's sovereign will.

He doesn't say, "Okay, if that's how you're

going to be, okay, I'll just keep on healing

people and I'll just keep on preparing your

meals so that you will at some point like

me and believe in me."

Remember, these Jewish leaders have gone from

not believing to mocking.

That's important to understand as we noted

before, because these leaders had huge

influence

over the crowd.

I've probably played a role in so many of the

disciples that we're going to see walk

away later in verse 66.

This problem shows up all throughout the

ministry of Jesus and with these leaders, they

have

to do more.

Really, they do.

They have to do more than not believe.

They have to mock.

They have to, because you have to do that kind

of thing in order to justify your rejection

of this man as clearly sent from God, as Nicod

emus said.

Clearly, there's no doubt about it.

You have to make a joke out of it if you're

going to reject him because they couldn't

carry the attitude that I mean, look at what

he just did.

He just fed 25,000 people out of nothing with

food out of nothing.

Nobody can do what he does.

This has got to come from God.

That's what Nicodemus reasoned and he speaks

like no man ever spoke.

We never heard a man talk like this with such

authority, I mean, and he seems to be worthy

of belief, but we just don't.

We reject him.

The only way we can really reject him is we've

got to mock him.

That's the justification for our ego.

Once you've walked away and refuse to believe,

especially after being there and seeing this,

you have to mock, but Jesus, he doesn't argue

with them at all.

And he doesn't change the message.

He doesn't tone anything down.

In fact, he does like Brother Moat used to do

when they get visitors for the first time.

Brother Moat, get up there and preach.

Just ramp it up, right?

He's very straightforwardly, okay, here's what

I got for you, divine election.

You can't come.

You have no ability to come unless the father

draws you.

And the obvious conclusion that no man can

state out of that statement is this.

If there are indeed people who go to hell when

they die and we believe that to be true,

unmistakable, unavoidable conclusion, then

clearly God doesn't draw everyone.

That's a hard reality, folks.

That's not hard for you.

Something's wrong.

He only draws something.

You can't escape it.

I want you to put it together.

Let's just go through it one more time.

I want to make sure you get this.

Verse 44, no one can come unless the father

who sent me draws him.

Verse 65, no one can come unless, to me,

unless it has been granted by the father.

And then verse 37, keep that in your mind, all

that the father gives me will come to me.

Then verse 39, of all that he has given me, I

lose nothing, but raise it up at the last

day.

Just put those verses right there together and

there's simply no way around it.

The father draws whom he will.

And the rest, all he has to do is just leave

them to their self.

He doesn't have to, like R.C. taught us, push

any kind of unbelief from his side in on them

like he has to invade and change and do a

miracle in us when we're saved.

No, all he has to do is leave them to their

self.

And they're going to go the way of their

natural inclination, of their natural heart.

But all, all, all who are drawn absolutely

will unquestionably come and will most

certainly

absolutely without fail be raised up by Jesus

on the last day to eternal life, but at the

same time, I can stand in here.

I can go outside on that corner and say, whoso

ever will come to the gospel of Jesus Christ

and

believe.

And if you do, you will be saved.

I can preach both things at the same time.

Don't pop a blood vessel in your brain trying

to work that out because you'll never do it.

Just accept the meaning of the words in God's

book.

Both of those things are equally true.

Next, Jesus validates this view from the Old

Testament in verse 45.

Look at it.

We're getting close to the landing ramp here.

It is written in the prophets and they shall

be taught of God.

Everyone who has heard and learned from the

Father comes to me.

So big picture, okay?

How does a person come to Christ?

The Father has to will it.

The Father has to grant it.

The Father has to draw and we learn here the

Father has to teach.

It's all God folks.

That Old Testament quote here in verse 45 is

from Isaiah 54-13 and there are similar

statements like it in Jeremiah and Micah and

they shall all be taught of God.

I can tell you, I've told you this before.

I just decided about four years into my being

a Christian and about the time that I went

into ministry, it's kind of like RC that my

understanding of the Christian faith was going

to have to come down to the meaning of the

words of the book no matter how I might feel

otherwise.

That's what it come down to for me.

That's why I am where I am, doctrinally today

and I have found no way around the reality

that it is just not in a person's power to

repent and believe on their own.

It's just not.

I see it all the time.

The Father must draw them and what part of

that drawing is, is what Jesus is saying here

in verse 45.

They shall all be taught of God.

Part of the Father's drawing is when he

internally teaches a person's mind the

convincing truth

of the gospel and all of a sudden, pow, yes,

yes, that's the truth and I mean you just

put every fiber of your being, you know it.

Now for sure, again, faith can't come except

through hearing and hearing by the word of

Christ, just not the external hearing, it's

the internal hearing, right?

Those who come are the ones the Father wills

to come, the one who the Father gives to the

Son, the one who are drawn by the fire and the

one who the Father teaches.

There is divine instruction from God himself

going on in the mind and the heart that makes

one who is absolutely unwilling become nothing

but willing and hungry for the bread of life.

How does the Father teach?

Well, verse 46, not that anyone has seen the

Father except the one who is from God.

He has seen the Father.

No one has seen the Father, you don't go to

heaven and see him and come back and write

a stupid book about it.

Nobody does that.

Please don't read those stupid books about the

people who went to heaven, okay?

Most of the best-selling ones have all been

found out to be frauds anyway and they are.

I mean even Paul did get to glimpse of heaven

and he came back and said, "I'm not permitted

to say anything," and that was Paul, okay?

So don't fall for that.

How are you going to get taught by the Father?

Jesus said, "Well, there is one from God who

has seen the Father."

So if you're going to be taught by the Father,

you have to be taught by the one who alone

knows the Father and that's the Father's Son.

Verse 47, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who

believes has eternal life."

Verse 48, "I am the bread of life."

The Father teaches through the Son, through

the Gospel of the Son and the Spirit while

we're in the neighborhood here explaining how

all this works, but that's another sermon

for another day.

Hebrews 1, 1 to 2, "God after he spoke long

ago to the fathers and the prophets in many

portions and in many ways in these last days

has spoken to us in his Son."

Faith comes by hearing the Word concerning

Christ.

It is comforting to me and I hope it is to you

to understand that Jesus finds this great

confidence in the middle of this heart-

breaking rejection by leaning on the absolute

reality,

the liabilities of the Father's will, the

Father's call, and the Father's instruction

in the heart of a sinner who deserves nothing

but wrath.

All that the Father draws will come.

Jesus says, "I will receive them, I will keep

them, and guess what?

I will raise them up on the last day, every

single one of them."

What Jesus offers, I don't have anything to do

with the here and now, it's about the

next life to come, salvation, forgiveness,

security, eternal life, it doesn't matter

if you have all of the American dream in this

life that you can absorb, it doesn't matter

if you're well-known or you're completely

obscure while you live here, whether you've

got a little or a lot, whether you're healthy

or sick, if you are a Christian, guess what

you have?

You have Christ and he is sufficient.

That's what a true disciple knows, that's what

a true disciple believes, and we'll pick

it up right there after that verse, next time

we're in the Gospel of John.