WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.640 I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 4 and we are going to 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:26.800 ! in verse 41 and carry through to verse 51. Let me read just the first verse or so to set your thinking 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.920 ! into the text and then you join me together in the text and then you join me together in the text. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.480 We are here in prayer asking for the Spirit of God's help, that the Word of God would be taught clearly, 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:40.560 that it would be appreciated by God's people, and that the Spirit would work both in the life of the 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:46.120 believer to encourage our affection for Christ and also to challenge those that are sitting here 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:52.100 that do not know Christ, that today, today would be the day of salvation. That's our prayer, isn't it? 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:57.299 That Jesus Christ would be lifted up, that our hearts who know Christ would be encouraged and 00:00:57.299 --> 00:01:03.140 strengthened and that those who are here that don't know Christ would be drawn to the cross and to 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:07.539 complete forgiveness and salvation in Him. Let me read the passage. 00:01:07.540 --> 00:01:14.420 So the Jews grumbled about Him because He said, I am the bread of life that came down from heaven. 00:01:15.540 --> 00:01:23.300 They said, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 00:01:23.300 --> 00:01:31.540 I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:45.880 Father, I am so thankful for the clarity with which the Scriptures make us understand that we are dependent 00:01:45.880 --> 00:01:59.500 upon Your Spirit in every holy and godly activity. And that reflects, in particular, the inability of our own 00:01:59.500 --> 00:02:07.659 natural will and heart to glorify You or to do things that are of eternal significance. 00:02:09.020 --> 00:02:14.680 I'm thankful also for the reminders in Scripture such as Zechariah that not by might nor by power, 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:23.420 but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. And so we, with all humility, ask this morning that Your people 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:32.219 would enjoy the enabling of the Spirit of God to hear the Word of God preached in the Spirit's power 00:02:32.219 --> 00:02:40.979 to the exalting of our Savior, who we will worship in eternity forever with unending joy. 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:46.459 And we are also thankful that we can pray this morning for the work of the Spirit 00:02:46.460 --> 00:02:52.360 in drawing those who are here that do not know Christ, that they, by Your grace, would be drawn 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:58.040 to see the hopelessness of their condition and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone 00:02:58.040 --> 00:03:03.920 is salvation. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:03:05.760 --> 00:03:10.240 Well, as we pick up this passage in John chapter 6, I think it's appropriate for us to kind of 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:15.780 frame it so that we have an understanding of the large picture of what is going on. You'll remember 00:03:15.780 --> 00:03:21.979 that the Gospel of John is different than the synoptic Gospels. And what I mean by that 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:28.159 is that Matthew, Mark, Luke give kind of a chronological or historical overview of the 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:36.560 things that Jesus did, the things that He taught, the various activities. They keep a focus on more of 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:43.979 the historical pattern of Christ's ministry here on earth. John, in a different sense, puts its 00:03:43.979 --> 00:03:51.859 predominant focus on one singular issue, and that is making it clear that Jesus is the Christ so that 00:03:51.859 --> 00:03:59.079 we can come to faith and know who He is and have confidence in His ministry and His salvation. It's 00:03:59.079 --> 00:04:07.280 not that the other Gospels don't keep Christ as Savior in front, but John focuses on only a few of the 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:14.240 incidents of Christ's life. John chapter 6, which is one of the lengthiest chapters that we are going 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:21.860 to deal with in the book of John, begins with Jesus ministering to His disciples, taking them away to get 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:28.860 a little bit of rest and relaxation from the heavy ministry that they'd been involved in. And as they 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:35.439 are leaving, the crowd follows them. It ends up that Jesus feeds them. And the estimation is that that 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:43.259 public feeding probably involved around 20,000 people. That's a crowd. That's huge. And He fed them 00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:49.480 that day, and later when He saw that they were very interested in forcing Him to become king. Why? 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:57.600 Not because He was the Savior of mankind, but hey, it was the first public food display, and they liked it, 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:02.720 and they thought, why do I have to go home and cook? I can just put Jesus on the spot. And they wanted to 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:09.680 force Him to be their king. And He did what? First, He packed off the disciples because He probably was 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.520 very aware of the fact they couldn't take that kind of pressure. He sent them out of temptation. And where 00:05:14.520 --> 00:05:22.320 did they go? They went into a storm. You ever wondered how you end up where you are? I mean, the truth of 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:28.200 the matter is, is we've been in more storms than we would have voted on if we were in charge. But those 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:35.939 aren't accidents. We know we who are the children of God have Him governing and guiding. And when He 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:43.180 puts us into a storm, it is in that very storm that He will show Himself to be sufficient and care for us. 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:49.879 Aren't you pleased with the reality that when you're in that place, He hasn't taken His eyes off of you, 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:56.699 and He is aware, and He will provide for you, and He will strengthen you, and He will sustain you. 00:05:56.699 --> 00:06:01.180 And on the other side of it, one of the things you at least ought to remember is the next storm you're 00:06:01.180 --> 00:06:06.219 in, you ought to say, hey, we've been here before, Jesus. It's okay. I'm not going to fret and fume. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:15.339 Will you write that down? Next storm's coming. Don't be upset. Okay. Anyway, here's Jesus 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:24.199 on the other side of that series of miracles. He has the people come back again, and they're very 00:06:24.199 --> 00:06:30.899 interested in having Jesus do another miracle. And instead of accommodating their interest, carnal 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:37.779 and wicked as it was, He steps right in to addressing the reality of who He is and what He came to be, 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:44.039 do. He says, I am the bread of life, and whosoever believes in me, right, he is going to have 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:50.040 everlasting life. And as a result of this, the vast audience that was listening to Him, about 20,000 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:56.680 people, most of them pushed back against that. And so what we're looking at here in the 10 verses 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:02.280 that we're going to study is Jesus kind of being very transparent and candid and not waffling on 00:07:02.280 --> 00:07:07.400 helping people see the truth. I want you to recognize as we step into the text there in verse 41, 00:07:07.740 --> 00:07:13.360 first of all, you have confrontation. Confrontation. There in verse 41, it says, 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:19.520 So the Jews grumbled about Him because He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:25.960 As we take up the text, we find that instead of kind of dancing around the subject of their 00:07:25.960 --> 00:07:32.900 ill-spirited hearts, Jesus steps right into it, and He addresses the problem that they were having. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:39.420 You know, one of the characteristics that you see in many instances of preaching is that people are 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:44.900 primarily, pastors often are interested in just telling people what they want to hear and what 00:07:44.900 --> 00:07:52.700 tickles the ears. That wasn't the way Jesus was. He recognized the spiritual needs of individuals, 00:07:53.020 --> 00:07:58.580 and instead of dodging the subject, He stepped right into it, and He made it clear. Was He gentle? Yes. 00:07:58.980 --> 00:08:06.000 Was He kind and forbearing with people? Yes. But nevertheless, He put the truth out where people 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:10.199 could grab a hold of it. And I want you to understand this. The fact of the matter is, 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:16.100 is that spiritual problems need to be dealt with, and spiritual problems will never be dealt with 00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:24.319 apart from confrontation and addressing it. Left alone, the heart will not come to the light 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:30.300 and salvation. We have that little nursery rhyme, you know, leave them alone, they will what? 00:08:30.300 --> 00:08:38.360 Come home. It's not the case. The heart of man, deceitful as it is, is going to continue wandering 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:44.620 down that dark and despairing road, and it is the responsibility of those who handle the truth 00:08:44.620 --> 00:08:50.320 and hold on to the truth to put it out where people can get a hold of it. Jesus knew the hearts of His 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:57.820 listeners, and He understood that what He had said earlier, back up just a little bit so you can see it, 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:05.040 in verse 35 through 40, had really put their teeth on edge. Verse 35, Jesus said, 00:09:05.140 --> 00:09:09.940 I am the bread of life, and whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:17.960 never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. The point that Jesus was 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:25.740 making is that you have had adequate information of the reality of who I am and what I have come to do, 00:09:25.740 --> 00:09:32.779 and even in the face of all that clear information that I've provided, your heart is not connected, 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:40.440 and you're not interested in the issues of salvation. Jesus made it clear that salvation was only in Him, 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:46.100 and I want you to understand that the listeners were quite persuaded that more or less, 00:09:46.340 --> 00:09:51.320 they could pull it off on their own. They could bring it about by their own behavior, 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:58.140 their own attention to a particular set of rules, and Jesus kind of bankrupt that idea and said, 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:02.560 it's not going to work. I'm the only one who you have confidence or should have confidence in. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:09.540 So I want you to track how Jesus' listeners responded. They grumbled. Have you ever grumbled? 00:10:10.400 --> 00:10:16.140 How many of you grumbled? We grumble all the time, and we don't think grumbling is that big of a deal 00:10:16.139 --> 00:10:21.539 because we're so practiced at it. Here's Jesus. Instead of just letting it go on, He steps right 00:10:21.539 --> 00:10:26.199 into it, and He says, hey, listen, what's going on with you guys? Grumbling is, in essence, 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:34.639 conversation that never aims at wholesome resolution. The Jews had a long history of grumbling. In fact, 00:10:34.699 --> 00:10:40.379 they had a kind of a professional development in the issue. They grumbled their way out of Egypt. 00:10:40.379 --> 00:10:45.860 They grumbled their way across the wilderness. They grumbled their way into the land of promise, 00:10:46.059 --> 00:10:50.379 and every time you turn around, you find the Israelites grumbling. 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:55.399 Now, here's a question for you. Do you think grumbling is something that offends God? 00:10:56.340 --> 00:11:00.340 I want you to turn to your Bibles just for a moment. We're dealing momentarily with the subject 00:11:00.340 --> 00:11:04.860 of grumbling because, unfortunately, we find ourselves doing it when we shouldn't be. 00:11:04.860 --> 00:11:15.980 1 Corinthians 10, verse 7-10. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 7. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:25.399 Do not be idolaters as some of them were. Here is the apostle addressing the church at Corinth, 00:11:25.460 --> 00:11:30.740 and he's saying, hey, listen, guys, don't be like them. Oh, yeah. Well, I'm not an idolater. Anybody 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:36.220 here have a brass idol sitting on the mantle of their house? No, we don't. We don't go there, 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:45.180 right? Don't be an idolater. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Nor we must 00:11:45.180 --> 00:11:52.440 not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not 00:11:52.440 --> 00:12:01.320 put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them 00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:06.980 did and were destroyed by the destroyer. I want you to recognize this morning that when you think 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:12.860 about the issue of grumbling, understand this, that the grumbler is in a dangerous place. The grumbler is 00:12:12.860 --> 00:12:18.580 always in a dangerous place. And so when you find yourself on occasion kind of dealing with an issue 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:22.879 and finding yourself tempted to kind of just shoot the mouth off and talk about something 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:28.720 without resolution and without a sincere desire to make something happen in a spiritual sense, 00:12:29.040 --> 00:12:35.240 remind yourself grumbling is not a good thing. The other thing that we want to recognize here in 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:41.820 the passage is that the Jews were unwilling to face the convicting words of Christ, and so what they did 00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:50.120 was they attacked at where they thought the weakest link in His ministry was. Go back there, if you 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:57.240 would, to John chapter 6, and it says here, the Jews grumbled about Him because He said, I am the bread of 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:06.560 life that came down from heaven. Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:16.099 What were they doing? They thought they understood exactly what had happened in Christ's life. He'd 00:13:16.099 --> 00:13:23.019 been born Joseph and Mary, and here He was just an ordinary guy showing up, and here He was claiming 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:29.159 that He was the way of life. He was the one who could save them. And here's the problem. Had they seen 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:36.079 Him do miracles yet at this point? Undeniably so. He had done one miracle after another that was a 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:43.460 clear indication of His divine authority and power, and yet when they were deeply convicted, instead of 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:48.480 saying, you know what, we have a reason to listen to Him because of all that He's done, they attacked 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:54.540 on the line where they thought they could have an edge and resist Him. I want you to understand that 00:13:54.540 --> 00:14:01.340 people try to escape conviction by trying to undermine the messengers that God brings. That's normal. 00:14:01.460 --> 00:14:05.860 That's understandable. And some of you here sitting this morning have found yourself on occasion 00:14:05.860 --> 00:14:11.700 in more than one instance where individuals have been appointed by God to address things going on 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:16.759 in your life, and instead of saying, you know what, I need to focus on the truth of what my need is, 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:22.700 we've decided that we're going to kind of nitpick the reality of the individual that God has chosen to 00:14:22.700 --> 00:14:28.279 bring it to us, and we always will find something that we can undermine the authority and significance of 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:38.399 their ministry with. I remember as a young boy, having my father on more than one occasion convict me of 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:44.240 certain things that I was doing and attitudes that I had, and instead of saying, you know what, Dad, 00:14:44.319 --> 00:14:51.339 what you're saying is entirely true, and I can see where this path is going to take me, I decided what I 00:14:51.340 --> 00:14:57.780 would do is attack the imperfection of his own life. And by the way, when we live together, do we end up 00:14:57.780 --> 00:15:03.899 knowing the baggage in other people's lives? What's the answer? Oh, yeah, yeah. And so here I was saying, 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:09.019 you know what, I don't want to listen to what my dad has to say about my own selfishness, or in my case, 00:15:09.100 --> 00:15:13.580 particularly the anger that I have, and I'm going to just focus on the fact that my dad works too long 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:20.400 and doesn't pay attention to me. You ever done that? Instead of allowing the Spirit of God to use 00:15:20.400 --> 00:15:27.540 the instrument He's chosen, you find a means of diminishing the significance of the message that 00:15:27.540 --> 00:15:33.440 God has for you. And as we look at this passage, here are the Jews doing that traditional thing, 00:15:33.820 --> 00:15:39.820 grumbling. Jesus confronts them, and in that confrontation, instead of saying, okay, okay, 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:45.100 I'm willing to listen, they found a means of attacking Him, and they addressed the superficial 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:50.879 issues that they thought they had a handle on. I want you to recognize that Christ was not the 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:57.060 least put off by that. And it's very interesting to notice that instead of arguing with them about, 00:15:57.520 --> 00:16:00.980 well, you don't know who my dad is. I mean, you know, that's how most of us would do, right? 00:16:01.400 --> 00:16:06.760 You know, he just steps right on, moves on. And the second thing he does is he speaks with absolute 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:11.179 clarity about the real issues of their heart. Let's look at the passage. 00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:18.340 There in verse 43, Jesus says, do not grumble among yourselves. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:27.200 Then in verse 44, remember, he's talking to people that were not interested in the issues of salvation. 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:33.580 He'd already let them know, I am the bread of life. I am the one that can provide salvation. And they 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:39.120 said, well, you don't want any of that. Jesus stepped right into it there in verse 44. And I 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:47.580 want you to recognize, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, draws him. 00:16:48.660 --> 00:16:53.879 I want you to just think for a moment here. When Jesus used that word draw, 00:16:53.879 --> 00:17:02.480 he earlier in chapter 4, and I want you to turn back there if you will just for a moment, 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:10.720 in chapter 4, he had been speaking to a woman at the well in Samaria. And remember the little 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:18.940 conversation they had about water? And Jesus had addressed this issue of give me water to drink, 00:17:18.940 --> 00:17:23.160 and she said, well, blah, blah, blah. And then he says, hey, if you knew who you were talking to, 00:17:23.360 --> 00:17:29.740 you would ask me for water, okay? I want you to mark what it says there in verse 15. 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:36.740 Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. 00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:47.380 How many of you have ever used a bucket to get a drink? One. Raise your hand high. High. 00:17:47.380 --> 00:17:51.160 High. You guys have got to be from southern Ohio, okay? 00:17:55.640 --> 00:18:00.620 In the good old days growing up in India, if we were going to have a drink, you had to walk down 00:18:00.620 --> 00:18:07.040 to where the pukri was or where the well was, and you had to drop a bucket. By the way, one of the 00:18:07.040 --> 00:18:10.960 things that was very, very important is when you dropped the bucket into the well, you wanted to be 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:16.120 sure that the rope had been tied carefully by you. Double-check the knot. Does anybody know why that was 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:23.219 important? If you hadn't checked the knot, there was a probability that that bucket would stay down 00:18:23.219 --> 00:18:28.519 where it was. You drop it down, begin to pull up on the rope, and oh, I didn't check the knot. 00:18:28.879 --> 00:18:34.559 So anyway, you drop the bucket down, and then the only way to get the water from way down in there is 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:42.299 to what? Draw up, draw, draw, draw. So who does the drawing in people coming to Christ? What's it say 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:52.559 in verse 44? No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:59.940 up again on the last day. So I want you to recognize here is Jesus talking to individuals about the 00:18:59.940 --> 00:19:05.099 matter of salvation, and the reality is the vast majority of them are going to turn and walk away. 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:11.279 A little frustrating when you stop and see here is the one who has come to save the world, 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:17.839 the one who has demonstrated his eternal right and authority, and yet in the face of all of that 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:21.339 evidence, these people are going to turn their backs on Christ. And what's going on here? 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:28.680 Why are some saved and others are not? You look here at the passage, and I want to tell you that 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:34.819 what the Bible tells us in this case is a complex truth. How many of you prefer that things are not 00:19:34.819 --> 00:19:41.639 complex, that they stay simple, okay? I remember talking yesterday with an individual about the 00:19:41.639 --> 00:19:50.059 Lord Jesus, and he was struggling with the complexity, not of this, but of the Trinity. 00:19:51.179 --> 00:19:58.960 How can God, you know, there we were going, and I said, well, and he was frustrated by the reality of 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:04.680 the Trinity, and he was frustrated by the reality of the incarnation. The incarnation is that Jesus is 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:11.100 what? Half man and half God. How many of you went, bam? How many of you did that? Let me say it again, 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:19.819 so I'm just kind of testing your theological acuity here. Hello? Everybody ready? Jesus is half man and 00:20:19.819 --> 00:20:23.660 half God, and everybody said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong. 00:20:23.660 --> 00:20:33.400 Jesus is all God. Jesus is all man. How many of you can do that with math? You can't. It is a 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:41.560 theological complexity that the human mind just can't do anything other than accept by faith. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.940 By the same token, the reality of the fact that God is sovereign in salvation and man is entirely 00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:56.799 responsible is another theological complexity, and just let it be. Accept it. We're going to find, 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:02.140 and I'll come to that point later, we're going to find that in most cases where God addresses the 00:21:02.140 --> 00:21:07.940 issue of his sovereignty, he balances it out in the very same proximity by helping us see man's 00:21:07.940 --> 00:21:13.059 responsibility. We'll deal with that later. But I want you to recognize here is Jesus talking to these 00:21:13.059 --> 00:21:16.980 people that are spiritually brain dead. They're not getting it. They're fussing with them. They're 00:21:16.980 --> 00:21:21.839 arguing. They're grumbling. He says, hey, the reason you don't get it is because you've not been drawn. 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:31.059 No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. I got to tell you that that must have 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:38.839 been extremely irritating for the Jews. Do you understand that? I mean, here they were. They were 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:44.899 carrying on a theological discourse with Jesus, and he says to them, you don't get it. 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:51.659 And then he tops it off by saying, that's because the Father, and by the way, who did the Jews think 00:21:51.659 --> 00:21:58.779 they were? Beloved of the Father, the Father's people. I mean, they were in a favored class. 00:21:59.439 --> 00:22:05.759 And here is Jesus saying, your problem with not getting it is because he has not called you. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:11.000 It's very interesting when you stop and think about it that some rabbis actually taught 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:19.480 that Moses stood at the gate of hell, and when any circumcised man kind of staggered by on his way 00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:25.400 down because of his bad behavior, Moses would grab ahold of him if he was circumcised and pull him out 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:34.000 of line and save him. I mean, hey, does circumcision work? Answer is no. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:43.059 No. The Jews thought he did. No one comes unless the Father draws him. Now, I want you to recognize 00:22:43.059 --> 00:22:50.220 the second part of the argument. You look there. You're in John chapter 44. It says, no one comes 00:22:50.220 --> 00:22:57.619 unless the Father draws. But then look at 45. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be 00:22:57.619 --> 00:23:06.339 taught by God. Hey, what did we do last Sunday here in the front, right here at the table and all that? 00:23:06.399 --> 00:23:13.699 What did we do? We had communion. And what was the Bible message all about last Sunday? 00:23:16.179 --> 00:23:20.619 Raise your hand. Don't say it out loud. I just want to see how many of you remember last Sunday. I mean, 00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:29.399 you were here. You checked the attendance box. What was the sermon all about? Everybody here? The new 00:23:29.399 --> 00:23:40.699 covenant, right? This is the New Testament in my blood. Oh, here we are. And Jesus is reminding his 00:23:40.699 --> 00:23:48.019 Jewish listeners of the new covenant. That's what this is. I'm not going to have you look at the passage, 00:23:48.019 --> 00:23:57.079 but if you were to go in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 54, you would find a piece of the new 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:04.480 covenant being recited by the prophet Isaiah indicating that the day would come when God 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:10.619 himself would be the one who was teaching the hardened hearts of the nation of Israel. 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:17.240 How many of you realize that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing you to understand the 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:24.579 absolute darkness of your soul, you would have never come to faith? And he was the one who got a hold 00:24:24.579 --> 00:24:29.720 of the hardness of your heart. He was the one that broke into that darkness. He was the one that brought 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:35.839 you to understand the moral despair and bankruptcy of your soul was nothing other than an indication 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:41.920 of your need for Christ. And he drew you to the cross. The new covenant was a promise, 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:48.720 both in Isaiah chapter 54 that Jesus is reciting, they will be taught by God. And what Jesus was 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:55.519 saying is, hey, I am not off on the far end of the world here telling you that God has to be the one 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:01.940 who teaches if you're going to get it. Because he said, let me recite to you portions from Isaiah and 00:25:01.940 --> 00:25:10.300 also from Jeremiah in which those two Old Testament prophets indicated that the work of God in the heart 00:25:10.299 --> 00:25:20.599 of those hardened Israelites would be, you need me and I will help you get it. So we recognize this 00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:27.919 morning in this passage that Jesus was making it clear that this business of being called by grace 00:25:27.919 --> 00:25:37.899 is the work of God alone. So on a larger scale, stop with me and think of other illustrations where 00:25:37.900 --> 00:25:45.200 this issue of God being the one who does what He chooses stands clearly in the Bible. Stop and think 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:48.920 with me. I have a couple different illustrations of this. Number one, how many of you have ever read 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:56.880 through the book of Job? Read through the book of Job. Job goes on for 37 chapters with Job and his 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:01.400 friends kind of having this little dispute about, hey, if you're having trouble, you brought it on 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:11.060 yourself. That's kind of a summary. And Job is arguing and fussing and he's not real happy with 00:26:11.060 --> 00:26:15.920 listening to their argument. And finally, God shows up in chapter 38. Does anybody know what God says? 00:26:17.380 --> 00:26:23.540 Job, let me give you an answer for why you're suffering. God never does. You know all that God 00:26:23.540 --> 00:26:29.360 does? He says, Job, let me ask you a couple questions. He says, let me start. Where were you when I hung 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:35.139 the stars in the sky and when I taught the goats how to give birth in the mountains? You know, and 00:26:35.139 --> 00:26:43.159 blah, blah, blah. And on he goes. And after three chapters, 37, 38, 39, and 40, I think it's 38, 00:26:43.439 --> 00:26:50.979 forget that. A couple chapters. Job says, you know what? It's time for me to put my hand over my mouth. 00:26:52.819 --> 00:26:58.819 All this business of me, how come you're doing this to me, God? He says, the best thing I can do is just 00:26:58.819 --> 00:27:03.819 kind of be quiet. How many of you have ever been in an argument where it finally dawned on you it was 00:27:03.819 --> 00:27:10.019 wise idea to be quiet? Ever been there? Okay. I'm not looking for husband-wife interaction at this moment, 00:27:10.139 --> 00:27:16.059 but I was just like, you know, there are times where he says, stop. You're not winning. Then God goes on a 00:27:16.059 --> 00:27:20.919 little further, and here's what Job says towards the end of the book. He says, you know, I've heard of you 00:27:20.919 --> 00:27:28.659 with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sees you. I get it. In Job, we never have God explaining to 00:27:28.660 --> 00:27:39.980 Job why Job suffered. God doesn't feel obligated to accommodate our sense of right and wrong and 00:27:39.980 --> 00:27:47.580 justice in a sense. You know, he's God. He's in control. In Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11, another 00:27:47.580 --> 00:27:53.220 illustration of God at work in the issue of salvation, he begins by talking about Jacob and 00:27:53.220 --> 00:27:59.360 Esau, and he says this, and it kind of is like fingernails on the chalkboard. He says, 00:27:59.779 --> 00:28:07.259 Jacob have I, what? Loved, and Esau have I hated. It's a striking statement to me. 00:28:07.940 --> 00:28:13.180 So I want you to understand that the Bible makes it clear that God is the one who saves, 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:18.819 and God is the one who is at work in calling an individual. There are some of you sitting here this 00:28:18.819 --> 00:28:23.960 morning that I have no doubt that God is, well, I don't have a doubt. I have confidence. I'm praying 00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:30.279 that God is at work calling you to Christ. He is pleading with you, be saved, and he is earnest, 00:28:30.460 --> 00:28:39.599 and he's intentional in that appeal. So if God is in absolute control, how do we respond with gospel 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:45.759 truth in ministry to other people? Here's how. With the same kind of compassion that Jesus had. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:51.500 Same kind of compassion that Jesus had. Jesus was clear. People get saved by the work of God. 00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:58.420 But I want you to recognize what immediately follows on the heels of that. If you look there 00:28:58.420 --> 00:29:10.299 in the Bible, you'll mark in verse 51, or sorry, in verse 46, it says, 47, whoever believes has eternal 00:29:10.299 --> 00:29:15.099 life. And I want you to put your finger on that little word, whoever. I want you to also look, 00:29:15.099 --> 00:29:23.339 if you would, at verse 51, and it says, if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And I want 00:29:23.339 --> 00:29:29.240 you to understand that when Jesus ministered to people, he reached out with an affection and an 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:35.200 interest in their soul, and he was earnest and sincere and honest in making this appeal. 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:42.080 When he preached, his desire was to see people come to the Father, and yet he knew that the Father was 00:29:42.080 --> 00:29:51.039 the one who had to do the drawing. Did his confidence in his Father's sovereign will interfere in any case 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:58.259 with the passion of Christ for unbelieving people? And the answer is, not at all. Not at all. 00:29:58.259 --> 00:30:05.180 So I want you to understand that Christ still reaches out with the same kind of compassion 00:30:05.180 --> 00:30:12.220 in desiring that all come to faith. And that should characterize our heart and ambition. Do you 00:30:12.220 --> 00:30:19.960 understand that? Do I know who's going to be saved here today? I don't. But I would be remiss if I 00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:26.460 didn't preach the sweetness of the gospel with the same delight and satisfaction that I have found 00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:32.039 in complete forgiveness of sin and with the same passion that I want to see other people know the 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:38.720 Savior and be worshipers instead of idolaters. Should you preach the gospel that same way, 00:30:38.940 --> 00:30:43.819 where he puts you in your workplace and around the people that you are face-to-face with every day? 00:30:43.880 --> 00:30:51.039 And the answer is, absolutely. Absolutely. So let me close with several thoughts that I want you to 00:30:51.039 --> 00:31:02.200 focus on. For one, admit that when we look at the subject of salvation in a kind of larger perspective, 00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:10.980 understand that it is a complex truth that puts together the sovereignty of God with the responsibility 00:31:10.980 --> 00:31:20.579 of a man to respond. In theology, it uses the term antinomy, meaning two laws that seemingly 00:31:20.579 --> 00:31:27.319 butt heads. Just get over it, move on, just accept, hey, I understand these two things are hard to put 00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:33.720 together, but I accept them. Let me give you two illustrations and leave it at that. In Acts chapter 00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:39.740 27, verse 24 and 31, we find a very interesting case. Remember I said that often in the Bible, 00:31:39.859 --> 00:31:46.000 when you see the issue of God's sovereign activity in a situation, you'll also often find human 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:52.259 responsibility in the same proximity. The reason God does that is so that He forces us to see the 00:31:52.259 --> 00:31:56.980 bigger picture than we'd like to see. How many of you have ever been around people that are all over 00:31:56.980 --> 00:32:06.259 on one side or the other and their issues? Huh? It doesn't work. Acts chapter 27, verse 24 and 31, 00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:13.240 we find Paul in a horrible storm, been going on for a long time. Paul comes out on the deck and he says, 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:20.160 guys, I have it. God's let me know that we're all going to be saved. That's pretty encouraging. 00:32:20.940 --> 00:32:26.259 Everybody kind of sits back on the deck and says, well, let it happen. Actually then, remember, 00:32:27.259 --> 00:32:32.640 some of the sailors decide that what they're going to do is get into the little boat and slip away, 00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:37.120 and Paul says, let me tell you something. If those guys leave, we're all dying. 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:48.559 God's sovereignty in bringing about the rescue of that entire load of people depended also on human 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:55.059 responsibility and response to the need of the moment. Let me enclose with just several thoughts 00:32:55.059 --> 00:33:01.659 that I want you to focus on today as you think about Christ. Number one, be overwhelmed by His grace 00:33:01.660 --> 00:33:07.400 that opened your dark heart and blind eyes to see your sin and led you to faith. So you stop and 00:33:07.400 --> 00:33:12.240 think about the fact that Jesus says what He does about, hey, listen, if you come to faith, it's because 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:18.420 He drew you, and you're sitting here this morning, and you know Christ as your Savior. It ought to put 00:33:18.420 --> 00:33:23.940 little warm chills up and down the spine, and it ought to cause you to say, man, I can't believe He loves 00:33:23.940 --> 00:33:32.380 me like that. Let me tell you something. There is no reason for a believer to ever get over the absolute 00:33:32.380 --> 00:33:40.180 unbelievable blessing of being saved by grace. And when you do, there's something going on in your 00:33:40.180 --> 00:33:48.980 heart that's not good. Second, be like Jesus when you're ministering to people. Don't be thrown off 00:33:48.980 --> 00:33:53.440 when people try to dodge conviction. It's going to happen. It's going to happen all the time. 00:33:53.940 --> 00:33:57.100 When you end up having an opportunity to talk to other people about the Lord Jesus, 00:33:57.539 --> 00:34:03.100 don't be surprised. It's actually an indication that you're getting close to home when they want 00:34:03.100 --> 00:34:10.200 to dodge the subject. Do you follow that? It'll happen. Don't be put off by that. Third, 00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:17.539 have absolutely humble confidence in the Father's work and calling. I don't know who's going to be saved. 00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:25.000 I am not God. But what I do know is that I can trust Him to do that wonderful work, 00:34:25.259 --> 00:34:30.119 and my job is just quite simple. I'm one who throws the seed. Is that what you are? 00:34:30.119 --> 00:34:39.699 I, what's it say? One man waters, another man sows, and, hello, God gives the increase. It's his 00:34:39.699 --> 00:34:44.139 business. You might as well be throwing seed, though. And by the way, when you throw seed, 00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:51.039 how should you throw it? I got to tell you, my neighbor needed the yard reseeded. And so, 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:56.219 I am known among some people as the king of overkill. I went and bought seed for this individual, 00:34:56.219 --> 00:35:01.699 and I literally bought twice as much seed as I figured the birds could have some, 00:35:02.059 --> 00:35:07.079 the squirrels could have some, and here we are two weeks later, and there's grass all over the place, 00:35:07.179 --> 00:35:15.399 even in the parking lot. You know, I threw it everywhere. Do that with seed. Finally, 00:35:17.239 --> 00:35:21.799 be like Jesus and have a passionate longing to see people delivered from the pit. 00:35:21.800 --> 00:35:30.820 Let me say that slowly. Be like Jesus and have a passionate longing to see people delivered from 00:35:30.820 --> 00:35:46.580 the pit. I've watched my mom. I've watched my dad die. And I have to tell you, there is 00:35:46.579 --> 00:35:57.360 a sorrow in death in the case of a believer that is entirely different than the sorrow of person who 00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:04.559 is dying that doesn't know Christ. When I have been at the bedside of a person who does not know 00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:10.639 Christ, and I have no confidence in that person's eternal destiny, there is an anxiety in my soul, 00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:16.819 and there is a passion. I don't want that person going to hell. Are you that way? 00:36:27.699 --> 00:36:31.480 Father, lift up Jesus, 00:36:31.480 --> 00:36:39.219 that we who know Christ might be overwhelmed by the fact that He saved us, 00:36:40.219 --> 00:36:48.300 that we who know Christ would have an affection not only for Him but for lost mankind, 00:36:49.139 --> 00:36:56.900 that we who know Christ would find our greatest satisfaction in the lover of our souls, 00:36:56.900 --> 00:37:04.099 that we who know Christ would have an affection. And in our satisfaction, we cannot but help but speak 00:37:04.099 --> 00:37:06.160 of that which we have seen and heard. 00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:16.519 Father God, this morning I have a sense that there are some among us that do not know Christ. 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:21.480 May this be the day of salvation for them. 00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:24.099 Lord, lift up Jesus. 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:26.019 Amen. 00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:27.300 Let's stand together.