If you would, please open up your Bibles this morning to John chapter 6.
John chapter 6. We've been walking through John's Gospel together and every week I encourage you to have your Bibles open.
I don't want you just to hear the words from me in my mouth. I want you to see it with your eyes on the pages of Scripture and see what he says.
So if you would, turn there now, John chapter 6. If you're using the pew Bibles there in front of you, I'm thinking this is around page 835, 836, but it'll be there for you to read.
So we're going to read John chapter 6 verses 35 through 51 this morning. Follow along with me as I read.
Jesus said to them,
I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
All that the Father gives me will come to me,
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will,
but the will of him who sent me.
And this is the will of him who sent me,
that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me,
but raise it up on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him
should have eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
So the Jews grumbled about him because he said,
I am the bread that came down from heaven.
They said,
Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know?
How does he now say I've come down from heaven?
And Jesus answered them,
Do not grumble among yourselves.
No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets,
and they will all be taught by God.
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father,
except he who is from God.
He has seen the Father.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,
and they died.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that one may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever.
And the bread that I will give for the life of the world
is my flesh.
Church, the grass withers and the flower fades,
but the word of our Lord endures forever.
If you would, let's bow once more and pray.
Father, we ask again,
as we open up your word,
that my voice would go out,
and that my voice would become small,
and your voice would become great,
that I would decrease,
that you would increase,
that what is true and helpful
would land on fertile soil,
and what is unhelpful would bypass their ears.
God, we pray that your truth would build up this church.
In Christ's name, amen.
How do we understand the miracle of salvation?
One of my favorite things to do as a pastor here at Seaweed Bay
is to hear your stories of how you came to faith in Christ.
And for the most part,
at the basic level at least,
the stories are all the same.
You at one point heard the gospel,
maybe one time,
maybe two times,
maybe ten times,
maybe a hundred times,
but at a certain point,
you heard that gospel truth,
and by the grace of God,
you believed it.
But in the specifics of how exactly that came to be,
those stories are all diverse,
and unique,
they're different,
and they're fascinating to me.
I love to hear the stories of your salvation.
I want to share with you
the story of somebody named John Wesley this morning.
I read his conversion story again this week.
John Wesley is not a member of our church.
He is best known for being the founder of Methodism,
but I want you just to listen closely to his testimony
of how he came to Christ.
John Wesley was at the age of 20.
He was, from all outside appearances,
very religious.
He was devout.
If you and I looked at him,
observed his life,
you and I would say,
without a doubt,
this man knows the Lord.
He is a believer.
His journals,
they say that he set apart an hour or two
every day for religious retirement.
This is how they spoke back then.
For religious retirement,
he communicated every week.
He watched against all sin,
whether in word or deed.
He aimed and prayed for inward holiness.
He was, by all accounts,
a devout religious man.
But despite all of this,
by his own admission,
he was not yet converted.
Twelve years later,
when he was 32 years old,
he set out as a missionary
to the Indians of Georgia.
And when he was asked,
why?
Why are you going?
Why are you doing this?
His answer revealed a lot.
He said that he had hopes
of saving his own soul.
He hoped that by bringing the gospel to others,
that he might obtain the holiness
that he so desperately desired.
And then he,
by bringing the gospel to others,
would be made right with God.
Well, the story goes that
there in Georgia,
he met a Moravian pastor,
a guy named Augustus,
who began to talk with John,
and he asked him some very pointed questions.
Does the Spirit of God
bear witness with your spirit
that you are a child of God?
He asked.
John had no answer.
Do you know Jesus Christ?
He asked.
To which John said,
I know that he is the Savior of the world.
But do you know that he has saved you?
I hope he has died to save me,
John said.
He continued to minister there in Georgia,
preaching the gospel
as an unconverted minister of Christ.
And almost three years later,
he wrote this in his journal.
He said,
That is a good question,
isn't it?
How could anyone,
a man so religious,
so devout,
so eager to please the Lord,
yet by his own admission,
not be converted?
And not see the truth clearly?
Well, as we read in John chapter 6 this morning,
what we see here is a similar situation.
Jesus is in the middle of a conversation
with a group of Jews.
And there in verse 35,
Jesus makes this incredible statement.
It's an incredible promise.
He says,
I am the bread of life.
And whoever comes to me
shall not hunger,
and whoever believes in me
shall never thirst.
So this is a promise of
eternal satisfaction
for your soul,
for any who would come to Christ
simply by believing in him.
And he extends that invitation
broadly and widely
to any who would come to him in faith.
Any who come to me
will lack nothing
and will be satisfied in God forever.
But then we get to verse 36
and there's a problem.
Do you see it?
He says to the Jews,
But I said to you,
you have seen me
and yet do not believe.
How can that be?
Well, this is a shocking issue
when you see it.
Apparently,
you can be face to face
with the living God.
You can hear his words
week in,
week out.
You can see his works
unfold in real time.
You can be zealous
to obey the Lord
and yet you can still miss it.
You can still not truly believe.
You can mistake familiarity
with Christ,
with faith in Christ.
So the answer that I,
the question that I want
to let Jesus answer
for us this morning
is how does anyone
truly come to believe
in Christ?
How does anybody
truly actually come to him
and receive what he's offering
to us here in the gospel?
How is anyone saved?
And what I hope
you'll come away convinced of
and assured by
and strengthened of
this morning
is the good news
that God must do it.
God must do it.
We're going to see
three answers
to that question
this morning.
How is anyone saved?
If you're a note taker,
this will help you
to follow along.
Three answers
to the question,
how is anyone saved?
First,
answer number one,
we see that salvation
is arranged in eternity.
Look there to verse 37,
John 6, 37.
Here we see the roots
of our salvation.
This is the basis
of our salvation.
You know how sometimes
you ask somebody,
hey, tell me your story,
and they go like way back
to when their parents
were born
and how their parents met
and their grandparents' story.
They go way,
way, way, way, way back.
Well, Jesus here,
he goes back further
than that.
He's going all the way back
to an arrangement
that happened
in eternity past,
before time,
as we know it,
began.
Look there.
Now, Jesus says,
all that the Father gives me
will come to me,
and whoever comes to me
I will never cast out.
So, before you existed,
before I existed,
before the world existed,
what we see here
is that God the Father
gave a people
to God the Son.
And the result
of that giving
in eternity,
look there what it says,
the result of that giving
in eternity
is their certain coming
to Christ
at some point in time.
All that the Father gives me
will come to me.
Now, the order here
is important, isn't it?
We sometimes tend to think
in the opposite direction.
We read these verses backwards
as if it said,
all that come to Christ,
well, that's who the Father
will give to him.
If we come,
then he gives.
That's not what it says.
I just want you to look
at what the verse says.
He says,
all that the Father gives me
will come to me.
So, how is anyone saved?
Well, if we zoom out,
get ourselves out of the picture,
zoom out of our own experience,
zoom out of our lives,
if we had the whole picture
of eternity in mind,
as Christ does,
we would say that
your coming to Christ,
believer, in time,
was a direct and certain result
of God's giving you to Christ
before the ages began.
Now, I want to show you
two other places in John
where we see this.
Because this is not
a one-off comment.
It's all throughout
the Gospel of John.
This is not the first time
Jesus says something like this.
This is where Jesus
roots our salvation.
It's not ultimately
an hour willing,
hour working.
He roots salvation
ultimately in God's working,
God's willing,
God's planning,
God's arranging.
So, two places here in John.
Mark this down.
You can go digging in here
a little later this afternoon
if you'd like.
John chapter 10
and John chapter 17.
John chapter 10
and John chapter 17.
John chapter 10,
verses 26 through 29.
Jesus says,
You do not believe
because you are not
among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice
and I know them
and they follow me.
I give them eternal life
and they will never perish
and no one will snatch them
out of my hand.
My Father,
who has given them to me,
is greater than all
and no one is able
to snatch them
out of my Father's hand.
Notice what he doesn't say.
The order here,
again, is important.
He doesn't say,
You are not among my sheep
because you do not believe,
although that is true.
What does he say?
He says,
You do not believe
because you are not
among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice.
Why?
Because the Father
has given them to Christ.
Example number two,
John 17, 6 through 10.
Listen to the words of Jesus,
how he prays.
I have manifested your name
to the people
whom you gave me
out of the world.
Do you hear that?
Yours they were
and you gave them to me
and they have kept your word.
Now they know
that everything you have given me
is from you.
For I have given them
the words that you gave me
and they have received them
and have come to know in truth
that I came from you
and they have believed
that you sent me.
This is a glorious truth,
Christian.
And when we begin
to understand
the big picture
of our salvation,
this is a glorious truth.
Do you see what this means
for your salvation?
When we begin to understand
the miracle of salvation
in this way
as the outworking
of the eternal plan of God,
there is joy
and there is confidence.
Our salvation
does not depend on us.
It does not depend
on our strength,
on our willing,
on our working,
on our goodness,
on our knowledge,
on our ability
to muster up the strength
to believe today.
Our salvation
is rooted
in the unshakable,
eternal plan
of an unchanging
and faithful God.
God,
a few months ago,
I was sharing this
with somebody.
We took our boys
to Legoland
and it was awesome.
But of course,
a trip like that,
we don't just do
spur on the moment.
Okay?
Amanda and I
had planned it out
far in advance.
We purchased the tickets.
We booked the hotel.
We planned the exact day,
the exact moment
we would go.
All of this
before we told
the boys anything.
And then when
the time was right,
at the moment
of our choosing,
we revealed to them
all of the incredible plans
that we had made
for them.
And it was amazing.
Then we got them
in the car.
We packed up
all their stuff.
We drove them
safely to the park.
Their coming
was a direct result
of our planning.
All that the Father
has given me
will come to me.
Now let me ask you something.
What kind of a father
would I be
if when we arrived
there at the park,
we got to the gate,
we got ready to go inside,
if I turned around
to them
and I said,
what are you doing here?
I changed my mind.
You're not coming
to the park today.
I'm not bringing you
inside.
You thought you were
coming inside here.
Forget it.
What kind of father
would I be
if I turned them away?
That would be ridiculous,
right?
Why would that
be ridiculous?
Because at the root,
at the basis
of this whole thing
was my arrangement
to make it happen.
It was my plan.
It was my gift
to them.
Why would I
turn them away?
This was their confidence
and their joy
that this would happen.
It was their freedom
in receiving this gift.
It was because mom
and dad had planned it.
They had purchased it.
They told us it's happening
and we believe it.
Now we get to enjoy it.
Christian,
this is the confidence
that we have
in our salvation.
Your salvation,
your assurance,
your confidence,
your joy,
your hope
is rooted
in the unshakable
will of God.
This is good news.
Look there to verse 38.
You might ask,
what is that will?
What is the will of God?
Look to verse 38.
Jesus says,
For I have come down
from heaven
not to do my own will,
but the will of him
who sent me.
And this is the will
of him who sent me,
that I should lose
nothing of all
that he has given me,
but raise it up
on the last day.
For this is the will
of my Father,
that everyone
who looks on the Son
and believes in him
should have eternal life
and I will raise him up
on the last day.
But how will we look?
And how will we believe?
This is the second answer
to our question this morning.
How is anyone saved?
Second,
salvation is applied in time.
Salvation is applied in time.
Look there to verse 41.
Because the Jews
didn't like what they heard.
It seems like they pretty much
just ignored everything
that Jesus had just told them
about salvation,
about the will of God,
about what he's come to do
because they were so hung up
on what he said
in verse 35.
It says the Jews
grumbled about him
because he said,
I am the bread of life
that came down from heaven.
They said,
Jesus,
what are you talking about?
You didn't come from heaven.
We know your father.
We know your mother.
Isn't this Jesus,
the son of Joseph?
We know Joseph.
We know Mary.
How does he now say,
I've come down from heaven?
See,
they still don't get it.
They still can't perceive
the truth
that's standing there
right there in front of them
explaining the gospel.
They're so close to Christ,
yet they still don't get it.
Maybe you can think of a friend,
a family member,
a co-worker,
someone that you know
and that this sounds
a little bit like,
someone that you have
attempted to communicate
the gospel to.
You've spoken the words
of Christ to them.
You've tried and tried
to articulate it
as clearly
as you possibly can,
but they still just
don't get it.
Why?
Why is that?
It's because our sin
runs so deep in us
that until we are born again
of the Spirit of God,
we cannot see
spiritual truth clearly.
This is what Jesus told Nicodemus.
You might remember
from John chapter 3.
He said,
unless one is born again,
he cannot see
the kingdom of God.
Again, he says,
unless one is born of water
and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter
the kingdom of God.
This is the necessary condition
of spiritual life
and here we see another
unless, don't we?
Jesus answered them
in verse 43.
Do not grumble among yourselves.
No one can come to me
unless the Father
who sent me draws him
and I will raise him up
on the last day.
And so the necessary condition
of anyone coming to Christ
we see here
is God must draw them
to Christ.
And so here's my question.
What in the world
does that mean?
What in the world
does it mean for God
to draw someone to Christ?
And there are, I think,
two very clear possibilities here.
Possibility number one
is that this drawing to Christ
is a sort of wooing.
I had a friend growing up,
I would go over to their house,
every now and then
they would have kittens
under the porch
and we would go down
and try to call them over to us.
Come here.
Come on.
Let me get you.
Let me pet you.
Come on.
Come on out.
And if that didn't work,
when that didn't work,
we would put out some milk,
maybe put out some food.
We would try to lure them out to us.
But at the end of the day,
we were powerless to make them,
to call them,
to bring them.
We were powerless to bring them to us.
It was hopeful drawing.
That's how many think
that God draws people to Christ.
I'm going to argue for option number two here.
Option number two
is that this drawing is not hopeful,
it is effective.
What God has planned in eternity,
He certainly accomplishes in time.
All that God has given to the Son in eternity
will come in time.
Not one will be lost.
All will come.
Why?
Because God Himself will draw them effectively.
Think on your own story, Christian.
If you're here and you are a believer in Christ,
just think back on your own story,
how you came to believe in the gospel.
Some of you, I know,
have a dramatic testimony.
You were far from the Lord,
living in sin,
living in rebellion,
and somehow,
some way,
you opened up a Bible,
somebody came and shared with you,
you turned on the radio,
and you,
whatever the tool was,
you heard the gospel,
and by the grace of God,
you believed.
Others of you have a story,
like what I pray for my children.
You have a very boring testimony.
You know,
I pray that my children have a terribly boring testimony.
They grew up in a believing home.
They heard the gospel from mom and dad
over and over and over and over and over and over again.
They came to church.
They heard the gospel from dad
over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
But at some point,
something clicked.
They heard it differently.
Not just as information that they know,
but truth that they cherish.
They believe.
They begin to trust that Jesus Christ is their Lord,
and their God,
and their Savior,
and their hope.
Do you know what happened in you, believer?
That when you finally believe that gospel message,
you heard it from someone,
but you were taught the truth by God.
Look there again to verse 44.
Look what Jesus does.
He says,
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
And then he backs up this statement with Scripture.
He says,
It is written in the prophets,
and they will all be taught by God.
See, the way that God draws his people
is by teaching them.
And we see the result.
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father
comes to Christ.
This is a reference to what we call the new covenant.
The new covenant.
This type of teaching of God
is not just information that touches our ears.
It's transformation of the heart.
It is the internal work of God
in the hearts of his people
where he himself writes the law of God on their hearts.
It's no longer external.
It's no longer outside of them.
It is now in them.
No longer familiarity with Christ.
It is personal faith in Christ.
God himself replaces their heart of stone
and gives them a heart of flesh.
God himself places his own spirit within them.
God himself promises to be their God
and for them to be his people.
And when God teaches you in this way,
all of a sudden you begin to see everything
with new clarity that you didn't have before.
You begin to see the worth and the glory of Christ
like you've never seen before.
You begin to open up the pages of scripture
and see the glory of God
in ways you've never seen before.
You see your own sin and a desire to put it away
in ways you've never felt before.
You desire holiness to please the Lord
in ways you've never felt before.
Where did this come from?
It came from the teaching of God in your heart.
I've got to share this story with you.
I had the opportunity to speak with somebody
in our home this past week.
And this is a person who has gone to church for years
and as we spoke,
it just became clear that she did not understand the gospel.
She did not understand the truth of the gospel,
what we're talking about here this morning.
In her own understanding,
being right with God was about her works,
what she knew,
right and wrong,
yes and no.
So it was an improvement message for her.
And so we talked about the gospel,
those four parts that we talk about all the time.
God, man, Christ, response.
We walked slowly through each one.
I said, I don't want to put words in your mouth.
I just want to explain this and stop
and see if you believe what I'm talking about here.
And we talked about God.
God is the creator of everything.
He's good.
He's worthy of our praise.
She said, yeah, I believe that.
We talked about sin,
how all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
All of us bear personal responsibility
for our rebellion against the Lord.
She said, you don't have to tell me that I'm a sinner.
I believe that.
And then we talked about Christ
and how anyone who looks to the work of the Savior
who came and lived in our place
and died in our place
and rose to offer eternal life
to any who don't work for it
to simply believe.
That's how anyone is saved.
And she said, I've never heard that before.
Now, I know she'd heard it before.
She sat under my teaching for about a year.
I know she'd heard it,
but she hadn't heard it
until that moment
when for the first time
God opened up her ears
and her eyes
to perceive the truth of the gospel
and to believe it
with all of her heart and soul
for the first time.
She left that room,
that moment,
justified.
This is the work of God.
The work of God
to draw sinners to faith in Christ
by opening their eyes
to see the glory of Christ
in the gospel.
You know, here's the thing, church.
We don't know
who God will draw.
God alone knows
who He will effectively draw
to be His own in time.
God alone knows
who He will draw to Christ effectively.
This is not ours to know.
God alone knows
whom He's given to Christ
in eternity past
and He will draw them in time.
We have the privilege
of seeing in real time
the unfolding
of the eternal plan of God.
And not just seeing it passively,
but church,
we have the privilege
of being actively used by God
to bring salvation
to the lost
as we proclaim
the message
of the gospel.
We have the joy
of proclaiming
our third point
this morning.
third and final point.
That salvation
is made available
to all
right now
in the gospel.
Salvation
is made available
to all
in the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
If you're here
this morning
and you're not a believer,
first I just want to say
I'm thrilled
that you're here.
We welcome you
to be here.
I hope that you are
hearing truth
for the first time.
I'm glad that you're
sitting under the word
this morning.
You may be wondering
what in the world
we're talking about
when we talk so much
about the gospel.
The gospel
is the good news
of Jesus Christ.
And we believe
that if sinners
like me
and like you
if sinners like us
are ever going
to know God
it is only
through faith
in Jesus Christ.
This is what
Jesus tells us
here in verse 46.
He says
no one has ever
seen the Father
except he who is
from God.
He has seen
the Father.
So how can anyone
know the Father?
Well they must
look to Christ.
No one has ever
seen God.
The only God
who is at the Father's
side
he has made
him known.
If we want to know
what God is like
we have to look
to Jesus.
If we want to know
what it's like
to be made right
with God
we have to listen
and come
to Jesus.
And he tells us
when we look
at Christ
with eyes of faith
look again
to what he holds
out for us
here in verse 47.
Jesus says
truly truly
I say to you
whoever
believes
has eternal
life.
This is the
free
and broad
invitation
of the gospel.
Not by our
working
not by our
doing
not by our
knowing
not by our
believing
anything
other than
believing
and trusting
by faith
that Christ
is enough.
Whoever
believes
has eternal
life.
And this
life is
available
to you
right
now.
If you
would simply
come
by faith.
We often
read the words
of Isaiah
55.
We read them
last week.
I'm going to
read them
again.
He invites us
come everyone
who thirsts
come to the
waters.
He who has
no money
come
buy and
eat
come by
wine
and milk
without
money
without
price.
Why do
you spend
your money
for that
which is
not
bread
and your
labor
for that
which does
not
satisfy.
Listen
diligently
to me
and eat
what is
good
and delight
yourselves
in rich
food.
Incline
your ear
and come
to me
here
that your
soul
may live.
How often
do we
ignore
the feast
that Christ
offers us
in the
gospel?
This is an
invitation
to stop
eating
not
bread
and to
stop
eating
that
which
does
not
satisfy
and to
stop
living
for that
which
will
never
fulfill
the
deepest
desires
of your
soul
and to
come
and partake
of that
which will
satisfy
your soul
forever.
Do you
see the
contrast that
Jesus makes
here in
verse 49?
God
did
something
miraculous
there in
the wilderness
for Israel.
He rained
down bread
from heaven.
Life-giving
sustaining
bread.
He fed
the Israelites
there for
40 years
with this
miraculous
provision
of God
but it
was
temporary.
It was
a miracle
but it
had an
expiration.
They ate
it.
They were
filled.
They got
up.
They did
it again
over and
over again
for 40
years and
then the
bread was
no more
and then
they died.
Jesus
says this
bread,
this bread
that comes
down from
heaven,
comes down
to feed
you forever
and if
anyone eats
of this
bread,
he will
live
forever.
This bread
is offered
freely to
any who
would come
and eat.
Eternal
life is
available to
any who
would come.
And what
is this
bread?
The bread
that I
will give
for the
life of
the world
is my
flesh.
This is
an incredible
promise at
an incredible
price.
The body
and blood
of Jesus
broken and
shed for
you.
Do you
believe it?
Are you
feasting by
faith right
now in
what Jesus
Christ offers
you in
the hope
of the
gospel?
And if
you are,
are you
bringing this
bread to
others that
they might
hear and
believe?
John
Wesley,
by the
grace of
God,
eventually
came to
know the
Lord.
And 285
years ago,
actually,
as of last
Wednesday,
he wrote in
his journal,
the date,
Wednesday,
May 24th,
1738.
It was about
five o'clock in
the morning that
I opened my
testament upon
these words.
There are
given to us
great and
exceeding
promises,
even that
ye should be
partakers of
the divine
nature.
Just as I
went out,
I opened it
again upon
these words,
thou art not
far from the
kingdom of
God.
In the
afternoon,
I was asked
to go to
St.
Paul's.
The anthem
was,
Out of
the deep
have I
called unto
thee,
O Lord,
hear my
voice.
In the
evening,
I went
very unwillingly
to a
society on
Outersgate
Street,
where one
was reading
Luther's
preface to
the epistle
to the
Romans.
About a
quarter before
nine,
while he was
describing the
change whereby
God works on
the heart
through faith
in Christ,
I felt my
heart strangely
warmed.
I felt I
did trust in
Christ alone
for salvation.
And the
assurance was
given me that
he had taken
away my
sins,
even mine,
and he
saved me
from the
law of
sin and
death.
Do you
have a story
like that?
In just a
moment,
you see here,
we are going
to partake of
the Lord's
Supper.
we have the
body and
the blood of
Christ visibly
portrayed for
us here.
Believer, I
want to invite
you right now
before we
prepare to
partake, to
pause and to
reflect on the
gift of God
in your
salvation.
To praise
God for what
he's done in
giving Christ
for you,
for drawing
you.
to know and
to be
satisfied in
Christ.
Let's bow
and pray.
Jesus, the
offer is set
before us.
Come any
who are
hungry,
come any
who are
thirsty,
and find
true life
in you.
We thank
you, Lord,
for the
gospel, the
good news
that you
have come
down from
heaven to
give eternal
life to
any who
look to
you in
faith.
We pray,
God, for
strength and
encouragement,
for assurance
and confidence
for the
believer.
We pray for
conviction and
for drawing for
the non-believer
this morning.
We love you,
and we pray all
this in Christ's
name.
Amen.