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Well, indeed, it is a pleasure to be with you this morning. You know, the only thing about putting it that close is it'll blow my hair around.
There was a day when that would have been true. I have some pictures on my Palm Pilot.
I actually, seriously, I have a picture on my Palm Pilot of the night, December 5th, 1981, when my wife said she would marry me.
We had some pictures that we took that night. And I've got big glasses. Remember the 1980s, big glasses?
Why did we wear windshields? Does anyone... I look back at those things and I go, my goodness, you had to use an entire bottle of Windex on them every time.
Massive things and lots of hair. And I weighed about 145 pounds. Wow. It's good to be able to look back on ancient history, isn't it?
Turn with me, please, to John chapter 6. John chapter 6.
In the time that we have this morning, please feel free to use whatever you need to stay comfortable.
If you need to go like this or whatever, I'm going to be going like this. Some people say, take your jacket off.
Believe me, a jacket covers a multitude of cheeseburgers. I would like to take my jacket off, but I would be less comfortable than I currently am in that situation.
So you do whatever you need to do. And I apologize for bringing the intemperate weather with me, but you can't blame me for bringing the humidity with me because we don't have any of that in Phoenix, Arizona, at least not until July.
So I'll have to give credit to you all for that. John chapter 6.
I am not going to be reading the entire chapter, thankfully, because that would pretty much take our entire time.
This is the lengthiest chapter in the Gospel of John. But I would invite you to remember with me the context.
I'd like to focus in upon John chapter 6, verses 35 through 45, and then also look a little bit at the conclusion.
One could spend an entire period of time on the sixth chapter of John, but I will only focus upon certain aspects of it today and hope that you will take the time to pick up the pieces where I had to rush by a particular segment of the text.
You remember what the context is. At the beginning of John chapter 6, you have
Jesus gathering the people together, and you have him ministering the word to them, and they are transfixed.
They are so taken with his teaching that out in the wilderness, out in a place that would have probably been rather uncomfortable for people, they didn't have nice chairs to sit in, they are out far away from cities and towns, and yet they stay and they listen for hours and hours and hours upon end, and so much so that the apostles begin to realize, you know, these people have been out here for quite some time.
We do not have supplies. We are not as we frequently are on the seashore near a town where you'd be able to go in.
You'd be able to go into the market. You'd be able to buy some bread, some food. Instead, we are far away from that type of a situation, so Lord, what are we going to do?
And so you have one of the most famous of Jesus' miracles. You have the feeding of the 5 ,000.
That's only in regards to men. There were women and children there, so this was a very large gathering.
And you cannot help but think what it must have been like to be one of the apostles in this particular situation as Jesus not only tests their faith, but then as they begin to see the miracle that Jesus is performing, and it's not like some miracles.
I mean, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead or the widow's son from Nain, you have an immediate miracle.
It happens, and it's over with. This is a miracle that's ongoing. Jesus keeps producing the bread and the fish, and there's a never -ending supply.
And how must the apostles have enjoyed being the ones distributing the miracle bread and the miracle fish?
Can you imagine what it was like as you're walking along and you're bringing the baskets and the word is beginning to go around amongst the people?
Somehow Jesus is feeding all of us. There are only a few loaves and a few fish, and yet the apostles, his disciples, are passing out basket after basket, and a miracle's taking place, and you can hear the excitement amongst the people.
And, of course, as the apostles come along, they have the miracle bread. Would you like to have some?
Yes, I've been with him for a number of years now. Name's Peter, thank you. They were excited.
Boy, people were looking up at them like they were really special. And then they begin to hear people saying, we need to make this man our king.
I mean, think about it. You're under the rule of Roman oppression. Who better to have as your king someone who doesn't need supply lines for his army?
You don't need to worry about providing for your army because your king can just simply come up with miraculous sustenance right there in the middle of nowhere.
Who could defeat an army led by someone like this? And so the word starts going around, we need to make him king.
And, of course, the disciples hear this because we know even at the ascension of Jesus, they're still going, is it time for the kingdom?
Is it time for the kingdom? And they want to have those positions of leadership. And so they're like, oh, this is what we've been waiting for.
This is exciting. And what does Jesus do? Jesus, throughout this chapter, disappoints improper expectations.
The disciples, they're excited. These men, they're excited.
They're so excited that they're going to follow Jesus the next day. But on this day, the disciples are excited, and Jesus says, send the crowds away.
Bad timing, Lord. You need the invitation now. This is the time to strike while the iron's hot.
Send the crowds away. Lord, don't you hear? They want to make you king. Send the crowds away.
Okay. So they send the crowds away, and then Jesus says, cross the lake, but I'm not going with you.
I'm going into the mountain to pray. And there are these thoughts in their minds. Wow, there is an opportunity that sort of looks like the
Lord missed it. They have the wrong expectations. So Jesus sends the crowds away.
He sends the apostles away. Goes into the mountain. They're crossing the lake, and what happens?
We have the storm, and Jesus coming to them, walking upon the sea. Miracle number two in a short period of time.
It's interesting to me. Two miracles take place here. Maybe even three, because it's possible that when
Jesus immediately enters into the boat, they're immediately in Capernaum. So it's possible that's even miraculous right there, that there is an instant transfer to Capernaum.
They're no longer on the lake. There's no more rowing. They're right there. That's possibly three miracles, and nobody comes to faith in Christ as a result of any of them.
In fact, by the end of John 6, you know where we're headed here, don't you? The end of John 6, we start
John 6, 5 ,000 excited men plus women and children.
The disciples are excited. Talk about kingship. At the end of John 6, they've walked away.
At the end of John 6, they said, these are hard words. Who can hear them?
Some of our translations say, who can listen to them? But it's literally, who can hear what he's saying? And you're left with 12 disciples.
Jesus says one of them is a devil, and the rest of them are really confused. I don't know about you, but Jesus would not have done very well in most church growth classes and seminaries today.
When you go from 5 ,000 excited folks to 12 confused folks, one of whom is a devil, that doesn't do well as your final project in that particular class.
Isn't it interesting? I don't think this would be one of the main passages that would be taught upon in many church growth classes today.
Jesus here starts the church shrinkage movement. It is a movement that some of you have experienced at times in your life, especially if you were involved in a church where because of a particularly charismatic leader, there had been great growth, there had been much popularity, but not based upon the full counsel of God.
And then someone else comes along and they begin opening up all the Scriptures. And oh, there's a fence.
Mrs. McGillicuddy in the back doesn't like when you preach out of Galatians. Mr. Pearson doesn't like when you preach out of Romans.
Now they're finding someplace else to go and you have the church shrinkage movement.
But Jesus explains the real reasons. And that's what we need to hear this morning. Because you know what happens after Jesus and the apostles have gone over to Capernaum, some of the men come back looking for this miracle teacher who can make miracle bread.
And they see he's gone. He's not where he was last night. And these folks look like the very people we want showing up in our churches, don't they?
I mean, they have taken off work again, and now they get in boats and they cross the lake, and specifically they are described by the apostle
John as seeking Jesus. You want a seeker -sensitive situation?
These people are called seekers. They are seeking Jesus. And sometimes, especially when we are in churches where we sort of feel like we're alone in a whole sea of either heresy or unbelief, we are so quick to grab hold of anybody who gives any semblance of being interested in what we have to say.
And sadly, in a lot of churches, I think some of these seekers would walk in, and we'd make them deacons in two weeks.
They'd be teaching Sunday school so fast that it would be amazing. Jesus doesn't do that.
I mean, from the outward perspective, these look like really good candidates, don't they? They've come across the lake.
They are seeking Jesus, but they're going to walk away by the end of this chapter.
Why? Why? I think the answer to the question why is what we need to understand before we leave this room today.
They come and they start a dialogue with Jesus, and Jesus doesn't work any miracles for them. They want to see some more signs.
Jesus even says, you're seeking me because you saw the signs, you ate of the food, you were filled.
You're seeking the physical. What you haven't understood from my teaching yesterday, and now what
I need to bring home to you now is that I have not come to give you physical food.
I am the bread that came down out of heaven. And you see, your physical hunger was satiated yesterday.
I kept you out there. I kept teaching until you were hungry. You had a physical sensation.
Some of you might be experiencing that even now. You had a physical sensation.
The longer that physical sensation goes, the stronger that desire becomes. And then
I met your need with physical food. But it was just an illustration.
It was meant to communicate something to you. And now I'm telling you what that is.
And the problem is, while you all can experience physical hunger, you men are not experiencing spiritual hunger.
And so you're not going to find me to be what you need. I'm not going to keep meeting that physical desire.
I have come to meet the spiritual desire, and the only people who are still going to be with me at the end of this day are the people who understand their real need of me.
After He says that He is the bread that came down out of heaven. Verse 33.
So they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. Give us this bread that came down out of heaven.
And they're still thinking physical. They're still thinking manna. They haven't seen where He's going yet. He's going to have to get very, very clear with them.
And they're not going to accept what He has to say even when He does. Verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
The one coming to me, and that is a present tense, ongoing.
Not just the one who tips his hat. Not just the one who shakes a hand one day, walks an aisle.
But the one coming to me will never go hungry.
The one believing, present tense, ongoing action in me will never thirst.
First time Jesus raises this issue of hungering and thirsting. And how is it assuaged?
By coming and believing. Some of you may have grown up in churches where a later portion of this chapter is used to substantiate the idea of you needing to attend a certain sacrament.
But in reality, Jesus defines His own terms here. What does it mean to eat?
What does it mean to drink? It means to come and to believe in Him.
It is to find your spiritual sustenance in Christ and in Christ alone and in nothing else.
Jesus says, the one coming to me, the one believing in me, will never hunger and thirst.
But then He says something very odd that we don't hear much in modern preaching.
He says in verse 36, but I told you that you have seen me and you are not believing.
What do you mean we're not believing, Lord? We saw the miracle yesterday. But Jesus says, you're unbelievers.
You're unbelievers. We look at these men and we go, wow, they've done all these things.
They've come across. They've listened. They've put themselves out.
They're seeking Jesus. Jesus, why would you say to someone, you're unbelievers? That might offend them.
Jesus offended a lot of people with His preaching. I've told you that you have seen me and yet you are not believing.
He knew what was in the hearts of men. Remember John chapter 2?
Jesus performed the sign at the wedding of Cain and Galilee. Men saw some of the signs that Jesus performed and it says they believed in Him.
It's a different form of the verb that's used here. The verb that talks about the one believing in me will never thirst.
That's ongoing action. But the men who believed in Jesus in John chapter 2, that's a different form of the verb that doesn't talk about the ongoing nature.
It can be just a one -time type thing. A surface level belief. John makes the odd comment.
He says, but Jesus did not, and we translate it, entrust Himself to them. But it's the same verb.
He did not believe back because He knew what filled the hearts of men. In two chapters from now, in John chapter 8, there are going to be people who hear
Jesus' words and it's going to say, many believed on Him. And then Jesus says to those who had believed on Him, same type of surface level one -time faith,
Jesus says to them, if you continue in My word, then are you My disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.
And as soon as Jesus says something about being set free, they're offended.
They are offended by such an assertion. You know what they do by the end of the chapter?
They pick up stones to stone Jesus. The same ones who had believed, surface level, once the truth about Christ is preached to them, pick up stones to stone
Him. More than one pastor has found out the truth that when you bring the entire truth of God to bear, some people become offended, even religious people.
That can't possibly be the right clock back there, is it? Is it actually 20 minutes after?
I'm in a time warp up here. Okay, wow.
I haven't gotten to my main point yet and I look back there and I said, is someone playing with me?
I'm still in the introduction phase here and you're all going, oh, great, wonderful. Then stop talking about the food part, okay?
We'll do all right if you just move on from there. My goodness. Time moves differently through humid air.
Are you going to take it down? Okay, thank you very much. I will attempt to pick up my pace somewhat.
How does Jesus explain their unbelief? I mean, here are people, they've seen miracles. How many times do the...
You know the American atheists when they have their convention each year, they set aside a special time to invite
God to show up just so that by showing up, they can then disband and stop being the
American atheists. And they say consistently every year we've managed to invite God and he's chosen not to appear.
I was reminded of a true story recently in a community college. There was a community college professor who liked to mock the existence of God in a philosophy class.
That seems to be rather common. And this is a true story. This happened just a few months ago.
He got up in front of the class and he stood on a platform and he said, I'm going to stand here for the next three minutes and I am going to challenge
God to knock me off this platform. If he will knock me off this platform, then he will prove that he has existed.
He's going on and on for three minutes. He starts a clock. He's talking about how God can't exist and all the philosophical reasons.
And he's basically mocking God. And getting toward the end of the three minutes, a returned marine from Iraq gets up from the back of the room, walks forward, and knocks the professor sprawling upon his tush.
And as he flustered, in a flustered way gets up, says, what on earth are you doing?
The marine answered, God was busy, he sent me. Has nothing to do with John 6, but I wanted to tell you that story.
Why doesn't he believe? Why don't these men believe? They've seen miracles. Jesus places the answer firmly in the hands of God the
Father. He says, All that the Father gives me will come to me and the one coming to me
I will never cast out. What a beautiful verse. What a promise
Christians love to hold to that last phrase. The one coming to me, I will never cast him out.
Oh, we love that, don't we? There's security. The one coming to me, I will never cast him out.
But you see, that's the last part of a sentence. And you cannot say you're really listening to someone when you only hear the last part of their sentence.
Parents with teenagers, you know how teenagers develop that ability, right? Selective hearing, it's an amazing thing.
They turn 13 and all of a sudden they only hear portions of your sentences. Mow the lawn, and then we'll be able to go to the movies.
All they hear is, and then we'll be able to go to the movies. It's amazing.
They can be looking right at you. Selective hearing. But that's what we do to the
Word of God. We like the promise part. The one coming to me, I will never cast out.
But we need to recognize that one coming is present tense. It's ongoing action. It's not the one who once comes to me and goes, oh, okay, and then walks back into the world.
That's not the one talking about here, no. But you see, that's still the last half of the sentence.
The first half of the sentence is, all that the Father gives me will come to me. The context is these are unbelievers.
Why are you unbelievers? All that the Father gives me will come to me.
Not some, not a major portion. All that the
Father gives to me will come to me. Which action comes first?
It's not a difficult question. This is not a trick question. In the phrase, all that the
Father gives me will come to me, which action precedes the other? Now you would think this isn't tough.
I mean, even if you were like so many of us, when grammar came up in the English class, what we did,
I was always in the accelerated classes. And so what we do is when the English teacher would try to bring up grammar, we'd talk her into doing
Shakespeare and she much preferred doing Shakespeare anyways, or doing drama or something like that.
And so I was one of those people who, even though I never got a B in high school,
I was class valedictorian, full ride scholarship to college, and all the rest of that stuff. I graduated from high school not knowing
English grammar because we kept talking the teacher out of doing it. So even if you did what
I did, it's not difficult to figure this one out. Which action comes first?
It's the giving of the Father. And yet in so much of evangelicalism, what is the ultimate decision maker in the gospel?
Is God the Father? Or is it the man, the sinner, the rebel?
Who is coming to Christ? Why is it that you're here today and your neighbor is at the lake?
If your answer is because your boat is broken, I hope God brings conviction upon you this morning. Why do you believe?
Why does one who's heard the gospel as clearly as you remain in rebellion and you are here this morning?
Is it because you are better? Is it because you are smarter? More intelligent?
More spiritual? Softer heart? Better genetics? Is it because of the toothpaste that you use?
Your upbringing? Something? Is there something that makes you better? I say to you, no.
And yet the vast majority of man's religious systems would answer yes. And indeed, even amongst evangelicals, so much of the preaching, if you really dig down to the bottom, fundamentally the idea is,
I believe because I am somehow different than the unbeliever. I heard the message and I chose to do these things.
And don't tell me that it was God. Don't tell me God made men to differ.
But Jesus says, all that the Father gives me will come to me. You are coming to Christ and you continue coming to Christ because in eternity past,
God the Father set his love upon you before you ever existed.
That's why you can't boast. That's why you cannot say, I'm better than someone else.
No, you're not. Jesus says,
I will never cast out the one coming to me because I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
Why will Jesus never cast us out? Because he's doing the will of the
Father. What is the will of the Father? Verse 39. This is the will of the one who sent me.
In order that all that he has given me, I lose none of it, but raise it up on the last day.
Now yours may not say it because we don't tend to speak that way in English.
But in Greek you have genders. In this passage, when Jesus talks about a person coming to him, he uses the masculine to refer to a person.
That's a personal thing. I am coming to Christ. That's something I as a person do. But when he refers to all of those as a group that are given to him by the
Father, a term that Paul would use for that would be the elect, he uses the neuter to wrap it all together into one group.
And here he says, the will of the Father for me is that of all that group that he has given me,
I lose nothing. Absolutely nothing. But raise it up on the last day.
What does it mean to be raised up on the last day? It means to give them eternal life. If you look at verse 40, they're used as synonyms for each other.
Do you hear what Jesus is saying? Do you see what's implied in Jesus' words?
First of all, there is a definite group. It's not just some nebulous group of people, unnamed.
It might have 10 people in it, might have 10 billion people in it, no one knows, God doesn't know. No, this is a definite group that is charged to Jesus.
So the Father must be sovereign enough to give a people unto the Son. But what must we say about Christ if these words are true?
Salvation cannot be a synergistic cooperative effort in its final analysis for Jesus' words to be true.
So, if I were to say that it is the board of Alpha and Omega Ministries' will for me to win the debate
Thursday night that I have on Long Island, and yet I am only one of, say, three debaters that are going to be presenting my side,
I would have to say to them, well, I'll do the best I can, but I don't have any control over the other two debaters.
I mean, if they don't prepare, if they don't do their job in presenting the portion of our presentation, well,
I can only do what I'm accountable for. And if salvation is, well,
God does His best, the Father does His best, the Son dies in doing
His best, the Spirit's doing everything He can, but the entire work of the triune God is completely dependent upon the man for its accomplishment, then how can
Jesus ever say what He says here? Now, some would say, well, He can say this because the group that's given to Him, that's because God looked down the corridors of time and figured out who was going to believe in Him, and therefore they're the ones given to Him.
The problem is, Jesus started off by saying, all that the Father gives Me will come to Me.
Not all those who come to Me, the Father will give Me. Those are not equivalent statements. We want to turn the order around.
We want to make man the ultimate decider. But remember, Jesus is explaining why men are standing in front of Him, seeking
Him, but not believing in Him. And that is the context in which
He states these words, all that the Father gives Me will come to Me. And all of those who are given,
Jesus says, He will save them perfectly.
No failure. He doesn't just do a good job. He doesn't just bring the majority home safely.
The Father's will for the Son is that He lose none of what has been given to Him.
Jesus has to have the power to save perfectly, to fulfill the
Father's will. Now folks, those should not be controversial words to you.
Those should be words that cause you to rejoice. Who do you want in charge of your salvation?
A Savior who tries, but in a large portion of incidents fails to save those
He's trying to save? Or one who can say, the Father's will for Me is that I lose none of those given to Me and I have all power in heaven and earth.
I say to you, this should be the reason for rejoicing, not a reason for controversy.
For this is the will of My Father, verse 40, that all the ones looking upon the
Son, it refers to gazing upon someone, not just simply a quick glance, but looking upon the
Son and believing in Him should have eternal life. And I Myself will raise
Him up on the last day. What do these people look like? Are they going to be like these unbelievers who they've sought
Jesus, they're looking at Him now, but pretty soon Jesus is going to say things that are going to offend them.
And pretty soon they're going to be grumbling the very next verses. And in just a matter of verses, they're going to be walking away.
They don't keep looking. They don't keep gazing. They don't keep believing. What do
Christians look like? They are looking. They are believing.
And Jesus Christ promises to raise them up on the last day. Well, time is fleeting and so I just mention very quickly in verses 41 through 43, the
Jews grumble. What do you mean He came down out of heaven? We know His Father and His Mother. He's just a human like us.
He didn't come down out of heaven. Jesus says to them, stop grumbling. Stop grumbling.
There's no reason for you to be complaining about this. Verse 44.
No one is able to come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.
Not the most popular verse in the evangelical hymn book these days. It's not popular to tell people no one has the ability to come to me.
Doesn't everybody have that ability? Isn't evangelism just going out and everybody is actually at a moral neutral point?
They're not really dead rebel sinners. They're not actually God haters.
They're just at a moral neutral point. And I just got to come along and just show them the right stuff, use the right words, use the right mechanisms and everybody's really just a good person inside.
And they'll all come to Jesus. That's not what
Jesus taught. He said no one has the ability to come to me.
Why? Well, in John chapter 8, he's going to say people have an inability to hear his word.
There's a spiritual problem. It's called spiritual death. And spiritually dead people don't hear the words of spiritual life unless the son of God says come forth from the grave.
It is the voice, the son of God that gives spiritual life. We need to be raised from the dead. Remember how the prophets described it?
What's a part of that new covenant? I will take out a heart of stone and I'll give them a heart of flesh.
Resurrection, being regenerated, made new.
That's the work of God. It says no one is able to come to me unless, unless there's the but God of Ephesians 2.
But God being rich in mercy. We were dead, but God made us alive. No one has the ability unless the father who sent me draws him.
Now some people say oh, God does that to everybody. But the problem is Jesus says unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.
Who's raised up on the last day? Those who look and believe those who are given by the father to the son.
We're all talking about the same group here. So who's drawn? The ones given by the father to the son.
The father draws them to the son. They are coming to him.
They are believing in him. And they are looking to him not for physical food but for the spiritual sustenance that they have become convinced can only be found in one place.
It can't be found in the religions of the world. God the father does not draw people to anyone but Jesus Christ.
No one is able to come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.
Why do you have confidence in Jesus Christ as Savior? Why can you face death with confidence?
Jesus Christ said I will raise those who believe in me up on the last day. You must believe he has the power to do that.
He himself rose from the dead. And so you must believe that he has credibility.
Eternal credibility. He has the ability to raise you on the last day.
But if you believe that portion of his message then you need to believe all the rest of it.
And that is you didn't have the ability in of yourself to come to him.
I know for most of us we don't understand this when we first come to Christ. All we hear is the whosoever will.
But who will? Who is the whosoever?
Jesus says it's the ones the father has given to me. Paul will describe that in Ephesians chapter 1 saying blessed be the
God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
He chose us in Christ. He predestined us unto adoption as sons before the world began to the praise of his glorious grace.
The gospel is about how God the triune majesty glorifies himself in the redemption of a people in Christ Jesus.
And we need to learn to recognize that the
Bible presents the gospel from a God -centered point of view.
And whenever we twist that, whenever we change that, we lessen it. We steal from it its glory and its power.
Remember what happens. If you look later on down the passage, you will notice that the men say, these are hard, hard words.
Who is able, verse 60, to hear them? And then
Jesus in verse 65, and the form of the verb here means he repeated this more than once. And he was saying, this is why
I told you that no one is able to come to me unless it has been granted to them by the
Father. Jesus didn't stop the message. In fact, he kept repeating the very point, what comes right after verse 65.
He says, no one can come to me unless the Father has granted it to them. And what's their response?
Because of this, many of his, and it's so sad to see the word here, mathaton, many of his disciples no longer walked with him.
They walked away. Can't follow that guy. Those words are too hard.
They don't fit what I want to hear. And they walked away.
Why? Why are you still listening? Why do you still hear the words of Christ?
Why are you still looking? Why are you still believing? Why are you still coming? It's not because of you.
It's because of the work of the Spirit of God within you. And that Jesus Christ is doing the will of the
Father in not losing any one of those given to him.
That's the only solid ground for believing in the perseverance of the saints, the preservation of the saints, is that it's
God's work. Isn't it amazing that Jesus chose the synagogue at Capernaum and these men to make these words known?
Certainly the disciples at the end of this were going, Wow. Past 24 hours, 5 ,000 excited people, miracle bread, walking on the water.
Where'd they all go? We're not really sure what just happened here.
You think there's a thought somewhere in the back of their minds, Lord, do you notice what just happened?
We're not doing real well here. The Lord did know, and if you've ever been involved in ministry, you know the absolute last place you ever want to be a pastor is in a church filled with these men who never get challenged with who
Jesus really is. That's like being sent to purgatory, and I don't believe in purgatory.
The last place you want to be to try to minister the Word of God is amongst a people who don't want to hear the Word of God. They don't want to hear what satisfies them.
If you're a believer here today, what should you learn from this? That all the honor and glory and majesty belongs to Christ and to Him alone for your salvation.
You can't claim any of it. And when you wonder about His ability to save,
He has been faithful to His people for thousands of years. He's never lost a one of those given to Him by the
Father. Not one. But if you're here today and you don't know this powerful
Savior, let me apologize to you, first of all, if you've ever had
Jesus presented to you as if He was a weak -kneed beggar, He's not.
He's a powerful Savior. He is your Lord. He created you.
Every breath you take, every heartbeat you have comes from His hand, and you are in rebellion against Him.
He calls you to repent. But when He calls you to repent, He does so as one who has always received every single one who has believed in Him.
And He has given them eternal life and forgiveness of their sins. You are called to repent.
You cannot be neutral about Jesus Christ. This Savior, the Savior who walks the pages of this book, does not leave you neutrality.
You can't just say, Oh, well, you know, you believe what you want. No. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but by Me. And God commands men everywhere to repent and to believe in Him.
Will you hear those words? I can't tell by looking at you whether you will or will not. All I can say to you is to call out to God for mercy and for forgiveness.
He is always merciful to those who call upon Him. Let us pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank
You for preserving Your Word, and we thank You for that day in the synagogue Capernaum when the
Lord Jesus opened His mouth and He refused to compromise, He refused to do what the disciples wanted,
He refused to do what the crowd wanted. He honored You and Your truth.
Help us to do the same thing. Be glorified in this place this day. I pray in Christ's name.