John, pt. 34 | John 6:41-58

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May 14, 2023 Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice

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Before I begin, I want to apologize to the mothers here, in my announcements, I forgot to wish you a happy Mother's Day.
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I'm truly blessed by every one of you ladies that are here today, so please forgive me.
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If you would at this time, take your copy of the scriptures, we're going to be in the
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Gospel of John, the Gospel of John chapter 6, verses 41 through 58, the
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Gospel of John chapter 6, verses 41 through 58.
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This is our 34th message in this glorious Gospel. Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, we come here today to worship you, the only true
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God. Lord, you have revealed yourself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, and it's on account of what he has done for us, living the life we could not live, and taking our punishment in his death, and being raised again on the third day, him being seated at your right hand on the throne of David, ruling and reigning, putting all of his enemies under his feet.
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We gather together as ex -enemies who were placed under the feet of Christ, collectively as your bride, asking for your blessings.
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Be with me, Lord, as I attempt to articulate your word, and Lord, I ask for your strength.
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I believe in the Holy Spirit, and I believe I am filled with the
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Holy Spirit. Please use me this day, amen. We want to begin by reading the text.
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John chapter 6, verses 41 through 58. That was a little bright.
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Therefore the Jews were grumbling about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.
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They were saying, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
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How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered and said to them, stop grumbling among yourselves.
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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me.
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Not that anyone has seen the father except the one who is from God.
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He has seen the father. Truly truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
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I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
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This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.
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I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
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And also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
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Then the Jews began to argue with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
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So Jesus said to them, truly truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourself.
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He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
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And I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
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He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
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And as the father, excuse me, as the living father sent me,
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I live because of the father. So he who eats me, he also will live because of me.
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This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died.
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He who eats this bread will live forever.
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So just to remind you of our theme that's taking place here in chapter six, it's the reality of false disciples, right?
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A disciple is a learner, it's a student. Many, many people follow
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Jesus as disciples, but very few were true believers.
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We see this also in churches today. Our churches are collectively filled with true believers, intellectual believers, and unbelievers.
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Even the unbeliever who is here in the church, they're being taught from the scriptures, they are a disciple, they're a student, while all the while not believing a word coming forth from the
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Bible and the preacher's mouth. I just think that's something that churches today are not understanding, that you can be a disciple and not be a disciple, but you can't be a
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Christian and not be a Christian, right? You can't be born again.
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Someone who is born again cannot be unborn again, but you can be a student and no longer follow the teacher.
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So that's what's taking place here. We have the reality of false disciples.
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My proposition is this, those who identify with the death of Jesus Christ will live forever.
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Remember, if you do not identify yourself with the death of Christ, well, here's your sign.
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It's like that old comedian would say, here's your sign. If you know that you do not identify yourself with the death of Christ, well, here's your sign.
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You're not a true believer. Only those who are true believers, Christians, those who have been born again, identify themselves with the death of Christ.
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And those who identify themselves with this death will live forever. In our time together today,
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I want us to examine what it looks like to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ.
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One thing that the Bible makes clear on this subject is that false disciples do not.
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They do not identify themselves with the death of Christ. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 says this, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
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The word of the cross is foolishness. It's plain foolish to those of the world, to those who are not being saved.
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To those who have not been justified and not being sanctified by the power of God.
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It's foolishness. They do not identify themselves with it. In our outline, we're going to examine unbelief and belief concerning the incarnation and the death of Jesus Christ.
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And as we transition, let's remember who Jesus is speaking to. For the most part, he is speaking to a group of Jews who saw with their eyes and partook in the feeding of the multitude, right?
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They saw Jesus take a sack lunch, two fish, five loaves, which were probably the size of a biscuit and two fish and feed upwards to 20 ,000 people.
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So they saw him take that sack lunch and that sack lunch was distributed to a multitude and they also partook, their bellies were filled.
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Verse 59 tells us he, Jesus, was in a synagogue teaching.
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So all this conversation that's going on, Jesus is in a synagogue. So you can imagine the line of people who were not able to fit in the synagogue.
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Now with that said, verse 59 does not notify the unbelief of those who are not able to see and hear.
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So as we walk through this message using these two points, unbelief and belief, we're just going to take it verse by verse and make some application as we go.
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So the first point, unbelief, we see this begin to take place in verses 41 and 42.
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I'll read that again. Therefore, remember last week's message, it was the proclamation of Jesus being the bread of life and that, you know, whoever believes in him has eternal life.
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So because of that message, therefore the Jews were grumbling about him because he said,
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I am the bread that came down from heaven. They were saying, they were saying, is this not
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Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say,
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I have come down from heaven? Have you ever heard the saying, I might have been born at night, but not last night?
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He's shaking and said, no, poor guy. And I really was born at night, 915 at night.
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I might've been born at night, but not last night. This seems to be the attitude of these
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Jews with the information that they had. They knew Joseph and they knew
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Mary. They probably grown up hanging out with Jesus and seeing
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Joseph as he's a carpenter working. Joseph probably made a piece of furniture in their house.
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They know who Joseph is. They know who Mary is. They know that Jesus, that Joseph and Mary are the parents of Jesus.
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But what they didn't know about Mary was that she was found to be with child by the
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Holy Spirit. Like, I don't, I don't believe that this was something that they were going around talking about during the childhood of Jesus as he was coming up.
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All they knew was Joseph and Mary was his mother and father.
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If you turn back in Matthew chapter one, I think it gives us some good insight.
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Matthew chapter one, verses 18 through 25 says this.
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Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother
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Mary had been betrothed by Joseph because they came together, she was found to be with child by the
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Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
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But when he had considered this, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying
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Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.
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For the one who has been conceived in her is of the
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Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son and you shall call his name
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Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the
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Lord through the prophets would be fulfilled saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child.
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And shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means
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God with us. And Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the
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Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and he called his name
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Jesus. The reason they didn't have this information was for the safety of Mary and Jesus.
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So why weren't they talking about this for the safety of Mary? If it would have came out that Mary was found to be with child that was not
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Joseph before their marriage, there's a good chance that Mary would have been put to death under the law, adultery was a death sentence.
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So it says Joseph being a righteous man wanting to put her away secretly, he didn't want
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Mary to be put to death. This isn't a story that you would go around bragging about at this time, right?
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So by the information that, so by what information that they had, Jesus was the son of Joseph and they knew his father and mother.
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Now they, this group of Jews, were responding to a metaphor given by Jesus when he said,
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I am the bread of life. They were seeking after Jesus to be fed by bread and Jesus makes it clear that He is the bread and more importantly, the bread that came down out of heaven, quote,
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I am the bread that came down from heaven, end quote. In this one statement, we have three separate things going on.
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As we're looking over here, we have the I am statement, the covenant name of God, Yahweh, and the metaphor about bread, the metaphor about bread and all this concerning the incarnation.
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So I am, I am, is what we're looking at here with the
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I am statement, it's translated Ego I'me or Ego I'me, depending on if you're from the
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South or if you're from the North, however you want to say it, I'm fine with it, right? Ego I'me, Ego I'me, Ego is
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I am, I'me is I am. And so when Jesus says that I am, it's the
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Greek words Ego I'me, which actually can be translated I am, I am, which is the covenant name of God, Yahweh.
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And it gives us a metaphor about bread, He is the bread of life, but it has to deal with His incarnation,
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Jesus being truly God and also truly man. Not 50 %
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God, 50 % man, truly God, truly man.
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The I am, our covenant God, who is our source of all life, has entered into creation.
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So this is what's going on, Jesus is revealing this to them, and all the while they're saying yeah, but I know your father,
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I know your mother, and you're telling me that you are the covenant God who has entered into creation.
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Can you see what's going on here, the confusion? Just going by what little information that they had, this group stood in unbelief.
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Even though they saw with their eyes and partook in the feeding of one of the greatest signs in Scripture.
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So now let's look at Jesus' response. His response is found in verses 43 through 51, but let's just read 43 and 44 to get started.
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Jesus answered and said to them, I love this, stop grumbling among yourselves.
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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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Notice what it says, no one can come.
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The word can here means has the power, whether by virtue of his own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favorable circumstances, or through permission of law or custom.
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That's what the word can means. Jesus says no one can, meaning you do not have the power, you do not have the ability, you do not have the resources, you do not have the state of mind, you are not in favorable circumstances, you do not have permission of law or custom.
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No one can come to him. Coming to Jesus is believing in Jesus, coming to Jesus means leaving yourself behind, coming to Jesus means no turning back.
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We're back at verse 37a which we looked at last week, 37a Jesus says all that the father gives me, right here, will come to me.
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All that the father gives him will come to him, right here in our text verse 44, no one can come to me unless, unless what?
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The father who sent me draws him. Now in verse 37 it says all that the father gives me, if you're given by the father you're going to come, right?
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Our coming to Jesus is contingent upon being given to him by the father.
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And here he goes, he's taking it another step, all that the father sent, excuse me, the father, no one can come unless they're given,
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I mean they are, verse 44, let me just read it real quick again. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.
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The Greek word here for draw is helkouo, helkouo, which means to drag literally or figuratively, to draw, to drag off.
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The Greek word is actually a metaphor, to draw by inward power, to lead, to impel.
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So what this is really saying is no one can come unless they are persuaded by God to take action.
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Unless God persuades you to take action, you cannot come.
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The beloved R .C. Sproul, which jokingly I call him R .C. the
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Baptist, but for now we'll just say R .C. Sproul, points out that it does not say no one may come.
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It says no one can come. Often I'm behind someone, let's say at a
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McDonald's, and they'll say, can I have a number one?
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And I'm thinking, can, can? That's not how you ask for a number one.
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May would work, or let me get a number one, but can, who here in school would ask their teacher, can
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I go to the restroom? And the teacher would turn and reply very smart -aleckly, but right,
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I don't know, can you? You do have the ability, right? The answer is may.
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It's not about permission, it's about ability. We don't have the ability to do what's being called for us to do, and that is to come.
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We don't have the ability. It's not about permission, because as we walk through other texts, those who are dead in their trespasses and sin want nothing to do with God.
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Also notice the theme that's taking place here in chapter six. Over and over and over, it says,
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I will raise him up on the last day. Verse 39, now this is the will of him who sent me, that all that he has given to me,
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I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. Verse 40, and this is the will of the
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Father, this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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Verse 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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Verse 54, he who eats the flesh and drinks the blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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What does it mean to be raised up on the last day? He is speaking about the resurrection of the dead.
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In the Gospel of John, chapter 5, we see that there's two resurrections.
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Chapter 5, verse 21, kind of opens it up.
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Jesus says, for just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the
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Son gives life to whom He wishes. Now look at verse 25 of chapter 5.
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We'll read verse 25 through 28, and you're going to see two resurrections.
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Truly, truly, I say to you, speaking to a crowd of Jews, an hour is coming, so something future, and right here, and now is.
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So something is coming, but there's also something that now is. When the dead will hear the voice of the
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Son of God, and those who hear will live. And so I equate this to a spiritual resurrection, the new birth.
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We're born dead, and our trespasses and sin under the curse of Adam. The new birth, we are awakened.
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It's the Ezekiel 36, God sprinkles us with clean water.
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He removes our heart of stone, gives us a heart of flesh, and He puts His Spirit in us to obey the law.
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That's what's taking place in this resurrection. Look at verse 26. For just as the
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Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the
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Son also to have life in Himself. And He gave Him authority, right here, to execute judgment because He is the
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Son of Man. Do not marvel at this. Notice right here, for an hour is coming.
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This is just a future that He's speaking about. What He's speaking about now is not now is.
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An hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth, those who did good deeds to the resurrection of life, and those who committed evil deeds to the resurrection of judgment.
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Our passage teaches two resurrections here in John. Everyone is going to experience the last resurrection, the resurrection of the dead.
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Only the elect experience the resurrection that takes place in the
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Spirit. So in this resurrection, He's speaking of the resurrection of the dead that He is going to raise us up on the last day.
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But this resurrection, Him being raised up, it's going to be different for the believer than it is the unbeliever who is going to be raised up.
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And I plan on doing something on this to go in depth, but we can't do that today.
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So the question is, why didn't these Jews come to Jesus? Answer.
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Because they cannot. They don't have the ability. Unless the
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Father persuades them. God is using, guess what? Their lack of information.
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He's using their lack of information so that these
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Jews, to keep these Jews from coming to Jesus. Remember, God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.
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Turn with me to 1 Corinthians. I read a portion of this earlier. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we'll begin in verse 18.
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For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
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For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever
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I will set aside. Where is the wise man?
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Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God made, has
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God not made the foolish, made foolishness the wisdom of the world? For since the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know
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God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
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For indeed, Jews seek for a sign and Greeks search for wisdom.
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I love this. Verse 23. But we preach Christ crucified to the
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Jews, a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness.
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Foolishness. We're out here telling people that the
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God who created all things has entered into creation, lived the life of could not live, took upon himself our punishment in his death.
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And yet three days later, did something scientifically impossible, burst forth from the grave, proven himself to be
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God. Forty days later, he ascended into heaven. And right now he sits at the right hand of the
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Father, making intercession and prayer for those that draw near to him by faith. To the
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Jew, that's a stumbling block. That's not how they foresaw it.
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To the Greeks, to Gentiles, to the pagan, to you and I before we were
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Christians, that was foolishness. Foolishness. Look back at verse, let's look at verse 45.
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Try not to get carried away here on my thoughts and try to stay in my notes and not let the passion overwhelm me today.
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Verse 45, it is written in the prophets, still Jesus speaking, this is his response.
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It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the
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Father comes to me. This is a quotation from Isaiah 54, 13, and also in Jeremiah 31, particularly verse 34.
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But what I want to do is look at it from Hebrews chapter 8, we'll read verses 10 through 12.
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I think this is going to help us to understand what Jesus is saying. Everyone who comes to him, they're taught by God.
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Remember that as we read this. Again, in the verse 10 of Hebrews chapter 8, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.
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After those days, says the Lord, I will put my law into their mind and upon their hearts,
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I will write them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his fellow citizens and everyone his brother saying, know the
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Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them.
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For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.
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Ladies and gentlemen, this is new covenant language, new covenant language.
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Everyone who is in the new covenant will be taught by God. Look with me in first John, tells us how we are taught by God.
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First John chapter 2. Let's begin in verse, let's begin in verse 18.
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It says, children, this is children. It is the last hour, just as you have heard that Antichrist is coming.
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Even now many Antichrist have appeared for this is how we know that it is the last hour.
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They, who is the they, Antichrist went out from us, but they were not really of us.
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For if they were of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it will be manifest that they are not all of us.
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But you, right here, but you, the believer, the children, but you have an anointing from the
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Holy One. And you all know,
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I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know, because you do know it, and because no lie is in the truth.
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Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the
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Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the
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Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the
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Father. The one who confesses the Son has the
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Father. Ladies and gentlemen, this is covenantal. Jesus did not come to start
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Christianity. He came to usher in the new covenant. And those who held on to the old covenant system ended up forsaking
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God by not believing in the Messiah, by not believing in the Son. And John says they are
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Antichrist. They're Antichrist because they deny that Jesus is the
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Christ. This group of Jews who
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Jesus is speaking with, these false disciples are Antichrist because they're not understanding.
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They're denying that Jesus came down from heaven. They're Antichrist. This is speaking covenantal.
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Jesus came to usher in the new covenant. We are all taught by God because we have the
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Spirit of God, the Holy One. Romans chapter 8 verse 9 says,
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However, you are not in the flesh but in the
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Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the
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Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. How do you know if you belong to God?
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You must have the Spirit of God. You must have the Holy Spirit. If you do not have the
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Holy Spirit, you are not in the new covenant. Like it's plain and it's simple.
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Again, let's follow Jesus's line of argument. Verse 46 to 51.
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Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the
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Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
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I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.
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This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that one may eat and not die.
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I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
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And also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
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This section deals with three topics in which we've already covered all three topics.
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The Incarnation, belief, slash eternal life, and Jesus being the bread that came down from heaven.
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Again, points back to the Incarnation. Now, although you can teach each topic separately, you cannot separate this teaching.
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You cannot truly separate this teaching on topics. Jesus is the only one who has ever seen the
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Father. John 1, verse 18. No one has seen
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God at any time. Now, no matter what your theological position is on this, it better line up with this verse.
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No one has ever seen God at any time. The only begotten
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God, speaking of Jesus, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has come to explain
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Him. One of the purposes of Christ coming into this world was to exegete the
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Father, was to explain to the world the Father. John 3, verse 13.
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And no one has ascended into heaven. Again, no matter what your theological position is, right?
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We've had this conversation. No matter what your theological position is, it better line up with this.
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I don't want to hear Elijah. It better line up with this. I know the story of Elijah.
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I can preach it for you, but it better line up with this. No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the
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Son of Man, who is in heaven. He who's descended was
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Jesus Christ, and in His descension was the Incarnation. His Incarnation gives rise to the metaphor about bread.
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The bread metaphor, in one way, points back to the manna that God made rain in the wilderness.
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But the main point of the metaphor is to point to Jesus Christ as the true bread, which came down from heaven, and to eat of Him, listen, is to believe in Him.
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And we'll pick back up on that in a minute. When it says, the bread of heaven which
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I will give for the life of the world is my flesh, it is speaking about His death.
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So when He says, the bread of heaven I will give for the life of the world is my flesh, it's speaking about His death.
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Remember, it says that those who ate the manna in the wilderness, what happened to them? They all died.
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But He's saying not so if you eat of His flesh, if you eat of this bread.
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So now let's look at belief. Belief is going to take place in verses 52 to 58, but we'll just begin reading verse 52 and 56, and I'm hoping that with this last little bit,
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I can bring everything together. Verse 52 to 56, then the
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Jews began to argue with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
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So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the
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Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
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The commonality here with eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus, with belief in Jesus, is eternal life.
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So it tells us if we believe, we have eternal life. And then he says, if you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have eternal life.
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These are not two separate things. You do not have to believe and then take a bite out of Jesus.
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It's speaking of the same thing. My proposition for this Lord's Days was, those who identify with the death of Jesus Christ will live forever.
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The eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood is speaking about His death.
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Matthew chapter 26, verse 26 through 28. Matthew 26, verses 26 through 28.
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This is speaking of the last Passover that He has with His disciples. And while they were eating,
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Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave to His disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body.
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And when He had taken the cup and He gave thanks, He gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
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All this that we're reading here lines up with what Jesus was saying at that last
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Passover. It has to do with the new covenant. All this is new covenant language.
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And He is speaking it to an old covenant people, and for some reason, it was like a foreign language to them.
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They did not understand it. And I would say they did not because of the information they were possessing.
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Eating of the flesh of Jesus and drinking the blood of Jesus is an idiom for belief.
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The difference between unbelief and belief is the new covenant. Under the old covenant, they had limited information, while under the new covenant, we are all taught by God.
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Not so in the old covenant. Not so. New covenant, we are all taught by God.
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Now here's a statement that you have heard from me and from others as well when it comes to speaking of the theme of the
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Bible. The Old Testament promises to destroy death, and in the
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New Testament, God shows us how He does so. Because of the sin of Adam, everyone, listen, everyone, if you're pregnant, that child too, everyone is born in sin headed for death.
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Bible says that the wages of sin is death. If that's not true, that everyone born is born into sin, born under the curse of Adam, then there's no such thing as infants dying in the womb.
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If children are born innocent, children don't die. The wages of sin is death.
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Death is the paycheck that we get and deserve. We are born in sin.
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Metaphorically speaking, when we are born, we are born covered in the dust which
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Adam was created from. When he fell, all of us fell.
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Through Adam, we receive death. But the good news that Jesus is proclaiming here is found in these last two verses, 57 through 58.
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He says, as the living Father, so we had all this language about death, as the living
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Father sent me, and I live because of the
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Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me.
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This is the bread which came down out of heaven. Not that the fathers ate, excuse me, not as the fathers ate and died, he who eats this bread will live forever.
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So something that needs to be answered here. When it says, and I live because of the
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Father, don't get weird. Don't get weird on that statement.
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This is speaking about the Incarnation. Over and over, the Incarnation keeps coming up. The life here that he talks about, and I live because of the
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Father, it's speaking about the humanity of Jesus. The humanity of Jesus.
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Remember, God the Father purposed to save the people, and in doing so, he sent his
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Son to accomplish the purpose. That was to live the life we could not live, take upon ourselves our punishment in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
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So that's how he accomplishes the purpose was the Word becoming flesh.
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In order for Jesus to accomplish the purpose, the Father of the Father, he had to be both
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God and man. We talked about it earlier. Truly God, truly man, one Christ.
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Truly God, truly man, one Christ. The God is not more
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Christ than the man. The man is not less Christ than the God. Than God.
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He's truly God, truly man, and one Christ.
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And as the God -man, Jesus destroys death by living a perfect life, by dying a sinner's death, and by being raised from the dead.
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Because he has done that, right now, for those of us who believe in Jesus, even though we die, yet shall we live.
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Yet shall we live. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. I've said this before, if as I'm preaching,
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I fall over dead, I'm dancing with angels. I'm worshiping
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God in the presence of Jesus Christ. But just as Jesus was raised from the dead nearly 2 ,000 years ago, we too, if we identify with him in his death, will be raised from the dead on the last day, not covered in dust, but clothed in the man of heaven.
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And in closing, I want to point out consistency. As a
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Reformed Baptist, excuse me, we believe as Reformed Baptists that we enter the new covenant kingdom of God through the faith given to us in the new birth.
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Right? We hear the message of the cross, God grants to us faith to believe, and in that process, he sprinkles us with clean water, removes our heart of stone, gives us the heart of flesh, and puts a spirit in us as he's writing that law in our heart, that spirit that's in us, the
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Holy Spirit, obeys the law. So on your good day, on your best day, when you think you're doing the things for God, Holy Spirit, it's
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God in you, the hope of glory. Read that again.
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We as Reformed Baptists, we believe as Reformed Baptists that we enter the new covenant kingdom of God through the faith given to us in the new birth.
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And the sign of the new covenant is baptism. Those who have been born again receive the sign and partake in the
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Lord's Supper. Not vice versa. Right? We believe it's that order.
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The new birth, the sign, and the Lord's Supper. We identify ourselves with the death of Jesus not by taking the
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Lord's Supper and not by being baptized, by believing.
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By believing, we identify ourselves with Jesus and His death by believing.
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The new covenant sign, baptism, points to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
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It points to the information. Read Romans chapter 6. It points to the information.
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And the Lord's Supper is what Christians do. It's what
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Christians do to partake in remembering what
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Jesus done for us, the body broken for us, and the blood of the new covenant shed for us.
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So the question is this. Are you, are you identifying yourself with the death of the
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Lord Jesus Christ? Are you identifying yourself with the death of the
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Lord Jesus Christ? Because if you are not, you must be born again.
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You must believe. You must come. And I've said this before.
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If you don't believe, then what do you believe in? If you have not come, then why not?
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Answer the questions. If you're not,
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I would love nothing more than to have that conversation with you. But as for now,
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I am available. Pastor Cal is available. Our Deacon Josh also is available.
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Let's pray. Oh God, Lord, how
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I love your word. And Lord, I pray that I have articulated your word correctly today.
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I thank you for your grace in my pain as I was preaching. And Lord, I just pray for everyone that's here today,
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Lord. For the believer, I pray that what I was preached here today will sanctify them.
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And for the unbeliever, Lord, I pray today that you have given to them faith. Right now, as we are about to partake in the supper,
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Lord, I pray that your hand of blessing is on it and that you will use it as a means of grace to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.