WWUTT 856 No One Can Come Unless the Father Draws Him?

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We have this promise from God, this assurance from the mouth of Christ. No one comes to Jesus unless the

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Father draws him. But all who come to Him, He will raise on the last day, when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the

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Gospel of John chapter 6. I'll start reading in verse 35, just to recap, and then we'll go through verse 51.

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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.

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But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. All that the

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Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

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For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.

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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.

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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

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Him up on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about Him because He said,

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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?

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How does He now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble 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, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the

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Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God.

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He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever 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 that 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 this bread, he will live forever.

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And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

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So it's in verse 41 where the Jews grumbled about Jesus because he said,

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I am the bread that came down from heaven. And indeed, that's what we had back in verse 38. Jesus said,

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For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

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It's astounding to me when you have those skeptics who will say that Jesus never claimed to be God. For who else but God would claim to have come down from heaven?

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Well, maybe you could say an angel, which of course is how the Jehovah's Witnesses would excuse that particular passage since they think

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Jesus Christ is the archangel Michael. But remember what John presented to us at the introduction of his gospel.

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Chapter 1, verse 14, The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.

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Glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

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And then verse 18, No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side.

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He has made him known. So Jesus says that he is the one who has come down from heaven.

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He is the bread from heaven. And the Jews grumbled about this because they go on to say, verse 42,

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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? Now, remember, these are people who have come from the other side of the

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Sea of Galilee, where Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding the 5 ,000 with five loaves and two small fish.

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But this region is Galilee. This is where Nazareth is. So these people are more familiar with who

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Jesus is and who his parents are. Now, of course, his fame has spread far and wide. That's exactly why they crossed the sea looking for him, because of the signs and the miracles that they performed.

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And they wanted to eat more of this bread that he had broken up and divided among 5 ,000 men and probably just as many women and children.

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Because they had this appetite of their flesh, that's why they had come after Jesus. They're not truly desiring

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Jesus, which is the difference that John draws between these whom he identifies as disciples and the 12, those to whom

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Jesus came walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee while they were there in the boat.

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Unable to get to the other side, Jesus came walking to them. He showed himself to them just as he showed himself to Moses in the book of Exodus.

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So God has chosen his own and the father has drawn them to him.

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So Jesus saying here that no one comes to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

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That's his response to this. The people say, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

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How does he now say that I have come down from heaven? We know this guy. We know who his father and mother are.

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We know what town he was from. And it's very likely that Joseph had a well -known occupation, like this wasn't the kind of job, just a meek, meager carpenter who has his little humble little shop over here on the side.

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And some people kind of know who he is when they do business with him. But for the most part, he just kind of keeps to himself. Now, everybody in Nazareth would have known who

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Joseph was because the carpenter was somebody who was a master builder. And everybody called upon the carpenter whenever any kind of building project needed to be done.

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This wasn't just a matter of like hanging cabinets in the kitchen. This was Joseph overseeing any and all building projects in Nazareth.

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That would have been his job as the carpenter. And so Jesus, likewise, this is what he did. So when you went to Nazareth and you said, where is

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Joseph, son of Heli? Well, they would have known exactly who that was and where he was. Oh, yeah, the master builder, our carpenter here in town.

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A carpenter wasn't just somebody who worked with wood, but he also worked with stone or metal or whatever material was being used in that particular community or in that vicinity.

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So that was the job that Joseph had. And Jesus was trained in that particular occupation as though he would grow up and take that job from his father, of course,

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Joseph being his adopted father. But the people didn't know that. They didn't know or understand the miracle of the virgin birth.

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They just thought Jesus was born of Mary and Joseph. How does he now say,

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I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves.

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So here they are questioning Jesus legitimacy based on this statement that he's made him because they think they know something, right?

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When it comes down to it, they're kind of prideful in their own knowledge. He can't be God who came down from heaven.

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He can't be somebody who came down from heaven. We know who his father and mother are. How is he suddenly saying that he has come down from heaven?

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But Jesus says, 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.

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As Dustin Benj has said, you believed the gospel not because you were smarter, not because you were righteous, not because you were privileged, but because God intervened with his grace, opened your heart to obey his word and believe.

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We have that in multiple places throughout the scriptures. One of those passages that I come back to is in Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37, where God says,

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I will sprinkle clean water on you and cleanse you from all your uncleannesses, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

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In Titus chapter 3 verse 5, Paul says he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness.

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He saved us. God saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

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Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our

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Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, had said in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, that he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

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2 Corinthians 6, 1, Paul says, do not receive the grace of God in vain.

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For he says, in a favorable time, I listened to you, and in a day of salvation,

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I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

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Who is it that has saved us? According to that passage, it is God. In a favorable time,

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I listened to you, and in a day of salvation, I helped you.

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We came into our faith, we came to believe the gospel, because God intervened with his grace, opened our heart to hear his word, obey it, and believe it.

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This is all the work of God, and it has been foreordained from before the foundation of the world, as the scriptures clearly tell us.

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In Ephesians 1, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

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In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

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This is the sovereign plan of God, that he would draw out from sinful man an elect, whom he has chosen for himself for salvation, and Jesus effected their salvation with his death on the cross.

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We come to God because the Father has done this. The Father has drawn us to Jesus, who has died for our sins, and it is his blood that has forgiven us of the transgressions that we have committed against God.

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Our rebelliousness, because we were enemies against God, all of this has been forgiven in Christ, who has come to him by the

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Father. The Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

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Jesus goes on in verse 45 to say it is written in the prophets, and they will be taught by God.

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This is in Isaiah 54 verse 13, where the prophet says, I'm going to start in verse 11,

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O afflicted one, storm -tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

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I will make your pinnacles of agate, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.

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All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.

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In righteousness you shall be established, a righteousness that we've been given in Christ. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come to you.

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If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me. Whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.

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Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and produces a weapon for its purpose.

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I have also created the ravager to destroy. No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

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This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me declares the

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Lord." There's the promise. Jesus is saying that this is concerning Him, where it says that all your children shall be taught by the

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Lord. Here's Jesus, the Lord, who is teaching, and all who believe in Him are the children of God.

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And this comes right after Isaiah 53. Some of you probably know that John MacArthur wrote a book called

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The Gospel According to God, and what that book is about is Isaiah 53.

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What God, through the prophet Isaiah, said about His Son, whom He was going to send, who would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows, who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.

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Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. Where that talks specifically about Christ in chapter 53, then in the very next chapter, saying that the children of God will be taught by the

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Lord, and Jesus is showing the Jews here, who are grumbling about Him, that He is the fulfillment of that prophecy.

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Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the

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Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets,

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And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the

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Father comes to Me. So if these Jews had been listening to the

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Old Testament Scriptures, if they had been listening to Moses and the prophets, then they would know who

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Jesus is, and they would come to Him, because they have known the

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Father through the Word of God. They have known God according to the Old Testament Scriptures, what the prophets have said.

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So Jesus is saying, Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, who has known the

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Father according to the Old Testament Scriptures, will come to Me. There is a constant refrain that's going on in Evangelicalism right now.

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Now, it mostly gets attached to Andy Stanley, but he's not the only one. There are others that I've heard say it, but he just happens to be the most prominent voice.

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And it might come out something like this, It's alright if you don't believe the whole Bible, you just need to believe

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Jesus rose from the dead. Have you ever heard that? Well, what did Jesus say in response to that?

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Luke 16, 31, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

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So the twelve whom Christ has chosen to himself, who he is going to appoint as apostles to take the gospel to the world.

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These twelve that John even distinguishes from these other disciples who are following after Jesus, expecting to see him do more miracles and signs, or feed him with more bread.

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This Jesus, the twelve would have been able to read the Old Testament and come to understand who

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God is, and love God according to what is said in the prophets, and therefore they know who

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Jesus is. But those who read the prophets and did not believe him, but were rather like those who hated the prophets and stoned them and killed them and put them to death, then they're not going to be convinced even when

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Jesus Christ rises from the dead. Even a miracle such as amazing as this will not be enough to draw a person to the

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Father because even that they won't be convinced by. It is only if the

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Father draws them that they will actually believe in God and know

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Christ. It's simply not enough to believe in the resurrection. The demons believe in the resurrection.

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But to truly know who Christ is, is to believe all of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament.

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If you don't listen to Moses and the prophets, well, you're not going to be convinced by whatever it is Jesus said and did either.

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But Jesus is saying that whoever the Father draws,

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I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God.

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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

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Father. And we know Jesus is speaking of himself. We're going to pick up there tomorrow and continue this lesson in John 6.

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But may we know that the salvation that we have in God through Jesus Christ did not come from us.

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It does not come from your ability to believe. But even the belief and the faith that you have have been granted to you by God.

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And this is all by the grace of God. It's very important for us to understand that all credit and glory goes to God.

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And we get none of it. Our salvation is not a synergistic work. It's not God reaching his hand down if we would only reach our hand up.

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According to Ephesians 2 .1, we were dead in our sins and our trespasses. You don't see a lot of dead bodies lifting their hands up.

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This is the work of God that he has done in us to bring us from death to life.

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And we demonstrate that we are in Christ and we've been drawn by the Father when we obey all that Christ has commanded us.

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And so may we love God, love his Son, Jesus Christ, and obey his word.

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Let us pray. Our wonderful God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for drawing us to yourself through your

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Son, Jesus Christ. And I pray that we are assured of our salvation in knowing that this has been entirely your work, so that we may not falter or stumble in the steps that we are walking and the pace that we are on, that we begin to doubt our own salvation because we know that the salvation did not come from us.

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It is not by our power that we've been saved. It's not by our power that we stay saved. It is from beginning to end, your gracious work through your

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Son, Jesus Christ. So keep us in your love and reassure us once again of your promises, that this does not rely upon us, but may we rely entirely upon you.

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We give you everything. We are comforted in the midst of our circumstances, knowing that this is all in your hand and there is nothing that is happening in the world today that is outside of the sovereign ordination of God.

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You are not stunned or shocked off your throne by anything, but you govern and you reign over all.

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So may we, in an understanding of this, give all of ourselves to you, all of our day to you, everything knowing that this is all happening by your sovereign grace.

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Teach us and guide us according to your word. May we cherish all of it, prophets, apostles, and everything, knowing that no prophecy has come by the will of man, but men wrote from God as they were carried along by your

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Holy Spirit. What we see in the Bible is exactly your mind and your word, and we are privileged to hear it.

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We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt