The Living Bread That Came Down From Heaven (Part 1)

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The Living Bread That Came Down From Heaven (Part 2)

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I've titled this, The Living Bread That Comes Down From Heaven. This will be a two -part series. So please turn with me this
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Lord's Day morning as we continue our journey through the Gospel of John chapter 6. As you turn there, let me say a few things here.
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This entire chapter is all about Jesus Christ presenting Himself and who
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He is as the bread of life. The bread of life.
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Bread is essential. And Jesus is saying He is the only essential one for salvation.
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And this entire chapter is about that. So as we journey together through this wonderful fourth
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Gospel as it's well known, we've seen several themes along the way. Let me refresh your memory very quickly.
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First of all, as noted, John the Apostle, the evangelist, has recorded several signs or you could say miracles that contrast the new and the living way with the old way of Judaism.
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Jesus' new wine made from water of the original purification is far better than the old wine as we've seen in chapter 2 verse 10.
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And as we went on to study, we saw that in chapter 2 verse 19 through 21,
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Jesus' body is the new temple that will make the old one obsolete. Chapter 3, we went on, we've seen that the old way of the law keeping will not help the
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Pharisee Nicodemus enter into the kingdom of God. And Jesus told him he must be born again.
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He must be born from above. He must be made new by the Spirit of God.
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Then in chapter 4, we saw that the old ways of worshipping God are being replaced by worshipping
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God in spirit and truth and that is through Jesus Christ. You notice what
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Jesus is doing. He's ushering in by himself, his person and works, a new and a living way as Hebrews says.
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Then as we've traveled along, furthermore in chapter 4, there's a second theme that has come up and John has introduced how
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Jesus gives life. He gives life. Jesus within him is life.
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He is the very life and light of men. He gives life, the Zoe kind of life, the God's life only through Christ.
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We saw that because he is the living water and living water replaces the dead water, stagnant waters that the
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Samaritan woman was drinking in chapter 4, verse 13 and 14. Then in chapter 4, verse 50, the royal official's son is saved from near death experience and given life.
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Jesus gives him life. Then we saw furthermore in John chapter 5, verse 8, the paralytic receives a healthy life from our
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Lord. He heals him. As we saw John 1, 4,
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John 5, 21 and John 5, 24 and 26 that Jesus Christ is that very source of life because he is life himself.
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He is that eternal life. The very sense of the life of God himself and this is where Jesus speaks of in chapter 6, the apostle
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John speaks of Jesus I should say. Both of these themes, newness and life appear in John chapter 6.
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Wonderful chapter isn't it? John chapter 6, the theme that we see, Jesus is that bread of life.
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We need to keep this in mind and underscore that. And he is that bread that has come down from heaven.
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This is said several times within this chapter. Time and again it is repeated, repeated.
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Now let me read the text to you and we're not going to be able to get through all this in this one message but I'd like to break it up in two messages.
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Chapter 6 beginning with verse 41, pick up verse 41, read to verse 59, hear the word of the living
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God. And here we see he came unto his own and his own received him not.
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That's basically what John says in chapter 1 verse 11 but then the positive side of that is but as many as received him to them he gave the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name.
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But here it's these that are his own, they reject him, they do not receive him.
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Verse 41, the Jews then complained or you could say murmured, they grumbled about him because he said
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I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said is not this
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Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says
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I have come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur 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 at the last day.
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It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught by God.
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Therefore 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.
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He has seen the father. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life.
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I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.
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This is the bread which comes down from heaven that no one that I'm sorry that one may eat of it and not die.
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I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which
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I shall give for the life of the world. And the Jews therefore quarreled among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
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Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
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Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.
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My flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.
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And as the living father sent me and I live because of the father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.
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This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead.
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He who eats this bread will live forever. And in verse 59, we'll stop right here.
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These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum, please bow with me in prayer as we seek the
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Lord's face in this hour of worship, as we hear his word, our father in heaven,
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Lord, we bow now in your presence and Lord, we give you reverence and awe and joy and praising you for the truth that you have given unto us through your written word and your living word.
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Lord, we thank you for your word this morning. Open our eyes that we may see only
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Jesus and our prayer is Lord speak for your servant hears in Jesus name
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I pray, amen. We have been looking at the words of Jesus in John 6 about the bread of life.
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That is the very point and the continued theme throughout the gospel of John here as I've said and Jesus started out with the miracle of the feeding of the 5 ,000 men and many more.
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We have, he fed the women and the children as well. So you could probably say it was 20 ,000 to most of the city was there.
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Having used a physical need that, um, that was there like hunger to point to a spiritual need, which is far, far more important is our hunger after righteousness and after Christ.
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And that was their great need. And the need was to be reconciled to God, the father.
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And this is what Jesus is saying. He is that only way to the father.
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He is that bread that comes down. He has condescended. He has come down.
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He's humbled himself and become flesh in the incarnation. Jesus and address the crowd clearly that he is the bread of life and all who come to him would never hunger or thirst again.
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It's amazing, but it's glorious that all we need and all the satisfaction of what our heart craves for is in Jesus Christ.
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Throughout this entire chapter, we've also seen references of the
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Passover miracle and that's where actually he's leading to the feast as the Jews had a common meal and Jesus and his perfect wisdom and his mastery ways shows him this speaks to them about the time manna came from God.
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And here in our passage today, we see once again that Jesus is the culmination of the fulfillment of that Passover miracle.
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Jesus, Paul, the apostle even said that Jesus is our Passover. He is the lamb of God.
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He is the sacrifice of all sacrifices for there's none like unto him because he's the perfect lamb of God.
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He was the perfect God man that fulfilled the law and every way, grace and truth.
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The law was given by Moses through Moses and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And here we see in verse 53 to verse 58 in which we will look at part of it today, the very heart,
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I would say of John chapter six and God willing, like I said, we're going to divide,
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I'm going to divide this up into two section, two parts so we can get the whole picture of what Jesus is actually aiming at.
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And what is he aiming at? He's really, his point is, is himself, that he himself is that bread of life.
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But these Jewish people here that complained about him, they were stubborn, hard hearted, unbelieving, did not see that truth of who
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Jesus really was. Jews did not see that truth.
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So let's begin. The point really is being made here is we see
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Jesus making this point and he is that bread of heaven. He is the bread from heaven,
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Jesus Christ, and will only be received by hearts that are prepared by God, the father.
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We're going to look at what that means by being prepared by God, the father, because in a sense we cannot prepare our own hearts.
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We can seek the Lord as much as we say, but even in seeking God, it must be the Holy Spirit.
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So God always takes the initiative and drawing us to himself.
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We've looked at that the past several Lords day, what that means of that drawing.
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And he continues to speak about this as well in this particular section. So first of all, we see in this section in verse 41 to 51, and God willing, this is all we'll be able to handle today.
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There's a lot here. That the stubborn hearts of unbelief stumble over the unique claim of Jesus Christ to be the living bread from heaven, that he is the only source of spiritual life.
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Their hearts stumbled. They failed to see who he is, and it's because they had a heart of unbelief.
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That stems from their self -righteousness. They thought they knew him, but they really didn't know him.
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We'll see that as well. So in verse 41 to verse 43, we first of all see stubborn hearts breed grumbling mouths.
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This is very searching. This is very searching because we should search our own hearts here. But we see by what they say their hearts is revealed by what is coming out of their mouths.
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So we see stubborn hearts breed grumbling mouths. Or you can say the self -righteousness breeds spiritual blindness.
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Look at the verse in verse 41. The Jews then complained or grumbled, murmured about him because he said,
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I am the bread which came down from heaven. They complained.
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They grumbled. Why? Because of their unbelief in who Jesus claimed to be.
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What was his claim? His claim was deity, that he is
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God in flesh. Later on, you will see that as it spounds on this, he says, before Abraham was
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I am, and they literally took up stones to stone him to death. This is why they crucified the
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Lord of glory, because of his claims. That's how
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I heard it said by a preacher, he was a liar, a lunatic, a lord.
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And we know that he is Lord. His claim of deity, God in flesh, was the very reason why this text says what it says.
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People were unprepared to receive him. They showed this by their murmuring. They showed this by their complaining.
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They're grumbling against him. And we see that in verse 38, as we have looked at last
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Lord's day, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. That set them off.
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That was the claim. That was the claim that disturbed them. That was the claim because his claim was deity, divinity.
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And they did not believe him. They outright rejected him. And their mouths revealed this.
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Their mouths revealed who they really were. The crowds grumbled and complained, and we see this.
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And this is reminisce. It makes me think of the children of Israel in the wilderness, how that played out.
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Exodus 16, 7 through 9, which says this. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the
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Lord, for he hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we that you complain against us?
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This is Moses speaking. Moses said here in the next verse, this shall be seen when the
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Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening. And the morning bread to the full, angels' foods came down, and God provided for them in the wilderness, as you well know the story.
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And then they grumbled about that, and it was too much of that. And then they said, we have no meat.
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And they grumbled about that, and then God gave them meat to the full until it was stuck in their teeth.
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Well, Scripture goes on to say, Herefore the Lord hears your complaints. God hears everything which you make against him.
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And what are we? There's the question again. Who are we? What are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the
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Lord. They're complaining against the Lord. Verse 9 says, Then Moses spoke to Aaron, and he said this,
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Say to all of the congregation of the children of Israel, come near before the Lord, for he had heard your complaints.
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So just as they had complained against Moses, the first giver of the bread, actually the bread
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Jesus pointed out, that the bread came from the Father, but Moses was a channel in which the bread came.
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But we could say that they were complaining against Moses, but ultimately they were complaining against God, wasn't it?
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Their complaint was against the Lord. And here we see in the text, they are complaining against Jesus.
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Once again, they complain against God. In the wilderness, years back, the children of Israel were complaining against God the
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Father, and here they're complaining against God the Son. Self -righteousness, pride breeds spiritual blindness.
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And these unbelieving Jews could not see beyond the physical. And actually that was their motive.
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As Jesus broke the bread, he fed the 5 ,000 men, and then they wanted to take it further.
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Oh, we need to get Jesus and make him a bread king so for our own selfish needs, to fill our physical needs, the physical, and overlook entirely the spiritual.
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But Jesus came for the soul. Jesus is focused on the spiritual. But they murmured, they complained against the
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Lord. So we see in this that stubborn hearts breed grumbling mouths.
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Next we see in the next verse, familiarity breeds contempt. Familiarity breeds contempt.
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We saw in verse 41, the self -righteousness breeds spiritual blindness. Verse 42, familiarity breeds contempt.
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They had no comprehension of the spiritual truth that was being said. Look at what verse 42 says.
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And they said, Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
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They briefly mentioned the mother, but they mentioned Joseph's name. Mary's name's not given here. And then they asked the question,
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How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? You see what the claim is.
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He's deity. He's God. He's the one that made heaven and earth. He come down from heaven. How?
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They are saying, how? How is it then that he says this?
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They assume that Jesus was the son of Joseph. And here, of course, they were absolutely wrong.
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Joseph was not his earthly father, even though he set the example before the
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Lord Jesus Christ. But really, I would think that Jesus set the example for Joseph in his perfection.
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Can you imagine being the father on earth, not his real father, and yet the heavenly father sends the son through the
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Virgin Mary? But Joseph is really not his father.
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And this is what they're talking about here. Joseph was not his father. Rather, our
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Lord was conceived by the Spirit of God and their failure was to believe in the virgin births.
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How important is the virgin birth? It's critical, isn't it? And because they did not believe in the virgin birth, their darkness led to unbelief.
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Interesting to note here, again, there's no mention of Mary. They just briefly mentioned whose father and mother we know, but they mentioned the name
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Joseph. Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary is critical.
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And let me say this right here. Those who refuse and anyone who refused to believe the
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Lord Jesus Christ as the very God of very God, very man of very man, but very God of very
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God who come into the world through the womb of the Virgin find themselves compelled to deny all the great truths concerning the person and works of Jesus.
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It's critical. Next, not only we see that the stubborn hearts breed grumbling mouths and the familiarity breeds content, we also see grumbling breeds rebuke.
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Look at verse 43. Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves.
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Notice how Jesus gets to this directly. He rebukes them. He rebukes them.
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Of course, He does it graciously, but He does it firmly. Another translation says, stop murmuring among yourselves.
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Stop complaining. Stop it. Jesus, very direct, very direct.
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And although they had not been speaking directly to Him, yet He knew what they were saying.
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Isn't that interesting? You notice this? They were basically saying this among themselves, but Jesus knew their hearts.
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Had Jesus told them, He says, not to murmur among yourselves. This is what
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He tells them. Do not murmur among yourselves. A rebuke to their murmuring.
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This is the way God feels about murmuring, complaining against Himself. It's a sin.
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Let's call it like it is. It is a sin against the Lord and against who
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He is. The following verses explains why their murmuring was useless and it is profitless.
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So the more the unbelieving Jews rejected the testimony of the Lord Jesus, the more difficult His teachings became to them.
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As it has been said, light rejected is light denied. So they hardened their heart against the gospel.
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So now we go to verse 44 to verse 47, and here we see prepared hearts breed saving faith.
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There's a turn here. There's the negative first. Now we see prepared hearts breed saving faith, and we will see that only
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God the Father can prepare the hearts to even believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So look at verse 44 to verse 47. Verse 44 is key. After He rebukes them and says, do not murmur among yourselves, then
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Jesus says to them, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day.
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We've looked at this in detail the past two Lord's Day and did my utmost to bring out what
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Scripture says about this. And the man is in himself, we are utterly helpless to even come to God on our own willpower.
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We need to admit that. And as it says in John, and I quoted part of that earlier, but as many as received
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Him to them, He gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in His name. Verse 13, let us not miss what verse 13 says, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
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It's God's will. It's critical. Now, I usually have a
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Spurgeon quote, but today I've changed up a little bit. I got a quote from A .W. Pink. This is a good one.
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It's a little lengthy, bear with me. It's the only quote outside of quoting Scripture I have, but this is really good that he hones in on about the natural man is not capable of receiving
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God. Only the Spirit of God can cause us to come to Himself.
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You teach this in even evangelical churches today, and they look at you crazy and think, you've got to be kidding me.
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I have a choice. I have a will. And we looked at that, that yes, we do, but even in that,
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God takes the initiative, and that is what's being said here. This is what Pink says, and this is a very good one, but listen closely what
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Pink is saying. And it goes right to the context of everything that is being said here.
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He says, the condition of the natural man is altogether beyond human repair.
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To talk about exerting the will is to ignore the state of the man behind the will.
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Man's will has not escaped the general wreckage of his nature. When man fell, every part of his being was affected.
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Just as truly as the sinner's heart is estranged from God and his understanding darkens, so his will is enslaved by sin.
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To predicate the freedom of the will is to deny that man is totally depraved.
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To say that man has the power in himself to either reject or accept Christ is to repudiate the fact that he is the captive of the devil.
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He goes on to say, it is to say that there is at least one good thing in the flesh, and it is to flatly contradict this word of the
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Son of God, which Jesus says, no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
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He goes on, as said above, the unregenerate sinner is so depraved that with the unchanged heart and mind, he will never come to Christ.
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And the change which is absolutely essential is one which God alone can produce.
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It is therefore by divine... Now listen carefully, this is very important. It is therefore by divine drawing that anyone comes to Christ.
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What is this drawing? He asked. We answer, it is the power of the
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Holy Spirit overcoming the self -righteousness of the sinner and convicting him of his lost condition.
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It is the Holy Spirit awaken within him a sense of his need.
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It is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the pride of the natural man so that he is ready to come to Christ as empty -handed beggar.
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It is the Holy Spirit creating within him a hunger for the bread of life.
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End quote. That's a very good quote. And I amen that all the way.
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He's right. Pink is right in sync with what Scripture is saying and what Jesus is saying here that no one can come to me unless the
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Father who sent me draws him. Now, next we see there's an effectual teaching.
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Look at verse 45. There's an effectual teaching and it's interesting. Notice that Jesus quotes.
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He quotes Isaiah 54 .13 here. It is written in the prophets.
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And he's speaking of Isaiah the prophet. And they shall all be taught by God. That's all he says there.
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That's enough. That's sufficient. He gets right to the point.
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And then, therefore, he goes on. He says, everyone who has heard and learned from the
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Father comes to me. Now, there's a connection here.
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And I think this is very critical. Here Jesus is responding to these unbelieving, hard -hearted,
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Jewish, grumbling people that's rejecting him by warning them that no one can come to him unless the
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Father draws him. Verse 44. And then he stated this wonderful truth that it is
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God's initiative in salvation by pointing to Isaiah 54 .13. Wonderful verse.
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And they shall all be taught by God. They come to believe in Jesus.
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And as they believe in Jesus, they are taught by God. God teaches them.
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The Spirit of God teaches us. And what does he teach us? All truth.
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And who's the truth? Jesus Christ. Showing us the things of Christ.
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Showing us Christ. How he operates. How he directs. How he works.
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How he thinks. And it's all in the Word of God. We have no excuse. Especially as believers.
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They shall be taught of God. They believe. They come to Christ. And Jesus said that.
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He says, you come to me, you learn of me. And he says, I am meek and lowly in heart.
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I think that's the greatest place that we can be. A redeeming grace church is to be on our faces before God.
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Interceding. Pleading before the Lord. For our lost loved ones. Praying for one another.
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And as Martha said, she, and Jesus spoke of Martha. She has chosen the greatest part.
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She has chosen the best. The best. Well, next we see.
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We see a unique messenger, revealer, and a mediator. I could go in detail of each and one of those.
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But I'm not because of the sake of time. But look at verse 46. Not that anyone,
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Jesus says that anyone has seen the Father. Except he who has come from God. He has seen the
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Father. Now, basically, all Jesus is saying here. And it's a powerful point.
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Because no one else in this entire world has seen God the Father but Jesus.
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He was with the Father. He alone is the one who came down from the
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Father. And he says this many times. I came, I proceed from the Father. I came from the
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Father. The Father sent me. And it was a mission to seek and save the lost.
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And it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that even anyone can come. And when Jesus just unleashes the word of God in parables and teachings and preaching.
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That power is just unleashed. But if you notice, not everybody comes. Not everyone believes.
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Only those whom the Father has given comes. And it searches our own heart to say.
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Am I one of God's chosen? Am I one of God's elect? Now, don't misunderstand me.
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We don't know who the chosen is. Only God does. And when we proclaim the gospel, it is actually in a general sense to everyone.
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It's available to everyone. But not everyone will believe. If we did believe that everyone would come, that would be universalism, right?
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And we know that Jesus said, straight is the gate, narrow is the way. Very few find it.
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Why? Because broad is the way and wide is the gate that leads to destruction.
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And many will go in that way. That's the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. So it's the whosoever will gospel.
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I like what Spurgeon says about this. He said, we don't know who the whosoever will is that God has chosen. So we preach the gospel to everybody.
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And that's why Jesus himself said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone.
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Lead the results to God. We just need to obey the command that the
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Lord has given us. So here we see the effectual calling.
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The effectual calling in verse 48. I'm sorry, verse 47. Most assuredly,
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I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. That gets right to the point, doesn't it?
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He who believes in Jesus has everlasting life. No doubt about it.
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You have everlasting life if we truly believe in who
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Jesus really is. We see the effectual saving faith.
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And that's what he's talking about. This is one of the clearest and really, in a sense, briefest statements in all of the word of God concerning the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.
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This verse really teaches us that salvation is not by works.
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It's not by keeping the law, by keeping the Ten Commandments. It's not by obeying the golden rule.
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It's by simply trusting and believing in who Jesus is.
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That's enough, isn't it? That's enough. And when that happens, yes, obedience does follow.
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The fruit does follow. But first there comes the faith and trusting. Like the old hymn writer says in Rock of Ages, Clef for me, let me hide myself in thee.
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I love that part where it says, Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross
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I cling. Simply to the cross I cling. So if you don't know the
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Lord today, I charge you in love, believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Because everything in this world is going to pass away.
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And this life that we have is like a vapor. Put your investments where they count.
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In Jesus. Well, next that leads us to verse 48 to 51.
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The heavenly bread breeds spiritual life. The heavenly bread breeds spiritual life.
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Look at verse 48. Jesus said another very simple statement.
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I am the bread of life. The very first of seven statements, I believe, of the
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I am's. He says, I am the bread of life. The identification of the bread of life.
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He is that identification which gives life to those who believe and those who are partaking it.
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And that is Christ himself. And the Jews had previously brought up the subject, by the way.
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They brought it up and Jesus ends it, of the manna and the wilderness and challenged the
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Lord Jesus. Could you believe the audacity and the pride of man challenging Jesus? But they do to produce some kind of wonderful sign, a wonderful act, more of a miracle in Jesus.
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And there he stands, the very bread from heaven. The true bread from heaven. The living bread from heaven.
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And the Lord reminds them of their fathers that they had eaten the manna and the wilderness and they are dead.
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And he says this for a reason. He reminds them, okay, they ate the manna, but where are they?
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They are dead in the grave. And what Jesus is saying, if you partake of me by faith and trust in me by faith, you will live forever.
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You will have eternal life and never die. The eternal life comes to reside within.
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Very powerful. Verse 50, this is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die.
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Verse 51, Jesus makes the connection between the resurrection and the atonement.
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I am the living bread which comes, came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.
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That's the resurrection to come. And the bread which I shall give is my flesh and I shall give it for the life of the world.
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God is such a giving God and look what he did. The father gave his very best in Jesus.
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Paul said it like this in worship. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
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It's unspeakable. It's beyond words. So there's the identification.
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Verse 48 of the bread of life. Then you see the identification repeated there in this verse.
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There's the heavenly source reiterated that he came down from heaven. There's the universal offer of the gospel.
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Faith guarantees the resurrection. If anyone eats of this bread shall live forever.
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And then he speaks of the necessity of the atonement and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.
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And keep in mind here, the world, we must understand and interpret what the world refers to here.
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It is those who are in opposition, enemies to God, against God and under the dominion of Satan.
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Those whom Christ died do not deserve the very benefits of salvation of themselves. It is by the sheer grace of God and the mercy of God.
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And this is given to us in Ephesians chapter 2. Let me read just a little bit of this for you.
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He says this, And you, he hath made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, the lust, the desires of the things of the world, the things of the flesh, the love of the world.
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It's all going to pass away. And what did John say? He that does the will of God shall abide forever.
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And then he, Paul goes on, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. There's a connection with the mind and the desires of the flesh.
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And we're by nature, this is the way we came into the world, loving the things of our own fallen nature against God.
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And then he says, we're by nature, children of wrath. Enemy of God, in other words.
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Just as the others. Transition, verse 4. But God, aren't you glad for that?
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The gospel is right there in those two words. But God. There's an intervention.
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But God, here you are fulfilling the desires of your flesh. You're walking according to by nature, the children of wrath.
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You're children of wrath against God. You're the enemy of God. And God intervenes.
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Who is rich in mercy because of his great love wherewith he loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses.
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And you know what Paul's saying? Even though there's nothing you could do, but you're going to hell. You're on a grease slide to hell.
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There's nothing you could do to save yourself. God comes to rescue you through Jesus Christ.
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And then he says this. Made alive together with Christ. With Christ. By grace, you have been saved.
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I love that. It's by the sheer grace of God alone that we are even in Christ. If you are a believer.
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Raised us up together. Made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, he might show that seeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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Isn't that what it's about? To the praise of the glory of his grace. And then he tells us. For by grace, you have been saved through faith.
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That not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It's a gift. We receive it. And even the receiving of it is the spirit of God bringing us in.
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Not of works, lest anyone should boast. No one could boast that they're in Jesus Christ.
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It is by the sheer grace of God. It's not of our works. It's a hundred percent God. And then he closes in verse 10.
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For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.
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There's the obedience. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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We should practice this. We should walk day by day in them. Well, there's a lot there and much more could be said.
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But I'd like to get to the application. Go with me to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8.
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I like to give this as an application. Because I believe it's very fitting to the text in which we looked at today.
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And I like to start with verse 4. And let me read it first.
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And I'm going to go back and make some comments. But this is application, folks. And this is a parable. And it's one of the great parables that Jesus gave.
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It's called the parable of the sower. Some calls it the sower. And I believe it's more appropriate to call it the parable of the soils.
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And the soils represent the hearts of man. Each one of us today, our heart is hard or it's soiled and soft.
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But if you know the ratio, we will look at the ratio is really... If I'm correct, correct me if I'm wrong about this.
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Is it four to one? Four to one. So three will...
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Three, that's the many that will not believe. But those who believe are the few.
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That's the one. That's the good soil. So Jesus uses the parable of the sower or the soils, whatever you want to say, to explain the varied responses to his proclamation of the kingdom of God when he preached it.
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Whereas earlier references to the parables, Luke refers to proverbs and metaphors, but here
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Jesus speaks in parables. Let me read it. Verse four.
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And when a great multitude had gathered... Notice when the crowds were there, he really, Jesus, poured on the parable.
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And they had come to him from every city. Could you imagine how many was there? Every city, multitudes, a great multitude.
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We don't know exactly how many, but it's a lot of people. And he spoke by a parable.
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A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside and it was trampled down and the birds of the air devoured it.
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Some fell on rock and soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.
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And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And others fell along good ground, sprang up, yielded a crop of a hundred fold.
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And when he had said these things, he cried. And you could almost... And when he says cried,
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I believe he's pouring out from his heart. And there's an explanation for it.
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He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And back in those days, you know, there was not a
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PA system. So he cries out for the multitudes to hear him. Then next, we see the purpose of the parable.
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Verse 9, then his disciples ask him saying, what does this parable mean?
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I don't know about you, but if I was among the disciples there, I believe that would be my interest.
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Lord, give us the interpretation to this. And Jesus is referring to agriculture.
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He goes to agriculture, something that they can relate to in the Eastern world there. And he said, to you, it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
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To his disciples, you know it. But to the rest, it is given in parables.
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And then he explains that seeing that they may not see and hearing they may not understand.
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And then here, the interpretation and the meaning of the parable is given in verse 11 to verse 15.
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Jesus gives the interpretation, the meaning of it. Now, the parable is this, that the seed is the word of God.
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God's word. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear. Then the devil comes along, comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
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But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.
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And notice what he says. And these have no root. There's no root.
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Who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.
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This is a powerful, this is a very powerful parable, folks. And then he goes on to say in verse 14.
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Now, the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, they go out and are choked with the cares and riches and the pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity.
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We see a lot of that. This is soul searching, heart searching.
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But then there's that one, there's four to one. There's the ratio. Here's the one that believes, verse 15.
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But the ones that fell on good ground are those who haven't heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
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They keep it. They bear fruit, fruit bearing. And Jesus makes us very clear.
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And he explains this parable to them, spoken parables.
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As he say, he allows his disciples to gain the divine insight into what is being said here.
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But those who reject Jesus' teaching, however, only hear the story and they don't understand it.
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There's no root. There's a fall. It falls on hard ground, sometimes thorny grounds.
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But there's no root. There's no good ground. And the good ground is, you have to say in order.
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And you know, this is as we observe farmers and when they plow up before they plant the seed, they have to plow up the ground.
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Whether the ground is very hard, that plowing up is for the seed.
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When the seed is spread out, it goes into the ground and it takes.
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Or if the seed, if they don't plow it up, it falls among hard ground, the hardness of people's hearts.
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It's just going to sit out there and it's going to just be roasted by the sun. It's not going to take.
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It's very simple. It's a very simple parable that Jesus has given us. And isn't it wonderful about our
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Lord? He does not make it hard and difficult. He basically tells us in something in that day, especially in the
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Eastern world, that they can relate to the agriculture. And He gives them this picture of the plan of salvation and how it happens and the different grounds.
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The parable of the soils here explains why there are varying responses to Jesus' message of the gospel of the kingdom.
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And those who have stubborn hearts like the Jews in John chapter 6 did not believe, but they were superficial.
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It was not real. It did not take. So the devil trials, the devil comes and robs up the seed.
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Trials come, concerns, the pleasure of this life in this world take over the attention and they will not persevere to the end because there's no fruit to be produced, because there's no love of God in their hearts.
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Those who have a heart that is receptive to what they hear will believe and they will be saved and they will bear fruit to obedience.
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That's critical. Well, what is being said here in closing,
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I want you to one more to tie this in. There's much more I could be said there, but I could not help but think about the apostle
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James. James tells us, and by the way,
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James gets this from our Lord Jesus Christ on the Sermon on the Mount. Everything we need to know as a
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Christian is found on the Sermon on the Mount. Wonderful study brother
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Seth gave this morning about condemnation and discernment and how it helps us to see the balance there and how we're to walk and how we're to not make wrong judgments of condemnation, but how we're to make discerning right judgments in grace and kindness.
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So there is that balance. But also Paul, you see the epistles of Paul, he talks about we're justified before God and how that looks like that it's by justification, by faith alone that we're saved.
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And James does not contradict this folks, but if you go to James chapter 2, he's talking about how it looks like before men.
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And basically what he's saying is this is how faith looks like. This is the way faith works.
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It's faith that works. It's how it is demonstrated by the way we act, the way we behave, the good fruit or bad fruit, however you want to put it.
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Now notice what he says here in verse 14 of chapter 2. What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith?
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Now he's professing it, but does not have works. In other words, he's not producing the good fruit.
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Can faith save him? And then he goes on to give an illustration. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to him, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body.
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What does it profit? You see where he's getting at. How is this acting out in our life?
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Are we applying this to our life? Are we obedient to God's will and God's word?
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And thus, verse 17, thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.
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So basically what he's saying here, there's dead faith and there's living faith. We better make sure we got living faith, folks.
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We got to have the faith that works. If the spirit of God has done a work in your heart today, our faith will work and it will produce obedience.
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And folks, that's about loving one another, that's for caring for one another, and that's demonstrating it among the brethren and the household of God, the household of faith, and also to the world.
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Inside the church, outside the church. We're Christians all the time, right? Just not on Sundays. Verse 18, but if someone will say, you have faith and I have works.
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James says this, show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works.
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Basically what he's saying, I'm going to show you how the faith, the living faith operates. I'm going to show you how it works.
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And then he gives an illustration. It's a powerful example. You believe there's one God. In other words, what he's saying, you intellectually say that there's a
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God, you know there's a God. Oh, okay. Well, you do well. You do well. You can almost hear the sarcasm in his voice here.
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And then he says, even the demons believe and tremble. He says, no big deal.
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You say, God, there's a God. Sure, the devils know that there's a God. They believe more than you do.
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They've been in heaven. The fallen angels, they were there. Lucifer was there. He was an archangel.
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And what turned him into a devil was pride. But see, he's saying here, even the demons believe and they tremble.
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Verse 20. But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
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There's a question mark there. And then he gives illustration, illustration by questions by questions.
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And notice what he says. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
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Do you see that faith was working together with his works? And by works, faith was made perfect.
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And what he's saying here, folks, is not that your works will save you. But what he's saying is, when you're justified by faith alone, it will have working, living faith behind it.
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It works. There's demonstration. It just doesn't talk about it.
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It acts upon it. And that's the thing about living faith. It is always, it is always active, right?
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It's always, it goes for it. It obeys God. It's obedience. Fruits of obedience.
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Fruits unto righteousness. Fruit, fruit. And the scripture in verse 23 was fulfilled, which says,
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Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
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And you see, he says, then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.
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He's not contradicting Paul. Basically, what he's saying, this is how active faith, real living faith looks like before men.
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Paul deals with it how it looks before God. Likewise, was not
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Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers, sent them out another way?
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For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
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It all ties in, doesn't it, to John chapter 6. And you see the grumbling
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Jews of unbelief. They refused to believe the Lord Jesus Christ.
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There was absolutely no evidence within their hearts and lives that they were believers.
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Of course not. They rejected Jesus Christ. But when we do believe of who
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Jesus is, there's always fruits that follow in obedience, always.
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And my question to you today is, are you truly believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? And as a believer, do you repent?
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Or there's even a non -believer. There must be a repenting and a forsaking of those sins in which
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God hates. Now, we don't hear a lot of this today, but the
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Scripture says that God abhors sin. It's all through the Scriptures. God is angry with the wicked every day.
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And God must punish sin because He's holy. And He did that by putting all that sin on the
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Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, and He took your punishment. He took my punishment.
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He took your hell. Jesus Christ took all the hell when
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He died on that cross. And when I say that, I'm talking about not just the physical horror of the beatings and the strikes, which was bad in itself, but I'm talking about the darkness of eternal hell when
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God poured out His wrath upon His Son because of your sin and my sin. What kind of love?
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What wondrous love is this? Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul.
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So I'm saying this. We must see that God is absolutely holy and He has sent
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Jesus Christ in His mercy and grace, and He did not have to. He did it because out of His heart of mercy.
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And by the way, as Paul says, He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and He will have compassion on whom
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He will have compassion. He does not, like R .C. Sproul says, He does not owe us mercy. Amen? Actually, God right now can send this entire world to an eternal hell and still be just.
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Do you believe that? Because God is just. But in His mercy,
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He sent Jesus Christ that you might be saved. Do you believe that?
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Jesus says, I'm the bread of life. And He says, most assuredly,
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I say to you, He, verse 47, who believes in me has everlasting life.
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Are you saved from the wrath to come? Is your hope holy entirely upon the
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Lord Jesus Christ alone? Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We praise you for your great mercy, your compassions that do not fail.
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Oh, Lord, how great is your love toward us that you sent your one and only
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Son in our place. We who deserve hell. We who does not deserve heaven.
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All because of your grace and mercy. Grace and mercy. We thank you for your word.
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We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ that has come and rescued us from the domain of darkness, has delivered us from that, translated us to the kingdom of your dear
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Son. Father, we praise you and we thank you that He who poured out
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His life into death, His soul into death, He was numbered among the transgressors.
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He bore the sin of many and even made intercession for the transgressors, even prayed for them.
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We thank you for such mercy today that is given to us. May we not... And if anyone here is among us,
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Lord, that it does not know you, I pray by your spirit, Lord, as you said, you can draw them.
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We don't know who they are, but Lord, you can draw them in. And here's the free offer of the gospel.
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May they believe by your power and your grace. All to the praise of the glory of your grace.