Christ: The Sovereign Savior of the Sheep (John 6, 10, 17)

John 6 and the Crowd’s Unbelief

All right, good morning everyone. Father, we are grateful to you for a beautiful day outside, for the joy and delights of our fellowship in Christ, for being able and free to gather here together today and to worship you.

And we pray that as we fix our hearts and our minds upon high and holy things, that you would convince us in our hearts and minds through your word and by your spirit of truth. We pray that no matter how awkward or difficult or challenging it is to embrace these things, that we would do so by faith and that we would do so because they are clearly revealed in your word.

So send your spirit here today to teach us and instruct us, we pray and bless our time, our thoughts and our meditation here for Christ's sake.

Amen.

All right, turn your Bibles to John chapter six. John chapter six. And we're going to, I'm gonna give you a little bit of context for each one of these passages that we're gonna be looking at. And I'm going to ask you to look for language that is similar in all three of these chapters.

John six, John 10, John 17. These are three discourses or extended quotes from the of the Lord Jesus. The language is similar in all three of these passages because Jesus is talking essentially about the same thing in each of these chapters, though he's doing so to three different audiences.

So the language or the themes that I want you to pay attention to is the people that Jesus describes as being given to him. And that's the language that he uses. I want you to notice the one who does the giving, the one who does the receiving.

And I want you to notice the outcome of that giving and receiving. You're gonna notice that the father gives a people to the son, the son receives those people. And then what is the outcome of that gift?

And then the question that we have to answer is, when were these people given? Did this happen in time or did this happen in eternity past? And then of course, what are the effects or the outcome of this giving of these people?

So that's the themes that I'm gonna want you to notice. You're gonna have an opportunity for questions at the end of this. If you have a question, you think, okay, this question needs to be answered right now before it leaves my mind and before we move on because this is time sensitive question, go ahead and ask it.

But I want you to know at the outset that we're gonna have a time for questions and some answers at the end. I'm hoping to keep back about 10 minutes for that or so. The three different audiences in John 6, John 10 and John 17, these discourses or these teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not given to the same audience in each chapter.

In John 6, he is addressing an audience of unbelievers, largely except for the apostles. He's speaking to an audience of unbelievers, people who were following him and going along with him and believing, quote unquote, externally because of the signs that he was doing and because he was satisfying their physical needs.

And at the end of John 6, that same group of people walks away from him and abandons him. In John 10, he is not speaking to a bunch of people who are kind of glomming on to him and his entourage for the physical benefits.

In John 10, he is addressing people hostile to him, the Pharisees, the chief priests, people who were already planning and had been for a number of years already his death. They're planning to execute him.

And then in John chapter 17, he is praying in the presence of his disciples that is genuine believers. So you have genuine believers in John 17, you have kind of make believers or fake believers in John 6, and in John 10, you have adamant and hostile unbelievers.

And yet the theme and the teaching and the substance of it is the same in each one of these chapters. So John chapter 6, I'm gonna set up for you what the context of John 6 is, and then we'll go through and you can recognize some of these themes.

I'm gonna do something I don't normally do, I have to put on my cheaters today. Everything back there is a blur and everything up here is a blur, but when I put these on, everything here is clear and back there is clear, it's right here that's blurry.

And since I don't have my tablet up here, I just have my Bible, I have to be able to read it out of here because this is where all my highlights and underlining and everything is in this book. John chapter 6, the good book, that's right.

This particular version, this particular edition of this book. John chapter 6 begins with the feeding of 5 ,000. Notice verse 1, after these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias, a large crowd followed him because they saw the signs.

That is the context in which you have to read the entire rest of the chapter. They were following him, not because they wanted forgiveness for their sins, not because they were convinced that he was the Messiah, not because they wanted salvation, but because they saw the signs.

A large crowd followed him because they saw the signs which he was performing on those who were sick. Then Jesus went up to the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. The Passover of the Feast of the Jews was near.

Then Jesus feeds the 5 ,000, taking us all the way down to the end of verse 13. Let's get verse 13. They gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

Therefore, when the people saw the signs which he had performed, they said, this is truly the prophet who has come into the world. Now they're making a logical deduction. They see a man who has performed this miracle.

They've come to the conclusion that this is the prophet that Moses spoke of. They have intellectually come to the conclusion that this is the Messiah. This is the conclusion that they should have come to.

Verse 15. So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum.

It had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea began to be stirred up because of a strong wind was blowing. Then when they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat and they were frightened.

But he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. So they were willing to receive him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. So that's another sign that Jesus did, this time only in the presence of his disciples, not under the view of all of the 5 ,000 or thousands whom he had fed the previous day.

The next day, the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into the boat and that his disciples had gone away alone.

There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Now, if you're not familiar with the topography of the land of Israel, when it says sea, it's not talking about a sea like Pacific Sea, it's talking about basically a lake, roughly the width of Lake Ponderay.

So it's not a massive body of water. They take a boat to the other side of basically the lake, they called it the Sea of Galilee. Jesus answered them, Rabbi, when did you get here? Verse 26, Jesus answered them and said, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

In other words, he's indicating here that you were seeking after me, and yet you're not seeking after me because you were convinced by the signs that I am who I am, but I satisfied a physical need, you ate the loaves and were filled.

So this is the most base desire, the most craven desire that they have, the desire for hunger, he has satisfied that, and so now they are coming back to him for more. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on him the Father God has set his seal.

Therefore they said to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in him.

Whom he has sent.

He's calling now for genuine belief, because he knows that those in this crowd have not genuinely believed in him. So he is pressing them to believe, not just to be intellectually convinced by the signs, but to believe what the signs were signifying, that he was who he claimed to be and that he was providing for them salvation.

Jesus is gonna take their desire for food and is gonna use it now as an illustration to transition into a spiritual conversation with them about the true bread and true food. Verse 30, so they said to him, what then do you do for a sign that we may see and believe you?

What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the man in the wilderness as it's written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. They're just asking him for another sign, but we ate yesterday, now we're hungry again.

So multiply something else, give us something else, provide another sign, give us more food. And they sort of throw up throughout this gauntlet, Moses provided food every day in the wilderness. Certainly if you're the prophet who's greater than Moses, you ought to be able to do the same thing.

So this time it shouldn't be just manna, it shouldn't be just bread and fish. Let's, we want some lamb chops, some shawarma, we want something of substance here, this, up your game a little bit. Verse 32, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, it's not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

Notice now he's switching the conversation, talking about spiritual things, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, always give us this bread.

They are still thinking in physical terms. That's still what they're thinking about. Verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. And now here's where you need to focus in on what Jesus says.

Now, oh, before I move on, let me summarize something real quick. You may ask, how is it that people can watch him feed 5 ,000? How is it that they can know that he walked on water? How is it that they are convinced now that he is the prophet he's able to do signs?

They've seen him do this on the sick. They've seen him meet their physical needs, heal their sick, meet their physical needs. How is it that these people can still be persistent in their unbelief? How can they still unbelieve in the midst of that?

Jesus is now going to explain why it is that they do not believe, okay? Get that in your head, that's the parameters. Jesus is now going to explain their unbelief. Verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. So these are obviously unbelievers. They have seen these things.

Jesus is pressing them for genuine saving faith for belief. And he is saying to them, even in spite of the fact that you have seen the miracles and the signs that I've done you still do not believe. How do you explain such hard-hearted unbelief?

There is one explanation for that. And that is the sovereignty of God. Beginning of verse 37, all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

This is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father that everyone who beholds the son and believes in him will have eternal life.

And I myself will raise him up on the last day. Therefore the Jews were grumbling about him because he said, I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven. They were saying, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know?

How does he now say I've come down out of heaven? So they're sort of bickering back and forth and trying to explain what it is that he said. They're obviously a little disappointed he's not providing physical food for them.

Verse 43, Jesus answered and said to them, don't 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. I'll stop for there for just a second.

Walk with me through this passage, beginning in verse 37. There are people who are given by the father to the son. All that the father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.

That verse describes both the sovereignty of God in salvation, as well as the responsibility of man. It is the responsibility of every sinner to come to Christ. If you will not come to Christ, you are without excuse.

And the only reason that you have for not coming to him is your hard-hearted impenitence and your sinfulness. You are darkened in your mind. You are darkened in your understanding. You are in rebellion against God.

You hate God.

You hate righteousness. You hate the truth. We are born in this state of utter and total corruption where we hate God and everything about him. And we hate his word. That is the natural condition of fallen man without the grace of God.

So why is it then that they remain hardened in their unbelief? It was because they had not been given by the father to the son. Now, if the father had given those in that crowd to the son, what would have been the result of that?

All that the father gives me will what?

Come to me.

Why would they not come to him? Jesus' answer is, you've not been given to me by the father. You're gonna see the same thing in John 10 to a hostile crowd. And you're gonna see the same thing said in John 17 to believers.

But what explains their unbelief? Yes, they were sinners. Yes, they did not believe. Yes, they're born in sin and darkened in their understanding but why did they not come to the son? They had not been given by the father to the son.

And why is it then that they would be judged for their unbelief? Because they refused to come to the son. And yet Jesus said, every last one who's been given by the father to me will come to me. So now what happens to the one who comes to the son?

All whom the father gives to the son will come to the son. Verse 38, sorry, verse 37. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. So all that the father gives to the son come to the son and all who come to the son, the son receives.

In other words, there is nobody who comes to Christ who finds that Christ rejects him and says, no, you haven't been given by the father to me. Therefore you can't come into my kingdom even though you want this, you desire this.

You're coming to me asking for forgiveness. You haven't been given by the father to me. Therefore you're not allowed in. Or I reject you because you're not one of my elect. That will never happen. It cannot happen, why?

Because all that the father has given to the son will come and every last single one that the son, that is given by the father to the son who comes to the son will be embraced.

Why?

Because Jesus, well, Jesus explains it. Verse 38, I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. In other words, the will of him who sent the father, or sorry, the son, the father's will is that the son save every last one that was given to the son by the father.

The father gave to the son a group of people and not just an amalgus group and a no name group, but an unidentified group, but individual people, the father gave them to the son with the charge, save every last one whom I have given to you.

And now Jesus is saying, every last one will come to me and I'll receive all of them. Because if the father were to give one to the son and say, save this one, and the son were to say, no, I'm not gonna save that one, then would the son have done the will of the father?

He would not because the will of the father was that he would save every last one that is given to him. Likewise, if the son were to lose one whom the father has given to him, because they lost their salvation or he would have failed to preserve them till the end, would the son have done the will of the father?

No, he would have lost one that the father gave to him. So what is the will of the father? That the son save, secure, sanctify, and bring into his kingdom every last single individual whom the father has willed and given to the son.

Now, did the father give all people to the son? Some people would say this. The father then gave all of humanity to the son. Every person who ever been born has been given to the son. Well, then you're left with one of two conclusions.

Either the son has failed to do the will of the father because not all people are saved, or in the end, everybody is going to be saved. And scripture does not teach either one of those, right? So if your belief is that God gave all of humanity to the son, then you have to conclude one of two things.

Jesus is a horrible failure, because he has not failed. He has not succeeded in doing what the father gave him to do, which is to save every last one given to him, or everybody is going to be saved. You're a universalist.

So there's no hell, no judgment, nothing. Even Hitler, who dies in penitent, having killed 6 million people and responsible for a war that killed another 50 million to 100 million people, depending on how you fudge the numbers, even he gets in on the last day to the kingdom.

And that's just not what scripture teaches. Okay, so verse 38, I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all, all whom he has given to me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

What does it mean to be raised up on the last day? Heaven, resurrection. She's talking about bodily resurrection. On the final day, the resurrection of the righteous, the resurrection of the unjust, in that resurrection, bringing him into his kingdom on the very last day, the son will have saved, sanctified, and secured every last person that the father gave to him.

If he doesn't do that, then he has failed to do the will of his father. Those are not my words, those are Jesus' words. I was having this conversation on this subject or on this passage with somebody one time who was rather hostile to the fact that I believe this, and we were walking through this passage, and I would read this passage, and he said, so you're saying that the father only gave some to the son.

And I said, no, that's not what I'm saying. That's what Jesus is saying. I'm not making that claim. I'm telling you what Jesus was saying. And then we go through a little bit more and he's saying, so you're saying that if not everybody is saved, or if anybody is lost, that Jesus has failed to do the will of the father.

I said, no, that's not what I'm saying. That's what Jesus is saying. Remind yourself that these are the words of Jesus. He is describing his own Trinitarian relationship with the father, what the father gave him to do, what he came to do, and that he will be fully successful in every last thing that the father called him to do.

Verse 40, this is the will of my father, everyone who beholds the son and he believes in him will have eternal life. Now, you say, well, if the father's given to people to the son, and if the son has promised to secure those people, and if every one of those people whom the father has given to the son will be infallibly and finally saved, then obviously there's no human free will.

There's no need for faith. Is that what I said? Nope, that's not what Jesus said either. In verse 40, everyone who beholds the son and believes in the son will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.

So it is true that we will not come to the father or the son apart from the father's work and his choosing and the work of the son, that is true. It is also true that all of this sovereignty and salvation that Jesus is talking about here does not erase the necessity of men to look upon the son and to believe in him, because Jesus said, everyone who looks upon him and believes upon the son will have eternal life.

How many of them who look to Christ will receive eternal life? All, all receive eternal life if they look to the son. So the responsibility to look to Christ and to believe on him still rests with fallen men.

So you say, how is it possible then that those who are fallen and hardened in their unbelief will end up coming to the son just on the basis that the father gave them to the son? How is that possible?

Look at verse 45 or 44, sorry, 43, go back one more. Jesus answered and said to them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

Notice the phrase, raise him up on the last day, because it is the same one mentioned, same phrase in verse 39, same phrase in verse 40, meaning that Jesus is tying that description that no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

He is tying that phrase. This group who is unable to come without the drawing of the father is the same group that he saves and secures and raises up on the last day. So is it that the people who end up coming to Christ and believing in him have some innate ability that unbelievers don't have where we perceive the gospel and perceive truth and end up coming to Christ because of something in us, some spiritual inclination, how we were raised, something in our DNA, something in our spiritual makeup, is that what brings us to the son?

No, the same group of people that are raised up on the last day, those are the people in verse 44, whom he says cannot come to him. No one can come to me unless the father sent me draws him. That is true of you if you are in Christ.

That was true of you.

You could not come to him on your own merit, by your own strength, because of your own spiritual inclinations. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. So why is it that you were drawn to the son?

Because the father drew you to the son. Two key words here in verse 44. No one can come. That word can describes a power, an ability, and not permission. Describes power or ability and not permission.

In other words, if my child says to me, Daddy, can I watch TV? And I say, no, you cannot. They're asking for permission, not whether they have the power or capacity to do it. But if my child says, Daddy, can I lift your truck?

And I said, no, you can't. I'm describing there not necessarily a lack of permission, but a lack of power. Jesus is describing here a lack of power. No one has the ability or the power to come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

Why is that? Because men are dead in their trespasses and sins, born hostile against God, corrupted in their hearts, darkened in their minds, and unable to change their natural capacity. So nobody has the ability to come to him.

Why is it that some come to him? Because the father draws everyone whom he has given to the son.

Why?

So that they will behold the son, believe upon the son, come to the son, place their faith in the son, and then the son will secure them. He pays the penalty for their sin, and he raises every last one of them up on the last day.

Why?

Because he must and will fulfill the will of the father who sent him, which was to do that very thing, to save and raise up on the last day everyone whom the father gave to the son, but even those people have no ability to come to the son unless the father who sent them draws them.

And Jesus said, I will raise them up on the last day. Now, this was obviously offensive. This is offensive to some people. This was obviously offensive to this very crowd. Look down in verse 52. I mean, it only gets worse.

In verses 47 to 51, Jesus starts talking about bread, and in verse 52, he kind of presses in on verse 51. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.

He eats my flesh and drinks my blood, his eternal life, and I'll raise him up on the last day. Notice that phrase again. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him, as the living father sent me and I live because of the father, so he who eats me will also live because of me.

This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died, but he who eats this bread will live forever. Now, that is not talking about the mass. That is not talking about literal cannibalism.

That is a metaphor that Jesus is using for describing the act of taking what he has provided through his death, the suffering of his body and his blood and appropriating that personally. He's saying, you have to take me to yourself in the same way that you eat bread or eat flesh or drink blood.

That's what's necessary. You can't keep me at arm's length and still be saved. What had this crowd done? Hey, those are great miracles, show us more. And Jesus is saying, you need to believe. And they're like, hey, can we talk about the miracles again?

Because those were really cool. And he's saying, you must repent and believe. But those miracles, Jesus, those were fantastic. More bread, more circus, more signs, more show. And now he presses in on this.

And he says to them, unless you appropriate me, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me. Now, this is offensive to Jews, of course, who under the law were not allowed to drink blood.

So he's using intentionally offensive language. Verse 59, these things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum, which, by the way, was his adopted hometown in the north end of the Sea of Galilee.

Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a difficult statement, who can listen to it? And Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble?

What then if you see the son of man ascending to where he was before? It's the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And he was saying, for this reason, I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him from the Father.

And then after all of that crowd leaves, this is church growth at its worst, 6 ,000 people and they all depart over these offensive statements. And then Jesus says to the disciples, you're gonna leave too?

And Peter said, where else are we gonna go? You have the words of eternal life. You see, notice the difference between the believer and the unbeliever? This entire discourse is explaining the unbelief of that crowd and why it is that they would not believe.

They couldn't. And why they stayed in their unbelief and these disciples believed is because the Father gave those disciples to the Son and told the Son, you're to save every last one whom I've given to you.

And the Son said, I will not fail to do what the Father sent me to do.

He did it.

The Good Shepherd and the Sheep in John 10

John chapter 10. Yeah, yeah, so the question is, can I make note of verse 47? And the word has, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. And I am the bread of life and your Father's ate the man in the wilderness.

Yeah, he's describing there the one who believes, present tense, believing, is the believing one has or possesses eternal life. So eternal life is not something that we have in the future that is unconnected to the now.

It's something that we possess now as a relic or a result of our belief. Okay, chapter 10. So this is the Good Shepherd discourse and I could spend another 20 minutes sort of setting up the context for this one.

But now that we've kind of laid the basis for this, you can see that Jesus is now returning in chapter 10 to the same themes, but now he's discussing it with people who are hostile to him. This comes on the heels of the man who was born blind in chapter nine and Jesus did the sign of giving sight to that man.

And this man believes at the end of chapter nine, he worships Jesus. And then Jesus turns his attention to the Pharisees. Verse 40 of chapter nine, those are the Pharisees who were with him, heard these things and said to him, we're not blind too, are we?

And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you'd have no sin. But since you say, we see your sin remains. In other words, they didn't even know that they couldn't see. They insisted that they could see and therefore they didn't need a great physician to give them a heart of faith so that they could see their own sin.

So that's what he's saying to the Pharisees. Now the Good Shepherd discourse starting in chapter 10, I want you to ignore the chapter division there because the Good Shepherd discourse is not given to the disciples and it's not given to believers.

It is addressed to the Pharisees. These false shepherds, these charlatans and hirelings who were making merchandise out of the sheep of God in Israel, it is a scathing reproof of them. Chapter 10, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door of the fold of the sheep but climbs up some other way, he's a thief and a robber, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he puts forth all his own. Notice that Jesus is there referring to those whom the shepherd owns.

They're his sheep. There is in the analogy of the necessity of understanding there are sheep that belong to Jesus and then there are those that belong to other folds. There are those who are his and those who are not his.

Verse four, when he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.

This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were, which he had been saying to them. He's speaking to them in an enigmatic way. I think intentionally blinding them to this.

This is a parable of reproof and judgment upon them for their hard-hearted unbelief. Remember he is addressing this to the Pharisees that are up in verse 40 of chapter nine. Verse seven, so Jesus said to them again, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. So Jesus, in his analogy, is two things. He's the door of the sheepfold and he is the shepherd. So he is the one who brings his sheep into the sheepfold and he is the entryway, the door, through which his sheep must enter to have eternal life and through which they must go out to have pasture.