The Power To Overcome Unbelief - [John 6:30-40]

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

2 views

0 comments

00:00
I want to invite you to take your Bibles and open them to John chapter 6 as we continue to teach through the book of John.
00:11
Just want to do a little research because I had a picture in my head. So I looked up, how many of you are familiar, maybe
00:20
I should rephrase that because I don't want to say familiar with phencyclidine and then see a bunch of people raise their hand, and you know, the effects of phencyclidine, do you know what it is?
00:32
The common name would be angel dust or PCP or I found one place where they called it embalming fluid.
00:44
Why would they call it embalming fluid? Kind of gives you a picture of what it does, right?
00:50
Makes you virtually dead, you know, turns you, in fact, the fancy name for it and what
00:57
I found fascinating, we've been watching this old TV series, I mean, it's set in a hundred years ago and in it, a bunch of things are legal like cocaine and heroin and stuff like that.
01:08
I'm going, just imagine those kind of drugs being legal, well, how about this? In the 1950s, phencyclidine,
01:16
PCP, came on the market as an anesthetic pharmaceutical drug but it was taken off the market in 1965 due to its,
01:25
I like this, dissociative hallucinogenic side effects. What does that mean?
01:33
What's that? Well, not only did you get high but you really had no concept of what reality was.
01:42
One of the things I learned while I was in the academy or one of the things we studied was officer safety and there was a situation in the town that I grew up in,
01:50
West Covina, where a police officer, West Covina PD officer, had stopped somebody who was, it turned out, under the influence of PCP and he did not want to shoot this guy and so they went round and round and round the car until the guy on PCP, listen, eventually took the shotgun and pulled it out of the rack, it was locked in the rack.
02:14
He just wrenched the whole thing out and killed the police officer. I say all that only to say that it has a very strong effect on human beings.
02:25
It changes their way of thinking, it changes their perception of reality, it makes them virtually immune to pain.
02:32
You can have four or five officers on a person with PCP and it's nothing for the person on PCP if it's a female who weighs 85 pounds to throw everybody off of her.
02:44
So it is one powerful, powerful drug. And I had the opportunity one time, we were working up in the mountains and we got a call, we were giving a subpoena to somebody at a fire station up there in the mountains.
03:01
And you have to understand, well you don't have to, but when you're working in the mountain cars in Los Angeles County, that is a vast region.
03:11
I mean we would be, I remember once we responded to a call that was two hours away. I mean it is big.
03:20
So we get this call, we're at this little fire station and it's a call of an auto, a car burglary, somebody breaking into a car in progress and guess what?
03:31
It's like right across the street from where we are and I'm going, what are the odds of that? It's almost impossible.
03:39
So we go across, there's this little, it's like a little parking area where people would go up and they would pull down, not really a campground but just kind of a place you could hang out for the day.
03:50
And so we're going down to this parking lot and my partner says, well what about that guy?
03:55
And so we slow down and we can see that he's got robotic movement and all these other things and he was obviously under the influence of PCP to make it short.
04:05
So my partner gets out of the car and the suspect is not really playing the game the way we want.
04:12
He's not spreading his feet and all this other stuff. So my partner started kicking his feet and started using some force on him and I just kind of leaned over to him and I go,
04:20
I don't think that's a good idea. You don't want to get these guys riled up. You want to keep them calm. Anyway, to make a long story short, we got four guys in custody and we actually got some liquid
04:30
PCP and I was just thankful that we didn't have to get into any kind of physical activity because we're 25, 30 minutes away from anybody and it's not really a good situation for us.
04:45
But I just wanted to bring that up because I want us to think about that kind of dissociative property.
04:53
In other words, not being able to see reality correctly. Not being able to really interpret things the way they are.
05:03
And I'm going to suggest to you tonight that there's something similar to PCP on a spiritual level and that something is sin.
05:13
And to take it a step further, what is, well let me ask you this way and you should know this by the title of the message.
05:19
What is the root of all sin? All sin. Pride is a root, yes.
05:29
I would agree with that. I mean, certainly if we looked at Satan, Lucifer, and how he fell, pride, yes, very.
05:37
Depraved hearts, okay. Unbelief is the winning answer.
05:44
Why is that? Because it's in the bulletin, no!
05:53
Because it explains a couple of different things. One is, it explains the sin of the unbeliever, right?
05:58
Because he doesn't believe, therefore he sins. But it also explains the sin of believers.
06:06
Why do you sin? Because you don't believe God enough. You don't believe
06:13
God enough. Why did Jesus never sin? Well, you know, you could say he's deity and then I'd argue, well, he's also fully man.
06:19
And I would tell you, he never sinned because his faith never wavered. He never doubted.
06:25
He believed fully at all times. But sin is like having your mind infected, polluted.
06:36
It's a case of spiritual dissociation and especially true in the case of the unbeliever.
06:44
Now just to kind of catch us up on where we are in the book of John, we know that John, the beloved apostle, wrote the book.
06:53
And it's the fourth gospel, probably about 90 AD. And he did so with the express purpose to convince his readers that Jesus is the
07:01
Messiah, the Christ. Well, why does that matter? If you study the book at all, you'll know it matters because he is the only way of gaining eternal life, the only way of avoiding eternal damnation.
07:15
So there's nothing more important than understanding the truths of this book. And last Sunday morning, we saw
07:22
Jesus addressing an unbelieving crowd in Capernaum. He concluded by telling them that the way of salvation, the work of God, was to believe in him, the one that God the
07:37
Father had sent. During the discourse, Jesus made a claim of exclusivity.
07:43
He said that, in verse 27, he said that on him, on Jesus, the
07:49
Father has set his seal. In other words, there's no one else with the full approval of God the
07:57
Father but Jesus. And anyone else who claims to have that same seal of approval is a liar.
08:07
Now of course, this all follows Jesus feeding the multitudes, at least 20 ,000 people with five loaves and two fish.
08:15
Is it fish or fishes? Fish. We always go to the fish's house, so I'm just thinking through that. His subsequent, you know, what happens after that?
08:24
He perceives that they want to take him and make him king. So he, we're not really told how he does that, but they fail to take him king, so we can sort of infer that he eludes them.
08:36
And after spending some time in prayer that night, alone, and sending his disciples off across the
08:42
Sea of Galilee, he walked across to meet them. Now, he got to the other side eventually, and I won't go through the whole storm narrative.
08:52
I'm sure it's familiar to you. But this crowd that pursues Jesus has no idea how he got to the other side of the lake.
08:59
And if you were here last Sunday morning, remember what they said? They said, when did you get here? As if that was the main issue, right?
09:07
When? You know, like, I don't know, it's now three o 'clock in the afternoon. Did you get here at noon or ten o 'clock?
09:13
They didn't care about that. There was only one boat. The disciples took that. So the question rightly was, how did you get here?
09:22
But they don't ask that. And we concluded last week by demonstrating from the text and declaring the singular means of being saved.
09:32
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not faith in a nebulous sense, like I'm a person of faith, because faith must have an object.
09:42
And that object is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, let's start at verse 30 in John chapter 6.
09:52
So then, and this is right after that, right after he said, after he's told them that they must believe in him.
09:58
So then, or so they said to him, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?
10:05
What work do you perform? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
10:15
Then Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven.
10:26
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, sir, give us this bread always.
10:38
Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
10:49
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me
10:58
I will never cast out. For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
11:06
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
11:15
For this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
11:28
Now this evening I'm going to ask and then answer four questions.
11:35
So that you will see that, or where the power to overcome unbelief comes from.
11:42
And really these truths are so central, I would encourage you to internalize them, to fix them to your heart, to your hand, even to your forehead.
11:52
Why? Because they'll change the way that you do your apologetics, the way you preach the gospel to people.
11:59
They'll also bring joy to your heart, and may I say, I think if we get this right, there will be a certain calmness and a surety to your life.
12:10
You won't fret about things that aren't that important. This passage contains some of the most difficult doctrines to accept, and yet some of the sweetest truths you will ever hear.
12:23
Question number one. Can evidence and miracles overcome unbelief?
12:30
Can evidence and miracles overcome unbelief? That's why we do those wonderful shows down at the
12:38
DCF Center, right? We go down there and we do miracle crusades so that you'll believe.
12:44
Does it work? No. No, it doesn't. What's the common refrain of the unbeliever?
12:54
The atheist. You know, I would believe in God if, right? I would believe in God if there were no suffering.
13:01
I would believe in God if he were to show himself to me. I would believe in God if...
13:08
Where are some other ones? If... Yes.
13:16
If someone came back from the dead. That kind of issue. They're looking for what? Proof.
13:23
Proof. Look again at the passage. So they said to him, that is this crowd, this mob that had...
13:31
They were really after one thing. They were after free food. So they said to him, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?
13:40
What work do you perform? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
13:48
Again, this is kind of a standard thing. Show us a sign. Do some work.
13:54
Make something happen so that we can go, ooh, if you'll just do this or do that, if you can eliminate somebody's suffering, if you can do...
14:04
Here's one. You know, the atheist prayer, God, if you get me out of this, I promise
14:09
I'll change my life. But remember, Jesus has just told them that the work of God, that is to say really what is needed for salvation, was faith in him.
14:22
But they don't really accept that. They want to see a work. What does that mean? They want a miracle.
14:29
They want something that can only be done, a sign. They want something that can only be done by the power of God.
14:35
And really, this is kind of like a miracle on demand, you know, instead of movies on demand, they want to set the remote and just choose miracle,
14:42
Amazon Prime, just download that thing. This is what they expect. Now, I've said before that there was a certain messianic expectation in the air.
14:51
They were waiting for someone who was greater than Moses, a greater than Moses prophet is what they wanted.
14:57
So their reasoning, the reasoning of this crowd is something like this, Jesus, what you did was impressive, but there are certain problems.
15:09
You had five loaves. You had two fishes or fish.
15:18
Moses, on the other hand, what did he have? Nothing. He had nothing.
15:25
And yet he brought down manna from heaven. You gave us run of the mill bread.
15:34
I mean, we could go to the store and get this, you know, or our wives would make this. This is nothing. He fed the entire nation of Israel for 40 years.
15:44
You fed 20 ,000 for one meal. Nice job. Really, really helpful. But you're not
15:49
Moses. Now, these were the same people, keep in mind, that just a day before had wanted to make
15:57
Jesus king. And now they're like, show us something else. One man said,
16:04
Christ could produce no credential so conclusive, but that the Jews would demand one more conclusive.
16:13
J .C. Ryle said, they were always deceiving themselves with the idea that they wanted more evidence and pretending that if they had this evidence, they would believe.
16:23
Thousands in every age do just the same. This is the oldest trick in the book, as it were, for the unbeliever.
16:30
If you'll just do this, if you'll just do that, then I'll believe. No, you won't. And Jesus refutes their assertion.
16:38
Look at verse 32. Jesus then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it was not
16:44
Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. He starts with what?
16:49
Amen, amen, verily, verily. The highest form of assurance.
16:55
Jesus tells them that this out of heaven bread that they're calling for, and that's what they, that's how they referred to it.
17:03
If you break down the grammar, they were saying it was bread out of heaven. You gave us, in other words, the implication is you gave us earthly bread.
17:10
Moses, he brought the stuff out of heaven straight from God. And Jesus tells him, look, that bread was not from Moses.
17:22
And really, when you think about it, it's a little bit of an absurd idea. What was Moses, a magician?
17:28
You know, I mean, even the best magician has to have something to work with. Moses had nothing.
17:34
It was all the power of God. He was just the conduit, the prophet, the human face in front of what
17:41
God was actually doing. Moses didn't create anything. Furthermore, the manna just filled a physical need for a limited amount of time.
17:52
It had zero eternal significance. It was nothing like what Jesus was talking about. And we're going to see that here in a moment.
18:02
So can miracles, I mean, Jesus had done many miracles, many signs.
18:08
And again, think about it. They're suppressing the truth and unrighteousness by not even asking, how did you get over here?
18:16
They don't really want to know that. They don't want to know the power of God. They just want to be fed by the power of God.
18:23
Second question, can the unbeliever overcome unbelief? Sola bootstrapsa, you know, just tighten his belt up a little bit tighter and or tighten his shoes a little tighter or pull himself up by his own bootstraps and believe.
18:38
The answer is no. Look at verse 32, the second half of, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven.
18:45
That first word there. But again, it's important. There are a couple of different Greek words not to get too technical, but there's one day, the postpartum of days.
18:54
It's just a simple contrast just means, you know, on the one hand and on the other hand kind of thing.
19:01
This one is meant to underscore. It's meant to show a broad, bright contrast between two items.
19:08
But my father gives you the true bread from heaven. This is nothing like what
19:15
Israel experienced in the wilderness. The father gave you temporal sustenance for a fixed amount of time.
19:23
Now he's giving you present tense, something far greater. And that's something far greater is
19:30
Jesus himself. Look at verse 33 for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
19:39
Now, that's quite a, quite a bold claim, right? That you come down from heaven. But this is, this is the narrative of John right from the beginning.
19:46
He talks about in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And then he talks about how the word came down and dwelt among us.
19:55
But back to this text here. The manna foreshadowed what Christ would do, but it was not the father's greatest gift.
20:02
He was the father's greatest gift. He came down from heaven of his own volition, but at the father's behest, the father's desire, he came to do the father's will.
20:16
And notice also that he gives life, eternal life, not that the word is changed here.
20:22
They were talking about, the Jews were talking about temporary, this, this earthly life.
20:29
And every time this, this concept of Zoe is mentioned here in this discourse, it has to do with eternal life.
20:36
So the contrast could not be more clear. But again, as we saw last week, and then with the woman at the well, this is a mashal, a difficult saying.
20:46
So the Jews intentionally, and with more than just a little bit of sarcasm, misinterpret the
20:53
Lord. They said to him, sir, give us this bread always.
20:58
Now it's interesting because the word there, sir, is often translated. What do you think it's translated as quite often?
21:06
What's that? No, not rabbi, but Lord. But here, almost no translator uses
21:14
Lord, why? Because they understand that the Jews are not being, that they don't believe in him as Lord, they're not bowing to him as the
21:25
Christ, they're just being respectful. So they could have said rabbi, that would have been fine. But it's not, it's not a deep respect.
21:33
They certainly don't think of him as their master. They see him as kind of dodging their challenge.
21:38
They want him to do miracles, and now he's talking about, you know, the bread come from heaven, and they're not really, they're not really happy with him at this point.
21:49
And I think it's safe to say that there really isn't a spiritual thought in their collective mind because they've really got this dissociative view of the world.
21:58
They don't see the world as it really is, they see it as they want to see it. They do not believe that Jesus is capable of doing what they're asking him to do.
22:05
And in fact, the implication of their statement here is that not only do they not believe, but it's his fault they don't believe.
22:14
After all, if he could do these miracles, then they'd believe in him. Listen to what John Calvin said. He said, thus, unhappy men are not satisfied simply with the sin of rejecting
22:24
God's promises, but throw the guilt of their unbelief on Christ.
22:30
If he was able to meet their demands, they would believe in him. But he doesn't, so they don't.
22:37
It's his fault. Again, they're trapped in their unbelief. They're incapable of understanding what
22:43
Jesus is teaching. We go to 1 Corinthians 2 and talk about how, what, the natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit.
22:52
Look at verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst.
23:02
This is the first of the seven I am statements in John. And Jesus is claiming here to be the only giver and sustainer of spiritual life.
23:12
Just as physical bread gives and sustains physical life, so Jesus is able to give and sustain spiritual life.
23:23
Now, what sort of bread, I mean, this is an amazing statement here, what sort of bread relieves your thirst? Do you ever eat a loaf of bread and go,
23:29
I can't, I'm no longer thirsty? There should be a clue in that.
23:37
He's not talking in a literal sense about a bread that satisfies thirst.
23:42
He's talking about a spiritual and a hunger, or a spiritual hunger and a spiritual thirst.
23:50
Now, I have to address the whoever's in this verse, in verse 35.
23:57
They're actually, they come from two different participles. Whoever comes and whoever believes.
24:05
There is no implication of free will. I've mentioned this before, but a present participle, what does that mean?
24:11
A participle is a word that usually could end in an ing, for example, believing.
24:17
So this could be translated, instead of whoever believes, believing ones, or whoever comes, the coming ones, the ones who come forward.
24:28
But it has no implication of a choice here. It's just describing the action that takes place.
24:35
And it's the same in verse 33, if you look back up there. When the words who comes down, that is a participle talking about the
24:42
Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't indicate that he made a choice, it just indicates that the action that he took in coming down.
24:50
He did choose to do the Father's will, but that's not the point of the wording. So anyway,
24:56
I say that people read 35 and they want an important meaning into whoever, you know, whoever believes.
25:03
But it really does have to do with a constant state of believing. It's a description and nothing more.
25:10
Now back to the bread that satisfies both hunger and thirst. This is not to say that a believer may not want a deeper relationship with Christ, because that's not the point.
25:24
I think it's certainly right to want a deeper relationship with the Lord. It is to say that Christians, believers, will not look for another spiritual source.
25:36
So if you see something like the Christian Buddhist club, well, that wouldn't be a good club to join because they're trying to mix these two things together.
25:46
His point is that he alone can satisfy the spiritual needs of people.
25:55
Again, look at verse 36, Jesus says, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
26:03
Not only have they seen him, they'd seen what he could do. He did these miracles, but they didn't want to believe.
26:09
And again, it's a stark contrast, strong contrast. But I've said to you, you know, you, this is what's going on.
26:17
I am the bread of life, but I've, I've said to you that you've seen me and yet you do not believe because they didn't want to.
26:23
What more could Jesus do? They had seen him, they had seen his works and they rejected him.
26:29
They are fully responsible for their unbelief. They want to blame him, but the truth is they are 100 % responsible.
26:39
Now the question comes about, did they have the ability? We talk about that sometimes, responsibility versus ability.
26:46
They're responsible, but did they have the ability to believe? And the truth is, and we're about to see it, no.
26:52
But it's interesting because Jesus doesn't have a problem with us. He doesn't have a problem with people not having the ability to do something and them still being responsible.
27:02
Why? Because we don't have to resolve those two things. They're both true. Man is responsible, but he may not be capable of doing something.
27:12
Let's look at verse 37 and we'll get to our third question here. Can the triune God that is father, son, and Holy Spirit overcome unbelief?
27:21
I hope so. I mean, I certainly am thankful. Yes. Hundred percent. Look at verse 37.
27:27
All that the father gives me will come to me. Now it's interesting.
27:32
What are the preconditions that Jesus gives for the father's giving? What does he say?
27:39
All the ones who are on a spiritual path that the father gives me.
27:45
All who have a desire for a better life that the father gives me. There are no conditions.
27:53
It's not all who choose to believe, but it's all that the father gives me. And I want you to just keep your finger in John six.
28:00
And I'm going to turn to John chapter 17 because this whole section here just reminded me of John 17 and I'm going to edit it, but we're going to read a little bit from John 17 verses 1 to 18 and I'll try to indicate when
28:17
I'm going to skip. I'm going to go right over the first few words here and just go to where he starts actually praying.
28:26
Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the father may glorify you.
28:31
This is the high priestly prayer of the intercession by Jesus on behalf of some of mankind.
28:39
Glorify your son that the son may glorify you. Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life, listen to all whom you have given him.
28:51
Can that be all people? Well, let's keep reading. Let's look at verse six. I have manifested your name to the people who you gave me out of the world.
29:00
Not everyone. Yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word.
29:07
Now they know that everything you have given, given me is from you for I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me.
29:23
Verse nine, I am praying for them, for this group.
29:29
I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
29:36
All mine are yours. The ones you gave me are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them.
29:43
On to verse 14, I have given them your word and the world has hated them.
29:50
Not the earth, but the people on the earth, the unbelievers has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
30:00
Verse 16, they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.
30:08
Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
30:14
There is a group that is talked about consistently here. A singular gift from the
30:21
Father to the Son and the only qualification is what? The Father's choice.
30:29
He chooses. There's another word for that, it's called election.
30:39
And in Ephesians chapter one, Paul writes that the Father chose, when?
30:45
Before the foundation of the world. In other words, before time existed. Paul didn't create that doctrine.
30:52
Instead, he added some detail to what our Lord taught here in John 17 and in John 6.
31:01
Now, does he give, does the Father give every human being to the Son? No.
31:07
How do we know that? Well, look at verse 37 again. We're back in John chapter 6. Look at verse 37.
31:16
All that the Father gives me will come to me. No exceptions.
31:25
So if the Father gives the Son every single person, every man, woman, and child, then guess what?
31:30
Every man, woman, and child, Jesus says, will come to me. So we have a little problem here.
31:38
Is everybody on the face of the planet a believer? Listen to what
31:44
Hendrickson says. He says, a person cannot be saved unless he comes to Jesus. And he cannot come to Jesus unless he is given by the
31:52
Father. That's exactly what the verse says. If we just look ahead at verse 44.
32:02
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. What does that mean?
32:10
No one can. Well, that word can is the one that is the, it has at its root the same word from which we get dynamites, dunamis, power, ability.
32:23
No one has the ability or the power to come to Christ unless the Father who sent me draws him.
32:32
In other words, Jesus says, you cannot make a decision for Christ on your own. You cannot choose to follow him on your own.
32:39
It must be the work of the Father. But those whom the
32:45
Father has given, the ones he elected from before the foundation of the world, those will without fail come to Christ.
32:54
It said that right there in verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to be.
33:00
John Calvin said, faith is not a thing which depends on the will of men so that this man and that man indiscriminately and at random believe, but that God elects those whom he hands over, as it were, to his son.
33:18
For when he says that whatever is given cometh, we infer from it that all do not come.
33:24
True. So now there are a few objections to this. First objection, of course, is that's not fair.
33:37
It's not fair. Response to that? Grace is not fair.
33:45
Grace is unmerited favor. That means there's nothing you can do to earn it. Fair is you get what you deserve.
33:54
And if we think about it, well, you know what, God, just give me what's fair. Okay, hell. I don't want fair.
34:02
I don't know about you, but I want grace. I love grace. Grace is great, greater than all my sin.
34:09
It's not fair. Well, it's not fair if we look at it from our perspective. We say we want everybody to have an equal chance, but the truth is, left to our own devices, we all would have an equal chance, and that chance would be zero.
34:21
No chance. Why? Because no one can. No one has the ability.
34:28
No one is able to come to the Son except the Father draws him.
34:34
We also know from verse 37 that all that the Father gives will come. You can't resist it.
34:40
It's a done deal. It's going to happen. Why? Because it's not ultimately about us. In fact, if you study
34:46
John chapter 17, you find out that the ultimate purpose of the elect is to glorify one another, to glorify the triune
34:55
God. It's not ultimately about us. We are the object of affection between the persons of the
35:02
Trinity. It's not fair. It's not really a legitimate issue.
35:08
It's what the Bible says. Another objection, how do I know if I am given by the
35:15
Father? How do I know if I'm chosen? How do I know if I'm one of the elect? What's wrong with that question?
35:29
The answer is, for one, you don't know, right? Here's what you do know.
35:35
You can look at the Bible and say, it never says, test yourselves and see if you are elect.
35:45
See if the Father has given you to the Son. See if the Father is drawing you to the
35:50
Son. It never says that. What does it say? See if you are in the faith. You know, here are a series of tests by which you can determine whether you are walking according to the gospel, according to Christ.
36:05
Are you one of his people? Do you love his people? All these things that are in 1 John, there are a series of tests there that make you think, well, this is the marks of a believer.
36:17
So it's not a question of whether you're one of the elect, it's a question of, are you saved? Do you believe on the
36:22
Lord Jesus Christ? And if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you truly believe, then you are one of the elect.
36:30
Third one, third objection, well, why evangelize then? If the
36:35
Father is going to give them to the Son and they're all going to come and there's nothing that anybody can do about it, then why do we bother preaching the gospel?
36:41
Why not just sit back and let the Father give them to the Son and we'll just all kind of, you know, we'll meet in heaven.
36:51
Obvious problems with that. First of all, there is an appointed means. Bible says what?
36:58
That faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You have to hear the Word of God.
37:03
Somebody has to preach the gospel to you, says, blessed are the feet of those who bring the message of good news, right?
37:15
Second problem with that is we're commanded to evangelize. We're commanded to preach the gospel.
37:21
We're commanded to make disciples. Third answer to it is, comes right out of Matthew 22, many are called, but few are chosen.
37:32
The gospel message needs to be broadly spread out. And then the Father draws whom he wills, the
37:38
Spirit convicts whom he will and people get saved. But that's how it happens. It's not a question of, you know, is it wrong to preach the gospel to somebody?
37:47
No. It's always the right thing to do and then we just trust the Lord with the results. The biblical truth is, as I said earlier, that the natural man cannot comprehend the things of the
37:57
Spirit and he doesn't listen, he doesn't want to. The Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
38:06
It is an offense. It's a stumbling block. Listen what D .A. Carson says. He says, people do not come to Christ because it seems like a good idea to them.
38:14
It never does seem like a good idea to sinful people. Apart from a divine work in their souls, people remain more or less contentedly in their sins.
38:26
Jesus had another way of saying that. He said what? To Nicodemus, you must be born again.
38:31
There has to be a work that takes place inside of you. It's not something you do. It's something that has to be done to you.
38:39
Now it's certainly fair to ask this question. Can one of the elect fail to get to heaven?
38:47
You know, if the Father is going to give them to the Son and they're all going to come, well, can they fail to get to heaven?
38:53
Can something go wrong? Well look again at verse 37. The answer is no.
39:00
And whoever comes to me is, or whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
39:06
Now this is a figure of speech that Pastor Mike talked about some time ago. It's a Leviticus, which is to say that you're stating a simple truth, but you're doing it by emphasizing the negative.
39:18
So look again at that. He says, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. What's he trying to say?
39:26
It's this, that all who come to him, all that the
39:31
Father gives to him that come to him, he will eternally embrace. And you say, well, where do you get that?
39:37
That word, ekbalo, to cast out or to drive away, or maybe in the common parlance, we would say the kick to the curb.
39:47
Jesus says he will never do that, meaning he will always do the opposite, hold them close.
39:53
Instead of casting them out, he will keep them in, he will embrace them. He will never cast them out means that he will keep them always.
40:04
Now you also have to ask yourself this question. Do the Father and the
40:09
Son work against each other or do they work in harmony? I mean, it sounds kind of foolish.
40:16
It sounds really foolish. But I just heard somebody yesterday, preacher say this, that Jesus died on the cross to make salvation possible for every single one of you.
40:32
He died for every single person. He died for all their sins ever. And so I wanted to, it wouldn't have been appropriate, but I wanted to just say, well, then how is it that some people won't get to heaven?
40:46
Because if he died for all my sins and the Father accepts the payment for all my sins, then how can
40:51
I not possibly go to heaven? Now, see if that matches what
40:57
Jesus says in verse 38 and 39. For I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
41:05
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
41:16
So again, let's think about this. Verse 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me.
41:24
So all that the Father chose come to me. And then look again at verse 39.
41:30
And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but instead raise it up on the last day.
41:36
Not to judgment, but to eternal life. That's the whole discourse here is talking about eternal life.
41:46
The Lord says his very purpose in coming to this earth was to do what? The Father's will, to take these elect and basically shepherd them through life, raise them up on the day of judgment.
41:58
Look again at verse 39. All that he has given, we see has given a lot of times it's perfect tense, and that's exactly what it is.
42:06
It's a one -time gift, meaning that it has one -time gift with ongoing results.
42:14
It's perfectly in alignment with Paul's proclamation that before the foundation of the world, these were chosen.
42:21
The gift has been given and it cannot and will not change. It's the sure promise of God.
42:27
All that the Father chose from before the foundation of the world will come to Jesus, and he will keep them, and he will not cast them out, and he will raise them up on the last day to eternal life.
42:41
Can the triune God overcome unbelief? The answer is emphatic. Yes, and they will.
42:47
He will. Father, Son, and Spirit will. Question number four.
42:54
Can the believer overcome unbelief? And again,
42:59
I know what you're thinking. Unbelief in the life of a believer? I have a phrase that, you know, when somebody sins, when a believer sins, they send the
43:10
Holy Spirit off on vacation, because if we were thinking about Christ and the cross, the
43:15
Father's drawing of us, the Spirit's work in our life, if we were citing passages to ourself and, you know, just really being immersed in the
43:23
Spirit and the Word of God, I think we'd probably sin a lot less than we do. So a better question is, why do believers sin?
43:33
It's because at the moment we sin, we don't love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength.
43:47
Paul addressed, if you recall, where he talks about, don't be drunk with wine, then what does he go on to say in Ephesians 5?
43:54
He says, but instead, rather, be filled with the Holy Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the
44:04
Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our
44:11
Lord Jesus Christ. If you're being filled with the Spirit, if this is the focus of your life, you'll have a lot less sin in your life.
44:21
Now the question comes about, you know, certainly if God the Father draws us, Jesus says he's going to save us to the end.
44:27
Well, is there any way that you can fail to get to heaven? Can you unbelieve?
44:32
Can you sin your way out of heaven? The answer is no. Again, look at the text says, for this is the will of my
44:39
Father, that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him, those are parallelisms, meaning the same thing.
44:46
If you look on the sun, it means that you believe in him, should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
44:52
Again, getting back to what he said before, what does it mean to be raised up in the last day? You will have eternal life. Now, none freely chose
45:00
Christ. And that's pretty harsh. People like to think that they had some part in it. None did.
45:06
It's clear in this passage. It'll be even clearer when we get to verse 44, but we're assuming 44 is also true.
45:16
None freely chose Christ. Their will was inclined. They were freely caused to be born again, and they were freely drawn by the
45:24
Father. They were freely given by the Father to the Son who freely died for them, and the
45:30
Spirit freely seals them. That's the freedom. That's the free will. It's the
45:36
Father, Son, and Spirit. It's their free will. Look at the text again.
45:44
The responsibility is not ours, but Christ's. It says what? I will raise him up on the last day.
45:50
He will raise believers on judgment day. It's not up to us. From beginning to end, it's all of God.
45:58
Leon Morris said this. The salvation Jesus brings is no ephemeral, temporary thing.
46:04
It is ultimate and final. This thought is of the greatest comfort to believers.
46:11
Their assurance is not based on their feeble hold on Christ, but on his sure grip on them.
46:18
I mean, if you want to bank all of eternity on, you know, today, I love Jesus. Today, I'm doing really well.
46:27
Tomorrow, I don't know about. Yesterday wasn't so good. But overall, I think it's better than it was.
46:34
That's not the point. And, you know, you're really into a works, righteousness system at that point. The glory belongs to God.
46:41
Why? Because he did it all. The security of the believer, our assurance is based not on our own promises, not on our own willpower, but on the promises and the will of God.
46:58
And the biggest objection to this is what? Well, if you can't lose your salvation, then you'll sin all the more. You know who
47:03
I hear that from? Cultists. Cultists want to believe this.
47:10
I won't name any cults, but I used to belong to one. And this is what they say. They say, well, wait a minute. If you can't lose your salvation, then certainly you're going to sin.
47:18
You're going to go wantonly, recklessly into sin because you're going to heaven anyway.
47:23
What do you have to lose? To which I can just respond this way. That's the mindset of an unbeliever who says, you know, well, if you can get away with it, then you will.
47:36
That's not the truth. The truth is, if Christ indwells you, the
47:41
Holy Spirit indwells you, if you're being worked on by the Spirit constantly, you'll sin, but you won't enjoy it.
47:49
You'll sin, but you'll repent. You won't sin all the more because you'll love the
47:57
Lord Jesus Christ. You're being conformed into his image. Every single day, you want to be more and more like Christ Jesus.
48:04
Believers, the answer is, you know, can believers overcome unbelief?
48:12
Well, the answer is yes, asterisk. They overcome unbelief in Christ.
48:18
We don't stop sinning. We will not perfectly obey. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is
48:24
Jesus perfectly obeyed. He did it. We're not to keep ourselves fit for heaven.
48:33
His perfect work and his righteousness and his power do that.
48:39
Listen, we live in a world of people under the influence of sin and unbelief.
48:45
In fact, before you were saved, you suffered from spiritual indifference, spiritual inability.
48:52
You could say that you were spiritually dissociative. You saw yourself and your own way of life in a way that didn't match reality.
49:01
It didn't match what God saw. You said, well, I'm good enough. And God's just going to have to take me the way
49:08
I am. You thought you were capable of reaching heaven on your own. Yet you were on the broad road of destruction.
49:17
I've heard this sermon so many times, I could almost preach it. Maybe I should have. Listen, everybody who's on the broad road of destruction, most of them, they're not thinking they're on the broad road of destruction.
49:27
What do they think? They think they're on the way to heaven. It's the highway to heaven. We're all on it.
49:33
Let's all join hands and go to heaven together. But that's not the case. Narrow is the way.
49:43
But before we were saved, before God the Father drew us, we thought we could do it.
49:52
And the truth is, only Christ can set the prisoner free. Only the Bible is used by the
49:58
Holy Spirit to unstop the ears of the unsaved and convict them of their sin, their need for a savior.
50:04
Only the Father can draw the unbeliever to his son and only he draws those that he gave to the son before the foundation of the world.
50:14
Now, again, in apologetics, if the signs of the Son of God were not enough to cause the unbelieving to come to faith, but why do we imagine that scientific truths, archeology, or some other extra biblical argument will convince someone to believe?
50:31
It's good for believers to know these things and study them and be awed by the accuracy of the Word of God, but it doesn't help unbelievers.
50:39
They need to get broken. They need to understand that they can't do things that they think they can. And I think the great application here tonight is just assurance.
50:49
Even just talking to Mark the other day, you know, no matter what is coming his way to know that you are
50:57
Christ, no one can take you from Christ. You can't take you from Christ. Whatever happens,
51:04
Jesus Christ is going to raise you on the last day. He did not promise us ease in this life, but he did promise us what?
51:14
Eternal life in his presence, free of fear, free of suffering, free of sorrow, and free of sin, free of unbelief.
51:26
When you think about that, when you think about eternity, when you think about heaven and the reality of it, what are we worried about?
51:36
What are we fixated on? A pipe broke, got to take the car in for repairs, don't know how
51:44
I'm going to pay for this. Okay, and then what? Rejoice, enter into his rest.
51:52
You have been given to Christ by the Father, and he will return you to the Father spotless and without any wrinkle or any such thing because of his perfect life, his sacrificial death, and his resurrection.
52:06
Let's pray. Our Father, what a great blessing it is to think about your finished work, how you have before the foundations of the world planned our salvation, how you have fixed it so that we will see glory, not because of our efforts, but because of the work of Christ.
52:34
Not because we are good, but because he was perfect. Father, don't let us fall into the snare of thinking that we can somehow do this on our own, that somehow we can be good enough, that we can measure up.
52:56
It's all about you from beginning to end so that you might get the glory, not us.
53:02
It's never about us. Lord, we thank you for the perfect life, the substitutionary death of the
53:12
Lord Jesus Christ, that in him we stand perfect, acceptable in your sight.
53:24
Lord, for any here who don't know you, who are here tonight, Lord, I pray that even now, even this moment would be the time of you drawing them, of your spirit convicting them, and of Christ becoming everything to them.