Irresistible Grace

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If you would, take your Bibles and turn to the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John.
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We will spend some time in the 6th chapter, and specifically on verses 41 through 45, but I will make some comments along the way on some of the other verses in that chapter.
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Before we look specifically at the scriptures, I do want to make some remarks concerning our subject this morning, and I hope you are well aware of the topic.
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Over the last several weeks, we have been seeking to open up and again explain what is called the Five Points of Calvinism, or if you will, the Doctrines of Grace.
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And if you remember, Brother Keith opened up the series, and in it he explained what is meant by the Five Points of Calvinism, and also how they came into being.
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And I don't want to go back down that road.
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If you do not remember or do not know, you can certainly listen to Brother Keith's message on that, of how it came to be that we have what is known in terms as the Tulip, or again as the Doctrines of Grace.
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But I do want to remind us of the previous messages, even as Brother Mike did last week, and I'm sure Brother Keith will do again next week, just to help us to get our minds, if you will, flowing in the correct direction.
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We started with the T in the Tulip, which stands for Total Depravity.
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And we considered how man's natural condition, natural condition apart from God as totally depraved.
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Not that he acts out as much evil as he could, but that his mind being alienated from God is depraved.
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Even as the scriptures say, rightfully so, that man's mind apart from God is warped.
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Or as I heard one preacher one time say, that man apart from God is insane.
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And I agree.
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That was Total Depravity.
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And then we moved, if you remember, into the second in that acrostic, U, which stands for Unconditional Election.
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And you remember, I hope, that what was presented to us was that God, according to his own purpose and according to his own pleasure, chose out of sinful humanity an elect number of sinners to bring them to salvation and a true knowledge of himself by his mercy, according to his will, and to leave, even as Brother Mike spoke last week, sorrowfully the rest to their own just condemnation, having rebelled from God.
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And then if you remember last week's message, which I pray you did, we considered the L, which again in that tulip is for limited atonement or, if you will, particular redemption.
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And as Brother Mike correctly presented, that the Lord Jesus Christ died a substitutionary death.
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And in that substitutionary death, he died in the place of all those that would believe on him.
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And not only did he die for those, but he assured that in his atonement, they will come, they will be saved, they will be raised up, the last day.
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That the Lord Jesus Christ, in his atoning work, did not merely die to make men savable, but he died to save.
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And my friends, there is a world of difference between those two things.
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There is a world of difference between, in that sense, a full atonement.
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An atonement that was full in its ability to save, but in that sense, limited in scope as it is put to the account of the elect.
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There is a world of difference between making men savable and saving.
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And so now this morning, we come to the I in the TULIP, which stands for irresistible grace, or as some would rather call it, effectual calling.
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Irresistible grace or effectual calling.
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And I want to say this, and this is my conviction, that many prefer effectual calling than irresistible grace.
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And one reason that I have why men would prefer to call it effectual calling versus irresistible grace is that when that word irresistible is mentioned, that it begins to get people's hair up on the back of their head, because that word irresistible presents to them or conveys to them something against their own will.
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And I've known people who have entered the pulpit who believe with all their heart in irresistible grace, but they've called it effectual calling so that they don't cause people's spiritual hair or even physical hair to stand up on the back of their head and begin to think that it is a repelling term.
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And I believe it's because they don't have the spiritual stomach to speak the truth.
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But I'm going to call it irresistible grace.
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I want to make it clear as possible what I mean, and I want to give you a definition for you to consider as we walk through this this morning on what irresistible grace is and means.
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And so I termed it this way.
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Irresistible grace is the work of the sovereign spirit of God to bring dead and rebellious sinners to a true knowledge of God through Christ and unite them together under his lordship in the bonds of peace and joy.
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Now, if you haven't memorized that yet, I will read it again.
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Irresistible grace is the work of the sovereign spirit of God to bring dead and rebellious sinners to a true knowledge of God through Christ and unite them together under his lordship in the bonds of peace and joy.
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And that is my purpose this morning is to try to open that up further, even as we look at some of the verses in John chapter 6.
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But again, I first want to make some remarks because I do believe that many people have a wrong understanding of the doctrines of grace, to say the least.
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And if we can begin to have a proper understanding of what is meant in these five points, so-called, and to understand what the doctrines of grace truly mean, we not only will begin to appreciate it, but we will begin to enjoy the truth that's behind it.
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I remember one time when I was at another church and the chairman of the deacons, as I began to, I told you the story, I was asked to fill in at a church until they could find another pastor, and I filled in for 12 years.
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But the chairman of the deacons didn't particularly like my doctrine.
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And he came up to me one day and he said, you're one of those Calvinisms.
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And I said, dude, what's a Calvinism? He says, I don't know, but I read about it on the internet.
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Well, I proved to him what a Calvinist was, and it wasn't long before he packed up and said that was it.
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But you see, many people just don't understand what's behind these truths.
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And so I hope as we look at irresistible grace this morning, we will come away with a better understanding of what they mean, and we will grow in grace because of them.
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And let me also add this, that irresistible grace, irresistible grace is best understood in the light of the other truths.
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In other words, if we do not understand what total depravity is, if we do not understand man's true condition before God, alienated, dead in sin, well then guess what? Unconditional election begins to become very cloudy.
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And if we don't understand that, then when we come to the atonement, we're lost.
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You see, they're linked together.
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God's truths are always linked together, friends.
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They are not isolated.
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They are interwoven, and certainly this teaching of the doctrines of grace, or if you will, the tulip, the irresistible grace truth is vitally linked together to the other ones.
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And so again, I would encourage you to consider all of them, and that's why it was so important that we would listen to all five messages, whether they came from this person or that person, because God's truth, in a sense, knows no person, and let God be true in every man and wife.
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Let me also say this.
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Just as in the atonement, where we set forth that Jesus did not merely die to make men savable, but to accomplish salvation, to save, to secure for the elect satisfaction before God, that even in that, as we consider irresistible grace, it's a special grace that not merely makes men possible for regeneration, but actually regenerates them.
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You see, again, if we don't understand what these truths mean, we're going to get sideways fast.
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Irresistible grace is the special grace of God, and I hope to show you this, and I will mention this many times this morning, and I will word it just that way.
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Irresistible grace is a special grace granted by God to dead sinners, but irresistible grace does more than just put men in a position to be regenerated, but actually causes a man, a woman, or a child, by its power, by its purpose, to make them, even as the psalmist says, willing to come to God in the day of his power.
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Willing to come to God in the day of his power.
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It's a work of special grace, even as the apostle Paul says, it is, what, it is God who works in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
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Irresistible grace is that grace that is not merely, it's not merely intellectual, friends.
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In other words, you can't understand a tulip and all of a sudden say, okay, I got it all.
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Now, you might have it intellectually, you might be able to even speak about it, but you see, true irresistible grace is that which is more than intellectual, and guess what, it's more than just something emotional.
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Irresistible grace is a special grace which transforms us morally, internally, and forever.
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Irresistible grace does not work against the will of a man, my friends.
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Irresistible grace does not work against the will of a man, but rather it creates in the heart and in the soul a desire, a willful desire to come, to behold, to worship, to praise, to serve this great and glorious God.
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And that is why, again, many people are upset when you start to talk about irresistible, and then we get into the whole big conversation about robots and puppets and all this, I'll just call it spiritual gook.
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Irresistible grace does not work against the will, but rather it creates in the heart of man a willing desire to come.
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It's the grace that changes us.
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In Psalm 18 it says this, and you don't have to turn it, maybe look at it later, in Psalm 18 it says this, it says, as soon as they hear of me, they will follow me.
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That's what irresistible grace does, friends.
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Or if you want, that's what effectual calling does.
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It creates in us a desire, and as soon as we have that desire put in us by the Spirit of God, we willingly come.
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As soon as we hear of it in truth, we obey it.
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It's a grace that changes and takes a man who is in and of himself dead in sin, loves the darkness, hates the light, and it makes him with a new set of desires which creates a love for the light, a love for the truth, a desire, a willful desire, a willing desire, a desire that if it were not for the irresistible grace of God would never happen.
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It's so powerful and it moves in the soul and makes men, women, children of all nations and tribes and tongues and cultures and backgrounds and this and that and everything else, and it makes them love the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.
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Let me also add this.
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I will get to John 6.
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Let me also add this.
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Irresistible grace is a Trinitarian work.
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How do you like that word, Trinitarian? I think that's four syllables.
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Simply saying, irresistible grace is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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If God be the one who works in us, then we certainly will come.
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It's a Trinitarian work because rather if you consider the natural man, the man apart from God, what does the scripture say? It says the natural man does not receive the things of God.
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Why? Because they are foolishness to him.
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Neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.
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Listen.
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Consider this.
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To you who believe in the irresistible grace of God, that God made you willing in the day of his power, tell me that you would ever go backwards.
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Tell me that you would want to go back to a point just because you want to be the one who makes that decision.
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Tell me you're not so thankful for the irresistible grace of God.
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If it was not for that, my friends, you'd be dead in your sin, hell bound for all eternity.
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Before we look at the passage in John 6, I want to say this.
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If you do not believe in irresistible grace, the power of the grace of God by the spirit that regenerates, that causes us to come and to willingly receive the truth, if you do not believe in irresistible grace, then I must believe that you believe in irresistible grace.
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If you believe in irresistible grace, that there is this grace of God that brings you to a certain point and then you can basically cut it off, shut it off.
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If you do not believe in irresistible grace, you believe in irresistible grace, and then I would say to you that you make God at best, at best a hopeful God and at worse, you make Him a frustrated God and in truth, you make Him no God at all.
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For you see, the God of the Bible says, I will do all my pleasure.
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If man is totally dead in sin and God unconditionally elects to save by His own mercy and according to His own kindness those that He has chose out for Himself and He sent His Son into this world to die and to take the place and bear the punishment for that elect, and then we come to irresistible grace and you want to say, well God could have done all the rest but at some point I resist, then God is no God at all.
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Or if you want to term it another way, if you believe not in effectual calling, then I take it that you believe in ineffectual calling and if you believe in ineffectual calling, then then again, you make God infinite.
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He can't do what He's purposed to do.
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And you see again friends, remember man apart from grace will never desire to come.
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He won't.
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Why? Because he loves the darkness and he loves those who are in the darkness and he hates the light.
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I'm not making it up.
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I don't have to worry about what I'm saying because God said it.
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And so often you meet people and as soon as you mention the doctrines of grace, as soon as you mention five points of Calvin, as soon as you mention reform, they go crazy.
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Oh no, you're going to lose people that way.
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I'll tell you who you won't lose.
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You won't lose the elect.
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Because again, if you lose the elect, then God at best is frustrated and at worst He's just He's a fool.
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He can't do what He says He can do.
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Will do.
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So with that as a background I want to ask us to look at some verses in John chapter 6 and particularly verse 41 through 45.
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So let us read I'm going to read from verse 35 a little bit further down but particularly we'll look at verse 41 through 45.
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Before we do that let me try to set up the context in the setting here because I think that's extremely important.
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So the setting, if you read the whole chapter Brother Mike even brought this up last week.
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If you read what's behind that earlier in the chapter, you begin to understand that the multitudes have they followed Jesus.
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And they followed Him for two reasons at least.
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One was because He did great signs and wonders and they were amazed that His power, that such power would be given to a man.
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But also because He had fed them.
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Right? And the way to a man's heart is what? It's the way to my heart is very happy with my stomach.
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But anyway, they had seen His great power demonstrated.
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They had been fed by Him in the feeding of the 5,000.
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And so through a series of events where He sends His disciples out in the boat and then He walks on the water and He sees them and then they're at shore as soon as He gets in the boat and they're a little bit confused and we only saw one boat where's the other boats? Anyway, they follow and they come and they're looking for Jesus.
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And so they're excited to see more of this Christ and it moves then into if you will, the great teaching where the Lord Jesus Christ says that He is the bread of life.
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And we could certainly spend so much time on that.
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You see, friends, and get this.
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Jesus is not just the one who brings the bread of life.
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He is the bread of life.
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Again, there's a world of difference between those two things.
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We need to be careful when we look at the scriptures.
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We need to be careful that we're exact because there's thousands and thousands of errors in between saying things that God says correctly and incorrectly.
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And there are multitudes that are lost because of that.
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So Jesus does not just say He brings the bread of life.
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Jesus says He is the bread of life Himself.
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And so what did the crowd do? Well, in response, they asked Jesus for this eternal bread of life.
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In truth, they're not really sure what's going on.
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But nevertheless, with that, just read with me from verse 45.
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We'll read down to verse 45.
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Make some comments and then maybe a couple more verses in the chapter.
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Verse 35.
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And this is the will of Him who sent me that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life and I will raise Him up at the last day.
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And then the Jews then murmured against Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
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And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 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 be taught by God.
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Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes.
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What a glorious passage.
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So many truths.
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So much to feed on.
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So much to consider.
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But again, for our thoughts this morning, we want to consider it in the area of irresistible grace.
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So as I said, the crowd has gathered around.
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They've followed Him.
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They're looking for signs.
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They're looking for food.
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They're looking for things to Jesus to do to satisfy their needs, mainly physical.
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But I want you to notice something in verse 41.
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It says, then the Jews came.
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And I looked at the way that word, that term is used, the Jews.
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And it usually refers to the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the lawyers or the important people, the teachers.
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And so just consider it.
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Now you have the crowds, the multitude that have been following Jesus around.
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Jesus tells them very clearly in verse 36.
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They had asked Him for the bread of life.
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He said, I am the bread of life.
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And then in verse 36 He said to them, I say to you, you have seen Me and yet you do not believe.
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And now here come the Jews, the ruling class, the teaching class, the men who thought that they had the ability to guide others into the things of God.
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That they were really, if you will, the dispenses of grace and salvation.
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Because of so much arrogance and pride, my friends, they really thought they were the teachers of the ways of the Lord.
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And so what do they do first? They murmur and complain about what Jesus says of Himself.
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See it? Verse 41.
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The Jews then murmured against Him because He said, I am the bread of heaven which came down from heaven.
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I want you to think about this.
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My own observation, but I believe I can scripturally support it.
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One of the first workings of irresistible grace.
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Again, irresistible grace being the work of the Spirit of God to transform our desire and our will and to bring us into union with Christ.
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One of the first marks of irresistible grace is that it stops the natural man with finding arguments against God.
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That irresistible grace is the grace of God that melts the heart of man to get him or her to a point where they stop forming arguments and complaining about the grace of God.
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And that's exactly what these Jews are doing.
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They're murmuring, they're complaining.
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Jesus is extending to them the words of life.
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I am the bread of life.
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And what do they do? They complain.
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One of the first marks of the workings of irresistible grace is that it stops a man with finding arguments against God.
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Listen, my friends, if you are here this morning and you are not sure of your eternal state and you are beginning to be interested in the things of God and your arguments against God are beginning to die, that, my friends, is a working of this special grace of God.
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Now, there's also a way for that to be counterfeit because many people will be interested.
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We can go to the parable of the seed and the sower and I can show you where most of those groups of seeds, the one, remember, they received it with joy.
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They jumped up and down.
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Hallelujah.
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Praise the Lord.
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By and by, things of this world choked it and died.
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But one of the workings of the irresistible grace of God is that we begin to be less resistant to truth.
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And that's a marvelous thing.
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In some, it happens like that.
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In some, it happens like this.
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But the workings of irresistible grace will begin to melt the heart against murmuring against God.
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And if you and I could sit here and think back to our conversion, and as the saying goes, some by the fire, some by the flood, what? Some through great trial but all through the blood, each one of us, every one of us has a story, has a testimony, has a witness of how God began to work in us and stop us from our argument and our murmuring and our complaining against who he is and his rule over us.
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And so these Jews are a testimony of many things and one of the things is that they are still bound in sin, haters of God, not willing to cease from complaining and murmuring against God.
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You see, irresistible grace begins to quell, if you will, quell our agitation that God is the only true God.
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Begins to stop us from rebellion.
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And again, friends, irresistible grace is a special grace.
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It's a working of God's irresistible grace.
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How's that? That just came to me.
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But I'm saying that in contrast to common grace.
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You see, common grace is that which God in his mercy gives to every man in some measure and to some extent.
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But what we're talking about this morning is irresistible grace, effectual calling, a grace that has implications for all eternity.
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Because if it were not for that irresistible grace, we would just go on and on and on, finding arguments and complaints and disagreements with God.
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And if you talk to some people, you can tell in a very short time where they're at, because they'll be full of agitation and argumentation against God.
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Well, it's not fair that God did this, and I don't like the fact that God did that, and why does God do this, and why does, on and on and on.
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I tell you, most of those people are not being moved in the right direction, to say the least.
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One of the first marks of irresistible grace is that the soul begins to consider truth in a different way, that the Spirit of God works in us, and we begin to think differently.
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Isn't that what happened to us, friends? And we can't put a, you can't put the dot on the wall always.
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You can't say, this happened, and I know people, and I'm not saying it doesn't happen, and praise God that it does.
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People say, well, I know I was walking down the street one day, and it was three o'clock in the afternoon, and I remember there was clouds to the west, and all of a sudden, the grace of God fell on me, and I willingly looked up and I said, Lord, I love you.
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Praise God, if that's how it works in you.
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But not always.
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But it begins to break down the aggravation and the agitation and the argumentation, and it begins to create in us a desire to know truth.
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And you see that in the scriptures many times.
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Remember when Stephen was about to be stoned? Remember that? And Stephen's long sermon, if you will, his long message about the history of Israel, and he brings them to that point, and then he begins to preach what? Jesus.
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And all of a sudden, they're inflamed.
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Remember what Stephen said to them? He said, they do always resist the Holy Spirit.
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And he even told them why.
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Because they're stiff-necked.
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Because they're hard-hearted.
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You know what irresistible grace does? It takes that rotten, nasty heart of stone and it changes it.
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It takes the graceless, turns them into graceful.
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If you don't believe in the irresistible grace of God, my friends, I don't know what you believe in.
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I guess you just believe that you just decided for God, and God ought to be very happy that you decided for Him.
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That you came to that decision, and although God played a part in it, ultimately you did it.
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Well, I don't know about you, brothers and sisters, but God saved me.
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God's grace broke my heart, changed my mind.
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Took me out of darkness and brought me to life, and He made me willing to come.
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That's why I say do you want to go back? Well, that's the Jews and that's their complaint.
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They're murmuring and they're like rocks.
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Dense and hard as rocks.
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So you know what the irresistible grace does? Irresistible grace makes us pliable.
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How's that? It makes us moldable.
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It breaks down, if you will, all the things that are holding us back, and then it creates in us through the hands of the potter with the clay, it creates in us a different outlook, a different set of desires, a different thought process.
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Just think about this.
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Just think about this scene, by the way.
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This is amazing, isn't it? Here He is, the Bread of Life, the Lord of Glory, the Son of God, the Son of Man, and He's standing in front of them, and He's telling them about eternal life, and they look at Him, and all they can do is complain and murmur and grumble.
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And look at the verse 42, by the way.
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And they said, and this is really cool.
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I'm sorry how I used the term cool, although I'm not really sorry.
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But verse 42, they said, Is this not Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, I've come down from heaven? Now just think about that for a minute.
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They can't see the forest for the trees.
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They can't see past the things of this world.
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They can only see earthly things.
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Isn't this Joseph's son? Well, we know who Joseph is.
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We know who his mother is.
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We even know who his brother is.
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But that He came down from heaven? You know what irresistible grace does, friends? It's the work of the Spirit of God that enables a soul to see things beyond this world.
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Irresistible grace of God is that special grace that enables us to see the invisible and to respond to it, to desire it, to receive it, to love it.
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Again, they can't see past the things of this world.
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They can't see past the things of this life and that's what Jesus told them too.
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He said, you don't believe in me.
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You can't see this.
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You know why we preach irresistible grace? Because it's true.
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How's that? You know why we stand firm on the doctrines of grace? Because they're true.
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Not because of Calvin.
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Not because of reform this or reform that.
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Because it's true.
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Irresistible grace is true.
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You might not agree with it.
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You might not accept it.
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But you'll only prove my point if you resist.
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Irresistible grace is that special grace of God which comes to dead sinners and creates in them a new desire, a new will, a new hope, a new principle.
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They can't understand what Jesus is saying, can they? That's another mark of irresistible grace, friends.
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Irresistible grace is that grace of God that begins to enable us to understand.
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I was telling Candy yesterday, we were talking about, I don't even remember how we got on.
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But I remember when God saved me.
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One day we took a ferry boat.
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We lived on Long Island.
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We took a ferry boat across to Mystic, Connecticut.
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Mystic, Connecticut had an old whaling town and we used to take the kids on the ferry and you go across Long Island town and you go to this and you see all the ships and blah, blah, blah.
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I guess it was nighttime when we came back.
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And I remember, I was standing in the front of the ferry boat.
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And I remember looking up.
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I would say I was regenerated before that point.
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Not very long at all.
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I looked up at the stars and it was a clear night.
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And there were stars over the Long Island Sound like I had never seen before.
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And you know what, friends? All of a sudden my heart had a new desire.
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I can't explain it.
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But it was true.
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It's been true for 45 years.
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And I know it'll be true forever and ever because of the irresistible grace of God which caused me to have different desires.
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You really, and I really need to consider this, how they can't see the forest for the trees, they can't see past the things of this world.
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You know what it made me think of? It made me think of the story in the Old Testament or the account, not just the story.
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Do you remember Gehazi? Remember who Gehazi was? He was the servant of the prophet.
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And there's this scene in Kings where the Syrians who are the enemies of Israel they surround the prophet and they surround the people of God and they got chariots by the way, right? So they're all around the mountains at night and there's all these chariots around.
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And Gehazi gets up in the morning and he has his coffee and doughnut and he goes outside in the tent and he looks and he sees all these chariots of the Syrian army surrounding the prophet and him.
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So what does he do? He runs back in the tent and he gets the prophet and he says he says, Master, Master, the chariots the Syrian chariots, they're all around us.
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Remember the story, the account, and the prophet prays and he says, Lord, open his eyes.
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What does he say? He sees chariots of fire around the chariots of the Syrians.
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Ain't that cool? That was an act of special grace to enable the servant to see what he couldn't see and then to rest and enjoy it.
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And that's what irresistible grace does.
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It enables us to see what we cannot see and then not only to see it but to enjoy it to take it for our own.
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That's why I say if you have arguments against irresistible grace, stop it.
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Just stop it friends.
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It's the most marvelous truth that God made us willing and that we willingly came to see what we couldn't see.
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To be able to behold him like never before.
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Look at verse 43.
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Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur amongst yourselves.
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And I say that to us again this morning.
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If you don't like irresistible grace or effectual calling, stop your murmuring.
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Look what Jesus says in verse 44.
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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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No one can come to me.
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Jesus doesn't say some can't come to me.
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Jesus doesn't say most can't come to me.
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Jesus says no one can come to me.
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No one can understand the truth.
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No one can see the Father who is invisible.
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No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me does what? Draws him.
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Look at verse 37.
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He said all that the Father gives me will come to me.
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Why would they come, my friends? Because in the irresistible grace of God working in them they willingly will come.
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All that the Father gives to me shall come to me and I love the second half, don't you? The one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.
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In verse 44 he says no man can come to me.
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You see if it were not for irresistible grace man not only has no desire for God, he doesn't have the ability for God.
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How's that? Oh boy, you're going back into total depravity.
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I thought we did that four weeks ago.
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Remember I told you they're all linked together.
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Man apart from irresistible grace of God, the overwhelming power of God presented to a soul he will not come until he hears by that special grace the voice of the Son of God.
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And as the psalmist said to you, the psalmist says as soon as they hear of me they will come.
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No man can come to me except the Father who sent me to us.
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It's not just a matter of ability, friends.
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It's a matter of bondage.
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Irresistible grace is the work of God on a soul which changes their will.
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I want you to look at verse 63 as we start to close it.
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Look at verse 63.
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And what's happened is now many of the disciples have gone away.
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They don't like it.
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And then Jesus starts talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood and he totally blows their mind.
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And then it comes down to where many of them leave.
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In verse 63 Jesus says this, it's the spirit who gives life.
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The flesh profits nothing.
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The words that I speak to you are spirit.
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They are life.
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But there are some of you who do not believe for Jesus knew who did not believe.
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For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and would destroy them.
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Therefore I said, I have said to you that no man can come to me unless it's been granted.
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Uh-oh.
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Granted to him by my Father.
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Irresistible grace is a gift of God.
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It's granted to us freely, fully, completely.
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Again, I don't know about you, but I'm so thankful for God's irresistible gift.
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You remember when we looked at this passage in Sunday school this morning for a different reason.
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But in 2 Timothy 2 it talks about, Paul talks about Timothy and he says that the servant of the Lord as he's seeking to correct error.
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He says, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men and apt to teach.
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And then he says, in the hope being that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil having been taken captive by him to do his will.
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You want to talk about irresistible? Let me tell you this, if you're apart from Christ, you are irresistibly in bondage to sin and the devil.
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Your father is the devil.
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That's what Jesus said.
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We're setting forth the irresistible grace of God which takes bound sinners, changes their desire, transforms their minds, renews in them a spirit, gives them, and we'll look at it very quickly if we have time, a new heart and a new set of desires and they willingly run.
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Jesus said, no man can come to me except the father draws him.
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That word draw is a verb.
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I ain't good with grammar, but I know what a verb is.
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It's an action word.
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And Jesus said, no man can come to me except the father draws him.
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And I looked up that word and you know what? It's translated give or given 365 times.
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Check that out.
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So I could rightly say that Jesus said, no man can come to me except the father who sent me gives it to him and I will raise him up the last day.
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Because as soon as they hear of me, they'll follow me.
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Tell me is that how it worked in your life? And one day you're walking in this direction.
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You're in bondage.
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You're following the course of life whatever that course might have been and then somehow in some way the irresistible grace of God worked in you, began to break down your arguments, began to remove your murmuring, your disputing against God and little by little or lot by lot all of a sudden it turned you around and you saw the light of the gospel and that light of the gospel was so attractive that you're running to it.
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And it's a gift of God.
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It's the same word that Jesus used in John chapter 12 where Jesus said, if I be lifted up I will draw all men to me.
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So let me ask you to think about this.
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If that's what it is, it's an action word it's a verb and it really means to impel or to cause to move in a certain direction.
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When Jesus said if I be lifted up I will draw all men to myself let me ask you, when Jesus said that is that a working of irresistible, is that an irresistible call? Or is that a resistible call? When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more and if Christ comes in the twinkling of an eye and returns and draws all men to his judgment seat will it be resistible? Is anyone going to say, nah, I'm not ready.
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No thanks Lord.
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Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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It's no more in any way different from the irresistible grace of God that took us and transformed us and gave us new desire and a new heart.
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And Jesus said I'll raise them up the last day.
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Isn't that great? I don't want to say, I can't go to the other ones because I'll get all but in a greater he who began a good work in us will continue until the day of redemption.
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Can somebody say amen? Thank you.
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And it's all because of the wonder working power the Son of God who so loved us that he gave himself for us and he draws us to himself.
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I was going to take you to Jeremiah, we don't have time.
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But you're reading Jeremiah 31 and that's exactly what it is.
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God says what? I'm going to take out that heart of stone and I'm going to give you a new heart, a heart of flesh and you will, I will be your God and you will be my people.
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Listen my friends, and I'll say it this way if people want to understand the irresistible grace of God that I'm nothing more than a robot or a puppet well guess what, praise the Lord I'll be God's puppet I'll be God's robot.
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He's such a great God, isn't he? I'd rather be a dog keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
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The irresistible grace of God actually creates a desire in us to come.
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Always remember that.
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Always speak the truth in love.
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Don't be ashamed of the truth my friends.
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Jesus said the truth does what? It sets us free.
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It'll set people free.
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Now so you might talk to someone about irresistible grace and they're going to walk away from you, they're going to be mad as a hornet and say I never want to talk to you again.
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I've done that, I've talked to people about the sovereignty of God and seen their veins jump out of their neck and tell me don't you ever talk to me again.
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And guess what, I've seen some that have come to Christ because of the irresistible grace of God.
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And they came willingly.
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So where are you at this morning as we close friends? Where is your heart? Do you desire to come to Christ? Do you desire to know him? Not know about him.
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My friends there are millions and millions and billions and billions of people who know all about God.
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The irresistible grace of God makes a man not only know about God, he makes him desire God and praise God for that.
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So where are you at this morning as we come to the Lord's table and you consider and don't argue over the truth but love the truth.
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Run to the truth, run to Christ.
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Plead for grace.
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It is a profound truth friends and I pray that God will take these messages on the doctrines of grace and not just make us better Calvinists but better worshipers of God.
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Because guess what, Calvin's in heaven and I will be in heaven.
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And you and I need to adorn and love the truth whether it came from Calvin or Arminius or Pelagius or St.
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Augustine or Keith Foskey or Mike Collier or this Yankee from up north.
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May God bless you, amen.
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As we come, I got it, I got it.
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As we come now to the time where we celebrate the Lord's Supper let us consider it and again as we remind all the time fence yourself.
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I mean we'll seek to fence the table in that we continually say it's for believers only and those who are in right relationship with God and in right relationship with the local church but it certainly is open to everyone who believes.
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So let us close with a word of prayer and then our service will come up and we will sing and celebrate the Lord's Supper.
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Let us just pray.
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Our Father and our God, thank you for who you are.
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Thank you for who we are because of who you are.
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Thank you that you are the God who grants irresistible grace.
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A grace that ensures that we willingly will run to Jesus, to the bread of life.
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May we as we remember the Lord's Supper today this day, may we look to him who so loved us that he gave himself for us.
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Who gave himself an atonement for sin.
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May we judge ourselves that we might not be judged of you.
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May you bless us for our remembrance of your great work in Christ's name.
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Amen.