He Who Gives Life

Please turn with me to the book of John.

We'll be starting in chapter 6.

It'll be on page 892 in the Blue Bibles.

John chapter 6, starting in verse 35.

John 6 · chapter mention

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.

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 I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will,

but the will of him who sent me.

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.

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.

So the Jews grumbled about him,

because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.

They said, Is this not Jesus,

the son of Joseph,

whose father and mother we know?

How does he now say,

I have come down from heaven?

Jesus answered them,

Do not grumble among yourselves.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets,

and they will all be taught by God.

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father,

except he who is from God.

He has seen the Father.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,

and they died.

This is the bread of life that comes down from heaven,

so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread,

he will live forever.

And the bread that I will give for the life of the world

is my flesh.

The Jews then disputed among themselves,

saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Jesus said to them,

Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man

and drink his blood,

you have no life in you.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food,

and my blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood

abides in me and I in him.

As the living Father sent me,

and I live because of the Father,

so whoever feeds on me,

he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven,

not like the bread the fathers ate and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Jesus said these things in the synagogue

as he taught at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it,

they said,

This is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it?

But Jesus,

knowing in himself that his disciples

were grumbling about this,

said to them,

Do you take offense at this?

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man

ascending to where he was before?

It is the Spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

The words that I have spoken to you

are spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning

who those were who did not believe,

and who it was who would betray him.

And he said,

This is why I told you that

no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by the Father.

After this,

many of his disciples turned back

and no longer walked with him.

So Jesus said to the twelve,

Do you want to go away as well?

Simon Peter answered him,

Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life,

and we have believed

and have come to know

that you are the Holy One of God.

Jesus answered them,

Did I not choose you, the twelve,

and yet one of you is a devil?

He spoke of Judas,

the son of Simon Iscariot,

for he, one of the twelve,

was going to betray him.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks for that.

It's great to see you all again this morning.

I saw most of you last night,

and I know it's taxing

for some folks who are busy

during Christmas time,

and I thought it was important

for us to gather on Sunday morning together

because it's Christmas time

we think about family reunions,

and really Sunday mornings

are the family reunions for the church,

but it's really not with the extended family

but with our immediate family,

nuclear family,

the family of God,

and we only get to see each other

once a week, some of us,

so it's something to look forward to,

this family gathering,

and I look forward to it each week,

and we're finally finishing this chapter in John.

We spent three weeks in John 6,

which is longer than usual,

but this passage has so many helpful teachings for us,

and it's probably a little more complex

than the usual passages in John,

so I encourage you to follow along closely as we go.

If you receive,

a lot of people receive gifts during Christmas,

but if you receive something

that's too good to be true,

let's say you got a little gift

and it had a car key in it,

then you might immediately ask yourself,

so is this a joke,

or I mean,

what's the catch, right?

Is this,

it's like a key to like,

I don't know,

remote-controlled car or something?

You know,

it's like,

what's the catch?

Because we've been trained in our life

to know and to expect

that nothing is free,

nothing is truly free, right?

When they give you free music,

you have to subscribe to their newsletter.

When they give you a free burger,

you have to fill out a survey, right?

So when you get a pop-up on your laptop

that says free iPad,

you ignore it

because you know it's a scam

or somehow there's some fine print

that's going to make sure you pay for it, right?

And so that's kind of what we're conditioned to expect

and when it comes to God's gift of eternal life,

there can be a similar sense of skepticism or doubt.

What's the catch?

If it's really free,

if it's all God,

what's,

I mean,

what's in it for Him?

Like,

why would He do that?

And if it's so good,

if it's too good to be true,

why do so many people reject it?

And that's the question

that confronts Jesus

and His disciples in this passage

and the answer He provides

is that

it's the triune God

who gives and guarantees eternal life

and we must depend on Him

because of that.

We have to depend on the triune God

because He's the one

that gives and guarantees eternal life

and there's three things

that fall in that

and the first

is that the Father gives His people

and I'll explain that in a second.

The Father gives His people

and the Son,

secondly,

gives His flesh

and third,

finally,

the Spirit gives His life.

So,

all three persons of Trinity

each have a unique role to play

in giving and guaranteeing eternal life

for people who follow Him.

The Father gives His people,

the Son gives His flesh

and the Spirit gives His life

and I'll talk about them in turn.

The first thing

is the Father gives His people

and what do we mean by that?

Read verses 35 to 38

with me in your Bibles.

It says,

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.

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

I will never cast out.

Right?

So,

we've covered this.

Jesus is the bread of life,

the eternal sustenance.

Jesus is the bread of life.

And that's why

those who come to Him

and believe in Him

never hunger and thirst again.

But then,

curiously,

it says,

some of those people

that were living

like really

right alongside Jesus,

seeing all the amazing miracles

that He does

and listening to all

these amazing claims

that He makes

still refuse

to believe in Him.

And we like to think,

I mean,

if I were there,

I don't think I'd have any doubts.

Right?

I mean,

we were 2,000 years removed

so we might justify our doubts

and say,

but if we were right there,

we'd think,

oh man,

it'd be so easy to believe.

How come these people

don't believe?

Does that mean

that Jesus' mission

was in some way a failure?

I mean,

He came to seek

and save the lost

but He doesn't seem

to be doing

a particularly good job

of that,

at least at this point.

So,

what's going on?

And Jesus provides

the answer in verse 37.

All that the Father

gives me

will come to me.

And whoever comes to me,

I will never cast out.

Right?

So,

Jesus' confidence

in the success

of His mission

is to seek

and save the lost.

It's not in the goodwill

and receptivity

of the people.

So,

He's not going out there

hoping that because

people are ready

and they're ready to listen

and willing to be charitable

that He's going to be successful.

But rather,

His confidence

in His mission

is in the fact

that the Father

gives Him

His people.

Right?

And note the progression

of the verbs,

the logical progression there.

It's the Father,

all that the Father gives,

all those people come

and it's all those

who come

that Jesus never casts out.

So,

there's progression

from Father's giving

to people's coming

and to Jesus not casting out.

I mean,

the positive way

to put that

would be Jesus keeping

or preserving people.

So,

every single person

that the Father gives

comes to Jesus

and every single one

of those people

Jesus keeps

and preserves

so that they are never lost.

right?

So,

that's the,

that's what we call,

theologians call,

and we all call

the doctrine of election.

And verse 44

makes this even clearer.

If you look at verse 44,

no one

can come to me

unless the Father

who sent me

draws him.

Now,

this is the same truth

phrased differently.

Only those whom

the Father draws

come to Jesus.

Really,

there's no way

around this.

I mean,

it's,

it's,

the God,

because if,

unless God draws everybody,

which he evidently doesn't

because some people

don't believe in him,

then this,

this must mean

that he must choose

some to draw.

He draws some

to come to him.

And this doctrine

of election

scandalizes some people.

It's,

it's hard to believe.

They cry foul

or unfair,

right?

So,

why does God

choose some people

to the exclusion

of others?

Isn't that unfair?

Isn't that

unjust?

But let me ask you

this question.

If Warren Buffett

gives 2.8 million dollars

to the Gates Foundation,

which he did recently,

do we have the right

to cry foul

and say,

well,

that's not fair at all.

You should have given

2.8 million dollars

to Trinity Cambridge Church,

right?

Of course not,

right?

I mean,

we,

we,

he has,

he has no reason

whatsoever to give

away his money,

right?

It's,

the fact that he gives

any of it

is his generosity.

We don't have any

claim to that,

right?

This is just because,

just,

just,

and he's the donor,

he gets to do

what he wants with it,

right?

And in the same way,

it's the Father's

prerogative

to choose whom

he will give

eternal life to

because no one

deserves it.

No one's entitled

to it.

He doesn't have to,

he doesn't owe

us eternal life

and because all of us

have sinned

and rebelled against him

and deserve his wrath

and justice.

Yet,

the Father,

in his grace,

chooses some

and gives them

to his Son.

And that's a testament,

the fact that some,

some of us,

we find that sometimes

as unfair or unjust,

that's a testament

not to our sense

of justice

but to our exceedingly

self-righteousness

that we complain

about God's grace,

his,

his right to do so.

So,

the Father chooses

and gives those

whom he will give,

whom he will save

through his Son

and then the Son

keeps them

and look at verse 38

and 39.

Jesus says,

for,

right,

so that's the clue,

the word clue

that tells us

Jesus is about to give

a reason for something.

He's about to give

the reason why

he keeps them.

For,

I have come down

from heaven

not to do my own will

but the will of him

who sent me

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.

So,

the reason Jesus

keeps these people

is because he didn't

come to do his own will

or to choose his own people

but he came to do

his Father's will

and it's his Father's will

that Jesus keeps

the people whom

he's given him

and because of that

Jesus says,

no,

I will never,

I will not lose them

and I will keep them

and that's because

he wants to be obedient.

He's an obedient,

perfect son

and what that means

for us then

is that

if,

if,

anybody

that Father gave

and drew for it

to himself

failed to come to him

failed to attain

eternal life in the end

then that would be

to Jesus'

eternal shame

because he says

explicitly

he came to do

his Father's will

and it's his Father's will

that he never loses

any one of them

and so,

why is this important?

Why is the doctrine

of election important?

Because it's not just

in there

in the Bible

for no reason

it's supposed to

function for us

and it's supposed to

function in two

different ways.

And first,

doctrine of election

promotes humility

because God

sovereignly chose

to save us

and we didn't earn

our salvation

we don't have

anything to boast about

because if we think

that God saved us

because of our

superior intelligence

or greater sincerity

or morality

or even greater faith

then we'd have

cause

to be prideful

but because

God saved us

on his own accord

out of his own

sovereign will

we have reason

to be humble

and grateful

but not to be boastful

and prideful.

It's kind of the difference

between receiving a grant

and receiving a donation.

When you receive a grant

you apply for it

and because you're

qualified for it

more qualified

than other applicants

that's why you got the grant

and when you get a grant

then you have something

to boast about

so you can post it

on your social media

if I won this grant

but when you receive

a donation

you have nothing

to boast about.

It's simply

the generosity

and the will

of the donor

to give you

this donation

so you just have

a reason to be

humbled

and thankful

and that's how

the doctrine of election

is supposed to function

so that even

when we look at people

who are stubborn

in their unbelief

we don't have anything

to boast about

in their presence

because we

were also saved

by God's grace

and his election

drawing us

to himself

and the flip side

of that

is so it promotes

humility

but it also

provides assurance

for us

because it's

if you think about it

this way

if you could merit

salvation

if you could merit

eternal life

it's something that

we did to earn it

then in the same way

you could also

demerit eternal life

you could do something

wrong to mess it up

because you earned it

in the first place

so then we're constantly

in this sense

in this insecurity

just asking ourselves

do I have enough

faith today

have I been

holy enough

this week

have I done

enough good works

in my life

right

see those questions

will never leave us

if we don't have

the doctrine of election

because we believe

in the end

the result

that we came to be saved

we earned eternal life

with our own doing

and so

but doctrine of election

because it assures

that it's God

who gives

and guarantees

eternal life

the Father gives

his people

that tells us

that we have

assurance

we can have

great assurance

in that

because God did it

without our earning

of any of it

in the first place

there's a song

that we sing

sometimes as a church

entitled

He Will Hold Me Fast

I don't know if you guys

remember that

that song really gets

at this truth well

one verse it says

those he saves

are his delight

Christ will hold me fast

precious in his holy sight

he will hold me fast

he will not let my soul

be lost

his promises

shall last

but by him

at such a cost

he will hold me fast

and that's where

our faith lies

not in our own

earning

or deserving

or merit

but in God's election

his sovereign choosing

so that's

provides humility

it provides assurance

and promotes humility

for us

but what if you're

not a believer

what if you're talking

to someone

who's not a believer

and what does that

truth mean for them

does that mean

that they have to

resign themselves

to fatalism

and say well

I don't have faith

so I must not be chosen

and resign yourself

to that faith

that's not at all

what John says

because look with me

in verse 40

this is a necessary

correlator to the

doctrine of election

look at verse 40

with me

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

so notice

there's two wills

of the father

given in this

in this passage

first is in verse 39

it says

it was the father's

will

the same word

that Jesus

preserved those

whom he's given

sovereignly given

and then in verse 40

the same word

will is used

the father's will

that everyone

who looks

on the son

and believes in him

should have eternal life

so there's two wills

what Jesus must do

to keep the people

that father

sovereignly gave

and then what we must do

which is to look on him

and believe

so what

the fact that the father

sovereignly chooses people

does not

abrogate our responsibility

to look on him

and believe

those two things

exist simultaneously

and it's a mystery

it's a paradox

and

a pastor from

the

mid 20th century

named Donald

Gray Barnhouse

you guys may have

heard of him

it's

he had a remarkable

facility for using

analogies to explain

difficult concepts

and he has

a spectacular analogy

about this

that illustrates

this truth

that I want to share

with you

because he'd say

this often

he says

imagine a cross

like the one

that Jesus died on

but imagine

that it's so big

that there's a door

in the middle of it

right

it's the doorway

to heaven

so on

the outside

of the door

it says this

the words

from the book

of Revelation

it says

whosoever will

may come

whoever wishes

whoever believes

they may come

these words

represent the free

and universal gift

the offer of salvation

to all people

right

and now

on the other side

of the door

if you enter

through that door

and then look back

on the other side

of the door

a happy surprise

awaits the one

who believes

and enters

because on the door

it says

the words of Ephesians

written

it says

chosen in Christ

before the foundation

of the world

on one side

of the door

it says

whatsoever will

may come

on the other

side of the door

it says

chosen before

the foundation

of the world

that's

that's how

election

is

it's best

understood

in hindsight

when you've

come to be

saved

when you've

come to have

a relationship

with God

have eternal

life

you realize

that well

all along

God had

chosen me

and had

been pursuing

me

it wasn't

me

it's best

understood

in that

hindsight

so we need

to hold

those two

truths together

and we

could use

the words

of John

in the same

illustration

on one

side

it says

whoever

looks

on the

son

and

believes

in him

may

come

and on

the other

side

it says

all those

whom

the father

has given

right

so this

is how

the father

gives his

people

it's an

important

doctrine

and so

now let's

look then

at how

the son

gives his

flesh

in verses

47

to 59

verses

I should

start with

verses

41 and

42

so the

Jews

grumbled

about him

because he

said

I am

the bread

that came

down

from

heaven

they

said

is not

this

Jesus

the son

of

Joseph

whose

father

and

mother

we

know

how

does

he

now

say

I

have

come

down

from

heaven

so this

is a

classic

example

of

familiarity

breeding

contempt

right

so these

people if you may

recall are in

Jesus' hometown

they're in

Galilee

in Capernaum

a town

within

Galilee

and so

they knew

Jesus'

family

it doesn't

say anything

whether they're

still alive

or not

Mary's still

alive

but they

knew

we know

where you're

from

we know

your family

we knew

Joseph and

Mary

so why

are you

saying

what is

this nonsense

about you

coming down

from heaven

we know

exactly where

you came

from

so that's

their

objection

but the

irony

of this

is that

not only

do they

betray

ignorance

of

Jesus'

virgin

birth

so Mary

at the

immaculate

conception

she conceived

without

intercourse

and

not only

that

Jesus'

true identity

they betray

their ignorance

of that

as well

because

Jesus'

true father

is not

Joseph

but it's

God

God the

father

so Jesus

is unapologetic

and he

continues

verses

47 to

50

truly

truly

I say

to you

whoever

believes

has

eternal

life

I

am

the

bread

of

life

your

fathers

ate

the

manna

in

the

wilderness

and

they

died

this

is

the

bread

that

comes

down

from

heaven

so

that

one

may

eat

of

it

and

not

die

I

am

the

living

bread

that

came

down

from

heaven

if

anyone

eats

of

this

bread

he

will

live

forever

and

the

bread

that

I

will

give

for

the

life

of

the

world

is

my

flesh

so

Jesus

is

saying

that

the

bread

he

offers

is far

superior

to

the

bread

that

Moses

offered

to

the

Israelites

and

there

is

indisputable

empirical

evidence

because

the

people

the

Israelites

who

ate

the

manna

in

the

wilderness

every

single

one

of

them

died

right

and

that's

verifiable

but

Jesus

says

if

you

eat

me

if

you

eat

the

flesh

that

I

offer

the

bread

of

life

that

I

am

that

you

will

have

eternal

life

and

the

reason

why

Jesus

can

offer

us

eternal

life

he

gives

two

reasons

the

first

is

that

he

is

from

heaven

because

he's

from

heaven

he

can

offer

eternal

life

he has

access

to

eternal

life

and

the

second

is

he

came

down

right

because

if

he

were

still

in

heaven

he

would

not

be

able

to

offer

this

to

us

because

he's

a

bread

from

heaven

that

came

down

that

is

able

to

offer

eternal

life

to

us

it

says

in

verse

57

as

the

living

father

sent

me

and

I

live

because

of

the

father

so

whoever

feeds

on

me

he

also

will

live

because

of

me

so

Jesus

heavenly

origin

enables

him

to

give

eternal

life

and

the

fact

that

he

came

to

us

and

to

impart

this

eternal

life

is

what

gives

us

access

to

it

and

so

that's

the

message

of

Christmas

as

we

remember

this

morning

without

Christmas

without

the

incarnation

there

can

be

no

salvation

if

he

didn't

come

2000

years

ago

on

this

day

there

can

be

no

salvation

for

us

because

he's

the

bread

that

came

down

from

heaven

in

there's

a

series

it's

kind of

children's

novel

but

C.S.

Lewis'

series

Chronicles

of

Narnia

I don't

know if

some of

you guys

have read

that

but

in

the

last

book

called

The Last

Battle

there's

this

wonderful

scene

where

there's

a

manger

a

stable

and

that's

kind of

a

portal

to

eternal

life

or

heaven

and

Lucy

one of

the main

characters

says

about

this

it's

inside

is

bigger

than

it's

outside

they say

about

that

stable

and

then

Lucy

says

this

in

our

world

too

a

stable

once

had

something

inside

it

that

was

bigger

than

our

whole

world

that's

such a

cool

way

to

refer

to

the

incarnation

a

stable

had

inside

it

something

that

was

bigger

than

our

entire

world

isn't

that

amazing

that's

what

happened

on

Christmas

day

Jesus

the

creator

of

the

universe

became

in

the

form

of

a

creature

and

if

this

doesn't

cause

us

to

marvel

there's

something

really

profoundly

fair tale

stories

that we

know

of

like

a

king

taking

on

the

identity

of a

commoner

and living

among

them

or

this

prince

becoming

some

creature

like

a

beast

or a

frog

it's

far

more

grander

than

that

it's

more

like

the

author

of

the

book

somehow

becoming

the

character

in

the

book

that's

how

mind

boggling

it is

that

God

the

cosmic

creator

universe

comes

into

this

story

that

becomes

a

creator

to live

among

us

and

it's

because

he

did

that

because

he

was

the

God

man

Jesus

the

son

of

God

who

became

a

son

of

man

that

he's

able

precisely

to

save

us

because

if

he's

not

God

he

can't

rightly

represent

God

or to

offer

forgiveness

because

God's

the

offended

part

and

he's

the

only

one

that

can

forgive

but

at

the

same

time

because

man

who

sinned

humanity

that

sinned

only

God

and

man

in

order

to

be

able

to

bring

salvation

and

give

eternal

life

to

us

and

that's

the

genius

of

the

incarnation

that's

God's

amazing

plan

so that's

1st

Timothy

2

5

it says

for

there

is

one

God

and

there's

one

mediator

between

God

and

man

the

man

Christ

Jesus

because

he

is

man

he

can

offer

his

flesh

to

impart

eternal

life

to

us

and

this

is

another

thing

Jesus

flesh

and

eating

of

his

flesh

right

so

they

say

verse

52

how

can

this

man

give

us

his

flesh

to

eat

I

mean

that's

Jews

of course

abstain

from

cannibalism

as we

all do

right

and

the

entire

Greco-Roman

empire

abstained

from

cannibalism

so they're

asking

this

question

what

do

you

mean

you

can

give

us

your

flesh

to

eat

and

then

Jesus

doesn't

make

it

any

easier

on

them

in

his

response

instead

of

qualifying

it

he

goes

further

he

says

in

verse

53

truly

truly

I

say

to

you

unless

you

eat

the

flesh

of

the

son

of

man

and

drink

his

blood

you

have

no

life

in

you

and

drinking

blood

I mean

cannibalism

is bad

enough

but

drinking

blood

has

been

forbidden

since

Leviticus

17

10

11

since

the

time

of

Moses

drinking

blood

has

been

forbidden

so

the

Jews

reaction

against

what

Jesus

is

saying

you

have

to

eat

your

flesh

and

drink

your

blood

for

us