Wonder Bread! - Part B

Nicholas Cage said something interesting. The actor, he said, there must be a hole in the soul of my generation.

Bingo. And Nick, guess who put the hole there? God did. That's how it got there. God put the hole in the soul of every person.

Did you know that? Romans chapter eight said, all of creation was made subject to emptiness, futility, vanity. God made us subject to it.

Why would you do that? So that in our hunger, we would feast on the bread of life. Welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. I have a friend who's a rather finicky eater. Once you get to know him even a little bit, you can pretty much predict exactly what he'll order to eat anytime you're out to dinner with him. If you ask him why he orders the same thing so often, his response is, I'd rather enjoy something I know I'm going to like instead of risking being disappointed by something new that maybe I wouldn't like. Well, today in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, Skip Heitzig tells us about something that's nourishing and satisfying. And if we'll just give it a try, we won't leave disappointed.

We'll find out what that is in just a moment. But first, let's see what's going on in the Connect with Skip Resource Center this month. For those who knew Jesus while he walked this earth, the road to discovering and believing that Jesus was resurrected started in disheartening confusion, but it ended in decisive confirmation. And we're excited to send you a special set of resurrection resources by Skip that include five of his finest Easter messages for digital download or CD and a full video titled On the Road by Skip. Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

So it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. With your gift of support of $50 or more, we'll send you a copy of this hope-filled package of five audio messages for download or on CD and the full video On the Road as thanks for your gift to expand Connect with Skip Heitzig to reach more people in major U.S. cities. So request your resource when you give and take a walk with Christ on the road to Emmaus.

Just call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. We continue today in John chapter 6. So open your Bibles and let's catch up with Skip Heitzig as he takes us through verse 50 of this chapter. Here's the sad thing. So many people connect Christianity with the very opposite of living life to the brim.

They see Christianity as something that really takes the flavor out of life, that takes life away from you. I remember when I first became a Christian I told an acquaintance of mine that I had committed my life to Christ and I'm now serving Christ. He turned to me and said, oh I'm so sorry to hear that. Now he was being very snide but I knew what he was saying. He was saying, well I guess your fun life really ends doesn't it? You can't really have any fun anymore because now you're a Christian.

I had to assure him the fun has just begun. This is real life and I think Christians ought to portray that if indeed they're feasting on this bread. Billy Sunday used to say, if you have no joy there's a leak somewhere in your Christianity. Life. So that's the menu. That's what that bread is.

It is Christ Himself and He gives life. Now let's consider the meal. How do we approach the table?

How do we enjoy this meal? Can we only get there by invitation or can anyone at any time just choose to go and enjoy it? Well let's look at verse 36. But I said to you, you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. Now let your eyes go down to verse 43. Jesus said, stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them and I will raise him up at the last day.

It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Now He seems to be saying that on one hand you can only come to this table by invitation of the Father.

He has to call you. He has to draw you. On the other hand He seems to be saying that you just have to believe.

You have to come. That it's a human choice. And you would actually be very true in observing that because both of those truths are written into what we just read. Both are true. It's the same truth from two different viewpoints. One is a divine viewpoint.

The other is a human viewpoint. From the divine perspective God elects you and chooses you and draws you. It's God's doing.

It's His sovereignty. And that's found in some of these phrases like whom the Father has given to me. Or no man can come unless the Father draws him. That's the divine perspective. But the human perspective is that we make a choice.

That's found in some of the language like he who comes to me or believe me or you do not believe in me. So there's two things in play right. Divine sovereignty and human choice. And they do not contradict. In fact this is one of the very unique places in scripture where both of them are found in the same exact verse.

Same breath. Both truths are taught. Look at verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come.

That's election. It's whom the Father gives to the Son. Have you ever thought of yourself as a love gift to the Son? Isn't that a wonderful thought? Every Christian in redemptive history and the purpose of redemption is to collect a group of people and the Father gives that group of people called the bride of Christ, the church, to His Son as a love gift.

You're part of that love gift. But that's divine election. No or all that the Father gives me will come to me. But look at the very next phrase. And the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. Now that's human choice. There's a doctrine and I hope you love doctrine by now and don't hate that word.

I love the word. There's a word called prevenient grace. Prevenient grace.

Some of you have heard of it. It's the teaching that says before man can seek God, God must have sought the man or woman. And in seeking the man or woman, God elects, predestines, chooses, draws from the world but also enables that person to make their own choice and come to Him and cooperate with Him. And both are true by the way. And I know that mystifies a lot of people. How can both be true?

Well here's a little analogy I've always loved. Last week I got on an airplane at LaGuardia Airport in New York and I flew to Dallas. That flight was put on the books before I even chose to get on it. The FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, had determined the destination and the time of that flight. But there were a lot of people on board who made the choice to get on that plane. Number one, they chose to fly. Number two, they chose what airlines to fly on. Number three, they chose what date to fly on. And then once they got on the airplane, they weren't like chained up and prisoners of predestination.

Those people on board could get up and go to the restroom. They could sit and read a book. They could talk to one another.

They could eat like a whole bag of peanuts, about that big, all four peanuts. But they were making choices. While they were living with those choices, all the while that plane was flying to a predestined port. And so both were cooperating together. So what do we do about these two seemingly contradictory truths? I know what we can do.

I know what we can do. Let's fight about it. Let's have the Calvinist versus the Arminian.

They'll draw theological swords and they'll fight it out. They've been doing that for a long time. That really hasn't worked, hasn't got us anywhere. I don't think that's the best way to do it.

I think the best thing to do is twofold. Number one, have a glad heart. Have a glad heart. You know, instead of looking and trying to debate people who don't agree with this point of theology or that point of theology, why don't you just sit back and enjoy the fact that you've been chosen by God? Instead of going, I don't understand. How can God elect? How can God predestinate? How can God choose? Get a clue.

He chose you. Number two, be really stoked about that. Eat up. Enjoy that bread. A glad heart.

Number two, have a gabby mouth. What I mean by that is tell as many people as you can to believe in Jesus Christ. Let the word out. I was in a cab, several cabs in New York City. I was telling every cab driver about Christ. Where were you from? Because you know what?

It's like the world converges there, and these taxi drivers are from all over the globe. It was world evangelism in like a week. And I would sow a seed. I'd plant a seed. So have a glad heart.

Have a gabby mouth. Tell as many people as you can to believe in Christ. And I should add, by the way, in so doing, you will discover whom God has chosen.

Maybe not that day, but maybe later on, that seed will stick. Someone remarked to Charles Haddon, Spurgeon, if you've heard me for any length of time, you know how much I love to quote Charles Spurgeon. By the way, Charles Spurgeon was a devout Calvinist, though he was very balanced. And somebody said to him, if I believed the way you believed about election, I could never preach the way you preach. The man said that because Spurgeon would call people to Christ, tell them to believe in Christ. Tell them they need to make a choice about Christ. So this person said, if I believed the way you believed about election, I'd never preach the way you preach. Listen to his answer. Spurgeon said, if the Lord had put a yellow stripe down the backs of the elect, I'd go up and down the street, lifting up shirttails to find out who had the yellow stripe, and then I'd give the gospel to them.

But God didn't do it that way. He told me to preach the gospel to every creature and that whosoever will may come. That's a good, balanced response. So we've looked at the menu, the bread of life. We've seen the meal and how it is enjoyed. Let's consider now the master plan. What will this bread do?

What are the benefits of it? I remember as a kid, when I heard about Wonder Bread, some of you remember the commercials, Wonder Bread builds strong bodies 12 ways. I never knew what those 12 ways were.

I just knew 12 ways. And I went to their website the other day and I discovered they're still touting how good even their white bread is. This is beneficial. You'll get all the calcium, all the vitamins you need. Well, what will this super bread, this Wonder Bread that Jesus talks about do for people? Well, number one, it'll save you. It'll save you, verse 47. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. That's salvation.

You'll have life because Jesus was the one who conquered death for you, and he promises life. It'll save you. Are you saved? Are you sure you're saved? I remember the first time somebody asked me, are you saved? I didn't have any clue what they were talking about. They said, are you saved?

I said, from what? What do I need to be saved from? And then they explained to me about how we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and what needs to happen.

And as they explained it to me, it's like, well, I'm not how you describe it. You say, well, what does one have to do to be saved? Verse 37, Jesus said, all that the Father gives me will come to me.

You have to come to him. I think that verse was the great hope of Jesus. He knew that when he shared his truth, when he would preach, that not everybody would listen to him, that many would turn him off, that many had no desire at all to listen to that sermon.

But he knew that some would, and he knew that some would respond. And that's the hope of every preacher who pours his life out and his heart out in a message is that he knows not everybody's gonna be into it, but he knows some will. And all that will will come to him. What does it mean to come to Jesus?

Because Jesus isn't like physically here on the earth anymore, so how can anybody come to him? Well, to come to Jesus implies, though it's not written here verbatim, in the rest of the New Testament we discover it means you turn away from sin and you turn to Christ. That's repentance and faith. That you separate yourself from your past sin and you submit yourself to Jesus Christ. That's coming to Christ. You have to surrender, submit, but also separate from sin. Charles Spurgeon again said, you and your sin must separate or you and your God will never come together.

Because remember what Jesus said at the end of his famous Sermon on the Mount? He said, enter into the world he said enter into what kind of gate? The narrow gate. The narrow gate. For wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many people enter therein, but narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and very few people will enter in that gate. It's a narrow gate.

In fact, it's so narrow it's like a turnstile. It only admits one person at a time. There's no two for one special.

There's no family deal. If you believe then we'll just automatically save your whole family. Every person comes one by one and the kingdom of God is built one person at a time. But if you come to Jesus by separating from sin and submitting to Christ repentance and faith it'll save you.

You will have eternal life. Second thing this bread will do is it will satisfy you once you come. Verse 35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger. He who believes in me will never thirst. There is a deep longing in the heart of every single person on earth to have the profound hunger that they have satiated, satisfied. They're looking for something beyond this life that'll satisfy them. There's a deep longing.

Everybody has it. Even great entertainers have that longing. Elvis Presley, the night before he died, he wrote a letter.

It was found in the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. Among the things he wrote in the letter like, I don't want to be around people, ironically he said, I am so alone. I feel so alone. Even great scientists have that longing. Albert Einstein wrote a letter to his friend. He said, it's ironic that I am so known universally but so lonely inside. Even great politicians have that deep longing. Ferdinand Marcos, who was once the president of the Philippines, wrote in his memoirs at the time, his second term as president, he said, I am the president.

I am the most powerful man in the Philippines. But he said, I feel within myself a discontent. Well, even Solomon said that, right? He was the king of Israel. He had it all.

He wrote a book about it. And he said over and over again, vanity, vanity, all is vanity. It's all empty. Nothing on earth satisfies. Did you know that the United States has the highest per capita rate of boredom in the world? Now, we have the most artificial amusements of any country in the world, but we have the highest rate of boredom. How many times have your kids said, I'm bored. Or you said, I'm bored. Or they all said, let's move to another place where there's more things to do because it's so boring here.

And so you move there and you do all those things and guess what? I'm bored because that hole deep inside isn't filled by things and attraction, but by this bread. Is your thirst quenched? If your thirst is quenched, if your hunger is satiated and you're a Christian, do you live like that? Do you show that? Are you the kind of Christian who just sort of walks around, head down, hi, I'm a Christian, life's a drag, can't wait till I get out of here and go to heaven.

If it's good news, show it, show what's so good about it. By the way, you know who put that hole inside of us? And by the way, Nicolas Cage said something interesting. The actor, he said, there must be a hole in the soul of my generation.

Bingo. And Nick, guess who put the hole there? God did. That's how it got there. God put the hole in the soul of every person.

Did you know that? Romans chapter eight said all of creation was made subject to emptiness, futility, vanity. God made us subject to it.

Why would he do that? So that in our hunger, we would feast on the bread of life. That's what this message is all about that Jesus gives.

So it will save you, it will satisfy you. And third and finally, and we'll close, it will secure you. Verse 40, Jesus said, and I will raise him up at the last day. I'll raise him up at the last day.

He says that three times in our text. He says something and then he goes, oh, and I'll raise him up on the last day. He says something else, oh, and I'll raise him up on the last day. And oh, by the way, I'll raise him up on the last day.

Three times. Now why does he do that? Because he's giving to us this ironclad guarantee that eternal salvation is for all true believers, period. It's so ironclad that even when you die, and you will, unless the Lord comes back first, there'll be a resurrection of your physical body. Even in the face of death, it's a guarantee.

It's secure. So it is true, we do like to eat, but have you noticed that not everything we eat satisfies us? You ever had a meal, you go, not so much on that meal. A show of hands, honest hands, how many of you have ever eaten at 31 flavors? Ice cream.

Raise your hand. Okay, pretty good, huh? Okay, I know you're gonna say, well, it's not my favorite.

My favorite, don't care. How many of you have eaten now, show of hands, at 567 flavors? Okay, so I didn't think so, unless you lived in Venezuela. There's a guy in Venezuela named Manuel Oliveras who started an ice cream joint. He offers 567 flavors of ice cream, including onion. Yeah. Chili.

You see, in New Mexico, it's like, yeah. And our question would be what? Red or green? Onion, chili, beer.

I'm looking around to see how many guys are into that. Eggplant ice cream, smoked trout, spaghetti and parmesan, chicken with rice and spinach. Now, can I just say some flavors are just wrong. That's wrong.

Can you go into a restaurant and say, or ice cream joint and say, I'd like two scoops of your onion and one scoop of smoked trout. Not gonna happen. It wouldn't be satisfying. It wouldn't be fulfilling. In fact, even Oliveras said, many of my flavors have failed.

Duh. Like his avocado. He said, I had to throw 90 pounds of avocado ice cream away.

It wasn't smooth enough. And probably after 30 minutes, it'd turn brown like avocados do. But, guaranteed, this bread will satisfy and save and secure you. It will give you the kind of life that people are searching for. Jesus will never fail you as a friend, as a source of nourishment, or as the dispenser of truth. I understand why some would want to try and avoid disappointments in life.

However, there's no reason to avoid Jesus because he won't disappoint. And if you've discovered that to be true, I hope that you'll share that good news with as many as possible. If you haven't discovered that yet, but would like to learn more, please give us a call at 1-800-922-1888. And we'd be happy to tell you more about that. And as we wrap things up today, if you'd like a copy of today's message, you can find it at connectwithskip.com, or you can call us and order one at 1-800-922-1888. Each copy is just $4 plus shipping. Or if you ever have any questions or comments, you can also write us at P.O. Box 95707, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87199. And join us next time as we examine plain truths about the bread of life, right here in Connect with Skip weekend edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.