John Chapter 6:36-58

Obviously, there is a predestination. God calls some. And yet, Jesus proclaims over and over, whosoever will. And it's amazing to me what this verse says when it says, I will by no means cast out those who come.

What an amazing thing. I mean, have you ever stopped and considered that? The first life lesson off the bat is Jesus turns no one away, no one away, the worst sinner in the universe. If they come to Jesus, he doesn't turn them away. He doesn't go, Oh, you know, boy, I've got a lot of grace. But you know, somewhere in your past, you crossed the line. And I'm sorry, I don't have enough grace for you.

That never happens to anyone. As he proclaims whosoever will. I don't know if we really think about that truth enough. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is a senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Today we begin the teaching Rejected from John chapter six.

We have in the studio with us D.A. Brown, one of David McGee's associate pastors, and he's going to talk to us about the good news of the gospel. Bob, it's open to everyone. No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, God wants to do something miraculous in your life today. Are you ready? Well, let's jump right in.

Here's David McGee with his teaching Rejected. Turn with me to John chapter six. We're going verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and continuing on in our study of John chapter six. And we're going to pick it up at verse 36.

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 the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. And what an awesome couple of verses there, huh?

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, it's interesting because this verse actually confirms the absolute sovereignty of God. But if you're a hardcore Calvinist, keep in mind that it also absolutely confirms the free will of man. You see, I think when we began to grab absolutes, and I don't know if you're familiar with these terms, but simplified version, Calvinists believe in the sovereignty of God.

Arminianism believes more in the free will of man. And when they go to the hyperextensions of these things, they begin to discard scriptures and the truth in my belief. Obviously, there is a predestination. God calls some. And yet Jesus proclaims over and over who so ever will. And it's amazing to me what this verse says when it says I will by no means cast out those who come.

What an amazing thing. I mean, have you ever stopped and considered that first life lesson? Off the bat is Jesus turns no one away.

No one away. The worst sinner in the universe, if they come to Jesus, he doesn't turn them away. He doesn't go, oh, you know, boy, I've got a lot of grace, but you know, somewhere in your past you crossed the line. And I'm sorry, I don't have enough grace for you.

That never happens to anyone. As he proclaims who so ever will. I don't know if we really think about that truth enough. Verse 38, for I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. Now look what this says, guys. It says for I have come down from heaven. Now that tells us two things.

If we're looking and we're learning, it tells us two important truths. Number one, Jesus preexisted. He came down means that before He was here on the earth, He was alive in heaven. That's what that means.

That's not an extension. That's not an exaggeration. That's not some quantum leap in logic. He said He came down from heaven, which means He was in heaven before He came down here. And the fact that, number two, He was in heaven.

We, you know, I know some forms of Jewish mysticism think souls float around and they come down, but that's not a biblical teaching. And it's so central that Jesus uses this phrase came down from heaven three times in this passage, 41, 51 and 58, says it three times. He's trying to communicate a truth. His teaching is a little different than Paul.

You know, Paul sets a theme and then begins to go over the theme, goes over it thoroughly. Jesus, a lot of times would repeat Himself. He would repeat this truth that was really important several times.

Here He's repeating this truth. Came down from heaven, came down from heaven. You know, I used to wonder why Jesus repeated Himself like this, but then I had children.

And I figured that one out now, I think, you know. Jesus, when He's speaking a truth to us, will often repeat it several times so that we can get it. Verse 39, this is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

What an awesome comfort. See if you are a believer, you are in the palm of His hand. And I love that song. It says, no power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. What a comfort to know that we're in the hand of God, that God will protect you, God will preserve you, God will bless you and keep you as we often pray here. Verse 40, 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. Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him. Now obviously they have an advantage over us and that they could see Jesus, but Jesus later in the Gospel of John said, blessed are those who haven't seen and yet believed.

And we fall into that category. So with all this truth, what happens to the people that are gathered there that day? Do they go, oh, this is awesome truth. You know, it's rather convicting.

I'm going to have to change my life and make some readjustments here, but this is awesome stuff. Is that what happened? Well, let's read on. Verse 41, the Jews then complained about Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How is it then that He says, I have come down from heaven? Now, they begin to complain. If you're in the King James, they were murmuring.

It's the same thing. You know, complaining makes a murmuring sound. That's why they call it murmuring.

Now I know that nobody in here does that. You know, we've got to be careful. You know, the Word's very clear. We're not supposed to complain. We are not supposed to complain. I know that's challenging.

I know that's challenging. And I understand the Holy Spirit oftentimes in trying to get you to stop complaining, well, the voice of the Holy Spirit will sound a lot like the voice of your spouse. You know, and I'd rather hear a thundering voice from heaven than hear God's, you know, or your kids are old enough.

The voice of the Holy Spirit can sound like your children. You shouldn't complain like that. You shouldn't gossip like that, whatever you're struggling with, and receive it. But they had all this truth, and what did they do with this truth? Well, they began on their way to rejecting it. And what I want you to notice is the first step on the way to rejecting it was murmuring, was complaining. Be careful. Be careful. Because so often when we sit in a service and God gives us truth, we try to discard that truth by murmuring or complaining about something.

Oh, that's a good service. Well, that's rather convicting. Well, that music was just way too loud. That man, I just stand there. That pastor, he doesn't have a robe.

He didn't even wear a tie. I was kind of surprised when the guitar player walked out with the Bible, going to start preaching. That was happening. See, and then what happens? You begin to reject the truth that you're hearing. You're no longer focused on the truth. You're murmured.

You're complaining when God's trying to speak to you, and every one of us has done that. And Jesus understood, the Jewish people understood what Jesus was communicating here when they said, Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph? They understood. When Jesus said, I came down from heaven, He was claiming to be deity. He was claiming to be God.

And that got them freaked out, and that's why they go, Aren't you the son of Joseph and Mary? They understood what Jesus was saying. Verse 43, Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves. Now, I love what the New Living Translation says. John 6 43 in the New Living Translation says, But Jesus replied, Don't complain about what I said.

That's a good one, isn't it? See, Jesus doesn't leave it up to us to pick and choose what we listen to and what we reject of what He says. You were never meant to do that. I was never meant to do that. See, we don't do that here.

We go through the Bible verse by verse. Why? So we can get it all. See, we don't pick and choose and go, Oh, boy, that one's, that was a little offending. We'll skip that one. Oh, and that one's kind of divisive.

Let's not share that one. And you can't do that either. It amazes me that some men have the, they have the arrogance to say, Well, we accept this Scripture. We reject that Scripture. Because, friend, if you do that, you're no longer worshipping God. Somehow you've come to the mistaken conclusion that you think you are God, and you're going to begin to pick and choose in some cosmic salad bar what Scriptures you listen to. Oh, Lord, boy, I really like that part about eternal life and, oh, that abundant life and life abundantly.

Boy, I like that one too. But you know that part about dying to myself and picking up my cross? I really don't like that part. But we do that sometimes, don't we? I'm saying we. I'm not just getting y'all in trouble. I mean, I'm right there with you.

Don't complain about what I said. Verse 44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, that word, draw, is kind of interesting in the Greek. The Greek word for draw is helkio.

It means literally to drag. That's a little humbling, isn't it? Because some of us are under the mistaken conclusion that we were just so spiritual, and there was just that spark of innate human goodness in us that brought us to seek out the Lord. Well, this verse kind of doesn't agree with that, does it? That Jesus drug you to himself.

If you had kids, you probably had to do some dragging at one point or another. That's what Jesus does to us. Aren't you thankful?

Aren't you thankful that he drags you? He drug us out of some difference. He drug us out of some serious trouble for some of us. I'm so glad he did.

I'm so glad he did. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be right back with more in just a moment, but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for them. You need someone to present God's Word to them. Every day, we're presenting God's Word to them here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the Pray for the Lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on Submit, and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. What an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor D. A.

Brown. Hey, Bob, we want to pray for our listeners in these cities in Colorado, Sterling and Yuma, and some cities in Florida, Eastport, Gulf Breeze, Jacksonville, Key West, and Largo. God, thank you for everyone listening today. We pray that they would look forward to hearing from you directly through your Word. We pray that they would share this Word that you give them with others in their life. And Lord, that they wouldn't fear that they're going to make too many mistakes to follow you, but trust that you're going to do the work in them.

And help them get plugged into a Bible-teaching church. Lord, not one that's going to be full of hate or anger, but of love and compassion. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 45. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Another awesome verse. They shall all be taught.

That's great. You know, we're taking steps, guys, to proclaim the Word of God everywhere we can. That's why we have the teachings online so people from all over the world, and they do.

They come from all sorts of countries and visit the website and listen to the teachings. That's why we're doing radio ministry. That's why we're involved with the radio ministry, proclaiming the Word on the radio so that all can hear but look at this, has heard, has learned, comes to him. See, that's the progression.

You can't skip that. Now, the problem is a lot of people think they have heard about Jesus, but what they probably have heard is stale religion, and I think sometimes people reject religion. They reject churchianity, but if we presented Jesus to them, they'd go, oh man, I didn't know. Somebody told me that I just had to be the best I could be, and God accepted that, that I tried real hard. That flies in the face of Scripture. Scripture very plainly teaches, Romans 3, 10, says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Heard about Jesus, and we learn.

Learning is important to a believer to learn how to serve the Lord. Romans 10, 14 says, but how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? How can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?

And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? We've got to be telling people about Jesus. That's why we're so active in teaching and proclaiming the Word of God, not just here in the church but outside the four walls as well. The first part of Hosea chapter 4 verse 6 says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, for lack of knowledge. It doesn't say for lack of vision in this verse. It doesn't say lack of programs.

It doesn't say for lack of anything other than lack of knowledge. Now, you would think with that verse that people would be hungry for the Bible, hungry for spiritual knowledge, but you know, in this day and age you see more and more Christians filling themselves with everything but the Word of God. You see more and more churches focusing on everything but the Word of God. See, when you proclaim the Bible, when you teach the Bible, people hear about Jesus, they learn about Jesus, and they come to Him. And it's amazing how so many people are trying to figure out how to have evangelism, how to do evangelism effectively.

Guys, it's real simple. Teach about Jesus, people learn about Jesus, people come to Jesus. That'd be a short seminar, wouldn't it? Got an evangelism conference.

Teach the Word of God, they'll learn about the Word of God, and they'll come to Jesus. Verse 46, not that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from God, He has seen the Father. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. Now, Jesus, you know, we read this and the saying hindsight's 20-20. We read this and we go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But keep in mind the setting here. Here's a prophet from the Galilee area that is speaking to the Jewish religious leaders, and what he is saying is turning the world right side up. They've never heard teaching like this. And Jesus is saying, you know what, this is the way. This is the way to eternal life, to believe in Jesus, to believe in who He claimed to be and what He did for you. And that's the way to eternal life. Jesus lays it out right there. And, guys, there is no other way.

And I'm not going to complain about that. I'm not going to complain that there's not another way to heaven. I am just grateful and thankful that there's one way and that I know about it.

Amen? Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. And this is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Keep in mind the crowd, what was going on right here, as they wanted to see something. They're like, well, show us some more tricks. Do this. Show us something.

Do that bread thing again. And how often we act like that. But notice what Jesus is trying to do. Jesus is trying to teach them something.

He's trying to communicate something to them. See, we often forget. We think about the miracles of Jesus. We think about the sacrifice of Jesus. But we also need to understand one of the big parts of the ministry of Jesus was teaching.

It was teaching. It was proclaiming these truths to people that weren't aware of them, or didn't know them, or had never heard them before. And Jesus is saying here, you know what? I'm going to lay down my life for you. I'm going to give you my life, my flesh as a sacrifice for your sins. And when you partake of that, you're saved. Now Jesus here compares Himself with manna. The Jews ate manna and died.

If you partake of Jesus, you live forever. The manna was given only to the Jewish people. Jesus was given to the world. God gave manna as a gift. Jesus gave Himself as a gift. And there was no cost for giving the manna, but there was a high cost for Father God to give us His Son. Now it's interesting because manna means what is it in Hebrew. And some people to some people that day, and still to this day, Jesus is a mystery to them. And you had two choices when the manna fell.

You could either pick it up, or you could walk on it. Those are our two choices with Jesus. You can accept Him, or you can reject Him.

There's no gray area. If you're not serving Him and walking with Him, then you are rejecting Him. Or what we spoke of Thursday night, you're committing treason to your King. What will you do? Will you receive Him, or will you reject Him? Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 says, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

You need to come to the point where that sinks into your heart and sinks into your mind. Who loved me and gave Himself for me? That's your Jesus. That's your Jesus. So you can't worship my Jesus. You have to worship your Jesus.

It has to be personal. You can't follow your grandparents' Jesus or your parents' Jesus. You have to follow Jesus, who loved you and gave Himself for you. Verse 52, the Jews therefore quarreled among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So now they've gone from murmuring or complaining to arguing or quarreling. Interesting progression.

It seems like there's trouble brewing with the crowd that day. Let's read on. Then Jesus said to them, Oh, I understand you're seeking, so I'm going to be real seeker friendly to you. And I'm sorry I said anything that offended you.

Is that what your version says? Notice something, guys. This is so important. Jesus didn't all of a sudden say, Oh, you know what? I'm so sorry. I'm obviously offending you guys.

Let me back way off on this. He didn't say that. Now, let me use terms you're familiar with, but I want to be sensitive to somebody who's seeking the Lord. If somebody comes in here and they're trying to search out the truths of Christianity, they're not sure.

They've seen pictures of the church and they've gone, Man, I'm not sure that's a deal. I want to be sensitive to that person. But the best way I can be sensitive to that person is proclaimed unaltered with no shame, Jesus Christ and him crucified.

That's the way that I can be the most sensitive to somebody who is seeking. Not by watering it down to the point that when they accept it, they're not even accepting the truth. They're accepting the watered down version of it. Verse 53, Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Jesus didn't water it down. Verse 54, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. And he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. See, just as we need to eat and drink to survive in this life, we need to partake of Jesus in order to survive eternally, in order to have eternal life.

That's what you have to do. If you don't eat and drink here, you will die. And if you don't partake of Jesus, you will die. And Jesus is couching it in terms that we will understand. And he continues, Verse 57, As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. Now, this is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead.

He who eats this bread will live forever. Now, certainly to the religious Jewish people of that day, when they didn't understand he was talking in spiritual terms, they thought Jesus was talking about cannibalism. Jesus is not talking about them literally drinking his blood or eating his body. He's in spiritual terms here.

And we'll see that in a couple verses. You see, somebody had to die. Somebody had to be sacrificed. And many these days, they walk around and they say, well, I'll pay my own sacrifice. I'll suffer for my own sins.

No, you can't do that. If you do, the price is more than you can imagine. And Jesus said, you know what? I'll be the sacrifice.

I will lay down my life. I will pour out my blood for you. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him. And he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness.

Those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. That sounds good, Pastor DA.

And again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge, in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.