My students come to me all the time with all kinds of conundrums from theology, but they rarely come up and ask the question, why does God save me? It's almost a given. Why wouldn't He save me? Heaven wouldn't really be what it ought to be if I'm not there. The only reason in the final analysis why you're a Christian is that the Father wants to honor the Son.
And from all eternity. He determined that the Son's work would not be in vain. And that he would be the firstborn of many brethren. And so he determined not just to make salvation possible. But God the Father from all eternity determined to make salvation certain for those whom He has determined to give to His Son.
Jesus is the bread of life. And while this is great news, wonderful news, As he declared this truth in John chapter 6, some grumbled. And Jesus explained why not all come to him. The bread of life. This is the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind.
I'm Nathan W. Bingham. Today, we conclude our time in John 6, as RC Sproll has helped us consider Jesus, the bread of life. In the hope that in this season of thankfulness, we would give thanks to God for the gracious gift of His Son. But as this is the final week in John's Gospel, it is the final time that you can request Dr.
Sproll's commentary on John. It's a hardcover volume and it can be yours when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight.
So why is it that some people reject the bread of life? Here's Doctor Sprawl. We'll be reading this morning from John 6. Beginning at verse 35, reading through verse 51. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who 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 the one who comes to me. I will by no means 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 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.
And this is the will of Him who sent me. that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him May he have everlasting life. And I will raise him up. At the last day, The Jews then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 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. Jesus therefore had answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be taught by God. Therefore 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. But most assuredly I say to you, that he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.
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 give For the life. of the world. This week, I got a letter from a woman. Who said in the letter that she had been?
subscribing to Table Talk Magazine for many years, And has been diligently reading through the daily devotions. And this year, two thousand two. The daily devotions have been based upon A commentary on Paul's letter to the Romans written by the late James Montgomery Boyce. The woman went on to say in her letter. That she read the pages.
covering the doctrine of predestination. And she said, I want to cancel my subscription. I will no longer read that magazine. Because I don't believe in predestination. And I thought I'm glad she didn't say she would no longer read Paul's letter to Romans.
and that she was satisfied simply with discarding This daily devotional that we had provided for. But that response to the doctrine of predestination is not unusual, I'm sorry to say. And some people just get very exercised about it. while others who struggle with it will go the second mile and search the scriptures to learn from them. I remind you that when I preached through Romans before we moved over into this building.
And we came to those passages in Romans 8 and in Romans 9. I told you my own pilgrimage of struggling against them. And having a card on my desk while I was a student in seminary that said, You are responsible to believe and to teach what the Bible teaches, not what you would like to have it teach. Because I find even now I still struggle with certain things that are plainly taught in the Word of God. that I don't like.
And I've come to realize that when there's something in the Word of God that I don't like. The problem is not with the Word of God. It's with me.
Now I say this before we come to this very difficult and profound text that I just read for you. A text that those who love the doctrines of grace. can only read with chill bumps going up and down their spine, So magnificent is it. Because we have in this discourse of the bread of life Jesus' pronouncement. That he has descended to this world.
from heaven. And just as manna which perished came from heaven.
So the living bread has descended from the Father's presence. But not all of those who had rushed to listen to Jesus after seeing his miracles, particularly the feeding of the 5,000, are at all pleased. by the content of this discourse. At the end of this discourse, we read that many of those who had been following after Jesus and who had claimed to be his disciples, when they listened to this speech, which is so manifestly predestinarian, That they canceled their subscription. And they walked no more.
with him.
So let's take a few moments at least. to look at some of these difficult Texts. When Jesus announces that he is the bread of life. And told them that those who had seen him yet did not believe. In verse 37, we have this crucial text.
Where Jesus says. All that the Father gives me. will come to me. And the one who comes to me. I will by no means cast out Ladies and gentlemen, if we could just understand the import of this single verse of scripture.
all of the theological battles of the ages over election over a divine sovereignty and human responsibility would vanish. Because here it is in this text. Notice what our Lord said. He's talking about those who will come to him. Who will respond to him?
Who will receive him? who will embrace him. who will place their trust in him. And he says All that the father has given to me Will Come to me.
Now I want us to understand a couple of things about this pronouncement. The first thing is that Jesus is teaching those who are gathered here, including his disciples. That there is a number of people. That the Father has determined That they would come to the sun. They are the gifts of the Father.
to the sun. The deepest theological question that I can think of, the one that I have no answer for, really, that's adequate. Is the question why me? My students come to me all the time with all kinds of conundrums from theology, but they rarely come up and ask the question. Why does God save me?
It's almost a given. Why wouldn't he save me? Heaven wouldn't really be what it ought to be if I'm not there. And we have little aphorisms like, there, but for the grace of God go I. Do we really believe that?
Are we really amazed by the measure of God's grace that He has poured out on us? Can we say with John, Beloved, what manner of love is this that we should be called the children of God? I cannot give a single reason under heaven why God would save me. Other than As the prophet Isaiah gave in his word in chapter 53, That the suffering servant of Israel would see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. That God has determined to honor his Son.
By giving to his son. adopted brothers and sisters in his family. The only reason in the final analysis why you're a Christian is that the Father wants to honor the Son. And from all eternity. He determined That the Son's work would not be in vain.
and that he would be the firstborn of many brethren. And so he determined not just to make salvation possible. And then stepped back and you know, cross his fingers, hoping that somebody would take advantage of the ministry of Jesus. But God the Father, from all eternity, determined to make salvation certain for those whom He has determined to give to His Son.
So our Lord said, All that the Father has given me. Come to me.
Now that's the rock of offense. That's the thing we trip over. That means to suggest that God Did not really intend. To save everybody? My doctor asked me a few weeks ago, RC.
I struggle with limited atonement with the idea. that God did not intend to save everybody. How am I going to handle that? And I said, Well, let me ask you a question. She said, Well, I said, When you prescribe medicine for me, Do you do it on the basis that you cross your fingers and hope that it'll have some?
healing impact on my life. Or do you have a reasonable degree of confidence that the medicine you prescribe will actually affect what you intend it to affect? When you prescribe it, she says, no, it's the letter. I said, but still, you're educated, you're a doctor. But you're still mortal, you're finite, you don't have omniscience, you don't know for sure that the medicine that you prescribe will do what you want it to do.
I may be one of that small percentage of people who has a violent reaction. to that medicine. And you don't know that in advance. But nevertheless, you prescribe it. with great hope.
I said, but let's think about God. You think when God planned his way of salvation? And he just threw some medicine out there. And hoped that some people would take advantage of it. and be healed.
Or did he know The effect that he was going to have, and that he sovereignly determined that there were people who were going to be healed by the medicine of his grace. To honor his son. She said, I never thought about it that way.
So there are some salutary benefits to my illnesses. At least for the sake of my doctor. I wonder if it would be if she could heal my body and I could heal her soul. But I can't.
Now notice how most people interpret this text. The vast overwhelming majority of Christians today are what we call semi-Pelagian in their theology. And here's the way they would write these words. Who come to me The Father will give to me. That's Arminianism.
We come. We decide Then the father Recognizes our decision. and makes us gifts to his son. But that's not the way Jesus taught it. Jesus said.
The ones that the Father has given to me will come to me. Every one of them. And those who come, which are the ones whom the Father gives. Jesus said, I will in no wise cast out.
Now, there's a technical grammatical structure here, and what he is saying so manifestly here is that all that the Father comes to me when they come to me will never be set out, never Be separated from me when they come to me. When the Father gives me somebody, and that person comes to me, they're mine forever. This isn't just unconditional election. This isn't just. Effectual grace.
It's perseverance of the saints with a vengeance. Jesus is saying to them, Those who went out from me Wherever A part of me. If you have it, you never lose it. And if you lose it, what? You never had it.
And none that the Father gives to me will be lost. The only one that will be lost is the one who was the son of perdition from the beginning, referring to Judas. And then Jesus. expounds this even further. And while he expounds it, he confounds.
His listeners. All that the Father gives me will come to me. Again, think about this personally. If you have come to Christ. It's because the Father in heaven Gave you.
To His only begotten Son. Doesn't get any better than that. I have come down from heaven not to do my will. but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of the Father who sent me.
You want to know what God's will is? That of all he has given me, I shall lose nothing. God's will. Is that those whom he gives to the Son, which the Bible over and over and over again describes as The elect. are those who are called.
and chosen by God. And all of those that he has given me, I should lose nothing. but should raise it up on the last day. And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the sun and believes in him will have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. And it's at this point that they complain and they say, Why do you say he came down from heaven?
Isn't this Joseph and Mary's son? We know their family. We've seen them around Nazareth. How can he say he comes down from heaven? Then he goes on and answers them and says, Stop the murmuring.
And he gives this statement in verse 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. and I will raise him up the last day. A place. Put your thinking caps on for just a second.
Remember your grammar. When you went to school, elementary school. Remember your logic. Jesus makes this. Astonishing pronouncement.
And he does it in terms of what's called a universal negative proposition. No man. Which means in the text, no person, this is not just referring to males. Again, a universal negative proposition. which admits to no exceptions.
Now what is it that is universally Negative. How about people? What is it that no man Does.
Well, Jesus says, No man Can you see that? He's talking here about a universal condition due to our fallenness into sin that we call moral inability. There is something that no human being has the power or the ability to do. This is what he's telling these people. He says, listen.
No one. can do something.
Now what is it that nobody can do? Nobody can come to me.
Now he's all said, all the Father gives me will come to me. But nobody even has the ability to come to me. Unless.
Now that little word unless signals. The presence of a necessary condition. A sine qua non, something that must take place before the desired result happens. And in this text, and we'll see it again later, he's saying, nobody has the power or the ability to come to me. Unless the father draws him.
Well, let's unpack that. Nobody can come to Jesus unless the Father does something. And this translation, which I Think reflects more The weight of semi-Pelagianism in the history of the church, then sound translation. uses the word draw. Nobody can come to me, Jesus says, unless the Father draws him.
Now, when we talk about drawing people, we think of flies and honey, and we think of trying to woo or entice or persuade. And he's saying it's not that no one can come to Jesus unless the preacher persuades him, but no one can come to Jesus unless the Father. draws him. If you look at the Greek word here and go to Kittle's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. The translation of this term is the word compel.
So why isn't it here in your English text? For the same reason these people walked away when they heard Jesus give the original story. They don't like it. Because I can say Jesus says, nobody's going to come in unless the Father woos them. Entices them.
you know, tries to attract them to me. No. It's much stronger than it's the same word. That is used in the book of Acts when Paul and Silas are dragged into prison. It's not.
That the guard of the prison got inside the cell and tried to woo Paul and Silas to come inside the jail. I told you when we studied Romans about an experience I had in a public debate at a Methodist or an Arminian seminary in the Midwest. where I was debating the head of the New Testament department on this doctrine of election. And we were looking at this very text. And I was pointing out to him that this word means to compel, not to entice or to woo, and so on.
And he quoted for me an obscure text from the secular literature of ancient Greece where the same Greek word was used to draw water out of a well. And he said, now Dr. Sproul, he said. When you get water out of a well, Do you compel it? Or drag it out of the well.
And everybody roared, you know, and I said, well, you got me there. I didn't even know that that text existed in classical Greek. I said, but let me ask you. How do you get water out of a well? You stand up there and look down and say, Here, water, water, water?
Do you woo it out? Of course not. That water is inert. You have to go get it. It's not able, unless it's an artesian well, to come up out of there for you.
And that's our human condition. And that's what Jesus is saying: we are so corrupt in our hearts. Our hearts have been so hardened towards the things of God. The same thing he was telling Nicodemus: you can't even see the kingdom of God unless God the Holy Spirit. Does something to your heart internally?
Illumines your mind. Changes that heart of stone into a heart of flesh that were before you were completely unwilling to come to Christ and morally incapable of coming to Christ.
Now if the Father wants you to come to Christ for the sake of Christ, He will effectually draw you to his beloved son. And if you are a Christian, That's exactly what he did to you. He brought you. to the bread of life. To the bread.
Who comes down from heaven? Please don't despise. the marvellous work of grace that God has done in your soul, Please don't take credit. for what God has so mercifully done. For you.
by working in you. By removing the blinders from your eyes and the wax from your ears, He's given you the capacity to hear the Word of God. To see the sweetness and the loveliness of the Saviour. I can hardly stand this text. It is so magnificent.
When I sink. That the Father has given me To his son. That the Father has prepared. A bride. For the bride.
And we are that bride. If it be. that we are in Christ. Think on that for a moment. If you are a Christian, The Father has given you to the Son.
What better news is there to hear on this Lord's Day? This is Renewing Your Mind, and that was R. C. Sproll from his sermon series in John. These sermons in John, almost sixty in total, form the basis for Dr.
Sproll's hardcover commentary, and we would love to send you a copy to thank you for your donation in support of this daily outreach when you give online at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight. Retailing for $30, we'll send you this popular resource when you give a gift at renewingyourmind.org or when you use the link in the podcast show notes. Designed for both Bible study and devotional reading, add this commentary on John's Gospel to your library today. And if you live outside of the US and Canada, the e-book edition is waiting for you at renewingyourmind.org/slash global. Thank you.
As our calendars turn to the month of December and Christmas is quickly approaching.
Next time, we'll start a series in the Gospel of Luke.
So hope you can join us next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind.
