Don't fight God's timing, work with Him. Dr. Tony Evans offers advice on how to align your life with God's plan for you. Bring God into the equation on everything, because sometimes God's timing involves little things. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
We've all heard it said that timing is everything. Today Dr. Evans looks at Jesus' perfect timing and explores how God's plan unfolds exactly when it's needed. Let's join him in the pages of John chapter 6. God draws all men on some level. We've already read in chapter 1, He is the light of everyone who enters into the world.
So there's always some sort of drawing, and it's what you do with the light you have that determines whether you get more light. That's why Jesus is declared to be the light. So we're drawn, and then you come to Him, and God makes a promise that those who come to Him will be raised up in the last day, referring to the resurrection of the righteous. No one has seen the Father, verse 46, except the one who is from God, He has seen the Father. So no one has seen God the Father except Jesus. Jesus is the manifestation of God the Father. We saw that in John chapter 1, verse 18, that He has come to reveal the Father. So Jesus is God in physical form.
The second member of the Trinity came to reveal the first member of the Trinity in visible, physical form. He now again makes the contrast with the physical in verse 48. The fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. So physical bread will only keep you alive for so long. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. Again, eternal life. So Jesus comes to offer eternal life, and all who come to Him for it, who believe in Him for it, for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life, receive that life. I am—here it is—the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, of Him, he will live forever. Again, eternal life. And the bread also, which I will give him for the life of the world, is my flesh, meaning His sacrifice on the cross.
He's going to give His life, His body, for the sins of the world, which will be the basis for people being able to have eternal life. Well, they were still grappling with understanding, what in the world is this man talking about? In verse 52, because they were—they're still thinking about physical bread, and they're not making the transition to spiritual life. So Jesus says, truly, truly, sure enough, sure enough, for real, for real, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
Now, I want to pause here for a moment. Now, He's talking about spiritual life, so He's not talking about cannibalism. He's talking about spiritual life. That is, the flesh and the blood make up the life. So unless you partake of Me, receive Me, believe in Me, He says, you will not have life in yourself.
Now, I want to make an application point. Communion, body and blood, flesh and blood. But communion is not for non-Christians.
Communion is for Christians. So watch this. He's telling them, in order to have eternal life, you must eat Me. You must partake of Me.
You must believe in Me. That's the get-it. But the reason He gave us communion is an ongoing mechanism for the experience of the life you have once you become a believer. It's the ongoing eating. The one-time eating gives you eternal life. The ongoing eating, reflected in communion, is the renewal of the life you have, just like you keep eating to stay fit and strong physically and nutritionally, to feed your body nutritionally physically.
That's why you keep eating. Communion is the desire to feed your spirit and your soul spiritually so that it is kept healthy because in Jesus's life is life. It's the transference of life. Now, it can become real mystical and understand that, but it is the unique spiritual presence of Jesus Christ. That's why He says, do this until I come, because this is how the soul is fed through the linking with the life in the same way you get saved through the linking of the life. It's communing that keeps life alive. And that's why Jesus said, as often as you do it.
In other words, this is as often as you eat, as often as you spiritually eat, like you eat physically. And so there's an application even to the believer here. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, verse 54, has eternal life.
I will raise him up in the last day. So here is, again, is another important point. If you have eternal life, you get raised up. So there is no loss of salvation possible.
You can't lose your salvation if when you have eternal life, it guarantees you're also raised up. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink, spiritually, because he's talking about eternal life. He said that over and over again.
So he repeats it again. Verse 56, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. So now he's not just talking about getting saved.
He's talking about an abiding relationship. So the same faith decision you make for salvation is the same faith decision you make for His ongoing presence, work, and victory in your life. Communion can do what a sermon can never do.
Okay? And I want to emphasize that because most believers have not caught that yet. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he will also live because of me. So again, Jesus' dependence on the Father—that's His role in history—our dependence is on the Son. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever. So he's talking about spiritual eating and spiritual life and eternal life that comes through faith in Him.
Then He comes. He's in the synagogue teaching as He taught in Capernaum, and His disciples, when they heard this, they said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to this? In other words, we ain't getting this either. Okay, I know they ain't getting it, but we ain't getting it either. So Jesus, conscious that His disciples were grumbling at this—that's because He's omniscient, so He can nose when you whisper—causes—He says, does this cause you to stumble?
Is this tripping you up, what I'm saying? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before—that is, going back to heaven? It is the Spirit who gives life.
So here's a vital connection. The job of the Holy Spirit is to take the life of Jesus and make Jesus alive in you. The Holy Spirit's job is to activate the life of Christ for all who have the life of Christ. So as you eat Christ, spiritually speaking, the Holy Spirit is activated to make Christ come alive, His life come alive in your life.
And you'll see He's gonna say something about that in chapter 7 some more. So it's the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. In other words, you don't get spiritual benefit from the physical. You get spiritual benefit from the spiritual.
The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and of life, so stop thinking physically and think spiritually, because I'm using physical language to make a spiritual point. For there are some of you who do not believe. So they were in the crowd, but they weren't responding to Jesus yet. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was who would betray Him, meaning Judas, who would betray Him.
Jesus knew, of course, He would know that from the beginning. For this reason, I say to you that no one can come to me unless it be granted to him from the Father. In other words, God only grants those to come to Him who are willing to respond to Him, and those who refuse to believe, the Father will not grant to come. In other words, the Father will cooperate with what you decide you want or don't want. He will not force you. He will not override your will to do what you don't want to do. Many of His disciples withdrew—verse 66—who were not willing to walk with Him anymore.
They found some of this too difficult to grasp. So Jesus asked the twelve, do you want to go away too? Simon Peter says, Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. So where else we gonna go?
Where else we gonna go? We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And so He expresses faith in Christ. Jesus said, did I not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil? I chose the twelve, but I chose one knowing you were the devil. Why would Jesus choose a devil? He chose a devil to fulfill the Word of God. See, the Word of God prophesied Jesus' betrayal. So Jesus is cooperating with God's plan, and yet you're gonna see Jesus do something staggering. He calls Judas a devil, but when we get a little further than John, He's gonna offer the devil an opportunity to be forgiven. Dr. Evans will have more on what happens next when he continues our study from the Gospel of John in just a moment.
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That's tonyevanstraining.org. Today's lesson is part of Dr. Evans' fourteen-part sermon series on the Gospel of John, where he delves into the words, thoughts, and actions of Jesus as recorded in this firsthand account of his life. Through this study, you'll gain a better understanding of Christ's divine mission and be encouraged as you learn or are reminded of who the Savior is.
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So, chapter 7. Jesus is walking in Galilee, his siblings from Mary and Joseph, those are his brothers, said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may also see your works which you are doing. So his brothers tell him, stepbrothers, you leave here and go do some more miracles, because see, you'd have had some of your boys walk out on you.
But maybe it'll come back if you go do some of your miracles. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. Come on, Jesus, this is the time for you to get front-page headlines. So you go out there and do your stuff so that people will know who you are. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Go public.
Put it out there. For not even his brothers were believing in him. Now, that's interesting. Jesus says, My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. You can believe whenever you want to, but my time to strut my stuff in the way you want me to do it is not right now. God is big on timing. And the reason God is big on timing is because He's always doing more than one thing at a time. See, He's never just doing one thing. When Joseph was going through all the things he was going through, and he finally says, God brought me to this place, but look at all the things that he had to go through to get to the place God wanted him, including being forgotten. And then when the psalm talks about it, I think it's Psalm 105, it says, He was held in prison until the time. So what I want to point out to you is when Jesus says, My time is not yet at hand, don't fight God's timing.
Work with Him. If you are wanting God to do something, needing God to do something, praying for God to do something, all that's valid. But also including that, His timing. Because you don't want it at the wrong time. Because if you get something at the wrong time, it can be a hot mess, either because it's the wrong thing or the wrong time. So you want to submit yourself to time. James chapter 4, he says, you say you're going to do business this year, and you're coming back that. He said, what you ought to say is if it's the Lord's will. He says, because He says you've got to bring God into the equation. And listen to me, here is a very simple principle. Bring God into the equation on everything.
Not just the big things, because watch this, because sometimes God's timing involves little things. So when his brothers had gone to the feast, he himself went up, he went up separate from them, but not publicly, he snuck in because he didn't want to put on a big show yet. The Jews were seeking him at the feast and were saying, where is he?
Where is this? Because everybody talking about Jesus right now. They want to know where is he? There was much grumbling about the crowd concerning him. So he's the hot topic of conversation. Some were saying he's a good man.
Others were saying, no, on the contrary, he leads the people astray. But when it was now the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. So now Jesus goes in and He's standing in the temple teaching.
The Jews then were astounded saying, how has this man become learned having never been educated? Well, Jesus explains, my teaching is not mine, but His who sent me. If anyone, that means you and me, is willing to do His will, he will know the teaching whether it is of God or whether I speak for myself. Why is this verse important? Because God will only give it if He knows you're willing to do it. You can hear the Bible all day long, but if God knows you don't have an open mind and a heart to do it, you won't get it.
Either you won't understand it or it won't take root so you can pull it off. You must be willing to do His will before you will understand it. So now, in verse 25, some of the people are saying, is this not the man whom they are seeking to kill?
Because as they were, they did want to kill him. Look, he is speaking publicly and they are saying nothing to him. However, we know where this man is from, but whenever the Christ may come, no one knows where he is from. So, but maybe he's not the Christ because we know where he's from.
We know where he's born, we know where he's raised. So they're struggling with, is this the Christ? Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, you both know me and know where I am from. And I have not come of myself, but He who sent me is true, whom you do not know.
I know Him because I am from Him and He sent me. Well, instead of them wanting to find out more, they sought to seize him in verse 30. But no man laid his hand on him because his hour had not yet come.
Oh, I love this. Now, wait a minute. That doesn't make sense. It says, they sought to seize him, but no man could lay their hand on him because it wasn't yet time.
I don't know if they just went over here. It said they sought to seize him, to grab him, but they couldn't do it because it wasn't time. Okay, so watch this now. They had a plan to grab him, but their plan wasn't in God's timing.
Is anybody following me? They had a plan. It was an evil plan, but because their plan wasn't in God's timing, they couldn't carry out their plan.
Now, why is that good news for you? That means nothing can hurt you outside of the will of God if it ain't time, because God controls the clock. He controls the clock. And when you get this view of God, that even the ones who want to seize you, hurt you, do you harm, are limited by God's timing.
That's some powerful stuff. So in learning about Jesus, we're learning about the process and the program of God, His time and the hour had not yet come. But many of the crowd believed in Him and were saying, so He's getting these dual reactions. Some see, some believe. When the Christ comes, He will perform more signs than those which this man has.
There's a question. He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He? So some were saying, well, the Christ is still coming. And that's, of course, what they're saying in Israel today. The Jews are still waiting for Messiah in Israel, because they have rejected Christ. So the Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring.
Everybody talking about Jesus. And they heard these, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. Well, I thought they'd been tired of trying to seize Him by now.
But they didn't send officers to seize Him. Therefore, Jesus said, for a little while longer I am with you than I go to Him who sent me. I'm going to go back to heaven. You will seek Me, and you will not find Me. And where I am, you cannot come, referring to His ascension to heaven.
You can't come now. The Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we may not find Him? Because they weren't thinking spiritually, of course. He is not intending to go to the dispersion among the Greeks, make Himself among the Greeks so we won't be able to track Him and teach the Greeks. What does He mean? What is this statement all about? You will seek Me, and you will not find Me, because where I'm going, you cannot come.
What's He talking about? So this is the great day of the feast, and everybody's thinking religious stuff, verse 37. Jesus says, okay, let me give you this. If anyone is thirsty, thirsty for spiritual life, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This is a rich Scripture.
These two verses are rich. He says, if you are thirsty, you're spiritually hungry, you're spiritually emaciated, let him come to Me and drink. And when you drink, you will have a well, because from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. So the life you're looking for is already inside you, because it comes from your innermost being.
Most of us are looking for life out there. When God says, if you take a drink of Me, you get a well in here. Well, you say, well, I'm going to start pumping.
You know, where can I get this water? What do you mean a well? He explained in verse 39. But this He spoke of the Spirit.
Ah, now we know what He means. Whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So the well in you is referring to the Holy Spirit. So every believer has a well. The Holy Spirit is the well, and from the well comes living water or spiritual life. Jesus is going to say in chapter 10, I've come to give you life and to give it to you more abundantly.
That's this well that springs up into the experience of everlasting life. Dr. Tony Evans, with an encouraging message on God's perfect timing. Well, as I mentioned earlier, all 14 full-length messages in this sermon collection on the Gospel of John can be yours with our thanks when you make a donation to the Alternative Broadcast Ministry. You'll receive the complete two-volume series on CD or downloadable MP3s, as well as a copy of Tony's encouraging book, Dry Bones Dancing. Take advantage of this limited-time offer by calling for details 1-800-800-3222.
Resource team members are on hand 24-7 to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or make the arrangements and get your digital downloads right away at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Coming up next time, Jesus challenges the religious leaders of the day and reveals His divine identity as the light of the world. Be sure to join Dr. Evans as he digs into this powerful message of freedom, truth, and spiritual deliverance, right here on the Alternative Broadcast.
