Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to pick up where I began last week
in the book of John, the gospel of John chapter six, talking
about Christ, the bread of life. This is part two of Christ, the
bread of life. And I concluded last week with
John chapter six, around verses 37, 38 and 39. But go back to
verse 35. This is the text that I'm basically
launching out from. And it's where Christ told his
hearers at this point, it says in verse 35 of John six, and
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. And that's a way of talking about
the full, free, complete salvation that comes to God's people in
the glorious person and the finished work of Christ. He's the water
of life. And if you drink from this water,
you'll never thirst again, spiritually speaking. and he's the bread
of life. You eat of this bread, you'll
never hunger again. Christ is the fullness of salvation. He's the fullness of forgiveness.
The forgiveness of sins comes by Jesus Christ, not by anything
we do. I heard a preacher say years
ago, he said that the cost of forgiveness is your repentance,
and that's not true. Now, you may think I'm just splitting
hairs here or being critical, I'm not. The cost of forgiveness
is the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in 1 John 1, the
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, original sin,
past sin, present sin, future sin. And when the Holy Spirit
brings a sinner to see that and believe it, then comes repentance. That's what brings a sinner to
repent of dead works and idolatry and sin. So Christ is the fullness
of salvation. And I was reading these verses.
Let's go back to verse 37. Now this is how Christ relates
His own fullness for the salvation of His people. He says in verse
37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. All that the Father
giveth, giveth me. And I dealt with that last week.
That's the elect of God given to him before the foundation
of the world. God chose the people and placed all of the responsibility
of their salvation upon the shoulders of Christ. And the only way we
know who these people are is what he says right here in verse
37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Have you
come to Christ? Do you believe on him? Rest in
him, repent of your dead works. And he says, in him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Don't use election to try
to play God as if you know things that he doesn't know, or that's
if he's let you in on things that he hasn't revealed. God
knows who his people are. The Lord knoweth them that are
his, Paul wrote one time. But the only way we know it is
as God, the Holy Spirit, under the preaching of the gospel,
brings them to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. And anybody who comes to God,
pleading the blood and righteousness of Christ, desiring salvation
God's way, that glorifies God and exalts Christ and puts us
in the dust where we belong, God will never turn them away.
That's who His elect are. That's how Paul said in 1 Thessalonians
1, 4 and 5, he said, I know your election of God because the word,
the gospel came to you, not just in word, not just hearing words,
but it came to you in power. because the gospel is the power
of God and salvation, not to everybody without exception,
but to everyone that believeth. And to the Jew first, and the
Greek also, or the Gentile, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith, that is, knowledge revealed to faith,
knowledge received and believed, where the Holy Spirit convinces
us, and he says, as it is written, the just, the justified. Those
who are forgiven through the blood of Christ, those who are
declared righteous through His righteousness imputed, the justified
shall live by faith, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Well, look at verse 38. He said,
I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. Now, God's will, the Father's
will, and the Son's will are one and the same. But what Christ
is saying in His capacity as the Savior and Redeemer of His
people, in His humanity, I'm not just doing this on my own.
This is in coherence with the Father. Everything I do, He said,
is right with the Father. The Father and the Son and the
Spirit are all involved in the salvation of God's people. They
each have a different role, a different office. God the Father represents
the sovereignty of the Godhead. God the Son represents the worker,
you might say, the accomplisher. of salvation and God the Holy
Spirit represents the applier of salvation. He applies it in
the new birth. And so Christ says in verse 39
of John 6, this is the Father's will which has sent me that of
all which he has given me I should lose nothing but should raise
it up again at the last day. There's not going to be one sinner
in hell for whom Christ lived and died, was buried and arose
again. I've heard preachers say in their man-made invitations,
altar calls, they'll say something like this. They say, come to
Christ, accept Him as your Savior. If you don't, did He die in vain
for you? Well, my friend, listen, that's
heresy. Christ did not die in vain for anybody. In fact, he
said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all unto me, all of his
people for whom he died, the elect of God, all of his sheep. He's not gonna lose one of them.
They'll be raised up at the last day, he said. In verse 40, now
look here. He says, and this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun with spiritual
eyes now, under the conviction of the Spirit in the new birth,
under the preaching of the Gospel, see the glory of the Son, who
He is, God manifest in the flesh. Do you realize if you reject
Christ, who you're rejecting? You're rejecting God manifest
in the flesh, God with us. That's right. The glory of His
person. Do you see the power and the
success and the accomplishment of His finished work on the cross? He didn't die in vain for anybody.
His death was not an attempt to save sinners if they would
let Him. His death is the salvation of all for whom He died. They
will come to Him. They will be raised again unto
glory. That's what the scripture teaches.
So do you realize, do you see the Son? And so he says, and
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him, if you see him really with
spiritual eyes in the new birth under the gospel, you'll believe
in him. You'll believeth on him. And
he says, may have everlasting life and I will raise him up
at the last day. If God, the Holy Spirit, brings
you to believe in Christ, there's no possibility of you losing
that salvation. These so-called Christians, and
I say so-called because they're false Christians, who believe
that you can be saved and then lost, saved by believing and
lose it by sinning, they don't know Christ. They don't know
the gospel. Their gospel is a conditional
salvation conditioned on them. And their pride feeds that. I
did what I'm supposed to do, but those who die and perish,
they didn't. No, that's not the way it is.
You see, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom
God has sent. So he's not gonna lose them at
all. He's gonna save them to the uttermost,
the scripture says. at coming to God by him. Well,
look at verse 41. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Now, this is Christ, the bread of life. And he said of himself,
he said, I'm the bread that come down from heaven. What's he saying? He's admitting that he is God
manifest in the flesh. He's admitting that he's the
Messiah, that he's the one and only Savior, the one mediator
between God and man. There's no other mediator between
God and men. Mary is not a mediator. She was
the human mother of Christ. That is, the mother of His humanity. She's not the mother of God.
God has no mother. God has no beginning and no end.
In His deity, He had no mother. But He had a mother in His humanity.
But it wasn't because she was sinlessly perfect. No, Mary was
a sinner saved by grace. In her worship, as recorded in
the book of Matthew, she lauded Christ as her Savior. Well, let
me tell you, if you need a Savior, that proves you're a sinner.
Only sinners need a Savior. So Mary's not a mediator between
God and Christ, or between you and Christ, or you and God. The
saints, Paul and Peter and James, they're not mediators. They're
sinners saved by grace. I thank God for them. Thank God
for Mary. But she's not the mother of God.
She's not, listen, she's a sinner saved by grace. She's my sister
in Christ. Christ is the one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Well, in verse 42, It says, and
they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? Well now, Joseph was his adopted
father, not his natural father. He had no natural father. Mary
was the mother of his human nature. And so Jesus, in verse 43, therefore
answered and said to them, murmur not among yourselves. No use
complaining about all that you cannot understand. Look at verse
44. Now listen to this. No man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. Now no man can come
to me, he said. That word can there speaks of
ability. And what he's saying is that
you don't believe, but you need to understand and stop complaining.
Nobody can come to me. Nobody can believe in me except
the father which has sent me, draw him. Now that word draw
is translated drag in the parable that Christ spoke of the drag
net where they cast the net over and drew in those fishes. Now
does that mean that he drags you feet first against your will? No. He drags his people, he draws
them by making them willing in the day of his power. And how
does he do that? Well first look back at John
chapter one. I dealt with this several weeks
ago. But it talks about Christ coming into the world. And it
says in verse 11, he came unto his own and his own received
him not. Now most commentators will say
that means his own nation, the Jews. And it's true, he came
unto the nation of the Jews. He was born a Jew in his humanity
now, without sin, and his own nation, the Jews, received him
not. They knew him not. They didn't
recognize him. There were a few who did. That's the remnant of God's election
of grace out of the Jews. That's God's elect. But as a
whole, the majority of them didn't know him. But this applies to
all people by nature. Even his elect by nature didn't
know him. They have to be drawn to Him,
see? He has to be revealed. Well,
how does that happen? Well, look at verse 12 of John 1. It says,
but as many as received Him. So there are some who received
Him. As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Now
that word power there does not mean ability. Like the word can
over here, no man can come to me, that means ability. It's
the word, the Greek word is the word we get our English word
dynamite from, power and ability. But this word power in verse
12 of John one doesn't mean ability, it means the right or the privilege. In other words, if I claim to
be saved, that means I'm claiming to be a son of God, a child of
God. What gives me the right to do
that? Well, he says it in verse 12,
even to them that believe on his name. I believe in Christ. God has given me the gift of
faith. Now, how did that come about? Well, verse 13 tells us
of John 1, which were born. It came about by birth. Well,
does it come about by natural birth? No, he says not of blood. This receiving Christ, believing
in Him, that comes by a birth, what kind of birth? Not the natural
birth. You're not naturally born into
it, physically born into it. Your pedigree or your bloodline
has nothing to do with it, whether you're Jew or Gentile, whatever. So it's not of blood. born nor
of the will of the flesh. Now, what I believe he's talking
about there, the will of the flesh, he's talking about the
works of the flesh. This new birth does not come
about by natural birth. This new birth does not come
about by the works of the flesh. Okay, well, it doesn't come about
by works. How does it come about? Does it come about by our decision?
Our willingness to receive Christ? No, born not of blood, nor the
will of the flesh, or the works of the flesh, nor of the will
of man. The new birth does not come about
by your, in some kind of a free will capacity, making a decision
for Christ. If you truly make a decision
for the true Christ and believe on him, That's not the basis
or the cause of the new birth. Your decision for Him and believing
in Him is the fruit of being born again by the Spirit under
the gospel, and that's what He says. Look at it again. Which
were born, verse 13, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. Born of God, born from above. That's what Christ said in John
3. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven. He cannot
enter it. You've got to be born again.
Now, how does that happen? We'll go back to John 6, 44,
and let's read these two verses, 6, 44 and 6, 45. It says, Christ
said, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him and I'll raise him up at the last day. If the father
draws you, you'll be raised up at the last day, you can't lose
it. And verse 45, now he goes back to Isaiah 54, and he quotes
from Isaiah. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. In this new birth, under
the preaching of the gospel, by the power of the Spirit, God
teaches a person they're taught of God. It's a teaching, it's
a divine teaching. Now he may use a preacher as
an instrument just like a writer uses a typewriter or a pen to
write but if you leave the typewriter or the pen off by itself there's
nothing going to be written is there? The same way, if I preach
to you and God doesn't do the work sovereignly, invincibly,
irresistibly and powerfully, there'll be no salvation. So
if I preach a message and somebody is brought to faith in Christ
and repentance, that's not my work, even though I was an instrument,
a voice, it's God's work. Salvation is of the Lord. So
they shall be all taught of God. And here's how it comes about.
Here's how God teaches them. Every man, this is verse 45.
Every man therefore that hath heard. Remember he told the disciples,
blessed are your eyes for they see, blessed are your ears for
they hear. In Romans chapter 10, verse 17,
he says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
God gives them ears to hear. That's what he does in the new
birth by the Holy Spirit from the life of Christ. So every
man therefore that hath heard. Now, what does he hear? Okay,
let's look at verse 45. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father. Learned of the Father. What do you mean by that? Well,
learning of the Father. Is God teaching his people through
the gospel, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the glory of his person, and the power of
his finished work? How God can be both a righteous judge and
a loving, merciful, and gracious father. You see, a lot of people
claim that God is their father when he's not. The unbelieving
Jews, the Pharisees, they claimed that God was their father. That's
what they claimed. But over in John chapter eight
and verse 44, listen to what the Lord told them. He says,
you're of your father, the devil, and the lust of your father you
will do. The unlawful desires inspired
by your father, the devil, you do. Well, what were they doing?
They were seeking righteousness by their works. That's the lust
of their father, the devil. And he said, he was a murderer
from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there's
no truth in him. And when he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own. He's just speaking what naturally
comes to him. He is a liar and the father of it. And he says,
and because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. There is a sense in which we
can say that God is the father of everybody by creation. We're all brothers by creation. But in salvation, God is not
the spiritual heavenly father of everybody without exception.
No, sir. He is of his elect in Christ,
whom he gives life and draws to himself. And we're not spiritual
brothers. Not everybody's not my spiritual
brother. We're sinners and we're brothers
in creation, but not spiritually speaking. My brothers and sisters
in Christ, that's my spiritual brethren. That's the spiritual
family of God. So back in verse 45 of John 6,
every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father, how do you learn of the Father? Through the preaching
of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. How can God
be both a just, righteous God and punish sin? Punish sinners
to whom sin is imputed, charged? and yet still be a loving, gracious,
merciful father? There's not but one way, and
that's by his free, sovereign grace based upon the glorious
person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work he
finished as my representative, my surety, having my sins imputed
to Him, my substitute being obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, being raised again because He established the righteousness
whereby God can be both a just God and a Savior, and He's my
Redeemer. That's how. And if you come to
God through Christ, pleading His blood and righteousness,
that's evidence that God is your Father. And so Christ says, every
man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father
cometh unto me. Now, how do I know if I've heard
and learned of the Father? I'll tell you how I know. Have
I come to Christ in the glory of His person and the power of
His finished work as revealed in the scriptures? Have I submitted
to Him as the Lord my righteousness? Do I plead anything but His blood
for the forgiveness of my sins? Do I plead anything but His righteousness
imputed to me as my ground of justification? If I do, then
I give no evidence of having learned of the Father. But if
I come to Him as the Lord my righteousness, my one and only
Savior, my one and only hope, the Lamb of God, If I come to
Him, God manifest in the flesh, then I give evidence that I've
been taught of God, that I've learned of the Father, and I
believe in Him. So in verse 46, John 6, 46, not
that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he has
seen the Father. What he's saying here is you
don't see the Father physically because God is spirit. so he
says in verse 47, he verily, verily I say unto you, he that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. Verse 48, I am that bread
of life. Eternal life, everlasting life. is in the Son of God incarnate,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life. And he says
in verse 49, your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and
they're dead. Now they ate that manna that God rained from heaven.
It was still physical food. And they got hungry again. We
could go back and show that type. It's a beautiful type. But they
died in the wilderness. That manna that they ate did
not give them everlasting life. So he says in verse 50, this
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat
thereof and not die. Christ is the bread of life and
that's eternal life, everlasting life. Verse 51, I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. That's
God's people all over the world. That's not, listen, that word
world does not mean everybody without exception. Because if
it does, then everybody without exception will live forever in
glory. He's talking, he's telling these
Jews that God has an elect people, not just of this nation, but
all over the world. He has Jews and Gentiles. You
can read it all over the Bible. Who is a spiritual Jew? Those
who've been born again. Who's been born again? Those
who come to Christ and believe in Him. He's the bread of life. And He said, I am that living
bread. If you eat of Him, what is that?
That means believe in Him. rest in Him, feed upon Him, live
upon Him. Christ is my life. He's the water
of life. I'll never thirst again. He's
the bread of life. I'll never hunger again. This
is the gospel, folks. This is the way of life. Christ
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh under
the Father but by me. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.