We will be reading this morning
from the Gospel of John, chapter 6. John, chapter 6, if you want
to follow along with me. And I begin reading with verse
60. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was
teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, a city named Capernaum. And it says in verse 60 and 61,
many therefore of his disciples, or that is those who seem to
be believers, disciples, when they heard this, when they heard
what he just said, they said, this is an hard saying. Who can hear it? And the Lord
knew in himself that his disciples murmured, and he said unto them,
Does this offend you? And then down in verse 66 it
says, after he said some other thing, that verse 66 says, At
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. In other words, they rejected
what he said. They did not believe what he had been saying, and
they rejected and walked No more with him. They didn't believe
him. Now, what did he say? What were these hard sayings? They said this is a hard saying.
What was it that offended them? What was it he said that most
did not believe and most rejected? Well, most do not believe and
most reject the same things today, the same things that he said.
who God is, who the Father really is, God's sovereign will, God's
sovereign choice of person, Jesus Christ's absolute power over
all flesh, Christ's deity, Christ's particular work of redemption
for those chosen people. Now, the Lord had just fed 5,000
persons. Well, more than that, 5,000 men
as well as women and children. He just fed that many people
with five loaves of bread and two fish. And all that saw this,
all that were present, said in verse 14 of this same chapter,
this is He, this is the One, this is the Prophet. They believed
in Him. And then later they watched His
disciples get in a boat and go across the Sea of Galilee, but
Christ, they saw Him stay behind. But the next day, the Lord was
on the other side of the sea, and he had not taken a boat across. And they were amazed by this,
and many believed in him for these miracles. But the Lord
said in verse 26 of chapter 6, He said, You seek me not because
you saw the miracles, or that is, not just for what you've
seen me do, but basically because you did eat of the loaves and
were filled. You seek me because you got your
belly filled. And so many today are religious
for what they can get out of God, healings and miracles and
material things. Well, they said a little while
later, they said, show us a sign, show us something, do something
special and we'll really believe you. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ,
listen to me very carefully, the Lord Jesus Christ did not
walk this planet trying to get anyone to believe in him or to
believe in God. No, no. He said, My sheep hear
my voice and they will follow me. So he did not walk this planet
trying to get anyone to believe in him or believe in God, nor
is he trying today. to get anyone to believe. Anyway, they said, Moses did
a miracle. It rained bread. Moses gave us
bread. We saw bread actually come from
the sky. Moses did that. And Christ said,
Moses didn't do that. My Father did it. And then He
said this, I am the bread which came down from heaven. Then they said to Him, what are
you talking about? bread come down from heaven.
Then they said, well, give us bread that we won't ever go hungry
again. Show us a sign. Provide our needs
from now on. We'll believe in you. We'll believe
in Jesus if you give us everything we need from this day forward.
We'll believe in you. They were talking about financial
prosperity and provisions. Well, then the Lord began to
tell them what they were and who God is. and who he was, who
Christ is, and why he came. And after he finished talking,
they were upset and they rejected him. Well, what did he say? Now, let's listen to what the
Lord says here in John chapter 6. I hope you are looking at
this, or at least listening very carefully as I read from John's
Gospel, chapter 6, verse 36. He says, I said unto you that you also
have seen me and believe not." He said, you see me, you see
a man named Jesus, a miracle worker, a prophet, but you believe
not. You really don't believe who
I am. Over in chapter 8, he said to
some of those Pharisees, he said, if you believe not that I am
you shall die in your sins." That's John 8, 24. If you believe
not that I Am, that's the same name which Moses heard on Mount
Sinai, I Am, that is, God. Many, if not most, do not believe
that that man named Jesus that walked this planet is none other
than the Creator of this planet. Well, he said, if you believe
not that I am. He said, you've seen me, you
see Jesus, but you really do not believe that I am, that I
am. Well, you really don't believe.
Now, the next verse, John 6, verse 37, is often misquoted. I hear this misquoted so very
much. Preachers are the worst. Misquoting
this verse. quoting only half of this verse. Have you ever heard this verse?
This is the way most read it. "'Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out.'" Have you ever heard that? Well, that's
not all of that verse. You see, half the truth is a
lie, is it not? Half of a verse is a lie, is
it not? Half the gospel is no gospel
at all. Let's listen to what the Lord
said completely. Now, He said, You have seen me. You see Jesus. You see this miracle
worker. You see this one you say is a
prophet. But you believe not. Verse 37,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Did you hear that? And he said it just like he said
it. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. All that the Father
giveth me. What's he talking about? Well,
it's very clear the whole scriptures are full of God's sovereign choice
or election of persons. I read from Ephesians chapter
1, in which the Apostle Paul is writing, he says, to the saints
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. He's talking to believers.
And in verse 4 he says, it is according as he hath chosen us,
as God hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ." That is, made children by Jesus Christ to himself,
and it's according to the good pleasure of God's will. Not man's
will, God's will. God's choice, not man's choice. And it's before the foundation
of the world, he's saying. Now, what could be clearer? What
could be plainer? That God chose some. That God
predestinated these to be His children. God gave them to Christ. He said, All that the Father
giveth me. Well, God gave these persons to Christ to save them,
to come to this earth and save them. You see, they are lost.
They need saving. They are dead. They need raising.
That is what He goes on to say here. I will raise them up. He
is the shepherd giving a sheep. by the great owner of all things,
given sheep. And all are not sheep, some are
goats, but given sheep to feed, to guide, to protect, to die
for, to bring home. This is the whole chapter of
John, chapter 10, is speaking of Christ being the Good Shepherd,
knowing his sheep, and they are known of him. And he knows them
and they know him. Well, he said the Father chose
some to be his children, having predestinated them under the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ. He gave them to me, he
said. He gave them for me to come to
earth and to save them by my righteous life making them holy,
my death paying for their judgment. And then later Christ said, in
John 14 through 16, that he sends the Holy Spirit, God sends the
Holy Spirit, to call every one of those elect sheep. To call
them, that's the shepherd's voice, the gospel is the shepherd's
voice, and all of the sheep hear it. What gospel? Well, what is being preached
right now. And all of these elect sheep
given to Christ by the Father, hear this gospel, repent of their
sins, believe Christ, that is, come to Christ by faith. And
that's why he said, All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. They will believe me. They will
trust me. They will repent of their sins
and see their need of Christ and confess him by the work of
God, the power of God. And in verse 44, look down at
verse 44, he said, No man can come to me. No man can believe. No man can repent. No man can
see his need of Christ. No man can come to me, he says,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And I will
raise him up at the last day, that one who is drawn. No man
can except sovereignly chosen, sovereignly made to do so. Do
I hear anyone murmuring right now at these things? Anyone out
there who's listening to this right now? Do I hear someone
say, but, but, but, but, but murmuring? But what about, what
about man's will? What about this? What about that?
Whosoever will. Well, they did the same thing
back then when Christ said this. In verse 43, Jesus answered and
said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. If there is anything clearer
in Scripture, I don't know what it is, that man is dead in sins. He must be raised. That with
man salvation is impossible. With the flesh it is impossible.
that man cannot, man will not, seek God, will not believe unless
God causes him to do so. Oh, this is written over and
over again. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14 says, "...the natural man
receiveth not the things which are of God, their foolishness
to him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned."
And he said previous to that that God had revealed these things
unto us, unto believers, by his Spirit. What's the point, preacher? Well, the point is God's glory,
not man's glory. God's choice, not man's. God's
power, not man's. God's will, not man's. Christ's
work, not man's. Christ's blood, not man's faith. Well, verse 38 through 40, our
Lord says, I came down to do the will of him that sent me,
and this is the will, the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. I'll raise
them all up at the last day. The Father's will, all given
to me, none lost, all chosen, all given to Christ, all he died
for, all he lived for will be saved. Murmur, murmur, murmur,
they did. Murmur, murmur, murmur. And he
went on to say again in verse, after it was all over, verse
65, he said, I said unto you, no man can come unto me, except
it were given unto him of my Father. And from that time, many
of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. These
are hard sayings, they say. We don't like that. We don't
believe this. God's choosing and God's power and man's inability. Christ's absolute sovereignty.
We don't believe this. Well, he turned to his true disciples,
Peter and the rest, and said, Will you leave? They said, No,
this is life. These are words of life. And
we believe according to the working of God's mighty power. What about
you, hearer? What about you? Until next Sunday. Good day.