WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:01.679 Amen. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:03.600 Well, good morning, church. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.320 Hey, my name is Justin, and I'm one of the pastors here at Sacred Mission. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.599 It's my joy to bring God's word to you this morning. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:20.000 We are uh kind of in the middle of John chapter 6 and what's known as the bread of life discourse. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:30.239 And so what it flows out of is the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 from just uh five loaves of bread and two fish. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:49.520 And what we see then is this discourse of Jesus and the crowd who was following him in the ways of which he is working to reveal that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, whom the Father has sent, and their continual struggle and disbelief, right? 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.960 Of the claims that he makes, of the what things that he's teaching about. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:01.520 And we're gonna wrap up this bread of life discourse next week as we finish chapter six in the book of John. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:27.920 But this morning, I want us to try and uh look at the text for what it says, but look at it in the bigger picture of the context of which it resides, because we're gonna work through how all of us who are saved, who are in Christ, who have come to belief in him, have done so because of the Father's will and the Son's work. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.000 That's why we would come to faith. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:36.000 That's why we are here in this moment as believers in Jesus Christ. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:37.680 And so we're gonna dive into the text. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:48.319 We're gonna work through some things that might be challenging or difficult for us to understand or believe, but I hope that we see a more beautiful portrait of the gospel from this. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:02:04.879 I hope Christ is magnified in this, and that we are able to walk out of here with a deeper love and affection for the truth of God's word, and that we have been counted as those who might come to salvation in Jesus. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:09.759 So let's look at the very first part of the text, verses thirty through thirty-six. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:14.879 What we would see is this they see, but they don't believe. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:17.919 They see, but they don't believe. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.080 Now, um we read in verse thirty. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:25.439 So they said to him, Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:27.280 What work do you perform? 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:34.000 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:41.280 Now, Jesus had just performed the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand for this very crowd. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:41.680 Right? 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:48.080 They ate of the very bread and fish of which he multiplied miraculously before them. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:03:07.439 But what happens here in the passage is that it flows from Jesus challenging them, that you didn't come after me, you didn't follow after me because uh of belief that the Father has sent me or the signs that you saw, but because you ate your fill, right? 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:16.879 And he challenges them that they would believe that he is the Messiah, that he is the Son of God whom the Father has sent. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:31.840 And so this challenge, this pushback that the crowd is giving to Jesus in this moment is that he would perform more signs, more miracles, as if it would cause faith in them to believe. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:32.319 Right? 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:39.120 Well, it was insufficient that he would perform these miracles and signs, and that faith would arise. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:40.800 They need something more. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:52.960 You see, because of that miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, the crowd was ready to uh ascribe to him as the prophet of whom Moses said would come. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:04:03.120 They were ready to take him and make him king over Israel, but their hearts would not allow themselves to believe that he is the Son of God. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:12.800 When being called to believe that Jesus is the one whom God has sent, suddenly this miracle was insufficient. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:18.319 And it wasn't just this miracle, but other signs that Jesus had given to them. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:28.160 We can know that many of these people had been following the ministry and life of Jesus, and they had witnessed other signs and miracles that he had performed. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:45.199 In fact, in verse 26 of John 6, it says that Jesus answered them, Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, plural, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:50.000 You see, the crowds demanding something greater from Jesus. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:57.759 Another sign to cause them to believe and have confidence that he is the one whom the Father has sent. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.600 As if that's all that it would actually take. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:08.800 Jesus, if you could just do another sign, if you could perform another miracle, then we might believe. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:18.639 But even in the context of the statement, there's a sense of doubt-filled sarcasm that they are declaring. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:24.879 The emphasis in the statement or the question, then what sign do you do? 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:30.079 That we might see and believe you, that what work do you perform? 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.839 The emphasis is on the you. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:40.560 They don't believe that who Jesus claims to be, nor that he could ever perform such a sign that would be convincing enough for them. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:50.560 They call upon the story of Israel being fed in the wilderness by bread from heaven, as they were led by Moses to the promised land. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:59.920 You see, they they may have had their fill at the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, but their stomachs were growing hungry once again. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.839 They hungered for more. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.519 It was not enough that Jesus would feed the multitude once. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.399 They would demand that they be fed daily. 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:15.920 They assumed that it would take a greater work than Moses to actually persuade them into believing Jesus. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:20.720 Yet they failed to see that one greater than Moses was standing right before them. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:22.800 Jesus the Messiah. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:25.680 And he says to them, he responds to them in this. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:34.480 Verse 32 Truly, truly I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:39.439 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:47.519 Jesus works to correct the crowd's blurred vision, to bring clarity to their sight. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:58.000 And he juxtaposes the bread, the manna, that was given to Israel in the wilderness with the true bread that the Father has sent from heaven. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:06:59.439 He himself. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:03.680 He says that the bread in the wilderness, it wasn't given to you by Moses. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.639 That was given to you by God, my father. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:10.480 But even now, he gives you the true bread, which is from heaven. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:15.920 And this bread, this bread from heaven will give life to the entire world. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:20.240 That the nations would know the salvation of God through Jesus. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:29.040 It wouldn't just be for geopolitical Israel, but it would be for the nations to bow their knee to his lordship in majesty. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:39.360 You see, the wilderness bread perished, and so did all of Israel who ate of it, but not be so with the bread that comes from heaven. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:45.759 Verse 34, they said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.199 Give us this bread always. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:08:00.000 You see, the crowd standing before Jesus was much like the woman at the well that we preached on earlier in this series in verse in chapter four. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:04.560 The woman at the well, when Jesus said, I'll give you this water, you'll never thirst again. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:14.079 She demanded that she would be able to drink from it, as if Jesus could lower the bucket in the well and draw forth this natural water to satisfy her thirst. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:21.680 The crowd also is demanding that Jesus let them feast of this bread that they may never grow hungry. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:32.639 But neither the woman at the well nor the crowd standing before Jesus now was able to see that the living water and the bread from heaven that was before them. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:45.039 They couldn't be satisfied simply through consuming what they asked for, only by belief on him who was to give himself to them. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:51.919 Verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:54.799 I am the bread of life. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:01.679 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:10.799 Could you imagine for a moment almost the assumed frustration in Jesus' response to the crowd before him? 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.759 Do you not get it yet? 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.919 I've been trying to help you understand and see that what I'm talking about is myself. 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:21.840 I am the bread of life. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:29.679 The crowd continues, though, to demand signs that they might see, that they might be filled. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:38.240 Their demands, though, only prove that their eyes are blind to the truth, and their bellies, their desires are insatiable. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:40.639 They cannot be satisfied. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:45.440 Jesus makes this point as clear and direct as he possibly can. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:49.360 I am the bread of life. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:10:02.559 You see, there can be no longer any sense that Jesus might be speaking in some sense of spiritual riddle or using some parabolic form as if they wouldn't be able to clearly understand what he's saying. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:07.440 No, he's made it absolutely clear who he is. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:12.960 He is the very bread that the Father has sent to give to the world. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.200 He alone. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:24.080 He alone is the source of life and satisfaction that they long for, but they look for in other places. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:30.559 The call there, the call is clearly made to mankind. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.360 Come to me and believe. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:41.200 Come to me and believe, and in believing, you will never thirst or hunger again. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:46.639 But this call is going to go largely unanswered. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:55.120 The crowd's going to remain in disbelief, and they're going to continue demanding that Jesus do more for them. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:10:59.600 Verse 36. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:08.720 Jesus says, But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.519 He was standing right in front of them. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:21.200 He had performed miracles and wonders before them. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:26.240 He had taught authoritatively the truth of God's word amongst them. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:33.600 But all of this, all of this in and of itself, was insufficient to cause belief. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:35.600 Why? 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.600 Wouldn't you think that this would be enough? 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:47.759 I bet you many of us sitting in this room, if we put ourselves in the shoes of the crowd, would have said, well, that would have been enough for us. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:49.679 That would have been sufficient for me. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:12:09.200 If I had saw Jesus perform signs and miracles, if I saw him take five loaves and two fish and feed over 15,000 people, if I had seen what he had done, if I had heard his teaching and the way that he was revealing the very heart of the Father and His purpose in coming to earth, it would have been sufficient for me. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:11.279 No, it would not have been. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:17.840 You would have been standing amongst the crowd in the same disbelief that they were rooted in. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:28.559 You see, the crowd before Jesus proved one thing that teaching alone would not cause hearing, nor signs alone would cause seeing. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:50.000 Their only hope was in the sovereign power of God to awaken their very hearts, to cause their dead soul to come alive, that they might be able to see and hear the truth of who Jesus was and what he was sent to accomplish by the Father. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:51.360 That's it. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:13:01.679 Jesus actually reveals this truth to us in John 3 as he's engaging with Nicodemus in the middle of the night. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:08.000 He uh helps him understand that it's only by the Spirit that we might actually enter the kingdom of God. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.320 John 3.19 says this. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:13.039 Um, I'm sorry, let's go back one second. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:14.639 I'm getting you you're all helping me. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.759 I appreciate that. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:22.639 Uh uh, it would take the sovereign power of God that they might see and hear. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:25.440 And let's look at this here, John 3.19. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.000 Jesus said in John 3.19, and this is the judgment. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:40.399 The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.000 Here's the truth, church. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:50.240 What we see from the crowd is a reflection of our own hearts in nature. 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:57.759 It's not simply that we cannot see, it's that we refuse to see. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:05.039 There's a more horrific truth than our inability, and it's in our unwillingness. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.720 We love the dark. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:11.759 We love it. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:13.840 We love the dark. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:24.240 And it's because of the state and condition of our hearts that judgment has come upon us and remains on us apart from Christ. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:33.039 A judgment that hardens us and causes us to remain entrapped in the very depravity that we love. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:39.679 You see, we we look throughout the scriptures and we kind of see this dance of language, right? 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:45.919 Of the ways of which we harden our hearts and the ways in which God hardens our hearts. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:49.600 Some of this is most clearly seen in the Exodus story with Pharaoh. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:54.080 And throughout the Exodus story with Pharaoh, you'll see God hardens Pharaoh's heart. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:56.720 You'll see Pharaoh hardens his own heart. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.440 There's almost this divine dance that's happening. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:13.200 But what we're able to understand and process, even through this text, is that it is God's judgment giving us what we love and solidifying our state of blindness. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.039 Let me tell you something. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:23.039 The worst judgment that God can give to you is to give you what you love. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:30.720 Because apart from Christ, we love the darkness. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:38.639 And God's judgment is saying, if you want that over the light, you can have it, and I'll give it to you. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:48.159 That's his damnation, his condemnation, his cosmic justice upon us to give us what our hearts desire. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.080 Apart from Christ, we will only love the dark. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:55.120 And we see this in John 12. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:04.960 Jesus reveals about how the crowd still following him, still remaining in disbelief, yet God's judgment solidifies the darkness of which they love. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.919 We read this in John 12, 36 through 40. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:13.279 When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:22.639 Though he had, look at this, though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:25.360 So that, here's the purpose, right? 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:32.879 He's revealing the purpose behind this, so that the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.679 Lord, who has believed what he heard from us? 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.720 And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:44.159 Therefore, they could not believe. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:17:01.200 For again, Isaiah said, He has, the sovereign God of all creation, has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:09.279 What God is revealing is that his judgment upon mankind is that he gave them the very desires of their heart. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:13.519 They loved the darkness and he ensured they remained in it. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:21.920 You see, the crowd had heard and seen Jesus, but it had not produced belief. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.559 But let me ask you a question. 00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.680 Was Jesus failing in his mission? 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:34.720 Was Jesus unable, too weak to accomplish what the Father had sent him? 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:45.839 Was there any sense of that he was disheartened because his strategy, his mythsiological methods, his tactics seem to be ineffective? 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:48.079 By no means. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:54.480 Jesus doesn't respond in failure or disheartened nature. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:58.799 Jesus responds in confident assurance. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:07.680 You see, they see, but they don't believe for two central reasons. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:16.319 They love the dark, and because they love the dark, God's judgment remains on them. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.119 But there's hope for us. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:25.759 And Jesus is going to illuminate that our hope is found in him. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:31.119 In verses 37 through 40, we see the outcome of will and work. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:35.039 The outcome of will and work. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:49.920 We may tend to assume in this discourse that Jesus was becoming frustrated or disheartened, or there was a sense of failure in mission by the crowd's inability and unwillingness to believe. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:53.920 But that would be us reading something into the text that isn't there. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:01.039 That would be us taking our own feelings and assumptions and trying to apply them to the scriptures. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:07.519 It would be a pitfall of our own assumption to assume such a thing. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:10.480 Jesus doesn't communicate frustration. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.880 Jesus doesn't communicate disheartenment. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.039 He communicates confident assurance. 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:21.839 Verse 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:33.920 There is a deep, deep confidence in the sovereignty of his father. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:49.519 If we can understand this position that Jesus is in, he's performing, first off, he abandoned the glory of heaven to take on flesh and be among us. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.559 He's performing miracles. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:04.559 He is living on mission in front of these people, and all he sees over and over again is massive amounts of disbelief. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:14.160 Jesus is not trusting in the response of the crowd, he's trusting in the sovereignty of his father. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:23.200 And it's a trust, it's a genuine trust that the Father is able to deliver on his promises to his son. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:24.880 Do you get that? 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:30.640 Like, as a dad, I make all kinds of promises I ain't ever gonna come through on, right? 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:37.359 Like I just I just say things that I shouldn't say, and I'm like, kid, I never thought I was gonna deliver on that. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.599 I just try to get you to stop asking me questions. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.799 Um like our kids get disheartened in that, right? 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:46.880 Like every five seconds, they're like, hey dad, remember when you said I remember the I remember the things I said. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:48.960 I'm I didn't plan on doing it though. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.640 That's not the father, that's not the father to the son. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:07.839 The promises of the father are promises that the God of all creation in his sovereign power can and will fulfill. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:15.359 All that the father gives me will come to me. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:26.240 You see, the father chose them of whom would be given to Jesus before the foundation of the world was ever even laid. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:31.920 And it is those of whom the father has chosen will come to Jesus. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:39.119 They will hear his voice, they will see his signs, and it will produce faith. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:44.079 Ephesians 1 4 through 5 shows us this mystery and truth. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:56.079 Even as he, being the Father, chose us in him, being the Son, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.440 In love, he predestined us for adoption. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:06.559 To himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:17.680 We see the beautiful divine interdependency of the Father's will and the Son's work to ensure that all of whom the Father gave the Son will come to him. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:23.759 Jesus isn't in disheartened in mission, he's emboldened in it. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:24.640 And why? 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:28.480 Why would he be emboldened in such perceived failure? 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:34.000 Because it's not about the response of the people, it's about the sovereignty of the Father. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:44.319 And there, in the same breath as Jesus declaring, all whom the Father has given me will come to me, he gives his hearers assured confidence. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:49.279 And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:57.920 You see, Jesus fully and joyously receives all whom the Father has given to him. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:08.640 But the emphasis in the passage is not on the act of Jesus receiving, but it's on the act of his keeping and preserving those whom are his. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:15.759 Jesus will never let one go that the Father has given him. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:27.759 You see, their confident assurance, mine and your confident assurance, it's not on our feeble grasp of him, but it's on his white knuckled grip of us. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:30.319 He will keep us. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.279 We then go into verse 38. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:45.759 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:51.279 Jesus shines this glorious light on the means of such assurance. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:57.039 It's in the interplay of will and work, the Father's will, the Son's work. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:01.119 Jesus has come to do work the will of the Father. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:06.880 Not to work his own will, but to accomplish all that the Father has sovereignly willed for him. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:09.039 And what is the will of the Father? 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:13.039 That Jesus is to accomplish through his finished work? 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:14.240 Verse 39. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:15.680 Jesus shines light. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.720 He reveals what is the will of the Father. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:30.559 This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but I will raise it up on the last day. 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:41.920 The will of the Father for the Son is that he would never lose a single one of whom the Father gave to him. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:43.759 Think about that. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:52.720 When Jesus was praying in Gethsemane before his crucifixion, it's the only time in the New Testament that we see Jesus sweat. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:25:03.920 He sweat in agony, as of drops of blood, as with one last cry, he proclaimed, not my will, but your will be done. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.279 What was that will? 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:17.039 That the cross would be all sufficient to ransom by his blood those whom the Father had given him. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.079 And he wouldn't lose a single one. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:23.200 Nothing. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:24.960 Nothing. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:31.920 The outcome of his finished work will be that all whom the Father given to him would experience the fullness of salvation. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:33.519 And how would they experience it? 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:38.720 That they would even be raised up into resurrection life on the last day. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:45.440 You see, it's not just salvation that we experience now when we come to know the saving grace of God in Jesus. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:52.720 Nor is our salvation fully known as we perish in this life, but enter into the glory of the next. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:26:06.319 The fullness of salvation is known at Christ's return when the trumpet blows and our flesh is raised from the dead into eternal glory that we might fellowship and commune with him forever. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:08.559 That is the fullness of salvation. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:10.160 That is what we long for. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:13.119 And Jesus says, I won't lose a single one. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:21.359 In fact, every single one that the Father has given to me, I'll see it all the way through to the resurrection of their own flesh. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:34.799 Verse 40, for this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:38.480 He doubles down on his purpose and work. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:44.880 Jesus recapitulates the will and work interdependency that we see in the text. 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:52.960 It's the will of the Father that all who behold and believe will have eternal life. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:27:05.599 And Jesus will work in blood and agony to see that the fullness of eternal life is made known to them. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:15.200 You see, the beholding and believing of obtaining eternal life is wrought by the finished work of Jesus through the Spirit. 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:27.200 Getting back to our Nicodemus story, he comes in the middle of the night to Jesus to ask him about who it is that might enter into the kingdom of God. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:34.480 And Jesus shows him that it is not a work of man, but it's a work of the spirit that we might enter in. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:45.039 John 3, 5 through 6, Jesus answered Nicodemus, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:51.039 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:56.319 So what is the outcome of will and work? 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:10.160 The outcome is that us, we would finally behold and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.720 That is the outcome of will and work. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:17.119 Faith. 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:26.799 You see, the Father's will in Jesus' work secures eternal life for us. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:32.640 The Father's will and Jesus' work secures eternal life for us. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:37.039 We want to look at the security that we have in Christ. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:54.000 We want to look at the ways of which he gives us assured confidence of our faith that he has saved us, that his blood has purchased us, that he has accomplished fully and satisfactorily the will of the Father who chose us. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:56.480 All of this is about Jesus. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:58.400 None of this is about us. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:09.119 We are just beneficiaries, recipients of such divine grace that we would be brought in, adopted as children into his family. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:20.319 And so what we see in this text is the beautiful display of a gospel truth, a sound doctrine called definite atonement. 00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:22.240 Definite atonement. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:26.799 Here's the functional definition of what definite atonement means. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:45.920 In the death of Jesus Christ, the triune God intended to achieve the redemption of every person given to the Son by the Father in eternity past, and to apply the accomplishments of his sacrifice to each of them by the Spirit. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:48.960 This is a gospel truth. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:55.119 This is what we find our comfort, our assurance, our security in. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:08.640 When we look at the triune nature of salvation and redemptive work, we see that it's the Father who wills it, it's the Son who accomplishes it, and it's the Spirit who applies it. 00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:22.960 And we are but recipients of such work, of such predestination and election, of such finished work of satisfaction on the cross, and the work of the Spirit raising us to new life. 00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:42.559 The work of Jesus was to accomplish the will of the Father, and it's in the perfect obedience, in the all-fulfilling work of his life, death, burial, and resurrection that salvation is assured to the one who does behold and believe in him. 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:53.920 You see, the obedience of the Son stands behind the assurance that those whom the Father has given to the Son will believe. 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:58.480 Not just believe, but will be kept and preserved to the end. 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:03.440 Not only that, but will be resurrected in the flesh on the last day. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:05.680 Let me tell you something, church. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:19.440 If one person that the Father gave to the Son does not come to know the fullness of his salvation, it will end to the Son's eternal shame. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:27.599 It'll be his eternal shame because it's only from two possible realities. 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:41.359 Either the son was incapable and too weak to accomplish what the father willed him to do, or he was rebellious and disobedient to what the father had called him to do. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:48.000 And both of those are unthinkable realities for us who would receive his salvation. 00:31:48.160 --> 00:32:00.960 I don't serve a God who's unable to fulfill and accomplish his divine will, nor do I serve a son and savior who would be in rebellion and disobedience to his father. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:09.680 No, I serve a God who is able to accomplish all that he wills that leads to my own salvation. 00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:12.720 That's the God I serve. 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:15.920 J.I. 00:32:16.079 --> 00:32:24.960 Packer, in his essay, Saved by His Precious Blood, an introduction to John Owen's death of death, says this. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:40.400 Calvary, in other words, not merely made possible the salvation of those whom Christ died, it ensured that they would be brought to faith and their salvation made actual. 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:44.880 Church, it's simply this anthem. 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:49.759 God saves sinners, the cross saves. 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:52.799 That's our anthem. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:55.759 That's our confidence and assurance. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:01.200 God truly saves sinners and truly the cross saves. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:08.960 I mean, look at the definite nature of all the promises that Jesus declares in this discourse. 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:11.839 There's three clear promises that he makes. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:18.240 Number one, all who believe, all who believe will never hunger or thirst. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:21.920 All the Father has given will come to me. 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:25.359 All who come to me, I will never cast out. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:32.480 This all-encompassing reality of what his work accomplished in fulfilling the will of the Father. 00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:38.480 We who behold and believe are eternally secure in Jesus. 00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:44.640 Because our salvation does not stand on the unstable ground of our own will and works. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:49.279 If it were so, we would be utterly hopeless and full of despair. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:57.920 It stands on the solid foundation of the Father's sovereign will and the Son's all-sufficient finished work for us. 00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:04.240 Church, I'm trying to build up your confidence in Christ, trying to encourage you. 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:05.680 This ain't about you. 00:34:05.839 --> 00:34:10.239 It doesn't matter about your will or your work, but only about his. 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:13.920 This is where we derive hope and strength. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:23.840 Yet many of us still experience an absence of this security, of this assured confidence that Jesus promises to us. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:27.119 Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:30.800 And I don't want to take lightly those insecurities. 00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:36.320 I don't want to take lightly those times where you have doubted your own salvation. 00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:53.119 Whether it's because of ongoing sin in your life, if it's because of an absence of passion for his word and prayer and fellowship with him, whatever the means is, I know all of us in this room, if we count ourselves as Christians, have doubted that very faith. 00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:56.719 I'm in the same boat with you. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:03.039 But let me try to help us be encouraged and understand why that might be. 00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:08.320 You see, we feel insecure in our salvation. 00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:17.280 And I don't want to dismiss the reasons or the severity of when we feel that as his people. 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:19.840 But I want to try to encourage us in this. 00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:31.039 There's at least in the ESV translation of the scriptures, there are four passages that include the phrase before the foundations of the world. 00:35:31.199 --> 00:35:34.079 There are four passages that include this phrase. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:43.280 John 17, 24 speaks of the love that the Father has for the Son before the foundations of the world. 00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.760 He says, Father, you loved me even before the foundation of the world. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:59.360 Ephesians 1.4 speaks of God the Father choosing us to be his own in Christ before the foundation of the world. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:07.440 1 Peter 1.20 talks about the foreknowledge of the Son who would be sent before the foundation of the world. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:14.480 Revelation 13, 8 talks about those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:17.280 Here's what he's trying to help us understand. 00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:23.039 Before the foundation of the world, the Father so loved the Son. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:36.239 And in his love for the Son, and in his desire to ransom a people of his own possession, he destined that the Son would be sent to be their redemption and rescue. 00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:46.800 And in that, he chose a people of whom the Son would save through his all-satisfactory crucifixion and atoning work. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:56.239 And those names would be ever written, unable to be erased, removed, torn out, thrown away from the Lamb's book of life. 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:10.639 Here's what God is trying to show us in this it's that his will and work is a greater foundation of security and assurance for us than the very bedrock of which the earth has been established. 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:14.800 Do you understand the gravitas, the weight of that? 00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:25.039 When you take a sure footing out on this ground, on this rocky soil, you have such confidence that your foot will fall and you'll have stability underneath of it. 00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:39.280 God is saying that his love for his son, his purpose in saving you through his finished work, his choosing of you to be his own people is more assured than that next footstep that you take. 00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:46.159 My confidence is in his will and his son's work. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:47.679 It is not in me. 00:37:48.239 --> 00:38:03.360 You see, ultimately, church, I believe we feel insecure in our salvation because often we are so hyper-focused on our own will and work that we become disheartened. 00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:07.760 Why don't I love the Bible more? 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:09.840 Why don't I pray more? 00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:10.880 Why don't I do that? 00:38:11.119 --> 00:38:13.599 Why do I keep sinning in this way? 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:15.039 Why, why, why? 00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:24.719 If if I can say this directly and in love, this at its core is spiritual narcissism. 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:37.119 You have your eyes so fixed on yourself that Jesus becomes a weaker savior in your eyes. 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:41.440 This isn't about you. 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:43.920 This is about him. 00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:51.280 We must reorient our gaze. 00:38:52.800 --> 00:39:08.239 Not to behold ourselves, but to behold Jesus, whose finished work is our confident assurance that we have been, our being, and will be fully saved through him. 00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:17.199 Many of us, too, also, we look at the culture around us. 00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:24.320 We look at society and the way that it's going, and we become frustrated and disheartened. 00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:37.599 You know, it's hard for us to believe that the people God has placed in our life, our neighbors, our family members, our co-workers, might actually come to saving faith in Him. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:41.039 And so we feel defeated in mission. 00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:44.239 If we're honest, we feel defeated in mission. 00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:47.039 Because here's what the church is doing more and more. 00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:51.760 As the culture advances, the church is retreating. 00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:54.320 We put our light under a basket. 00:39:54.480 --> 00:39:58.639 We've taken the gifts that God has given us and we buried them in a field. 00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:06.159 We're doing everything we can to push off any sense of trial or tribulation that might come at the hand around us. 00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:08.480 But what does God tell us? 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:10.880 We shouldn't be defeated in mission. 00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:17.280 We should be ever confident in mission because the mission of God has already been accomplished by Jesus. 00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:22.079 And it's already being applied by the Spirit to us who believe. 00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:38.159 What he means is that all that the Father willed was accomplished in him. 00:40:38.559 --> 00:40:40.880 You and I don't make the mission happen. 00:40:41.039 --> 00:40:44.239 We joyfully get to watch it unfold before us. 00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:51.920 Because he's already ransomed them, he's already purchased them, he's already ensured that they would come to faith. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:54.639 We just get to watch it unfold. 00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:03.920 There is not one of whom Jesus died. 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:06.239 That will be lost. 00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:10.559 This should give us full confidence and mission. 00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:20.079 We should be a people of utmost joy because we get to participate in a mission already won by Jesus the Son. 00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:32.079 And I think about Paul in the book of Acts, he was preaching the gospel and he was beaten unto the point of death and cast out of the city. 00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:39.360 And God speaks to Paul and he says, Paul, get up, go back into the city. 00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:40.480 Why? 00:41:40.880 --> 00:41:43.920 Because I have many people in that city. 00:41:44.239 --> 00:41:45.760 What's he saying to Paul? 00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:52.079 Paul, I've already accomplished the salvation of many within this city. 00:41:52.400 --> 00:42:00.000 I need your mouthpiece to go back in there, proclaim the gospel of my son as you watch them come alive. 00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:02.719 Paul, get up and go. 00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:26.719 If you were just beaten to the point of death and thrown out of a city, what kind of confidence, what kind of insanity would it take for you to get back up and go right back into it unless you were fully persuaded by the promises of God and the all-satisfaction work of the Son that when you went back in, there were people who would hear, see, and believe in Christ. 00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:36.719 You see, ultimately, church, we feel defeated because we have too big a view of the world and we have too little a view of our God. 00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:41.360 We all struggle with this, man. 00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:46.239 We struggle with how big we allow the world to be in our eyes. 00:42:46.719 --> 00:42:54.480 We feed ourselves with all of the things that's happening in culture around us, and what's it leading us to do? 00:42:54.719 --> 00:43:02.559 It's leading us to make the world huge and God smaller and smaller in our own sight. 00:43:03.599 --> 00:43:05.599 This is why we're retreating. 00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:08.159 This is why we're putting our lamp under a basket. 00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:10.320 This is why we're burying our treasure in a field. 00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:17.440 This is why the church, you think the church is ineffective because it serves an ineffective, incapable God? 00:43:18.639 --> 00:43:20.719 It's because we're believing a lie. 00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:22.159 That's why. 00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:29.440 You see, we have to work to make God as big as He truly is in our own sight. 00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:38.159 The magnitude of God's sovereign power triumphs over the perceived magnitude of the world's rebellion and sin. 00:43:39.679 --> 00:43:50.639 You see, whether we're feeling insecure in our faith or defeated in our mission, it's often church because we're beholding the wrong things. 00:43:52.480 --> 00:43:59.199 None of this is about ourselves or about the world of which we live in. 00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:02.639 It's all About Jesus. 00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:12.880 And as we behold him, we are able to have a clearer vision of the truth that he has conquered. 00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:16.400 Because we have utter confidence in him. 00:44:17.920 --> 00:44:25.519 So our gospel truth this morning is that Jesus' work accomplished the will of the Father. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:27.760