WEBVTT 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:08.640 And to glorify God. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.000 For more information about Grand Departway, visit GrandPartway.org. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:17.039 Yeah. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:17.600 Yeah. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.320 Let's pray. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:26.320 Lord Jesus, we've not just come to declare our neediness, we've come to celebrate your sufficiency, you're our one defense, and you're our righteousness. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:36.560 What we mean by that is you're the only means possible for sinful, jacked up, messed up people like me to get right with God and be right with God forever. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:39.039 And so, Lord, we we want to celebrate that. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:41.039 We're not just here to say we need you. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.520 We're staying here to say, you're our only hope. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:45.359 We don't have a plan B, God. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:54.960 We don't have another way to get right with you, to find forgiveness, to know intimate, juicy fellowship with the God of the universe. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:56.640 You're our one defense. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:00.799 And the beauty of that is you're so sufficient, we don't need another one. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:06.239 And so we just kind of stand right now in the sufficiency of all that God is. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:10.239 And we want to get our heads around the beauty of God being God. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:16.640 We want to confess, God, that our sinful nature wants to rear its ugly head and we want to be God every once in a while. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:21.519 We want to act like we're not accountable or we don't have to submit to anybody or anything. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:24.079 And when we do that, we put it in the ditch, God. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.280 When you're merciful, you're patient, you're long-suffering. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:30.239 Your kindness finds us and unwinds us. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:34.400 The book of Romans says that your kindness leads us to repentance. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:40.480 So, God, whoever needs the kindness of God to be led to repentance today, pour out kindness on them. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:41.120 We pray. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:42.640 Lord, illuminate your word. 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:49.760 What we mean by that is make it make sense in our head and in our heart, God, so it can find expression in our hands this week. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:51.680 We pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.000 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:54.879 You can have a seat. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.560 If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to John chapter 6. 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:00.799 If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:02.959 I'll be on page 892. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:05.760 And as I said earlier, we're going to the Gospel of John. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:11.199 And now when you preach the book of the Bible, that's not licensed just to bore people with the Bible and blame it. 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:12.960 Like, oh, I'm just going through the Bible. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.680 We believe here at Grand Parkway, the Bible is the Word of God. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:18.560 It's authoritative, it's powerful, but we also believe this. 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:19.759 It's thought-provoking. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.520 It makes you think things that you by nature wouldn't think. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.000 And so when I say I want to talk to you about the beauty of God being God, I think you'll see what I mean. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:35.840 Now we started off, we've been in John chapter 6 for about four or five Sundays because we're trying to take the Bible in kind of segments so we could understand it. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.039 This all got kicked off so you get the context of what we read today. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:44.719 This all got kicked off when Jesus feeds 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:48.560 That's a story most people have heard about, or they've heard or heard about. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.360 But there was probably, there wasn't just men there. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:52.560 There were 5,000 men. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:54.400 There were women and children there as well. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.199 And so it could have been as many as 15 to 20,000 people. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:02:59.039 And so the people thought, this is great. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.360 We want a politician that's going to give us bread. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:02.639 And so the next day they got it. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:04.479 They want to make Jesus king by force. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.560 And Jesus says, I don't need your vote. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:08.080 I'm not a politician. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:08.879 I'm a king. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:10.800 Kings don't get elected, okay? 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.759 I showed up here as king, I'll leave here as king. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.360 So they come to make him king by force, and Jesus says, I'm not going to have any part of that. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:19.759 And so he leaves, he sends his disciples. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.199 The next day the people get up, they're hungry, and so they want more provision. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:24.960 So they go seeking Jesus. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:29.599 And yet, seeking Jesus, they find this truth about Jesus that offends them. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.719 Now, by the way, the people that offend you the most have the capacity to teach you the most. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:39.840 Some of y'all are like, I'm not writing that down. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:41.199 I'm not writing that down. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:49.120 The people that you find most, and I don't mean like jerks, but the people that say things that are so thought-provoking, your first response is, that can't be true. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:54.719 Probably has a capacity to teach you some things you don't want to learn and you need to learn. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:58.960 And so these people come finding Jesus and he starts talking and they are ticked off. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:03:59.759 They're mad. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:00.960 They're like, What? 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:02.879 Shut up! Are you kidding me? 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.800 And Jesus is like, No, I'm not kidding you because I'm God. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:10.319 Do you find, here's a question to think about as you drive to work tomorrow. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:14.800 Do you find beauty in the fact that God is God and you are not? 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:16.800 Do you find beauty in that? 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:18.000 Do you savor that? 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:21.920 Do you look at that and kind of go, I'm so glad God set the world up like this? 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:28.639 So these people are grumbling because they're talking about, they come to Jesus when they find like, hey, Jesus, dance, monkey, do some magic tricks. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:32.800 Moses gave the people bread in the wilderness, gave them man out there. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:33.519 What are you gonna do? 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.079 And Jesus says, I'm the bread that came down from heaven. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:39.120 And then he talks about a relationship with Jesus that's so intimate. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.199 He says, You gotta eat my flesh and drink my blood. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:42.240 And they're like, What? 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:44.160 This is not fear of the living dead. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:45.040 What are you doing? 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:46.639 And they totally miss it. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:50.639 And by the way, Jesus is not responsible for what you don't know. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:55.120 Be careful that you don't relate to God out of what you don't know or don't understand. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:57.120 Because then you're gonna be way off. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:58.639 And so Jesus keeps talking. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.839 We'll pick up the story in verse 60 of John chapter 6. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:05.680 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:06.879 Who can listen to it? 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:13.120 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, Do you take offense at this? 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:17.759 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:19.680 It is the Spirit who gives life. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:21.519 The flesh is no help at all. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:25.920 The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:31.759 For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.720 And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.319 After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:43.600 So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to go away as well? 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.879 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:53.279 You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you're the holy one of God. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:58.160 Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil? 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:02.000 He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for one, he was one of the twelve. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.800 He, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:09.759 Now, what we like to do is just read the Bible and then make the points out of what the Bible says. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:17.759 I want to make three points this morning, and then I want to answer five questions at the end that have been stirred up in the heads and hearts of our people over the past three or four Sundays. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:23.759 The first point that the text makes this morning is simply this God is always capable of more than we can understand. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.879 God is always capable of more than we can understand. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:35.120 And the moment you limit God to what you can understand or get your head around, then God is the person that you see in the mirror. 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:36.240 Let me say that again. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:45.040 The moment that you and I limit God to what we can understand or agree with, then what we've really done is we just kind of, God is the person I see in the mirror. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:51.680 The Bible, all throughout it, it makes the case that God is He's imminent, He's present, but He's also transcendent. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:56.079 He's other than us, He's better than us, He's bigger and beyond us. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:57.279 The Bible talks about it. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:07.279 God talks in the book, in the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah, about chapter 55, about verse 8 and 9, God says, My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:16.319 In other words, he's like saying laying the groundwork to say, hey, don't get offended when I do things that you don't understand or agree with, because I'm working on a bigger scale. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:24.560 You're locked in the micro and I'm living and and ruling the world from the macro, the big picture kind of thing. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:26.879 And this is what happens here in verse 60. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:29.519 When all of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:30.800 Who can listen to it? 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.399 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:37.040 Now, by the way, they didn't inform Jesus. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:38.879 He knew they were talking about him. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.120 Ask yourself this question today at lunch. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:45.839 If you could know what everybody in a room was thinking when you were in the room, would you want to know? 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:49.439 Oh, see, yes, yes. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:56.720 You could be at a dinner party and somebody walks in and she's standing there, and a woman on the other side of the room looks and in her head just kind of thinks, Really? 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:57.519 You wore that dress? 00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:58.240 Where'd you get that? 00:07:58.480 --> 00:07:59.120 A garage sale? 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:03.920 And you could just look at her and kind of go, She didn't get it at a garage sale, by the way, and just walk off. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.959 You could have so many just drop the mic moments. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.079 It would be incredible. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:11.519 And people are kind of like, hey man, uh, you got those winning lottery tickets? 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:12.720 Because help a brother out. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:13.759 I don't know what you're talking about. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:19.839 Well, I mean, I'm thinking things, and you're knowing, by the way, this same God knows what you think as well. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:24.879 See, that's why you shouldn't be a poser or a pretender. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:30.560 Thinking one thing on the inside and trying to convince everybody else on the outside that you're somebody different. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:31.600 Hey, good to see you. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.840 Hey, good, good, awesome, wonderful. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:34.639 Good, good. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:36.240 Good, good, good. 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.360 Listen, if your life's always good, I don't trust you. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:41.840 You don't live in the real world. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:45.039 I love Jesus, and I was on the phone with the insurance company today. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:48.720 They called me and told me what they're gonna give me for my kids' car that their pastel told us. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:51.679 And I said to the lady, I'm beginning to lose my peripheral vision. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:52.960 We should hang up now. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:54.320 And she goes, What happened? 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:55.039 What do you mean? 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:58.000 I said, I'm starting to go blind at the injustice. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:02.080 So I feel my inner redneck coming forward. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:03.679 You should hang up now. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.279 And she said, Oh, okay. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:06.799 Is everything gonna be okay? 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.000 Stop talking. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:09.279 Stop talking. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:10.399 I love Jesus. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:12.000 I've been a Christian a long time. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:13.279 I'm a nice person. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:17.039 But I was like, whoosha, whoo-sah, whoo-hoo hoo. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:19.600 I just gotta call him back tomorrow. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:21.120 We'll pick it up and go from there. 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:24.960 But here's the thing you say, why should you tell us that? 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.399 I'm not gonna act like that doesn't go all over me because God knows. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:31.919 Now, I'm not saying if you think it just say it because you've already thought it and God knows. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.440 I'm just saying, God's sovereignty knows no bounds. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:37.440 He knows what you're thinking. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:38.000 Okay? 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:42.720 Some of y'all have convinced everybody around you you're somebody that God knows you're not. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.799 And that's not an enjoyable life to live. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:46.399 That's not what God created you to do. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:52.960 See, when I say God's capable of more than we can understand, in the text, these people are grumbling, they're kind of like, oh, this is a hard saying. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:54.240 And look at what Jesus says. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:54.960 I love this. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.120 He says, Do you take offense at this? 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:58.799 Uh nuh, duh. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.000 Verse 62, then what if? 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:07.519 Any sentence out of the mouth of God that starts with, then what if, it's about to get good. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:12.879 Then, hey, if you just got to stumble over this, what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:17.279 In other words, if you see me ascend back into heaven, what are you gonna do with that? 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:19.440 If this bothers you, be careful. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:20.320 Look at me, beloved. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:25.840 Be careful that you don't get to a point where you relate to God out of your offense all the time. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:28.320 There's a lot of people that relate to God out of their offense. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:30.080 They relate to everybody else out of their offense. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:30.960 That offends me. 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:31.600 I'm done. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.679 I'm not gonna be friends with there, I'm not gonna go there anymore. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:35.120 It's always that. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:36.000 Well, that just offends. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:41.840 I've had people say to me before, well, I just can't believe in a God that would make some people that he knew were never gonna go to heaven. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:43.919 Why would a loving God make people like that? 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:46.879 And I'm like, who are you, old man, that you should answer back to God? 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:49.919 All that person has told me is I've never really read the Bible. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.919 I've got some things that offend me, and I like to tell people about those. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:58.879 And I'm just like, God's always capable of more than you can understand. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.840 It's helpful to embrace this simple fact, beloved. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:11.519 Our opinions, our preferences, our interpretations of the Bible, what we want the Bible to say, even when it doesn't say it, our feelings and our fears are not canonical. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:12.720 They're not canonical. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:13.360 What does that mean? 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:17.279 Said differently, they're not on the same level with the canon of Scripture. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.720 This is one of the problems these people have, which is why they're grumbling. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:23.440 It's not that they don't understand what they're hearing. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:24.480 They understand it. 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:27.200 It's that they don't like it and they want to make it not true. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:36.960 They want to look in here and find some loophole in the Bible where they can kind of point to Jesus and go, hey, see, we get to keep believing what we've always believed and what we prefer to believe. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:38.799 Remind you of anybody? 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:41.200 Yes, thank you. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:43.200 There's an honest person right there. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:44.480 Reminds me of me. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:45.440 I'm like, what do you mean? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:46.639 I gotta love my neighbor? 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:47.279 Are you? 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:49.200 Oh, who's my neighbor? 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:51.200 I got one there and one there. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:53.360 Because summer has started. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:57.600 I got kids in my cul-de-sac, and they just come and ring my doorbell and go, You got popsicles? 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:01.919 What I need is a nap. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:03.360 That's my popsicle. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.879 And when your little punk self rings my doorbell, it interrupts my nap. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:09.519 And now you want me to get, I can talk to these kids for five minutes. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.159 And they just look at me and go, Yeah, yeah, you got popsicles? 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:17.120 I tell you what, I'll whip all y'all and then give you a popsicle. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:18.320 And what comes out? 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.360 What rises up in me is what the Bible says. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:24.639 1 John chapter 3, verse 16, 17. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:31.679 Hey, if you have this world's good and you see your brother in need and you close up your bowels of compassion, how does the love of God dwell in you? 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:35.840 But instead, I say to these shirtless vagrants, let me open the garage. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:41.360 You guys line up and they go, get the scissors, get the scissors, because you got to cut the ends off so they can suck it out. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:47.440 And I'm sitting there, then they they send out the mating callers, waah, and they just come running like roaches. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.039 I'm like, we need an exterminator in this neighborhood. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:52.720 Bunch of needy kids. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:57.039 This is how sometimes I just go, I just think, where are your parents? 00:12:57.759 --> 00:12:59.919 Why am I parenting you people right now? 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:06.080 I give them a pupsicle, then I give them a little moral lesson, and they go, okay, see you next time, and they walk away. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:07.200 No. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.080 See, that's I I agree with my friend here. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:10.639 That's me. 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:15.440 I'm gonna find some loophole that allows me to just kind of say, leave me alone. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:17.200 My home is my castle. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.799 I'm off the clock. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:20.159 They don't think that. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:23.919 My wife tells all of our neighbors, hey, our home is a city of refuge. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:26.159 If you ever need anything, just come ring the doorbell. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.519 And if we have it, you can have it. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.320 Shut up! Shut up. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:32.799 No, they just keep coming. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:33.759 Just keep coming. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:34.159 Why? 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:37.919 Because God's always capable of more than we can understand. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:38.559 Look at me. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:42.559 When you stop, when you and I stop at the place of offense, God will leave you there. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:44.320 And here's how you know God left you there. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:48.000 You have the same convers, you can have three conversations about everything. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:53.360 And they're the same conversation that nobody finds as compelling or as interesting as you do. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:58.399 Second thing that the text tells us this morning is simply this: God controls the salvation process. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.399 God controls the salvation process. 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.679 Verse 63, the Bible says, it is the spirit who gives life. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.200 The flesh is no help at all. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.200 Underline that verse in your Bible. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.720 It will help you in many ways, in many situations. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.039 It is the spirit who gives life. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.399 The flesh is no help at all. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:18.720 The words I've spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:24.559 For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:29.919 And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:35.440 Now, let me when I say that God controls the salvation process, I think it's very important to say this. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:41.120 You need to make note that God controls the salvation process, but he doesn't play keep away with it. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:43.360 Let me say that again. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:44.480 God controls it. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:48.159 Jesus says, Hey, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.399 God controls, he's over that. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:53.440 He initiates salvation, but he doesn't play keep away with it. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:54.000 What does that mean? 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:58.559 That means if you're here today and you're not a Christian and God's not looking at you kind of going, yeah, I'm mad at you too. 00:14:58.639 --> 00:14:59.279 You just go to hell. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:00.159 I'm done with you. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:01.279 Not at all. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:02.559 Not at all. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.240 God controls it, but He doesn't play keep away with it. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:14.480 God began to draw me to faith when I was about 16 years old, and I would go out and come home at 2 and 3 in the morning under the influence of certain things. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:16.159 Can we say it like that on Mother's Day? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:21.279 And our house, a little shotgun house, about 1,300 square feet. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.240 And I would hold my hands out on the wall, the hallway walls. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:28.399 And the first door on the right was my mom's room, second door on the on the left was the bathroom. 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:34.080 Third door, second door on the left was a little utility closet where the air conditioner unit was, and the third door was my bedroom. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:37.120 And so I would just, that's the way I'd find my way, claps into bed. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:44.799 One night I'm coming in, it's like 2 48 in the morning, and I'm like, and I and I and my hand swipes down the hall wall. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:49.919 And I hear my mom crying and praying, and she says, Oh God, thanks for bringing him home safe, watching over him. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.720 And he's I'm I think I'm 17 when that happened. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:56.000 And I just thought to myself, why did I do this to this woman? 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:57.600 This isn't worth it. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.919 It was that first pang of, I use a word we don't use anymore, shame. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:08.000 And shame was redemptive in my life because I thought, I don't think I should put my mom through this. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.080 But I went to bed, slept it off, got up the next night, and did the same thing again. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:21.279 Now, I don't make light of that, but I remember that first pang of guilt, like, I don't think I want to be this person the rest of my life. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:28.159 So when I say God controls the process, one of the core issues you have to settle in your mind is that who's sovereign in the salvation of man. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:34.799 Here Jesus is just echoing what he said in verse 37 and verse 44 and all through the Bible. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:40.080 And nowhere does he say it more clearly than in Romans chapter 9, starting in verse 6. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:41.519 Let me read these words. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:44.480 Paul writes, but it is not as though the word of God has failed. 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:46.080 Now, what is the context for this? 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:49.039 Some people were saying, hey, look at the Jewish people. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.159 I mean, these people are just, they don't even believe in the Messiah. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:54.000 They don't believe Jesus is the Son of God. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:57.120 And yet you say that God's gonna do a deep work in them. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.080 And Paul says, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes here, people. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.240 It's not as though the word of God has failed. 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:03.759 Can we begin this morning? 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.559 Can you build and bank your life on the fact that the word of God is never gonna fail? 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:10.319 Can you just get to that point? 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:12.160 Because if you're still like, well, I don't know. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.880 I mean, life's gonna be hard for you. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:22.960 God will give you over to that instability and that uncertainty because a certain God finds uncertainty a little troubling. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:28.319 Or to quote that great theologian Darth Vader, I find your lack of faith disturbing. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:36.079 So what the Bible says, for it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.720 Not all are children of Abraham because they're his offspring. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:40.079 What's he talking about there? 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:44.799 Just like today you talk to some people that go, Oh, I'm Lutheran, oh, I'm Catholic, oh, I'm Baptist. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:46.480 You know, my granddad was a Baptist preacher. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:56.400 Jesus, that's what the Jews back then, Jesus would start talking to people about a faith in God, not a faith in a religion, and they would say, Oh, we have Abraham as our father. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:58.799 And Jesus just demolished them. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:00.400 He's like Eminem in Eight Mile. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:03.599 He's just working at the Burger King, spitting on your onion rings. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:05.839 He's saying things they're not prepared to hear. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.559 They're just like, oh, oh. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.559 Jesus says to them, Hey, by the way, don't hide behind religion. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:14.480 Oh, we have Abraham as our father. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:20.640 Jesus points at rocks on the ground and says, My father can make sons of Abraham from these rocks right here. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:22.240 They were so mad. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:22.960 Here's why. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:26.960 Like many of you in this room, they preferred religion to relationship. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:29.519 Oh, I'm I'm Catholic. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:31.359 I'm Baptist, I'm Presbyterian. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:32.559 Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:34.880 The Bible asks, Are you Christian? 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:36.799 Do you have a relationship with Christ? 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:40.799 But he says this though through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:47.039 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:48.799 For this is what the promise said. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:52.079 About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:19:06.720 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:09.359 She was told, the older will serve the younger. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.960 As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.240 What shall we say then? 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:16.160 Is there injustice on God's part? 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:17.200 By no means. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:22.640 For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.920 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:36.400 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I've raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.599 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:49.200 Beloved, be careful that you don't require God to be a universalist, because that would render Jesus unnecessary. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:50.720 Let me say that again. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:57.359 Be careful that you don't require God to be a universalist, because that would render Jesus unnecessary. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:58.720 You say, I would never do that. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:19:59.759 It happens all the time. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:02.000 And it sounds like the question I quoted earlier. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:09.519 People say, Well, how could a loving God make people who he knew are never going to go to heaven, they're never gonna come to him, they're gonna go to hell with that. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:10.799 How could a loving God do that? 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:21.039 The Bible answers that question, Romans chapter 9, by verse 22, and it says just very simply, very plain spoken, it says, to make his wrath and power known. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:29.519 He talks about the vessels of dishonor, the vessels of destruction, and and these these vessels of honor, people who come to faith in Christ. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:31.759 Now, again, we talked about a couple weeks ago. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.160 We don't know who they are, we don't know who's gonna come. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:36.720 So for us, it's the gospel's whosoever will. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:38.960 We share the good news with everybody. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:40.559 We pray that all would come. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:46.319 And in the meantime, we do not take up an offense at God because we cannot understand God. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:52.799 By the way, the greatest work of God is not the conversion of man, the greatest work of God is the glory of God. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:54.880 Let me say that again. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:57.839 The greatest work of God is not the conversion of man. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:01.039 The greatest work of God is the glory of God. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:04.079 He invites us to join him in the pursuit of his glory. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:14.000 That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31, whatever you do, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:20.400 I was talking with a friend this week, and uh I she went to a school here in town that I spoke at. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:21.920 Uh they would say, Hey, can you come to chapel? 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.519 Can you come to spiritual limits this week? 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.119 And she goes, Do you do that anymore? 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:26.880 I said, No, I got in trouble. 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:28.079 And she said, What happened? 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:31.680 I said, I told them, because kids were asking, I get tired of kids asking dumb questions. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:33.359 Can I just be honest on Mother's Day? 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.400 Hey, hey, Pastor, is it wrong to smoke marijuana? 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:37.599 Is it wrong to do this? 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:38.799 Is it wrong to do that? 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:42.720 Basically, is it okay for me to keep doing what I'm already doing? 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:48.000 And so I stood before these kids and I said, Hey, here's the deal smoke all the pie you can to the glory of God. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:51.839 Have all the sex you can to the glory of God. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.279 And they were offended because that's what religious people do. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:57.680 And I got had to go see the the the teacher. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.759 The teacher's like, I cannot believe you told those kids. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.559 To smoke all the pot they can to the glory of God. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.839 I said, Well, how much pot can you smoke to the glory of God? 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:15.119 See, when you put your life in the context that it was created for, the glory of God, some things become obvious. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:19.599 And meanwhile, you guys are just engaging over here in religious behavior modification. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.839