In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'The Merciful God Who Draws', the concept of God's mercy is explored through the idea that God 'draws' people to Himself not by force, but by gently wooing them. Humanity is depicted as running a 'hellbound race', indifferent to the cost of their sins, until God intervenes to win their hearts. The sermon examines John 6, where Jesus describes Himself as the 'bread of life', emphasizing that those who come to Him will never hunger or thirst, and are guaranteed eternal life. The sermon addresses the certainty of salvation for those whom God has chosen, as Jesus explains that no one can come to Him unless drawn by the Father. The speaker debunks the notion that God draws everyone equally and emphasizes that, in reality, God draws specific individuals with mercy and love, leading them to salvation. Furthermore, the sermon clarifies that Jesus' teachings in John 6 are not about the Lord's Supper but about the spiritual significance of His sacrifice on the cross. The sermon concludes by encouraging gratitude for the mercy extended to believers and urging those feeling drawn to Christ to respond willingly.

The title of the sermon this morning is, The Merciful God Who Draws. Not as in drawing a picture, but as in tenderly wooing you towards himself. This is the sense in which God draws a people who were not a people and He takes those people and He makes them into His own people. He tenderly woos us. He wins us over.

And that is what this text is about. There's a song that we sing, All I Have in Christ has this line in it, and as I ran my hellbound race, Indifferent to the cost, in other words, I was running to hell, and I didn't care that that's what it was costing me. The song says, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross. That is really the theme of our text, the merciful God who draws. It really is true about humanity.

We're running our hellbound race. We don't even care the cost. We will have what we want when we want it. God takes out of foolish, sinful, rebellious, hard-hearted, dead in sins and transgressions humanity reaches into that because he's merciful and he wins the hearts of his people. We have nineteen verses today and that is insanity.

But here we go. I suggest the breaks in the sections and then my co-elder sometimes they're merciful and they save me from myself and sometimes they just let me have what I've asked for. So what were you guys thinking? And then I complain about it even though it's my own fault. There are things that were said in the last section that we were in that are foundational to understanding this text that we are in today.

Look back at verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." Jesus is teaching that a person who comes and believes in Him will have everything needed to impart life to that person and then to sustain that life through all eternity. He holds Himself forward as the bread of life. If you come to Him because He is the Bread of Life.

If you come to Him and you believe in Him, there is nothing that you'll need through all eternity that will not be yours freely and in abundance. Then look at verse 37. Jesus said, all that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. Here in verse 37 Jesus is teaching that there is a very certain group of people. In other words, God knows exactly who they are.

They can never be one more or one less than who they are because they're the people that God has determined Himself. It's a very certain group of people. And every single one of those people will come to Jesus. It is impossible that of these people that God is giving to his Son, that there will be one who just won't come to Jesus for this reason or that. Every single one will come to him, and then every single one of those who come to him will be received by Jesus.

In other words, there's no one who will come to Jesus and then he'll say, no I don't want you. It is certain that all that the Father is giving to the Son will come to the Son, and then it is absolutely certain that all those who come to the Son will be received by the Son. He won't cast out a single one of them. Now look at verses 39 and 40. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." What Jesus is teaching here is, he's telling us so explicitly what the Father's will is. That none of these people that are given to him will be lost along the way. That's impossible. For some of us, it might be 80 or 90 years along the way between the time God reaches into your life and lays claim to you and says, you're mine, and gives you the gift of repentance and faith. You might have 80 or 90 years along the way.

How will you make it? You're so weak. The world is so full of temptations. The devil is so strong and so tireless. How will you make it?

Well, Jesus is guaranteed that He will make sure that you make it. You may wander, but He will go and get you so that you make it. This is what He is teaching. If the Father has given you to the Son, you will come to Him, you will believe in Him, you will be kept by Him, you will be, everlasting life is a present possession for you." These are glorious truths. As we come to our text, let's pray.

God, here we are. You brought us to a text that says, for so many of us, You've not left us to ourselves. You've not left us at the mercy of these inclinations that take us headlong into destruction, but you have reached into even our stubbornness, even our rebellion, our hard-heartedness, and you've made us your own. You've claimed us because it was your good pleasure to do it. We don't understand it but we praise you for it Lord.

I pray this would give your people such joy today and I pray that your spirit would be present to join forces with your word to lay claim on some of your enemies today, that you would grab them, make them yours, carry them to heaven. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, I don't think I've ever done this before, but I'm starting with the last verse of the section. So, look at verse 59.

Verse 59 is not Jesus' words, but it is the Gospel writer saying, these things He, Jesus, said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.î So if youíre filling in blanks on the handout, ìSynagogue.î ìSayings in the synagogue in Capernaum.î In verse 25, people have gone looking for Jesus and they found Jesus in Capernaum and this dialogue begins. They're saying some things to Jesus. Jesus is saying some things back to him. And now we learn in verse 59 that some or all of what has been said in the intervening verses between 25 and 59 has been in the synagogue. Around verse 25 it doesn't sound like they find Jesus in the synagogue although you can't rule that out either so it's possible that this is kind of a running dialogue that actually starts in the open air as they find Jesus and at some point migrates into the synagogue.

For what it's worth, Ryle says that to him it seems like in 41, between 25 and 40, they found Jesus outside in Capernaum. This dialogue began and then Jesus said things that made them think and troubled them and they sort of took it back up and began questioning him about these things in 41. He might be right, he might be wrong, it's a guess. But in any event, by the end, they are in the synagogue. So at some point, the setting is the local place of worship.

People who go to worship are being taught by Jesus. This is a really important point. Why? Because we've been seeing Jesus, He's healing, He's doing miracles. You know what?

Primarily, Jesus was a teacher. He did heal, he did do miracles, he raised the dead. But Jesus went about teaching people about the kingdom of God and this is what he's doing in our text and he's gone to the place of worship to instruct the people who are professing to follow God about himself and about the kingdom of heaven. So, now, back to verses 41 and 42, the next section that we'll take up. Follow along as I read 41 and 42.

The Jews then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? In this section we have the belittling of Jesus because of his assumed parentage. So if you're taking notes on the handouts and you're filling in the blanks, it is the belittling, the belittling of Jesus because of his assumed parentage.

We got you, Jesus. You said you're the bread that came down from heaven, but we know your dad, Joseph, and we know your mom, and we know you're not special like you're claiming to be special. You came down from heaven." It wouldn't be accurate to say that they were belittling me. They said, we know your dad and mom, you don't have a right to make these special claims. But Jesus is the Lord of glory.

And It is belittling to Him. They are belittling Him in the literal sense of the term. They are making Him littler than He is. They are making Jesus seem to be run of the mill, like me and you, with a human mother and father, and not worthy of the claims that he's making. This is the whole point.

Jesus, you're not worthy of the claims that you're making. But they're wrong. Jesus is not the son of Joseph. He did grow up in Joseph's home, but he's not the son of Joseph. His mother Mary had never had a physical relationship with any man when Jesus was conceived in her womb.

The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. This is Luke 1 verse 35. That's the wording used. The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. And the Virgin conceived and was with child and His name is Emmanuel, God with us.

This is Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, which is a prophecy about the Messiah that He would be born to a virgin mother. That was the expectation of the Messiah. So it's not as if this came out of nowhere. This is actually the fulfillment of prophecy that he did come out of heaven that God would be his Father. That he would be God with us.

But this has been missed by the Jews. To fit the criteria of coming down from heaven in their minds, they suppose you would have to be like the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. Who shows up out of nowhere. No one knows where he's from. He doesn't have a father or a mother, but he shows up with a message of God.

I'm the angel of the Lord. He's so fearful in appearance that You would fall down before him. Because Jesus is not like that, they think that he can't be the one who came down from heaven. He's not a fully adult figure who comes out of nowhere. No, he was a baby.

They knew that he grew up in the home of Joseph, that Mary was his mother. This obviously means that Joseph and Mary were known in Capernaum, which has become the town that is really the headquarters for Jesus and his disciples. There's something very ironic about this. When you study the angel of the Lord who receives worship in the Old Testament, often when the angel of the Lord appears in the Old Testament, people worship Him and He actually receives the worship. Now when you get to Revelation and other places, when an angel receives worship from man, they say, stop.

Only God deserves your worship. The angel of the Lord in the Old Testament often just receives worship as God. When you read the commentators, the most sound theologians, they're almost unanimous that this is pre-incarnate Jesus. Now how do they get there? Well, no man has ever seen God the Father.

He dwells in inapproachable light. And unless you think it was the Holy Spirit who is like the wind, by process of elimination, you're left with Jesus before he was Jesus, before he was ever called Jesus, before the Word was made flesh. So this is really ironic that what they're thinking he must be, actually in the Old Testament he is, he is that. But now he is the Word made flesh. So verse 41 and verse 42, they're belittling Jesus.

They're saying you're not worthy of the claims that you're making, Because we know who your dad is, we know who your mom is, and they're not right about one of those things. They don't know who his father is. But they had messianic prophecy that let them know that the Messiah would be God with us that would be born of a virgin. Now verses 43-46, the next section. Follow along as I read.

Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from God.

He has seen the Father. So in this section, Jesus explains unbelief. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, It's unbelief. Jesus explains unbelief. They've been displaying their disbelief, their unbelief, and now Jesus explains it.

Jesus begins by insisting that they stop their murmuring and Then he explains the problem and it isn't his parentage. The problem isn't that it can't be true that he came down from heaven because they know who his father and mother are. Jesus goes right to the real heart of the problem, there is an absolutely essential ingredient which to this moment is missing. There is an absolutely essential ingredient to a rebel being saved that to this moment in the lives of these unbelievers is missing. No one can come to God the Son unless God the Father draws that person.

It is impossible. I think I said in the weekly email, this is a hard pill to swallow. This might be the hardest pill in all of scripture to swallow. We like to think that coming to God is at our pleasure. We'll believe or not believe as we see fit." This is not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible flatly contradicts that in this verse and in many other places. No one can come to God the Son unless God the Father draws that person. There is a way to try to blunt what Jesus is teaching here. You say, now why would we want to blunt what Jesus is teaching here? Why would you even want to take the edge off of it?

To sort of find a way to wiggle out of it. Well, because it's so unfair, and that's why. It's so unfair that no one can come to Jesus unless God the Father draws him. And so our sensibilities revolt at that. That can't be because we know that God is fair, and so because this seems so unfair, we need a way to wiggle out of it.

Well here's a way you wiggle out of it. You say God draws everyone, and Some come to Jesus and are saved, but some stubbornly resist his drawing, and so they're lost. Here's the implication of that. They get what they deserve for stubbornly resisting. For stubbornly resisting.

So this is a way that people, I can look back to a decade of my life where I blunted what Jesus is teaching in this text by exactly this. God draws everybody. So it is fair. God is not unfair at all. He is fair.

He draws everyone and Some come to Jesus and are saved. They respond to His drawing. But some stubborn-hearted people resist Him, even though He's good and wise. And He's drawing them. They resist Him.

And they're lost. And good! Dummies. They just get what they deserve for stubbornly resisting Him. God tried, but they wouldn't have it, and so all is well.

God is vindicated from unrighteousness, from unfairness, and dumb people get what they deserve. And I'm a believer, so that makes me smart. Here's the big problem with that. Go back to verse 37. Go back to verse 37.

Here's the big problem. To blunting it that way. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. I'm going to read it again and then I'm going to continue right into 44. I'm going to just take everything in between out and read 37 again and put it right beside 44 and then we'll see what we're left with.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. It simply will not do. It simply doesn't fit. It simply contradicts what scripture says when you put 37 and 44 side by side, you just link them up to say that God draws everyone.

Some accept and are saved. Some play along and are saved. Others resist and are damned and good because they are just getting what they deserve. Our dodge doesn't fit the Bible. Here's what Paul does.

The Apostle Paul in explaining this thing in Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9 is the predestination election chapter. Now I'm seeing really for the first time in all its fullness that John 6 is that chapter and that Paul is just preaching a sermon on John chapter 6. I really believe that now. Here's how Paul explains this in Romans chapter 9. He shifts our framework from man centered, God draws everybody, and then man decides.

Do you see how man-centered that is? Man all of a sudden is king. God is at the mercy of man. He wanted to save you but he can't save you because you can keep you from being saved. So he doesn't get what he wants.

He's not free, you're free. Paul shifts the paradigm. Paul shifts the framework in Romans 9.29. Be very, very, very familiar with Romans 9.29. Listen to it.

You can go there and look if you want to. The whole chapter should really be studied by all of us in the follow-up. We don't have the time to study the whole chapter now. Romans 9.29, and as Isaiah said before, so Paul quotes Isaiah 1 verse 9, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 1.9, Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah.

Let's unpack that. Paul, what are you teaching us in Romans 9.29? Unless the Lord of Sabaoth. So, Lord is the most glorious name for God. It's Lord in all caps.

You know in your Bible sometimes you see Lord was just capital L, but the rest is small letters. Sometimes it's all caps. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D is the most glorious name for God in the Bible. It is Jehovah, the self-existent God. He needs no one, He just exists.

He's the central reality of all of the universe. You don't have a reality except for that God is, Jehovah. The Lord of Sabaoth, this literally means the Lord of Armies. The Lord of Hosts. The one, the self-existent God who sits at the head of the army of armies.

That's who we're talking about here. Almighty God who sits at the head of the great undefeatable host. Unless that God, the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant, or a few survivors, is how some of the other translations. Unless the great almighty head of the army of armies had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah. Now, what is that?

Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah is the righteous reckoning with sin. It's how a holy, perfectly righteous God who cannot even look upon sin, giving what's due. That's what Sodom and Gomorrah. Total annihilation of Everyone is a righteous reckoning with sin.

Friends, Sodom and Gomorrah is the essence of fair. Next time you hear in your mind you saying, that's not fair, just be careful that you understand what fair is. Fair is Sodom and Gomorrah. You say, that's the really bad sinners. Weren't they Sodomites there?

That's the sodomites getting what they deserve. No, that's sinners getting what they deserve. All this gradation that we do among ourselves to exalt ourselves above our fellow man, God doesn't see through those lenses. Only you see through those lenses, and I see through those lenses. God in heaven is perfectly holy, and that there are some who are more defiled than others is of no consequence to him.

Do you understand that? That you happen to be less defiled than Adolf Hitler is of no consequence to the all holy, totally pure God in heaven. If God were to render to each one according to what they deserve, you get Sodom and Gomorrah, you get total annihilation, and God is just to do it. God is good and just to wipe away sin, and rebellion, and unrighteousness. Those stubbornly resisting, the drawing of God, are the ones who get what they deserve.

That's you. That's me. God is all wise, God is all good, and yet if he just left us to ourselves we would plunge ourselves into destruction and happily whistling all the way. Whistling all the way. Just to have what we want in the moment.

Now, bring that framework, that God-centered framework, back to what Jesus says in verse 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." Now it's not God being unrighteous because he's not fair. It's God being so merciful to reach into this massive humanity, all plunging themselves into destruction and saying to some out of an inexplicable heart of mercy that He'll claim some of those rebels and make them his own. See it's completely coming at it from the other side now. And how does the Father break into the life of a rebel who is stubbornly resisting and plunging himself or herself headlong into destruction, who is cultivating Sodom and Gomorrah in his heart or her heart.

By the way, as an aside, there are perfectly respectable ways to cultivate Sodom and Gomorrah in your heart. In ways that your neighbor will never rebuke you and never even know. And yet, all the rebellion is in there. It's inward. No one has to know that you are a rebel against a holy God.

You can cultivate Sodom and Gomorrah in your heart without the least hint of betraying yourself to your parents, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers. This is true. How does God draw a rebel? Look at verse 45. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God.

Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me." Jesus quotes Isaiah 54 verse 13. They shall all be taught by God. Now, two comments on Isaiah 54, 13. What Jesus is quoting. First, Isaiah 54 is between, You don't have to be a math major to know this.

Between Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 55. These are chapters we know. This should be really instructive to us. Isaiah 53 is the great chapter about the suffering servant. It's the great chapter in the Bible about substitutionary atonement, the innocent dying in place of the guilty.

God, a truly, perfectly holy God, taking the guilt of sinners and placing it on an innocent substitute and satisfying his own anger against the sin of the guilty one by placing the sin on the innocent one. That's Isaiah 53. Who has believed our report? Isaiah 55. Oh, everyone thirsts.

Come to the waters. Come without money. Buy. Satisfy yourselves. Come.

Embrace the sure mercies of David, which are secured in the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. These are messianic prophecies. Isaiah 54 is nestled right between 53 about the Messiah and 55 about the Messiah. When you read Isaiah 54, you see that it fits right there. It's just part of an unfolding of teaching about the times of the Messiah.

So that's the first thing. Just notice Isaiah 54 is sandwiched between chapters we know and they're about the Messiah. The second thing is this. This is speaking of the children of the new and heavenly Jerusalem. That's specifically this verse is pointed at.

It talks about a city whose foundations are sapphires. This is language that is repeated in Revelation about the New Jerusalem. So now that we have the full testimony of Scripture, we can look back with great clarity and say, this quotation of Isaiah 54 verse 13 is about the New Jerusalem and it's describing the children of the New Jerusalem. In other words, who belongs to New Jerusalem? The eternal, everlasting people of God.

Those who have been taught by God. They shall all be taught by God. Every single member of the everlasting people of God, the new heavenly Jerusalem are those who have been taught by God. God draws, not by compulsion, not by dragging rebels kicking and screaming against their will into his kingdom, but he gently woos them. He wins them.

He teaches them. You hear and learn from the Father, and because you have heard and learned from the Father, you come to the Son." This is how it works. Next, verse 46 makes it clear that this is unseen, this is internal. It says, but no one has seen God, only I have seen God. That's what Jesus says in verse 46.

In other words, God the Father doesn't come to the head of a class, take the lectern and say, I will now teach you. You will now hear from me, I will teach you. No, this is workings in your heart. These are internal, inner workings. God drawing and wooing and winning you in your heart.

He's giving you eyes to see. Things that you've never even been able to see before. He's giving you ears to hear. Words that you may have heard a hundred times, but now you have ears to hear. Listen to our confession.

So the 1689 confession, chapter 10 of effectual calling. Effectual just means it works. The calling by God that works when God gets his woman By working in her heart in such a way that she can now see things she could never see before, she can now hear things that she could never hear before, though the words may have hit the ear drum a hundred times before, now she has understanding because of the teaching work that God is doing. This is that chapter of effectual calling. Listen to Article 1.

Those whom God has predestinated unto life, We've seen this in John chapter 6. The Father is giving a people to the Son. He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, meaning he does it when he wants to do it, effectually to call by His word and spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. So the confession is looking at a sinner dead in sins and transgressions and says that God reaches into that by His Word. You hear words of truth and by His Spirit.

The Spirit is operating on your heart and He brings you to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ, by the work of Jesus. Enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. Man in his natural condition is in darkness. And this is the Spirit of God shining the floodlight on truth and allowing you to see truth for the first time. Taking away their heart of stone and giving unto them a heart of flesh, renewing their wills and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace." This last part is so important.

Do they come freely? Yes. When they hear Him, when He teaches them, they desire to come. They come to Jesus not because they've been dragged kicking and screaming, but because he has given them a change of disposition towards truth. You used to hate truth but he changed the inclination of your heart so that you now desire the things that you hated and you now begin to hate the things that you desired.

You come freely being made You come freely, being made willing by His grace. You used to be unwilling because you loved you and you loved sin. But now God reaches in and it's a gracious act that he makes you willing. I'd recommend go spend some time with chapter 9 of Free Will and chapter 10 of Affectual Calling and Just look up the verses that those two chapters are founded on. You'll find that the confession is just teaching what you find everywhere in Scripture.

Now, turn to Philippians 2. Paul says something that's so easily missed in Philippians 2. He says it quickly and he doesn't expand on it. So, if you're not careful and you're not paying attention, you read right over the top of it, but it's so significant. So turn to Ephesians 2.

Philippians 2. Thank you. Philippians chapter 2. I'll be reading verses 12 and 13. Philippians 2, 12 and 13.

Paul writes, therefore my beloved, As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." So, the topic at hand is our salvation. Now verse 13. Now, verse 13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So Verse 12, the topic is what? Our salvation.

Verse 13 explains our salvation. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. So, it's not just the doing that is God's work. He works by His Word and by His Spirit in your heart to change the inclinations of your will. It is God who works in you to will.

I find myself inclined towards the truths of the gospel. I never have. Why is that? God's working in you. God's winning you.

You're hearing Him. He's teaching you. He's bringing together the preaching of His Word, or your reading of His Word, somehow you've heard His Word, and the working of your spirit. And He's inclining you towards things that you always resisted, of course, across your whole life long until this moment. And he is winning you.

He is making you willing to believe. It is God who is working in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. He thought it was a good idea to claim you as his own. Before we leave this section, J.C. Ryle makes a comment here which I think is enormously helpful.

Let's Listen to what Ryle says and try to really hang with it. Ryle says, it would not be true to say that a man has a real wish and desire to come to Christ but no power to come. So Ryle says, that's not what Jesus is teaching here. There's people, they really want to come to Christ, but there's no power. They really desire to, but there's no power.

Ryle says that it's not true to say that. It would be far more true to say that a man has no power to come because he has no desire or wish. That's why he won't come to Jesus. That's why he doesn't have the power to come to Jesus. There's no desire for it.

There's nothing internal to him that says, I want Jesus. That's the nature of the powerlessness. Now listen, he continues, it is not true that he would come if he could, it is true that he could come If he would. The corrupt will, the secret disinclination, the want of heart are his real causes of unbelief. This is what Jesus is teaching these unbelieving Jews in this text.

It is their want of desire to be saved that is the problem, not who his dad and his mom are. And that is why the unbeliever is still guilty. They're not powerless because they can't come. They can't come because they're powerless. If you reverse it, if you get those things in the wrong order, God becomes guilty of unrighteousness.

And there's no reason to blame the unbeliever. But that's not what the Bible is teaching. If you get the order right, the unbeliever stands guilty for being this one who has no desire for Christ. That is the nature of the powerlessness to come to Christ, is that there is no appetite for the things of God at all, no matter what is pretended or said to the contrary. Next section.

Back to John 6. There have been a couple of weeks now, I haven't made it to the one hour mark, I'm taking all those minutes from those last three weeks. I claim them now and apologize in advance. Verses 47 through 51. And apologize in advance.

Verses forty-seven through fifty-one. Jesus says, Most assuredly I say to you, He who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh which I shall give for the life of the world." In this section we have the end of those who partake of the bread of life. So if you're filling in blanks on the handout it's partake. The end of those who partake of the bread of life.

There is no end. They live forever and ever and ever. They never die. I guess you could say the end of those who partake of the bread of life is to obtain everlasting life. Jesus sets himself forward again as the bread of life.

He did that in verse 35. I am the bread of life. Verse 35, he's saying it again, setting himself forward again as the bread of life. As the living bread, He says again that if you believe in Him, if you eat of this bread, those are the same thing. How do I eat of the bread of life?

You believe in Jesus that you have everlasting life. Not will have someday, but have everlasting life. It is a present possession, again, we keep hitting this, but because it's in the text again I'll say it again. Everlasting life is a present possession of the believer. Not something future, but something we have entered into that will extend through all eternity.

If you believe in Him, now remember this started with the Jews saying, okay you're making these spectacular claims, if you do a really big sign like Moses did in giving the manna, then we'll believe you. Jesus says no, no, no, it's not believe me, it's believe in me. Believing someone is to say, okay I get it, you're telling the truth. That's not what salvation is based on. Simply acknowledging that Jesus is a truth teller.

Jesus is saying, you have to believe in me. You have to entrust yourself completely to me. You have to throw yourself upon me as the only hope for salvation. Such a gigantic difference between believing Jesus and believing in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to throw yourself on him as the one and only hope for salvation.

Those who do so have everlasting life. Their forefathers ate manna and died. The manna was the picture pointing to the reality. The manna was something physical to teach them about something spiritual. So it served its purpose and they died.

It was just the picture. Jesus is the reality. Jesus is the fulfillment of the physical manna. Jesus is the spiritual reality that that physical manna was teaching about. And Jesus begins to get more specific about what he means.

The bread that I shall give is my flesh. I've been talking about bread. I've been saying, I am the bread of life. I am the living bread. This bread is my flesh.

He's going down a level, getting more specific. Two points here. First, it's not just that He exists. There is a specific action in view, the giving of his flesh. Secondly, This is pointing to a future event that I shall give.

Not that I have given, but that I shall give. Pointing to a future event, which I shall give. He says this in two different ways, back to back to make sure we get the point. It's not just that he's taken on flesh and that it has already happened at the point in time when Jesus is teaching this. He's pointing to a specific future event to the cross, to the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood.

Which brings us to verses 52 through 58, the final section. Verses 52 through 58. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.

For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, Not as your fathers ate the manna and our dad, he who eats this bread will live forever." This section is about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, it's flesh and blood.

Eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. If you eat of it, you won't die. At this point, the hearers are saying, okay, interesting, we must partake of Jesus in some way. Then he said, the bread is my flesh.

And that really sent them into a tizzy. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Now at this point, one thing I want to remind us of is something that's really easy to forget because we're pretty far into the chapter. Look back at verse four. This is within a day of verse four.

Verse four says, Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Jesus is saying this with the Passover feast looming over all of Israel. So they are just about to celebrate the Passover when Jesus says this. Just as Jesus has put himself forward as the fulfillment of what the manna was foreshadowing, He is putting himself forward as the fulfillment of what the Passover lamb foreshadows. It's more subtle.

He doesn't connect the dots as he does with the manna. He says, I am the manna. I'm the spiritual reality that the manna was foreshadowing With here he doesn't connect those dots, but the dots are there Jesus is Putting himself forward as the fulfillment of the Passover lamb as he says you must eat my body and drink my blood at Passover You kill the lamb as a substitute that lamb bears your guilt so that you don't have to and As part of that you eat the lamb and you apply the blood to the doorposts. This is about to happen in Israel where they all go up to Jerusalem and they do this. They're going to kill the substitute so that they don't have to bear the weight of their sins and they're going to eat the lamb and they're going to apply the blood of the lamb, which is spilled.

This is what Jesus is to his people. The Passover Lamb is what Jesus is. He is the innocent substitute that takes the penalty and weight and guilt of sin on himself so that you don't have to. And he's saying that part and parcel with that, inextricably connected with that, is that you partake of me in the most personal way. You eat of my body and you drink of my blood.

So think of Passover. It's not that the Egyptians were terrible and that the Jews were good so the angel passes over, right? The Egyptians are the bad people, the Israelites are the good people. No, no, that's not the basis of Passover at all. The basis of Passover is the Egyptians get what they deserve, and the lamb gets what you deserve.

So not good people and bad people, but people left to themselves and redeemed people. Bled for people, substituted for people. But most Jews didn't have eyes to see or ears to hear, So they took his words literally and they're thinking cannibalism and the eating of blood, both of which are completely unlawful according to the Old Testament. But they should have known. Jesus, through this whole chapter, is speaking figuratively.

They would now take him literally and be concerned that they would be breaking Old Testament law because he wanted them to literally drink blood makes no sense with how he's been teaching here. They should have known. Now, let's talk about how helpful this is in helping us diagnose our spiritual condition. Jesus has said, unless you eat my body and drink my blood there's no life in you I'm so thankful he said that because it helps me look at my own heart to see whether I'm in the faith. What do I mean?

Do you believe in Jesus? It's a question related to your salvation. And It's a useful question. It's a good question because over and over, we're only in John chapter 6, how many times have we encountered Jesus saying, if you believe in me, you'll live forever and not die. So it is the great dividing line.

Believing in Jesus or not believing in Jesus is the great dividing line between those who go to heaven and those who go to hell. So it's a good question. But it's so easily confused with just latching on to some truths that the Bible sets forth about Jesus, the things that He said, the things that He did, and saying, yes, I believe all those things, and so I suppose I'm saved. Am I saved? Now here's another question.

Do you eat his body? Do you drink his blood? Feel the weight of that? It's not the same question. Do you believe in Jesus?

Sure! Hey, everybody believes in Jesus. We're southern. We believe in Jesus. We were born in the southern states.

So we're all certainly must be born again. We grew up in churches. Our grandparents are buried in the church's graveyard. Yeah, so we believe in Jesus. Doesn't everyone believe in Jesus?

Now, okay. So you eat his body and you drink his blood. Who doesn't swallow deep and slow down to answer that question? It's a fundamentally different question that takes us out of an academic realm and gets to the heart. Is Jesus and his work on the cross more necessary to you than physical food?

Well, is Jesus and what he did on that cross, in the crushing of his body, in the shedding of his blood, is that more necessary to you than physical food? He says, my flesh is food indeed. When you look at that word that's been translated indeed it just means in reality. Jesus as the great need of the soul, Your soul is more in need of Jesus than your body is of food. That's what it means when he says, my flesh is food indeed.

My blood is drink indeed. He means that these spiritual realities are more real even than the physical realities. Is Jesus and his work on the cross more necessary to my spiritual life than physical food is to my physical life. Unless you eat his body and drink his blood, you have no life in you. It is only his broken body and his shed blood that can make you and I alive.

You can't be alive without partaking of his body. You are dead in your sins and trespasses. You can't be alive. You're spiritually dead until the day that you eat his body and you drink his blood, that you lay hold of the work that he did that you could not do, that you did not do when he went to the cross and died. Here is a precious truth that flows out of this.

Look at verse 56. Jesus says, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in Him. Now he's starting to talk about privileges. So everlasting life. So, everlasting life, but also in this life, also a present possession, is that he abides in the believer and the believer abides in him.

Listen to the Apostle Paul. You can turn to Colossians 3 if you want. I'm going to be moving fast but if you're fast do it. Colossians 3 verses 1 through 3 the Apostle Paul says, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. If you're a believer, you abide in Him. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. So that when God looks upon you he doesn't see a filthy sinner, a rebel, an enemy. He sees his son.

You abide in the Lord Jesus. Your status before God is all wrapped up in your union with his son. You are abiding in him. God looks upon you and doesn't see an enemy anymore. He sees his son.

And If you eat his body and drink his blood, then the Lord Jesus abides in you. Again, listen to the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 2 verses 19 and 20. Paul writes, For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. For the believer who has eaten his body and drank his blood, You're not just alone. Christ is living in you. He is abiding in you. We're coming to John 14, while Jesus will expand on this and say it's by my spirit.

This is really the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is called the Spirit of Christ. He indwells these people. So we have this double truth. In eating His body and drinking His blood, You abide in the Lord Jesus so that you enjoy his status as a loved son.

And he abides in you. You have a new life where Christ lives in you. He indwells you by his Holy Spirit, gives you all the resources that you need in this life. Now a final question. Is this, John chapter 6, what is being talked about, about, is this about the Lord's Supper?

No. The Lord's Supper is about this. That's a small point. This is not a small point in Christian history. Is this about the Lord's Supper?

No. The Lord's Supper is about this, and there's a big difference. The Lord's Supper has not been instituted at this time. And it would be meaningless to the audience. And it's terrible, doctrinally.

If you say, Jesus is talking about the Lord's Supper, you've said that you're saved by taking the Lord's Supper. No, no, no. You are not saved by taking the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is useless to people who don't partake by faith. So this is not about the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is about this. Jesus submitting His body to be broken and shedding his blood. Jesus is teaching about the reality, the cross, the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood, which the Lord's Supper points back to. It's the right way to understand this. Three applications.

Three applications. Number one, have you domesticated Jesus? That's what the Jews have done in this text. We know his parents, so how can he say that he came down from heaven? Pretty easy to wag our fingers at the Jews.

How dare you? Here's a modern equivalent. Making Jesus the pal of sinners. As if He were just like me and you and He was comfortable with our sins. How Dare we?

Jesus is the friend of sinners and Jesus is the all-holy Lord of glory. Don't ever domesticate Jesus and forget that He came down from heaven. He is God Almighty. He is the friend of sinners, but He is worthy of all reverence. He is worthy of fear.

Here's a question from Revelation. Do you have a place in your theology for the wrath of the Lamb? Did you know that's a phrase from Revelation? The wrath of the Lamb? Wait a minute.

The lamb, he came to bear the penalty for our sins. Actually in Revelation he's really angry. He's pouring out his wrath on those who have refused him. Never domesticate Jesus. Number two, come to Jesus and believe in him.

Eat of his flesh and drink his blood. You will have life. You say, ah, I've got you. I can't come unless God draws me. So why would you even invite me?

This line of reasoning doesn't make the unbeliever guiltless, it makes him more guilty. It makes her more guilty. You don't because you don't want to. Perhaps right now God is taking the preaching of His word and His Spirit is present to teach you the way that you've never been taught before. He's winning you.

He's winning your heart. He's making you willing to believe. You walked in here after a lifetime of unwillingness to bow your knee and to throw yourself only on Christ as the hope for salvation, that He's working on you. I pray that it's so. Don't ever blame Jesus for your lack of desire to obey Him.

Come to Him. Believe in Him. Eat His flesh. Drink His blood. Cry out that He would be merciful and draw you.

Number three, finally. If God has been so merciful to reach into the life of a stubborn, rebellious enemy, rejoice. If you find that that's you, that you're willing to believe, if you're willing to throw yourself upon the mercy of Christ and only trust Him for salvation. It is the sign that He has been so merciful to you and given you something that you didn't deserve and you never would have done for yourself. You should rejoice in that.

Listen to two Old Testament verses which speak right to this. Jeremiah 31.3. Jeremiah 31 is the chapter about the New Covenant. So it's also a famous chapter. But listen to Jeremiah 31.3.

Jeremiah says, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you. Therefore, with loving kindness I have drawn you. Because of my everlasting love for you, a love that precedes even the making of the world, even before I made the world, I loved you and therefore, I have drawn you with love and kindness. I worked on your heart to win you. Or Hosea 11 verse 4.

God says, I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love. I drew you with gentle cords, with bands of love. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for not leaving us to ourselves but giving us a testimony of truth. I pray your spirit would be present to drive these truths deep into our hearts, to give us a conviction that they are the words of God, to incline rebels towards you for the first time in their lives.

Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.