Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God, Part 2 (John 6:30–46)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 6:30–46

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: May 28, 2023

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

One of the most contentious topics amongst Christians is that of election, and it has been so for many years. For instance, the Methodist church is known for rejecting any form of Calvinism, but one had nonetheless chose to hear from the prince of preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He recounts:

Preaching a few months ago in the midst of a large congregation of Methodists, the brethren were all alive, giving all kinds of answers to my sermon, nodding their heads and crying, “Amen!” “Hallelujah!” “Glory be to God!” and the like. They completely woke me up. My spirit was stirred, and I preached away with an unusual force and vigour; and the more I preached the more they cried, “Amen!” “Hallelujah!” “Glory he to God!” At last, a part of text led me to what is styled high doctrine. So I said, this brings me to the doctrine of Election. There was a deep drawing of breath. “Now, my friends, you believe it,” they seemed to say. “No, we don’t.” But you do, and I will make you sing “Hallelujah!” over it. I will so preach it to you that you will acknowledge it and believe it. So I put it thus: Is there no difference between you and other men? “Yes, yes; glory be to God, glory!” There is a difference between what you were and what you are now? “Oh, yes! oh, yes!” There is sitting by your side a man who has been to the same chapel as you have, heard the same gospel, he is unconverted, and you are converted. Who has made the difference, yourself or God? “The Lord!” said they, “the Lord! glory! hallelujah!” Yes, cried I, and that is the doctrine of Election; that is all I contend for, that if there be a difference the Lord made the difference.

That is the difference we read in this greater passage this morning. Last time, we considered Jesus’s presentation in vv. 30–36. We see that belief in the God’s sovereign choice in salvation doesn’t mean we don’t present the gospel to others, but that leaves us with an important question: what makes the difference? Why did some hear the gospel that day and disbelieve, and why do they do so today? It’s not necessarily the clarity of presentation, for they had Jesus physically before them, patiently extending a clear offer to a people who seemed interested, but they still reject it.

I don’t want to stir contention, but the text here gives us a blessed set of doctrines which I must present. This passage helps us see why some don’t believe, and Jesus gives two reasons for it. Some people disbelieve because they must be given by the Father (vv. 36–40), and some people disbelieve because they must be drawn of the Father (vv. 41–46). These two reasons are related, of course, through the sovereign election of God, which we’ll see as we proceed.

Some people disbelieve because they must be given by the Father (vv. 36–40)

But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

We began considering v. 36 last time. Remember, they came seeking Jesus after the feeding of the five thousand, and after Jesus told them about the bread of life, they said, “Lord, always give us this bread” (v. 34). However, they were unwilling to place their trust in Christ to receive the bread of life only He can give, and He can see this long before we can.

We noted that this is their fault. Yes, the gospel is good news; we are sinners bound to be judged for our iniquities, but Jesus paid the penalty for those who trust in Him. Yet, this good news comes with the command to believe it — Jesus taught, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). There will be judgment not just for the rest of our sins, but also for rejecting the good news of the gospel.

Knowing this, one would expect the rationally minded to immediately repent and embrace the gospel. However, sin warps the mind and heart, creating in us a desire to avoid holiness and righteousness. Moreover, Satan and this world blinds us in numerous ways. Scripture describes this state as a spiritual deadness (Eph. 2:1–3) and then describes the extra grace of God which brings us to new life (Eph. 2:5, 8–9). In other words, we need God’s grace to bring us to new life.

That’s another reason why you should never place your faith in your own faith, as though you had the ability to bring yourself new life. Back in John 1:13, Scripture says that believers, the children of God, are “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” It’s not dependent upon our will any more than the Jews there were saved because of Abraham’s lineage. Salvation does not “depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16). God gives us new life, granting us the ability to repent (Acts 11:18) and believe (Phil. 1:29).

That’s why Jesus can say with assurance in v. 37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” Our error is thinking that our confession of faith begins our relationship with Jesus; the Father initiates it! He selects people, and our Lord describes them as a unit: “all that” (singular) “will come” (there will be no loss along the way).

The Bible uses the term predestination to describe God’s sovereign choice of believers from eternity past. Those believers are known as the elect of God. We could go down the rabbit hole on each of these points, but notice how Romans 8 links this to the gospel; in Romans 8:28–30, we read something similar to this passage:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

God predestines those who will come to Jesus, and they will believe and be justified and glorified in the end (there will be no loss along the way). Such truths should lift up our hearts, for the next verses say, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies” (vv. 31–33). Those predestined are the elect of God, and they can know that the atonement of Christ justifies them from all sin.

This is a result of the grace of God, which is why the one who the Father sends to Jesus will come. In fact, in verse 44, we’ll see that there is an inability for anyone to come unless he or she is part of the elect. The reason for this isn’t because God is holding people back from salvation, but rather, sin will always hold them back.

Hear the good news: “and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Does that make sense? This is a rhetorical means of stating a positive truth through the negative; by Jesus saying He will never ever cast someone out, He is saying He will always receive such a person. Any person who comes to Christ can know that they come through the will of God and that Jesus will receive that person forever! That is exactly what the rest of Scripture says.

Jesus can make such declarations because, as He explains in v. 38, “I have come down from heaven.” Back in John 3:13, we noted that He’s the Son of Man who descended from heaven, and He says here He came “not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Back in v. 29, He stated that the Father had sent Him, and He is here to do the Father’s will.

What is the Father’s will, you ask? In v. 39, Jesus says, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” This affirms what He already said and what we read in Romans 8, that all who the Father predestined come and will be glorified on the last day. This is the eternal security of the believer, also known as the perseverance of the saints. Those who have truly come to the Lord are part of the elect of God, and He will not allow one to be lost.

This isn’t a popular string of doctrine, but I must present what the text does. Certain Baptists will accept the idea of eternal security but reject the idea of predestination. Not only are they rejecting a biblical term, they are holding another biblical view without the full justification of Scripture. The reason why Christians can know their salvation is secure is because God the Father decreed it so, and because Jesus came to fulfill the will of the Father.

If He loses people, then definitionally, He fails the Father’s will, which He repeats in v. 40 (“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”). He doesn’t say, “that some who behold the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life” but “everyone.” He also doesn’t say, “if things really work out with someone, I Myself will raise him up on the last day”!

Consider what He might mean by “the last day.” This must be a reference to an eschatological or end-times reality. We don’t have time to talk eschatology today, but the promise is obviously referencing a point past the end of someone’s life. It guarantees that a believer will face no condemnation in final judgment. All who come to Christ will undergo glorification in the end.

To sum up this part of the passage, see that the will of God is not thwarted by people who don’t come to faith. Jesus has not failed because the people in front of Him at the moment will walk away in v. 66. Quite the opposite, He’s fulfilling the plan of the Father because He knows that the ones sent to Him will come. The only way He would fail to fulfill God’s will is to lose those who come to Him for salvation. That brings us to the next point:

Some people disbelieve because they must be drawn of the Father (vv. 41–46)

Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

It’s fascinating that they’re grumbling about something He said back in the previous verses, almost as though they haven’t heard what’s He’s said since! (Maybe because they were hungry!) They might be grumbling now, but they haven’t even heard the difficult calls of the Lord yet! He hasn’t told them to take up their cross and follow Him. They are stumbling at foundational claims of Christ, such as His identity.

He’s not afraid of hard teachings, though, when necessary. He even later repeats Himself in v. 55 — “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” He even goes a step further in vv. 55–56, “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”

In any event, their sinful reaction proves His point. Sin isn’t necessarily making them intellectually dense, only spiritually so, which is why they reason in v. 42, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” There’s no doubt in their first question; it’s framed a special way in the original language to expect a positive answer (they believe Jesus to be the son of Joseph). Because they apparently knew His family, they state what they already know (or think they know) in response to Jesus’s truth claims. They lack spiritual insight into His heavenly origins through the virgin birth.

Interestingly, as they grumble against Him, they unintentionally create another parallel between Him and Moses — the people complained about Moses, as well! Jesus doesn’t allow it to continue unchecked, though. In v. 43, He said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.” He then says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” They grumble because they lack the ability to come to Him, but their depravity keeps them from seeing the irony in this.

Again, we need the grace of God to come to Christ. Some deny the need for special grace, that the grace of God already present in the world is sufficient for people to come to Him. However, that’s opposite of what we’re reading here. In fact, before God’s grace, we’re in a Romans 3 state; “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God” (vv. 10–11). Yet, God’s grace through the Holy Spirit corrects the sinfulness of the heart, creating understanding, a knowledge of own’s own unrighteousness before God, and a desire to seek God despite this. In other words, God’s grace turns the heart away from sin to want what it should always have wanted.

That’s where the word “draw” comes in here (helkuō). In John 18:10, the word refers to Peter drawing out his sword. In John 21:6, this word is used of the disciples trying to haul in the great catch of fish. In Acts 16:19, it refers to the hauling away of bound Paul and Silas to the authorities. Because of the drawing power of God, a sinner finds his heart desires drawn in a new direction, toward Christ (cf. John 12:32). This drawing is necessary because the heart would never naturally turn to God.

This drawing is not necessarily a particular feeling, though it may arrive with the conviction of sin. It is more of a realized belief that the Bible is revealing one’s own heart and the need for salvation, creating a willingness to exercise repentance and faith in Christ. Theologians call this biblical teaching a few names, such as irresistible grace, though R. C. Sproul preferred “effectual grace.” God’s grace effects the heart, drawing the soul to Jesus.

God’s gracious drawing brings people to Christ, which is why Jesus said in v. 37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Again, in v. 65, He says, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” Coming to Jesus parallels believing in Him (v. 35), and without God’s drawing, no one will believe.

Some paint this as cold or robotic, but God draws believers from His love, as we see even in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 31:3, we read, “The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” In Hosea 11:4, we read, “I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; and I bent down and fed them.” There is a divine concurrence between God’s sovereign choices and man’s choices, and His grace expresses His love to us.

His drawing grace lovingly teaches our hearts what they didn’t know because of sin. In v. 45, Jesus says, “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” (quoting Isaiah 54:13, a promise for redemption). Thus, the drawing of God isn’t best understood in v. 44 to mean God drags people to Him kicking and screaming; rather, He teaches them in a personal, effectual way. It is those who have heard and learned from the Father that come to Christ, and Christ promises here, with an emphatic pronoun, to raise such a person up on the last day.

This isn’t some kind of Pentecostal or charismatic experience. It’s not as though we get a vision of the Father or hear the audible voice of God. Jesus says in v. 46, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.” This parallels what John said in John 1:18 — “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” As one study notes, “Hearing and learning (v. 45) fall short of seeing the Father.” Jesus is the revelation of God, and we who are taught by the Father will come to Him because they are taught from God.

Those taught by God’s drawing grace hear the words, “Jesus died for the sins of the world” and understand it to mean, “Jesus died for my sins!” The dividing line between those who come to Christ in a gospel presentation and those who don’t, then, is ultimately God’s sovereign grace. He predestines, elects, and effectually calls sinners, and those who respond with faith and belief evidence the work of God in their hearts.

Conclusion

People who say that a belief in the sovereignty of God in salvation leads to less evangelism are mistaken, if, for no other reason, we see Jesus sharing the gospel message here. It might lead to a reduction of unbiblical methods of evangelism, such as high-pressure sales tactics and emotional manipulation. Yet, some of the greatest evangelists and missionaries in church history have all held to the sovereignty of God in salvation.

There are two benefits for believing in God’s sovereignty as a Christian. First, there’s relief that the salvation of souls is not entirely dependent upon you. If your neighbor doesn’t come to believe even though you’ve shared the gospel message, then it isn’t due to your fault. You can share again out of faithfulness to the Lord, but there is a weight lifted from our shoulders when we realize that the actual salvation isn’t due to our own speaking abilities and perfection (or lack thereof).

Moreover, this should help your trust in the gospel more. The faith that you profess is the gift of God. You wouldn’t have come to the Lord if not for His electing and drawing grace. You also are not going to keep yourself in the kingdom; Christ promises to do that. We simply rest and abide in Him with thanksgiving! That is good news!

Now, no unbeliever should ever use this as an excuse to not come; “Oh, I guess I’m not elect!” Don’t allow your sinfulness to twist a blessed doctrine of Scripture into license for unbelief. If there is breath in your lungs, there is time to repent. Just because you’ve rejected God in the past doesn’t mean that He isn’t calling you now to salvation. Be free of your sin; turn from your false ways and call upon Him to be saved. And you’ll find that He drew you along the very path you needed to travel for you to come to trust in Him.