Bread of Life Part 2

Every two years or four years we have an election in this country. It’s hard to forget that with the increasing pace of political commercials on television and in your mailbox. We get to choose who is going to represent us in the government. An election is just that - a choice. The word “election” is defined by Dictionary.com as “the exercise of deliberate choice”. You may be surprised as I was in college when I first heard that election and choice are not only terms talked about in the political realm but they are also found throughout the Bible.

A few sample verses:

31 He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

20 If the Lord had not cut those days short, no one would be saved. But he cut those days short for the sake of the elect, whom he chose.

20 If the Lord had not cut those days short, no one would be saved. But he cut those days short for the sake of the elect, whom he chose.

> 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.

33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.

10 This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for[a] the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads[b] to godliness,

10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.

10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.

As someone who has spent most of his life in church on Sunday mornings, it may surprise you to hear that though this doctrine of election is mentioned in several places in the scripture, I can not remember ever hearing a single sermon on it until I was an adult. Election is one of those doctrines that is very hard for us to understand and yet when it appears in scripture we must deal with it. It can not be denied that it’s in the Bible. You may disagree on the specific theology of the doctrine of election but when something appears in scripture we need to see how it’s explained and be careful not to explain something away just because we don’t understand or agree with it. As we continue our study through the book of John, we come to verses that we really need to dig into and explore for the deep theological truths that they contain. Today’s passage is bursting with it.

Historically Southern Baptists have subscribed to this doctrine. Infact, for the first 80 years of the convention it was part and parcel with being a Southern Baptist, as explained in Robert B. Selph’s book entitled Southern Baptist sand the Doctrine of Election. So what is the doctrine of election? Theologian Wayne Grudem defines it this way:

Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure. (Systematic Theology, p.670)

I agree with Carter and Wredburg that this doctrine of election is the only way you can properly explain passages like:

48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

> 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

> 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

> 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

As we get into our passage in John today, we will look at three things primarily:

What Jesus’s purpose in coming was, Who the elect are and what does Jesus say about them, and then we will wrap it up with discovering some ways we can live day to day in light of this scriptural truth.

Let’s turn to our passage:

39 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

43 Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws[i] him, and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God.[j] Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.

47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes[k] has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna[l] your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

59 He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

I. Jesus’s stated purpose in coming.

At the very beginning of our passage this morning is a statement of Jesus’s purpose in coming. There are times in the Gospel accounts where He just comes out and says these things and it’s just so profound. He says in verse 39 that He came down from heaven, not to do His own will but the will of the one who sent Him. So, Jesus came:

A. To do the will of God the Father.

This seems pretty clear from His statement here. But the question that brings to our minds is:

B. What was this will of God?

- To lose none that He gave Him.

John is crystal clear here that God chose a certain people and gave them to Jesus as a gift.

The verb, _has given_is in the perfect tense. The meaning of that is a past action that has present results. In other words, in the past, God the Father gave Jesus a specific group of people that are His and remain His in the present. Looking ahead to shows us the same thing.

6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

9 “I pray[b] for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation.

So, back in eternity past… way before creation, God chose people, not based on any merit of their own, and gave them as a gift to the Son. (Reword this)

4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.[a]

4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.[a]

John MacArthur quote:

The plan of God from eternity past was to redeem a segment of fallen humanity through the work of the Son and for the glory of the Son. There was a moment in eternity past when the Father desired to express His perfect and incomprehensible love for the Son. To do this, He chose to give to the Son a redeemed humanity as a love gift-a company of men and women whose purpose would be, throughout all the eons of eternity, to praise and glorify the Son and to serve Him perfectly. (Forward, p. 15)

- That those who see the Son and believe in Him would have eternal life.

- Jesus will raise them up on the last day. (Found three times in this passage). We have this assurance.

II. Who are these elect and what is true of them?

When Jesus sees the response of the Jews and their lack of faith in Him, He isn’t discouraged. What He says here is really because of the response of the Jews. It’s how He answered their response of not believing.

A. They come to Jesus because the Father draws them.

10 as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one.

11 There is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

Carter and Wredburg: Down to our core we are rebels against God.

Down to our core we are rebels against God.

>Down to our core we are rebels against God.

You may say you have free will. I will tell you that your will is not free. You are a slave to your sin.

6 For we know that our old self[a] was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin[b] might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,

.

So, what about how the Bible says that whosoever will may come? Am I suggesting that the sovereignty of God invalidates that other teaching of the Bible? NO! The Bible does teach this but let’s think about it for a moment. Whosoever will may come. So, who wills to come? Jesus is very clear in verse 44 that no one comes to the Father because of their own will. When we understand our own slavery to sin, we come closer to being able to understand and love the doctrine of election.

B. God uses the Gospel to draw the elect to saving faith in Jesus.

The word translated as “draws” in verse 44 is worth looking at. John goes on later to use it in describing the disciples’ action when they were pulling in their nets filled with fish, up into the boat.

God doesn’t use a net. He uses the preaching of the gospel to draw sinners to Jesus. It’s the gospel and the life-giving work of the Spirit.

63 The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

The preaching of the gospel is the means by which people come to know salvation in Jesus. It’s how they hear the truth that they are desperate sinners in need of a savior. It’s where they hear that Jesus, God in the flesh, came and lived a perfect life and died a criminal’s death in the place of sinners so that we sinners can live. It’s where they hear that three days after he was laid dead in a tomb, HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD and has ascended to the right hand of God where He waits for the appointed hour of His glorious return when He will set all things right and make all things new!!!

18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

If you think that since God will draw the elect to salvation that we don’t need to preach the gospel, you are dead wrong my friend. To say something like this would be a denial of what is commanded in scripture. Not only would it mean you misunderstand the doctrine of election but it would also mean you clearly misunderstand the work of God.

God ordains the result of the drawing to salvation but he also ordains the means. I heard a famous preacher once say that someone had questioned his belief that we should pray for people to be saved if he also believed in election. The preacher responded by asking them how a nail gets into a piece of wood. With a hammer because that’s how God ordained it to happen. Force gets applied to that nail and it goes into that wood.

People become Christ followers because God draws them to Himself… the means by which they are saved is through the proclamation of the Gospel. It’s not your job to guess who the elect are. God knows who they are… but we don’t! So we preach the Gospel everywhere to all people. Our job is to proclaim it and believe this gospel ourselves.

C. The elect will be raised by Jesus on the last day.

Jesus states assuredly, three times in this passage that the elect: those saved from sin by God through Christ will indeed be raised by Jesus on the last day. This points to a bodily resurrection and is our great hope to look towards.

Martin Luther, the great German reformer wrote:

>Here Christ says: “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing.” He will not only refrain from expelling and rejecting anyone, but HE is also resolved to keep them with Him and prevent anyone else from taking them from Him.”

John 10:27–30 HCSB

My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish —ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

John 10:27-30

John 10:27-30

27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

III. How should we live in light of the doctrine of election?

A. Let it encourage you to examine yourself.

10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.

Those whom the Father has given Jesus have turned from their sin and believed in Him.

B. Let it encourage you to exalt God.

C. Let it encourage you to share the Gospel.

>Born in Glasgow in 1867, Scott became the founder of the Africa Inland Mission. But his beginnings in Africa were anything but auspicious.

>His first trip to Africa ended in a severe attack of malaria that sent him home. He resolved to return after he recuperated. This return was especially gratifying to him because this time his brother John joined him. But before long, John was struck down by fever.

>All alone, Peter buried his brother in African soil, and in the agony of those days recommitted himself to preach the gospel in Africa. Yet his health gave way again, and he had to return to England.

>How would he ever pull out of the desolation and depression of those days? He had pledged himself to God. But where could he find the strength to go back to Africa? With man it was impossible!

>He found strength in Westminster Abbey. David Livingstone’s tomb is still there. Scott entered quietly, found the tomb, and knelt in front of it to pray. The inscription reads:

>OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD; THEM ALSO I MUST BRING.()

>He rose from his knees with a new hope. He returned to Africa. And today, over a hundred years later, the mission he founded is a vibrant, growing force for the gospel in Africa.

God has a plan. It will come to pass. We are called to repent and believe the Gospel and then to make disciples who go out and make more disciples.

Invitation to Respond

1. Salvation. Repent and believe.

2. Exhalt God.

3. Proclaim the Gospel.

# Pray

(Reference verses for further study: , , , , , , , , , , , , , )