All of Grace (Jn. 6:44)

Introduction

· The Tribune newspaper of Lewiston, Idaho, once made a misprint they had to correct the next morning. Their correction, along with the explanation, may have been just as confusing. They wrote, --quote-- “The crossword puzzle which should have appeared in today’s Tribune appeared instead in yesterday’s, together with the answer to the puzzle that should have been printed yesterday. Therefore, the puzzle that should have appeared yesterday is in today’s Tribune, together with the answer to Wednesday’s puzzle. The puzzle for today and the answer to the one that should have been printed yesterday are reprinted.” --unquote-- No one would blame the reader for having to read that explanation twixe. But in the end, it all worked out, and after all -- it was just a crossword puzzle. But when it comes to scripture, the stakes are much higher. We are dealing with eternal truths. Yet there are some doctrines in scripture which seem to be as confusing as as a puzzle, and we wonder if there is anyway to solve them.

· One such area of doctrine is the doctrines of grace, or Reformed Theology. Jerry and I as elders feel it is important for you to know a little about this doctrine, because it is one that is often misunderstood. Probably no doctrine in our church has been discussed more, or been the subject of more controversy. Yet when understood properly, the doctrines of grace will help you understand your Bible better, to love God deeper, will humble you, and will drive you to pray for and evangelize the lost.

· To better understand our present day situation, we need to go back to Holland. Yes, the land of tulips and windmills. The year was 1610, and a seminary professor named James Arminius had just recently passed away. His followers, who came to be known as “Arminians,” appreciated his work, and urged the Dutch Reformed Church to adopt some of his ideas and revise their doctrinal confession of faith. They put forward a number of ideas, including the following: God enables every sinner to repent and believe, but he does so in a way that will not interfere with man’s free will. God’s choice of who to save is based on his foreseeing who would respond to the gospel. As you tell, this view places a high value on man’s free will, and downplays the role of God in salvation.

· In 1618, church leaders agreed these issues needed to be looked at more closely, and so they convened a national synod in the town of Dort. Over the next seven months, delegates from Holland and other European nations gathered to examine the claims of the Arminians. Their ideas were more in line with leaders of the Protestant Reformation like Martin Luther and John Calvin, and so their view was sometimes known as Calvinism. In response to the five points of the Arminians, these delegates put forward Five Points of Calvinism. These points conveniently form the acronym TULIP, which makes them easier to remember. The five points of Calvinism, expressed at the Synod of Dort in 1619, were as follows…

· T – Total Depravity. Because of the fall, man is now dead in his sins and incapable of believing the gospel. He no longer has free will, because his will is enslaved to sin nature.

· U – Unconditional Election. God chose certain people for salvation based solely on his own sovereign will. This choice was not based on a foreseen response, but rather on God’s sovereign and merciful decree.

· L – Limited Atonement. Also known as Particular Redemption. Christ’s redeeming work was to save the elect, and thus when he died, he was actually paying their debt and securing salvation for them.

· I – Irresistible Grace. Also known as the Effectual Call. While a general call is made for all to repent, the Holy Spirit extends a call to the elect that awakens their heart and inevitably brings them to salvation.

· P – Perseverance of the Saints. All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and born again by the Spirit, will persevere and be eternally saved.

· Now let’s look together at a helpful passage: John 6:44

The Bread of Life

· John 6 is the longest chapter in the Book of John, at 71 verses. The chapter begins with Jesus teaching a large crowd along the Sea of Galilee. The crowd number in the thousands, quite likely close to 20,000. After a long day of ministry, they were hungry, so Jesus took a boy’s sack lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish and multiplied it to feed the entire multitude. That night he parted from his disciples, but then in the middle of the night, he appeared to them walking on the water while a strong storm was blowing. The next day, the crowds had regathered and were growing larger by the minute. The crowds are becoming so large and restless that they are jeopardizing his mission to heal the sick and to preach the gospel. He says in v. 26, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but beause you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” And from that point on, he launches into a discussion on the Bread of Life.

· Let’s pick it up in verse 35. Keep in mind he is speaking to a mixed audience with some genuine followers, but many “fair weather” disciples who are following him only because he is meeting their felt needs, healing their sick and filling their stomachs.

· Read vv. 35-51.

· In these verses, Jesus describes himself as the “Bread of Life.” This is the first of seven “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John that point to Christ’s deity and exclusivity (8:12; 10:7, 9; 10:11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5).

· What’s so significant about bread? Why would Jesus use bread as a metaphor to describe himself? For several reasons…

· Bread is a gift of God. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Every gift comes from God, and that includes bread. Last spring, at the start of COVID, millions of people across America started learning how to bake bread. Flour began to sell out, as well as the yeast packets. Natalie had already been baking homemade bread at home, and she began to do it more. Oh how I love a steaming hot loaf of bread straight out of the oven. Add a little bit of butter, maybe some cinnamon. Mmm. Perfect! Bread is one of God’s kinds gifts! Hence, “give us this day, our daily bread.” And Jesus is God’s greatest gift of all. (See v. 50-51).

· Bread gives life. When bread is eaten, the food is digested in the stomach and then the nutrients are sent throughout the body to regenerate cells. I saw one infographic that said “Every 35 days, your skin replaces itelf and your body makes new cells from the food you eat. What you eat literally becomes YOU. You are what you eat.” Food is so essential to our survival that God designed us with hunger pains to remind us to eat. See v.

· It takes work to get bread. Most of us are pretty spoiled. But baking bread from scratch is hard work. All the more if you had to actually grow and harvest the grain first! “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” (v. 27).

· Bread must be eaten to receive its benefits. You can walk into a grocery store and see a whole aisle dedicated to bread. There’s white and whole wheat, bagels and muffins, buns and baguettes. There’s enough bread at the local grocery store to feed your family for a year. But you won’t get any nourishment by looking at it. It will only give you nourishment if you pay for it, take it home, and eat it. Most people today own a Bible. They drive by churches, and they have contact with Christians. Yet I fear they are like a person who walks down the bread aisle. You must take it in to receive its benefits. (see v. 50). Jesus becomes so graphic that it almost sounds like cannibalism (v. 54). Yet Jesus is not literally a loaf of bread, and he is not talking about literally chewing up his body or drinking his blood. He’s talking about faith that takes him in. (v. 47).

· Summary: Bread is a gift of God. Bread gives life. Bread takes work. Bread must be eaten to receive its benefits. Have you trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you receive that free gift today? “Oh taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Ps. 34:8).

· Now, how does this all tie in with Reformed Theology, or the doctrines of grace? Well, for one thing, we so both the sovereignty of God and responsibility of man in this passage. Jesus gives a broad invitation for all to taste the Bread of Life. Yet he also says that those who believe do so because God has drawn them. (v. 44).

· To use the TULIP formula, we can see all five points of Calvinism within this one verse. T – Total depravity. No one can come. No one has the ability. U – Unconditional Election. The emphasis is on the Father himself who sent Christ and who draws. It was his choice and initiative, not our free will. L – Limited Atonement. There are specific people the Father draws. Unless the Father draws him…I will raise him… It is not all people that the Father draws and that Christ saves and raises, but the elect. I – Irresistible Grace. The Father is said to draw us to himself. This call or “drawing” is an act of God. The same word is used of a fisherman “drawing” or hauling in his net in Jn. 21:6. Faith is initiated by God who draws. P – Perseverance of the Saints. There is a unbreakable chain between God drawing, the sinner believing, and Christ raising. Christ says with certainty, “I myself (kago) will raise him on the last day.”

· This is just one verse, one example of teaching that we see over and over again throughout the Bible. Is God sovereign? Yes. Is man responsible? Yes. Is there mystery? Absolutely. But the Bible teaches both.

· Membership Class Distinctives. Reformed – We teach that salvation is a free gift by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. God’s choice to save us was not based on his divine foreknowledge of a decision we would make, but rather, was an act of his sovereign grace. From start to finish, salvation belongs to the Lord, to the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1:4-6; Jn. 1:12-13; 15:16; Rom. 8:28-30; 9:15-18; Rev. 7:10).

Two Objections

· Let me begin to wrap up by responding to two common objections.

· What about the “whosoevers” of the Bible? Doesn’t this suggest that anyone can come to Jesus? After all, Jn. 3:16 does not say that the “elect” will be saved, but that “whosoever believes” will be saved. Well, I do not deny any of the “whosoevers” of the Bible. They are wonderful promises. If you believe, you will be saved. End of discussion. But the question remains, where does that faith come from? How did it get there in the first place? Ac. 13:48 indicates that in Antioch, the ones who believed were those who had been “appointed to eternal life.” First came the appointing, then came the believing. Often, near a “whosoever” statement you will also find a hint at the sovereignty of God, such as Jn. 3:8, which says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” And then of course here in Jn. 6. Verse 35 says, “whoever comes to me shall not hunger” but v. 44 says “no one can come unless the Father draws him.”

· A second question. Doesn’t this turn God into a moral monster? If God chooses to save some, then in a sense, some think he is also choosing which ones will not be saved. That sounds an awful lot like he is predestining some people to hell, and that they have no say in the matter. But this is the wrong way of looking at it. How many of us sinned? All (Rom. 3:23). And what are the wages of sin? Death (Rom. 6:23). So by our own admission, all of us deserve to go to hell. That is where we are all headed. Eph. 2 says we were all “dead in our trespasses and sins, and by nature children of wrath.” The human race is like one big flock of sheep running straight for a cliff. It is only the mercy of God that intervenes, and snatches up some of the sheep before we jump over the ledge. He doesn’t have to do it. He warned Adam and Eve ahead of time what the consequences of sin would be, yet they rebelled anyway. The fact he does it for any of us, even giving up his Son in the process, is an act of love beyond our comprehension.

· This is why we can call ourselves Reformed. These are deep doctrines, and we do not claim to have all the answers. But we encourage you to search the scriptures, and to grapple with it for yourself. You do not need to believe the doctrines of grace in order to attend or even join our church, but you can expect this is the perspective you will hear from our pulpit and in our classrooms, because we believe it is the best way of understanding God’s sovereignty in our salvation. It is All of Grace.

Where to Learn More

· Knowing God by J.I. Packer

· The Five Points of Calvinism by Steel, Thomas, and Quinn

· The Doctrines that Divide by Erwin Lutzer

· In the end, we will add our voice to the great multitude of heaven -- people from every nation, tribe, and people, and declare in one loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:10).