Come When Called

Calloused Hearts

The people were having a hard time believing that Jesus is the Son of God. Though they had seen the miracles and heard his profession of being the bread of life, they still refused to believe that He is the Son of God.

They rationalized that He couldn’t be because they knew His father and mother. What they didn’t know was that Joseph was not His biological father. Jesus had been conceived by the Holy Spirit when Mary was still a virgin.

30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How [w]can this be, since I [x]am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the [y]holy Child shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:30-35

It is obvious that this had been kept a secret because the people did not know that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. They presumed that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus. Their failure to believe was based on inaccurate information.

They just couldn’t believe the claims of Jesus because they knew his family and it didn’t fit the mold of what they believed the Son of God would come from.

They were agitated at his claims. the Word of God said they grumbled at Him claiming to be the bread of life. When a person grumbles they are bothered.

What it boiled down to was their unbelief was rooted in the fact that Jesus didn’t meet the criteria of what they wanted to have in the Messiah. They wanted a strong military leader that could help overthrow Rome and provide a better life for the nation of Israel. Jesus did not fit the mold, so they failed to believe His claims and got agitated with Him.

Hard Hardheartedness Today

Many people don’t believe in Jesus because they don’t have all the information, use human reasoning to discredit Jesus, and don’t want Jesus to be their Lord because He doesn’t fit their mold.

Misinformation

Many unbelievers fail to believe because they have not researched the Bible to see if it is true. They have predetermined that Christians believe in fairy tales and the Bible is nothing more than a book of fairy tales. Many unbelievers have never researched the Bible from beginning to end to make an educated decision about Jesus Christ

CS Lewis was a devout Atheist that sought out the truth About Jesus Christ. These were His findings:

A second issue related to the deity of Jesus Christ that Lewis took up was the claim that Jesus was simply a great moral teacher. The person and work of Jesus Christ is usually the place that a false teacher will begin, and setting up Jesus as a great moral teacher is to bring Him down. C. S. Lewis fully understood this fact. The Principal of Manchester College, Nicol Cross, a Unitarian, didn’t like Lewis’ logic in a BBC address that later formed a part of Mere Christianity. Cross said at the Socratic Club on November 11, 1946 that “he must allude to the ‘vulgar nonsense’ that ‘a man who said the things that Jesus said, and was not God would be either a lunatic or a devil.’ ”[2] He was quoting Lewis’ BBC address, entitled “The Shocking Alternative,” first delivered on Feb. 1, 1942, an address that later became a part of Mere Christianity. Better was the conclusion of Justin Phillips, who believed that this was the talk that “established Lewis’ reputation as a Christian apologist of the first rank.”[3]

One of Lewis’ most compelling arguments for the deity of Jesus is that fact that Jesus forgave sins. And He forgave sins, not those sins committed against Him, but those done against others, as though He were the chief one offended. Lewis writes, “He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.”[4]

On a third note, one that similarly tries to reduce Christianity, and not merely Jesus of Nazareth, to the ordinary, Lewis also writes, “If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance.”[5]We have lots of good advice from the many world religions. Lewis documented this in the Appendix to The Abolition of Man. Lewis goes on to say, “There has been no lack of good advice for the last four thousand years. A bit more makes no difference.”[6]

Human Logic

Many people discredit Jesus because they have never experienced the things that Jesus did. They believe that these were made up to give people a false hope of life after death.

Unbelievers refuse the claims of Christ based on the improbability of them happening today. They don’t believe that anyone has the power of healing, can walk on water, can control the storms, and definitely not raise from the dead. They reason that because it has not happened today that it did not happen then.

Jesus doesn’t fit the mold

The main reason people will not believe in Jesus Christ is that they do not want to submit to His Lordship. If one is to believe, one must submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This means they must live in obedience to His commandments. They don’t want to because they want their sin more than they want a relationship with Jesus. This is what the sin nature does in an unbelievers life.

Come When The Father Calls

Jesus told the people that the reason they did not believe is that the Father did not draw them to belief.

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44

God the Father is always the initiator of salvation. He is the one who draws us to His Son. We do not have the ability to seek God and salvation. God must draw us to the Son.

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. 8:5-8

And you [a]were dead [b]in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the [c]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, [d]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the [e]mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead [f]in our transgressions, made us alive together [g]with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus Eph. 2:1-7

“There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17 And the path of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom. 3:10

God awaken the dead soul to see the magnitude of one’s sin and desperate need for a Savior. He reveals His Son Jesus Christ as that Savior. It is always God who initiates salvation. We cannot manufacture when we get saved. God must do it.

The source of contention in this passage is if when God reveals your Sin and His Son as the Savior do we have a choice to make or can we not resist the calling of God into salvation.

The Calvinist would claim that we do not have a choice because of God’s irresistible grace. They would say that our sin disables us from making the choice and God forces us into salvation.

The Armenian claims that we have a choice when God calls us into salvation. That God reveals it and we can choose to reject salvation or receive salvation. They emphasize the “free will” of a person to accept Jesus

Whatever camp you fall in, the real question is why would you reject something that is so obvious?

Consume The Bread of Life and Live Forever

Jesus taught that one must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life.

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:53-58

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The people knew Jesus was crazy when He said this. However, they did not understand what He was talking about. He was telling them that His body (flesh) would be broken for them and that his blood would be shed as a sacrifice for their sins. Jesus was referring to the Lord’s Supper

26 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and [h]after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. Matt. 26:26-28

This is why we observe the Lord’s Supper today. We recognize that taking of the bread and the juice that it is symbolic of eating His flesh and drinking His blood because he has given us eternal life.

The Lord’s supper is only meant for those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.