John 5:45-47 - Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
Exodus 16:4, 14-15 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day”. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.”
Exodus 3:14 - God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 14:13, 21-22 - But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today”. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land…
3 ways to see Jesus as our Sustainer and Security
I. Develop a Deeper Understanding of the Scriptures
John 5:39-40, 46-47 - You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
A. The bread from Heaven (mana) through Moses, pointed to the greater bread from Heaven - Jesus
B. The lessor servant (Moses) who God used to lead through the waters (Moses) points to One who is over the waters - Jesus
Psalm 119:18 - Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.
II. Look Carefully at the Significance of Jesus’ Signs
The near-sighted human heart becomes charmed with the product of the miracle and not the producer of the miracle.
A. The Bread - Jesus is our daily sustenance
B. “I AM” - Jesus is our existence (John 6:20, 35)
John 7:23-24 - You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
III. Connect Your Earthly Longings to Your Spiritual Need
John 6:26-29 - Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
"Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise...If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world…Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
A. “Come to Me (Jesus)” (v. 35 & 37) for your spiritual food
John 6:35, 37 - Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst…All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
“For this word, ‘in no wise,’ cuts the throat of all objections; and it was dropped by the Lord Jesus for that very end; and to help the faith that is mixed with unbelief…But I am a great sinner, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I am an old sinner, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I am a hard-hearted sinner, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I am a backsliding sinner, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I have served Satan all my days, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I have sinned against light, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I have sinned against mercy, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ. But I have no good thing to bring with me, say you. ‘I will in no wise cast out,’ says Christ.” (John Bunyon, Come and Welcome to Jesus)
“What elicits tenderness from Jesus is not the severity of the sin but whether the sinner comes to him. Whatever our offense, he deals gently with us. If we never come to him, we will experience judgment so fierce it will be like a double-edged sword coming out of his mouth at us. If we do come to him, as fierce as his lion-like judgement would have been against us, so deep will be his lamb-like tenderness for us…We will be enveloped in one or the other. To no one will Jesus be neutral.” (Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly)
B. “Behold the Son (Jesus) Jesus” (v. 40 contrast v. 27) for your satisfaction and security
John 6:40 - 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.
On January 28, 1986, many of you had this image burned into your mind.
As a senior in highschool, aspiring to be an astronaut this rocked my world.
73 seconds into its launch the space shuttle challenger blew up.
All 7 astronauts including the first civilian teacher in space Christa McAuliffe perished.
Engineer Bob Ebeling shown on the left in this picture was one who knew of the problem that led to the challenger disaster.
He saw the signs and warned of impending disaster.
The morning of the launch, a distraught Ebeling drove to one of the Shuttle’s contractor headquarters.
He said frantically, 'The Challenger's going to blow up. Everyone's going to die,' " "And he was beating his fist on the dashboard.
The night before the launch the temperature at the launch site had dipped well below freezing.
Ebeling and a few others knew the scientific evidence that if the outside temperature dropped below freezing, the rubber seals on the solid rocket boosters would become brittle and fail to do their job.
Due to various pressures, management failed to see and heed what Ebeling was seeing.
- The pressures of progress of the shuttle program…
- The pressures of portraying a working shuttle program without delay…
- The prestige of having the first teacher in space… all blinded the management from seeing what Bob saw…
Immediately upon ignition. The frozen, brittle rubber seals disintegrated.
The debris of the compromised seal was expelled from the booster joint in a puff of smoke.
As the shuttle ascended, a plume of burning fuel coming out of the unsealed joint impinged upon the external fuel tank
With the intense burning heat, the fuel tank soon suffered structural failure.
And the challenger perished.
Engineer Bob Ebeling and others were watching the live feed in a crowded.
When Challenger exploded, one report said, “Ebeling sat trembling. And then he reportedly wept — loudly”
With those thoughts in mind please turn to John chapter 6 this morning.
Let me give the primary application of this sermon up front this morning.
- John the apostle is intentionally presenting the signs that clearly show who is Jesus so that we will see clearly and not have to perish
- What are the pressing pressures upon you today, like earthly provisions, pursuits, pleasures that blind you from seeing Who JESUS is and Living Life in His name..Just like the prevailing pressures on the NASA admins that prevented them from seeing and hearing the clear evidence?
Our series this year is a study through the Gospel of John called Enjoying Life in His Name
We come to the point in the Gospel of John where…..the overwhelming evidence that John the apostle has presented so far….
- Forms the basis for people like the woman at the well and the Samaritans to accept Jesus’ claims and have life…
And,
The overwhelming evidence…
- forms the grounds by which, God will say, “the evidence was there. You did not see it or heed it, and despite all my efforts to persuade, you will perish in your sins.”
The intensity of those rejecting Jesus at this stage in the Gospel of John is increasing.
In the last chapter, Jesus intentionally healed a man on the Sabbath and told the man to pick up with pallet and walk—which would be a violation of the man-made Pharisaical, Sabbath traditions.
Instead of turning to Jesus to find rest for his soul—not just his physical condition—he reported Jesus’ to the Pharisees.
The entirety of the meaning of the Sabbath is to provide rest from our wearisome labors! The lame man had not been able walk for 38 years!
Jesus IS THE SABBATH REST for those who come to him.
Yet the Pharisees and the lame man completely missed what the evidence of the healing pointed to.
And in today’s passage, Jesus, will now plead with the blind Jewish folks, whose hero was MOSES…where the Sabbath institution began… to see WHO he really is..
The logic is this…if the Jewish really understood MOSES and what MOSES represented, then certainly they would believe in Jesus..
Jesus’ words in John 5:45 write before our passage say,
John 5:45“Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.47“But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
In John 6, Jesus will perform INTENTIONAL signs that directly echo their hero Moses to show them who He is in relationship to Moses. JESUS IS PLEADING WITH THEM TO COME TO HIM.
As we read there are four items to keep in mind that will open this passage to you so you can see Jesus also.
- You will see Jesus more clearly if you remember the OT event of God providing through Moses’ leadership a bread like substance called Mana for His people in Exodus 16. God graciously and miraculously provided them with bread-like substance,
Exodus 16:4Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, …14 When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
They were to gather as much as they could eat for a day. But they could not hoard it or save it or the mana would perish/spoil. They had to wait for the next day’s allotment.
“Mana” means “What is it?” In our passage today, the folks similarly are wondering about Jesus, “Who is it”—this bread from heaven.
- You will see Jesus more clearly if you remember that God, Himself revealed Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush in Exodus 3:14 with the name “I am.” We will talk about that name more in a moment
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
- You will see Jesus more clearly if you remember that God, through Moses, parted the Red Sea for His people to walk through safely.
Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; … 21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. 22 The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land,
These are the primary Moses allusions in this text although there is more and I will point out the Moses’ allusions as we read the text.
Finally
- You will see Jesus’s pleas and efforts to convince us and those in unbelief if you notice the repetition of the term “SEE” in this text…John the apostle and Jesus is pleading for us to see. I will draw your attention to it
Let’s read now John 6:1–40
After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” (JESUS INITIATED THIS)… VERSE 8One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” … VERSE 11Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted.
VERSE 14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles (MIDDLE OF THE LAKE), they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
VERSE 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus…..
VERSE 26Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31 “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 “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. 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.”
We are considering today….
Enjoying Life in His Name through Seeing Jesus as Our Sustainer and Security
Three ways to see Jesus as our Sustainer and Security
The first way we can see Jesus more clearly is
- Develop a Deeper Understanding of the Scriptures
Church family and guests…I want to ask you right now what is your view of Scriptures?
When you think of the Bible. What do you think of?
- A disconnected set of ancient irrelevant stories?
- A record of outdated, unsophisticated, religious practices?
- A bunch of myths?
- Or, let’s say you are religious, and you look at the Scriptures as a rule book by which you must perform to get in good with God.
My wife and I recently started watching streamed past episodes of a show where teams of two people race around the world to win a prize.
We get excited sometimes when we think one of the teams is a Christian team and we want to root for them.
Recently we were watching a season and there was a professed Christian couple dating . They and the show identified themselves as Team Virgins.
- Can you imagine identifying your Team as Team Virgin?
- As if your behavior was what you are to be known for.
- How about Janet and I as Team “Better than You”?
- Or Pastor Rob and Stephanie are Team Righteous.
Is the scripture a set of rules by which you would exalt yourself and get in good with God because you practice a select few of its precepts?
This is exactly how the Pharisees misunderstood the Scriptures!
John 5:39“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life….46“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.47 “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Notice Jesus’ words. You think that in the Scriptures you have eternal life (implication by what you do)
But the Scriptures were primarily given to show how we cannot do what God asks and point to where to get life—
Friends, the
- The bread from Heaven (mana) through Moses, pointed to the greater bread from Heaven—Jesus
While Jesus is a greater Moses….He is not just that HE IS THE BREAD.
And…
- The lessor servant (Moses) who God used to lead through the waters (Moses) points to One who is over the waters—Jesus
- Who walked through the waters at the Red Sea Crossing? Moses
- But who split the waters of the Red Sea? Moses or God?
- Who is walking not through the waters, but over the waters? Jesus!
- Who is Jesus? God!
The greater Moses yes!
But Greater than Moses is the ONE WHO SPLIT THE RED SEA—God, Himself!
Folks, here is what I am saying if you do not understand Scriptures, as found in these sample two short statements derived from our text this morning….
….If you do not understand the overarching storyline and trajectory of Scripture you will miss Jesus just like many in our text today.
- You will only view the Scriptures as irrelevant ancient texts
- Or rules by which I must perform
- And in focusing on your righteous that you must perform to be TEAM VIRGIN you will be blind Christ’s righteousness. This is exactly what was happening to the Pharisees.
You may ask Pastor Brent, how do I come to a deeper knowledge of Scripture.
I am going to give you four ways in addition to the regular reading of your Bible to help yourself….
- Pray for God to help you understand the Scriptures.
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.
Folks I know the study of Scripture can be difficult.
When you are new to Scriptures and you come across books like Leviticus or the genealogies…you want to say “Why?”
I get it. But the hard work will pay off in the long run.
When I was over the college ministry here at Faith, there was a young man who was a Messianic Jew in Purdue Bible Fellowship
He used to challenge me and my church (you all) about how we should be practicing the OT festivals and feasts.
He also would tell me that I was a pagan Christian because I observed Christmas and “Easter” as opposed to Passover.
He had a very thorough knowledge of the OT and I could not give a defense of what I believed and refute him.
Eventually, I thought, if he is right, I’m going to have to leave Faith Church.
Guess what. I’m still here
During that same time, God allowed me to hear a pastor—Dr. Colin Smith (he is deceased now) who unpacked the OT like I had never heard before.
And from that time onward, I prayed, God, help me to understand the scriptures like him.
And then, Pastor Viars asked me to lead a future seminary and we needed an OT prof
Then I spent, 9 years getting my PhD in the OT.
Now, one of my greatest delights in my life is seeing how the Scriptures, particularly, the OT point to Jesus.
For me, when I see the connections, I am reassured one more time, this piece of literature is divine, my faith is secure, and Jesus is my life.
- Take advantage of all the Bible Study opportunities you can—SUNDAY MORNINGS, FCI, SUNDAY MORNING, SMALL GROUPS
- Read a book like by Ed Clowney.
Notice the title, the unfolding mystery…Scriptures are a progressive revelation leading to Christ. This short, non-technical book will cause a mini-worship session as you read!
- Teach others…starting with your children and or other children and youth….the overarching storyline of the Bible…then you will learn it well.
You don’t know scripture until you have had to teach it to others.
So, the first way to see Jesus is to Develop a Deeper Understanding of Scripture
The second way to see Jesus…Is to
- Look Carefully at the Significance of Jesus’ Signs
You may not realize this but there is a danger in miraculous signs
The near-sighted human heart becomes charmed with the product of the miracle and not the producer of the miracle.
- In Chapter 5 the lame man who was healed enjoyed His healing but not Christ
- In this chapter the crowds followed Jesus because their stomachs were full.
{repeat} The near-sighted human heart becomes charmed with the product of the miracle and not the producer of the miracle.
So, let’s become captivated by the producer of the miracle!!!!
What is the significance of Jesus feeding the 5000 bread?
In our society what is bread?
It’s a side dish right? An appetizer! You go to a nice restaurant and what to you look forward to?
The warm bread. But it is not the major meal!
Back then, bread was their daily provision…
When Christ taught the people how to pray…he said, “Give us this day our daily bread”
When Christ multiplied the bread and fed the 5000 he wasn’t simply interested in filling their stomachs but filling their souls if they looked to him as their sustenance.
- The Bread—Jesus is Our Daily Sustenance
Secondly, we come to the walking on the water passage and immediately think…Jesus is the one who calms our storms.
We can get enamored with a storm-free life and not recognize the significance of this sign.
Jesus intentionally, did not go with the disciples initially in the boat.
He was intentionally wanting to show them something life changing.
- The disciples all knew about Moses and the Red Sea.
- The disciples all knew also about God telling Moses His Name.
- The disciples all knew about God walking past Moses in Exodus 34.
So Jesus strategically sets up the situation to show them Who He is.
- He arranges the stormy Winds—just like God did in the parting of the Red Sea
- He proceeds to walk by them—Just like God did with Moses in Exodus 34
- Then He pronounces these words “I AM” and “Do not Fear” just like God did to Moses….
And you say, Pastor Brent, I’m not getting it.
I don’t even know what that name means.
And you are exactly right, that name “I AM” is probably one of the hardest concepts for humans to fathom.
But it provides the definition of God…
God did not say His name is , “I was” which implies some kind of limitation by time and possibly a past beginning
God did not say His name is “I will be” which implies change in the future.
God’s Name is “I AM” – the one who just is…who just exists
- The one who doesn’t need bread…. That is not us
- The one who doesn’t need shelter from the storms…He is over the storms
- The one who doesn’t have a beginning…unlike us
- The one who never changes..unlike us
- The one who simply is. That is by definition God and not us.
This name forces us to say…I AM NOT I AM
Jesus has arranged the storm, the sea, and the circumstances intentionally to utter these words…. “I AM” “DO NOT FEAR”
TAKE ME INTO YOUR BOAT—you will arrive safely to the other side….
Jesus is
- “I AM”—Jesus is our existence (John 6:20, 35)
If you receive Him you your existences as well, you will arrive safely to the other side.
In the very next chapter as the resistance against Jesus intensifies, and the unbelief grows Jesus will say,
John 7:23 You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
You understand the logic of this right?….if you don’t accept God, Jesus as your existence, “I AM”, then you won’t have an existence….you will perish.
Folks, Jesus is pleading with us to see who He is and you can by
- Understanding Scripture Accurately
- Seeing the significance of the signs…don’t be enamored by the product of the signs but by the producer of the signs.
The third pleading way to see Jesus is
3) Connect your earthly longings to your spiritual need
26Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. (I ask you again, what is distracting you from seeing your real need…what distracted NASA from seeing the evidence? The pressing earthly desires/concerns around us!!!! Jesus wants us to connect the earthly longings for the real need) 27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” (And like all good religious people…what religious thing must I do to get what I want? How can I get a TEAM VIRGIN T-shirt to look good?) 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
C. S. Lewis make the insightful observation
"Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise ... If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world…Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. - C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity
- If you long for earthly food, you will always be hungry
- If you long for earthly possessions, you will never have enough
- If you long for earthly beauty, you will always feel ugly
- If you long for earthly fame, there will always be someone more well known.
These longings are only shadows of our true need to be connect to our source of life that makes our existence whole.
.
Again, in the words of C. S. Lewis
- If you look for Christ, you will find Him and everything else.
- God cannot give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing
- Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth thrown in, aim at earth an you will get neither
So our Savior invites us to
- “Come to Me (Jesus)” (v. 35 & 37) for your spiritual food
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst…37All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
Did you hear the pleading assurance and emphatic promise of Jesus if you come to Him as opposed to going to any other source to meet your need…”I will in no wise cast you out”
John Bunyan says,
For this word, “in no wise,” cuts the throat of all objections; and it was dropped by the Lord Jesus for that very end; and to help the faith that is mixed with unbelief. … But I am a great sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I am an old sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I am a hard-hearted sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I am a backsliding sinner, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have served Satan all my days, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have sinned against light, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have sinned against mercy, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ. But I have no good thing to bring with me, say you. “I will in no wise cast out,” says Christ.—John Bunyon Come and Welcome to Jesus
And more recently, Dane Ortlund in His book Gentle and Lowly reflects on John 6 and says,
What elicits tenderness from Jesus is not the severity of the sin but whether the sinner comes to him. Whatever our offense, he deals gently with us. If we never come to him, we will experience judgment so fierce it will be like a double-edged sword coming out of his mouth at us. If we do come to him, as fierce as his lion-like judgement would have been against us, so deep will be his lamb-like tenderness for us…We will be enveloped in one or the other. To no one will Jesus be neutral. —Dane Ortlund Gentle and Lowly.
[Gospel presentation]
Our passage concludes with seeing terminology and pleading
- “Behold the Son (Jesus) Jesus” (v. 40 contrast v. 27) for your satisfaction and security
John 6:40“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.”
The significance of that last phrase “raise him up on the last day” is that you will not perish.
The Great I AM of eternal existence will give your existence to you for eternity as well.
If the NASA managers had believed the evidence in front of them, had not be distracted by the pressures around them and had known about the outcome of their decision to launch challenger, certainly, those seven astronauts would not have perished.
Likewise, Faith Church and guests, the evidence of who Jesus is is in front of us, the outcome of rejecting the evidence is true—perish. Peel away the earthly distractions and Behold the pleading Son and Come to Him for Life. In no way will He cast you out.
How will you see Him….?
- Develop a deeper understanding of Scripture
- Look carefully at the significance of the signs
- Connect these earthly longings to your spiritual need and come to Jesus (not only for your eternal security but for your daily bread).
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