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to John chapter 6 as we continue 
to work our way through the gospel of John. Six, just to remind you in the 
first several verses, the first part of the chapter, Jesus changed 
or multiplied rather bread and fish to feed a great multitude 
of persons. That sets the stage for this 
bread of life discourse. So he's teaching in a synagogue 
in Capernaum, according to verse 59 in chapter six. So he is speaking 
to the Jews. He uses the metaphor concerning 
himself that he is the bread of life. So based on what he 
did in the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, he uses 
that as the context now to set forth this about him, that he 
gives life to those who come to him. So I'll pick up reading 
in John 6 at verse 26. Then Jesus answered them and 
said, Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek me not because 
you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were 
filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for 
the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will 
give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. Then 
they said to Him, What shall we do 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 sent. Therefore they said to him, What 
sign will you perform then, that we may see it and believe you? 
What work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in 
the desert, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven 
to eat. Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, 
Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives 
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who 
comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they 
said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said 
to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never 
hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. 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 by no means 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 the Father who sent Me, that of all He has 
given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the 
last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone 
who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, 
and I will raise Him up at the last day. The Jews then complained 
about him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from 
heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, 
whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, 
I have come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and 
said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to 
me unless the father who sent me draws him, and I will raise 
him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 
and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who 
has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that 
anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen 
the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, 
he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in 
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes 
down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the 
living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of 
this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give 
is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The 
Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this 
man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, Most 
assuredly I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son 
of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever 
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will 
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, 
and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks 
my blood abides in me, and I in him. as the living Father sent 
me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me 
will live because of me. This is the bread which came 
down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna 
and are dead. He who eats this bread will live 
forever. These things he said in the synagogue 
as he taught in Capernaum. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our 
blessed God and Holy Father, we thank you for the beauty of 
the day. We thank you for the majesty of God revealed in the 
created order. As well, we thank you for the 
beauty of the Holy Scriptures and the revelation of the gospel 
of our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. We ask now that 
the Holy Spirit would guide and lead us as we consider this passage. 
May you encourage and strengthen our hearts. May we see the value 
of the bread of life, even our Lord Jesus Christ. And God, may 
it be the day of salvation for those who've come here this morning 
that are still dead in their trespasses and sins. We know 
that no one can come unless the Father who sent the Son draws 
him. So we appeal not to man's free will or man's good choices, 
or man's wisdom or works, but we appeal to a sovereign God 
who is able to make men willing in the day of His power. May 
we see a revelation of that glory today. May we see the power and 
the presence of the Holy Spirit as He guides and illumines us. 
And again, forgive us for all sin and transgression. And we 
pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I said, this is 
the Bread of Life discourse, so Jesus uses the metaphor, I 
am the Bread of Life, because it's something that we understand, 
it's something tangible, it's something that we can relate 
to. We need bread, or we die. We need Jesus Christ, or we die 
in our sin. It's a very simple analogy that 
Christ employs, again, on the heels of having multiplied bread 
and fish. Obviously, Christ is engaged 
in teaching and instruction, but along the way we see that 
the Jews do not receive it. The Jews in our passage, we're 
looking at 41 to 51 this morning, they grumble, they murmur, they 
whine, they are not following, they are not picking up. what 
our blessed Savior is putting down. So I want to look first 
at the rejection by the Jews in verses 41 and 42, and then 
secondly, the rebuke by the Lord Jesus in verses 43 to 51. But 
notice their complaint in verse 41. The Jews then complained 
about Him because He said, I am the bread which came down from 
heaven. The fact that He uses the analogy, I am the bread of 
life, irritates them. They don't like that. They are 
not following, they are not welcoming, they are not receiving, and they 
are not eating that bread that has been offered. The eating, 
as we see throughout the passage, is to believe on Him. There are 
several statements used. Coming to Jesus, receiving, Jesus, 
eating Jesus, drinking his blood. Those are all synonymous with 
the act of faith. So they reject Jesus, and they 
not only are irritated by his use of the metaphor, I am the 
bread of life, but they're really irritated by his insistence that 
he has come from the Father. Notice the nature of their complaint 
again. I am the bread which came down 
from heaven. So his analogy with bread irritated 
them, but the emphasis, his constant reaffirmation that he has come 
from the Father, that really irritates them as well. That 
incenses them, that outrages them, and we see that as we move 
through the passage. Notice the question in verse 
42. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father 
and mother we know? He's a carpenter. He's a Nazarene. He's somebody that we saw, somebody 
that we understood. We know his parentage. Knowing 
his parentage, how in the world can this man claim that he has 
come down from the Father? Well, the blessing of the incarnation. 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 
the Word was God, John 1.1. John 1.14, the Word became flesh 
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So it 
was proper, it was fitting, it was appropriate for them to understand 
that Joseph was his earthly father and that Mary was his mother. 
There is nothing contradictory there and there's certainly nothing 
contradictory with that statement in John 1, 14. The word who was 
with God and the word who was God took on our humanity and 
dwelt among us. It is a most blessed and wondrous 
and glorious thing. but affirming that Joseph and 
Mary were his earthly parents, they couldn't, for the life of 
themselves, conceive how he was sent from the father, how he 
could come from the father, and that's the nature, the specific 
incident that they're upset about. So they said, is not this Jesus, 
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know, how is it 
then that he says, I have come down from heaven? Because the 
implication is that he came from God the Father, that he's unique, 
that he's special. He uses the language of only 
begotten Son of the Father. And again, they do not receive 
this, they do not believe this, they reject that. Now notice 
secondly the rebuke. First the rebuke and then the 
reasons for it in verses 44 and following. Notice in verse 43, 
Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among 
yourselves. Now this was symptomatic of Jews. This was symptomatic of the Israelites. Remember in Exodus chapter 16, 
prior to being given the manna from heaven, what do they do 
with reference to Yahweh? They grumble, they whine, they 
complain, they make their issues well known to Moses and to Aaron. 
And later on, Moses and Aaron rightly understand. It's not 
Moses and Aaron that you have a problem with. Your problem 
is ultimately with God. You're grumbling and murmuring 
and whining in light of a sovereign God who is going to sustain you 
in most glorious ways. The same sort of thing is obvious 
here. These people complained about 
him. Luke 15, they complained, this man receives sinners and 
eats with them. As if that was something that 
was purposefully going to get him to abandon his mission. That's precisely the terms of 
his mission. He's come to seek and to save 
that which was lost. He eats with sinners. That's 
the blessedness of our Lord Jesus Christ. So they murmur, they 
grumble, and they complain, and then Jesus rebukes them according 
to verse 43. Do not murmur among yourselves. Intriguingly, They didn't murmur 
to Him. They're murmuring among themselves. 
He knows it according to His divinity because He's God Most 
High. But He knows it according to 
His humanity because they're rejecting Him. They are not believing 
in Him. Every step of the way, they are 
refusing what He is teaching, both about being the bread of 
life and having His origin from the Father. Now, notice in terms 
of His reasoning, in terms of the rationale. In the first place, 
we see His emphasis on the sovereignty of God. And this is just like 
we saw back in verse 37. Look at verse 37, all that the 
father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, 
I will by no means cast out. He declares the sovereignty of 
God and the reality that the purpose of the father cannot 
be frustrated, it cannot be thwarted in light of their unbelief. So 
look at verse 36, but I said to you that you have seen me 
and yet do not believe. But rest assured, even though 
you don't believe, that doesn't sidetrack the mission of the 
Savior, and it certainly doesn't frustrate the plan and purpose 
of a sovereign God. Because all that the Father gives 
me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no 
means cast out. Same emphasis in verses 43 and 
44. He knows their unbelief. He knows their rejection of him. 
He knows that they are irritated by his claim to be the bread 
of life and by his claim to having come from the father, being sent 
from heaven above. And so he makes this statement 
in verse 44 in the same fashion. God is sovereign. The mission 
of the Messiah is not frustrated. You're not gonna knock him off 
his game. And with this declaration, no 
one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him 
And I will raise him up at the last day. It functions to explain 
their unbelief and their rejection of him. So again, as readers 
of the gospel, we see this increased opposition to the Messiah. We see this increased opposition 
from people who should receive him. Remember in the prologue, 
he comes to his own and his own do not receive him. Well, we're 
seeing evidence of that right now, but it's almost as if the 
Savior and the apostle want to reassure us that this is part 
and parcel of God's plan. He is a sovereign being, and 
that sovereignty even includes the unbelief of the Jews. Secondly, 
the Declaration confirms his emphasis all along. What are 
they struggling with? His emphasis that he's come from 
the Father. Look at what he says, no one 
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. He doesn't 
back down from the claim that the Father sent Him. The Lord 
Jesus confirms throughout the Gospel of John that He is the 
Word, the Word who was with God and the Word who was God. He 
affirms His divinity every step of the way. And it's because 
He's come from the Father that He's the only begotten of the 
Father, the one full of grace and truth that underscores that 
divinity. So He doesn't shrink back from 
that. So no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me 
draws him. And then the last statement, I will raise him up 
at the last day, repeats what he said in terms of the will 
of God for the Savior and the will of God for sinners. Look 
at verse 38. 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 the Father who sent me, that of all he has given 
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last 
day. That's the will of the father for the son and the son brings 
it to pass. But notice the will of the father 
for the sinner in verse 40. This is the will of him who sent 
me that everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have 
everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. So again, 
He doesn't back down. He doubles down to emphasize 
to his hearers, to his opposers, to these unbelievers, that he 
is the one sent by God for the purpose of saving his people 
from their sin. But then verse 44 functions in 
a generic or general sense as well. It underscores for us the 
problem of mankind. You know what the problem of 
mankind is? I would imagine if I gave you 
a piece of paper and said, give me five things. Government would 
probably be in the top five, I would guess. Friction, tension 
at work might be an issue. Gas escalating in terms of price. Purchasing power or the lack 
thereof of our money. We might see all these things 
and say, wow, this is man's problem. The Bible tells us man's problem 
is sin. The Bible tells us that all we 
like sheep have gone astray. And Jesus' statement in verse 
44 not only functions specifically to explain the unbelief and the 
rejection of these Jews, but it functions generally to explain 
the unbelief and the rejection by sinners of the Christ, of 
God, who came to save His people from their sins. No one can come. Typically, when we discuss sin, 
we call it the doctrine of total depravity. And the doctrine of 
total depravity doesn't mean that we're as bad as we can be. 
It doesn't mean we're all Paul Pott. It doesn't mean we're all 
Mao. It doesn't mean we're all Hitler 
or Stalin. It doesn't mean we're all named the current persons 
that you think are particularly vile. Total depravity means it 
affects us. Sin affects us at every point 
in our lives. It affects our minds. It affects 
our hearts. It affects our actions. It affects 
our wills. We are totally depraved. Again, 
the doctrine of total depravity does not mean you're as bad as 
you could possibly be. Take heart. You can always be 
worse. Just kidding. The doctrine of total depravity 
says that we have sinned in Adam, and we are dead, and there is 
nothing that we can do to commend ourselves to God Most High. That's 
why Jesus emphasizes sovereignty. That's why we're seeing Paul's 
emphasis in Ephesians 1 on sovereignty, because if God is not sovereign, 
then we are not saved. So Christ makes this affirmation, 
but it's not just total depravity. There's a corollary. There's 
a doctrine that's attached to that. And it's called total inability 
because Christ is dealing with ability in verse 44. No one can come. No one has the ability. No one has the wherewithal. No 
one has the resources. No one has the heart or the affection 
or the will. No one has the faith or the repentance. Again, if God does not draw then 
men are dead in their trespasses and sins. This rehearses or repeats 
what we've seen in John. Turn back to John 1. John 1. Just taking verse 44 and seeing 
its general application in the case of all men everywhere who 
do not believe on Jesus and who reject Him. Notice in John 1 
at verse 10, He, Jesus, the Word, was in the world and the world 
was made through Him. And the world did not know Him. 
He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. But as many 
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children 
of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God." You see the total inability there. and the 
absolute ability of God Most High. There's a contrast. Notice 
verse 12. But as many as received him, 
to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those 
who believe in his name, who were born. And notice the three 
negations. Not of blood, nor of the will 
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Same emphasis as John 6, 44. 
No one can come. No one has the resources. No 
one has the wherewithal. No one has the faith. No one 
has the works. No one has the perfection. No 
one has the goods. And as a result, they don't come 
or they can't come to our blessed Savior. Turn over to Romans, 
where we see Paul's emphasis on this doctrine of total depravity 
and total inability. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 
8, specifically at verse 7. I'll pick up reading in verse 
6. Romans 8, 6. For to be carnally 
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because 
the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to 
the law of God, nor indeed can be. So again, those twin elements. 
It's not subject to the law of God. That's total depravity. But neither can it be. That's total inability. So if 
no one can come to me, is all we knew of in the Bible, we would 
be desperately miserable people. But that Christ goes on to speak 
of efficacious grace. Christ goes on to speak of the 
power of the Father. Christ goes on to undertake a 
teaching on the sovereignty of God. Same emphasis, total inability, 
we need God's grace. Look at 916. 916 in Romans, so 
then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God 
who shows mercy. Ephesians chapter 1, or Ephesians 
chapter 2 rather, we've seen this passage as we're working 
through Ephesians 1, the targets of God's grace and and blessing 
and mercy and election and predestination, blood atonement and seal and 
guarantee by the Spirit. These must be a wonderful class 
of people. They must be an upright group of people. They must be 
an altogether worthy people. No, not at all. They're wicked, 
they're wretched, they're undone. If it wasn't for election, if 
it wasn't for predestination, if it wasn't for blood atonement, 
if it wasn't for the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart 
of sinners, we'd all be dead in our trespasses and sins. Look 
at who God is dealing with in chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. And 
you, He made alive. who were dead in trespasses and 
sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this 
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the 
spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also 
we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling 
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature 
children of wrath, just as the others. Brethren, if you've ever 
thought, boy, I'm going to congratulate myself because I'm heaven-bound. 
You haven't understood the doctrine of total depravity. You haven't 
understood the doctrine of total inability. And you certainly 
haven't understood the absolute sovereignty of God. We're not 
heaven-bound because we're good. We're heaven-bound because God 
is good. We're heaven bound because God 
in grace elected. God in grace predestined. God 
in grace sent the son of his love to die. God in grace raised 
him up for our justification. And God in grace sends the Holy 
Spirit to awaken us, to make us alive. That's what Paul continues 
with chapter two, verses four and five. He makes us alive together 
with Christ. And he emphasizes this is according 
to the grace and power of God almighty. So back to John 6, 
44, the specific reference in the context, it answers to the 
unbelief and the rejection of the Jews. But as well, it confirms 
or reconfirms what he's been saying all along. He has been 
sent from heaven, sent by the Father on this particular task. But then it is generally the 
way that we make heads or tails out of widespread rejection and 
unbelief with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. So notice, 
no one It can come to me. So the fact is, is that we're 
depraved. The fact is, is that we're unable. The fact is, in 
Paul's language, we're dead in our trespasses and sins. But 
look at what Jesus continues to say. Look at how Jesus continues 
to bring it home. Look at how Jesus continues to 
bang the nail into the coffin of their rejection of him. Verse 
44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws 
him. And the good news is, is that 
the Father who sent him does draw sinners. This isn't hypothetical. This isn't theoretical. This 
is the explanation as to why some of us in this room have 
come to the Savior. It's not because we're wise, 
not because we have works, but because God in mercy drew us 
to the Savior. And this particular verb, draw, 
is a unique one. It implies that the object being 
moved is incapable of propelling itself, or in the case of persons, 
is unwilling to do so voluntarily. Now then, people say, well, you 
come kicking and screaming to the Savior. No, when God changes 
the heart. when God takes out the old stony 
heart and puts in a new fleshly heart and gives us the graces 
of faith and repentance, what effect does the heart have upon 
the will? Well, when the heart is right 
with God, so is the will. And we come to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, not kicking, not screaming, not whining, not grumbling, not 
complaining, but confessing and praising and worshiping and adoring. Why? Because we couldn't come, 
but the father who sent him draws us by the power of irresistible 
grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is able to overcome 
the strong man of our hearts and give us conquest by the precious 
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The son then says, again to confirm 
what he says is the mission of the father. He says, and I will 
raise him up at the last day. What do we conclude from that 
statement? We're going to see a bit more of this tonight when 
we get to Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. What does it mean? That our salvation isn't only 
for today. Our salvation isn't only for as long as we're good. 
Our salvation is, you know, all about how well we perform. No, Jesus speaks of a salvation 
wherein he raises it up at the last day. Recently, a particular 
Christian man, a scholar, died. And it reminded me that I have 
a good friend in London, England that used to come to this particular 
church. His name was Jeff. And we were both sort of fans 
of this particular fellow that died. And I had pointed out the 
death of this man. And then Jeff texted back an 
old saying. I'm sure you've heard it. And 
I hope it is as encouraging to you now as it was when you first 
heard it. He made the observation that he's more happy, this departed 
saint, because he's now in the presence of God most high, but 
he's not more secure. Saints in heaven are more happy, 
but they're not more secure. Why is that? Because the Father 
who draws us to the Son doesn't simply do it temporarily. The 
Father who draws us to the Son brings us salvation, brings us 
redemption, brings us forgiveness of sins and a righteousness that 
avails with God most high. In other words, Christ can speak 
about raising them up on the last day because Christ has the 
power to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through 
him. So this is very appropriate teaching 
in a synagogue of Jews where they're whining and grumbling 
and complaining. Who does this man think he is 
to liken himself to the bread of life and then to liken himself 
as to one who was sent by the Father from heaven? But it's 
a general statement concerning the system of divine mercy. No 
one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him 
and I will raise him up at the last day. Now Jesus confirms 
this, Jesus affirms this by appealing to the scripture. This isn't 
a newfangled thought in the mind of Christ in the first century. 
This is consistent with what had been revealed to these Jews. In other words, they are mocking, 
they are rejecting, they are not believing in the one promised 
by God in the Old Testament to come to do exactly what it is 
He does. Notice in verse 45, he appeals 
to the prophet Isaiah. It is written in the prophets, 
plural, because this idea of knowing God isn't just located 
in Isaiah 54, 13. It's there, and that's what he's 
speaking to. But Jeremiah 9, for instance, 
let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, or the rich man boast 
in his riches, but let him who boasts, boast in this, that he 
knows me. This idea of learning. who God 
is, understanding who God is, receiving the will of God. So 
notice in verse 45, it is written in the prophets, and they shall 
all be taught by God. So with reference to that appeal 
to the scripture, he now applies it. Verse 45, therefore, everyone 
who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Now think 
about this for just a moment. They have heard and learned from 
the Father how. by the teaching of the son. John 1 18 tells us, no one has 
seen God at any time, but the only begotten son who's in the 
bosom of the father has what? Has declared him. So how are 
these persons hearing the father? How are these persons learning 
what the father says? They are doing so through the 
mission of our blessed savior. So verse 45, it is written in 
the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, 
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father does what? They 
come to me. So Jesus teaches what the will 
of the Father is. And Jesus assumes that those 
who hear that will, that word, Jesus says that those who learn 
that word come to the Savior. They come to the Son. They come 
to the blessed Lord Jesus for salvation. Again, it underscores 
his origin from the Father. They're not at cross purposes. 
There's not a willing son in something contradictory to the 
will of the Father. By virtue of divinity, they have 
one will, one power, one eternity. So he is consistently representing 
the doctrine of the triune God in his dealings with these people. 
So it is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught by God. 
Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes 
to me. So guess what? Talk about a rebuke. What's he saying? You haven't 
heard. You haven't learned. You haven't 
paid attention. You haven't emptied out your 
ears. You haven't followed the scriptural drift. You haven't 
understood the scope of the whole is to give glory to God in the 
salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ. This is a further reproof 
and rebuke to these people. He's identifying them. They would 
certainly express their affinity with the God are speaking of, 
they would definitely express their affinity with Yahweh of 
Israel. They would definitely say, oh, of course, we are of 
God. And yet Jesus says to them, in your rejection of me, you 
are displaying rejection of God, because the Father sent me to 
save wretches like you. And in your unbelief and rejection 
of me, it underscores God's sovereignty, and that never minimizes or mitigates 
your responsibility. You should come to me. You should 
believe, you should look and live, you should receive the 
offered mercy that comes in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
And then notice, finally, in this brief section, how he expresses 
his function. It is both toward man, or toward 
God, and then toward man. Notice in verse 46, not that 
anyone has seen the Father, except he was from God. He has seen 
the Father. So back to verse 45, it is written 
in the prophets, they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, 
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 
Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from 
God. He has seen the Father. I've already mentioned John 1.18, 
you can turn there again, John 1.18. So far from Jesus sort of backing 
it down, not to offend their delicate sensitivities with all 
this from the father language, he continues to emphasize it. 
He continues to highlight it. He continues to underscore it 
because if you are wrong as to who he is, you are wrong with 
reference to life eternal. If you do not believe that I 
am, he says in John 8, you will die in your sins. So if you reject 
the Son, you are rejecting the Father. So notice in 118, no 
one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is 
in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. What's that 
talking about? What does that mean? It's talking 
about God essentially, God in Himself, God as He is. Turn over to Matthew 11. Matthew 
11, the same sort of an emphasis by our Lord concerning this intimacy 
that He has with the Father by virtue of the fact that He is 
the only begotten Son of the Father, and He is therefore in 
a position to reveal the Father to sinners. So notice in Matthew 
11 at verse 25, at that time Jesus answered and said, I thank 
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these 
things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. 
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things 
have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the 
Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father 
except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal 
Him. You see what he does there. He underscores his position, 
his relation to the Father as the revealer of the Father. So 
when he says to the Jews in the Capernaum synagogue that you 
are not learning, you're not being taught by God because you're 
rejecting the one whom God has sent. And it's on the heels of 
this declaration of sovereignty that he says in verse 28, Come 
to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle 
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for 
my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So back to John 6. Not that anyone has seen the 
Father, verse 46, except he who is from God. He has seen the 
Father. Matthew Poole, I think, explains 
this well. He says, none must dream that the Father should 
visibly appear in the world to teach men. For the presence of 
God is invisible. None has seen it at any time, 
saving He alone, who is the only begotten Son of the Father. He 
has seen the essence of the Father. He knows His will and most secret 
counsels. So again, just to connect it 
in the context so that we don't lose anybody here. This is a 
rebuke. This is a leveling of their unbelief, 
of their rejection of him. You claim, and this comes to 
sharper contrast or sharper treatment when we get to John chapter eight. 
Oh, we're from God. What does Jesus say? If you were 
from God, you would love him who's come from God. And you 
want to kill me. That's the emphasis that he gives. 
Again, the contrast doesn't stop. They continue to question his 
origin. They continue to question his 
mission. And he continues to double down and underscore that 
he's come from the Father in order to save his people from 
their sins. So back to 646, another person 
says, the son, however, because he has received the entire nature 
of the father perfectly through an eternal generation, sees and 
comprehends totally. Now, if you're thinking in your 
head, there's no way we're gonna be done with up to 51 and still 
eat hot food. We're gonna finish with verse 
47. This is a good place to end. In the context, again, we're 
leading our way through it to see how what they say to him, 
what they think are great challenges to the words that he has spoken. 
He takes them and he processes them and then he gives it right 
back to them in the way that he has been emphasizing. So notice 
the mission comes to fruition in verse 47. So he says, most 
assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting 
life. He who believes in me has everlasting 
life. That's the emphasis in the passage. That's the emphasis in the entirety 
of John's Gospel. That's the emphasis throughout 
the Bible. It's justification by faith alone. It's not by belief plus works. It's not by belief plus wisdom. It's not by belief plus money. It is belief in Christ. as the 
one who lived in obedience to the Father's law, who died as 
a sacrifice at Calvary, and was raised again the third day, such 
that any sinner who looks unto Him in faith will have everlasting 
life. So even in the midst of this 
discourse, even in the midst while they are rebuffing Him 
and challenging Him, even in the midst of them murmuring and 
grumbling and whining and complaining and saying, who does this man 
think he is? He should out Moses Moses in 
the wilderness with reference to the manna. Every step of the 
way, they're dragging their heels. Every step of the way, they are, 
as it were, spiritually spitting in his face. And nevertheless, 
in verse 47, he underscores the very mission for which he came. 
And that mission is blessed. That mission is wonderful. That 
mission is glorious. We are sinners. That's the problem. The way of salvation is by grace 
through faith in Jesus. That's the solution, the remedy. 
So he doesn't back down from that. He continues to press that. 
He continues to reiterate and continues to highlight his origin 
from the father and his mission with reference to this world. So in conclusion, So when I look 
at these Jews, not as a people group, ethnicity, John tells 
us in verse 41, the Jews then complained about him because 
he said, I think they have a lot of affinity with people in our 
own day and age. First of all, they reject his 
analogy. They reject the analogy, I am the bread of life. That's 
a pretty powerful statement, President, and one that he doesn't 
shrink back from saying on several instances in this bread of life 
discourse. I am the bread of life. Remember 
verse 27, how he makes the contrast between the bread that you eat 
now and endures for time versus the bread that endures forever. 
27, do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food 
which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will 
give you because God the Father was set as seal on him. It is 
an apt image that conveys to needy sinners, sufficiency and 
completeness to be had in our Lord Jesus. If you were starving 
to death, you'd been out in the wilderness for three, five, 10 
days and you came to my house, I'm gonna give you food because 
you need food. You need that sustenance. You 
need what is desperately lacking in terms of nutrients. You need 
protein, you need fat, you need a modest amount of carbohydrates. 
You need a lot of water. You need health and nourishment. 
Well, in the same token, he uses that language, the nourishment 
that satisfies the soul, the nourishment that endures forever, 
the nourishment that no matter what may come, whether it be 
from government, whether it be from the devil, whether it be 
from the world, whether it be from our own remaining corruption, 
we feed on the bread of life by faith. And that language of 
eating the bread, drinking the blood that he's going to pick 
up on in verses 53 to 58. Listen to Poole again. He says, 
eating Christ in this text signifies no more than believing in Him. 
So often before mentioned under the notion of coming to Him, 
believing in Him, and etc. And then notice, he says, believing 
is fitly expressed by the notion of eating, because as eating 
is the application of food to our stomachs, right? That's how 
we get the food into our stomachs, it is by eating. You shove it 
in the gullet, you chew it with the teeth, you masticate it, 
it flows down and it does its job. Listen to what the analogy 
is that he draws out. So he says, because as eating 
is the application of food to our stomachs for the sustenance 
of our bodily life, so believing is the application of Christ 
to the soul. You are not good. There is none 
good. I'm not picking on you. I'm part 
of you. I'm not suggesting you're all 
so messed up, you need the bread of life. I, you know, managed 
to get in on my own. No, we're all messed up. The 
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, 
God says through Jeremiah. Who can understand it? How could 
we even think for a moment we feel or understand the full implications 
of our sinfulness? I think Luther said if we had 
a view for a moment of the gravity of our own sin, we'd probably 
explode. We probably could not handle 
it. We probably could not understand the full depths to which depravity 
goes. Brethren, I realize that this 
is not a popular way to think in our narcissistic age, this 
me generation, where we want everybody to see us so favorably 
and wonderfully. Christianity isn't for that lot. Christianity isn't for the righteous. Christianity is for sinners. Guilty, vile, helpless, spotless 
Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah. What a Savior. The Jews did not 
like His analogy. The Jews rejected His divine 
origin, that He was sent from the Father. There's a lot of 
muddy thinking out there right now concerning our triune God. 
We need to think clearly concerning our triune God. The son is sent 
by the father on a mission to save his people from their sins. 
The sending of the son by the father gives us some revelation 
of the relations between father and the son. The father is unbegotten, 
the son is begotten, and the spirit proceeds from the father 
and the son. So Jesus doesn't back down on 
this, I was sent from my father language, but rather Jesus emphasizes 
it because we need to learn it. We need to understand it. Our 
savior is the second person of the triune God. Our savior came 
into this world of lost humanity by taking on our humanity, living 
for us, dying for us, and rising again for us. The Jews rejected 
his divine origin. The Jews rejected his mission. 
Look at the mission as he specifies in verse 51. We'll see this God 
willing next week. I am the living bread which came 
down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, 
he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give 
is my flesh. Again, 53 to 58 is not an invitation 
to become cannibals and drinkers of blood. It is metaphor for 
faith. It is metaphor for belief. It 
is metaphor for receiving, coming to him. So the bread that I shall 
give is my flesh. His sacrificial death is the 
means by which he brings salvation. And then notice, which I shall 
give for the life of what? The world. It's not just the 
Jews. It's not just those in the covenant 
people. but it's Gentiles, it's Greeks, 
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Wasn't 
that the lessons that the Samaritans learned in John 4, 42? We know 
now from our own investigation that He, Jesus, is the Savior 
of the world. Brethren, they rejected every 
jot and tittle of what He was teaching. They rejected, finally, 
His doctrine. It is He. His voice is that which 
communicates the Father. Verse 45, it is written in the 
Prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, 
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 
Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from 
God. He has seen the Father. Their rejection of the Son meant 
a rejection of the Father. So the doctrine that Christ proposed 
or taught to them, they did not receive that as well. And finally, 
the passage celebrates the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ. 
Will you just turn all that around? The beauty of the metaphor. He's 
the bread of life. We eat him and we shall never die. We believe 
on him. We shall never die. He will raise 
us up at the last day. Yes, saints in heaven are more 
happy, but they're not more secure because Christ later in John 
10 says that no one can pluck them out of my hand. It is an 
impossibility for the Savior to lose those whom He saved. The glory of Christ is seen in 
His divine origin. The glory of Christ is seen in 
His incarnation. The glory of Christ is given 
throughout this gospel so that you may believe that He is the 
Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name. If you are not a believer, that's 
the encouragement today, to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ in 
faith and you will have everlasting life. Amen. Well, let's pray. We'll also, well, I'll pray now 
for the closing of the sermon. We'll sing and then we'll pray 
for the food. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the bread of 
life, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, and all that that metaphor 
conveys. We thank You that we appropriate 
Him by faith, and that faith is a gift given by You. God, 
we pray that You'd open hearts today, that You would bring conviction 
for sin, that You would set forth Christ in His offices to save, 
and that sinners would look unto Him and find the joy of being 
found in Him. And we ask these blessings in 
His name. Amen. Where we'll stand as we 
sing 568, you can turn there in your hymn books. ♪ Sing we all ♪ ♪ Praise to the 
one we have before us ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ 
♪ Amen ♪ May the grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit 
be with you all. Amen. Father, thank you for this 
day. Thank you for the house of God 
and for the people of God and the joy that we have to sing 
your praises and to hear your word. We thank you as well for 
the kindness that you've shown us in food and and drink and 
for the blessing of having fellowship now. We ask that you would just 
guide us and strengthen us and help us to encourage one another 
as we eat and drink for your glory. And we pray through Jesus 
Christ, our Lord, amen. Well, please be seated for a 
brief time of meditation and then please head upstairs and 
enjoy some good food.