Not Able NOT to Sin (John 6:41-47)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:06.759 Our sermon text reading is John, Chapter six, verses forty one, hundred 2 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:16.589 and forty seven. John Six, forty one to forty seven. So the 3 00:00:16.629 --> 00:00:20.949 Jews grumbled about him because he said I am the bread that came down from 4 00:00:20.949 --> 00:00:25.579 heaven. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, 5 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:29.739 whose father and mother we know? How does he now say? I have 6 00:00:29.899 --> 00:00:34.579 come down from heaven? Jesus answered them. Do not grumble among yourselves. 7 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:38.369 No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him, 8 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:42.250 and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in 9 00:00:42.289 --> 00:00:47.369 the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has 10 00:00:47.409 --> 00:00:51.640 heard and learned from the father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen 11 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:55.799 the father, except he who is from God. He has seen the father 12 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.079 truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 13 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:11.349 Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. You may be seated. Well, 14 00:01:11.390 --> 00:01:15.709 buzz lightyear was one of the he was the supreme toy to have graced 15 00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:23.739 Andy's room in years. He was the envy of all the toys belonging to 16 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:30.340 Andy, even the envy of Andy's now formally prized possession and woody, a 17 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:36.569 cowboy and with buzzes, capabilities and powers, who wouldn't envy him? Who 18 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:41.730 wouldn't flock to him? How could he not steal wood? He is thunder. 19 00:01:42.409 --> 00:01:46.329 He came from the Galactic Universe, after all, he had a jet 20 00:01:46.450 --> 00:01:52.239 pack, lasers coming out of his space suit and he could fly, or 21 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:57.280 so he thought. And if you've seen the cinematic masterpiece that is toy story, 22 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:02.670 the original, you know that buzz light ear and would the cowboy become 23 00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:09.590 the bestest of buds eventually, but it wasn't always that way. Upon arrival 24 00:02:09.710 --> 00:02:15.819 to Andy's home, Buzz Light Ear was an asteroid in woody's boots and in 25 00:02:15.979 --> 00:02:22.780 buzzes beginning days, days where he would unintentionally bring nothing but conflict and division. 26 00:02:23.099 --> 00:02:27.460 He was delusional. He thought he could fly. He was under the 27 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:31.090 impression that he could fly. Would he would call it falling with style, 28 00:02:31.289 --> 00:02:38.490 but buzz was confident in his aerodynamic abilities, and so he let others to 29 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:43.330 believe the same. They all believed that would. He was wrong. In 30 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:47.680 the buzz is right. The buzz really could fly, seeing with anger at 31 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:52.919 the loss of being and he's number one toy. Would he stuck it hard 32 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.599 to buzz one day when he said you are a toy, you can't fly. 33 00:02:59.349 --> 00:03:02.430 Of course buzz didn't like to hear this and he threw it away out 34 00:03:02.469 --> 00:03:07.949 of his mind. It's not true, and so he remained delusional until a 35 00:03:07.990 --> 00:03:14.740 very low point in his life, by which he recalled what he's hurtful but 36 00:03:14.860 --> 00:03:20.979 truthful words. He is a toy, he can't fly. Trying to do 37 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:23.900 so was going to get him to trouble. It's going to get him hurt. 38 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:27.330 It was a hard truth to swallow and digest that day, but it 39 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:31.409 was a truth nevertheless. Buzz didn't like being told that, and I know 40 00:03:31.490 --> 00:03:38.370 it's a fictitious story, but it's representative of what we humans don't like. 41 00:03:38.530 --> 00:03:43.560 We don't like being told that we can't do something. We don't like that 42 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.319 kind of negativity. We can't handle that kind of negativity in life. We 43 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:52.439 don't want to surround ourselves with people who tell us we can't do something. 44 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:58.509 In fact, that kind of negativity usually propels us to try to prove that 45 00:03:58.669 --> 00:04:04.150 Naysayer wrong. Just watch any movie and a TV show made an America and 46 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:13.460 you have basically adversity overcome by ability. Look at the person's trial. Look 47 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:18.100 how that person was able to persevere, and now that person was able to 48 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:26.170 haun his own accomplish whatever was before him. But here in our Texas evening, 49 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:29.170 we are told by Jesus Christ, a son of God no less, 50 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:36.490 that there is something that sinful humans cannot do, and it's not something insignificant 51 00:04:36.649 --> 00:04:42.639 like hold your breath under the water for ten minutes. That has no relevance 52 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:45.680 or bearing in your life, and no one's going to look down upon you 53 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:50.800 if you can't do that. Christ tells us here that the most important thing 54 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:59.310 that anyone must do to be saved he can't do. It's not possible. 55 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:06.540 We come, then, to the longest chapter in John's Gospel, a chapter 56 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:14.860 that begins with thousands of people apparently following Jesus and a chapter that ends with 57 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:21.290 everyone abandoning him except for twelve, one of whom is of the devil. 58 00:05:23.569 --> 00:05:29.889 So much for evangelistic success, so much for making friends and influencing people. 59 00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:36.399 Maybe Jesus should have sat at the feet of those modern day soul winners who 60 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:41.079 just need a few minutes of your time and they'll convert you lickitty split. 61 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:46.519 Well, be that as it may, I do think Jesus has a better 62 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:54.350 truthful message than some would pretend to have. Jesus says some very hard to 63 00:05:54.470 --> 00:06:00.509 swallow words in this text. Well, actually not hard to swallow, but 64 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:10.139 impossible to believe. On Your own words, truthful, but hard and impossible 65 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:15.779 to believe. Before we look at those words, I want us to see 66 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:23.810 several please from Christ, several invitations to come to Christ, to believe on 67 00:06:24.009 --> 00:06:29.089 him as the one whom the father has sent to save a people for himself. 68 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:32.879 In that light, Jesus compares himself to the manner in the Wilderness. 69 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:43.759 That's what John Sixth is about. Basically, it does a miracle. People 70 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:49.149 want this manner, I want to always be fed with this, and so 71 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:54.350 they want to go to the source of that bread. and Jesus says I 72 00:06:54.589 --> 00:06:59.550 am the manner from all that, from all way back then in the wilderness, 73 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:03.660 first generation of Israelites, and he says, in effect in Verse Thirty 74 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:06.980 Five, I am the true bread that has come down from heaven, from 75 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:12.300 God. I'm the one who gives life to the world, I'm the one 76 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:18.889 who sustains the world, who nourishes the people of God, unlike the man 77 00:07:18.970 --> 00:07:23.649 in the Wilderness, it came one day, was gone the next. Christ 78 00:07:23.810 --> 00:07:29.129 has always been Chris Rice will always be. He is the eternal bread of 79 00:07:29.290 --> 00:07:34.040 God. Unlike the men in the Wilderness, which satisfied only for a time. 80 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:38.639 They would eat it, but then the next day they'd be hungry. 81 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:45.709 Christ is the true bread that win consumed, or in the Greek win munched 82 00:07:45.910 --> 00:07:53.709 on, brings about lasting satisfaction, lasting nourishment. You're only going to get 83 00:07:53.750 --> 00:07:58.699 that from Christ himself. And so he says, come each of this bread, 84 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:03.579 take my life, take it upon you. And in verse forty, 85 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:09.259 Jesus says that it is the will the father that everyone who looks on the 86 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:18.170 sun with faith will have eternal life. And so he invites, rather commands, 87 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:24.209 the people to look upon him. Reminiscent of John Three, all the 88 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:26.360 way back to numbers twenty one, when the bronze serpent was raised up, 89 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:31.199 if you looked at that when you were bitten by a snake, you'd be 90 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.399 healed. Jesus says, I was like that. I'm we put up on 91 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.710 a cross. Look upon me, he says, have the eyes of faith 92 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:50.149 see me for who I really am. Gaze by faith upon me. And 93 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:52.750 even in verse forty, seven, as our text says. Truly, truly, 94 00:08:52.789 --> 00:09:00.019 I see it, whoever believes has eternal life. has present tense. 95 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:09.419 If you believe in Christ, you have life eternal. There we have it. 96 00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:13.169 We have the these commands, these imitations from Jesus, these promises, 97 00:09:13.690 --> 00:09:18.570 rock solid take of the bank, promises that if you trust in him, 98 00:09:18.450 --> 00:09:26.399 you will have eternal life and he's the only one that can give it to 99 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:33.159 you. After giving these invitations to come to him, to feed upon him 100 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:37.879 for True Eternal Life, he then tells the people who are dead set against 101 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:46.669 him that there's a problem and it's a monumental problem. And now we come 102 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:50.190 to those utterly impossible to believe in your own words, he says in Verse 103 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:58.460 Forty Four, no one can come to me, no one can come to 104 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:03.860 me. Coming here is a metaphor for believing in him and this chapter, 105 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:07.210 as we saw, Jesus has already use many metaphors for trusting in him. 106 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:09.970 Coming to him as one of them. Eating the spiritual manner, eating his 107 00:10:11.090 --> 00:10:16.169 flesh, drinking his blood, looking upon him, these are all tangible ways, 108 00:10:16.769 --> 00:10:22.799 images that the Lord is bringing to bear that we might see were taking 109 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:28.399 Christ upon ourselves. We are trusting in him. I take your pick, 110 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.720 using any of his metaphors. No one can do it on his own. 111 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.149 No one can come to him, no one can eat the spiritual man, 112 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:41.389 no one can eat his flesh, no one can drink his blood, no 113 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:48.990 one can look upon him by faith on his own, like a fish out 114 00:10:48.990 --> 00:10:56.940 of the water who cannot swim. Neither can we come to Christ. And 115 00:10:56.059 --> 00:11:00.059 there's no one out there that can say I'm going to be the exception, 116 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:03.299 I'm going to prove God wrong, I'm going to believe in him on my 117 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:09.289 own. I sure anybody would want to say that, but even if someone 118 00:11:09.370 --> 00:11:15.009 wanted to, he couldn't, because this is not a statement of permission. 119 00:11:16.330 --> 00:11:20.320 Jesus is not saying no one is permitted to come, as if God is 120 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.360 kind of barring things. You can't, you're not allowed to. It's not 121 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:30.000 a statement of permission, it's a statement of ability. No one can, 122 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:37.870 no one is able, no one has the spiritual capacity capability to trust in 123 00:11:37.429 --> 00:11:43.190 Christ. Can the one in the flesh submit to the law of God and 124 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:48.179 do what pleases God? Impossible. Can the center see and enter into the 125 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:56.220 Kingdom of God on his own? Certainly not. Can the Ethiopian change his 126 00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:00.899 skin? Can the leopard change its spots, then neither can you, who 127 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:05.889 are accustomed to evil, do good. Can someone who is a slave to 128 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:09.730 sin, in a natural born child the devil, free himself from that devilish 129 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:20.559 slavery? Absolutely not. Augustine, speaking of the human after the fall, 130 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:31.070 but before conversion, says that human is not able not to sin. How 131 00:12:31.070 --> 00:12:37.549 about that for a double negative? Latin was all about. Those we who 132 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:41.830 speak the nish, not so much. No one is able not to sin. 133 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:48.620 You can't not sin. That's all you do. Sin has pervaded every 134 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:56.019 aspect of our being, our will, our emotions, our bodies, every 135 00:12:56.139 --> 00:13:01.690 aspect of our being. And All we do twenty four seven, as Calvin 136 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:07.929 says, is pomp out idols. We are idle factories. Our hearts are 137 00:13:07.970 --> 00:13:13.279 just constantly pumping them out on the conveyor belt, one idol after another. 138 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:16.799 That's all we do, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, 139 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:26.600 after the fall, before conversion. Because of this, John Calvin says, 140 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:31.870 we ought not to wonder if many refused to embrace the Gospel. Now, 141 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:37.470 those of us who trusted in Christ, we might say, well, 142 00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:41.580 the Gospel is the good news it's the best news that anyone could ever receive. 143 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.860 Why wouldn't someone want that news? Yeah, but you're looking at it 144 00:13:48.059 --> 00:13:52.580 from a state of conversion, Calvin says. We are not to wonder if 145 00:13:52.620 --> 00:14:00.769 many refused to embrace the Gospel, because no man will ever of himself be 146 00:14:00.929 --> 00:14:05.490 able to come to Christ. Can't do it. Won't do it. There's 147 00:14:05.529 --> 00:14:11.720 a want to do it. In his enmity. He is nothing but hostile 148 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:16.759 to God. He has no inkling of a desire to come to Christ. 149 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:24.830 Can't. It's not that God is barring him from coming to said he, 150 00:14:26.029 --> 00:14:31.830 in his own sin, has made himself totally unable to come to trust. 151 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:37.659 Someone might cry foul, someone might object, say I asked, that's US 152 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:45.259 unfair. Well, I'd say he'd be in good company, but it's actually 153 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:48.419 bad company, because that's pretty much the same thing that said in verse sixty. 154 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:50.659 When many of his a side has heard it, they said this is 155 00:14:50.700 --> 00:15:00.330 a hard saying. Who can listen to it? Answer no one can listen 156 00:15:00.370 --> 00:15:05.929 to it. No one can spiritually discern the truth of this on his own. 157 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.320 So one might say. But this is the land of the free or 158 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:16.039 Americans, after all. At least we live in America. We're all about 159 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:20.399 freedom here. How, then, can can Jesus say that I can't come 160 00:15:20.509 --> 00:15:26.710 to him on my own? And how can't I come? He's invited me 161 00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:31.149 to come, he's commanded me to come. Therefore I can come. Right. 162 00:15:33.309 --> 00:15:37.659 All that mistaken way of thinking was promoted by heretic by the name of 163 00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:46.659 Pelagius, Fourth Fifth Century Theologian who wrestled with Augustine on this very issue and 164 00:15:46.820 --> 00:15:52.690 whether humans are able to believe on their own. For instance, Pelagius said 165 00:15:52.730 --> 00:15:56.769 this. No one knows the extent of our strength better than God, who 166 00:15:56.850 --> 00:16:02.210 gave us that strength. And if he stops there, he's right. Of 167 00:16:02.409 --> 00:16:07.159 course, your Creator knows you better than you know you and know better than 168 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:11.120 anyone else knows you. Yes, amen to that. Now he doesn't, 169 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:18.590 and there, when he should have, he says God has not willed to 170 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:25.909 command anything impossible, for God is righteous and will not condemn anyone for what 171 00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:30.429 they could not help, for God is holy. So for Polagius, the 172 00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:37.820 command implied the ability. You're commanded to do something, clearly you are able 173 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:45.379 to do it, and the rationale is that if it were to be otherwise, 174 00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:52.129 God wouldn't be righteous. God's holiness is on the line. If you 175 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:55.649 were to ever command you to do something you can't in your own strength do, 176 00:16:56.250 --> 00:17:04.720 God's not holy. This isn't just Pollagius. This is a common belief 177 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:11.039 today, and its stems from the basic belief that mankind is basically good. 178 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:18.630 This is popularized by a song on the radio, country song, called I 179 00:17:19.349 --> 00:17:26.309 believe most people are good. This is a country song artist, creed, 180 00:17:26.710 --> 00:17:30.259 and he has a lot of harmless statements of this. Creed, let me 181 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:33.619 read some of these. I believe kids oughtest stay kids as long as they 182 00:17:33.700 --> 00:17:38.259 can turn off the screen, go climb a tree get dirt on their hands, 183 00:17:40.299 --> 00:17:44.259 to which we'd say a hearty amen. More tree time, less screen 184 00:17:44.369 --> 00:17:49.569 time. Right. I believe we got a for even make amends. Yes, 185 00:17:52.049 --> 00:17:56.569 forgiveness. Yes, that's what we Christians are all about. I believe 186 00:17:56.609 --> 00:18:00.920 most Friday nights look better under neon our stadium lights. Okay, you like 187 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:08.880 football, sure, harmless. It does say some other harmful things. I 188 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.390 believe you love who you love. Ain't nothing you should ever be ashamed of. 189 00:18:15.190 --> 00:18:21.390 I believe most mamas ought to qualify for sainthood. Well, the good 190 00:18:21.470 --> 00:18:23.109 news is, if these Mamas are in Christ. They are already saints. 191 00:18:25.150 --> 00:18:33.940 Hey men. But throughout this song, this creed, he says to two 192 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:36.859 basic things. Well, he says your faith. I believe if you you 193 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:40.059 just go by the nightly news, your faith in all mankind would be the 194 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:44.329 first thing you lose. Maybe we shouldn't have faith in mankind to begin with. 195 00:18:45.049 --> 00:18:49.289 Maybe the the nightly news, is an accurate representation of what sinful humanity 196 00:18:49.369 --> 00:18:57.880 can do. But throughout this song I believe most people are good. Seven 197 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:02.680 Times I believe most people are good. I believe most people are good, 198 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:11.029 and God is saying I know most people are not good. I know all 199 00:19:11.269 --> 00:19:22.470 humans are wicked in and of themselves. The song is not the picture the 200 00:19:22.549 --> 00:19:27.259 scripture paints. For sinners, we are commanded to believe the told. We 201 00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:33.420 can't consider an analogy. You have a homeowner who has a huge backyard and 202 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:40.609 he graciously lets his the neighborhood kids playing it. He said go play, 203 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:45.650 the world is your oyster. Paint the town red. Just do not do 204 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:51.130 anything to harm yourself or each other. And one day a couple of kids 205 00:19:51.410 --> 00:19:55.920 take a shovel from his backyard and they dig and dig and dig this massive 206 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:59.599 hole. Having dug the hole. They thought it would be a fun idea 207 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:04.599 to dance around it, to pretend to almost push each other into it and 208 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:14.150 to play around it. Must Be Boys, until one day a couple of 209 00:20:14.230 --> 00:20:19.470 them fall into it. They cry and cry and cry, and the homeowner 210 00:20:21.309 --> 00:20:25.220 here's something going on. He runs in the backyards. What do you what 211 00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:27.740 are you doing? What are you done? Didn't I tell you not to 212 00:20:29.299 --> 00:20:34.339 harm? You harm yourself or each other. And then the people in the 213 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:41.170 hole, they say, get us out of here. It's your fault. 214 00:20:41.890 --> 00:20:47.769 This is your backyard, this is your shovel we used to open up this 215 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:55.839 massive whole. It's your fault. How dare you not stop us? This 216 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.279 is on you, homeowner, on us. Be Strange, wouldn't it? 217 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:10.549 Of course, the analogy is not perfect. God's not this homeowner who doesn't 218 00:21:10.670 --> 00:21:17.710 know what's going on in his backyard. It's even more than that, because 219 00:21:17.750 --> 00:21:22.259 the scriptures say that in Adam we're not just weak, we're not just in 220 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:30.299 a bad predicament. The scripture says we're dead and our trespasses and since the 221 00:21:30.420 --> 00:21:38.690 dead don't believe, the dead can't believe, go to cemetery, start issuing 222 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:48.359 commands. See the fruit of your labor. Nothing. They won't, they 223 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:55.359 can't. All this is bad news have. She's the worst kind of news 224 00:21:55.400 --> 00:22:00.559 you could ever receive. One you say you can't do this thing. Do 225 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:07.269 you absolutely have to do to be saved from the wrath of God? If 226 00:22:07.750 --> 00:22:14.710 left there, we are doomed to our own destruction. We are doomed to 227 00:22:15.029 --> 00:22:23.779 our own self enslavement because of our sin. If left there, thankfully Jesus 228 00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:29.859 didn't. Didn't finish verse forty four with no one can come to me. 229 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:36.450 That's not the rest of that's not the whole verse. He says no one 230 00:22:36.490 --> 00:22:40.490 can come to me unless the father was sent me, draws them and I 231 00:22:40.490 --> 00:22:45.039 will raise them up on the last day. The hope lies in that. 232 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:53.279 UNLESS, what a beautiful unless, probably the finest unless you could ever encounter. 233 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:00.589 Something must happen, something outside of us must take place. The father 234 00:23:00.630 --> 00:23:06.829 must draw us. This word draw is used about ten times in the New 235 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:12.180 Testament and and in every single case it carries the idea that the thing being 236 00:23:12.259 --> 00:23:18.259 drawn, the thing being dragged, cannot but be drawn or dragged. It 237 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:25.500 must be so moved. In John Eighteen, verse ten, Peter Draws His 238 00:23:25.700 --> 00:23:33.490 sword, and so the sword is drawn. The sword doesn't argue against Peter. 239 00:23:33.809 --> 00:23:38.289 No, I will not be drawn. It is drawn. Same thing 240 00:23:38.410 --> 00:23:44.039 and John Twenty one, six and and eleven. The boat's net is dragged. 241 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:49.759 It can not but be dragged. It of necessity is taken where the 242 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:56.670 disciples take it. Of course, those are impersonal, in animate objects. 243 00:23:59.190 --> 00:24:03.829 But Act Sixteen nineteen speaks of Paul and Silas who are dragged into the market 244 00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:07.869 place. Though they may have wanted not to be dragged in the market place, 245 00:24:08.029 --> 00:24:15.099 they could not not be dragged into the market place. Same thing with 246 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:18.660 acts twenty one verse thirty, when Paul is dragged out of the temple. 247 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:22.619 He might not want to, wanted to be dragged of the temple, but 248 00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:30.890 he was draged of the temple. When God draws his people, they come 249 00:24:32.369 --> 00:24:38.359 of necessity, by the power of the spirit, they come. Jesus, 250 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:41.440 in Verse Sixty Five, says the same thing, but in a little different 251 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:45.759 words. In sixty four and sixty five he says, but there are some 252 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:49.000 of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who those 253 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:52.710 were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And 254 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:57.349 he said this is why I told you, then no one can come to 255 00:24:57.509 --> 00:25:08.420 me there it is unless it is granted him by the father. Faith must 256 00:25:08.420 --> 00:25:15.900 be granted. Faith is a gift from God. This is not something that 257 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:21.140 we muster up for within, not something. It's not our own contribution to 258 00:25:22.289 --> 00:25:30.170 status of salvation. This is what the Lord provides. When God draws people, 259 00:25:30.210 --> 00:25:33.930 they come. If they're not drawn, they don't, but if God 260 00:25:34.009 --> 00:25:41.880 grants it, they do. As hard as these words are, they are 261 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:47.400 nevertheless true, straight from the son of God's mouth. But do you see 262 00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:52.029 the hope that lies in this verse? It again lies in that unbelievable unless. 263 00:25:53.789 --> 00:25:56.309 Can the one in the flesh submit to the law of God and do 264 00:25:56.549 --> 00:26:02.509 what it's pleasing to God on his own? No, but he can if 265 00:26:02.549 --> 00:26:07.019 he's born of the spirit. Can the sinner see and enter into God's kingdom 266 00:26:07.059 --> 00:26:12.299 on his own? No, but he can see, he can enter if 267 00:26:12.339 --> 00:26:18.289 the spirit gives him life. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? No, 268 00:26:19.450 --> 00:26:26.369 but God can change his heart. You, who have been enslave to sin 269 00:26:27.009 --> 00:26:30.890 and that child of the devil, cannot free yourself, but if the son 270 00:26:30.930 --> 00:26:37.279 of man sets you free, you will be free. Indeed, with man 271 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:47.910 this is impossible, not difficult bolt, not a really huge challenge, not 272 00:26:48.190 --> 00:26:56.109 for the strong only, not just give it enough time and some will prevail. 273 00:26:56.190 --> 00:27:07.059 Impossible with man, but with God all things are possible. With God, 274 00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:11.059 the Father Drawing us to the sun, with the sun setting us free, 275 00:27:11.980 --> 00:27:15.769 but the Holy Spirit birth in us to see and to come. We 276 00:27:15.849 --> 00:27:22.609 are taken from not able not to sin to able not to sin. We 277 00:27:22.730 --> 00:27:29.650 are our status has changed. Now sin is no longer our master, the 278 00:27:29.809 --> 00:27:36.240 devils no longer our father. Now we are able to resist the temptations. 279 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:41.240 We're able to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Now sin 280 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:47.349 no longer has dominion over us, so we don't have to subject our bodies 281 00:27:47.470 --> 00:27:55.549 to its desires, to its will. We're able not to sin. And 282 00:27:55.710 --> 00:27:57.660 even now, as we feed upon the bread of life, Jesus Christ, 283 00:27:59.059 --> 00:28:03.099 we grow more and more like him. We put away that stale, dry 284 00:28:03.140 --> 00:28:07.579 bread of another and we enjoy the warm, fresh out of the oven, 285 00:28:07.660 --> 00:28:14.690 bread of God, the only bread that true satisfies, that eternally nourishes our 286 00:28:14.930 --> 00:28:21.849 soul's deepest longings. And praise God that the process does not end with simply 287 00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:26.359 able not to sin, because that means we are still frail and able to 288 00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:37.359 sin. The process doesn't end there. One day we will be taken to 289 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:41.200 a whole new level. We will be taken to the level of not able 290 00:28:41.910 --> 00:28:48.750 to sin. One day, sinning will be the impossibility. Oh I long 291 00:28:48.910 --> 00:28:53.269 for that day, don't you? Oh my goodness, yes, I hate 292 00:28:53.549 --> 00:29:02.539 sin. I hate my own sin. I can't wait. Someone asks you 293 00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:04.420 in Heaven, you're going to send it a nose. Not even in my 294 00:29:04.500 --> 00:29:08.819 thought you would even ask the question. Sin In would be an impossibility. 295 00:29:10.970 --> 00:29:15.769 Praise God for his perfect work of drawing his people to a son. Praise 296 00:29:15.849 --> 00:29:19.250 God for this grace, this grace that comes from God and his work alone. 297 00:29:19.769 --> 00:29:26.200 We Love we love God because God first loved us. We believe in 298 00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:32.200 God, in Christ, because God first gifted us with that faith. We 299 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:40.589 come to Christ because God first came to us. Let's pray