From the desk of Pastor Ben
Assurances For the Elect

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”
                    (John 6:47-50)

Here, Jesus paraphrases Isaiah 54:13 to state the truth of verse 44 in different words and emphasize consistency with the Old Testament. People who receive salvation (the elect) do so because God teaches them. So, drawing and teaching are simply different facets of the sovereign call to salvation. God teaches people through His Word, and that’s what draws men & women to trust His Son (Romans 10:14, 17). As a result, according to John 5:39, “everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to” the Savior. Had the Jews of Jesus’ day really understood the Old Testament, they would have believed in Him.

Jesus’ sure promise that “he who believes in Me has eternal life” (John 3:16) summarizes the significance of trusting the Father’s self-revelation of His Son. Believers can both hope for eternal life in the future, and enjoy that life even now, as the present-tense “believes” denotes.

Jesus concludes this portion of His teaching by reminding us that He is truly the Bread of Life and thus infinitely superior to the manna the Israelites ate in the wilderness. That food came miraculously from heaven but only sustained the people in this life — they all eventually died (Hebrews 3:17; Jude 5). On the other hand, the Lord Jesus as the Bread of Life comes to us “so that one may eat of Him and not die.” “Eat” is a metaphor for saving faith in Christ, which alone resumes sinners from spiritual and eternal death (John 14:6).

Ask Yourself:
We can never get enough teaching on the blessed promises of Christ’s salvation, just as we can never offer enough worship and gratitude in response. What opportunities might be available to share this glorious reality with someone today, tomorrow, and later this week?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
Spiritual Inability

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

These solemn words of Jesus underscore humanity’s inability and utter helplessness to  respond to Him apart from God’s sovereign call. If God through the Holy Spirit did not draw sinners to Jesus Christ, no person would ever come to Christ on his own strength and will (John 6:37).

There are plenty of scriptural reasons for fallen mankind’s complete inability to come to Jesus by human power or wisdom. The lost are dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1), slaves to unrighteousness (Romans 6:6), alienated from God (Colossians 1:21), hostile to Him (Romans 8:7), spiritually blind (2 Corinthians 4:4), trapped in Satan’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13), powerless to change their sinful natures (Jeremiah 13:23), unable to please God (Romans 8:8), and incapable of understanding spiritual truth (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The human will must be at work in someone’s coming to Christ, because God does not save anyone apart from the person’s believing the gospel (Mark 1:15; Romans 1:16; 10:9-15). But sinners can’t come to Jesus completely of their own free will; the Holy Spirit must draw people to the Son (Ephesians 1:4-5, 11).

Jesus, here again, repeats the marvelous promise that He will raise all the elect on the last day (John 6:39-40, 54). As believers, we can know that as those who have come to Him, the Father will perfectly keep us.

Ask Yourself:
    “The last day” is no vague concept. As sure as “there was evening and there was morning” (Genesis 1:5) — the first day — we are speeding toward a divinely calculated “last day.” How amazing does it feel to know that the “last day” is sure to find you safe in God’s care?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Jews’ Unbelieving Complaint

Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”         (John 6:41-42)

“The Jews were grumbling about” Jesus, just as their ancestors had grumbled against God (Exodus 16:2, 8-9; Numbers 11:4-6). First, they were upset about His claim to be the source of eternal life (John 6:35). Second, because they thought of Him only as a fellow Galilean, they were angry at Jesus’ assertion that He came “down out of heaven.” In the same way, they were also upset because He came from the scorned town of Nazareth (John 1:46).

God will oftentimes harden the hearts of those who continually reject the truth. For instance, Jesus obscured the truth by means of parables for those who persistently did not believe His teaching (Matthew 13:10-15). John elaborates further on this:

“But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.’” (John 12:37-40)

Jesus had already done enough that if the Jews had been so inclined, they would have believed. Had He elaborated on His heavenly origin, the Jews’ hard hearts would have simply rejected that truth once again.

Ask Yourself:
How would Christ want us to respond to those in our lives who have never met a loophole they didn’t like, who work harder at disproving what God has revealed than at simply believing Him? What have you learned from your dealings with such people?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
God’s Sovereign Work In Salvation – Part 4

“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.”
                        (John 6:40)

The letters of the New Testament support Jesus’ teaching on the perseverance and protection of believers. Paul instructed the Romans,
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn  among many brethren; and these whomHe predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom he justified, He also glorified.”   (Romans 8:29-30)

This passage is called by some, the “golden chain of salvation.” The apostle connects the whole salvation process with a series of links of the divine chain. As far as God is concerned, none whom God brings into his family will be lost along the way (Romans 8:31-39), but they will persevere until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6; Colossians 3:3-4; Revelation 19:14).

Peter’s first letter further elaborates on this same theme:

“Those chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood . . . Will obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefined and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for them, because they are protected by the power of god through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1 Peter 1:1-2, 4-5; Jude 1:24-25)

Ask Yourself:
The vast sweep of salvation, so eloquently revealed in Scripture, shows us a God who is more than big and strong enough to stand behind His promises. Jesus said, “If it were not so, I would have told you,” (John 14:2). Does anything hold more assurance for us than that?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
God’s Sovereign Work In Salvation – Part 3

“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.”         (John 6:39)

God’s sovereign oversight in the entire salvation process is evident in the promise that it’s the Father’s will “that of all that He has given” to the Son, Christ will “lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” It is a wonderful reality to know with absolute certainty, based on the infallible promises of the Father (John 6:40, 44, 54), that no part of His chosen group — will ever be lost. This is an ironclad guarantee to all true believers — that as far as God is concerned, their salvation is eternally secure. Jesus repeated this comforting promise in the strongest terms when He told the disciples, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”     (John 10:27-29)

In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus underscored the safety of His own when He told His Father, “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot], so that the Scripture would be fulfilled” (John 17:12).

Ask Yourself:
Do you ever allow yourself to doubt the salvation Christ has bought and paid for you? What usually precedes those thoughts? What hurdles of assurance can you just not seem to overcome? Know that the work of God will have its full effect, whether it always feels like it or not.

From the desk of Pastor Ben
God’s Sovereign Work In Salvation – Part 2

“The one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
                            (John 6:37b-38)

Jesus describes the one whom the Father gives to Him as “The one who comes to Me.” From God’s view, He sovereignty gives us to the Son; from our view, we come to Christ. Jesus would never reject anyone who comes as a love gift from God, thus the words “I will certainly not cast that one out.” True saving faith never works in vain because it is divinely prompted (Ephesians 2:4).

Though the concepts of divine sovereignty and human responsibility seem impossible to us to join together, there is no such conflict in the mind of God (Deuteronomy 29:29). For example, both of those things are at work in the Christian’s mission of evangelism (Matthew 24:14; 28:19; Acts 8:25; 14:15; 16:10).

The disunity of Christ’s rejecting any part of God’s gift to Him is inconceivable as shown by Jesus’ statement in our passage, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 4:34; 5:30; Matthew 26:39) In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus told the Father, “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” (John 17:4; 14:31) The truth that Jesus came to earth to fulfill the Father’s purposes thus guarantees salvation for mankind and ensures their place in Heaven.

Ask Yourself:
When you arrive at aspects of God’s nature and purposes that defy your ability to understand, how do you react? What would be the result of just letting His Word ring true in your heart rather than wrestling to make it line up with what you’ve always thought?

From the desk of Pastor Ben
God’s Sovereign Work In Salvation – Part 1

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, ad the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out.”         (John 6:37)

Jesus was not discouraged, even though the crowd responded negatively to Him. The all-powerful sovereignty of the Father anchored Jesus’ confidence in His mission’s success. He was certain that everyone whom His Father gave Him — the collective body chosen before the foundation of the world — would come to Him. The story of redemption is one of calling this bride (the church) for the Son as a love gift from the Father. Every soul given by God to Christ is an expression of the Father’s irresistible love; thus, everyone given “will come” to the Son.

From the perspective of human responsibility, “God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30; Romans 10:13). Yet, salvation does not depend on “the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13; Romans 9:16). God is the One who grants both repentance (Acts 11:18) and faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). If that were not so, nobody would come to Him, since “there is none who seeks for God” (Romans 3:11; Ephesians 2:1-3).

God’s sovereignty in salvation is foundational to Christianity:

“When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” (Acts 13:48)

“He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”     (2 Timothy 1:9; John 6:44; Romans 8:28-30)

Ask Yourself:
 “Cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved” (Psalm 80:19). Think about the magnificent grace of God in rescuing us from ourselves and our sin! How could you make this a day to really celebrate this . . .in ever new ways and expressions of praise?

Jesus Rebukes Unbelief

From the desk of Pastor Ben
“But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”
                    (John 6:36)

After asserting that He was and is the Bread of Life, Jesus rebuked the people with this indictment for their unbelief. What specific past incident Jesus referred to is not clear, but it’s certain that the crowd’s unbelief emphasized His self-revelation. So, the people’s continued rejection was inexcusable.

There was a sharp contrast between the people’s response to Him and the one Jesus desired (Matthew 23:37). Although the crowd had seen Him and witnessed His miracles, they failed to grasp the significance of those signs, and missed the real implications of His teaching. Similar to the Israelites in the wilderness, “The word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2).

The miracles Jesus’ countrymen saw only whetted their appetites for more signs. Jesus intrigued them by what he could do to ease the pain and difficulties of this present life, but they were unwilling to accept Him as their Messiah and Lord, or believe in Him as the Savior who could give eternal life. They needed to hear and believe the words the author of Hebrews later sent to his readers:
“Consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. Foe He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.” (Hebrews 3:1-3).

Ask Yourself:
Try naming some of the things you’ve seen God do in your own life, in your family’s life, in your church’s life, in your friend’s lives. We forget a lot of what we see. But even if He showed us nothing else, haven’t we seen enough already to be convinced that He is faithful and true?

From the desk of Pastor Ben.
Receiving the Bread of Life

Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 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.”         (John 6:34-35)

The people’s demand to have Jesus meet only their physical needs, clearly reveals their ongoing spiritual blindness. Their ignorance showed that “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The crowd’s utter lack of spiritual understanding led our Lord to declare, “I am the bread of life.” Obviously, Jesus did not refer to Himself as physical bread, but to the supreme spiritual bread from heaven. No earthly food, not even manna or what Jesus had recently created for the feeding of the 5,000, could permanently relieve physical hunger. When He said those who come to Him will never again hunger or thirst, Jesus referred metaphorically to the soul’s hungering and thirsting (Psalm 42:1-2; 63:1; Matthew 5:6).

Humanity must come to Christ and believe in Him in order to have salvation. Although john doesn’t use the term “repentance,” the concept is implied in Jesus’ words. Our Savior urged people to forsake sin and embrace Him as Lord. Billy Graham says, “You and your sins must separate, or you and your God will never come together.” One who comes to Christ trusts Him completely as the Lamb of God and Bread of Life who gave Himself on the cross for sinners. To repent is to turn from sin; to believe is to turn in faith to the only Savior — inseparable concepts, like sides of the same coin.

Ask Yourself:
The incompatibility of sin and pure relationship with Christ is so clear in Scripture and so evident in our own experience, it’s a wonder we continue to try to disprove it. What makes us think that anything can rival the blessing of conscience-free fellowship with Him?

From the desk of Pastor Ben.
The People Demand a Sign

“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? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
                        (John 6:30-31)

The crowd’s foolish and brazen demand that Jesus prove His credentials by more miraculous works revealed the people’s selfish curiosity. It also revealed their spiritual blindness, as Matthew 12:39 tells us: “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign.”

The Lord had urgently pointed the people toward saving faith (John 6:29), but they merely asked for another sign (John 2:18). They wanted Him to repeat the miraculous feeding they had just experienced. Rather than worshiping Jesus as Lord and Savior, these skeptics wanted Jesus to constantly provide “them bread out of heaven to eat” with their mouths rather than their hearts. They recalled what occurred in Moses’ day when God gave Israel “manna in the wilderness”  for 40 years (Exodus 16:4, 15; Psalm 78:24). The people therefore challenged Jesus to prove His messiahship by giving them an endless food supply.

Stubborn unbelief will not change, no matter how much evidence for truth and Christ’s deity God gives. Hardened unbelievers “will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31; Mark 15:32). Even when Jesus did rise from the dead — a much greater miracle than feeding the crowds — most Jews still refused to believe in Him (Matthew 28:11-15; Acts 4:1-3). No miraculous sign is adequate for some doubters.

Ask Yourself:
Understanding that no miracle would ever be enough to satisfy the unbelieving curious, is it any wonder that God, in His wisdom, also chooses not to satisfy every prayerful whim of His believing children? We are welcome to ask, but always wise to do so according to His will.