Predestination study

1. 30 Sep 11 Predestination study Part 6- Jesus’ approach to evangelism.

2. So often in evangelism today it’s about numbers. • “One of the worst heresies ever invented in our day is the idea that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart that He will surely come.”- Paul Washer. • If judged by many modern standards, Jesus was a failure in ministry. • In three years He only managed to have 120 people ready on the day of Pentecost. • Yet He was not in a rush. He was not about numbers, “Getting as many as possible.” • He was not into salesmanship. • His whole ministry approach only makes sense to me in light of His election. We’ll see this today. • Ultimately, much of the reason I teach election, is because I simply want to proclaim that God can do with His grace whatever pleases Him. He is free to give it and to withhold it! • Facts: Jesus went only to Israel. He knew the hearts of all men. He said things to people clearly understanding that it would “Drive them further away” (interesting phrase). Jesus-the EvangelistHis methods indicate his approach

3. In the first part of this rich chapter we have the incredible miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Roughly 5,000 people were there. • Jesus was popular. Scripture says: “Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world,” vs. 14. • They confessed something amazing here! This sounds like Peter’s confession in Matthew or Nathanael’s in John. • So what does Jesus do with this huge group of “believers”? • A) An altar call? • B) Take up an offering? • C) Invite people to make a decision? • D) Preach another sermon? • He leaves them later that night. Moving into John 6:26-71 E) “So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone,” John 6:15.

4. “When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” He knew those who sought Him for the wrong reasons and for the right ones. This is not the talk of a man who knows they could believe “If they wanted to.” Now, these people were seeking Him, but not rightly. They wanted breakfast! “Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 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.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 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. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.” Vv 25-36 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign…” Matthew 16:4. They’re asking, but they’re not really asking. This is why I hate the “Say this prayer” thing. We preach. The fruit is the evidence of true faith. Nothing else! We don’t know why people ask; we are not Jesus. We do know that if they truly seek…they always find.

5. “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 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. 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. 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.” • Do we now understand this teaching in light of all we’ve discussed? • Jesus knows their hearts. • There is a group given to Him from God (that’s election). He will not miss or lose any of them. • These are: • The sheep for whom He gave His life. John 10:11. • The wise virgins. Matthew 25:9. • The foreknown and predestined. Romans 8:29-30. • The “Many” for whom He died. Mark 10:45. • “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them,” John 17:6-10. Two curious statements! “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you,” John 10:26. “Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice,” John 18:37. Vv 36b-40 Note this well in your theology! Jesus is NOT interceding on behalf of the world. We must properly contextualize the “Us” for whom Christ died, and the “Us” for whom He now intercedes before God as the Great High Priest of our confession. You must always properly do this with the “Us” statements. There’s an us and a them…

6. “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’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.” Jesus could indict them with the same indictment he gives against the Jews elsewhere, “If God were your Father, you would love Me…” John 8:42. Vv 41-45 Q: Who did He say this to? He was no politician!

7. By grace alone “It does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy,” Romans 9:16. One Through faith alone “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even 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,” John 1:12-13. Comes before the other

8. “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 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. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 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 eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” • To the natural mind this was an invitation to some sort of sick cannibalism. Jesus was not concerned many times what carnal men did with His teaching. • One example: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” John 2:19. • My point here is that Jesus did not worry that His messages offended people. Jesus never apologized for a single thing he taught! • I’m not saying He’s rude or doesn’t care, I’m saying He’s altogether Almighty… “Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’‘Honor your father and your mother.’” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” Luke 18:18-25. Vv 46-58 How to deal with rich young rulers

9. These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” The reason why He’s saying this is so we would not soon be shaken. Christ’s gospel is a sin conquering, soul capturing work. Brethren, the M.O. of Scripture is not an invitation of sinners to “accept” Jesus. It is the presentation of the gospel to all without apology. It is not the pathetic, “Say this prayer,” you do half and Jesus’ll do half “gospel” heard so often in our day. Vv 59-65 90% 10% Your part Jesus’ part She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins,” Matthew 1:21.

10. Our attributes A heart of flesh Devotion to God Will “…but on God who shows mercy.” “It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing,” John 6:63. Forgiveness Trust in God That “nothing” is not even a little “something!” – Luther. Will Understanding of grace “It [Salvation] does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs…” Romans 9. Creativity Contrition Honor Repentance A new creation…2nd birth Knowledge of God Freedom Of natural man…1st birth Ethics Intellect Assurance Character Justice The mind of Christ Love Reason Attrition Conscience Determination Desire

11. “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.” “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you,” John 15:16. My whole point is that Jesus knew for whom He came. He had elected them to receive Him. Bottom line. LBCF. 10.2: “This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not on account of anything at all foreseen in man. It is not made because of any power or agency in the creature who is wholly passive in the matter. Man is dead in sins and trespasses until quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit. By this he is enabled to answer the call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed by it. This enabling power is no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.” Jesus has come for His sheep. Our ultimate assurance is found here alone. Vv 66-71 These were not real disciples who left. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us,” 1 John 2:19.

12. 30 Sep 11 Predestination study Part 7- Our last session together.