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The Gospel of John, The Period of Controversy, The Claims of Jesus Christ, Jesus as the Bread of Life, Part XIII, John 6:44-50 - Lesson 43
Read Verses John 6:39-43
Verse 6:44, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
He says that man cannot come to him without divine action.
He says it is impossible to come to Jesus Christ without the drawing of the Father.
Draw means to pull along, to attract, more like impel as a magnet or other attracting body, it means to drive or urge forward, to press on, to excite to action.
In other words man's only hope is outside himself.
There is nothing in unregenerate man which gives him power to come to Christ.
There must be divine help.
There must be a drawing.
You have perhaps seen the television commercial that pictures an elderly lady that has fallen, and she cries, "I've fallen and I can't get up."
Now that lady knows she has fallen and therefore she cries for help.
She knows her helpless condition.
She knows she needs help.
She doesn't need to be told that she has fallen because she knows what it is to stand and walk.
She has a comparison between her previous condition and the condition that she is in now.
She knows what it is to walk because she has walked in the past.
The lady is in a condition like that of the sinner but with the exception of the fact that the sinner does not know that he has fallen.
As far as the sinner is concerned, the fallen state that he finds himself in, is normal and it is the way it has always been.
He looks around and everyone else is in the same condition as he is.
This is where "drawing" comes in.
The Father draws the sinner by revealing to him, through his word, that he has fallen and he cannot get up.
The sinner may not believe that he has fallen.
He knows nothing different.
As far as he is concerned his condition is normal.
But the Father continues to work and continues to draw the sinner so that he will see his fallen condition and cry for help.
Most don't believe that they have fallen and therefore they do not cry for help.
But this drawing of the Father gives to man the ability to admit utter helplessness and his need to cry for help.
This drawing results in a man's realization of the predicament and lost-ness that he is in.
This drawing is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the self-righteousness of the sinner, and convicting him of his lost condition.
It is the Holy Spirit awakening within him a sense of need.
It is the power of the Holy Spirit overcoming the pride of the natural man, so that he is ready to come to Christ as an empty-handed beggar.
It is the Holy Spirit creating in him a hunger for the bread of life.
The sinner turns from his fallen condition and turns to the one who draws him.
This is repentance.
But the synagogue goers could only see Jesus as the son of Mary and Joseph.
They refused to believe that they were in a fallen state.
They believed they were walking and didn't need help to get up.
Jesus tells them again that he will raise up from the grave those that believe on him.
They may think they are walking and don't need help but ask them again when the resurrection occurs.
At that day they will know that they are fallen and can not get up.
And there will be no hand to help them!
Verse 6:45,46 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
If a student hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught that student.
Teaching implies learning.
A teacher can go into the woods and lecture the trees and the animals.
But this is not teaching.
You are not a teacher unless someone learns.
Here in these verses Jesus tells the Jews of the synagogue that they have not come to him because they have not been taught of God.
Being taught implies a yielding of one's mind to the teacher.
Learning takes place.
Yielding one's mind admits that there is a need to learn something that is not known.
The word "hearing" in this verse indicates that learning has taken place, acceptance of the instruction.
The student receives the instruction about himself, accepts it as truth and comes to Jesus because he now knows the truth about himself and he knows that Jesus can help.
Drawing has taken place here.
These Jews have not been taught because they have not come to Jesus.
They do not believe that they are fallen.
Teaching in their lives has not taken place because they have not learned.
Jesus tells his listeners that no man hath seen the Father.
In other words God the Father was not going to come down and instruct these Jews personally.
Any drawing that will take place in their lives will take place through God's word, not by a direct communion or conversation with the Father.
And that is still the way it is today.
Drawing takes place through the word of God.
Jesus said, If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.
Verse 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
In previous verses Jesus Christ spoke of everlasting life in connection with the resurrection of the body.
Here in this verse he is unequivocal in stating that everlasting life is a present reality in the life of believers.
You believers will not die!
I am talking about you.
I am not talking to your body.
You are not your body.
Isn't that wonderful!
We look at our bodies and we watch them get older and frail and worn out.
But we don't match that aging with our spirit.
Our spirit is forever the same.
There is no age to our spirit.
Age requires time.
Eternity does not require time.
Time is irrelevant in eternity.
Therefore our spirit does not have an age.
When we are in Christ we enjoy the same state that he is in and that state is eternal life.
Now and forever, not something in the future tied to a resurrection.
The resurrection is the time when we receive our new bodies, not eternal life!
But this statement from Jesus, the son of the carpenter, the one that came from a family that was known to these Jews.
This did not make sense when they leaned to their own understanding.
How could this man make such outrageous statements?
He must be mad or demon possessed.
That he was speaking the truth did not occur to them.
Verse 6:48-50, I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Jesus returns to the great truth that he had been proclaiming all along.
He restates his "I Am" claim.
He says he is the better bread, the bread that gives life.
Not the bread that the Jews held to, not the broken cisterns that they loved so well.
Not the bread that does not satisfy but must be continually eaten.
Not the bread that perishes.
Here was the living fountain which flowed with living water and now he offers himself as the bread that gives eternal life.
Here is the bread that if received, delivers from the power of death, which the manna in the wilderness could never do.
The manna may have sustained bodily life for many in the wilderness but all who partook are dead, Jesus tells them.
Jesus is the true heavenly bread, that if eaten, bestows spiritual life and he maintains and safeguards this life for eternity.
Verse 50 is another of the many verses of scripture that affirm the eternal security of the believer.
The "gifts and calling of God are (indeed) without repentance." It is a life hid with Christ in God. |