Whereas there is something in this world that makes you tick whoever you are. There's something that drives you in life There are a lot of options But there's only one that is truly acceptable and that one motivating factor in your life that is truly acceptable in any eternal way is the motive to see the Lord Jesus Christ glorified to the utmost in your life and And we rest in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're gonna talk about that gospel here today, here right now. If you have your copy of the scripture with you, open with me, meet me in John chapter six. And I know that some of you hear John chapter six and you say, okay, preacher, can we just get on with it? We've been in John chapter six a long time. It's about the bread of life. Just cover that and let's get on out of here. The problem is that this is not a book about entertainment for you and being satisfied that you know something about the bread of life. This is a book that declares the glory of God in Jesus Christ. And for me to shortchange you or myself or our creator By rushing through this, because I feel self-conscious about how long I've been in this book, would be a mistake for me, and it would be detrimental for you. John thought enough of this one day in Jesus' life. How many days are there in a year? Anybody know? Nope. Nope. Thank you, Troy. That is exactly the answer I was looking for. Mr. Mathematician. Did math in public. It's tough to do. I try. What is that by three? Doesn't matter, it's over 1,000 days. Let's just take 1,000, because it's real easy. It's a round number to deal with. It's more than 1,000, but it's 1,000 plus days. It's 1,200 and some odd days. That was the time of Jesus' ministry, three and a half years or so. John the apostle thought enough of this day In the remote village of Capernaum, around a little postage stamp-sized lake in northern Israel, a forgotten land in a long-forgotten time, the Holy Spirit of God led the Apostle John to record an entire chapter Of the 12 chapters of Jesus's life that John covers, an entire chapter is devoted to this afternoon and the next morning. I think we can spend a little more time here than maybe we think is comfortable. Let's get you a little bit of context here. We're looking at at verse 40 through, really through 48 in this one thought. In the second portion of this passage, as Jesus meets them on the other side of the lake in Capernaum, and John records for us the delineation between true disciples and false disciples in this chapter. Jesus gives four truly, truly statements here, and I think they are the hinges on which the door of this chapter turns. Verse 40 through 48 is the context of one of these truly, truly statements, but I want to catch a little bit of grip as we take off here today. I want to begin reading in verse 26. We will read through verse 48, and then we will plead with the Holy Spirit to make our time honorable. to him, glorifying the Father and proclaiming the greatness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. John chapter six, beginning in verse 26, John records, 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 set his seal. Therefore, they said to him, what should 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? I never cease to be astounded by that statement. Logic has left the argument. First thirty one our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat Jesus then said to them truly truly I say to you Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world Then they said to him Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger. He who believes in me will 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 never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now 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 sees the son and believes in him will have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day. Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from 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 from heaven? Jesus answered and said to them, stop grumbling 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 by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 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. Pray with me, beloved. Father, we We open your word. We have read it aloud and have said it before our minds and hearts this day. We now plead with you in very confident petition. You would send your spirit to give us eyes to see and ears to hear. spiritually invigorated sight, spiritually invigorated hearing, that we not only hear, but that we would learn from you. Make this time beneficial for us. Bolster our faith in you. End the grumbling. make us better suited servants of the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of our time this day. It is in His fully sufficient name that we pray. Amen. Friends, we're looking at a time in Jesus's life here where He was facing what we face, what seemed to be impossible expectations. When it comes to gospel ministry, if you have been involved in any ministerial endeavor attempting to bring the gospel to unbelievers, you know how frustrating it is. If you attempt to stay faithful to the word of God and the word of God alone, it is going to be somewhat discouraging from a human perspective because we don't always see the results that we would like to see. But sometimes we may have our eyes on the wrong prize. The Lord Jesus Christ did not suffer with that problem. He is dealing with the difference between true disciples and false disciples, as you can read at the end of the chapter. Many of his disciples went away as a result of this day and were not walking with him anymore. Jesus drew a line in the sand and said, on this side are the true disciples and on this side are all of the false disciples and unbelievers. And we come here and find from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, In the midst of this ministerial snapshot of his life, we see how he deals with what seems to be an impossible situation. He's giving instruction here and is describing for us how true disciples come to be true disciples. What is the dividing line? Where do we cross over from being a false disciple to being a true disciple? Where do we go from being an unbeliever to a true believer? It's because there is an instructor. I'll give you a hint. That instructor is not your Sunday school teacher. An instructor is not necessarily the preacher that you're listening to. That instructor is not an evangelist that you heard. That instructor is one with far more power than that. The instructor that we are talking about here that is giving instruction to and instruction for true disciples is the one that gives the power to all of those instruments to accomplish his purpose. Jesus understood this. The church needs to understand this. Sometimes it is an intellectual and mental and emotional battle to grasp some of these things. Let me ask you a question. Is it okay for God to say something in the word that doesn't make sense to you? Is it okay? Is it okay for the scripture to say something with absolute clarity that you cannot understand? Is that okay? I dare say yes, it is okay. Our scripture reading this morning was Isaiah 55. We ended with verse eight and nine. My ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. You do not have to understand. I'll tell you this, it's not a matter of whether you need to understand it or not. Friend, the fact is indisputable that you cannot handle the truth. Why? Because we're people. It's not because so much that we're deficient or there's something wrong with us. We're talking about the creator. What we looked at last week from John 6, 44, so many people get hung up on this verse, because it doesn't seem to sit immediately right with our emotions. It doesn't seem to sit immediately right with our intellect. None of that is a problem for God. That is only a problem for you and I, because our emotions and our intellect are fallen. What should leap off of the page into your mind is the certainty of gospel ministry. This is Jesus saying, I have no doubt, I have no reason to be discouraged because the gospel of Jesus Christ that God the Father set in motion in eternity past is marching forward and even the gates of hell cannot stand against it. I'll tell you this, if the success of the gospel was up to you and me, If the success of the gospel in the world was up to unbelievers to move on their own, the gates of hell wouldn't even have to wake up in the morning to win that battle. certainty of gospel ministry is followed here by confidence of the gospel minister. It is exemplified here in Jesus's life, and it is explained from his mouth to his disciples. That is why John remembers this so well and records it with such detail. He is explaining why the gospel minister should have confidence in what he or she does. He's explaining this to the true disciples because it is only the true disciples that will understand this. And we're gonna see what actually separates the true from the false. And it's not because the true ones are better at anything. It is not because the true disciples are better at anything. You understand that as we move out into the world as gospel ministers, as you begin to deal with your children as a homeschool mom, or as you begin to deal with a Sunday school class, as you begin to deal with attempting to be salt and light at your place of employment, as you move out into the world as the beacons of hope with the gospel of Jesus Christ, you immediately come to understand that we are miles behind in this battle. I want it to write here that we're two steps behind. We're not two steps behind. We can't even see the rest of the crowd as we start out on this. We are without any capacity to accomplish anything that God has called us to do. And you say, well, preacher, why do you say that? It's not that hard. Is it not that hard? Friends, it is impossible. Ephesians 2. I'm gonna hit a couple of places here. We're gonna come back to John, but I wanna set the stage here. We've already read it from Isaiah. I want us to put a few things to bed. I want us to realize that we need to get out of our head that the scripture has any reason or reasonable expectation to have to meet us in our understanding and make perfect sense to me before I'm gonna go on with it. Ephesians chapter two, and you, who's the you? These are believers. is describing believers as they were when they were like everyone else so the you here is everybody some were some are everyone fits this category you were dead in your transgression and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world according to the ruler of the power of the air the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among whom we also formerly conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." That is not a picture of a person who can overcome the problem that they are born into. Debt and transgression and sin, I was asked one time, it was actually a time of my ordination, I sat before the ordination council, and I was asked about The current condition of man. What is man's natural born condition? I said they're dead in transgression and sin. It's okay. Well, what does dead mean? No, that's pretty simple Unable to respond to stimuli. I don't know where I heard that makes perfect sense to me I threw it out and said well, yes, it could mean that so That means that I'm having a hard time with this verse So I'm gonna try to figure out a way to explain this that makes better sense right here. That's always a danger When you start thinking like that, turn your brain off, find something else to do. Don't go down that road. Don't go down that road. You let the Bible say what it says to the best of your ability to grasp it, and you submit to that. You don't force the Bible to meet you where you want to be met. Because this is God's word, not my word, not your word. This is his word. We meet him on his terms. This person said to me, well, dead really just means that you are out of fellowship with God. You just have this broken relationship with God. I said, friend, if that's what it meant, it would say that. Paul could have said a lot of stuff. He didn't have to say dead. And this isn't Paul in some hyper excited state as a brand new believer just going off following his emotions. This is the apostle Paul in full spiritual maturity. He's writing Ephesians from the Roman prison. He's been the most substantial servant of Jesus Christ for two and a half decades. And he says this, you were dead in your transgression and sin. But okay, I'll take that argument and say, okay, it can mean that you're just separated from God. Then we've got Romans chapter three. Mm, that's right. Now, what I'm sharing with you, I did some of this last week, but I didn't really explain to you what I'm about to tell you. When I share things like this with you, I'm walking you down the road that I have already trod. This is not me trying to pick apart your argument, this is me having come to the conclusions in my own argument, to where there is no argument. because God is right. Whether you like it or understand it, God is right. Friends, there's some freedom there. Romans chapter three. Paul has just said that men are sinful. Read Romans chapter one. Let me read Romans chapter one and say, that's right, preacher. This world is going to hell in a handbasket. And they're careening on purpose. They've greased the skids. They can't wait to get there. Tell them, preacher. Friends, that's where you would be if God had not intervened in your life. In fact, most of us would be far ahead of the people that we look down on today. Come to Romans chapter three, Paul said, let's put this argument to bed. I've told you from a capital A apostle gifted position, I speak for God, but even I am going to reach back to the old Testament. it is written." When you read that, know that this is the Word of God commenting on the Word of God. This is the Word of God using the Word of God to bolster its own argument. This is God talking about God. There is no higher authority. Verse 10, many of you know it by heart. You've been saying it over and over in your head since I mentioned Romans chapter 3. There is none righteous. And just in case you missed a point, no, not even one. Because you could read that and say, well, you know, I know generally speaking there are none, but, there is no but, there's not even one, not even you. You know what? Not even your mama. Boy, don't you talk about my mama. Look. There's none righteous, not one. But wait, in the spirit of Ron Popeil, there's more. Verse 11. When you start to think that there is some correlation of partnership between what God is doing and what you're doing in this partnership of salvation, God does his part and you do your part, it's a cooperative effort, this puts that to bed. We live in a time where people are building churches, seeker-sensitive. Seeker-sensitive, we want the seekers to feel welcome here. Friends, there's one seeker in the universe. There's one seeker in the universe. Everyone else is careening into destruction away from him and can't wait to get there. Romans 3 verse 11, there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. period, paragraph, end of discussion. Oh, but there's one more. Romans chapter three, verse 18, Paul just sort of puts the drizzle on the top of the macchiato. There is no fear of God before their eyes. How are we gonna reach somebody like that? What can you do to overcome that? That's an easy question. Nothing. When I tell you, we start out in gospel ministry, if we let the word of God say what it says, we realize this is impossible. What hope is there? Why are we even doing this, preacher? This isn't making me excited. I don't want to do this. You know, I've been thinking maybe I wanted to be a preacher, but that's what it's going to take out. I don't want to do that. I want to go make some money, be successful. Well, if you want to make some money and be successful, you don't want to be in the ministry anyway, because you're going to be being pulled by two masters. Where can hope be found? Oh, friends, that is the question, because there is hope to be found. The hope is found in the power of the gospel. The hope is found in the power of the word of God. But whose power is it? Is there power there for me to wield? You better hope it's more power than that. Because if it's power you could handle, it ain't all that special. If it's power that you could handle, then you could ask the question that these people asked in verse 28 in John chapter six. Okay, well what do we need to do to get that power? We just do it ourself. If you're not gonna give us bread, tell us how to do it so we can do it. Because if you can do it, I can do it. Because we're all the same here. If there was power that you and I could wield, it wouldn't be that special anyway. I'll tell you, it is a power that brings hope. And it's the power of another. And it is not manipulatable. It is not for sale. It's not available for use whenever you feel like it. It is the power of another that he uses when he sees fit. It's his power. I mean, just if somebody showed up at your house and said, look, I need some gas and the gas station is far away. So I'm just going to take some out of, out of your gas tank. I'd be okay with you. Would you be okay with that? Your neighbor lost his mind and went and bought an electric car. If you got an electric car, it's fine. I really don't care. But if your neighbor bought an electric car and you saw him out there with an extension cord plugged in your house, would you be okay with that? I don't mean he asked you and said, look, man, I gotta get my kid to the hospital, can I use some juice? No, just you wake up in the morning and neighbor just got the car plugged in at your house. I don't know how it works, but that's just hypothetical. It'll work in that. No, you wouldn't be excited about it. Hey, buddy, that's my power. I pay for that. It belongs to me. I'll use it as I see fit, and you don't get to use it. Yet sometimes we have a problem saying that the power of the gospel is in God's sovereign control. Well, what do I do? You do what he said. Do what he says. It is the power of another, he uses it as he sees fit. If you're in John chapter six, you can look at John chapter 14. It's just a few chapters over. It's about a year, probably a year separates John six from John 14. John 14, as you may be aware, is the upper room discourse. This is the night of Jesus' betrayal. Judas is gone, Jesus is speaking to his men. Friends, these are his last words to him before the cross. You better understand, those are some lasting words. This man is sweating drops of blood, concerned about what's about to happen, and he's about to leave this group of 11 morons. And I say that with all due respect, they were morons, just like you and I. Capital M, morons. and he's about to leave them. What hope do they have now? They've barely been able to keep up with him walking around Galilee. What are they gonna do when he's gone? Well, he's telling them. John 14, verse 25. Jesus says, these things I have spoken to you while I am abiding with you, but the advocate The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. When the time comes and you need to speak, he is going to bring that power to bear on you and accomplish his task. It's his power, comes when he's ready, does what he wants it to do. I was supposed to read verse 16 first, so let's go read it now. John 14 16, I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate and he will be with you forever I'm going away. I'm going to ask the father and he's going to send the Holy Spirit to be with you forever The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him You know him because he abides with you and will be in you. I Who's doing the acting here? These acting verbs, who's doing this? God's doing it. What are the disciples doing? Standing there and watching it fall on them. Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost. You know what Peter knew? Peter said, I don't really feel weird. I wasn't floating. His hair wasn't standing up. He didn't start to glow like Moses coming off Mount Sinai. Peter said, oh, I know what's going on. This is what the Holy Spirit is doing. I see the evidence of what just happened, and there's one that gets credit for it, not you morons and me. The world cannot see him. It does not know him. But you do because he abides with you. What did they do that the world didn't do? Why did they believe? Preacher, you starting to walk on some thin ice. No, I'm not. I asked my kids on the way to church, I said, does something have to make sense to be logical? Nope. That just doesn't make sense. Okay. How many of you in this room believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? Show of hands, right now, pop quiz. Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? If you do not, then you do not believe in the Savior that the Bible declares. How did that happen? How did the virgin birth happen? Oh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Homeschool kid, I know she was overcome by the Holy Spirit. What's in her is conceived by the Holy Spirit, that's how it happened. That's logical, don't make sense though, does it? It's logical, doesn't make sense. Because the problem is here, not here. Problem is in here, the problem is not in this book. Yeah, we have some problems with this book, preacher. I know that, it's because we're weak. The problem is with you and I, it's not with God. And he brushed away that concern long ago. Hey, it's okay. My ways are far above yours. How high is the heavens above the earth? He said, well, it depends on where the ozone layer is, preacher. It's 170, no, no, no, no. How far are the stars from here? Well, it's 17 light years, no, no, no. They use light years just to try to take something that's infinite and put it in a finite measurement for you. You can't measure it. It's so far right now and it's farther now and it's farther away now and it's farther away now because the universe is still expanding. So how far? It's immeasurably far. You can't get there from here. God's ways are God's ways. You leave his ways to him and you take care of yours. Your instructions are clear. You proclaim this word. He does what he wants to with it. He says, my word will not come back to me void. And we look at that and say, all right, it's going to save everybody. That's not what he said. That's not what he said. It will accomplish exactly what I send it out to do the same guy that said that as a uh... asked him and i say a six how long do i preach he said tell everybody's did so there's no one left to preach to because they've all rejected and they're gone so you mean it they won't all get saved goes on how you define all all in christ absolutely will be safe i will raise them up on the last day he said it three times in this business one little interlude I will raise him. I myself will raise him up. I will raise him up. The will of the father is that I lose nothing, but raise it up. I'll lose nothing of what he sent me here to do because I've come with his power. I'm relying on his power. Even Jesus didn't rely on his intellect. Sometimes that's kind of hard to stomach, but John 16, Things are really getting heavy here in John 16, still in the upper room. They're about to leave. He's just told them about the vine abiding in me and I in you, and the world's gonna hate you because it hates me. You're not of this world. John 16, verse five, but I'm going to him who sent me. Who's that? The father, my father in heaven. How are you going to do that? I'm going back to heaven. I'm going back to be with him. They've already asked the question. Oh, we don't know the way. How do we get there? I am the way for you. He doesn't explain that to them either. None of you has said, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away. That's the strangest thing he's ever said to them. Oh yeah, I'm leaving, but it's better for you if I leave. What? That sounds like a misconstrued emotional love song. Well, it's better for you if I leave. It's not you, it's me. For if I do not go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." What happens when he comes? When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me, and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. Where does the power of the gospel reside, class? Not in you. not in me, not in black print on white paper. It is the power of the Holy Spirit of God and him alone. He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Furthermore, verse 13, when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is mine. Where does the power come from? How do we have this confidence? How do we have certainty in gospel ministry? Because there is the power of another behind the work that we are doing. But it is a power that he wields when he is ready and he doesn't warn us ahead of time. The confidence and the competence in gospel ministry is derived from the Father moving by the Spirit through the word about Christ. That takes you and me out of the equation. Friends, there's some freedom in that. If you really believe I mean, if you really sit down, pencil and paper, work this thing out, if you really believe that the salvation of any other person on this planet is dependent upon you doing all of the right things the right way and dragging them into the kingdom, you will wind up in a straitjacket. Because you will never sleep at night worried about that person. So when I tell you there's freedom in it, I don't mean that there's freedom we get to go and live laissez-faire. I mean, we don't have this crushing burden that must accompany the idea that it is up to you to do the work that only God can do. But friends, when you understand that your responsibility is to get the message right and to unleash the message, there's some freedom there. There's also some accountability because it's his message and you don't get to monkey with his message. I don't let people put words in my mouth. How dare I put words in God's mouth? He's already spoken. The truth once for all delivered to the saints. I don't need a word from the Lord from you. I've got a book full of them from him. Now, John chapter six, that was my introduction. There's a little glare on the clock, I like it right there. I can see the big number. Now, I say all of that to help you walk down the road that I have tried. so that you can develop a confidence in the gospel that maybe you've never had because your confidence is shaken sometimes because you realize how much of a weak link you are in that chain. And you are. You're a plastic link in a metal chain, at best. Actually, where there's supposed to be a link that's you, there's nothing. Keep blowing up my own analogies here. This is not working well. John chapter six, beginning in verse 43, we see that there is hope. There is hope because there is a rescue that has been brought and is provided by one that we call Savior. And in verse 43, we see this abrupt pause where he catches these men discussing things behind his back, behind the scenes, trying to stir up the crowds against him, and he calls their attention to the forefront, and he puts their life on hold. Abruptly pauses the proceedings and says, hey, shut your mouth and quit griping and listen up. That's what the gospel does to you. Sometimes your daddy needs to do it to you. Verse 44. I don't know of any other way to look at John 6, 44 than to see this as an absolute provision from God. This is one of the most hopeful verses in the scripture, and people get so hung up emotionally and intellectually and want to force the Bible into their mind. That is always a mistake, my friends. No one can come to me. Now, if that's where it ended, we could close up shop and head home, because there's no hope. Oh, but this hopeful word, unless. Unless and until. And we know that it is unless and until because heaven is going to be very heavily populated. That means that there are some that do come. No one can come, no one, universal word, everybody fits in that, can. It is a term of capacity and ability. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. I don't care how you want to define that word draw, it is still something that he must do to you that you cannot do for yourself. And that is not to beg you to come, because if he was begging you, he'd be begging you to do what you can do. And this word says he's doing something for you that you cannot do. I hear y'all pulling a motorboat. I hear the rope. But, but, but, but, but, but, but. Let the word speak, relax. To redefine this completely annihilates what it says, friends. And he's not done. Oh, the last half of it, I will raise him up on the last day. Friends, that's what you want. That's what we want. This was a promise, it's not a threat. And he backs it up, he brings the receipt, says, one guy I know says all the time, he said, I don't just make statements, I bring the receipts. I'll give you the proof. Look at verse 45. It is written, this is the God man. Reaching into the Old Testament, this is God on God, commenting here. It is written in the prophets. He told him in chapter five, you study the scripture seeking salvation and now all they do is tell you about me. You say, our hope is in Moses. No, it's not because if your hope was in Moses, you would believe in me because he spoke of me. The prophets, he reaches back to the prophets. This is not new. It is written in the prophets. We read it in Isaiah this week. We read it in Jeremiah two weeks ago. And they shall all be taught by God. Who's the actor in that verse? There's an action verb. Who is carrying out the action? God. God is doing some teaching. Jeremiah 31 31 to 34 write it down. I'm not going there. I don't have time Isaiah 54 13 we read it this morning and all of your sons will be taught by God Turn to Ezekiel 36 Remember Isaiah Before the captivity Jeremiah during the siege of Jerusalem and the beginning of the captivity Ezekiel After they've been deported and they think that all hope is lost, God is still sending prophets to them. Jeremiah says, on that day, for the house of Judah and the house of Israel, the Israeli people, that is not the church, Listen, if you want to put all of your eggs in one basket and you want to give some very, very bigoted European writers as much credibility as Apostles, you go right ahead. Well, the early church fathers said, okay, well, when they were right, they were right. And when they were wrong, they were wrong because they are not apostolic. Ezekiel 36 speaking to this beleaguered people in the clutches of the Babylonians in Babylon you've heard of Nebuchadnezzar bad mama-jama he destroyed Jerusalem in Ezekiel's writing chapter 36 after all of that beginning in verse 22 therefore say to the house of Israel Now if he wanted to be real generic, he would have said my people or the people of God. He's very specific. The house of Israel, speak to the Israeli people. Thus says Lord Yahweh, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my holy name. Who's gonna act? God's about to act. My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you have come. You know what that means? That means that they were in Babylon and they were still unrepentant. Yes, they blasphemed his name in Israel and in Judah, and he brought the Assyrians to the northern 10 tribes in the 720s BC. He sends Nebuchadnezzar finally in 586 BC. And they go into captivity and they didn't repent, they continue to blaspheme the name of God in captivity. It's not like he sees, oh, well, you know, they feel bad about it, they've repented, so now I'm gonna move. No, he's speaking to people that were rebellious, got judged for it, and just doubled down on their rebellion. It's not for your name, you didn't earn this. Friends, we need to know this is the way God responds to people because there's nobody in this room that's ever earned anything good from him. I will prove the holiness of my name, verse 23. My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you profaned in their midst, then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, declares Lord Yahweh, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight. Now, how's he gonna do that? He's gonna tell you. He's gonna prove himself holy in the sight of all the world. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. Moreover, he's gonna clean them up. He's gonna get them right. And on top of that, I will give you a new heart. Okay, who's doing the action here? Come on, I've walked this road, let's keep going. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues. Again, who is acting here? What's he describing? He's describing somebody doing something to another. It's God doing the work, but who's receiving the work here? You want a definition of Ephesians 2 verse 1? It's this, spiritually dead, a heart of stone. How much more dead can you be? Not done. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to do my judgments. Okay. So you as a believer are very concerned about the word of God, the will of God, the work of God. You're following Lord Jesus Christ to the best of your ability. Why do you do that? Did you turn over a new leaf one day? Did you figure something out? This says here that God did it. Yeah, but I had to believe. I know you did, but God moves first because you could not. He doesn't share his glory. Let's just let it say what it says and get out of the way. You will be careful to do my statutes. Why? Because I cause you to walk in my statutes. How? I will put my spirit within you. Do you see anybody here inviting anything to be done? I love that. Invite Jesus into your life. You don't invite the Lord. The Lord moves when he's ready. It's like I tell these young people, when are y'all gonna have kids, these young married couples? Oh, well, you know, we get this in line and that in line. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's only one answer to that question. When the Lord is ready, you can get ready. I got eight of them to prove it. When it comes to spiritual things, it's God's power. Then he wants to illustrate it for me. He says, just to make sure you understand, Ezekiel, I want to give you a graphic illustration, because Ezekiel's hearing this and thinking, OK, Lord, they rejected you for 1,500 years. They rejected you with Isaiah in their face. They rejected you by putting Jeremiah in the cistern to drown and you dried up the cistern so he didn't drown. They left and went to Egypt when you told them not to. They've done everything wrong. They get here and they're still doing everything wrong. What is this? How are you gonna do this? Ezekiel was not a robot. Ezekiel did what Peter tells us. The prophets wrote. trying to figure out what is he even talking about? What time, what person, who can do this? Who's gonna be the one to take over the world and have the wolf lay down with the lamb that's also gonna die for the sins of his people? Isaiah's writing both of these things, I have no idea. But just like Abraham, Isaiah trusted God. She said, Lord, you know. Look at Ezekiel 37. Lord, thank you. The hand of Yahweh was upon me and he brought me out by the spirit of Yahweh and caused me to rest in the middle of the valley. We're flatlanders, man. We don't know what's a valley. Brought him out into a very wide plain. He put him in the bottom of a valley. just this open just picture your favorite western where the bad guys camp out in the canyon he puts him in the middle of a big valley in the middle of a canyon a dry valley a dry canyon he caused me to pass and it was full of bones this is kinda weird he put me in a valley full of bones he caused me to pass among them all around and behold there were very many on the surface of the valley and behold they were very dry you know what that means? they'd been there a long time they'd just about turned to powder dead as dead can be. Kind of like being dead in transgression and sin. That's gonna be my answer from now on. What does dead in transgression and sin mean? Behold, they were very dry. He said to me, son of man, can these bones live? You know how your natural mind thinks? Man, no, they can't live. Bruh, man, bruh, look. That's how they talking, bro bridge. He's not even here, oh man. Brother lionitis, real bad. Can these bones live? I love the answer. Ezekiel said, oh Lord, Yahweh, you know. I don't even know how to answer that, you know. End of the day, how does this work? Lord, you know. What does he say to do? Then he said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Lord Yahweh to these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you and make flesh come upon you, cover you with skin, put breath in you that you may come alive, and you will know that I am Yahweh. Who is the actor here? God. The Father. Yahweh. Well, what else is Ezekiel gonna do? Verse seven, so I prophesied as I was commanded. I like that. I prophesied as I was commanded. You know what he was thinking? This is dumb. Peter could have learned a lesson from Ezekiel. You remember Jesus got in the boat and said, hey boy, push out and put the net down again. Oh, hey Lord, that's kind of dumb. We've been out there all night. There was nothing there. Don't embarrass yourself. It says Ezekiel did exactly what he was told to do. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a rumbling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. How's this happening? What are those bones doing? They're responding to what God said. Then he said to me, there's no breath in them. Well, there was no breath in me, end of verse eight. Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath. Your translation may say wind. It's technically the same word, but he's talking about breath, the breath of life. The bodies have been put together, covered with skin and flesh and sinew. Prophesies say to the breath thus says Lord Yahweh come from the four winds Oh breath and breathe on these who were killed that they may come to life So I prophesied as he commanded me didn't mess with the message didn't do anything other than what God said to do this is crazy, but I'm gonna do it and The breath came into them and they came to life and stood on their feet and exceedingly great military force John chapter six, Jesus says they're all gonna be taught by God. Remember what Ezekiel said. Remember the illustration that he gave to Ezekiel and what Israel thought when they read this, oh, he's gonna revive our nation. He's not just talking about reviving a nation. He's talking about calling a people to himself with a new heart and with a new mind, removing the heart of stone, replacing it with a heart of flesh, putting his spirit in them and causing them to be concerned about his word. And we come to John 14 and Jesus says he's going to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Why does anyone ever turn to God? Because the Holy Spirit of God invades their life. One actor. I heard a guy this week talking about prophecy, how the devil has got his people and they're all doing these things and God is reacting to it. God's laughing at him. Friends, you need to understand that God has never reacted to anything. You know what a reaction is? A reaction is what you do in response to something you didn't expect. A response to something that you didn't expect is your reaction. God has never reacted because he's never been surprised. God's not waiting to find out anything. He's not waiting to see what's gonna happen and then determine it. This guy said, God looks down into the corridors of time and he sees what's gonna happen and he decides to make his, he go ahead and he carves in stone and predestines what's gonna happen. He doesn't decree anything, he just is smart enough to know what's gonna happen. Friends, that is blasphemy against God. God doesn't decree it. You know how God he said in Isaiah. Where does a God like me declaring the end from the beginning? How can God declare the end from the beginning? There's only one way Because he's controlling how it's going It's gonna end this way. This is what I'm doing. I've already decreed it from eternity past remember Ephesians chapter chapter 1 according to the Council of of the purpose of his will. He has a will, he has set forth a purpose, and they counseled over it, and he has set it into motion, and he does everything according to that purpose. There is nothing that's happening that he is responding to. He is moving forward with the purpose that he set before the foundation of the earth, and that includes your salvation, and the salvation of all that he is calling. What is our place in that? Same place that Ezekiel had. Here's the message. What did Paul say in the gospel? I chose to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." A Jew, group of people nobody likes, and a dead Jew, really doesn't count for anything, that was crucified. He was murdered as a common criminal. I chose to preach that to you so that your confidence would be in the power of God, not in the strength of man's tongue." And he said, the gospel of Jesus Christ is foolishness to the Gentiles, a stumbling block to the Jews, but to those of us who believe it is the power of God and the salvation for all who will believe. Who makes that difference? Not the preacher and not the creature. I'm sorry, the Baptist is heavy in this guy. Not the preacher or the creature. It's the God. I said, well, I've got some more questions, preacher. Yeah, I do too. But you know where those questions find their answer? In the God that is faithful to move to save a people for himself, for his own glory. And even our Savior knew that. Can we finish verse 45 today? Look at what he says in verse 45. We get so hung up on 44 and we're just this unless and draws and can and it can't mean that because, what do you mean because? You have no way, you have no logical, reasonable way to come to this book outside of the futility and the foolishness of your own fickle, unbelieving mind to come to this and say that it says something different than it says. You know how I know that? Because I'm just like you. I'm just like you. Look at the end of verse 45. Well, John 3.16 says that whosoever, I know it does. I know it does. John chapter 6 says that you're no one whatsoever until the Holy Spirit of God makes you a whosoever. Look at verse 45. Everyone, we like that word. Let's park there. Let's ride that word. Like everyone, right? It's free to all. It's a broad scope thing, and it is. It is. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me Let's take everyone and comes to me because the everyone and the comes to me that that's the verb the participle that that fits there It's not a partisan, but I forget the word. I didn't write it down. Everyone comes to me, but there's some stuff in between. Let's walk it back. Let's start at the comes to me, because that's the end result that we want. We want the everyone that comes to me. Well, let's walk it back, because something came before that. Everyone comes to me has learned from the father. Has learned from the father. So the everyone that comes to me comes to me as a result of what the father did first. Well, what did they learn from the Father? Let's put this in its full context. What did they learn from the Father? Jesus has already used this word, comes to me, in verse 35 and 37 and 44. Verse 35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger. Verse 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. There are people that are going to come and there are people that are going to respond to the gospel. This room is filled with them. Verse 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them. There are those that come, how do they get there? They're taught by the father. How are they taught by the father? Everyone who has heard. Who has heard and learned from the father. Now you can put heard and learned together that they've heard from the father and they've learned from the father. How did they hear from the father? Oh, this is simple. How do they hear from the Father? The Word of God. When I tell you that it's the power of the gospel, the power of the Word of God that brings it, it is not something tricky in God's mind. It's only tricky in our minds. It is the preaching of the Word of God. You know what these people have just heard? I am the bread that came down from heaven. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger. He who believes in me will never thirst. They've thrown that aside. Jesus comes right back and says, you've heard it. Verse 36, I said to you that you have seen me yet you do not believe, but there are some that do believe. We get to the end of the chapter. There's true disciples and false disciples. What is the dividing line? Those that believe have been moved upon by God and those that don't have not. Now, how do we know who they are? I'll give you a hint. We don't know who they are. We find out who they are as the Lord saves them and brings them to himself. That's how we find out. And he does that through the proclamation of his word. This is never done without the word of God. The power of the message of the cross is a power that is administered by the Holy Spirit of God, but it is a power that we We have some charge of in this life. We have a responsibility to discharge it. We take this truth into a world that doesn't want to hear it. Just like somebody brought it into your life when you didn't want to hear it. And the Holy Spirit of God says, okay, that one, and that one, and that one, and that one, and the gates of hell cannot stand against it. Y'all stand up, I'm gonna pray. I'm not gonna stop if we don't, no, don't stand up, stay where you are. I'm gonna pray, we got a baptism coming. And I've got pages of notes and a Bible. Friends, I get excited when I talk about the Lord. Mona is right. We serve a great God. Praise God that I'm a believer. Friends, I first heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ on my mother's knees as a little boy. But mama don't get the credit. When that light was turned on in my heart, he who spoke light into existence has turned on the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in our hearts. I now believe in the lordship of Jesus Christ. I believe that this book is the inspired and errant word of God. You know how? Because the Holy Spirit of God has convicted me of sin and righteousness and judgment. All of the credit, all of the glory goes to God, and I can't say that enough. I can't say it enough. And the example that the Lord Jesus sets in John chapter six is insurmountable. If you want to remain in hardhearted unbelief, that is your choice. But the evidence is irrefutable and it's God's evidence. It's not mine. You can disagree with me. Good. Everybody does. That's my wife. I got a household of people disagree with me. That's fine. What this book says, we get in line. Amen. I don't understand it. But the logic of that book is not dependent upon my pea brain being able to wrestle with all of the details. Father, thank you for being our God. Thank you for your word. Thank you for this book. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the conviction that we have that this is indeed the word of the living God, even though we do wrestle with it. And we do. I hope that your people do not think that I feel as I've mastered anything. I bow to the sovereignty of You, Father, I bow to the sovereignty of you, Holy Spirit, and I bow to the sovereignty of you, Lord Jesus, as you move when you are ready, and you move according to your purpose and your plan, that is to move through the preaching of your word, and I praise you that you accomplish it all. I thank you that it's not left up to me, and I thank you that my salvation was not left up to anyone else. You decreed to save a people for your own possession that no one, not even we ourselves, can stand in the way of. You are a great God. I pray that you receive all of the glory that you were due through the preaching of your word here. We pray it in our Savior Jesus' name. Amen.