Continuing in John's Gospel, in John chapter 6, verses 41 through 51, the title of this lesson is, No one can come to me unless the Father. And so reading from the English Standard Version, from verse 41 of John 6, So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, 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 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 will 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 he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever 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 that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Jesus answered the Jews' request for literal bread by saying, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. And Jesus says, several times in chapter 6, that in order to have eternal life, we must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Well, in a previous lesson, I think we made it clear that Jesus cannot be talking about literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood. absurd and any objective study of the context of John 6 will make it clear that it is believing in him that he's talking about. When a person is so very committed to Jesus Christ, he becomes their food and drink. Jesus is what they are sustained by as their daily bread. Nevertheless, our modern-day idolaters teach that they can actually change the substance of the bread and the wine into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. And they go to John 6 to make their case. They are in the same literalist camp as those who said in verse 34, Lord give us this bread always, The answer that Jesus gave to them is the same answer for all time. It is not the actual eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood that Jesus means. It is to believe in the teaching of Jesus and to live on his word, and that becomes the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. The analogy here is the intensely personal nature of what happens to food and drink as you take it in. It becomes part of your body. We saw that those given to the Son by the Father will come to Him. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. Jesus says three times, verses 38, 39, and 40, that He does the will of the Father. It is simply wrong-headed to preach that God the Father intends to condemn sinners, and Jesus intercedes against the will of the Father. There is only one will of God. And there is always unity in the Godhead. In verse 37, Jesus asserts the absolute sovereignty of God in the choice of who will be saved. in our day, make an idol out of man's so-called free will. And they put man's so-called free will above the will of God. What do lost men do when they are confronted with the sovereignty of God? And that's exactly what this crowd is doing. Jesus is speaking in a synagogue in Capernaum And they murmur, they complain. The Jews then murmured, they complained about him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? I think there is an extremely important point of doctrine that is at issue in the complaint of the Jews. What is that point of doctrine in my view? The Jews clearly understood that the claim that Jesus makes for himself when he said, I came down from heaven. And they murmur. A murmur is a low grumbling that expresses discontent. It's not intelligible, but it's like a moaning in disagreement. I guess we've all murmured at times about certain things that we don't appreciate. Their reference to Moses was shattered. Jesus will not continue to give them physical bread, but he says that he is the bread that came down from heaven. And they understood what that meant. If he came down from heaven, then he was not born of normal procreation, that is, of a sinful generation. And he is, of course, virgin-born. But to them, Jesus of Nazareth, he's a man they've known as a small boy growing up. They know his parents. And now he's claiming to be the very one that Isaiah wrote about. Isaiah 7, verse 14, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel." And Jesus does not deny their conclusion. The point of doctrine at issue is called the incarnation, God with us, Emmanuel. The incarnation of the Son of God is an essential part of the gospel. The Word, who was in the beginning with God and is God, became flesh and dwelt among us. The Son of God, at a point in human history, actually became a man. of the Eternal Trinity became fully human. From an article or book by Martin Lloyd-Jones on the Incarnation, the doctrine of the Incarnation is that the second person of the Holy Trinity took unto himself a human nature, was born as a babe, and lived his life as a true man. Since our eternal salvation depends on the person of Jesus Christ, it is extremely important that our knowledge of him is according to the scriptures. One of the most important things to understand about the Incarnation is that a new personality did not come into being. There are many New Testament references to the Incarnation, and I've just picked out three. in 1 Timothy 3, verse 14. These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory, writes Paul to Timothy. And then in Romans 8, verse 3, For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. And then the famous passage, a well-known passage in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The triune God did not become flesh, but the second person of the Trinity became flesh. So, not to quibble too much here, but it's not really correct to say God became man, but the scripture says the Word became flesh. This may not seem to be a great distinction, but I think there's a distinction to be made there. In 1 John chapter 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life, the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and these things we write to you that your joy may be full." And then a little further down in 1 John chapter 4, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. There was no change in the essence of the second person of the Trinity at his incarnation. That's what he means in chapter 10 when he says, I and my Father are one. They are of the same essence. And he does not mean that the Son and the Father are the same person, but they are of the same essence. And that's why there's only one will of God. Jesus told Nicodemus, no one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven. That's quite a statement. Here is the Son of Man speaking, the Nicodemus, and he says, I'm still in heaven. So when the Son of God became a man, he did not change in essence, but he did take to himself a human body. That holy thing in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the babe in the manger, is still the second person of the Trinity. So we must not think that God changed into a man. He was and is always God the Son, but now He is in the body of a man. Another important distinction about the Incarnation is that the Son of God did not just appear to be a man. Angels appeared as men. But they were not incarnations. The second person of the Trinity actually took on human flesh. The Gnostics that were running wild about this time when John was writing. That was one of the great battles that the Apostle John had with these Gnostics. The word means Gnosis. They said, we know. They thought that Jesus only seemed to be human, and that he was rather a phantom that just appeared to be a real man. They said that human flesh was inherently sinful, and so therefore Jesus could not be a real man, because all men are inherently sinful. But in the incarnation, the Son of God, as the Son of God, He is a complete man with a body and a soul and a spirit. And by that we mean that a new human nature was not created for Him. He did not bring His human nature with Him with the idea that His human nature simply passed through Mary. Jesus took his human form from Mary. He is truly the seed of Abraham. In Matthew 1.1, the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And that could not be true if a special human nature had been created for him. He was born as a true man from the Virgin. And then in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, a fairly long passage, inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed he does not give aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. The doctrine of the virgin birth. How can Jesus be a true man without the sinful nature that all men are born with? Well, the scripture teaches us that he was born of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin. And you don't have to go to all the references to the virgin conception of Mary, but you can look them up if you've not already committed them to memory. In Luke's Gospel, the announcement to Mary, in Matthew, the announcement is made to Joseph. The doctrine of the virgin birth is essential to the sinless nature of Christ. And Jesus was not sinless because Mary was not a sinner. According to the Roman Catholic Church, Mary was sinless. Well, Mary called God her savior, and only sinners need saviors. You can find that in Luke 1.47. Lorraine Bettner has a lot of good books, but on this particular subject, he writes, If Mary was sinless, that only moves the problem back one generation. How was Mary sinless? The Incarnation is truly wonderful and defies understanding apart from the sovereign work of God. Do we believe that God created everything that is not God? Then we must grasp the Incarnation that the second person of the Holy Trinity becomes a man. He is born of a virgin. He is sinless and lives under the law with perfect obedience in all points. He is made to be sin for us. He is crucified. He actually dies and He is buried. After three days and three nights He comes forth from the grave in His own power. He ascends back to the Father and intercedes for His people until He returns in His glory at the end of the present age. He is Jesus Christ the Lord. And so these Jews, when confronted with the incarnation of the Son of God, they murmur. And how does Jesus deal with their complaining? He tells them something else that causes lost men to become angry with God. He has declared His incarnation and they murmur. Now He's really going to upset them. Continuing on in John 6, verse 43, Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world." There are those who reject the sovereignty of God, His sovereign choice in election, in the salvation of sinners, but they must To believe that, they must just ignore what Jesus says. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. We have a school teacher here. Every child is taught the difference between can and may. Can I be excused? I don't know. Are you able to get up out of that desk and walk out of the room? May I be excused? Yeah, you have permission to leave the room. So can means ability, and no one is able, no one has the ability to come to Jesus Christ unless that person is drawn by the Father. Those only come to Christ who are drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit of God. And men, I've mentioned earlier, make an idol out of their so-called free will when they believe that it is the will of man that is the deciding factor in salvation. The word draw is a powerful word on the influence of the mind, the heart, and the entire person. The strength of the word draw can be seen in James 2, Acts 16. The Old Testament equivalent is found in Jeremiah 31.3. The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you." Since the Father has given those who come to Christ to Christ, and that transaction occurred before the foundation of the world, and they must be drawn to Christ, why do men boast about their so-called decision as the cause of their being saved. In trusting Christ in this life, they are assured of everlasting life. Isaiah 54, we won't read that, but it's a gospel passage in the Old Testament. And it follows the atonement passage, which is chapter 53. But Isaiah 54 has entirely to do with the spiritual kingdom of the redeemed. And so, when you next have a chance, read Isaiah 53 and 54. And I think you'll be delighted in the promises of God. And Jesus uses the plural, prophets, but then he only quotes Isaiah. And I think the reason he does this is that all the prophets had the same message, and their words come from the same divine source. He who is the Word of God spoke by all the prophets since the world began, and is always, and here he speaks of himself. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. I am the bread of life. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. What is it? We mentioned this, I think, earlier, but when you eat something, it becomes part of you. It's an intense personal act. Nobody can eat for you. So it is necessary to eat the bread from heaven. Understand it, agree with it, and eat it. When I'm hungry, I'll eat. A lost sinner who is drawn by the Spirit will come to Christ. Jesus further defines the bread as His flesh and Himself as a vicarious sacrifice for sin. You cannot accept You cannot believe, you cannot trust in Jesus apart from his sacrifice of himself. He gave his life for sinners. The self-righteous person has no need of a substitute. The Jews understood that Jesus was speaking of his incarnation. The Son of God has come down from heaven. He has come into the world, and He is now in the body of a true man. Don't be misled. Brother Gables has done a wonderful job in his expositions of the Lord's Supper. Don't be misled by those who teach that while the bread is still bread, that there's some grace that flows through the act of eating it. It's a memorial supper. It's in remembrance of something. There are legalists who trust in their works instead of the work of Christ alone. And they make their legalistic obedience as much of an idol as does the man who adores the wafer, believing that the bread has been changed into the flesh of Christ. So let's be taught of God and come to Christ. Do you have any comments? Let's see. Every man therefore that hath heard and learned comes to the Father what you have read. Here is where he is quoting from. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. So that describes who it is that is drawn, those given to him by the Father, but they are referred to as his children. And every one of those is going to be brought to faith in Christ and taught of the Lord. Not just through the words of a Bible teacher or someone, but it is God who does the teaching and makes it effectual. And it produces peace. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Now, that's a universal term. I like to use that with the individuals that want to argue for universalism, you know, in the death of Christ and God is going to try to save everyone and whosoever will, that means everybody equally. Well, here is a universal term, all thy children, but it's limited in its scope. It's universal in one sense, but it is unlimited in another. It's identified by the text. All the children of God who have been given by God the Father to the Son will be taught so as to come to faith in Christ, and not a one of them will fail to be saved. The same idea, I can't quote it, but the same idea over in John chapter 17. I came across a thought today while preparing for the last sermon in the Lord's Supper, there that God chastens his people, that they might not be condemned with the world, We are not only saved by God's decree, but we are saved by God's intervention. If He didn't intervene in our sinning, we would fall back and be condemned with the world. See that? So God prevents apostasy from happening in the lives of His children. What's the passage in Hebrews? He chases his children. If you're not chasing, you're not a child.