Jesus saves when God selects! -- John 6:60-71
Jesus saves when God selects! -- John 6:60-71
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 15, 2015
We often hear that hindsight is better than foresight, meaning that we know the past but not what the future brings in life. There are those who spend large sums of money in order to discover what the future holds. Houdini, the great escape artist and magician spent years debunking mediums and spiritist frauds that scammed innocent people of their hard-earned money. Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None was able to do so, and the prize was never collected. Christians would do well to remember what God told the Israelites concerning such things, "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:31 NIV)"
One thing we can rest assured in is the fact that once we are chosen of God, he never leaves us nor forsakes us. It is interesting to note that even Jesus' disciples had a hard time accepting his teaching on the fact that we must "eat of his flesh and drink of his blood", meaning we need to place our faith and trust in him completely. And, like some today, they had a hard time accepting that God chooses us and knows who will come to him or not. It is a matter of Jesus saves when God selects. Let's find out what John writes concerning the subject…
READ: John 6:60-71
When we focus on the wrong thing, we can be easily confused. This is why magicians are so successful, they are able to make us focus our attention in the wrong direction in order for them to pull of their trickery. Jesus was not trying to fool anyone and in fact addresses his disciples' concern head on. In understanding the truth…
I. Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing! (Vv. 60-64)
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
1. People have not changed at all. They acted just the same in Jesus' day as they do in our day and age. The crowd grumbled at Jesus' tough teaching on who he was and now we discover that those who were his disciples grumbled as well, "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?'" Yet we know they were focused on the wrong thing. They could not get past the notion of Jesus saying, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. (John 6:56 NIV)" And that Jesus had just reminded them that the manna they demanded would only lead to death while the bread of life he offered brought eternal life! Jesus was not talking about flesh and blood issues, but rather sacrifice and eternal life concerns! How humorous to note that Jesus was "Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this" and so he bluntly asks them, "Does this offend you?" Does this scandalize your sensitivities? Are you in shock over what I just told you? So he then turns the tables on them and relates, " What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!" And in fact, they would do so! They would see him ascend into heaven and they would be told by God's messenger, his angel, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11 NIV)" Jesus then gives them an important piece of advice, one that we would do well to remember, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing." Nothing else matters in this life than the words of Jesus! And in fact, he reiterated that "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." They were spiritual truth, they are spiritual truth, and only his words mean anything for eternity! Yet, while he was saying this, he knew who would betray him, but it did not matter. What mattered was the truth. Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing!
EXAMPLE: There is an old saying that states, "He can't see the forest for the trees." It means the person might be focusing in the wrong thing in life. Money, family, sickness, jobs, or school are just some of things that take our focus off the correct thing in life and give us narrowed vision. One time, a disciple of Jesus, requested that he be permitted to return home and bury his father. This man’s father was not dead or even at the point of death. This disciple was simply saying he wanted to return home and wait until his father died. Then he would return and follow Jesus. His request demonstrated he felt discipleship was something he could pick up or lay down at will. He put material concerns ahead of Jesus, for he apparently wanted to receive the estate when his father died. Jesus’ response, Let the dead bury their own dead, showed that following Him carried with it the highest priority. Jesus said that in the grand scheme of things the physically dead could be cared for by those who are already spiritually dead. He needed to focus on what truly mattered in life. Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing!
It can be hard for our finite minds to grasp the infinite truth that God knows our beginning and our ending. Job would remind us, "How great is God--beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. (Job 36:26 NIV)" and David would sing, "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalms 139:15-16 NIV)" It should not surprise us then that…
II. Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you! (Vv. 65-71)
He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
1. While the disciples were trying to wrap their heads around what Jesus was trying to teach them, he gives them something else to ponder. "He went on to say, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.'" Jesus not only knew who would betray him, he already knew who would come to him! And, it was God who enabled them to come to him in the first place! Now because of their traditions and their spiritual blindness to what God was doing in their midst, "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." His rejecting their desire to make Him their political king; His demand for personal faith; His teaching on atonement; His stress on total human inability and on salvation as a work of God — all these proved to be unpalatable for many people. They gave up being His disciples. -- (The Bible Knowledge Commentary) Jesus had many who had followed him until now and so he asks his closest disciples, "You do not want to leave too, do you?" The truth was that his own disciples, the apostles, would struggle with who he was even after his resurrection! But now Jesus is trying to refine their faith and to help them understand that their faith was far more important than they understood. They in fact would be the heralds of a new covenant with God. Peter who is often quick to respond and slow to think through his actions correctly responds, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Peter was not confessing Jesus as a good teacher, another great master, but as the Messiah! No one else has the gift of eternal life. “We have believed and have known” is a better translation of the Greek. Where else indeed could they go for the words of life? Certainly not the old and tired works-oriented misguided temple worship of Jesus' day. Just as they chose to follow Jesus, he had first chosen them to be his inner circle, his disciples, the apostles. He tells Peter, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" John in his hindsight writes, "He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him." Jesus knew one of them would or could betray him, and in fact any one of them could, yet he had chosen each of them to follow him just as God elects us now. Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you!
EXAMPLE: My father used to play a game with us where we had to select which hand we wanted. We learned to be careful which one we chose because he never relented and gave us the other choice when we picked wrong. When God selects us we think that his predestination is unfair because we equate it with getting the short end of the stick, so-to-speak. Nothing could be further from the truth. God's desire is that all mankind come to know him personally, but in his omniscience, God already knows who will and who will not to choose to come to him for salvation. Not everyone chooses eternal life. If you are being prompted today to give your life to Christ, do so because we have learned that Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you!
Conclusion:
Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing! Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you!
—
This article is copyrighted © 2015 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 15, 2015
We often hear that hindsight is better than foresight, meaning that we know the past but not what the future brings in life. There are those who spend large sums of money in order to discover what the future holds. Houdini, the great escape artist and magician spent years debunking mediums and spiritist frauds that scammed innocent people of their hard-earned money. Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None was able to do so, and the prize was never collected. Christians would do well to remember what God told the Israelites concerning such things, "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:31 NIV)"
One thing we can rest assured in is the fact that once we are chosen of God, he never leaves us nor forsakes us. It is interesting to note that even Jesus' disciples had a hard time accepting his teaching on the fact that we must "eat of his flesh and drink of his blood", meaning we need to place our faith and trust in him completely. And, like some today, they had a hard time accepting that God chooses us and knows who will come to him or not. It is a matter of Jesus saves when God selects. Let's find out what John writes concerning the subject…
READ: John 6:60-71
When we focus on the wrong thing, we can be easily confused. This is why magicians are so successful, they are able to make us focus our attention in the wrong direction in order for them to pull of their trickery. Jesus was not trying to fool anyone and in fact addresses his disciples' concern head on. In understanding the truth…
I. Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing! (Vv. 60-64)
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
1. People have not changed at all. They acted just the same in Jesus' day as they do in our day and age. The crowd grumbled at Jesus' tough teaching on who he was and now we discover that those who were his disciples grumbled as well, "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?'" Yet we know they were focused on the wrong thing. They could not get past the notion of Jesus saying, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. (John 6:56 NIV)" And that Jesus had just reminded them that the manna they demanded would only lead to death while the bread of life he offered brought eternal life! Jesus was not talking about flesh and blood issues, but rather sacrifice and eternal life concerns! How humorous to note that Jesus was "Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this" and so he bluntly asks them, "Does this offend you?" Does this scandalize your sensitivities? Are you in shock over what I just told you? So he then turns the tables on them and relates, " What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!" And in fact, they would do so! They would see him ascend into heaven and they would be told by God's messenger, his angel, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11 NIV)" Jesus then gives them an important piece of advice, one that we would do well to remember, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing." Nothing else matters in this life than the words of Jesus! And in fact, he reiterated that "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." They were spiritual truth, they are spiritual truth, and only his words mean anything for eternity! Yet, while he was saying this, he knew who would betray him, but it did not matter. What mattered was the truth. Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing!
EXAMPLE: There is an old saying that states, "He can't see the forest for the trees." It means the person might be focusing in the wrong thing in life. Money, family, sickness, jobs, or school are just some of things that take our focus off the correct thing in life and give us narrowed vision. One time, a disciple of Jesus, requested that he be permitted to return home and bury his father. This man’s father was not dead or even at the point of death. This disciple was simply saying he wanted to return home and wait until his father died. Then he would return and follow Jesus. His request demonstrated he felt discipleship was something he could pick up or lay down at will. He put material concerns ahead of Jesus, for he apparently wanted to receive the estate when his father died. Jesus’ response, Let the dead bury their own dead, showed that following Him carried with it the highest priority. Jesus said that in the grand scheme of things the physically dead could be cared for by those who are already spiritually dead. He needed to focus on what truly mattered in life. Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing!
It can be hard for our finite minds to grasp the infinite truth that God knows our beginning and our ending. Job would remind us, "How great is God--beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. (Job 36:26 NIV)" and David would sing, "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalms 139:15-16 NIV)" It should not surprise us then that…
II. Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you! (Vv. 65-71)
He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
1. While the disciples were trying to wrap their heads around what Jesus was trying to teach them, he gives them something else to ponder. "He went on to say, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.'" Jesus not only knew who would betray him, he already knew who would come to him! And, it was God who enabled them to come to him in the first place! Now because of their traditions and their spiritual blindness to what God was doing in their midst, "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." His rejecting their desire to make Him their political king; His demand for personal faith; His teaching on atonement; His stress on total human inability and on salvation as a work of God — all these proved to be unpalatable for many people. They gave up being His disciples. -- (The Bible Knowledge Commentary) Jesus had many who had followed him until now and so he asks his closest disciples, "You do not want to leave too, do you?" The truth was that his own disciples, the apostles, would struggle with who he was even after his resurrection! But now Jesus is trying to refine their faith and to help them understand that their faith was far more important than they understood. They in fact would be the heralds of a new covenant with God. Peter who is often quick to respond and slow to think through his actions correctly responds, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." Peter was not confessing Jesus as a good teacher, another great master, but as the Messiah! No one else has the gift of eternal life. “We have believed and have known” is a better translation of the Greek. Where else indeed could they go for the words of life? Certainly not the old and tired works-oriented misguided temple worship of Jesus' day. Just as they chose to follow Jesus, he had first chosen them to be his inner circle, his disciples, the apostles. He tells Peter, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" John in his hindsight writes, "He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him." Jesus knew one of them would or could betray him, and in fact any one of them could, yet he had chosen each of them to follow him just as God elects us now. Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you!
EXAMPLE: My father used to play a game with us where we had to select which hand we wanted. We learned to be careful which one we chose because he never relented and gave us the other choice when we picked wrong. When God selects us we think that his predestination is unfair because we equate it with getting the short end of the stick, so-to-speak. Nothing could be further from the truth. God's desire is that all mankind come to know him personally, but in his omniscience, God already knows who will and who will not to choose to come to him for salvation. Not everyone chooses eternal life. If you are being prompted today to give your life to Christ, do so because we have learned that Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you!
Conclusion:
Jesus saves when God selects, we should not focus on the wrong thing! Jesus saves when God selects, and he has selected you!
—
This article is copyrighted © 2015 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
Comments