Preaching "truth", Jesus Christ Crucified, Christ Alone, all of Grace, all of Faith, all for His glory!

EZEKIEL3622

http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/ 
2010 Missions Conference

http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/
2010 Missions Conference

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [2of7]

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [5of7]

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [6of7]

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [7of7]

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [4of7]

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [3of7]

http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/ 2010 Missions Conference.

Paul Washer - Revelation 5:9 [1of7]

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1999/1074_Why_God_Inspired_Hard_Texts/

John Piper - Why God Inspired Hard Texts, 3of3 Romans 3:1-8

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/4404_Skeptical_Grumbling_and_Sovereign_Grace/?utm_source=ss&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11/29/09 
 John 6:41-51 
 
 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 42 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? 43 Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 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— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 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. 
 
One of the reasons that we preach straight through books of the Bible as our main way of hearing from God in corporate worship at Bethlehem, with occasional topical series thrown in along the way, is that it encourages us to consider all that God has to say in a book of the Bible, rather than just the parts we especially like or the parts that are easier to understand. Which means that we inevitably come upon passages that are controversial. That is certainly true about todays text. 
 
I try not to go out of my way to look for trouble. But when it comes—as it does when this text is quoted—there are reasons for it, and we should face it and learn from it. The controversial verse is John 6:44, and we will spend most of our time trying to understand what Jesus says here and why he says it and what benefit it has for us. 
Whats Not Controversial (Among Christians) 
 
In this verse Jesus says, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44). The non-controversial part among Christians is the promise that Jesus will raise from the dead all who come to him. We talked about that last week because it is mentioned in verses 39 and 40. Jesus is reminding them: What is at stake in your coming to me is infinitely important—your future resurrection from the dead.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/4404_Skeptical_Grumbling_and_Sovereign_Grace/?utm_source=ss&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11/29/09
    John 6:41-51

    So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 42 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? 43 Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 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— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from h

John Piper - John 6:41-51"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" 5of5

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/4404_Skeptical_Grumbling_and_Sovereign_Grace/?utm_source=ss&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11/29/09 
 John 6:41-51 
 
 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 42 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? 43 Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 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— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 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. 
 
One of the reasons that we preach straight through books of the Bible as our main way of hearing from God in corporate worship at Bethlehem, with occasional topical series thrown in along the way, is that it encourages us to consider all that God has to say in a book of the Bible, rather than just the parts we especially like or the parts that are easier to understand. Which means that we inevitably come upon passages that are controversial. That is certainly true about todays text. 
 
I try not to go out of my way to look for trouble. But when it comes—as it does when this text is quoted—there are reasons for it, and we should face it and learn from it. The controversial verse is John 6:44, and we will spend most of our time trying to understand what Jesus says here and why he says it and what benefit it has for us. 
Whats Not Controversial (Among Christians) 
 
In this verse Jesus says, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44). The non-controversial part among Christians is the promise that Jesus will raise from the dead all who come to him. We talked about that last week because it is mentioned in verses 39 and 40. Jesus is reminding them: What is at stake in your coming to me is infinitely important—your future resurrection from the dead.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/4404_Skeptical_Grumbling_and_Sovereign_Grace/?utm_source=ss&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11/29/09
    John 6:41-51

    So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 42 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? 43 Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 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— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down fro

John Piper - John 6:41-51"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" 4of5

John Piper - John 6:41-51"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" 3of5

John Piper - John 6:41-51"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" 2of5

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/4404_Skeptical_Grumbling_and_Sovereign_Grace/?

John Piper - John 6:41-51'No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him' 1of5

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2000/39_Slaves_to_God_Sanctification_Eternal_Life/ 
John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life 
 
 Romans 6:20-22 
 
 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2000/39_Slaves_to_God_Sanctification_Eternal_Life/ John Piper ...

John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life 3

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2000/39_Slaves_to_God_Sanctification_Eternal_Life/
John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life

    Romans 6:20-22

    For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life 4

John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life 2

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2000/39_Slaves_to_God_Sanctification_Eternal_Life/ 
John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life 
 
 Romans 6:20-22 
 
 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

John Piper - Romans 6:20 Slaves To Sin or Slaves To God, Sanctification, Eternal Life 1

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1999/1085_Does_James_Contradict_Paul/ 
John Piper - Does James Contradict Paul? Works, Faith Alone, Works Through Love 1 
James 2:14-26, Romans 3:27-4:5, Galatians 5:13, Galatians 5:6

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1999/1085_Does_James_Contradict_Paul/ John Piper - Does ...

John Piper - Does James Contradict Paul? Works, Faith Alone, Works Through Love 2

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/3883_God_So_Loved_the_World_Part_2/ 
This is called love—great love—in Ephesians 2:4-5: God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (cf. great mercy in 1 Peter 1:3). This is great love that goes way beyond offering to spiritually dead people that if they will believe, they will be saved. This love conquers our deadness. It gives new life, and brings us to faith, and unites us to Christ—all in one sovereign instant. 
 
Let me read it again: God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Gods quickening love made you alive. Thats why you were able to believe (cf. John 10:16; 11:52). 
 
C. Jesus Love for His Sheep 
 
You can see this love going beyond John 3:16 in the way Jesus talks about his sheep in rest of the Gospel of John. 
 
In the rest of the Gospel of John, the relationship between being a sheep of Christ and believing on Christ is not that we believe in order to become sheep, but that God makes sheep in order that we may believe. This is clear in John 10:25-26. Jesus says, The works that I do in my Fathers name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. So we dont first believe in order to be a part of Jesus flock; God makes us part of Jesus flock in order that we may believe. 
 
This means that when Jesus says in John 10:11, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, we know this is a greater love than John 3:16. He lays down his life for the sheep means that he dies not just to offer the sheep eternal life but to make absolutely certain that his sheep will believe on him and follow him and have eternal life. In John 10:16, Jesus looks beyond the present fold of believers and says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. And John 11:51-52 says he died to gather them. He died in order to bring his chosen sheep to faith. 
 
John 10:27-28: My sheep hear my voice [thats how you can tell they are sheep] and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Why do they come? They come because the Father has chosen them and gives to Jesus. John 6:37: All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. They come because God draws them. John 6:44: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. John 6:65: No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2009/3883_God_So_Loved_the_World_Part_2/ This is called ...

John Piper - A Love Greater Than John 3:16, Ephesians 2:4-5 We were dead, He made us alive!

http://www.desiringgod.org/ 
 
John Piper offers the following 5 thoughts about why God is allowing recession to affect us: 
 
 1. He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing. 
 2. He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind. 
 3. He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth. 
 4. He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory. 
 5. He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

http://www.desiringgod.org/

John Piper offers the following 5 thoughts about why God is allowing recession to affect us:

   1. He intends for this recession to expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
   2. He intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
   3. He intends to relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods, in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
   4. He intends to advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
   5. He intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

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