Title: Seeing, is not enough.
Text: Jn. 6: 36-40
Key verse: 36
36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. NKJV
Review: v.1-35
- Many followed Jesus because of all the miracles He had done (approx. 19).
- Many believed He was the Messiah after the feeding of the 5000. Why?
- Many wanted to make Him King afterwards, but He withdrew Himself because His purpose was to be our sin bearer.
- Many were rebuked by Jesus because they had followed Him with impure selfish motives, not because He was the prophesied Messiah.
- Jesus reveals Himself as the Bread of God from Heaven, the Bread of life, that would fully satisfy every longing in the human heart.
Ps 107:9- 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. KJV
Question: How is it that people who saw Jesus, saw His miracles (approx.19 miracles up to this point) still did not believe He was the Messiah? How is it that people today who have heard the gospel almost all around the world, with Bibles in nearly every language of the world still do not believe? Yet, many today want physical tangible proof of Jesus and who He is! – Like doubting Thomas did when He said:
John 20:25-28- Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. KJV
John 20:29- 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. KJV
Blessed = Grk. Makarios – to be fully satisfied – Makarios differs from “happy” because “happy” describes the person who has good fortune (from the Eng. Root “hap,” favorable circumstances). In the biblical sense, a blessed person is one whom God makes fully satisfied, not because of favorable circumstances, but because he indwells the believer through Christ. Makarios is the one who is in the world yet independent of the world; his satisfaction comes from God and not from favorable circumstances.
Question: But, how does God bless a person like this?
Answer: By God’s sovereignty. = Sovereignty of God- TheSovereignty of Godis the biblical teaching that all things are under God's rule and control, and that nothing happens without His direction or permission.God works not just some things but all things according to the counsel of His own will (see Eph. 1:11). His purposes are all-inclusive and never thwarted (see Isa. 46:11); nothing takes Him by surprise. The sovereignty of God is not merely that God has the power and right to govern all things, but that He does so, always and without exception. In other words, God is not merely sovereignde jure(in principle), but sovereignde facto(in practice).
Example – Our very salvation is a sovereign act of God. God initiated (started) It and He completes it.
Phil 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; NKJV
V. 36 -40 - Jesus makes it clear some did not believe though they saw Him, but others did as a sovereign act of God with the promise to save them completely.
1. There were those who saw Jesus but did not believe.V.36
v.14 – there were those who had seen Jesus as He did His miracles but believed that He was the prophet (Messiah) that was expected to come into the world. [ One group saw and their hearts changed, but then there was another group who saw and their hearts did not change.]
2. Jesus declared that (all or everyone) that the Father gave Jesusshall (without fail) come to Him, and will not be turned away. V.37
John 6:37- 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ESV
Key point: This is a sovereign act of God (God completely did this alone without the aid of man), which clearly speaks of God’s sovereignty and His eternal security.
John 10:29- 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. KJV
Note: This was all done and predetermine (prearranged) long ago by God, and it was all done by His amazing grace. Eph. 1: 5-7
3. The will of the Father was to give eternal life to everyone chosen by Him, without fail. V.38-40
Note: Keep in mind in v. 39 all were chosen by the Father and non would be lost, which was the will of Father, the same will mentioned in v. 40. Notice also that the one who sees the Son and believes on Him (as Savior) is the one who obtains everlasting life, and is assured to be resurrected. So along with God’s sovereignty is man’s will, and responsibility to believe.
Comment: From our human and limited perspective, we cannot see how divine sovereignty and human responsibility can work together; but from God's perspective, there is no conflict. When a church member asked Charles Spurgeonhow he reconciled these two, he replied, "I never try to reconcile friends." It is the Father's will that sinners be saved (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9) and that those who trust Christ be secure in their salvation. Believers receive eternal life and Jesus can never lose them. (The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright © 1989)
Conclude: If you are genuinely saved, you have eternal life, and it was sovereignly given to you by grace by our Heavenly Father’s good pleasure, through Jesus our sin bearer, who opened your heart to believe. Jn. 20: 29blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. KJV
Ps 107:9- 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. KJV