Who Will See the Son?

Tom:

We are presently going through the Gospel of John, line by line and our purpose is two-fold that we might grow in our personal relationship with Jesus by increasing our understanding of what he has communicated to us in his Word, and that we might gain a better understanding of the gospel and the salvation we have in Christ so that we can be more effective in sharing with others the wonderful gift of eternal life which we have in Christ.  Dave, we are at John:6:37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
See All....  I will pick up there.  “All that the Father…” —this is Jesus speaking, of course—“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  Now Dave, for two reasons that’s a pretty controversial verse.  On the one hand we have, at least maybe some of those who are Reformed or Calvinists, might talk about, sounds like God determining some things here.  Then on the other side of the verse, looks like we have a kind of an eternal security implication.

Dave:

Well, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me,” does not and we have to read it in the context, we have to go onto other verses, but that does not say that the Father only determines to give certain ones to me and he chooses and decides.  It doesn’t say that.  “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  As we go on—Tom, we need to read a little bit further because it talks about those who draw back.

Tom:

Well, let me continue.  “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.  And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life:  and I will raise him up at the last day.”  So I did have to read on, if not to mistake the idea that Jesus is obviously saying here that everyone which “seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life.”

Dave:

This is a promise for everyone.  On the one hand, “whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.”  That’s the very last chapter of the Bible.  Jesus says, “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.”  John:3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
See All..., “For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him.”  So, on the one hand, the offer is open to whosoever will.  On the other hand, you can’t force this upon God.  This is only because of God’s mercy and God’s grace.  It reminds us of John:1:13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
See All....  It says, “Which were born, not of blood, the will of man, the will of the flesh, but of God.”  So, you say, of course, I can’t be born again except that God does it, he must do it.  But it doesn’t say that he only determines to do this for some and not for others because John:1:13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
See All..., does follow John:1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
See All....  And, John:1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
See All... says, “As many as received him, to them he gives the authority to become the sons of God, even those who believe on his name.”

Tom:

Dave, could we apply that then to verse 37?  “To many as received him the Father is giving those; to those who have received him the Father is giving them to Jesus.”

Dave:

Yes.  It says, “Him that cometh to me I will no wise cast out.”  Now that is a promise Tom, that I can rely upon and unlike those in Matthew 7, who say, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name we cast out devils, in your name we did miracles…” that’s why they say they belong in heaven.  I would just say, Lord, you said “him that cometh to me I will no wise cast out.”  I came to you but you said, “Whoever hears my voice and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, is passed from death to life.”  Lord, you made that promise.  So, we have the promise here, “all that the Father giveth me shall come to me; him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  It goes on, he says, “I didn’t come down from heaven to do my own will but the will of him that sent me.  Now this is the will, I am here to do he Father’s will and what is the Father’s will?”  Well, he is not willing that any should perish.  He wants all to come to the knowledge of the truth.  I mean, the fact that God weeps over the Jews, he weeps over Israel, century after century he sends his prophets, he pleads with them,—I don’t want to bring my judgment upon you, repent, and return to me.  Or, you could go to Isaiah 55, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth come to the waters.”  He even says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return unto the Lord, he will have mercy upon him.”  Or, the scriptures that say, “You will seek me and find me when you seek for me with all your heart.”  Hebrews:11:6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
See All..., “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”  Now you couldn’t possibly have all these verses and then come to the conclusion—yeah, but you can’t seek God unless he causes you to seek him and yet he is pleading with people that can’t seek him, they can’t turn to him and he is pleading with them to repent and turn to him, but they can’t do it unless he gives them the grace to do it, but he doesn’t give them the grace and yet he pleads with them and he holds them accountable for it—it doesn’t make sense.  So, “I came down from heaven to do the Father’s will.  This is the Father’s will which was sent me:  Of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing.”  You can’t come to Christ unless it is given you of the Father but that doesn’t mean that he only allows certain ones to come to him.  It’s like—when we get to it, John 15, Christ says, “You have not chosen me, I have chosen you.”  Well Tom, I could say that (I used to have several hundred employees) I could say to any of my employees:  You didn’t choose me, I chose you.  All I am saying is, the employee could not force me to hire him; I have the final say as the employer.  On the other hand, I can’t make the employee be my employee; they have to agree to it.  And, Jesus says, “You didn’t choose me, I chose you.”  He’s telling us ultimately this is in his hands, this is his prerogative, and this is God’s prerogative.  You can’t come to the Son; you can’t force yourself upon him unless God allows us, unless God gives you to him.  But he says, “This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life.”  Now this coming to him, and later on we get into something, you know, the Catholics use this passage eating his flesh and drinking his blood, it’s quite clear that what he is talking about, no matter what simile he uses, he’s talking about coming to the Son, believing on him, seeing him, understanding who he is.  So, he says, “This is the Father’s will; everyone who sees me, everyone who believes on me, he has everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day.”  He’s not going to lose any and if we come to Christ and we believe in him we have his promise that we have everlasting life and we will never perish.  And, this is available to whosoever will may come.

Tom:

Dave, this next verse, verse 41, brings up another issue.  Here the Jews, that is, the religious Jews; “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.  And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?”  Here’s a denial of Christ’s deity.  He said some shocking things to them, some concepts that they thought were blasphemous.

Dave:

Well Tom, many people say that Jesus didn’t claim to be God but indeed, he is claiming it all the time and he claims to be the bread of God that gives life to the world.

Tom:

And the religious leaders understood that very clearly.

Dave:

And they don’t want to accept this.  Well, it’s up to each person to decide for themselves who is Jesus Christ and you cannot just dismiss his claims.  He claimed to be God, he claimed to be the only Savior of sinners, and he claimed to be the only hope of mankind to be redeemed, to be forgiven of their sins.  He either was a liar, or he was a lunatic, or he is who he claimed to be and you cannot escape that, you have to come to the conclusion, one of those three.