Objections Overruled

In a court of law, a lawyer might be making a particular point or following a particular line of questioning. And the other lawyer in the courtroom representing the other side of the issue may stand up and say, I object. Now, a judge has two options, as I understand it, and when there's an objection raised to a line of reasoning in a courtroom, one is he can sustain that objection. He can say, your objection is valid, and he'll tell the other lawyer to desist, to cease that line of questioning, or that does not admit into the court. Or he can overrule that objection. He can say to the lawyer who's raised an objection, your objection is not valid. The lawyer making the point or following a line of reasoning is allowed to continue that. Something very similar to that is happening in John chapter 6. And what your attention to the sixth chapter of John where we have been looking at Jesus' activities miracles already in this chapter. In John chapter 6, we've seen that Jesus feeds the 5,000. The miraculous, amazing sign that he performed. And then we have seen that following that, he forces the disciples to get on a boat and go back over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. The reason for that is the crowd wants to make him king. They want to force him into a kingship that really is based on nothing more than a political overthrow of the Roman government and an institution of someone who has the power to feed them every day like that. That's all they want. There's no spiritual foundation at all to this kingdom. And so Jesus will have no part of that. And he disperses the crowd, sends the disciples on across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. That night, as they are crossing the Sea, they are caught in a horrific storm. And we saw that last week that they're caught in this terrible storm. Jesus appears walking on the water, a bit speeder to come walk to him that gets in the boat, comes the storm. And immediately the ship is brought to the edge of the Sea of Galilee, to the destination. All those miracles are designed to prove to the apostles that he is truly the Son of God because he's going to jolt them the next day, the day that we're going to read about now, with a sermon that will drive away the multitudes. And even threatened to drive away his closest disciples. So we pick it up in verse 22 with what happens on the next day. John, chapter 6, verse 22, the next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone way alone. Then some boats from Tiberius landed near the place where the people were meeting the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Copernum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? It's obvious they're confused about where Jesus is. They get up the next morning, the day after the feeding of the 5,000 thinking, okay, we're going to take him now and head on to Jerusalem, but they can't find him. They recognized that there was one boat and the disciples had gotten on that, but they knew Jesus had not joined them in that boat, had not gotten into the boat with them. So they're looking for him, they can't find him after evidently some time searching, they decided, well, let's go back to Copernum at least part of them would go back there. Maybe we can find him there, that's kind of his home base, maybe somehow he got back there. They did find him. Verse 59 tells us he would be teaching in the synagogue, that's where they found him. So they come to him and they ask him this question, how did you get here? How did this happen? We didn't see you get on the boat, you weren't on any of the boats with us, how did you get here? Jesus is not going to answer their question. Jesus is going to immediately launch into a sermon that will be so hard for them to bear that they will turn around and leave him that day. And he starts into it immediately. Rather than answering their question, he sharply rebukes them in verse 26. Jesus answered, very truly I tell you, in other words, listen up, this is important. You are looking for me not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. So he says, I'm going to rip the mask off of your impure false motives right here at the beginning. And he does. He exposes their wrong motives for wanting to make him king. You're not concerned about the purpose of the sign miracle, which is to show that I am the son of God, the Messiah, the deliverer of the people, the one who came to die for your sins. You're not interested in that. You're just interested in getting your belly full. That's all you want. So he dies right in. Doesn't even answer their question, but sharply rebukes them and then he gives them this challenge in verse 27. Do not work for food that spoils. In other words, get your mind off of the bread from yesterday. Get your mind off of the food you ate, got your belly full. Get your mind off of that. But for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you for on him, God has placed, God the Father has placed his seal of approval. Now this is Jesus' main point that he's going to expand on the rest of the sermon. This is what the sermonizers would say is his proposition. This is his main point. This is what he's going to get across. What he's saying to them is this, get your mind off of the materialistic physical manifestations of some kingdom that you want, the bread you ate yesterday. You need to give as much attention and devotion and eagerly seek after spiritual bread, spiritual food. The food that endures to eternal life. And here it is, the son of man will give that to you. It is a gift, not something you can earn or merit. Eternal life is something that is given to you. And he goes on to say, it's given to you by me. And that's the only way you can get it because on me, the Father has placed his seal of approval. So here's Jesus' point. You need more than physical bread. You need eternal life. You can only get it as a gift from me. And I am the only one that can give it to you. I am the only way to heaven. I am the only way there. Now in the verses that follow, these people who are hearing Jesus are going to raise four objections. Objection number one, two, three, and four all the way through verse 59. And Jesus is going to answer all of those objections. And so the rest of this passage is all about this. Christ overrules four objections to his statement that he's the only way of salvation. The statement that he's made to them is, I am the only way to get eternal life. It's a gift given by me. And I'm the only way there is no other because the Father has put his seal of approval on me. So I'm the only way to eternal life. And they're going to be four people, four groups who will raise their hands. They will wait a second. I object to that line of reasoning. And Jesus is going to say as the divine judge, I overrule that objection. This line of reasoning is valid. That point is valid. I am the only way of salvation. And it is a gift that must come through me. The amazing thing to me, as I look at these objections, is that they are the same objections. At least some of them, some of the objections raised today, are these same four. The same ones that Jesus heard are ones that we still hear today. And so let's do what Jesus said. Let's sit up and take notice. Very truly, I say to you, Jesus will say, so let's pay attention. Let's sit up. Let's take notice of what these objections are because they may be the same objections that some of you have here today. The first one is the objection of the legalist. The person who thinks he's got to do something to get eternal life. Verse 28 is the objection and it describes for us basically man's desire to do something. Look at verse 28. Then they ask him, what must we do to do the works God requires? Now he's just told them that eternal life is something he will give them. He just told them that in verse 26 and 27. The Son of Man will give you eternal life. And their objection is, no, no, no, we got to do something. What must we do to do the works God requires? You see, they were used to hearing the Jewish rabbis. And by the way, they think he's another rabbi. They called him that in verse 25. Rabbi, when did you get here? The rabbis typically gave the Jewish people a whole list of things to do, a whole list of laws to keep, things that they said you must do in order to get to heaven. They reduced religion to good deeds and religious rituals that you had to be faithful to attend and perform. And they summarized all those good deeds and religious rituals with these words. These are the works of God. These are the works God requires. They called them God's works. And so they're following that same line of reasoning. They're saying, what must we do to do the works God requires? In other words, you're a rabbi. Now tell us your list. Give us your list of works that we have to do, religious ceremonies we have to perform in order to get to heaven. What do we have to do? Man always has had a desire to do something to earn salvation, to put God in his debt as it were, to merit heaven, to earn heaven. Christ has just said, I give it to you. They don't understand that. They're unwilling to admit that they're helpless in the gift. They feel like they need to do something and men through the ages, women through the ages, people through the ages have always felt like I need to do something to get to heaven. I need to do something. I need to give something. I need to quit something. I need to join something. I need to do something to get to heaven. There are a whole lot of people who believe that. Even people who claim to be Christians, I hear it all the time. I hear it at funeral homes. And people will say to me, people who ought to know better, people who at least claim to know Christ will look at me and say, well, I tell you what, if anybody I get to heaven, that person will. If anybody's going to be in heaven, my grandma will. My aunt will. My whatever. What are you saying when you say that? You're basically saying, if anybody's good enough to get there, that person is. Nobody's good enough to get there. Nobody can do anything, give anything, say anything, pray anything, do what, join anything, give up anything. Nobody can get to heaven by their good works. And yet we have a human tendency to feel like we've got to offer God something. We're just like the prodigal son, who when he finally gets to the end of himself and realizes he has nothing left comes to this conclusion. I'll go home and I'll make myself like one of my father's hired servants. So I'm going to offer to my dad that I'll be one of your hired servants. And I'll work my way up from the bottom into your good graces again. I'll do the most medial task. I'll do whatever it takes. And I'll work my way back into your good grace. That's what he thought he should do. And that's what most people think they need to do to get to heaven. Man's desire to do something to offer God something by way of good works. And Jesus shoots down that objection. He over-rules that objection with this clear statement. Look at it in verse 29. Jesus answered. The work of God is this. You want to hear the list of works. You want to hear my view of God's works like the other rabbi. The work of God is this. To believe in the one he has sent. That's it. There is no work you can do. Faith in Christ is the only way. That's his answer. He over-rules the objection by making the point clearly faith in Christ is the only way. Christ has already done all of the work that is needed for you to get saved. You cannot do anything or add anything to his perfect work to get yourself to heaven. Man feels like it has to do something but we cannot. Faith in Christ is the only way. And here's the reason why. To get to heaven you have to have a perfect righteousness. A righteousness as perfect as God's. He said, if I can't do that, of course you can't. And neither can anyone else. No one can live a perfect life and have a perfect righteousness. So no one can get to heaven on their own righteousness because no one has the kind of righteousness that is required. God knows that. And so in his great love he said his son, the only human being who ever lived a perfect life. The only human being who ever was qualified to die for someone else because he had nothing to be zoned sin to die for. God sent him Jesus to this earth to die in our place. In other words to take God's punishment. God's wrath for our sin because he was perfect. He had no sin of his own to pay for. So he paid for your sin. He paid for my sin. He took our place when he died on the cross. And if you place your faith in Jesus then God does a record book thing in heaven. God makes a legal change on the record books in heaven. This is the only way you can get to heaven. He takes all of your sin off of the page. It has your name on it. And he places the righteousness of Christ on that same page. Not your righteousness. Not the fact that you joined the church or you got baptized or you turned over a new leaf or you started being a better husband or a better wife or you got involved in doing things at church. Not that. That's not on the only thing on the record book that will get you into heaven is the righteousness of Christ. Now the Bible calls that justification. God takes off your sin and places the righteousness of Christ on his record book in heaven. Here's the way Paul describes it in second Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 21. God made him speaking of Christ who had no sin. In other words, he was not paying for his own sin. He was the only perfect person who ever walked on this earth. He had no sin. But he made him to be sin for us to take our sin to be actually a sin offering one that would bear our guilt, our punishment. God's wrath for us. He did that in our place. He did it for us. So that in him and only in him, only in Christ, only as you receive Christ as your savior, we might become the righteousness of God. There it is. The one who had no sin took your sin so that if you trust Christ as your savior, God puts his righteousness on your account in heaven. That's the only way you can get to heaven. And that must be received by you by faith. There's nothing you can do to merit or earn that. Paul makes that clear to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9. So that's why it's important for us to be faithful to God. That's why it's important for us to be faithful to God. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. Heaven would be an awful place if you could work your way there. It really would. It would be a place where everybody's going around comparing notes. You know what I did to get here? I was a beacon for 10 years. I was a Sunday school teacher for I did this. I did that. I worked in the community. That's my resume. And the next person will say, oh, I got to beat. I was a beacon for 15 years. I was a Sunday school teacher for 30 years. I have to be an awful place if you all you disbost about how you got there. When we get there, nobody will boast of anything they have done because we all recognize when we get to heaven that we got there by the grace of God. It was received by us through faith. It's a gift of God. It wasn't of works. We didn't do anything to get there. And so the objection to the legalist, the objection of the legalist is overruled by Christ when he says, basically, there's only one work. There's only one way. There's only one thing Jesus has done the work for you simply believe in the one that God sent. Faith in Christ is the only way. So my friend, the point is this, don't offer God your good deeds. Don't offer God your church membership or your baptism or your good life or your efforts to try to do better or you're giving up of certain sins or you're following a better path of life. Don't give that to God. That's abominable to him because you don't have enough that you can offer him to please him to allow you into heaven. You would have to have a perfect righteousness never having said done or thought anything wrong in your whole life. And the only way you can have that righteousness is to have Jesus righteousness stamped on your account in heaven by faith in Christ. The objection of the legalist, I've got to do something to get there or to help in my salvation overruled by Christ. Second objection. There are some people that are not satisfied with that. And so in verse 30, so they ask Him, what sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Here's the objection of the doubter. The objection of the doubter, just like so many today, you can never see enough or feel enough. You've got to have something you can see or feel in order to be saved. You're not willing to just take God at His word and do what He said. Just believe on me. Just trust me. But the doubter says, let me see something. Now please notice they come to Him saying, what sign will you give that we can see it and believe you? Well, what have they just seen that they before? The feeding of 5,000 of them from five little biscuits and two salmon or two little fish? But here's the problem. If you demand to see or feel something to know that you're saved, you'll never get enough. You'll always doubt. If you don't simply take God at His word, you'll always doubt. And I believe verse 31 gives a clue as to why they were saying this. They were beginning to compare Him to Moses. Remember when he fed the 5,000 they had already said back in verse 14, surely this is the prophet who was to come into the world. This is the prophet that Moses told us about. But basically they're going to say, hey, you're going to measure up to Moses. You got to do more than that. Verse 31, they say our ancestors ate the man in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat quoting Psalm 78. So basically they're comparing what Jesus had done the day before with what Moses did. Jesus, you know what you did yesterday? It was pretty good trick. But Moses did it for 40 years. You did it one day. Moses spent a whole nation. You've had a few thousand. Moses gave us bread from heaven. You took a little boy's lunch and used this earth's bread. So Jesus, I'm not convinced yet. I need more proof. I still doubt that you're the one. I still doubt that all I need to do is believe in you. I need to see something else. I need more evidence. I need something to show me. Faith in Christ is not enough. I need something I can see and feel and Jesus overrules the objection of the doubter with three simple statements. I want you to see his procedure. Not mine. His procedure. What does he do? How does he respond? He says basically three things to the doubter. And this is extremely simple. He says, first of all, I want you to Christ is God's provision for man's need. Look at it. Verse 32. Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven. Jesus raises an objection here. They just said Moses gave us bread from heaven. Oh, correction. Moses didn't give you that God did. God gave you that bread from heaven. He says, it's not Moses that gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. Now he's going to start talking about another kind of bread, true bread that comes down from heaven that's given by the father. Verse 33. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. He's still drawing distinctions between what happened in the Old Testament with Moses, because they've raised that issue. He's taking their story and going with it. But he's drawing contrasts between the two. He's basically saying the bread that Moses gave you or that the father gave you through Moses. That was the sustained life. The bread I'm talking about is true bread and it gives life. There's a big difference. Bread that you eat physically can sustain your life. Give you strength. Keep you alive. Physically, I'm talking about bread that comes from heaven. It's true bread. It's different from the physical bread you and it gives you life. This is something entirely different. He's talking about spiritual bread and spiritual life. Verse 34, they misunderstand. Sir, they said always give us this bread. They're just like the woman at the well back in chapter 4. Remember when Jesus was trying to make the transition from physical water to spiritual water? The water I'll give you, he says will be a well of water and you're springing up to eternal life and she didn't get it. She thought he was still talking about physical water and she said, Lord, give me this water so I don't have to come back to this well anymore. Well, these people doing the same thing. Sir, give us this bread. If that, if it'll give you life, man, I want that kind of bread. That sounds like the fountain of youth or the buffet of youth, maybe. So give me that bread. Verse 35, then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. The first of the seven, I am statements in the gospel of John. I am the bread of life. What I'm talking about is me. I'm just using your figure of speech about Moses giving you bread and the wilderness. I'm talking to you about true bread, living bread, that the father sent from heaven to give eternal life. That's me. That's not some piece of bread. It's me. So what he's saying, the point he's making is Christ, it's God's provision for man's need. So if you doubt, Jesus has this to say to you, Christ is God's provision for your need. And you just need to hear that over and over and over again. Christ is God's provision for your need. But he says a couple of other things. He goes on to say Christ saves all who believe. I told you this very basic, very simple. Jesus is answering the objection of the doubter that I've got to see something, feel something where I won't know for sure that I'm saved. I got to feel spiritual boost bumps or see something in heaven or have a bolt of lightning or something. I got to see him feel something. And Jesus is saying, listen, Christ is God's provision for your need. And if you trust me, I will save you. Look at it in verse 35. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. In other words, I will meet your need, your spiritual need. I will fully satisfy it. If you just come to me, you won't thirst again, you won't hunger again. All of your spiritual need will be met. You will have eternal life. If you just come to me, if you come to me, I will save you. I promise that. Now the problem is in verse 36. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. You won't believe you won't trust. I'm telling you, Christ is God's provision for your spiritual need, the only way you can get to heaven. And if you will believe in me, I will save you. But he goes a step beyond that. He says also, if you believe in me, I'll keep you. So Christ keeps all who believe. Not only does he save all who believe, he keeps saved all who believe. People who doubt whether or not Christ is the only way and they have doubts about whether or not they need to feel something, see something, experience something, before they can know for sure they are saved. Those kinds of folks will continue to have doubts all through their life because they will never know whether or not they did the right thing, whether or not they felt the right way, whether or not they said the right words, experienced the right thing, and so you continue to have doubts. And what Jesus is saying, I'm telling you, it's so simple. All you need to do is realize Christ is the provision for your salvation. Believe in me. Trust me as your Savior and you will be saved. But not only that, I will keep you. If you trust me as your Savior, I will keep you too. Notice how forcefully he says this in verse 37, all the way through verse 40, 37 says, all those the Father gives me will come to me. He speaks of those who are coming to him for salvation as those whom the Father has given him. Okay, all those the Father gives to me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. Of course, I'm never going to throw you out of the family. I'm never going to put you out. If you come to me as Savior, I will never abandon you. I will never put you out of the family. I've often illustrated it this way when I was born into the King family. I became a child of my parents, Jack and Beth King. As I grew up through my childhood and teenage years, I can remember a couple of things I did wrong in those years. I can remember actually more than a couple because I can remember a few times when I was disciplined and my parents believed in spanking. I got a few of them. You know what? Whenever I did something wrong, I never stopped being a King. I never stopped being a child of my parents. There was some distance created because of my lack of obedience or rebellion. There was some difficulty, breach of fellowship, and that needed to be corrected. There needed to be some chastening and discipline done to bring back that fellowship. But I never stopped being a part of the family. And even if my parents had thrown me out of the home, biologically, they cannot make me unpart of the family. I'm still in the family. And that's what Jesus is saying. When you come to me in faith, I will never drive you out. You're in forever. But he didn't stop with that. Look at verse 38. He says, four. Here's the reason why. I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. So not only will he not drive you away, he's not going to lose you either. You see, whether or not you stay saved is not up to you anyway. It's up to him. We are kept. Peter says in 1 Peter 1 by the power of God, not my own power. By the power of God. Is he strong enough to keep you? Or Jesus says, I'll never lose you. I'll never lose you. I'm going to keep you in the family. And I'll give you this promise. I will raise you up at the last day. That's a promise of the resurrection to be with him forever in heaven. So I will keep you and he emphasizes it again. Verse 40 for my father's will is that everyone notice there are no exceptions here. Everyone who looks to the sun and believes in him shall have eternal life. And I will raise them up at the last day again. Great promises from Christ that if you believe in him, he will keep you saved. So to the doubter to the one who always doubts whether or not faith in Christ was enough. And whether or not I really said or did the right things or understood and I or whatever and you doubt all through your life. Here's the promise. Christ is the provision for salvation. Don't try to have faith in your faith. Make sure you have faith in Christ. If you trusted Christ as your Savior, he promises not only to save you, but also to keep you saved. You will never lose your salvation. Now I realize there are some people who have doubts because they think you know how I was four years old, I was five years old that I really understand enough that I know enough to really trust in Christ. I always tell people when they wonder about that, make sure now. If you're not sure, trust Christ as your Savior right now. Go write it down in your Bible. I did it today. I knew what I was doing and then trust the promise of God. If you believe in Christ who is the only provision for salvation, Christ will save you and Christ will keep you. That's the promise he's made. So if you're a doubter here today, your objection is overruled. Christ says, I'm the only way. You don't need to see anything, feel anything, experience anything, get a light from heaven, feel goosebumps. That's not the way you get saved. Christ is the way of salvation and if you believe in me as your Savior, I will save you and I will keep you. Case closed. Objection overruled. Then someone else steps up and these can sometimes be the most difficult folks of all. The objection of the critic in verse 41. At this, the Jews there began to grumble against him or about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. Verse 42, they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know, how can he now say I came down from heaven? Now please understand what's happening here. First of all, remember this title, the Jews in verse 41. John uses it 70 times. We've seen this before. It almost always refers to the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the scribes, the teachers of the law, the religious leaders in Israel. They're the ones that begin to grumble about him and they're grumbling at the statement that he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven. Why? Because they think they know where he came from. They doubt the trustworthiness of his word and they doubt the trustworthiness of his person and his work. And so they're basically saying, isn't this Joseph's son Mary? So we know where he came from. What's this talk about coming down from heaven? He came from Mary and Joseph, right? Well, first of all, they were wrong about that, weren't they? They didn't have the full information. He came from Mary, but not from Joseph. Joseph was not his biological father. Jesus was virgin born by a special, special miracle of God. That's the truth. Joseph was his guardian who brought him up, who taught him and cared for him and provided for him as a child, but he was not his biological father. So they had that wrong, but they are objecting to the trustworthiness of his word, to who he is and what he was able to do because they think they know better. That's the objection of the critic. They are the forerunners of the modern critics, the modern liberals and others who do not believe the trustworthiness of scripture, do not believe in the accounts of who Jesus says he is or what he will do. And how does Jesus respond to the critics? He says two very simple things. And I want you to catch this because his mode of answering the critics is very instructive for us today. Jesus basically says two things. Number one, God must draw. I'm not talking about getting the crayon out and drawing a picture. We'll see what he means here in a moment when we look at the word. God must draw people to himself. Please notice, Jesus does not answer their criticism by giving proofs for the virgin birth. I think that's what I would have wanted to do. I can settle this argument right here. I can prove to you that the virgin birth is true. Jesus could have done that. But Jesus laid down two spiritual principles by which only by these two principles can a person be convinced of salvation. First of all, God must draw. Look at verse 43. Stop grumbling among yourselves, Jesus answered. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day. Nobody can come to Christ. Nobody can get saved unless God initiates that work unless God is doing a work in people's hearts to draw them. I want you to understand that word draw is a very strong word. It is not just a decision on the whim to, I think I believe. No, this indicates that God is doing something behind the scenes in drawing you. Let me give you three other occasions where this word is used in the New Testament. It is used first of all in John chapter 21 and verse 6. We will put them on the screen for you. I want you to see the strength of this word. This is when Peter and the other disciples go back to fishing and Jesus says, throughout your net on the right side of the boat, you will find some fish. They have fished all night and hadn't found any. Jesus says, right side, you will find it. When they did, they were unable to haul the net. That is our word. Paul the net in because of the large number of fish. It is also used in Acts chapter 21 and verse 30 where Paul is in the temple. There are a bunch of Jews who want to get rid of him. The whole city was aroused and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple. That is our word. The same word translated draw here in John 6. They dragged him from the temple and immediately the gates were shut. It is also found in James 26. But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? This is a very strong word. What it indicates is that man who is spiritually dead and cannot save himself, man who the Bible describes as spiritually blind and cannot see the truth, man who has his understanding darkened, Ephesians 4, his understanding is darkened, his mind is corrupted by the fall. He cannot understand spiritual things. First Corinthians 2, the things of the Holy Spirit are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them. People who are spiritually blind, dead and their minds darkened need a work of God to draw them to himself. God, the Holy Spirit must invade that person's mind, heart and soul and begin to convict them. Begin to show them their need. That is what Jesus said. The Holy Spirit would do in John 16. I am sending him because he will convict the world of three things of sin, righteousness and judgment. Nobody will be convinced that there is sinner unless the Holy Spirit is convicting them. Nobody will be convinced that they need God's righteousness rather than their own unless the Holy Spirit shows them that. No one will be convinced that they can stand before the judgment seat of God because Christ has already born their judgment, their righteousness comes from him. Nobody can do that. Except the Holy Spirit showed them that. And so the Holy Spirit must be working in a person's heart to convict them of their lost condition, show them their need of Christ, break down their pride and self will and literally drag them to the Savior. That is how strong it is. The Spirit of God has to be working. And how does he do this? Jesus tells us, this is great theology. Jesus tells us in verse 45, how the Holy Spirit works in a person's mind and heart. It is written in the prophets. They will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to me. How does the Holy Spirit does this? Do this. Through the Word. Jesus says, I'll show you how this drawing happens. He quotes from Isaiah 54 and basically says you've got to hear from God. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him. You've got to hear the Word of God. That's the tool the Holy Spirit uses. And it's the only tool He uses. Now I believe there's value in apologetics, in arguments that can help answers people's questions, but they'll never get anybody saved. It just may break down some barriers for people to then listen to the Word. It's only through the Word of God that people can be saved. That is the only tool. It's the only seed for Peter chapter 1 that the Holy Spirit uses to plant in the human heart. Unless God is drawing, wooing, convicting through the Holy Spirit, nobody's going to get saved. So he doesn't through the Word of God. And Jesus even makes it clear. I'm not talking about hearing God with your ears. I'm not talking about hearing voices. Look at verse 46. No one has seen the Father except the one who was from God. Only He has seen the Father. I'm talking about the Son. So he's making clear. I'm not talking about seeing God, having visions and dreams and not talking about some supernatural revelation to you directly. I'm talking about the Bible. Jesus himself quotes from the Old Testament and says that's what I'm talking about. You've got to hear from God. You've got to hear from His Word. So God must draw. How do you answer the critic who will not believe in the trustworthyness of Scripture or of who Jesus is or where it came from or the Virgin birth or any of that? Jesus didn't answer all those arguments. It's said there's a place for that sometimes, but that's not Jesus approach. Jesus basically said, okay, this is God's work. God must draw. The Holy Spirit's not working with someone through His Word to bring conviction and a sense of their need. Then you won't get saved. It's as simple as that, but there's more to it. Not only must God draw. There's another side to this. Man must believe. The perfect balance as there always is in Scriptures. What I've just said strongly highlights God's work in salvation. God's sovereignty and salvation that if God does not at work, no one's ever going to get saved. God must be drawing, working through His Spirit in the heart to break down barriers, convince a person of their need of Christ, of their sinfulness, all of that must happen. But on the other side of it, you've got to believe. You've got to place your faith in Christ. And what I want you to see next is something that I believe is masterful in our Lord's dealing with critics. I'm not talking about people who criticize Him. I'm talking about people who don't believe in the trustworthyness of the Bible and the Virgin birth and Christ and who He is and what He was here to do. Jesus basically repeats everything He has said in verses 47 to 51. You can check it out. I don't have time to show you, but everything He says in verses 47 to 51, He has already said at least once in one case three times. He's already said it. So He's not going to break any new ground here. He's not going to give any special set of arguments. He's going to go back to the simple truths of the gospel. And that's what the critic needs to hear over and over and over again because that is the only tool the Holy Spirit will use to break down the sin in a heart and mind and darkness and blindness, all those things to draw people to Christ. And so Jesus says I'm going to repeat to you very simply step by step what I mean that you must believe. Look at verse 47. Very truly I tell you Jesus always says that when he's saying, listen up. I'm going to say something really important. Very truly I tell you the one who believes has eternal life. He's already told him that three times before in this passage. I'm just going to repeat it again. The one who believes in me is the one who has eternal life. And then he says in verse 48, I am the bread of life. And you can see he's almost listing the things he's already told them. There's nothing new to give you here. There's no brand new special argument that will convince you. I'm just going to remind you of the truths of the gospel. You've got to believe in me. I am the true bread. He said that back in verse 35. He's just repeating it. Remind you of this truth again. Verse 49, your ancestors ate the man in the wilderness yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven which anyone may eat and not die. He's already said that they brought up about Moses feeding in the wilderness. Jesus said I'm talking about true bread that you can eat and not die. He's already said that. So he's just repeating it again. You just need to hear the basics of the gospel again. And then he sums it up in verse 51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. He's already said all that. He's repeating it. And then he summarizes this bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. How do you answer critic? I think like Jesus did. God must draw. God must be at work in the heart, mind of an unsafe person to convince them of their need of Christ, of their sinfulness. And that Christ is the only way. God must be doing that work. But you also need to believe. Just repeat the basics over and over again. That's what Jesus did. You got to believe I'm the bread of heaven. I'm not talking about physical bread and talking about spiritual bread. This is my life, which I'm going to give for the life of the world. He didn't answer their arguments about the virgin birth. He could have. He's God. He could have made that very clear to them. But he reminded them of the basics. God must draw you and you must believe. Objection overruled before the throne of God, before the searching gaze of Christ. But there's one more objection quickly. And it's the objection of the confused. There's still some people who are confused about this whole thing that he's just said in verse 51, this bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verse 52, then the Jews begin to argue sharply among themselves, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? They're confused. Again, they're still seeing it literally. Jesus has basically taking their figure of speech, bread in the wilderness, and applied it as a lesson or illustration to himself. I'm the true bread. But I want you to know the bread I'm talking about is my life, which I'm going to give for the world. That's obviously the cross from our perspective looking back. I know that, but they're confused. How can he give us his flesh to eat? They're still thinking literally. So here's what Jesus does. Here's the overruling of the objection of the confused. He's going to basically explain very clearly and simply what he's talking about. He's going to use an illustration. But if you understand the whole flow of thought, the illustration is crystal clear. If you understand that he's been using a picture like language already on the bread, I'm giving my bread his life for the world. If you understand what he's talking about, it's very clear what he's going to say next. Let's just read it and then we'll point out what he's saying. Verse 53, Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is real food. My blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I end them just as the living Father sent me. And I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate mana and died. They ate physical bread. I'm not talking about that. Jesus says, your ancestors ate mana. But whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. That's obvious. Jesus is using symbolic language as he has all through this sermon to really get across these three truths. First of all, he described his death. He says, I'm giving my flesh and my blood. And he's describing what he has meant or was said in verse 51 when he says this bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. So what is he giving? He's giving his flesh, his body and his blood. That's talking about his death. The Jews should have realized that they had gone through centuries of offering sacrifices. They brought the body of an animal and the blood was the throat was slit and the blood was shed of that animal and the body was burned on the brazen altar. They were familiar with blood and body or flesh being offered for sin. And so they should have caught the picture. They're still confused, but they should have caught that. Jesus is using an illustration to describe his death. And it's very clear that this is what he's talking about. He says, I'm giving this flesh for the life of the world. He's not clearly the cross. He's not talking about communion or the Lord's suffer in these verses. That hadn't even been instituted yet. And it would only be instituted with his disciples, not with a crowd of unbelievers and a synagogue. That's not at all what he's talking about. He's talking about in picture form the offering of his life, his body, his blood as a sacrifice for them. But he also explains faith with this illustration. Several times he talks about in these verses. You couldn't miss it. You've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. Again, that's not communion. That's not even thought of yet. That doesn't happen for a while. Jesus is talking about just a very clear object lesson. I'm going to give my life for the world. I'm going to die for the world. I'm going to give my body. I'm going to give my blood. But you've got to eat and drink that. And he's basically going back to the picture of food. Bread, drink. You know what? You can sit in front of a table and you can admire the food and drink before you. You can analyze its chemical composition. You can agree with all the things that are said about it. And that it's the best food possible and it will sustain you. If you don't actually per take out, but if you don't eat it, it won't do you any good. And that's what Jesus is saying. I'm going to give my life for the world. I'm going to present my flesh, my body. I'm going to shed my blood, old testament sacrifice background. You understand all that? I'm going to give my life for the work. But you've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. In other words, you can't just sit back and say, I know Jesus died for everybody. You can't just read about it in the commentaries and say, I agree with all that they're saying. Analyze it. Think it's a great thing that Jesus would give his life. If you don't partake of him by faith, and that's what he said all through this passage, believe on me. Believe on me. Believe on me. If you don't partake of him, if you don't actually by faith trust him as your Savior. Eat his flesh. Drink his blood. Take it into your heart and life by faith his death for you. Then it doesn't do you any good. You can agree that it was a good thing he died. You can analyze it. Know everything about it. Know that Jesus died. But unless you have personally partaken of Christ by faith and trusted his death for you, it doesn't do you any good. You're not saved. So Jesus explained his death or described his death, he explained faith, and then he showed the result of faith. Four times in these verses he says, if you will believe on me, you'll have eternal life. That's the result. He said it in verse 54. Whoever eats my bread drinks my blood has eternal life. Verse 56, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. Verse 57, into the verse. So the one who feeds on me will live because of me. And verse 58, into the verse. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Four times he's talked about living if you eat this bread drink. If you if you partake of Christ by faith, trust his death for your salvation. You'll have eternal life. And he has said it five other times in the rest of the passage beginning back in verse 27. So nine times he has said, if you believe in me, you'll have eternal life. And four times he has said, I will raise you up at the last day, which is another way of saying, you'll be with me in heaven forever. So get it. I mean, it's clear he's pounding this truth in 13 times in this sermon. He has said, if you will believe in me, you'll have eternal life. That's his promise. So Jesus has made it crystal clear. There's no reason to be confused anymore. He's given an illustration that they all should have related to from their Old Testament background of sacrifices of the animals, body, flesh, and blood. They should have known that. He's giving a simple illustration for them. This is my death. You must trust me, partake by faith of my death. And if you do, you'll have eternal life. That's the gospel. And that should clear up all confusion. If you just understand the basics of the gospel, all objections are overruled. They're not valid. The judge of the universe answers them all. And no matter what your objection is, if it's one of these, if you're a legalist that feels like, you know, I got to do something to get the heaven. I got to join something, show something, pray something, do something, I got to do something. Then Jesus says, no, no, no, no, that objection is overruled. All you have to do is believe in me. Faith in Christ. That's it. Maybe you're the doubter who has to see something or feel something, have some experience to anchor your faith to. Jesus says, if you're looking for things to anchor your faith to, but we have experiences, you'll never feel enough, see enough. Just believe I am the provision for your salvation. If you believe in me, I'll save you and I'll keep you. That's my promise. Trust it. Maybe you're the critic. Maybe you have trouble with the truthfulness of God's word or the truthfulness of who Christ is, or the truthfulness of what he would do. Those are the questions here. Who are you? You're not coming from above. You're just marrying Joseph's son. Those kind of questions. And Jesus says, God must do a work in your heart to convince you otherwise. God must be drawing you and you just need to believe. You need to trust. It sounds too simple. It sounds too basic, not intellectual enough. That's what Jesus said. That's why he addressed it. And maybe you're just confused about what it means to be saved. Jesus lays it out. I'm laying down my life for you. I'm dying for you. If you will trust me as your Savior, you'll have eternal life. 13 times. You'll have eternal life. You'll have eternal life. You'll have eternal life. You'll have eternal life. That's simple. So clear. No reason for any objections to be raised. He answers them all. Now here's my question to you. Why would you dare wait all through your life with any of these objections or others and refuse to come to Christ and then go out into eternity and stand before him someday because all of your objections will vanish at the searching gaze of Christ. When you stand before him, all of your objections will melt into oblivion into the floor. They will be overruled there, but it will be too late for you to do anything about that. So why not lay down your objections now? Christ has already answered them all. Lay them down and come in simple faith to Christ. And he will meet your spiritual need. He will satisfy your spiritual need. That's great.