They Will All Be Taught by God
John 6:41-47

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. We are in the midst of a study of the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum telling the people that He is the bread of life. Jesus has come to give life, but the people have come to Jesus for the wrong reason. They have come for free food. They have come for what He will do for them, and not because of who Jesus.

They are so consumed in their physical desires that they cannot see their spiritual needs. They do not recognize their spiritual hunger and are blind to the offer Jesus is making.

In verse 40 Jesus has made a tremendous statement and an amazing offer. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Whoever will come to Jesus will never be cast out, will not be lost, and will be raised up on the last day. Let’s notice the people’s response to this amazing offer.

I. The People Complain – John 6:41-42 “So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 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’?””

A. Verse 41 tells us the Jews grumbled. Here is Jesus saying I'm going to give you everything you need and they just start complaining because He said I am the bread that came down from heaven. We know His father Joseph so how can He can say I've come down from heaven? They reject that idea. They do not believe and we have seen this before in John's gospel, people will not believe.
B. The light has come into the world. The Life has come into the world. I am the bread of life, and their response is in unbelief. They don’t want to believe who this Jesus is and what He is offering.

II. Drawn By The Father – John 6:43-44. Jesus answer to this I think is quite amazing and I submit to you quite challenging. I ask for you to bear with me as we go through this response that Jesus gives, verse 43, “Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.” Jesus did not answer their grumbling by performing some kind of miracle. He could do something to deal with this unbelief. Instead, He 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.”

A. There is a challenge in what Jesus just said. I'm going to read that again. I want the challenge of what Jesus said to sink in. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. That was a very big statement, and He continues, and I will raise him up on the last day.

1. This phrase has caused all kinds of writings and divisions. Take a moment and recognize that we just cannot pass these words off. We cannot come across a scripture that doesn’t fit easily into our mind’s view and just simply pass it off.
2. There is an answer here that we need to look at. Look at it as a challenge to our understanding. Jesus is saying something very bold to these people. He's telling them, you can't come to me on your own. The Father has to draw you in. Our problem is what He's trying to explain to them.
3. What is at stake? He is trying to get them to grasp where their unbelief comes from. I know in my own study when I find something like this I have a tendency to kind of whiz over those statements and pay attention to other parts of the sentences.

B. I also notice that in my own studies, and you might too, when reading a verse you've known all your life, you might miss particular details because you're used to hearing a certain point.

1. For example, Acts 2:38, one you probably know very well. “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off,…” Don't just end the sentence there. Keep looking, “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.””
2. It's the same thing Jesus just said here in John 6. You can't come to me unless the father draws you to me. Peter describes it in his sermon, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
3. Galatians 1:6 says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel"
4. 1^st Corinthians 1:2 says – “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” and in verse 9 “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
5. We have been studying Jude. How does Jude begin? “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:” There are statements that are being made here, that we have been called by God. Christ comes to these people who are in unbelief and says, I don't want you to grumble. I want you to recognize there is a problem.

C. The problem is you can't come to Me unless the father draws you. What does that mean? How are we drawn? What does that look like? What is He trying to teach them?

1. There are those who use this sovereign act of God’s calling, to suppose that God draws some and not others. Doing that however would be to suppose that God is partial and unjust (see Acts 10:34). The murmurers in this passage had rejected the teaching of God relative to the lowliness of the Messiah, thus denying God's drawing of them unto Himself. The fact of rejection by some does not nullify the promise; the ones who respond will still be raised up on the last day. What is important for us to do in our study is to not stop studying here in verse 44 and build our doctrine. This whole chapter must be considered because it is one conversation with the Jews who saw the miracle of the feeding of the 5000.

III. How Are We Drawn? – He's explaining what this means in verse 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— then he gives this almost parenthetical comment—not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.”

A. We might put it this way; Understand what I mean, “taught by God” is not talking about God directly teaching you. No one has seen the father. I'm not talking about that kind of teaching, but only those who have been taught by the father can come to Christ.
B. In verse 44 Jesus makes this important declaration. Nobody comes to Christ unless the father draws him. When you look at the next verse what He is saying is; The people who come to Christ, are those who have heard and learned from the father. In other words, everybody who does come to Christ will have learned from God, have been taught by God. Jesus then quotes the prophets.

1. He uses Isaiah 54:13 as His proof text. “All your children shall be taught by the Lord,…” They will all be taught of God. The point is; He is saying that being taught by God is how a person is drawn by the father to Christ.
2. What does that look like? What exactly does that mean? Those who have heard and learned from the Father come to Christ. Hearing and learning from the Father is how the Father draws us to Christ, and how we come to salvation.

C. Listen to 2^nd Thessalonians 2:13-14. “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, (Notice that same kind of language) through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you (How?) through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1. Paul says I give thanks always about you because you have been taught by God. How did that happen? He called you through our gospel. We proclaimed the gospel to you and that is how you were drawn by the father. That is how you came to faith.
2. Think of that familiar verse, Romans 10:17. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith only comes one way. Through the hearing of the word of God. That's the only way faith comes. Mark talked about hearing recently and quoted “He who has ears to hear, let them hear” meaning to listen not just as to sound but for the meaning. In Matthew 15:10 when Jesus was teaching a multitude, He said “Hear and understand:”

D. These Jews believe that they are part of God's family, that they are in a covenant relationship with God, and Jesus is telling them, there is a problem. You haven't been taught by God. You have not been drawn by the father. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. No one in this room came to faith without the word of God. Nobody.

1. You can't have faith in Christ without the word of God. That's the way the world wants to have it though. If you just go up on a mountain somewhere and meditate for a while, you can know all you need to know about God and you'd be on your way to spiritual salvation and enlightenment. No, you won't.
2. If you would just do these exercises, if you do this, that or whatever, then you would have spiritual enlightenment. If you'd watch this or that TV personality enough, then you'd have all the enlightenment that you could possibly need.
3. Jesus said, nobody comes to Me unless the father draws him. Paul worded it by saying; It’s the gospel that called you. He would write to the Romans, Your faith came by hearing the word of Christ. That's how your faith came. You had to know the word of God. I think that's very important to understanding what verses 44 and 45 are saying.

E. Jesus words make quite a comment about these people’s knowledge of the scriptures. You are not coming to me because you have not been taught by the father. To say that to a Jew is a very big deal. Having somebody tell you haven't been taught by God at all, is quite insulting and quite challenging.

1. We can put these two sentences side by side and see clearly what Jesus is saying.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (6:44).
“Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (6:45).
2. Therefore, being taught by God is how the Father draws us to Christ. Hearing and learning from the Father is how the Father draws us. This is also what the rest of the scriptures teach.

F. By the way, this is exactly Jesus’ point in John 5:46 – “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”” You are the people of God. You were given the oracles of God. You should know scriptures. You were given all those things, and you haven't been taught by God.

1. Did they know the law? Did they have it memorized? Did they have the scrolls? Did they have the teachings? Did they recite the law? Did they read it in the synagogue on a regular basis? Did they worship and offer sacrifices?
2. All this yet Jesus says, you haven't been drawn by the father, you haven't been taught of God. Why? Because you haven't learned from the father. That is why you don't come to me. It's why you can't see Me as the savior, why you can't see Me as the bread of life.

G. God revealed His will, nature, and commandments to humanity by speaking through chosen prophets. This is exactly what Jesus is trying to get across. This is really the message. God, even in the scriptures, as He spoke in the prophets, said, this is the way I'm going to bring people to myself. Imagine if God had not done that. If God had not revealed one word to humanity, would we be able to come to the father? No. God had to intervene. That's the issue. He's trying to tell these people you're not okay. You're not right with God. In fact, you're far away from God.
H. I’d like to look now at Jeremiah 31 where through the prophet God tells of the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31:31, where Jeremiah writes, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.”

I. He says, new covenant, not like the law of Moses. Here's what this covenant is going to look like. Verse 33, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.””
J. What does it mean that God himself would put His law within them and write His law on their hearts? You will be taught by God. You will hear and learn from the Father. Think of what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” He is describing the ability of the word of God to penetrate the complex inward nature of man, to convict him of sin, to expose his hidden motives, and to judge the very nature of life itself.

1. Paul says in 1^st Thessalonians 4:9, “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,” – The word of God is living and active.
2. God is drawing people to Christ through these words because this is where the power lies. These are the words of the father that are given to bring life and those who do not know these words will not find life. They will not come to the son. How have those Thessalonians been taught by God? Paul preached to them. He proclaimed to them the word of God.

K. Let me ask the question the other way so that we can see what Jesus is doing with these Jews. If Paul had not proclaimed the gospel to the Thessalonians would they have been loving one another as God commanded? To put it another way, do you of your own nature without knowing anything about God, love one another like you're supposed to? No. You love because God showed you how. This is His revelation to the world. Here's what love looks like. Here's how we're supposed to live. Here's what we're supposed to do.

1. On our own we don't do that. Even though we have the word of God, do we do exactly what He says? No, we still don't and if He had not revealed it to us, we certainly wouldn't have.
2. Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” We've all separated ourselves from God. There's none righteous no, not one. We've all walked away from God.
3. Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;” If God did not intervene first, we are utterly lost.

L. Growing up I heard the idea that if I was really good and did right, that's what got God to love me. Everything was OK. God loved me because I loved Him first. No. God loved me first and intervened and revealed His will and sent His son. It is because of those things that I come to faith, and how I come to know God. That's how I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

1. Remember in Luke 18: how the ruler comes up to Jesus and says; “Good Teacher…” “And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God”
2. When we don't see our sinfulness, when we don't see that we are far away from God, then we will never come to him. This is what Jesus was dealing with. You say you've come down from heaven. You're offering salvation and forgiveness of sins and life. They don't see that they need that.

M. He doesn't have to do a miracle to prove that He is the bread of life that comes from heaven. Jesus' argument is simply this. If you know the Scriptures properly and it is written on your heart the way it ought to be, you would know who I am and you would see me as the bread of life.

1. Peter in 1^st Peter 1:23 writes, “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, (how?) through the living and abiding word of God;”
2. That is how you find salvation. That is how you are taught by God. That is how you hear and learn from the Father.
3. Peter goes on, “for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls," No one likes to hear that, "but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Now look at the end, "And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” How did you come to faith? The word of God. The word of God was preached to you.

N. This tells us something so important about the nature of the word of God, and it gives us a responsibility to proclaim it. People are not going to wake up in their homes today, and out of the blue say; I believe in Jesus and I'm going to go to church and I'm going to follow Him with all my heart. They must hear the word of God.

1. We have a great responsibility before us to understand the power of God's word, to see what it does, because this is God's means of revelation to save the world. It's not going to come in a dream, it's not going to come in a vision, nor will you hear some kind of whisper in your ear. You're not going to see something or think something out of the blue. We are all taught by God because He has revealed Himself and that revelation brings us to faith.
2. Jesus is telling them don't grumble because the problem is you don't know the scriptures. He is not the problem; their problem is not knowing the scriptures beyond just the words.

CONCLUSION:
As I spent more time in John’s gospel, I saw it would be easy to read of the people Jesus met and think, “Wow! How did they miss that?” Then I realized we could memorize this book, come on Sunday and worship and still not be taught of God. There is a way to come every Sunday, sit in the pew, read the Bible every day, pray every day, try to be moral and right and still not be taught by God. That was their problem.

They knew the law but were not taught by God. Jesus is trying to teach them, when you believe you will have eternal life, and that is going to come from the knowledge of the scriptures. That saving faith is generated from knowing His word.

A preacher put it this way;
“I learned the scriptures from my youth, and I could quote to you every verse, but I had not been taught by God. These words were not yet written on my heart. They were not put within me. They were words on a page that did not have strength that I had not given it yet. It is not just merely academic knowledge. The Jews certainly had that.”

Consider: were the Jews ignorant of the scriptures? Of course not. They could quote the Torah. They knew the law of God. While they were worshiping God, offering their sacrifices, and reciting the law in the synagogue, they were not taught of God. Many today worship the same way. They attend, they participate, and they contribute.

God is drawing you through the scriptures to His Son. Why should you read the Bible? Reading and listening to the scriptures, gaining the knowledge they offer is how God’s law is written onto our hearts. If the Father is not drawing you to Christ, then you are wandering away. Will you listen to God’s drawing you to Him and receive Jesus as the bread of life, becoming your only pursuit?

Hear His words, listen to His calling. Listen to the great hope. Let us not be like these people who heard the great message of salvation and forgiveness of sins and eternal life and pursue false satisfaction saying to Him, Jesus I want a meal today, what are you going to do for me physically? I see Jesus shaking His head and saying, I am giving you the food to live an eternal life.

Take your eyes off the physical and come to the bread of life. Turn away from your sins and be immersed in water to enter that relationship with Him. Won't you come while we stand and sing.

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Reference: Brent Kercheville