The Father's Will to Give the Son a People

Well, good morning. Open your Bibles to John chapter 6, please. John chapter 6. We'll read from verse 35 to 47 this morning and cover those verses, Lord willing. John chapter 6, verses 35 to 47. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

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'll raise him on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And 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?

Jesus answered them, has eternal life. Let me pray. Oh God, would you help us this morning as your people, your covenant children, would you give us of your spirit to open up our hearts and minds to the word. Oh God, in heaven we know just of the weaknesses that impairs our ability to speak and to receive. So God, we rely upon you and your mercies and grace.

We thank you that you do have a people that will come to Jesus and receive eternal nourishment. We thank you, Lord, that you are powerful to overcome our unbelief. We're thankful, Lord, that you're even able to do that now, not only for your children, not only for those who have believed upon Jesus, but even for those who are sitting before me who have never looked to Jesus.

You are powerful enough even to overcome their hard hearts now. So, Lord, would you do that very thing? Would you be kind to us? Not because we deserve it, but because of your grace that is eternal and unmatched and awesome. And we know that that is revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. So let us look to him together for your glory and our good.

In Jesus' name, amen. one of the nice things about being with my in-laws is they always like to take us out to eat when they come and visit us or when we go up back up to michigan they like to take us out to eat and treat us like royalty and one of the places that they brought us i think it was for sarah and silas's birthday was those that japanese restaurant where i think it's japanese i don't want to be rude, I guess, but I'm pretty sure it's a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you, and they give you the food as they cook it. It's a lot of fun. They do little tricks and everything like that.

Well, we're at one of those restaurants, and if you've ever been there, they give you a ton, a ton, a ton of food. They have starters upon starters, appetizers upon appetizers, and by the time you get to the actual entree, you want to throw up. And one of my kids, they were excited. I don't think my kids like it when I say their name, so the name rhymes with tinnitus.

And he was excited about the food at first, and then all of a sudden I've seen, and to be honest with you, it could have been one of my other boys. I can't remember. It was one of them, though. And all of a sudden I see stress starting to form in his eyes because the food wouldn't stop coming. And by the time the entree got there, the meat of the stuff, he was almost in tears because he cried out, do I have to eat all of this?

And when we told him, no, you don't, his worries were assuaged a little bit there. But it reminds me, I think we've all encountered this. At Thanksgiving, we always watch the Lions game at 12, and I eat a ton of appetizers during that game. And by the time that Thanksgiving dinner comes around right afterwards, I actually, don't tell anyone this, hate the food because I'm so full I have no stomach for the entree until that night before I go to bed when I actually get hungry again.

And the fact is is that there are times where we can be overstuffed with the appetizers, the starters, and we have no stomach for the actual meat or the substance that we are to receive. And if you remember, this is the problem of the crowd that Jesus is facing now. You remember he fed them with bread And that was not supposed to be the main thing that he doing That was not supposed to be the entree that he was doing That was simply just supposed to be an appetizer or a starter to get them to desire the whole thing And the problem is is that these people were so satisfied with the starter that they had no stomach for the actual thing Jesus came to be or to give.

And if you remember, we talked about what that was. That the food that he gave to the crowd was simply meant to show them that he can feed their spiritual thirst and hunger. That there is, if there is a truth that everyone in this world can agree upon, is that there is something wrong with this world, with ourselves. There is something miserable about our condition.

Politicians love that because that's what helps them get them in office. There is something wrong and we need something. And Jesus was revealing that in their physical hunger, in their physical thirst to show them, I can give you the longing, the hunger of your soul. He says to them, if you remember in verse 35, I am the bread of life, that you will never thirst and you'll never hunger if you partake of me.

But you see, this crowd had no appetite for the main entree, so to speak. They only had appetite for the appetizer, the physical bread that was meant to reveal that all along. This is the issue before us this morning, but the teaching of Jesus moves from him being the food that we are supposed to look to for ultimate satisfaction to who will eat this food.

And to teach this, Jesus begins with a problem that goes beyond even our spiritual hunger of sin. And he says the problem, it's heightened to prepare for the who that will eat in verse 36, when he says, but I said to you that you have seen me, the one who can give you these things, yet you do not believe. You see, it's bad enough to be spiritually hungry and thirsty and miserable, which everyone can relate to but it's even worse that when the solution is set before the crowd's eyes before our eyes that we would not partake of the solution of our greatest problem it's like a person who drowns at sea that's tragic enough but it's even more tragic when there was someone or something to help them, but they were too frantic to take it.

It's even more tragic when they could have gotten out of the sea, but they didn't. You see here, Jesus is revealing an even deeper problem of our spiritual thirst and hunger, and that is that the solution would be right there before our eyes, and we say, nah, don't want it. This is the deeper problem Jesus was revealing here. And before we focus on the solution that Jesus provides, there is a who that will eat.

But before we go there this morning, which will be the main focus of our time, I think it's important for us to remind ourselves, why is it that people, when they see the solution before their very eyes, like is what's happening with the crowd right now, why is it that they would see the solution and not believe? most of us have no or been around drug addicts most of us have experienced that but maybe some of us I don't know but some of us at least have and you know the thing about a drug addict is that the thing that is killing that person and making them miserable is the thing they are convinced they need to be happy have you ever noticed that it's amazing the thing that is killing them is the very thing that they're convinced I need in order to be satisfied. Sin is the drug that we are convinced will make us happy. Immediate gratification of our flesh and when it only and it only leaves us miserable.

And the lie of Satan is if we just do a little bit more of that sin we will finally be happy and no longer miserable. And so deceiving is Satan and his drug of sin that when true food is presented before us that promises us eternal happiness and joy with God, we have no taste or stomach for it. It's like a child who eats way too much candy and says they don't like fruit.

It's because they are inundated by endless junk of candy that they have no taste for the better things of nature's candy. So when Jesus says here in verse 36, the greater problem, I said to you, you've seen me, yet you do not believe? He's referring to the crowd's inability to see past their initial physical desires of food, which personifies our desires for the immediate pleasures of sin.

They are unable to see the solution before them because of their sin. And it is a statement of humanity's condition, our condition as a whole. This is why the solution could be before us and we put our noses up to it because we are caught in our sin and only have taste for that. So it's a sad state to be in sin. Terribly miserable. Sad indeed.

It is even more devastating that the same sin keeps us from desiring the eternal food God has prepared before us to get out of that sin. It's a sad state to be in sin, even more when that same sin keeps us from the solution that is set before our very eyes. But thankfully here in our text that is not the end of the story here For even though our problem is great our God is greater and he offers a solution for our natural disdain for proper and eternal nourishment And the solution to our natural disbelief is where Jesus goes to next He explains who will eat of him despite our natural gravitation to sin and disbelief.

This is kind of like the but God moment in Ephesians, right? You remember Ephesians depressing, right? You were dead in your trespasses the sins of which you once walked and then he says but god and he did all these great works of grace and power to get us out of that state well here's like a but god moment is that he does not let this problem fester and remain but he has done something to solve this issue of our natural disbelief despite the solution before our eyes what is the but god moment here.

The solution to our natural state of disdaining the proper nourishment of Christ is found in verses 37 and 38. Look at it in your text. This is the solution. This is what God has done. All that the Father, Jesus says, gives me will come to me, right? He just looked at him and said, you see me, I'm the eternal food, you see me, yet you don't believe.

And here's the solution. all that the father gives me will come to me highlight that word will in your mind there will not maybe not we'll see they will come to me and whoever comes to me i will never cast out for i've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me you see you can write a note next to these verses and you can write solution the father's will what is the but God moment here? What has he done that's been so great to overcome this great problem? The Father's will.

It is God's will to give a son a people despite our natural disbelief and gravitating to sin. It is God's will to give his son a people despite that serious and major problem. Verse 37, and all that the Father gives me will come to me, the Son says. And he says, and whoever comes to me, in light of that, I will never cast out. That is, he'll never let them return to Satan's kingdom of great spiritual hunger and thirst.

So he's looking at a people who are spiritually hungry and thirsty. They have no appetite for him. And he says the solution here is the Father will give me a people. And when he does, I will never cast him back out to that thirsty and hungry condition again. I am that food. And you see, when Jesus says in verse 38, when he says, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

He's not saying that him, the son, and the father's will are opposite of each other. And he has to just really, I hate doing it, but I came to do the father's will. and it's terrible, but that's not his point there. His point there is to underline the primacy, the supremacy of the Father's will, that will be done. He says, I came down to do that will, especially in light of the fact that Adam was created and he did his will, and we're all after Adam.

Jesus says, I came down to do the Father's will, and the Father's will will be done. reminds us of Isaiah 46, 9-10. You remember this? Great verses when God says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. I declare the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.

So the point that Jesus is getting at is that despite the major problem, that there's such natural disbelief before me, the Father's will is to give me a people and I will never cast them out and it will be done. This is the solution that's set before us. And so the only hope we have to this problem of hunger and disdain for the solution is the Father's will to give his Son a people who will nourish them forever.

And the next verses that we see here in our text before us, the next several verses is Jesus unpacking this teaching in three ways. The first way is the Father's will is effective to overcome unbelief. And the second thing we'll see is the Father's will is expansive to overcome unbelief. And the third thing we'll see is the Father's will is to entice, or if you don't like the word entice because it can have a negative connotation.

I said entice because it starts with an E. They all start with an E. But nevertheless, or to draw. It's the Father's will to draw to overcome unbelief. So let us start here with the Father's will is effective to overcome unbelief. Look at verse 39.

Jesus says, And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me, but raise it up on the last day. Underline in your mind or on paper, whatever you like to do, lose nothing and raise it up on the last day. The Father's will is effective in that Jesus loses nothing that is given to him from the Father even to the last day.

It is effective at the start and strong enough to hold until there is no more resistance from our sinful nature to fall away when we are glorified with no more possibility of sinning. See in this life we have this sinful nature and it hangs around And the Father will is for the Son to overcome this natural resistance until the resistance is no longer a problem when we are glorified Think of like a magnet right You think of a magnet, the positive and the negative, right? They'll attract each other.

When it's positive and positive, negative and negative, they are apart. And there is this great natural sinful problem in our hearts where we are naturally opposed or we don't, we're naturally resistant to the Father. And what Jesus is saying here is that the Father's will is so effective that despite this natural inclination to go away from God, he says, I am going to keep them even unto the last day.

You think you have big magnets and you try to keep them together. You might be able to do it for a second, but you won't be strong enough to do it forever. And Jesus says that the Father's will is so effective that I will keep them even until they no longer are opposed by nature to God. Jesus tells the crowd, I am here as the eternal food, but you run away like opposing magnets.

But it is my Father's will for me to keep the people he gives me despite that nature, even unto the end. Now, I think this point here, we need to settle and just meditate on for a moment. Because there are times as believers before me you know that it feels like that that sinful nature of yours that's left over is just winning out it seems like my desires are completely opposed to God in this season of my life and temptations abound to sin against him and it can be so easy for us to then settle our hearts and minds upon our own lack of attraction to our God and what we need to remember is that it is the Father's will to keep a people to himself even unto the end, even overcoming those seasons of great temptations and sins and lack of attraction.

You see, the Father's will is effective to keep you with Jesus unto the end. This is a comfort whenever it seems like that lack of attraction is just overwhelming. The devil will try to keep your eyes on your sin, and the answer is in light of your sin and unbelief look to the father's will and remember that it is effective to keep you close to jesus even when the natural tendency to tendency to non-attraction rears its ugly head the answer is to remember the power of jesus according to the father's will and place your trust in his ability not to lose you first peter three through nine I'm sorry, 1 Peter 1, 3-9 highlights this so well.

The Apostle Peter writes, Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, it's undefiled, it is unfading, it is kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Sadly, sometimes the thing that needs to be guarded the most is your own temptations to sin. And Peter says that your faith, that God is working in you, will guard you till the end. so that is the father's will is effective to overcome unbelief and next jesus says the father's will is expansive to overcome our natural unbelief look at verse 40 for this jesus says is the will of my father again the same statement only with a different nuance in the middle of the verse there when he says that everyone and mark everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise them on the last day now part of what Jesus is teaching here is the means God uses to give his son a people and that means is to believe upon Jesus you want to know if you're a people of Christ given by the father to the son well do you have a trust and a faith in Jesus.

That is the means he uses to give his son a people, is your faith in Christ. And that's going to be the main topic of discussion from Jesus in verses 49 to 59. What does it mean to believe and eat Jesus? We're going to see that in the next time we look at John. But right now, I think Jesus's major focus is, again, that there is going to be, despite our natural unbelief a people who will come and so we need to highlight in that verse the word everyone in verse 40 highlight that word everyone that's the focus that jesus has right now in these set of verses whereas in the old testament god's covenant people made up certain race in the corner of the world now with christ the floodgates are open and open to all people and all people are welcome to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Despite our natural disbelief, despite our natural like a magnet wanting to go away, the Father has a people and it is all, everyone of all races. You know, in the Old Testament, not all who looked at the temple, to the temple, were saved. There were walls of separation and regulations. You had to meet certain criteria in order to come into the presence of God.

But the theme of John is that such regulations are gone and all who look to God's means for salvation will be saved. This is a theme of the gospel of John. If you read through it, you'll see this theme over and over again by John. You'll see world over and over again. You'll see whoever, anyone, all people. Let's just go through a few right now. just get your minds on that in John 1 29 remember the next John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And in John 3.16, For God so loved the world. In John 4.42, they said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. We see the same thing in chapter 6, 33, 8, 12, 17, 21. It's the emphasis of the world. And we see an emphasis of whoever, anyone, all people.

Again, looking at John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish. Or John 7, 37. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. We see the same thing in chapter 8, verse 12, chapter 12, 32. So when Jesus in our text, in John chapter 6, verse 40, when he says, this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I'll raise him up on the last day, we should look at this as Jesus saying, it is the Father's will to give his Son a vast or extensive people despite their natures not to believe.

I mean, just imagine having a product where it is by nature repulsive to the world, and yet the world comes to that product. It is unthinkable. And so here Jesus is saying, you have a natural proneness to not believe, but despite that, my Father's will is to say, everyone who looks upon me will be saved. It's extensive. now of course we're not talking about universalism here and i'm not denying the text where jesus says the way is narrow i'm simply emphasizing what john does in his gospel and does here that despite the nature of unbelief it is the father's will for the son to have a people that is extensive they're also in this verse everyone who looks upon the son will have life there seems to be an allusion.

You remember the bronze serpent narrative? We covered it a couple, a while ago, because Jesus actually explicitly alludes to it. But here there seems to be a minor allusion to the bronze serpent narrative in Numbers 21. You remember what happened, right? The people were grumbling, which we're about to see happens here. And so what happens is God sends these serpents to bite them and kill them, right?

And then the only way of solution was for a bronze serpent to be made and held up high so that anyone everyone who looks upon that bronze serpent would be healed right and numbers 21 verse 7 and the people came to Moses and said we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us so Moses prayed for the people and verse 8 the Lord said to Moses make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. The point here is that the remedy of the curse of the snake was open to all who looked.

They just simply had to look. Anyone who looked would be healed from it. And in Jesus, the remedy of the curse, the sin curse from Satan, is open to all who look to his work on the cross and resurrection. All who look to Jesus will be saved. It is an extensive people that transcends race, culture, income, whatever we might try to put in the way. Despite our nature to turn our noses up to the meal God has prepared for our nourishment, the people that will come to Jesus and eat is extensive.

This is important to understand. Because anytime this doctrine of the Father having a people that he is going to give to the Son, anytime that gets highlighted, there is a people the Father will give to the Son, for sure. It always gets convoluted into thinking that the Father is some kind of God who just is holding his spiritual pearls to his chest.

He doesn't want to share it with anyone. But the Father has a people that he chosen to give and he doesn want to give it to very many people And that just not what we see in the scriptures That although the Father is the one whose will will be done to give the people, the Son of people, he is a God who opens his arms and says, all look to the Son and be saved. It's an extensive people he desires to give the world abundantly the spiritual blessings of Jesus. and I and another thing we can know is that's why it's such a blasphemous thing to say God could or would never save a sinner like me I hear that from people from unbelievers in fact I even heard it from believers who are they just shook by sin they did and they say God can never save a sinner like me they think they are being humble and lowly by highlighting just how wicked they are, but really they are denying the power of the Father's will and his promise that anyone who looks is saved.

If you are believing that in your heart right now, turn from that blasphemous thought. That is a lie from Satan to keep you from looking to Jesus and receiving salvation. If you know someone who believes that, correct them in love. So the Father's will is effective to overcome our unbelief, and the Father's will is extensive to overcome our unbelief. And finally, the third point, the Father's will is to entice to overcome unbelief, or the Father's will is to draw in order to overcome our natural unbelief.

Now, it's interesting, we'll see this in verses 41 through 46. It's interesting that before Jesus makes this point, his teaching is interrupted by another manifestation of unbelief from the crowd. Okay, before he's able, he makes this point of how the Father draws to overcome our unbelief, he's interrupted by another manifestation of unbelief from this crowd.

If you remember, they manifested their unbelief before when they were more interested in immediate physical pleasure of the physical bread. But now there's another manifestation of unbelief, and that is, it's like it's twin, only it's not identical, it's fraternal twins. And this unbelief is manifested via argumentation and rational argument. Look what it says. look what he goes on to say he says or the the unbelief revealed is in verse 41 so the jews grumbled about him because he said i am the bread that comes 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 see their unbelief goes from wanting to eat immediately their physical senses gratified to now argumentation this doesn't make any sense to us, therefore we don't believe.

One of the things that the children saying, or the thing that the children saying this morning, was not to trust in your own understanding, to fear the Lord. That is the road to true wisdom. And here we see them not fearing the Lord, we see them trying to make Jesus measure up to their own understanding. They're saying, we know him, we know his family, What does he mean that he came down from heaven?

And here the Jews reveal this sort of unbelief, and it's an understandable difficulty to have. You remember like Matthew 13, I believe it is, his own hometown once more later on says, we know him, and here he is speaking these great things, and they actually get offended by him. And it's an understandable thing because Jesus came down in the flesh to be like one of us.

He didn't come down to be some kind of macho man. He didn't come down to be some kind of superman. He came down to be one that's just like us in every single way, yet without sin. In fact, that's very important for our salvation, what we hear from in Hebrews. So it only makes sense that as the people are looking at Jesus talk these great things in light of his ministry that started and have these great power, it only makes sense that they'd be like, wait a minute.

He was just like one of us growing up. He has just a normal upbringing, just like one of us. And it trips them up. He's just like one of us. And they're seeing the manifestations of his power and these declarations that I am the Son of God, and they're saying this does not connect well with our understanding about he's just like one of us. They were having a hard time understanding how the divine and the humanity could come together into one person into Jesus And Jesus is truly human truly God and not a strange mixture or superman of any kind of hybrid.

And so it makes sense that they would be confused. It can be hard to grapple with the divinity and humanity of Jesus. And while the beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord, the heart of unbelief will demand explanations before you are willing to submit to Jesus. So Jesus goes from this display of unbelief to describe the third aspect of the Father's will to overcome unbelief.

In other words, he's going to go from their heartburn here, their heart, we don't understand this, and he's going to then explain the third aspect of the Father's will that can overcome that problem. And it's interesting, he doesn't argue with them. He doesn't explain the hypostatic union. He doesn't explain the nature of God being Trinity. Instead, he simply explains that the Father has the power, the ability to overcome even that aspect of unbelief, of argumentation.

And that power is seen in drawing a people despite having a lack of understanding in this way. Look at verses 43 through 44. Jesus answered them to this hardship that they had. He says, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father sent me, draws him, and I'll raise him on the last day. Simply, he's saying the problem here isn't that there's something wrong with me or that you're right in your misunderstanding.

It's because you're not being drawn to me by the Father. Remember what we said first off, that the Father's will is effective to overcome unbelief. And I use the example of a magnet that is opposed to each other. Although our sin nature makes us opposed to God, he can overcome that. It's effective. But for that analogy to be complete now, it is important that we also say that the Father is able to turn our magnets the other way so that it draws us to Jesus now.

That despite the different misunderstandings we have, despite the different issues that we have before us, our nature is to not believe. the father has the ability and the power according to his will to actually turn our magnet to where we're drawn to jesus the father's will is not to give a people to jesus who are kicking and screaming but is the father's will to entice or draw that people to jesus so this people go from having no taste for heaven's joys to seeing the delight of it in jesus and follow him and Jesus tells his crowd who have manifested unbelief by pursuing fleshly desires first and a rational argument against Jesus that the Father can overcome even that by drawing or enticing the people to him. And then, off of that, Jesus goes on to the means that the Father uses to entice or draw people. Look what he says in verse 45.

He says, 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 so there he's saying that all your argumentations all your misunderstanding can be done away by the power of the father's will by his will to teach your very heart the truth of who i am and the food i have to offer he's probably referring to isaiah 54 13 in which isaiah the prophet says all your children shall be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children but he also probably talked about the nature of the old covenant and Jeremiah and uh and I and um and uh Jeremiah and Ezekiel you remember they both say that there's coming a time where the father will put the law of God on the people's hearts and that will draw them to him and they'll he'll teach them from their very heart and that is the nature of the new covenant Ezekiel says I will spring clean water on you and You shall be clean from all your uncleanlinesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you, and I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit I'll put within you, and I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit within you. You see, the Father draws a people to Jesus by teaching the people the word, not just intellectually, but in the heart, which drives desire and causes a people to lose their taste for sin and desire to pursue Jesus instead And then Jesus is sure to point out their inability to see God on their own and how they need to rely upon this God, man. He says in verse 46, Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God.

He has seen the Father. So basically he's saying stop murmuring against me, Stop undermining this. Stop questioning whether I'm truly from God. I am from God and I'm the only ability for you to see the Father. Since you have not seen the Father, but I have. And so Jesus concludes the who that will believe upon the Father by saying in verse 47, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. who are those who will eat or believe upon Jesus as the food that offers eternal nourishment.

It's the people the Father has prepared for the Son. The Father's will is effectual to draw people out of their natural state of sin and by applying the word to their very heart they will willingly follow the Savior of the world. And it is the Father's will to save a people from every corner of the world. Anyone and everyone who believes will be saved.

See, the weapon of Satan is sin. It is a powerful tool that he uses to keep you from this eternal food of Jesus. If you do not belong to Jesus this morning, it will convince you that it is your happiness to find in the drug. While going to God will make you miserable and it will lead to your death. This is the deception from Satan. But the fact is, misery is found in that sin and true joy is found in the arms of Christ.

Rely upon the powerful work of the Father to draw a people, even you, to the loving embrace of the Savior. His arms are open wide to anyone who would believe. If you are the people of Christ and you are caught in sin, remind yourself of the powerful will of the Father to draw you to Jesus until that day when there is no longer any opposing forces and you are happily close like a magnet to your Savior.

He has promised to teach you his word, even unto your heart, to knit you close to Jesus. Boldly approach the gracious throne of Christ and these promises of forgiveness and righteousness will be enjoyed by you forever. Put your trust in what Christ has told us here in this scripture, that there is no power that can overcome the power of God to bring you close to Jesus into that day.

Let us pray. Oh, Father, thank you so much for Christ. I thank you, Lord, that our sin is great. We can see the very solution before our eyes, and yet we have no taste for it. But because of your gracious and awesome will, you have promised to give your son a people. And we see the different ways that you will do that.

We see that your will is effective. It will be done. We see that your will will draw a people. it being effective means that it draws us it causes us to no longer desire the sins of this life but instead to find our pleasures in christ alone you teach us your word in our very hearts and it causes us to no longer pursue satan and his kingdom so we're thankful that your will is effective to draw us to the sun and we're thankful god that that even a people before me who might think there's no way that this is opened up to me we're thankful that it's for anyone who looks upon the sun they can be saved so i pray that no one would be caught in that deception from satan that grace is cut off to to someone who would look upon jesus so work in people's hearts to Even look to Jesus now.

Help them not to be deceived by Satan that their sin is too great. Let them understand that the Father's will is even greater. That he can overcome all sin. You can overcome all sin. And give his son a people. So help us to believe these truths.

And let our sins be vanquished by Christ. Until that day in which we are together anew with him. With new bodies. And no longer a desire for sin at all. We thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord, and for these things. In Jesus' name, amen.