Invitation and Assurance
John 6:35-40
One of the themes that we find going all the way through the Gospel of John is the one John stated so clearly in his introduction. Listen to it again, John 1:11-12:
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
In these two verses we have first an apparent failure, then the ultimate success of God’s purpose. When the Son of God came, He came first to His own people, the Jews. John says the result was that they did not receive Him.
God’s purpose in sending His Son, as we have seen already from the Gospel of John is that people would believe in Him and have eternal life. Remember John 3:16-17?
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
It is the purpose of God that He would send His Son into the world, that He would give His Son, so that people would not perish in condemnation, but be saved to eternal life. Yet John 1:11 seems to show an apparent failure of that purpose, “His own did not receive Him.”
But the apparent failure is not the end of the story. Verse 12 gives us the rest of the story. There will be some who receive Him, some who believe and become children of God.
Now we find this same theme of apparent failure and ultimate success of God’s purpose again in our text in John 6 today. Listen for it as I read John 6:35-40,
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus spoke these words to some of those who ate the miraculous meal of the loaves and fish. They came the next day and asked Jesus to do a greater sign so that they may believe in Him (6:30). They want Him to go one up on Moses, who gave them the manna (6:31). Jesus pointed out that it was the Father, not Moses, who not only gave them the manna in the wilderness, but the Father now is giving the true bread out of heaven to satisfy their souls (6:32) and give eternal life to the world (6:33).
The people responded, “Lord, give us this bread always,” (6:34). But they were still focused on the temporal when they asked Jesus to give them this bread (6:34). They wanted a lifetime supply of food.
1. The Wonderful Invitation (6:35)
In verse 35 we have the invitation from Jesus, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Jesus’ words are not an abstract statement, but rather an appeal for people to come to Him and believe in Him. As I mentioned last time, this is an astonishing claim that no mere man could make. Jesus says that if we will come to Him and believe in Him, He will eternally satisfy and sustain us spiritually. The invitation is to come to Him, the Bread of Life, the One who will completely satisfy the hunger of our souls. To come to Jesus is to believe in Him. We come to Jesus and find total soul satisfaction. We believe in Jesus and find in Him the living water to quench every longing of our thirsty soul. What a great invitation!
In a moment we are going to look at verses 37-40 where we have some of the strongest statements from Jesus about election and God’s sovereignty in salvation. But it is important for us to recognize that the doctrine of election does not in any way restrict offering the gospel freely to all. Whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life (John 3:16). In fact, the Bible itself closes with this open invitation (Rev. 22:17), “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” The Bible never restricts invitation of the gospel. It invites every sinner to come to Jesus just as you are and know that He will welcome you and save you.
Jesus made this great invitation to all those who heard Him that day, knowing that only a few would respond by coming and believing. And listen, this invitation of Jesus is still open today. Come, believe and live!
But notwithstanding this wonderful invitation, verse 36 shows us,
2. The Apparent Failure (6:36)
Here we have the response of the people to this invitation, “But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.” They refuse the invitation. We will see this played out in the rest of chapter 6. Instead of believing, they complain about Jesus and His claim to be the bread which came down from heaven (6:41). Instead of coming to Him, they murmur about His origins (6:42-43). Instead of believing in Him, they quarrel about what He says (6:52). Even some of His would-be disciples were offended at His claims (6:61). They did not believe (6:64). And the conclusion when we get to the end of the chapter is in verse 66, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
Notice that their failure to believe is not for lack of evidence. Jesus said, “have seen Me and yet do not believe.” These people have seen Jesus miraculously provide bread and fish for a huge multitude and they’ve watched Him heal many of their sick, but they do not believe. Seeing they didn’t see. And they didn’t believe.
Most people do not reject Christ because they lack solid evidence for believing in Him. Sometimes skeptics will say, “Show me a real miracle and I’ll believe.” No, they wouldn’t. People reject Jesus because they love darkness rather than light (3:19-21). In spite of the evidence, they refuse to believe.
God offers his bread — his Son — to his own people, and his own did not receive him. This is the way the saving purpose of God looks from the side of man and his responsibility. God offers his Son, and man is responsible to see and believe. But they don’t. So we have the apparent failure of God’s purpose to save and give eternal life. But as I said, this is only part of the story. Verses 37-40 give us,
3. The Ultimate Success (6:37-40)
Jesus’ mission to save and keep all whom the Father has given to Him will certainly succeed. That is what verse 37-40 are all about.
There are five powerful assertions of the ultimate success of God’s plan of salvation in verses 37–40. It is very important that you see them for yourself and not take my word for it. They are too precious to base on any man’s opinion. They are your life and your hope and your security in this life and the next.
A. The Father gives people to Jesus (6:37).
John 6:37a: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me ….” Jesus repeats this truth over and over again. You see it again in verse 39, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” Again in verse 65, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
In John 17 when Jesus prays for believers He repeats it five times that the Father gave His disciples to Him:
John 17:2: “…as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”
John 17:6 [2x]: “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
John 17:9: “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.”
John 17:24: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
If you have come to Jesus and believed in Him it is because the Father has given you to Jesus. Salvation always begins with God, not with us. If we were left to ourselves we would never believe. God Himself gives to the Savior those who believe. When Paul preached the gospel to Lydia, we read (Acts 16:14), “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” If God had not opened her heart, she could not have believed.
If you have believed in Christ, it’s because the Lord opened your heart to believe. You believed because, before the foundation of the world the Father chose in love to give you to His Son. All whom the Father has given to Jesus will certainly be saved.
B. Because the Father gives them, they will come (6:37).
See verse 37 again, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me ….” Jesus does not say that because people come to Jesus and believe on Jesus, God, therefore, gives them to the Son. No. Those whom the Father gives to the Son, come to the Son. When you came to Christ, it was because God gave you to Jesus. When you believed, it was God opening your eyes and changing your heart. Your coming was the product of God’s giving. God did it. And when He did, you came, freely, with all your resistance overcome.
C. Those who come are kept by Jesus (6:37b).
John 6:37b: “…and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” If you have come to Jesus, believing in Him, you are kept by Jesus. He will never throw you out.
At Christmas, you may receive a gift that you have absolutely no use for (except for a white elephant gift to unload on some poor victim at next year’s Christmas party). Jesus doesn’t do that with the gifts that the Father gives Him. He uses a strong double negative (I will not, no never! Cast out) to underscore that He will keep every gift from the Father. If you have believed in Jesus, you’re one of God’s gifts to His Son.
We see that assurance of eternal salvation again in verse 39, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” Jesus will lose no one who comes to him. No one. If the Father gives us, and therefore we come to the Son, the Son will never lose us, or reject us. The life we have in the Son is, as verse 40 says, “everlasting life.” Not temporary life. It cannot be lost. We are as secure as the Father and the Son are God.
D. Jesus keeps those who come because it is the Father’s will (6:38).
John 6:38: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Jesus bases the success of His mission not on whether or not people respond to Him, but rather on the fact that He came down from heaven (John 6:33, 38, 41, 42, 50, 51, 58), where He shared the glory of the Father (17:5), to do the Father’s will, which is absolutely certain. Jesus repeats it in verse 40, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus saves us and keeps us because it is the Father’s will. If any whom the Father gave to the Son do not make it to heaven, it would mean either that Jesus was incapable of performing what the Father commanded Him to do or that He was flagrantly disobedient, both of which are unthinkable (Carson, p. 291).
So, what is the Father’s will?
E. Jesus will raise us up on the last day (6:39-40).
John 6:39: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” “The last day” is a phrase that occurs only in John (5:28, 29; 11:24; 12:48). It means that Jesus will keep us until the day of resurrection at the end of the age.
You may wonder, “What about Judas or what about the disciples in John 6:66 who turned away from Jesus?” The answer is, they never truly believed in Jesus. At the end of John 6 he writes (John 6:64), ““But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.” In John 17:12, Jesus prays with reference to the twelve, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” There are false believers, phony professors like the seed sown on the stony ground or the thorny ground, who spring up and at first look genuine, but when trials and temptations hit, they wither and die (Matt. 13:20-21). They never truly believed in Christ. But those to whom Jesus gives eternal life will never perish (John 10:28).
Jesus knows that death looks to everyone like a defeat, a loss. It looks as though at least our bodies are lost. And to that, Jesus says two times, to make it crystal clear, “I will raise it up on the last day.” Not even your body will be lost.
What great assurance!
So we have in our text today a wonderful invitation, “I am the Bread of Life: Come, believe.” And we have a great assurance, “I will keep all those who come.”
God’s great purpose in salvation can never fail. Those whom the Father gives will come. Those who come will be kept. Death itself cannot thwart the Father’s plan. He will accomplish it because it is His will to do so. In Isaiah 46:9-10 the Lord says:
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,‘
Nothing can stop the will and purpose of God to save completely those whom the Father has given to the Son. And if you ask: How can I know that I have been given to Jesus, and that He will keep me and raise me? The answer is very simple: “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”” (John 6:35).
If you come to Him hungry and thirsty, recognizing you are empty, lost, dead in your sins, believing in Jesus—you have been given to the Son. And if you have been given by the Father to the Son, you will be kept, and if you are kept, you will be raised on the last day.
What kind of assurance do you have today? If your life came to an end today and you went out into eternity, what kind of confidence do you have? Have you trusted Jesus as your personal Savior? Have you “come to” Jesus as these verses invite you to?
Has He spoken to you? Come to Jesus! Do you want to thank Him and love on Him for what He did for you? Come to Jesus! Do you want to come back home to Him and make some things right? Come to Jesus! Have you wandered far away from home? Come to Jesus! Whatever the need, come to Jesus!
