Granted by the Father
John 6:44, 63-65, John 12:27-33
October 31, 2021
preached by Pastor Ryan Bouton
Download
Time of Reflection Quotations
“Christ did not die for any upon condition, if they do believe; but He died for all God’s elect, that they should believe.”
~The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen (1616-1683), English church leader, theologian, and academic
“The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaim what has been divinely commanded… By this power we are drawn and inflamed, knowingly and willingly, to obey him, yet also more vitally and more effectively than by mere human willing or knowing…I speak of nothing other than what each believer experiences within himself.”
~John Calvin (1509-1564), theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva
“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms…Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like. If you ask God to take you back without it, you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen.”
~C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“The knowledge of Christ is to know his benefits, taste his salvation, and experience his grace; it is not, as the academic people say, to reflect on his natures and the modes of his incarnation. If you do not know the practical purpose for which he took flesh and went to the cross what is the good of knowing his story?”
~Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), leader of the Lutheran Reformation with Martin Luther
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
~Colossians 1:13-14
Sermon Passage
John 6:44, 63-65, John 12:27-33 (ESV)
John 6
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
John 12
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.