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John 6:38-40  JESUS AND THE FATHERS WILL

 

Introduction:

 

    In our previous text Jesus said that all that the Father

had given Him would come to Him.  He was talking about

people coming to Him by faith and trusting in Him for the

salvation of the soul.  Before the foundation of the world,

God the Father had planned that He would send Jesus to the

cross to suffer for lost sinners and that all who would

trust in Him for salvation would be saved.  Therefore, even

before these future believers in Jesus were ever born, God

the Father, knowing that they would believe in Jesus, gave

them to Jesus for salvation and safe keeping.

 

I.  Jesus having come down from heaven

 

    Our text today follows up on that line of thought and

speaks of Jesus doing the will of God the Father.  V. 38,

"For I came down from heaven..."  In keeping with the will

of God the Father, Jesus came down from heaven to this

earth.  As Spirit God and as the Second Person of the

Trinity He had been upon the throne of God in heaven along

with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  As an eternal

being, He had always been there.  But at the time which God

the Father had appointed, He came down to earth and was

carried in the womb of Mary until the time of His birth.

    As the time of His birth approached, God caused Joseph

and Mary, who lived at Nazareth in Galilee, to travel to

Bethlehem in Judah where, according to prophecy, He was to

be born.  Even as a tiny babe, Jesus was Deity God.  He was

Deity God born in human flesh.  He was one of the Holy

Trinity born in human flesh.

    Jesus would live on earth about thirty years before his

ministry began.  Then He would spend about three years

preaching and performing miracles showing clearly that He is

the Son of God.  He would take a few men who had been saved

and baptized under John the Baptist and  organize a small

group of followers.  That small group of followers was a New

Testament church.  Other church of like kind would later be

organized.  As He preached souls were saved and He baptized

lots of people.

    Everything that Jesus would ever do would be important

to us.  But the most important thing that He would ever do

was to go to the cross and come forth from the dead.  His

death would be required to pay the redemption price for the

souls of men.  His resurrection would be required so that He

could save others.  A dead man could not save anybody.  In

    our text, as well as in other places in Scripture, Jesus

said that He came down from heaven to the earth.  Even

secular history records that He lived on earth.  The Jewish

historian, Josephus, among others, tells about His life and

His death here on earth.

 

II. Jesus, not come to do His will, but the will of God the

    Father

 

    (V. 38), "...not to do mine own will , but the will

of him that sent me."  Jesus did not come down to this earth

just to do His own will.  He had totally submitted His will

to God the Father.  He was totally willing to do whatever

the Father wanted Him to do.  He was not in the dark as to

what the Father wanted Him to do.  He knew exactly what the

Father wanted Him to do.  But even though He knew in advance

that the Father wanted Him to die on the cross, He was still

willing to do it.  In no way was He opposed to doing what

the Father wanted Him to do.

    He did not make that transition from heaven to earth in

order to do that which He wanted to do so.  He came because

God the Father sent Him.  He came at the Father's request.

    We can be sure that the Father did not send Him without

backing Him up.  The full power and authority of God the

Father in heaven stood behind Him in all the things that He

would do.

    V. 39, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent

me..." Starting in verse 39 and extending into verse 40

Jesus began to tell what the Father had send Him to do.  He

tells what the Father wanted Him to accomplish in His

mission to earth.  He does not give all the details, but He

does set forth certain things that the Father assigned Him

to accomplish.

 

III.  The will of God the Father for Jesus

 

    Listen to the assignment that God the Father gave to

Jesus.  (V. 39), "...that of all which he hath given me I

should lose nothing..."   God told Jesus that He wanted

Jesus to lose none of those people whom He had given to

Jesus.   Keep in mind that God the Father had given certain

ones to Jesus on the basis of His foreknowledge of their

faith in Jesus.  Romans 8:29 says that whom God foreknew

them He did predestinate to eventually be conformed to the

image of Jesus.

    That is, God has plans involving the here after for the

future believers in Christ.  God has planned that in the

hereafter, they will all be in glorified bodies likened unto

the glorified body of Jesus.  Over in I John 3:2, this same

writer penned these words.  "Beloved, now are we the sons of

God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we

know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for

we shall see him as he is."

    To put it simply, God has plans that all who would

believe in Jesus would spend eternity in glory with Christ.

He does not want any of them to fail to make it to heaven.

He does not want anybody who is ever saved to ever be lost

again.  He has assigned Jesus the task of saving all who

come to Him trusting in Him for the salvation of the soul.

He has also assigned Jesus the task of keeping them saved

after they are saved.  The Father told Jesus to lose nothing

out all of all those whom He had given Him.

    Jesus also tells of another assignment.  (V. 39),

"...but should raise it up again at the last day."  God the

Father has not only assigned Jesus to save and keep all who

come to Him trusting in Him, but He assigns Him the task of

raising them all from the dead.

    This would be an impossible task for any man to

accomplish by human wisdom and human power.  Men speculate

that some day scientists will be able to bring man back to

life again, but there is no scientific evidence that this

will ever happen.  There is certainly no Biblical evidence

that man is ever going to be able to accomplish such a feat.

It is going to take the power of God to bring the dead back

to live again.  Jesus is Deity God and possesses all the

power of God.  At the appointed time, He will bring all of

the redeemed from the grave.

    I would like to point out that there is more than meets

the eye in this statement.  It also involves the safe

keeping of the spirit after it leaves the body.  The spirit

leaves the human body at the point of death.  The Scripture

says that the body without the spirit is dead.  At death the

body goes to the grave.  The spirit goes somewhere to await

the resurrection.  Some of the saved have been dead a long

time.  That means that their spirit has been gone out of the

body for a long time.  The spirit of the saved must be kept

somewhere while the body awaits the resurrection.

    The spirit of an unsaved person goes into a place of

horrible torment.  It goes to hell.  But the spirit of a

saved person goes into the Paradise of God.  Jesus told the

thief on the cross who trusted in Him, "Today you will be

with me in Paradise." Jesus keeps all of the saved safely in

Paradise while waiting for the resurrection.  Then when He

starts back to earth at the end of this age, He will bring

the spirits of the saved with Him to be re-united with their

bodies and their bodies will come forth from the grave.

    Listen to I Thessalonians 4:13-17, "But I would not have

you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are

asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no

hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,

even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with

him.  [He is going to bring the spirits of the saved with

Him.] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that

we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord

shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord

himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the

voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the

dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and

remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,

to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with

the Lord."  Jesus is not going to lose even one of spirits

of the redeemed.  He will bring them all back with Him when

He comes.

    Then those spirits will be reunited with their bodies

and their bodies will come forth from the graves alive.  I

said that Jesus will not lose one of the spirits of the

saved.  Neither will He lose even one of the bodies.  No

matter what burial that person had.  Whether buried at sea

or on land.  The dust from their bodies will come forth

alive again.  Not one will be lost to the grave.  V. 40,

"And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone

which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have

everlasting life..."

 

IV.  The faithfulness of Jesus to do the Father's will

 

    (V. 40), "...and I will raise him up at the last day."

Jesus is faithful to do the Father's will.  He will do all

that the Father sent Him to do.  He will not fail in one

thing which the Father told Him to do.

    He will save the one who trusts in Him for salvation and

He will raise him up at the last day.  When Jesus raises him

from the grave all the danger will be over.  From this point

forward there will be no more danger.  In I Thessalonians

4:17 it was said, "...and so shall we ever be with the

Lord."  Before the resurrection, the spirits of the dead

saved are with the Lord in Paradise.  When He come down to

the earth they will still be with the Lord.  When they are

resurrected, the saved will be in their new bodies which are

like the glorified bodies of the Lord and they are with the

Lord.  According to I Thessalonians 4:17 they will ever be

with the Lord.  They will be with Him on earth during the

Millennium.  They will be with Him in the new earth after

the Millennium is over.  They will ever be with the Lord

forever.

 

V.  How this applies to you

 

    Now what I want you to see is how this applies to you.

If you have repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus Christ

as your Savior, then you are saved and have everlasting

life.  Listen again to verse 40 of our text, V.  40,

"And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone

which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have

everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

    If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you

have it made.  If a tree falls on you and kills you before

you get home from this service you have got it made.  You

have everlasting life.  You will be in that number when

Jesus raises the redeemed from the grave in the resurrection

of these just.  If you die with a heart attack or with

cancer or whatever the cause of death, you have got it made.

God told Jesus not to lose one of those who trust Him as

Savior and Jesus is not going to lose one.  If somebody

shoots you to death with a shotgun, you still have it made.

If you are killed in a car wreck, you have it made.

    Now, please do not misunderstand me.  I do not mean that

you will be free to go out and do just any kind of sin under

the sun and be free from chastisement  .  You can sin again

and you will sin again in the outward fleshly man, but when

you sin the Lord will chasten you.  The Bible teaches that

God chastens every child of God for his wrong doings.  But

even though God chastens you, Jesus is still not going to

lose what God has told Him not to lose.  He is still not

going to lose even one who has trusted in Jesus as Savior.

He has saved them and He will keep them saved.

    I do not know how you feel about it, but I think that it

is great to know that you are saved and that you are saved

forever.  It is great to lie down at night and know that if

you die before morning that you are right with God.  It is

great to not have to worry about where you are going to

spend eternity when you die.  I think it is great.

    If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ to save your

soul I want you to see how this text applies to you.  It

means that you can come to Jesus in repentance of your sins

and ask Jesus to save you.  It means that you can place your

destiny in the hands of Jesus and stop trying to save

yourself.  It means that you can trust Jesus and Jesus alone

to take care of the destiny of your soul.  And it means that

when you do trust Jesus then Jesus will take care of the

destiny of your soul that you will be saved.

 

Conclusion:

 

    It also means that since you can trust Jesus this

morning, you can be saved this morning.  Would you like to

do that?  Will you do that?