The Gospel According to St. John

HansC wrote:

96.) I am the Bread of LIFE

This declaration is the first of the seven great “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John.

6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Jesus is the Bread of LIFE and no searching, longing, praying, hoping or dreaming can fulfill and satisfy humanities heart for God without Jesus. Jesus is the ONLY way, the only hope and without Him all else is empty.

Why does Jesus call Himself the “Bread of LIFE”? What is so special about bread? Well, let us look at bread.

1.) Bread was essential for life:

Bread in Jesus day was much more essential than it is today. During that time it was the only staple in a person’s diet. Without bread people starved and died. The Roman emperors maintained order within Rome by providing free bread for all the inhabitants. They knew that if people had food that they would be less inclined to revolt, riot or cause trouble. It was also the basic food of the Roman soldier. The Roman army essentially marched on bread. Bread in ancient times was the food of Life. Bread sustains Life, without bread in those days life could not go on.

Here since Jesus is our spiritual Bread, He gives us spiritual LIFE. This LIFE He gives is more than mere existence, even sinners have that. Without Jesus people can have existence, but they do not have LIFE.

This LIFE that He gives is NOT just a question of longevity, but actually speaks more of a certain QUALITY of existence. People that at the end of their lives pass into eternal darkness have longevity, it is just not LIFE that they will have in their eternal existence.

2.) Bread is for everybody:

All people can eat some type of bread. There are many types of food that some people can not eat. Some people can not eat strawberries, others can die from peanuts, still others break out from certain meats and so on, but some type of bread is suitable for all types of people.

Jesus also is suitable for every person regardless of race, creed or culture. Jesus is for everybody.

3.) Bread is eaten every day:

Luke 11:3
Give us day by day our daily bread.

When we couple the passage from Luke with Christ’s statement that He is the Bread of LIFE we come to the understanding that we are to partake of Christ and His Word day by day. Jesus is our daily bread.

Certainly the passage from the “Lord’s Prayer” refers to our bodies need for food, but it also refers to our need for spiritual food. God is concerned that we have both.

4.) Bread produces growth:

When we are born again, we are born as babies in Christ, and we need to grow. Today many in the church are spiritually weak, sick and anemic. Many are weak in faith, many barely know the Bible, many espouse a doctrine of “easy-believism”, many over do the “seeker sensitive” approach. Many are essentially steeped in doubt and disbelief and that’s just the preachers!

Without a doubt, the reason for this deep failure of Biblical faith and understanding among many in the ministry is the failure to adequately feed regularly upon Jesus, who alone can feed us, nourish us, and give us growth.

In a recent Barna poll, it was stated that 30% of Evangelicals did not believe in the physical resurrection, according to the Bible they are not saved. It makes a person wonder what kind of bread they are being feed.

5.) Bread satisfies deep hunger:

Since Jesus is the Bread of LIFE, He ALONE can satisfy the deeper hunger of the human soul.

We are not to look to earthly things for our satisfaction, we are to look to heavenly things.

It is wrong to look to other people to satisfy our inner hunger. We should not look to others for our spiritual nourishment. Do not look to men for your teaching, do not look to men for spiritual understanding , look to Jesus.

I realize that God has put teachers in the body, and I naturally believe that we should respectfully listen, consider, think about, pray about and even take notes on what they say, but in the final analysis, we are to judge all such things in the light of the Word.

6:36
But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

It is a terrible tragedy that people today have the Bread of Life available to them, but refuse to partake of that which can give them LIFE. Jesus is God’s gift to humanity and it is God’s desire that all men believe in Him.

Salvation is in a person, the Lord Jesus, and Him alone. It is NOT in an organization, a group, or membership in a church. It does NOT matter what church you are a member of, what does matter is your relationship with Jesus.

What is sad is that no matter how clearly the message is given very few actually believe. The only thing which can block God is the refusal and defiance of the human heart. LIFE is laid out before humanity for the taking--- or the leaving.

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

97.) God’s Call

This next section has to be some of the more difficult concepts from the Gospel of John to comment on.

The relationship between election and free will is one of the most argued about and difficult notions in theology and I am sure that it will still be hotly debated until the second coming. Some people put all their eggs in the election basket while others put all their eggs in the free will basket.

In the Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, when he finally arrives in heaven after his passage through hell and purgatory, he asks, one of the people there about the “election, free will” debate. I found that the response that one of heaven’s saints gives to him funny. They say, essentially, that “even the most exalted heavenly saint” does not yet comprehend that.

In this passage, we have both. If you are looking for election here it is, and if you are looking for free will, it is also here.

6:37
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Humanity left to its own devices of thought, logic, reason and so on is completely unable to believe and come to Christ. When a person does come to Christ, we know that God made the first move. God comes calling and knocking on our heart’s door, He then gives us through the hearing of His Word the ability to make a choice.

People often wonder if they are in the select/elect group. Some even believe that if they are “elect” then they will make it, no matter what, so why do anything. But if they are not in the “elect” group then there is also nothing they can do either, so basically they do nothing.

Yet God says that salvation is for “whosoever will”, the choice is up to us. We make the decision whether or not we are in the “elect” or not.

You could say, that the “elect” is the “whosoever wills”, while the “non-elect” is the “whosoever won’t”

God is a gentleman, He wont force us, but He will strongly urge, press and encourage us to make the right choice. He calls us, but he does not force us, nor does He act against or apart from our will.

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Even the very faith that we use to make our confession of faith is a gift from God.

Ephesians 1:4-5
…he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Before the world was even formed God had already seen us and had set aside our place in His Kingdom. God knew us before we were even born.

The Bible does not tell us that God has pre-determined before a person is born whether or not they will be lost or saved. Rather He has a predestined purpose for those who He knew would respond to His call with their place in His kingdom.

To me, it is similar to the common expression that, “God has a wonderful plan for your life”, that we often hear. Yes, God does have a wonderful plan for a person’s life, however, if a person chooses not to come to Christ, then they will miss out on God’s plan for their life.

A person by their own choice can miss out on the future that God planned for them before they were even born.

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

98.) God’s Will Revealed

6:38
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

It was God that sent Jesus to earth to die for fallen man. Humanities redemption is God’s idea. It is God’s will that you come to Him through Christ. Jesus came to be the savior of the world. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

God does not want any to die, but for ALL to come to repentance and new life. Salvation and all its various aspects is God’s will for everybody, however God does not just dump them on a person’s head against their will, but rather people must receive from God by faith.

A person MUST of their own free will respond to God’s call and come to Jesus. If they do not come to Jesus, then they will be eternally lost, in spite of the fact that it is not God’s will that they be lost.

God’s will does not happen automatically, but rather a person must cooperate with God with the facilities and capacities that God provides.

Suppose a person went to church and heard the Gospel message and then in response simply said, “Well, God’s will be done, if He wants to save me He will”, and then simply walked out and never came back. They would not be saved, because they were expecting the will of God to happen automatically, without them actively receiving salvation by faith. The will of God does not just automatically happen, rather people need to actively by faith and prayer cooperate with God.

6:39
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Many times people wonder what the will of God is, one way we can see the will of God is to look to Christ and what He did. Did Jesus ever send a sick person home without healing them? Jesus essentially was the will of God in action.

People often are perplexed as to what the will of God is and because of that uncertainty can have trouble in effectively praying for a situation. Well, the will of God is revealed through the Word of God. If you want to know what the will of God is, read your Bible, because the Bible expresses what the will of God is.

This expression here “ the last day” is found only in John and refers to the end of this present age.

I like the German term for resurrection day, it essentially calls it the “youngest day”. In effect, it is almost like calling it “Day One”. In many ways it will be. As the ages of eternity roll on, the day we receive our resurrected bodies will be marked as the start of a new age. Imagine what that will be like.

6:40
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

God has a wonderful predestined plan for each person’s life, however people who do not receive Christ will as a consequence miss out on God’s predestined plan for their life. It is never God’s plan for a person to go to hell, yet, if a person rejects Christ’s offer of salvation in this world, then they will be lost for eternity.

Jesus wants people to have salvation, yet, they must receive it by faith, He does not automatically without expressed faith give it.

Predestined certainty applies only to those whose voluntary advances place them into His arms. Everyone who does voluntarily receive Him, will be raised up in a new body on the last day.

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

99.) Murmurs

There now appears to be a change of audience and location. Up until this point, Jesus had been speaking to large crowds out in the open, but now it seems that He is speaking to a leadership element most likely in the synagogue at Capernaum.

6:41
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.

It is an absolute certainty, that when the full Gospel is preached that there will be murmurings and mumblings of disbelief. Many people can accept that Christ is a great teacher, even one from God, but they murmur and complain when asked if He is the ONLY way.

In the current presidential race Obama says he is a Christian, but then adds that Jesus is not the ONLY way to God. Hillary Clinton, says she believes, but then adds that she is not sure that Jesus is the ONLY way.

6:42
And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

In essence, they were saying, “Don’t listen to Him, He’s a nobody from Hicksville, listen to us instead.” So many spiritual teachers want people to listen to them rather than listening to Christ.

Their big flaw was that they judged spiritual matters by external human values and external standards. They looked on the surface of things, rather than seeking God for the truth behind the surface. They did not really know Jesus’ father, they only thought they did.

The Jews of Jesus’ day understood exactly what he was saying, most of them simply rejected it. Today, theologians try to be craftier and dispute the interpretation of the obvious with more involved doctrines.

Many preachers even now teach that Jesus is one way, but not the only way to God. A good example of this is the United Church of Christ. I have heard several of its clergy teach that Jesus is just one way among many ways to God.

6:43
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.

Murmuring is the low rumbling, confused and angry sound that ripples through a group when they are in opposition to something. We have to be careful not to reject a message from God just because it does not come packaged in the way that we want or expect it. We need to keep our focus on God and what is going on behind the surface. They rejected Christ because of a surface evaluation.

6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

It takes a divine tug to get us to receive Christ. Yet the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and while strongly urging us to receive Christ will not force Himself upon somebody that does not want Him.

I have often thought why is it that to some we can present the Gospel over and over and seem to get nowhere, but to others, they hear a little from the sidelines and totally give themselves to God.

Well, it takes God to draw man unto Himself, but man by his free will and obstinate resistance can thwart God’s purpose for their life, and God knows the heart.

6:45
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

Jesus does not try to defend Himself on a personal level, but rather continues to stay on His message, that it is God that draws men unto Him through Christ.

Note how Jesus takes them back to the written Word. His detractors seemed so taken up with their own views and own thoughts that they never seemed to really search out God for God’s opinion. They were very eager to share their views on Jesus, but not so eager to search out God. Even today, lots of people are eager to give their views on spiritual matters, but reluctant to search out the Word for God’s opinion.

But in the end, it does not really matter what we think on a subject, but rather, what does God’s Word say, that in the end is all that really matters.

6:46
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

Here again we see that Jesus is the ONLY way to God. There is no truth in the assertion of many preachers today that Jesus is just one way among many ways.

6:47
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

To miss who Christ really is, to accept the teaching that He is just one way among many is to miss real LIFE in this world and in the world to come.

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

100.) The Bread of Life, Reemphasized.

This is the second time in this chapter that Christ draws our attention to the first of His seven great “I Am” sayings. God intentionally repeated this assertion of Christ , and it is therefore extremely important for us to grasp the full importance of this revelation.

6:48
I am that bread of life.

This is the third of the great Old Testament shadows that Christ uses to give us a revelation of who He is. In John I, we saw that He was Jacob’s ladder, the only true access to heaven.

In John III, we saw that He was typified by the brazen serpent, and was to be lifted up as the offering for sin.

Now we see Him as the Bread of Life, of which the manna in the wilderness was only a type and shadow.

6:49
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

Notice here how Christ says, “your fathers” rather than “our father.” This seems to be a clear, yet subtle indication by Christ alluding to His higher origin.

The manna of God in the wilderness, merely sustained the Jews physical life. It was a mere shadow and a type of the real heavenly bread. Jesus’ challengers put their time and energy on that which could not give LIFE, and they are dead.

Even today, those who challenge the claims of Christ, place their hope and confidence in things that can not give LIFE. Some place their confidence in technology, others place their confidence in science, while these things may be good in a measure, they can not secure man eternal LIFE, only Jesus can do that.

6:50
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

The Bread of God is the only means by which a person may partake of LIFE eternal, and that Bread is Jesus. The requirement however is that a man must actually eat of the Bread.

It is not good enough that he knows about the Bread, or that his family members eat the bread, but each individual must eat for himself.

In the world, there are many claims that promise our satisfaction. If I but this car, or that deodorant, or visit some exotic location, or eat some gourmet food, I will be happy. But the truth is that all the things of the world are only temporary, and the deep down soul hunger returns.

There are many that are chewing on the false breads of the world. Some are chewing on the bread of false religion, some are chewing on the bread of materialism, some are chewing on the bread of “I’m a good person”, some are chewing on the bread of pleasure. However, none of these can provide deep down eternal satisfaction.

Only the Bread of God, only Jesus, the Bread of LIFE can satisfy deep down and forever.

6:51
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Notice that Jesus did not say, “I have come to bring you the bread of eternal LIFE” But rather, “I am the bread of LIFE.”

He makes mention that He will give His flesh. In this Jesus is looking to the Cross. Many people admire Christ and believe that He was a great spiritual teacher, but the life of Christ alone, would not give us LIFE. That is to say, Jesus did not come to just teach us some spiritual truths, that alone would not do it, He came to offer His life on the Cross as an offering for sin.

Christ without the Cross would not have helped humanity in its fallen state. It takes more than just spiritual truths and spiritual knowledge to set men free from their fallen state. It takes the Cross.

This is the great error of Gnosticism. It believes that man can attain to God via an ever increasing amount of spiritual truth and knowledge. Gnosticism is essentially salvation via spiritual knowledge. Yet that will not work.

Salvation comes only through the atoning work of Christ on the Cross. Salvation comes only through partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ.

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

101.) Drinking Blood Indeed

6:52
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

These people seemed to be unable to rise above the natural and carnal way of looking at things. Things have not really changed that much, people still seem to have difficulty in getting away from a carnal way of thinking.

The teaching and preaching of Biblical truths will always generate opposition. The presentation of solid Biblical doctrine and truth will always stir things up, even in the church.

In fact, it is often the theologically trained that lead the charge against the plain simple truth of God’s Word. Some of the world’s best doubters are even seminary trained.

When the Spirit of God moves in a mighty way, you can count on the theologically trained to be in the forefront of seeking to stop God.

6:53
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no LIFE in you.

Jesus shows Himself to be very deliberate, and now adds the drinking of blood to His doctrine. He essentially tells them that it is absolutely indispensable that they eat His flesh and drink His blood.

Notice that Jesus when He sees the turmoil and disbelief in His doctrine, did not try and tone things down and make it more palatable and easier to understand. He did the opposite, He responded to their disbelief by further complicating the situation and making it even harder to understand.

His language is very intentional, but seems to be designed to deepen, rather than to alleviate, the confusion of the disbelievers .

When people refuse to come to Christ, if they balk at coming to Him, He will often respond by telling them something even more difficult to believe. If people turn from God in disbelief, He has a tendency to give them even harder things to understand.

To the Jews, this must have sounded abhorrent, because in their law, they were forbidden to ever eat any form of blood, much less human blood. Jesus was challenging them, showing them that they were ignorant of what He was truly talking about and that they needed to come to Him for enlightenment.

He is also implying that people must go beyond looking to Him as a mere subject for theological debate and instead receive Him and then they will know the Truth and have real LIFE.

6:54
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus is saying in a very graphic way that people need to take Him into their innermost being in order to have eternal Life. This is a hidden allusion to His death on the Cross, because of the reference of the spilling of blood but also a challenge to come into the most intimate relationship with Him possible.

The word used here for “eateth” is different than the normal words for eat. It is a word more commonly used to refer to eating loudly or noisy, similar to our words, such as “munch” or “crunch”. He is being very plain, graphic and even shocking to the crowd in His language.

Some people believe that Jesus is here speaking of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, but that can not be. The eating and drinking here, according to Jesus is unto salvation, while the Lord’s Supper is only for those who are already saved.

I do not know of anyone that would seriously promote the idea that the one essential for salvation is receiving Holy Communion.

The Lord’s Supper does not of itself produce the salvation that Jesus mentions. A multitude of people partake of the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis and yet they do not posses the gift of eternal LIFE that Jesus says that this feeding will produce.

So, if the Lord’s Supper is not this feeding and drinking that Jesus speaks of here, what is He talking about?

The essentials for salvation are faith and repentance. That is what Jesus is talking about. He is talking about the sinner, repenting and appropriating HIM.

6:55
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

His opponents had an altogether wrong idea of what constituted real food. They sought their nourishment apart from Christ.

Notice, in this chapter Jesus says that people must, “believe” in Him, “come” to Him, “look” to Him, “listen” to Him and “learn” from Him.

He is talking about being totally committed to Him. That is what He is talking about. To eat Christ’s flesh and drink His blood means to totally commit yourself to Him. Have you done that?

Real spiritual food for our deepest needs are to found in Christ, alone.

6:56
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

Are you so committed to Jesus that He is as real to you as food? Is He as much a part of your inner constitution as that which you eat and drink. That is what he is talking about.

6:57
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

When we commit ourselves to Christ, and receive Him via a confession of faith, we receive salvation and the assurance of that salvation. This verse here does not refer just to the life in the world to come, but also pertains to receiving the strength to live for Christ in our day to day walk with Him, here and now.

As we feed daily on the Word, we are partaking of Christ. As we feed on Him, He becomes an integral part of out inner constitution. Taking Jesus within ourselves, making Him a part of our own innermost being constitutes the “eating and drinking” that Jesus is talking about here.

6:58
This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

Jesus reminds them that while the manna was good and from God, it did not give LIFE eternal to the eaters and that they were dead.

6:59
These things said He in the synagogue, as He taught in Capernaum.

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

102.) Who can Hear?

6:60
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

For a while many people followed after Christ, He had turned water into wine, healed numerous people, feed thousands, but then the real nature of His doctrine slowly became known to the following crowd. When this happened many of His followers dropped out and left Him.

The true believers were sifted out of the mass of the crowd, the real winnowed from the false, the shallow from the depth.

The expression, “who can hear it” more closely carries the meaning of “who can tolerate or accept it”. As long as the crowd did not really understand His teachings, they followed along, but when they finally started to hear what He was saying, many fell away from Him.

It was not so much the parts of His doctrine that they could not understand that troubled them, but rather the part that they could understand.

Mark Twain, said that, “it is not so much the parts of the Bible that I do not understand that trouble me, but rather the parts that I do understand.”

Many were willing to take Jesus as a great moral teacher. Others were even willing to take Him as a prophet. Even today, many are willing to give Him that. But the doctrine that He had to shed His blood and that He is the ONLY way to God, well many balk at that.

In the current presidential election, both Clinton and Obama claim to be Christian, yet when asked both deny that Jesus is the ONLY way to God. Once again, it’s the hard statements of Christ’s doctrine that separates the wheat from the chaff.

The same with Oprah Winfrey, she was raised as a Christian, yet when pressed about the necessity of Christ’s shed blood and Jesus being the ONLY way to God, she also turns her back on Christ’s sacrifice, believing instead that there are also other ways to God.

6:61
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

Note, that this reaction of disbelief was not a record of what was happening among Jesus’ enemies, but rather among His followers. The earlier grumblers were His enemies, but now the mumblers are His own followers.

What were some of these, “hard to accept teachings” that drove the crowd away? Well for one, there is the doctrine of His preexistence and coming down from heaven.

Then there was the doctrine that He had to give His body and blood as a sacrifice, that man by good deeds or religion could not achieve salvation, but that salvation could only be won and earned by Christ and then people could receive it through Him as a free gift.

Nobody can face eternity without first surrendering to Christ. This bothered many people. Even today, many reject Him, because He challenges their lives and private beliefs, rather than confounds their intellect. Many reject Christ, simply because He clashes with their own view of God.

6:62
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?

This is a hard to grasp verse. Is He talking about the ascension? Some seem to think that He is talking about the whole sequence of events that will ultimately lead to His reunion with His Father in Heaven, namely the crucifixion, burial and resurrection. In essence, He is saying, if these sayings offend you, what will your reaction be when you see me on the Cross.

Whatever the full implications of this verse are, it does seem to indicate that a severe test will one day be in store for His disciples.

Jesus when He notices people dig in their heels and balk at His doctrine, responds by making things MORE difficult and harder to understand.

6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Our own natural human reasoning, which is of the flesh is worthless when it comes to understanding the things of God. Many in the crowd knew Jesus after the flesh and it did them no good, they walked away from Him. His words were foolishness to the natural man, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned.

Jesus was not concerned with the good that a person may produce with their own best natural effort, which is of the flesh, the earthly nature.

People whose lives are taken up by the pursuit of the things of this earth, who value only the here and now, who lust after material baubles, but ignore the Words of Christ, cut themselves off from God and in the end their lives count for nothing.

This is also true of any outward ritual of religion, unless the Spirit is behind it, it is worthless. It is the Spirit that gives LIFE. As Christians, we are to take the Word to people, for it is God’s Word through which He works. To do a spiritual work a person must give themselves first and foremost to the study and ingraining into the heart of the Word.

We are called to feed on His Word, digest His Word, meditate constantly on His Word, live His Word and proclaim His Word.

6:64
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

This is among His own people. Jesus knew their hearts, not so much by being an astute observer of their lives, but rather by being in tune with His Father. Despite the LIFE giving quality of His Words, some, even those close to Him, will reject Him. The truth that Jesus reveals is known only by faith in the spirit and is forever hidden from the wisdom of man.

6:65
And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

To be honest, it takes a real miracle of God in order for someone to believe in Him, it takes faith and that faith comes as a gift from God.

However, God is willing for all to come to Him, yet most will not, such lost souls are not so much shut out by God, but rather they shut themselves off from God.

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!