I absolutely agree with you friend. John 15:1-10 is very clear on this subject.
No, the
POINT of John 6:65-66 is
NOT that (unsaved) disciples
can abandon Jesus... although that is true, in fact the Bible says
unsaved "
tares" will depart from the church to
MANIFEST that
they were never saved "
wheat".
The
REAL POINT is the disciples realized that Jesus was teaching
salvation by
ELECTION [v37. v39, v43] and, like most men today
they didn't want a salvation plan where God is Sovereign and elects
who HE will, based only on His Good Purpose and
NOT on anything
that person would do during their lifetime. Like most men today,
the disciples that abandoned Jesus wanted a (synergistic) salvation
plan where
THEY could initiate their own salvation. But that is just
not the way
REAL (monergistic) Sovereign Grace works, as was
made clear to Nicodemus, who ALSO wanted to
DO SOMETHING
to be saved ("
born again").
Joh 3:4
Nicodemus saith unto him,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Nicodemus,
like the disciples who abandoned Jesus when they
realized He was teaching salvation by the Sovereign Grace of God
("
election"), and like most men today who demand a synergistic
salvation plan... the hard
TRUTH about the monergistic Gospel is
just not something they can understand or accept.
Joh 3:9
Nicodemus answered and said unto him,
How can these things be?
Now,
WHY do I say they cannot understand or accept the Gospel?
Because that is
EXACTLY what Jesus taught. Jesus was very clear
some men were
NEVER MEANT to "perceive" or "understand"
the Gospel or "
be converted" or "
have their sins forgiven".
These people (which are the vast majority of "Christians" being
unsaved "tares" and ALL those outside the church) are not able
to ever accept the (monergistic) Gospel of Sovereign Grace...
most (in the church) don't have "
eyes to see" or "
ears to hear"
because they are unsaved "
tares"
NEVER MEANT to be saved.
The Bible is
VERY CLEAR that being "
born again" is based
ONLY
on the Will of God... and has
NOTHING to do with the will of men.
We can see this reality (if we have "
eyes to see") throughout the
Scriptures. Here are just a
FEW of those passages:
Joh 1:13
Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man,
but of [the Will of] God.
Rom 9:1516
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it is NOT of him that willeth,
NOR of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy.
John 15:16
Ye have NOT chosen me,
but I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit,
and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Acts 13:48
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad,
and glorified the word of the Lord:
and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed.
2Th 2:13
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you,
brethren beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the BEGINNING chosen you to salvation through sanctification of
the Spirit and belief of the truth:
Eph 1:4
According as
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,
So, the
ISSUE is not whether "
disciples" can abandon Jesus
because we already
KNOW the majority of the "
church" are
unsaved "
tares" sown by Satan and destined to eternal torment.
Instead, the
ISSUE of John 6 is that His "
disciples" abandoned
Him for a
VERY SPECIFIC REASON.
If you cannot discern the
VERY SPECIFIC REASON causing
His disciples to abandon Him then you cannot understand the
primary
TEACHING of John 6. It is really as simple as that.
The teaching of John 6 is
NOT that unsaved people depart,
it is that salvation is by the Sovereign
ELECTION of God.
Jim