I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of John, chapter
6. John, chapter 6. I'm going to say like Brother
Tom Harding said about the book of Psalms. He said, The verse
of Psalms that he's on is the favorite book, a favorite psalm
that he has in all of the book. Whichever one he's reading, that's
one's his favorite at that time. The book of John chapter six
is one of the passages of scripture that I think back on as I was
being brought to a knowledge of the glory of God in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter six is a chapter
that just has always been a blessing to me. And I began to look again
at it this morning when I got up, got to thinking about it
real early this morning and started looking at it again and
felt as though that I needed to come back to this passage
of scripture. In this particular chapter, I'm
not going to cover the whole chapter, really what I want to
do is deal with verses 60 to 65, but just to bring us up to
where we were. Our Lord had proclaimed himself
to be the living There was a group of people that had come to the
Lord, and he healed their sicknesses. If you look back, start in verse
1, and just read through this chapter. He had healed their
sicknesses. He'd fed them five loaves and
two fish. And as they followed him, they
began to, you know, wherever he was going, he was following,
they were following him. He told them, he said, the reason
you're following me is because you've got something to eat. And I read that again as I was
reading this chapter and I've got to thinking how, and we're
all by, we're all like this by nature. This is, I mean, this,
you know, we get to reading something about those in the scriptures
and we think, boy, I tell you what, you'd never caught me doing
something like that. Yeah, right. We're all by nature slothful. We just, We want to have something to
eat. We want to have something to
wear. We want to be healthy. And these people, by nature,
were following the Lord. And by His grace and mercy, He
told them, He said, He said, the reason you're following me
is because you got something to eat because of the bread that
you had. And then he began to tell them,
and as I was reading this again, I began to just observe how the
Lord was dealing with people, how he dealt with them. And he
began to give spiritual application to the bread that they were eating. He said, You're following me
because of the loaves that you got, because you got something
to eat. And then he told them, he said, I am, I am the bread
of life. They understood perfectly just
eating, getting something to eat. They were hungry. And here
the Lord mercifully is going to tell them that their true
need is the bread of heaven. bread of life himself. And he said, those that eat of
my flesh, drink of my blood, he said, that's, that's life
in itself. And, and the scripture says,
verse 48, here again, just for the sake of time, I just bring
us right up, you know, He said in verse 48 of John 6, he said,
I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread. And I read
that again today. And as it said, this is the bread
I could just almost in my mind's eye, not trying to add anything
to the scriptures, God forbid. But this is what I thought when
it said, this is the bread which cometh down. I could almost imagine
just seeing him. Referring to himself, this is
the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof
and not die. Now listen, listen to what he's
telling them. He is spiritualizing and telling
them that he is the bread of life. Somebody said, well, you
know, we've heard that, but well, we need to hear it again. He
is the bread of life. He said, verse 51, I am that
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, eat spiritually of Christ himself,
to eat of him by faith, to partake of him by faith. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, verse 52,
strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us flesh
to eat? his flesh to eat. Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, lest you eat of the
broken body what was accomplished by the broken body of Christ. He didn't die for no reason.
He didn't die as an example. He didn't die as a martyr. He
died laying down his life. His flesh, he gave himself. And by faith is what he's telling
them. Verily, verily, I say unto them, verily, verily, except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, that
blood that was shed that blood, without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. And he's talking to them in spiritual
terms. Verse 54, whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. My flesh, meat indeed, my blood
is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, drinketh
my blood, dwelleth in me, as the living Father hath sent me. And I live by the Father, so
he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." Well, as he began
to expound upon these precious, precious truths, they were listening
to him. They'd been following him. They
were so interested in him. He was like a a grandfather,
you know, that was taking care of his grandkids, you know. You
need some money, you need some health, you need something to
eat. Granddad would give that to him.
That's how they saw him. He was meeting all their needs,
and now he's spiritualizing something. He's telling them, except you
eat by faith of my flesh, and drink spiritually of my blood,
unless you drink it by faith and realize it was broken and
shed for my people. You don't have any life in you.
And the scripture says in verse 60, and this is where I took
the title of my message, many therefore of his disciples. And
when it says disciples, it's not apostles here. It's just
followers of those that were following the Lord. They were
following him. Not necessarily following him
by faith, because you're going to see in just a few minutes,
they're going to stop following. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? This is a harsh. This is severe. This is offensive. This is a hard saying. Who can
hear that who can be expected to listen to such language as
this. The Lord is now telling them
what they truly need to hear. It followed him as disciples,
but their following was just a temporary following. They talked a good talk for a
while and And the reason they did that is because they'd seen
the miracles and they got some bread, they got something to
eat, got some fish to eat, got some bread to eat. They were healed and they followed
him. But after he fed them, he told
them, he said, the reason, verse 26, you seek me, not because You seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. One minute they're wanting to
make him, verse 15 of this chapter, they want to take him by force
and make him a king. As long as he was taken care
of, you know. I'm man by nature. wants a God
that's gonna take care of his needs and heal him when he gets
sick. And when it's all said and done,
wants to take him to heaven and everything's gonna be fine. Everybody
that dies goes to heaven. Everybody that dies goes to heaven.
That's what man by nature thinks. I don't care. This is what they're
looking for. But when he started to tell them,
verse 41, concerning him being the bread which came down from
heaven, they began to murmur. Wait a minute, wait a minute,
wait a minute, hold it. The way you're talking here, you're setting
forth that this salvation that you're talking about is Something
that's going to have to give you alone all the honor and glory
and praise. And he had told him in verse
37, look what he says. All that the Father giveth me. Think about what he just said.
All that the Father giveth me. Obviously, the Father had given
him a people. He's telling them, he said, now,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Then he tells
them in verse 44. He said, no man can come to me. No man can come. No man can come. They came to him because they
were hungry. They came to him. But when it comes to coming to
Christ spiritually, he tells them no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. That's what he said
in 44. Well, I thought that coming to
Christ was an act that was capable of me making a decision. I could do this when I please,
how I please, where I please, when I please. And the Lord said
in verse 44, now listen, they've been following him. He's their
best friend. I mean, they're right with him.
Until he started telling them the truth of the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. No man can come to me, verse
44. That has to do with ability. No man can come. No man has the
capacity. to come to Christ except the
Father which has sent me draw him. Our Lord proclaimed salvation
was according to God's will, God's purpose, and God's power,
and God's choice. And they said, now, That's a
hard saying. That's a hard saying. That's
offensive to me. What you're doing is, when you're
saying, when I'm saying what these words are saying, let me
tell you something, that's offensive to the flesh. That's offensive. Because now what the Lord, by
His Spirit is doing, is He making salvation to be of the Lord. Of the Lord. That's what I'm
saying. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what Jonah said, Jonah 2, 9. Salvation is of the Lord. The
Lord chooses. The Lord purposes. That's a hard
saying. Hard saying. Who can hear this
message that he's speaking, who can hear that patiently? Who
can hear and listen to such doctrine as this? Who can believe that
God would save a people that had been chosen by him, Ephesians
1, 4. For he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Who can hear that? I'll tell
you who will hear it. Only that one that God gives
a heart to hear it. If you put salvation to be in
the hands of man, that God has done everything he can do. He's
done everything he can do. Bless his heart, he's gone to
the nth degree. and went to the cross and laid
down his life and shed his own blood to make salvation possible? No, sir. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. I lay them down for the sheep.
That's a hard, that's a hard saying. That's a hard saying. Who can hear that? You know,
it wasn't, when they said it's a hard saying, it wasn't that
they heard something that was unintelligible to what they were
doing. They understood exactly what
he was saying. I told you about Glenda telling
me one time I asked her how did the service go? I said, how'd
that sound? You know, you know, I always second guess myself
and I don't care what, you know, everybody thinks that a pastor,
he'd never second guess himself. Are you kidding? I'm just a frail
creature of the dusk. And Dustin, I asked her one time,
I said, did that sound come out consistently? She said, you know,
people may not believe what you're saying, but they understand what
you're saying. I said, well, good. These people
understood what the Lord said. And they said, that's a hard
saying. When you say, no man, no man
can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me, except it were given unto him of my father. He said, now that, you're starting
to bump the line now. Well, it's not me bumping the
line. I'm telling you exactly what God said. And that's all
that matters. The scripture says, verse 61,
when Jesus knew it himself that his disciples, those that were
following him to get something to eat, to be healed, oh, you
know, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it, he said unto them, does this
offend you? Does this offend you? He didn't need to hear their
outward acknowledgement concerning what he said. He knew, he knew
what they were thinking. He knew exactly. Verse 61, when
Jesus knew it himself that his disciples murmured at it, he
said unto them, is this offensive to you? Is it offensive to you
because God Almighty who created this world, this world belongs
to Him. This is God's world. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, everything in it belongs
to Him. It doesn't belong to me, it doesn't belong to you,
it belongs to God. And when the Lord told him, what they were
doing, what they were thinking. And he knew exactly what to ask
just to get right to the heart of their rebellion. I'm telling
you, and here again, I'll say it again, I've said it before,
the first time I heard the message of God's sovereign, saving grace, This was my reaction. That's
the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. Are you telling me that God,
before the foundation of the world, and if you want to know
where this is, it's Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1, just
read it. Before the foundation of the
world, that God has chosen a people, He chose them in Christ. They were in Christ. That's where
he put them. Brother Scott said wherever God put a man, that's
where God keeps a man. What a true statement. He had
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. Is that what you're
saying? No, that's what God's saying.
I'm just repeating it. I'm repeating what is. Does this
offend you? He knew exactly. He knew what
they were thinking and he got right to the heart of the matter. Oh, how weighty and how comforting
are the words of our Lord who reminds us of his mercy. to unworthy sinners. We're all born rebels against
God. Rebels against God. But the Lord
has been pleased to have mercy on a people of his choosing. That's in Romans 9, if you want
to jot that down. Here, like I said, for the sake
of time, I could try to preach every scripture I could think
of, but I'm telling you, Romans 9, read Romans 9. The children
not yet being born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Is there unrighteousness with
God? Does this offend you? I think to myself, this world
that is fleeting, I mean, three score and ten, that was, you
know, coming up, you know, six years ago for me. I'm thinking
I'm getting ready to leave this world. And if Almighty God has
set forth that he's chosen a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world, You let God be true and let everybody else be
a liar. Somebody said, well, that offends
me. Well, I pray the Lord deliver us all from being offended because
by nature we're gonna be offended. He said in verse 62, he said,
what in if you shall see the son of man ascend up where he
was before? What if you shall see the son
himself who came out of heaven and came into this world made
of a woman, made under the law. What if you see him? See the
son of man ascend up back where he came from after he had accomplished
salvation for his people. What if you see, is that going
to offend you? You're offended at me, the Lord
said, declaring myself to be the bread of heaven. What's going
to be your reaction when all my words have been fulfilled
and I ascend up into heaven where I have always been? What will you think in the day
of judgment? When a man or woman stands before God in this book,
Somebody said, well, you're putting a whole lot of stock in the scriptures.
Buddy, this is all we got. This is all we've got. He that
hath my word, he that hath my word, my scriptures, these are
they that testify of me. What are you going to do in the
day of judgment when we stand before God and the books are
open and the book, Christ himself, these scriptures, You try to explain to God that His Word was a hard saying? I couldn't see the truth in that. What are you going to say then? What are you going to think in
the day when you behold Him on the throne? Men are offended at what He says
now. What are they going to think
when they behold the reality of His Word? He said in verse
63, it's the spirit that quickeneth the flesh. But I think what you think, that's
what the flesh profiteth. Nothing, nothing. What does God
have to say? Words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Somebody says, well, I've never
quite heard it like that. Well, bless God, you have now. You've heard it now. I've always heard, men's always
told me, well, I can tell you this, and I'm not trying to be
mean, I'm just trying to be truthful with you. All you've ever heard is contrary
to what this book says right here. Well then, you're wrong,
and whoever told you something contrary to this book is wrong
too. I'm so thankful that God would
raise up a place where we could hear the truth. Does this offend
you? That's what just grabbed hold
of me, Mike, when I said, does this offend you? Man's flesh, his will, is according
to the scriptures, impotent, dead, produces no life, no life
at all. The words of Christ, he said,
my words, life, Spirit. By his word, he regenerates his
own. Any of them followed him outwardly
and made a show of faithfulness for a while, and the Lord revealed
their heart. He told him in verse 64, there's
some of you that believe not. But Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were. that believed not and who should
betray him. I'm thinking to myself, we're
standing this evening before him that knows, that knows, that
sees, that perceives. He is the omniscient God who
exposes man, exposes who men are, Some believe and some don't. He said in John 10, 14, I am
the good shepherd and know my sheep and have known and am known
of mine. Well, after he had said these
things, he said in verse 65, therefore
said I unto you, No man can come to me except it were given unto
him of my father. And that's just, I wanted to
look at these last few verses of this chapter. From that time, many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him. I think but for the grace of
God, God left me to myself. When I first heard the gospel,
the first time I ever heard somebody tell me the truth, it offended
my flesh because it didn't give me any honor. It didn't pat me
on the back for giving the Lord Jesus a chance, pulling his chestnuts
out of the fire. It didn't give me any glory.
It put me in the dirt put me in the dust where I needed
to be. And the scripture says, from
that time after he told them the truth, they went back and
walked no more with him. Verse 67, then said Jesus unto
the 12, will you go away? Will you also go away? I'm going
to ask all of us right now. Will you also go away? This is
the truth of God's sovereignty, of his right, his right to do as he will. If that offends you, will you
go away also? Then Peter answered, oh, and
I love these words. Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You spoke this world into existence. You created everything. You made all these things. You
made man. You created man out of the dust.
You made man woman. You made all these animals and
you put them in this world and you And we rebelled against you. When Adam sinned against you,
Lord, we were all in Adam. Everybody came from Adam and
Eve. I mean, that's, you wanna know where your ancestry is?
Well, I can tell you all, we're all related. We're all, just
keep going back far enough. Believe me, all of our names
will be right there, coming from Adam and Eve. And when they rebelled,
we rebelled. When Eve fell, we fell. When
he died spiritually, we died spiritually. Almighty God is
pleased to not let mankind die. I've heard people say, well,
what about John 3, 16? For God so loved the world. Understand what the world means,
the order of man. The order, the order. God so
loved the order of man. We're an order of people. There's
birds and four-foot bees. Men, we're men, we're women.
Our origin is from God. He created Adam and Eve, and
we all came from them. When they fell, we fell. But
if God Almighty has been pleased to save the world, the order
of man, He has chosen a people in Christ and the Lord Jesus
Christ lived for them and obeyed God for them, for the elect. Christ laid down His life bearing
all of their guilt. I laid down my life for the sheep. God has been merciful. in the
provision of his son to answer the law's demand for righteousness
and justice. What we deserved, the elect of
God, the people of God, Christ bore our guilt and paid it before
God's law. God's going to save a people.
Does that offend you? Will you go away also?" Peter
said, Lord, where are we going to go? Where are we going to
go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not
I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of
Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray
him, being one of the 12. God's free and sovereign grace.
Does that offend you? No, Lord, it does not offend
me. I thank God that you have been
pleased to save a people. out of every nation and kindred,
tribe and tongue. How do I know if I'm one of them? How do I know if I'm one of them? He that believeth on the Son,
he that believes God, he that believes God's word has life. Here's what a believer believes.
I can't save myself. God's been pleased to show mercy
to this pile of dung, what Paul referred to himself as. I thank
God for that. I pray that the Lord be pleased
to bless these words, give us hope, cause us to ask ourselves,
where are you going to go? Where are you going to go? Lord,
have mercy on me for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Amen.