Luke 9, verse 51. Luke 9 51 and it came to pass
when the time was come that he should be received up he steadfastly
set his face to go to Jerusalem now the significance of this
verse as in many statements and circumstances in the scripture
and it's just in life the significance lies in the reason that he was
determined to go there he set his face steadfastly to go. Why did he do that? This language, he went lots of places, but it
doesn't say that about it. It doesn't say he steadfastly
set his face to go to these other places. This is a unique announcement. This is an important announcement.
And it was prophesied hundreds of years before. In Isaiah 50
and verse six, our Lord says, I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting for the Lord God will help me. Therefore,
shall I not be confounded? Therefore, have I set my face
like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed. How do
you know, Chris, if that's verse in Isaiah 50 that was written
thousands of years before our text is referring to the same
setting of the face? Well, because I know why he went
to Jerusalem and it's described in Isaiah 50. And it's very clear
what would happen at Jerusalem was to be so monumental, so vital,
so eternally significant that even the Lord when he just began
to make his way there. It's carefully recorded. It's
a moment of great weight and worthy of notice. It was prophesied
that even when he turned his face to go that direction, we're
notified of it because of what was to happen there. Why was
he so determined to go there at this time? He just told them
in verse 22 of the same chapter, chapter nine of Luke, that The
Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be slain and be raised again
the third day. The prophecy in Isaiah 50 declares
why he set his face like a flint to go there. He went there to
give his back to the smiters. He went there for the specific
purpose of giving his cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair. He went there to give his face to shame and spitting. And he was determined to do it.
But there still remains a why. Why did he go there? Well, I
believe we see that in both texts, the context of both the prophecy
and the fulfillment of it. But why would he determine to
go there for that? Who would willingly Submit themselves to that. Notice the language he said I
gave. My back. To the Smiders. He said in John 1017, therefore,
does my father love me? Because I lay down my life. That I might take it again. No
man take it from me. No man takes his back to smite
it. No man is going to take his face.
He gave them. He gave them. I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. And this
is him. Exercising that power. I have
the authority. I have the ability to give myself
for my people and that's what I'm about to do. He set his face
to do that like a flint. This commandment, he said, I
have received of my father and everything that he submitted
to in his humiliation and suffering. He did so as the one who could
have called 10,000 angels. He said to Peter, when Peter
smoked the servant of the high priest's ear and cut it off in
the garden of Gethsemane, to defend his Lord. He said, put
up your sword. Put up your sword. Don't you
know that I could call on my father and he could send 12 legions
of angels if that's what I wanted. He gave his back when he could
have at any moment exercised power that he gave us a glimpse
of in Gethsemane, didn't he? When he said, Whom seek ye? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And a company
of soldiers fell back on their backsides. He could have exercised that
power at any moment to deliver himself if that was the father's
will or his will. Listen to these scriptures, Galatians
1-3. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father. and from our Lord Jesus Christ
who gave himself. We read over that often without
giving it much thought, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
for our sins for a specific reason. That he might deliver us. He
did it to save us. And he either saved us or he
didn't save us. He said he saved us. He said, I came to save you,
my people, my sheep, those that the father gave me. And when
he had accomplished it, he said it's done. A lot of people say
it's not done until you do something. But by the grace of God, I say
it's done. I say it's done. Galatians 2.20, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. That's what love is. It's Christ
giving himself for me. Ephesians 5 25 Husbands love
your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. A lot more important than people
realize how important is marriage in our society. It's kind of
just it doesn't seem that important to people anymore does it? But people don't realize that
there is such a thing as marriage because Christ gave himself for
his church. That's what marriage is. It's
a picture of that. It's a blessing that springs
from that. First Timothy 2.5, for there
is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Titus 2.13, looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us. We have a blessed
hope because the Son of God gave himself for us. That he might redeem us. Not
that he might give us a shot, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity. and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Everything in that passage revolves
around him giving himself for us. He is our blessed hope in
that he gave himself for us. Why do we do good works? Why
are we zealous of good works? Because we reckon that if he
died for us, we ought to live for him. By the fruit of his
spirit, we reckon that. He gave his back he gave his
cheeks He gave his hands and his feet He gave his precious
blood For our sins, but why? Look at our text verse 56 Well,
we'll close with verse 56 but let's glance ahead at it here
For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to
save them. I We just read that, who gave
himself for our sins that he might deliver us, that he might
save us. So you see the context of our
verse. I came to save men's lives, to save sinners. The only way
that he can save men, the only way a sinner can be saved is
if God's justice is satisfied and if their sin is fully punished.
And everlasting righteousness is brought in for them. And so
he must bear the shame that we deserve. He must give himself
for us. When it says he gave himself
for our sins, it means he gave himself to bear our sins. He suffered in the place of us
under our sin. He bears the shame that we deserve.
He bears the suffering that we deserve. He must bear the wrath
of God that we deserve. Why? To save them. Why? We could keep asking why,
can't we? Why did he go to Jerusalem? To
die. To be humiliated and shamed and abused and to be crucified. That's why he said we got to
go. I must, the Son of Man must. Why? To save his people. Why? There's always one more why until
you come to this one. The last why spins itself upon
the love of God. God who so loved that he what? Gave. If I had the slightest idea If I had the slightest idea how
much God loves me, I'd never have another worry or another
fear, and neither would you. It wouldn't be bothering you
this morning, would it? Whatever it is, none of it would. It wouldn't
bother you. It wouldn't really matter that
much, would it? Well, guess what? It don't. It don't. Not if you belong to him. It
don't matter. Nothing else matters. May we
all call ourselves this morning the disciples whom Jesus loved.
And as he did, lay our heads upon his breast and rest. He set his face like a flint
to go to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, city of peace. But there can't be a city of
peace. There could only be a city of peace by the blood of his
cross. Colossians 119, it pleased the
father that in Christ should all fullness dwell and having
made peace through the blood of his cross. He's going to Jerusalem,
the city of peace to make peace. That's why there is a city of
peace. That's why there's a city of refuge. for his sheep because
he made peace by his precious blood through the blood of his
cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I
say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven and
you I like that reconcile all things
to himself things in earth things in heaven and you I'm glad to
be in on that aren't you that were at one time alienated
and enemies in your mind, in your mind. We were never God's
enemy. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
he drew you to himself one day. But in your mind, you were an
enemy of God. By wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Verse 52 in our text, And sent
messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a
village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they
did not receive him, because his face was as though he would
go to Jerusalem. The reason the Samaritans would
not receive the Lord. Because he was going to Jerusalem
is clearly why. But why was that an issue with
the Samaritans? Because the Samaritans hated
the Jews. And the Jews hated the Samaritans. And we see that in this text
both ways. They hated each other. There
is a history there that we won't get into this morning. But they
hated one another, and so his going to Jerusalem was reason
enough for those Samaritans to deny him and the disciples. Any
lodging there? Any welcome there? You remember the conversation
in John chapter 4? Let me read you part of it. John
chapter 4. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
to drink. For his disciples were gone away
unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, how is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me,
which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans to the point where even speaking to her seemed
out of place. It seemed unusual to her for
a Jew to even talk to her or ask her for anything. Jesus answered
and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is
that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked
of him, and he would have given thee living water. So the Lord
had at least one Samaritan sheep. You reckon he had any more there?
You reckon some of them might have been some of the ones? Let's
look at the rest of our text. There's a spiritual lesson to
be learned here. in that the Samaritans refused
him because he was going to Jerusalem. Now, they didn't probably understand
anything about why he was going to Jerusalem or even that he
would die there. Some say that him and the disciples
were going there to observe one of the Jewish feasts to God and
that that caused a problem, but I think it was just that they
had anything to do with it but whatever the reason it was because
of the hatred between Jews and Samaritans but there's a spiritual
lesson here because the reason that people hate Christ is because
of him going to Jerusalem and what he did there spiritually
speaking he's going to Jerusalem to redeem his people people have
a problem with that people they will not have him they will reject
him they will deny him when they find out why he went to Jerusalem. Every time. It's what he accomplished
at Calvary that people have a problem with spiritually. He can go around
healing people and teaching all he wants to. Well, even the Pharisees
couldn't tolerate that. Even that. But the Samaritans
here, they represent all of religion who have a problem with what
Christ accomplished by his sin atoning death. He's going to
Jerusalem for a specific reason. It's to redeem his people. Not
to do his best and leave it up to sinners. To accomplish salvation. And they didn't want anything
to do with him because of that. Spiritually speaking, that's
true this morning. Verse 54. When his disciples
James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we
command fire? Wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did?
Now, we can't really consider this verse rightly without skipping
ahead a little bit and seeing that our Lord rebuked them for
this. And the reason he rebuked them is that this is motivated
by their hatred for the Samaritans. We see in this entire text, the
hatred of the Samaritans for the Jews, the fact that they
were even going to Jerusalem set off an alarm. They said,
we don't have anything to do with you. You can go a different
route. We don't want you coming through here. So we see the hatred
of the Samaritans for the Jews here. We see the hatred of the
Jews for the Samaritans. And we see one other thing, the
love of Christ for sinners, both Jews and Samaritans. How bright
and beautiful is his love for wretched sinners like us when
set against the backdrop of our petty personal grievances and
hatred for each other. By nature, we hate each other.
You realize that, don't you? If the Lord takes our hand off
of us for a moment, we will be at each
other's throats. This thing would be over with
before you could get to that door. Thank God that he keeps
his hand upon us. Men know that we're his disciples
because we love one another. And we love one another because
we're his disciples. And we're his disciples because
he chose us. He said, you haven't chosen me.
I chose you. So thank God for that. How do you know that's why the
disciples said this, Chris, we will rain some fire down on these
Samaritans. Maybe they just said it out of
jealousy for their Lord. Maybe it was a commendable thing.
Our Lord didn't commend them for it. The Samaritans rejected them
as Jews. And here these Jews are rejecting
them. They're rejecting them as Samaritans. Then all of a sudden now, when
the Samaritans rejected them, said, you're not going to stop
here. We don't want nothing to do with you. Now all of a sudden,
they're wanting to rain fire and brimstone down on them. I
don't recall reading about the disciples ever asking the Lord
if they could call down some fire on the Pharisees. Do you? The disciples had a hard time
getting over the fact that the Pharisees were the religious
big shots, that they were highly respected. They still had a little
bit of reverence for the Pharisees. The Lord began early to beat
that out of them, didn't he? to drive that out of him with
his wonderful teaching. But they didn't ever want to
call fire and brimstone down on the Pharisees who had nothing
but harsh words for the Savior and rejected Him in every way
He could be rejected. They didn't call fire and brimstone.
They even here used the Word of God to justify their evil
desire. Let's call fire and brimstone.
That's what Elijah did. Oh man, how many times have we
done that? They refer back to when Elijah
called upon God and God sent fire down from heaven and consumed
a hundred men that Ahaziah had sent to Elijah in second Kings
chapter one. How many times have we used God's
word to promote our own agendas? To say things that we wanted
to say instead of what God said, but
we use God's word to back up what we wanted to say. Listen to the text. And notice
how he rebuked them. He turned and rebuked them. Verse
55, he turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner
of spirit you are of? Two things here. And we'll talk
about the last part of verse 55 in a minute. You don't know
what manner of spirit you're of. But notice this. What did he rebuke them with?
The Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives. but to save
them. He rebuked them with what is
everything to the believer. Our comfort, our joy, our hope,
our salvation, and our rebuke. Christ crucified. He rebuked them with His love
for them. For them. Who was more wretched, the Samaritans
who didn't know God and were idolaters, or the Jews who had
every outward advantage and still didn't know God until he turned
the light on? To whom much is given, much is
required. And so when they, and let me say this about that,
those that want to fight and argue, and there's so many They're
preaching, I know many doctrinally, they're Calvinistic and know
some truth, they know some doctrine, some good doctrine, some true
doctrine, but it seems like they're preaching as an attempt always
to personally attack somebody. It's always hateful. It never
is delivered in love, and I'm not talking about, you probably don't know
them. But believe me, there's a lot
of that. And it's the same with those who hate the truth, too.
They hate the doctrine. Their preaching is what? It's
to herd people and manipulate people, to get people to do.
They bribe and they threaten. And it's hateful. It's not delivered
in the love of God for sinners. What spirit are they of? He said
to the disciples here, you don't know what spirit you're of. They
weren't of a hateful spirit, but the spirit they were of,
they didn't understand it, or they wouldn't have said what
they said. You don't know, he said. You
don't know. Listen to it. Turn to Galatians 5 with me.
I'm just going to read this to you. You should follow the language
here. Galatians 5, 19. What spirit are you of? Now, what spirit you're of is
going to dictate how you behave, how you think. what you say in
this case and what they wanted to do what they would have done
if the Lord if they'd had their way here they're not going to
have their way I'm glad that we don't have our
way but look at Galatians 5 19 what spirit you're of is going
to determine what you do what you say it's going to dictate
everything about you now the works of the flesh are manifest
they're just two spirits the spirit of the flesh the spirit
we're born with, and the spirit of God. The works of the flesh
are manifest, which are these. This is the spirit of the flesh.
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, it's all about satisfying the
flesh and who cares about everybody else. Adultery can destroy the
lives of dozens of people in one act. I don't care, I want
what I want. Fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, idolatry. Let's go back to that. I don't
like the God who is and who declares himself to be, so I'll make my
own. I'll make one that'll do what
I want him to do and that'll say what I want him to say. That's
going on all over this world this morning. Witchcraft, hatred,
The Lord said covetousness is as the sin of witchcraft. So
don't think we don't practice witchcraft. It may not take the form that
we think of when we hear that word. This is our flesh. Hatred. That was hatred. They hated those
Samaritans. They wanted to see them. Think
about that. Let's, let's, let's call some fire down from heaven
and let's watch them burn to a crisp right here before our
eyes. Hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresy, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such
like. Everything like that. Everything
that's godless and selfish. and is an expression of hatred
for everybody but me. Of the witch I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Our flesh, flesh
and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit
of the Spirit is love. Love. Joy. That's another characteristic
of those for whom the gospel is just a bone of contention.
That's all the gospel is to them. I'm telling you, I know quite
a few people that the gospel is a point of debate for them.
All it is is a bone of contention. If they can't argue about it,
they don't feel like they're preaching. If somebody doesn't
oppose them, they'd probably go out of business. God's Spirit's not like that.
Aren't you glad? It's just the opposite of that.
Now, my flesh is all about arguing with somebody and winning. I
confess that to you right now. But you know what? There's another
part of me. I don't want to argue with anybody.
I really don't anymore. I don't have any desire for anybody
to come up to me after this message and say, oh, that part you said
there, I don't know about that. What about this scripture? Look,
go somewhere else. If you don't agree with what
I preach, then find somebody you agree with. I know quite
a few that don't agree with anybody. They just sit at home and agree
with themselves, I guess. They finally come to the place
where they've just gotten mad at everybody. That's where you'll
come to now. This spirit of hatred and division
and wrath and strife. Joy. And what I was going to
say is another characteristic of that is they're never happy
about anything. It's always, oh, this world is so full of
heresy and false teaching. Yeah, it is. But bless God, we're
in the oasis here. Why talk about that? We're drinking
from the river of life this morning. Let's rejoice in that. Can we
rejoice together in that? We don't have to argue about
anything. We agree. I'm glad we do. Peace. Isn't it wonderful to be at peace
with one another? And with God. Those who are at peace with God
will be at peace with one another. Longsuffering. Longsuffering. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith. Meekness. Temperance,
where's the meekness the temperance the gentleness the kindness?
And let's rain down some fire from heaven on these fools and
burn them up You don't know what spirit you're of you're talking
there's another spirit talking here And look what he said and
they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh With the affections
and lusts if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in spirit Let
us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying
one another. Now was the Lord saying that
these disciples were lost? They look like they're of the
spirit of the devil, spirit of the flesh. Oh, he's not saying
that. He didn't say that, but he said
that you know not what manner of spirit you are of. He specifically
said you're not of that spirit that it sounds like you're of,
but you don't know what you're talking about. How could they
not know what manner of spirit they are of? Because the flesh
is still very much alive. The flesh is still alive and
well now. The spirit and the flesh are
contrary one to the other. Listen to Galatians 5.13. For
brethren, you have been called unto liberty and to freedom.
only use not freedom liberty for an occasion to the flesh
but by love serve one another by love for all the law is fulfilled
in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
but if you bite and devour one another take heed that you be
not consumed one of another this I say then walk in the spirit
And you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the flesh
lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
Those are the two spirits They're clearly these disciples in our
text are clearly speaking From the spirit of the flesh. Oh,
we're gonna we're gonna destroy them But the spirit The flesh lusteth
against the spirit, but don't forget we experience that all
the time, don't we? But thank God the spirit lusts
against the flesh too. The spirit won't let me sometimes
do some of the horrible, say some of the horrible. I've said
plenty of horrible things in my life, but I'm glad for the
ones I didn't say. Because by the grace of God,
the spirit says, shut up. These are contrary with the one
to the other, so that you cannot do, anybody, you cannot do the
things that you would. But, now listen to this, I should
have had you turn, but listen to this carefully. The flesh
lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. Thank
God for that last part. But look, as long as there's
flesh, you're not going to be able to do what you want to do.
We're going to worship this morning, I pray, by God's grace, but we're
not going to worship like we want to. Like we would. Like
we would dearly love to. Not like we see. We see that
he's worthy of it. We see that he's worthy that
we put aside our hatred and our grievances and our differences
and our bones of contention. We see that he's worthy of that. But it's still going to creep
in. It's still going to affect everything. But, if you be led
of the Spirit, you're not under the law. In other words, your
flesh is going to lust against the Spirit, and you're not ever
going to do anything the way God requires it to be done. But
bless God, you're not under the law. You're not going to be judged
by God for it. Because His Spirit is in you.
Because Christ shed His precious blood for you. Because you're
His. Well, I've never seen that passage
like that before. If you be led, you can't do what
you want to do, but you can't do what God requires. You can't
please God. You can't do it. But if you're
led of the Spirit, if His Spirit be in you, you're not under the
law. So don't worry about that. Look
to Him. Trust Him. Find refuge from all
of your not doing what you would do or what he won't require. Find refuge under his precious
blood. Verse 56. For the son of man. Is not come
to destroy men's lives. But to save. And they went to another village. The Samaritan were not welcome.
Let's go a different way. Let's go a different route. Let's
go to another village. Maybe there we'll be welcome.
Maybe there we can pass through. Maybe there we can find a place
to stay. That's what he told his disciples when he sent them
out two by two. Shake the dust off your feet.
Not calling down any fire. Lord probably had some sheep
among them. We know one Samaritan was one of his sheep from John
4. God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, John 3.17, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light. because their deeds
were evil. He came to say, our Lord tells
his disciples here why he came. And this is, if we're going to
find out why he came, we should look at other scripture concerning
that. And I picked out just one because it's pretty detailed.
We hear from our savior in John chapter six, please turn there
with me, John six, He said, I came to save, not to destroy, but
to save. And he elaborates on that in
John 6, 35. So let's talk about why he came. Let's learn from him, read about
why our Lord came. 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. But
I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not.
Those who come and believe on me and come to me for food, for
life, are going to have it. But you won't. You believe not.
But look at verse 37. This is the other side of the
coin. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. You believe
not, he said in John 10, because you're not of my sheep. Saying
the same thing here, only he says it this way. The Father
didn't give you to me. You know what he said? Those
that the Father give me are going to come to me. He gave me some
sheep. He gave me his chosen, his elect. He gave them to me to redeem.
He gave them to me to save. He gave them to me as my bride.
And they're going to come. All of them. All of them. There's
nothing left in question there. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Why are men still preaching,
men and women, still preaching that Christ is putting the call
out, you know, just to see if anybody will come. Anybody? Does
anybody? No. All that the Father giveth
him are going to come. This whole thing is not in question.
It's not up in the air. They're all going to come. And him that cometh to me Everybody
that comes to him for life That comes to Christ as the Son of
God who gives life to whom he will See their need of life in
him of forgiveness of sin of righteousness that only can be
his righteousness for a sinner like a I Will in no wise cast
out why because those are the ones the father gave me For I
came down from heaven Here's why he came to save. How's he
going to do that? Not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. In other words, I'm not on a
mission. The word is eluding me here.
I'm not on a separate mission from my father. I've come on
a mission to do something I was told to do, to do a work that
I was given to do. That's what he's saying here.
It's not that he wanted to do anything different or that he
would have done anything different. But he's just saying, this is
my father's will that I'm accomplishing here. And verse 39, this is the
father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. 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. The Jews then murmured at him,
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
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? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come unto
me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And that doesn't
mean whisper sweet nothings in your ear and try to get you to
do something. It means take you from where you are and bring
you to where he wants you to be. Look it up. And I will raise him up at the
last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all
be taught of God. All of them. That's why they're
going to come to Him. That's why they're going to come. Because
God's going to teach them who they are, what they are, and
who He is. And what He did and why He did
it. And when He teaches you what's what, you come into Him. Every
man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father
cometh unto me. You see who it is that he teaches?
Not everybody. Everybody that comes. And that's
why they come. He doesn't teach them because
they came. They came because he taught them. Verse 46. Not that any man hath
seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat
thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. You see now why he came? He came
to save. What does all that mean? Well,
the father gave him a people from the foundation of the world
and entered into an eternal covenant of grace with his son and with
his spirit to redeem those people and to give them life. And that's
what they did. The Son redeemed them and the
Spirit gave them life. According to that covenant of
grace. That's what we're seeing here. All that the Father giveth
me. They're going to come. And He's
going to teach them. That's why they're going to come.
All that are taught of God come to me. They come to me. Because
they see who I am. They see what they are. They
see sin. They see righteousness. They see the Gospel. They see
how God can be just. And render them sinless by the
precious blood of His Son. And he said in verse 51, I'm
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. Going
to give himself. That's what we started in our
text. He gave himself. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. When he gave them that last supper,
that bread, he said, this is my body. In that instance, they
were eating a picture, just simple broken bread. But it's a picture
of what happens spiritually. We feed on the Son of God spiritually. He is that bread that satisfies
the soul of the sinner and drink his blood. This cup is my blood. It's the new covenant in my blood,
which is shed for you. And if you don't drink that blood,
more than just in picture and symbol and type, but in spiritual
reality, partake of Christ and what he did. Christ crucified
by faith as your righteousness, as your sin offering, as your
salvation. You have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and
I will raise him up. At the last day for my flesh
is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him as
the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he
that eateth me even he shall live by me. That's why he sent
me because God we see that dead baby in Ezekiel. I believe it's
chapter 16, laying in its own blood, polluted in its own blood,
and it says, the time was the time of love and I passed by
thee and I said unto thee, live, live. How's he gonna live? How's a sinful, vile, wretched,
polluted in its own blood sinner gonna live? The living father
sent me that you might live. He came and he gave himself.
Verse 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 forever. These
things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many
therefore of his disciples when they had heard this said this
is an hard saying. If you look that up it don't
mean they couldn't understand it. It means it's scandalous. This is offensive. That's what
they're saying. This is offensive. to say that
the only way we're going to have life, to say that he came to
accomplish and did accomplish, to say all that the Father gave
them, they're coming. This thing ain't up in the air.
I'm not trying to get people to come to me. I'm calling my
sheep and they're going to come. That's offensive. Who can hear
that? Who can hear it? When Jesus knew
in himself that the disciples murmured at it, he said unto
them, does this offend you? What if you shall see the Son
of Man ascend up where he was before? You haven't even seen
me on my throne yet. You offended now at him exercising
his kingly sovereign rights down here? Wait till you see him on
the throne. It is the spirit that quickeneth
the flesh profiteth nothing. You see how this on so many levels
applies to our text. Not only the reason he came,
but what spirit are we of? We're of the spirit that quickened
us, that gave us life. That's why we're of that spirit,
not because we're better than somebody else or figured this
thing out. We're of a different spirit because the spirit came
and gave us life. We're born from above, of the
spirit of God. The flesh profiteth nothing. The flesh is going to walk around
hating, and wanting to call down fire on everybody and arguing
and dividing and confusing things and making everything complicated
and bones of contention. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit. Let me interject there some other
things that they are. They're plain. They're clear. They're simple. They're spirit
and they're life. But there are some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not, and the one that would betray him. And he said,
therefore said unto you that no man can come unto me, except
it were given unto him of my father. And from that, many of
his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Why have I
read so many verses in this text? We're talking about why He came.
He told His disciples the way that He rebuked them in their
harsh and unforgiving and intolerable spirit. Intolerant spirit. Was by talking about His love,
Him crucified. What love is. Love is the Savior
shedding His precious blood for His sheep. That's what He rebuked
them with. That's why he came, and that's
what we're talking about. Is that a problem? Is it a problem
for you to know that he came to save a certain number of certain
people because the Father gave them to him and nobody else,
and that he has saved them and will save them? Is that harsh
and intolerable? Is that offensive to you? Will
you walk away? Jesus then said unto the twelve,
from that many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him, verse 66, then verse 67, then said Jesus unto the
twelve, are you going to go with them? Think about it, if not for all
that he had said before that, if the Father had not given him
those twelve in the eternal covenant of grace
and drawn them Drawn them physically and spiritually to Christ Christ
would have been standing there by himself when this was over
with That's why we're not walking
away this morning Because we were chosen in eternity and given
in the eternal covenant of grace to the Son of God To redeem and
he has he did Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall
we go and Thou hast the words of eternal life. That's what
somebody says and believes when the Lord calls them, chooses
them, calls them, saves them, teaches them. They shall all
be taught of God. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ. How did you come to that to that
conclusion, Simon? They shall all be taught of God
is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Thou art
that Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered them,
Have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? So
our Lord tells them why he came. This is why God has a universe. And there's no place in God's
universe for our I think about this. God has a universe and
earth. because he loves his people,
gave himself for his people, and is saving his people this
morning. Now, where do our petty grievances and hatred and all
of the characteristics of our flesh fit into that? They don't. There's no place for it. That's
why he rebuked them and said, you don't know what manner of
spirit you're of. All of our controversies and
disputes and prejudices There's a lot of so-called preachers
and religious people bringing a lot of fire down on a lot of
people that they don't like this morning. But what we just read
in John chapter 6 is what it's all about. Our Lord teaches us,
let me close with this, in 2 Timothy 2.23, foolish and unlearned questions
avoid. That's not the spirit that we're
of, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive. I wish I could say that with his
power. The servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient, In
meekness, this is the spirit we're of. In meekness, instructing
those that oppose themselves. If God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Somebody disagrees
with you about scripture, they're disagreeing with God. If you
know God, if you know his word, they're not disagreeing with
you. How many times has the Lord said that? Don't take it personally.
He said to Samuel, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting
me. But the Lord says, look, be gentle, teach them, instruct
them. They're just, they're their own
worst enemy. They're opposing themselves. Be gentle and kind
and teach them because just maybe God might have mercy on them
like he had mercy on you. You reckon he will? He might
just do that. God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and then you'll
agree. There's very little of that in
this world. Very little. May God make it so that we are
among the few. How important and how vital the
truth is, as it is in Jesus. May we never be offensive and
harsh and have this hate in our hearts. for those who reject
the Savior, and for those that we disagree with, whether they
reject Him or not. Paul said, seeing we have such
hope, let's be plain. Let's be plain and clear and
kind, and have some humility about
us, considering ourselves and gracious, faithful stewards of
the Word of God. May God make it so. Let's pray.