God willing I do intend to revert
to our meditation in Galatians shortly, but I just feel tonight
I should speak to you on a few verses in the Gospel of John,
in chapter 6. So the Gospel of John, chapter
6, and we'll just read from verse 59 to the end. The Gospel of
John, chapter 6, reading from 59 to the end. 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. Who can hear it? When Jesus knew
in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto
them, doth this offend you? What? And if ye shall see the
Son of Man ascent up where he was before, it is the Spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. For 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. And
he said, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto
me, except it were given unto him of my father. From that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Then Peter
answered him, Lord, to whom shall we 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 spoke
of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should
betray him, being one of the twelve. These verses form the last part
of this sixth chapter and as you may remember or know that
of course the Lord was speaking towards the end of this chapter
very much about the need to be a partaker of spiritual food
and that's to just have natural food however wonderful that may
have been was of no eternal value And he tells the people that
all those who had the manna in the wilderness were dead. But
those who receive spiritual food are those who live eternally. And he tells us what that spiritual
food is. And it's really something which
is difficult for us to understand. Many of these people couldn't
understand it. And that was to be a partaker of the flesh and
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not of course in a physical way,
but by meditating on what it meant to receive that union and
that communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that really
was what the Blessed Lord was speaking to these people about
and of course Many heard it and said, it's a hard saying. Who
can hear it? What that really meant was they
couldn't understand it naturally. And of course, these things are
spiritually discerned. And we should be very concerned. All of us have a spiritual understanding
of these things. It's not something which just
dwells in our mind. It's not something which satisfies
our natural intellect, but it's far, far more important than
that. And it is to know that we are
those who feed upon Christ. And the Lord tells them, he said,
"'What and if ye shall see the Son of Man "'ascend up where
he was before? "'It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
"'the flesh profiteth nothing, The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. And what that really means
is that the work that the Lord does in our souls, glorious work
it is, it will not benefit our body. And we will not want to
be proud of these things. We shall want to honour and glorify
our God. We shall want to testify of what
he's done for our souls in feeding upon him, so that his name is
lifted up and exalted. And so Jesus went on to say,
for there are some of you that believe not. Those who believe not cannot
be spiritually partakers of the flesh and blood of the Saviour.
This is only for those who are born again in the Spirit, those
who are redeemed with his precious blood. And so the Lord lays it
down very clearly when he tells us here, but there are some of
you that believe not. But Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto
me, except it were given unto him of my Father." That means
we have no ability ourself to come to the Saviour. But how
wonderful it is when we know the blessed, drawing power of
God Himself, to draw us to Him, not of the flesh, but of the
Spirit. Separating, isn't it, these words?
Vital they are, that we're on the right side of the line. And
then, what was the result? From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. They weren't willing
to receive these great, solemn, and important truths. And what
a blessing it is if we possess grace to receive them and to
lay them in our hearts. And so the Lord then said, then
said, Jesus under 12, will you also go away? Are we going to
go away? Are we going to turn back? Or are we going to cast in our
lot with the people of God? Are we going to confess who we
believe? Are we going to confess, in the
words of the hymn that we've just sung, the preciousness of
the Saviour? Well, the Lord asked this question,
and dear old Peter answered it on behalf of the rest. Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You see, he
was uniting the Church of God. Whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life. Nowhere else is there any salvation. It's only through the words of
the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on
to say, and we believe. Again, joining together the church
of God. And we believe, and are sure. He was sure because of that which
God had done in his soul. And he was sure he could confirm
it was true in the souls of all God's people. And are sure. that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. Oh, may you and I have faith
tonight to stand on this ground, this solid rock, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Jesus said, have not I chosen
you 12? And one of you is a devil, a
very striking word, a very searching word. We want to be found on
the right side of the line. We want to be found upon those
who do believe and those who rejoice and find the Lord Jesus
Christ precious and that we do indeed love to dwell upon him. We sung that hymn together tonight
and the second verse tells us this, to them he is more precious
far than life and all its comforts are. more precious than their
daily food, more precious than their vital blood. Well, may
we all be found on the right side of the line and not be found
lacking with regard to these vital things. May God add his
blessing. Help our brethren now to lead
us in prayer. Jonathan, will you pray please?