John chapter 6. And the title of the message this
morning is, The Most Hated Gospel. The Most Hated Gospel. In this chapter of John chapter
6, we have our Lord Jesus Christ in this chapter. He lays out
for us in such clear and plain terms the gospel so that none
could misunderstand His words. Plainer language could not a
man use in declaring the gospel than Jesus Christ Himself. He does this in this chapter,
and you remember in the preface of this that He, showing His
deity, you remember He fed those 5,000 men beside women and children. And such a display of His power
shows forth His deity in such a way that these men were willing
to make Him their King. They confessed that He is the
Christ and desired to take Him by force
and make Jesus their King. Yet Jesus, knowing their lost
estate, knowing that they were not His sheep, His elect, that
they would not hear the gospel of His salvation but would reject
Him, and yet did you notice he still
fed isn't that what he does with
all the world Even though that many are not his sheep, yet he
cares, and feeds them, and clothes them, and takes care of them.
But more than this, I want you to know this, that knowing they
were not his own, knowing they would reject him, as we'll see
in a minute in the latter part of this, Jesus knew who would
believe not and who should betray him. He knew his own. And yet
knowing they were not his own, he still did this. He preached
to them. Isn't that something? Even though they were not his
and they would reject him, he still preached to them. I can't
tell you how many times I've heard this, but this foolish
and ignorant argument. If God chose a people and Christ
died only for those people, and only the Holy Spirit will call
those people, then why preach? Have you ever heard that? Well, we preach because God has
chosen this as the only means by which to call his elect. and
to condemn the world. You realize that? That this message
today is doing two things. It is calling the elect and it
is condemning those who are not His. Those lost in this world. It does this every time. Go to
2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Look
at verse 14. See what Paul says about preaching.
Paul says he was called He was called to do this work. 2 Corinthians
chapter 2 and verse 14. He says, "...Now thanks be to
God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
manifest the Saviour of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ in them that are saved," listen, "...and them that perish."
In other words, when this Gospel is preached, do you realize that
we are a sweet saver to God no matter if men believe or not? that this gospel is a sweet savor. It's a sweet smell in the nostrils
of God regardless of what men do. This is a sweet savor. To the one we are savor of death
unto death, to the other we are savor of life unto life. Who
is sufficient for such things? For we are not as many as corrupt,
the word of God, But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of
God, speak we in Christ. Now, the heart of every preacher
is to be clear, and that's what that word sincerity means, clarity. He says, we are of clarity. We are clear and pure as to our
motives and intent. For we are of God, ambassadors
of God, that beseech men sincerely, plainly, be ye reconciled to
God." That's our message. And so then the gospel we preach
is the same gospel that Christ preached, and listen, it'll have
the same result. It'll have the same result. It
will be a savor of life unto life to some. You who believe.
Is not the message of Jesus Christ a sweet smell? Is it not the
sweetest smell to your soul? Of pardon for sin. Eternal life. Justification, Righteousness,
Sanctification, all of which is in Christ, which is the message
we preach. We preach Christ and Him crucified. That is our message, and this
message is a sweet savor to sinners. But to others, this gospel is
a savor of death unto death. It is a stench of a rotten corpse
in their nostrils. They cannot stand it. They despise
it. They hate it. They reject it.
So the same gospel, two distinctly different results, and yet it
is still sweet to God regardless. It's still triumphant. It's victorious. It's victorious in condemning
one and victorious in saving another. Behold the goodness
and severity of God. Isn't that always in the gospel?
The goodness and severity of God. And such was the result
of Christ's preaching. Now, that gives me comfort as
a preacher to know that my results are the same as Christ. That's
good. That's good. That's why we always triumph,
because this gospel is always successful to do what God intends. He says, My word is going out
of my mouth. It shall accomplish that which I send it to do. Whether
to condemn you today or to save you today, it will do what God
has purposed it to do. Now first of all, these men,
they confessed Him. They desired Him to be king.
Look at this in verse 14. After seeing that miracle, They professed him to be a deity. Let me turn back over here. Verse
14, And those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus
did, they said, This is of a truth, that prophet that should come
into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived
that they would take him by force and make him a king, he departed.
And when Jesus left them, these men were so zealous, they hired
ships. Now listen, you guys got in your
cars and you drove over here, not very far, did you? You didn't
pay through the nose to take passage across the sea, did you?
These men did. They were so zealous to have
him, they wanted him to be their king so much, they sailed the
sea and found him. They searched and they found
him. They left all they had and they came and found him and followed
him. And so then what happened in
the end? What happened to these men? They
professed him, they wanted him to be king, they followed him
across the sea, but what's the end result? Look over, Jesus
said this, verse 66. Verse 66, look at the end of
this. And from that time, many of his disciples went back and
walked no more with him." Now what happened? What happened? How did they go
from such a profession to never following him again? What was
it that changed their mind? What made such a drastic change
in them? verse sixty many therefore of
his disciples when they heard this when they heard this
said this is an hard say who can when they heard his gospel
that is when they turned and went away so today i will preach
to you the same message I will preach to you the same message
of Jesus Christ, and all his disciples, his true disciples,
will not go away. Look what his true disciples
did in verse 67, Jesus said in the 12th, will you go away? And
Simon Peter answered and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are, what? Sure. You see what His Word did
for them? It strengthened their resolve.
It strengthened their surety in Him. What did it do to the
other? It caused them to go away. Behold
the goodness and severity of God. Behold what the Gospel does
every time. It separates. It divides. If
you will not hear His Gospel, I want you to understand this.
You are leaving Him. You are rejecting the only one
who can save you. And so then what is his gospel?
Look at this. What's the first thing Jesus
tells him? First of all he says this, I am the bread of life.
This is his first point in his message. Look at verse 27. He
says this, labor not for the meat or the bread which perisheth,
but for that bread which endureth unto everlasting life. "...which
the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath God the Father
sealed." Now, these men sought Jesus. They desired Him to be
King. They believed that He was the
Christ for one reason. They wanted bread. They wanted
physical bread. They saw what he did with those
few loaves and fishes and they wanted him to continue to do
this. They wanted to make him king
and set up his kingdom in this world. Can you not see that that's
what millions upon millions are doing in our day? Is that not
what Christ is to them? Nothing more than a machine by
which they insert the quarter of their faith and pull his arm
and get what they want. That's all they want. They want
carnal things. They want to be happy and healthy
and wealthy in the things of the world and that's what they
believe in Christ for. They only want the things of
the world. And so when we preach Christ to all who seek such,
I'm going to preach Christ. I'm going to preach Christ. And
this is what Christ said to such men. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life.
which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for Him hath the Father
sealed." Jesus uses the carnal meat and bread they desired,
and He turns it into a spiritual message. Isn't this what He always
does? He takes the point of contention, and He speaks in spiritual language. He uses bread, but He's not talking
about physical bread. He tells us this in the latter
part of verse 63. He said, these words I speak,
they are spirit. Spiritual words. So he's talking
about spiritual bread, not carnal bread. Spiritual bread. Now what does bread do? Bread
gives you strength and life, doesn't it? Without bread, you
cannot have life. Without bread, you can have no
strength to do work. But what happens when you eat
the bread? It goes in and it goes out and
you need more of it. That's what carnal things are.
Bread is a representation, the physical bread is a representation
of a carnal thing, which means all carnal things, you only need,
you get it and you only need more of it. You can't be satisfied
with it. It won't suffice to give you
strength and life to your soul, which is what you need. Look now and see that the meat,
the bread that Jesus gives eternal life, The bread that endures
and doesn't perish. What is that? The bread is Christ. He's preaching himself. I am the bread of life. Now what he said in verse 35,
he said, Jesus said to them plainly, now telling them, I am the bread
of life. I am the bread of life. And behold, the grace of God
has given us this bread. As that man who reigned down
from heaven, you know, they said, it's not, Jesus said, it's not
your fathers that gave you that bread, it was God. Why? Because
that bread in the wilderness was a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the bread of life, who came down from heaven. He came down from heaven. He
was sealed of the Father to perform the work of salvation. And so then what is Jesus testifying
of? He's testifying of His deity. Doesn't something have to be
to come from somewhere? It has to be first. He said,
I came down from heaven. Why? Because that's where His
abode was. He was already in heaven. He is the eternal Son
of God. And He is saying, I am come from
heaven. The bread of life has come from
heaven. This is now speaking of His flesh when He's saying
He's the bread of life. So what is He saying? I am the
God-man. He is revealing His nature to them. God and man. God and man. John says, "...in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." This is Christ. This is what He says, "...labor
not for the meat that perishes, but for the meat that endureth."
unto everlasting life." He's talking about Himself. And He said, "...this is the
meat that the Son of God shall give unto you." What is that?
He's talking about His flesh and His blood. He has come to
give His life a ransom for many. The bread of life has come to
give life The need of man is not meat and drink. It's not
physical health or riches. What is it? It's life. What man needs is life. Every
one of you need this. You need life. Not physical life. You need spiritual
life. and seeing all have sinned, and
none can escape our nature." Listen, that nature is dead.
None of us escaped this nature. We were all born dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead. Now listen, dead, here's
something real deep, is dead. Dead is dead. Dead doesn't mean half dead,
partially dead, it means dead. Completely dead. And the wrath of God, the justice
of God, abides on men. And demands what? Not only your
spiritual death, which already had come to pass, but your eternal
death. That's what God's justice demands.
But look. Here's hope. Here's life. The Son of God is testifying
of it. Look and see the only hope for
man is Jesus has come down from heaven to give life. To give
life. To who? Those who need life. One thing about all lost men
is they don't have any need of life. Isn't that right? They're dead. They don't know
it. They have need of life. But when a man is quickened by
the Spirit, he knows this, I have need of life. I have need of
life. And only Jesus can give it. It
was by man that sin came into the world, and death passed upon
all men for all have sinned. Even so comes righteousness.
Go to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Look at God's
plan of purpose and salvation. by representation. You know this in Romans 5 and
verse 12. You know this verse. Wherefore,
as by one man's sin entered in the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Well, how
should righteousness come? Look at verse 18. Therefore,
by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Here it is. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. So Jesus had come as the bread
of life in order to represent His people. To be a representative
man in order to give life, pardon, and peace with God. So Jesus
is not speaking. He's speaking not of carnal things,
but spiritual. His flesh and blood is His righteousness
by which He obeyed the law of God and His blood. that is offered
for the sin of his people. As a representative, Jesus Christ was made sin for
us. Who knew no sin? that we who only knew sin might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. You see, he was stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted for the sins of his people. Therefore,
I tell you, labor not for carnal things, labor not for the love
or the friendship of the world, but for the bread that gives
eternal life. This is what you need. You need
Christ. I need Christ. I need this bread
of life. Then what are we to do with the
bread? Now we see the bread. Now what
does he tell us to do with the bread? Listen. What do you do
with bread? You eat it. Isn't that simple? Simple language. You take bread
and you eat it. That's what it's for. You put
bread on a shelf. You admire the bread. What does
that do for you? That's a good-looking piece of
bread. I'm starving to death, but that sure is a good-looking
piece of bread. No, it don't do you any good unless you eat
it. And that's his point. He makes this point. You must
believe on the Son of God. And so all through this passage,
when he's talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood,
he's only talking about faith. Faith in the bread. Faith in
Christ. He said, I am the bread of life,
verse 34, I am the bread of life. I'm sorry, 35. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger. He that believeth in me shall
never thirst. Now friends, this bread is not
earned, but only received. It's only received. To eat of Christ and to drink
of His blood is to believe on Him. It is to forsake all other
breads. It is to forsake all other foods,
all other remedies for the soul, self-righteousness, the world,
the flesh. It is to forsake everything and
to eat only this bread. Because only this flesh, only
this blood can give you life. There is no other place. There's
no other thing that can help you. And so what happens when
one comes to Christ, when one eats his flesh and drinks his
blood? Look at verse 54. Whosoever eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood, listen what you hear, 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, listen,
dwelleth in me and I in him. Can you not see the glory of
this? Whosoever believeth in the Son of God is in union with
the Son of God. Isn't that again a picture of
eating bread? What happens to the bread when you eat it? Does
it not become one with you? Does it not nurture you and strengthen
you and give you life? So it is when we believe in Christ.
So this bread gives us life. This bread nourishes us. It strengthens
us. It is one with us. And we are
one with it. So it is with Christ. We are
in union with the Son of God, whosoever believeth on Him. This
is why he said, I am the resurrection life. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never, what? Die. You realize, believer, when you
die, you don't die. You throw off this tent. And
the real you goes to glory. The you that God created. goes
to glory. And the body goes to the earth
only for a season. Then he says this, I will raise
it up again at the last day. So do you die? Nope. Nope. Not at all. Believest thou this? We are one with the Son of God.
Do you believe in him? Have you eaten his flesh and
drank his blood? Then He promises you what? Everlasting
life and a resurrection. That's what you are promised. You are promised these things.
Now so far, as I've preached this gospel, I've already lost
some. Some have already went away.
Those who do not believe in the deity of Christ have already
rejected. If there's any person who does not believe in the deity
of Christ, they have already rejected. Don't worry, they're
in the same company as these Jews. Look what happens after
he declares his deity and so forth, being the bread of life
which came down from heaven. Look what the Jews said in verse
41. The Jews murmured at him because he said, I am the bread
of life which came down from heaven. And they said, is this
not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it then He saith, I come down from heaven? What are they
denying? His deity. So, if you deny His deity, listen,
you have gone away from Christ. Now some reject the truth that
eating His flesh and drinking His blood is not spiritual but
carnal. Isn't that the whole Catholic
Church in the Mass? They reject that. They say eating his flesh
and drinking his blood is eating a cracker and drinking wine.
They deny these words are spiritual. They're seeking, like these men,
carnal things to produce a spiritual result. Isn't that what they
do when people dunk them in the water and they're trying a carnal
ordinance to produce a spiritual effect? They've already gone
away. They've already gone away. But now let's look at this and
see what's even hated by this religious world more. What is
the root cause of faith? What is the root cause of faith? Jesus deals with that in this
text. The root cause faith. Why did
these men reject him and his disciples embrace him? Why did
they hate this message, and yet His disciples loved it? What
made the difference? Jesus tells us plainly, at the
beginning of His message, that faith is a work of God. Look
at that in verse 29. After he said, labor not for
the meat that perishes, but the meat that endureth everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give his flesh and his blood,
the Father sealed him for this work. And they said, what must
we do to work the works of God? Now what religion said, what
must I do to work the works of God? Isn't that something? Let
me work the work of God. Jesus said this, this is the
work of God. What? That you believe on Him. What is he saying? Faith, friends,
is the work of God. You can't work this work. Surely
you must have the bread of life to live, but this is a work that
you cannot work. It is a work that God must work.
This is the work of God that you believe on Him and we have
sinned. So Jesus tells them that I am the bread of life. I came
down from the Father. I give life to the world. I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But look
at verse 36. But I said unto you that you have seen me and believe
not. He said, I've already told you.
You believe not. And now he reveals why they are
faithless and ignorant of the gospel. Look at verse 37. Here's
why. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all 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 of every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up
again at the last day." Here Jesus states plainly, all who
will believe. Who will eat this bread? All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he says those he will never
cast out. Now listen, Only those the Father
gave Him will come to Him, no more and no less. For Jesus was
given a people according to the election of grace. He came down
in order to save them. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save..." Who? "...His people from their sins."
Jesus being the shepherd, the good shepherd of the sheep, He
says, "...I know My sheep, and am known of Mine." I laid down my life for the sheep. Of the sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them I also must bring. Must bring them. How will they be saved? Seeing these sheep by nature
like all of the rest of Adam's race, how shall they be saved? Here it is, where I came down
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. What is this will of the Father
which has sent Him? Unto us a son is given. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. The deity and humanity of Christ.
The government shall be upon His shoulders. The government
of His church shall be upon His shoulders. He is going to be
responsible. He was sealed of God to be responsible
for the salvation of all His people. All that the Father gave
Him. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written of me, to do what? To do thy will. By the which will? We are made
holy, sanctified by the offering of his flesh. Behold then the
victory and success of Christ who has fulfilled all the will
of his Father. Now this exposes surely the lie
of all free will works religion, whose Christ is a failure. who only made salvation possible,
but secured salvation for none. But what saith the Son of God? Did He fulfill the will of the
Father? Did He redeem the elect? Yes. How do we know? Look what He says. And this is
the will of Him that sent me. That of all he hath given me
I should lose nothing. But raised it up again at the
last day. How many will he lose? How many will he lose? In free
will works religion he loses many. They say the Father's will is
nothing more than a wish or a desire, a whim. But we don't see that. We don't believe that. We believe
He will lose nothing. That He will save them all. And
this is what He said, this is the Father's will, that He that
seeth the Son. Have you seen the Son? Have you
seen Him? Do you know? And in some measure,
do you know His glory? Do you know His deity and His
humanity? Do you believe on Him completely
for all your salvation? He that seeth the Son, He that
seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have
everlasting life. And I will raise Him up again
at the last day. Therefore you should rejoice,
you chosen, redeemed, called saints, for God's will shall
not fail to give you eternal life." You got that, don't you? You know that. He's not going
to fail to give you eternal life. It's something already merited
and earned, something already sealed by the blood of the Son
of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit, done. Do you despise this? Do you despise this clear word
that salvation is not of the will or the work of man? I know men do murmur at it, that
faith is a work of God and not of the will. And they murmur
like these Jews, but Jesus silences all murmurs in verse 44. Here
it is. He's telling them even plainer. No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent
Me, draw him. You know, this is the essence
and proof of man's ruin and total depravity. Here it is. You cannot
come to Christ. There is nothing more bleak and dark than this truth, that a man cannot come to Christ. Behold you who will not believe,
this is your state and condition, it's worse than you think it
is. Man's ruin is worse than you think it is. Because you
are dead in sins, unwilling, even because you are unable,
in Adam all died. In Adam all died. The carnal
mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed, what? Can be! It can't be! The natural mind receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
neither Can He know them? Because they're spiritually judged.
If any man says he can come to Christ of his own free will,
if any man says he can choose Christ or reject Him of his own
free will, I want you to know he rejects the very Word of Jesus
Christ. So what then is the hope? Here
it is. Accept. I'm thankful he didn't stop.
No man can come to me and close a book and leave them to themselves.
Behold the goodness of God here. Accept the Father which has sent
me. Draw him. And Jesus uses a scripture
of the Old Testament to prove it. He says, as it is written
in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard, what? My gospel. I am the bread of
life. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood shall have everlasting life. Hath heard and hath learned
of the Father, what do they do? They come to Him. They come to
Him. And so have you come to Christ? Have you seen your condition?
Has Christ revealed to you His grace, His mercy, His death? And what does that do? Does that
not draw you? His love, does that not draw
you? That's what draws us. He draws us with His love, His
mercy. And what do we do? We can do
nothing else but come. We can do nothing. Matter of
fact, before I knew I'd come, I'd already come. That's how
much He draws us. Is this done by your will? Now,
your will is involved. Nobody denies the will is involved
in this. I willingly come to Christ, but
my will is not the power. The powers of God. The glory
belongs to God. Therefore we are saved by grace
through faith, never apart from faith. No man is saved apart
from believing or coming to Christ. But that faith is a gift of God
and not of works. It, faith, is a gift of grace,
a work of God. Why? Lest any man should boast.
We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And by the grace of God, I believe. By the grace of God, I am in
union with the Son of God. By the grace of God, I walk by
faith, and not by sight. By the grace of God, I have eternal
life, and He will raise me up again at the last day. Now, does
this Gospel offend you or encourage you? Some it will offend, and some it will strengthen.
It will be a saver of life unto life to some, and a saver of
death unto death to others. To these, in our text it says
in verse 66, and from that time, Many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him. I will not have that man to rule
over me. I will not hear of the gospel
of God's free grace. I will have my own way. Bye. Nothing I can do for you. You
know what? Christ didn't run after them
either, did he? Did he change his message for
them? Tell Peter, I heard this, read
this one time, did you tell Peter to go and say, go get them, we'll
have a better message for you tomorrow? Nope. They went away. What did it do
for his disciples? Will you go away also? Simon
Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we You have the words of eternal
life. These words are Spirit and we
believe them. We are sure we believe and are sure thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now this most hated gospel
by the world is most loved by the elect. Do you love it? Or do you hate it? Friends, there
is no other gospel. This is it. Salvation by grace
alone. By the work of Christ alone.
Through faith alone, which is the work of God Himself. And we rejoice who have eaten
of the Son of God. Pray God will bless this to you.