Turn with me back to John 6. John 6 is such an amazing and
wonderful chapter. It really is. John 6 is so clear and it's just so truthful. The words of our Lord. And after
looking at it all day on Sunday, there was one more thing. One
more thought, one more statement. That I just couldn't move on. From this chapter without looking
at it. It's a question. And it's a question that all
of God's people love. God's people love it so much. Every time I read or hear or
think about this question, my soul smiles. And I say amen. I say amen to
this, and I know that you do too. Look at verse 66. It says, from that time, Many
of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then
said Jesus under the 12, will you also go away? Then Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life. Lord, To whom shall we go? Does that resonate with you? Who else could we possibly go
to? Who else could we possibly go
to? You know, the longer we go in
the truth of the gospel, the more real this man becomes to
us. Do you know what I mean by that?
The longer we go in the gospel, as God sends faith and starts
to open up His Word to us, the less this becomes about doctrine
and the more this becomes about a man. And God Almighty causes His people
to, number one, fall in love with a man. And God causes His people to
trust a man. You come to know a man. I've spent my whole life knowing
my dad. I trust him. He has earned my
trust. If he said he would do something
for me, if it was within his power, he did it for me. He has
always loved me and provided for me and protected me. He has
earned my trust. I know him. You know, we teach
our kids, stranger danger, you don't know that person. Right? Well, when the Spirit
of God comes to the child of God, over time, over time, through
the Word, through the Word, He reveals this man. He reveals
Christ. And God's people get to know
this man, and they fall in, whom having not seen, you love. I mean, you love him. And you trust Him. I don't know
how tomorrow's going to go. I don't know what the future
holds. But I trust Him. I believe with all of my heart
He's controlling it. And I believe whatever He does
is going to be right. It's going to be for my good.
It's going to be for His glory. And I love Him for it. And I
trust Him. Who else could we possibly go
to Is there anybody, let me just ask the question, okay? Our Lord
asked the question, will you go away also? All right, here's
the question. Is there anybody else that you
want to go to, that you want to put your trust and your hope
in? Give me him or give me nobody.
Lord, to whom shall we go? Who else could we possibly go
to? It is you and you alone. It is you and you alone. I pray
that God will give all of us a heart to say that. I pray that
God will teach all of us what that means and let all of us
enter into that and truly give us a heart to say that. To whom
else can we go to? From what we just read, every
person there did not have a heart to say that. Look at verse 66
again. From that time, Many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Oh, how awful. There was somewhere else they
could go. There was somewhere else they
desired to go. There was somewhere else they
would rather go. And let's see why, okay? I believe
this will end up being a real blessing to you, but let's see
why, okay? Our Lord had just finished preaching
a message to them. Verse 59, these things said he
in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. He had just preached
a message in a city called Capernaum. Verse 60, many therefore of his
disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is an hard saying,
who can hear it? That's what they said about the
message that the Lord preached. That is very interesting to me. That's what they said about the
message our Lord preached. This is a hard saying. Who could
hear this? His own disciples said that.
Not the twelve, but many others. The word disciple doesn't mean
apostle. I know our brains sometimes just
interchange disciple and apostle. It doesn't mean apostle. It doesn't
even necessarily mean believer. All it means is a student. It just means a learner of, a
follower of. John the Baptist had disciples.
They learned of him. But when they really heard what
he was saying, they said, these are hard sayings. They followed
him. They listened to him. They learned from him. And they
said, wait a minute. Who can hear this? Who can hear
what you're saying? The answer to that is only those
who have been given ears to hear this. That's the absolute truth. The
word of the Lord Jesus Christ is naturally offensive to the
flesh. Only those who God gives faith
to hear and believe this can hear and believe this. Well, what did he say to him
that was such a hard saying? Look at verse 28, John 6 verse
28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? They said,
we want to work the works of God. What work would God have us to
do? Verse 29, Jesus answered and
said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe on him
whom he hath sent. You know what he was saying right
there? He said, this is the work of God that you ignore yourself
and look to Jesus Christ. This is the work of God that
you absolutely deny your own works and acknowledge His as
being the only works that are acceptable to God. This is the
work of God that you stop saying, Now there are some things we're
going to have to be doing for God now. All right? There's a bunch
of things that we're going to have to start doing for God.
He said, this is the will of God. You stop saying that and
you start saying everything that needed to be done, Christ did
it. He said, that's the will of God. There was a man that I used to
know. I still know him. I just don't really see him anymore. If there was ever a man who was
aware of his own self-righteous religion, it was this man. And my heart honestly does break
for this poor man. He was a nice man, but this man
was so conscious of his own good works for God, just the most
sickeningly religious person I've ever met in my life. He
takes the cake. He literally takes the cake.
And this man, he was so conscious of everything that he'd done,
I could almost, not that he did, but I wouldn't be shocked if
this man had a notepad writing down every good thing that he
had done for God. So God wouldn't forget it, and
he wouldn't forget it, and nobody else would forget it. The interesting thing is, I never
saw this man once go to a church building. Not one time ever. He was so religious, but his
religion was his own good works. I mean, completely. It was his
own good works. And I can envision someone like
him hearing the Lord say this. Hearing the Lord say, everything
that you think you have ever done for me is dung. I am not pleased with you for
it. I am angry at you for it because
you're trying to steal my glory. I can envision someone like him
hearing that and just being stripped and being shocked and deflated,
saying, this is a hard saying. You've pulled my whole religious
foundation out from under me. And that's exactly what happens
to a sinner when the truth comes. That sinner's whole false religion
foundation, my salvation was built on this. It was built on
the fact that I this, or whatever. And then when the truth comes,
it just gets ripped completely out from under somebody. That's the first thing that he
said to these people. He said, it's not your work.
It's Christ's work. Look at verse 30. They said,
therefore unto him, what sign show us thou then that we may
see and believe thee? What does thou work? Our fathers
did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven. I know that you think Moses is the one who gave you
the bread from heaven, but Moses didn't. He said, my father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. What he's saying to them is,
it's not the law, it's me. Think about that one. Think about
someone being just blindsided by the truth. The law is not
life. Everybody thinks that, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? This. All this can do is condemn a
man or woman. That's all this can do. A man
or a woman could never live up to God's law. Our Lord said the
law is not life. I'm life. The law cannot save
anybody. All it can do is condemn. The law is not salvation. I'm salvation. If God Almighty
doesn't give an understanding of that, that is a hard saying.
If God does not give an understanding, that's a hard saying. Here's
the next thing they heard, verse 35. 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 you also have seen me and believe not. Now this is what he told them.
He said, you are not believers. Think about that. He looked him
right in the eye and he said, you are not a believer. You talk about a stark word. In saying that, what he was saying
was, you are not my sheep. In John 10, he said, you believe
not because you are not my sheep. He said, only my sheep will come
to me. Only my sheep will believe on
me. Verse 7, 37 here, all that the father giveth me shall come
to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Verse 44, no man can come to
me except the father which has sent me draw him and I will raise
him up at the last day. This is what he said to him.
This is in God's hands and God's hands alone. That is a hard saying. I remember
struggling with that one myself. I remember struggling with that
myself. To the flesh, that doesn't seem fair. To the flesh, that
is very fearful. What if He doesn't choose to
do this for me? Did anybody ever think that? When the truth came
to you, this is in God's hands and God's hands only. Well, what if He doesn't choose
to do this for me? Then what, I'm just out? Yeah. When God's Spirit comes, The
Spirit convinces a sinner of this right here. When God's Spirit
comes, the Spirit always convinces of this right here. It is the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
A soul who says that is a soul who believes God and faith is
the evidence of salvation. But that's what the Spirit will
convince a sinner of. Condemnation is what I deserve
for my sin. You mean if he doesn't save me,
I'm just condemned? If left to myself in the flesh,
condemnation, that's the only thing that is actually fair for
me. And it's that reality that draws
me to Christ. That is the very reality. That's
the very thing that God the Father uses to draw men and women to
Christ. That's the very thing that He
uses to cause us to bow before Him in reverence and in worship
and to beg of Him for mercy. All of God's people beg for mercy.
Why? They fear this high and holy
God that has been revealed to them. They know they're in His
hands. That's what causes them to plead
forgiveness, acceptance in the blood of Jesus Christ. I plead
Jesus Christ. I plead the blood He shed to
put away sin. Lord, please let that blood be
on me. Verse 48, He said, 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. 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 strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said 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. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. What he's saying is, if you don't
have vital union with me, there is no life. I am your only hope. I'm your only hope. All your
eggs must be in one basket or else there's no hope for you.
You must deny everything and cling to me alone. Verse 59, 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? It stripped them of their religion. It stripped them of their false
hope. It stripped them of their own
ability and their own right. It offended the flesh. It offended
the flesh. Verse 61. When Jesus knew in
himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth
this offend you? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? He said, you want
a sign that all of these things are so? You're offended by the
fact that I've told you the truth of these things? He said, what
are you gonna do if you watch the Son of Man ascend back up
where he was before? Realizing in that moment that
everything I said was true. What are you going to do once
it's too late? Verse 63, it is the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. I'm so glad the Lord
Jesus Christ said that. That's directly from the mouth
of the word himself. The flesh profiteth nothing. That's a hard saying to the flesh. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. But 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. Faith in Christ is the mercy
and grace of God. It is the mercy and grace of
God. It is not of man. It is not in the ability of our
flesh to have faith at all. The flesh profits nothing. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is the mercy and grace of God to a sinner. It is of Him. It
is by Him. It is through Him. It is to Him. This whole thing starts with
Him. It is performed by Him. It ends
with Him. To Him alone be all the glory. It's all of Him. Verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. And but for the grace
of God, that will be every one of us. Nobody thinks they will
walk away from Christ. Nobody does. But for the grace of God, that
will be any man or woman on this earth. But by the grace of God,
by the saving, keeping power of God, if He does a work in
us and for us, we will say with Peter, verse 67, then said Jesus
under the 12, will you also go away? And in all of our flesh, every
child of God is saying, if you don't keep your hand on me, I
will. But if you do keep your hand
on me, Verse 68, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Lord, every word you have just
said is life to us. Can we say that honestly? You know, from the point of view
of the flesh, everything that I just repeated from him seems
like bad news. It just killed the flesh. It
just squashed the flesh. But if God's Spirit has come
to us, can't we say, Lord, everything you just said is life to us? Not our works, but Christ's alone? Amen. That's life to me. Not
our obedience to the law, but His alone? Amen. That's life to me. You're telling
me He obeyed that whole book for me? Amen. That is life to me. Not our filthy
rags righteousness, but His holy, spotless, sinless righteousness
alone? Amen. Now that's life to me. Salvation is not in my hands. Amen. It's in His hands alone. Amen. That is life to me. Jesus
Christ is made to be all I need. All I need. Christ is all I need. Amen. Amen. Lord, there is nobody else to
go to. You're all we have, you're all
we need, you're all we desire. You have the words of eternal
life. Everything you say is life, life,
eternal life. Why would we go to the law when
we can come to your love? Why would we go to our religion
when we can come to your righteousness? Why would we? Why would we go to our own unworthy,
dead, sinful merit when we can come to your mercy? Why would we go to anything in
this world when we can come to your word? You have the words
of life. Just speak to us. Just speak
to us, Lord. That is life. Just speak to us. Samuel said, Speak, Lord, thy
servant heareth. What do you have to say to us,
Lord, as your people, as your followers, your believers that
you have called to yourself, what words do you have for us?
Lord, what do you have to say to us? You know what he says?
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give
you rest. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat. I really do like that. Spiritually
speaking, I don't have any money. In this flesh, what is mine? What is truly Gabe Stoniker's?
I'm broke. Spiritually speaking, I'm just
broke. You don't have any money? Come on, eat all you want to. What are you going to buy it
with? This your mercies of David. He said, I'm your God, you're
my people. I've redeemed you, you are mine. You're bought with
a price, the price of my blood. I laid down my life for you so
that you could live forever with me. Who else could we go to? Who else could we possibly go
to? Who else has the words of eternal
life? No one. Who else could we go
to? Who else do we want to go to?
No one, absolutely no one. Verse 68, then Simon 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, our Messiah, our Savior, our God,
our King, our Redeemer, our author, our finisher, our all, our everything. We believe you're our everything.
Verse 70, Jesus answered them, have I, have not I chosen you
12 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 twelve. Outside of God's mercy and grace,
we are all devils. That's a hard saying. Who can
hear that? God's people can. Outside of
God's mercy and grace, We're all devils. But in Christ, if
God gives us a heart to acknowledge his truth and to say, amen, help,
Lord, we have no one else to turn to. You're our only hope.
If God gives us that response, thank God. Thank God. Thank God. I pray every soul
here has a heart to say with Peter, Lord, to whom else can
we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We can come boldly to His throne of grace that we may find
mercy and grace to help in time of need. Amen.