You can open back up to John
6. John 6. I hope the Lord will let us enter
into this. When we preach the gospel of
Christ, we should preach for a verdict,
one man said. You know what I'm saying? We're
not just throwing out a general religious oratory. We should preach for a verdict. If people are going to get mad,
then so be it. And if they're gonna get glad,
then so be it. But may they know what we're
saying. We should preach with purpose.
I hope that this message will cause us to fear missing Christ. Fear. I hope this message will
cause us to cry out to God for his keeping hand. Really. Lord, keep us. Preserve us. Don't let me just assume. Lord, keep me. Cry out, keep
me. I hope this message will show
us that we get no credit for anything. If we're here, the
glory goes to God. I get no pat on the back for
showing up. None. All the glory goes to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every bit of it. Verse 59 says,
These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. We've been in John 6 for a while,
and he's been telling them, I am that bread of life. At the end of verse 58, he said,
He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. And these things said he in the
synagogue as he taught in Capernaum, verse 60 says, many therefore
of his disciples when they had heard this said, this is a hard
saying. Who can hear it? Who can understand this? This
is a hard saying. Who can understand these things? Here's the answer, nobody. Nobody. If God doesn't open their eyes
and open their ears and open their mind and open their heart
and teach them and give them understanding, nobody can. Nobody can. It's impossible.
These are hard sayings. They really are. And the Lord
gives us grace to preach them. But when I first started preaching,
I used to think, man, there's gonna come some verses that I'm
gonna have to just say. And these are hard sayings. They're very clear, aren't they?
Hard sayings, the word of God exposes sin for what it is. But here's the thing, if God
does do a work on a person, like that thief on the cross. If he
does open eyes and open ears and if he performs a work in
a person, do you know who will be able to hear this? Sinners. Sinners will be able to. Did
you know that it is a hard thing to find a sinner? It's a hard thing. One old Puritan
or preacher said, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost
has made him so. And what that means is, nobody's
willing to admit that they're a sinner. Very few people really,
the kind of sinner that the Word of God says we are, a Roman 7
sinner, very few people, you can, it's hard to find them.
It's just hard to find them. But if you can find a sinner,
he's going to be able to hear this. Sinners listen to the truth
about sin and this is what they say. Yep, that's true. That is true. Truth, Lord. You remember that woman who came
to the Lord and was in need of Him and He said, The dogs don't eat the children's
bread. And what he was calling her was
a dog. And you know what she said? Truth, Lord. But even the
dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Truth. I'm a dog. That's true. Verse
61, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it, he said unto them, does this offend you? Do you know how easily
offended we are? Easily. Let somebody cross us. or let somebody accuse us, or
let somebody rebuke us, and we'll see how easily offended we are. You know what I mean? Easily
offended. The Word of God offends this
flesh. It just does. It offends it. But I want to show you something.
Go over to Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verse 6 says, and blessed is
he, this is a blessed man, a person who has received a blessing from
God, blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Because that's a rare person.
It is a rare person. You can only tell people that
they're filthy, rotten, stinking sinners for so long if God hasn't
done a work in them. They just won't sit and listen
to it. I don't have to listen to this. I'm a free man and I
got my own car. And it runs most of the time.
But if God does a work, they're not offended. They're just not
offended. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Lord, bless me with a heart to
receive the truth. Bless me with that. The truth
about who I am and who you are. And give me a heart to love it.
That's what I desire, a heart to love it. Did you know that
God is true and I'm a liar? Amen. I really love that. Every time I say it, I said it
on the radio this morning. Every time I say it, that's one
of my favorite things to say. God is true and this filthy,
stinking sinner is a liar. And you know what my heart says
to that? Amen. Amen. Back over in John 6, the end of verse 61 says, does
this offend you? People are offended by a saying
when they don't believe it. Okay? That's when they're offended.
There are many people, many preachers who are lying on our God. And they're saying that God said
things that He did not say. And when I hear it, it offends
me. And the reason it offends me
is because I don't believe it. That's why people become offended.
It's because they hear something and they don't believe it. If I hear a man stand up and
talk about the sovereignty of my God, and the glory, all glory be unto
our God, and how Christ is God manifest in the flesh, none of
that offends me. Not one bit of it. I believe
it. These people who he was talking to, they didn't like him saying
that he was the bread of heaven. They didn't believe that. He
told them I am the bread of heaven and they didn't believe it. They
didn't like him saying that he came down from heaven. They said,
we know who your parents are. We don't believe it. They didn't
like him saying that he's the son of God. They didn't believe
it. He said in verse 62, what and
if you shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before? What if you watch me float back
up into heaven? That was, that's what he was
saying. He told him, he told all those people, I'm the bread
of heaven. I came down from heaven, I'm the son of God. He said,
now what and if you watch me? What if y'all are standing there
and all of a sudden I start floating and I ascend back up into heaven
and everybody looks up and says, you just can't see me anymore.
What if that happens? Verse 62, what and if you shall
see the son of man ascend up where he was before? Here's what
he's about to tell them. It won't do you any good. That's
what he's about to tell them. It won't do you any good. Verse
63 says, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing. Believing is seeing. Believing is seeing. And seeing
is not believing. Does that make sense? He said,
what if you watch me go up into heaven? Believing is seeing and
seeing is not believing. When the Lord comes back, some
people are going to be alive on this earth. It might be us,
I don't know. But he said some people are going
to be alive on this earth. And for everybody else, every
other soul that he sent to earth, the graves are going to open
up. And the dirt's going to be pushed back. And I don't know
if they're going to have the strength to lift the lid. I don't
know what's going to happen, but the graves are going to be
opened up and they're going to start coming out of the grounds
and it's going to be a strange thing. And then the sea is going
to give up her dead. All of the sailors and the planes
that went down and things like that, the sea is going to give
up her dead. They're going to come walking
out of the beaches. And you can't imagine how many people are going
to be standing on this earth. You can't imagine. And then,
once they're all standing there, they're going to hear trumpets. And they're all going to look
up, and they're all going to see Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, descend out of heaven, just like He went up. He's going to come down in all
His glory and all His power with all of His host. He's going to
come down as God Himself. And when they see God, it will
not produce salvation. The flesh profiteth nothing. Isn't that something? Every knee
will bow. And every tongue will confess,
but not every soul will be saved. Salvation is a work on the heart. That's what salvation is. It
is a work on the heart and believing from the heart is seeing. You know, the question that comes
next, well, now you're making faith a work. No, I'm not. Verse 63 says, "...it is the
Spirit that quickeneth." The Spirit of God moves first and
He moves on whom He will. Life comes first. Life. And faith is a work. It is a
work. But faith is not a work for salvation. Faith is a work of salvation.
But faith is a work. It really is. When God saves
a person, He makes them believe. He makes them believe. Now, here's
the question. Believe what? Look at verse 63. It says, "...it is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life." The words. God's people believe God's words. They don't believe any man. No
matter how famous he is, they don't believe any man. No matter
how many other people believe him, if he teaches anything other
than God's word, every single word of it, they won't listen
to him. God's people believe God's word.
Verse 64 says, but there are some of you that believe not
for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not
and who should betray him. I am grateful. I am so grateful
that he does not reveal to us preachers who believes and who
does not believe. I really am. Turn with me over
to Matthew 13. Matthew 13, look at verse 24. Another parable put he forth
unto them saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his
enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But
when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then
appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath
done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest
while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with
them. Let both grow together until
the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to the
reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles
to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." Lord, they
don't believe. You want us to get them out of
here? No. You don't know who will believe
and who won't believe. Let them grow together. Let them
grow, that's not the servant's job. I will do it. Let them grow. Back over to our text in John
6, verse 64 says, 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. He knew who the wheat and the
tares were. He knew exactly who they were.
But as the perfect man, the perfect obedient man, he didn't root
anybody up. That amazes me. That amazes me. He left it in God's hands and
just let them grow together. Verse 65 says, And he said, Therefore
said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were
given unto him by the Father. He told them the truth. He just
told them the truth. And he told them the truth again.
He just continued to tell them the truth. Verse 66 says, "...from
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him." They left. They left. If God does not keep
us sinners, do you know what we're going to do? We're going
to leave. We're going to leave. The gospel
is a savor of death unto death. It's just a savor of death. Verse 67 says, then said Jesus
unto the 12, will ye also go away? Those were his 12 apostles. What
a question for him to ask them. Will ye also go away? And we all know how Peter responded
in the next verse. It's a response of faith and
it's a strong response. A very strong response. And we
all want to believe that that's how we would respond. We really
do. We all want to believe that.
But here's the thing. God was standing right there
with them. I want to show you how Peter
responded when God left him to himself, okay? Turn with me to
John 13. John 13 verse 36 says, Simon
Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him,
whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow
me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. Now
go to John 18. Verse 17 says, then saith the
damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one
of this man's disciples? And he said, I'm not. Verse 25. And Simon Peter stood and warmed
himself. They said, therefore unto him,
art not thou also one of his disciples? And he denied it and
said, I'm not. One of the servants of the high
priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did
not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again,
and immediately the cop crew." Now let me show you a little
bit more of that story. Go over to Matthew 26. Matthew 26 verse 33 says, Peter
answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, verily I
say unto thee, now this is convicting and here's why. The Lord just
asked him, does this offend you? And then he said, will you also
go away? And Peter saying exactly what you and I say, I'll never
be offended. I'm a strong believer. I'm a
blessed man who is not offended. I'm a sinner and I know I'm a
sinner and I won't be offended by these things. Okay, now Peter
says right here in verse 34, Jesus saith unto him, Verily
I say unto thee that this night before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. Do we honestly think we're better
than the apostles? Really? These men walked with
God. I'm walking with my flesh. Verse 69 says, Now Peter sat
without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also
was with Jesus of Galilee. And we all think Peter's such
a strong man and just ready to fight everybody and stand up
on the day of Pentecost. And a little girl came to him. Verse 70, But he denied before
them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. I don't know
what you're talking about. Everybody's saying that I'm with him, and
I don't even know what they're saying. I don't know why they're saying
that. Verse 71, and when he was gone out into the porch, another
maid saw him and said unto them, that where there this fellow
was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath.
He said, I swear, I swear, I don't know the man. And after a while
came unto him they that stood by and said to Peter, Surely
thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee. Then
began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew
And Peter remembered the words of Jesus, which said unto him,
before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out
and that grown man started crying. He wept bitterly. Now let me show you one last
heartbreaking piece of this story. Heartbreaking piece. Go with
me to Luke 22. Luke 22 verse 33 says, and he said, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice
deny that thou knowest me. And he said unto them, when I
sent you without purse and script and shoes, like ye anything,
and they said nothing. Verse 55 says, And when they
had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down
together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld
him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and
said, This man was also with him. And he denied him, saying,
Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another
saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man,
I'm not. And about the space of one hour
after, another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow
also was with him, for he's a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not
what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crew and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. That's the heartbreaking part. Peter was all involved. And he
was sitting there hollering and screaming and cussing and y'all
can do what you want to with him. I'm here to make sure he
gets crucified. I'm not with him. And then he
turned and the Lord was looking at him. Broke him. broke him. You know what he realized right
then? The Son of God is laying down his life for me and I can't
even acknowledge that I know him. That's heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Does that cause
you to fear missing Christ? Really? Does that make you want
to cry out to God for His keeping hand? Does that make you fear
falling away? Fear is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of wisdom
because it makes us turn to Christ. Anything that makes us turn to
Christ is a wise thing. Turn to His Word. If we do that,
we're going to find some comfort. And let me show you why. Look
right here in Luke 22, verse 31. Just before he told Peter,
you're going to deny me, verse 31 says, And the Lord said, Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift
you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren." I've prayed for you. I've prayed for
you, and the faith that I've given you, it is not going to
fail. We sang, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. But when the
faith that I have given you brings you back, strengthen your brethren. Strengthen your brethren. Tell
them from experience, the Lord will keep you. The Lord is going
to keep you. He's going to keep me. If we
belong to him, he's going to keep us back over to our text. Verse John six, verse 67 says,
then said Jesus unto 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. Man cannot live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God's
word is life. It's life. When I become lost
and down and depressed, right? If God will just send one word
from His holy book to my heart, Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. I will help thee, saith the Lord. I, the Lord thy God, will hold
thy right hand. That's life. That'll bring us
back to life. It's what we live on. It's the
only thing that keeps us going. It's God's word. Wonderful words
of life. It's the only thing that's going
to satisfy a craving soul. Words of life. Thou hast the
words of eternal life. Verse 69 says, And we believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. That's the fruit of life. That's
the fruit of life. That's the result that comes
from truly hearing the words of eternal life. We believe and
are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Verse
70 says, Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you twelve
and one of you is a devil. Why did he choose Judas to be
one of his twelve apostles? You don't have to turn. I'll
read it to you. This is chapter 13, verse 18. It says, I speak
not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but
that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Christ had to choose Judas. He had to. That he might fulfill
all the scriptures. That the purpose of God might
stand. That's why. We don't always understand why. We don't always understand why.
But we must remember that God is doing it for a reason. And
it's all according to the purpose of God. Well, verse 71 says,
He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that
should betray him, being one of the twelve. It's sad to say
for Judas' sake, but That horrible betrayal turned out to be the
hope of glory. You know that? It turned out
to be the hope of glory for all of
God's elect. It turned out to be the salvation
of mankind. Here's what I want to encourage
us to do, okay? Here's our closing word. We know, everybody in here knows,
that all things work together for good, right? Everybody in
here knows that God orders all things, has purposed all things. The steps of a good man are ordered.
We have been predestinated, right? Let's pray that God would give
us eyes to see the good in everything he does. Let's pray for that. Let's pray
that God would give us eyes to see the good in every single
thing that He does. And by God's grace, whatever
it is, whether we understand it or not, let's give all the
glory to Jesus Christ for everything, all things. All the glory goes
to Him. Well, I hope the Lord will bless
His Word. Wonderful words of life. Let's stand together.