He can save anybody. According
to his purpose, according to his will. If you'd like to turn
with me in your Bibles to John Chapter 6, you'll find our text. Now here this is a 71 verse. Chapter, I'm obviously not going
to speak on the entire chapter, The Lord had fed the 5,000 here
in this chapter previously, and he had went away from them for
a time, and then they returned unto him. And he told them, he
said, you didn't come because of the miracles. You didn't come
for anything but because you had your belly full, because
you tasted of the bread. That's why you've returned. And
we see as he's elaborating to them about, he is the manna that
came down from heaven. He told them, he said, my body
is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. He said, except you eat
my body and drink my blood, you have no life in you. But he that
eateth my body and drinketh my blood, he hath everlasting life.
Well, I'm sure they thought he meant cannibalism. They didn't
know who he was. They came to him for a handout.
They didn't come to him for salvation, and it's obvious. We'll mention
that a little later on, but it's obvious. They didn't know who
he was, so they came to him for something physical. And they
would have thought cannibalism. Only the Lord's people know what
it means to have his body. It's, I've got to have him. I've
got to have the blood alone. He has to apply it. And I've
got to have another piece of manna. I've got to have his manna
daily, daily. He was the manna that came down.
He is our life and he is life. But let's read our text here
in John chapter six. And we're going to look at verse
65 through the end of the chapter. 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 Jesus, Jin said
Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Then said Simon, 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. Jesus answered
them, have not I chosen you twelve, 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. Among these twelve,
we see there's only two names that are mentioned in this text,
and it's Judas and Peter. And then we see that the others
that are mentioned in this text are the many disciples that departed
from him. And so tonight I hope to answer
this question, what was the difference between the disciples that departed
and Judas being one of the 12 and Peter being one of the 12?
What was the difference between all of them? And that's what
I've titled the message is the only difference. Upon examining this,
I hope the Lord It shows us that it's all by grace alone, that
he is the only difference. He is the only difference between
all of these that's mentioned. The three distinct differences
would simply be that the disciples that departed, they had no knowledge
of who the Lord Jesus Christ was. They had no knowledge of
him other than just something, well, they came to him for bread.
They didn't come to him for any need whatsoever other than get
their stomachs full, did they? Then you have Judas, who would
have had a physical head knowledge of the Lord, a physical knowledge
of the right proper answer of who he was, but he didn't have,
and the spirit doesn't differentiate necessarily between the heart
and the head, but for tonight, we understand that you can have
a knowledge of Jesus, but that doesn't mean that you know him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, not what. He didn't say, I know what I
believe. He said, I know whom. Salvation is a person. And that's
the difference with Peter is Peter had not just a physical
knowledge, but he had a spiritual, a heart knowledge, that heart
that came from the Lord himself that was given unto Peter. I
hope the Lord can enable, I hope he enables me tonight to be able
to declare this as clearly as I can. And we have this understanding
that These three that are mentioned, the disciples that departed,
Judas and Peter, they sum up every man and woman upon the
face of the earth that ever has existed or ever will exist, that
we fit into one of these categories. First, I want to look at these
disciples that departed. And I shudder at this thought,
but they had no knowledge of who the Lord Jesus Christ was.
God was speaking to them as I am speaking to you right now, and
they could not see him. They did not know it was God
speaking to them. They knew that he did miracles. They knew that they had eaten
bread and that was something that was neat that they had never
saw before, but they had no idea that he was God. Jesus Christ
is God. That's revealed to his people.
He is God, the eternal Godhead bodily. We see that throughout
scripture, don't we? Lord told him you came to me
to get your stomachs full. And most come to the Lord for
a physical need. There's a message being preached
in our society in this country and all over the world of health,
wealth and prosperity. And they come to the Lord in
their mind and thinking he can benefit me in some way, some
shape or some form. I can obligate God by the life
that I live. I've done this and now he must
do this in return. What did the Pharisee say when
he was praying to the Lord? Lord, I thank Thee that I'm not
like this man. I tithe, I fast, I do this, and
I'm not even like this publican. And he was bragging on his position,
his power, his popularity that he had, and he believed that
he had achieved that by the life that he lived. But what about
the sinner? What about the public? And he
beat upon his chest. He knew he had a heart problem.
See, the Lord's people are made to know we don't need a quadruple
bypass. We need a new heart. We need
a heart of flesh. He's gonna have to take out that
heart of stone. And these people that were coming to the Lord
did not see that they had a heart problem. They seen that the Lord
could give them a handout. Paul said this about everything
he knew prior to Christ, everything that he had done prior to Christ.
He said, I counted it all but dung that I may win Christ. He said, I counted all things
for loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. And
he tells us why, that I may win, that I may know him, that I may
know him, that's why. Salvation is not an experience.
Salvation is what we do or what we don't do. Salvation is a person,
and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is salvation. 2 Timothy 1.12, and I've already
quoted this, but it says, I know whom I have believed. That's
so important. These people didn't know the
who. They knew that he was a man that could produce something
that would give them satisfaction or pleasure for a moment, but
they didn't have a need involving eternity. They had no eternal
need whatsoever. They didn't see him as a who.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. These disciples were coming to the Lord for something
physical. They were speaking to God and they were not able
to see Him or know who He was. See, it's by divine revelation
alone, is it? Men come to Him and They were
coming to him looking for circus tricks. Man, you wouldn't believe
what I saw the other day, or just a little while ago. Come
see this Jesus. He can change five loaves and
two fishes and feed 5,000. It's incredible. And it was something
of a magician's trick. That's all that they could see.
That's all that they could see in the Lord. To the Lord's people,
Christ is enough. Not what he's given us physically. He promised that, David said,
I was a young man, now I'm old. Never have I seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. We're made to have one
need, aren't we? And that one need is the Lord
Jesus Christ, that bread that came down from heaven. Jesus
Christ is enough. And if he's not enough, if we
need more, Then the Lord, we're dead and trespasses and in sin.
No, we need him alone. He is our only hope of eternal
redemption before the Father. He's our only hope for justification
before God. no matter what a man sees, physically
speaking. And that's the problem with our
flesh, is our flesh desires to see something, to see evidence
of something. Or an example would be, what
about the rich man that went to hell? He lifted up his eyes
being in torments, and he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
being comforted in Abraham's bosom. And he says, Father Abraham,
send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water and cool
my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Now think about
what he just said. Sin Lazarus that he may dip his finger in
water and cool my tongue. He didn't say, I realize I need
the fountain of living water. That's my mistake. No, no, he
was not given repentance nor faith. He was asking for one
more drop. pleasure. And that's what these
that came to Christ wanted, was one more item of pleasure. So what men see is not going
to change unless they're given sight by the Lord himself. We
preach Christ alone We preach nothing else. We have nothing
else to offer. I'm sure your pastor will agree. We we were
coming over here and he said, don't preach anything new. If
you preach something new, they won't have it. Well, if it's
if it's if it's true, it ain't new. It isn't new. And if it's
new, it's not true. It's the truth is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he's the same yesterday,
today and forever, isn't he? So we have nothing new to offer.
We have this gospel, this hope that Christ fulfilled all the
demands of the law. He satisfied his father in everything,
and he truly redeemed his people. That's our hope, and these did
not have that need of that substitute. We know why, because he's foolishness
to the educated. He's foolishness to the educated,
and he's a stumbling block to the religious. But to his people,
he's everything. He's all our righteousness. He's
all our wisdom. He's all our sanctification.
He's all our justification. He's everything to his people.
We've been made to know that it's His blood plus or minus
nothing. It's His blood alone. He didn't
say to the children of Israel during the Passover, if I see
your efforts, if I see your attempts, if I see your good works, I'll
pass by you. What was He looking for? One
thing. When I see the blood. When I see the blood, I'll pass
by. There's our hope. Lord, apply the blood to me,
please. I can't do it. How are we going
to apply the blood? This is, we're talking about two different
planes, a physical and a spiritual. We're dead in trespasses and
in sin from birth. Lord, you're going to have to
make me alive and reveal that you've put away my sin. I can't
do anything. I'm dead. These people were walking
dead men and I wrote this down to say, but I forgot to say it,
but I I'm a dying man preaching to dying men and women from the
first time we take our breath. We're walking dead men. Lord,
I've got to have you to have life. I've got to be found in
Christ and these that departed him had not that need of life
eternal. They wanted something physical. You know the reason for that?
He did not reveal himself to them. He did not reveal himself
to them. Look back in verse 64 of our
text. 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. And he said, therefore,
said I unto you. I said I unto you that no man
can come unto me except that were given of him by by my father. He tells us in Matthew 11, 27,
all things are delivered unto me of my father. And I love the
word all there. He didn't say some things are
delivered to me of my father. He said all. That encompasses
everything, doesn't it? I love that. All things are delivered
unto me of my father. And no man knoweth the son but
the father. Neither knoweth any man the father
save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal. The only way that we are going
to know him, the only way that we're going to see him, just
as these were talking to God and could not see God himself
speaking to them. Isn't this Joseph's son? Some of them said a different
part. Isn't this just another man that's doing these interesting
tricks? No, he's God. He's God, and they
couldn't see Him. The only way we're going to see
Him, the only way we're going to know Him, the only way we're
going to hear Him is if He says, live, if He gives ears to hear,
if He gives sight to see. We're dead men by nature. We're
dead in trespasses and in sin. We're born that way. He's past
finding out, isn't He? We're going to read this later,
but he said, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. No amount of knowledge can attain unto Him. No, He's
our wisdom. We don't have any other need
but Him now. I've got to know Him. I have
to know Him. He is unattainable, and yet He
chooses to reveal Himself. One way by his gospel through
his spirit. It's his choice. It's history.
We can read the Bible all we want. We can't come to a knowledge
of it. He asked to do it through the
preaching of the gospel by his spirit. This is how he's ordained
it. How shall they hear? Except there be a preacher. I
saw he preached that be sent. The Lord's the sender of it.
The Lord's the doer of it, and the Lord gets all glory in this. I have an interesting account
to tell you. When we were passing through
at the airport, not this time, but when we flew out to Montana
to preach for the brethren there, they stopped me and they brought
me to the side as if I had something destructive in my bag. And they
looked at me like a criminal and I said, what's the problem?
They said, you have something in your bag that's not supposed
to be there. And I was like, okay, I don't even, now I'm racking
my brain that I forget something. And they pull out the Bible. And they start thumbing through
it. And I said, is that the item? They said, yeah, it's too dense.
It's too dense. The machine can't see through
it. Boy, isn't that the truth, though, when it comes to spiritual
matters? It's too dense. We can't see through it. God
has to reveal it. The Lord has to reveal that Christ
is the word of God, or we won't see it. We'll spend our whole
life. I spent nearly half my life in false religion. early
part of my life. False religion. And I couldn't,
I didn't have a clue who God was. Went to church. Knew the
right words. Yeah, we're saved by grace. Didn't
know what grace was. Yeah, we're saved by the blood.
But no, we had to do something to apply it, make it applicable
to it, to me. And it's not true, is it? No,
it's too dense. We can't. He's past finding out.
Lord, I'm just going to need a handout from you. If you don't
make me realize I'm dead. And when do you realize you're
dead? When he's made you alive. That's the only way we can see
it. Once we're made alive, then we see we were dead. I had no
hope. I don't need an opportunity.
I need life to be given. That's what we have to have.
Men think they know who God is and they fabricated an imaginary
God named Jesus. A baby Jesus, meek and mild,
in a manger. And they don't mind baby Jesus,
but they don't realize He was King of kings and Lord of lords.
He was the eternal Godhead laying in that manger. And that Lord
humbled Himself to death, even the death of the cross for His
people. People, they begin to get upset when you start talking
about that because that means that that puts Him as God in
our preaching and He's seated on the throne and He's not no
longer pacing the floor expecting us to live a certain life or
to do something to attain this salvation. But that's the truth,
isn't it? Salvation was accomplished by
the Lord. We were elected by the Father, we were redeemed
by the Son, we're regenerated by the Spirit. Where's your and
our part in that? Well, we just are enlightened to it by God's
grace alone. He says live, and we see everything
that he's accomplished in salvation. Otherwise, we're gonna just come
to him and look for a handout for something else, just like
these did. You ever heard the expression,
let Jesus in your heart, or make him Lord? I have family that
believes that. He is Lord. We can't make him
be Lord. And I was talking to to Joe and he said several people
up here don't really talk that much, but where I'm from in the
South, that's the predominant false religion is let Jesus in
your heart. You need to walk an aisle. You need to pray a
prayer. You need to let him into your heart and make him Lord. He's
already Lord. You can't make him anything. We know that, don't
we? I can't make him do anything.
Those people said if they'd have looked at the Lord and said,
I'm commanding you to make more bread. What good is that going
to do? He's God. Can't command him, can't make him. Now his
people rest in his sovereignty that he's seated on the throne
and always has been. Salvation wasn't attempt by the
Lord's son, it was accomplished in the person of Christ. The
covenant of grace surpasses time. Time was created for this salvation. This was all the Lord's doing,
wasn't it? We can rest in that, can't we? We can rest in his
finished work. He gets all the glory. He inhabits
eternity. He chose to create time for that
reason. These left the Lord. They didn't
receive life. From the Lord, that's the reason
that was the difference. They did not receive life. From
the Lord. They remain dead and we know
why I look back to John Chapter 5 just a page or two back. Here's
why they didn't receive life. John 537 The father himself. which hath sent me, hath borne
witness of me, ye have neither heard his voice at any time,
nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding
in you, for whom he hath sent him ye believe not. Search the
scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they
are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. I will receive not honor from
men, but I know you, I know you, that ye have not the love of
the Father in you." Why did they not have the love of the Father
in them? Because he didn't put it there.
He didn't put it there. Before time ever began, the Lamb's
Book of Life, whoever's written in that book, they were given,
in time, faith and repentance by the Lord saying, live, here's
my beloved son, hear ye him. The Lord does that. He puts the
love that we have for him in our heart. We would not love
him. Our flesh is enmity against him.
Brethren, the truth is our flesh hates Him right now. Right now,
our flesh hates God. It is the new man that looks
to Him as hope of eternal life. The Lord didn't change our flesh,
did He? Aren't you glad the elder serves the younger? The Lord
keeps His people. So are we still sinning? Absolutely,
we are sinned. That's all we can do. A dog doesn't
bark to become a dog. He barks because he is a dog,
doesn't he? That's all we do. We just return back to our vomit.
The Lord turns us back and says, seek ye my face. We're put in
a position and he's, just like Peter, taking our eyes off of
him and we begin to sink. What do we cry out? Lord, you're
going to have to save me again. Here I am sinking. I've taken
my eyes off of you again. Lord, save me again. Why is that? Because he's given us the love
accepted in the beloved of God. He's given us the love towards
him. This was the difference here. This was the difference. The Lord is the difference. Turn with me to Luke chapter
six. All that the Father has given
to the Son and the covenant of grace before time shall come
to him. But they cannot come to him unless
he does the work. See everything that the Lord
requires he must provide and he only accepts that which he
provides. You've probably heard that before
me and Joe were talking about that. That's something I don't
know what preacher said it, but it's perfect. Everything that
the Lord requires he must provide and he only accepts that which
he provides. So if we come to him, it's because
he did that. Look with me in Luke chapter
6. Verse 36. Be you therefore merciful as
your father also is merciful. Okay, I'm in the right spot,
I'm sorry. Be you therefore merciful as your father also is merciful.
Judge not and you shall not be judged. Condemn not and ye shall
not be condemned. Forgive and you shall forgive. Give and it shall be given unto
you, good measures pressed down and shaken together, running
over shall men give into your bosom, for with the same measure
that you meet with all, it shall be measured unto you. And he
spake a parable and said, can the blind lead the blind? Shall
they not both fall into the ditch? Well, brethren, I'm going to
have to apologize. This was not where I had you turning to, but
by God's grace, we landed on the blind leading the blind,
and that's a good point to make. So those who are in darkness
cannot see that they're in darkness. It takes God to shine the light
into their heart. Those that are blind don't know
they're blind until the Lord says, see, and then they have
sight. And we see that the Lord said, and I know where we're
supposed to turn now, it's not Luke, it's John chapter six,
that's where we're supposed to turn. Turn with me over there,
I apologize. John chapter 6, 36 says, but
I said unto you that ye also have not seen me and believe
not. 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 to do the will of him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will. which hath sent
me, that all of 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
sun and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day. The Lord so clear that in
in the Gospel of John all throughout that it's of the Father's will.
It's according to his purpose. It's according to his work alone. What did the Lord tell the Pharisees?
You're not of my sheep. He says you're of your father,
the devil. So if your father was Abraham, you'd hear me. He
told him he said my sheep hear my voice and I know them and
they follow me and I give unto them eternal life. And they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
from my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than
all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one." This is why these disciples departed.
They were not his sheep. They had no idea who he was.
And unless God does something, you and I will not know who he
is either. Thanks be to God, every single
sheep that he has will hear his voice at the appointed time. I turn back over to. Chapter
6 verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walk no more with him than Jesus said into the
12. Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? They'll ask the words of eternal
life. And he that believe, and we believe that and are sure
that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answered them, 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." Now, we know why these disciples left. We've established that very good,
but what was the difference between Judas and Peter? Judas was a
called disciple, just as Peter was, and we see that when Peter
answers here, Judas didn't rebuttal that and say, no, no, no, I don't
believe that. None of these disciples, whenever the Lord said, have
I not chosen you 12 and one of you of the devil, turned around
and pointed at Judas and said, well, we know it's that guy.
We've been watching him for some time. In the upper room, when
the Lord washed the disciples' feet, and he said, one of you
are going to betray me, and every one of them said, what? Is it I?
None of them looked at Judas and said, I've been keeping my
eye on him for a while, and I can tell that it's probably him. Judas would have been doing the
exact same thing that every one of these disciples would have
been doing. For the sake of time, I'm not going to have you turn,
but in the book of Matthew, we find in Matthew 10, that the
Lord gave all the disciples, all 12 of his disciples, the
power over demons, to cast out demons, the power to heal, the
power to raise the dead. And they all, well turn with
me there, Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 and verse
one. He gave them all the same authority. And when he had called unto him
his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits
to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease. Now, skip down, he's gonna name
the disciples here, but look at verse four to make sure we
see Judas is here. Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot,
who also betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent forth. Now
it can't be any mistake, it was Judas that was casting out demons.
It was Judas that was healing the sick. It was Judas doing
all these things. And he was the one that betrayed him. He
just told us that, so we know that he was doing the same thing
that all these others were doing. There was no distinct difference
between them. It wasn't a different lifestyle
that they were living where they suspected one another. They were
doing the exact same thing. Judas had a head knowledge of
who the Lord was. He had an understanding of what
to say or the right words to say. If he would have not been
performing the exact same thing, they would have suspected him,
and they did not suspect him. Nobody pointed their finger to
him and said, yeah, we know that you're the guy, and that didn't
happen. He performed miracles. That was evidence. Well, the
Lord gave him the power to do so. We know that. It wasn't Judas
that was powerful, and it wasn't Peter that was powerful. It was
the Lord, the Lord in him, that did those things. But Judas just
had a head knowledge. He knew the right words to say.
Now, interestingly enough, we know the account given of Judas'
betrayal of the Lord. He, that same night, he said,
the one I dipped the sop in and give to, he's the one that's
going to betray me. And he gave it to Judas and Judas left after
the Lord said, whatever you're going to do, do it quickly. And
says Satan entered into him at that time. He went to the priests,
the high priest, and offered, he wanted payment to betray the
Lord, and he did so for 30 pieces of silver. He brought them to
the Lord and kissed the Lord. The Lord said, betrayeth thou
the son of man with a kiss. And whenever he found that Christ
was condemned and was going to be put to death, what did he
do with the money? He took it back. Well, this is a picture
of men returning to the law to try to fix everything that they've
done wrong. They go back and say, I can make
this right. Repentance, very simply put, is seeing yourself,
seeing the sin that you are, seeing God as sovereign, and
seeing you can't fix that. You can't fix the sin. I can't
fix the sin that I am. Going back to the law is not
going to fix it. It's not going to help. As a
matter of fact, it's going to make it worse. All it can produce
is death. Well, Judas, what did they tell
him? They said, well, that's blood money. Well, ironically,
it was blood money the time they gave him blood money. Now he's
just trying to return it. They said, no, we're too good for that. Well,
you gave it to me in the first place. You knew it was going to be condemned
to death. It's hypocritical, isn't it? And what happened?
Well, he found that he couldn't fix it by getting the money back
to them. And so he does what every man and woman will do whenever
they have some idea of who God is and no knowledge of the truth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, no true life. They will offer up
themselves unto God. They will live a sacrificial
life unto God to try to fix it. They will do things in order
to try to sit a little higher than their peers. And they'll
say, the Lord will notice me by my works. And that's what
Judas did in committing suicide. He offered himself up unto God.
Don't do that. That's not good enough. We're
not good enough. Our blood is polluted by our
father, Adam. And Judas just had this knowledge,
a little bit of understanding of what to say of who Jesus was.
But unless the Lord comes and reveals himself to you and I,
that's exactly what the end of our life will be, is, Lord, have
I not cast out demons in your name? Have I not done many wonderful
works in thy name? Have I not lived this life? Have
I not chose this and sacrificed this? The Lord says, depart from
me, I never knew you. I don't know you, never knew
you. There's nothing we can do to
fix our sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ did.
On the cross of Calvary before his father, he did business between
him and his father, putting away the sin of his people. The Lord
Jesus Christ fixed the sin problem that we are. And we're made to
know this. So we see here. Verse 68 Simon I love, I love Brother Simon. I can relate to him so much.
Sometimes he had the right answers to say, and sometimes he just
opened mouth, inserted foot, and leg do all the way down.
That's just how he was. I can relate to that. One time
he came to the Lord, and you remember the mountain of transfiguration.
He saw the Lord's glory right there, and then he saw Elijah,
and he saw Moses, and after it all, they fell on their face.
Peter was there with James and John, and they fell on their
face. After everything had returned normal, if I can put it that
way, the Lord was back with them. Elisha and Moses were gone. Peter
said, I've got a great idea. Let's build three tabernacles,
one for you, Lord, one for Elijah, one for Moses. Don't you love
the Lord's patience in that? He didn't look at him and say,
well, you're just an idiot, Peter. No, he didn't do that, did he?
He ignored the entire statement. He didn't say anything in response
to him, just like he doesn't right here, even though Peter
had the right answer. Even though Peter has the right,
look at his answer here to the Lord. When the Lord says in verse
67, then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life. Lord doesn't The Lord doesn't,
continue reading, I'm sorry, and we believe that and are sure
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's
a good answer. That's a good answer, but what does the Lord
say? Have not I chosen you 12, and one of you the devil? See,
even though Peter was saying a good answer, he said, we all
believe that thou art the Christ. Judas didn't believe that. Judas
didn't have a new heart to believe that. Judas might have said he
believed that, but he didn't know who God was. If he didn't,
he'd have never betrayed him, but he was raised for that purpose.
We know that. We know that. We see There's a distinct difference
between the disciples that left in Judas. But what about Peter?
What was the difference in Peter? Well, we know it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. But what about the good things that Peter did? Well,
I'm not going to focus on that. I want to talk about the bad
things Peter did. He he denied the Lord. He denied the Lord
not just once, but he denied the Lord three times. And in
those three times of denial, that's literally the same thing
without money. Him denying the Lord three times
is the same thing Judas did without money. There was nothing better
in Peter than there was Judas, humanly speaking. Not a single
thing. There was nothing better in Peter that was any better
than any of these disciples that left the Lord in Peter. Nothing.
Nothing. In the moment of weakness, he
had an opportunity to stand up and he tells, we're going to
turn there as well, but I realize I'm flipping you guys in several
different places. Anyways, we see that Peter, even though there
was nothing, he denied the Lord. He didn't deny who he was. He
didn't deny his affiliation with him. I love that. He didn't deny
who he was. He denied his affiliation with him. We see that there's
only one difference. There's only one difference and
it's found in Luke Chapter 22. You want to turn back there with
me? Luke Chapter 22 in verse 33.
Peter says these words Lord. This is what I was going to quote,
but I realized I was going to have his turn there. Peter says
this under the Lord Lord. I am ready. I am ready to go with
the both into prison and to death and the Lord says to Peter, I
tell the Peter the cock shall not crow this day before thou
shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. If there's ever been a. an
oath unto the Lord, humanly speaking, that was given the opportunity
to honor. This was one. Peter said, Lord,
I'm ready to go with you to death. The Lord said, you're going to
deny me, Peter. Peter was so headstrong and so
sure of himself and so confident in the Lord's presence that he
takes a sword and lops off the high priest servants here with
it, doesn't he? But what about outside the Lord's presence?
What did Peter do? He denied the Lord three times.
What is that a picture of? Lord, if you leave me to myself,
I'm going to deny you. See, there's nothing different
in Peter and you and I. There's nothing different in
Judas and you and I, other than one difference. It's found in
this part right here. What does he say to Peter in
verse 31? The Lord says, 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 fell not." I have prayed
for, there's the difference. That's the only, he didn't pray
for Judas. He didn't pray for these disciples that left him.
He didn't pray, whoever he prayed for, he is the intercessor of,
and his prayer accomplished something. As he interceded for Peter that
his faith would not fail, Peter's faith would not fail. It was
certain, it was sure, because the father answered the son.
We know this is true by the resurrection of the Lord. He was satisfied
with his son, so everything that the Lord prayed, the Lord answered. He gave him, it came to pass. It was the intercessory prayer
was the only difference. This prayer is evidence of his
everlasting love for his people. All those for whom he prayed
for will receive everlasting, well they have received everlasting
life, but they'll receive, what does he say in 2 Timothy 1.9?
God who hath saved us and called us. What happened first, the
saving or the calling? Well the saving did. When he calls us,
he just lets us know that he saved us. Isn't that glorious?
I love that. That salvation is of the Lord. It happened by the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. We were not involved in that.
And if we were, we would have messed it up, wouldn't we? We know that
to be true. We know we would have messed it up. Lord, I know
that I would deny you if you leave me to myself. I would betray
you if you leave me to myself. I know that to be true. Lord,
don't let me be Judas. Lord, keep me. I pray that you
prayed for me. Or don't let me be these disciples
looking for a handout from you. I've got to have the bread of
life. I don't need my belly full, Lord. I've got to have spiritual
food, spiritual life. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is the spiritual food. I wrote that verse down. I want
to finish reading it. Second Timothy one nine, God who has
saved us and called us with the holy calling. not according to
our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus. When? Before the world ever began. Boy, I love that. You know what that means? I can't
mess it up. That's what that means. And you
can't mess it up. If you're in Christ, you've always
been in Christ. He's never seen you outside of
Christ. You can't mess it up. Boy, there's glorious hope in
that, because I know if I'm left to myself, I will mess it up.
But we're not kept by our power, are we? We're not called by our
power, are we? We're kept by His power. We're
called by His purpose. We're called according to His
will. And oh, we rest in that, don't
we? We rest in that. What part do we have in salvation?
Well, the Father did the electing, the Son did the saving, and the
Spirit does the calling. gives us a new heart that sees
Him. We have nothing to do with salvation. He did it all. And
we have the glorious declaration of that, the glorious affirmation
of that on the cross of Calvary when He bowed His head and said,
It is finished. Not that it's going to be, if
we let him. Not that he hopes that it is. It is finished. The difference is, brethren,
Christ. Christ finished the work on the
cross and gives faith to his people to believe him. Gives
life to his people. The difference between these
disciples, Judas and Peter, is simple. The Lord loved. Peter,
there's the difference whom the Lord loves, whom the Lord loves.
He foreknew and he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his son. Aren't you so thankful? Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God and I love the next part. He says brethren now right
now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be made
like him for we shall see him as he is. Difference is, is the
Lord's give his people a desire for him alone and nothing else. Not the power that Judas sought
after, not the popularity that Judas sought after, not the pleasure
that the people was coming to Christ for. We have one desire,
Christ alone. This is the only desire.