If you would, turn to the book
of John, chapter 6. For now, you can just open your
Bible, set it right down there in your lap for just a moment.
We're going to talk about these words that our Lord gives us
in the book of John chapter 6. When the gospel of free and sovereign
grace found in Christ Jesus alone is preached. The results are always purposed
by God. In Hebrews 4.12, we read these
words. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart." Imagine that sword, the Word of God. You know who's
wielding that sword, don't you? God Almighty. It's His sword.
The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged
sword. Truth is, most are offended by
it. Most will not hear the truths
that are revealed in God's Holy Word. These words are an offense
to the world, but to some, to some, the Word is precious. It
shines with grace. unmerited favor. It shines with
the grace of God and the hearts of his people. To a sinner, for example, someone
who is destitute, bankrupt, one who has been given a true understanding
of their condition before a thrice holy God, The grace and love of God is
more precious than any gold, any silver, or any shiny stone. Here are the words of Holy Scripture
inspired to be written by the Apostle Peter. In 1 Peter 2,
verse 8, Peter is led by the Lord to state these words, and
a stumbling stone, speaking of our Lord and Savior, a stumbling
stone, a stone of stumbling. and a rock of offense. Now this
is God's word, folks. This is not mine. This is not
me up here trying to interpret to you what God's word means.
This is God's word. Our Lord Jesus is a stone of
stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient whereto also they were appointed. But
just before that, just before Peter wrote those words, the
Lord inspired him to write this in verse 7 of that same chapter
too. Unto you, unto you, the elect
of God that Peter addresses in 1 Peter chapter 1, where he says,
elect those who are scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia,
and so on, throughout the world. He's saying to them, unto you
therefore which believe, Unto you which are righteous
in your works? No. No. Unto you who've made
a decision to follow Jesus? No. No, no, no. He says, unto
you therefore which believe, He is precious. Unto you who
believe God Almighty, His Word. Whosoever believeth in Me shall
have everlasting life. That's God's Word. The unregenerate man hates God,
he hates His Word, he hates his son, and as he says in His Word,
they will not come to him that they might have life. That's
God's Word. That's in John 5, verse 40, if
you want to look it up. In the 10th chapter of John,
we read these words. Then came the Jews round about
Him. These are some unbelieving Jews. Unbelieving religious people. People who were moral in every
way. All that they did was according
to the morals of this world. And they came around about our
Lord and they said unto Him, How long dost Thou make us to
doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answers them and He
says, I did tell you. I told you. And ye believed not. And then he said, the works that
I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. They are
proof of who I am. No man can feed 5,000 with just
a couple of fishes and a loaf of bread, a couple of loaves
of bread. No man's ever done that before. No man's ever made
somebody's hand who was withered to all of a sudden become whole.
Nobody raised anybody from the dead before. Our Lord did miracle
after miracle after miracle, and the very people who stood
there and saw it didn't know what He was or who He was that
did it. But ye believed not, He said, because ye are not My sheep. As I said unto you, 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 out of 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. Our
Lord stood there and told these unbelieving Jews, these men of
the world, these religious self-righteous men, the gospel of free and sovereign
grace. What do you think their reaction
was? That what I read for you just
now was John chapter 10, 24 through 30. The very next verse, in verse
31, this is what happened. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. Was my statement not according
to God's word when I said the gospel of free, sovereign grace
is like a two-edged sword? Is that just John's interpretation? Or have we seen in God's Word
just now the very truth of that? Folks, we must worship our Lord
in spirit and in truth. The world part of us, my humanistic
part of me, wants to say no. I want it this way. I'd rather have it this way. But my spirit says, Lord, Thy
will be done. Why? Because I have a new spirit.
Just as each and every one of you have. If God has come to
you through the preaching of His Word, you have a new spirit
dwelling in you that teaches you the truth of God's Word.
I can't teach your heart anything, but with God nothing is impossible. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. The irresistible sovereign electing
love of Christ Jesus the Lord is a two-edged sword, an edge
of offense to most and an edge unto grace to some. You're either
offended by these words, or they are precious to your hearts.
What are these words to you this day? I ask you this question
this morning. Does the Word of God offend you? Look with me, if you would, at
John chapter 6, and let's begin at verse 59. These things said he, speaking
of our Lord and Savior, as you can see if you have a red-lettered
Bible, the letters that our Lord spoke of himself. These things said he, our Lord,
in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore,
of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this isn't
hard saying. Who can hear it? Verse 61, When
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he
said unto them, Doth this offend you? Now let's continue on and
we'll come back to this in a moment. And he goes on and says, And
what if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up to where he
was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. 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 the Father. And from that
time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him." Now before we consider what things
offended these disciples, let's consider this. Don't put a whole
lot of stock in what the Lord calls a disciple here. In other words, being a disciple
does not make you saved. Just as there are false prophets
of which the word of God speaks much of, so there are false disciples. The word disciple simply means
astute, one who follows around and tries to learn. Now, what
are these things that bothered this religious people? Turn back
a page, if you would, and look with me at verses 25 through
27 of this chapter 6. 25 through 27, we read this, and
when they had found Him, speaking of the multitude of people, our
Lord had just fed 5,000 people, and after He had left, they went
looking for Him. Where did He go? Why did He leave? Let's go
find Him. What a man who fed us all in
that one city. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou of the hither? And Jesus answered, them, and
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Now listen to these words,
folks. This is not John's interpretation. This is not a preacher standing
telling you what this means. Listen to God's word. I say unto
you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because
ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the
meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For
him hath God the Father sealed." Now, this one who is standing
before this people, this large crowd of people, I don't know
if it was the entire 5,000 that were fed on the hill or whether
it was just a few, but it does say that many followed after
him. Here is the creator of all that is. He's the very one who
put these people in the womb of their mother. The very one who brought rain
upon rescue the other day for the first time we've seen rain
in several months. Creative of all it is. Hold your
place here in John chapter 6 and turn back to John chapter 1.
I want you to read these very familiar words, but I want you
to read them for yourself. Be as the Bereans. Make sure
the man standing before you is speaking from the Word of God.
John chapter 1 verse 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God, and all things were made by Him, and without
Him was not anything made that was made. Now look over at verse
14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Now go back to our text. This One who is the Creator of
everything, this One who is God Almighty in the flesh, this One
who humbled Himself from the glory that He once had, who crossed
over the sea of time and became a man, was manifest in the flesh. He is telling it like it is to
these very religious people. He's telling them the truth. You know why people won't come
to the light? Because it reproves, it shines
the truth on their deceitful lies. On their deceitful lives. Oh, how we all want to be as
gods. Ruling over our own time. Ruling
over our own destination. Ruling over what's going to happen
next in our lives. I know because I am that way
also. All men are that way. and women,
and almost every two-year-old there is out there. Oh, how we want to rule over
our own lives. He's telling this religious people,
I just brought about a miracle. before your very eyes, a miracle
that no man could ever commit. The miracle of feeding all these
people. Could you imagine? I think I've
shared this before. Could you imagine? It was on
a little mound out there, you know? Christ was up on the top
and His disciples would grab the baskets and they start to
spread out between all the people around the hill. Could you imagine
being at the bottom of that hill? Man, I am hungry. There is no
way that that basket is going to make it to me. Guys down at the bottom of the
hill, they saw the miracle better than anybody, right? I mean,
the first guy that got the fish, he had to be sitting there going,
I got mine. You poor people down there. When the disciples got down there,
there was more food in the basket than there was when they started. Imagine what it was like to see
that miracle. No man can ever commit it. And
our Lord tells these people who just saw that, all you look to
Me for is to fill your belly. Read on, verse 28. And then said
they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works
of God? Here we see our Lord calling
them to a work that they never thought of. nor heard of." Notice
that it said in verse 7, "...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 God the Father
sealed." Our Lord is teaching these men the works of faith.
We are saved by grace through faith, through believing. You must believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who He is, what He did, and where He is right
now. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians
2 verse 8? For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, but as a gift of God. Isn't that
what we read? Isn't that what that says? Yeah. The owning and
acknowledging of Him to be the true Messiah. The embracing and
the receiving Him as the only Redeemer. And trusting Him with
all the concerns of their souls. These folks didn't have any idea
of what that was. Our Lord is teaching them to
have faith. This is what you must do. You
must have faith. Oh, but what about the works? All my life, I've studied in
this Word. I've looked at the Word of God.
All my life, I've gone and worshipped my Lord according to the Old
Testament ways, the Sabbath days, the feasts. I've done all this. What about all this stuff I need
to do? There's got to be something I need to do. Look, I'm good
at that other stuff, right? Well, OK, not really good, but
partly good. You must own and acknowledge
that He is the true Messiah. He's teaching them to embrace
and receive Him as the only Redeemer, to trust Him with all their concerns.
This is the one thing that God requires of sinners, that we
believe on the One whom He has sent into the world to save sinners. Folks, it's not the works of
the law, nor it is some religious ceremony, but faith in Christ
that saves. That's what we read in John 3.16. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. Now read on, if you would,
verse 30. And they said, therefore, under
him, what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers
did eat manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat." What they're saying there is
they're saying that though he just fed 5,000, yeah,
we saw you feed 5,000. That's not that big a deal. Our father Moses, he fed us for
40 years in the wilderness. They were exalting their father
Moses. They could not see the true picture
of what the manna from heaven was at that time, so our Lord
is about to tell them, look at verse 32 through 33. Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you
not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth to you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. This people, who have all their
life throughout thought of good works, that their good works
was their righteousness, are now being once again corrected.
The light is shining on their evil works. You think it's your
righteousness that is going to save you? No! You have no righteousness of
your own. The only righteousness is the
one that's found in the One who was sent from the Father, from
Heaven, the Bread of Life. They thought their good works
was their righteousness, and now being once again corrected,
our Lord is saying, you are mistaken in your opinion of that bread
from heaven. It was not given to you by any
power or virtue in Moses. It was by my Father, not Moses,
who gave you that bread. Now read on to verse 34. Then
said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. Now think
of the offense that was taken there. What? I've been raised
all my life to think that that was Moses gave me that bread.
How dare you? I've been raised all my life
in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. How
dare you tell me that's a false religion? I've been raised all
my life in the religious Catholic Church. How dare you tell me
that that's a false religion? That all the stuff we do there
is false? How dare you tell me that? Mike's sitting back there
shaking his head, uh-huh, because he knows he was in one of those
false religions at one time. I have not been. I have not had to go through
that. But I can imagine. I can imagine what it must feel
like to be, oh, I know I'm saved, and then to find out, no, I wasn't.
All that stuff that I had done, thinking that I was doing the
right thing, was nothing but dumb in God's eyes. Lord evermore give us this bread. Now read 35 through 40 if you
would please. And 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. Folks, do you hear the gospel? Do you hear the Lord Jesus Christ
preaching Christ? You see, that's the gospel. The
gospel isn't all the good things that we can do as a church, all
the good things that you will become as you become more and
more, whatever you think you're becoming. That's not the gospel. The gospel
is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And our Lord and Savior preached
Christ. 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 ye also
have 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 the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will, which hath sent me, that of all 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 Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
at the last day." Our Lord is preaching the Gospel, the very
thing that offended these really just people. The very thing that
said, all you've done has been worthless all your life. Paul
said, everything that I did before the Lord called me on that day
on the road to Emmaus, I feel, I know it was dumb. It was worthless. Absolutely in vain. Think of the offense. How dare
you tell me I'm a righteous person? I've never lied to my dad. I've never lied to my mom. How
are you feeling today? I'm feeling
great. You may think that that's kind
of trivial to say that. But folks, that's the way it
is. Every little sin. deserves the wrath of God. And
everything you and I have ever done our entire lives deserves
that wrath. Now hang with me for a few more
minutes. We're going to get past this part here. Because the gospel
is all of it. The whole counsel of God. It's
the whole counsel. Man died in sin when Adam sinned
against God. But there's one coming. The entire
Old Testament talks about the one who's coming to save His
people from that sin. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
that one is here. He's going to the cross now for
His people. Acts through Revelations. You
know that guy who came to the cross and shed His blood for
us? He's going to come again. And He's going to take us home. He's going to take us home. Folks,
salvation is of the Lord. And of the Lord alone. The pure, unadulterated, sovereign,
graciousness of God. Romans 9 verse 15-16, For he
saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. This is the Gospel. This is the
good news to those who were once blind. Those who once could not
see the depth of our own lost estate. But now we see. By the mercy of our Lord, we
see His truths. We see His grace. A born-again
child of the Most High sees these words of grace, and we rejoice. For we know that we would not
have sought Him if He had not sought us first." That's what
the words that we read back in verse 29 meant, where He said,
this is the work of God. This is the work of God. He will have mercy upon whom
He will have mercy. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is the work of God, that ye believe on Him. You're saved by grace
through faith. A gift of God, not of the works
of man, lest man should boast. That is what that is telling.
Our faith, our belief, our trust is the work of God, not of our
own works, lest we should boast. And we know that to be true.
We see that we are just like these unbelieving folks at one
time, and by God's grace, now we believe. I love these words,
grace, grace, and more grace. It doesn't get any better than
that. There is no peace in this world outside of that. I know, but for the grace of
God, there go I. Look at verses 41 and 42 of our
text. The Jews then murdered at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
They didn't want that. No, no, no. That can't be. That
can't be. And they said, is not, in verse
42, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? What are you talking about, this
man who is a carpenter? If the Messiah was going to come
back, the Messiah is going to be clothed in the best clothing. No king that we've ever seen
on this earth would have such righteous clothing as our Lord.
They couldn't see the righteousness of Christ, the perfection of
the sinless man who stood before them. Do you know that Scripture
tells us that our Lord was not something nice to look at? Some people might say Fabio is
a good man to look at. Our Lord was not long-haired
and good looking like Fabio. I know some of you later are
shaking your head no, but he's made a lot of money with his
looks, OK? They murmured. They strove. They said, who is this man? Who
is He to stand before us and tell us that He is our only salvation? How dare you tell me the works
I'm doing is not righteous? They murmured, they strove. Consider
these words again, if you would, in John chapter 10, verses 26-30. But ye believe not, our Lord
said to those unbelieving Jews, because ye are not of My sheep.
As I said unto you, My sheep hear My voice. And once again,
This time let me read verse 31, if I didn't before. This, the
Gospel. The Gospel of God's free and
sovereign electing love. Listen to the sword cut the other
way. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone Him. Speaking of the ones that they
didn't like the Lord, that the fact that the Lord says, My sheep
hear My voice. They took up stones to stone our Lord when He told
them that. Folks, the Gospel of God's grace is an offense
to the world. So much so that the world crucified
the Lord of Glory for it. Have you ever stopped to consider
that it was the religious people of that day that crucified the
King of Kings? Pontius Pilate wanted to let
him go. It was the religious, moral people
of that day that cried out, crucify him, crucify him, we don't want
his truth, we like our own. And you and I were right in that
boat at one time. The very boat of saying, I will
not have that one rule over me. No, these religious people, they
said, give us the murderer Barabbas. Crucify this one who makes himself
to be God. The Lord of all glory laid down
his own life for his sheep, not for all of mankind, for the road
of destruction is wide, and many there shall go. Yet he provided
his people, his elect, his sheep, a pure and perfect lamb. A sacrifice
for our sins, a perfect sacrifice. He was known from before the
world began, the Lamb slain. The spotless Lamb of God. He
made Himself our scapegoat, our substitute. Listen to the words
of Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14, For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, those who were set apart, those
who were taken out of the world and made the righteousness of
God in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Romans 8.1, we read these. There
is therefore now no condemnation, no charge. You can't charge God's
elect, because all of the charges have been put on our Savior.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
And then we read these wonderful, wonderful words of peace in Romans
8, chapter 8, verse 31. If God be for us, who can be
against us? I'm going to ask you again. Does
this offend you? That's what the Lord asked him.
He told all these people what you and I just read in scriptures. And they murmured. The world doesn't like the truth
because the truth shines and exposes their wickedness. Our Lord said, will ye also go
away to his disciples, to his apostles, the twelve? Look with me again at verses
63 through 69 of John chapter 6. 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 the Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray Him. And
He said, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto
me, except it were given unto him of my father. From that time
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will ye also go away? O Lord, keep me. Lord, keep us. Don't let us go away. Teach me, Lord, to say these
words. Then Simon Peter answered him and said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Again, I don't want you to take
my word for anything. Turn over to Matthew chapter
16 and I'll bring this to a close. Matthew chapter 16. Very familiar words. I speak of them often. But I want you to read them with
me this time. I want you to see the Word of God and may it please
our Lord to press these words on our hearts. I want the Lord to keep me. And this is a hard thing to say.
Even if it costs me pain. Even if it costs me a trial. You say to yourself, John, you
better be careful what you pray for. Because there's a lot of
stuff that can go through the world right now. I know. But nothing of this world is
more important than my Lord keeping me. I know if I'm His, He will. And I'm praying, Lord, keep me.
Listen to these words in Matthew chapter 16, beginning at verse
13. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He
asked His disciples, saying, whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? Our Lord, He knew what they were
going to say. But imagine what John and Peter
and the others were sitting there thinking as they said, oh, you
know, some of them think, some of them say that you're John
the Baptist. Some say that you're Elijah's maybe, or that you're
Jeremiah's, or maybe one of the other prophets. Oh, okay. And then our Lord said unto them,
But whom say ye that I am? Who do you say the Lord of Scripture
is? Is He somebody just wanting you
to do something? Or is He God Almighty making
everything happen according to His purpose? Who do you say that I am? And
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
have not revealed it unto thee. but my Father which is in heaven." Folks, if you think you know
who the Lord Jesus Christ is, then you know that it's only
because He has revealed Himself to you. We don't just get smarter some
day and say, you know what, I think I'm going to follow Jesus. No. That's some other Jesus that
the world wants to talk about. The true Jesus is the one who
comes to you when you were running from him and said, you're mine. I shall have you. I paid for
you. I bled for you. And my righteousness
is yours. and you shall be with me and
my Father in heaven for eternity." A true born-again sinner to a
true born-again sinner, these words that I have just read to
you are made to be precious. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Let's sing that, shall we?