Turn with me to John chapter
6. You have to excuse me this morning, I've
got throat problems. John chapter 6. It was said by a man much more
experienced than myself, a preacher, that God's word is full of warnings,
full of warnings, lest we presume, lest we are presumptuous about
our souls. The scriptures declare, constantly
exhort us to examine yourself, examine yourself, see whether
you have true saving faith, whether you really know Christ. Do you
love me? Christ asked three times. Do
you love me? Do you love me? Warnings, lest
we presume. He that hath the Son hath life. That's a promise. There's also
a warning behind that. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. He that believeth shall be saved.
But there's a warning behind that. He that believeth not is
condemned already. So the scriptures are full of
warnings. lest we presume. But they're full of promises,
though, lest we despair. I'm glad there's both. They're
set one against another, you see, the necessity of it. Well, during our Lord's time
on the earth, here on the earth, During his earthly ministry,
he attracted great flowing crowds. Many people followed after him.
He was such an unusual man. He was a man of unusual character,
such an unusual man. He was a man of unusual power
and authority. Our Lord attracted people because
he had power to work miracles such as no man. People saw him
do things they'd never seen before. I mean, make blind men, people
who've been blind from birth, actually see. Deaf men, people
who've been deaf from birth, actually hear. Not like these
charlatans in this day who whack a man on the side of the head,
and they hear ringing. They hear something, and their
heads ring. He actually made people hear.
with those ears that have been dead. He raised the dead. They saw these things, and they
were attracted to him. They saw his great miracles,
and it was said of him that when they heard him speak, they said,
no man speaks like this man. And they were drawn to him, they
were attracted to him. He was, for lack of a better term, he
was a great charisma or an aura about him that men were attracted
to him. He's God, he couldn't help but
have a countenance different than an average man. Many people
followed him and saw him for a good while. To call themselves
disciples, they followed him for a good while. But one day,
one day, he began to winter. Now back in the Old Testament
days, they used to—you may know something about it. When they
used to gather the wheat in, they'd harvest the wheat, cut
it all down and bring it in on the wagon, and they'd get a big
huge fork, like a pitchfork, and throw it up in the air. They
still do it in some primitive country. Throw it up in the air,
and I don't know which it is, but one is heavier than the other,
the chaff and the wheat, the grain and the husks. One is heavier
than the other. The grain is heavier. And they'd
separate. by throwing it up into the wind,
exposing it. And he one day began to winnow
or sift through all these massive followers. He began to get down
to who was really his follower. He began to winnow them. How
did he do that? By his word. By what he said. By what he said. There was a great crowd of people
following after him one day. He had just fed 5,000 people. by just a few loaves and fishes.
I mean a miracle such as they'd never seen before. No man could
do this except God be with him. He'd just walked on the ocean.
I'm sure this got around. I'm sure the disciples ran and
told him this. He'd walked on the water, and
everybody flocked to see him, to hear him. And on this particular day, after
they all flocked around him, He began to speak. He spoke about
five minutes. I read this as slowly and as
clearly as I could read it to myself, and it took anywhere
from three to five minutes. It wasn't a very long message.
It took about five minutes at the most. He spoke for about
five minutes, and look at this in chapter 6, verse 66. John
6, verse 66. After he got through with that
five-minute message, verse 66, from that time Many
of his disciples, his followers, went back and walked no more
with him. They left. We can't have this. They left. We don't believe that. They left. Look at verse 67.
This is when our Lord turned to the Twelve, the ones he'd
chosen. And he said unto the Twelve,
verse 67, Will you also go away? Are you going to go too? Well, you know there are many
people who professed back then, and it's even so now, many people
profess to be Christians. Everybody professes to be a Christian. Everybody and his brother is
a Christian. Everybody and his brother is a preacher. How do
you know the difference? There were many people then,
there are many people now who profess some interest in Christ,
to be followers of Christ. You're Christian? Yeah, I'm Christian.
Aren't you? Isn't everybody? Churchgoers. And so the question
naturally comes to my mind, why do some people profess to be
Christians, believers? Why? Why do people profess to
be followers of Jesus Christ? Many reasons. There are many
reasons why people go to church. Perhaps these reasons are found
in someone here. First of all, the custom or duty,
habit. It's the thing they've always
done. It's the thing their mom and
dad has done. It's the thing their wife does, their husband does,
their children do. Everybody does it. So I'm doing it. So
it's Sunday morning, it's time to go. Friends, neighbors, everybody,
what would they think? And somebody said this, if these
people, these professing Christians, if they were in India right now,
they'd be in a mosque. They'd be Buddhists or Muslims
or whatever. No different. It's just time
to go to church, time to do our little duty. Another custom or
habit is the influence of others. A husband may say to his wife,
honey, it's time to get up and go to church. I don't much feel
like it. Well, come on now, you ought to go. All right. Or to
a daughter's son, get up, you're going to church with me now.
Dad, I don't want to. Get up, you're going. Okay. Or the novelty of it all. Look
at this. I know you've seen this in Ezekiel chapter 33. Please
look at this. Ezekiel chapter 33. Ezekiel 33, the novelty of this
saying of church, and you know, Barbara, this generation They're trying to bring so much
novelty into it in order to bring people into the church. That's
how they're attracting great crowds with all their singings
and their quartets and the robes and the choirs and the crystal
cathedrals and all this. They've got to do that. They
don't have any substance to what they're saying, so they've got
to do all these things to bring people in. Well, look at this.
This may hold true, though, with somebody in this very audience.
Ezekiel 33, verse 30. The Lord says, Son of man, the
children and the people are talking about you. They're talking about you by
the walls and the doors of the houses, speaking one to another,
every one to his brother. They're talking about you, about
the new preacher in town. And they're saying, come on,
let's go hear him. Let's hear what the word has come forth
from the Lord. Let's go hear the word. Let's go to church.
Let's go hear what he has to say. Verse 31. And they come,
and they come as the people cometh. According to the time, 11 a.m.,
they come, and they sit before you, look at this, as my people. They look like Christians, they
talk like Christians, they act like Christians. They come, they
look like Christians. And they sit and they hear your
words, but they will not do them. But with their mouth, and wasn't
this our Lord's indictment? of a truth the prophet saith
against this generation. This people draws nigh to me
with their mouth, but their hearts far from me." He said, with their
mouth they show much love. I love you brother. God loves
you and so do we. With their mouth they show much
love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. Talking about
the new car right after the message. And lo, you are unto them as
a very lovely song, one that has a pleasant voice, play well
on an instrument." Boy, I like that singing. Do you hear that
quartet? You go into the gospel scene, they hear your words,
they hear the Word of God, but they don't do it. And I declare
unto you this morning, everything I say, there's a response to
be made. I declare the gospel. Salvation
is of the Lord from start to finish, how it's all his work. He has to give faith, he has
to give repentance, he has to draw a man to Christ, he has
to make a man see his need of Christ. All these things is of
the Lord. But there's a response in there,
Terry. There's a responsibility in a
man. Well, that's the novelty of it.
Good preaching, good singing. People come for that reason.
And then worldly advantage. There's much to be gained in
our day by saying you're a Christian. Much to be gained. Might get
a promotion. Or something. And then there's
people that come out of insurance, just in case. Just in case this
is so. I need a fire escape named Jesus,
you know. Just in case. And those are reasons
why people profess to be followers of Christ. Now, this. What happens
to these professors? These that really don't know
Christ in the heart, really don't love him, really don't know him,
really not pressing into the kingdom. These that aren't violently
taking the kingdom of heaven by violence. What happens to
them? Why do they fall away? And to be sure, they'll fall. They'll fall. Now, don't get
me wrong. I'm not talking a believer. It's impossible for a believer
to fall away. True believers will not leave
Christ. They might go away for a time,
like the prodigal son, but they'll come back. The Father will draw
them back, because a son is a son. A son is a son. To be sure, you
know, we've, like Peter, we've denied our Lord. But if we're
His, we'll come back to Him by His power. Believers, it says,
cannot fall. Why? Christ said they'll never
perish. My sheep will never perish. Why? Because they're in My hand. They're
in the shepherd's hand. They can't perish. Why? Because
they're kept, not by their own doings, Not by their own works,
they're kept. How? Peter says, by the power
of God. That's the only reason Terry
or Joe or Cliff or anybody here is going to remain faithful until
they die. It's the only reason we're going to remain disciples
is because God will keep you. We can't do it on our own. Can't
do it. But we are professors now, with the mouth, when the
heart's really far from them. They'll fall every time. It might
be a late fall, it might be an early one. Now listen, there
are many things that cause a mere formalist or a hypocritical churchgoer
to fall away, to quit. Many reasons. Many things that
cause this. Many obvious reasons, but I want
to get your attention here with a few of these. Listen, this
is going to convict you. It does me. I need it. First
of all, why these disciples walk no more with him, and why they
don't now? Persecution. First of all, persecution. The scripture says, they that
will live godly, truly live as disciples of Christ, follow him,
shall suffer persecution. Shall suffer persecution. Shall. This is not a prerogative. This is not an option. They shall
be persecuted. in many ways. Christ said, take
up your cross and follow me. That's the cross of persecution.
He said, you better count the cost. You better count the cost
if you have sufficient to build a building with. If you can go
the distance, if you're going to start a race, you better make
sure you can finish it. But trials and troubles come.
They come in many forms. They come in the form of family
and friends scoffing at you. Family and friends scoffing at
professors. Church? You going to church? You? Oh, you know, yeah, I reckon. Church. Favors are withdrawn,
maybe, by a parent. And soon these terrors who regard
men more than God, who are more concerned with men, what men
think of them more than God, soon they begin to repent of
being religious. They lose their worldly ease
and their worldly advantages. They start losing all this. I
quit. I'm going back. Look at Matthew
13, back to where we read this morning. Matthew 13. Verse 20. Our Lord describes this in verse
20, Matthew 13. Keep your place here. We'll refer
back to this. He said, He who received the
seed in stony places, that is, their heart is really not broken.
They're really not broken over their sin, over what they are,
their need of Christ. They receive the seed in stony
places, the same as he that hears the word, and with joy receives
it." Oh, that's a good message. I like that. I believe that. Yeah, I believe that. Yet he
doesn't have root in him. He doesn't have Christ in him.
He's not founded on a rock. He endures for a while, but when
tribulations, when winds of persecution arise because of the word, and
this morning's message may be that very word, by and by he's
offended. Oh, that's hard saying. And they
leave. Secondly, not only persecution,
but worldly pleasure makes some people go away. Worldly pleasures
make some people forsake their profession. The believer now
is supposed to be crucified to the world. He is. He is crucified,
Terry, to this world. The believer is. Gain or loss,
it's all the same. Somebody say anything? That's
a nice house you've got there, thank you. The Lord gave that.
He provided us with this nice house, and we're thankful for
it. Oh, don't you hate giving it up? Nah. I'll give you another
one. The Lord gave it. The Lord took
it away. It tends to give. It tends to take away. But the
professor, the mere professor, the formalist, he gets a taste
of these things. He gets a taste of this world's
delights—houses, lands, cars, recreation, fleshly pleasure,
gratification—and he gradually loses interest in the gospel.
The gospel is not the tastiest thing morsel to him. It's not
the bread that satisfies him. The water of this world, what
is thirst after? And then he's caught between two masters, whether
or not to give himself totally to pursuing after these things
or give himself to being a good Christian. And eventually he's
torn between the two and he has to leave one to serve the other,
and what does he leave? He goes, he's endeared to that
thing that's dearest to his heart. That is the world. Worldly pleasures. Thirdly, not only persecution
and worldly pleasure cause people to leave, but excessive cares. Anxiety toward the future. We're
all full of this. Preparations, ambitions. endless
speculations of what if. Pursuing after things with a
zeal. The scripture says where your
treasure is, that's where your heart is. Where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. So it stands to reason
if you have much treasure, your heart is totally given to it.
Where your treasure is, that's where your concern, your care,
your thoughts, your energy, your efforts, and all your time is
going to be taken up with your treasure. If it's your child,
and I realize how difficult this is, Debra, that boy is precious
to you. That girl, they're precious,
aren't they? That little girl of mine is just precious to me.
But Christ has got to be more precious if I'm a real disciple.
No doubt about it. And I realize the difficulty
of that, but it doesn't take away from the truth of matter.
The difficulty of it doesn't nullify the truth of it. They that will be rich will fall
into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts which drown the men, take them down in destruction and
perdition. Look there in Matthew 13 again,
verse 22. Look at it in verse 22. It says, he that hears the word,
and the care of this world, and the speakfulness of riches, choke
the word, and he becomes unfruitful. Well, look over at Luke chapter
14. Luke chapter 14, with me. Look
at this carefully. If you don't hear what I say,
hear the word of God. Luke 14, verse 16. Look at this. This is convicting
to me. The Lord gave a parable, and he said a certain man—verse
16 of Luke 14—a certain man made a great supper and bade many. Many are called, few are chosen. He bade many, and he sent his
servant at suppertime to say to them that will bid and come,
all things are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I've
bought a piece of ground. I've bought me a lot. I've got
to build me a house, and I've got to work on it today. It's
a good day. We've got good weather. It's
been raining all week. I must need to go and see it.
Have me excused, please. And another, verse 19, said,
I've bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. You know,
you can't just neglect your cattle. All right. Pay attention to your
cattle. Neglect your soul. I brought me some yokel by, I
got to go approve them, I pray thee, have me excused." Another
said, I've married a white wife. I can't go, I'm married. I can't go. Excessive care. Worldly connections. This is
another reason why some people leave. Worldly connections. Job
advancement. Many people leave Christ, leave
the gospel for a job. Many, many, many. Many people leave Christ in the
gospel for a job. Very few leave a job for Christ
in the gospel. For every one example of somebody
leaving a job, a better situation, so he can go and hear the true
gospel and feed on the Word of God. For every one example of
that, there's 10,000 of the other. Well, man's got to make a living,
doesn't he? No. Having food and rain, let us
therefore be content. Man's got to die, though. Well, worldly connections. Many
presume—listen to this—worldly relations. Listen to this. Many have many
worldly connections and worldly relations. Now some, don't misunderstand
me, I'll try to clarify myself in a minute, relations with unbelievers
that are really not necessary. I'm talking about fast friendships
with people who have no regard for the gospel, no desire for
Christ, they're not pressing to the kingdom. Many people have
those relations. They like to hunt, they like
to fish with them, they like to go here and go there with
them, all the time with them. And they give this lame excuse.
Well, you know, I could influence him. He'll be influenced, you know.
I'll say a word here and there. Do you? Do you? Well, I haven't lately, you know,
but I'm waiting for an opportunity. You know, Lot, when he was leaving
Sodom, When he finally left Sodom, when it was finally obvious to
him that the Lord was going to destroy that place, he said,
Lot, come out now. Leave Sodom, or you're going
to die, man. He finally got a hold of him.
Then he turned to his sons-in-law and said, Come on, boys. What,
Lot? You tell me. What did you say,
man? Aw, you're joking. He seemed as one that mocked,
the Scripture said. One that mocked. Come on, Lot.
Do you hear the one about the boys that, let's just talk, let's
go fishing a lot? Seemed as one that mocked. And mere professors of religion,
this is hard, isn't it? But it's needful. I need this,
Rick, I need this. I don't want a facade, so many
people have it, of religion, a mere covering, a veneer. I want to be like David. I want
to say with David, wash me throughly from my iniquity. Tell him to
renew a right spirit within me. I want to be a Christian in my
heart, the Scripture says. I want to really know Christ,
win Him. We are professors of religion, open, outward professors. who needlessly associate with
unbelievers of this world, needlessly. I understand now that you have
to have these connections in business and so forth, but you
don't have to be bosom buddies with them. Those that have these connections
with people that don't care for Christ will soon resemble them,
will be just like them, become just like them, and they'll leave
Christ and turn out to be just what they were. Fifthly, some people leave Christ
by neglecting the means of grace, the means. You see, God has ordained
prayer, preaching of the gospel, study, fellowship with believers,
for salvation and spiritual growth. The scriptures are clear. God
has ordained these things for our salvation. It's the preaching. God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now that says them that
believe, Terry, doesn't it? That means that believers, still
beyond the sound of it, God keeps them saved by hearing it. That
makes sense, doesn't it? He keeps them by the Word, by
the Word of Truth. And God has chosen these things,
He's ordained these things for our salvation and spiritual growth.
Therefore, if for any period of time we leave these things, go without these things, we're
going to have problems. We're going to have real problems.
It's like food and water to the body. You go without food any
length of time, you're going to be hurt and you're going to
get sick. And some of you know what I'm talking about. You go
without the Word very long, you start getting sick, don't you?
You start getting gaunt. And listen to this. I used to
be a weightlifter. And it takes a long time, a lot of hard, diligent
work to build yourself up. A lot of hard work to build yourself
up. But I tell you what, you neglect
it just for a brief period of time. Just a week. Go a week
without doing it. And you'll, a trophy, you'll
go down to about where you started, you think. And the same, if anything
holds true, that holds true for the spiritual life. This thing
is such a striving, such a seeking, such a fighting, a wrestling. Well, I know it's true of me. You know,
every old faithful writer I've read admits that prayer is usually
the first problem. Prayer. Neglect that. It's like
breathing. Breathing. You know, this breath,
oxygen and so forth, nourishes the blood, and then the blood
nourishes the body and so forth. Oxygen. Breathing is the key
to good health. And prayer is the breath of a
believer. True prayer. Every old writer
I've ever read says that this is generally where it starts,
where the falling off starts. I know it's true with me. I know
it's true by experience. Well, here's another. Not only
neglecting the means of grace, and this right here, this sixth
point, refers back to another point. But this family pressure,
please listen to me. Turn to Matthew 10 with me. Matthew
10. Matthew chapter 10. Family pressure. This is one of the greatest causes
of a mere professor leaving the gospel. Family pressure. Well,
now the kids are in town visiting, and we don't see them often.
So we're just not going to worship God this morning. Well, my parents,
you know, like I said, I did not prepare this with anybody
particular in mind. But if I've seen this one time,
I've seen it a thousand times. I come from a large congregation. I've seen this thousands of times.
And it almost always ends up in apostasy. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Look at this. Matthew 10, verse 32. Our Lord
says here in Matthew 10, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before
men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Now, there are many ways to profess Christ. Sometimes we profess
him without saying a thing by what we do. And there are many
ways to deny Christ, and sometimes we deny Him not by what we say,
but by what we do, or don't do. It soon becomes obvious to people
what is dearest to our hearts, what we make the greatest endeavor
to do. Does that convict? It does me. Listen to this, verse 34. Christ
said, think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. I
am not come to give you a nice home life. I came not to send
peace, that is, peace on his head, but a sword. Listen to
this, people. This is the Son of God himself.
This is not Paul Mahan speaking. He said, I have come to set a
man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own
household. No doubt about it. He gives a
promise. They shall be, if you are my
disciple. Look at this verse 37. It gets
even harder. He that loves father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. He that doesn't take up his
cross at his persecution, family pressure, and follow after me,
and forget them, is not worthy of me." Isn't that what it says? He that finds his life,
that is, establishes a good little, nice little, peaceable home life,
shall lose eternal life. That is, he that loses his life,
though, that forsakes all of these things and people for my
sake, to win Christ, get out of my way, man. I've got to have
Christ. Come with me or stay. Which will
it be? He that loses his life, loses
that connection for my sake, he'll find eternal life. But aren't we to have compassion
on the lost? Aren't we to have compassion? Yes, we are. But the most compassionate
and loving thing we could possibly do for people is to confess Christ
to them. That's the best thing you can
do for their soul. People say, what are you doing for your kids
down at that church? I don't see any programs. We're preaching
the gospel to them. The only thing needful. We're
not trying to entertain them on their road to hell. We're
trying to make them see Christ. Mama, I love you. Come to church
with me. You've got to hear this that I'm hearing. You've got
to believe the one that I believe. Paul said, if any man loved not
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's going, hey, oh mama, come on, son. You know, if you really, if you,
listen to this illustration. If you or somebody you love,
you and someone you love were in a burning building, if you,
the two of you, so your mother and you or your son and you or
your husband and you were in a burning building, and you knew
it was burning, You'd try everything you could
to get them out, wouldn't you? Come on. It's burning. We're going
to perish. What if they don't want to go?
What if they finally say, I'm not going. I'm content right
here. I'm not going. Then won't you
stay with me? What are you going to say? You can stay if you want
to. I'm leaving. I love you. But
I've got to get out of here. Now, if there's some way you
could throw them out of the building and you perish in their presence,
that's what Christ did for us. Well, how about this? What about
if you get to the judgment, if I get to the judgment, and God
says to me or says to you, Bill, now you don't want to come in
here because your mama didn't make it. Now George, or Susan, now you
don't want to come in here because your husband, he did not make
it. He died before you, but he's not here. He's down there in
the lake of fire. You don't want in here. He's
not here. What are you going to say? Okay, I'll go join them.
Let me in! Right? Look here at Matthew 10 again,
verse 21. Look at this. He says in Matthew 10, verse
21, The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and
the father, the child, and the children to rise up against their
parents and cause them to be put to death. And you shall be
hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endures to
the end shall be saved. Then look back over at Luke 14.
Like I said, it doesn't matter what I say, but what the Word
of God plainly says. Luke 14. Look at this again.
Verse 25, Luke 14, 25. And there went great multitudes
with him again. Another big crowd. And he turned, verse 25, and
said unto them, If any man come to me, he gets a little plainer
here. If any man were going to come after me, he was going to
be a Christian, and hate not, that is, love me so much that
it appears that you don't regard your father and your mother.
And hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brother, and sisters, yea, and his own life also. He can't
be my disciple." I'll illustrate this. Walter Gruber went to Mexico
as a missionary many years ago, twenty-some-odd years ago. He
took his wife and four children, one of them was six months old,
the oldest was about six years old, to a pagan country He hardly
knew the language. They slept in hammocks on the
side of the road, mosquito infested land, hot. He didn't have any
money. He quit his job, sold his house,
took his family down to this pagan country to preach the gospel. You know what his parents, his
parents and his wife's parents, in-laws said to him? You don't
love your children. That's what the Lord said, wasn't
it? He will appear to you. If you
don't love me, you can stay with me. Oh, mama, I do love you. But I'm more concerned with your
soul than I am your body. And just your temporal relationship.
Listen to this. I told you it was going to be
hard, but there's some comfort coming. Luke 14, again, here
look at verse 33. You say, well, I can't. I just
can't forsake my mama, my own flesh and blood. I can't forsake
them. Look at verse 33. Whosoever he
be, that forsaketh not all he has, he cannot be my disciple. Well, some believe because they
cannot bear Christ's doctrine. I need to get to this real fast. Unbelief is the root of it all. Terry, it's the root of all falling
away, unbelief. When it gets right down to it,
they just don't believe. They just don't believe God's
sovereign, salvation's in His hands, that we're really going
to hell, that we're condemned to die. They don't believe that.
I'm okay. I'm just going to work. Mine
will be all right. I'm doing the best I can. They really don't
believe that we're condemned to die. They were under the wrath
of God. They really don't believe that.
They really don't. And that Christ is their only hope. That unless
they have this imputed righteousness to their soul, unless they have
this blood covering upon them, that God's not going to accept
them, admit them into his presence. They really don't believe that.
So therefore, all these little things are just memes. Just messengers,
you know, to call them out because they really didn't believe in
the first place. And anyone who does fall, they do so because
John said they were not of us. For if they were of us, had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest or revealed to be what they really
were all along. That they might be made manifest
if they were not all of us. Eventually, all unbelievers or
professors will fall away, and they use many excuses, but the
most obvious reason is they hate sovereign grace. That's it. And this was the case here in
John chapter 6 in our text. Let me look at a few things here,
and then I'll quit. John chapter 6, back in the text. This was
the case here. It was what he said. is what
he said in this particular message that made these people leave.
Look at John 6, verse 28. The Lord said, or these people
said unto him, What can we do to be good Christians? What can
we do? Give us some works to do. Give
us some duties. Shall we live by the Ten Commandments?
What shall we do to do the works, the work, the works of God? And
Christ answered and said unto them, This is the work of God. that you believe on him, there's
nothing you can do to please God. In the flesh, no man can
please God. That no man can be accepted by
the law is its evidence. This is the work of God. That
you believe on Christ, trust in Him, look to Him, hope in
Him in all things. That's the work of God. Faith
is a gift. He talked about justification,
not by works, but by faith. Salvation by grace through faith. Not of works. That's what He's
saying here. And it's a gift. Faith is a gift.
You can't just drum it up. They must have thought. Look
at verse 35. Verse 35. Christ said unto them, I am the
bread of life. Emphatically, he said, I am the
bread of life. He that comes to me shall never
hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst. What
he's saying is, look unto me. I'm your only hope. I am your
only hope of salvation. I'm it. I'm all. I am all. We don't like that. Verse 37. Verse 37. All that the Father gives me
shall come to me. Election. Are you saying God's choosing
some people and not others? All that the Father gives me
will come to me. Verse 38, I came down from heaven,
I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will
of Him is Him. I came to do it, and this is
the Father's will. which He sent me, that of all
He chose, all He gave me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up
again, particular redemption. I came down here to do a job.
I came to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going
to die for those that God chose. I'm going to save them. I'm going
to redeem them. I'm going to ransom them. My blood is going
to be applied to their souls, their souls only. I'm not going
to waste one precious drop of my blood. I'm going to save those
that God gave me. That's the will of God. Verse 44. Look at this. No man
can come to me. No man can come to me. Depravity.
Inability. You saying that, now wait a minute.
You saying I can't understand this book unless God, unless
the Holy Spirit reveals it to me. You saying that you, that
the Holy Spirit revealed that you know this and I don't. I'm
a doctor now. I'm a lawyer. You. Wow, man. The natural man receives
not the things of God. The foolish listen to him. Neither
can he know them, for they are spiritually understood. Depravity
and inability. In the revelation of God, no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw
him, and I will raise him up to the last day. Look at verse
51. Christ said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven,
the deity of Christ. I came down from above. You are
from beneath. You are earthly. I am the Lord
from glory. I am the King. I am God. Christ
is God. Now, wait a minute. Now, he was
a good man, but he ain't God, people say. Well, these said that and they
left. The Jews, therefore, strove among
themselves. Christ said, You've got to eat
my flesh and drink my blood. The Jews, verse 52, strove among
themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, of the truth I say unto
you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. What he's talking about here
is what I've been taken up with lately is a vital union with
Christ. I mean, a real knowledge, a real
knowledge of a person, not just believing in sovereign grace,
but really knowing a person walking and talking in communion, abiding,
except you abide in me and I in you, you shall not bear any fruit.
You're just a withered branch, fit for casting, fit for the
burning. And that's what he's saying here. Except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you really. You're
just a professor of religion. But whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the
last day. Well, look at verse 60. This was their reaction.
Many of their four of his disciples, when they heard this, they said,
this is hard. This is hard now. This is hard
saying. Now, who can hear this? These
are hard ears. Pastor, you're hitting too...
This is deep. I mean, this is too... You're
hitting me where it hurts. This is hard. Who can hear it?
They that have ears. Verse 61, the Lord turned to
his disciples. And Jesus knew in himself that
they murmured. He said unto them, Does this offend you? Does this
offend you? Violent? Do these things offend
you? What I've been saying, Rick? Do these things offend you? Look
at verse 63. It's spirit to quicken us. The
flesh prophet is nothing. Nothing you do, nothing you can
do will make you acceptable to God. Nothing. It's the spirit to quicken us.
The flesh prophet is nothing. The words that I speak, they're
spirit and they are life. True worship is spiritual. One
day he turned to him and he said, now hear this. Hear this. After the Pharisees gave their
little spiel about washing with hands and so forth, their works,
he said, now y'all hear this real good. Real good. He said, it's not what goes into
the mouth that defiles a man. He just reiterated this over
and over again. It's not what goes into this
mouth that defiles a man. That's what the Pharisees are
taking up with. It's not what goes in that defiles
a man, it's what comes out. Well, verse 65, and he gets back
to where he started here. It's justification by faith.
He said, Therefore said I unto you from the beginning,