All right, thank you. Our first
speaker, Brother Suyo, has been crossing the country, and he
leaves Sunday evening going back to France. And we're very thankful
he could work us into his schedule. And we're delighted you could
be with us, Brother. Jean-Claude, you come. set forth
the gospel of God's grace to us. Good evening to you. It is a joy to be here. I wrote to Pastor Jim several months,
well, weeks now ago, saying that I would be in the area last weekend,
and he said, can you stay another week? And I didn't have to twist
my arm too bad to do that. It's a joy, and once again I
need to bring to you the greetings from my wife. I was fast asleep,
I guess, by now, but we were in contact earlier on and she
said, you lucky one. I don't know if the word lucky
is the right one, but she wishes she could be here, especially
in Almonte. This evening I would like to
invite you to turn to the Gospel according to John, chapter 6,
and we'll read the last few verses of this chapter. John 6, and we'll start reading
at verse 67. And Jesus said to the twelve,
Do you also want to go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ,
the Son of the living God." Jesus answered them, "'Did I not choose
you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?' He spoke of Judas
Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him,
being one of the twelve." Now this passage, I'm not naive
enough to think that I'm the first one to preach to you from
it, and I know that many, you have probably heard many messages,
you've read it, and probably studied this chapter, this passage
in particular, and a chapter which is full of riches, a passage
here at the end of it, end of this chapter, which is a great
passage, and just reading it, you realize that it is impossible
in the time we have to get everything out of it. But it is a passage
which bears coming to time and time again, and I would suggest
that if you feel that you know this passage, well, maybe this
is a time to listen to it even more. So often we get into a routine
about the Word of God. Oh, I know it. But it is the
Word of God, my friends. And we need to come to it as
a word which is ever young, ever new, ever powerful. And in this
chapter we have, of course, the multiplication of bread to this
great crowd. Jesus multiplies the bread as
a sign to who he is and what he's come to do. And then you
will remember how the people want to make him king, so he
withdraws and then he crosses the lake again, comes back to
Capernaum and The multitude, not seeing him anymore, on the
farther side, the eastern side, crosses the lake, looking for him, and they find
him. And when they come to him, he
starts teaching them. Again, he teaches them about
the truth that is in him and the error that is in them, the
unbelief that has that is gripping them. And as a result of this
teaching, beautiful teaching, deep and yet so clear, many people
separate themselves from Christ. These people who are called in
this passage, disciples. So people have followed Him.
They turn away from Him. And Jesus, here at this point,
turns to, we read, the twelve, and he asks a question, he receives
an answer, and then he declares what is the work of God. And before we get into the text,
I would like to underline a few things which we find in our passage. as an introduction. And the first
thing I want to underline is how bad, how mediocre evangelist
or preacher Jesus is. Now, of course, you will have
realised that I'm speaking as a religious man here. But you
see the man here, and let's try to see the situation. He has
a multitude of people, a great crowd, And these people are ripe. They are mesmerized by him. The
day before, or maybe the day before that, many of them crossed
the lake. Now, I don't know how much it
would have cost, but probably quite a price. Those who could
afford it went actually all around the top of the lake in order
to follow Jesus and not just to be taught, to hear him speak. Now you try to get a crowd to
hear somebody speak today, and that's quite a job. But these
people are so mesmerised by what he says, to a point, that actually
they forget about eating. And here comes the evening and
Jesus says, well, what shall we do with them? These people, of course, they
eat the bread and the fishes and they want to make him king.
Surely this is wonderful. The work of the Kingdom of God
will be able to start here in Palestine and from there touch
the whole world. I mean this is really something
wonderful and we'll bring in all the experts to tell us how
to market the whole thing, but this is without counting about
Jesus, who goes away. And he goes to the other side
of the lake. And when these people come to him again, say, Lord,
how did you come over? Then he starts teaching them
what they qualify as hard things. A very, very poor evangelist,
very poor preacher. Doesn't he realise that this
is not the way to draw a crowd and to keep a crowd? No, he doesn't. He says these hard things and
people start to go away. What is he going to do? Is he
going to run after them and say, hang on, we need to talk some
more about it, we need to understand each other, come to a consensus? No, not at all. The people go,
he will nailed the top of the coffin saying, actually telling
them, look at verse 37 for instance, at the end of verse 37, all that
the father gives me will come to me and the one that comes
to me I will in no means cast out. You see this means really
that you can't come to me. The Father has to draw you. Verse
44, look, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent
me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Now there's
one thing which if you want to draw a crowd you must not teach
that that people can't exercise their free will, can decide,
can do something. And here Jesus is teaching that.
He is really, as we would say in French, he will just go further
the extra mile in doing something wrong, in teaching this. I mean,
what a poor evangelist. Has nobody told him that this
is not the way to do it? Why is he so so attached to this message,
why can't he kind of file a little bit these burrs there? This is
really poor professionalism. How does he want to... I mean
it's not surprising that when he died, after when he went to
heaven, there was only 120 in the upper room, really not at
all. Well, Jesus doesn't even stop
there. Look at verses 64 and 65. But there are some of you, he
says, who do not believe. Well, that is really going far,
isn't it? And verse 65. Therefore I have
said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted
to him by the Father. Well, that's just no way to talk
to a crowd. No way at all. So you see, we
have this Jesus here, who is a very, very poor evangelist,
very poor preacher. How can you really do a work
with him? Another thing to underline is
the message of Jesus, and obviously these things go together. Here,
in chapter 6, there's a lot. But basically, when he teaches
that crowd in Capernaum, he says two things. He teaches them two
things. The first thing is that God is
absolutely sovereign. No one can come to me unless
the Father draws him. And of course, that implies that
he draws whoever he wants. And if not everybody comes, he's
not drawing everybody. That is quite clear. And that
is not something which is very popular today, it was not popular
then, and it will not be popular tomorrow if there is a tomorrow.
Never, ever. And it's not a cultural thing.
I travel enough to see that everywhere, and it's not surprising. God is totally sovereign in the
salvation which he accomplishes in Christ. Verses 32-33. And Jesus said unto them, Most
assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from
heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For
the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life
to the world. So what Jesus is saying is that
God does something irrespective of whatever we like, we want,
or we don't like, we don't want. He acts as he wants, the way
he does what he wants, how he wants it, with whoever he wants
it. And there is none, says Daniel, who can say to him, what are
you doing? Legitimately, many, many people
say that, but legitimately no one can say that. So, God is totally sovereign. And I'm wondering if often, even
though we say that regularly, we forget that. The second truth which Jesus
teaches here, and obviously these two go together, is the total
inability of man. And this is why the people leave
him. Man, you, me, by nature, anybody
in this earth, cannot do anything for salvation. We can do plenty
of things, but not for salvation. We can try to save ourselves.
It's not been working too good, has it? Well, in my case anyway. If you save through your efforts,
maybe we need to talk some. But, you see, these two truths
go together and together they are the gospel, the good news,
because they meet in Christ. Now, you over-emphasise or you
keep just one side, like the inability of man, there's despair,
and we need a bit more despair in the church today. There are
some people who come through the doors and they're too comfortable
in places of worship. No, there needs to be despair.
Because if there's no despair, there's no need of Christ. And
it's saying, oh God, you've sent your son, but that is really
a waste. I can do pretty good myself. So you see, Jesus cannot
tone down this. You cannot come. But he cannot tone down the other
side either. Because there's no good news
without that. There's no Saviour. but there is a Saviour and this
is Jesus himself. So, Jesus is a bad evangelist,
Jesus is a bad preacher by today's standards or men's standards
because he is a Saviour. And he cannot tone down that
without destroying the whole message, the whole good news
of salvation. As I said, there is no gospel
without these two truths. particularly in that passage
here. Another thing I want to underline
as well and this is just to start our thoughts and our worship
I would say to realize such a great God. The other thing I want to
underline is that Jesus alone saves. Now many religious men
And I'm talking about men, not the quirks and not the wrong
ones, but religious men who are sincerely wrong, but sincere. Many of them will come into all
kinds of compromises for one basic reason. They want to build
something. Now they may do it sincerely.
I mean, many people don't do it sincerely, they just want
to build their own glory and so on. But some people want to
build something, and in order to build an empire, in order
to build a church, you need bricks, you need people, you need multitudes,
and therefore you've got to compromise. There are certain things you
can't say. And if you hold to just preaching
the Word of God as it is, in that book, as it challenges you,
as you prepare yourself, then you're not going to attract people.
On the contrary, people will turn away. But no, Jesus is different. He built his church, but he built
his church on the truth. and he does it on his own. Isaiah
63 is the only one to tread the winepress of the wrath of God.
Not only is he the only one, but he must be the only one.
Because our sin is in that trough. So he must be the only one. And when people are offended
by the truth, even Jesus cannot change that. So why should we
think that we can? So in a sense that's a safeguard,
isn't it? Sometimes you may wonder, I go out and talk to people,
or I'm at work and I talk to people, but I'm kind of bashful
because I can't speak properly. I don't know what to say exactly.
I just follow Jesus. He cannot change the message.
That which you have heard and seen pass on to others. That's quite simple, isn't it?
Well, apart from our sin, it would be very simple, but sometimes
we want to get in the way. So, Jesus cannot retain these
people. The truth has offended them.
He cannot do away with the truth. Because without the truth, my
friends, there is no salvation. No one can be saved. So Jesus
has to stay on the truth. And he is the only one who can
do the work. No one can save with Jesus, you
know, the little percent one wants to have, maybe a half percent
or whatever it is. No, that is not possible. Why? Look at verse 27. Especially at the end of the
verse. Well, let's read the verse. Do
not labour for the food which perishes, which really what they
were doing, running after him, but for the food which endures
to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. He
is not going to give you a percentage of it, a proportion. No, He will
give it to you. Why? Because God the Father has
set His seal on Him. He is the Saviour, there is nobody
else. And He is not a half-Saviour. is the one announced from everlasting. So, Jesus alone saves. Let's quit trying to help Jesus. Another thing to underline, and
this is things we find here, it is that Jesus is a man. Now,
maybe we're too familiar with this to be struck by the thing.
Now, Shu is God, he's perfectly God, as all the miracles he's
done have proved. And the day before, he had a
mighty miracle, and he's talking to people who are still digesting
the miracle. He's the Lord of Glory, but he's
also a true man. Everything that makes a status
as human beings is in Him, but not touched by sin. This is a
very fundamental thing to realise. And as a man, Jesus has human
reactions. They are not weaknesses like
they would be with us, but they are just the characteristic of
humanity. For instance, you'll remember,
after a very, very tiring and gruelling day, he gets in the
boat and even in the middle of a storm, he falls asleep. Well,
that's not because he's weak, it's because he's a man. Like
at night, every one of us will go to sleep and if we can't sleep,
there's something wrong with us. So, he's a man and we remember
in particular the agony in the garden. Now he's faced with the
terrible pain of the nails and so on, but he's faced with something
he's never known, which is being separated from the Father. Now
he's flesh, kind of retreats from that. Oh Father, if it be
possible. Now the issue is not in death,
he will go to the cross and he will accomplish the salvation.
There's no doubt about that. But it's human nature. It's there and it does what we
would do as men, as human beings. So you see, Christ is a man and
he reacts as a man. And this is a wonderful truth,
a wonderful proof that he is the saviour we need. Because
an angel cannot save us. An angel cannot pay the debt,
not any more than a lamb. It has to be a man, a man without
sin. So here we have a man who is
equipped for the work of salvation. He is God but he is also fully
man with all the reactions. And here, in this passage, faced
with a multitude turning away from him, He feels discouragement. Will you also go away? Can you
feel it? He is discouraged. That is not
a weakness, this is just faced with people turning away and
you've known it and I've known it. We feel discouraged. People
come to church, come to our meetings for several weeks, maybe months
and then they don't come no more. Well, you're not honest if you
say, I don't feel bad about it. You're not. Maybe there's something
wrong with you. No, we feel discouraged. And
to see Jesus being discouraged, that is not saying that he's
not perfect. No, no, he's human, my friends. And this is a great
encouragement for us. We can go through discouragement
like he has done. And this is Jesus then, he turns
to the twelve, it is said, and he says, will you go also away? I mean, is there going to be
nobody left with me? How many times have I said that?
And Elijah and so on, the syndrome of Elijah, people say. Well,
that is something we go through. I am the only one. And then the
Lord shows you, no, not at all. there are people much better
than you, but they're hidden, they're here, there and everywhere,
and this is why it's such a great encouragement to be with brethren,
especially when we go through times when we're very much on
our own. So the discouragement of Jesus here shows us something
wonderful, that he is a true saviour, he is a real saviour.
But he goes through discouragement and it is at this point that
there is a divine exchange. Because he says, he turns to
the Twelve, will you also go away? And Peter steps forward. And this time Peter doesn't have
to put his foot in his mouth, you know. He says, to whom shall
we go? But it is not Peter speaking,
my friends. It's his mouth, yeah. But this
is the Father speaking to the Son. And this is why I said it's
a divine exchange, wonderful confession. But this is the Father
who comes to uphold his Son at the time when the flesh becomes
so heavy. And how does he do it? He does
it by showing what is the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts
of his people, all by virtue of what Christ is going to do
here along on the cross. But the work of salvation is
already started, of course. And what does Peter say? What
does the Father say? To whom shall we go? This is
beautiful, but I wonder if we're too familiar with it. We look
at it in a religious way. To whom shall we go? The first
thing it shows us is that this is not flesh and blood. Why? Because when there's a problem,
in the church, outside the church, among men, when there is a problem,
what is the question? Or what are the questions? It's
never in terms of whom, but what shall we do? How shall we do
it? And so on. But here, Peter, it's
not flesh and blood, it's the Spirit. To whom shall we go? You see, salvation is not strategies,
it's not what we should do, how we do it and so on. It's whom
the Lord has sent. And this is so foundational.
To whom shall we go? You see, my friends, you may
be in the church, you may think you're saved, but if it's because
you've done something, because of this or that, then ask yourself
the questions. Do I know him? It is a person. Doctrine has its place, organisation
has its place. We need to meet, we need an hour
to meet, a place to meet, and so on. But salvation is a person,
and it goes much beyond whatever man can invent or concoct. And the Father is here saying
to the Son, through the mouth of Peter, do not be discouraged. Do not let the flesh take over. Yes, you need to go on. You are
on the right track. Now remember, Jesus is on the
earth. He is a man, fully man. It is a lonely path. And those
who follow the Lord know that it is a lonely path. And you
see the road which leads into damnation, into eternal ruin.
You see it from the lonely path. And it's full of people. And
it's easy. But no, it is a lonely path. Yes, all the multitudes turn
away from you. Do not look at them. Do not look
at them. They don't count. You are the
one I have sent. And I have sent you for a mission. And until that mission is done,
you are the one that counts. All the eyes of the Father, all
the eyes of the Trinity, if we may speak this way, are focused
on that cross. And Christ is going to the cross.
And if there is no cross, if he doesn't get to the cross,
what? It's not just that, oh well, salvation is not possible. No, the integrity of God himself,
the God of the covenant is done, is done with. It doesn't exist
no more. Why? Because God is the God of
the covenant. There are promises. If the promises
don't come to pass, what? And this was the argument from
Moses. If you let these people die in
the wilderness, the Egyptians would say, what kind of God is
this? Then you're the sort of God like this. No, you're on
the right track. My eyes are on you, my son. I
have sent you. And look, you're not alone. You're alone for the work. but
you're not left alone. Look, how can Peter answer the
way he does? This is not flesh and blood,
this is the Spirit speaking in him. So the Spirit is with you.
See, how can the twelve stay there? How can they not go with
the multitude? Are they better than than the
multitude? Are they better than the other
disciples? No, they are not, my friends, and we know through
the Gospel accounts that actually they are not. You remember, was
it John and James? Well, all of them actually, discussing
which one was the greatest among them. And they are going to Jerusalem.
Do they know better? No. What makes the difference?
The work of God in the heart. So this is how The Father encourages
the Son. To whom shall we go? The Holy
Spirit has sealed these. And the question we can ask ourselves
is that if Jesus was a failure, let's imagine, if Jesus were
a failure, to whom would you go? Now if you answer with anything,
even ever such a little thing, My friends, tremble. Tremble. Because salvation is not accomplished
that way and that is destroying the integrity of Christ. So it
is Christ alone. And if you see that this Jesus,
I'm not too sure about this, come to Him! There's no one else
to go to. No one else. To whom shall we
go? And you will remember the three
Hebrews in front of the fiery furnace. And the king said, well,
okay, we know you're young, and okay, if you've not understood
the game now, I give you a last chance. When you hear the music,
or whatever sound it was, you bow down and say, our God is
able to save us, to deliver us, but if not, and there's no way
we can bow down to that statue. It's nothing. We've seen so much
better. If God fails us, we've got no
hope. To whom shall we go? But Peter
continues, and I need to hurry up. You have the words of eternal
life. And why do the apostles, the
twelve, follow Jesus and It's not because of the miracles,
it's not because of the great things they see, it's not because
he's got the charisma, although he's got a lot of grace, but
it's because he has the words of eternal life. Now this is
very important and this is very interesting. A great multitude
has turned away from him just a minute ago. Why? Because He gave them some hard
sayings, some hard words. Now the same words heard by a
man are hard words and we turn away from that. The same words
heard by someone in whom the spirit works are the words of
eternal life. But not only that, it's not just
a word, we'll take the Bible, I'll read the Bible and that
that will bring me eternal life. No, here it is a question of
the word that is proclaimed, the word that is announced, declared. It's not just a word, it's the
word that is passed on, the word that is preached. You have the
word of eternal life. You see, the day before, these
5000 men plus ate the bread. saw the miracles, ate the miracles,
and they're digesting the miracles. Now, has that done them any good? No. No. That has kept them from
fainting in the other side of the lake. But that's about it.
No faith, nothing. And now they turn away from Him.
You see, that was a great miracle. And salvation is a greater miracle. But it doesn't come by miracles.
It comes by the One to whom the miracles point, even Jesus Christ,
the Bread of Life. And it is the power of God. It's not just a word and you
read it in a sort of superstitious way and it might touch you or
you might understand it. It's not something you know about
Jesus. As Peter says just after, he says, and we have come to
believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of God. There's
plenty to say about this. But you see, he doesn't know
about Jesus, or about the Son of God, but he knows the Son
of God. And Peter and the others, with
all their failures, with all their mistakes, and there are
plenty, He knows, why? Because the Father has revealed
it. And that revelation is the power
of God. And here Peter uses a different
word. The words of eternal life. A word which is the power of
God, which is a revelation of God. It's given. And this is
why the apostles, the twelve, are staying with Jesus. They've
been taken hold of by this power. But, we need to be careful. We need to be careful. Because
we may say, oh, because I'm in the right place, because I hear
the right person, because we can say Amen to a lot of things
which are said during the message, we're okay. But you notice how
John, and John doesn't write kind of cheap like people write
today. In those days it was quite a
job to write. And he writes that Jesus turns
to the twelve, But among these twelve, my friends, and look
at the last verse, he spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon,
for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve. So even our standing, even our
faithfulness, quote unquote, is not a matter of salvation
and being proud of it and trying to hold on to it. Yes, faithfulness
is a good thing. But that is given. That is the
life of salvation. Because one here in that crown
has stayed. But he is not with the others. He doesn't know. Now, Judas was
not different from the others by himself. You know, you remember
the time when Jesus at the Last Supper He says, one of you will
betray me. And none of the apostles, none
of the others say, turn to Jesus. Oh, I thought so, there's something
weird about this guy. No, they didn't know. Actually,
there's something even more beautiful and this is the real life of
the Spirit, my friends. The eleven disciples around that
table that day, they hear that one of them will betray the Lord. And in their mind, there's only
one person who is capable of betraying the Lord. Do you remember? Is it I? Is it I? That is the
life of the Spirit. To whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life. The words that make live, that
bubble into everlasting life. May the Lord be gracious with
us. Amen.