John chapter 6. As I told you,
I titled this message, Does This Offend You? As I read to you,
the Jews, the religious leaders of that day were highly offended
at his message and at his person. They were highly offended. Our
Lord was meek Meekest man ever walked on this earth. Meek and
lowly of heart, yet he offended. He offended so many people. He offended many when he preached. When he opened his mouth and
he spoke the truth, people were always offended. He did not dignify
the flesh. He did not recognize those Pharisees. He put them in their place. He
gave unto God the honor and the glory that was due His name. When He spoke, nothing but absolute
truth came out of His mouth. When He spoke, and that's why
I told you to get this, because this is the Word of God. These
are His words. He says, the words that I speak
are spirit, and our life. We can't say that. We can't say
that. But he could. And he did. When
he spoke, he spoke the truth. He spoke the truth about God.
They thought they knew God. Then when he spoke the truth
about God, they got offended. He spoke the truth about himself.
He spoke the truth about us. And they got offended. He said,
I am the bread which came down from heaven. And it says the
Jews murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which
came down from heaven. Who does he think he is? They
could not get past his flesh. They couldn't get past this man
standing in front of them. They couldn't see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. All they could see was a poor
carpenter's son. That's all they could see. And
they have such a high opinion about themselves as we all do. We all have this. This is something
that we fight all the time. We naturally find these things
to be offensive when they come at us in truth. We naturally
find them to be offensive. We naturally think we are better
than we are. You ask any man in here how tall
he is and then subtract one or two inches. And dare I say, ask
any woman how much she weighs? Dare I say that? And subtract
ten pounds. You say, you oughtn't have said
that. Well, that's what they said. They said, what are you
doing? You shouldn't be talking like that. I thought those Jews
were saying to him, you shouldn't say that. You came down from
heaven. Who do you think you are? Oh, they were offended in
him. But the one thing about it, they knew what he was saying,
didn't they? They knew what he was saying. I came down from
heaven. I came down from above, and the
only person to do that is God. They knew he was speaking of
God. But when the Lord speaks, he tells it just like it is. Not trying to be offensive. He
did not try to be offensive. We should not try to be offensive
in our preaching. We are to preach the truth, as
Scripture says, in love. And you will if you have it.
You will if you have it. But he just told it like it was.
And then people would take up stones to stone him. He'd tell
the truth and they wanted to kill him for it. It troubles
me. It troubles me that more people
are not offended with what I'm saying. Our Lord, they wanted
to stone him. They wanted to stone him. Has
human nature changed? Someone said this to me some
time ago. We're talking about the radio and there's not much
response. And I said this, and I still
say this to myself, am I really saying anything? Am I saying
anything? Am I saying what the Lord's saying?
That troubles me. Beware when all men speak well
of you. It's as if you're not saying
anything. Because the message, the gospel, I'm telling you,
is offensive. The message hasn't changed, and
people haven't changed. It's not offensive to those whom
the Lord saves, but at one time it was. Now, on this occasion,
Christ had been with these people throughout the day, and he has
He fed 5,000 men plus the women and children. They saw his miracles. Look over at the first part of
this chapter. These people followed him. And it says in verse 1,
after these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which
is the Sea of Tiberias, and a great multitude followed him. A great
multitude, thousands, thousands of people followed him because
they saw the miracles. which he did on them that were
diseased. They saw these things. And they
loved him while he was feeding and healing. They loved him. They followed him. But when he opened his mouth
and he began to preach the gospel to them, they turned on him. Remember that crowd when he came
into town on that donkey? They cried, They were throwing
down palm branches and all that. Just a little while later, that
same crowd was crying, crucify him, crucify him. Thousands of
them, thousands of them walked off, except for the twelve. And he looked at the twelve and
he said, well, are you going to go with them? Peter said,
to whom shall we go? To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. To whom shall we go? But thousands
of them walked off, and they followed Him no more. He's His
disciple. He called them His disciples.
These people were following Him. They wanted to learn from Him.
They thought. And they left Him. They said,
this is a hard thing. Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. They said, that's a little bit
hard. That's just a little bit much. And they left. And they left because of his
message. And those Pharisees, they not only hated his message,
but they hated his person. Look back here in verse 41 and
42. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Is this, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and
mother we know? And in another place they said,
we know you, you're the carpenter's son. We know your brothers and
your sisters. They started, they named them
off. They were nobodies. Another time they said, how knoweth
this man letters, having never learned? They were offended at his person.
They were offended at where he came from. Look back in John chapter 1. This is what
Nathanael says. In verse 46, Nathanael said unto
him, we'll look up in verse 45, Philip findeth Nathanael, and
he said unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law
And the prophets did right. We found the Messiah, Jesus of
Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Has any prophet,
has anything good ever come out of that place? Are you serious?
He said, well, come and see. Come and see. And his death on the cross offended
them. He kept telling them, I'm the
bread which came down from heaven. And he said, the bread that I
will give, in verse 51, the bread that I will give is my flesh.
And he's talking about the cross. That's how he's going to give
it. It's going to be broken on the cross. He's talking about eating his
flesh and drinking his blood. He's talking about the blood
of atonement. He's talking about his flesh. And they said, we
don't have this. Christ crucified is offensive. It's offensive to the lost, to
the lost. Now, what did our Lord say that
offended them so much? What did he say? Look back over
in verse 38 and 39. He said a lot. But first, let's go back to verse
35. He said, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall
never hunger. He that believes on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also, you've seen
me, but you believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will know why I was cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the will He's speaking here of the sovereign will of
God. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which ye have given me, I should
lose nothing. They won't perish, but should
raise it up again at the last day. He spoke here of God's sovereignty
in salvation, and it made him mad. It made him mad. God creating upsets no one, no
one. I'd upset Darwin, but it upsets no one. But God saving, whom he will,
offends every lost soul. When we take the crown off the
head, of fallen man and put it on the head of God. We do that. That's when you find
out who loves God and who loves himself. When you take that crown off
the head of a natural man and you place that on God's head,
He's the sovereign. He's the sovereign. He saves
whom he will. And it made him mad. It upset
them. Here's what offends man. God's
will being done. Not mine. It has nothing to do with my
will. It has everything to do with God's will. Turn over to
Luke chapter 4. In Luke chapter 4, look in verse
24. And he said, the Lord said, Verily
I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias. when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months. You remember when Elijah prayed
and it didn't rain. It was shut up for three years
and six months when great famine was throughout all the land.
But as none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Eliseus. the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. What did they hear? Here's what they heard. God is
sovereign in salvation. You know what made them mad?
God saved, he says here, this woman. He said, unto none of
them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto
a woman that was a widow, and she was also a Gentile. She was a Gentile. And then Naaman,
he said, and many lepers were in Israel. They were in Israel. And God bypassed Israel in the
time of Elisha the prophet, Elijah the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed. God did not cleanse one Israelite. Not one leper was cleansed in
Israel. He said there was a lot of them
in there, a lot of them. But He did cleanse one, a Syrian,
a Gentile. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, They were filled with wrath.
But did you notice how he started this out in verse 25? I tell
you the truth. They got mad. I tell you, I pray
now, I do now, that God tells us the truth. Lord, send us the
truth. Keep the truth here. Lying about it's not going to
help you because when you face God, you know the weeping, I
think of this, the weeping and the wailing and the gnashing
of teeth that goes on in hell. I thought about this today. That's
going to be congregations gnashing upon their pastors for lying
to them. Lying on God. Why didn't you tell us the truth?
You had the word of God in your hand. Why did you lie to us? Why did you make us twofold the
children of hell? Lying doesn't save anybody. God
saves men by the truth. The truth. Sovereignty and salvation just
made a man. Made a man. Look over in Job
chapter 33. Job chapter 33. Look at verse 13, and you remember
this one. Why dost thou strive against
him? For he, God, giveth not account
of any of his matters. Why do you strive against Him? He gives no account. He's not
accountable to you and I. When you were growing up, and
your mother or father told you something to do, and you said,
why? And they said, because I said
so. Did that make you mad? It makes you mad. You may not
have been able to show it. Why? God gives no account of any of
his matters. He's the sovereign. Only a sovereign
can really truly do that. Our president can't do that.
I mean, he does have to answer. He's got four years. He better give some answers.
But God Almighty, infinitely wise, holy, good, knows all things, knows all things
from beginning to end. He gives no account to any creature
of why he does what he does, why he saves whom he saves, and
why he passes by whom he passes by. He's God. Even so, Father, this
ain't good in thy sight. Isn't that enough? That's enough. That's enough for a child of
God. But it'll make a rebel man. It will make a rebel man. Scripture says over in Romans
9, go back over to Romans 9. I'm going to take this too long. Romans 9. Romans 9. Look in verse... Look in verse... Let me see here
where I want to start reading. Look in verse 17. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he will harden. Thou
wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath
resisted his will?" And here is the reply that Paul gives
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Nay, but, O man,
who art thou that replies against God? Who are you to complain,
dispute with God? Who are you to do that? Shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made
me thus? hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God willing, What if
it's His will? If it's His will, then it's right. Isn't it? If it's God. If it's
His will, it's right. If it's His will, it can be done
no other way. It's the wisest way it can be
done. It cannot be done any other way. You know, you and I, we
try to choose which way we want to do something. God's not in
there. He's not in a quandary like you
and I. Which way do I go? Which way do I go? What do I do? He's of one mind. He's not mixed
up, confused. He's of one mind, and who can
turn him? Why did God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endure with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had
aforeprepared unto glory." What if He's willing to do that? Who am I to dispute with Him?
That's why He said, who am I? I'm the thing formed. I am the
thing formed. He's the Creator. He's the one
with infinite wisdom. We don't know much. I'm just
being honest, we don't know much. And it doesn't take us long to
forget that. He forgets nothing except our
sins. He remembers them no more. He
remembers them no more, but my soul. Who are you to reply against
God? And then he offended them because
he preached Man's inability to come to him. Man's inability. Listen to what
he said back here in verse 44. No man can come to me of his
own strength of his own so-called free will,
he can't come because he won't come. He won't come. Christ said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. You will not to do it. You got
a problem with your will. And it says here in verse 4,
he shows us man's inability to come. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. We know from the scriptures that
man is spiritually dead. I don't know why people have such
a hard time with what that word means. We say somebody died,
we know exactly what it means. But when we talk about spiritually
dead, it's as if we've still got a little flicker of life
left in us. No, not spiritual life. We've got this natural
life, this life of the flesh. But we don't have, by nature,
a glimmer of the life of God in us. We don't have it. And we know that. We know that
by the Scriptures. We know that man is blind. We know that man is lame. You
know, when our Lord cured all these people, the lame, He made
them to walk. The blind, that they could see.
The deaf, that they could hear. He's showing us, by doing these
physical things, what he does for us spiritually. He gives
us spiritual eyes to see, ears to hear, faith to walk, to walk
by the just shall live by faith. He gives us these things. But
naturally, we don't possess any of them. Not at all. He spoke
of the need of regeneration. He says in verse 63, it's the
spirit that quickeneth gives life. They thought they had it.
They thought they had it. They didn't have it at all. He said it's the spirit that
quickeneth, it's the spirit that gives life. He said the Nicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews, a leader, a religious leader of the Jews.
If the blind lead the blind, they what? They both fall in
the ditch. And Nicodemus was a blind religious
leader. For the Lord said to him, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. What do you mean I need to be
born again? That's what Nicodemus said. What do you mean I need
to be born again? Nicodemus, you're as lost as
the day you're born. As blind as the day you're born. Dead as the day you're born.
And unless the Spirit of God quickens you, you won't see any
of this. It'll make you mad. It'll just
make you mad. That's what it'll do. And then Christ spoke of our
need. Our need of faith. Look in verse 64 and 65. I'm
going to wind this down. I've got too much material here. He said, but there are some of
you that believe not. That's your problem. You believe
not. Faith filleth by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
You believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning. I tell you
what, that's not just the beginning of the day. That's from creation. He knew before the world was
created who they were that believed not and who should betray. Who should betray. We need, we
need the Holy Spirit to grant us, as it says that he did in
the book of Acts of the Gentiles, faith and repentance. It's his work. I'm not going
to beg you into believing I can't do that. I can't give you repentance,
but he can. He can. And that offended those
religious lost people. That offended them. That they
ought to be born again? You mean I'm not good enough?
As I am, I thought I was a pretty good person. No, you're dead. Spiritually dead by nature. Does this offend you? Faith in Christ, feeding on Christ,
living on Christ? Salvation by the sovereign will
of God? Salvation by grace? Alone? In Christ alone? Living? Living upon Christ alone? By faith? Without any works of
our own? It offended those Pharisees.
You read through the Gospels. So many times they wanted to
kill Him. They wanted to kill Him. They
couldn't stand it. They couldn't stand it.