Well, we're back in John chapter
six, after the break of last week, and my text is, if there
is a text, it's really the whole passage, but it's verse 44. No
man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. And the title I've
given this is The Cross, Its Offense, and Its Glory. You see,
the words of Jesus that are recorded by John in John's gospel chapter
six, Those words caused great offense to many who superficially
appeared to be his disciples. If you look in verse 60, we read
before, many of his disciples, when they heard this, what he
was saying, they said, this isn't hard saying. Who can hear it? We don't like this. We don't
like what we're hearing. And verse 66, And he said, therefore
I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given
of him, of my father. So in verse 66, from that time,
many of his disciples, many who professed to be his disciples,
who claimed to be his disciples, they went back. And they walked
no more with him. Why? Because they didn't like
what he said. They found it offensive. They
found his message offensive. What? Jesus, I mean, even the
religious world of our day acknowledges Jesus as a good man. He was a
good teacher. And yet, many, many, many found
what he said to be offensive to them. And if people would
only read truly what Jesus taught and said, you would find that
the majority in this world today would find his message offensive. They would find it offends them.
It goes against what they think is right in their human nature.
You see, throughout this chapter Our Lord Jesus Christ, the man
walking before them, he speaks of himself. Here is God incarnate. Incarnate means in flesh. Here
is God inhabiting a human body. And here he is giving eternal
life. This is what he's doing on his
earthly mission. He is giving eternal life. to
the multitude, the innumerable multitude, that the Father had
given Him before the beginning of time, a multitude not just
of Jews, but from all the nations of the world. Look at verse 51.
He said to the Jews, who were very proud of their privileged
situation, they thought they were the people of God to the
exclusion of all others. He said, I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I give is
my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. I give it
for the life of the world, as God had promised to Abraham,
as God had promised to the one that they revered more than anybody
else, to Abraham. He had promised to Abraham, Genesis
22 verse 18 and other places, in thy seed, in your descendants,
Abraham, in your descendant, Abraham, who is Christ, shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. That's in Genesis.
the Jews' Scriptures, the books of Moses, the first one, there,
in your seed, Christ who would come, the seed of the woman,
promised in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, in your seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. There shall be those
who shall be blessed with the eternal life of God from all
nations on this earth. In chapter 6, at the start of
it, our Lord had fed 5,000 men, plus however many others, women
and children, there were with Him, with an act of divine creation. And they were nourished for a
day with bread and fish, probably the best bread and fish they'd
ever tasted. They were nourished for a day
and they came for more, thinking that this is why He came. But
He made clear that His mission was to be spiritual food, not
physical food. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He made
clear that his mission was to be spiritual food, giving life
for eternity, life that is purchased at a price. Verse 51, I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. It
was a life, eternal life, which He purchased with the price,
and the price was His broken body. His body was broken, cruelly
broken on that cross, and His lifeblood, the blood in which
is the life thereof, the precious blood as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, the Passover Lamb of God, behold the Lamb
of God, His lifeblood was poured out, and in that pouring out,
the payment was made to the offended justice of God for the sins of
the multitude the Father gave him. Now, what could be offensive
about that, you might say? God in flesh steps into the place
of sinners and pays their due penalty. What could be offensive
about that? Because its consequences are,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Death, as Paul writes to Timothy, death has been abolished. Death,
through fear of death all their lifetime, subject to bondage.
Death has been abolished. What could possibly be offensive
about that message of gospel grace? Here it is. Here is the
offense of the cross. Here's the offense. The redeeming
work of Christ His death, His broken body, His shed blood,
that bread that He gave for the life of the world, the world
of sinners that the Father gave Him before the beginning of time,
That redeeming work was not for everyone who ever lived. It was
only for the multitude, an innumerable multitude from every tribe and
tongue and kindred, but it was only for the multitude that the
Father gave Him in electing sovereign grace before the beginning of
time. The Father chose, the Son covenanted
to come and to pay the penalty for their sin. the Spirit covenanted
to give life, to quicken, to make alive. People, in general,
religious people especially, hate that concept. that the death
of Christ was not for the whole world. It was for the people
the Father had given him. But surely that's the message
of Scripture. Surely they think it's unfair. How can that be
fair? How can that be fair? There is
no injustice with God, but don't mark God by your concept of fairness. Surely everyone should be given
a chance to avail themselves, or not, of the benefits of redemption,
they think. But if they were, nobody would
believe, because nobody in the flesh has the power or ability
to believe in the Son of God. we need to come to God's Word.
What does God's Word say? What saith the Scripture, was
the old cry of the reformers. What does God's Word say? To
the Scripture alone, to the law and the testimony, if they speak
not according to this Word, there is no life in them. What does
the man, who is the Word? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Who is this
This One who came from heaven, who is God become flesh, the
Word become flesh, and dwelling amongst His people there, 2,000
years ago. What does He say? He is the One
who came down from heaven. He alone is the One who has heavenly
light, and came to earth from heaven. What does He say? He
says this. Let's go back and trace His words.
Verse 29 of chapter 6. In verse 29, the previous verse,
the Jews had asked, what should we do that we do the work of
God? What's the thing that God wants us to do? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God, this is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. What? Not obey
the law? No. Believe on Him. What's the
obedience God requires? Obedience to this. Believe on
the One whom He has sent. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The work God requires is belief in His Son. He says that he is
that spiritual bread, that spiritual heavenly bread that must be imbibed,
taken in by a sinner to have eternal life. He's not speaking
literally of eating bread, he's speaking metaphorically, using
the metaphor of bread to speak of imbibing that spiritual reality
which he is. Verse 35, Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me For that
bread of life from heaven, that manna which came down from heaven,
which fed the Israelites but was just a symbol, was just a
picture of the true bread from heaven, he says, he who eats
this bread, which is himself, this spiritual bread, shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. He says that many of them have
seen and heard him, verse 36, you also have seen me, but you
don't believe. Why do they not believe? Why do they not believe? He said
to some in John chapter 10 later on, he said, you believe not
because you are not of my sheep. You are not of the multitude
that my father gave to me before the beginning of time. That's
why you do not believe in me. That's a hard saying, who can
take that? Yes, I know, that's what flesh says. And that's what's
recorded here, is the reaction of flesh to that doctrine. You
see, it's only the objects of electing grace. Verse 37, all
that the Father giveth me, the objects of electing grace, all
that the Father has given to the Son shall come to him in
time, believing him. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Look, come. If you feel the drawing
of Christ and of the Spirit to come to him, believing on him
and trusting him, and you come, He promises you will not be turned
away, you will not be cast out. You see, all for whom Christ
purchased redemption from the curse of the law. Cursed is everyone
that continues not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. He purchased redemption from that curse with his broken
body and his shed blood on the cross and every one, every last
one of them for whom he did that shall come to Christ believing,
shall come to Christ trusting. Even people who are rising up
in anger against what they hear me say now, if they're amongst
that number, they will find the grace of our God and the call
of His Spirit irresistible. They will trust They will follow
Him, because the Spirit of God makes the people of God willing
to believe Him in the day of His power. It's the work of God
that you believe on Him whom He has sent. You follow Him,
and whoever comes without exception, He'll welcome. He'll welcome.
It's why He came. Look, verse 39 and 40. Verse 39 and 40. This is the
Father's will, which has sent me. that of all which He has
given me, all the people He has given me, that multitude, I should
lose nothing. Not one of them will be lost
to hell, not one, but it will be raised up at the last day.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And this is the will
of Him that sent me, the will of God, the will of God. The will of the absolute supreme
sovereign of the universe. Can that will be resisted? Can
that will be denied? Can that will be turned over?
Of course it can't. He's God. Nobody can resist His
will. This is the will of Him that
sent me, sent Christ, that everyone which seeth the Son. Oh, they
looked on Him. Many of them looked on Him as
a man and saw nothing. They didn't see the Son. But
the Holy Spirit shows the people of God who this is, that this
man is God come for redemption from the curse of the law. Everyone
that sees the Son and believes on Him, willingly trusts Him,
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. You see, they take offense. The
Jews listening, and many of those who wanted to be identified as
his disciples, they took offense. Verse 41, they murmured at him. Why did they murmur at him? He
said, I'm the bread of life which came down from heaven. If you
want eternal life, you must come to me. You won't get it any other,
but we have our Jewish traditions. We have our temple worship. We
have our sacrifices and priests and all that. That's what assures
us of eternal. No, it doesn't, says Jesus. You
must come to me. They murmured at him because
he said he alone was the bread of life. It was only in him that
they could have heavenly life, eternal life. They said, look
who he is, look at him. We know him, it's not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, we know him. He's nothing special, he's the
carpenter's son from Nazareth. We know his father and his mother.
In another gospel they say we know his brothers and sisters,
because Joseph and Mary had other children. And they said, we know
who he is. We know all about him. How is
it then that he says, I came down from heaven? We know where
you came from. You're getting above your station. You're getting
above what we know you to be. You're just a carpenter's son.
Who are you to tell us that you're the one that God sent down from
heaven and we must eat that spiritual bread which is you? Jesus answered
and said unto them, don't murmur amongst yourselves, verse 44,
Don't complain against heavenly truth. If you've missed it, here
it is again. No man can come to me, no man
can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him, and
I will raise him up at the last day. Eternal life, he's saying,
is not the birthright of the Jewish nation. It's the gift
of God alone, by grace, i.e. saved through faith and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. because if it was of works in
any way, if it was of your own work of believing, if that's
how you view it, you'd boast about it, that you were better
than the rest because you believe. But no, not of works, lest any
man should boast. It's not the birthright of the
Jewish nation, it's the gift of God alone. And he reminded
them of this in verse 65. He said, therefore said I unto
you, no man can come unto me except it were given unto him
of my father. Oh, that the Father might give
unto you, you who do not believe at this moment, that He might
give unto you that gift of eternal life, that sight of the soul
to see the Son and believe in Him. And He stressed In verse
45, he said, this isn't new doctrine. Don't think I'm coming along
with new doctrine. It is written in the prophets. Look, it's written
in your scriptures, he says to these Jews. They shall all be
taught of God. That's Isaiah 54, verse 13. They shall all be taught of God.
All the people of God shall be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.
You see, the spirit moves. The wind blows where it listeth.
says Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3. You hear the sound of it,
but you don't know where it's come from or where it's going
to. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God. The Spirit
comes along, and they hear the words of eternal life. It says
in Acts chapter 13, when Paul and the other apostles and their
helpers were preaching, what were they preaching? They were
preaching Christ and the redemption he has accomplished. And who
believed? It says, those that were ordained
to eternal life believed. Acts 13, 48. Could it be clearer? It couldn't, could it? It couldn't
be clearer. You have to bury your head in the sand if you
deny that that is the truth of God, the truth of sovereign grace,
of particular redemption. It's not the birthright of a
nation, it's the gift of God alone. It's not new doctrine.
Saving grace, the gift of eternal life, The gift of faith to hear
and see divine truth is the Father's gift to bestow. I reminded you
of this recently, but it won't hurt to say it again. In Matthew
11, verse 25, speaking to the Jews again, at that time, Jesus
answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
the prudent, those who think that they're wise and prudent
in earthly terms and you've revealed them unto babes they shall all
be taught of God you reveal them the truth of God of saving grace
even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight all things
are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son but
the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." How can you avoid
the clear teaching of Scripture that salvation is by the sovereign
grace of God? And then he goes on in verse
46, he carries on and talks about believing on Him and having everlasting
life. He is that bread of life. Your
fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and
not die. He's speaking of himself. He is God manifested in the flesh.
I am the living bread, he says, which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. Did you
hear that? You who have an appointment with death, it is appointed unto
man to die once, and then the judgment. Did you hear that if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever? And the bread
which I give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world.
How can he give us his flesh to eat? This is ridiculous. He's
speaking cannibalism, isn't he? In verse 53, Jesus said to them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, unless, except, unless ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you. And of course, so-called Christian
religions take the communion service, which Paul received
of the Lord, and which we're going to observe later, as we
do generally, monthly, and they turn it into almost a cannibalistic
ritual, they say that the bread becomes the literal body of Christ
and the wine becomes the literal blood of Christ and you eat his
flesh and you literally drink his, that's cannibalism. No,
it's not talking about that. When he says eating his flesh
and drinking his blood, it's imbibing his nature, imbibing
the redemption that He's accomplished into your being. Eternal life
is in Him alone, in His doing and dying as the God-man to atone
for sin. He's speaking in metaphor, not
in literal terms. Look at verse 63, it is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. He's saying, I'm
speaking spiritually, of spiritual. You must eat me and drink me
spiritually. You must imbibe everything that
I am and have done. Because in imbibing that, you
are demonstrating that you are the objects of that grace which
has satisfied the law's offended justice in your place. What is
he saying? You eat bread and it becomes
part of your body, so you imbibe Christ by faith. Why do you eat? Why do you eat? Why do you eat
food? You eat food because you're hungry.
Matthew 5 verse 6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness. after righteousness, not after
bread and water. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, a yearning of the soul for the
righteousness which God requires. And the answer he gives is, for
they shall be filled. How are they filled? They eat
his flesh and they drink his blood, spiritually. What are
they filled with? The flesh and blood of Jesus
Christ. Why flesh and blood? His flesh
and blood is his reality as a true man. God in flesh to redeem. God became a real man. He lived as a baby. He grew up
as a boy. went through all of the deprivations
of people of that age, he died a cruel death. He was buried,
he rose from the dead, he ascended back to God. All that he did,
the truth of God is that God in the person of his Son came
in real flesh to accomplish salvation for his elect, for those that
the Father had given him before the beginning of time. Because
only in flesh could he, God, pay redemption's price. As infinite
and as Extensive is the wrong word,
but as infinite as God is, God in the essence of his spiritual
being cannot pay redemption's price for the sin of sinners,
for the sin of man. He had to become flesh. The price
of sin is death, the soul that sins, it shall die. The life
is in the blood, the blood must be shed. But here's the offense,
verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father which has
sent me draw him. Just as Jesus said to those in
the synagogue in, was it Capernaum or was it Nazareth, I can't remember,
but in Luke chapter four, verse 25, You see, he stood up, he
read the scroll, he came to Nazareth, he read the scroll of Isaiah,
and he was talking about the gospel being preached to the
poor, and he said, this day, this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing. And they're all listening to him, and looking, and thinking,
you're just Joseph the carpenter's son, and Mary's son, and your
brothers and sisters, who do you think you are? And he said
this, They thought they were Jews who had a right by birth
to eternal life. And he said to them, in the days
of Elijah, he said, there were many widows in Israel, many,
but it was only to a Sidonian woman, the city of Sidon, Serapta,
and to a woman that was a widow that Elijah was sent and fed. A foreigner? And there were many
lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, You know, Elisha followed
on from Elijah. There were many lepers in Israel
in that time of Elisha the prophet, but none of them was cleansed.
except for Naaman the heathen, the Syrian, the enemy of the
people of God. Many lepers were, and they were
absolutely furious. What he said offended them, because
what he said was sovereign grace, the sovereign grace of God alone.
They sought to take him and kill him, to throw him off the cliff
near the village. You see, works and status and
ancestry count for nothing with God, so that boasting is excluded. It's sovereign grace alone. So
it seemed good in thy sight, is what Jesus taught in Matthew
chapter 11. So it seemed good, whatsoever
seemeth good to him. Nobody has any right to eternal
life, nor any option on it. As Eli said to Samuel, it is
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. It's the Lord. He's God. He will
do what he must do. Paul speaks of the offence of
the cross. In Galatians chapter 5 and verse
11, we read a couple of verses from chapter 6, but in Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 11, and I brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? You know, if he did, then the
offence of the cross would be ceased, but he's suffering for
the offence of the cross. He means the anger, the opposition,
stirred up by the idea that eternal salvation is entirely the sovereign
choice of God and without any connection to works, to law keeping,
to heritage as a nation, to tradition, etc. The only plea that is heard
in heaven is that plea of that publican by the wall. There was
the Pharisee thanking God he was so good and not like other
men. But the publican prayed, God be merciful to me, the sinner,
as if he was the only sinner. If you would know the biblical
truth of God, you must know this truth and bow to it. But many,
most, don't. Verse 60, let me remind you.
Many, therefore, of his disciples, those who thought they were his
disciples, when they had heard this, they said, this isn't hard
saying. Who can hear it? I can't take
this. And verse 66, from that time,
many of his disciples, those who claimed to be his disciples
till that point, went back and walked no more with him. You
know, you might say, if you applied modern marketing methods to the
promulgation of the Gospel, the message of Jesus Christ, as many
try to do in these days, you might say that this man, Jesus,
needs some training in how to successfully market his ideas.
I mean, there he is. You remember, I don't know if
any of you remember the Ratner jewellery organisation. And its chief executive at the
time, Gerald Ratner, said something jokingly at a big speech in London,
that the jewellery that his stores were selling so successfully
was in actual fact a load of cheap rubbish. And of course,
you know, that led to the demise of Gerald Ratner, and it led
to the ruination of his empire. You would think, you know, Why
is Jesus saying these things? Doesn't he want to get followers?
The thing is he knows he has followers. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. No, he doesn't need training
in how to persuade people. That which is glorious needs
no marketing. All it needs is faithful preaching. Preach the gospel of grace as
it's revealed in the scriptures. Let's think of the glory of the
cross in the few minutes remaining. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul
speaks of the glory of the gospel. He says that the covenant of
Sinai, the law being given at Sinai, it was terrifying. It
was glorious. Oh yes, it was glorious. They
shook with fear when they saw what was going on. But he says
the gospel is so much more glorious. It's so much more amazing in
its effects. The gospel of saving grace is
a glorious gospel. What do I mean by glorious? How
can we describe it? I haven't looked up a definition,
but here's my definition. Saying that it's glorious, we're
saying that it is spectacular. It is genuinely, you know, amazing
is a word that's used. Oh, people always saying that
their friends are amazing. No, they're not. They're just
people going through certain circumstances. They're not amazing,
not truly. I'm talking about something that is spectacular.
Glorious means spectacular in beauty and in accomplishments. Spectacular in beauty and accomplishments. What do I mean? Well, how about
this? Hell-deserving sinners made the
righteousness of God and fitted for heaven. Is that not a beautiful
concept? Is that not a spectacular accomplishment? Hell-deserving sinners made the
righteousness of God. You know, we're amazed, you sometimes
have maybe seen it yourself, I have once or twice in my life,
in my greenhouse back in the other place where we lived, I
would occasionally find this horrible brown, ugly-looking
thing, a chrysalis, And as you'd watch it over the days, the day
would come when what would emerge from it would be a beautiful
great big peacock butterfly in all of its glory. Is that not
a simple metaphor of what I'm talking about? The ugly chrysalis
of the sinner deserving nothing than hell. and the judgment of
God, the condemnation of God, is made the righteousness of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Becomes a beautiful butterfly,
fitted, qualified, made meat for the kingdom of God. It's
glory. Paul, with all his heritage, all his Jewish heritage, a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, all of the right
things were done for him. As regarding the law, he was
completely blameless. Nobody could bring any accusation
against him. And all of that, how much did
he count it? He said, I count it all as dung. I count it all
as manure. It's of no value. He glories
in the cross. That's what he glories in. That's
what he regards as spectacular in beauty and accomplishment.
What? The cross? What was the cross? People wear
crosses around their necks. They decorate their churches.
They put them in their windows. They do all sorts of things as
good luck charms. The cross. was the Roman instrument
of death and execution. It was a particularly shameful
and cruel instrument of death and execution. And yet that cross,
that cross in which Paul glories, and all the true people of God
glory, that cruel instrument of shame was so powerfully victorious. Because there, when Christ died
on that cross, all of the accusations of Satan against the elect of
God in heaven that were there then and that were to come, All
those accusations were completely blunted and disarmed, every single
one of them taken away. On that cross, the wisdom of
God confounded the wisdom of Satan, who said, let's get rid
of this seed of the woman, this son of God. Apparent defeat,
when He died on that cross, is turned to triumphant victory,
because the law and justice of God is perfectly satisfied for
everyone that the Father gave to the Son. God's elect are perfectly
justified, and are made the righteousness of God in Him. The law that they
have broken by virtue of their sin in the fall of Adam and every
act that they've ever committed, that broken law is satisfied. And that law says when it looks
at Christ dying on that cross and shedding His blood, it says,
enough, there is no more needed. The debt of these people has
been paid in full. And so Jesus cried, it is finished,
enough, no more is needed. Here the salvation from sin of
God's elect is accomplished. What does it say in Hebrews 7.25? To the uttermost. Not a leg up
so far and then all the rest of the sanctifying works are
your responsibility so you better get on with it or else you're
going to fall short. No, to the uttermost. He is able to save
to the uttermost those who come to God by him. Uttermost. Here redemption from the curse
is paid in full by the blood of the Lamb of God. That's what
it says in Revelation 12. There was war in heaven, Michael
and his angels against Satan and his demons. And they're arguing
over whether the elect are justified to be in heaven, fitted to be
in heaven. the elect win. And how do they
win? Verse 11 of chapter 12 of Revelation, they overcame him,
Satan, by the blood of the Lamb. It was the blood of the Lamb.
that took away every accusation, that defeated him, that cast
him down from heaven. The law which demanded the sinner's
death is satisfied. The law demands the death of
the sinner, but that law is satisfied. For as Galatians 2 verse 20 says,
Paul writes this, I am crucified, I the believer, For whom Christ
died. I am crucified with Christ. I'm
dead with Christ to this world. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. The law's demand regarding me,
as a believer, is satisfied in the death of Christ on the cross.
The believer is made alive in Christ, and the accomplishment
of Christ at Calvary has made 100% certain the acceptance of
those whose sins Christ bore. Is that not glorious? Is that
not a glorious concept? A glorious concept. His blood
paid the penalty for those people. And there is now a good hope.
He has given us everlasting consolation, says Paul to the Thessalonians.
Everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Do you have
a good hope through grace that when you leave this life, When
you stand before that judgment seat of Christ, you will not
hear condemnation. You will have none of your sins
dredged up, for they've all been paid. You will hear that welcome.
Thou good and faithful servant, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. That's the gospel.
That's the good news of the cross. That's its glory. That's its
beauty and its accomplishment. And Paul is not ashamed of it.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, which is the gospel of the cross.
I'm not ashamed of it. Why? Because it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Everyone that
believes. Everyone. All that the Father
gives me will come to me. But he who believes I will in
no wise cast out. Everyone that believes. True
salvation is of God alone and it cannot fail. Isaiah 42 verse
4. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail. God shall not fail. God cannot
fail. You see, the sort of salvation
that is peddled by religion is only a possibility that is dependent
on the sinner's will. What do you prefer? A salvation
that doesn't offend, with its doctrine of electing grace? A
salvation that doesn't offend, but actually secures the salvation
for nobody? Or do you prefer God's salvation? God's salvation. where he accomplishes
all according to his eternal purpose. So verse 67, Jesus said
to the 12, you know, there's all these have gone away. They
claim to be disciples. Will you also go away? Look what
Peter replies. This is the response of faith.
Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? Do you know
something? It doesn't matter how many years you've been in
the faith, believing the Lord Jesus Christ, the flesh still
has doubts. The flesh still finds issues
that it struggles to square with, you know, reason that it would
like to give to this world, to give a rational explanation for
the gospel. It really, really struggles from
time to time. But do you know, we always come
back to this, where else can we go? To whom shall we go? I
might not know every answer, but only Christ has the words
of eternal life. Only the true Christ of Scripture
has the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
you are that Christ, the Son of the living God. That's Peter's
answer, that's the answer of all true faith. It's the reason
why we do what we do, why we continue. I know we're just a
small group and there are those of you that are with us and watch
us regularly and the messages go out and are heard by many,
many more people than gather here. But why do we do what we
do? Surely, People around here might say, why don't you go,
there's plenty of churches around here, there's loads of churches,
there's one just down the road, it looks like a lively, active
place. You show me a church preaching clearly the offense of the cross
and the glory of the cross, and we'll gladly stop doing what
we're doing and go and join with them. But until we find such
a one, God helping us, we'll carry on doing what we're doing.
Amen.