The title of our message is,
what do you know? What do you know? And our text
verse, verse 69, Peter said, and we believe and are sure we
know that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. What
do you know? There are really only about two
kinds of people. involved in religion, both in
Christ's day and in our day. There are those who, in this
text, went back from Him, ceased to follow Him. And there are
those who walk on with Him. The first group, in verse 66,
from that time, many of His disciples went back. And by disciples here
is meant at least the 70 Possibly more. It's not meant the 12. They went back. And then the
other group represented in verse 69, we believe and are sure. So we have the no mores and the
for sures always. I do not ever want to be one
of the no mores. I always want to be one of the
foreshoers. I want to look back some in this
lengthy and tremendous chapter of John chapter six and see what
are some of the causes that made these two groups what they were
and do what they did. And we look first at those who
turned back. Many of disciples went back.
and walked no more with him. And I'll just mention about four
things. First, that group, they are of
a character that does not evidence the new birth. I mean, the heart
of a true believer in whom Christ lives in the person of the Holy
Spirit, that heart is changed and given a love for Christ and
an interest in Christ and a desire to live for the glory of Christ. But the heart of the
unregenerate is only concerned with their own satisfaction,
the satisfaction of their own flesh. In the words of the Apostle
Paul, Philippians 3.19, whose God is their belly, whose glory
is their shame, who mind earthly things. And this is exactly what
the Lord charges some people with in this chapter. He said
back in verse 26, Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me. Here's why you're
following me, not because you saw the miracles, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. It's not your heart you're concerned
with. It's not your relationship with
God you're concerned with. You're just looking for another
free meal. That's why you're here. You're just here for what
you can get. Your attitude is, it's all about
me, or I'm not interested. What's in it for me? I've reminded of a fellow in
the Gospel of Matthew chapter 8. who made as fine a profession
as you'll ever get, as fine a profession as you'll ever hear in this world.
He came to Jesus and he said, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever
thou goest. You can't hardly beat that, can
you? And what did the Lord do? He
never said, well, God bless you, son. I'm glad you have made that
Decision, I'm glad to have you on board. No, Jesus knew his
heart. And immediately he said, the
foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man hath not where to lay his head. He said to him in so
many words, Son, we're not staying at the Hampton. And we'll eat
some days and some days we won't. And you know what? That fella's
never heard from no more. That's the end of it. What's
in it for me? That's the first character of
the no mores. One who will eventually turn
back. It's those with the attitude, what's in it for me? What praise
will I get? What profit will I get from it? I want a church that will make
me feel good. I know folk that change churches
every year or two. There's something bad wrong with
that. Of course, the reason they do it is how many will look at me? What's
in it for me? All right, second thing. This
crowd that turned back, they are those who by their own reasoning
could not really confess the deity of Christ. I've met people
like that, religious people like that. It's just not reasonable. Look what he said in verse 41.
The Jews then murmured at him because, here's why they murmured
at him now. Because he said, I am the bread
which came down from heaven. They looked at one another and
said, exactly what does he mean by that? Verse 42, they said, is not this
Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How
is it then that he sayeth I came down from heaven. We just don't believe that. He walks around with the poor
and the uneducated. How is it we're supposed to believe
that he's anything more than just one of them? Some ask him later in the seventh
chapter, They asked this about Jesus. How knoweth this man letters
having never learned? They never saw him to be anything
more than just a child of Adam, like you and me. They didn't
see him as deity. They didn't see him as the son
of God. And they felt like, well, at
best, he's just a sinner. And later on, they said he hath
a devil. And later on, they said in John 9, this man is a sinner. How ridiculous that he had dared
to say to us and to say out loud in public, I came down from heaven. God is my Father. And he sent
me. We don't believe a word of it. You say, well, I believe it.
Hold on. Hold on. To truly believe to truly believe
is to rely on entirely. And the unregenerate heart just
can't do that. Just can't do that. Now, the
unregenerate, the unsaved person, church member or anybody else
may have a good case of religion. But when it gets down to the
nitty gritty, when your back is really against the wall. So
often the answer is, well, I'll have to do something. I'll have
to do it for myself. I can't trust God with it. I
can't afford to depend on Him. I just don't believe enough to
rely on Him. Bad condition, bad condition.
The third thing is those that turn back are of
this character. Those who have not Christ living
in the heart, in the person of God's Spirit, cannot receive
spiritual language. Paul told us that, 1 Corinthians
2.14. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them. because they are spiritually
discerned. Christ said here in verse 53, look what he said,
Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you. Now some thought, naturally thinking,
that he was referring to some sort of cannibalism, eat my flesh,
drink my blood. That sounded wild. Well, only
a person with the understanding granted by God's Spirit could
know this was spiritual language. And Christ is saying, except
one know that my flesh is the sacrifice for sin. And my blood
is the blood that washes away sin. Except ye partake of my
body and my blood, in this sense, ye have no life in you. But if you do, you have eternal
life. Verse 54 says that plainly, whoso
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and
I will raise him up at the last day. Notice he does not say to
eat my flesh and drink my blood is the way to get eternal life.
But he says those who do believe, those who do rely on me, those
who do trust in me, those who do understand this language,
that it's my body and my blood These have eternal life. They
have it. Come on down to verse 60. And we read these words, many
therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this said, this
is an hard saying. Who can hear it? This is just
too much. It's a hard saying. We don't
know what he's talking about. It's hard to believe he knows
what he's talking about. And we've listened to about all
this we're going to listen to. Jesus knew their murmuring. And he asked him in verse 61,
he asked him this four word question. Does this offend you? Does this
offend you? Do you have a problem with this? Verse 64. I know there's some
of you that believe not. Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not. He knew. He knew. And then a fourth thing in verse
65. Concerning these unregenerate
who would eventually turn back. They cannot submit to the absolute
sovereignty of God. Look at verse 65. He said, therefore said unto
you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto
him of my father. He didn't say no man will come.
He said no man can come. You say, well, which is it? It's
both ways. He cannot because he will not,
and he will not because he cannot. Now, that's just too much to... When you tell folks that they
do not have it in themselves to come to God, things start
heating up in a hurry. And that's the very reason we've
got some empty seats here this morning. If we'd throw this Bible away
and tell people how much the Lord needs them and how much better off He'd
be if they'd decide to be on His team, they'd come around
right quick and let us praise them But we're not throwing this
Bible away. This verse says what it means
and means what it says. No man can come unto me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. This puts God's salvation
in his hands, not yours. This crushes pride. This destroys
so-called free will. And this was the final straw.
Right after this statement, the Bible says in verse 66, from
that time, many of his disciples went back. Notice in verse 66,
the little word time is in italics. That means it was added by the
English translators. The reading literally is this,
from that, many of his disciples went back. That is from what
he had said, from his teaching, from that, exposing them for
the freeloaders they are, just to get another meal. confronting
their denial of his deity. While we know his parents, Joseph
and Mary, he's like any of the rest of them. Exposing their
inability to understand and interpret spiritual language, eat my flesh,
drink my blood, they never got it. And finally, this clear statement
of God's sovereignty From that, they said, we're out of here.
We've had enough. And that's always the case. It's
never changed. Our old pastor used to say, flesh
has been the same all the way across. There's nothing new going
on. Anybody but God's people has
always hated God. Anybody but God's people has
always just wanted to play religion, but God's people are interested
in a relationship with Him, interested in worshiping Him and honoring
Him while we're here. Just about every church in this
country, when these four things are openly declared, there'll
be more go than stay. I do not read here that the Lord
begged them to stay. They'll not have the truth and
he'll not compromise the truth. So parting company is the obvious.
And that's what happened. Many went back and walked no
more with him. Lord helped me never to be found
in verse 66. I do not want to be a no more. How is it that these two characters
are so different? One won't stay with Christ and
the other won't leave Christ. Is it that Peter and the twelve
had so much more intestinal fortitude? That's the proper term for guts
by the way. were so much more determined? No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it. God's the difference. And so
we look at the other crowd. Peter and the disciples, apostles.
Verse 67, Christ turned to the twelve and asked them, will ye
also go away? Simon Peter answered, Lord, To
whom shall we go? Not where shall we go, but to
whom shall we go? There's no one else to go to.
Thou hast the words of eternal life. And now here's the for
sure. Verse 69, And we believe and
are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God. Do
you know that this morning? What do you know? What do you
know? There's a statement back in verse 45 of this same chapter concerning
all God's children, old and young, educated or uneducated. Here it is. And they shall be
all taught of God. This is not all Adam's race,
this is all God's children. And this spiritual education
that only God gives, it goes beyond the intellect. It goes
to the heart. I know the learned of our day
and hour, they say, oh, religion is just a crutch. It's for weak
people. They got to have something to
lean on. No, they don't understand it
all. It's due to an education from the divine teacher. They
shall all be taught of God. And things just begin to sink
in. Back at verse 37. He said, all that the Father
giveth me. Well, now that's a lecture. How humbling to our hearts that
while all people don't see Christ for who He is and don't believe
on Him, we do. We're part of a chosen company
that's taught of God. You see, before the creation
of this world, God the Father gave to His Son a people chosen
of God, elected of God, to be His forever. You see, now I've
heard about that business of election. Does that mean that
somebody might want to be saved and can't? Not at all. Not at
all. It means anybody who really wants
to be saved will be. That's what it means. That's
what it means. And others will argue against
it and say, well, I believe anybody can be saved who wants to. Yeah,
but nobody can want to. God's the one who gives the want
to. This is who the elect are, those
whom He has chosen to reveal Himself to and to move into our
hearts and put a longing and a hunger for Him. All that the
Father giveth me, that's election, shall come to me. That's effectual
calling. Still in verse 37. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. Effectual calling. It's what
some call irresistible grace. Somebody said, well, I didn't
have to come to Christ. If you really came to Him, you
did. You could not stay away. Verse 39, And this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. That's certain. preservation
and perseverance of God's people. Verse 44, no man can come to
me. That's certain depravity. He
never just said no man will come. He said no man can come. And the Lord teaches his children
these things. And it's as plain as day. that
we had nothing to do with it. The rest of that verse 44, and
I will raise him up at the last day. Salvation is of the Lord. Start to finish. It was brother
Jonah that made that statement in the fish's belly. Salvation
is of the Lord. What was he saying? He was saying,
my soul, if there's any hope for me, it's not in me. If I was to ever get out of this
mess, it would be a miracle. It would be God. Salvation is
of the Lord. Who in his right mind, in a fish's
belly, in the bottom of the sea, would say, well, now I need to
figure something out. Ain't nothing to figure out.
But one thing to say, what Jonah said, salvation is of the Lord. Let me tell you something this
morning, dear friends. Your state by nature, because
of sin, is just as bad off as Jonah was in the fish's belly. It don't matter if you're living
in a million dollar house and got a million dollar bank account.
That's not the deal. The deal is, there's nothing
in here by nature to get you to God. There's nothing in here
by nature to even make you want to get to God. The world proves
that every day. They don't even want to hear
His name. But the Lord's people are of
His choosing and His changing. And I bless His name that I'm
among that number. You say, well, what do I do?
You just believe it if you can. Some of them ask back in verse
28. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? Well, if you could do something,
it wouldn't be the works of God. It'd be your works. And Jesus answered him, there's
not anything you can do. He said, this is the work of
God that you believe on him whom he had sent. Now let's look at
verse 69 quickly at what Peter said. We believe and are sure. What's he referring to? Read
your Bible carefully. Did he say, we believe and are
sure we're saved? No, no, no, no, no. No, he didn't
say that. Did he say we believe and are
sure that we're one of God's elect? No, he didn't say that. Matter of fact, When the Lord
said to them, one of you shall betray me. They never all looked at Judas. They didn't know it was him.
Matthew's account says that when the Lord said that, one of you
shall betray me. Men that had been walking with
him for three and a half years. Matthew's account says, and they
were exceedingly sorrowful. and began every one of them,
not two or three of them, but every one of them to say unto
him, Lord, is it I? Am I the one that's deceived
and thinks I'm your child? So Peter's not saying here, I
know that I know that I know that I'm saved. He's saying,
I do know this. I do know this. We believe and
are sure, no question about this in my mind and heart, that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. Do we know that? Do you know that? Do you believe
that? Well, if you do, listen to this
verse, 1 John 5. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And again, this believing is
not just a mental consent, but it is a heart commitment. It
is a depending on, a trusting in, a fully relying on the Lord
Jesus Christ for any hope of everlasting life. This modern day stuff, you know. Come on down here, grinning like
a possum, chomping you gum. You believe Jesus is the son
of God? Yeah. You believe he died on the cross for your sin?
Yeah. Then you're saved. It's more than a mental consent.
It is a heart conviction and commitment to Him of all we are,
all we have, or hope to be. Big difference. Our former pastor
used to tell this little story. Many of you have heard it and
I've told it. Told about a man many years ago that would walk
a tight wire across the river above the Niagara Falls. And
huge crowds would gather to see this man walk across that. And so one day he did it, and
when he got to the other side, the crowd just cheered and all
was well. This was part of the show, had
a wheelbarrow sitting there. And so the man said to one young
man in the crowd, said, do you believe I can Go back across,
roll in this wheelbarrow. And the young man said, oh yeah,
oh yeah. He said, all of us, all of us,
yeah, yeah, yeah, we believe it. So then he says to the young
man, get in the wheelbarrow. It made a lot of difference.
That made a lot of difference. You see? And that's what really
believing in Christ is. is getting in the wheelbarrow. That's it. That's it. You say,
well, boy, I'd sure turn to God if I lost my job, my soul. You better turn to Him anyhow. Well, I'd sure turn to God if
I heard I had cancer. Well, you may have it. Get in the wheelbarrow. Trust
Him with your life and all that concerns you. All the children,
all the health, all the finances, all the problems on the job,
all the problems in the family. Get this. He can be trusted. He can be trusted. A lot of people,
you know, you cannot afford to trust. Even yourself, you cannot afford
to trust. I've tried to be careful giving
my opinion as often as I used to about people and about things. And of course I have an opinion
just like everybody else, but Suddenly I've learned that I'm
not right about everything. That I'm a little biased. I'm
some prejudiced extremely in some things and towards some
situations. I can't even trust myself sometimes. But you can trust him. You can
afford to trust him. Wherever you are, he's been there. Wherever you've headed, He's
been there. Somebody says, I don't know anybody
that's ever been in my situation. I do. I do. And the scripture says He is
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. How could He be
touched? He's been there. He's been there. And I've said many times to folks
in trouble, well, I know how you feel. I'm lying. I don't
know how they feel. But he does. He's been there. He's been there. But this morning, if you're determined
that he can't help you and you'll have to go to hell, then go ahead. That's all there is to say. But Peter said there's nobody
else to turn to. To whom shall we go? There's
nobody on your level. Christ our Lord is in a class
all by Himself. We're going to keep coming to
Him. Keep coming. There'll be places in life, my
life and yours, that money can't help, doctor can't help, friends
can't help, but we keep coming to Him. Sometime later, this
same man in his first epistle, Simon Peter, said, to whom coming? Continually coming. See, this is a relationship.
This is a life. This is a walk with the Lord
day by day. To whom coming, as unto a living
stone, continually. It's not this stuff you hear.
Have you come to Jesus? In other words, what they mean
is, if you come down the front, got your ticket to heaven, and
then you go on about your business. No, no, no. To whom coming. every waking moment, ever conscious
breath to whom coming. As unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, the world wouldn't have him and won't have him,
but chosen of God and precious. What do you know? Can you say
with Peter, we believe and are sure thou art the Christ? the Son of the Living God. Can
you say this morning with Peter, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. And can you say with Peter, I'm
not going away. I'm staying with you, Lord. I'm trusting you. I'm fully dependent on you. What do you know? All right. Thank you. Let's stand together.