Would you turn with me to John
Chapter 6. Verse 66. From that time. Many of his disciples. Went back. And walked no more. With him. Then said Jesus under the 12. Will you also go away? Now there are two groups of people
in our text, in John chapter 6, both of which claim to be
His disciples. As a matter of fact, that's mentioned
three times in John chapter 6, verses 59 through 66, His disciples. His disciples. Now, one group left him over
this message that he preached. They walked no more with him. Now, they started out as his
disciples. These were not heathen. These
were disciples. So they said that after they
heard what he had to say, they left him to walk no more with
him at all. They were offended by what he
said, and there were others who found this particular message
to be nothing less than words of spirit and words of life. Now, I've entitled this message,
What is the doctrine of grace to you? Which group would I fall in? Which group would you fall in? What is the doctrine of grace
to you personally. Now, first, I guess I need to
ask this question. What is meant by the doctrine
of grace? What's what our Lord preached in this passage of scripture?
We're going to look over this message that he preached, but
it is. The truth concerning how God saves by his grace. That's what is taught clearly
in this passage of scripture. that men are dead in sins and
cannot come to God unless God is pleased to draw them. In this
passage of scripture, we read of God's electing mercy, how
he chose a people and they will be saved. We read of Christ's
redemption for the elect. Every one of them will be saved.
We read of God's Irresistible, invincible grace in this passage
of Scripture. We read how these people will
persevere. You know, some people call this Calvinism. I hate that
term Calvinism. This is not Calvinism. This is
the doctrine of Christ. This is not some man-made doctrine,
as we're going to see in this passage of Scripture. This is
the doctrine of Christ. This isn't some man-made theological
system. It's the very word of Christ. Now, what is this to you personally?
That's what we're going to consider. Now, please ask God to give you
the grace to focus in on this message like you've never listened
before. I believe this is so very, very
important. Now, let's begin in verse 59
of John chapter 6. These things, everything that
he's said up to this point in this message, These things said
he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore,
of his disciples, people who claimed to be followers of him,
when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying. Who could hear it? Now, the word
hard means literally dry. This is dry. This is old, dry,
dead doctrine. This is dry. This is not something
that really speaks to me. This is dry. This is harsh. This is even inhumane, unsympathetic
to humanity. This is hard, difficult, dry,
exacting, triding, austere doctrine, who can be expected to listen
to this? That's what they mean by that.
Who in the world could be expected to listen to this? It's dry.
It's negative. It's not what we want to hear.
Now, these are people who said they were His disciples. But
after this message, they said this is a hard saying. Who can
be expected to listen to this? Verse 61. When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this
offend you? Are you offended by what I just
said? Are you stumbling at what I just said? Do you find what
I said to be Offensive and harsh and even inhumane. And that's
what the word means. This is this is not sympathetic
toward humanity. This is just so hard. How can
we be expected to listen to this? And he says, are you offended
by this? Now, remember, these people claim
to be his disciples. Are you offended by this verse?
Sixty two. What if you'll see the son of
man ascend up where he was before? What do you mean by that? Look
back at verse 41. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Now, our Lord tells these people, I came down from heaven. I existed
before I ever lived on earth. I am God, is what he says. I've
gone. I've always been. I'm always
the great I am. I came down from heaven and my
Word is nothing less than the Word of God. They were offended
when he said he came down from heaven. They couldn't grasp that,
but he said, I came down from heaven. And what our Lord is
saying in verse 62, he says, if you're offended by what I'm
saying now, if you're offended by me saying I came down from
heaven, when you see me ascend back up where I was before, when
you see me go back to the right hand of the Father, ruling and
reign, you'll really be offended then. That's what he said. What if you shall see the Son
of Man ascend up where he was before, verse 63? It is the Spirit that quickens
or gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The
words that I speak unto you, they're Spirit and they are life. These words that you say are
hard and harsh and even inhumane are words of Spirit and words
of life. Now, what are these words to
you? personally. What are they to me? I'm asking
myself that question. When I hear what our Lord says
in this message, and we're going to go over this, what he actually
said for the last several weeks, we've been looking at parts of
it, but we're going to look at the whole message this morning, what our
Lord said to these people. Do I find personally these words
as hard? Or do I find them as words of
spirit and words of life? Which? What is the doctrine of
grace? To me. Now let's look at what
he said that they found to be such hard work. Verse. 30 let's begin. No, let's begin in verse 25 of
John Chapter 6. Now remember this message that
we're going to look at. caused many of his disciples
to go back and to walk no more with him. They said, we're not
going to have anything to do with him anymore. I mean, a real
clear line was drawn by this passage of Scripture that we're
looking at. This is and let me remind you, this is a sermon
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that worthy of our careful
attention and study? This is a sermon by the Lord
Jesus himself. Now, beginning in verse 25, this
is this is when the sermon begins. And when they found him on the
other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, not because
of any belief of who I am, but because you did eat of the loaves
and were filled. You ate that bread. Labor not
for the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endures
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him,
What shall we do that we might work the works of God? What a
question. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? You'd say don't labor for meat
that perishes. Okay, give us something to do. What shall we
do? Look at his answer. Verse 29. Jesus answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him
whom he has sinned. Now, our Lord taught in this
passage of scripture, salvation by faith and not by works. Now, does anybody ask what that
means? Well, the rest of this sermon is an explanation as to
what that means. Salvation by faith and not by
works. Now, let's go on reading verse
30. They said, therefore, unto him, what sign showest thou then
that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Give us
a sign so we can believe. Now remember, they had just eaten
bread that the Lord created. That's a pretty powerful sign,
isn't it? If you saw the Lord create bread that was not there
before and you took it and ate it, that's a pretty powerful
sign. What they were saying when they said give us a sign is,
we don't believe you. We don't believe you. You say
believe on me, we don't believe you. We need more of a sign than
this. Verse 31, our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it's
written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said
unto them, we're talking about that manna that came down from
heaven. And what they're saying is, okay, you fed us with this
one meal. That's really not that impressive. Moses fed the children
of Israel for 40 years with that bread that came down from heaven.
Now we're impressed with that. Can you give us 40 years worth
of meals? Then Jesus said unto them, verse 32, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but
my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto
the world. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. They didn't really understand
that he was talking about himself. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that you
also have seen me, and believe not. He knew exactly where they
were coming from. He said, you've seen me. You saw the miracle.
You know my claims. You hear exactly what I'm saying,
but you don't believe. But look what it says in verse
37. You don't believe. But it's almost as if he's saying,
That's not a discouragement to me. The fact that you don't believe,
that's no discouragement to me. And here's why. Verse 37. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. They'll believe,
won't they? As the Father gave it. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. You all might not, but
all that the Father gives me will, is what he says. And him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Now what the Lord
is teaching is election. Election. God chose before time
began who will be saved. And they will be saved. Election. God chose who would be saved. Now, election is so. It's what the Bible teaches.
Let me quote some scriptures to you. This is what our Lord's
talking about. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Listen
to this scripture. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says, But we are bound
to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning. Did you hear that? From the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Ephesians 1 verse 4, According
as he hath chose us. He chose us. in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. Here's another scripture, Romans
9, 11, for the children, talking about Jacob and Esau, being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. Now, our Lord teaches to these
people, you don't believe me but the elect will. Those the
father gave me will. Now election tells us that God
is God. He's in control. Now listen to
this statement. I want you to listen very carefully to this. Do you know in this thing of
salvation, you and I have absolutely no control. It's up to God as
to whether you're going to be in heaven or whether you'll be
in hell. It's up to God. Your eternal destiny is in His
hands. He chose who would be saved. Now, here's what I want to ask
you. The Bible teaches that. There's no debating about that. This is what the Bible, this
is the doctrine of Christ. Now, is this harsh and hard or
is this worth the spiritual life to you? Now, here's how you determine
this. And I'm speaking this deeply
from my own personal experience. Yeah, it's what the Bible teaches,
but I know this. If God didn't elect the people,
I'd never be saved. You believe that? If He didn't
choose me, I know enough about myself to know I would never
have chosen Him. And when I hear that He freely
elected the people to salvation, That's good news to this sinner.
No election, no salvation. Now, these people heard this
and they said, this is a hard, this is hard, this is inhumane.
This is not even sympathetic toward humanity. But there were
other people like Peter who said, you have the words of eternal
life. What are these words to you? Now, all election does is tell
us that salvation is all of grace. And if you don't believe in election,
but you know, you'll blame salvation by grace. If you don't preach election,
you don't preach salvation by grace. It really is that simple. Now, what are these words to
you? How do you respond? Well, let's go on reading. Verse
38. For I came down from heaven.
There he says it again. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day." It's the will of God. Now here's what our Lord
preached in this message. It's the will of God that everybody
that Christ died for be saved. Jesus Christ, when he was on
Calvary's tree, died for the elect, those the Father gave
him. He said, this is the Father's will which sent me, that of all
which he's given me, I won't lose one of them. He didn't die
for all humanity. Now, did you hear that? He did
not die for all humanity. He died for those the Father
gave him. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, you
can call it particular redemption. You can call it limited atonement.
You can call it effectual redemption. You can call it what you want.
It's the gospel. All that He died for. Now listen
to me. All that He died for must be
saved. And here's my hope of salvation. That Jesus Christ died for me.
Now if you tell me that He died for me, but I might end up in
hell anyway, you take away my hope of salvation because my
only hope is that He died for me. Now, if He can die for me
and I wind up in hell anyway, you've taken away my hope. I mean this from the very depths
of my soul and my heart. The only hope I have is that
Jesus Christ died for me. I've got no other hope. Now, when our Lord says this,
do you find this to be harsh, austere, unsympathetic to humanity? Or do you find these to be words
of spirit and words of life? Life comes from this. There's
no life without this. Now, this is the Gospel. And if this is not preached and
believed, the Gospel is not preached. And the gospel is not believed. May God give me grace to say
that. Only inspired by the spirit of God. With a love to him and
his glory and a love to you. But this is the gospel. Verse 40, this is the will of
him that sent me. That everyone would see if the
sun And believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I'll
raise him up at the last day. This is God's will that everybody
that sees Christ, they really see him as. All in their salvation,
they got nowhere else to look, he says they have everlasting
life. Verse 41. The Jews then murmured at him.
Because he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? We know him. We know his mom
and dad. We know his brothers and sisters. Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves.
No man can come to me. Except the father which hath
sent me draw And I will raise him up at the
last day. Now here we have what is known as the truth of total
depravity. We've seen God's electing grace.
We've seen Christ's atonement for his elect. But here we have
what is called total depravity. No man has the ability to come
to Christ or believe on him unless he is drawn by the Father. Now isn't that what our Lord
says? No man can come. except it were given him, no
man can come except the Father which has sent me draw him. Now
total depravity says every part of man is under the dominion
of sin. That all men utterly lack the ability to do anything
to save themselves, that means we're totally dependent upon
God to do something for us. Isn't that what that means? If
I'm totally depraved, and you know, generally people think,
you mean you're some kind of child molester or murder or something?
No, no, no. I mean, I wouldn't be, apart
from the grace of God. All the Lord's got to do is withdraw
His presence from me, and it's hard to, who knows what I'd do.
I really believe that, but it doesn't mean I'm out, you know,
just, I, what it means is every aspect of me, my understanding,
my will, my affections, my, every part of me is under the dominion
of seeing so as I can't come to God unless He draws me. unless
He causes me to. David put it this way in Psalm
65, verse 4, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest
to approach unto thee. And I know that if I approach
to Him for mercy, it's because He caused me to. He drew me to
Himself. Now, what he's talking about
is total depravity, sin, whatever you want to call it. But I know
this. What this teaches me is that
I'm utterly dependent upon Him. And you know what it makes me
do? When I hear, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me, draw Him. You know what it makes me do?
It makes me say, Lord, draw me. Draw me. Bring me to Yourself. Don't leave me to myself. These are words of Spirit. And
they're words of life. They're not hard words. You know, I heard Barnard on
a tape make this statement. I used to wonder what it means.
I think I understand it a little bit now. He said the most optimistic
verse in the Bible is John 6, 44. No man came to me except
the Father which has sent me drawing. You say, well, what's
optimistic about that? He draws. That's very optimistic,
isn't it? He does draw sinners to Himself
for Christ's sake. Oh, it's a wonderful verse. Let's
go on reading. Verse 44. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me draw him, and I raise him up
at the last day. Look in verse 45. It's written in the Prophets.
He's quoting the Old Testament Scriptures. And they shall be
all taught of God. Every single one of them. All
those the Father gave Him. All those he died for, they shall
all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, he comes to me. Not that any man has seen the
Father, save he which is of God. He has seen the Father. Now,
not everybody's of God. Only those who believe on Christ
are of God. Look what he says in John chapter 8. Let me show
you that in the scripture, John chapter 8. Verse 46, which of you convinces
me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do
you not believe me? I love that question. If I'm
telling you the truth, why don't you believe me? He that is of God, heareth God's
words. You therefore hear them not,
because you're not of God. You know, if I'm preaching the truth, If
I'm preaching God's Word, and you say, I don't believe that,
you know why? Because you're not of God. He that is of God,
heareth God's words every time. And he says, you therefore hear
the not, because you're not of God. Those that are of God, what
do they do? They come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What this is a reference to is invincible, irresistible grace. All who are drawn to Christ,
they are drawn, they're taught by God, and when He teaches you,
you're taught. And when you're taught by God,
you come to Christ for salvation, and you have to have Him. Now,
here's what irresistible grace is. It doesn't mean that God
grabs you by the hair and just pulls you along, and you're kicking
and screaming, saying, no, I don't want to come. Not that at all. When God draws you invincibly
and irresistibly, you must have the Lord Jesus Christ. You have
to be found in Him. You can't bear the thought of
standing before God on your own. You have to be found in Christ.
You have to be covered by His... You have to have His shed blood.
You have to have Him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. I can't stand before God on my
own. I must have the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not something I can put off. It's not something that
I can just be indifferent about. I've got to be saved by His grace.
I'll be damned if I don't. I must have Him. You find Jesus Christ irresistible. Here's what happens when God's
invincible, irresistible grace works on you. You cannot not
believe. You could not believe if you
tried. You can't. You can't. You have to have Him. Now, when God's irresistible,
invincible grace works on you, that's what happens to you. You
have to have the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, let's go on reading. Verse
47. Verily I say unto you, he that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life.
Verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your
fathers did eat man in the wilderness. They're dead. Verse 49. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat
thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live
how long? Forever. Forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How
can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in
me, and I in him, as the living Father has sent me. And I live
by the Father, so he that eateth me, he shall live by me." He'll
persevere. This is the bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers that eat man and are
dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever. Now here
he's teaching the final perseverance of all those the Father elected.
all those the Son died for, and all those that God the Holy Spirit
gives life to. They'll persevere eternally,
all the way to the end. They won't quit. They won't quit. They'll continue to feed on Christ. Now, verse 59, now there our
Lord gives, and I've read that passage of Scripture, there our
Lord gives the doctrine of grace. That's what salvation by faith
means right here in this passage of Scripture. This is the doctrine
of grace. There is absolutely no doubt
that this is what the Bible teaches. Somebody doesn't teach this.
They don't teach what the Bible teaches. This is the Word of God. This
is the doctrine of Christ. Let me repeat. This is not Calvinism.
This is Christ. This is His Word. This is His
doctrine. Now, verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum, many therefore of his disciples, these
are folks who claim to be followers of him. When they had heard this,
they said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Who could be
expected to listen to such teaching? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, does this
offend you? What if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up
where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickens,
that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. And
he's talking about this thing of giving life. The flesh profits
nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
that you're calling hard, what does our Lord say they are? They're
Spirit and they are life. But, verse 64, but, There are some of you that just
do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. Some
do not find these to be words of life. And when I say these
words are words of spirit and life, our Lord says, you don't
find them that way. You don't find them as life giving.
You find them as dry and Harsh and hard. That's what the word
hard means. Dried up. Now, there's some of
you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they
were that believed not. And who should betray them. And
he said, therefore, and he said, therefore, said I do. This is
what I said in you, verse 65, that no man can come to me. Except
it were given him of my father. He said you don't believe, but
you you don't come to me, but you can't except it were given
to you of my father number 66. Look at these people's response.
From that time. Many of his disciples. Went back. And walked no more. With him. Now that's such a solemn
thought. They heard what he said, and
they went back. They said, I'm not going to have
anything to do with this anymore. They went back, and they walked
no more with him. And I think of these people leaving. This crowd was about 5,000. These
were the people who he'd fed miraculously. And they'd experienced
physically this miracle, and yet they went back, and they
walked no more with him. And I think of our Lord watching
them leave. And you know something that we
don't read of? We don't read where he asked
him to come back. He didn't say, let me rephrase
this. Let me speak this in terms that will make it more appealing.
He didn't say anything like that. He watched him leave. And look
what happened in verse 67. Then said Jesus unto the twelve. Will you also go away? Now, what was going through the
disciples mind at this time? Yeah, it seems like I can see
him thinking it seems like we're finally getting somewhere. We
got 5000 people here that are so they wanted to make him king
earlier in his chapter. I mean, they claim to be his
disciples. And here he teaches in such a way they all leave.
That must have been going through their minds. And our Lord looks
at them. And he says, you fellows want
to leave too? Now listen to me. The Lord does not have any unwilling
disciples. He's saying if you want to leave,
there's the door. Will you also go away? Is that
your desire? Is that your wish? How I love Peter's answer. Verse
68. Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord. To whom shall we go? Where would we go? To whom shall
we go? It's not like we even have any
options. To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. These words that so many have
found to be harsh, the opposite is true for us. We find these
to be words of eternal life. You see, we see these words as
absolutely necessary for our eternal life. Now, let me try
to let me try to make some comments about what is meant by that.
He says these words that the crowds have left. They won't
walk with you anymore. He says these are words of eternal
life. Now how are these words of eternal life? The doctrine taught by our Lord
in this sermon is absolutely necessary for my salvation. That's why these are words of
eternal life. If God did not choose me. I know enough about myself to
know I'd never choose Him and I'd end up in hell. Thank God
for election." Is that your response? Words of eternal life? Christ, everybody He died for,
all those the Father gave Him, They must be saved. Now, my only
hope, I've already said this once, let me say it again, and
what a great hope this is, my hope, and a glorious hope it
is, my hope that I'm going to stand accepted before God, my
hope that right now I don't have any sin, I stand perfect before
God, my hope is this, Christ died for me. He put away my sin,
that's my only hope. That's hard to say that everybody
he died for must be saved. If you tell me that he died for
all men and many of those men that he died for wind up in hell
anyway, you've taken away my hope. I find these to be words
of eternal life. You talk about irresistible,
invincible grace. I know this. If grace, if God's
grace can be resisted, I'll resist it. And I won't be saved. God's irresistible grace, His
words of eternal life. If God's people can fall away,
if they don't persevere, if they can fall away, then I will. If they don't persevere, then
I won't. I know that about myself. And
to hear that He causes them to have eternal life, not temporary
life, but eternal life. That goes all the way to the
end. That's words of eternal life. Sovereign grace. You know if
it's not sovereign, it's not grace. Sovereign grace. Grace is a charming sound. Harmonious to the ear. Is this
a charming sound to you? Words of eternal life. Verse 68, Then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Verse 69, And we believe and are sure that we're saved. That's not what he says, is it? We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ. the son of the living God. And
here's why these words are words of eternal life. They're your
words. That's why, let me repeat again, this is not Calvinism. This is Christ. This is his word. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. I think our Lord's response is
very interesting. Jesus answered, then boy, I'm
glad you see that. No. What's he say? Have not I chosen you twelve?
Here's why you believe, because I chose you. Have not I chosen you twelve?
And the one that doesn't, he's a devil, I realize that. He acknowledges
that Judas Iscariot will not continue. He's the one that's
a devil, I realize that, but have not I chosen you twelve? This he spake of Judas Iscariot,
the son of Simon, for it was he that should betray him, being
one of the twelve. Here's why you believe. Because
I chose you. Now, I want to ask you a question. Is this a hard saying? Or is it words of eternal life? What is it to you? What is the
doctrine of grace to you? We're going to have a baptism
now. Amanda Carver is going to confess
Christ in Believer's Baptism. Amanda was raised up in this
church and she's confessing before all these witnesses. that her
one only all-sufficient perfect hope is the life, the death,
the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord. And
that's what we confess in baptism. We confess that He is our salvation.