I've entitled the message for
this morning, Will You Also Go Away? That was the Lord's question
to his 12 disciples as he watched the multitude leave. Will you
also go away? The Son of God, Jesus Christ
the Lord, was a preacher. A lot of times we don't think
of him, or at least I don't think of him in that light as a preacher. We think of him as the Son of
God, the Savior, the second person of the Trinity. He was a preacher. He said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. I must preach the kingdom of
God in other cities for therefore am I sent, sent to preach the
gospel. Charles Spurgeon has been called
the Prince of Preachers. I don't think so. Here is the Prince of Preachers. He spake as never man spake. During the three years of his
public ministry, he preached many sermons. You can read those
in the gospels and there are many sermons he preached that
are not recorded. Most people are familiar with
what is called the Sermon on the Mount. I would say most people
in the United States have heard of the Sermon on the Mount. They
may not know what it's in the sermon, but most people have
heard the Sermon on the Mount. In John chapter six, we have
one of his most poignant and piercing sermons, the sermon
preached at Capernaum. We've been seven or eight weeks
in this chapter, and this is the conclusion of this sermon
preached in Capernaum. And his concluding comment was
in verse 64 after this message, but there are some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believe not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come to me. except it were given unto him
of my father. You do not believe, you cannot
come to me. You lack the ability to come
to me to believe. In your heart to bow the knee
to me and acknowledge who I am. Defined in me, you're all in
all to me, to be my true disciple and follower of me. You lack
the ability to come to me. You cannot come to me except
it were given you of my father. And those are the words of the
Lord. And this apparently was the straw
that broke the camel's back. Verse 66, from that, from that
time, I suppose that is included in this meaning, but from that
sermon, from that word that they were offended by, from that time,
Many of his disciples went back. And these were people who professed
to be his disciples. They went back and the word is
interesting. It means not with a bang. They
sunk away. They retired as it were. They didn't leave with a blast. They sought to leave unnoticed. They put their head down and
they went back to walk no more with him. Now that is such a,
A disconcerting thing. These people claim to be his
disciples and they went back and walked no more with him. And one of the things that I
find scary, is that the right word? Is that he made no comment
to them as he watched them leave. He didn't say, maybe you misunderstood
what I said. Let me try to rephrase that.
No, he watched them leave with no comment. Boy, I hate to think of the Lord
having no comment for me. He watched them leave, no comment. And then he looked at the 12
and said, Will you also go away? You see, the Lord's not going
to have any unwilling disciples. He watched him leave. And he said, you want to go with
him? Will you also go away? Now I want to give a brief synopsis
of what he said in this message. Look in verse 29 of John chapter
six, verse 28. Then said they unto
him, what shall we do? That we might work the works
of God. Well, if you ask the average
preacher that question, he'd have a whole list of things you
need to do. Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God. That gets my attention. This
is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. In verse 37, Well, verse 36, but I said unto
you that you've seen me and believe not. He said that we've already
read where he said that at the end of the message, you've seen
me and believe not all that the father giveth me shall come to
me. He's talking about divine election. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me. God, the father gave Christ to
people before the foundation of the world. In his great high
priestly prayer for his people, he said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them, which you have given me. Verse 39. And this is the father's
will, which has sent me. OF ALL WHICH HE HATH GIVEN ME,
I SHOULD LOSE NOTHING. RAISE IT UP AGAIN AT THE LAST
DAY. NOW, THIS IS A REFERENCE TO THE
LORD'S DEATH FOR THE ELECT. OF THOSE YOU'VE GIVEN ME, I WON'T
LOSE ONE OF THEM. EVERYBODY THAT JESUS CHRIST DIED
FOR MUST BE SAVED. If Jesus Christ shed his precious
blood for me, I must be saved. If a preacher preaches that Jesus
Christ shed his blood for all men without exception, that man
does not know the gospel. That teaching says that he can
shed his blood for you and you might wind up in hell anyway
if you don't do your part. That is salvation by works. That's
all it is. Look at verse 44. He said, no
man can come to me. Verse 43, Jesus answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. You know, I think
about this word murmur, that's disapproval writing. a disapproval
rating. They were disapproving of what
he said. They didn't like this. He said,
no man can come to me except the father, which has sent me
draw him irresistibly, invincibly draw him. You won't come to Christ. I won't come to Christ unless
the father draws me to him. in verse 45, it's written in
the prophets and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore
that has heard and have learned of the Father cometh unto me.
Now there's his irresistible, invincible grace. Everyone that's
heard and learned of the Father, they will come to me. Verse 50, 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 forever. This is the perseverance of all
of God's people. They eat upon Christ, eat his
flesh, drink his blood. That's not cannibalism. That's
a, that would keeps me alive. That would causes me to persevere
is his broken body and his shed blood. I live on that. That's all that gives me life. Now, this is the message that
he brought at this time with regard to these disciples. Now, here was their response
to this message in verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught in Capernaum, the message of Capernaum, many therefore
of his disciples, when they had heard this, everything that was
said, they said, this is an hard saying. This is disagreeable. This is harsh. This is severe. This is inhumane, unsympathetic
toward men. This is a harsh saying. This
is how they heard this severe. Who can hear it? Who can be expected
to listen to things of this nature? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, you know, this word is repeated
over and over in this chapter, murmuring their disapproval rating. We don't approve of what has
been said. He said unto them, doth this
offend you? Do you find this offensive? What? And if you shall see the
son of man send up where it was before. Now, what he's saying
is you hear me saying this now and you're offended. When I speak
from the right hand of the father, you'll really be offended. Then it is verse 63. It is God, the
Holy spirit. that quickeneth or gives life
the flesh profits nothing." Now if you're going to have life
before God it's only because God gives it to you, He quickens
you, this is talking about the new birth, His giving of life
where you were dead and now you live. It's the spirit that quickens. In John chapter five, he says,
as the father raises the dead and quickens them, even so the
son quickens whom he will. The father quickens, the son
quickens, God, the Holy Spirit quickens, gives life. It's the
spirit that quickens, that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. How much does your flesh have
to do with salvation? Nothing. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on his name, which were born. They were birthed,
they were quickened, not of blood, not because your mom and dad
were saved, not of the will of the flesh, not as an act of man's
free will, not of the will of man, not because a bunch of men
got together and said, we're going to pray through to this
takes place. but of God. The words that I speak unto you
that you find harsh, that you find disagreeable, that you murmur
at, that you're not rejoicing in, the words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit and they are life. He is saying every word I've said in this
particular message, the words of which you say they're hard
sayings, harsh sayings, who can hear them? They're words of spirit
inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, words of life. There is no spiritual life. Listen to this statement. There
is no spiritual life apart from hearing and receiving these words. Now you can draw any implication
you want from that, but that's the truth. There is no spiritual
life apart from hearing and receiving these words, but Verse 64, but
there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believe not and who should betray him. You
know, the Lord knows everything. He knows what's in my heart right
now. He knows what's in your heart right now. He knows every
thought passing through your mind. He's in control of everything. That's who he is. He knows. He knows now I can fool you,
but I can't fool him. You can fool me, but you can't
fool him. He knows. He knows he's God. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. He's omnipotent. He's God. He knows. Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were that believe not and who should
betray him. And he said, therefore said unto you that no man can
come unto me, except it were given unto him of my father.
Now, the way the Lord says things is the way they ought to be said.
Amen. How he says it it's best. Somebody says, well, why would
he say that? Because it's the best thing to say. And that's
what he says. Verse 66 from that time. Many
of his disciples went back from this message, from this statement,
many of his disciples went back. They receded, they faded away,
attempting to go unnoticed without noise, retiring as it were. I'm retiring from this. I'm not
saying I'm against it. I'm retiring. No affiliation. Many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him. Oh, I don't want that to be me.
I don't want that to be you. I want to walk with the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to walk with him. You know, we read in
that passage that Claire read when they perceive the boldness
of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men, they took knowledge of them, that they'd been with
Jesus. I want to be one of these people, don't you? Somebody with
him, but these people walked no more with him. And he asks
this question to the 12. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? He's not gonna have an unwilling
disciple. Will you also go away? Is that your desire? We have two groups with two wills. One group willed to go away. That was their desire. That's
what they wanted to do. There was another group that
was not their will at all. They did not want to go away. Now these groups are the two
representative groups, aren't they? Those who will to follow
Christ, that's what they want to do. That's their want to. And those who do not, they willed
to go back now. The difference between these
two groups, as far as what we can see, is their wills. And your will is what you really
are. Not so much what you do, that doesn't really so much say
as much about you as what you want to do. Your will. Everybody has a will. We do what we want to do. That's why you can't say the
devil made me do it. No, you did what you wanted to
do. Everybody has a will. That being said, there's no such thing as free
will. Yes, we have a will. but there
is no such thing as free will. That's a given with most people.
Why? Of course there is free will. You won't get that from
scripture. Free will, your will is controlled
by your nature. That's simple enough. A tiger
could eat grass if he wanted to. Who's going to stop him? But it's against his nature.
Your will is controlled by your nature. That's true with regard
to every, even, I want to say this reverently, but even God
doesn't have a free will in the sense that he, he can't will
to sin. It's against his nature. He cannot lie. The scripture
says it's against his nature. He's holy. He has a will and his will is
always done, but his will is controlled by his holy nature,
who he is. Now here we have two people with
two different wills. One group, the majority will
to go back and follow him no more. And the Lord said, will
you also go away? Is that your desire? Will you
also go away? Now, one time, both of these
groups had the same will. Turn with me for a moment. Hold
your finger there and turn with me to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter
two. And you, verse one, hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you
walked according to the course of this world. This was your
will. This was your life. According
to the Prince of the power of the air. The spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires, the will of the flesh and of the mind and were
by nature, the children of wrath, even as others, just like everybody
else. Everybody was in this demographic,
but God, there's the difference, but Not but you, but God, who
is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ. God gives a new will. Psalm 110.3
says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. This
is one of the most amazing things that's about the Lord. I can't
make anybody willing. You know, the saying, you know,
you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make a drink. I
can't make anybody willing. He can, he can make you willing. so that every believer can say
with Paul in Romans chapter seven, to will is present with me. I would see Jesus. I would walk with him. I would be holy. I would be merciful. I would be forgiving. I would be lowly and humble and
brokenhearted. I would be poor in spirit. I
would mourn. I would be meek. I would hunger
and thirst after righteousness. I would be pure in heart. I would
be a peacemaker. I would be merciful. I would
be persecuted for righteousness. I would count that my greatest
honor to be persecuted for his righteousness sake. I would.
I will. That's my desire. You see, he's
given me a new will. He's given me a new want to.
I would what I used to wouldn't. Now I would. Now I would. What a blessing to have him making
me willing. Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Have you ever
thought about that? What did he will? I want mercy.
You're getting it. You're getting it. Bartimaeus, the Lord said, What
wilt thou that I should do unto thee? He said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight, receive your sight, go your way. Your faith
has made you whole. You know what he did when he
went his way? He followed Jesus in the way. Willing. The difference between these
two groups is seen in how they saw the words of Christ. Harsh words or words of spirit
and words of life. And this is so important. How do you see? How do you see?
How do I see? I'm speaking to myself. How do
I see his words? Do I see them as harsh words,
unfeeling, dry? dry doctrine, or do I see them
as the very words of life, that there is no life apart from these
words? I find this an experience with
myself. Now listen to me, when he said, this is the will of
him that sent me, when he said, this is the work, this is the,
verse 29, I'm not quoting it right. 28, then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said, and then this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he has sent. That is all I have right now. And if that's not the truth,
I will not be saved. This is words of spirit and words
of life. When he said, all of us, the
father giveth me shall come to me. I know the only way I come
to him is if I'm given to him or the father and I won't be
saved without this. I will not be saved. This is
life. This is not just getting my doctrine
straightened out. This is life. I know the only
hope that I have is if Jesus Christ died for me and put away
my sins and made me to be acceptable and perfect before God. That
is life. That's not Calvinism versus Arminianism. That's life. This is the gospel. This is not reform doctrine.
It's God's doctrine. It's the truth. I know this. If he doesn't draw
me irresistibly and invincibly, I'll never come to him. This
is life to me. I must be drawn of the father. And I say, Lord, draw me. Draw
us and we'll run after thee like the Shulamite said in the song
of Solomon. I need the kind of grace that teaches me and every man that's
heard and learned of the Father comes to me. These are words
of spirit and these are words of life. Will you also, now think
of the Lord saying this, will you also go away? Could you attend a place where
this is not preached? Could you? Will you also go away? I love Peter's answer. Verse 67 or verse 68. Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord. He's the Lord. He's my Lord. He's your Lord, whether you know
it or not. He's the Lord. He's the Lord of the dead and
the living. He's the Lord. You know him when you know he's
the Lord. Now understand this with regard
to faith. Faith is knowing who he is. That's what faith is. It's knowing who he is. You won't
trust him unless you know who he is. If you know who he is,
you will trust him. You won't have any choice. I
love the way Peter said, to whom shall we go? Lord, to whom shall
we go? It's not like we have an option.
It's not like we have a choice. It's not like there's any other
place we could go. What, he wants to go to the law? He wants to
go to salvation by works? Well, then there's no place to
go. Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal
life." These words that they're calling harsh words, we call
words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou
art that Christ. the son of the living God. Are you positively sure that
you are saved? As soon as I ask that question,
a question mark comes in your mind. You hope you are. You hope
you are. And really, if we look to Christ,
we ought to have full assurance. If I don't have full assurance
of my salvation, it's because I'm looking here somewhere. I'm
looking to my works or my experience or my growth. We ought to have full assurance.
But here's something we do have full assurance with regard. We
believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the
living God. Jesus Christ is God the Son. God's Christ, God's prophet. He is the Word of God. God's
priest, if he represents me, I must be saved. God's king,
he's the king to make sure I do what he wills for me to do because
he's got the power to do it. I need him as prophet, priest,
and king. We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Verse 70, Jesus answered them. If not, I've chosen you 12. I
love that. There's 12 that didn't go with
the rest who went away. There's only 12. What does the
Lord say? Well, you guys really made a
good choice. I'm glad you did that. Had not I chosen you, 12. You did not choose me. But I
chose you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit should remain. And when he says one
of you is a devil, he's talking about Judas Iscariot. He's not
going to continue. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him being one of
the twelve. Will you also go away?" Lord, where would we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
Thou art that Christ. The son of the living God. Let's pray. Lord, I ask we ask. Together in Christ's name. That each individual. In this room. might answer with
Peter when asked, will you also go away? Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, God's
Christ, the son of the living God. Bless this word for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.