And I want to pick up here in
verse 16 where Brother Larry left off. Brother Larry read to us about
one great miracle. I want to begin here in verse
16 and read to you about another great miracle. John chapter 6
and verse 16. And when the evening was now
come, his disciples went down into the sea, and entered into
a ship, and went over the sea towards Capernaum. And it was
now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by
reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about
five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the
sea. What a miracle! Who but God?
How could He do this? He's God, isn't He? He's God
in our humanity. It's His sea. He commands it.
And they were afraid. But He said unto them, It is
I, be not afraid. Then they willingly received
Him unto the ship, and immediately the ship was at land where they
went. The day following, when the people
which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was
none other boat there, except that one whereunto his disciples
were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into
the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone. Howbeit
there came other boats from Tiberias not unto the place where he did
eat bread after the Lord did give thanks. When the people
therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples,
they also took shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, whence
comest thou hither? Now, those are two great miracles.
But now we're fixing to read about the greatest miracle of
all, beginning in verse 26. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
you seek Not because you did see the miracles, but because
you did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the
meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endeareth 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? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him,
What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe? What
do you work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Moses did not give you that bread from heaven, but my Father
gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God
is he which comes down from heaven and gives life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never
hunger. And he that believes on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father gives to
me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in no
wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is also the will of
him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day.' The Jews therefore murmured at him because he said,
I am 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 come down from heaven? Jesus
therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him, and I will raise him up
at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
And 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 hath seen the Father, save he which is of God. He hath seen the Father. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me hath everlasting
life. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they are dead. This is the
bread which comes 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. 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,
verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinks
my blood, he dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father
has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me shall
live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall live forever." These things said He in the synagogue as He
taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples,
when they heard this, said, This is an unheard saying, who can
hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that
His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Does this
offend you? What, and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are Spirit in their life. But there are some
of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him." And
he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto
me, except it were given unto him of my father. From that time
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away? Then Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
you are that Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is
a devil? This he spake of Judas Iscariot,
the son of Simon. For he it was that should betray
him, being one of the twelve. Now, my text this morning is
found here in verse 66. From that time many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Many of his disciples. Did you notice that? His disciples. His disciples. This is one of
the reasons that I'm concerned with this verse this morning.
Because this was his disciple. I profess to be a disciple. Most
of you here this morning profess to be a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is a disciple? It's somebody
that follows Jesus. It's somebody that seeks Him.
He told them here in these passages that I read to them. They went
over to the other side seeking Jesus. And you know, it wasn't
just them that said that we're seeking Him. The Lord Jesus Himself
said, you seek Me. You seek me. And most of you
and I, we come here this morning, and we profess to be seekers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I come here this morning to seek
Him, and so have you. We seek Him in prayer. We seek
Him in the preaching of His Word. We seek Him in a song that's
sung. We seek Him in His gospel. We
come here this morning seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. But some
here that were seeking the Lord Jesus Christ, they only sought
Him for a while, because my text says here, they went back. They
went back. And come to find out, the text
tells us that I read to you, that they were seeking Him for
the wrong reason. Look again in verse 26. The Lord
Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek Me. Not because
you saw my miracle, not because you saw my power and did something
that only God can do, but you're seeking me because your bellies
were filled. And now you want another filling
of your physical belly. They sought Him, but they sought
Him for the wrong reason. How much time and how much labor
and how much money has been spent by many seeking the Lord Jesus
Christ for some physical, temporal blessing. And then, after they
sought a while, they go back and walk with Him no more at
all. Many sought Him to be saved from
the fear of hell. Have they not? Have not many
sought the Lord Jesus Christ because they had this alarm in
their conscience? They had this awful torment that
hell was their end? But when the fear of hell was
dispelled, they went back and sought Him no more. How many
have sought Him because their conscience was alarmed? And out
of an alarmed conscience, they begin to seek Him. But when their
conscience was quieted, they went back and sought him no more. Will I go back? Will you go back? We're disciples. We're seekers
of Jesus. Will we go back? Many, many went
back. Many went back then, and many
have gone back in our time. Will we be one of them? Will
I be one of them? And I would say, brothers and
sisters, if many have gone back, you and I know some of them. I think it would be naive of
us to think that these These apostles, Peter and James and
John and Matthew and these other men, did not know some of these
people who went back. There wasn't just a few. There
was many. There was many that went back.
Many went back. Many that were seeking, that
were called disciples of the Lord, went back. Strived to enter
in at the straight gate. For I say unto you, that many
will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." They seek for a
while, but they seek wrongly. And after a while, many of them
go back. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, have we not prophesied? Have we not sought you? Were
we not your disciples? Did the world not recognize us
as your disciples? But I never knew you. I never
knew you. Many, many, many of his disciples
went back. One of the most heart-wrenching
things, one of the most distressful things,
and one of the most dangerous things is to have been a seeker of the
Lord Jesus. and you're a seeker no more.
One of the most dreadful things is to have been called a disciple
of Christ, and you're called a disciple no more. These disciples
went back. They went back. They turned back. He that wandereth out of the
way of life, shall remain in the congregation of the dead. We'll deal with that in just
a few minutes. Our translators added that word, time. They put
it in italics, and I'm thankful that they did. But I'm glad they
put it there. There's a good reason for it being there. But
from that, from that, it was something that the Lord Jesus
has said that was the reason they gave for going back. And
it's also said the same thing in verse 60. Look at this. Many,
therefore, of His disciples, when they heard this, they said,
this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? What did the
Lord Jesus say that caused these disciples to go back? They used
this as a reason for going back and walking no more with Him. There seems to be two things
in this passage. And I want to look at it as two
principles. There's two principles our Lord
taught here that these men used for a reason of going back. One
of them is this. The Lord Jesus was telling these
disciples that were following Him, if you're ever to be saved,
if you're ever to obtain eternal life, you must obtain it. in a way that you have never
imagined before. If you are ever to be raised
from the dead at the last day and go to heaven and live in
that glorious place, you must do so in such a manner and way
that you have never imagined before. The Lord Jesus kept making
this statement to them He makes it here in verse 33 and verse
48, down through verse 51. He keeps making this statement
that he came down from heaven, that he was the bread of God,
that he was the living bread that the Father had sent him.
And no doubt he was speaking of the cross. The cross where
he was to give his body to be broken. and give his blood to
atone for sin to satisfy the awful judgment of God. That's
what he was talking about. His doing and his dying. And
he comes here to verse 53 and look at this. He not only says
that I must go to the cross and Give my body to be broken and
my blood poured out for sin. But he says here in verse 53,
he goes one step further and he says this, that this is not
optional. This is not one of many ways
that you must be saved and have eternal life. It's the only way. Look here what he says in verse
53. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."
No life. No life. What was he telling
them? He was telling them, you never
imagined how you must be saved. This has never entered into your
heart. You must be saved by me. and
not just by me, you must be saved by me, giving myself upon a cross
to satisfy God for your sins." And he went one step further.
He said, there is no other way for you to be saved. There is
no other means of life for you but this. This is the only way. Your fathers eat manna in the
wilderness and they're dead. They're dead. And if you don't
eat of me and you don't drink my blood, you're going to die
too. There's just one way of life. One way. These Jews were going back to
the synagogue and the temple. They were going to participate
in these outward forms ceremonies, and they were going to remain
dead, and they were going to die in their sins if they did
not eat of this broken body and drank of this shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is one way. That is what
he is telling them. There is one way. And it wasn't
just the opinion of the Lord Jesus, this lowly Galilean, but
this was God's word. He said, the Father has sent
me. I came out from the Father. It's
not just me that's telling you this. This is God's gospel. This is what God is telling you. Somebody will say, well, I knew
all my life, I've known that Jesus Christ was the only way. You know I doubt that. I doubt
that seriously. And you know why I doubt that? Because to know that you must
be saved by this crucified Christ alone is something that God in
heaven has to reveal to your heart. We don't know this by
nature. I've often told you my own experience. When I was a teenager, I earnestly
believed that I had to save myself. And I tried it. And I couldn't
do it. Then I thought, well, Christ
has a part in it, surely. He has a part. He must do something. And by me doing what I can and
Him doing what He can, surely that's the remedy. But that wasn't
the remedy until God in His mercy taught me. It's not that at all. He must do all. He must do all. If you're ever to be saved, you
must be saved by this crucified Christ and by Him only. It don't matter what you do.
It don't matter what you add to Him. There is no life. You'll die in your sins if you're
not saved by His blood and by His doing and by His dying. It's not just a matter of knowing
right from wrong. Well, they know right from wrong.
We know they know right from wrong. It's not a matter of knowing
right from wrong. How many of us knew right from
wrong before the Lord saved us? But it's a matter of knowing
how a man is saved. How does life come to a man? How does God accept a sinner?
It's through this man. This bloody man. The Lord Jesus
Christ hanging upon a tree. He says here in verse 60, look
in verse 60, the Lord Jesus was telling them this, except you
eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And
he said there in verse 60, many therefore of his disciples, when
they heard this, when they heard this, they said, we've never
heard anything like this before. This is a hard saying. This is a hard saying. It's not a hard saying, brothers
and sisters, to tell a man, and he'll receive it too, that you've
got to save yourself. It's not a hard saying to tell
a man, you've got to help the Lord save you. You have a part
to do, and you better find out what it is. That's not a hard
saying. Here's the hard saying. You must be saved by the doing
and dying of somebody else. Wholly, wholly, wholly by somebody
else. That's the hard saying, ain't
it? That's the hard saying. If God doesn't reconcile a man
to the message, this message, and give him grace to believe
it, you know what that man will do? He'll go back from this. He'll go back from this. He won't
have this. He'll say, this is a hard sale.
No, this is a hard sale. I've had enough of this bloody
religion. And they depart from it. And
they are offended by it. Does this offend you? Isn't it
something, brothers and sisters, that men are offended at that
message which should be to their greatest comfort? If you told
somebody that you need to crawl from the northern part of Indiana
all the way down to Madison, and if you'll do that, you can
be saved. You know what? You'd have everybody
in this state crawling. But you tell them the doing has
been done. Redemption has been accomplished.
Sin has been punished. The work, it's finished. You
know what they'll do? I don't want nothing to do with
that. And they'll depart from this. This is what they left. They went back. Why? This was the principle they
went back from. This was the doctrine. You must
be saved by me. And if you're not saved by me
only, By my doing, by my dying, you have no life in you, except,
except, except. No optionalism. It's not optional.
That's the first principle. But here's the second principle.
Not only is this life in the Son of God alone, but to come
to Him and to believe in Him and to receive it at His hands
It must be given you of the Father. It was the gift and grace of
God to bring the Son of God down and to suffer and die, and it
is the gift and grace of God to bring us to believe on Him
and live. And this is the second principle
that these men went back for. Look here in verse 65 again.
Look in verse 65. Therefore I said unto you, they
murmured. They murmured because of this
first principle. Therefore I said unto you, that
no man can come to me. Now you know something, brothers
and sisters, if he had stopped there, these men would have received
that. If he had said, no man can come
to me, they would have said, all right, we don't have the
ability. But every one of us are in the same boat. Nobody's
coming. Nobody's going to be saved. Let's
just accept our faith and go on. But when he adds this, except
it were given to him of my Father. Now that's something that galled
their conscience because the Lord Jesus was speaking here
of distinguishing grace. No man can come to Me. But God
has made a distinction, you see. He's not let everybody go on
and be lost in their sins. He's drawing some men. He's drawing some women. And
He's bringing them to Me. That's what God did. I think there's men and women
in this world who would be far happier if God sent everybody
to hell as opposed to saving anybody by his free grace. That's what God said. It's not
up to me. It's not up to me. Not ultimately,
is it? You will not come and you cannot
come. So who's it up to? The Father. Oh, that's what God said, isn't
it? Many have no problem with God
loving Jacob and choosing Jacob to salvation and life eternal
until you tell them that he passed by Esau. That's distinguishing
grace. God is allowed. Listen to this. God is allowed. They allow him. Men will allow him. Some things. They'll allow him
some things, but they won't allow this distinguishing grace. Most men have no problem with
you coming to the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved by him. They'll
commend you for that. Well, God bless you that you
came. I'm so happy for you. Go on and live your Christian
life. I'm thrilled that you came to the Lord Jesus Christ as long
as you say it was your decision. Or that it was your will, your
free will, or your choice. But when they hear, the minute
that they hear that you're coming to Christ was the gift and grace
of the Father, and that's why you came. Oh, they'll go back
from that. They'll go back from that. That's
the problem. Here's these two great principles,
brothers and sisters. Redemption has been accomplished
wholly by another, wholly by another. And to lay hold upon
this glorious person is the gift of God, the discriminating grace
of God. There's something else that factors
in here, too. And we find it here in verse
42. Look at this. Here was one of their problems. They thought they knew this man.
They thought they were familiar with him. Look in verse 42. They
said, Is this not Jesus? Why don't we know him? He was
raised right here in our community. Don't we know His Father and
His Mother? How is it that He said, I come
down from heaven? These Jews had their preconceived
notions of who Jesus was, that He was like them. He's just merely
one of us. He thinks like we think. He lives
and does like we do. He judges. He determines just
like we did. Yes, He did a great miracle.
We saw it. No man can deny that. But He's
carried this too far. He's exalted Himself too high. Now He's telling us that there's
no life apart from Him. He's left us nothing to do. Nothing
to do to save ourselves. He's put it all in Him. Who does
He think He is? This is not the Jesus that we
know. And He tells us that God in heaven
approves of Him and accepted what He's done, and that nobody
can come to Him except this great God. Teach Him and draw unto
Him. Who does He think He is? You see their problem? He wasn't
who they thought He was. familiarity. A lot of people
are familiar with one they think is Jesus, but when they're confronted
with the real Christ, they say, wait a minute, that's not who
we think He is. That's not the Christ that I've
heard of. And they're offended by Him. They're offended by Him. Now, in the light of this, These
two great principles, let's read verse 66 again. Let's read it
again. Because there's one more thing
here that's brought together. These two things brought together,
look at it. From that, from that, from what? These two principles. These two great doctrines of
Christ. That I have accomplished redemption myself upon a bloody
tree. And if you have life, you can't
have it, except it's in me. No other way. All other ways
are cut off. How narrow, how straight this
way is, isn't it? Just one way, and that's for
this bloody cross of the Son of God. They departed from that. They departed from this distinguishing
grace of God. If you come to Christ, it's a
gift of God. You're no different than anybody
else. You don't have any more ability than anybody else. You
came because He drew you. He set His heart upon you. He
opened your understanding. He brought you to Christ. That
was the gift of God. From that, from that, they went
back. But notice, they went back to
walk with Him No more. When they left that, they left
Him. Did you see that? When they left
that, when they left His doctrine, when they left substitution,
when they left distinguishing grace, they left Him. You can't have the doctrine of
Christ and yet have Christ. I don't want His doctrine, I
just want Him. If you leave His doctrine, you've
left Him. They went back. And when a man
goes back, he don't take one more step with the Savior. You can't walk with the Lord
Jesus and go back from that. Christ and His gospel are vitally
linked together. When you're confronted with one,
you're confronted with the other. You can't accept one and reject
the other. You can't say, I love Jesus,
but I hate His grace. I love Christ, but I don't like
that damnable heresy. They go together. The moment
you leave one, you'll never walk with the other. Ain't that what
he said? From that, from his doctrine,
they went back. And the very minute they turned
from his doctrine, they never took another step with him. You can't separate Christ and
his gospel, can you? You can't do it. People talking
about Jesus. Oh, Jesus this and Jesus that. What about His doctrine? What
about His gospel? Here's why we see the Hebrew
writer says, I take no pleasure in them that draw back. Draw back from what? Now we know,
don't we? No wonder! The wonder, he says,
I can't rejoice in them that draw back. What do they draw
back from? They draw back from the truth. They draw back from the Savior
that you and I love and adore and worship. To you that believe
he's precious. I tell you, you and I are honest
dogmatic on some things. as other people are, but we know
this, and we believe this, and we hold to this. If you're fighting
against God's electing grace and God's distinguishing grace,
when you're confronted with it in the Scriptures, you're fighting
against Christ. You're fighting against Christ.
You may not understand it until you're confronted with it, but
when you're confronted with it and you rebel against it, you
rebel against Him. The minute you leave God's grace,
His redeeming, distinguishing grace, you leave Christ. That's
why they went back. That's why they went back. But
going back from His doctrine, they left Him. They went back. What did they go back to? Well,
they went back up here to the farms, their outward washing. Went back to their merchandise.
Went back to their pleasures, back to their cares, but they
went back to darkness, too. They went back to a hopeless
condition, too. They went back to the devil,
too. The minute a man turns from Christ,
he goes back. You don't continue to go forward
when you leave Christ, you go back. Back! Back! Do you want to go back? Do you
remember what was back there? They went back. Brothers and
sisters, beware when you even think about turning back. Don't
go back. This is an awful disease. Many,
many went back. Look what an awful contagious
disease this is. I wonder who was the first one
that went back. Everybody was standing there
together and listening. I wonder who was the first one
that dropped his head and turned away. I don't know. But you know
a lot of people follow. This is a contagious disease. You see one go back and somebody
else says, I think I'll go with you. Now, he said, from that time,
from that time. I'm glad the translators put
this in here, from that time. We don't know exactly when these
people began to seek the Lord Jesus. We're not told exactly
when. They may not have even known
themselves. But you know something? We know, and they know, the very
moment they quit seeking him. from that time. If you could
discuss this with these people today, if you could awaken them
there in hell as Abraham taught with the rich man, and you asked
them, when did you begin to seek the Lord Jesus Christ? And they
said, well, I don't really know when. When did you leave Him?
Oh, I remember exactly when I left Him. I remember what was said. I remember exactly why. I remember
the time. Some remember in your lifetime. Remember what? These went back. And you bet
they remembered the time. You think Agrippa knew the time
when he told Paul, Paul, I don't have time right now to hear you.
When I have a convenient season. You ask him this morning, don't
you think he has that time seared in his conscience? I finished preaching here one
Sunday morning, and there was a couple here. Been coming here
for a while. And the thought come to my mind
as I looked at them, you'll never see that couple here again. And
it's been going on a year, and we've not seen them. And that's
a burn in my conscience that distresses me every time I think
about it. But I tell you this, He'll distress
them in the long run. Because they will remember the
time. The time. They went back. They went back
to walk with Him. Look at this. No more. Brothers and sisters, beware
when you begin to think about leaving Him. When you leave off
to pray, when you leave off to read His Word, when you leave
off to assemble yourselves, beware at the very beginning of leaving
Him, because here's where it may end, that you'll never seek
Him again. You'll never walk with Him again.
These went away, and they never returned. If they saw His face,
it was at a distance. If they heard His voice, it was
at a distance. They walked with Him no more,
and they died without blood to cleanse them. They died without
love to embrace them. They died without a hope to cheer
them. They died without mercy to comfort them. They died without
a Savior. They went back and walked no
more with him. And boy, here in verse 67, look
at this. I noticed this as I was reading
this. And Jesus said unto the twelve, but you notice this,
he never said a thing to them. He turned and he spoke to his
twelve apostles. But he never said a thing to
those who were leaving. If the unbelieving will depart,
let them depart. And he let them. He let them. Now, I'm not so naive as to think
the Lord Jesus Christ had no feelings about this. How do you
feel when you see somebody leave? It breaks your heart. You know
it broke his heart. You know it burdened him. Another
place, he wept over Jerusalem. But when they left, he said,
Go on. Go on. I won't stop you. I won't cry after you. He never
said a word to them. But he turns here and he says
to his disciples in verse 67, Will you also go away? He used this occasion, he uses
this occasion to draw a stronger resolve from his believing people. Will you go away? Now's the time. Now's the time. So many's leaving. Just get in the crowd. You won't
be noticed. You want to leave? Then now's
a good time, Peter. John, you want to leave? Now's
a good time. I won't stop you. You want to
leave. Boy, I tell you, doesn't it make
you afraid when you feel like you have the liberty to leave
Him? And instead of you doing it, you know what it will do?
It will give you a deeper resolve that you're not leaving. You're
not leaving. Peter goes on here to say this.
In verse 68, Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that You are that Christ,
the Son of the living God. You've got the words of life.
See what the Lord Jesus does to His people. He first brings
His Word with power home to their heart. And they said, my, what
words of life. Oh, words of life. This is where
my faith is. This is where my hope is. They
rejoice in the words of life. And then he turns right around
and says, you can go if you want to. I bet you there was a time
if you had given them the liberty to leave, they may have left.
But not after he preached this message to them. Not after they
heard words of life. One scripture in closing. Look
over in Ruth chapter 1. Look in Ruth chapter 1. I think
it may be the eighth book in the Old Testament. Ruth chapter
1. We'll close with this scripture. If you turn to Joshua, keep turning
to your right to the book of Judges, and Ruth will be the
very next book. Ruth chapter 1. Let me tell you
just a little bit about this. Naomi was a Jew. She had married this man. They
had two young sons, and there was a famine in Jerusalem, in
Israel. They went down to the land of
Moab to dwell there. Her two sons married two Moabite
women. Her two sons died, and her husband
died. And Ruth said, I've got to go
back up to Israel. And her two daughters-in-law said, we're
going with you. And she said, no, you can't go. Oh, puppy,
you need to stay here. You've got family here. This
is where your gods are. You need to stay here. That's
what they told her. Look in verse 8. And Naomi said
unto her two daughters-in-law, Go, return to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you
as you have dealt with the dead and with me. Look in verse 12. Look in verse 11. And they only
said, Turn again, my daughters, why will you go with me? Are
there yet any more sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go
your way, for I am too old to have none husband. If I should
say I have hope, If I should have none husband also tonight,
and should also bear sons, would you tarry for them till they
are grown? Why, no. Would you stay for them from
having husbands? Why, no. Nay, my daughters, for
it grieves me much for your sake that the hand of God, the hand
of the Lord, is going out against me." And they lifted up their
voice and wept. And again they wept. kissed her mother-in-law. And
she went back. But Ruth clung to her. And she said, Behold, your sister-in-law
is gone back to her people and to her gods. Return thou after
thy sister-in-law. You've got the liberty to go
if you want to go. Your gods are back there. Your
families are back there. And Ruth said, Entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For where
you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,
and your God shall be my God. Where thou diest, I will die.
And there will I be buried, the Lord do so to me, and more also,
if aught but death shall part thee and me." And when she saw
that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off
speaking with her. Will you go away? Will you go
away? Here's what Newton said. When
any turn from Zion's way, alas, what many do! I think I hear
the Savior say, Will you forsake me too? O Lord, with such a heart
as mine, unless you hold me fast, I feel I must, I shall decline,
and prove like them at last. Yet you alone have power, I know,
to save a wretch like me. To whom or whither could I go? if I should turn from thee. Beyond
a doubt I rest assured you are the Christ of God, who has eternal
life secured by promise and by blood. The help of men and angels
joined could never reach my case, nor can I hope relief to find
but in your boundless grace. No voice but yours can give me
rest and bid my fears depart. No love but yours can make me
blessed and satisfy my heart. What anguish has this question
stirred if I will also go? Yet, Lord, relying on Thy Word,
I humbly answer." What? What did he answer? No. No. By God's grace, I'm not going
or you. And the more we see go back,
it seems like the more it fixes our resolve, I ain't going. I ain't going. Oh, Father, gracious Father in
Heaven, thank You for such grace. Untold grace. Unheard of grace. Grace that You had to reveal
to our hearts. Grace that brought the Savior
down to accomplish our redemption. Never in a thousand years would
we have imagined such a thing that you did all. You did all. Oh, Lord in heaven, thank you
for the gospel. Thank you for this revelation.
We continued all our lives, God knows, in our ignorance, in our
darkness. filled with so many different
ways and attempts to save our poor selves, little did we know
that our salvation was already accomplished. Oh, thank You for
eyes to see it. Thank You for grace to believe
it. We have nothing this morning, Lord, but praise in our hearts
for adoration for You. You are a great Savior, and You
are the only Savior. Nothing but Your grace can save
us, and we are content with it. We bless you for it. I pray for
the dear people gathered here this morning. I pray for the
saved that this message may give them a greater resolve to hold
on and plead tightly to the Savior. And I pray those who are here
today, I pray that their conscience has been stirred up, their hearts
have been opened. to see the Savior that they need,
that they must have, and cast themselves upon Him to be saved
by Him. I pray to that end. O Spirit
of God, their Teacher be, show Christ to them. Thank you for
the food that we have today. Thank you for our health. Lord,
we pray this morning for Shirley's dear sister and her sickness
and the awful disease that she has contacted. I pray for her,
O Lord, that you would be pleased to intervene and have mercy upon
her. You made these bodies, you uphold
them, and you are able to deliver her from this, if you will. We
ask you to. We pray to that end. For Christ
Jesus' sake. Amen.