From that time, many of his followers,
disciples, went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
will you also go away? Now we know that wherever our
Lord went, Multitudes, multitudes of people followed Him. Everywhere
He journeyed. You read about Him going through
Jericho or Jerusalem or Galilee or wherever. Multitudes of people
followed Him. And when our Lord spoke, when
the Master spoke, multitudes heard Him. And some of these people heard
Him often. Some of them followed him long
enough to be considered his followers, his disciples. They were with
him that much. You remember one time he crossed
the sea and they were waiting for him when he got on the other
side. Well, some of them were awed
and inspired by his teaching. They said, never a man spake
like this man. They came to hear, well you can
imagine, The Master speaking, preaching, Christ preaching.
They were all, they were inspired by his words. His words must
have flowed. Talk about a great orator, just
imagine the Lord Jesus Christ preaching. And they just congregated
around him to hear him, hear him preach. And then some of these people
were impressed by the miracles which he did. You can imagine. He made a blind man to see. He made a deaf man to hear. Not
like these fellas today. This man was deaf and he heard.
This man was blind and he saw. And that man with the pool had
been there 38 years. Crippled. And he got up and walked,
not only walked, but carried his bed. And they were impressed by these
miracles. It said many followed him because of the miracles which
he did. And then some of them were interested
in his benefits. On one occasion he preached to
a large crowd of people, thousands of people, 5,000 men, not counting
the women and the children. And when he got through preaching,
he fed every one of them. And they had so much to eat of
fish and bread that they took up, what, twelve baskets full? Twelve baskets full, left over. And they followed him because
of the loaves and fishes. That's why they followed him. And then some were interested
in an earthly Jewish kingdom. This may surprise you. But we're so thick-headed. The 12 disciples, 11 of them
after Judas hanged himself, but the 11 disciples after Christ
died, was buried, rose again, appeared to them, talked to them.
And after He appeared on this earth 40 or 50 days. In Acts
chapter 1, when He stood on that mountain about to ascend back
to the Father, do you know what they asked Him? You remember? One of them said, will you restore
the kingdom to Israel at this time? Is this when we're going
to have that big kingdom and the Jews take over? Read it,
Acts 1-6. Astounding, isn't it? You think how slow of heart he
said, O ye of little faith and slow of heart to believe, all
that the prophets wrote. And here after all this preaching,
suffering, dying, teaching, one of them said, are you going to
set up the kingdom now? And he told them, my kingdom
is not of this world. We're so quick to learn mechanics
and Some of you can take a car apart
and put it back together, and you can take a verse of scripture
apart and teach the mysteries of the kingdom of God. That's
what I'm saying. We're so dull of hearing. So dull. But they followed Him. And whatever
their reason for following Him, whatever their reason in being
numbered with His disciples, they finally, it says here, went
back. They finally went back. They
continued with him for a time. They followed him for a time.
They ate with him for a time. They listened to him for a time.
They rejoiced in his miracles for a time. But finally it says
they went back. They went back to the old way
of life. They went back to the old religious
traditions. They went back to the temple,
to the synagogue. They went back to the ceremonies.
They went back to the law. They went back to the doings
and deeds. They went back to the world.
They went back to their old companions. And they went back to the old
way of life. They went back. And watch this
here in verse 66. From that time, many of his followers
went back and walked no more with him. It doesn't say they left Peter,
James, and John. They left Him. They left Him. It didn't say
they walked no more with the disciple. They walked no more
with Him. Him. They no longer heard His
Word. This is tragic. They no longer
heard His Word. I think there's some of you here
this morning that would Verify this, that you'd find it difficult
to survive a week without hearing his word, wouldn't you? But they
walked no more with him. They didn't hear his word anymore.
They no longer sought his wisdom. They no longer were identified
with his followers. He didn't send them away. Our
Lord has never sent a man away. Don't ever blame God for your
indifference. Don't ever blame the purpose
or sovereignty of God for your indifference. He's never sent
anybody away. They went back. They went back
and walked no more with Him. Now here's what prompted this
message. We see the same thing happening today. We see the same thing happening
today. People losing interest, they
say. something or someone comes along
and more important than Christ. And we cry, I don't understand.
I hear this all the time. One of our deacons and I were
talking yesterday and he used the same statement, I don't understand.
I don't understand. I don't understand how a man
or a woman can hear the gospel of Christ. Hear the gospel of
Christ. How a man or woman can even preach.
A man can preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Teach the
Word of God. A person can profess to know
Christ, to love Christ, to believe Christ, and then leave that Christ
and leave that gospel? I don't understand. That's the
words that's used. I don't understand. Brethren, do you understand?
Do you understand how people can leave? Just desert the Gospel. Just leave it. Live without it.
Walk no more with it. Hear His Word no more. Seek His
wisdom no more. Fellowship with His people no
more. Do you understand? Of course I do. Why, of course
I do. My Lord tells me why they do
that, why they leave. I know it. You do too if you
think. They followed him for the wrong
reason. That's why they left. And they always will. Listen
to him. He said, you follow me because
of the miracles. That's why you follow me. And
when you get tired of the miracles, you leave. When you get weary
of the miracles, when the miracles lose their fascination, you leave.
He said, you follow me not because of the miracles of another group.
He said, you're following me for the loaves and fishes. When
you get enough loaves and fishes, your appetite satisfied, you
leave. You can stock up a little bit,
you know, and leave. He said, my kingdom's not of
this world. They said, which of us is going
to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He said, if you're
not converted, you're not going to enter the kingdom of heaven.
We want a kingdom. He finally said here in verse
64, there are some of you that believe not. You just don't believe. You just don't believe. Yes,
I understand. I grieve over it, but I understand. I understand. Men leave Christ because they
follow Christ for the wrong reasons. They follow Him because of the
miracles. They follow Him because of the benefits. They follow
Him because of the inheritance. They follow Him because of future
hope. They follow Him because of a
kingdom. They follow Him because of benefits, loaves and fishes,
finances and good health. Let me point out three things
to you, and you think this over now. Man is not a body. Man is a soul. Do you understand that? Man is
a soul. Man is a soul. I have a body.
I am a soul. Man is a soul. He lives and he
thinks. Now, an animal has no interest
in religion because an animal is not a soul. Animal is a carcass. But I am a soul. I'm trying to
shy away from saying I have a soul. I don't have a soul. I am a soul. I have a body. You see what I'm
saying? I am a soul. I am a spirit being. And I live and I think and I
fear and I consider death and I consider eternity and I consider
judgment and I consider God. Man is an emotional creature,
he is a religious creature. The heathen do not worship the
living God, but all of them worship a God. Every soul has a God. That's right. You see what I'm
establishing here? Every soul, every being, spirit
being, doesn't, we don't just think about water, we do think
about water and food and all these things, but also when we're
alone, when we've got enough water in our stomachs and enough
food, we start thinking about something having to do with spiritual
things. Huh? Alright, secondly, because
man is a soul, man must have a God. He's got to have some kind of
hope for our Chandra. He knows he's not going to, if
a man dies, shall he live again? He knows he will. So he must
establish some kind of hope for our Chandra. Therefore, it's
not surprising nor difficult to understand that every strong
religious personality has a following. A strong religious personality
who talks about the soul, and talks about the spirit, and talks
about God, and talks about a future hope, and talks about an eternal
life, and talks about a happy hunting ground. Every strong,
gifted, talented religious personality can get a following from among
men. It's simple. Mary Baker Hoodie. She had a
tremendous following in California, John, all over the country. Amy
Semple MacPherson. These women, beautiful, put on
flowing white garments and have choirs behind them and talk about
God and Spirit and Heaven and living forever. And man's a soul. And he needs a God. And this
one sounds pretty good. I kind of like this. Joseph Smith. Father Divine, the black people's
God. Confucius, Mohammed. There are
more Mohammedans in the world than any other single religion.
He was a strong, forceful character who had something for these souls. Even true preachers have their
followers. Luther was a dynamo. And some
people heard Christ through Luther's voice, but some people followed
him because he was Luther too. Calvin. Calvin took over Switzerland. He took Geneva over. He was the
ruler of Geneva one time. Spurgeon. And I'll tell you, impressive
religious organizations can get followers there. People got to
have a religious refuge. They've got to have a religious
hope. They've got to have a God. They've got to have something.
This spirit, this soul's got to have something. So the Catholic
Church comes along. It's impressive. Now, they've
got some pretty good-sized buildings. You ever in Notre Dame in Paris?
That's something to behold. And you've got the atmosphere
and you've got the candles burning. You've got the mystery and the
dark corners. And you've got the capes, and
the robes, and the water sprinkled, and the veils, and the candles.
Spirit, the more mysterious and spooky is bound to be from another
world. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So man is a soul. Man is a spirit. These people have followed Christ.
They followed Him. They listened to Him. They said,
Moses talked like this before. Some of them said, he must be
the Christ. But you say, by the way, I'm
not talking about religion in general. I'm talking about, by
the way, I'm talking about the people that bother me, are the
people who claim to believe the Bible. They claim to believe
the Bible. I'm not following Mary Baker
Eddy and her phony stuff. I say, I'm believing the Bible.
Well, why not? The Bible is a pretty impressive book. I can understand
why a fellow could be fascinated by the Bible, but my friend,
salvation is not through a knowledge of the Bible, it's through the
knowledge of Christ. You can be fascinated by the Bible. There
are people who study the Bible who don't study Christ, who don't
even see Christ. You say, but I'm talking about
people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, He's pretty
impressive too. He's God in human flesh. He's God in human flesh. And we don't need any proof that
Jesus of Nazareth lived. The calendar tells you that.
B.C., A.D., before Christ. In the year of our Lord, there's
a lot of evidences that Jesus Christ lived on this earth. Josephus. Study the writings of Josephus.
He'll tell you about it. Jewish history. Yeah, but wait
a minute. I'm talking about there's some
people who say they believe the Bible and believe Jesus Christ
and they believe the doctrines of Greeks. Well, let me tell
you something. The doctrines of grace in the
light of God's holiness and God's power and man's condition are
totally logical. I tell you, the doctrines of
grace are a whole lot more logical than free willism. The doctrines
of grace are a whole lot more logical than Arminianism. I was listening to a preacher last
night on the television, he was telling the people, He's saying,
let Jesus come into your heart. The Lord wants. The Lord wants
to bless you. The Lord wants to save you. The
Lord wants to take you to heaven. Won't you let him save you? Now
then, he stopped and he said, let's bow in prayer and ask Jesus
to come into your heart. Now wait a minute. You just got
through saying that he wanted to and couldn't, and now you're
going to bow your head and ask him to do what he wants to do
and can't do. That's confused. That's not even intelligent.
I'd say anybody that's got any intelligence knows the Bible
is a supernatural book. Anybody that's got any intelligence
knows that Jesus Christ walked on this earth, died on the cross,
was buried and rose again, he's the son of God. Anybody with
any intelligence. And anybody with any intelligence
at all knows that if God's God, he's God. that God's sovereign
and almighty and unchangeable and immutable and cannot be thwarted
or frustrated in what He sets out to do. He will do it if He
decrees to do it. If He wants to save you, He'll
do it. That's God. You're a fool to
have any less God than that. Isn't that right? People talk
about God wants to do this and God wants to do that. I mean,
I guarantee you if He wants to do something, He'll do it. A lot of you out here, when you
want to do something, you do it. And you're very limited in
your power. But you get the new car waltz.
I've seen some of you get the new car waltz. Well, it's going
to take $200 to put tires on that thing, tell your wife, you
know. And then you say, it's going to need a valve job pretty
soon. That's $150. And the paint's giving out. You're
going to have to have that. Well, it ain't worth a plug nickel.
You've talked yourself right out of it. And you've got the
waltz. And you're going to get it. But
let me tell you something. My Lord said, I've spoken it
and I'll do it. I've purposed it and I'll bring
it to pass. That's God. That's the God of the Bible. Jesus Christ didn't come down
here on a bencher. He came down here and finished
what God sent Him to do. That's logical. Anybody with
any brains knows that's so. In a sense. But eternal life
is not in logic. Let me give you this, listen.
Eternal life is not just knowing the Scriptures, it's knowing
Christ. Eternal life is not believing that Jesus Christ is God, it's
by receiving Him. Receiving Him into yourself. By His coming in and dwelling
in you. Eternal life is not in believing
the doctrines of grace. You believe there's one God?
The devil believes there's one God. You believe Christ died
on the cross? Satan believes Christ died on
the cross. He did everything in his power to keep him going
to the cross. But salvation is not in knowing
the doctrines of grace or coming to knowledge of the doctrines
of grace. It's a living union with the Son of God. Look at
verse 53. Let me show you this. Verse 53,
John 6. Listen to this, what our Lord
says. In verse 53, John 6, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man.
Now then, when you eat something, I don't have anything up here
to demonstrate, but here's an object out here. Here's my body
and flesh. It depends for its livelihood,
life and nourishment and strength and health and so on, on what
I eat. Now, I can eat grass and die. And I can eat poison and
die. So it matters not, it's not just
eating, it's what you eat that sustains life. That make sense? Alright, here's Christ. He is
life. He is the life of the soul. He's
the life of his people. And I know that. And God reveals
that to me. And I come to Christ. And just
like I take food and put it in my mouth and chew it up and swallow
it, it becomes me. It's digested and blended and
goes to every vein, every artery, every muscle, every tissue, every
fiber of my being and gives life. Life to my head, to my fingernails,
to my body. That food that I take in me is
a part of me. In this water, I drink this water.
I swallow it. Now, where's that water? In a
few moments, it will be in every part of my body. And that's why
our Lord is saying here, It's not just, it's not just living
that self. I believe Jesus Christ lived on the earth. I believe
he's a good man. I believe he's a holy man. I believe he came
from God. It's to embrace him. It's to receive him. It's to
take Christ into your soul. It's to feed on Christ. It's
to become one with Christ. It's for Christ to give you the
very life of your soul and the very being of your soul. It's
not Christ over there and me over here. It's one with him.
Does that make sense what I'm saying? And that's what he's
saying here. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life. I raise him up at the last day.
Verse 55. For my flesh is meat and dread, and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh, drinketh
my blood. What is this? He keeps talking
about the flesh and blood. He stood at the institute of
the Lord's table, and he held out the bread, and he break it.
He said, this is my body broken for you, my flesh. Sacrificed
and broken for you, take eat. The disciples took the bread
and ate it. He took the wine, he said this is my blood, take
this and drink it. Now I can't take that bread at
the Lord's table, it doesn't become the body of Christ, it
represents it. And that wine does not become
his blood, it represents it. But in the same way that I take
bread, lovingly, deliberately, dependently, I take that bread
and eat it, in the same way I receive Christ. I receive his broken
body and his shed blood. He is my life. You see that?
It's not just believing facts about him, it's receiving him.
To as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege to
become the Paul described his conversion.
He said, God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace was pleased to reveal His Son, what? In me. On another occasion he wrote
the Galatians and said, I travail to Christ be formed in you. And then he said this, when Christ
who is our life shall appear, Then shall ye appear with him
in glory. Now look down with me at verse 63 again. In other
words, I'm saying a man can come to the church, he can come to
a doctrine, he can come to a profession, he can come to a position. And
that position may be logical, it may be truthful, it may be
scriptural. He can come to a position, he
can come to a higher principle, moral principle, he can come
to many things. But to come to Christ is a miracle
of regeneration and the work of the Holy Ghost. Verse 63,
it's the Spirit that quickeneth, that gives life. You who are
dead in sin hath he quickeneth, made alive. It's the Spirit of
God that gives a man an appetite for Christ. It's the Spirit of
God that gives a man a need for Christ. It's the Spirit of God
that reveals to a man that Christ meets his need. It's the Spirit
of God that institutes that union of Christ and His people. Christ
in you, that's the hope of glory. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
is a new life, a new creature, a new being, a new person. The
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Saul of Tarsus had religion,
and then he met Christ. Silas Tarsus had religion. He had doctrine. He had dedication. He had form and ceremony. I don't
think we realize just how diligent that man was in his religion.
More diligent than any of us have ever been. But he didn't
know Christ. And it's so difficult It's so
difficult to define love. A man either loves or he doesn't.
It's so difficult to define faith. A man believes or he doesn't.
It's so difficult to define that mystery of union between Christ
and His church. But if you're there, you know
it. Now here's in closing, verse 67. said Jesus to the twelve. When our Lord started talking
about that living union, that living union between the
believer and his Lord, it makes him love Christ more than he
loves his wife or children, more than he loves his life. Christ is all and in all. Christ
is husband, brother, friend, mother, father, life. Christ
is his glory. Christ is his motivation. The
love of Christ constrains him. He's in union with Christ. A
man can't have Christ within and not know it. That'd be like
having a 2,000 watt bulb in a closet and not know it's burning. He's
the light of the world. You can't have the Russian mighty
river flowing through your heart and not know it. And that 2,000
watt bulb in that closet, that's all you'd see is the light. And
a rushing mighty river through your soul, that's all you'd feel
is the river, you know. You got feeling for others, but
your chief regard is Him. Christ is my life. I can live
without anybody but Christ. And get along fine. That's right. He takes over when He comes in.
So he turned to the 12 and said, well, you go away. Now, do you
ever ask yourself that question? Do you ever ask yourself that
question? Do I ever ask myself that question? Will someone or
something come along and become more important to me than Christ?
Will someone or something come along and become more important
to me than Christ? Will I finally grow weary of
the gospel. Some of you may have already
grown weary, you just hear it once in a while anyway. Your
appetite's not very strong. When I become weary of the gospel
and more interested, or you've got an appetite but it's just
not for the gospel, you're very active, you're not
gone to your rocking chair yet. You've got a strong appetite
for the flesh and the world and materialism and all these other
things. Will I grow weary of this gospel and more interested
in the world? Will I become indifferent to
the Word of God and fall out with these people? People are
always falling out with somebody, you know. Always falling out. Always falling out. You notice
these people didn't leave Peter, James, and John. They left Christ.
They just used Peter, James, and John as an excuse. Alright,
I'll answer that question. Will I? Will you go away? Here
it is. Number one. No. Capital N-O. No, sir. No, sir. Not if he's
truly your Lord. That's what Peter said, to whom
shall I go? You have the words of life. I got nowhere to go.
He's my Lord. You won't leave, Gerald. He's
your Lord. No, you won't. He's your Lord. He's your life.
Not in name only. In name, He's every man's Lord.
But He's our Lord indeed. He's my Lord. And I'm not going
to leave Him if He's my Lord. Secondly, no, you'll not go away
if He's your righteousness. Because you'd be naked without
that. I don't want to stand before God naked. And I've got no righteousness. Mine's filthy rags. So I'm not
going to leave if Christ is my righteousness. And without Him,
I'd be naked. Thirdly, no, you'll not leave.
You'll not leave if Christ is your life. I tell you, people fight awful
hard for life nowadays. Physical life, don't they? They'll
fight hard. You ever seen anybody lose their
breath and start gasping for air? Well, they'll fight you
for air. Like a drowning person, when
you try to rescue somebody who's drowning, conk him in the head
first, because he'll take you down with him. What's he doing?
Fighting for life. But if Christ is your life, you
ain't going to commit suicide by leaving him. Huh? Why, brother
of mine, I could no more shoot myself or take poison. Well,
of course you can't, because you love life. But if you love
him, you won't leave him. Oh, no, no. No, no. You know you'll not leave Christ
if He dwells in you. For all you desire, need, have,
aspire to is found in Him. I'm not going to move off the
river. That's where the water is. No sir, I'm staying right there.
I'm not moving away from the fire. That's where the heat is.
No, you won't leave Him. If you're following him and not
a man, if you're following a man, you'll leave him if that man
disappoints you. But if you're following him,
you say, well, he's just another man like me. I'm following Christ. No, no. Will you go away? Nope. Nope. No, sir. He's my peace. And I don't have
any intentions of going to war with God again. I'm glad the
battle's over, aren't you? I have no intention. Because
without Christ, there's a war, John. I mean, there's a war with
Heaven. And I'm not leaving. I found
in Him all I need. All I need. I want Mike to come
up here. Years ago, one of the old writers wrote a hymn This
is the way a person feels about Christ who knows him. Will you
go away? Why, no. To whom shall I go? Thou is the
words of life. And I believe and assure that
thou art the Son of God. You're my Lord, you're my life,
you're my righteousness, you're my sanctification, you're my
wisdom, you're my peace, you're all things. I'm not leaving.
And Lord, to be honest with all who are listening, how tedious
and tasteless the hour is when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet
prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers, all lose their sweetness
for me. But content with beholding His
face, my all to His pleasure resign. No changes of season
or place can make any change in my mind." Won't you listen
to the words of this psalm? This says what I've been trying
to say. And summing up, what I've been trying to say is this.
If Christ is a profession, it's nothing. If He's a position,
a position of doctrine, he's nothing. If he's an intellectual,
theological system, he's nothing. But I'll tell you, if he's what
he is to you, Lord and life, then you'll never leave him.
And that's salvation.