I invite your attention back
to John, the 6th chapter. This 6th chapter, over the years
I've preached from many times and will probably preach from
many more times because it's one of the most glorious chapters
in all of Scripture. a real message of comfort to
every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a real message of
discomfort to all who don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have the record here of some people who evidently had walked
with Christ for some time. Perhaps many of them were those
that had been fed by Him with the loaves and fishes in the
earlier part of this chapter. had followed Him across the sea
and tried to make Him their King and wanted to be able to do these
things themselves. And then we find them here in
verse 66 quitting on the Lord Jesus Christ. I have known some
people who have done this. who liked Jesus Christ for most
of their life for one reason or another, who had a fondness
for Him, who often read His book, spoke highly of Him, until someone
made the mistake of actually standing up and saying what Christ
said. And suddenly the relationship
ended abruptly and people quit. Think of Rupert Reibenbach as
he was struggling with folks who were disbelieving the truth.
He had an old deacon who was giving him a whole lot of trouble.
But he kept on preaching the gospel and finally the old deacon
got stupid in his old age and met him a girlfriend down in
Georgia and left the church. God providentially took care
of that situation with Rubert ever having to have to fight
with the guy. But one lady after calling some lawyers and suing
Brother Rupert Reibenbach for heresy. I'm going to take him
to court for preaching the gospel of God's sovereign grace." After
the judge threw it out and said, you folks need to read your own
history. She came to Rupert's house and said, I don't believe
anything you're saying. He said, well you don't believe
the Bible. She said, I surely do. She took over Ephesians 1
and Romans chapter 9 and she read it. and read the Bible all
her life, been in church all her life. She read that, slammed
the Bible shut, said, I'll never go to church again. And she hasn't. She quit. People can quit on
Christ if they don't know it. But Jeremiah, he quit. You remember
that? Jeremiah believed God could deliver
that nation from Babylon, from the Chaldeans, rather. He just
knew that they were going to be delivered. And then God said,
well, let me see how that works. You buy a little piece of land
here. And so Jeremiah bought a piece of land. And then when
God said the Chaldeans are coming in, they're going to take over,
Jeremiah began to fret about that little piece of land he
had bought. He'd invested some of his own money in it. Nothing
was too hard for God, he said. We can deliver us, no problem
at all. But I done bought some land. Got mad at God and quit,
said I'll never preach again. Didn't work. Because God has
fixed it so His people won't quit. They will never, ever,
if you're a child of God, now you may fall, you will fall,
you will fall, you may stop coming to church for a while. But you'll
come back. Because God has fixed it for
His people can't quit. Over in Jeremiah chapter 32 and
verse 38 it says, And they shall be my people, and I will be their
God. And I will give them one heart,
a singular heart. I'll give them one way that they
may fear me, that is, love me and worship me forever for the
good of them and their children after them. And I will make an
everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from
them to do them good, But I will put my fear in their hearts that
they shall not depart from me. God's people never quit. They
might trip and fall and stumble and scratch themselves up, but
they'll never quit. They'll always, always come back. I expect if you're honest with
yourself, there have been times in your life where you've said,
I quit. I quit. I can't remember the times I've
quit the ministry. You know, thought about going
back into cutting meat, opening up a butcher shop, getting back
to a real life, you know. I've thought about it. I've quit
in my mind. Debbie can tell you I've got
so discouraged sometimes, but it was always me. It was never
Christ. It was always discouraged myself. Why do men quit? Why do people
quit? These quit the Lord. Why do they
quit? They do not quit because Christ
is a miracle worker. You have preachers upon preachers
that are always talking about Christ's miracles and their houses
are full. Three of the big ones are under
investigation by the Trade Commission right now because they're talking
about taking care of the poor and they're living in six and
seven million dollar mansions out and flying their own personal
jets and things. And the government said something
ain't right. Something ain't right. They talk about miracles. Talk about Jesus doing stuff
for them. About making them rich. About healing their sicknesses
and so forth. And people love that sort of thing. And they'll
flock to a man who will say those sort of things. As long as you
don't say what Christ said. What Christ has done is a wonderful
thing. He was able to raise the dead. He was able to give men
who had never seen sight. He was able to make deaf men
hear and mute men speak. He made the lame to walk. He could do things nobody ever
has been able to do. And people like that. They like
that about the Lord Jesus Christ here. Look back at verse 15. of John chapter 6. It says, When
Jesus therefore perceived that they would take him by force
and make him a king, he departed again into a mountain along to
himself. Now he did that because he had just fed 5,000 people
with loaves and fishes and they were tickled about that. Wouldn't
you be? Wouldn't you be? They were really
happy about that. Then in verse 26 and 27, our
Lord says to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, seek me not because
you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves and bread,
and were filled. I fed your bellies. I fed your
bellies. Labor not for meat which perisheth,
but for that meat which endureth to everlasting life, which the
Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God sealed. Now he was talking about spiritual
things and they were still on the natural level as men are
and they said, what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? They wouldn't be able to make the fishes and loaves
reproduce. They thought that was a trick.
And they figured if they could learn it, if they did learn it,
you reckon they'd need him anymore. They enjoyed him because of the
miracles that he did. Everywhere he went, there were
crowds that followed Jesus Christ. He never went more than 50 miles
from his hometown, did you know that? 50 miles, that's not very
far. That's from here to Franklin.
A little bit past Wainesville. Almost Asheville, if he lived
in Cherokee. Never more than 50 miles. Wherever
he went, crowds followed him. Thrones followed him. They pressed
upon him. Because He was able to reach
out and touch a person and make him whole. And they liked that. They liked that. These liked
that. In verse 66. They liked that
about Christ. Why did they quit? Men did not
quit because of miracles that He did. They quit because of
what He said. And they quit churches today
because of what His preachers say that He said. Men wanted
to kill him because when he opened his mouth, he drew a line in
the sand. Every time he did, he was divisive. I know we live in an age that
wants to make everything smooth and silky and don't rock the
boat. Be nice now. I'm always saying
that to the boy, be nice. Be anything, be nice. And that's
a good idea among human beings, for us to be nice to each other.
But our Lord was divisive. Several times in the New Testament
it says they were divided because of him. They were divided because
of him. Some leave for the same reason
his people stay. Peter said, I'm not leaving you
because you have the words of eternal life. And these in verse
66 left him because he had the words of eternal life. That's
why they left him. They left Him because of what
He said. Our Lord said salvation belongs
to the Lord and He said it in this passage of Scripture. Now
up to the time of that, when He was feeding them and making
them feel good, by their own declaration, by His direct declaration
of them, they weren't believers. But they liked him. But when
he opened his mouth, the words that he spoke, they finally heard
what he said. They heard him say, God's the
one who saves sinners. And this is a spiritual thing
and not a fleshly thing. It's not about feeding your belly.
It's about saving your soul. That's the language that he used.
Words. Words. Words that teach that
salvation belongs to God. Christ said that He did not come
to bring peace in this world. Now He came to bring peace to
His people. My peace I give you, He said. I give that to you. Not that the world gives, because
that peace ain't worth a hoot, but I give you peace. Jimmy Carter
is going over there talking to all of us, trying to straighten
out what's going on between the Israels and the Palestinians. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't going to happen. And if it did, it wouldn't last
long. You know what they'd call it? A fragile peace. I've got
an unbreakable peace. I've got a peace you can't break
with a sledgehammer. I've got a peace you can't break if you
kill me right today. Because it's the peace that God
gave me. But our Lord said, I didn't come to bring peace to this world.
He said, my incarnation and coming to this world is going to cause
problems. Cause problems in families and household. Mothers against
fathers. Daughters against fathers. Daughters
against brothers. Sisters against brothers. These
are all going to take place. Families, factions of men, nations,
societies. Jesus Christ has caused problems
wherever He goes. Why? Because of what He did?
No, because of what He said. It's always that way. And I'll
guarantee you this, if you're a believer in the grace of God,
And you're wholeheartedly sold out on the gospel of His grace.
And you understand and know it and can tell it. You'll be alright as long as
you don't open your mouth. You'll fit in everywhere. You'll
fit in everywhere. You can go to the worst free
will Pentecostal wild bunch and sit there and not open your mouth
and you'll be fine. But you open your mouth and they're
going to hate you and they're going to tell you to leave. My
dad was in a church when the Lord saved him. He heard the
gospel. This fellow hit the mark one
time. And he heard about Jesus Christ, began to think about
these things, began to listen to some other preachers, and
brought across that word, election, you know. And he asked the preacher,
he said, and he just asked, because he didn't really fully understand.
The preacher was preaching from Romans. And he said, what? Daddy
raised his head and said, what does that election mean? He said,
I don't understand that. And the preacher hemmed and hawed
about. After the service, the deacon came up to dad and said,
we don't believe out here. You'll have to leave. You'll
have to leave. Best thing that ever happened
to dad, but nonetheless. You see, it's what is said. You
can believe election as long as you don't talk about it. You
can believe predestination as long as you don't talk about
it. In fact, that's what people will say to you. Oh, well, we
know we believe different. Just don't bring it up. But they
bring it up. They bring up the garbage they
believe and they just want to spout it over and over again.
But you can't talk about it. Why? Because it draws a line
in the sand. It divides men and women. Our
Lord said, I came to bring a sword that would divide families, pitting
mother against father, siblings at war. And time and time again
when He spoke, men wanted to kill Him. Not when He did stuff,
but when He spoke. In Luke chapter 4, he came home
to his hometown church and he preached that the prophecy of
Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 61 was him. And they were as tickled
to death about that. They said, man, this guy has
some amazing way he takes a scripture and opens it up and preaches
it. He's some preacher. some preacher. Our Lord said, well,
the problem is not welcoming his own country. Why I said that? They said, well, you know, you're
a great preacher, but you've been healing people over in Capernaum.
Why don't you heal your own folks? Decision to heal thyself. And
our Lord said, well, you see, here's the problem. And if he
hadn't have spoke this, it would have been all right. Up to that
point, things were going pretty good. But He said, God's blessings
are His to give to whomever He pleases. There were many widows
in Israel. in the time of Elijah the prophet,
but God did not send his prophet to any one of those widows in
Israel. He sent him to a widow in Sarepta, a Gentile one. And them Jews just, whoa, what? He said, not only that, there
were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet,
and he didn't send his prophet to one of them. He sent him to
a Syrian captain with leprosy. Left all those other lepers just
to rot back in Israel. Wait a minute! We're God's people!
No, he says, God's people is who God says are His people. And those people that once said,
Oh, we're astonished at His doctrine, began to pick up stones and said,
We've got to figure out a way to throw Him down this cliff
and show Him to death. Because He opened His mouth. He opened
His mouth. In John chapter 10, He said,
I and the Father are one. I and the Father are one. And
they picked up stones. He says, well, for which of your
work do you stone me? Which work that I do, do you
stone me? They said, we don't stone you because you do good
works. We stone you because you're a man. You say you're God. That
drew a line in the sand. That drew a line in the sand.
In Matthew chapter 10, our Lord actually looked some really religious
folks in the face and said, you know, I didn't come to call you.
I come to bring sinners to repentance. I can come and call you in. They
won't kill him every time he opened up his mouth. Why did
these quit in John 66? Why did they quit? They quit
because our Lord tells them some things. And I guarantee if you're
not His, you're about ready to quit this morning. And if you
stay, it'll be for some other reason. If you don't believe
this, you're much like the people or something. Or maybe you're
like me, I don't know. But I'll tell you this, if you hear the
words of Jesus Christ this morning, you'll either say with Peter,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, or you'll quit. If you don't quit with your body, you'll
quit with your mind. These folks quit because our Lord told them
that their unbelief does not frustrate God or affect the success
of His purpose. That's so against what religion
teaches today, isn't it? Religion teaches us if you don't
believe, it just hurts God's feelings. Makes God sad. He's just in heaven frustrated
because you won't let Him save you. Poor thing. Bless his heart. Bless his heart. Look at John
6.37. First look at John 6.36. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me and believe not. He says, you don't believe. You're
not believers. You've seen me. I fed you. You know that I work miracles.
You wanted to make me your king so I'd feed you all the time.
You wanted to be able to do the things I do. But you're not believers. You're not believers. That doesn't
change anything. If you're not a believer this
morning, it doesn't frustrate God. It doesn't frustrate His
purpose. Does He want you to believe? If He does, you will. Count on it. Verse 37, our Lord
says this. Verse 36, He says, you don't
believe. Verse 37, He says, all that the Father gave me shall
come to me. You're not believers, but some are. Some will be. Some are going to come. All that
the Father gave me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Though you see me, He says, you
don't believe me. That changes nothing. That doesn't
disturb the scheme of things whatsoever. All that the Father
gives me, they're going to come to me. You believe that? I do. I'm glad for it, too. I'll
tell you. The way most people quote that
verse is the last phrase. You know, if you come to Jesus,
He'll not cast you out. That's true. But that's not what the
verse says. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, because
the Father giveth to me, I shall not cast out. They'll never be
cast away. Why do these folks quit? They
quit because Christ told them that some would surely come,
because God had given them to Christ. God in eternity past
gave Christ's people an eternal election. He gave them to Christ. Christ became surety for them. Christ took upon Himself their
debt before the world began. They came into this world, in
reality, all of God's elect, though they were by nature, just
like the children of disobedience. and were by nature like the children
of disobedience. They came into this world not
owing God a thing. Why? Their debt had already been
assumed by the eternal surety of Jesus Christ. He had already
signed His name to it. God didn't look to you to pay
your sin. He looked to Christ, if you're His. You were given
to Christ in eternal election. Christ said, I chose you, you
didn't choose me. He was given authority over all
flesh to give eternal life to as many as God had given Him.
When He talked about coming into this world and taking on flesh,
He talked about His children being flesh in Hebrews chapter
2. Therefore, He took on Himself the same. He came for His children. When were they children? They
was always children. They was always God's people.
Their debt was already assumed by another. They came to this
world, sinners every one of them, but none of them owed God the
payment for sin. Not one of God's elect being.
Why? Because they were given to Christ. And Christ said, you
won't come. You don't want me. You don't
care about me, but all the Father gives me should come to me. And
I say, you say that loudly and clearly in mixed company today,
you'll be hated too. You'll be hated too. They quit. Because Christ said that faith
is God's work, not their work. They said, how can we work the
works of God in verses 28 and 29? How can we work the works
of God? He said, this is the work of
God. And it is the work of God that you believe on Him whom
He sent. God is the one that gives faith. It's His work. God
works in you faith through the priest's Word. He works it. It's
His work. Faith is not your deal. Faith
is something that is given to you and all of a sudden you use
it. Because it's there. What are you going to do with
it? It's there. It's in you. It's been given to you and what
does it do? It believes what God has said. And that's the
work of God. All that the Father gave me shall
come to me and coming to Christ and belief are synonymous in
the Scripture. You can change the two words
out anytime you want to. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
come to the Lord Jesus Christ, same thing. Exactly the same
thing. Why do they quit? They quit because
they never really come to Him. Verse 37 says, All that the Father
gives me shall come to me. If they didn't come to Him, Then
that's why they quit, because they'd never really come to Him.
Because everyone that's come to Him would never cast out.
And we find some leaving Him, going away, in verse 66. They
quit because Christ said that He would save all He came to
save. All. Now here's where the rubber generally
hits the road, and where people have the most problem. You know,
I know many people who call themselves, and I don't use the word cowardice
very often, except with people I know who will understand what
I'm talking about. A lot of people around here call
themselves four-point cowardice. I know several preachers. I've
talked to them. They say, well, I believe four
of them points. You know what I usually tell them? And this
is true. I always go ahead and tell them. I said, well, you're
pointless then, aren't you? You're missing one. Where do
people go wrong? The truth of the matter is, though
they fight about one part, the truth of the matter is they go
wrong on depravity. They don't really believe man is depraved.
They don't really believe man is incapable of moving one eye
over to closer to God. They really believe somehow in
him there is something. So they miss it on depravity. But that
ain't what they say they miss it on. They say, oh, we know we're sinners.
They'll say, I know that. What do they miss it on? On what
we call particular redemption or limited atonement. They said,
well, I just can't believe that Christ didn't die for everybody. I just can't believe there's
somebody out here walking that Christ didn't die for. I'll tell
you what I can't believe. I can't believe there's somebody
in hell that he didn't die for. I can't believe it. I can't believe
it because it ain't so. It ain't so. But our Lord said
He's going to save everyone He came to save. Look at verse 38.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. And this is my Father's will
which is sent me. Of all that He's given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again in the last day. You want to
throw a fly in religion's ointment, that's how you do it right there.
And He did. He did. He's going to save everyone
whom God had given Him. All whom God gave to Christ in
election will be saved. Let me say that again very carefully
so you'll understand exactly what I'm saying. All whom God
gave Christ in eternal election will be saved, have been redeemed,
will be delivered in time by the Holy Spirit through the preached
Word. That's what He told these people.
And because He said Many of them walked with Him no more. You
say it enough, not many will walk with you either. I'll guarantee
you that. Now those who were listening
proved that they were unbelievers and blind to the glory of Christ
by again relating all things to the natural. After our Lord
had said these things in verse 41 and verse 42, it says, the
Jews then murmured. Spurgeon says that's a word that
any beast can make. Two words put together, two syllables,
murmur. And he said, that's who makes
the beasts murmur. The Jews murmured at him because
he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. What are
you talking about? We know where you're from. They didn't know who Christ was.
They saw Him only in the natural sense. And that's what men see
when they see the miracles. They see Him in the natural sense.
He's taking care of natural illnesses and natural problems. They don't
see Him in the spiritual. And they said, is this not Jesus,
the Son of Joseph, whose Father and Mother we know? How is it
then that He says, I came down from heaven? How could they say
that? Because it was a spiritual truth
that they couldn't understand. They could never, ever get. This is the nature of unbelief.
It only sees what can be seen. It does not hear the Word of
God. Our Lord spoke to Nicodemus,
who was a prince in Israel, a ruler in Israel, a wise man in Israel,
probably a member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee, a brilliant man,
a man learned, and our Lord says, you don't believe, you don't
receive, you don't perceive. You don't get it. You're a man
of Israel and you don't understand these basic principles of spiritual
things? A man has to be born from above?
by the Spirit?" And he said, what do you mean I've got to
go back to my mother's womb? What are you talking about? What kind of deal
is that? He says, you don't get it. You
don't get it. That's what our Lord said to
these folks. And they didn't get it. He was talking about
him bringing God's bread coming down from heaven. Bread for the
soul. Heavenly food. And they didn't
get it. They went right back to mountain.
They said, what's he talking about coming down? I watched
him grow up. I watched him, I've seen him.
Unbelief cannot get the fact that salvation has nothing to
do, listen very carefully, with natural life. It doesn't. Now, it'll change
your natural life, but it doesn't have to do with your natural
life. Because I'm going to tell you what's going to happen to your natural life.
It's going to end. It's going to stop one day. There ain't nothing to it. Eternal
things are eternal. Natural things are natural. And
they didn't get it. They didn't get it. They quit because our
Lord states that those who come to Him, those given to Him, do
not come on their own power. Wait a minute now, preacher,
we know we come to Christ. We know He's chosen people, but
you know, we've got to come. Yeah, you do, but you ain't going
to come. Not on your own power, because
you don't have any. When we were dead, Christ died
for us. Without strength, Christ died
for us. Verse 44, our Lord says, No man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and
I will raise him up in the last day. No man can come. What does
that mean? Just what it says. But say that
in public. Our Lord got in trouble when
He said it in public. After He said it, people didn't
walk with Him anymore. They quit messing around. No man can come.
That's what I mean. That's what our Lord said. You're
Joseph's son. Yeah? You can't come to me. I'll walk right up to you. He
said, You don't understand what I'm talking about. You can't come
to me in faith. You can't come to me for salvation.
You can't come to me for life. You will not come to me for life
because you don't get it. You can't come because you don't
have the power. He said, No man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me to draw him. And you know the meaning of that
word. It's heilcho. It means to drag. Now don't we know that
Christ, people used to like to say God's going to save you against
your will with your full agreement. God's not going to save you against
your will. God's going to jiggle your will or He's going to change
your will. Because He's going to change your mind, change your
heart, your will to follow along like the puppy dog that it is. But you can't come. I'm going
to come. No you're not. No you're not. I can do what I want to. No you
can't. You just think you can. You just
think no man can come to the Father unless God drags him,
draws him, picks him up as an inanimate object, and sets his
feet on the rock Christ Jesus. It can't be done unless God does
it. What does our Lord say? Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. This
refers to our deadness in sin, and people don't like to talk
about that. They are viewed as inanimate objects, which must
be grasped and moved from one place to another. Just like drawing
a sword. Peter drew his sword and cut
off Malchus's ear. Same word used, draw. He grabbed
that sword, poured it in. He didn't give his sword an invitation.
He didn't sing, just as I am to it. He didn't say, if you'll
take the first step, Mr. Sword, I'll do the rest. Because
that sword would still be in its scabbard, wouldn't it? What
do you have to do? You have to reach down with His
hand to this dead piece of cold steel and pull it out. Hell come. No man can come unto Me unless
the Father which has sent Me reach down with the power of
His hand and draw that cold dead sinner out to meet Christ. That's how men come. Those who come to Christ come
by sovereign power, not theirs. God's sovereign power. that He
translates them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
His dear Son. Why did these quit? They quit
because Christ describes how the Father draws those who are
given to Him. Verse 45 says, As it is written in the prophets,
that they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard hath learned that the Father comes to me. How does
a person come to Christ? God teaches him about Christ.
God teaches him. You mean I have to learn something?
You're going to learn something, and you'll be glad you learned
it. God teaches men. He teaches them the gospel. He
teaches them the truth. The word there, didactos, can
actually mean to indoctrinate. Now, we Americans don't like
that kind of language. Indoctrination. Ooh. I remember
the John Birch Society back in the 50s when I was a boy, and
oh, they indoctrinated people. They warned you about them communists.
What's up for them commies? They'll indoctrinate you. They'll
brainwash you. Do you know if you come to Christ,
it's because God brainwashed you. He indoctrinated you. He taught
you about Jesus Christ. Filled your brain with it. Couldn't
get past it. God causes men to see life other
than the one they possess. All whom God has taught come
to Christ, every last one of them. Every last one of them.
If God taught you, you'll come to Christ. Well, you know, I
have a will. Okay. Sure. Choose. Have at it. But if God taught you, you'll
choose Christ. Every time. Without failure. And that's why
these folks quit. We can't have that. We can't
have a God like that. They quit because the man that was speaking
to them says that he and the Father are one. He and the Father
are one and that Christ is the only God that will ever be seen
and that by faith alone. Look at verses 46 and 47. Not
that any man has seen the Father, save he which is of God, he has
seen the Father. Verily I say unto you, he that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. He that believeth on me
hath everlasting life. You'd be surprised how many people
don't believe Jesus Christ is God. Every cult in America don't believe
it. That group out there that had all them children that the
law is after in Texas, they don't believe Christ is God. If they
did, they wouldn't act that way. I'm telling you. Christ said,
I'm God. That's a disturbing thing. These
fellows were looking at him face to face. And they knew he was
Joseph's son. And they'd seen him grow up as a boy. And they
knew he was the carpenter's son. And they'd seen him walk around
Nazareth all his life. They'd seen what he was like.
They knew him personally. They'd seen him on the streets.
They'd seen him in the byways. They'd seen him at the synagogue.
And he looks at them square in the face. He said, I'm God. That'd
shake you up too. Unless God had taught you who
He was. unless God had taught you who
He was. They quit because He said, I'm God. They wanted to
stone Him because He said, I'm God in John chapter 10. In Him
dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Philip said one
time, show us the Father. He said, Philip, you've been
so long with me. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. If
you've seen me, you've seen the Father. These quit because the
things Christ says cannot be naturally understood. They can
only be grasped by God-given faith. They can only believe.
Look at verses 48 through 58. Here's some strange stuff. Here's
some odd stuff. I am the bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness. They're dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he shall not
die. It's odd language, isn't it?
I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any
man eat this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that
I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
And the Jews therefore strove among them, saying, How can this
man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink his blood, you shall have no life in you, or you have
no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up again
in the last day." He doesn't say any of this in the future
tense. He says, unless you drink my blood and eat my flesh, you
don't have life. But if you drink my blood and
eat my flesh, it's because you have life. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father,
so he that eateth me, even he 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 this bread shall
live forever." Amazing words! How can you do that? Really, did you listen to what
he was saying? How can you do that? Naturally, you can't do
that. Naturally, you can't do that.
There's some contrast that our Lord makes between life and eternal
life here, between natural life and eternal life. In verses 48
and 49, He said, I'm the bread of the life. Your fathers ate
another kind of bread and died. That's natural and spiritual. Natural and spiritual. Verses
51 and 52. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat this bread, he
shall live forever. The Jews therefore strove among themselves
and said, how can this man give us this flesh to eat? Spiritual,
natural. Spiritual, natural. Verses 53
and 54, Verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh and blood
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye shall have no life
in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up again in the last day. Eternal
life. Verses 55 through 59 simply teach
us that believing is eating, and eating is believing. Unbelief
is death. Natural life responds. responds. Look at verse 60. Many
therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is
a hard saying. Who can hear it? Good question. Who can? Many
quit because they couldn't. What does it mean? They quit because Christ declares
that though he must be feasted upon, and this is the kicker,
though he is feasted upon, He will not be present in the flesh
for the feast to be accomplished. If you don't eat My flesh and
drink My blood, there's no life in you. He that eats My flesh
and drinks My blood will live forever. But I'm not going to
be here for you to do that. That's what He said. Look at
verse 61. When Jesus knew in Himself the
disciples murmured at it, He said, Does this upset you? Does
this offend you? What, and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up to where He was before? I'm not going
to be here for you to do it. Are you really going to be offended? This is
what I require of you. You must eat my flesh and drink my blood.
You must. If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, there's
no life in you. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you'll
live forever. But, I'm not going to be here. I'm going to be gone. I'm going
to sit at the right hand of the Father. It offends you for sending
me to eat you when this is a requirement. Well, okay, God requires it.
I can do that. Wait a minute. No, you can't because I'm not going
to be here. You mean God requires something of me that I can't
do? Everything He requires of you, you can't do. Not in nature. Not in nature. You can't even
pray without the Holy Spirit. That's what Scripture said. You
can't even pray without the Holy Spirit. What I absolutely require of
you, Christ said, you absolutely cannot do in the life you now
live. These are words of distinction
and they are divisive, impossible to accomplish, even to perceive
as you are born into this world. He speaks and His words are spirit
and life. You mean it has something to
do with His words? They are spirit and life. They quicken and are
means by which faith is given to us who believe. How do we eat the flesh of Christ
and drink His blood? By believing Him. That's how
we do it. He said, you've been listening,
I've been doing what? I've been saying words. I've been speaking words. Now
if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have life. My words,
they are Spirit. day of life. Our flesh is not
going to profit you anything. And you really want to know something
for real? Christ's flesh did not save us. He was made flesh
to suffer our sin. His soul saved us as an offering
fire, see? And we can't in the flesh eat
His flesh and drink His blood, but in the Spirit we, by believing
Him, feast on His flesh. We feast on Christ. He is our
manna. He is our bread that comes down
from heaven. And we preach Christ and Him crucified, and we say
it over and over again, and no matter where we start, we end
up here. And you want to run off the coughs and things that
come to your door and knock on your door. If you've got time
to talk to them, just start talking about Christ. Don't leave Christ. Don't
talk about anything but Christ. They ain't going to stick around
because that ain't what they're interested in. Why do we do it over and over
and over again? Why do we preach Christ and only
Christ? Sure, there's more to do. No,
there's not. Well, there's probably more to
do, but it ain't worthwhile. Because you see what I'm doing when I
preach the gospel, what you're doing when you come here and
worship God. The table's being set. The feast is there. And when you worship God, you
feed on Christ. More Christ. Give me more Christ.
More Christ. More Christ. One time a fellow
went to hear a young man preach. Spurgeon told this story in his
lectures to his students. And this fellow was quite an
orator. He was a very gifted speaker. And he came after he finished
speaking, everybody was enthralled. There was an old fellow standing
outside the church. And the young man said, well, how do you think
I did? He said, not very well. And he said, well, didn't I pick
a good text? He said, oh, yeah, it was a good
text. He said, well, didn't I have the right, didn't I have it set
up logically and the points done well? He said, oh, yes, you did
a good job. He said, well, what's wrong? He said, no Christ. No Christ. No Christ. I've heard men preach,
I mean, messages that absolutely thrilled me as far as the ability
to bring a point across and nail something down. I mean, boy,
I mean, that can just almost take you to another place. But no Christ. Doesn't do nobody
any good. This is where it all comes down
to, you see. And this is what Christ did. He brought it all
back to Himself. My words that I speak, they are spirit in their
life. I'm not going to be here. You're going to have to believe.
You're going to have to believe. And you can't even do that except
the Father teaches you. His words cannot be seen by the
natural man. And because they know that and
hear that from His lips, they quit. They quit. Finally, they quit because Christ
declares that if anyone comes to Christ, all glory must be
rendered to God. All glory. Not some, all glory. Many heard and did not believe.
Christ is the author and finisher of faith. Many heard and did
not believe. Those who turned back and went
away, left, quit. They did so because He said they
could not come unless God caused them to come. Do you want to make somebody
mad? Tell them the truth. One fellow said, wherever the
gospel preacher goes, makes religionists mad and sinners glad. And that's
true. That's true. Our Lord said this in verse... Let's see what verse it is. Verse 65, knowing who should believe not
and who should betray Him, He said, Therefore I said unto you
that no man can come to Me except it were given unto him of the
Father. If you're going to come to Christ, God's got to give
you the coming. He's got to give it to you. Blessed
is the man whom Thou choosest and causest to approach unto
Thee. Is this the God you believe? Is this the Christ you believe?
Can you feast on Him? Can you worship Him? Not for
the miracles that He does, but for the things He says. If you can, I can tell this about
you. You ain't going to turn back. You ain't going to quit. Now
this is life to you. But if you don't believe Him
for His Word, you may hang around for a while. You may hang around
for a long time. You may hang around to the judgment.
But you'll quit. You'll quit. Because that's what
people do when He speaks. They quit or they stay. That's the beauty and the singularity
of the Gospel. You're in or you're out. You
believe it or you don't. You believe it or you don't.
Christ's words are Spirit and they are life. Explain that.
I can't explain that. But I know it's so. I know it's
so. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.