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May 28, 2023 Tullahoma, TN Pastor Jeff Rice
If you will, at this time, please take your copy of the Scriptures. This will be our last Lord's Day in chapter 6 of this wonderful Gospel of John. So today will be Gospel of John chapter 6, once again in verses 59 through 71.
The Gospel of John chapter 6, 59 through 71. And this is our 36th message in this Gospel. O God, Lord, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I come to you, the covenant God, Yahweh. In the name of Jesus, Yahshua Yamashiach.
And I just ask, God, that you use me this day. Give me grace. Give me peace. And let me not be a distraction of your word. In Christ's name, Amen. I'm going to begin like last week by reading the text.
Gospel of John chapter 6, beginning in verse 59. Jesus speaking says, These things he said in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum. Therefore, many of the disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a difficult statement.
Who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling at this, said to them, Does this cause you to stumble? One thing, if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before.
The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.
And he was saying, For this reason, I have said to you that no one, listen, no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him.
From the Father.
And as a result of this, many of his disciples went away and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you also want to go? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered him, Did I myself not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.
Now he was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For he was, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. Our theme for the Gospel of John chapter 6 has been the reality of false disciples. And I mentioned that every one of us, if we have been in church for any amount of time, we have seen people who profess with their mouth faith in Jesus Christ.
And it seemed that their life pattern was in that trajectory and all of a sudden walk away from the faith. But this is a reality that is true. Now one thing that we're not saying is that Christians, those who have been born again, walk away.
There's no such thing as someone who has been born again, who has placed their faith in Jesus, who trusts Jesus, whose life has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They don't run away, right?
The cross before me, the world behind me.
If you don't go with me, yet I will follow.
This is the encouragement of a true believer. We know there's nothing else but Christ. Once this transformation takes place in your life,.
You know, you know there's nothing else.
I can't speak for people, but I can speak from experience as an ex-gang-banging pimp whose life and desire was that man in the mirror that stared back at me. I loved him. He loved me. I worshipped him.
He worshipped me. And to go from worshipping the man that reflected back at me in the mirror to not wanting to please him, but wanting to please God. I know that there's no way that I could fall from Christ.
There's no way. Something happened to me that I can't explain. Scientifically, I cannot explain what's happened to me. And I've mentioned there's times in life where you're driving down the road, right, and you stop at a stoplight.
And there's a car, or let's say you stopped at a stoplight and you look down at the radio to change the station, or you're texting somebody, right? And as you're focusing on your phone or your radio, a car pulls up beside you, and just for a split second, you feel like you're moving.
And so you press in hard on the brake to make sure it's not you moving. And when you look up, you try to focus your attention on something you know that does not move, like a telephone pole. For Christians, God gives us telephone poles.
For when our life is in shambles, when things are not going the way we predicted them to go, we can press in on the brake. And we can focus in on something we know that's unmovable. Ladies and gentlemen, I have those in my life.
And I pray if you're a Christian, you have those in your life. You're recognizing those things. My proposition, the thing which I aim to prove, is that false disciples follow Jesus after signs and wonders.
Not theology, right? Not theology. We have this TBN broadcast network that propagates false Christianity. Give me your money, and God will bless you. They have produced more atheists than any secular college.
Christianity has become a bad taste in the mouth of people because of false disciples. Because of what they're propagating. Because they're trying to fill their wallets, line their pockets with money.
And so they're peddling the gospel. The false disciples, they're charlatans, they're heretics. And I began last week with a story, if you remember. And since I knew that this message was going to carry on, I didn't finish telling the story.
So I want to begin this week by retelling the story, but finishing the story. There's a man, after getting off of work on a Friday, stops by the liquor store and grabs a big bottle of whiskey. And on his way home, he downs the whole bottle, gets home, makes it to his couch, and passes out.
While he was passed out, his house began to get burglarized, and his dog starts barking, trying to get his attention. The man wakes up in a drunken stupor and throws a chair at the dog and passes back out.
When the man finally wakes up, he notices that everything in his house was gone. All except a broken chair on top of a dead dog. When talking to people about spiritual things, the one thing you can expect is pushback.
I have found that it's easier to witness to an atheist than it is to witness in the Bible belt. To people who grew up in the church and think they have some kind of a knowledge of the Christian faith, although there be one faith, the theology of this one faith is rejected by most people who call themselves believers.
We, like the dog, are called to call them, them being false converts and atheists, and warn them of the wrath to come. We are to use biblical theology to show them who Jesus is and what he has commanded us.
We're to do so in grace, love, compassion, and mercy. They, like a drunk man, are quick to throw chairs, especially those who are brought up in some kind of a nominal faith of Christianity. They're quick to push back while throwing chairs.
Ladies and gentlemen, evangelism is never easy. I know this because I've been going on the streets and witnessing to people for, I think it's 13 years now. It's never easy, but it's especially not easy to witness to someone you know, someone who knows you, someone who knows that Jeff was a gangbanger and a pimp.
I can't get them to listen to me for nothing. In our gospel, Jesus is speaking to people who know him and whom he knows. They played with each other growing up. They knew who Jesus was, and now he's trying to teach them something.
The Gospel of John is an evangelistic gospel. It was written so people might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Ladies and gentlemen, and since we have pews in here and not chairs, if you feel the need to throw a chair at me, you'll have to go back into our fellowship hall.
Pastor Cal, if you see someone going for that one, I'm leaning on you, brother. But my hope this day is that you will hear my words and the sincerity of my voice. That's my hope. I hope that as I deliver this hard message, that all of them has been hard here in chapter 6, because we're speaking about the reality of false disciples, about people who think they're Christians, but they're not.
They come to follow Christ for the gimmicks. They're here for the puppet show. And when they realize there's no puppet show, they don't want to be a part of this. So you're telling me if I give 10%, God's not going to give me 100 fold?
Yeah, that's what I'm telling you.
Absolutely.
He will bless you. It might not be money. It could be a suffering. Who in here has been blessed by suffering? I have. In our outline today, this is our second part in this outline. But in our outline today, we're going to look at the reasons why false disciples reject Jesus and the reason why true disciples follow Jesus.
Last week, we looked at the reason why false disciples reject Jesus, and today we'll pick back up on that. Just a quick review. So point number one, the reason why false disciples reject Jesus. This is found in verses 59 through 66.
Let's read that again. These things he said to them in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. These things would be him being the living bread that came down from heaven. These things would be you need to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood.
And we looked at that and we said, when he's talking about this, he's speaking about eternal life, right? This is identifying yourself with the death of Christ. So how is it that we eat his flesh and drink his blood?
By believing.
When you believe, you identify yourself with the death of Christ. So as he's explaining this, this is what's called theology. These things he said to them, talking about this theology, that he is the bread that came down from heaven and they are to eat and drink of him.
He taught in the synagogues at Capernaum. Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples are grumbling at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble?
My point is how Jesus is the stumbling stone, right? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before, right? He's the bread that came down from heaven. He said, what if you see me go back into heaven?
The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are the Spirit and our life, meaning seeing something is not believing, right? You could see Jesus ascend into heaven and disappear in the cloud like takes place in Acts chapter 1, which I believe many of these people saw that.
A little town in Jerusalem, you see a man go flying up in the air. With your eyes, you're going to see this. And he's saying, you won't even believe then because seeing is not believing.
He says, it's the Spirit.
If the Spirit doesn't come upon you, you are not going to believe. I don't care if God himself was to appear right now in a burning fire. You will not believe if the Holy Spirit does not indwell you. That's what Jesus is telling this crowd of Jews.
The flesh profits nothing. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And he was saying, for this reason, I said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.
And as a result, many of his disciples went away and were not walking with him anymore. What caused this group of Jews to grumble was the fact that he said that he is the living bread which came down from heaven.
They understood this statement that Jesus was saying that he preexisted. Sadly, there's people who name the name of Christ today who would deny the fact that Jesus preexisted. This group of Jews knew what Jesus was saying.
He came down from heaven. Again, they had information. They knew that they grew up in the same town as Jesus. They played with him as a boy. They knew his earthly father, Joseph. They knew his mother, Mary.
How is it that this man came down from heaven? He is claiming something that cannot be true. We looked at the fact that God uses the information that they had to harden their heart in order to carry out what had to take place in the gospel.
Christ has to be rejected. Christ has to be betrayed. He has to be crucified. If he would have came in his preexistence, in the incarnation, the creator entering creation, and everyone received him, there would be no forgiveness of sins.
Without the cross, there is no forgiveness of sins. They were grumbling. They weren't grumbling over the fact that he fed them from a sack lunch. We're entering a period to where afterwards, Jesus, well, before this, Jesus takes a little boy's sack lunch, which held five biscuits and two fish, and he gave thanks, he broke it, and he was able to feed upwards to 20 ,000 people.
They saw Jesus as their cash cow. They saw him as their fish and bread dispenser. They were following him saying, feed me, Jesus, but don't teach me anything.
Feed me, give me food to eat.
I am tired of working by the sweat of my face to provide for my family. If you're able to perform a trick, perform the trick and feed me and my family. While he was doing that, they was ready to make him king.
Once he starts speaking, they said, oh, hold up now. You're saying things that we don't want to hear. Just do the little sack lunch trick. Don't teach us. They're grumbling over the fact that he said that he came down from heaven.
They understood his preexistence. Jesus being the bread of life that came down from heaven, this is theology. I mentioned last week that I've been told, Lord, give me Jesus. Keep your theology. And there's no way to understand who Jesus is without theology.
If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, ladies and gentlemen, that's theology. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word, Mashiach, Messiah. The Old Testament teaches that a Messiah is coming.
Someone is coming from the line of David who is going to live the life that you and I cannot live. He's going to be able to keep the commandments in order to sit on the throne forever. There is no Jesus apart from theology.
Now what I want to show you is that, I want to show you why it is that theology runs off false disciples. And we'll do so by looking in Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. We'll read verses 1 through 9.
Matthew chapter 13 verses 1 through 9. On that day Jesus went out from his house and was sitting by the sea. A large crowd gathered to him. So he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
He spoke many things in parables saying, Behold the sower went out to sow. And as he sowed some seed fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on rocky places where they did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up.
But because they had no depth of soil but when the sun had risen they were scorched and they had no root they withered away. Others fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them out and others fell on good soil and were yielding a crop.
Some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty. He who has an ear let him hear. So parable about a sower. Some fell on the road. Some fell on rocky places. Some fell on thorns and some fell on good soil. Road, rocks, thorns, soil.
I'm going to ask questions and please take off your Baptist coat, right? Let's be a little Pentecostal here for a minute and speak. Give me an answer, please. Good Lord. Can you have a harvest if seed falls on the road?
No.
Can you have a harvest if seeds fall on rocky places?
Can you have a harvest if seeds fall among the thorns? Can you have a harvest if seed falls on good soil?
Yes.
That's what Jesus is teaching. Now listen as Jesus explains the road, the rocks, the thorns, and the good soil. So this is taken from verses 18 through 23. We'll begin reading verses 18 and 19. Hear then the parable of the soil, the sower.
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, right? This is theology. This is the gospel. And does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one whom the seed was sown beside the road.
So this is telling us that it was in their heart, but it was not in their mind. They didn't understand it. Remember John 6, where we've been preaching out of, Jesus was telling this group of Jews.
Who...
That Jesus was telling this group of Jews that the bread that came down from heaven and they are to... That he is the bread that came down from heaven and they are to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood.
And they said to him, this is a difficult statement. Who can understand it? Jesus is speaking to them the word of the kingdom. They replied, this is a difficult statement. Who can understand it? Jesus was preaching the word of the kingdom, the gospel to them, but they did not understand it.
They did not understand it because the evil one snatched away the seed. So this first group here that were...
I mean...
So if you look back in John 6, this group of Jews who were following him, right here, this is the one. They received the seed that fell on the road or beside the road. So why wasn't they able to believe?
The evil one snatched away the seed. Verses 20 and 21. And the one on whom the seed was sown on rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporarily.
And when affliction and persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. This is a picture of an intellectual believer.
They know,.
They believe in their head, but they don't have it.
In their heart.
They believe intellectually. This person knows that there is a God because of creation. He believes that there is an historical Jesus of Nazareth. And he probably even called upon his name, right, in a church service.
He probably called upon his name. But he did not truly believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Salvation is not by having something in your heart or having something in your head. It's about having it in your heart and your head simultaneously.
Romans chapter 9, excuse me, Romans chapter 10, verse 9 says this, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
All right?
When you profess with your mouth, this is an intellectual acknowledgement of Christ being Lord. But you also have to believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. You have to believe in your heart something that is scientifically impossible.
Man do not rise from the dead.
You ever seen someone rise from the dead?
No, none of us have. Yet as a Christian, I would die before denying that.
I believe it.
Nothing, nothing can change my mind on this.
Nothing. Right? I intellectually believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and I believe in my heart that when he died.
That God raised him from the dead.
Both have to be true. You can't have one whether it's in your mind or in your heart without the other. That's what a false disciple is. And when affliction comes because of their faith, because it's only in their head, right?
It's only in their head.
When affliction comes.
Because of the faith that they profess but don't possess, they immediately fall away. When persecution comes, when someone comes making fun of them, when someone comes with questions that they cannot answer, like no one rises from the dead, they fall away from the faith.
Verse 22,. And the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word and the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.
What God is saying.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a picture of an unbeliever who is more concerned about the world than they are their life now. And I mention this quite often that the church is always filled with three types of people.
The intellectual believer, unbelievers, and true believers.
Right?
There's always someone in the church who intellectually gives the head nod to Christ, but they don't believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead. And there's always friends that are being brought into the church service who just has no acknowledgement of God, they're just plain out unbelievers, right?
But there's some who truly believe. An unbeliever doesn't see the kingdom of God as precious. And I believe, verse 22, I believe Jesus is pointing to Luke chapter nine, verses 57 and 62. So I believe those that are the seed among the thorns, Jesus speaks more clearly about in Luke chapter nine, verses 57 through 62.
Listen to these words. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, him being Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, the foxes have hoes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
Take that prosperity preachers. When Christ Jesus, the God man was on the earth, he had nowhere to lay his head. And he said to another, follow me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.
Now this is a hard statement, but he said to him, allow the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. Christ was particularly focusing on, there's nothing more important than what you're being called to do when it comes to following Christ.
Ladies and gentlemen, I say that to you. If you're a Christian, there's nothing more important than you're following Christ, nothing. I love my wife and I love my kids and I love every one of you, but y 'all do not compare to my love and my obedience to Christ.
He's him first, him first. And Jesus, in this hard statement, is pointing that out. Another said to him, I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say farewell to those at my home.
Listen to this.
But Jesus said to him, no one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now, is Jesus saying not to bury your dead?
Is Jesus saying not to say goodbye to those in your home or to take care of those in your home?
That was clear. If a man doesn't provide for his own household, he's worse than an unbeliever, right? You have to be there for your household. So what is Jesus saying? Don't put any of these things before me.
These guys were trying to make an excuse when being called to follow Jesus. And they say, yeah, I'll follow you, but first let me. No, it's I will follow you, period. And as I'm following you, I'm gonna bury my dead.
And I'm gonna love those in my household. There's no excuse when it comes time to follow Christ. If you hear the call to follow Christ and you give an excuse, he says, no one, after putting their hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom.
You're not fit for the kingdom. If a I will but comes to mind, you're not fit. This is not for you. Christianity is not for you. Now we will consider the seed that falls on good soil in our next point.
But right now, I believe it's clear, false disciples turn away by theology, which is the word of God, by Jesus' teaching, by things that he is saying, the hard statements. He is the bread of life. No one who puts their hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom.
Jesus said things that they couldn't swallow well. And ladies and gentlemen, that's still true today. Point number two, the reason why true disciples follow Jesus, this is taken from verses 66 to 71. Let's read that real quick.
As a result of this, many of his disciples, as a result of these hard sayings, these statements that he's making, many of his disciples went away and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go?
And Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus said to them, did I myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil?
Now he was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for one of the 12 was to betray him. Now before I break down these verses, I want us to consider epistemology. Epistemology is just a word for how do we know what we know?
Have you ever thought about that? How do you know what you know, right? How do you know that a square is a square or a circle is a circle? How do you know a chair will hold you? How is it that we believe the information that's given to us?
How do we know what we know? How do we know that there is a God? And if there is a God, is he knowable? You ever thought about that? Romans 1 tells us that creation declares the glory of God. So how do you know there's a God?
Creation. Everyone knows there is a God because of creation. Ladies and gentlemen, I mentioned earlier that it's easier to witness to an atheist, but I'm telling you now, there's no such thing as an atheist.
There's no such thing as an atheist. There are only those who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. There is no such thing as an atheist. They know, you know, I know, we know there's a God because of creation.
Creation is our epistemology.
Everyone knows.
Your being is evidence of his isness.
God is.
You know there's a God because of creation.
Your being here, your being alive.
Is evidence of God's isness. Flowers, great comfort points out flowers, birds, dogs, cats, bears, lions, human beings, like all these things that have been created. We should look at these things and know for certain that there is a God for we being someone, we being a living creature cannot make anything from nothing.
And yet, atheism teaches the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything. And I'm not saying that we don't believe.
In a scientific impossibility,.
Because we believe that Jesus rose from the dead. But which one is more far-fetched? Christ rose from the dead? Or nothing created everything? Those are your two choices. Do you believe that nothing created everything?
Or do you believe that Christ Jesus was risen from the dead? Those are your two scientific impossibilities when it comes to this subject. First Timothy chapter six tells us that God dwells in unapproachable light.
You know there's a God, but He dwells in unapproachable light. You cannot approach God. Jesus says in John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent Him draws them. And in John 14, 6, Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father but through Him.
You cannot get to the Father but through Jesus. You cannot come to Jesus unless the Father draws you, and God in Trinity dwells in unapproachable light. And guess what? You know there's a God.
You know it.
You just can't get to Him unless He condescends and reveals Himself. When it comes to the existence of God, you have epistemology, it's simple logic. Simple logic tells you there's a God, right? Imagine if I was to tell you that no one built this building.
You would think this is an idiot, right? You would think this is an idiot, right? Building builder, painting painter, watch watchmaker, ring, someone made the ring.
Someone made the ring.
It's simple logic. That's what epistemology is, is how do you know what you know? I know that someone made the ring. I know that there's a ring, it's on my finger, and I know that someone made the ring.
I should be pointing to my wedding ring, sorry, sorry wife.
I know that someone made the ring.
It's simple logic. Building builder, painter, painter, it doesn't matter if this building was built 300 years ago, you know that there was a builder because of the building. And we know, we know, you know, I know that there is a God because of creation.
Creation declares His glory. Our problem as human beings, as humanity, is that we love our sin, and if we were to acknowledge that there is a God, we would have to acknowledge that we are accountable to Him because of our sins.
Coming to God means forsaken sin, so men forsake God and choose to live in sin. They suppress the truth of God because of unrighteousness. We were at the cigar shop not long ago. Probably shouldn't say it from the pulpit, but we're Reformed, and it's fine.
And I was explaining to a guy how I know there's a God, and I just simply said, listen, when a car drives down the street, I said, I don't know the guy in the car. I said, but I know that it's a guy in the car or a lady in the car because the car is going down the street, right?
The evidence that there's a guy or a girl going down the street is that the car is going down the street. I don't know the person inside the car, but I know there's a person inside the car because the car is going down the street.
Now, if that person was to get out of his car and walk over to me and introduce himself, then I would know who he is or she is. And so we know that there's a God because of creation, but we also can know him because of Christ because he did condescend.
He did condescend in the person of Jesus Christ. It has never been about epistemology. It has always been about trust. It's never about epistemology. We hear this word thrown around all the time when you're on the streets witnessing.
But it's never about that really because simple logic tells you that there is a God. It's about trust. Do you trust that there's a God? Do you trust in this God whom you know exists? Again, look at verses 67 and 69.
67 through 69, excuse me. So Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go? Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
Right here, the Bible gives an example of trust. Peter was probably as confused as everyone else. He speaks up for himself and I would say for the 10 other disciples. He said, Lord, to whom? Where else are we going to go?
To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life and we have believed and we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Peter is saying, there's no one else. All the other rabbis cannot compare to you. In order to follow a rabbi in first century Judaism, you had to, listen ladies and gentlemen, you had to memorize the whole Old Testament.
Word for word.
You had to memorize that.
And if you were able to memorize that and you were able to memorize the 300 and something prophecies of the coming Messiah, then you could ask them if you could follow them. But if you couldn't have that memorized, you were not allowed to follow a rabbi.
Jesus comes, flips the script, and starts asking poor fishermen to follow him. Peter says, to whom shall we go? There's no one else. To quote Paul Washer, heaven has sent to us its champion, end quote.
There's no one else.
And if you think there's someone else or something else, my dear friend, you are going to be led to the judgment by your death. Death is the arresting officer that will lead you to the judgment. At your death, you will know and it will not be by faith.
At your death, you will know and your death will at that time be your epistemology. Your death and your judgment will be how you know for sure, 100 that there was no one else. There's no one else. God has sent its champion.
And even if heaven was to send someone else, he wouldn't be the holy one of God, which is why there's no such thing as prophets today. John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet. Hebrews tells us that in these last days, he has given to us his son and we are to listen to him.
You meet someone that says they're a prophet, run. There's no such thing as prophets, there's no such thing as apostles today. We have meek and humble people following Christ alongside each other. There's nothing special about me.
I'm just the mouth in this body. Look around, you'll see the eyes, the ears, the hands and the feet. I'm just the mouth. There's nothing special about me, there's nothing special about you, hallelujah.
We're just the body. It's all about Christ. True disciples know that Jesus is the holy one. How do we know? Look at verses 70 and 71. 70 and 71, Jesus answered them, did I myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil.
He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for one of the 12 who was going to betray him. Here, in these two verses, Jesus allows us to see sovereignty, his sovereignty. Sovereignty in choosing and sovereignty in the orchestration of his death.
Jesus says to his disciples, did I not choose you, you undeserving, you who do not have the Old Testament memorized. Did I not choose you? Again, speaking of the 12, who one of them was going to betray him.
11 of them out of the 12 were chosen for salvation. While one of them was chosen to betray the son of man into the hands of the chief priest and scribes. And to answer the question, how did Peter know?
It's because he was chosen. How do I know that God raised Jesus?
I'm not saying that I'm not a Christian.
From the dead, because I was chosen. He chose me to. He called me to follow him. The Bible tells us that we are taught by the Holy Spirit. I know because I'm not who I was. Peter was not who he was. He was no longer a fisherman.
He was a follower of Jesus Christ. Concerned in his betrayal, listen as Jesus predicts his death, burial, and revelation in Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20, verses 17 through 19. And Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem.
He took the 12 disciples aside by themselves, and on his way he said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the son of man, which is a messianic term, the son of man will be betrayed into the chief priest and the scribes, and will be condemned.
And they will condemn him to death. And he will deliver him over to the Gentiles to mock him, flog him, and crucify him. And on the third day, he will be raised up. Excuse me for my stuttering. To those whom God chose for salvation, these are the seeds that fell on the good soil.
Jesus prophesied his death, his burial, and his resurrection. That is the word of the kingdom. That is the message. That's what we are to scatter. And those whom God chose for salvation are the seed that fell on the good soil.
Now back to Matthew 13, we'll answer that last one. Verse 23, and the one on whom the seed was sown on good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it. Who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some 60, and some 30.
Real quick, turn to Romans chapter eight. And as I read this, I'll give commentary. I believe that Romans chapter eight goes right hand to hand with the parable of the sower. Verse 28, we'll begin with for context.
Verse 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those whom he called, this is an effectual call, according to his purpose. Real quick, what's the purpose? The covenant of redemption, the father purpose to save the people, the son comes in time and accomplishes the purpose through his life, death, burial, and resurrection.
The Holy Spirit applies the purpose through the preaching of the word of the kingdom, the gospel. Who were he predestined, according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew, this is speaking about those whom he chose, whom he purposed to save.
He also predestined, this will be to be conformed to the image of his son, if you read Ephesians. Ephesians is our second point that points to this, to be conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is speaking about the resurrection of the dead. We can't go into it right now. Chapter 12, we'll hit that again. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorifies.
Right here, verse 31, what then shall we say to these things, speaking of God's predestinated power, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who indeed did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, who's all here, those whom he purposed to save, how will he not also graciously give us all things?
Right here, who can bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather was who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who is interceding for us.
35, who, now as I'm reading this, stank the parable of the sower, stank the soil where it fell on the rocks and where it fell on the thorns. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction?
Remember the parable of the seed that fell on the rocks? Once persecution came, they were gone. Affliction or turmoil or persecution or famine or necklace or peril or sore, just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death all day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things, we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angel nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor death nor any other created thing will be able to separate us, the seed, the good soil from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The seed in the good soil brings forth fruit, some hundreds, some 60, and some 30. So there is a such thing as false disciples. But today's point is to point out that there is a such thing as true followers of Christ.
And a true follower of Christ will never, ever, no matter what, be separated from God. They will not turn their back on God. I was told as I stepped into the pastorate to prepare myself for a thousand heartaches that I would come to know and love people and by no evil intention will move away to another state or might find a better church.
They will move away. And that these, I was told, were the good heartaches. However, I was warned that people I loved dearly and the Lord, I would leave for no reason and not even say goodbye. And that's happened.
Since our, in the past three years, that has happened. People that I've loved and the Lord have just left without a word. I was also told that I would be betrayed by those whom I loved and shepherded.
And that's happened. That I would be talked about behind my back by those I love dearly because sheep bite. And those are not the good heartaches. And there will be those that come and profess faith and walk away.
Why?
Because they did not possess faith.
Because it's the reality of false disciples. And we don't know who that is until it happens. The seed of the kingdom, which is the gospel, and as we cast our seed, we have to pray that it falls on good soil.
Real quick, the gospel. It's the righteous for the unrighteous. The word righteous means law keeper. The word unrighteous means lawbreaker. Jesus is the law keeper. You and I, especially me, are the law keeper.
We are the law breakers. We broke God's law. The law keeper comes and pays our fine. The Bible says that he is the propitiation for our sins. The word propitiation is the payment for wrong doing. I give this analogy quite often.
If Trinity kicks a ball into my neighbor's window, she does not have a job. She cannot pay for the window. Daddy reaches into his pocket, pulls out money, gives it to the man to pay for the window. That money is the propitiation for her wrong doing.
It pays the fine. It pays her fine. We broke God's law. God reaches into his eternal pocket and pays our fine by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to live the life that we cannot live and to take upon himself the punishment that we deserve in his death.
It was the righteous for the unrighteous. He was buried and he rose again on the third day and the Bible tells us he ever lives to make intercessory for those who draw near to him. God the Father purposed.
God the Son accomplishes the purpose. God the Holy Spirit applies the purpose. But God the Holy Spirit cannot apply the purpose unless we speak the gospel. So my challenge to you as Christians, if you're a Christian, is to preach the righteous for the unrighteous and to not be ashamed of that message for it is the power of God for salvation.
Everyone knows there's a God. Simple logic tells us there is. Everyone knows. If you're not a Christian today, I pray today that you will repent, that you will turn from self-righteousness, from that man in the mirror or that woman in the mirror that you love dearly, that loves you dearly, that you will turn from worshiping that person and you will place your faith in Jesus Christ because you know, without a shadow of a doubt, you know that there's a God.
So stop suppressing your sin and unrighteousness. Repent, believe the gospel, and do not let the devil snatch away the seed. Leadership here is available if anyone wants to talk. Let's pray. Father, Lord, in Christ's name, we come to you once again and just ask for grace.
Lord, I need your grace and I need your mercy. Though I am righteous in Christ, I still live in this flesh and I am as sinful as sin can be. I have broken your law. I'm a liar. I'm a liar, a thief, an adulterer at heart.
I've not been obedient to my parents the way scripture commands. I've not loved you the way that you have commanded me to love you. And therefore you saw fit to send your son to take my place, to take my punishment.
And I am only righteous because he has kept the law. And yet I still struggle in my sinful nature. Please, God, give me grace. Give me mercy that as I speak forth your word, that it will not be me, but it will be the spirit that lives in me.
For I know that in my sinful ways that if I try to move the spirit out of the way to say something, I am going to ruin my witness. Please, Lord, I pray that for everyone in this room. Right now as we prepare ourselves to partake in the Lord's Supper, I pray that you will use it to grow us in holiness and more importantly into the image of your beloved son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
