False & True Disciples | Sermon 04/16/23

All right, if you would please turn with me in your Bibles to there's that the gospel according to John Don't make that super spiritual by the way, some people be like there's an attack today on the preacher

Microphones fall, okay What's that Oh John chapter 6,

I'm sorry. Yeah John chapter 6 we're gonna be in verses 60 through 71

John chapter 6 we're finishing it up. Finally. This has been a long chapter 71 verses

The title for the sermon today Church is simply false and true disciples false and true disciples

So starting in verse 60 of the gospel according to John chapter 6

Here now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true God Therefore many of his disciples

When they heard this said this is a difficult statement, but who can listen to it?

But Jesus conscious that his disciples grumbled at this said to them. Does this cause you to stumble?

What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the

Spirit who gives life The flesh profits you nothing The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and our 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 can come to me unless that has been granted him from the

Father as The result of this many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore

So Jesus said to the twelve you do not want to go away. Also, do you?

Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go you have words of eternal life

We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God Jesus answered them did

I myself not choose you the twelve and yet one of you is a devil Now he meant

Judas the son of Simon Iscariot for he one of the twelve was going to betray him

Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray quickly Church God I ask you today that you would speak through me

Lord that I would be simply a vessel gone for your message for your word

Lord. I Asked that you would reveal the scriptures to your people

That it would be edifying that it would be instructive Oh Lord that it would be encouraging, but it would also be challenging for those who needed to be challenging so God, please be with us now and We thank you for this opportunity in Jesus name.

We pray Amen Church God has seen people profess their fidelity to him and turn away

Since the first man was created Despite delivering the Hebrews from slavery and caring for them and promising to take them into a land flowing with milk and honey many of them

Turned against the Lord if you remember they made a golden calf. They called it

Yahweh They worshipped it with Aaron Unfaithfulness Marked the beginning of their covenant with God in the time of judges

Israel would rebel against the Lord and they would go after other gods they would then cry out to the one true

God for deliverance and No matter what he did for the people and how often he would restore them and show them grace this cycle would

Continue in Ezekiel Right before the exile to Babylon the

Lord spoke to the people saying this Israel on the day of your birth you were thrown into an open field

You were naked and you were hated from the moment you were born and God says

I made you live when you were squirming in your blood He says then I bathed you with water

Washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil I clothed you with embroidered cloth and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk

God says I adorned you with ornaments put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck

I also put in a ring in your nostril Earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver and your dress was of fine linen silk and embroidered cloth

You ate fine flour honey and oil so you were exceedingly beautiful and It was perfect He says then your fame went forth from among the nations on your beauty and it was all because of my splendor

He says which I bestowed on you declares the Lord God So he says all this you were nothing.

You were no one you're in a field You were naked and I picked you up and I took you and I cleaned you off and I made you my own and I Adorned you in this fashion and made you like royalty among the nations and then he says

That you though played the harlot Israel. They turned from him.

They went after other gods They sacrificed he says their children to these idols when the

Lord never commanded that They offered themselves he says to any passerby

Any deity any demon that wanted them he gave they gave themselves to that idol

So the Lord thunders these words you adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her husband

But of course as always There's always been a faithful remnant

Right God preserved a people for his own possession They were the ones throughout

Israel's history who loved the Lord and stayed with him no matter the cost

The prophets were stoned and killed because of it and the faithful ones were persecuted by the unfaithful ones and So there were true followers of the

Lord Yahweh and there were false Followers of the Lord God false disciples and true disciples

This has been the case from the very beginning and it will continue to be until Christ returns

And what's amazing is? Even though our God knows this he is still patient and forbearing

He hasn't simply destroyed the world Many more in this world are becoming true disciples but if anyone knows the sting and pain that goes along with apostasy and Betrayal, it's our

Lord Jesus Christ in this final section of John chapter 6 we will see what the characteristics of a false disciple are as well as the characteristics of a

True disciple all in this text, so let's start in verse 60 Therefore many of his disciples when they heard this said this is a difficult statement who can listen to it

So at this point in Jesus's ministry he had many disciples following him More than the ones that we saw in chapter 1 it had grown exponentially

By the way disciples currently don't equal Christians necessarily People following Jesus for their own reasons

Later on a disciple will be a Christian But here there could be anyone

People wanting to be disciples following Jesus and his disciples looked at one another after that whole bread of life and flesh and blood discourse, and they look at each other and they said

This is a difficult statement Except that word difficult in the

English language is not that Accurate in the Greek it literally says this is a harsh word.

This is a harsh word This is very hard to take in they say who is able to listen to it who can listen to the such a word

His word became intolerable to them We assume the harsh word was on the flesh and blood statement

But it could have been on how he is better than Moses How he is from God how God is sovereign over salvation but that is one of the first characteristics of a false disciple a

Critique of God's Word with the inability to then listen to it read it or believe it

It's not that we won't come across hard words in the Bible. It's what we do with them is what matters

Will we trust him? So the disciples were upset with Jesus word

Jesus however Consciously knew of course with supernatural knowledge. He knew his disciples were grumbling verse 61

But Jesus conscious that his disciples grumbled at this said to them

Does this cause you to stumble they were now doing what the

Hebrews did in the wilderness? They were now doing what the Jews did earlier in the bread of life discourse they were grumbling murmuring arguing

He addresses his disciples. He says does this cause you to stumble? The Greek word is skinned the scandal leads.

Oh Scandal leads. Oh to cause someone to experience great anger or disgust or shock at what of what has been said or done

It causes someone to be offended He says are you offended by what

I said? Are you offended? Of course the gospel and the truth of God is stumbling block to the

Jews to the Gentiles foolishness as Paul says He continues in verse 62

What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before Would you be offended or shocked if you saw the

Son of Man ascend into heaven the place where he was before Becoming flesh would you believe then would you stumble then would you be offended if you saw me go up into heaven?

Would you believe if you saw me go back to where I came? And what's amazing is if we fast forward to Acts chapter 1 only the true disciples got to see him ascend into heaven

They knew he was all that he said he was and they didn't even need to see the ascension to know that they knew it by them

Jesus could even in verse 62 be pointing to The process that takes to get to back to heaven that is the cross

Ascending to that wretched wood will the disciples seeing him on the cross Remove their offense to his words or will it make the offense even greater?

You see the crucifixion of the Messiah is unthinkable to the Jews This would be

God that this would be God's plan highly disturbs them It even disturbed the

Apostles Before they understood the truth of the crucifixion after the resurrection you remember

Even Jesus had to tell Peter get behind me Satan because Peter says no don't go to the cross

Don't give your life, and he says get behind me Satan And so the Jews don't understand

That the cross is necessary All at once the greatest moment of shame and lowliness of Jesus will be the greatest moment of triumph and glory

Then he will return to where he was from and be given a kingdom spanning heaven and earth and not a

Single piece of those two realms will be missing from his rule and reign So now

Jesus sheds light on the difficult words he gave in the bread of life sermon verse 63

It is the Spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing

The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life He's saying all the stuff about being the bread of life.

He's saying all the things about flesh and blood He's saying those are words of life.

They're words from the Spirit the Spirit gives life the Spirit regenerates The Spirit and his words are life -giving and they are the key to understanding these hard sayings

He says the flesh profits nothing Because they're probably thinking about eat my flesh and drink my blood too literally

He's trying to say look you're thinking about this too much in a strange way This is a spiritual thing.

The Spirit gives life. It'll point to the cross It'll go to the cross, but the the effects are spiritual and physical, but they're thinking too fleshly

Paul says no one in the flesh can please God All they can think about is their flesh

Remember in John chapter 2 they thought when Jesus said the temple will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days

They thought he was speaking of the physical temple and not his body in John 3

Nicodemus was thinking too literally about being born again. He's like, how could a man climb back into his mother's womb?

Instead of it being a spiritual birth born of water and spirit The Samaritan woman at the well

Couldn't see for a time Beyond the physical water in that well until the

Spirit of God Had shown her otherwise and the townspeople believed in Christ.

You remember that from John 4? The Jews haven't been able to see past the signs that Jesus performs and recognize the sign giver

For who he really is So rightly understood Jesus's words are life -giving and spiritual

He says this whole discourse this whole sermon in John 6 the words he gave them are spirit and life

They are not earth -born. They are not flesh based. Okay the

Son of Man from heaven gave heavenly words And if they understood this they wouldn't be grumbling and Saying that Jesus's words were harsh

Besides all this Jesus may be even alluding to the Prophet Jeremiah's prayer to God in Jeremiah 15 16

Jeremiah says to the Lord your words are your words were found and I ate them

Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart. I was satisfied with your word

He says I ate your words Jeremiah says so Jesus's words are the same way if Jesus is pointing to what

Jeremiah is saying Then he's giving the same evaluation of his own words his words are life his words

Christ's words are ones that we ought to consume There is a reason though why some are grumbling and criticizing his words

Verse 64 He says but there are some of you who don't believe

For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was that would betray him

Some of his disciples didn't believe Out of all these many many people following him he knew from the very beginning the

Identification of the ones who did not believe and he even knew the exact one who would betray him

If real faith doesn't unite to his message when they hear him then they don't truly believe

You see The reality is some of these people are false disciples

And the question is and has always been What makes someone want to follow

Jesus Christ for a time and then go away?

What makes someone want to follow Christ for a time even though they don't believe If you don't believe why waste your time why waste your time and if that's you

You ought to ask yourself that if I don't believe in Christ if I don't believe his words, why am

I even here? I'm glad you're here And here's what the word has to say

Here are some reasons why people do this. Why do people? Sometimes say they believe in Christ, but they don't actually believe in Christ number one.

Some people follow Jesus According to the Bible because he's the next big thing in Judea He's doing signs and wonders and he's challenging the

Jewish authorities They say forget Gamaliel forget that rabbi this rabbi.

Let's follow Jesus of Nazareth. He's up -and -coming They they join him not to deny themselves, but to serve their own self -interest

It's like going to a church for their awesome

Band level music team and the feelings the music gives you it's seeking the spiritual high

Because something is happening there with this leader or this band and you've got to jump on it

We we see that especially with groups like Hillsong and and Bethel and stuff like that I saw this amazing documentary about the the science behind how they make their music and how it's supposed to cause you to feel

But it never lasts When something adverse occurs, it's time to find a new person or a new church to follow

People do this with Christianity all the time. In fact, I saw recently someone shared with me.

Yeah, I don't know Something from Twitter. I guess it was some sort of screenshot from something and this young woman who professes to be an atheist said

I used to be a Christian and I loved the the music that my church was putting out.

She said She said that when she was in youth group and she was a teenager and she was a young person

She went to this church and she would feel all these amazing feelings and then life started over again the next day

But then she said this she said I realized though that when I became older and my parents allowed me to go to Music concerts that I got the same sort of spiritual feelings by going to secular concerts compared to the the

Christian Church services. She said it was the same thing. In fact, it got better the less

I went to church So that's that's kind of what I'm talking about Number two some simply want to follow

Jesus to use him as a platform There were men who left Judea and started to teach the church in Antioch that they need to be circumcised

In order to be saved we saw that this week. We did a study in Acts 15 and Those men were not sent so they were not authorized to see false disciples can be men and women with with as Peter I'm sorry

Paul tells Timothy men and women with morbid interests in Controversial disputes

He says in his letter They want to be able to influence others with their own ideas rather than be a vessel

That carries the messages and words of Jesus to the world They make new doctrines and they veer from the teachings of Christ You see

Paul and John both Say that there is the teaching of Christ They say that there's also going to be many teachings that are false, but they both say in several of their letters

They say don't stray from the teaching of Christ. There is an ultimate teaching

Over all other teachings In Acts 17, we see people love to hear some new thing or idea

That's that's a what they love to do. They wanted to hear some new doctrine and So the platforming false disciples

Gives it to them. They give them a new word. They give them a new teaching

You know, there's new podcasts coming up every week trying to give some new thing from the

Bible and they can go into error because of the Popularity that they're getting someone finds.

Well, this is working out real. Well, I'm getting pretty popular here with my little show and so The more they get popular the more they see twisting the words helps and there we have someone going against the

Teaching they want to use Christ as a platform Number three

Peter says in his second letter that false disciples are compelled by their greed We understand from Paul's epistles when he kept defending his apostleship that some men went around Saying that they were apostles simply to get food and money

There were false apostles Using the name of Christ for personal gain.

We see that as I said with TBN leaders today multi multi millionaires buying jets

Doing whatever they want with the money that are it's given In charity by God's people.

They're using Christ for sordid gain This especially happened in the 1800s with what was called the second

Great Awakening tent revivals Miracle objects being sold special anointing oil you have miracle wheat miracle crone

Corn, I'm sorry corn charlatans would come out and they would say hey listen to me.

They would pray on people seeking God and take their money People would sell blessings

For a price they would sell anointings. Hey, I'm a prominent leader. Let me sell you my anointing

That's ridiculous. That's damning even the rich young ruler was honest with himself

When he found that he had to give up his great idol of greed and money. He walked away sad at least he didn't start pretending

Another man came to Jesus saying he wanted to follow him, but wanted to wait until his father died

So he wouldn't lose his inheritance for following the famed prophet from Nazareth Jesus Christ You see greed will make a man

Not follow Christ Greed will make a man Pretend to follow

Christ It's both situations number four

False disciples follow Jesus in hopes of being personally elevated They are men pleasers and desire the praise of men

Jesus has accused the Pharisees for that very thing, but when they find out to bear the name

Christian Means to suffer like the Christ suffered sometimes then they do one of two things one they make a more palatable and Tolerable version of Christianity that when mixed with the proper ratio one -to -one of worldliness and Godliness they make something that people can

Tolerate They can gain followers that way Because that's what it's all about for this kind of false disciple this kind of false disciple doesn't want to follow

Jesus He wants men and women to follow him That's what it is The other thing that a person like this does is simply fall away

It becomes too difficult the seed is sown into the shallow earth the Sun rises the cares of the world

Choke it out and they leave Before it gets too scorched And it begs the question to all of us if things get too tough will you leave

Christ to keep your comfort If things were to ever get too tough, would you leave

Christ to keep your comfort? I tell you what in China that's happening in them right now

Will you turn away from Christ to keep your business and your house and your family?

That's happening even today still so many have done this over the centuries.

They've left Christ, and it's terribly sad Brothers and sisters this list is by no means exhaustive

I'm sorry to say that there are many more reasons why people say they follow Christ, but they don't actually

Let's move on though Jesus understands Why they call his word harsh he understands is because they don't believe and now in verse 65

He understands why they don't believe He knows he knows why some fall away it says for this reason

I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the father

Do you see that Jesus rests in the sovereignty of his father when this happens?

you see when someone professes faith in Christ And then they they abandon Christ and the church and we we ought to get sad

We should be sad, but we ought to rest in the sovereignty of the father. That's what Jesus is doing here

God's all over it They haven't believed because they haven't truly come to him

You see it's just as I was explaining in the past couple sermons Many come after him

Many see Jesus they've even heard him speak these words But they don't come to him in the father's sovereign drawing and giving

They don't see him as the Son of God the I am This is the phenomenon of unbelief they have eyes to see but they cannot see

They have ears to hear but they cannot hear These are people who have been following Jesus But he makes it plain to them that they can't truly follow him unless it has been granted and given to the person by the father

It's all God and So now we come to the result of Jesus's faithfulness and the disciples unfaithfulness verse 66 as a result of this many of his disciples

Withdrew and were not walking with him anymore So many of his disciples withdrew

They departed from Jesus and they never walked with him again

You see he continued to speak the truth. He spoke the truth One commentator says what they wanted he would not give and what he actually offered they wouldn't receive

So walking here is not just physically walking alongside Jesus in the

New Testament text walking refers to your whole way of life

Walking this way or that way not walking with Jesus is to reject his words to reject his teachings

Reject his divinity and by doing so rejecting even the father I think a major lesson that we should take away from this is sometimes

Jesus is going to say hard things The Holy Scriptures can have difficult things to accept in them

You won't always understand the reason behind all the actions of God in this life

You simply won't I know Christians come to this Isaiah passage all the time But I think it's worth saying the

Lord says in Isaiah My thoughts are not your thoughts Nor are your ways my ways declares the

Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts the psalmist gets it too

If anyone Showcases their struggle. It's the psalmist He wrote down his struggle for billions of people to read over multiple millennia, and he struggled a lot the psalmist writes why

God why God why do my enemies surround me? Why God did you allow this?

Why God did you allow that? He says God. Why did the wicked prosper? the psalmist says and The false disciple would stop there and just question

God in anger always and always why God why? I'm not saying we won't question

God sometimes I'm saying the true disciple Absolutely deals with the hard questions of why and the what -ifs and why does

God do this but in the end? That person ends it with faith and trust like in our psalm today

Had dusty read psalm 131. He says O Lord. My heart is not proud Nor my eyes haughty.

I don't think I know everything nor do I involve myself in great matters or In things too difficult for me

He's saying sometimes it's not even great to speculate to these high things he says surely

I have composed and quieted my soul You need to quiet your soul even when things are hard to understand like a weaned child rests against his mother

My soul is like a weaned child within me. Oh Israel hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever you see the psalmist

Deals with hard things, but he learns to quiet his soul. He learns to rest in God's Power over all things

Do you know how trusting a child is on the bosom of their mother and Greater than a mother is the

Lord It's a childlike faith a childlike faith when

Christ saves us He calls us to recognize him as Lord. He says if you love me, you'll obey my commandments and I think inferred in that statement is

Even if you love me, trust me God says if you love me, trust me That's fundamental

When he says have faith in him when he says believe in him. He's saying rely on my words completely

Some of what our Lord says is tough Some of what our Lord says is challenging some of what

God does can seem unfair Or as in the case with eat my flesh and drink my blood

They can be difficult to understand You see a true disciple stays even when those occasions arise a

True disciple comes across something difficult in the Bible and gives God the credit That their understanding is limited and his is limitless

Giving God the benefit of any doubt we have knowing that he is good Knowing he will do right no matter what

It's a childlike faith Now some will charge me pastor

Wade what you're articulating here is a blind faith. You need blind faith to follow this God Not even close

Not even close you get your eyes opened when he saves you you get 66 books

In this Bible to help you to see properly You get the Holy Spirit To indwell you who leads you as Jesus says and do all truth

You see blind faith is without provision and it's without a demonstration that God is good

But over and over and over and over again God has shown that he is good and may we never forget it

He's shown us he is good. So whatever you've been holding on to right now against God Let it go whatever you've been wondering why with and Saying God this is unfair or God.

Why won't you change my life in this way? I Encourage you to let it go Trust him with it

Don't walk away in your heart don't depart from him or get cold toward God lean into him recognize

That his ways are higher than your ways and his thoughts are higher than your thoughts

That he's greater than your capacity to understand This trial or this thing or why this person is like this or like that lean on his bosom as John Laid on Jesus's trust him

Ask your father for peace regarding whatever that thing is See that he is good that he is very good

So back to the text the crowd fins at this point says many walked away

They stopped following him the false disciples walk away so verse 67

Jesus said to the twelve you do not want to go away. Also, do you?

This is the first time in the gospel of John that Jesus calls the Apostles the twelve many people just left in fact almost all people left

Jesus in this moment if You remember at the feeding of the five thousand

Scholars estimate that there was anywhere from fifteen to twenty five thousand people who traversed across the north side of the

Sea of Galilee To listen to Jesus's words. They were following after him. He had many disciples at this point they followed him all the way back to Capernaum where he's at now the

Capernaum synagogue and now We're reduced down to twelve to twelve

The true disciples remained we know the case for one of them definitely eleven true ones

But they were there and this is no pat on the back of the

Apostles We've seen all throughout this chapter that God's got to do it He's over it and so Jesus asks them you don't also want to leave me do you?

And it's not that Jesus doesn't know if they're gonna leave him or not. Oh boy. Are they gonna leave me too?

That's not what Jesus is doing This is more of a challenge to them.

It's not that he's Necessarily surprised or greatly disappointed he knew who would who believed in him from the beginning and So what he's saying to the

Apostles is Do you want to leave too? Do you want to leave?

Challenging them Will they stay despite his current lack of fame his hard words

His ability to lose all the people that they gained they're probably thinking maybe in their mind.

Could this really be the Messiah? I thought the Messiah was gonna come and he was gonna draw large crowds and Jesus was starting to get pretty large crowds

I thought this was it and he was gonna become the king and Overall Israel and he was going to defeat the

Romans What's happening he's lost everyone

Simon Peter asked him Lord to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life and So here

Peter shows us the standard for true disciples First Peter demonstrates exclusivity

Exclusivity That there are no other gods There are no other idols There are no other deities or men to whom we can go to for what we desire for what we need from God for salvation

There's no one else When one truly comes to Christ, they leave all other so -called gods

When one identifies that Jesus is the only way they leave all other ways

There is no back door There is no side gate to Jesus One cannot take the route to Jesus by taking the train of Buddha You can't fly to the destination of Christ by boarding the airplane of secular humanism

Can't take the highway to the Son of God it can't be traversed by a vehicle of Joseph Smith or any other man -made system and There is no autopilot

Jesus takes us there Deism is an acknowledgment of God without the

Son of God an Impersonal God one saying they believe in God or their idea of God is

Not saying to whom else shall we go? These men knew where to go

The deist says well God started it and he set it on spin cycle and it's going

They're not saying to whom are we going? With no clue as to who

God is or how to get there. That's not going to happen You see no matter how moral someone seems to be or how kind they are

Jesus says it's him It's him it's him alone and The Apostles understood that there is no one else to go to Peter may not have picked up a

Lot on the flesh and blood or bread of life statements earlier, but at least he understands

Jesus when the Lord says his words are life -giving and spiritual and Peter's confession at a minimum

Demonstrates that Jesus is fulfilling their messianic hopes In the phrase you have words of eternal life there are two things

First Jesus has the word He is the logos as John 1 said

Anything and everything that Jesus says is on par with previous revelation from God Earlier we saw the other disciples say

Jesus gave a harsh word who can listen to it and A true disciple listens to his word and accepts them having the words of Eternal life means that we seek out what he has spoken.

We observe them We obey them they are authoritative and living and Secondly, they are of eternal life

They are eternal and divine And later in Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17

The son will pray to the father for the words which you gave me I have given to them and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you and they have believed

Me who you sent You see the words of Jesus are like shining

Beacons in a black night sky Those beacons show us where to go to live forever

They are a bridge to an immortal realm when all around us are broken overpasses

He's the only bridge. He is the only way He is they he is the sure ladder to heaven

From the black pit of sin we dwelled in previously So it's it's by Jesus's word

It's by Jesus's word that the grounds break open graves and sepulchers crack caskets burst open with wood and splinters flying everywhere and by his word that dead bodily particles

Reconstitute and become human flesh and blood again in the resurrection. It's Jesus's words

No one else can do this No one can speak like this. He is God People people have to know

That this God can do this the only God Peter finishes his statement of Faith to Christ verse 69 we have believed and have come to know that you are the

Holy One of God Again in this verse we see this is not blind faith

It's a belief a faith that Jesus is the Holy One of God and that faith is combined with solid knowledge a

Hope that becomes knowing with certainty You see the the faith and hope that we have in Christ are

Much more than a kid hoping you'll take them to ice cream after service today The faith and hope that we have in Christ is solidly combined with certainty and knowledge that he gives us by his spirit

We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God in this we see

Inferred we need you Jesus You're the only one He is the haggis to fail the

Holy One of God he is holy In Isaiah 1 and in many other places in the

Old Testament the Lord Yahweh is the one who's called the Holy One God is called the

Holy One and so The Father is often called Holy in the New Testament as well Even a demon in the gospel of Mark will call

Jesus the Holy One of God He'll recognize Jesus for who he is.

Jesus is set apart He's different from all others who have flesh and Holy One of God is in the genitive case which depicts possession

Holy One of God he is God's He is from God of God Belongs to God and most importantly this demonstrates that he is

God his origin his heritage and being in essence are of God a

True disciple knows this and believes this Later we will see the

Jewish leaders trying to stone Jesus to death for an I am statement he makes you see a false disciple leaves

Christ and Rejects who he is But these 12 or at least 11 believe him when he says he is the

I am The Apostle John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit will be so zealous of who

Jesus is and How Jesus has presented himself that in later in 1st

John, I'm sorry It might be 2nd John. He says if anyone says that Jesus didn't come in the flesh

He's got a whole different Jesus That's how important it is to John if someone says that Jesus didn't come in the flesh.

You're believing something different He says in fact that that's that's the spirit of the

Antichrist to change How Jesus has demonstrated himself to be is the spirit of the

Antichrist John says? and so Jesus was not satisfied in those speculating that he was

Elijah Some said that he was the prophet some said that he was even

Jeremiah Some said that he was Moses or even a resurrected

John the Baptist But Jesus listen to this Jesus was only

Satisfied and affirmed when he was called the Christ the Son of the Living God the

Holy One of God Nothing else would do back then for him and nothing else will do now today

He is who he is he is who he's demonstrated himself to be

So now we conclude this section in verses 70 and 71 after this amazing

Faithful confession of Peter it says Jesus answered them Did I myself not choose you the twelve and yet one of you is a devil?

So Peter looks like he's in the know right now. He's the VIP Maybe he feels that way.

Maybe he doesn't I know I would probably be like You're the Holy One of God kind of like stand back

You know is he feeling that way right now, but Jesus doesn't even touch Peter's confession

Peter and the rest of the twelve are no better than the other disciples who left the difference is

Jesus chose them and saved them. That's what he says If you think you chose me

Verse 70 did I myself not choose you? God chooses you before you choose him

True disciples are selected first and no not because they're true or because they're a disciple

It's because God chose out of his own desire God never looked through the corridors of time to see who would choose him.

He is the initiator He loved us as it says before we first loved him

We would be false disciples or rejecters of it Him if it weren't for his love and grace you see in every other realm of this life a leader picks the best of the best the top choices best performing individuals who will produce for him the choicest outcome and result and These people then find in themselves the chosen people they find in themselves the ability to be faithful to this leader

They maintain a fidelity to this person because they were chosen But that's not how it works with salvation

We were chosen before we were faithful he shows

We were chosen when we were dead without a hope and without a Savior before we were a people and before we had

God He sought us he says He was faithful first and then in choosing he makes us follow after him hands down no doubt our

Allegiance is founded in his power not our own, but one of the twelve is a devil

He doesn't mean the devil But sometimes evil people or even demons are called devils

Eleven of them follow the Holy One of God one of them follows after his father the devil At the

Last Supper it says that Satan entered Judas the man's activities are devilish and demonic and the devil will no doubt use fallen human beings and His evil becomes their evil

Judas is the highest form of false disciple

Meaning all that he does is opposite of the truth. He's experienced so much Jesus, but he turns against him final verse 71

Now he meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot for he one of the twelve was going to betray him

So John takes us out of out of the the post -sermon discussion with the

Apostles and he narrates that Jesus meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot He was one of the twelve

There have been and there are going to be and Continue to be men and women who seem to be of Jesus and therefore of us, but they are not

That's a reality We don't have salvation goggles Not a single one of us does

We will know them once they betrayed Jesus and his church And that's it

We can preach the truth We can hold each other to the words of God but still some false

Disciples will abide with us and with others We of course pray for their conversion

Also pray intently that they would be seen and Acknowledged and recognized for being false and that the wake of their destruction would be small in faithful churches

We pray that darkness would come to the light before other candles go out Jesus knew

He would be betrayed by Judas. This would be the means by By way, the crucifixion comes

What he intended for evil God intended for for good Acts chapter 2 Peter talks about that He said

Jesus's crucifixion was at the predetermined Knowledge and plan of God, but then he says you nailed him to a cross

At the hands of godless men it is both aspects But what does this also show you in this verse that Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, but Judas didn't realize

He would do this until the Last Supper when he departs from the twelve to go carry out the evil deed.

I Don't know at this moment that he would eventually do that. Maybe he was starting to brew in his heart

But I'm not sure if he even knew None of the other twelve,

I'm sorry None of the other eleven knew who the betrayer was remember they all asked at the

Last Supper. Is it I is it I? They didn't even know that it was Judas So what am

I getting at? Jesus then gave the same attention affection care

Instruction and leadership to a man who would help bring him to death He washed

Judas's feet He gave Judas the role to manage the money bags.

He didn't treat him any differently This is not to say if we know that someone is

Actively doing something evil in our church. We just let them and be like, well, that's what Jesus did No, that's that would be a different category

We don't let them continue in that Jesus had a plan here he is all -knowing you and I are not and So there are two lessons to this

First Jesus knows what it's like to be betrayed Jesus knows what it is like to have someone close to him turn on him.

And so remember that if you've ever felt that if you've ever experienced that from family or friends or even fellow churchmen

Our Lord can sympathize with you. He knows the pain of these disciples defection and betrayal you see

The longer you are in ministry true gospel ministry The more you see this

And it continues to happen where people profess faith and They leave

Christ and they leave the church and they turn away after other things and I'll tell you what it never really gets easier

It never really gets easier. It's always hard. It's always painful

But turning to him and that can bring comfort to you He will preserve his church.

He will lose none And in the necessary cases, he will carry out all needed justice.

We mustn't worry about that and Secondly what we ought to learn from this verse is whoever professes

Christ and good faith in our church ought to be treated rightly and lovingly until they give us good reason otherwise

And I'm not saying we should start treating them badly when they sin against us and That shows that they're false

Because all of us have already sinned here. Amen All of us have already sinned here.

We've already sinned against each other in our hearts and our minds In our actions and our deeds we've already sinned against each other.

That's not the indicator of what I'm talking about Make no mistake of it

We've already sinned but only when a person exhibits that they are Unrepentant and Irreconcilable and lawless and doesn't fear the word

Anymore or fear God anymore. We are to Then recognize that they are a false disciple when they don't take it into account the words of Jesus the call to the eternal life and When they don't see that he is the

Holy One of God When someone shows that they are lawless, they are lordless

Then we know But until then Until then

We love we give people in our church the benefit of the doubt

In our mind our posture is hopeful rather than suspicious

Understanding rather than uncertain Because it's amazing how loving our

Lord is How patient he is How much he cared for Judas even knowing that this would occur he cared for an enemy

But we often won't care for a brother or sister because they are different than us offended us or whatever they did

He cared for an enemy you and I often won't care for a real brother and sister

Or at least someone who has not yet to shown that they are false I'm So glad Jesus doesn't stop his care for us when we are unfaithful all in all church false disciples walk away

That's what we see here the very basis of it all false disciples walk away at some point.

They leave Jesus true disciples remain Even though it's

God who causes us to endure to the end This must be why Jesus says those who endure to the end will be saved

Because apostasy is a very real thing John says they went out from us to show that they were never truly of us

Paul knows this well These are just a few for Paul Demas left him for the world

Alexander and Hymenaeus left Paul Janice and John Brace opposed the truth left

Paul He said that they were always increasing in their learning, but they were never able to come to a knowledge of the truth

That's scary Some people will increase in their learning in the seat of a pew

But will one day fall away Book of Hebrews gives many warnings for this sort of thing

Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26 says for if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth

There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins you see Jesus forgives every single type of sin that there ever is

He forgives it, but the willful sin of unbelief

After receiving the truth is damning unbelief kills

And the author of Hebrews is talking about people who were once disciples of Christ in a church He says in verse 29 of chapter 10 how much how much severe punishment

Do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant?

By which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace That's frightening so then the call is to say steadfast stand firm

Don't shrink back when the onslaught comes Don't lose trust in Christ even when he has a hard word

Don't ever take what the world offers over what Christ gives and so What I want you to take comfort in today church is what he's said in chapter 6 this whole time

Jesus says All whom the Father gives to me comes to me and I shall lose none of them, but raise them up on the last day

Believe that hold on to it chain yourself to it if you are in Christ He will not lose you and if you are a false disciple

Maybe someone who's gonna listen later to this sermon who's a false disciple. There is still hope

Turn to Christ today, and he will forgive you for all your apostasies and betrayals even if you've turned from him previously

I promise you he will I've done it myself. I turned against the

Lord many times But one day he saved me and he changed me and he can do that for all of us so Let's pray

Lord. We thank you for the message that went out today God it's a it's a hard message.

It's a hard word and that happens sometimes The Lord let our every trust be in you and what you've done

God we Don't presume to say that we've understood everything that you've done and everything that you will do

But God help us at least today to resolve like Peter that there's nowhere else to go

There's nowhere else to go. Where can we go with what we know now and believe by faith?

We can't go anywhere or do anyone else so Lord please

We ask you God to encourage us

We help you God we pray God that you would help us to stand firm God that you would help us to persevere that you would preserve us because if any of this was on us

We would be done already so God We thank you for saving us.

We thank you for the hope that we have in Christ and the hope of a resurrection and eternal life

That Jesus has purchased with his own blood. We love you Lord. We pray this in Christ's name.