Don’t Turn Back (John 6:60-71 Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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December 19, 2022

Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Don’t Turn Back

14:53: It's been a blessing to all of us, especially me, because I get to do this every week, not just see it once a season.
15:01: And also to Danny Jacobs, who's also been helping. If we all kept quiet,
15:13: Jesus said that even a stone would cry out. And that's kind of our name. And how much better is it that he's granted us that these children would cry out and praise him?
15:22: Right? Amen. I have absolutely no clue how to follow that.
15:51: I have been asked at the beginning of this, though, we have people that are looking for seats. If you have seats next to you, you're near the aisle, kind of slip over so that people that need seats can get up.
16:02: I'd appreciate that. If our hearts are filled with joy, it's definitely because of the truth of the message of the true gospel that our
16:16: Savior, our Lord and Savior came, that our God loves us so much.
16:21: And that is true joy. I want to start out by reading in Psalm 138, verse 1.
16:28: I give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. Before the gods,
16:36: I sing your praise. That's little g. So let me read that again. I give thanks to you,
16:43: O Lord, with my whole heart. Before the gods, I sing your praise.
16:48: The psalmist recognized that the world has attempts to gain our allegiance.
16:57: And they can be called gods, they can be called idols, they can be called whatever. But the psalmist is proclaiming his devotion, his love, his whole heart devotion to Yahweh, to the
17:09: God of all creation. And before everything else in the world that is attempting to fabricate a reason that they have, he has the desire to proclaim in front of everything,
17:22: I worship Yahweh. I praise God. Amen to that. We've got some amazing things coming up, first of all, this evening.
17:32: I want to encourage you to come back here, 6 o 'clock this evening. We're going to have a hymn sing, and at this time, it's a
17:39: Christmas carol hymn sing. We're going to be singing the Christmas carols that are in our hymns.
17:45: But we're also going to have the reading of the full Advent story. I understand there are refreshments.
17:52: If that motivates you to come, that's a good thing, too. But come back and enjoy our time of fellowship and worship and praise because of the
18:00: God of all creation who came in the form of man. Saturday is going to be
18:06: Christmas Eve. We do have two services planned. One is at 2 .30. The other is at 4 o 'clock, whichever works best for your family.
18:15: There will be rooms, so if it is an opportunity to talk to families, to talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers, or whatever, a great opportunity to hear the true
18:25: Christmas story, Christmas Eve. Often, that's one of the two times that we can get unsaved friends to come.
18:32: So we encourage you to be part of that. Christmas Day is a Sunday this year, and in recognition of that, we are going to have one service.
18:42: It will be at 10 .45. As I encouraged the first service 9 o 'clock people, they can still come at 9 o 'clock, pray for an hour and 45 minutes before the rest of us come.
18:54: But Christmas service will be at 10 .45. New Year's Day is also a Sunday, but we will have our regular schedule of 9 o 'clock and 10 .45.
19:04: I want to also encourage you, we don't often speak about our finances from up front.
19:10: God is the owner of a thousand cattle, right? That's a paraphrase. But we do know that God is working mightily in this ministry here.
19:22: We have 23 Phillips Road. We're looking towards the building of it. If you have that extra funds at the end of the year that you would like to make a donation, we would like to encourage you to designate it towards the building fund, and that would be a blessing.
19:37: It's all for his kingdom's work. Let's turn to prayer. I give thanks to you,
19:45: O Lord, with my whole heart. Before the gods, I sing your praise.
19:54: Lord, with the psalmist, we worship you, O Lord, and you, the sovereign
19:59: God, you are holy, righteous, and just. Though we're sinners, though we deny you, your love,
20:10: O God, is so unmeasurable that you sent your Son to pay the penalty for our sins.
20:18: Father, thank you for sending your Son. Thank you for providing grace that we might even respond in faith to you.
20:25: Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, given that we might serve you with hearts that proclaim and say,
20:33: I give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. Lord, we pray for many who have lost recently.
20:42: Father, we lift up Alice Stockland, who is with you in glory at this time.
20:49: We thank you, Lord, that you have made her new, but, Lord, yet we grieve over the lost. So we're with the
20:54: Stockland family. We pray, Father, your presence to them. For Dave Wilson, who lost a brother and a father, again, we rejoice that those who have bowed the knee and have passed from this world are now with you in your very presence.
21:11: Be with the Wilson family and be their comfort. And for all the others who have, in recent times, passed, lost, in this time that can be very, very, very hard, we pray that you be with them.
21:22: With the sick, we also pray, dear Lord. This morning, we do thank you for the gospel message that was just proclaimed by our children.
21:32: We thank you, Lord, for their young hearts. We thank you for Tim and for Kathy and for the others that have worked with them.
21:39: We pray that these words that they sung will go deep into their hearts, that they will grow in you.
21:45: They will become your children and walk with you, Lord. So this morning, we ask that you would prepare our time to hear from Brother Hamilton, the ministry that he has going in his life, and then to prepare our hearts to hear the word that will be proclaimed by Pastor.
22:02: We pray these things in Jesus' name. Louise. Good morning, family.
22:18: Good morning. I wish you a Merry Christmas. I wish you a Merry Christmas.
22:24: I am here to introduce one of our missionaries, and his name is
22:30: Hamilton Bandick. His ministry is life coaching ministry. And as he comes up to share, let us also congratulate him on graduating yesterday from Caron College University.
22:56: Morning, Church. Morning. Thank you so much for all your support towards my ministry.
23:05: But also, thank you to some of the church members that are also helping my ministry.
23:10: I had a lot to share this morning, but because of time, prayerfully,
23:16: I will ask Pastor to share the website for the ministry so that you can see the pictures, the videos, and read more in our website.
23:27: But I just want to give a quick update on how the ministry is going back in Malawi.
23:34: So I went back there in Malawi that was June, and it's been four months running the ministry, and I've seen the hand of God.
23:44: My plan was to start things small, but then we ended up doing big things.
23:51: It was just because of what God has done. So I started the registration process, which was supposed to take a year to conclude everything, but we ended up doing it in two months.
24:03: So we are a registered ministry. If you Google on it, you can find us as one of the ministries in Malawi as well.
24:12: But out of that, we started a girls' orphanage, which has 12 girls now, and these are girls from the streets.
24:22: So we have streets that children live, and then we rescued these tough girls, and now they are in a home.
24:30: They are having good food. It's a beautiful house. If you see on the website, you will love it.
24:36: It's one of the beautiful houses, and they are going to school, and we are able to do counseling, but also teach them the
24:42: Word of God. And it's such a joy to see these girls having a home.
24:49: They are coming from very difficult backgrounds, but then to see them going to school is just a beautiful thing.
24:58: And out of that, we will also be starting the boys' orphanage next month.
25:03: So we are hoping to start with the place that we have found. It will house like 30 boys.
25:11: So this will be like age 8 to 14. But then we'll start small, small numbers, and then reach to that number.
25:22: Apart from that, when I was here, I was talking about starting a summer camp program and after -school program.
25:28: So these are one of the closest villages to where we are working, back in Malawi.
25:37: So my plan was to start with 150 children to work in the summer camp program.
25:44: But then when I was registering the children, 550 children showed up to be part of the program.
25:53: So it was hard because of resources. It was very hard. But then we sent 300 back home, which was not easy.
26:03: But then we remained with 250 that were getting meals. And most of them, it's like their first meal, the meal that they get at the program.
26:12: So we have been working with them. And at the end of the day, we took them to Lake Malawi. You Google it, it's one of the beautiful lakes with fresh water.
26:21: So they enjoyed it. You might never go there in your life or not. So for them, to go there is such a beautiful thing, to go and see the lake.
26:32: And apart from that, we started the trade school. So most of the kids that we are working with, the homeless, they are kind of like youths now.
26:40: They cannot go back to school. But then how could we help them? So as I was thinking of helping them, then we registered six to go into a trade school so that they can learn skills like phone repairing and computer programming.
26:55: So the six graduated from the trade school. So next month we are starting another cohort to go through the process as well so that they can get these skills and then be able to get out of the streets and survive on their own.
27:12: So it has been a wonderful journey. And I'm still praying that God will still open the doors so that we can reach out to as many kids as we can.
27:23: And apart from that, so you see that the ministry is now growing. But then we are thinking on how can we feed these children.
27:32: So as one plan, we decided to buy land. So in Malawi, you can get land and own it for good.
27:40: So one acre is like 600. So we want to buy like six acres of land so that we can grow food.
27:46: So the next year we might have more food like to work with many kids and provide feeding programs as well.
27:55: So it has been a blessing, I mean, to come here, get my degree, and I'll be going back.
28:01: So it's such an inspiration to the kids as well to see that their leader, you know, has gone through all the struggles but get things possible.
28:16: So I'm so happy. And I hope you'll still be praying with us.
28:21: And may God bless you. Wow.
28:31: All in a day's work, huh? Wow. It was only five months ago when
28:37: Hamilton had been with us here while he was going to Cairn. He goes back and we have now the report of a girl's home, a boy's home about to be established next month, land for growing food, kids in trade school.
28:50: God does exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ever ask, think, or imagine.
28:55: Amen? Amen. Let's pray for Hamilton Church. So Father God, you say that pure religion, true religion is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unpolluted by the world.
29:11: And Lord, we thank you so much for this ministry in Malawi, and we pray blessing upon it.
29:16: We thank you, God, for what you're doing with the boys and girls in the homes, in the trade school, the land.
29:22: All that you are doing, we give you the glory in the name of Jesus. And Lord, we pray for Hamilton, that you would strengthen him for the work that you've called him to do.
29:32: We pray that you would also keep his heart at peace and that he would find rest, that he would be able to sleep well at night, that you would just guard his heart and keep him, give him peace that passes understanding.
29:44: And Lord, continue to use this man in Jesus' name. Lord, we pray that you go before him, that you be his rear guard and that you keep your hand of favor upon him.
29:56: In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Awesome, thank you. Will you stand with me as we sing?
30:22: The long -expected Jesus Born to set thy people free
30:31: From our fears and sins release us
30:36: Let us find our rest in thee
30:41: Israel's strength and consolation
30:47: Home of all the earth thou art
30:52: Dear desire of every nation
30:57: Joy of every longing heart
31:03: People to deliver
31:17: Born a child and yet a king Born to reign in us forever
31:27: Now thy gracious kingdom reigns
31:33: By thine own eternal spirit
31:38: Holy nation marriage raise us to Let's pray.
32:20: God, you have done great things for us and we are filled with joy. God, thank you so much for the children.
32:29: As they sang praises to your name, we pray that you would keep them safe to the end,
32:36: Lord, right into your presence, Lord, that you would guard their precious faith, keep them walking, let not one of them ever turn away from you, but to remain in you, that your word would abide in them.
32:50: We pray for the children. Lord, we pray for Hamilton and all the children in Malawi in that ministry.
32:57: God, we lift it up to you and pray blessing in your favor that your word would continue to go forth.
33:04: And Lord, we pray for this next period of time as we open the word, we pray that you would minister in our hearts through your word, in Jesus' name, amen.
33:17: God, you can't let this happen. You can't ask this of us.
33:23: Those were the words that Stephen Curtis Chapman prayed in 2008 when he was driving to Vanderbilt University Hospital.
33:36: Above his head, he could see a helicopter, Metaflight, taking his youngest daughter to try to save her life.
33:50: He had the most difficult thing happen that I can imagine.
33:55: That is, this little five -year -old girl was playing and his son, who is 18, came driving up the driveway and never saw her as she came running out from behind a tree and was run over.
34:09: And the Metaflight took her and he prayed, God, you can't let this happen. You can't ask this of us.
34:17: He was devastated by the hard providence and when he got to the hospital, went into the room, they told him that she had passed.
34:27: Now, I can only imagine how this man, Stephen Curtis Chapman, would have been willing to give himself and to take that from his daughter and let her live, take me instead,
34:39: Lord. But think also of what that would be like for his son, to know that his son would have to bear the guilt and shame of that, although it was an accident, and the pain and trauma that would be for the rest of his life.
34:55: Imagine how Stephen Curtis Chapman would desire to take that from his son, this hard providence.
35:04: In that moment, all of the doctors and nurses came into the room and his family came in and all eyes turned to him.
35:13: He is the Christian music artist, probably the most acclaimed in Christian music history.
35:22: He's the one who sung praises to Jesus, but in this hard providence, will his faith endure or will he turn away, will he fall away?
35:34: For five minutes, he could say nothing. He fell to his knees and he prayed, and then he stood and said this, this is what everything in life comes down to.
35:51: And if somehow this moment right now could change eternity for you, that would honor my little girl's life.
36:01: He spoke the gospel to the nurses and to the doctors, even in the moments of his child's death.
36:07: In fact, where else would he turn? Had he turned away from God in that moment and hardened his heart and left the faith, where would he go?
36:20: Would it change the reality of what he was suffering? Nothing could change that reality, but Christ alone had the words of life.
36:32: Where else do you turn in a hard providence? But to Christ who has the words of life.
36:41: Church, listen to me. No matter what hard providence comes into your life, what thing you struggle with that never seems to go away, however hard the road seems of following Jesus Christ, don't ever turn back.
37:00: No matter what, do not turn back, do not fall away. Hold on to Christ.
37:05: Even if you do not understand, even if you do not understand, don't ever turn back.
37:14: Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life. He is your only hope.
37:19: Where else would you turn? There is nowhere else to go. Christ alone is your hope of glory.
37:27: Turn with me to John chapter six, verses 60 to 71.
37:37: It's a hard passage. Before we read it, remember the context of John chapter six.
37:44: It is a long chapter, but it's all one unit, and that's why those who added the verse numbers did so and grouped it all together as one chapter.
37:54: It begins with the feeding of the 5 ,000. So you have a multitude of people who are now identifying themselves as followers of Christ.
38:05: They call themselves disciples. In fact, they're so dedicated that when Jesus crosses the
38:10: Sea of Galilee, they get on boats and they chase him down. The crowds are following Jesus, but as we come to the end of John chapter six, the ranks will be thinned down to 11 people.
38:29: Now you guys are familiar in America with the church growth movement, right? The goal of the church growth movement is to say nothing harsh or difficult, say nothing deep or perplexing, say only the smooth and easy and affirming things, and the goal of that would be to attract as many people into the building as possible.
38:51: The goal is noses and nickels, people and money, the machinery of evangelicalism.
38:59: Doesn't want to say hard things, but let me submit to you that according to John chapter six, that strategy is not shared by the
39:08: Lord Jesus Christ. He goes from 5 ,000 men besides women and children.
39:14: By the end of John chapter six, we are down to the 12, and one of those is a devil.
39:23: We're down to 11. That's the point, and I think that's why Judas is brought up. The hard sayings of Jesus, but these words that Jesus speaks are spirit and life to us.
39:35: Let's let that word hit us now. From John six, verse 60 to 71, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying.
39:50: Who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, do you take offense at this?
40:01: Then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life.
40:08: The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
40:17: But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.
40:27: And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the father.
40:40: After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
40:45: Now pause there and notice the scripture reference number. I'm not much into numerology, but I think there's a providence in how this was laid out.
40:54: This verse about apostasy is chapter six, verse 66. 666, the turning back, the falling away, no longer following, no longer walking with him.
41:09: So Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him,
41:15: 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
41:25: Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil.
41:34: He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him.
41:44: The main idea of this passage is that Christ alone has the words of eternal life and there's nowhere else to go but to Christ.
41:57: He alone has the words of eternal life, so do not fall away. Do not turn back like Judas would and like the multitudes did, but continue.
42:07: Even, church, if you are the only one, if everybody else turns away and stops following Christ, you hold on to this word.
42:20: If someone who claims to be a scientist says that they've debunked it, you leave them and you stay with Jesus.
42:28: If your own friends begin to mock you because you're becoming a bit of a Jesus freak, you leave them and you stay with Jesus.
42:36: If your own family, maybe your whole family, departs from Christ.
42:43: You know, recently in America, we're seeing these deconversions. So many people who once claimed to be
42:50: Christian now deconverting. Even if the whole world deconverts, you stay with Jesus.
42:57: Let nothing turn you away from these very words. Let's look at them more carefully. Verses 60 to 62, this section is about hard sayings.
43:11: Notice in verse 60, when the disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying. The word for hard is skleros in the
43:21: Greek. And saying here is actually logos, it's teaching, it's logic. This is a hard logic.
43:29: Hard here refers to something that's rough and difficult and harsh. But Jesus says harsh and rough and difficult things, hard sayings.
43:42: Why would he do that? Because Jesus speaks the truth. He is the truth.
43:48: And the reality of this world in which we live is that there are hard things.
43:54: There are difficult providences. When we hear the plight of orphans in Malawi and Hamilton shared in first service about a young girl who was raped at gunpoint.
44:08: What do you do with that? Where do you go with that? There are hard realities and what
44:17: Jesus tells us is nothing but absolute truth. He will tell you the smooth and the loving and the kind and the joyful, but he will also tell us the hard sayings.
44:29: And here he has said something very difficult. What is that? What did he say that is so hard?
44:39: There are truly two very different streams of thought in interpreting what those hard sayings are.
44:46: The Roman Catholic Church is convinced that what makes the previous words that are called hard sayings so hard is that Jesus is looking forward to the
44:58: Eucharist in the sacrifice of the mass. He's looking at people needing to eat the literal body, blood, soul divinity of Jesus Christ and drink his blood.
45:14: And they say that's a hard saying, but that is not at all the context of the passage that we're reading.
45:22: The truth is the hard saying is that Jesus is
45:27: God. What's so hard to accept is that he is the bread from heaven, the bread that came down from heaven.
45:37: In verse 35, he says, I am the bread of life and that's the thought with which we conclude in verse 58, this is the bread that came down from heaven.
45:47: You see that? It's not like the bread that the fathers ate and died. It's not physical bread.
45:53: Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. The true understanding of John chapter six is that the hard saying is
46:01: Jesus' own claim to be Jehovah Jireh. The bread of life who came down from heaven and in case you missed it, maybe last week you didn't hear the sermon or maybe you doubted me.
46:15: I'm sure nobody here doubted me, right? Allow the text to double down on that point.
46:22: Look at verse 62. They've taken offense at the hard saying, but what is the hard saying?
46:29: Well, he proves it by saying, then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before?
46:42: So the hard saying was that he is God in flesh. He's come down like bread.
46:51: And if you don't want to accept that, the reality is he will also ascend the same way he descended.
47:01: And the disciples who will follow him will see this take place. And that of course is Acts chapter one.
47:07: The hard providence of their life is that they were under the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was an oppressive government.
47:16: We in America are beginning to experience something of what that might be like.
47:22: We have lived in the freest country. The soft providence of God toward us has put us in the freest country in the history of the world.
47:32: But Israel at this time is under the boot of Rome. The empire is holding them down and it dominates their thinking.
47:41: When will the Messiah come? When will we be set free? Well, we see the encroachment of that kind of evil in the government of our land today.
47:50: Anybody notice that? When the White House is celebrating the profaning of Marriage Act, when wickedness abounds in the culture but is now more and more a part of the government as it becomes more and more authoritarian and globalist, you may see the arising of a revived
48:11: Roman Empire. Government oppressing the people.
48:16: We've enjoyed liberty, but there will come a time at the beast, the beast system that arises where that will no longer be the case.
48:25: Listen, in the time of Jesus, it was not the case that the people were free.
48:30: They were under Rome's boot. And so in Acts chapter 1, they're asking Jesus, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?
48:39: And Jesus says it is not for you to know the times or the dates that the Father has set by His own authority.
48:47: That's part of the secret will of God, the secret counsel of God, but you will receive power when the
48:54: Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
49:02: He gives them a command, what they are to do, to go and witness, and He promises that the
49:07: Spirit will baptize them and empower them to do what they're called to do.
49:13: And then Acts 1 tells us that right before their eyes, He ascended into heaven.
49:19: They watched Him fly up into the sky, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
49:27: So returning to John chapter 6, verse 62, that's precisely what Jesus prophesied would happen.
49:34: The hard reality, the hard saying that He is the bread of heaven corresponds to the truth.
49:44: He ascended and proved His origin before He was born of a virgin.
49:51: This very difficult thing to believe. Can you think for a moment how difficult it is to believe what we believe?
50:01: That this baby laid in a manger is the very God who spoke all worlds into existence.
50:12: And He walked our streets. And the God who gave life was killed.
50:21: And not only was He killed, that God would die. The God -man,
50:26: God in flesh, would be put to death while the Father ever lived. And Jesus in the
50:31: Spirit lived. It was His body that was crushed for us. But how did
50:38: He die? The most ignominious, horrible, shameful way to die, which is death on a cross.
50:51: And then that the dead, buried in the tomb, rose from the dead. This to the world is utter foolishness.
50:58: This is a hard saying. But it is true.
51:05: It corresponds to reality. It's precisely what happened. Jesus came to save sinners, dying the death that we deserve, rising on the third day, and He ever lives to make intercession for us.
51:16: He right now, as we speak, is seated at the right hand of the Father. It is a hard saying.
51:25: But continue on. The saying is not only hard, corresponding to the truth as it is, but the word of it is powerful.
51:37: Look at verse 63. It is the Spirit who gives life. How much help is the flesh?
51:47: How able am I, as a man, to convince you of these things? The flesh is no help at all.
51:57: I can stand as a preacher this morning in Opine and give every opinion that I have, and it can do nothing for you.
52:06: But look at the second half of verse 63. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
52:17: The words of this book, not only true, they are powerful to bring life to the dead.
52:28: This is the instrument that God uses to raise the dead. Stephen Curtis Chapman lost his daughter, but just as Lazarus was put in a tomb, and by the word of Jesus Christ, Lazarus come forth.
52:42: In the same way, our God speaks words, and that word is life to the dead.
52:50: Little girl, arise. And the Chapman family will be reunited by the power of the word.
52:59: Isaiah 55 refers to the power of the word of God. You don't have to turn there, but you can maybe make a note of it to read later.
53:09: I'm sorry, Isaiah 55, 10 and 11. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.
53:30: It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which
53:38: I sent it. As God gives rain and snow on the earth, and it waters the plants and brings up vegetation, in the same way, he sends out his word.
53:49: The preacher who speaks the word of Christ, and the app that reads it for you as you're falling asleep at night.
54:00: The word has power in it. This is what gives you life.
54:07: In our day and age nowadays, there are many spiritists. On the corners, you'll see psychics who have their little shops to try to give a word of something to the person who'd pay the money.
54:22: There are necromancers contacting the dead. Well, that was also the case in Isaiah's day.
54:28: In chapter 8, we see that there was only a small remnant. It was Isaiah and his family,
54:34: Maher Shalal Hashbaz and company. This remnant of believers when everybody else was going the way of all the earth.
54:44: And Isaiah said about those who chirp and mutter, the spiritists and the necromancers, he said of the remnant, to the testimony.
54:57: He rallied to the word of God. And anybody who would not listen, he says, it is because they have no dawn.
55:05: He refused to go away when everybody else was. We live in a day of deconversion.
55:13: Christianity losing ground in a culture. But lest you forget, the word of God is still living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword.
55:25: It still has power to penetrate and divide the thoughts and intentions of the heart, like bone from marrow.
55:31: The word of God is alive. It is a sword. It is a weapon. It is able to keep you.
55:40: And you are able to advance by it. We still have the word of life. Hold fast the word of life.
55:48: This word is powerful. According to verse 63, these words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
55:56: They're not fleshly. They're not ordinary or human. This is the very word of the living
56:01: God. It has power to raise the dead. It has power to change you. As this world gets crazier and crazier, people are getting a little crazy, aren't they?
56:14: Minds are not right. People are very confused. And they go to therapists.
56:22: The secular therapist says everything they can to make the person feel better, to help them cope and manage.
56:31: They have some strategies to confront their fears and what they will never do is say the hard truth of God's word that this world is fallen and that the problem is sin in the very nature and in the behavior of individuals.
56:50: And what they cannot do is offer anything that actually changes the heart.
56:59: How about you? When your mind is a little out of sorts, because it happens to all of us, and you're laying there at night, worried, do you open your app to Facebook and start scrolling around to try to calm your mind?
57:19: Do you read some more news stories? Or do you recite the word of God?
57:26: Let me ask you, which one has power to set your mind at ease? It is the word of God.
57:33: These words are spirit and they are life. And so as we progress, we see in the passage, there are hard sayings that we need to hear about sin.
57:44: But there is life. There are powerful words in what Christ communicates. So, verses 64 and 65, here's a hard one.
57:53: What accounts for the unbelief of all of these people? If that's the context of John 6, the feeding of the 5 ,000, now we're down to 11, everybody falling away, what accounts for this unbelief?
58:06: Why isn't everybody coming to the Messiah? He is the Messiah indeed. And yet they don't believe.
58:14: A majority of his own people, he came into his own and his own received him not. The Jewish people do not believe.
58:22: The billion Muslims on planet Earth do not believe. The secular humanists don't believe. Why don't people believe?
58:30: Is Jesus vexed by this? Is he frustrated and unable to save?
58:37: Look at verses 64 and 65. But there are some of you who do not believe.
58:43: Now that's Jesus speaking. Notice now there's a parenthetical. John will insert commentary as to why this is.
58:53: For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.
59:03: So that's a reference to Judas. And then it continues. Now back to Jesus as the speaker.
59:09: He said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the
59:16: Father. You guys want some hard theology? Hard is good, right,
59:24: Tim? Thank you, brother. You were supposed to answer. That was not rhetorical. I'm actually asking. You guys want this? This is a hard saying.
59:33: Verse 65 says, the reason that people don't come is because they can't.
59:40: They are unable. Well, why are they unable? Is it a natural inability or a moral inability?
59:51: It is the second. It is a moral inability. There is the fall of man, sin deep down in the nature.
59:59: A person is evil. Not meaning that a person does every evil thing that could be imagined, but rather that even the good things that we do are somehow tainted by pride and sin.
01:00:11: It is pervasive in us. And the fall of man is such that, listen, no one is able to come to Christ.
01:00:19: I mean, they're hearing him, they're seeing him, but they're not coming. What's the problem? It's in the heart of man.
01:00:25: It is the fall. Sin in nature and by choice. They're not able to believe.
01:00:33: They're not able to come. Eating and drinking in John 6 refers to coming, believing.
01:00:39: They can't. Now, if I were to speak to someone paralyzed and say, get up and walk, and they're unable to do it, that's a natural inability.
01:00:52: It would be unjust for me to say that. But for God to say to all people, come, and they don't come, is blameworthy because the problem is not a natural inability.
01:01:08: Listen, it's a moral inability. Moral inability means that the problem is in their will, their desires, their inclinations.
01:01:21: They have no desire to come. They don't morally want to. Compare it to Satan, because the devil is mentioned in the passage.
01:01:28: Judas is compared to the devil. Listen, what is the nature of Satan? Evil all the time.
01:01:37: When the devil tells a lie, he speaks his native language. In other words, he's morally corrupt.
01:01:47: That's his nature. He can't come to God and be righteous because he's unable to do it.
01:01:54: He's morally wrong. So can you blame the devil?
01:02:02: Absolutely, it's him. It's his nature. Would you excuse him because he doesn't tell the truth?
01:02:09: Well, that's just his nature. No, it's a moral inability, and that's how it is with every person born as sons and daughters of Adam.
01:02:21: A moral inability to do right, to please God, to come.
01:02:27: It's a moral failing. So in verse 65, I want you to see this from the text itself.
01:02:36: The only way that I stand here, Jeff Klewer, born again, the way that I came is because it was granted me by the
01:02:48: Father. When did that happen? According to 2 Timothy 1 .9, this grace was given me before the ages, before the world began.
01:02:58: And it says it explicitly in verse 65, no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the
01:03:06: Father. I wish I had a little more time to expand on this, but I want you to notice the parallel language from John 6 .44
01:03:15: and John 6 .37. John 6 .44 says that no one can come unless the
01:03:22: Father draws him. Well, the Romanist, the Arminian, the provisionist, wants to find some wiggle room to get out of that clear teaching, and so what they will say is that God actually draws everybody, but not everybody comes.
01:03:41: Provenient grace. They're drawn, but they don't come, because they're inserting the will of man as the determinative factor there.
01:03:49: Following me? And then at John 6 .37, even though it says it's the
01:03:55: Father that gives them, those are the ones who will come, they do a little rope -a -dope run around there using foreknowledge, that God is actually giving the gift only to those that he foreknows will come.
01:04:12: And so from verse 60, chapter 6, verse 44, someone will tell you, well, it doesn't really mean that only those drawn of the
01:04:22: Father and given by the Father can come. Now, we already preached on this, so if you haven't seen the sermon from that passage, verses 35 to 45, in celebration of free will, see how that unfolds in context.
01:04:40: You need to understand that the two hymns in verse 44 are the same one. The drawn one is the one who's raised up.
01:04:48: So everybody drawn, him, is also raised up. That's a certain certainty there.
01:04:53: And then in verse 45, we're told that that's the new covenant teaching ministry of God, that the heart is changed in order that they believe they're taught of the
01:05:00: Father. All of it's right there in the text. But here's what I'm telling you today. Here's the new information, the slam dunk.
01:05:07: By the way, I got a slam dunk for my birthday when I turned 45. That's my birthday tradition.
01:05:13: Barely made it. Oh, yes, yes, thank God. No, it was weak. I don't even know if you should call it a dunk, but I...
01:05:19: The slam dunk of verse 65 is that he doesn't just quote verse 44, leaving room for those mental gymnastics we were just talking about.
01:05:31: He actually combines the two, verses 37 and 44, and summarizes that way so that you can't break it apart.
01:05:40: He says no one can come unless it is granted by the
01:05:46: Father. So you can't say that drawing can be ineffectual because they're only drawn and now they choose.
01:05:55: No, here he doesn't even use the language of drawing like he did in verse 44. Here he says those drawn, verse 44, are the ones who are given.
01:06:05: In other words, he was saying the whole thing, the same thing all along. I know this is confusing, but you asked for it.
01:06:13: You said we should go here. The point being, only those given by the
01:06:22: Father to the Son. When you consider your salvation, understand it is a gift of grace to you that the gospel came outwardly to you and that your heart responded with faith rather than like the multitudes who rejected.
01:06:45: This is grace. It is the work of a sovereign God and Jesus does not wring his hands about all this unbelief.
01:06:54: No, he preaches sovereignty, the sovereignty of God even over unbelief.
01:07:03: And as we'll see here at the end, even over Judas and the betrayal, even over the hardest providences of this life, and so let's go there.
01:07:14: Verses 66 to 71. Because of all things, as you leave here today, what you don't want to be is
01:07:23: Judas. You can't choose yourself.
01:07:30: But that's the business of God. That's his perspective, his business. Your part is to do like Peter here and to cling to the word of God.
01:07:40: When those hard providences hit you, the hard sayings that don't make sense to you, maybe you can't work out sovereignty in your brain.
01:07:47: Hey, you're like the rest of us. Nobody can understand it fully. But here are the words of Peter when asked, well, do you want to go away as well?
01:08:00: Is this too much for you? Is this too hard for you? Do you want to go away as well?
01:08:07: Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go?
01:08:13: You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that you are the
01:08:22: Holy One of God. Contrast that with Judas in the following verses.
01:08:28: You kind of want this to end at verse 69. But that would miss the point that broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go that way.
01:08:42: Judas is one of those. Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you? The twelve, and yet one of you is a devil.
01:08:51: He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
01:09:01: Church, the temptation in this life is to try to make your own way.
01:09:07: Maybe you think it's going to be easier because in truth, the Christian life can be harder than the non -Christian life.
01:09:15: And especially as our culture departs from Christianity, the heat will be turned up on Christians who say what the
01:09:22: Bible says. Hard truths about morality, sexuality. Hard truths about theology, and especially to say that Jesus is the only way.
01:09:35: You must come and believe. These things will make you a villain in the culture. You won't be the hero anymore.
01:09:43: And it may seem easier to just go away. To just go with the crowd. But however hard these words are, they are true.
01:09:53: And Peter, with the eleven, confessed. You alone have the words of life.
01:09:59: Where else will you go? You may think that you can gain something by leaving the hard things behind.
01:10:10: But you don't. All you lose, all you do is lose the purpose of God.
01:10:19: If Stephen Curtis Chapman were to say, well God couldn't have stopped that car in the driveway.
01:10:25: It wasn't God who did it. God had nothing in it. Or no part in it. It wouldn't bring his son back.
01:10:33: I mean his daughter back from the dead. It wouldn't explain the problem.
01:10:40: Foreknowledge doesn't explain the problem. Because God clearly is omnipotent.
01:10:47: And yet the dark and hard providence as it was. All you would do is lose his purpose and his plan.
01:10:53: So I tell you, believe in the purpose of God. The plan of God. His sovereignty over all things.
01:11:01: Because then, there's a reason for everything that happens. You might never know what that reason is.
01:11:08: So in closing, in application. This is a passage about falling away. As Judas would fall away.
01:11:15: And as the multitudes fell away. How is it that you can hold on and not fall away?
01:11:22: It's by reading and clinging to the words of Christ. Make sure this is in your day.
01:11:31: At some point. Every day of your life. It's probably good to start your day in the word.
01:11:39: And keep coming back to it. And in the night when you can't sleep. Put an app on and let the
01:11:45: Bible read you to sleep. Cling to these words because this is where you're safe.
01:11:54: We have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. You have the words of life.
01:12:00: Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote a song this year that I find really helpful.
01:12:06: It strengthens us. Because when you know his story for him to write these words it means a lot.
01:12:14: I'll close with them. It's called Don't Lose Heart.
01:12:22: Take my hand. I'll show you all the scars from where I've been. Remind you how we both know this story ends.
01:12:32: I know you'll do the same for me. These afflictions that are only temporary are going to turn to glory beyond compare.
01:12:42: So don't lose heart. Don't you dare let go. I've been where you are.
01:12:48: You are not alone. I know it gets dark. I know it gets hard. But we're going to make it home.
01:12:55: So don't lose heart. Let's pray for that. Father, you see the heads bowed before you in this place.
01:13:06: You see us here, Lord. And we confess that we are unable to come and unable to keep ourselves.
01:13:15: If it were up to us we would lose it. So we're praying for more grace,
01:13:23: Lord. I pray that every person in this sanctuary today who believes in Jesus Christ would hold on until the end.
01:13:35: That you would keep them until the end. Lord, Jesus, I remember that you prayed for Peter telling him,
01:13:46: Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.
01:13:55: In the same way, Jesus, our priest, our mediator, we ask, pray for us that our faith would not fail.
01:14:07: Help us to hold on as times get harder. Help us to cling to the words of life.
01:14:16: We have nowhere else to go but to your word, Lord. Thank you that your words are life. They are spirit.
01:14:24: They are powerful. Pray for this church that we would hold on to your words.
01:14:34: Keep us, Lord, from the enemy. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one.
01:14:40: For yours is the kingdom, the power, the glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Sing with me.
01:14:58: Hark the herald angels sing.
01:15:03: Glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild.
01:15:14: God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise.
01:15:25: Join the triumph of the skies. With angelic hosts proclaim.
01:15:35: Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark the herald angels sing.
01:15:46: to the newborn King. Christ, my highest heaven adored.
01:16:05: Christ, the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold him come.
01:16:16: Offspring of the virgin's womb. Filled in flesh with the sons of the second birth.
01:16:42: Hark, the herald angels sing.
01:17:01: Hail the Lord Prince of Peace. Hail the
01:17:07: Son of Righteousness. Light and life to all he brings.
01:17:16: There's a living in his name. Born born in the second birth.
01:17:46: Hey, we need more of those hymns, don't we?
01:18:02: Tonight at six o 'clock. That's when I and my mind shift into Christmas mode. I was still in John mode.
01:18:09: But next week I'll be in my gospel preaching, incarnation. So bring friends to Christmas Eve services and then
01:18:17: Christmas Day. It's gonna be tight in here. One service. It's gonna be glorious. So come tonight at six.
01:18:24: Bring a friend. We'll get in the Christmas spirit with many hymns. Let me read the benediction.
01:18:31: Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.
01:18:39: To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.