John 6:60-71 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. Back in John chapter 6 this morning. I told Missy before we left the house, I said I'm going to read 12 verses this morning.

[0:16] If I try and go beyond the end of the chapter here, we'll start at verse 60 and go through verse 71, the end of the chapter. If I try and go beyond that, somebody needs to holler at me.

[0:30] Somebody needs to stand up and do jumping jacks or something to keep me from doing that. Because I am prone to going further than I really need to. Anyway, last week, John chapter 6, we read about Jesus.

[0:50] He's talking with the folks around him, including the religious leaders, about how they must partake of him.

[1:02] Of course, Jesus is phrasing this unless you eat of the flesh, my flesh and drink of my blood. It's a hard saying as it's called often times.

[1:18] It confused the people. Jesus didn't confuse them. The people got confused. I don't want you all to think that Jesus is the one that done the confusing.

[1:30] The Bible says God is not the author of confusion. Jesus didn't do the confusing. We're going to read a lot about these verses today that we'll be going through.

[1:44] That's just to bring you all back up to speed as to what we read last week. Of course, the last verse we read last week, it said Jesus spoke those things in the synagogue.

[1:56] That let us know right off the bat that there were some religious leaders and probably rabbis and chief priests, people along those lines that were present, as he said that, along with people that had been following him.

[2:12] Remember, this would have been people that have followed him since the miraculous feeding that were also following Jesus around. We'll pick up in John chapter 6 and verse 60.

[2:26] It says, many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is in hard saying. Who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Does this offend you?

[2:42] What and if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh propheteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.

[2:55] We'll stop reading right there and go back up to verse 60. Verse 60 again, many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is in hard saying. Who can say it?

[3:07] As I said in introduction this morning, this was all a hard saying. Everything that Jesus had said, everything we talked about last week, it was a hard saying.

[3:18] Folks, if you and I had been there at that time, it would have luckily been a hard saying for us as well. There's a lot of hard sayings, quote unquote, in the Scriptures.

[3:29] There's relatively about 70 hard sayings of Jesus. And that's give or take a few, depends on which theologian that you're using to do your researching with, how many hard sayings they'll say that Jesus has, but it's around about 70 that he has.

[3:48] A lot of the hard sayings are actually found in the Sermon on the Mount, which we're going through on Wednesday nights right now. Like where Jesus says, if thy hand offend thee, cut it off. If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out.

[4:00] Those were hard sayings of Christ. And those are things that have thrown wrenches in the spokes of disciples, what we'll call disciples of Christ.

[4:12] Now these people where it says that the disciples of Jesus, when they heard these things, they said this is a hard saying, who can hear it? This is anyone that was following Jesus around.

[4:24] This isn't necessarily just the 12 that we're talking about here. This is anyone that had been following Jesus. A disciple is a follower. You know, John the Baptist, he had disciples.

[4:35] Many rabbis in this time, they had disciples. People that followed them around, they listened to their teachings, and they tried their best to abide by those teachings. So when it says the disciples, we're not just talking about the 12, but it says many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said this is a hard saying, who can hear it?

[4:54] In other words, who can understand this? Who can know what this man's saying? And it says when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you?

[5:07] In other words, does this cause you to stumble? Is what he was literally asking now, here in 2023, our version of offending someone is not what the biblical version of offending someone is.

[5:22] When we think of offending someone nowadays, we think of causing someone to step back, causing someone to, or someone not locking what we said, and unfortunately people are very easily offended nowadays.

[5:38] But when Jesus perceived that these people were murmuring of what he said, he said, doth this offend you? Doth this make you stumble? Does this confuse you?

[5:50] In other words, now I said Jesus ain't the one done the confusing. But he asked the question, doth this offend you? Verse 62, what if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before?

[6:04] So Jesus, instead of just giving them an outright answer, he asks a question. What if you see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before, and I remember before this Jesus had talked about how he had come from God.

[6:23] He had come from heaven. So he says, what if you actually see this occur? What if you actually see me rise up into heaven? What was one of the things that was confusing for these people, and it could be determined to be another hard saying, is how Jesus had said that he had come down from the Father, and he had made references to the Father, and him being the Son of the Father, and the Son of Man, and all these other things that we read about in the Scriptures.

[6:57] So Jesus is not only asking if what he has immediately said about eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, if that is offended, but he says, but Jesus also understands that they're not quite getting, that he has descended from heaven, and he wouldn't know if that offended them as well, if any of this has offended them or has caused them to stumble.

[7:22] So he says, what if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Then he goes on to say, it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

[7:39] It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. And I've heard this verse preached many times, and I've heard some really good sermons preached from this text, and I've heard some really bad sermons preached from this text.

[7:55] What is Jesus getting at in saying this when he does? When he says, it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. Well, what did we talk about all last week?

[8:07] What have I brought up this morning? How he said, you must eat of my flesh. He said, you must drink of my blood. And here he says, it's the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.

[8:21] So he's just asked them, do these things offend you that I've said? Are they causing you to stumble? Are they causing you to question what I'm saying? He's saying the flesh profiteth nothing. He's not saying his flesh, he's saying the flesh profiteth nothing.

[8:36] But it's the Spirit that does the quickening. And this is something very similar to what Jesus Christ told Nicodemus over in John 3, when he says that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

[8:49] Folks, we can't interpret this Bible in a fleshly manner. We cannot interpret it with our carnal minds that the Spirit of God is not our teacher as we are going through the Scripture.

[9:03] It's not going to profit us anything. The Bible will be really not much use to us if we're doing it all fleshly or all carnaly.

[9:14] It has to be shown by the Spirit. Just as Jesus Christ has said that, in fact, in this same chapter here, Jesus Christ said that no man could come unto him unless the Father which sent him, draw him.

[9:28] Unless the Father draws someone to Jesus Christ, which would be through the Holy Spirit of God, unless that happens, ain't nobody going to get saved. Nobody can get saved unless the drawing of the Father through the Spirit of God is there and is present.

[9:44] That's just another way that the Spirit is the one that quickens. The Spirit is the one that gives life. Jesus here says, it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.

[9:57] The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. He's saying the very thing that I'm speaking to you. Now, remember last week he was talking about eating of his flesh and drinking off his blood and the other things that we've covered the past couple of Sundays, I guess, in this chapter.

[10:15] But all these things that Jesus has been telling them, all of them are Spirit and all of them are life. And he's saying you cannot discern this. You can't rightly divide this spiritually.

[10:27] It's an impossibility to do so and it's an impossibility for you and or I to do it in a fleshly manner. It has to be done spiritually. Everything that Jesus says, everything that this Bible says, whether it was the direct words of Jesus Christ or not, it's all Spirit inspired.

[10:45] Everything in this Bible has to be spiritually discerned. There's no way around that. Folks, I know this from personal experience. Most of y'all know I spent 33 years of my life as an unbeliever and I was determined to use Scripture to disprove God.

[11:03] And I was determined to use the Bible to prove all these Christians wrong. And God's the very one that proved me wrong and he used his Scripture to do it.

[11:14] And that's the way God works and that's the way that the Spirit works. He's the one that gave me life. God is the one that gave me life. And the words of Jesus Christ, they're life and they're truth.

[11:28] So it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, propheteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray Him.

[11:46] This goes all the way back and we've gone back several times since going through the Gospel of John, all the way back to the end of John chapter 2 where it plainly says that Jesus needed no one to testify to Him of man for He already knew what was in man.

[12:01] And this here is just a reiteration of that. But Jesus says, but there are some of you that believe not. Right after He says it's the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh, propheteth nothing.

[12:14] Why did they not believe? Why did they believe not? Because it wasn't being spiritually discerned, it was being cornally discerned. It was being discerned by human mind instead of by an infinite God through the Spirit.

[12:31] This is why they didn't believe. But there are some of you that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were. Jesus standing there before these people and they've been following Him around.

[12:42] They've seen His miracles, keep that in mind. They've seen the miracle of the fading and other things that have gone on. But Jesus says there are some of you here that believe not.

[12:53] But yet they were following Jesus. Folks, we've got church houses filled with people like that nowadays. They're following Jesus for all the wrong reasons, we might say.

[13:05] They follow Jesus. A lot of people go to church just for prestige. A lot of people go for business contacts. People go to church for different reasons and for all sorts of reasons, probably hundreds of different reasons, except to follow Christ.

[13:22] And except to follow the commandments that we have in Scripture to assemble with our brothers and sisters in Christ. To assemble for corporate worship. To lift up the name of Jesus Christ together in song and in praise.

[13:39] But Jesus, again, to these people that had been following Him around, He says there are some of you here that don't even believe Me. That don't believe in Me. That don't believe that I'm the Son of Man.

[13:50] That don't believe that I'm the Promised Messiah. He didn't say none of you do. He said there are some of you here that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, they believed not.

[14:03] And who should betray Him? So not only did He know those that wouldn't believe, to not believe Jesus Christ is not a betrayal of Jesus Christ.

[14:16] You don't believe, you don't believe. Betrayal is a whole different ball game. Betrayal is exactly what Judas Iscariot done with Jesus Christ. We get to him at the end of this chapter here in just a few moments.

[14:29] But to not believe is not necessarily betrayal. To not believe is rejection. And if you reject something, you haven't betrayed it. You have to latch on to something.

[14:41] You have to earnestly seek after something before you can actually betray it. Think of it as a husband and a wife, as opposed to a couple that's only been out on one date.

[14:57] Somebody's married for 20 years, somebody goes out on somebody else. That's betrayal. Somebody's only been out on one date, they ain't even officially a number yet, or officially a thing yet.

[15:09] And somebody sees them out with somebody else. That's not really betrayal. That's not betrayal because no real relationship has been established there yet. But betrayal is a whole different story.

[15:21] But Jesus here is saying that some of them believe, but he knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. Verse 65, And he said, And this is a reiteration of what we went through last week when Jesus Christ said this very thing.

[15:39] We have to be drawn by the Father. And people say, well, that's not fair. And I've heard people say that. I should be able to come to Jesus whenever I want to come to Jesus.

[15:50] Well, not per the Scripture. And the way God's got it planned out, and the way God's got it mapped out, and the way God's got it mapped out, and the way God's got it mapped out, and the way God's got it mapped out, and the way God's got it mapped out, that salvation will happen is the perfect way.

[16:07] And we have no say so in it. We have no right to say anything about it. It's a perfect God. It's a perfect plan. It's a perfect salvation. It's a perfect Savior. Everything about it is perfect.

[16:18] Why would we want to change it? But people will say, it's not fair that I have to be drawn. And some people don't really grasp the concept that they have to be drawn by the Spirit.

[16:29] And these are the people I've brought up, and it may have been last week, that say, I'm going to live my life the way that I want to. I'm going to drink and booze and dope and run around and fornicate and all these other things, as much as I want to all my life.

[16:45] And one of these days when I'm in my 70s or 80s or 90s, on my deathbed, then I'll repent and I'll come to Christ. Not with the Spirit of God, not drawn. It'll never happen. If the Spirit of God is not there, then I'll repent till we're blue in the face.

[16:59] But the Spirit of God ain't there. And they're not being drawn of the Father to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit of God. Salvation will never, ever happen.

[17:10] So he said, again, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me, except if we're given unto him by the Father.

[17:21] But that word, therefore, very important. This is the reason that I said unto you. We went over it last week. This is why I said unto you that no man can come unless the Father draws him, unless they're given me by the Father.

[17:35] He's saying, and what does he say in the words before this? That the Spirit quickened him and the flesh profiteth nothing. And he said, and there's some of you here that don't even believe, that believe not.

[17:49] And he's saying, that's why I told you. And this would all been the same conversation. This wouldn't have taken place a week apart like we're teaching it here.

[18:00] This would all been within a few minutes of Jesus saying this. He says, therefore, therefore I told you, or therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me, except if we're given unto him by my Father.

[18:12] Verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. One of the saddest verses in all of the Gospel of John. Really in all the New Testament.

[18:23] There's a lot of sad verses in there. But it says, from that time, many of his disciples, now remember, not just the twelve, we're talking about anybody that had been following him up to that point.

[18:36] From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. And this is proof that they were following Jesus around for their own reasons. Some of them were following him because he had fed them.

[18:49] He had filled their bellies. And many of them were following him not only because he had fed their bellies, but because they wanted to see another miracle. They were following, though, for all these reasons, but not because they thought that he was Messiah.

[19:04] And this would have been the reason they would have turned around and went back. Because they didn't feel like they was going to get any more out of it. Remember, we began this whole session here this morning with these people saying, Jesus is a hard saying. Who can hear it?

[19:19] Who can understand this? And Jesus goes in to explaining some of these things to them. He just got through telling them that it's the Spirit that quickened it, the flesh propheteth nothing.

[19:31] He told them all these things, and they turned around and they went back, and he says, and they followed him no more. No more. It doesn't say they picked back up a little bit later.

[19:43] It doesn't say some left then came back. It says, some of his disciples left and followed him no more. That's a sad thing, but folks, I'm telling you, this is proof of the proverb that's spoken of, and Peter reiterated in his writings that the dog will always return to its vomit, and the pig will always return to the mire.

[20:03] It don't matter how long somebody's in church. It don't matter how many songs they've sung. It don't matter how many choirs they've led, or how many sermons they've preached for that matter. If they are unregenerate, if they have been following quote unquote, following Jesus for X amount of time, for the wrong reasons, a dog will always go back to its vomit.

[20:25] A dog gonna be a dog, and a pig's gonna be a pig. And I praise God that I'm a sheep. I praise God that I'm a sheep. But that's that's just a proof of that that saying that we find in the Old Testament and the New Testament. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said under the twelve, will he also go away?

[20:55] So now we've gone from him directing any and everyone that was around him to him addressing, not directing, addressing just the twelve. Now there, I'm sure there were some other people still hanging around because it's just that many of his disciples went back and didn't say all of them.

[21:15] But he addresses the twelve here and he asks the question, will he also go away? And folks, that's a that's a question everyone of us needs to ask ourselves. It's a question that we need to dig deep and look at ourselves. We need to reflect on the word of God.

[21:33] We need to look in this mirror and we need to compare ourselves with this mirror which is the word of God. And it's, and it it doesn't hurt to do so even though I know I'm a born again child of God even though I know this it doesn't hurt for me to ask myself once in a while, will I go away?

[21:51] Would I go away? Do I need, do I need to look into this word and compare myself with Scripture? And folks, every time I do it, it shows to me again just how much I need Jesus.

[22:05] It shows me my depravity, it shows me my helplessness, it shows me my inability to bring salvation to myself, it shows me my inability to work salvation, to earn salvation.

[22:19] It shows my inability to even beg salvation. This word shows me these things. So will I go away? No, I won't, but I need to ask myself that once in a while and I need to look in the Scriptures to find out why I won't go away.

[22:35] Peter answers it here and it gives a fine answer in verse 68 says, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life and immediately and on the surface, this is a wonderful answer.

[22:53] It's much like when Jesus asked a question, whom say men I am? They say some say you're this prophet, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're that one or this one, whatever the case is. He says, but whom say you that I am? And Peter steps up and he says, thou art the cross, the Son of the living God. And that's wonderful.

[23:11] And this answer that Peter gives here is wonderful. He says, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Evidently, Peter was listening when Jesus just said that it's the Spirit that quickeneth and the flesh propheteth nothing. He says, my words are truth, my words are life. These are the words Jesus just spoke and Peter here answers and says, Lord where shall we go? Where else can we go? You have the words of eternal life. And once again, on the surface and really even deeper than that, it's a wonderful, wonderful answer that Peter gives here. But it's also another example of Peter just stepping up and doing what Peter does. He steps up and he says exactly what's on his mind at that point. Not that he said anything wrong.

[24:03] I'm not saying that he did, but this shows Peter's personality. And we see that all throughout the Gospels. And then by the time you get to the Book of Acts, you see Peter is a strong man of God. He stood up and preached and 3,000 people got saved over there in the Book of Acts. And you see Peter, even though he preached boldly and he preached in the name of Jesus Christ, and he preached Christ and him crucified.

[24:29] Even though he'd done this, you still see Peter mellowing out as opposed to Peter in the Gospels. And then by the time you get to 1 Peter and 2 Peter and you read his personal letters, his personal epistles that he was writing there, you see a Peter that is complete 180 degree change of the Peter that we see in the Gospels where he's using words like precious.

[24:55] That's what I always think about. Calling Jesus precious over in his own writings. But Peter here is still being Simon Peter. He's still just stepping up and saying what's on his mind. He says, then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal life.

[25:19] And we believe in our shore that thou art that cross, the Son of the living God. So he says, basically we can't go anywhere else. Where else can we go? And folks, that applies to us. We can go nowhere else.

[25:33] When I just said we need to ask ourselves, will we go away? Ask yourself also, where are you going to go? Where else can you go? You can't go anywhere else for eternal life.

[25:47] And people have tried for literally thousands of years, not just 2,000 years, people have tried since beyond the time that we're reading about now, to find eternal life and to work eternal life.

[26:03] And I mean even the Jews, back in the Old Testament days, the Jews, they were trying to work eternal life by keeping the law and some of them were guilty of that in the New Testament as far as the Pharisees went, the chief priests and the scribes, they thought that keeping the law was going to earn them eternal life.

[26:21] But Jesus told them, he said, you search the Scriptures thinking that in them you have eternal life, but they were they which testify of me. So it's and think the Scriptures that they have was only the Old Testament.

[26:35] It was only the law and the prophets and the historical books and the poetical books that they have. But they thought that eternal life was within them, but those Scriptures were all testifying of Jesus Christ who has and had at this time the words of eternal life.

[26:53] Remember, it's the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. He says, we believe and are sure. Now, this is where Peter kind of sticks his foot in his mouth.

[27:05] I said, he's not saying anything wrong that we're saying, but he's sticking his foot in his mouth. We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

[27:19] Verse 70, Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? Peter stuck his foot in his mouth. He said, we believe and are sure that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[27:35] Amen. Jesus answered, have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? So, he's shown Peter be careful what you answer, be careful what you say.

[27:47] Think about what you're going to say before you say it. And Peter does that all throughout the Scriptures. One of my favorite stories about Peter is when him and Jesus going up to the temple and they ask about the temple tax and Peter's like, sure we got it?

[28:03] Peter, or Jesus says, what say us now? What are you saying Peter? So then he sends Peter on fishing trips, says go yank a fish out the water and in that fish's mouth you're going to find a couple of coins.

[28:15] You bring that and we'll use that to pay the temple tax. But that was another instance of Peter speaking up before he really should have. But there's other things behind that we won't get into this morning.

[28:29] But Peter's known for that throughout the Scriptures and that's why I can actually relate a lot to Peter. But Jesus answered, have I not chosen you 12 including Judas?

[28:41] He says one of you is a devil. So in the first preceding this when he says we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the son of the living God. Folks the Bible says Judas Iscariot was the devil from the beginning.

[28:59] Let's go ahead and reverse 71. He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon for he it was that should betray him being one of the 12. So when Peter said we believe and are sure who was Jesus addressing. We read about it just a verse or two ago. The 12.

[29:17] So Peter was addressing the 12 or was talking about the 12. He says we believe and Jesus proves Peter wrong in this when he says he says have I not chosen you 12 and even though I've chosen you 12. One of you is a devil. Now folks I struggle with some things about Judas Iscariot.

[29:39] I do. And sometimes there'll be times I come at peace with the things that I struggle with Judas about and then he'll ramp back up in my mind and I'll get to thinking about it some more. Cause there's there's a lot of things although Judas honestly he's not brought up that much in the Scripture but there's a whole lot to that. And I struggle with some things about Judas but the Bible plainly states, plainly states that Judas was a devil from the beginning and here Jesus says have I not chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil.

[30:15] That Greek word there for devil is diabolus which means devilish or deceiving even depending on the context that it's being used in. But it was a very strong word that Jesus Christ was using and I have to wonder if Judas knew he was being talked about at that time or if Judas really thought that he was following Jesus for the right reasons.

[30:43] I have to wonder I have to wonder that. Some other things I've wondered about Judas Iscariot or really about Jesus as opposed to Judas but when Judas first comes on the scene whenever Jesus called the 12 to be his disciples Jesus would have known before the earth was ever created it was going to betray him.

[31:07] And I have to wonder what might have went through Jesus' mind. I'm not saying he would have thought anything ill toward Judas or anything evil or anything along those lines.

[31:21] I mean Jesus never has or has had an evil thought and never will have an evil thought. But I have to wonder was he not a 100% man as well as a 100% God.

[31:35] I have to wonder maybe maybe he got butterflies. I don't know but when he saw Judas knowing that he was going to betray him but I have to wonder here if when Jesus said have I not chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil I have to wonder if Judas knew he was the one that Jesus was talking about.

[31:59] Judas followed Jesus and went around with the rest of the disciples throughout the entire ministry of Jesus Christ and we know that he's the one that kept the bag. We know that he was basically the treasurer of the group and that's probably one of the reasons that he stuck with it was because he had control of the money and I think that's what really got Judas in trouble as a whole was he never let go of his love of money and that showed how he betrayed Jesus.

[32:35] He betrayed him for a few pieces of silver. For the price of a common slave back then and that kind of shows me that Judas betrayed Jesus for the love that he just never could let go of and that was why a lot of these people left Jesus.

[32:57] They didn't want to let go of things. They didn't want to one thing they didn't understand things but another they didn't want to let go of what they were trying to do. This would have been a mainly Jewish audience.

[33:09] They said we like the law. We like trying to keep the law. We like trying to please God by keeping the law. Folks, keeping the law while it is commanded in Scripture even Jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments.

[33:27] Jesus said those very words but folks that was never enough to earn salvation. Never has been. Never will be. None of us can keep the law perfectly so that was never completely pleasing to God.

[33:41] Is God pleased with our attempts to keep the law? Is born again Christian? Sure he is. Is God pleased with our running the opposite direction of temptation when it comes our way? Of course he's pleased with that.

[33:57] Why wouldn't he be? But we need to never ever ever forget that in the book of James it says if a man keeps the whole law yet offended from one point he's guilty of all. We've all offended the thros, holy God.

[34:11] That brings us to the end of that chapter. Anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that?