John
6:61-71 “Will ye also go away”
Introduction: Jesus has told the men in the synagogue of
Let us
learn that:
1. Let us
learn that unbelief is manifested by murmurings and hatred.
(John
6:61) When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Unbelief manifests itself in the
expression of an offended heart through murmuring. These men murmured against Jesus. They murmur because they do not believe His
teachings. They hated the things He said
and they were extremely disappointed by His words and actions. The truth often hurts the feelings. Men often are offended when they are told of
their sinful state. The thought that
they are helpless and powerless to do anything for themselves is a thought
which they despise. They hate being told
that all their good works are as filthy rags in the sight of God. They often express this offended feeling with
words and actions that demonstrate their rejection of this great truth. They go away and ask the messenger of the
truth to go away. They slam the door in
the face of the one who bears glad tidings of great Joy.
Belief manifests itself in the
opposite way. There is acceptance and
humility displayed a smiting of the breast and a humble cry of “God be merciful
to me a sinner.”
2. Let us learn that Jesus offers sufficient
evidence to man of who He is.
(John
6:62) [What] and if ye shall see the Son
of man ascend up where he was before?
Jesus gives further proof and takes
one more attempt to help them understand that He is not speaking in a material
and literal since. Jesus will, in a very
short time, show them that what He says is spiritual. He will die and be raised again from the
dead. He will ascend bodily back up to
heaven from whence He came. His body
will not even be here among men. Those
who will have eternal life will eat of His flesh through faith.
3. Let us learn that the spirit is changed in
salvation and not the body.
(John
6:63) It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are
spirit, and [they] are life.
They as well as we need to
understand that the spirit is all that is changed in the regeneration that
comes at the point of faith. The spirit
is not changed by the actions of the body.
What a man eats does not defile him.
It is what comes out of his mouth that defiles him because out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Material things have no effect on the spirit. With the heart man believeth unto
righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The mouth speaks and proclaims that which is
in the heart.
The flesh profits nothing. The flesh will go back to the dust of the
earth for it is not regenerated at the point of saving faith. The body still sins and the wages of sin is
death. The inward man becomes a new
creature and can no longer sin. It is
alive and will be alive forever more.
Words which are spirit and life must
be believed if they are to profit the soul of man. Men must hear the words of God and must
believe them if they are to be saved.
4. Let us learn how well Jesus knows you and me.
(John
6:64) 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.
These words of Jesus ring out to us
today. There are some here that believe
not. Jesus knows you better than you
know yourself. He knows you. He knows what you are going to do with the
Gospel. He knows when you will be saved
or He knows that you never will. He
knows the day of your death and He is knocking at your hearts door even now
longing for you to answer. This knock
comes in the form of a feeling of emptiness and guilt. The things of this life have not and will
never satisfy the emptiness you feel.
Only Jesus can quench this thirsting of your soul. Turn loose of your sin and confess it to
Jesus. Ask Him to forgive an to save
your soul. He will save you and will be
in you and you will be in Him and you will have the life which He has spoken of
in this chapter and book. As I said, He
knows you. He knows what you are going
to do even now. He knows if you are
going to put off trusting in Him again today.
He knows exactly what you will do with this message today.
Jesus had to point out to His
disciples that there were some who believe not.
The disciples would have no way of knowing this. Men can hide their unbelief from those around
them. I had a pastor once who got saved
many years after he had surrendered to preach.
He appeared to those around him as a believer but he was not. I have known many who put on a front, a mask,
for years before they finally came out of hiding and confessed their
unbelief. You can hide it from me but
you can not hide it from the one who counts, Jesus Christ.
5. Let us learn that unbelief keeps the Father
from drawing us to Jesus.
(John
6:65) And he said, Therefore said I unto
you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
The father draws those who will
believe. The decision is left up the
individual. He may choose to believe the
truth or not. The Father has provided
the truth and made it available to all men.
Those who choose to believe this truth will be drawn by the Father to
the Son.
Jesus said that the Father draws men
and without this draw men will not come to Jesus and be saved. He also stated that men who have heard and
have learned the truth that the Father presents to them will come to
Jesus. The truth that He presents is the
Gospel how that Christ died for our sin according to the scriptures and was
buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. We were all dead in sin and Christ came to bring
us life. Whosoever believes in Jesus as
their savior will be saved.
Those who do not receive the truth
will not be saved. They will not be
drawn to Jesus. There is nothing to draw
them for they do not believe that Jesus is the only way to be saved from the
guilt and consequences of sin. They
perhaps do not believe in Heaven or Hell or even in the existence of God. Such as this will never be drawn by the
Father to Jesus for those who are draw have believed.
6. Let us
learn that unbelief may cause one to stop following Jesus and stop
fellowshipping with believers.
(John
6:66) From that [time] many of his
disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
There is a decision to be made by
each one. Will you be offended at the
words of Jesus which tell you that you are dead in your sin and must repent and
come to Jesus for forgiveness? Will you
go away and forever forsake the only hope you have?
7. Let us
learn that Jesus invites us all to examine our hearts.
(John
6:67) Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will ye also go away?
Jesus, having watched the men of the
synagogue leave with murmurings and faces of disappointment, turned to His disciples and asks a very
profound question. This question is intended
to cause them to search their hearts.
Have they been following Jesus for the right reason?
8. Let us
learn that Jesus is the only way.
(John
6:68) Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Peter saw the men depart and himself
knew of their displeasure and distain for the words of Jesus. Peter knew that these men were abandoning
their only hope of escaping the fires of Hell.
Peter well responds “to whom shall we go?” Those men walking away are headed back to the
enslavement of sin and the death that accompanies it. They have left Jesus to serve the devil and
their own sinful pleasures.
Jesus is the only one with the
truth. He indeed has the words of
eternal life.
9. Let us
learn that we need to hang on to one great truth: Jesus is the Christ.
(John
6:69) And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Peter speaks for the twelve as they
each nod their heads and mumble their approval of his words. They did believe and they were absolutely
convinced that Jesus was that Christ the Son of the living God who should come
into the world to save sinners.
10. Let us
learn that Jesus knows the hearts of men.
(John
6:70) Jesus answered them, Have not I
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
(John
6:71) He spake of Judas Iscariot [the
son] of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
Jesus knows the heart of all
men. Judas could hide his true feelings
from the eleven men around him but He can not hide what is in his heart from
Jesus. Judas was the one who was most
trusted among the disciples. He was
entrusted with the bag of money and bore the responsibility for it. They trusted Judas, one and all. Jesus however knew his heart. Judas was not a believer.