To Whom Will You Go?

To Whom Will You Go?

John 6:26-58   

 

Illus. Planning the escape.

 

This morning we turn to John 6:60-67, which is a section and reveals the responses of those who had heard Jesus give a challenging teaching. From verse 66 we know that in response, many will end up leaving, no longer walking with Jesus. But from verse 67, we know that others will stay. Jesus will ask the question of those who remain, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” and Peter will powerfully respond, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

This morning I want to look specifically at what we do, and where we go, when the teachings get tough? When you don’t like the lesson being given, or you hear a heard teaching, to whom will you turn? To whom will you go?

 

Read: John 6:60-67

 

Before we dive into the text we will study this morning, it is important to understand the context and the circumstances leading up to these verses. Chapter 6 began with a crowd following Jesus. We learn that Jesus had been healing those who were sick. In chapter 5, He had taught them that the Scriptures spoke of Him.  It began to get late in the day, and the crowd was getting hungry physically. It is then and there that Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, with five barley loaves and two fish.

After this miraculous feeding, the crowds wanted to take Jesus and make Him king by force (15), but Jesus acted quickly and sent the crowds away. He told His disciples to get in a boat to head to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and He himself withdrew back up the mountain to pray. That night, He met His disciples out on the rough sea after walking on water, and the next day, in the morning, the crowds came looking for Him.

The crowds got into small boats and came his way. They came to Him with a question, “When did you get here?” Only one boat had left the night before. Jesus had gone back up the mountain. When did He get there? Their question would not be answered by Jesus, but He would give a statement and then a teaching.

 

John 6:26, Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled.

 

Knowing that they had been given dinner the night before, Jesus knew that they were now coming to him for breakfast the next morning. They were coming to be filled again physically, but Jesus wanted them to realize that there is something much more important than being filled physically, and that is, being filled spiritually. It is through His teaching that followed where He gave the first “I am” statement in the book of John….

 

John 6:35, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.

 

John 6:40, For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

 

When it became clear that Jesus was not going to provide another meal that would fill them temporarily for leave them empty eternally, some in the crowd began turning…

 

John 6:41, So then the Jews were complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”

 

If Jesus would have begun providing food for them physically, I cannot imagine they would have started complaining. That is the reason they were seeking Him. But when He drives them toward something superior to their physical need; that which is eternal and spiritual, they began turning.

These seem to be the same people who just one night prior had said they wanted to make Him their king! But now, after this tough teaching, that life is not about being filled and satisfied temporarily, after Jesus declared the truth that the only way to be truly satisfied was to receive eternal life by believing in Jesus knowing that He is the bread of life, the people begin complaining, turning, and then leaving…

Where did they go? We don’t know specifically where they went that day, but we know that they no longer followed Jesus’ way…Why? Because of a tough teaching.

While we see many leaving, we all see that there are some staying. These verses challenge us in our response to the tough teachings we receive from the Lord, the lessons we may not like, but help our understanding that His words are the words of eternal life.  From these verses I want to pull out three important responses for those who choose to follow Christ that help ensure that Jesus is always the One to whom we turn! From this text I want to encourage you to have ears to hear and eyes to see what the Lord is saying, to know as one who believes, and lastly to choose the words of life and never leave.

 

1. Have Ears to Hear and Eyes to See Spiritually

 

John 6:60, So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?”

 

• Jesus had just delivered a message that true and pointed them toward eternal, rather than temporary things. What becomes clear from the text is that true teaching can be hard to hear.

 

• From verse 60 we know that the disciples heard Jesus’ teaching, but they didn’t want to listen to it.

 

• Based on the Bible translation, this verse is translated differently:

 

• • NIV: “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

 

• • ESV: “This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?”

 

• • KJV: “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?”

 

• Those who heard the teaching, called it a very unpleasant, or “hard” teaching. The Greek word used sklēros means “hard, harsh, rough, stern, intolerable, or offensive.”

 

• It seems, then, that the teaching Jesus gave was not hard for them to understand, but rather, hard for them to listen to, hard to take, or tolerate.

 

• The people didn’t like what they were hearing, so they start in, seeming talking amongst themselves about it.

 

• Jesus, however, was aware of their words and makes it clear He was aware of what they were saying, and that it was offensive to them.

 

John 6:61, But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?

 

• Jesus was aware that they were offended by the teaching.

 

• They had come for breakfast that day hoping for a different lesson…But Jesus, instead of changing the message, or softening the situation says to them, “what then if you see the Son of Man ascending to the where He was before?”

 

John 6:38, I have come down out of heaven…

 

John 6:41-44, the Jews were complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” 

 

• Jesus now only that He came down from heaven, but that He was the bread of heaven, and that in order to get to heaven they would need to partake of Him.

 

• Jesus said, hey, is this offensive to you? What then if you see the Son of Man ascend back to where He was before?

 

• In other words, He was going to head back there. Jesus would go to the cross, He would die on the cross, He will be resurrected from the grave, and will ascend again to heaven.

 

• If you look back to verse 15, the crowd wanted to make Him their king, immediately, now after a tough teaching, they are complaining.

 

• Jesus is showing them the kingdom reality, it was a tough teaching in that day…But how much tougher will the teaching be when they see Jesus on his throne eternally, and they realize that they complained, were offended and turned away…What about on that day?

 

• That said, tough lessons require us to hear and see the spiritual reality.

 

Colossians 3:1-2, If you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.

 

Illus. Tough Teachings.

 

Illus. Distractions.

 

2 Timothy 4:2-5

 

• When the people said, who can “listen to it,” they are essentially saying, who can respond to it.

 

• Interestingly, verse 61 tells us that Jesus was aware that His disciples were complaining (or murmuring).

 

• It is the same word used to the describe the religious leaders in verse 43, gongyzō.

 

• It means to murmur, mutter, grumble, speak against in a low tone.

 

• But Jesus knows their response, and points them to the importance of seeing spiritually.

 

• Notice He didn’t change, or apologize for the teaching, rather, He pointed them to the eternal reality.

 

John 6:63, It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life.

 

• They needed eyes to see not just the physical reality, but the eternal reality, they needed ears to hear not just what they enjoy here on earth, but the heavenly reality.

 

Matthew 13:3-9, He told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

 

• In response to this parable, Jesus’ disciples asked Him why we was speaking this way….and He said because some will be hear and listen to the secrets of heaven and respond and others won’t. Some will see the kingdom realities and others won’t.

 

• Regarding those who don’t, He said:

 

Matthew 13:13, Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

 

• Why would they not hear or see? Jesus says their heart have become hardened.

 

Matthew 13:18-23

 

Illus. Listen and respond.

 

1. Be Known as One Who Believes

 

John 6:64-65,  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 told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

 

• What Jesus knew and made clear was that there were some listening to His teachings who did not, and would not believe.

 

• When Jesus said, “for there are some of you who do not believe…” He was speaking to the large crowd and making them aware that He knew some of them, did not, and would not believe in Him.

 

• What Jesus didn’t do, was change or alter the teaching for them.

 

• Jesus knew that some would end up believing, and others would not, He knew that from the beginning.

 

• Here Jesus is re-stating something He had said in His message.

 

John 6:35-41, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

 

• There are two truths given in the section from two different perspectives, God’s perspective and ours.

 

• First He says, “everything that the Father gives Me will come to me,” and “of everything He has given Me I will lose nothing but will raise it up on the last day.”

 

• And then, “Everyone who see the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.”

 

• There are two choices detailed…Jesus details that God has chosen you, but you must choose.

 

• God knows those who will choose Him, He knows those that are His, God has granted the opportunity to receive Jesus.

 

• Vs. 64, Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe.

 

• Jesus is speaking of foreknowledge of those who would not believe. But he also knew who would.

 

Illus. Beliefs.

 

• That stated, are you known as one who believes?

 

John 10:27, My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

 

• How do you know if you are believer? You listen to His voice, He knows you, and you follow Him.

 

John 6:66, As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him.

 

• Those who heard his words and walked away, what they known as today? Those who heard His words and did not follow Him…They “no longer walked with Him.”

 

• This is a startling verse. Mant of the people who heard Jesus words that day decided to go away.

 

• The word used here was “disciples.” From verse 70, we know that this was not a reference to the 12 disciples, but still here, called disciples.

 

• The word used for disciple is mathētēs, which does mean “believer” in Scripture, but a learner, someone who followed a person around as a student.

 

• Those mentioned here had begun to follow Jesus around and had learned from Him, but they left when they didn’t like the lesson.

 

• They were following Him because they wanted bread, they were following Him because they wanted to see another sign, but they stopped following Him after He gave them a challenging sermon.

 

Illus. Red letters.

 

• In John 8, Jesus gave these words to a group of people who began to believe…

 

John 8:31(b)-32, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

• It is always shocking and surprising when you see a shift in someone who once seemed to be a follower of Jesus.

 

John 6:70-71, 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.

 

• Judas was once known as one of Jesus’ closest disciples, but he is now known throughout history not as one who believed, but one who betrayed.

 

• Where did he go? To religious leaders and received 30 pieces of silver, Jesus knew He was not a believer, but a betrayer.

 

1 John 2:19, They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us.

 

Illus. Be known.

 

III.  Choose the Words of Life and Never Leave

 

John 6:67-68, So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.

Luke 9:23-24, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it.

 

Illus. Where are you going?

 

Matthew 16:26, For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

 

Luke 23:46, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

John 6:26-58