51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread1 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”59 Jesus2 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.64 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.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread1 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”59 Jesus2 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.64 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.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
Invite you to open your bibles to John, chapter 6. John, chapter 6. It's also there in your worship guide. We'll begin reading in verse 51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Joel Brooks:
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and you drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
Joel Brooks:
And I will raise him up on the last day, for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying. 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? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
Joel Brooks:
It is the Spirit who gives life, and the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, 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. And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the father. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Joel Brooks:
So Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, 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 Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you as a devil? He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was one of the 12 who was going to betray him.
Joel Brooks:
Pray with me. Our father, we ask right now that you would speak to us words of spirit and life. Lord, that you would awaken dead hearts. You would break down all of the barriers that we bring into this place, and cause us to be able to listen to you. May we see you as irresistible in this moment.
Joel Brooks:
Father, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away, but your words were would remain and they would forever change us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. It was only a matter of time before this clash happened. John warned us of this in the very first chapter of his gospel.
Joel Brooks:
And when He said, the true light which comes to light everyone was coming to the world. He was in the world. And the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and his own people did not receive him. And so we have known this from the start, that Jesus would come to His own people and that they would reject Him, and yet when we see it happen here, I don't know about you, but it was still somewhat shocking to me.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, because at the start of this chapter, Jesus literally has 15,000 people eating out of the palm of His hand. They are hanging on every one of His words. They want to make Him King. And then by the end of this chapter, we just have a few disciples who are hanging on by a thread. I mean, what happened in such a such a short span of time here?
Joel Brooks:
What could Jesus have possibly said that would have offended so many people that they would have left? I realize that it's hard for us to even imagine a Jesus capable of offending people, so many people, because our culture has so watered down the sayings of Jesus that he is, it's like he can't offend anyone. But that's not the Jesus of the Bible. What was the offense here? I mean, I think at one point, Jesus probably could have demanded anything from those followers, and they would have given it to Him.
Joel Brooks:
I really think so. When they come to Him and they ask in verse 28, what must we do, I think if Jesus at that moment, in that situation with these desperate people who are ready to revolt, ready to make Jesus King, I think if Jesus said what you need to do is give me half of your possessions, and I will rule over you, they would have probably said yes. Yes. I think if Jesus had said, what I want you to do is pull out a sword, and we're going to go storm Herod's castle, I think they would have gladly rejoiced. They would have let out a roar of approval, happy for the opportunity to shed blood next to their King.
Joel Brooks:
I think Jesus could have asked for just about anything here, after healing so many people, after feeding all of these 1,000, after everything Jesus has done, He could have demanded this, but instead, He asked for something different. These people are ready to follow Him. They just ran 10 miles over the sea, around the Sea of Capernaum, talked with them there, were fed there, then they ran 10 miles back, so they're running. They want to follow Jesus here, so so what does He do to turn them all away? What did he demand of them?
Joel Brooks:
And we we find this in verse 29. We read, then Jesus answered them. We'll read 28. Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? And Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent.
Joel Brooks:
So what did Jesus ask of these people? He asked for them to believe. That's it, to believe that the one who was standing before them came from heaven, was the true bread from heaven, and could satisfy them. And what they found so offensive here was was that Jesus didn't ask them to do anything. He he only asked that they would believe, But but that's the problem, because how can you make yourself believe something that you don't really want to believe?
Joel Brooks:
You can't just conjure up belief here. But this is what Jesus was asking of them, to believe. Everything else is easy in comparison to belief. In verse 60, when we read that the disciples, when they heard Jesus and everything that He was saying about Himself, they said, now this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?
Joel Brooks:
And what they mean when they're saying this is a hard saying, they're not saying that the teaching of Jesus is difficult to understand. That's not what the word hard there means. They understand exactly what Jesus has been saying about himself. What they mean is this is hard to swallow. This is hard to really believe.
Joel Brooks:
And this is true of much of the Bible. Not that it's difficult to understand, just a lot of it's hard to swallow. Let's look at some of these hard sayings of Jesus. Look at verses 41 and 42. So the Jews grumbled about Him.
Joel Brooks:
I don't know if you've noticed, but much like the Israelites in the desert, grumbling begins. The Jews grumbled about Him, because He said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down from heaven? So the first thing that rubbed these people the wrong way was that Jesus claimed to have come from Heaven.
Joel Brooks:
In other words, He is saying, I'm not just a man, I'm not just a great teacher, I'm not just a great prophet, I'm not just a miracle worker, I actually came from heaven. I am alien to this world. He's not like the founder of any other religion. Jesus is saying he is altogether different because He actually came from heaven. And that was pretty hard to swallow.
Joel Brooks:
The other thing that's offensive about this claim is the exclusivity of it. Jesus doesn't say He is a bread of life. He says He is the bread of life. He did not come to this earth just to offer one way among many ways to God. He came to offer the only way to God.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, why go through all this? Why come to earth and live the life He had to live, and die the us the only way to heaven, which is through Him. And so when the people are hearing this, it's not that it's hard to understand, it's just hard to swallow. They're offended that Jesus would say that He came from heaven. They're offended when Jesus says that He is the only way to God.
Joel Brooks:
But then when people really get upset, and when they really start leaving, is when Jesus says, you need to eat my flesh, and you need to drink my blood. Look at this in verse 51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh.
Joel Brooks:
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and you drink His blood, you have no life in Him. Whoever feeds on My flesh, whoever drinks My blood, has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Now Jesus is obviously not asking these people to be cannibals. I mean, he's not asking them to literally come and to eat of his body, but He is using very grotesque and disturbing imagery here.
Joel Brooks:
He's doing this to get His point across, and I want you to notice Jesus doesn't back down from it. I mean, right after He says that He's gonna give His flesh as bread to eat, and He says this in verse 51, and the people, they're all disputing with each other, like, did He really just say that? And they're trying to, did He really mean this? Jesus doesn't come back and say, hey guys, guys I was just speaking in a metaphor. I mean, calm down.
Joel Brooks:
It's just a metaphor. I'm trying to be artistic here. He doesn't back down. Instead, He doubles down here. He doesn't back off at all.
Joel Brooks:
And He says, I tell you what, that's right. Unless you eat My flesh, unless you drink My blood, you will have no part of Me. These are grotesque, disturbing images about Jesus. These aren't images that make it into your children's Bible. For those of you who have children and you're reading and the illustrated versions, you know, you have the Jesus children in his lap, Jesus holding the lamb, not zombie like Jesus, people coming and and eating Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
We we don't like to think of Christ in this way. So why is it that Jesus uses this image, this metaphor, and then He doesn't back down from it, He actually really pushes it in on us. Why does He do that? And the reason He does this is because the truth behind this metaphor is actually harder to swallow than the metaphor itself. The truth that is there is even harder than the image.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus is saying, He needs to be our meat and drink. He needs to become so much a part of who we are that it's it's what makes us tick. It's it's what animates us and gives us energy. Jesus is to become our fuel, He is to become the reason that we get up in the morning. He's become the very center of our entire existence.
Joel Brooks:
All of our lives need to change in light of who He is, the way that we view money, power, all of our relationships, our time, our education, our family, all of this changes in light of Jesus. You must think about Jesus far more than you think about Him than on a Sunday, just on a Sunday. He consumes your thoughts all week. And you must obey Jesus far more than when it's merely convenient. You must live and breathe Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
You must eat His flesh, and you must drink His blood. You must take Him into the very core of your existence. He has to become everything to you. Listen, what Jesus is saying here is that if you believe, if you truly believe the outlandish claims of Christ, the outlandish claims of the gospel, that because of our sin, we are broken, this world is broken, but then God the Father sent His Son to live the life we should have lived, to die the death that we should have died, raised again, and He gives us hope, and He is fixing our lives, and He is fixing this broken world, that if we actually believe this, then we cannot live a life that is just moderately different than the rest of the world. Our lost neighbors cannot think that we are just slightly different because we go to church on Sunday.
Joel Brooks:
They can't think that maybe we're just kind of slightly odd because we have old fashioned values. They need to see that we are different because Jesus is the one that makes us tick. He's the reason we get out of bed in the morning. He's the center of everything we do. This is what Jesus means when He says that we are to eat His flesh, and we are to drink His blood.
Joel Brooks:
He is to be the one that sustains us. And He doesn't back down from this grotesque metaphor because the truth of that is so much harder to swallow because it changes everything. And indeed, it's so hard to swallow, the disciples themselves are choking on it. Look at verse 60. Says, when many of the disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying.
Joel Brooks:
You 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? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? I love it. The disciples, you know, once again, this is a hard saying, but not hard to understand, just hard to swallow, hard to believe.
Joel Brooks:
They even go so far as to say it's hard to listen to these things, and I love Jesus' response to them. He essentially says, you think this is hard? Deal with it. Deal with it. Because if you think this is hard, what are you gonna think when I ascend and sit on my throne in glory, and that is going to happen?
Joel Brooks:
It's kind of how I address my kids sometimes. They get up, usually begin whining after about 30 seconds. And and this is usually something like, I don't wanna get dressed. I don't wanna go to school. And and I will say something along the lines of school will happen.
Joel Brooks:
It will happen. Whether you get dressed or not is up to you, but know that you will be at school, so choose appropriately. This is what Jesus is saying here. He's like, hey, I know this is a hard saying, but you know what? I will ascend, and I will sit on my Father's throne.
Joel Brooks:
That will happen, deal with it. Choose wisely, make your whole life fall into that purpose, because that is a certainty. After Jesus said these things, even more people left. When I was at Beeson Divinity School, I took a class called church growth. Jesus would have failed it.
Joel Brooks:
He wasn't nearly attractive enough. My little girls, they all love to play dollhouse. They have a little dollhouse village. Each one of them has a little dollhouse, and every day they do different things. And sometimes I just like to listen in.
Joel Brooks:
And a few days ago, it was Sunday in Little Dollhouse Village. And so they were all getting ready to go church, and I got to listen to the conversation. Hey, well, it's time for us to go to church. I don't wanna go to church. I'm like, okay.
Joel Brooks:
Well, why don't you? Church is boring. I know church is boring, but we have to go. And like, how can we make church more exciting? I know, let's get a sandbox, and let's build a sandbox and put it in the middle of the sanctuary.
Joel Brooks:
Now, they would have passed church growth. They would have known how to bring people in. Jesus would have failed. Verse 66. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Joel Brooks:
That is a sobering verse. A sobering verse. Once again, at the start of this chapter, 15,000 followers of Christ. Now we have a few hanging on by a thread. The hard sayings of Jesus weed out true disciples from false disciples.
Joel Brooks:
Many left because what Jesus said didn't attract them. Instead, it actually repulsed them. This actually raises a good question. How is it that anyone, anyone after Jesus is talking about this, how is it that anyone actually stayed? I mean the claims that Jesus made stretch the very limits of belief.
Joel Brooks:
Actually it surpasses them. What Jesus is demanding is extraordinary. So how is it that anybody actually decided, yes, I will believe this, and I will follow You? I mean, think about it. If a homeless person came to you Jesus, He's without a home if a homeless person came to you and said, hey, I came down from heaven, and I would like you to eat my flesh and to drink my blood.
Joel Brooks:
What is your response? Hey, get in the car. Let's go have lunch. Not at all. You are, get away from it, you are repelled by a person.
Joel Brooks:
They're lunatic, they're disturbed. Whatever we thought you were before, not anymore. And you get away. Why did these people stay? It's actually an important question.
Joel Brooks:
Essentially, what we're asking is, how does one become a Christian? Perhaps there are some of you here today that are wondering the exact same thing. You've heard about Christianity. Maybe you are curious about Christianity. And you're wondering, Okay.
Joel Brooks:
How does one actually become a Christian? It's an important question. Jesus's answer to this question sets Christianity apart from every other religion, because his answer is this. You cannot make yourself a Christian. You can't do it.
Joel Brooks:
One becomes a Christian by the sheer grace of God. We do nothing. God does absolutely everything. And this sets Christianity apart from all the other religions. If you want to become a Muslim, you could go to a Muslim, and he's gonna say, you must do these things.
Joel Brooks:
If you go to a Hindu and say, how can I become a Hindu? They're going to say, well, here. You do these things, and then you become a Hindu. Go to a Buddhist, how do I become a Buddhist? He's going to say, well you have to do these things here and you're a Buddhist, but you go to Jesus and you say, how can I become a Christian?
Joel Brooks:
And He says, you can't. You can't. Look at verses 43 and 44. Jesus answered them and said, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus looks at all these people, and he says, despite all you have seen, despite all you have heard, you still do not believe. You don't believe. And yet, this isn't surprising, because no one can follow me unless the Father draws them to me. Unless my Father enables you, empowers you, unless my Father opens your hearts and opens your minds, unless my Father gives you belief, you cannot come to me. He's not surprised by their unbelief.
Joel Brooks:
Because you cannot make yourself a Christian. If you become a Christian, it's because something happened to you, not because of something you did. And what happened to you was that God, in a moment, He drew you to Himself through His grace. You are saved by grace. There is nothing that you did that says, now I can take credit for my salvation.
Joel Brooks:
There is nothing that you can boast about. There is no way that you can feel superior to others because you made a right choice. God did it all. Let me be clear about this. Not only can we not follow Christ, this text tells us we cannot even want to follow Christ.
Joel Brooks:
Not only can we not just become a Christian, we cannot even want to become a Christian. Left on our own, we do not even want Jesus. Is there anything appealing about a man who says, eat my flesh, drink my blood? It is a repulsive image. If I were to set in front of you 2 things to eat, and I were to say, you know, pull a pie out of the oven, and it just smells incredible, set that down there, and over here, just something grotesque.
Joel Brooks:
Let's say I I picked up some roadkill, you know, opossum that's been baking for a few days, and just kinda put it there, and I'd say, choose. Choose what you want to eat. And you're gonna be like, I take the pie. I'll be like, okay. Perhaps this time, choose again.
Joel Brooks:
You're like, I'd take the pie. I can offer you this 1,000 times every time you're gonna want the pie. You'll never choose the possum. It's not because you can't eat it. It's just you don't want to eat it.
Joel Brooks:
You are repulsed by it. You don't have the ability to choose it. Paul says this in Romans 3. None is righteous. No, not one.
Joel Brooks:
No one understands. No one seeks for God. Not one. Romans 8, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.
Joel Brooks:
1st Corinthians 2. The natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them. Not only does He not understand them, He's not able. He's not even willing to understand them. So do you see the hopelessness of our situation?
Joel Brooks:
You need to understand the hopelessness of our situation in order to understand the hope we have in Jesus. Left on our own, we will not seek God. We will not submit to God. We cannot understand the things of God. So not only can we not make ourselves become a Christian, we cannot make ourselves even want to become a Christian.
Joel Brooks:
This is why God the Father must draw us to Jesus in order for us to be saved. I realize that this is hard to believe, but it is our hope. And we actually find this truth several places. Well, we find it all throughout scripture, but several places just in this own chapter. Look at verse 36.
Joel Brooks:
Every time in this chapter when you have people not believing or you have people grumbling, Jesus brings up this doctrine. Verse 36. But I say to you that you've seen me and yet you do not believe, All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Verse 43. Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves, for no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.
Joel Brooks:
Verse 64. 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 betrayed Him. And He said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. When Jesus says that no one can come to him unless the father draws him, that word draw is a powerful word.
Joel Brooks:
It's, you could translate it drag. Unless the Father drags him. It's the same word when you read through Acts when Paul is stoned and they thought he was dead, and it says that they drag his body outside the city, exact same word. When they drag the unconscious body of Paul out because they thought he was dead. The father drags our lifeless bodies to Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
We do nothing. God does everything. God does not merely throw you a lifeline and then ask for you to grab it. That's a lot of times what we think about Christianity is the lifeline is throne, but then you've got to want to grab it, but we're incapable of wanting to grab it. The better imagery is that God in His grace reaches down and grabs us, and He just pulls us to Himself.
Joel Brooks:
He gives us life. Now, I know that this can raise some objections. I know that some of you love how, when there's all this confusion, Jesus decides, well, I know what I'll do. I'll bring up election and predestination. Then we can all get on the same page, all right?
Joel Brooks:
I know that this can raise objections. It can raise questions, like does God do this to everyone? What what about my lost neighbor? Is God drawing this person in? And I wanna I wanna be clear on this.
Joel Brooks:
That is not our concern, what God does, or doesn't do with others. God's not gonna give us the answer to that question, it's not our concern. Right now, I want you to focus on this is between you and the Lord. At at at the end of this gospel, I love there's a conversation between Peter and John. Or, sorry, between Peter and Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
John's there with them. And, Jesus is resurrected, he's talking with Peter. He's like, Peter, by the way, you're going to die an excruciating death. I mean, it's just what you want to hear from Jesus. And Jesus goes, oh.
Joel Brooks:
And he's like, what about Him? He's like, what what about John? I mean And Jesus goes, what about him? Whatever I wanna do with him is up is between me and him. But you are to follow me.
Joel Brooks:
And I think that should be our focus here. The question is, is not, is God drawing others or what about others, but is God drawing you? What should your response be to God? How does the Father do this drawing? When He does this drawing, and He very well might be doing that now to some of you, by speaking into our hearts.
Joel Brooks:
Look at verse 45. It says, it is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God, Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Jesus says, everyone who has heard and who has learned from the Father comes to me. So God saves us, God draws us to Himself by speaking into our hearts, giving us a desire for Jesus. That's what happened to Lydia in Acts 16, when we read that the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.
Joel Brooks:
It took a miraculous event of God opening her heart to hear these words. This is what happened to Peter in Matthew 16, when Peter exclaimed to Jesus, thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon Bar jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven, my Father spoke these words to you. You didn't come up with this yourself. God draws people to himself by speaking into their hearts about Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
If you are a Christian, that's how you were saved. And for those of you here who are not Christians but are just maybe curious about Jesus, perhaps you find Jesus to be intriguing, maybe you feel somewhat drawn to him, I want you to be very encouraged because your interest and your attraction to Jesus is not possible apart from the grace of God already pulling you in. I don't care what sins you've done. I don't care what your past is, how far removed you are. God's grace can pull you in, because it is not about what you have done.
Joel Brooks:
It's about what He is doing, and what He has done. I love how this chapter ends. Jesus looks at the very few remaining disciples. And in verse 66, he says, do you want to go away as well? Do you want to go away as well?
Joel Brooks:
Looking at Peter, and he's like, Peter, do you find me irresistible, or do you find me repulsive? And Peter says these words, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And I wanna end this by asking you this question. Where will you go?
Joel Brooks:
Where will you go? If not to Jesus, where will you go? Were you will you go to to those who say Jesus was just a good teacher, but he certainly did not come from heaven? Will you go to those who who say, Jesus is just one of many, many ways to God? Will you go to those who say sin really isn't a big deal?
Joel Brooks:
We're all basically good people, and things are just gonna kinda work out in the end? Will you go to those who don't believe in a judgment to come? Will you go to a culture that lets you pick and choose whatever you want to believe about Jesus? Or will you go to Jesus himself and receive life? That's the question.
Joel Brooks:
Go to Jesus right now because I'd say he is calling some of you. Pray with me. Father, apart from you, we have no hope. We have no hope unless through your spirit you take the words that have been said, you breathe life into them, and right now you open up hearts like you did to Lydia's, and you awaken us, and you give us life, and we find Jesus irresistible. And I ask that right now that would happen.
Joel Brooks:
That when we look at the outlandish claims of Jesus, we would not be repelled by them. But, Lord, you would give us a belief in them. For those who do believe, God, I pray that you would give them a deeper, stronger belief. To where their lives look radically different than the world around them. Father, do that in this moment.
Joel Brooks:
In your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. One of the things we're gonna do when we do this fairly often is we are going to gather up and pray in small groups. If you don't like it, let me just say deal with it. It is going to happen.
Joel Brooks:
No, we we want to be a church that prays together. And the things I want us to pray for, I want us to pray. Think of the lost people you know, and pray, God, open their hearts. God, draw them to yourself. God, make yourself irresistible to to them.
Joel Brooks:
Plead that the Father would do that with those who you know, who do not know Christ. Take time to thank Him for your salvation. How when you were running away from Him, He pursued you, and He dragged you to Himself. How He became irresistible to you. So take take time to thank him.
Joel Brooks:
Take time to intercede on behalf of others. And take time to ask God to make what you believe real. To where there is a real change. And so if you all would break up in groups, I don't know, it's hard with the pews, make it work. Groups, around 8 or so, and just take time to pray, and then we're gonna close in song in just a bit.