Will You Turn Away?

Today we are asking the question. Will you turn away? So I thought a story about running away might help.

An Englishman, A Scotsman and an Irish man are running away from a murder

They run into a hotel and say to the concierge “quick, we need somewhere to hide, there’s a man trying to kill us!”

The concierge says “there are some sacks in the cellar, hide in them, just pretend to be what was in them before you emptied them.”

So they run downstairs to hide in the sacks.

Then the murderer comes in, after looking around, he heads to the cellar. He sees the suspicious looking sacks and he kicks the first sack.

The English man shouts “woof woof”.

The murderer goes “ok it’s just a dog”. Then he kicks the second bag.

The Scotsman says “meowwww”

The murderer says to himself “just a cat.” And he moves on to the last sack.

When he kicks that one, the Irish man shouts “POTATOES!”

Historical/Cultural Context -

The Gospel of John was written between 90 AD and 100 AD. Scholars also believe that John wrote the three Epistles and the book of Revelation around the same time-frame as he wrote this Gospel. The Gospel of John was written after Matthew, Mark, & Luke had been written and circulated. John has been dubbed by most scholars as “The Spiritual Gospel.”

Biblical Text -

John 6:60–71 NKJV

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 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 would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - When Life Gets Hard, Will You Turn Away Or Go To God?

Life Point- When God Asks For All, Will You Give It?

Exegetical -

John 6:60–66 NLT

Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.

Homiletical -

Last week Jesus said you must eat his body and drink His blood or you will have no part in Him.

The people didn’t understand He was speaking spiritually.

We pick up here at this point.

John 6:60 NKJV

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

There are times when God leads us in a direction and we say to ourselves. Why God? What are you talking about? I can’t accept what you are doing, or just plainly say “I don’t get it?”

a lot of times God moves through circumstances and let me tell you that it is true sin has entered into the world. It is also true that whether we understand it or not we serve a big and loving God.

Love doesn’t mean what the world has made it to mean. God’s kind of love is not always running to the rescue, but sometimes He allows us to go through valley of death.

But you know what?

He is there with us all the same.

Yet here Jesus preached a hard truth. He wants you to live and breathe and eat all things Jesus. Today we look at those kind of people as weird, but really they have their priorities worked out. It’s all about Jesus. When they are working, it’s all about Jesus. When they talk to others, they are looking for a way to witness to them. When they see a person in need they do what they can to meet that need and then witness to them. It’s all about Jesus!

You don’t just tack Spirituality or religion onto your messed up life. No, you give up all that you are for all that He is and you live in relationship with Jesus. He should be closer than a spouse, a son or a daughter. Closer than a best friend. You know why? Because it is all about Him!

Luke 14:25–27 BSB

Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.

Do you know what happens when Jesus or even a pastor preaches the hard truths of scripture? It cleans out the church of the lukewarm, those that play church and have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof.

I personally think pastors need to get away from the cult of personality and start preaching God’s Word again. Stop being so seeker sensitive that you tolerate sin in your midst. Start telling people the hard truths, in love. Love them as they come in and love them as they go out, but do not compromise on the Gospel and the Scriptures. Do not compromise on the essentials of the faith.

We call Jesus the cornerstone of our faith and He should be. But what we call building a church today where it is strictly about numbers is not the church that Jesus is building. He is building an everlasting people in an everlasting kingdom, and that is going to offend people and you know what? I don’t care if it does, so long as it is shared in love. The truth offends people.

It offended this large crowd and many people just left.

John 6:61–63 NLT

Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Here he is trying to get the 12 chosen disciples to stop their complaining, quit looking at the flesh and start to hear and see with spiritual ears.

Let me be so bold as to tell you to do the same. This world is temporary, all that you have will be dispersed when you are no longer apart of this mortality. You came into the world with nothing and you will leave it just the same. Praise the Lord! For the Christian this is a joyous occasion because you get to see the Master. The one and only Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 NLT

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.

John 6:64–66 NLT

But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.” At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.

You know what this reminds me of today? You can be raised in the church and do all the churchy things, but unless you have that personal relationship with Jesus you are dead in your sins and on your way to hell. There are thousands if not more that are sitting in pews and chairs all across this world who have deceived themselves into thinking they are OK with Jesus when they truly are not.

Don’t be one of those people. Do real business with God today. You gotta PUSH in prayer. That is Pray Until Something Happens. If you’re a true Christian and you know you are, you should be praying for these people in our midst and asking God to give them the opportunity they need to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Life Point - To Whom Else Would You Go?

Exegetical -

John 6:67–71 NLT

Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.

Homiletical -

You see Jesus is asking for fidelity to Him and so he pushed the issue with the 12 asking if they were leaving too.

John 6:68–69 NLT

Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

I love Peter’s response here. Where else would you go to? Muhammed? He is dead. Budda? He is dead. Every leader of every major religion is proclaimed to be a prophet, but not Jesus. He is God made manifest in the flesh and you know what else? He is the only one that rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father. We don’t worship a prophet, we worship Go. We don’t worship death, we Worship the one who not only brings life, but is life itself. No other religion can claim that.

Peter goes on to say that not only does Jesus have the words of eternal life, but they know Him to be the Holy one of God. I don’t know about you, but if you hang out with me for a day, you are going to know that I am not the Holy One of God. You are going to know that I am just a man.

But when spending time with Jesus, these men came to the realization that He is more than a man. He is God in the flesh. The Holy One of God.

Have you ever been made at God? I am ashamed to say that I have been. But as I am pouring out my hurt and anguish to Him. The Holy Spirit always brings this verse to my mind. To where else would I go? Whom else is there? Just Jesus.

Let me tell you that stops me in my tracks pretty quick and then I have to ask for forgiveness of my short-sightedness.

John 6:70–71 NLT

Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.

I am convinced that the disciples didn’t know what or whom He was talking about here. This probably confused them a bit until the events of the betrayal happened and then they were like, oh yeah I get it now.

I was talking with someone about a time when others really hurt me, emotionally. I mean cut to the bone as it were. In and from a church organization nonetheless. They asked me, how do you go on. How do you continue doing what you do in these kinds of circumstances. I said that I didn’t understand it at the time. However, looking back I can see where God’s hand had been moving me the whole time and preparing me for what was to come.

I said you hold on to Romans 8:28 and continue in prayer

Romans 8:28 NLT

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Life Principle– When Life Gets Hard, Will You Turn Away Or Go To God?

Call to Action – altar call….