To Whom Shall We Go?

Intro

When I was a kid, I loved organizing. It didn’t matter what it was - if I had a collection of it, I would organize it. In my younger years, it was a large collection of monkey stuffed animals. I would organize them by size and line them up at the foot of my bed, setup almost like an audience. That organization would last a night or two at best. A little older and I would organize my hot wheel car collection. This may sound silly, my I liked to divide them by cars I liked more and cars I liked less and essentially pretend they were rival gangs at war, and I would basically just take the cars two at a time a ram them into each other to see who won. My most significant organization obsession, though, was my baseball cards. At the peak of my collection, I had right around 30,000. They would be organized by team, then alphabetical order by last name within that. Then I had binders of all the best players that I got to enjoy growing up, or anyone with cards that might’ve been worth some money. If there’s anything I spent the most time with in my childhood, it was my baseball cards. I’ve even shared before that my first job at 14 was at a baseball card shop in Haddonfield. So not only did I get to enjoy sorting my own baseball cards at home, but for two years I got paid $7-$8 an hour, for 25 hours a week, to sort someone else’s baseball cards! Well, that was part of the job, but not much of it. As a result of the time I spent with my baseball cards growing up, my knowledge of the game of baseball, particularly names of players, teams they played on, and stats, is unnecessary for anyone to have. When it comes to 80s/90s baseball, most of which I wasn’t alive or old enough to remember, and into the early 2000s, I will put most people to shame. That info is stuck somewhere in my head for the rest of my life, much to the embarrassment of some people in my life.

One of the things that I have tried my best to emphasize over this last year and a half here is that as faithful believers in Jesus Christ we need to ensure that we are careful, diligent, and fruitful students of God’s word. God’s word is the reason we are gathered here today, not just to listen to it, but also because if it were not for it then we would not have this thing which we call church. While we cannot organize the Bible in the sense of choosing the order in which we want it to go, proper study of Scripture can organize our thoughts and understanding, can help us see and organize the themes that take place throughout Scripture, and can help lead us into a belief and an assurance of that belief in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So as we study this last chunk of John 6, I want us to briefly look at 3 things that the study of Scripture helps us with. Our study of Scripture leads us into understanding. Our study of Scripture leads us into believing. Our study of Scripture leads us into assurance.

First up, let’s tackle understanding. Let’s look at the disciples reaction to Jesus’ teaching and His quick question for them.

Our study of Scripture leads us into understanding. John 6:59–61 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?”

Now let’s just real quick recall what Jesus was talking about last week. Two main statements he made - a repeat of his “I am the bread of life” statement, and that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them. He ended this teaching with an emphasis on His body being true food and His blood being true drink. I would gather that that is where the disciples became most confused in what He was trying to teach. And let’s be honest, if we were all there hearing it for the first time it probably would’ve confused us as well. But as we can see further on our study of John, which we won’t get to today, Jesus expects a certain level of understanding from His disciples. Not expects in the sense that He assumes they should no and then is found to be wrong, but expects in this sense of they’ve been around the teaching so they should’ve been listening. Their exposure to Jesus’ message should’ve led them into having a better understanding of what He was teaching, but as we will see shortly, for some that understanding simply wasn’t there.

So I ask us the same question this morning that Jesus asked His disciples. As we consider the whole of the Bible, think about this - is there something that causes you to stumble? Are you left confused? Are you left upset? Are you left wrestling with doubt? It may sound odd, but I hope we’ve all come to the Word of God with more questions than answers. While we can certainly find answers, it is a very healthy thing to come with questions. Not questions to defeat the Word - if that were possible it would have been done by now - but questions to help us understand it. What does this mean? What does that mean? Who is this person and why are they important? Here are a couple helpful things to think on that a study of Scripture helps us to understand, not only better, but at all.

Who God Is While the world and universe around us displays the glory of God as just a glimpse of who He is, our understanding of God would not be well founded on looking around and trying to figure it out on our own. The Word of God has been given to us a special revelation of God’s divinity for us to know and understand to the extent that it leads us into belief and ultimately into salvation. We may still have questions of why God does what He does, but Scripture leads us into an understanding of who God is, to the extent that He has revealed Himself to us for His glory.

How the world was designed One of the hot debates of our day - where did this world come from. We need only the first two chapters of the Bible to solve a mystery that the world is continually making up new ideas about in an effort to figure out. A study of Scripture, even combined alongside science as confirmation, leads us into a good and right understanding of how all of this around us was put together.

How you were designed This one and the next are probably the two most important after gaining an understanding of who God is. It is written throughout God’s Word how we were designed and who we were designed to be. So God created man in His image, according to His likeness, male and female He created them. There is no room for debate, there is no room for confusion. A study of God’s Word makes it clear that men were made to be men and women were made to be women and there is nothing in-between or outside. Within this, you were made uniquely to be you and to serve the purposes for which you were ordained before time began.

How you are called to live Finally, a deep study of Scripture leads us into understanding how we are called to live. As believers in Jesus, we are not on this earth enjoying a free-for-all. We are called to holy and righteous living. And while we do fail, thank God for the grace He gives us as He picks us back up. As we study Scripture, we understand how we are to act differently in relationships on every level, from acquaintance, to friend, to enemy, to dating relationship, to marriage, and that the most intimate parts of a relationship with another person are reserved solely for marriage. We are given instruction on how we should speak, how we should behave, how we should worship, how we should work. It’s a nearly endless answer book to all the things that frustrate and fulfill us in this life. Let’s look at a quick verse in Joshua.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

As we understand the Word of God and live, to the best of our ability, according to what is written, then we are led into the prosperous ways of life - not in money, but in the joy of the Lord.

There is far more that a study leads us to understand, but for the sake of time we will press on. The next thing that a study of Scripture leads us into is belief. Let’s look at verses 62-64.

Our study of Scripture leads us into believing. John 6:62–64 “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and 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 it was that would betray Him.

Now, let’s remember, the disciples are the one who just asked a question, so Jesus isn’t responding to a group that definitely doesn’t believe, but rather to a group that definitely SHOULD believe. These are his followers, not a group of random Jews questioning Him. Now, we should be clear that this is a multitude of disciples and not just the 12 that are here with Him. Jesus had many more followers and disciples than the twelve, the twelve were just the ones that He particularly chose and called and entrusted certain things to. But look at what He says to His disciples. “There are some of you who do not believe.” Surely if they were around Him for all of these teachings they would’ve believed, right? Surely if they saw the miracles they would’ve believed, right? And yet, there were some among Him, following Him, that did not believe. We’re not given an understanding of why they didn’t believe. Maybe they were going with the popular thing that was happening at the time. Maybe they were curious. We don’t know. But what we see simply is that following Jesus, even in the literal sense, does not immediately translate to belief. We need an understanding of Scripture to get there. Heck, that’s why John wrote this entire gospel - so that the reader might believe and by believing have eternal life.

Scripture reveals to us a few different types of “believers”. I’ll touch on four real quick, but let me be clear - it only works out for one of the four.

The one who doesn’t believe There are those who simply do not believe in Jesus whatsoever. They reject the Word of God and therefore are destined for the wrath of God according to His divine judgment. For those that do not come to saving faith in Jesus, by the grace of God, through belief in His person and work, there is eternal separation from God awaiting them. We can, and humanity has, come up with a million different ideas of what this “hell” would be like, but the most torturous part of all is eternity spent separate from God, knowing that you had a chance but rejected Him.

The lukewarm believer This is the believer that professes a faith, yet does nothing with it. They claim the name, but they live however they choose rather than according to God’s Word. Maybe they check Sunday morning off the list, but the rest of the week they hardly acknowledge ever even knowing Jesus’ name. In Revelation 3, in a message to the church at Laodicea, Jesus tells the lukewarm group that He will spit them out of His mouth. There is time for the lukewarm believer to change, but if they do not they will be cast out with the unbeliever. This type of believer comprises a larger percentage of the global church than we may realize or be willing to admit.

The one who thinks they believe This is the most heartbreaking of the group, and I believe there are many pastors and church members out there in our world, as the Holy Scriptures continue to be twisted, that will fall into this category. This is a people convinced that they are doing the work of the Lord, but have gravely misunderstood Him and His Word. Which leads us to the most terrifying thing Jesus ever said.

Matthew 7:21–23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

The one who does believe Finally, where I pray we all are today, the one who truly believes in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who understands Him to be Lord and Savior of their lives, and who live to the best of their ability in wholehearted devotion to His Word as it calls us to life. For them, eternal life awaits.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Now let’s finish off our text and dive into the last point. A study of Scripture leads us into assurance.

Our study of Scripture leads us into assurance. John 6:65–71 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” 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.

Jesus begins to correct them by reminding them of what He has been teaching. You’re not just going to believe on your own, but because it is granted by the Father to believe in the Son. And it is because He said that that Jesus lost followers, because they never actually believed. And then He turns to His twelve, those whom He had called to the ministry Himself, and He tests them. All the people they left had witnessed the things that the twelve had witnessed, so they must want to go too, right? And here is one of Peter’s best responses during Jesus’ ministry, and I hope is the response for all of us here today.

John 6:68–69 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

When I say that a study of Scripture leads us into assurance, this is what I mean - a study of Scripture, through understanding and belief, leads us into knowing for certain that there is no other option out there, that nothing else this world has to offer can come close, and that we are secure in the hands of Jesus unto the promise of salvation and eternal life. Paul says it like this:

Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

We have the hope that we have today because it is the Word of God that revealed it to us, and as we put our faith and trust in it as the absolute truth of the One who is absolute truth, then we recognize that there is nowhere else to go because the words of eternal life are here held inside of the treasure trove. We do not wander or stumble onto this hope, but as we study the Scriptures our eyes are opened up to it. Here’s what Paul writes about this study and practice of Scripture:

2 Timothy 3:14–15 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

As we study we become convinced, as we become convinced we believe, as we believe eternal life is granted to us, and as eternal life is granted to us we will always be led to salvation and never be take away from it.

So let us continue to study Scripture on our own and together. Deep, rich study. Let’s understand it, so that we can believe it, and be sure in it.