Following Jesus

With last Sunday being Father’s Day, and us breaking from this gospel of John that we’re walking through...

I thought it would be wise to revisit, quickly, where we’ve been...

…where we were 2 weeks ago.

2 weeks ago we saw that the WORDS of Jesus are more than JUST WORDS...

We saw that the words of Christ are: SPIRIT and LIFE...

That 99% of the time that Jesus opened His mouth to SPEAK…people who were hearing Him...

were SCRATCHING their heads trying to UNDERSTAND Him!

And we realized that THAT was a theme for Jesus - ALL throughout scripture!

Mankind has ISSUES - and one of the MAIN evidences of THAT ISSUE - is the reality that MANKIND...

…doesn’t GRASP the Spiritual side of life!

If I asked you when you got baptized...

You’d tell me when you got WATER baptized...

If someone asks you if your church is growing...

You’d start counting how many people attend the church...

If someone asks us where our church is located...

We give them the address...

If someone

We don't LIVE in that world...the Spiritual world

we've HEARD of it...we KNOW ABOUT it...

But OUR MINDS STRUGGLE to default to that thinking.. And it's EVIDENCED in how mankind - ALL throughout scripture, respond to Jesus.

And so UNDERSTANDING that...and looking back at what Jesus said several weeks ago...

We begin to see WHAT He said - resulted in what we'll walk through this week.

John 6:53–54 ESV

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.

This section of scripture here is really going to set the stage for what we'll see today.

When people heard what Jesus was saying here - they KNEW He was setting Himself a part as the ONLY way.

Jesus here - was ELEVATING the EXCLUSIVITY of Himself.

They knew He was declaring Himself to be - the ONLY way to God the Father.

Jesus said what - UNLESS you eat MY flesh...you have NO LIFE in you

They heard the EXCLUSIVITY of His claim...but they did NOT understand the deeper MEANING of it.

So on the one hand they knew Jesus was claiming exclusivity,

but on the other hand they THOUGHT they knew what He meant by His flesh and blood comments.

They took Him to be saying - UNLESS you PHYSICALLY eat my flesh...and PHYSICALLY drink my blood, you have no life in you...

And so what was their response?  How did most respond to Jesus here?

John 6:66–71 ESV

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.

What happened here?

It says- MANY of His disciples...

MANY of the people who before this exchange would have said - YES, I follow Jesus...

Many of those SAME people - TURNED BACK...and no longer WALKED WITH Him!

So what does this TELL US?

It's a GREAT WARNING for us...

SLIDE:  True Following of Jesus:  Entails Spiritually Following Jesus

True Following of Jesus

Listen to this section of scripture...

John 6:63–66 ESV

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.

It is the Spirit who gives life.

The words that Jesus spoke are spirit and life...

People heard Jesus speak the WORDS of LIFE...and YET… - JESUS SAYS...

"But there are some of you who do not believe"

WHY?

Jesus says- This is why (this is why people don't believe) - "no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father"

And THEN we read:   After this, many of His disciples turned back, and no longer walked with Him.

At one point these people followed Jesus...BUT THEN - they turned! and left...

They LEFT ULTIMATELY - because the Father never granted to them the ability to COME to Jesus.

And because this is TRUE..

Because the Father ORIGINATES belief in Jesus...

He actually does something to make this happen - Gives the Holy Spirit

THEREFORE:  True Following ofJesus entails Spiritually Following Him

True following of Jesus entails more than physically or mentally following Him.

We can physically follow Jesus...and that doesn't mean that we've ACTUALLY come to Jesus! - believed in Him!

Your presence here today will never be the basis as to why you are JUSTIFIED before God!

Being here simply illustrates that you are minimally- following Jesus physically!

BUT THAT MIGHT BE ALL THAT YOU'RE DOING....following Him physically.

ALSO - Knowing TRUE doctrine will ALSO NEVER be a basis as to why you are JUSTIFIED before God!

Knowing true doctrine in your head simply illustrates that you are - MINIMALLY- following Jesus physically!

The point is= TRULY following Jesus entails (has at it's CORE) the Spiritual following of Jesus!

Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well?

John 4:23 ESV

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

We worship God in - Spirit and Truth...and NECESSARILY- both!

Without the Spirit in the equation - we're simply establishing our own self-righteousness...and therefore on the path to destruction.

Those who turned and walked away from Jesus in our text - they demonstrated that they had yet to REALLY believe in Jesus!

John 6:66 ESV

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Do you realize that they could have continued with Jesus....continued WALKING with Him...and STILL not been TRULY following Him?

So this BEGS the question of us!

SLIDE: Question

Am I a true follower of Jesus?

Does my following ENTAIL a spiritual following of Jesus?

Or am i just physically following Him?

And here's a good test for you: IMAGINE THIS...

Imagine that RIGHT NOW - Jesus appeared to us…the clouds parted....and He came down....

…and SAID TO US - I will be returning - 1 month from today. (July 23, 2019)

NOW - With that new knowledge...

Would your life change - between now and July 23rd?

Would You Start:

reading your bible?

studying your bible?

telling your family and friends about Jesus?

making church a priority for these last 4 weeks?

OR - is this what your life is like - NOW?

Meaning - Would your life look exactly the same?

If your life would now suddenly - drastically change - COULD IT BE that you’ve been merely following Jesus PHYSICALLY? But not spiritually?

These people in our text today - THEY LITERALLY walked with Jesus...

They literally HEARD HIM speak...

And yet - they WALKED AWAY!

Was Jesus SURPRISED by them walking away?

NO - not at all! WHY?

Because Christ KNEW the role that God the Father plays in this thing called SALVATION!

John 6:66–69 ESV

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.”

Think of what Jesus just said here!

MANY of His FOLLOWERS leave - and He asks the rest of them (the 12) - Do you want to go away as well?!

Think of the mindset of Christ here!

Is there ANY COMPROMISE in the mindset of Jesus here?

Is there any - OH, no, no…DON’T GO....we’ll stop making you uncomfortable!! Come back…don’t leave....

Is that mindset evident here??

NOT AT ALL!

MANY leave and Jesus says - Hey, you wanna leave too?

Jesus here is - UNWAVERING in His Pursuit of THE TRUTH…and the PLAN of God!!

And listen to Peter’s reply…

John 6:67–69 ESV

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.”

Peter says - No, we don’t want to leave - You’re the best option we have...

We’ve weighed our options and you are the best choice for us...

We CHOOSE You Jesus!!

And Jesus - corrects him...

John 6:70–71 ESV

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.

You’re our best option Jesus - WE CHOOSE YOU...

Jesus says:

“Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

Jesus here is REDIRECTING the idea that somehow He Himself is a mere pawn in the WORKING out of LIFE...

Peter said what...

John 6:69 ESV

69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter here says “WE”…which means he’s also referring to Judas...

He’s saying - WE, including Judas, have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God!

And Jesus says:

NO - I chose you…AND you Peter don’t know what you THINK you know!

I CHOSE you…AND 1 among you - is a devil!

YOU don’t KNOW this, but I KNOW THIS....!

I am in CHARGE here...

This is MY PLAN being played out...

And My PLAN WILL come to pass - whether YOU are on BOARD with it or NOT -

My PLAN WILL come to pass whether I use 2 Million, 12, or 1.

you wanna leave too?

And even in Jesus asking this question to the 12 remaining, Jesus knew their answer!

WHY?

SLIDE: True Following of Jesus: Originates With God Himself

True Following of Jesus

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this graphic here…by R.C. Sproul!

SLIDE: Pic of R.C. quote

This is so true…and the verses that hold up this truth are...

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

No one comes to the Father unless through Jesus...

AND...

John 6:44 ESV

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

DO you see the CHAIN here?

No one can come to the Father except through Jesus...

AND

No one can come to Jesus UNLESS the Father draws them!

And there’s a PLETHORA of other verses that speak to THIS truth...

Romans 9:11 ESV

11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—

Romans 9:15–16 ESV

15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

And the list goes on...

Psalm 65:4

Proverbs 16:4

Matt 24:31

Luke 18:7

Acts 15:17-18

Romans 8:28-30

Romans 8:33

Romans 11:2

Eph 1:5

Titus 1:1

And there’s more!

All of these showing the sovereignty of God over all things!

But what I want to do now is BRANCH off from here…and talk about how these TRUTHS affect us and those we’re trying to WITNESS to...

If what we’ve talked about today is true (and I believe it is)...

Then how does that impact our WITNESS?

What were our points today?

True Following of Jesus:

Entails Spiritually Following Jesus

Originates with God Himself

*Think thru this - If SALVATION is found on the Spiritual side of life...

If salvation is an AWAKENING to the Spiritual side of life...

An AWAKENING that God Himself originates..

THEN

- If THIS is true…THEN...

…the lostness of the world is not due to a lack of evidence for God.

Meaning - your co-worker’s lostness - is not due to there being a LACK of evidence for God...

Like - if there was MORE evidence for God - then your co-worker would Believe in Jesus!!

SALVATION is an AWAKENING to Jesus Christ!!

And that AWAKENING must be INITIATED by God…

And I think a lot of times - ME ESPECIALLY - I fall into trying to - TALK PEOPLE INTO BELIEVING...

Trying to CONVINCE people to believe...

Like it’s the same as trying to convince people to/that:

Love Angelo’s pizza as much as me

Shane & Shane are the best musicians in the world...

What do we do when we try to CONVINCE someone of something...

We lay before them - the EVIDENCE...

If I was going to try and convince you that Angelo’s pizza is the BEST - I would put Angelo’s pizza on your plate...

If I was going to try to convince you that Shane & Shane are the best musicians out there - I would give show you some video of them playing...

I would give you EVIDENCE....- THINKING if you had ENOUGH evidence, you’d be CONVINCED!!

But that’s NOT what happens in SALVATION!!

*Let’s say this - I challenge you, as a church, to go over to the cemetery, and convince any of the residents in that cemetery - to come back over here and join us for lunch.

Ok, knowing that THAT was the challenge…who would you take with you?

You only need to convince one of the residents...

Would you go out and find the best, most PERSUASIVE communicators you could find??

Does that sound silly??

Why does it sound silly? It’s silly because the people over there - are dead!

No AMOUNT of persuasion is going to - help!

And this analogy is exactly what is happening when it comes to SALVATION...

Spiritually DEAD people - are coming to LIFE…!

Ephesians 2:1–5 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

SO - know this - it’s not due to LACK of evidence that your spouse, family member, co-worker, friend...

…doesn’t believe...

Unbelief - flows from REBELLION!

And because that’s TRUE - when we witness to people - those around us...

Our witnessing must call people - TO REPENT!

to Lay down their sins at the foot of the cross!!

If my aim in witnessing is to CONVINCE people to believe in Jesus - my convincing will NOT entail - REPENTANCE!

Repentance brings SALVATION...

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Summary:

True Following of Jesus:

Entails Spiritually Following Jesus

Originates with God Himself

Let’s Pray