Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to living Hope church. John, chapter six is where we will be the tail end, actually the very end of chapter six. So if you have a Bible, open that up to John, chapter six, verses 60 through 71 is what we will look at today. We spent the last few weeks just even in chapter six, but more so since the beginning of the year, starting in chapter one, verse one, and walking through each verse in this gospel, if you would. I'm just going to pray, and then we will jump right into our time together. So if you would join me in prayer as we focus our attention on the Lord.
[00:00:37] Dear Jesus, we come before you today not someone who is just a good teacher that lived a couple thousand years ago, not as just a great prophet who came bearing words from God, but as someone who is God, who embodied flesh like we wear today, who lived a perfect life and went to the cross to die a death that we deserved, so that those who have put their faith and trust in your sacrifice could have an eternal relationship with God. So we thank you for the work that you have done. And today, as we turn our eyes towards this passage in your word, Lord, I pray that you would turn our eyes towards the beauty and the magnificence and the power of the gospel this morning, that you would grab ahold of our hearts and our minds. Anything that may be distracting us and focus us in on what you want to say, ask that the words that I say today would be from you, guided by your spirit in Jesus name. Everyone said, all right, you have your outline, your bulletin. On the backside, there's usually a title. Right at the top, there's a question that's listed there as the title, why do you follow Jesus? And I know that that is a, I'm assuming something there, and we'll get to that later on at the tail end. So maybe that's not you today. You're like, I am just exploring. I'm figuring out what Christianity is all about. I know the person of Jesus. I've read a little bit. I understand some things there, but I, I don't really know if I'm someone who would consider myself a follower of Jesus. So we'll get to that. So I encourage you, stay tuned. Stay with us. And at the end, we'll really answer that question for you or speak to you particularly. The question not just why do you follow Jesus, but also why do you call yourself a Christian? Or why do you follow Jesus? Or how did you come to that conclusion? Is even another important question. This question, why do you follow Jesus? Why do you believe in Jesus is more important than you might realize. Why?
[00:02:48] Because this the wrong answer might just tell us if you or someone else, depending on who answers that question, is actually a Christian.
[00:03:02] In this message, we will look back at the interactions that people had with Jesus about 2000 years ago. There are times when we study the Bible that we have to work to make it applicable. We have to work to understand the tensions that exist in the text, to understand how it's relevant. This passage is not one of those. In this passage, the issue, the question, the tension that we see is not one that's changed over 2000 years. What is the question? What is the tension?
[00:03:37] I'll ask it a few different ways and you'll see it very clearly.
[00:03:42] If someone is professing a professing christian, does that make them a real Christian?
[00:03:49] If someone says they believe in God, does that mean that they are going to heaven?
[00:03:55] If someone says or knows about Jesus and his mission and even serves him, does that mean that he is saved?
[00:04:07] Now you might have immediate answers to those questions, and we will see in the text here that I'll read in just a moment that that question existed 2000 years ago. And today you and I have the same question as you think about maybe friends or neighbors or relatives in your life. You say, I know that they say they know about Jesus, they say they believe in God, but I'm not really sure about the quality or the substance of their faith. For people who have been in church for decades, the subject of salvation has been regularly spoke about. For someone who goes to church only a couple times, even in a year, the subject of salvation, depending on what church you go to, hopefully comes up. Why?
[00:04:48] Because being a real or authentic follower of Jesus, having a real relationship with Jesus, actually matters according to what God's word says.
[00:04:58] You don't become a Christian by being good, by going to church, by hanging out with other Christians, by being raised in a christian home, by being baptized, by being on a worship team, by having a good family, and by telling even other people about Jesus and so many other good behaviors that might fall under. Be a good Christian. Christians are those, maybe listen in here, write this down. Christians are those who have submitted their life to the work and to the will of Jesus Christ.
[00:05:28] There's a lot of other fluff that can go alongside or a lot of other things that can go alongside, and we can call those things good, and they are. But first and foremost, where are you with Jesus? So today, as we talk through this passage, we won't walk through each and every verse in great detail. But rather we'll zoom out and we'll zoom back in to understand the power and the purpose of the text in front of us. So verse 60 starts off John, chapter six. Read with me in your bibles.
[00:05:55] This is concluding from beginning of chapter six. Jesus fed people, thousands of people. He's fed them. He's walked on water. He's begun sharing this incredible message, this powerful message about him being the bread of life. We've looked at that in the last couple of weeks. Then he comes to this part. He's just told them, you need to what he says at the tail end, verses 50. And following, you need to eat and drink of the blood and body of me. What he's saying is, you need to really consume all of who I am. Verse 60 goes on. He says, 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?
[00:06:40] What if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe. Notice who do not believe. Verse 64. At the beginning it says, verse 60, there were disciples. So again we see that tension showing up again. For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and who would also betray him. And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the father. At this. Verse 66. At this, many of his disciples turned back.
[00:07:20] What? His disciples turned back. People who were following him turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to where 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. Verse 70. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil. That word there is like deceiver or slanderer.
[00:07:56] He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon, Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. That is Judas Iscariot. For he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. Wow. A lot of things happening there. A lot of very important pieces that we need to unpack as we walk through this together.
[00:08:16] You have your bulletin there in front of you. You see the top there's? Kind of split into three main sections. Many people, or many, follow Jesus because of his. And then we'll walk through some of these things. So what we just saw happen was people were seeing what Jesus was doing and they were following him. And then his teaching was getting a bit harder and a bit more challenging and a little bit more challenging. Let's look at why initially people followed him. Look, in verse 60, it says, when many of his disciples. It's important for us to understand this. When it says disciples, there is. It means, what does disciple mean?
[00:08:49] Follower. So today, in our time, when we say disciple, we may use that word interchangeably with a believer or someone who's put their faith in Jesus or as a Christian. But in this case, in the text that we're reading, the disciples are really anybody who's following somebody else as a teacher. So Jesus wasn't the only one in the Bible who had disciples. Other good teachers or rabbis would have disciples or followers. And so Jesus has a crowd of people around him who have been following him. And so we see here they are, these disciples. We see also, if we look earlier, that Jesus is speaking in a synagogue, kind of like the church today. It's around the Passover. And so people remember, like Christmas time, people are kind of open to anything religious. They're kind of open to all sorts of religious kinds of things. So Passover season is right about now, and they've been following Jesus. They're looking for interesting things. And here at the beginning of chapter six, verse two, we see that one of the reasons people were following Jesus was because of his many miracles. You could write that down as well. Because of his many miracles, a large crowd was following him because. Look at the word because. Because they saw the signs that he was doing now, Jesus was healing sick people. And in other words, there was no doctor needed. If you were sick, you go over to Jesus, he touches you, he looks at whatever he was doing, and he heals you. That's a pretty cool thing, isn't it? Wouldn't you like to have a friend like that? I mean, I'm sure some of you would like to have a friend like that. You know, co pays. When you go to the doctor, you just call up your friend Jesus. He comes over, he looks at you, you touch it, he touches you, and suddenly your cold's gone. Whatever it is, is gone. He's healing people. And so that can maybe get some of their minds spinning, especially those who don't like being under roman rule right now. So now they're thinking, and this will lead us to the next point. Now they're thinking this guy is someone we should keep around. He heals people. Secondly, we saw this last a few weeks ago. I know, funny point here. He also offers them free food. Verses 13 through three through 13 we see the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. Verse 13 on the screen says this. And Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them while they were seated. And then he took the fish and he gave them all that they wanted. Now not only is it great because it's free food for all of them, they didn't have to work for it. But also remember, if they don't like being under roman rule, they're thinking, we need someone to set us free. This guy not only can heal us, which by the way, would be super helpful if you go to war, wouldn't it? You go to war with somebody, somebody like, oh, I got stabbed. Jesus is coming. Don't worry, it's okay. Somebody else shoots an arrow, it's okay, Jesus is coming. Your army continues to get healed instantaneously. That's a good guy to have to go to war with. Then also, hey, we're hungry. Then you have Jesus alongside.
[00:11:35] You don't have to worry about food, transporting food alongside. So this guy's looking really good if we want to get rid of this group of people around us, these Romans who are in charge of the environment around us right now. And then thirdly, we see that after he's healed people, he's fed people, they lean into this proposition. Jesus might be the next best leader for us, especially to get rid of the Romans. They like Jesus and they're following Jesus because of his political possibilities. You could write that down. Look in verses 14 and following, or verse 15 I think is on the screen perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him, what, King Jesus again withdrew. So he said, actually I'm not going to do this. You see where their heart is now. There's another piece that I want to touch on here in verses 70 and 71. We don't see this very clearly in scripture. It's hinted at the reason for why Judas betrayed Jesus. The timing. When you think about when Judas decides, I'm going to go and offer up a time or I'm going to get paid and offer up a time to betray Jesus. When he realizes and Jesus says again, one of the last times after the anointing, I am going to die. It's like Judas has been sitting back watching Jesus, by the way, doing miracles, following Jesus, one of the twelve, right? And then Jesus says, I'm going to die. And it's almost like Judas.
[00:12:58] And again, we don't see this incredibly detailed out of it, but it's almost like Judas said, you know what? I hope for great.
[00:13:05] I hope for great political possibilities with this man Jesus. And now he's clearly laid out. I am going to.
[00:13:14] Now who wants to follow a king who's going to die? That's not the point, right? Let's follow somebody who has great political possibilities. So if we shift now to today's world, people still follow Jesus for selfish reasons, don't they?
[00:13:29] I follow Jesus because I need love. I follow Jesus because I need peace or joy or purpose or blessings. I need direction. I need a good spouse. I don't know. And there's someone cute at church. I will go and do that. There will be people all over the place today, the last hundreds of years and thousands of years who follow Jesus for their own reasons, for their own desires. There will be people who only want to do good things for Jesus, but don't actually want Jesus as their lord.
[00:14:00] Jesus spoke about this in Matthew seven. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord actually is someone that I know.
[00:14:08] Someone who admires Jesus isn't what Jesus is looking for. Did you hear that?
[00:14:13] Admirers can quickly become disappointed.
[00:14:17] Jesus desires people that would follow him for who he truly is. And that's what he lays out. He sees a bunch of people who are following him and admiring him, and he says, that's not actually what I want right now.
[00:14:28] When Jesus, throughout his ministry, when he interacts with people and he sees them and they come, they're like, hey, Jesus, go you. And he's like, actually, you need to be able to give up all the things to follow me. And what do they often do? Turn around, walk away because it's too hard. Jesus isn't looking to just have a big fan following around him. It's like this.
[00:14:51] He lets people walk away rather than giving them hard things. It's like this in churches. Sometimes we teach easier things so that people come. Maybe not speaking here, just in general. Christian teachings teach easier things so that people come. It's like, give them cake. How many of you like cake? Someone says, let's have a party. There's going to be cake. There's going to be free cake. Would you like to come? You're like, yes, I will gladly come. Jesus, though, he may give someone food, free food. Like, I'm going to come for that. But the thing is, if we attract people and hope to keep people by giving them cake, stuff that feels good, stuff that sounds good, stuff that's pleasant, and hope that one day they're going to eat their vegetables, deal with the stuff that's a little bit more challenging. The reality is, people came for the cake, not the vegetables. Jesus is saying, I'm going to give you the hard stuff right now. You can choose today if you want to stay or not. I'm not going to float around all the nice, pleasant stuff and hope that one day I'll be able to share some of the harder things with you. But now I'm going to show you the hard stuff and see what you're going to do with it. Vodi Bakkam, a preacher that I like listening to every once in a while, says this. He says, if you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. And it's like that. When we approach God's word, sometimes we look at it and say, that's nice. It's either amen, yes or ouch. That hit me. We like to sometimes even personally look at God's word or even our relationship with God and say, I'm just going to look for the things that make me feel good. Now, I don't know about you, but my son, my two and a half year old son, he reads the Bible every night. Any of you read? No. Remember, reads the Bible. Now, when he reads his Bible, we're sitting there, we're reading the Bible, going through it. Not like this Bible, by the way, like a kid's Bible, just to clarify. He likes to look at the pictures. And one of the things that he likes to do is we go through, we start off and I can't remember what story it is. One of the stories earlier on in the Bible, there's a picture of a little cat, a little kitten in it. Okay? And as soon as we start, we go through. Start. And he sees the next one. And then what happens is, as we go through, he sees the first one, and I'm sitting there holding the Bible open, and he sees it and he says, kitty. And then I say, yep. He says, more kitties. And then I let's go through the next pages and look for more kitties. And then he sees the next one and he says, more kitties. And I look for more kitties. And then we keep going through, he says, more kitties. More kitties. And we go through the Bible looking. And now I know where all the kitties are, by the way, in the Bible.
[00:17:21] You didn't know. And flipping through, he likes to read through the Bible. And now we're stuck on Joshua and the battle of Jericho. But he likes to go through, and he looks for a fun story or a place where there's a fun song and continues to enjoy reading through God's word because of the kitties. More kitties. More kitties. Now, sometimes what we do is this. We look through and say, me feel good, me feel good, me feel good, me feel good. And the parts that it's not me who feel good. It's like, next page, next page, next page. And then me feel good. Ooh, I like that part. Jesus says, let's look at the hard stuff. Let's look at the hard stuff.
[00:17:59] And then after giving everybody free food, healing lots of people, he says, and here's the hard stuff. Here's the vegetables. And here's what people did. Oh, let's flip to the next page. I don't like that. There's no kiddies on that page. People began to leave Jesus. Look in your bibles .2 many left Jesus because he. And goes on. We'll look at four points there on your outline. Jesus is willing to say hard things. He's willing to do things that cause people to stumble. Matthew Ten says this. Do you think, I have come to bring peace on earth? No. I have come not to bring peace, but a sword. He is okay knowing he's a stumbling block for people. People said, this is a hard saying. The word hard, saying that phrase there is, this is harsh. Not, we don't understand it, but this is unpleasant. This isn't like eating cake. This is like eating vegetables. Jesus, we understand what you're saying, but we don't really like it. So look with me here at four big things that Jesus brought to these disciples who said, we want to follow you. And he's like, oh, but it may not be as lovely as you think. Firstly, verse 15. We see clarity here, that Jesus dismissed their political agenda and they didn't like this. Look at verse 15. I read this earlier, perceiving that they wanted to make him king. He said, nope, I'm going to walk away. That's not my goal here, is to satisfy your political agenda. They saw the potential in Jesus, but their vision for who Jesus was wasn't Jesus vision for who he was to be. Jesus was willing to sacrifice their vision for him because God's vision, his father's vision, was more important than their vision for him. Jesus followed God's call upon his life, not man's call. God's call was to preach the gospel, to make disciples, and to go to the cross.
[00:19:54] Now, even for christians today, some of us can be more caught up and spend more time discussing politics than discipling people.
[00:20:06] And if you find yourself more passionate about discussing politics than you are about discipling people, your kingdom values might need to be reviewed. According to Jesus, making disciples was more important b on your outline, desiring to and you might write this in if you'd like. Primarily, not that he didn't care about their physical needs, but primarily he desired to meet their spiritual needs. Look at verse 26 and 27. Jesus says to them, truly, truly, you're seeking me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. Here's what he's saying is, that's nice and that's good, but that's why you're following me is because you liked the cake. But there's more to life.
[00:20:51] Not if you ask a two year old, but there's more to life than eating cake.
[00:20:55] When they realized that their physical needs or desires weren't at the top of Jesus list, they took a second look at whether they actually wanted to follow him. Are Jesus priorities our priorities? And when they saw that Jesus priorities aren't my priorities, they said, I don't know if I want to actually do this. I don't know if I actually want to follow him.
[00:21:17] Go to the next point C on your outline. Jesus also declared superiority over their religion. Verses 32 and following, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father also gives you the true bread from heaven. They said, for their relationship with God, we have to follow a bunch of rules. And Jesus said, actually, you have to trust in me. It's not about following a bunch of rules. You know what religion is, you know what rules are. But this is so much more than that. This is so much more than that. We have seen enough, and you can see more as you read through the gospels, that Jesus isn't calling people to be better jews, to follow the law, to be better at that. But rather he's calling them to himself. He's telling them that their rules had a purpose and a reason. But that season has ended. Now they must realize that the rules and the laws that they were following were to point them to who himself following Jesus isn't about following rules, friends. You know this. It's about coming under the authority of Jesus. So as you think through, like, why do I follow Jesus? What does that mean? It's saying, I'm not here existing to follow rules to feel better about myself. I'm here to say, Jesus, you're the boss, and I'll listen to you.
[00:22:43] But when you're so used to rules, relationships can seem really scary.
[00:22:48] They were so used to following the rules, it's, give me a list. I'll do that. And Jesus is saying, I'm not here to give you a list to tell you to do something. I'm here to say, come follow me. Now, friends, you know this. That is scary because you have no idea where he's going.
[00:23:06] You know, only this. He's calling me to die to self. What does that look like? I don't know. So it's much more comfortable. And for them, it's easier and for us as well. Just give me a list. Give me a list of things to do to make sure that I'm a good christian. Here's the list. Follow Jesus wherever he takes you.
[00:23:25] They weren't super pumped about that.
[00:23:29] Jesus says in Luke two, Luke nine, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. He's calling them to abandon all the things they love, their rituals and their religions, and says, come. Just be willing to say, my life is not the most important thing anymore. Jesus life, death is. That leads us to point D. He claims ultimate authority over life and death. He says in verse 51, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, we talked about this last week, he will live forever. By the way, if you missed previous weeks, we have a podcast. You can jump on any podcast platform and search for living hope Woodland. You can listen to the messages. You can go on YouTube and do that again. We talked about this last week. He says that and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. In this dialogue, Jesus is clear about something.
[00:24:30] The only way that you have life is by me. You want to do all sorts of things and rules and stuff. That's great. Okay? But that's not actually the point of following me. Jesus is being incredibly, a word here that people don't like in the culture, especially that we live in. He's being incredibly exclusive. He's saying there's not a lot of ways to get to God. There's not a lot of ways to be right with God. There's only one and it's only me.
[00:25:00] It's important for us to know this. The coexist sticker, you know what I'm talking about? Have you seen those on the back of people's cars? The coexist sticker would never have shown up on Jesus donkey.
[00:25:14] Not going to happen.
[00:25:16] He was not going to look at all of that and be like, yep, all of those ways. That's good.
[00:25:22] Not showing up on Jesus donkey.
[00:25:25] Jesus knows the heartache of watching people follow him for a time and then walk away. Do you know people like that who said, yep, I'm all in with this Jesus thing. Sounds good. And then they saw, wait a minute, that means that I can't do all the things that I want to do. Jesus isn't just a side job for me. Christianity isn't just something on the side I can bring up and call to action whenever I desire and make me feel good. No, you're saying Christianity following Jesus is me dying. I don't know about that. I don't know if I want that. And then watching people that Jesus loves and he cares about, watching them walk away.
[00:26:08] You know that pain. Jesus knows that pain as well.
[00:26:13] Watching people say, I don't want that. People leave jesus for their friends, for girlfriends or boyfriends. Church hurt, dysfunctional families, drugs, alcohol, the list goes on and on. People might have very good, and I don't even know why I'm putting that in quotes. Understandable reasons for why I don't want to do this church thing anymore. But if the church is where we put our, the church is going to fail you. If the people, other Christians is where you put our hope, then people are going to fail you. And you're like, I'm going to be done with the church and I'm going to be done with those christians because I don't like any of that. But the reality is Jesus said, come to me and I'm the one who's going to satisfy you.
[00:26:56] Everybody else very well might fail you. You're giving your life to me, not to other christians, not to the church, not to rules and regulations. You're giving it to me. And I promise you that my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
[00:27:13] Does it mean that following Jesus is the easiest thing you'll ever do?
[00:27:18] No, it's probably the hardest thing you'll ever do.
[00:27:22] Saying to Jesus every day that you wake up. I'm yours, not my own. That's a hard thing, but that's what Jesus calls us to.
[00:27:30] Jesus then asks his disciples, as some of them are saying, this is hard to hear. He says, do you take offense at this? Jesus wasn't a tolerant preacher and he wasn't trying to be tolerant. He wasn't trying to keep people from being offended. He knew what was going on in people's hearts. And he said, I know, I know you don't like it, but if you don't like it, that's the truth and you can take it or leave it. And then he goes on and he says, would it be easier for you to believe in me if you saw me go up to heaven? Would you like clear proof here? Would that make it easier? We talked about this last week. No. For many it wasn't. The goal of Jesus was this. Maybe write this down somewhere to help people believe on him alone, for peace and joy, love, contentment, purpose, hope, to believe on him alone and to repent of any action that he hated over and over. As you read through the gospels, you'll find Jesus doing that over and over. These folks here were willing to follow jesus on their own terms, not on his terms. As long as Jesus was a nice prophet, he was feeding people, healing people. They said, yes, we like that Jesus. They wanted a convenient religion. They wanted a comfortable Christianity. They wanted Jesus for what he could give, not for what they could give. When all of those things were in line, you see what happens in verse 66. And many turned around and what left because they were following a Jesus that they had made up in their mind. Partial, if you will. I like Jesus for this part, this part and this part. But let's avoid all of the other things.
[00:29:05] True disciples follow Jesus because why the last .3 on your outline? Look in your bibles with me. The true disciple follows Jesus because firstly, we see through this entire chapter to other parts, but especially this chapter. Verses 37, verse 44, verse 63 through 65 we see this truth that God has a part in people turning to him. And it's this. He draws them. He awakens the mind's eye, if you will, and says, you are a sinner. Look what it says in verse 37. All the father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Point a. If you haven't written that down, is he God drew them or God draws them? Verse 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. Verse 63 in the passage that we're looking at today. Look with me. Verse 63 and following. It's on the screen as well. It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is of some help.
[00:30:10] The flesh is of no help. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some who do not believe. Jesus knew from the beginning those who were not.
[00:30:23] Those were who did not believe and who it would be that would betray him. And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the father. Again, we see here that God does a powerful work in people's hearts. Matthew 13 speaks about the sower and the seed, actually the right soil that the seed lands in, that's ready to hear and to receive the word of God. Now, I want to speak just for like, maybe two minutes. It could be 2 hours or two weeks or two years. People have been talking about it for thousands of years. But this concept that we see touched on here in other parts of scripture and the word here that I want to just spend a moment on, invite you into this tension for just a moment is predestination. Now, some of you have all sorts of things going through your head right now. When I say that word, there's the understanding. Just to explain a little bit what that is through scripture. As we read through scripture, there's a tension that exists, and it's this. And I'm not going to stand on one side or the other, but there's a tension that exists. And the word predestination means, did God or does God know who is going to be a Christian before they die? That is. And does God decide that, or do people decide that? Now, there's a lot of things that we can jump into in greater detail, but did God have that design put in place? Does God make someone a Christian, and does God make it so somebody can't be a Christian. That's kind of the question there. Now, one camp says that people choose God. People are the ones who realize, I'm a sinner, I. I need God, and then they trust in Jesus. That's one side. The other side says, man has nothing to do with it. God is the one who reaches in and says, you're going to be a follower of me. You are going to be a Christian. Now, one side says, over here, no, I get to choose that. The other side says, no, you have no say in that at all. If God wants you to be a Christian, then you're going to be a Christian. Now, denominations have been created over this. Families and churches have been split over this. All sorts of things have happened back and forth in regards to the division because of predestination. Now we see here in this text that God draws. Now on this camp over here they say, of course, yes, you are dead in your sins. You can't do anything to realize God. The camp on this side says, but we're punished for not believing.
[00:32:50] So if it's only God who makes us a Christian or not, this side says, well, why then are people punished? Why do people go to hell if they haven't been converted? Now, here we see in this text this clear tension that Jesus says, I drew you. We also see that Judas rejects. Now, there's all sorts of conversation around what this means, but I want you to invite you into this tension here.
[00:33:24] Predestination is a concept that we see taught through scripture, this idea of God drawing and God knowing. But just because God knows, this side says, just because God knows, does he make you a Christian and does he send people to hell? There's a real tension there. That's all sorts of things that we can talk about. But I want to show you this from God's word, is that God has a part in people trusting in him.
[00:33:49] And God knows, God calls us to say, obey, respond. There seems to be in the midst of that tension, a part that we have to respond. God calls us to listen to him. And so maybe today you have this drawing. You're feeling this pull from God saying, I know all the information, but I've never submitted my life to him. And I want to say to you today, respond to Jesus. Respond to Jesus.
[00:34:20] He desires your whole heart.
[00:34:23] Secondly, be on your outline. True disciples follow Jesus. One, because God has drawn them, he's grabbed ahold of their heart. Second, they realize their spiritual bankruptcy. Jesus says, simon Peter says in verse 68, to answer Jesus. He says to this Lord, to whom shall we go? He's like, do you want to leave? He's like, there's nowhere else for us to go. Right now. I realize there's nothing better than you. Look what he says. You have the words of.
