Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he came. Thank you that he lived amongst us a fully human life. Thank you that he died on the cross. Thank you that he tasted all there is to taste of death. Thank you that he rose again, defeating sin and death. And thank you, Father, that all who believe and trust in Jesus, that you will raise us up. You will give us eternal life and raise us up.
Father, thank you for this. May your Holy Spirit bring the words of the gospel deeply into our hearts and our minds and our lives. Help us, Father, to gnaw on them and inwardly digest them. And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Please be seated. As you know, I sometimes criticize newspapers or make comments about newspapers and other things in the media. So it's important to give credit where credit is due. I don't know how many of you read the National Post editorial.
I might be the only person in the room who read the Saturday editorial in the National Post. But it must have been written by a devout Christian. I was really surprised.
So kudos to them. And if you have a chance, go online and read the official editorial of the National Post yesterday. And one of the things which they said, which was very interesting, I didn't know that we we probably all are aware of that French police officer who traded himself for a woman.
Terrorists had killed some people, was had a hostage situation. The police officer willingly traded places with the woman.
I don't know if you know this, but he was an adult convert to the Christian faith.
He was in his early to mid-30s when he gave his life to Christ.
And it was directly his widow, I was told, in the French press, it's been very public.
They just make a bit of a hint at it in the National Post editorial.
But his widow on French media has been very outspoken that it was precisely because of his Christian faith that he took that stand.
But it's quite dramatic, really, isn't it?
And the National Post editorial drew out the similarities between this police officer's story.
I keep fading in and out. Do I? Or is it just my imagination?
So anyway, it's a very interesting story.
There's a very, very clear, obviously, Eastern analogy between this man who traded places with the woman
and as a result of him trading places with this woman, she lived and he died.
And there's a very obvious sort of parallel to the Christian story, the gospel.
But, you know, the thing which, and many Christians struggle with this,
and I know not only do many Christians struggle with this,
but non-Christians struggle with it in a really, really big way.
And they say, George, well, what's up with this? Okay, what's up with this?
I get this sort of story, and it's very, very moving to hear about this police officer and his...
I know it's a story of courage. It's a story of heroism.
But what's up? Like, Jesus just died.
Like, he didn't live. Like, I mean, he just died.
I mean, we have to talk about the living part, obviously, with many non-Christians.
But he just died.
But I don't see how anything that could have happened 2,000 years ago, almost 2,000 years ago,
like why his death back then means anything to me.
And sort of usually if somebody, a non-Christian, says something like this to us,
after we get through our maybe deer-in-the-headlights look,
we often do something like saying, well, part of the big difference is that Jesus was God.
And because Jesus is God, his death has this far greater power, has this far greater reach.
It's just far more significant.
And then often what happens, they might not say this to you, but they think it.
And what they think is, what people think is this, well, what's up with that?
Like, what's up with that?
Like, how can somebody with a birth certificate and an address say they're God,
that they came down from heaven, right?
Like, how can somebody who has a birth certificate and an address say that they came down from heaven,
that they're God?
That's a pretty good question.
Do you know that that exact question is asked in the Bible?
In fact, I read an ancient biography of Jesus.
And in that ancient biography of Jesus, it's in John's ancient biography.
And John tells us the story of the resurrection.
But did you know that earlier in that gospel,
John records somebody literally saying to Jesus, what's up with this?
Like, what's up with, I mean, you got a birth certificate and an address.
I mean, that's a bit of a figure of speech.
They didn't have birth certificates back then.
But what's up with this?
So if you'd be, it's a great help.
If you turn back earlier in the gospel, Jesus actually answers this question.
And it's in John chapter 6, verse 41.
John chapter 6, verse 41, that they asked this question.
I have all sorts of things going wrong.
These aren't my normal glasses.
I left my glasses in my car.
They're very lopsided.
So if I look like a crazy professor, just pray harder for me.
So not only is my voice is going in and out, but my glasses are all askew.
So really pray hard for me.
Anyway, so back to this story.
So what's happened up to now, because remember, it's a story, right?
And so what's happened is just less than 24 hours before this, Jesus does his most public miracle.
And we talked about that last Sunday.
He does his most public miracle.
It just records that there were 5,000 men there.
But that 5,000 men means it might have been 20,000 people.
Maybe it was 25,000.
Let's just say 20,000 because it's an easy number.
And so Jesus does his most public miracle.
He, with five loaves and two fishes, he feeds 20,000 people.
And the way the miracle is set up with everybody sitting down, it would have been very obvious to the 20,000 people that Jesus had performed an unbelievable, like a spectacular miracle.
And then where the story is right now is that Jesus, because the people want to make him king, they realize that he's done this miracle.
So Jesus sort of goes up into the mountain to get away from them.
And what people don't know, only the disciples know, is that in the middle of the night, Jesus does another miracle, but only 12 people know this.
And the 12 people are those who see Jesus walking on the water and then moving the whole boat in him four miles to the shore.
But what happens is just before this, because they go looking for Jesus, they know there's no human explanation for how Jesus got from where he was to where he was.
But Jesus doesn't explain it to them.
And that's part of this conversation.
And as part of Jesus' conversation to them about what's up, because he's trying to get to the heart, he tells them, listen, don't spend your whole life just trying to get food.
I have something more to offer you.
I am the bread of life that will give you eternal life.
And that's what you should really be focusing on, not the fact that your bellies are full.
And as part of that, that he's come down from heaven to bring them life, that brings it up to 41.
And look what they say in verse 41.
So the Jewish people grumble about him.
And actually, those of you who use the old King James Version, the word they use there is murmur.
That's a great word, isn't it?
Murr.
What's going on here, right?
You know, people murmur, you know.
The person, the cash is going really slow and you murmur and you grumble.
So if you put murmur and grumble together, you get exactly what's going on.
They're murmuring, they're grumbling, they're a bit bothered.
So verse 41.
So the Jews grumble, they murmur about Jesus 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?
Right.
So they've just said what I just, they said, listen, he has a birth certificate.
And on the birth certificate, it says Joseph and Mary.
And he has an address.
In fact, at this time he lived in Capernaum.
So how can a guy, how can a guy who has a birth certificate and an address say he came down from heaven with a straight face?
Now, many of us are saying, okay, now this is going to be really interesting.
How's Jesus going to answer this question?
Well, let me tell you, he's going to disappoint everybody in the room.
He's going to disappoint all of us.
And this disappointment tells something about us.
So how does Jesus answer?
Look how he answers in verse 43.
Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves.
No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.
And I will raise him up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God.
Well, everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the father except he who is from God.
He has seen the father.
He's talking about himself.
He's saying he's seen the father.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness.
That's in the Exodus when the people of Israel were in the wilderness.
God did a miracle and provided a grain type substance for them every day so they wouldn't starve.
That's the manna in the wilderness.
Your fathers, verse 49, ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.
This is the bread, and he's probably pointing himself.
This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.
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.
So isn't this a bit of a disappointing answer?
Look at how he says in verse 44, if you missed it.
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.
Isn't that disappointing?
Weren't you hoping either for something like the Athanasian Creed that talks about the two natures of Christ in one person?
Weren't you maybe hoping for some argument from philosophy, some analogy from science or nature that would try to explain how it is that as God, he's lived forever, but as a human being, he was born of Mary.
Aren't you maybe hoping he could explain a little bit about the incarnation?
Aren't you hoping he could give some analogy from science or physics?
Like this is a very disappointing answer if we're honest with ourselves, aren't we?
Isn't it?
So what's going on?
Well, here's the first thing.
You have to understand, on one level, Jesus is giving a very profound answer.
On another level, he waits a year to give his real answer because his real answer is the resurrection.
If you could put up the first point, Andrew, that would be great.
His real answer is this.
The real, true, literal, actual resurrection of Jesus changes everything.
I'll say it again.
The real, true, literal, actual resurrection of Jesus changes everything.
Jesus really dying.
Jesus really decomposing in a tomb.
Jesus really resurrecting.
So the body is gone and he appears to his disciples.
And he appears to lots of different people in many different ways.
So they can't just take it as an hallucination.
And the body is never found.
Like if this has happened, it changes everything.
It changes how you think.
It means you have to reconsider everything.
It means you have to reconsider how he tells us to understand the Old Testament.
It means that we start now looking for analogies from physics or biology or biochemistry or genetics.
It changes everything.
But in the short run, this is actually what Jesus says by saying,
listen, unless the Father draws you, you can't come to me.
It's actually a very profound answer.
Why is that?
Everyone here has probably had the experience where, I don't know, it could be something like
somebody makes a comment about something about the first year of the senators.
Or they make a comment about how money works.
Or they make a comment about history.
Or they make a comment about science.
And you happen to know a lot about that subject.
And so you say to them, no, no, listen, look at the webpage.
And look, this is who the senators play.
And look at the statistics.
Or you say, look, this is how money works.
Or listen, don't blame the conservative government or the liberal government for this.
Like, look at the actual bill.
This is what it actually says.
And we've all had this experience of maybe spending 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes,
maybe half an hour, an hour,
like just actually showing the person why they're wrong and they won't change their mind.
And we go back and we say to our friends,
good grief, that person, what do we say about them?
They refuse to change their mind.
They refuse to acknowledge their wrong.
They just refuse.
Haven't we all had that experience?
They just refuse.
Well, what if that person is us?
Like, you know, we can all remember instances where somebody,
where we've done that,
but we're probably not as quick to remember the instances
where somebody spent an hour with us.
And we just refuse to change our minds.
We just refuse.
And so what Jesus is saying here,
think about how the book works, okay?
It's a book.
And so what's just happened is less than 24 hours earlier,
Jesus has fed 20,000 people from five loaves and two fishes.
And as I talked about last week,
the way the miracle is set up,
everybody's sitting down.
The men sit down.
The women sit down.
The children sit down.
They're all sitting down.
They're waiting for Jesus to do something.
It's very obvious.
He just has a basket like this.
He just has a basket.
And he just sets it down.
And he starts to break it and put it in another basket
and break it and put another basket,
break it and put another basket.
The basket goes away.
Ta-da.
You can just imagine people's eyes like saucers.
What on earth is going on?
And John records,
and some of the other gospel writers record,
it's the only miracle that's in all four of the gospels
other than the resurrection.
People all want to make him king after they see this.
And he has to actually go in and go up into the mountain
to get away from them.
And so what's just happened here
that we're so disappointed about Jesus's answer,
but what's just happened is Jesus is just saying to himself,
if you think about it,
one moment, these folks don't believe me.
They don't trust me after I've just taken five loaves and two fishes
and fed 20,000 people.
What's the problem?
They refuse to believe.
They just refuse.
In fact, the part we looked at last week,
people's response was,
okay, Jesus,
do something dramatic to show us that what you're saying is true.
And Jesus must have been going,
good grief.
Like, I just fed 20,000 people from five loaves, two fishes.
They want me to do something better?
Well, he's going to do something better.
It's going to be the resurrection,
which is going to change everything.
So, but some of you might say,
okay, George, well, that explains things very, very well for me.
Thank you very much.
That's very helpful.
You know, it just is telling me that,
like, if God wanted me to be a Christian,
he'd make me a Christian.
Like, I'm off the hook.
Isn't that what Jesus says, George?
Isn't that what he says in verse 44?
Isn't that what he says, George?
You just read it.
No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him
and I will raise him up on the last day.
Well, I guess God just doesn't.
So, what, Kalish?
Is Jesus saying this to let people off the hook?
No.
Is he saying this to shame them?
We all know who the people are who refuse to believe.
We can all look and shake.
No, he's not.
He's not doing this to shame people.
Why does he say this?
He says this, if you could put up the next point.
He says this because our response should be to call out to the father
and ask him to draw you into a saving faith in Jesus.
Like he's trying to prick your conscience.
It's in a sense, remember, Jesus' words are constantly going to our heart,
the command center of where we are, that place where our will, our emotions,
our intellect, our ideas, our culture, our idols, they all,
I'm not pointing at you, by the way, just going like this,
and it's where all these things sort of come together.
And the hope is that by hearing something like this, our response is,
is Jesus talking about me?
Is that my problem?
Is my problem just that I refuse to come?
And Father, if that's my problem, please help me.
I want you to draw me to Jesus.
I want to believe.
Help my unbelief.
Father, do whatever you have to do
so I might come to faith in Jesus.
That's why Jesus says this.
But now some of you might be saying,
okay, George,
what's up with the cannibalism stuff?
Like, what's up?
Like, come on, George.
Like, is Jesus saying,
take my finger, gnaw on it for a while.
Like, here's my fingernail clippings, eat them.
I'm going to cut myself, suck my blood.
Like, come on, George.
Like, what's going on with this?
Didn't he just say, like, you got to eat and drink me?
Like, come on.
What's up?
Well, as some of you know who are Christians for a long time,
this next part is something that's divided Christians for a long time.
And I'm going to,
I talked in my blog last Sunday a little bit about it.
And that's sort of the,
I'm going to sail over the debate, okay?
I'm going to sail over the debate.
So how does Jesus respond to the cannibalism claim?
Well, let's look.
Verse 52, that's where they ask the question.
Because you see, once again,
people who are there,
they ask the cannibalism question.
It's not just us most smart, postmodern,
urban, hip, postmodern
who figure out this is a bit of an objection.
Like, just always remember when you read old books,
just because they didn't use flush toilets
doesn't mean they were dumb, okay?
People who don't use flush toilets can be way smarter than you and me.
And so they understand.
So look at verse 52.
Then the Jews then disputed amongst themselves.
They've gone from grumbling to arguing.
And they say, verse 52,
how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
So how's Jesus going to answer it?
Well, let's look what he says.
So then 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.
So he makes it worse, right?
But then he's going to do something
which isn't as obvious in English,
although this version of the Bible
that I'm reading from,
one of the translation values of the ESV
is that when the same Greek word
is used in a text,
they keep the same English word if they can.
And when the Greek word changes,
they change the English word.
It's a translation.
Every version of your Bible
has translation values.
And they're just different.
Some are better for certain situations
and some are better for others.
And so the ESV,
I happen to know this,
that's a translation value.
So in fact,
the original word changes here.
So they change the English word
to give you a bit of a clue
that something's going on.
So I'll read verse 53 again,
and then I'll read verse 54.
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.
Yuck, really, right?
But then he goes on,
whoever feeds on my flesh
and drinks my blood has eternal life,
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.
Notice there's this type of abiding.
In verse 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.
This is the bread that came down from heaven,
not like the bread the fathers ate and died.
Whoever feeds on this bread
will live forever.
So, what's going on?
Well, the English word,
the Greek word,
which is there for most of the verse,
which is translated here as feeds,
it can be translated in several different ways.
It has several different meanings attached to it.
One of the meanings is like ongoing consumption,
which is what they've chosen here
to translate as feeds.
It's that whatever's going on,
whatever Jesus means by this,
we're to, in a sense,
consume it daily,
day by day.
But the other two meanings are very interesting.
One of them is gnaw.
You know how like a dog gnaws on a bone?
You know how when you get,
I don't know,
you bought that really, really,
sorry vegetarians,
you brought this really, really, really
delicious barbecue chicken,
you know,
from a grocery store,
and you eat part of it one day,
and you eat the rest of it the next day,
and boy,
you sort of ate over half of it yourself
the day one,
and you're still hungry,
so you sort of gnaw
and suck on the bones,
and you gnaw on it, right?
You spend some time gnawing on it.
That's the word here.
The other word that can also be translated
is chew on it.
I'm chewing gum right now.
You can chew on it, you know?
And it's a very, very interesting,
in fact,
if you could put up the point, Andrew,
here's what Jesus is doing.
He's saying gnaw on the gospel.
Inwardly digest it day by day.
The Lord will raise you up on the last day.
I almost put it beforehand
because it's sort of the basic idea.
I don't know if you noticed,
but in this Bible text,
with this you wouldn't know it
because it's in 39 and 40,
just before I read,
but four times in this text,
Jesus says,
and I will raise him up,
and I will raise him up.
I will raise him up,
I will raise him up.
Four times.
And in 54,
it's the fourth time
in just 15 verses
that Jesus says this.
So he's emphasizing,
I'm going to raise you up.
What do I want to do?
What do you want to do?
Well, I'm going to raise you up,
but what do you need to do?
You need to gnaw on the gospel.
You need to inwardly digest
the gospel day by day
because you see,
Jesus is doing several things here
with this very, very gruesome type.
What it is?
It's not so much
it's a gruesome analogy,
it's a very, very physical analogy.
And here's one of the things
that we know
because we've read
the end of the story.
And if you've read
the end of the story,
Jesus rises from the dead.
Jesus rises from the dead
and we're waiting for him
to come a second time.
Hallelujah.
And so what's going on here
is that Jesus is speaking
not just to his hearers,
he's also looking down
the corridors of history
and he sees you and me
here in the room today.
And the big problem
that you and I have today
is to think that these are just ideas.
They're just stories.
They're just spiritual things.
They're just myths.
In lots of liberal religious circles,
the New Testament would just be
sort of a repository of symbols
that we use to think about God.
And our tribe,
the Anglican tribe,
we use our symbols
out of the repository of the Bible.
We pick the symbols we like
because it helps us
to think about God.
And it's a very, very common problem.
And Jesus wants to say,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
This is all about flesh.
This is going to be about,
in fact, you know, if you think,
I've used this analogy many times,
sorry for those who come
to the church a lot.
You know, it might very well be
that when Jesus is speaking
to these people,
he has pita bread
and a little bit of parsley
in his beard.
He didn't have a wife
to come and sort of do this.
Jesus, you're speaking to people.
You got bread in your beard.
Let me clean it up for you.
He didn't have a wife
or a girlfriend
to help him with that.
So he might very well
have been standing there,
talking away,
flecks of parsley
from his tabbouleh,
little bits of pita bread
stuck in his beard.
I'm the bread of heaven
that comes down
to save the life of the world.
And it's going to all be,
like he's talking about flesh,
isn't talking about the incarnation.
It's all part of this,
that John's gospel presents
that there's this,
in a sense,
one motion,
one swooping motion
of God,
the Son of God,
coming down,
taking,
and the word became,
in the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God,
and the word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him,
and without him,
nothing was made that was made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
And then a few verses later,
and the word became flesh,
and dwelt among us,
and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only begotten
Son of the Father.
And there's this one movement of God,
the Son of God,
to come and take on flesh,
and live amongst us,
and die on the cross,
and physically rise from the dead,
and ascend into heaven.
It's just this one movement,
and Jesus is saying to these guys,
listen,
don't just think this is about ideas.
Don't just think this is about symbol.
This is about flesh and blood.
This is about time.
This is about history.
This is about somebody
with a birth certificate,
and an address.
And this is going to eventually be about
whips tearing flesh.
And it's going to be about
walking and falling,
and the splinters from the cross,
getting in my open wounds in my back,
and dust from the ground,
getting into the cuts in my back,
and infecting.
And it's going to be about blood
dripping down my forehead.
And it's going to be about soldiers
cursing and swearing
as they try to manage
and manhandle three of us
up onto crosses.
And it's going to be about them
gambling and laughing and mocking
and doing all the sort of thing
that rough and ready soldiers would do,
especially just to mock
and insult a captive people,
to maybe swear and curse
and do all sorts of things to offend.
And it's going to be gory.
And it's going to culminate
in a body and a grave
that decomposes.
That's what it's about.
It's about real stuff happening.
And what you need to do
is you need to gnaw on this.
You need to think about the fact that,
yes,
there's things that happen
in real space and time
that affect eternity,
that connect us to God,
the creator of all things,
the sustainer of all things.
It's connecting us to a new heaven
and a new earth.
These things came down
and walked amongst us
and what it takes for you
to be made right with me
is going to be my flesh broken,
dead on a cross.
It's real.
It's historical.
It's true.
It's actual.
It's not make-believe.
It's not made up.
It is completely and utterly true.
And you need to remember this.
And you need to inwardly think about this
and digest it deep into who you are.
And you need to gnaw on it.
And one of the things
which is so wonderful about this,
this happened this morning.
I made a bit of a joke about it.
But at the 11 o'clock service,
we don't have a mic.
I mean, mic,
this is a mic.
That's a mic as well.
We don't have somebody
standing by the door.
And so I'm here
and I'm doing my sermon
and two street people come in
and they disappear out of my sight.
So part of our using this place,
part of the lease,
is we're not allowed to let people
wander around in the building.
So I actually had to stop my sermon
and go over
and try to figure out where they were.
Like, I wasn't sure
if they'd gone,
taken that first door,
which would allow them
to get back there
and get up into the cage
and the sound room
and break doors
and sort of maybe sneak around
and get to the alcohol cap.
Like, I didn't know, right?
So I had to go see where they were
and they wanted to go
into the washroom.
And let me tell you,
it was very distracting for me.
For the next three or four minutes,
first of all,
I lost all ten people
at the service.
I half lost them
because something was gnawing on them.
What's gnawing on them?
There's two street people
wandering around.
It gnaws on them.
They're not really listening.
So finally,
a person from the congregation,
after three or four minutes,
he could sense
it was bothering everybody.
So he came up
and went and sat right there
and he just,
he gave up listening
to the rest of the service.
He gnawed on what they were doing
so we could gnaw
on something different.
And you know what?
Isn't that part of our life?
Don't we gnaw on things?
We gnaw on wounds.
We gnaw on lack of forgiveness.
We gnaw on bills.
We gnaw on,
and don't we digest things all the time?
We inwardly digest things from Netflix
and we inwardly digest people
who've wronged us
or how we're going to wrong them.
Like we,
these are very,
this is what Jesus is talking about.
This isn't,
like this isn't space language
or astrophysics.
It's how we live,
isn't it?
And so Jesus is saying,
listen,
this really happened.
And he's saying to these people
that really,
at the end of the day,
what's really going to prove to you
that I am the bread
that came down from heaven
is when I do die on the cross
and you know I die on the cross
and you know where the grave is
and you know my body
was put in the grave
and you know there's soldiers there
and you know the soldiers,
Roman soldiers,
they guard that tomb
and it's probably the same soldiers
who stuck the spear in my side
that know I'm dead.
They're going to be the same ones
guarding the tomb
and you know that,
you're going to know
that the grave is empty
and that nobody stole it
and you can't account for it
and I'm going to appear to people
and it's going to go throughout
the whole community
that I rose from the dead
and you're going to see
that it's actual,
that's going to be the final proof
but it's real, it's true
and we need to understand
that we need to gnaw on the gospel
that Jesus gives his flesh
for the life of the world.
He gives himself,
he dies himself
and that's what we need to,
we need to remember
all the blood and all the gore,
we need to remember
all of it and its reality,
we need to understand
the symbolism and the meaning
and how it,
it just,
it blows your mind
but we need to gnaw on it.
Now,
you know,
for many, many people
in our culture,
the idea,
you know,
it's really funny,
in our culture,
on one hand,
we have a love-hate relationship
with religion
and spirituality.
I saw a poll this week
that how many people
still believe in real devil
and a real hell?
It's really quite astounding
how many Canadians
still believe in demons
in hell.
And you know that
in Saudi Arabia,
they have a special branch
of their police force
to go after witches.
True,
they do.
They still kill people
for witchcraft
in Saudi Arabia.
Very,
these ideas
haven't gone away.
But, you know,
we'd be very comfortable,
like,
it wouldn't excite
that much controversy
to say that there's a,
you know what,
like if I was to say
that when you die,
you go to a better place.
Everybody in Canada
just yawns at that.
It's just a yawn.
But George,
a body,
a man,
who actually dies,
and then he rises
from the dead.
And you're saying
that his death,
he dies,
is the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world,
that this is not
just a human being dying,
but in some way
which is hard
for us to understand,
it's God dying
as well
for human beings.
It's the word
that made all flesh
dying for all flesh
that all
who put their trust
in him
might have
eternal life.
It's a pretty hard idea.
Well,
that's exactly
how a lot of people
at Jesus' time
responded to that.
Did you know that?
Let's see what happens.
It's in verse 60.
I have to watch my time.
When many of
Jesus' disciples,
this isn't the 12,
at this time
there's a broader
group of disciples,
when they hear it,
they said,
this is a hard saying,
who can listen to it?
But Jesus,
knowing in himself
that his disciples
were grumbling,
murmuring about this,
said to them,
do you take offense
of this?
Then what if you were
to see the Son of Man
ascending to where
he was before?
And just pause.
You see,
in John's Gospel,
you have to know
what's gone on
before this.
How does Jesus ascend?
What's in the way
before he ascends?
The cross.
His ascent
begins
with his death
upon the cross.
So if you're having
a hard time
with this, guys,
wait till you see
the soldiers
cursing and swearing
as they hammer
in the nails
to my wrists
and my ankles
and as they
place the cross
in the ground
and lift it up.
If you're having
a hard time with this,
wait till you see that.
Wait till you see
the sword piercing
to my side.
Wait till you see
me
being embalmed
and then the empty tomb
and then there is
the ascension.
Then he says
something,
verse 63,
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.
I mean,
here's the same
type of idea
of the father
drawing him.
It's an invitation
for us to call out
to the Holy Spirit
to make the words
of Jesus
come alive in us.
Father,
help me.
But isn't that
interesting?
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.
Like,
what's up with that?
What's up with this idea
that Jesus knew
that Judas
was going to betray him?
Like,
what's up with that?
Why didn't Jesus
kick him out?
Like,
that's what we would do,
wouldn't it?
If you knew right now
that one of your friends
in a couple of months
was going to betray you
in such a way
that it would threaten
your life,
how many of you
would still be friends
with them?
I mean,
let's be honest,
some of you would
slug them right now,
wouldn't you?
If you really knew
they were going to
betray you.
So what's up with this
with Jesus?
Well,
let's continue to see.
verse 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.
After this,
many of his disciples
turned back
and no longer walked
with Jesus.
So Jesus said to the twelve,
do you want to go away as well?
And Simon Peter answered him,
Lord,
to whom shall we go?
This is such a wonderful phrase,
isn't it?
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 choose you,
the twelve?
One of you is the devil.
He spoke of Judas,
the son of Simon Iscariot,
for he,
one of the twelve,
was going to betray him.
I sort of missed a point.
If you could put the point up,
Andrew,
the final point,
but I sort of missed it.
You can just sort of read it.
But actually,
it fits with this too.
The real God offers
a real gospel
because he really loves you
as you really are.
You know,
one of the wonderful things
about this,
you know,
it says,
Jesus loves me,
this I know for the Bible
tells me so.
John 3, 16,
for God so loved the world.
I shared this with somebody
in the coffee shop
about two weeks ago.
In fact,
it was very humbling.
On the same day,
there were two people
who bore witness to Jesus.
Me to this person
in this coffee shop
and then I was there
later on in the afternoon
and a mentally ill guy
to another mentally ill guy.
Me and the mentally ill guy
working on the same team.
If you're proud,
that's very insulting.
But you know what?
I have done nothing
to deserve eternal life.
I am a donkey.
I am Balaam's ass.
God speaks through me.
The Holy Spirit
doesn't move in our midst.
Everything I say
is like onion,
those little bits
of the onion skin
that just everybody
throws out
that just blow away.
Unless the Holy Spirit moves,
I say,
my words are worth nothing.
And it's a great honor
that I would share
with a barista
on his break
and that later on
a mentally ill guy
would share the gospel
with a mentally ill guy.
And I said to the barista,
for God so loved the world
that he gave
his one and only son
to the end
that everyone
who believes in him
will not perish
but have eternal life.
And I said,
that's you.
That's you.
So what's with Judas?
You know what?
If Jesus was like you and me
and you and I know
that there's going to be
one of our friends
or one of our family
are going to be a Judas
that are going to get me
in trouble with the law
and maybe get me killed
and we'd boot them out.
In fact,
we might boot them
in their butt
before we boot them
out of our friendship.
Well,
then they could just go away
and say,
well,
that's just George.
He doesn't even give me
a chance.
Like,
who does he think he is?
You know what?
Judas can't say
that Jesus ever
stopped loving him.
Can he?
Jesus never
stopped loving Judas.
Jesus' love
is unfailing.
Judas' problem
wasn't that Jesus
stopped loving him.
Judas' problem
was that he refused
to repent
and believe.
He refused.
the unfailing
love of Jesus.
Friends,
if anyone is here
and they feel
they are far from God,
Jesus' love
towards you
is unfailing.
He will not
cast you out.
He will not
kick you away.
but he respects
your freedom.
You know,
there's a very old
Christian saying
that the door
to hell
is locked
from the inside.
Not the outside,
but the inside.
The theme song
of hell
is,
I did it my way.
That's what
the theme song
of hell is.
Frank Sinatra,
I did it my way.
But Jesus
doesn't cast us out.
He died for you.
He died for me.
He died.
He really died.
And he really loves you.
And his heart
is that for
every one of us here
that we would
call out to him
to be our savior,
to be our bread
of life.
And the promise
of the Bible
is that when we
call out to him
that he will be
our bread of life,
that he will be
our savior and Lord,
the promise
of the gospel is
and I will
raise him up.
I will raise him up.
Brethren and sister,
if you are in Christ,
you might be feeling weak.
You might be feeling lonely.
Jesus will not let you go.
The father brought you
to Jesus.
Jesus will never
let you go.
You have believed in him
and trusted in him.
You already have,
in a sense,
your passport
and your ticket
for the new heaven
and the new earth.
And Jesus will never
take it back from you.
He will never
take it back from you.
He will raise you up.
Let's stand.
Bow our heads in prayer.
Father, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you that he really did
live amongst us,
that he really did
live a sinless life,
that he really did die
upon the cross,
that he really did die
as the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world,
that he really did
taste all there is
to taste of sin and death,
that he really did
defeat death
and that which causes death,
which is our sin,
that he really did
defeat that
in his resurrection.
And so, Father,
unlike the police officer,
as brave and courageous
as he was,
who could only offer
his life, Father,
for another human being,
that that other human being
might live while he died.
Father,
we thank you for Jesus,
that he not only died
upon the cross,
that he was resurrected.
And so,
as the resurrected Savior
and Lord, Father,
we thank you that he can
offer us
his death to stand for us
and he can offer us
that,
he can really give us,
Father,
life that will never end.
Father,
pour out the Holy Spirit
upon us.
Help us to gnaw on
the gospel,
who Jesus is
and what he did for us.
Help us to inwardly digest
day by day
who Jesus is
and what he did for us.
And, Father,
we thank you
that you will raise us up.
All this we ask and thank
in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior.
Amen.