All right, well, as we get into the Word of God this morning, we are going back into the Gospel of John.
If you have your Bible with you, you can open it up to John chapter 6, and we're going to be starting about verse 60.
We're coming close to the end of this long conversation that Jesus has been having with the crowd.
And you'll remember that some of the people there were at the feeding of the 5,000,
and Jesus has been declaring to them that He is the bread that has come down from heaven.
He's been telling them that He is the bread of life.
He's been offering to them eternal life and inviting them to come to Him and believe in Him.
And the crowd there has had some pretty telling questions and responses to Jesus.
They've demanded that He do a sign before believing.
They've been grumbling about what He is saying.
And Jesus has kind of told them straight up,
you guys have seen, and yet you still do not believe.
Two weeks ago, we saw how all of this came to a head as Jesus said some things that were pretty shocking.
In verse 54, He said,
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.
And we talked about these words two weeks ago.
We talked about what Jesus meant by them.
Of course, He was not talking about actually eating His flesh and drinking His blood,
but about how people need to partake in the deepest way possible of what His death will accomplish
in order to have eternal life and to be saved from death.
But it got the crowd arguing sharply about whether Jesus was speaking in metaphor or not.
How can this man give us His flesh to eat?
Some of them said.
And all of this, John tells us, was said while He was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
So this morning, we want to look at what happened after this conversation.
Let's read it starting in verse 60.
On hearing it, many of His disciples said,
This is a hard teaching.
Who can accept it?
Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this,
Jesus said to them,
Does this offend you?
Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?
The Spirit gives life.
The flesh counts for nothing.
The words I have spoken to you.
They are full of the Spirit and life.
Yet there are some of you who do not believe.
For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe,
and who would betray Him.
He went on to say,
This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.
So not only did the crowd grumble that day at what Jesus said,
but even Jesus' disciples grumbled that day.
This is a hard teaching, they said.
Who can accept it?
And I love how Jesus handles this.
There's no beating around the bush.
He just goes straight to it and asks them,
Does this offend you?
Do my words offend you?
And then Jesus goes on to help them with this teaching.
We're not going to have time to look at everything He said here,
but one thing I will point out is what He says in verse 64.
He says,
There are some of you who do not believe.
For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe,
and who would betray Him.
And so again in the Gospel of John here,
we see that Jesus knows what's going on in the hearts of His followers.
Even as He looks them in the eye right now,
He knows which of them believes,
and which of them does not.
In fact, John tells us that all along,
He has known which of them believes,
and which of them does not.
And this is not only referring to Judas,
notice it says,
Which of them, plural,
and it's especially clear in the original language,
which of them, plural, did not believe,
and who, singular,
would betray Him.
It's as though Jesus sees right through them.
He sees what's going on in their thoughts,
in their hearts,
and this reality that some of them do not believe,
really leads into what we read next in verse 66.
From this time on,
many of His disciples turned back,
and no longer followed Him.
Let's stop and think about those words for a moment.
Many of His disciples turned back,
and no longer followed Him.
So there were a lot of people following Jesus.
And you can imagine that some of them just kind of came out for the day,
or maybe two days,
you know,
just to see what He's saying and doing,
to check Him out.
But then there was a good number of people who were His disciples.
They followed Him from place to place.
The twelve disciples were among them.
There were also a number of women that we know about from the other Gospels,
and there were probably even more.
This was probably a group that was a few times larger than the twelve disciples
that we're all familiar with.
And yet,
John tells us that many of them turned back
and no longer followed Him after this conversation.
Let's think of this from the perspective of the twelve disciples.
They were likely in the minority of people who stayed with Jesus
and continued to follow Him after that day.
Evidently, there was a large group of His followers who did not believe,
just as Jesus said.
And this whole conversation in the synagogue about,
eat my flesh and drink my blood,
it was like the spark that lit the fire.
It was like the straw that broke the camel's back.
They stumbled over what Jesus said that day in the synagogue.
And the result was this mass exodus of many of His followers.
You can almost imagine maybe what they're thinking.
Like, man, eat my flesh and drink my blood?
Like, that's too much for me.
No way.
That's over the top.
I'm done.
I'm going home.
I imagine it a little bit like that moment
where probably most of you have experienced,
where you're at somebody's house for a gathering,
and it's already getting late,
and a number of people are thinking about going home.
The conversation's kind of petering out,
but it's still going.
And then finally someone stands up and says,
all right, well, I'm headed out.
I'm going home.
And then all of a sudden,
everybody else kind of sees that opportunity.
Yep, I was thinking the same thing.
It's time for me to get going.
And all of a sudden,
there's just this mass exodus towards the door,
and the party is over.
Something like that,
only here,
not as friendly.
There has been arguing,
grumbling,
and murmuring.
And this is not just about going home tonight.
It's about going home to stay.
Like, we're done
with following this Jesus guy around
like we've been doing.
All of a sudden,
everybody, it seems,
just stands up
and walks out the door.
And the picture that we have here
is that there are relatively few
left with Jesus.
And Jesus turns to the 12 themselves.
And he says,
you do not want to leave too,
do you?
Jesus asked the 12.
There's the door.
If you've been thinking about it,
if you've been thinking
you might not want to follow me anymore,
or you want to leave,
you've seen the majority walk away from me
all at once here,
do any of you wish to join them?
And it's here that Peter speaks.
Lord,
to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and to know
that you are the Holy One of God.
These are precious words.
What is Peter saying here?
Well, first there's the question,
Lord,
to whom shall we go?
And what we notice is that
it's not so much a question
as a statement.
Master,
there are no other alternatives here
when it comes to the faith of our fathers,
when it comes to the scriptures,
when it comes to the fulfillment
of all that we have longed and hoped for.
To whom shall we go for those answers?
To whom shall we look for that hope
to be fulfilled?
John the baptizer,
he was a great guy,
but he pointed us to you.
We certainly aren't seeing our longings
and hopes fulfilled in the other rabbis
or the people on the Jewish council.
Nicodemus didn't seem to have the answers.
The chief priests don't seem to have
a real love for God as you do.
They were all too happy to make a buck
through the sellers and the exchangers
at the temple.
The teachers of the law
don't seem to truly love people
like you do.
They're trying to get you
in jail
for healing a man on the Sabbath.
Lord,
to whom shall we go?
There's no one else
that we see as being from God
the way that you are.
And it's not just that you're
the best of the worst.
It's not just that you're
the best that we've got
in our day.
If this question,
to whom shall we go,
was all Peter said,
then we might be tempted
to think that Peter
is just desperately
settling for Jesus.
But he's not.
There's more.
He has some things
to affirm about Jesus.
He goes on.
He says,
you have
the words
of eternal life.
we have come
to believe
and to know
that you
are the Holy One
of God.
What a statement
of faith.
For years,
I've looked at these words
of Peter,
and I'm not sure
that I quite heard
what Peter was saying.
I think I was bringing
a lot of my own perspective
to these words,
and I thought Peter
was saying something like,
well,
what's the alternative?
Nobody else,
no other religion,
no other faith
offers eternal life
the way that you do,
so I guess we'll take
our chances with you
because there might
just be the real possibility
that you could give us
eternal life.
We've got nothing
better to do.
We've got no one
better to follow.
Yet the more I listen
to what Peter said
that day
and really reflect
on all of it,
the more I hear
something different,
the more I hear
that this is not
just a desperate gamble
kind of a statement.
It's not as though
Peter's saying,
we're going to keep
following you
simply because
we've got nothing
better to do,
no one better
to listen to.
Rather,
I'm seeing in these words
an affirmation
of faith.
This is Peter
saying out loud
what he truly
believes
about Jesus.
words
of eternal
life
you
have.
And we
have believed
and not just
believed,
we have come
to know
that you
are
the Holy
One of God.
We're not going
to go out the door.
We don't want
to leave.
You have the words
of eternal life
and we know
that you
are the
Holy One
of God.
Why would we
leave?
Where would we
go?
There is no
other.
It's as if
Peter is saying,
you are the
one.
We believe
it.
We know
it.
None of the
other religious
people around
us here
have these
words.
We believe
you have the
words that
lead to
eternal life.
We believe
you are the
one he has
sent,
the Holy
One of God.
And not just
believe,
we know it.
Jesus said
some hard
things that
day.
Eat my
flesh and
drink my
blood.
Yet Peter
doesn't stumble
too much
over these
words of
Jesus,
like many
did that
day.
He probably
found these
words difficult.
He was
probably
initially a
little red
in the face
as Jesus
said them,
and maybe
even upset
as people
started walking
out the door
on Jesus.
But I
think when we
read these
words,
when we
hear what
he says,
we have
come to
know that
you are
the Holy
One of
God.
There
wasn't a
chance that
Peter was
going to be
walking out
that door.
What Peter
saw,
somehow he
saw and
knew about
Jesus what
many did
not see and
did not know
about him.
What Peter
saw and
believed and
knew about
Jesus was
enough to
keep him
following Jesus,
even when
Jesus said
some things
that were
difficult or
shocking or
hard to
understand.
What he saw
and believed
and knew about
Jesus was
enough to
keep him
following Jesus
even when
the majority
left and
mocked and
balked and
turned away.
I don't
know about
you, but
these words
have a
special place
in my
heart.
These words
of Peter
over the
years since
I first
believed,
they have
been words
of deep
comfort and
assurance.
In fact,
I would even
say that
these words
have held
me and
kept me
as a
follower of
Jesus.
in those
moments where
I've wrestled
with doubt
and unbelief
in my own
soul.
And I have
wrestled with
doubt and
unbelief over
my years of
being a
Christian.
It's been
less and
less as I've
grown in the
Lord,
less often
and less
deeply,
deeply.
But I
still remember
times in
which these
words of
Peter became
my own
words in
moments where
I was feeling
confused and
doubtful and
desperate.
I remember
when I first
discovered when
I was younger
that the
Bible wasn't
written in
English.
And I began
to wonder and
doubt whether
we even have
the very words
which God
spoke.
I started
looking at the
big differences
in some of
these translations
and reading the
footnotes in
the Psalms on
some of them
where it says
that the meaning
of this Hebrew
word or phrase
is uncertain.
And doubts
began to rise
in my mind.
What if it's
all lost in
translation?
What kind of
foundation is my
faith built on?
And in the
confusion of
those moments,
these words
became my
words as I
wrestled
words?
And I
thought,
eventually I
came to that
question.
Lord, to whom
shall I go?
Where else
will I look?
There are no
other words
except your
words which
make sense of
this world,
this life,
and everything
in it.
I have come
to know that
you are the
Holy One.
I remember
the first time
I read some
of those
passages in
the Bible
that I would
be honest and
say I don't
like or I
didn't like.
Reading how
God decreed
the execution
of children
in Canaan
or how God
struck one of
the Levites
dead for
reaching out
his hand to
steady the
Ark of the
Covenant so
that it didn't
fall off the
ox cart.
I remember
the first time
I read in
some of the
prophets the
writings there
of God's
severe wrath
and anger
towards the
children of
Israel.
And even
passages like
this one where
Jesus says
some things
that initially
I think,
why did you
have to say
it that way?
Eat my flesh
and drink my
blood.
And here
again,
Peter's words
over the years
have become my
words.
in the
wrestling of
those moments
I come to
the question,
Lord,
to whom
shall we
go?
Nobody
else has a
better explanation
of what's
going on in
our world.
Nobody
else has a
better answer
about where
evil and
suffering come
from.
I remember
several moments
in which I
began to
entertain the
thoughts of
the alternatives.
thoughts like
maybe there is
no God.
Maybe we
are all
just part
of just
the product
of a big
explosion
that happened
long ago
and suffering
and evil
and death
are just
part of the
normal stuff
of our
natural world.
Aside from
the fact that
that view
is totally
hopeless
and depressing
and takes
all the
beauty and
purpose out
of life,
nobody who
believes that
has been able
to answer
the question
at least for
me of how
we got
there,
how we
got here.
How did
we as human
beings actually
get here in
all our
wonderful
complexity?
They will
say it's a
long,
long time
plus chance
but I look
at my hand
I think about
who I am
in all my
wonderful
complexity.
complexity
and I
just know
there's not
a chance
that it was
just chance
and time.
God,
you have
the words
which brought
life long
ago and
you have
the words
which will
bring eternal
life and
hope beyond
the grave.
I remember
a few moments
when I was
working as a
courier and
I'd be doing
my rounds at
the mall in
Edmonton
and a few
days I
thought to
myself,
what are
the chances
that the
majority of
our world
has got it
wrong and
doesn't see
the truth of
Jesus and
the truth of
what's really
happening in
our world?
How can it
be that only
a relative
few see the
truth and
know the
truth?
Why is it
that so many
think that
what I believe
is foolish
and a waste
of time?
Why can't
God just show
up in power
and glory
and convince
everyone?
I don't
like this
feeling of
being in
the mocked
minority.
Maybe I
should throw
in the towel
and be done
with it.
And here
again,
Peter's words
became my
words.
Well,
to whom
will I go?
What other
belief or view
of the world
will I adopt?
there are no
other alternatives.
Deep down
inside,
I believe
that what
Jesus says
is the
truth.
I see
something about
him that
others do
not see.
And I
would say
I know
that he
is the
Holy One
of God.
Somehow
by God's
spirit at
work within
his people,
these words
of Peter
are our
words
when we
consider
whether or
not we
should walk
out the
door on
Jesus and
just go
our own
way.
I've
come to
learn that
we,
like Peter,
I think,
realizes in
this moment,
we don't
have to
have every
answer.
We don't
have to
have every
last word
of Hebrew
poetry
translated
with
certainty
into our
own
language.
we don't
have to
like
everything
that God
decides to
do in
his own
freedom and
justice.
We just
need to
believe and
know by
the grace
of God
that Jesus
is the
Holy One
of God.
That was
enough to
keep Peter
there with
Jesus that
day.
That's enough
to keep me
here with
Jesus,
even if
everybody
else walks
away.
I believe
he does
have the
words that
lead to
eternal
life.
Do you?
Let's
imagine
ourselves in
that moment
with the
other
disciples.
Jesus
says,
there's the
door.
Do you
want to
leave too?
I know
my answer.
What's your
answer?
door.
Let's
pray.
Father in
heaven, we
thank you for
sending your
son.
And we
confess, we
do believe that
he is the
Holy One.
We also
admit that we
have doubts.
At times, we
wrestle with
things.
And we
thank you that
you are patient
with us and
gracious to
us.
Thank you
that you
bring us
around.
You convince
us.
You lead us
back to this
place where we
come to
assurance and
faith.
Help us to
grow in our
faith, Lord.
We do have
unbelief, but
help us in
it.
Guide us and
keep us.
We ask this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.