John chapter 6 today again, and conclude this great chapter as we've spent some time in it. John chapter 6, and you'll remember that this particular chapter is challenging in many respects. It challenges motivations for following. It challenges us at the heart of things, but that's what's so wonderful about it. It's drawing out faith. It's drawing out life. And sometimes to get to real people and to get to the real issues of their lives, there has to be a pressing, doesn't there? There has to be searching. This is what we sing in Psalm 139. Search me, O Lord, try me. See what offensive way is within me that I don't see. And that's what the ministry does. Sometimes people don't like that, but that's the most needful thing. And that's what the end of John 6 shows us. So we're going to read verse 60 to the end of the chapter. 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 what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It's the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is 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. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. 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 him. So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil? He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. And there it's the reading of God's word. What I love about Jesus in studying him, and I think what we see in reading him, if we're paying attention to the scriptures, is how contrary he is to our conception in modern American Christianity. Everything he does here would violate every evangelism handbook rule. Everything he does here would, at least in terms of the church growth movement and what they say actually wins the average Harry and Mary to come into your church, Jesus violates. And you have to stop when you study Jesus and think about why Jesus is doing these things. What is the message in this and why is this so important? And the initial answer that we get in looking at John 6 is that Jesus is pressing people. Jesus is pressing people. I titled the message, The Pressing Ministry of Jesus. He's not just giving light homilies. He's not just up there making everyone feel great about themselves. He's pressing people into the kingdom. And that's his goal in his preaching. And to show his power to make that so. And I think what's important today to notice in John chapter 6 is that it's in the exposure of the responses to his pressing that is an indicator as to whether we've entered the kingdom. It's a really important point that the way that we're responding to the ministry of Jesus, the way that we're responding to the word of God is that indicator as to whether we've entered into the kingdom, whether we have passed from death to life, which is a big theme in John. So my question is, is how hard could Jesus press you today? How hard could he press you? How much could he offend you? Is there a line that he could cross that he crawled so what you would feel intrusionally into your life? That he crossed so intrusionally into your heart and talked about everything that he saw and knew everything that you're doing and exposed everything about your life. Is there a point at which you would say, too much, I want my booze. Too much. Leave me alone. That's where we are today. He presses here to expose response. And that's meant to help us. It really is meant to help us and to show us his great power to save us. We have to almost enter the scene when you have things like this in John chapter 6. He has painted it so powerfully. Think for a minute here of the first century. Would you want Jesus, this Jesus? There are three questions this morning that are presented to us in the text that I sort of outline the sermon with and have us think about these three questions that are here. You'll notice here in verse 60 we read, the first question is, this is a hard saying, who can understand this? So you have confusion, which really isn't confusion, but we'll title it confusion. The second question comes in verse 61 by Jesus himself. in response to this. Does this offend you? Does this offend you? Are you bothered with what I'm saying to you? Are you pressed too uncomfortably? Are these teachings too hard? So you have the offense that Jesus brings. And then comes the third question. After these get up and are frustrated with Jesus, Jesus turns and looks at his own disciples and says to them, do you want to go away also and so you have the conclusion of the matter that Jesus is pressing us to and so that's how we're looking at this today it's all come full circle here remember this is the great feeding section of John chapter 6 where Jesus has taken we've been studying this and showing all the connections from Exodus that Jesus has taken bread and he has fed the multitudes showing us how he is the fulfillment of of everything the Old Testament said about him especially in the deliverance from Exodus and why we should follow him, why he matters, why this gift from heaven is the most important gift that God has ever given and the only gift we're ever going to get. So Jesus has explained the feeding in this way. Wouldn't it be wonderful today if I could take some bread and just give you lunch after this, right? We could fill our bellies. I could have a great feeding. And I actually kind of like this scene right now because it is exactly like Jesus is preaching. I think sometimes we're so used to the walls of a church, we forget Jesus was on boats preaching. Jesus was right out in the open preaching, and masses were all on the grass. I'm way off track here, but I just had a moment, so I thought I would tell you that. This feeding that Jesus has given had nothing to do with just feeding bellies. That was the problem. He took the bread and said, I am the bread of life. This is what you need. This is the most important need that you have in this life. I have come down from heaven to give you life. I have come down from heaven. Think of John 3, 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's me, says Jesus. I'm bred to you. You all love a good meal. Life's more than that. You need salvation. So he's calling people to come to him and to be filled with him, that they might have life in him, that they might live and have it abundantly. John is a gospel of life. Jesus has been preaching this from the beginning, challenging Nicodemus with this great truth. There must be life given to your hearts because by nature they're dead. And last week he said when you receive this life, one of the blessings is that you're taught by God and the result in your life is real peace, real happiness, real joy, real satisfaction in me and my work. You know this for you gathering today. This is your bread. This is your happiness. This is why you exist. You know that in this life, everything else has failed. How can we not see that right now? But there's one, one that has sustained us with his life. There's one that's given us true joy. There's one that's comforted our hearts. There's one that's given us everything that we need. And that's what we celebrate today. What a gift the Lord's given you. But it's interesting here, not everyone saw that gift. In fact, a lot of people fought against that gift. They didn't like that gift. One thing set them off. Remember what he said? Set them off to complaining. The long history of Israel was again paralleled here. And Jesus had stepped up the teaching somewhat, didn't he? They break out in a fight when he said something. They are quarreling. They are complaining. And it was over this. how can this man give us his flesh to eat? He said something astonishing last time. If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you won't live. We always kind of want to explain that away at this point, I think, as we're going through John's gospel. And we say, well, he didn't mean this, and he didn't mean this, and we lose the effect of it. They knew exactly what he was saying. You must eat me. The question is how? And the reformers labored to explain all these things. They got really angry at that. We've seen the progression here from complaining to quarreling to fighting to departure. There's always a path that people are on when they're exiting the kingdom. And it's right here. It starts with complaining, quarreling, fighting, departure. But notice the confrontation that comes out here that's so important. What would you say to that if you heard that today? Jesus was standing here saying, listen, unless you eat me, unless you drink me, you're not going to heaven. It's going to draw out a response, isn't it? Well, this is a really big moment for when the disciples heard this. And it's interesting that John chose to say disciples. You had the 12 disciples, and then you had multitude of disciples following. This was a direct target to say anyone following Jesus is a disciple. When many of the disciples heard this, you'll notice that choice of language there, they said, this is a really hard saying. It's an intolerable statement. Who can understand that? That's an interesting, interesting thing. Who can hear it, really? We're done listening to this nonsense. We're done listening to this stuff that is just radical and it does not make any sense to us. And this has been the issue in John, hasn't it? The issue in John is Jesus has been speaking spiritual things and unless you have the Spirit of God, you can't understand spiritual things. And that's exactly what Jesus says in verse 63 when he says, it's the Spirit who gives life, doesn't he? The flesh profits nothing. So the words that I'm speaking to you, says Jesus, notice he says that there in verse 63, are spirit and they are life. In other words, I am speaking words that unless you have the spirit, they will not result in life to you. But there's some here who don't believe, he says. So you see what he's saying, that I'm speaking from heaven things. I'm speaking spiritual words. I'm speaking in the demonstration of the spirit and a power. Paul, I think, understood that right here. when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 2, that we speak in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. I'm speaking in such a way that the natural man could never understand this. That's what makes this ministry difficult, doesn't it? We're always concerned about that. We're always concerned that anyone who comes in here, that we're not being clear and that, you know, maybe they're not going to understand it and we might drive them away. But I want to get into their minds before I go there just a minute. I'm not so convinced they didn't understand what Jesus was saying. I think they understood that he was making the clear claim that he's the only one that came down from heaven as God's Messiah, that he's the only one through whom they can be saved, that they must live in him, that they must believe in him, that everything about him they must embrace. Now, this, to a Jewish audience, had just overturned what had become an external religion. Their whole system that they had built and concocted and made, made them an alternative way of being right with God, right? This is what Paul says in Romans 10. Them not being aware of the righteousness that they need, they try to establish their own righteousness. That's what we have. And Jesus is exposing here that every redemption, every blessing of redemption that pointed to Jesus in the Old Testament, they took, they grabbed, and they thought, this is what we can do. And Jesus is coming along and saying, uh-uh. There's nothing you can do. Even the law, chapter 7, you haven't kept. He's going to have a sweeping indictment in chapter 7. None of you keeps the law. What an offense to Israel. So Jesus is saying, unless you come to me, Unless you're completely filled with me, unless you have the taste buds of your soul digest me, you can't live. My life has to flow into you. That's why I've come. You have to have a new life. You have to have union with me. You have to have life poured into you. This is what he was saying to Nicodemus when he said, first you have to be born again, Nicodemus, to enter the kingdom. None of this will ever make sense until that happens. And that's where I think now this leads to the second issue of the text where Jesus knew in himself that they were complaining about this and criticizing this, and he draws out a very crucial question at this moment. Does this offend you? The word here is fascinating. It means, does this cause you to stumble? Do I make you stumble? I was thinking, I think this is, if I can press a little bit, this is where we, I speak to me, and the church has been largely ineffective today in the ministry. We have been endlessly worried about offending people. I can't tell you in 16 years of ministry the pressure that I have felt from the church not to offend people. I can't even begin to tell you how much pressure has been on me on this point? I don't do it just to do it, and I don't want to do it. But when you're preaching as you should, it happened. We've been endlessly worried about this. And if you desire to be no offense in Christianity and something that never challenges you, and the goal is to always make people happy and make them feel good, the last thing that ever happens in ministry is what? Conviction. Then we wonder why our young people are leaving. not convicted repentance conviction about sin and the danger of the choices that are made if that stuff's avoided at all costs what happens a whole bunch of followers here who aren't truly following yes that's what john 6 is showing us and great pressure today has been put on ministries to tone it down, to make things light, to make the claims of Jesus not very exclusive. The less offensive we are, we think, the more that people will want to come and the more that people will want to accept it, to which you say, accept what? What are they accepting? We have impressed people with the claims of Jesus. And the consequence is no one ever gets mad. The consequence is no one ever gets offended. The consequence is no one ever gets mad enough to say I'm going to follow or not, you see. And you have people never pressed into the kingdom. That's American Christianity. Could it be that that's what God's dealing with right now? Every pastor feels this. Mom and dad, pastor offended me today. Yeah, we don't want to have our kids have a bad experience and hate the church. Pastor, stop. But did they need it? So the church is full of people today who never feel and get to the real issues of life. You see? It's all temporary. It's a club. It's social. And it doesn't change anyone. And people are not given true bread this way. And a lot of people are deluded as to what Christianity is. See, this is why it's so important that we understand Christianity and the word that's spoken has always been a two-edged sword. It cuts. It's meant to cut into the heart, and it's meant to divide joint and marrow. It's meant to get to the real issues and have people think about the real issues, and it's doing a work in people's lives this way when it happens. I've seen it in you. It's beautiful. But you see it in Jesus' approach here. That's why it's so important. All these people are offended, and what does he do? He says, okay, does that offend you? Well, what if you see me ascend into heaven? He just stepped it up on them. He gets more offensive. Notice that there in verse 61 and 2. Do you take offense at this? Then, what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It's the Spirit who gives life. What he's saying there is, is I am going to the cross. I'm going to be exalted to the cross, and then from the cross, I am going to go to the grave and then rise. What happens when you see that? What a moment. Remember when there was the big fight in Matthew 15 over worship, and the Pharisees were furious at Jesus because he criticized their worship, and he said, in vain do you worship me, teaching the doctrines and commandments of men. And the disciples come up to Jesus and they said, hey, did you know they were offended? And Jesus says this, every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They're blind guides and the blind lead the blind. Both will fall into the pit. Jesus had such a firm confidence that when the word was faithfully spoken, it would do its work. The intended work. That is so important for us, brethren, brothers, sisters. When the word is faithfully spoken, it will do the work that God intends for it to do. And we need to have that confidence in that. And that's why Jesus has this, John has this moment of giving us an indication that Jesus in his omniscience knew this, that he knew from the beginning those who would not believe and who would betray him. And then he just says in verse 65, that's why I said to you that no one can come to me unless it's been granted to him by the Father. The statement was the ultimate conclusion here to the chapter, and I don't think it's a coincidence that when he finally said that, they drew back and didn't follow him anymore. You'll notice that's what's said. We're done. We've had enough of this guy. We're done with the light of the world. And I don't know how many turned away that day, but it was a lot of people. So the summary point of this is this so far, put this all together, I must be brought to God sovereignly. When that happens, I'm going to be taught by God. I'm going to have real peace and joy in my life. And that's going to result in the full salvation that has been promised to me, earned by Jesus himself. Now that leads us to the great conclusion of this whole matter. Jesus now turns to his own disciples, which I believe is the heart focus of this passage. And notice what he says. He says to them, do you also want to go away? I was thinking about this a lot this week. Is the passage intended to question whether they could or whether there's no way they could go away? In other words, is the passage pressing us and really showing us that no matter how hard Jesus pressed them, nothing could drive them away from him? And then you stand back and you realize that's the power of Christ holding them. That's the effect of this. That those who are his, he can press, he can prod, he can search, he can try. They're not going anywhere from him. And so that's what Peter says. In the most precious moment in John 6, Jesus says this, he looks around and he says to them, do you also want to go away? And what does Peter say? Lord, where would we ever go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. That is Peter's greatest moment in the Gospels. I'm convinced it's his greatest moment. Before I unpack it, what Jesus said to you today, you want to go away? I've exposed your sins. I see everything you're doing. I've pressed you on the most important issues of life to come to me. Do you want to go away? Have I offended you that greatly? Do you want to go away? If Jesus asked you that question today, I thought to myself, where would we go? where do we go? What choices would I have? Would I become an atheist? Is that a choice? Would I just go home and go back to my life and never think about them again? Would I join all the efforts of the world to solve all the world's problems? Where would I go? I think that's an important question to ask. Where would you go without Jesus? Peter helps us so much here. Where could we go? Why would we ever leave you? You have the words of eternal life. And there's something that we've come to believe about you. You're the Holy One of God. You're the one. You're the Messiah. You're the eternal one. How could we walk away from you? i was thinking um the other day about the syrophoenician woman remember when um everyone's mad at jesus in matthew 15 she comes up to him and begs him for help and he seems to ignore her and then he says listen even the we don't take what's holy and throw it to the dogs Can you imagine our culture hearing that today to a woman? Could he drive her away? She says, yeah, Lord, but even the little dogs need to eat. He then says, great is your face. See her? That's what I'm after. And what he's saying to us is, I am their life. They see that. Everything that I'm saying to them, they understand, is intended to give life to them. And nothing can pluck them from my hand. That's the beauty of this passage. That's the encouragement of this passage. And Jesus says to you today, who believe the gospel, I've chosen you. I've chosen you. We're going to look at Judas. Judas is the problem in this section that we will deal with in terms of a preordained plan by God. We'll look at Judas. But the beautiful truth of John 6 is saying this to us today. The Father will have a number so great no man can number. It will be granted them to come to Jesus. He will instruct them. Great will be their peace. Great will be their joy. They will be satisfied. They will be filled. They will be happy in this life, no matter how it presses them. And they will not ever walk away from Jesus. That's power in the gospel. That's the power of Christ holding us. John 6 was never meant to be a hopeless chapter. John 6 was meant to blow our minds at the power of Jesus to save as we stay faithful to his word. That's the importance of this. And in the next chapter, he's going to say, on the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. That's the gospel. That's what Jesus has done in dying for us to save us. And that's the confidence that we have and joy of the Holy Spirit. Rejoice for your names who believe are written in heaven. Let's thank the Lord together. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word today. Thank you for your gospel. Thank you for the peace you give us. And thank you for challenging us. It would be awful if you just left us to our sins and in them, to perish in them. May we never expect ministries that are doing your work to set aside a fence. For that is the very tool you use in conviction through the law, that people might drop their knee and come to Jesus for life. Thank you for helping us on this today. And thank you for your people here who've gathered around your word and love you. It's evidence of your power in these times to keep them. Keep them, O Lord, encourage them. And may our confession be the same of Peter. Where would we ever go that you could press us and prod us and show us and convict us? We are staying because when you speak to us, oh Jesus, these are the words of life and we believe that you are the great I am. In Jesus' name, we pray these things. Amen.