False and True Disciples Part 2
John 6:66-71
Why do you stick with Jesus? I mean some of you have been Christians for a very long time. You have walked with Jesus through many seasons of life. Surely it is not because God has made your life free from troubles. You have seen good times and yes, you have seen bad times. It’s not all been smooth sailing in your life with Christ. But you stuck in there especially when things have gotten tough. You have believed through spiritual victories and you have endured even through spiritual defeats. Even when you failed God time after time, you kept on believing. You have stayed even though you saw others walk away. You have been disappointed by church leaders and betrayed by other church members, yet you persevere. Why?
Here at the end of John 6 we see the faith of a true disciple of Jesus. While false disciples abandon and betray Jesus, true disciples cannot walk away. As I read our text today, I want you to listen for that contrast: the false disciples who walk away and the true disciples who won’t go away.
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you?
62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
Did you see the difference? Last time we considered the temporary disciples who abandon Jesus. We said that they were marked by at least three characteristics:
- They take offense at difficult truth. While they were drawn by the works of Jesus, they were offended by His words.
- They are stuck in the flesh. Jesus said to them, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
- They do not believe. Their hardened hearts were not open to the truth. Outwardly they heard the words but internally had not been taught by the Father. Their unbelief showed that the Spirit had not given them life and the Father had not given them to Jesus.
So verse 66 concludes about these false disciples, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
But the opposite can be said of the true disciple of Jesus. True disciples of Jesus cannot go away.
2. True disciples abide with Jesus.
Here is the mark of the true believer: He cannot quit!
Why? Because a true disciple:
A. Knows that no one else can satisfy.
When many of the would-be disciples are walking away, Jesus turns His attention to the twelve. He asks them in verse 67, “Do you also want to go away?”
Wow, what a thing for Jesus ask! Literally the question is in the negative, “Not also you are willing to go away, (are you?)” The way the question is worded indicates that Jesus did not expect them to say, “Yes, we’re out of here, too!” He said it to test their faith. He expected them to stay.
And Simon Peter, speaking for the group, (for the eleven anyway), asks a question in reply: “Lord, to whom shall we go?” What an insightful question!
It’s a question that maybe you have asked when you have faced difficult issues. Before you turn away from Jesus because of hard truths or difficult circumstances or disappointed expectations, stop and ask yourself, “Lord, to whom shall I go?” There just aren’t a lot of other good options.
Where could they go? Well, they could go where the false disciples probably went. These fair-weather disciples who couldn’t handle Jesus’ statements about eating His flesh and drinking His blood as the requirement for eternal life went back to their Jewish heritage and religion. They thought that being the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and following the Jewish religious rules and ceremonies was good enough. They had hoped at first that Jesus would be the Messiah who would deliver them from Roman rule and usher in an age of peace and prosperity. But, when they heard His shocking teaching about giving His flesh for the life of the world and the need to eat His flesh and drink His blood, they just turned back to the religion that they always had known.
The problem with going back into their comfortable religion was that it ignored the serious reality of their sin and guilt before the holy God and their desperate need for a Savior. No amount of religious activity or good deeds can save us from sin. Only Jesus can save from sin and death through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. Man-centered religion will ultimately fail you if you turn to it.
Where else could they turn? They could go where Judas went. John twice mentions Judas (6:64, 70-71) here in the context of these disciples who turned away from Jesus. Look at verses 70-71, “Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.”
Have you ever wondered why Judas betrayed Jesus? We may not know all the reasons, but we can see a couple things that he turned to. The first was money. Later (John 12:6) John explains that Judas was in charge of the disciples’ money box and that he used to steal from it. He would betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matt. 26:15).
Perhaps, Judas had accepted the invitation to become an apostle because he saw it as a good career move. If Jesus was the promised Messiah who would conquer Israel’s enemies and reign on David’s throne, then maybe he thought that being in Jesus’ inner circle would mean power and riches.
But then Jesus began talking about giving His flesh for the life of the world and how the Jewish leaders would put Him to death and how those who followed Him must take up their cross and follow Him. That wasn’t what Judas had signed up for! So he sells out for money and power.
Was that a good place to turn? Of course not! When Judas realized that he had betrayed innocent blood, he threw the silver down in the temple and went and hanged himself (Matt. 27:3-5). Money and power never ultimately satisfy.
Peter’s question implies that there really is no one else to whom they can go. It’s a question of desperation as well as faith. “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
There is no other one to turn to. Everything else, everyone else pales in comparison to Christ.
True disciples have turned away from everything else to follow Jesus. They have seen that the world offers no good alternative to salvation in Jesus Christ. True disciples admit their desperation and their destitution apart from Christ.
Are you like Peter and the other eleven? Are you desperate for Christ because you see that you are destitute without Him?
So a true disciple knows that no one else can satisfy but Christ. Second, a true disciple:
B. Receives the words of Jesus.
Peter says in verse 68, “You have the words of eternal life.” The very thing that drove away the false disciples is the thing that draws the true disciple, the words of Jesus. The false disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (6:60 ESV). They stumbled at the words, the hard teaching of Jesus.
But the true disciple loves the words of Jesus. They look to Jesus and say with Peter, “You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus had just said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life,” (6:63). And these disciples know that to be true.
The true disciple of Jesus says to Jesus, “What you say to us has met our deepest need, has delivered us from our sins and freed us from our fears. Your words, Lord, are the most remarkable words we have ever heard. They explain us and they explain life to us. They satisfy us. Nobody speaks like you do, nobody understands life like you do. No one else has the words of eternal life.”
True disciples love the words of Jesus. Listen, the words of Jesus are not easy. They are sometimes hard to accept. But they are true. They are spirit. They are life. Jesus has the words of eternal life. In their cool depths weary souls bathe; through their pure glow, the dark passages of life are illuminated with heavenly luster; and by their fascination our wayward hearts are closely bound to Him who spoke as no one has ever spoken. As He still speaks down the long corridors of the ages, His words float towards us with undiminished beauty and force; thrilling, soothing, teaching us, and shedding light on God, and life, and death, and the world to come. They are the very words of God.
Jesus will later say (John 12:49-50), “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
I know why people stay. They say with David (Psalm 119:97), “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” They can’t hear enough. The true disciple accepts the word of Jesus as the very word of the Father, the words of eternal life. Finally a true disciple,
C. Believes and knows Jesus as the Holy One.
Notice how Peter puts it in verse 69, “Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The ESV translates that, “and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Look at the part where Peter says, “We have believed and have come to know.” The terms are roughly synonymous, but the order is important. First, we believe and then we come to know.
The world says, “Seeing is believing,” but God’s Word tells us, “Believing is the way to seeing.” We will see this especially when we get to chapter 9 when Jesus heals the man born blind. Hebrews 11:3 affirms, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Faith yields understanding, or knowledge.
What does Peter believe and know? “… you are the Holy One of God.” His confession is that Jesus is the Holy One. It is a title for God Himself as well as the Messiah. It is similar to the confession that Peter makes in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Peter is saying, “We have watched you, and we have come to see that there is nothing wrong in you. ‘You are the Holy One of God,’ you are the Sinless One. You fit the prophecies; you fulfill the predictions. You have drawn us and compelled us. You are the imcomparable Christ, thus there is no place to go.”
I have found this to be true of real Christians. Those who continue always feel this way about Jesus. Here is a wonderful statement of what these disciples were seeing in Jesus:
In Christ we have a love that can never be fathomed;
a life that can never die;
a righteousness that can never be tarnished;
a peace that can never be understood;
a rest that can never be disturbed;
a joy that can never be diminished;
a hope that can never be disappointed;
a glory that can never be clouded;
a light that can never be darkened;
a happiness that can never be interrupted;
a strength that can never be enfeebled;
a purity that can never be defiled;
a beauty that can never be marred;
a wisdom that can never be baffled;
and resources that can never be exhausted.
If you have found Jesus to be like that, where else can you go? Who else can measure up to that? This is the testimony of those who walk with him and follow him.
There are really three kinds of disciples represented in our text: (1) There are those who were initially interested in Jesus and followed Him until He started teaching some things that they didn’t like. Then they defected. (2) There are those, represented by Judas, who seem fully committed to Jesus. Judas kept up such a good front that the other disciples did not suspect that he was the betrayer. But his life ended in tragic rejection of Christ. (3) There are those, like Peter, who submit with persevering faith even to the hard teachings, because they know who Jesus really is and they cannot quit following Him.
Which group are you in?
