SPEAKER_00: Today is the uh season finale uh of John.
SPEAKER_00: Uh season one concludes today.
SPEAKER_00: We'll pick it up in the new year.
SPEAKER_00: We're going into our Advent series uh uh from next week that will take us up to Christmas time.
SPEAKER_00: And as we've noted, we've done three sermons in John 6, and we've noted in each of those weeks that actually John 6 starts with this huge crowd and ends with virtually nobody left.
SPEAKER_00: We go from 20,000 people to 12, that there's a uh a massive decline in the ministry effectiveness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The resistance to Jesus has mounted, uh, especially through chapter 5 into chapter 6, where we read in chapter 5 that the Pharisees were looking to put him to death, and it looks like, now at the end of chapter 6, like the resistance is willing.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember John's prologue where it talks about how the light came into the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
SPEAKER_00: Well, at the end of John 6, it looks like the darkness is winning.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like the darkness is creeping in because nobody else is there in Jesus' ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has left him.
SPEAKER_00: His earthly ministry at this point lies in tatters.
SPEAKER_00: It's true, isn't it, that at various points we look around the world and it and it feels like the darkness is winning, like resistance to Jesus is overtaking his people.
SPEAKER_00: It can seem at various times and in various seasons like God is asleep at the wheel.
SPEAKER_00: It can seem that through persecutions and injustices and tragedies, that the darkness will win.
SPEAKER_00: And in our own lives, our own failings or the horrors or tragedies of life, it can feel like the devil has a foothold.
SPEAKER_00: I use that word because it comes up in our passage.
SPEAKER_00: One of you is the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And even in our own souls, if you're a believer in Jesus, uh, one of the things that you realize has happened once you become a believer in Jesus is it's like wars declared in your soul, that there's this constant tension between the spirit and between your flesh, and it can feel at various points like your flesh is winning, that the spirit is being beaten back, that the darkness is creeping back in again.
SPEAKER_00: Where do we go at those points?
SPEAKER_00: The answer for us is that we need a very big view, a very robust view, and a very clear view of God's good, sovereign control of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Understanding that God is sovereign, that is, that He is in control of all things, that a sparrow does not fall to the ground except by the will of uh of my earthly father, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Understanding that will stabilize you through seasons where it feels like the darkness is creeping in.
SPEAKER_00: It will be a sanctuary for your soul.
SPEAKER_00: This theme of the of the sovereignty of God comes up all the way through this passage.
SPEAKER_00: The sovereignty of God is God's working in all things for his good purposes.
SPEAKER_00: It's let me draw your attention to four instances where Jesus is reinforcing God's sovereign kingly action.
SPEAKER_00: Back in verse 43 and verse 44, Jesus answered them, Do not grumble amongst yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first one.
SPEAKER_00: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
SPEAKER_00: Second, the disciples then begin to grumble in our passage in verse 63, and Jesus says, Uh, it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh is of no help at all.
SPEAKER_00: It's like your own strength, your own efforts cannot bring you to God.
SPEAKER_00: The flesh is of no use at all.
SPEAKER_00: You need the spirit of God to blow into your life.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot achieve life or create life yourself, it has to be received.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Or verse 64.
SPEAKER_00: People uh don't believe.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says, uh, there are some of you who don't believe, and verse 65, and he says, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by my father.
SPEAKER_00: And then even after Jesus, or sorry, Peter's profession to Jesus, where else will we go?
SPEAKER_00: Uh you have the words of eternal life, and we have come to know that you are the holy one of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, verse 70 answered him, Did I not choose you the twelve?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying to Peter, don't think that you've come to that realization because you finally realized it.
SPEAKER_00: It's been revealed to you.
SPEAKER_00: Did I not choose you the twelve?
SPEAKER_00: And yet one of you is the devil.
SPEAKER_00: That the thread of the sovereign action of God runs all the way through this passage.
SPEAKER_00: And it's very important for us to see, and it's very good for us to realize.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at three things about the sovereignty of God in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: First, the necessity of it, second, the comfort of it, third, the response to it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't normally do three-point sermons, but this happens to be a three-pointer.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: The necessity of the sovereignty of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need a God who is sovereign?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because of Jesus' declaration that only the Spirit of God can give life, that the flesh is no help at all.
SPEAKER_00: That is, he's saying you cannot rationalize your way into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot reason your way to faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's not to say that Christianity isn't uh unreasonable or doesn't have reasons behind it, but it's not becoming a Christian is not an intellectual decision, ultimately.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, no, no, actually, the opposite is true, that naturally, by your own reason, by your own flesh, what will happen is that you will take offense to Jesus, because that's exactly what we see here.
SPEAKER_00: People are offended by what Jesus has to say.
SPEAKER_00: So he says in verse 60, uh, or we read from John in verse 60, when many of the disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?
SPEAKER_00: That phrase, this is a hard saying, is not to say that it's intellectually difficult to understand.
SPEAKER_00: It's not saying that it's hard to get one's head around.
SPEAKER_00: The people in the ancient world would have understood the metaphor of eating flesh and drinking blood.
SPEAKER_00: No, when they say it's a hard saying, what they're essentially saying to one another is this is quite harsh of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is being pretty exclusive, saying that nobody can come to the father, come to the Father unless the Father draws them, that nobody can come to the Father unless they come to me and believe in me.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody can come to know life until they they feed on me and I'm the bread that came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: They think he's being harsh, they're offended by him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that it's intellectually uh hard to understand, it's that it's unpalatable, it's offensive.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they mean by this is a hard saying.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to tick.
SPEAKER_00: They were offended by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because it cuts across their own preferences towards self-sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: That they we all think that we can earn our way to God, that God will be pleased with our obedience and our good deeds.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says no, he completely takes the rug from under all of that thinking, and that's offensive.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying we're incapable of taking the first step towards faith without the Spirit of God blowing into our life.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see?
SPEAKER_00: They were offended in this Jewish context by the inference that Jesus is better than Moses.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, who does this guy think he is?
SPEAKER_00: We know his mother and his father, we know his brothers.
SPEAKER_00: This guy's from Nazareth.
SPEAKER_00: Does anything good come from there?
SPEAKER_00: And so they're offended by him.
SPEAKER_00: And what's more, they wanted a Jesus that they could control, one who would fill their bellies, who they could make king on their terms, who would be a king of their design and choosing, and Jesus is having none of it.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're offended by him.
SPEAKER_00: But notice who is it that's offended by Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Who is it that says, this is pretty harsh of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 60, many of his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: We've been interacting with the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: There's the crowd of the 5,000, the 5,000 men, 20,000 people.
SPEAKER_00: But then around Jesus, there is a larger crowd of disciples.
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about the 12 here, we'll get to the 12 in the minute.
SPEAKER_00: So you want to think of kind of three concentric rings.
SPEAKER_00: There's Jesus and the 12 in this inner circle, and then there's the wider group of disciples, right, who have been following him in his Galilean ministry, and then there's the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: And we're talking here about people who had followed Jesus for a while.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: There's larger crowds.
SPEAKER_00: Some people, uh, some gospel writers give the number at about 120.
SPEAKER_00: Saying that those people are the ones that leave.
SPEAKER_00: People had been following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: People were like, yes, I think Jesus is the Messiah, but things are getting harder and he's getting more offensive.
SPEAKER_00: And so they say, No, we're offended by this.
SPEAKER_00: We're going now.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, Jesus' response to them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 61, he asks this question, he says, Do you take advantage?
SPEAKER_00: Do you take offense at this?
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 62, then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?
SPEAKER_00: Son of Man is Jesus' favorite title for himself, but essentially what Jesus is saying to the disciples is, guys, if you're offended at me saying this, that the Spirit of God must bring faith, must bring life to you, if you're offended by that, it's only going to get worse.
SPEAKER_00: It's only going to get worse.
SPEAKER_00: If you're struggling with the implications of my teaching now, when I'm here on earth in gentleness and humility, how will you cope when I ascend to my throne and I show you that I am the sovereign over all creation?
SPEAKER_00: To say nothing of the fact that the way to that throne is the way of what?
SPEAKER_00: It's the way of the cross, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's offensive to the Jewish mind.
SPEAKER_00: The idea that of Messiah, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: But the idea of a crucified Messiah, a Messiah humiliated in shame and ignominy, said, guys, the way to my throne is going to be through the way of humiliation and shame and crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: If you're offended by me now, it's only going to get worse.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see?
SPEAKER_00: Our natural state, you and I, by nature of our of our birth, is to take offense at all of this.
SPEAKER_00: There is something in each of us that wants to be in charge, that doesn't like being told what to do, that prefers self-governance and self-sovereignty and self-authority rather than the submission to another, even if it is a good sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you might be already bristling at some of the things that I've been saying over the last couple of minutes.
SPEAKER_00: And that is because by nature, this is offensive to us.
SPEAKER_00: We are predisposed to taking offense to Jesus when he says, you can't do it on your own.
SPEAKER_00: You need to ask for help.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot rule yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I will ascend to my throne and I will show that I am the sovereign over all.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus says that the flesh is no help at all.
SPEAKER_00: That salvation has to be has to come from some outside initiative.
SPEAKER_00: And that outside initiative is the spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so he says in verse 63, it is the spirit who gives life.
SPEAKER_00: The flesh is no help at all.
SPEAKER_00: The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus says, the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, it's not simply the case that simply by hearing Jesus' words that we are given life in the same way that it's not so simple as just eating bread and drinking wine that automatically confers God's favor.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus is saying that his words are spirit and life when they are accepted by us and trusted and believed.
SPEAKER_00: You and I need a God who is powerful enough to change our hearts, to transform our natural dispositions and our circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: If salvation, if becoming a Christian was all on us, we would never come.
SPEAKER_00: We would never come.
SPEAKER_00: But because he loves us, he has given us his spirit and his life-laden word.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Come, take me at my word, trust me.
SPEAKER_00: We need a God who is sovereign, who is in control of all things.
SPEAKER_00: That is the necessity of the sovereign God.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know as soon as you talk about authorities, everybody can, I don't prefer it.
SPEAKER_00: But let's see why it's good.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the comfort of a sovereign God.
SPEAKER_00: Why is Judas here?
SPEAKER_00: Judas hasn't been mentioned yet in the Gospels, and yet he's uh name-checked in various ways uh in these 11 verses.
SPEAKER_00: You note them down there in uh verse 64.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we have this sovereign knowledge of Jesus in the parentheses.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew from the beginning who uh who those who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 70, he says, Uh, did I not choose you the twelve?
SPEAKER_00: And yet one of you is a devil?
SPEAKER_00: And then it gets clarified for us in verse 71.
SPEAKER_00: He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
SPEAKER_00: Why the emphasis on Judas here?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we close this section in John's Gospel by this emphasis on Judas?
SPEAKER_00: It is because it helps us to see the clear and robust sovereignty of God in the face of opposition and resistance.
SPEAKER_00: Note verse 64 again and 65.
SPEAKER_00: But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the g from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it is who would betray him.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Judas is there in the twelve, because it has been granted to him by the Father to be there.
SPEAKER_00: God put him to be there.
SPEAKER_00: All that he would do, and God put him there.
SPEAKER_00: Again, verse 70, where Jesus says, Did I not choose you?
SPEAKER_00: The twelve.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus doesn't say, I chose eleven of you.
SPEAKER_00: Eleven of you are great, but that guy, no, I chose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil.
SPEAKER_00: Why call him a devil?
SPEAKER_00: Well, again, because at this point the readers of John's gospel and us as well are thinking, well, is the devil winning?
SPEAKER_00: There's so much opposition to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There's some people that want him dead, his ministry's lying in tatters, everybody's left, including some of the people that were following him for uh for a good number for a good amount of time, and they're all gone as well, and it's just the twelve left.
SPEAKER_00: And so this question that's hanging in the air at the end of John 6 is does the devil have the upper hand?
SPEAKER_00: Is the devil winning?
SPEAKER_00: But the answer from Jesus' teaching here is no, the devil's not winning.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has him exactly where he wants him.
SPEAKER_00: He has him on a lead and has placed him right at the heart of his inner circle.
SPEAKER_00: And from there, that devil, Judas, will do exactly what God has intended him to do.
SPEAKER_00: At this point, we could tumble down a very fruitful rabbit worn and ask, well, if Judas is there to carry out the purposes of God, how can he be held responsible?
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to do that, but I will say this.
SPEAKER_00: When Judas betrays Jesus, he does so willingly, voluntarily.
SPEAKER_00: We know this from the scriptures, and we know that actually he was building up to it all the way through because you read Luke's gospel, and one of the things that you read there is that Ludus, Judas was stealing from the common purse that the disciples had all the way through Jesus' ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He was a thief.
SPEAKER_00: Judas, like all the rest, was obliged to hear the voice of the Son of God and to come to him and believe, and yet Judas did not.
SPEAKER_00: And his intent in the end was to portray the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: He did so voluntarily.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Judas is addicted to self-sovereignty and self-love.
SPEAKER_00: But God in his sovereignty uses the willful, wicked acts of sinful human beings to bring about his good purposes.
SPEAKER_00: He places Judas at the heart of the twelve, knowing that he would voluntarily betray Jesus and purposed to use that betrayal that would take Jesus to the cross, where his flesh would be torn like that bread, that the blood would flow, like that wine that he says, Come and eat my flesh and drink my blood, that that's going to happen at the cross, and Judas is going to bring it about that people might eat by faith and live forever.
SPEAKER_00: That God is going to use the wicked acts of Judas to bring about the salvation of the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way that God has always acted.
SPEAKER_00: You see that back in the book of Genesis, back with Joseph of technically colored dreamcoat flame, fame.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I close my eyes, that whole bit, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's good to see your still wick.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens at the end of the story after he was sold into slavery by his brothers, he becomes the second most powerful in the land of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, and he meets his brothers again.
SPEAKER_00: And what he says to his brothers is, You intended for evil, but God intended for good.
SPEAKER_00: You intended for evil, but God intended for good and for the saving of many lives, even those who are alive today.
SPEAKER_00: Judas intended for evil, voluntarily, willingly.
SPEAKER_00: But God, in his sovereign goodness, intended for good and for the saving of many lives.
SPEAKER_00: You sit there and you say, Mark, you said this was supposed to be a comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Haven't quite got there yet.
SPEAKER_00: How is this a comfort for us in this way?
SPEAKER_00: Not that there aren't still questions about this.
SPEAKER_00: And we did we did a two-sermon series about a year and a half ago on the sovereignty of God and human responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: You can check it out on the on the website.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that there aren't still questions about these things, but the comfort is this that when all hell breaks loose in your life and it feels like the devil is winning and that everything is out of control, you can look at Jesus and he will tell you, yes, yes, yes, there is a devil in your midst, but I've put him there.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's a devil in your midst, but I've put him there.
SPEAKER_00: I chose him and he will do my will.
SPEAKER_00: He will bring about my good purposes through you.
SPEAKER_00: I won't let him do more to you than is purposed by me.
SPEAKER_00: That you might know life through me and life to the fullest.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's a devil in your ranks, but he's not in charge.
SPEAKER_00: I am.
SPEAKER_00: You might not understand how those things can be, just as my disciples couldn't understand how my dying on the cross could save the world, but it did.
SPEAKER_00: And if I can use the injustice and suffering of that to bring about good, then I can use the devil in your ranks to bring about good and God glorifying goodness and joy in your life and in your circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The devil doesn't get to run amok in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He is under the sovereign control of the God who loves you.
SPEAKER_00: This is the comfort of the sovereign God that he uses his sovereign control not to keep you from suffering, but to keep you through suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And to see that you would come out the other side, knowing a deeper knowledge of him, having a clearer, stronger faith in him, having a more vibrant love for him, that Christ might be formed in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And you know this to be true.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been through a season of suffering, yes, it's very not, it's not very pleasant in the midst of it.
SPEAKER_00: But you look back and you say, I'm not the same person that I was.
SPEAKER_00: You look back and say, I learned more about God and about myself and about what it means to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: It clarified my values and my loves.
SPEAKER_00: It helped me to kill sin and grow in trust and faith as a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I didn't see it at the time, but I look back at this season and I've seen how Christ has formed himself in me and how he has preserved me through that season.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there was a devil in my ranks, but he didn't have ultimate control.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did, and he loves me.
SPEAKER_00: If he can use that evil to bring about the salvation of the world by his death on the cross, then I trust, I trust my sufferings, I trust those seasons to him, and I ask that he would bring about glory in my life and in those around me.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see?
SPEAKER_00: What's the alternative?
SPEAKER_00: The alternative is to say that suffering happens to you by blind indifference or by the incompetency of God, or that the devil is off a lead and he just does what he likes.
SPEAKER_00: No, the comfort of a sovereign God is that he uses the sufferings and trials that you go through to bring about his good purposes.
SPEAKER_00: And so finally, the response to the sovereign God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus turns to the twelve disciples and he asks, He says, Do you want to go away as well?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to leave too?
SPEAKER_00: This chapter opens with a question and ends with a question to the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He begins, he asks Philip at the start of John says, where are we going to get all where are we going to get bread to feed these guys?
SPEAKER_00: How will we provide for this crowd?
SPEAKER_00: And what we see there is that they're the disciples, the 12, are still thinking materially, but now actually there's been a development.
SPEAKER_00: They've seen the miracle, they've heard the teaching, and now actually faith has been aroused in the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: There's a change here.
SPEAKER_00: The Father is drawing the eleven, clarifying faith for them, helping them to see that Jesus is the one who has the words of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Note the the link between Peter, so Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go?
SPEAKER_00: You have the words of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus has said something similar on up in verse 63.
SPEAKER_00: It is the spirit who gives life.
SPEAKER_00: The flesh is no help at all.
SPEAKER_00: He understands.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that you need to note from verse 63 is that's all present tense, it's not future.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus says the spirit gives life, saying, Spirit gives you life now.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is available now.
SPEAKER_00: Just as the bread and wine nourish you now, so the spirit of God is salvation to you now.
SPEAKER_00: There is forgiveness by his grace now.
SPEAKER_00: There is change of heart now, and the disciples begin to see it.
SPEAKER_00: What's more, Peter recognizes that there's nowhere else to go to find life.
SPEAKER_00: It's as though he turns to Jesus and says, We've we've considered it.
SPEAKER_00: We've thought about going, we've thought about leaving you too.
SPEAKER_00: But when we stopped and really thought about it, there's no other Lord that surpasses you.
SPEAKER_00: There's no better salvation, no fuller meaning, there's no other philosophy.
SPEAKER_00: They all come up short.
SPEAKER_00: This is something for us all to consider.
SPEAKER_00: When we are deep in our doubts and our questions, when we are wearied by suffering and trial, one of the things to consider and to wrestle with is is there somewhere better to go?
SPEAKER_00: Is there a better Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Is there a more life-giving Lord?
SPEAKER_00: What's the alternative?
SPEAKER_00: That's essentially what Peter is saying to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Where else will we go?
SPEAKER_00: You have the words of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a better Lord to follow?
SPEAKER_00: Is it better to believe that there is no God at all?
SPEAKER_00: Does that solve the problem of suffering and evil?
SPEAKER_00: Or does it just mean that my indignation at suffering is ultimately baseless?
SPEAKER_00: That there's no meaning beyond which I can create for myself and which can be taken away by suffering in a moment?
SPEAKER_00: To whom shall we go?
SPEAKER_00: Is that a better Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Is it better to believe that we would flourish more under our own authority?
SPEAKER_00: Would that bring us more joy, a joy that cannot be taken away by suffering, rejection, or failure?
SPEAKER_00: To whom shall we go?
SPEAKER_00: Is that a better Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Is it better to walk away because you're angry at God?
SPEAKER_00: Because of your suffering in your present or in your past?
SPEAKER_00: God's big enough for your anger.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you shouldn't be angry at God, but don't let it drive you away.
SPEAKER_00: Take your anger to him.
SPEAKER_00: Is it better to walk away?
SPEAKER_00: Will that change the reality of the suffering that you've been through?
SPEAKER_00: Will that lessen the pain?
SPEAKER_00: Will that help you to go on?
SPEAKER_00: To whom shall you go?
SPEAKER_00: Is there a better Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Peter says to Jesus, we don't have all of our questions answered.
SPEAKER_00: There are things that still confuse us, provoke us, even offend us.
SPEAKER_00: But we've never met anybody like you.
SPEAKER_00: No one more tender and more gentle, and yet also more authoritative and provined.
SPEAKER_00: Someone so powerful and yet so willing to be betrayed, someone so worthy of honor and yet willing to be humiliated.
SPEAKER_00: As we close this part of John's gospel, we're left at the same sort of crossroads.
SPEAKER_00: Do you take offense at Jesus and his words and walk away, or do you come and receive spirit and life?
SPEAKER_00: Do you say I reject this teaching?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you say, Lord, this teaching's hard and it's confusing and I have questions?
SPEAKER_00: But I see that you have the words of eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: Be patient with me, Lord, uh, teach me, show me.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you say, Do you know what, Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: I'll die for my own sins.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you come in humility and faith to the one who will forgive now, nourish you now, preserve you to the end, and raise you up on the last day, as he has promised in this passage?
SPEAKER_00: Where will you go?
SPEAKER_00: Will you stick with the one who has the words of eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: Or will you take offense at Jesus?