I always feel like with that song, we need a longer pause before we move on to something else. That is a tremendous worship song.

Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will, to John chapter six. We are at the very end of John chapter six. In fact, we will finish this chapter this morning. And as we’ve studied this chapter of John’s gospel, it’s become one of my favorite. But I’ve said that every chapter so far, so I’m sure that will continue as we continue in our study of John’s gospel. And as we come to the close of this monumental chapter of God’s word, we need to take a minute to reflect on all that John has communicated to us through the, not only the actions of Jesus, but the words of Jesus in this chapter.

And as we go back to reflect on these things, we really need to begin with the end of John chapter five. And as we saw there, if you turn back a page, John chapter five in verses 46 and 47, the very end of that chapter, Jesus said, for if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? So Jesus closes in the end of John’s gospel in chapter five with those words rebuking these Jewish leaders for not in fact believing the Moses whom they claimed to follow.

And then immediately following those words, John decides to record for us the account we find here in chapter six. And we know that John said there were many other signs that Jesus did that he did not record. And that is certainly the case between John chapter five and John chapter six. There’s a good amount of time that passes in between there and there are many other things that Jesus was doing. But John decides to pick up here with the account that he does in John chapter six.

What we’ve seen in this chapter is John emphasizing for us that Jesus is greater than Moses. The Moses that they ought to have believed and therefore would believe in Jesus. Jesus is greater than that Moses. The same Moses that Jesus rebuked them for not believing in.

Because as John shows us, unlike Moses who prayed to God for the providence of bread, And God delivered bread for them in the wilderness. Jesus provided bread himself and fed 5,000 plus women and children. And unlike Moses who parted the Red Sea by the power of God, Jesus walked on the sea by his own power.

And then we came to Jesus’ sermon that follows these amazing miracles. And what we see there is something even more amazing. Jesus continually emphasizes to this crowd who was seeking more of the bread that he had given them the day before, that he is the bread of life. We’ve seen through this whole sermon, and I’ll highlight a few passages here that Jesus preached to them. over and over telling them that he is what they need, that he is the bread of life that will give them eternal life.

We saw in verses 32 and 33, Jesus then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then a few verses later, starting in verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. And then down in verse 41, therefore the Jews were grumbling about him.

Because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. A little farther down, verse 47, Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which 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 also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

And then lastly, to close this tremendous sermon, in verse 53, Jesus says 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 yourselves.’” Because he who eats 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. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will also live because of me. This is the bread. which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

That was Jesus’ sermon to them in the synagogue in Capernaum. Over and over again, Jesus repeats himself and tries to help them understand that they need him, not the bread that he provided the day before. They needed what he could give them. The bread that they wanted could give them physical life for a day. He could give them eternal life. All they had to do was come to Him and partake of Him. All they had to do was believe. He who believes has eternal life. That was it. This is what He has been driving at this whole chapter. If you believed Moses, you would believe me. And he closes with believe. He who believes has eternal life. You need to believe. This is what this is all about. This is what this sermon in the synagogue at Capernaum was all about. And last week, we began to see the reactions to this sermon. And the first reaction we saw was unbelief.

Unbelief, rejection, refusal to understand what he was saying. We saw in verse 60, therefore many of his disciples when they heard this said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? They wouldn’t believe. It was too difficult for them. Not too difficult to understand, too difficult to accept. This would mean that they were wrong this whole time. This would mean they need to change. This would mean they need to repent of their own self-righteousness and self-importance and come and submit to Him. And this is not what they wanted.

And none of this surprised Jesus. Because in verse 64, Jesus says, 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 it was that would betray him. He knew. None of this was surprising to him because he knew. Which is why he says in verse 65, for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. This is why he told them already. Because he knew they wouldn’t believe. And he wanted them to know why. He wanted us to know why.

And he was right, because in the first verse of our text this morning, verse 66, it says, as a result of this, many of his disciples went away and were no longer walking with him anymore. Many of those who looked like his followers stopped following. because they didn’t actually believe in him. And that’s what separated them from the disciples.

And this is why we see two different responses to Jesus. This is why Jesus keeps emphasizing God’s work in this. Because that’s the reason there are two responses to him. Because God is involved. And I know our focus immediately goes to, well, why didn’t God grant it to them? They were right there. Why did he let them go? They were so close to him. But what we see today shifts our focus away from the many who left to the few who stayed. And the point of all of this, the point of showing us both of these responses is that the many who left is the normal reaction. This is the default human response to Jesus.

And without the intervening work of God in our hearts, you and I would be one of the many. You and I would be one of the many who turned and left him because we don’t want to accept this. This is not what we want. But God intervenes in our hearts and opens our eyes and our ears and brings us to Him. Thanks be to God that He chooses to act and save some. What we see in our text today is the other side of the coin. We’ve seen the rejection, the unbelief. This was too difficult for them to accept, so they left.

What we have today is the response of belief, the response of the believers, the disciples, the 12. And as usual, The focus of this text, the focus of this chapter, the focus of this gospel is not the people involved. The focus is God. The focus is on God and what He’s doing and what He’s done. And so what we see in our text today in the response of the believers, what we see John lay out for us is first of all, the question. The question Jesus has for them.

And then secondly, the confession. Peter’s confession on behalf of the 12. And lastly, the cause of it all. The question, the confession, and the cause. Allow me to read our passage this morning, John chapter six, starting in verse 66, going through verse 71, the very end of this chapter. John chapter six, beginning in verse 66.

This is the word of the Lord. As a result of this, many of his disciples went away and were not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the 12, Do you also want to go?” Simon Peter answered Him, “‘Lord, 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 myself not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil. Now he was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him. What a way to end this chapter. What we see first here in verses 66 and 67 is the question, the question that Jesus has for them. But first, John removes any doubt about these crowds for us.

As a result of this, many of his disciples went away. Many of those whom they thought were true followers, many of those who were following him around like they should have, were no longer following him. They were not walking with him anymore. as a result of this, as a result of the preaching of the Lord of the universe, as a result of actually standing before your Creator and hearing Him speak the words of life to you, as a result of this very thing they left. This was not coincidental. This is why they left. They weren’t following him anymore. These false disciples, as always happens with false disciples, abandoned Jesus eventually. And they abandoned him because of his teaching in this sermon, because of his condemnation of their unbelief, because he called them out for it. As one commenter, FF Bruce, said, what they wanted he would not give, and what he offered they would not receive.

But the size of the crowd does not determine the truth of the message. A big church doesn’t equal a good church. And the message has not become any less difficult to accept today. So when the truth is preached, the same reaction ought to be expected. We shouldn’t be surprised when many walk away. Many will walk away.

But the sheep will hear His voice. And they will come to Him for more of it. And so, after watching these crowds begin to file out of this synagogue, after seeing the parking lot emptied, Jesus turns to the 12. In verse 67, Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go? Go ahead. The exit’s that way. Can you imagine, after hearing this sermon and seeing everyone leave, and Jesus turns to you and says, do you also want to go? In the Greek, this question expects a negative answer.

But Jesus here is using this as a teaching moment for the disciples. He’s using the rejection of these false followers to contrast their faith, the faith of the 12. And even the way John is writing this is highlighting this for us. This is the first time that John uses the phrase the 12. to refer to them. And John in his whole gospel doesn’t even name all of the 12 or tell us who they are. The only other time that he uses this phrase and mentions that there are in fact 12 of them is in chapter 20, one other time.

But he is telling us here that there were the 12 to emphasize for us. How few there were that stayed. They went from 5,000 men plus women and children the day before. So maybe 15,000 to 20,000 people, a stadium full, to 12. And again, Jesus knows the answer to this question. He’s asking it for their sake, not his. He knew from the beginning. So he’s asking them. You see them all leaving. Are you going to go too? And why do you think it is that you don’t want to go? We’ll answer that in a few moments.

But what we see first here is this question that sets up the whole paragraph here, the whole teaching that he is doing with them. And next we see the confession. Starting in verse 68, Simon Peter answered him. Peter speaks up, Lord, 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. As usual, Peter speaks up. Peter makes confessions like this often. He’s the spokesman for the 12. And they are true and right confessions.

In Matthew, after Jesus asked them, who do people say that I am? And they give the answer of multiple different people, Elijah, John the Baptist, many different answers. Then Jesus turns to them and says, but who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am?

And Peter answers. In Matthew 16, 16, it says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And there, also, Jesus is contrasting the answers. Contrasting the answers of true followers with those who don’t believe. Look at the difference. And here, in John 6, Peter answers by repeating what Jesus has told them.

You have eternal life. You just said you have eternal life. You came to give eternal life. He who believes in you will have eternal life. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. I haven’t heard anyone else give me this offer. There is nowhere else to go, no one else to go to.

And Peter adds in verse 69, and we have believed. and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Again, this crowd, the many that left, they were willing to accept Jesus on their terms. If he was what they wanted him to be, if he was kind of like Moses in that he’s going to give us what we need and what we want, meet our physical needs, do what Moses did, then we’ll believe. But these 12 saw Jesus for who he really is. He was much more than Moses.

There was no one else they could turn to. Where were they going to go? It was Christ alone who had the words of eternal life. Have you ever faced this question? Have you ever wondered if you should go back to who you were before you met Jesus? Wouldn’t life be easier if I just forgot all about this and lived life the way I want to?

One author I was reading as I was studying this passage brought up an example from a book that’s a favorite of mine, John Bunyan’s the Pilgrim’s Progress. In that book, John Bunyan tells the story, an allegory, of a man named Christian. Everything in that reflects something about the Christian life. At one point in the book, Christian comes face to face with the devil.

He thought about, in that moment, should I go back? How much easier it would be if I go back and escape all this conflict. But when Christian thought about it, and he thought about the armor he’d been given, he remembered that he had none for his back. He had a shield, and he had a breastplate, and he had a helmet and a sword, but he didn’t have anything for his back. So he realized that if he did turn and run, he had no protection. If he turned and ran, the devil could get him with his spear from behind. So he decided that however bad it might be to go forward, it’s worse to go back.

Think about that in the struggle of the Christian life. Do you also want to go?” What? And lose all of the protection and the benefits that I have following Jesus? That would be way worse. And that’s Peter’s answer here. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. The other option is not so good.

We have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And Peter’s confession in itself is interesting because of the two words he uses and the order that he uses them. We have believed and we have come to know. And notice the order there.

First is belief and then certainty. And that’s how it works. And that’s so contrary to the way we usually think. Usually it’s, well, if you prove it to me, then I’ll believe. If you show me something that I can verify, then I’ll believe. First, let me be certain that this is true. I don’t want to be made a fool. So let me make sure this is true before I believe.

But that’s not how it works with Christ. First, we come to him with a childlike faith. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew 18, verse three. Unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. We come to him like children.

Think about that. Think about what that means. When you were a child, why did you believe what your parents said? Was it because you examined all of the archeological evidence and did all the math deductions and you deduced that the greatest probability given all of the factors you were presented with means that they were correct? No. You believe them because they said so. That’s childlike faith.

That’s how we come to Christ. We believe because He says so. And if we demand certainty before we’ll ever come to Him, you’ll never come to Him. But the great thing is that once we do believe and we come to Him, that’s when the certainty comes. It’s not as if there is no certainty to be had, but it comes after belief. I first believed when I was five years old. I was a pretty smart kid. But there was no certainty involved. But now that I have believed for 33 years, there’s nothing more certain in my life. I believe more in Jesus Christ than in the very next breath I’m going to take.

Why? Because that’s how it works. We come to Him by faith. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, verse 3 tells us, by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Complicated things. By faith we understand how the world was made. But the evidence, the archeological evidence said it must be millions and millions of years by faith. We believe what the Bible says. By faith we understand. We understand and are convinced by our faith.

I was watching one of those little video clips from a popular podcast not that long ago. It was the Joe Rogan show, which I don’t recommend generally, but this is a good example. He had the rock star, Kid Rock, on his show for an interview. I know, hang with me. Kid Rock has recently professed faith in Christ. Actually, it’s been a little while now.

Yes, there are things still in his life that you would not approve of. But that’s generally the case with people that live a hard life and then come to Christ, so give them a little grace. But in this interview, I found it really interesting and it came to mind as I was studying this verse.

Joe Rogan, the host, asked the question, if you could get in a time machine and go back in time and meet any one person, who would it be? Kid Rock said, Jesus. I would go back and meet Jesus. Joe answered, well, what if you get there and he isn’t there? What if he never existed? Kid Rock answers, well, he’s there. Joe says, how do you know that? How do you know that? Kid Rock, famous, popular rock musician paused and he looked down.

And he looked back up and he said, because of my faith. That’s how I know he’s there. That’s how I know he’s there. Because of my faith. And the host, Joe Rogan, didn’t know what to answer. But after some silence he said, that’s actually a really great answer. Because that’s the right answer. This is Peter’s answer. We have believed and have come to know. This was Job’s answer.

Job 19, 25, as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. And at the last, he will rise up over the dust of this world. How did Job know? He never saw his Redeemer. He never saw Jesus. How did he know his Redeemer lives? He had no proof. He knew because he believed. He believed. This was David’s answer.

Psalm 27 verse 13, I would have despaired unless I was presented with the evidence. No, I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. This is what Jesus said to Martha in John chapter 11. Jesus says to her, did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?

If you believe, you will see. That’s how it works. We have believed and we have come to know that you are the chosen one of God or the Christ. We know that you’re him because we believed. That is the confession here. This is Peter’s confession. And it’s the confession of every true believer. We have believed and we have come to know.

But Jesus is not content to leave it there. There’s a few more verses in this chapter. Jesus doesn’t leave it at Peter’s confession. He doesn’t pat Peter on the back and say, good boy, Peter. Good answer. He has more to teach them. Jesus now goes on to remind them why, why they believed and have come to know. Just like he did with the unbelievers, he reminds them of the sovereignty of God. Because lastly, we see the cause, the cause of all of this. Starting in verse 70, Jesus answered them.

Did I myself not choose you? The 12, and yet one of you is a devil. Now he was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him. This is a curious verse. Why would he bring up Judas if he’s trying to show them that he knew? He’s telling them he got one wrong. No. He’s telling them that he knew. He knew and he still chose them. You might be thinking, wait a minute. I remember chapter one.

Jesus didn’t choose them. Andrew and Peter and John, they came to him. Okay, yeah, he chose Philip, but then Nathanael came, he chose him. And don’t we all see it that way at first? Don’t we all see it as though, I chose him. I’m the one who chose to follow Jesus. I made that choice. I made that decision. But Jesus is pretty clear. Did I myself not choose you, Peter? And later, After Judas leaves Jesus at the Last Supper, after he goes to betray him, in John 15, Jesus says, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would abide and so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give you.

The second time he tells them, I chose you. He chose these men. He chose the 12. He chose them to be His followers and to be His apostles. Even though it seemed like they’re the ones that followed Him, so did the many. They seemed like His followers too, but He chose them.

You see, Jesus didn’t want them to fall into the temptation that we often fall into. thinking that we did this, that I’m the one who made the right choice, that I was just a little better at figuring it out than everyone else. No, Jesus says He chose us. Ephesians 1 verse 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. He chose us in Him.

Ephesians 2.5, even when we were dead in our transgressions, unable to make a choice like dead people commonly are, even when we were dead, He made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved. Colossians 2 verse 13, and you being dead, in your transgressions, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive in Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions.” You were dead. You were dead. You may have thought that you were the one behind your coming to life, coming to Christ, but you were dead. It was God working in you the whole time.

This is what Jesus is reminding Peter of here. Yes, Peter, you answered correctly, but I myself chose you first. I chose you for this. And not only that, not only did Jesus say, I chose you, Peter, Jesus has more to say. Not only did he choose Peter, the one who answered correctly, But He is so sovereign that He tells us that He chose Judas too. He is so sovereign that He tells them that He chose them and He tells them that one of you is going to betray me. I know. I know what’s going to happen. And I still chose you 12. Did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”

And just in case we missed the point, John emphasizes again for us in verse 71, now he was speaking of Judas. In case you thought he was talking about some other devil, he was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

Yeah, you know Judas? That Judas? The Judas who betrayed him. That Judas is who he’s talking about. The Judas that hung himself and was remembered for the rest of time as a traitor. The Judas whose name went out of fashion so quickly that Jesus’ own brother changed his name to Jude. That Judas. That’s the one he means. John wants us to make sure that’s clear. The devil he’s talking about is Judas.

But Jesus wants us to know that Judas was no accident. Judas was no accident. Jesus knew he was a devil, and he is so sovereign that Judas was his devil, and he did what he was supposed to. Judas did what Jesus purposed for him to do. And that does not exonerate Judas or get him off the hook for his wicked act of betrayal. Jesus places the responsibility for that squarely at his feet. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, Jesus, again preaching, says, the Son of Man is going just as it is written of Him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. And he said that with Judas standing right there. He probably looked Judas in the eye and said, woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he was never born.

He knew. He knew the whole time. And still, He went there for me. He knew how truly wicked and awful that I am. He knew that I would sin again after all of this time. He knew me. And he still went to that terrible, awful cross that had my name on it. And he hung there for me.

Lord, to whom shall we go? These are the words of Peter. Lord, to whom shall we go? The very same Peter. who would cower and melt when a little girl asked him a couple questions. The same Peter who was such a coward that he would deny this same Jesus three times. This is the same Peter.

He knew. Jesus knew the whole time. Did I Myself not choose you? He knows you. He knows. It’s normally at this time that I give you an invitation to come to Jesus and trust Him as your Savior. But today I have one question for you. Do you also want to go? Do you? Do you have the same answer as Peter? Lord, to whom shall we go?

This same Peter, who after seeing the risen Lord, who after receiving the Holy Spirit, had the very same thing to say in Acts chapter 4, verse 12. There is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. To whom shall we go? Who else are you going to go to? He has the words of eternal life. Repent. and believe in Jesus Christ. Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer. Our God, we don’t know what to say. To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

We are so thankful and undeserving of your grace and salvation. We didn’t deserve this. We didn’t do this. But when we were dead, in our trespasses and sins. Unless you had saved us, unless you had made us alive and given us a heart of flesh, we too would be with the many who walked away.

Lord, we thank you. We don’t know why you would choose us. We don’t know why you would go to that cross for us, but we thank you that you did. God, if there is anybody here today who has not yet come to you, who has not yet surrendered to the Lord of the universe and given their life over to Christ, trusted in Him for their salvation, Lord, help them to see. To whom shall we go? There is salvation in no one else. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.