Losing Your Faith

John 6:59-69 | August 18, 2019

How you ever failed at something?

The story is told of a football coach that once said:

Unknown Coach

If you’ve failed so bad that they want to run you out of town, be sure to get out in front of the crowd so you can make it look like you are leading a parade.

I’m in a season of life when I’m truly praying that I have not failed.

This coming week, I will move two of my kids into college for the first time.

One of my other kids is full gear into a career and might be moving out of our house in the coming year.

And my youngest is still at home and every day looks a little more like me and acts a little more like me – which from personal experience of knowing me is very dangerous for him.

A Barna Group report released a few years ago projected that 80% of young people raised in the church will be “disengaged” from the church by the time they are 29.

What does that stat have to do with my personal hope that I have not failed?

Dr. Christian Smith is a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame and in his comprehensive study on youth and religion from a few years back he makes this penetrating note:

Christian Smith

…without question, the most important pastor a child will ever have in their life is a parent.

Parents, how are you doing at pastoring your kids?

How are you doing at shepherding their hearts toward the one, true God who made them and the only God that can save them?

Vaneetha Risner (Rise-nur) is a parent and a wife and author who lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

She directs our attention to the main issue that my daughters and my sons and any of us who grew up in the church must deal with:

Vaneetha Risner

Ask yourself if Jesus is your treasure or if you are only borrowing the faith of those around you.

Are you borrowing?

Leasing with an option to buy?

Is your faith your faith?

Jesus was cool and popular.

He was riding a high and leading a pretty good parade – there were more than 5,000 people following after him.

More than 5,000 people finding great enjoyment in watching him heal people and perform mighty miracles.

Suddenly, things changed.

It was like everyone went off to college.

And he went from 5,000 to 11 in the matter of like 70 sentences.

That would be like having 5,000 people sitting in this church service at the beginning of the sermon and then only having 11 people sitting here when the sermon is finished.

Jesus had a mega-church and then he barely had an ad-hoc church committee.

What happened?

How did his success turn into what looked like utter failure?

Let’s find out.

Listen to John 6, beginning with verse 59:

59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Jesus was teaching in the church.

What was he teaching?

Well, he had been teaching some pretty wild things.

• He was saying that he came from Heaven.
• But wasn’t he Joseph and Mary’s boy from down the street?

• He was saying that he was the Bread of life.
• But wasn’t he just a carpenter?

• He was saying that nobody gets saved unless God draws them.
• But what about being a good person and doing good works?

• He was saying that you must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
• Was he some kind of cannibal or vampire?

Why was Jesus using that kind of strong, strange language?

He doesn’t want anybody to be deceived or confused about what it means to follow him – what it means to be a Christian.

Following after Jesus is not just:

• Joining the church
• Being baptized
• Tithing
• Serving as a deacon
• Being on an ad-hoc church committee
• Teaching a Sunday School class

Following Jesus is complete devotion and total surrender.

On another day, Jesus said this:

Luke 9:23

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Jesus is saying:

“If anybody is going to come with me, they will have to die.”

Die to what?

Die to self – what does that mean?

John Piper

A Christian is not a person who believes in his head the teachings of the Bible. Satan believes in his head the teachings of the Bible!

John Piper

A Christian is a person who has died with Christ, whose stiff neck has been broken, whose brazen forehead has been shattered, whose stony heart has been crushed, whose pride has been slain, and whose life is now mastered by Jesus Christ.

That is not necessarily easy on the ears, and it’s not really intended to be.

Jesus was in the church teaching some very difficult things.

The general church culture vibe is a desire for good, positive, encouraging messages.

The idea is something like:

“I want to go to church and feel good about myself.”

Paul warned Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

 

2 Timothy 4:4

and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Some desire culturally relevant talks and socially relevant manifestos more than they desire God’s truth.

Others desire charismatic sermons about living a good moral life and being a good citizen more than they desire God’s truth.

But what if the most culturally relevant, socially relevant, good, moral, positive, encouraging thing that we could hear is difficult?

What if saying the difficult things in church is better for our hearts and souls and minds than saying the comfortable stuff?

You see, the great thing about the Bible is that it is not a dead, useless, outdated book – it is living and active.

• It speaks to the days gone by
• It speaks to the here and now
• It speaks to the yet to come

You may not always hear what you want to hear from the Bible.

But you will hear what your soul is really thirsty and hungry for.

• You will hear words of truth
• You will hear words of life
• You will hear words of peace
• You will hear words of joy

And sometimes those words are difficult.

How are you doing with the Bible?

How are you doing with how God describes himself in the Bible?

How are you doing when the Bible challenges your opinions?

How did those following Jesus respond to his difficult words?

Listen to verse 60:

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"

The word for difficult here means something a little more like offensive.

They understood what Jesus meant.

They were not confused about the meaning.

It was difficult because they didn’t like it and they didn’t want to hear it.

It offended them that Jesus was demanding complete allegiance.

It offended them that Jesus wasn’t giving them any points for all of their good deeds and all their good works.

Let me modernize this a bit for us:

• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my family to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my house to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my car to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my education to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my job to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my vacation to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my sports to him?”
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my retirement to him?
• “How dare Jesus demand that I commit my money to him?”

There will be times when God’s Word will be difficult.

It might be difficult because what we read might not make sense to us at the time.

It might be difficult because it will show us that we are wrong and we need to change.

And how should we respond when we read or hear difficult things from the Bible?

This is what Jesus said:

Luke 7:23

Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.

Do you want to be blessed and happy and content and satisfied?

Then keep trusting Jesus.

• When you don’t understand, ask him for help.
• When you are scared, ask him for help.
• When you are worried, ask him for help.

But keep trusting.

• Keep resting in Jesus
• Keep loving Jesus.

Why?

Because he loved you and gave himself up for you.

What should you not do?

Listen to what happens next:

61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? 62 “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”

They weren’t sharing their thoughts out loud.

They were grumbling in their minds and murmuring to each other.

But Jesus knows all things and sees all things.

And knowing that they were grumbling and complaining and murmuring, Jesus took it all back.

He was worried that they were offended.

He felt bad that they were offended, so he backed off.

No, Jesus didn’t worry much about offending people.

He called people out for being sinfully committed to religious traditions.

He called people out for sinfully chasing after every cool, new religious fad that was out there.

He called people out for being selfish and making a really big deal out of things that were not important in the kingdom of God.

He still does that by the way.

Jesus doesn’t apologize – rather, he asks them:

“Are you guys having trouble with what I’m teaching now?”

“This stuff is minor compared to what’s going to happen.”

“You are really going to lose your minds when you see me rising back into the sky after I’ve been brutally executed, buried in a tomb, and risen from the grave.”

These were some of the easier things to comprehend and they weren’t getting it.

Why weren’t they getting it?

Listen to verse 63:

63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

We can’t get into our own soul and give it spiritual life and eternal salvation.

That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit deposits spiritual life into a person’s soul.

And what does the Spirit use to go about getting into our souls?

What has God chosen to use to reach the soul of a person?

His Word – the Bible.

What did Jesus just say?

“My words are spirit and life.”

A person’s soul is not quickened and stirred by:

• Logical presentations
• Charismatic preachers
• Emotional music
• Well-worded invitations

A person’s soul is quickened and stirred by the Spirit of God.

And that stirring happens through God’s Word.

That is God’s design.

• We can’t add to His design
• We can’t change His design

The Spirit stirs and we believe.

But not everyone believes.

Listen to what Jesus says next:

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 it was that would betray Him.

 

65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

They would not believe.

They loved the free bread, but they hated God’s truth.

Generally speaking, how do we make decisions in life?

We find out as much as we can because we want to be sure before we step into anything.

Salvation is different.

You believe first and then step into everything.

Many among Jesus did not believe.

And Jesus knew all of this.

• He knew who would believe him
• He knew who would reject him
• He knew who would betray him
• He knew who would follow
• He knew who would not follow

And he still knows.

He knows whose profession of faith is truly a possession of faith.

There are still people who profess to be disciples of Jesus, but when God’s Word gets difficult, they will bail.

A.W. Pink

…they may wear the badge of disciples, but he will know from their actions and speech that they are not believers!

Again, these are not easy words to hear.

But Jesus tends to lay all the cards on the table.

So, how do those folks respond?

Listen to what happens next:

66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

A disciple is a learner, but these guys didn’t want to learn anymore.

They had heard enough.

They were hitting the road.

They were great with Jesus as the miracle guy who gave them wonder bread, but they were not buying that he was the Bread of Life.

In recent months there have been a number of higher profile Christian leaders who have publicly communicated that they are struggling with Christianity or completely abandoning the Christian faith.

I came across some timely words that I think capture one way our hearts and minds need to respond to announcements like that”

Alex Chediak

…remember – we’re not saved by pastors, denominations or specific churches. We’re saved by Jesus.

Alex Chediak

The Word of God is still true, the reality of Christ’s resurrection still holds – even if the person who brought us this message no longer believes it.

Alex Chediak

It’s God who saves us, through Jesus – not the person who told us about Jesus.

When you stand before God, it will not be your denomination or your pastor’s name or your favorite Christian worship band or your parent’s name that will matter.

What will matter is this:

Is Jesus your treasure or have you only been borrowing the faith of those around you?

There were many who called themselves disciples of Jesus, but at best they were temporary disciples, not real disciples.

And many of them left when the words got tough.

But not all of them.

Listen to what happens next:

67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”

 

68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

Peter didn’t always get everything right, but he got this right.

“Jesus, where would we go?”

There’s a vibe here of:

• “We’ve looked around!”
• “We’ve tried some other stuff!”
• “We’ve looked for another Lord!”
• “We’ve looked for another philosophy!”
• “We looked for another way to heaven!”
• “We sent money to the guy on TV!”
• “We tried to be one with nature!”
• “We looked at other religions!”
• “We’ve deconstructed our Christianity!”
• “We looked at different views of science!”
• “But they all came up short!”

I love how John Piper describes Peter’s response:

John Piper

No one ever spoke like you. No one ever acted like you. No one was ever so strong and meek, so tough and tender, so authoritative and gentle, so profound and simple, so powerful and so willing to be killed,

John Piper

so just and so willing to be treated unjustly, so worthy of honor and so willing to be dishonored, so deserving of immediate obedience and so patient with people like us, so able to answer every question and so willing to remain silent under abuse,

John Piper

so capable of coming down from the cross in flaming judgment, and so committed not to use that power.

The disciples did not understand everything.

They didn’t understand why people had to go to Hell and why children died and why there was war, but they still followed.

They didn’t have it all figured out, but they still followed.

All of their problems had not disappeared, but they still followed.

They didn’t understand everything, and they still had issues.

But more importantly – most importantly – they had Jesus.

They had Jesus.

I mentioned Vaneetha Risner earlier.

Her son Paul died when he was two-months old.

Six years later she was diagnosed with a condition that will eventually require that she has full-time care because.

Six years after that devastating diagnosis, her husband left her and their children and later filed for divorce.

Let me share two thoughts from her – the first is for those of us who are struggling or have struggled and feel like we are losing our faith or that Jesus is not listening or the gospel is not true:

Vaneetha Risner

Prosperity gospel proponents have told me that if I had prayed in faith, my body would have been healed, my son would have been spared, and my marriage would have been restored.

Vaneetha Risner

It was all up to me. If I just had the faith, I would have had a better outcome. Their words have left me bruised and disillusioned, wondering what I was doing wrong.

Vaneetha Risner

But that theology is not the gospel. God’s response to our prayers is not dependent upon our worthiness but rather rests on his great mercy. Because of Christ, who took our punishment, God is always for us.

God is always for you.

The second thing I want us to hear from her is for those of you heading off to college or high school or middle school or elementary school teachers or yopro’s or single adults or middle adults or senior adults.

Vaneetha Risner

All I can do now is trust that he who made the lame walk and the blind see, who died on a cross so I could spend eternity with him, is going to do the very best thing for me.

Vaneetha Risner

It all comes down to trust. Will I trust my circumstances that constantly change? Or will I trust God who is unchanging? On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

Dow Welsh | August 18, 2019 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/just-have-more-faith

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/will-you-lose-your-faith-in-college

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/your-shattered-dreams-and-shaken-faith

https://www.boundless.org/faith/when-a-pastor-like-josh-harris-abandons-christianity/

https://www.boundless.org/faith/how-not-to-lose-your-faith-in-college/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/losing-a-child-without-losing-faith/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-does-college-cause-young-adults-to-lose-their-faith/

So have you ever failed at something ever failed at anything? A story about a coach that once said this. If you failed so bad that they want to run you out of town, be sure to get out in front of the crowd. She could make like you're leading a parade. Good word. I'm in a season of life where I am praying that I have not failed. This coming week, I will move two of my children into college dorms for the first time. One of my other kids is full gear and a career and might be moving out of our house in the next year. My youngest has a couple of years of high school left. He is starting to look a little a little more like me. He is starting to act a little more like me, which is very dangerous for him. But I'm in the season of life where there are so many things happening strategically around my kids. And and although it's fun and exciting, truthfully, it's extremely stressful because of these pictures that we have in our culture today. Pierce Here's one of those pictures. A few years ago, the barn. A group put out a report, and they were projecting that 80% of kids that grow up in the church would eventually disengage. Walk away from the church before the age of 29. So what does that have to do with me connecting my prayers to making sure I haven't failed? Well? Another report a few years ago by Professor of Sociology University of Notre Dame Dr Christian Smith in his report on youth and religion in the United States. He made this statement without question. The most important pastor a child will ever have in their life is apparent. Its appearance. How you doing at pastoring your kids? I loved Collins prayer. Earlier, he stored moxie. I love it. Moxie sees as parents. In this day and age, we we need the gospel. We need some marks. We need some strength. We need some help. Don't discourage yourselves. I mean the question. Israel, parents, grandparents, Even How are you doing at helping your children see the God who created them? And the only guy who can save them? How are you doing it? Pastoring and shepherding your kids? It's daunting, but let me just remind you that he is worthy of that time. It's It's not this guilt trip on doing a terrible job. Guess what we get to help our kids see the worth of the one true God. It's a privilege. Don't don't abandon the privilege this week. Just try to help him get good grades or just try to help them get a good job or just try to help them get out on their own. Don't don't abandon the worth of God that you can invest in your kids. He is worthy beneath their Eisner's apparent. She's a wife and author, lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She brings our attention to the main issue that my kids and anybody else has ever growing up in church really has to deal with. She says it this way. Ask yourself if Jesus is your treasure or if you are only borrowing the faith of those around you. You're borrowing leasing with an option to buy or is your faith your faith? Is it who you are in the morning? Is Jesus your treasure? Jesus was was cool. He was popular. People were following him. He was he was riding the high. He was he was really out in front of pretty good parade. There's about 5000 people following after him, 5000 people just enamored with his teaching, enamored with his miracles. They just wanted to be around Jesus. And then suddenly everything changed. It was like they all went off to college at the same time, just like immediately. There was 5000 people following Jesus and then there were 11 like in the matter of 70 sentences, 5000 to 11. Give it time. I mean, that would be like they're being 5000 people in this service at the beginning of the sermon and only 11 people left at the end of the sermon. Don't get any ideas. You might wanna bail in a few minutes, but hang in there with her. Jesus had a mega church, and then he had barely an ad hoc church committee. What happened? How in the world did this amazing success? It seems, that Jesus had with thousands of people coming after him, how did it shift to looking like he was an utter failure? Well, let's find out. Listen to John, Chapter six, beginning with verse 59. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Calpurnia. Jesus, he he grew up in church. Jesus was now teaching in church. And what was he teaching? Well, he's teaching some interesting things. Jesus was saying that he came from heaven and people were like, Wait a minute. Isn't this Joseph and Mary's kid? He says it came from heaven. Jesus was saying that he was the bread of life. People were thinking, Well, isn't he a carpenter? I'm not tracking here. Jesus was teaching that a person can be saved unless God draws them. And the people were saying, What about being a good person? What about our good works and our good deeds? And then and then Jesus really kicked it up in heights. He said, If you're going to follow after me, Jesus said You're going to eat my flesh and drink my blood And how the people like guys kind of vampire cannibal. What in the world can't follow this guy? So why was he just using this strong language? Why was he using these strange words? Well, he was not saying anything accidentally. He was using vivid words and vivid imagery to make sure that the people understood that they were not deceived, that they were not confused about what it meant to follow after him. Or we might say what it means to be a Christian following after Jesus is not just joining the church. It's not just being baptized, it's not just tithing. It's not just serving on an ad hoc church committee. It's not just teaching the Sunday school classes, not just being a pastor and elder or deacon. The picture that we have a following Jesus is one of complete devotion and total surrender a yielding of your life to him. On another day, Jesus said this Luke, 9 23 If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. The cross, by definition, was an instrument of death. And so Jesus, saying, If you're going to come and follow after me, you're going to die. Most specifically, you have to die to self. What does that mean? Die to self. How do we do? We die to ourselves. I'm sure this definition of what it means to be a Christian with you before it's it's it's clear it's difficult, but it's clear it goes like this. A Christian is not a person who believes in his head the teachings of the Bible. Satan believes in his head the teachings of the Bible. No, a Christian is a person who has died with Christ, whose stiff neck has been broken. Who's brazen? Four hit has been shattered. Who's stony Heart has been crushed, whose pride has been slain and whose life is now mastered by Jesus Christ, mastered by Jesus Christ. This past week we had the funeral service for our friend Miss Cathy Hughes, and one of the things that I read was Point. And I think it was the very last line of the poem or somewhere in the appointment. It said. It's a viewing from a believer standpoint. Now, being attorney. Me, it said, I'm now at the Masters, Cy, and you know what I was reading that Tuesday night? I thought, You know, we don't like the word master. In our culture, we don't We don't even like word boss in our culture, but the beauty of what it means to spend eternity next to the master's side because you've been mastered by his grace and mastered by his mercy. mastered by his love, mastered by his sacrifice for you in such a way that you begin to say, I'm not here to get my way. I'm not here to pursue my desires or what I think I won't I exist because Jesus gave his life for me. Now hearing that are brazen Forehead has to be shattered and ordered to be a Christian. Not really easy on the ears, right? But But it's really not supposed to be. Jesus is standing in church and he's preaching and teaching some pretty difficult things. See, generally speaking, our culture today, most people they would say, Hey, when I go to church, you know when I want a good, positive, upbeat message I want to. I want to go to church and feel good about God, and I want to feel good about myself. Gave warning to Timothy went like this. I can't empathy Chapter four for the time will come Timothy, when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled. They will accumulate for themselves, teachers and according to their own desires, and we'll turn away their ears from the truth and we'll turn aside to myths, some desire, culturally relevant talks and socially relevant manifestos Maur than they desire the Truth of God's word. Some desire charismatic sermons about living a good moral life for being a good American Maur than they desire the truth of God's word. But what if the most culturally relevant, socially relevant good moral positive message that we could possibly have was difficult? It was hard. What if the hard stuff in church was actually better for us than the comfortable stuff? You see? The great thing about the Bible is it's not a dead book. It's not outdated. It's it's living and active. It speaks to the time that has already gone by. It speaks to the time. That's right now, and it speaks to the time that is to come, and it speaks with authority, and it speaks with clarity, and it speaks with power. I may not always hear what you want to hear when you read the Bible. When you hear the Bible Preacher man, always hear what you want to hear, but your soul will hear what it is most thirsty four and what it is most hungry for, even if you don't know it you're so we'll hear words of truth. Words of life, words of love, words of joy, words of peace, words of hope, hope so Sometimes those words will be difficult. It'll be hope, but it'll be hard to hear what happens to get to the hope. So how are you doing with the Bible? How are you doing with how God describes himself, his character, his ways in the pages of his books? How are you doing at the time is that the Bible tells you your opinion is wrong. How are you doing at the time when the Bible tells you that you actually need to change and be different? How did the people respond when they heard Jesus teaching these hard things? Listen over 60 therefore, many of his disciples when they heard this sit. This is a difficult statement who can listen to it. This is in direct response to Jesus saying, Yeah, you my flash and drink my play so we'll give him a little bit here. Okay, But I said, Hey, this is this is difficult. This is heart. Who can hear this? Here's the thing. The word for difficult here in the original language it really means offensive. See, they understood what Jesus said. They weren't completely freaked out about eating flesh and drinking. But they knew that that was a picture of allegiance. It was a picture of. You really do have to die to self if you're going to follow me. They understood what he meant. They just didn't like it and they didn't want to listen to it. I don't want to hear. They were offended that Jesus would demand that kind of allegiance. They were offended that Jesus was not giving them any points for being a good Baptist and a good person and doing good deeds and good works forward. Update it for us. For modern times, we might have been sitting there. Listen. Jesus Going What's he doing? How dare Jesus demand that I commit my family to him? How dare he demand that I commit my house and my my car on my boat. My motorcycle to him? How dare Jesus command that I commit my education to him. But I commit my job to him. But I commit my weekends them that I commit what I do on vacation to him, that I commit how I act on Friday night and Saturday in the football stands to him. How dare Jesus to man that I commit my retirement to him. I'm done being commanded, retired. How dare Jesus demand that I commit my money in it. It's mine. I earned it. I'll do what I want to. So that's how we would have been thinking if we were sitting there listening to Jesus. These air difficult words. Sometimes when we read the Bible in here, the Bible, it will be difficult sometimes is difficult, because in that moment we don't quite understand. We're not really sure exactly what it means in the moment. Sometimes we we think it's difficult because we understand and we know what it's saying and we realize it's attacking our opinions, and it's telling us that we're wrong into That's difficult to. But how should we respond when we hear difficult things from the Bible? This is what Jesus said on another day, Luke 7 23 Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. Happy and blessed and content and satisfied is the person that is not easily offended when they're reading the Bible happy and blessed and content and satisfied is the person that when they're listening to a Sunday school lesson or a Bible study or sermons, they're not easily offended. When something is said that rubs them the wrong way, not because it's heresy, but because it's truth. And it's uncomfortable, happy and blessed. And content is the person that keeps trusting Jesus. He keeps loving Jesus that keeps following Jesus. Listen, when you don't understand, ask for help when you're angry. Asked for help when you're confused. Asked for help when you're sad when you're worried when you're stressed. Asked for help. But keep trusting Jesus, keep resting in Jesus and why should you do that? Why should you keep trusting in Jesus? Why should you keep loving Jesus? Why should you keep following Jesus Christian? I cannot make it any more simple than how the Bible describes it. You should keep trusting Jesus. You should keep following Jesus because he loved you and gave himself up for you. That's why that's why. So when you're sitting at your first test in a couple of weeks and school is already feeling stressful, whether you're the student or the teacher, you keep trusting Jesus because he loved you. He gave himself up for you. And when you're sitting in the doctor's office and you're waiting for the test results and you're not sure what's going on, you keep trusting Jesus. Why? Because he loved you and he gave himself up for Yeah, Jesus left the pleasures of heaven to come to Earth in a smelly manger toe to grow up in a carpenter shop to basically be silent for a couple of decades. Three decades and then and then all of a sudden, he began to set out on this unbelievable mission to rescue you. And he did it with joy. The Bible says he endured the cross and all it shame. And he did it because of the joy that was set before him. The joy that was in him toe honor God and to love you and rescue. We keep trusting because he loved us and he gave himself up for us. But that's what we do. What do we not do? Listen, what happens next for 61? But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this said to them, Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the son of man ascending to where he was before. What we don't do is grumble and wine and murmur and complain. We're going to have our moments. That's not what I'm saying, but but not as the habit of who we are. See. They weren't grumbling out loud. They were kind of grumbling in their mind. Yeah, they were. They were murmuring in their mouth. They might have been murmuring under their breath a little bit to one another. But Jesus, he knew what was in their minds. He knew what they were murmuring because Jesus knows all things all the time and Jesus. Knowing they were offended, he took it all back. He was worried when he heard him grumbling and murmuring and complained he was. He was worried he didn't want them to be offended. He felt bad that he had offended them, so he took it all back. No e kind of double down. Jesus wasn't easily worried about offending people. Jesus was pretty consistent with saying offensive things. He would challenge people for worshipping religious traditions. He would challenge people for for worshipping every cool, new religious fat that was out there. He would challenge people who would make a really big deal out of things on social media or in a church business meeting or in e mails or texts or phone calls. People would make a really big deal out of something that is not important to the kingdom of God. No, Jesus is in the habit of calling people out. Jesus was in the habit of offending people and the reality is he still is. He still calls us out. He still cause people out when they begin to put anything above him. Anything that is not worthy of praise and glory. Jesus didn't apologize. Rather, he asked them so So you all are struggling with this. Well, what's going to happen when you see me arrested When you see me beaten When you see me brutally executed When you see me buried in a cave When you see me risen from the dead When you see me rising up into the sky we could do Then if you're struggling with this, you're really going to struggle with the stuff that's coming. They were they were struggling thes things they were they were not making a connection with, they were not getting it. And why listen what happens next for 63. Jesus says. It is the spirit who gives life the flesh, profits, nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, our spirit and our life. So here's the thing. We can't crawl down into our own souls and give ourselves spiritually life. Give ourselves eternal salvation. That's something on Lee the Holy Spirit can do. And so the Holy Spirit put spiritually life into our souls. And how does the Holy Spirit go about getting spiritual life? Inner souls? What is God chosen to use to reach our souls? Well, God's choice is his word. The Bible again was Jesus, say these words, my words, their spirit and their life. A person's soul is not Quicken biological presentations. A person's soul. It's not stirred and and quickened by charismatic sermons. A person's soul is not quicken and stirred by traditional music or contemporary music. A person's soul is not quickened and stirred by a well worded invitation. A person's soul is on Lee, stirred by the Holy Spirit. It's on Lee by the spirit that a person can believe and the spirit stirs by God's design through the word through the Bible. That's God's design we can't change it, we can add to it. We can't do anything about it. That's how he designed everything. Toe work. The spirit stirs and we believe, But not everyone believes with some what happened next. But there are some of you, Jesus said, who do not believe Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were, who did not believe and who it was that would betray him. And he was saying For this reason, I've said to you that no one can come to me unless that has been granted him from the father. They wouldn't believe all these thousands of people that were following after him. They loved the free bread boy. They love the miracle where everybody got free food, but they hated God's truth. Generally speaking, how do we make decisions? How do we How do we go about making big and small decisions in life? Well, generally speaking, we way find out the information we need to know, right? We find out as much as we can and what's happening and what's going on, and then we make our decision based on the information that we've gotten, salvation is a little bit different. We believe first, and then we step into everything. It's just the opposite of how we do everything else. We don't step until we have everything almost figured out. We've got everything lined up, but salvation is the spirit quickens our heart. We we see the beauty of Jesus. We see that he loved us and gave himself up for us, and we are compelled and constrained to pursue him to follow after him. And then the rest of it comes. Many among Jesus did not believe, and therefore they didn't step in tow anything. And Jesus knew all this. Jesus knew who would believe he knew who would not. He knew who would betray him. He knew who would follow him. He knew who would not follow him. And Jesus still knows. He still knows whose profession of faith is truly a possession. Have faith. See, there are people who claim to be disciples of Jesus followers of Jesus. But as soon as God's word gets hard, are as soon as the circumstances of life get hard, let me say this life has some heart circumstances, really hard circumstances. But this week I read about two parents whose three daughters two of the three were diagnosed with this terrible disease. Their youngest has already died from it. I believe the other daughter will die from it. She died on day after her sixth birthday that the oldest daughter has not been diagnosed with the disease yet. But I'm I'm reading this story off this terrible pain and heartache and all I heard from the mom and all I heard from the dead was we know God is with us. We know the gospel mystery. We the thing that blew me away. They said we made a commitment to not miss church. I said we just didn't want anything to keep us away from the one place that would help us keep seeing the glory of God That would help us bind together with our salvation. So we just did everything we could not to miss. You know, what we do in hard times comes, you know, when the first things we do is we could come in a church. We do. It's one of the first things we do when hard things comes. I can't deal with it. I can't be there. Can I just tell you please stay with us. Please stay with us, please. Gospel is true. God is great. He is our separate. He doesn't fail. He doesn't forsake us and you will feel like all of that's a lie. So stay with us so we can help you. See, it's not it's it's why we do this. It's why the church exists. I know you. Pinks is this. There are many that may wear the badges of disciples, but God will know from their actions and speech that they're not believers again. These aren't easy words to hear, but But Jesus tends to lay all his cards out on the table, right. And And in this moment, these folks are going to have to respond. Something's going to happen and they're going to have to respond. So how do they respond? Listen, over 66 as a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and we're not walking with him anymore. Disciples a learner. And they were done learning. They don't wanna learn anymore. They were hitting the road. They were they were heading out. They were great with Jesus, the miracle worker that gave him the Wonder bread. They love that good, positive, uplifting You we like that that was kind of fun, but they were not buying that Jesus was the bread of life. Listen, in recent months, some higher profile Christian leaders have publicly communicated that either they're struggling with Christianity or or some of them have completely abandoned the Christian faith. They were kind of saying out loud him, I'm losing my faith. I came across something that I think is good and timely and kind of captures at least one way. We need to respond when we hear announcements like that. This is it. Alex. Jack. Remember, we're not saved my pastors, denominations or specific churches. We're saved by Jesus. The word of God is still true. The reality of Christ. Resurrection still holds, even if the person who brought us this message no longer believes it, it's God who saves us through Jesus, not the person who told us about Jesus. Listen, when we all stand before God, it will not be your denomination or the name of your church or the name of your pastor or the name of your favorite worship band or your parents name your grandparent's name or any other name that will matter. The only thing will matter in that moment is this is Jesus, your treasure? Where are you borrowing the faith of those around him? I pray Jesus is your treasure. There are many people following after Jesus that called themselves disciples. But at best they were. They were temporary. They were not permanent. And many of them left when the words got tough. But they didn't all leave. Listen to what happens next for 67. So Jesus said to the 12 You do not want to go away also, do you? And bless Precious Peter's heart. Speaking for the rest of him, He says this Simon Peter answered in Lord, To whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of God. Much about this Peter. Don't always get everything right. But he got this right. Jesus, Just where we going to go? It almost has the vibe. We've We've looked We looked way. Look for another Lord. We look for another way to heaven. We looked at other philosophies were looked at Other religions were elected at science. We sent that guy on TV some money way went to the Middle East into, you know, a little village and God alone and tried toe Find ourselves one with nature. We deconstructed our spiritual life and everything else that we've tried always came up short. But you, Jesus, you have words of eternal life. Where else can we go? Where else can we go? I love help. Don Piper describes Peter's words here. No one ever spoke like you. No one ever acted like you. No one was ever so strong and meek, so tough and tender, so authoritative and gentle, so profound and simple, so powerful and so willing to be killed. So just and so willing to be treated unjustly, so worthy of honor and so willing to be dishonored, so deserving of immediate obedience and so patient with people like us so ableto answer every question and so willing to remain silent under abuse so capable of coming down from the cross and flaming judgment and so committed not to use that power. That's our savior. He loved us and gave himself up for us. Listen to the disciples did not understand everything they didn't. They didn't understand why people want help. They didn't understand my children died. I didn't understand what disease happened. They didn't understand why war happened, but they kept following their lives, did not suddenly get peachy and fluffy. But they kept following their life was still difficult. They still had issues, but most importantly now they had Jesus. They they had Jesus. I should earlier about beneath the rise in ER. I shared some of her story in previous sermons, or son Paul died when he was just two months old. Six years later, she was diagnosed with a condition that eventually we will acquire her toe, have full time care. She won't be able to do anything on her own, not in old age, that in the younger age, six years after her diagnosis, her husband left her and the kids and later filed for divorce. I want to share a couple of things from beneath an, and the first is for those of you who are struggling today, those who are struggling in your faith, your you feel like maybe you're losing your faith. You thinking maybe Jesus isn't listening. Or maybe the gospel is just not really the first thoughts from beneath for you. If that's where you are, she says, this prosperity. Gospel proponents have told me that if I had prayed in faith, my body would have been healed, my son would have been spared and my marriage would have been restored. It was all up to me. If I just had faith, I would have had a better outcome. Their words have left me bruised and disillusioned, wondering what I was doing wrong. But listen to this, but that theology is not the gospel. God's response to our prayers is not dependent upon our worthiness, but rather rest on his great mercy. Because of Christ who took our punishment. God is always for us. If you don't get any other sentence, get that because in the doctor's office you'll say God's not for me right now because that's not the report I wanted. And at the funeral home, you will say God's not for me because this is not what I wanted. And when you get an F on your paper, you'll say, God's not for me because I studied really hard, and when you pour your life into your spouse or your kids and they reject you, you will say God's not for me because this is not turning out the way that I thought it would. But friend, here's the deal because of Jesus Christ, because he has accepted our punishment. God is always for you. He's always for you. It's impossible for him not to be for you because of a cross. It's impossible. Your second thing. This is for those of you heading off to college this week the first time suck down third times. But there's hidden back to high school or middle school. That's for those teachers heading back toe. Any of those schools. Elementary, middle school, high school, college it's It's for the oh pros. That's for the single adults. It's for. The married adults is for the middle adults is for the senior adults. It's for anybody and everybody. This is what we need is this. All I can do now is trust that he who made the lame walk and the blind see who died on a cross so that I could spend eternity with him. All I can do now is trust that he's going to do the very best thing for me. Then she says, this it all comes down to trust. Will I trust my circumstances that constantly change, Or will I trust God who is unchanging on Christ of solid rock? I stand all other ground is sinking sand. I don't know what you're facing today. I don't know what you'll face later. I don't know if one day you'll hear me say I'm struggling with the Christian faith. I don't know. But I do know this all other ground. It's sinking sand, all of it. So may God give us the strength and the grace to stand firm on the rock of Jesus Christ. He loved you and gave himself up for you and all God's people said...Amen.