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(upbeat music) - I want to welcome you to day five of our look at John chapter six
in daily drive time devotions. Today we're going to be looking at verses 60 to 71,
following up on that long teaching of Jesus that we looked at yesterday, which I
know you're going to want to go back and read a number of times to get the challenges
in it. The Bible oftentimes has to be read again and again to see the truth, to
see the great treasure of wisdom that God has for us.

In these verses, 60 to 71, Jesus follows up in what has just happened in this
challenging teaching. And we learned some things about developing a kind of
faith that lasts longer than the moment of a miracle. We'd all rather finish
well than just start well.

A lot of people start well, only a few finish well, whether you're talking about
marriage or parenting or career or today talking about faith. I want to be a
person who finishes well. And I'm not talking about whether we'll get into
heaven or not, that's already settled or can be right now.

As you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I'm talking about how we run
the particular race of faith that God has given to us to run. Jesus offers the
same blessings to all of us, and yet some last in their faith and others do not.
I want you to last, I want you to finish well.

And these verses teach us some priceless lessons on how to last. I want today as
we walk through this, just to read through these verses and comment on them a
verse at a time as we go. So beginning in verse 60, on hearing this, many of the
disciples said, this is a hard teaching, who can accept it?

It's hard for them to hear what he said about his flesh and blood and all that
that meant. Now I want you to know, when the Bible says disciples here, this
isn't the 12 disciples he's talking about. Later it's going to talk about the 12 in
these verses.

In the Bible, the word disciples not only means the 12, it can mean any of all
the disciples, the followers. Disciple just means learner. It's a word that
means learner.

Those who were trying to learn from him in that day. So those that have been
following him a while, trying to learn from him, they said this is a hard
teaching. Verse 61, aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus
said to them, does this offend you?

They were grumbling. They weren't questioning, they were grumbling. Grumbling is
more dangerous than doubting every time.

If I have doubts and I take honest doubts to the Lord, he answers those, but
grumbling, cynical grumbling, that's focused on selfishness. You're not meeting
my needs, God. You're not doing what I want here.

It is a dangerous place to be, grumbling is, in your service for God. The Bible
again and again warns us about grumbling and Jesus warns them that day. In verse
62, Jesus goes on to say, what if you see the son of man ascend to where he was
before?

He just told him that he'd come down from heaven. The spirit, he says in verse
63, gives life. The flesh counts for nothing.

The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Jesus is saying to
them, two things to never forget about my words, they are spirit. If you don't
look for the spiritual truth in them, if you're just looking for some secret key
to a miracle, you're going to miss the point entirely.

Now notice, he didn't say they are spiritual, he said they are spirit. Jesus'
words have an entirely different quality to them than any other words, they're
God's words. There's the spiritual food that I need that you need for your soul.

They're spirit and they are life. When you think about really living, what do
you think of? A vacation, first class, a job that's really going well, a nice
house, what do you think of?

Jesus is saying, real living is right here. It's in God's word. That's where the
life that lasts is to be found.

Verse 64, yet, Jesus says, there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus
had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray
him. Jesus knew that there were some who would not last. And when Jesus says he
knew who would betray him, that's a question we can't ignore.

Why in the world would Jesus choose Judas if he knew that he would betray him?
That's what the Bible tells us here. Why would he choose him?

Because God told him to. This betrayal was a part of God's plan from the
beginning. Now, we still don't know all the reasons why he chose him.

We may know some of them, but it was in God's plan. And don't miss this. God,
because he is God, is able to do something that you and I cannot do.

God is able to use even those who are evil, even those who do not trust him as a
part of his plan. He does not do so in a way that prevents them from trusting
him. He does so knowing that they will never trust him.

Because we can't know people's hearts. I can't know people's hearts. You can't
know people's hearts.

I can't know their future as God does. I could never do this. You could never do
this.

But God does, God does. He uses even those who intend evil or whose motivation
is entirely selfish to bring him glory in the end. So Judas was chosen, and
Jesus knew that he would not last.

In verse 65, he went on to say, this is why I told you that no one can come to
me unless the Father has enabled him. Those who last are enabled by God's call
in their lives. In verse 66, here's what happened based on this difficult
teaching of Jesus.

From this time, many of the disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
They didn't last. And what kept those who ate the bread and the fish from eating
the bread of life?

They never moved beyond curiosity to commitment. They never looked past the
temporary to see the eternal. And the needs that drew them to Jesus eventually
kept them from Jesus.

They were like magnets. They were attracted to Jesus as long as he exactly lined
up with their will. But when Jesus insisted on something that was opposite to
their will, it instead repelled them because they weren't willing to let go of
what they alone wanted.

In the end, they were selfish. They were seeking just what they needed, not what
God wanted to do in their lives. Some did not last.

Some left, many left. The picture you get here is that the 12 were the only ones
that were left. And so Jesus turned to them in verse 67 and he says to them,
"You do not want to leave too, do you?

" Jesus asked the 12. Let me tell you, Jesus will ask you this question. You do
not want to leave me too, do you?

Let me tell you when this question will almost inevitably come. It will come
when something you knew God was going to do does not happen. You don't want to
leave too, do you?

It will come when a respected believer lets you down. It will come when a sin
that you thought you had under control comes back to haunt you. It will come
when his call brings you face to face with a fear in your life.

You don't want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked them the question. He didn't
leave it unasked, right to their face.

You don't want to leave, do you? Verse 68 to 69, Peter shows up. Simon Peter
answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?

"You have the words of eternal life. "We believe and know that you are the holy
one of God. " Now look closely at Peter's words.

These are the words of someone who will last. Peter lasted through the
bitterness of the cross. He lasted through his own denial of Jesus, the
embarrassment of that, and he came back after that.

He lasted through being replaced as the leader of the Jerusalem church early in
the church. He lasted through the struggles and mistakes and the controversy
that he had with Jews and Gentiles in the beginning. He lasted until he gave his
own life for Christ.

Oh, and one more thing. He lasted even through the success of having 3,000 saved
when he preached. Some people can last through failures but not through
successes.

And Peter says, "Where else? "What else? "Who else?

"Where else would we go? "You want to last? " Look at the alternatives to Jesus,
honestly.

Peter's answer here indicates that he thought about it. Where else am I going to
go? That indicates he thought about where else he might want to go.

Now that you mention it, Lord, you're not always easy to live with. The way you
treat people that we think are important, we don't like that all the time. You
say words that are hard to understand.

You do the strangest things at the strangest times, and now you've chased a
bunch of people away. There are probably some good supporters in that group. The
truth is for you and I that Satan will tell you all kinds of things will make
you happy.

He will often make things look good. He will lie to you and say, "This is what
you need. " But Peter says, "I've considered all those things.

"Where am I going to go? "You're the one I want to trust in. "Where else would I
go?

" You see, Satan will lie and say, "This is going to be good. " And when you get
involved in it, you realize that's taking me to destruction. God will not.

Satan is in the business of making rotten apples look sweet. God's in the
business of growing apple trees. He's in the business of doing things that no
one else can do.

Where else would you go? You ask yourself, "What would my life be like without
Christ? " I look at my life and I think, "What would my life be like without
Christ?

" And I have to honestly say, it would be nowhere. It would be nothing. That's
not false humility.

I've known people who I think, even if they didn't become a Christian, they
would have spent some great business leader. They would have maybe been the
president, even though they maybe didn't become a believer. I honestly look at
my life and think, without Jesus Christ, the opportunities I've had to serve
him, the opportunities that I've had to be involved in what he's doing, I would
be nothing without him.

Where else would I go? And then Peter also says, "What else? " He says, "You
have the words of eternal life.

" Now, it's amazing to me here that you didn't say you fed 5,000 or you walked
on water. He says, "It's the words. " You want to last, you listen to the words
of Jesus regularly.

And then he says, "Who else? " You're the holy one of God. You want to last.

You confess your trust in Jesus openly. You're the one that I need to trust.
Now, wouldn't it be great if this is where this chapter ended?

But there are two more verses, and they're about someone else who would not
last. Peter's confession would have been a wonderful ending, but it wouldn't
have told the whole truth. And so verses 70 and 71, then Jesus replied, "Have I
not chosen you the twelve?

And yet one of you is a devil. " He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who
though one of the twelve was later to betray him. Now, it says here he was a
devil, not the devil.

He was a devil. Satan means adversary. Devil means accuser.

He would be an accuser of Jesus. And it's one of the twelve. What does that tell
us about lasting?

Tells us you can hang out with the disciples of Jesus, still not last. You can
be close to the activities and the words of Jesus, and still not last. You can
participate in the miracles and the work of Jesus, and still not last.

There's only one way for me, for you, to guarantee a faith that lasts. Stay in
touch with the person of Jesus. It's about our relationship with him.

That's where it's at. Judas ministered with Jesus, but he never developed a
relationship with Jesus. Apostle Paul, who developed a relationship with Jesus,
a deep relationship, said at the end of his life, "I fought the fight, I
finished the race, I kept the faith.

" I want that for you. I dream of us standing together at the end, and breaking
that finish line together, with the joy of treasuring faith for a lifetime, in
our hearts, in our hands, in our lives. With that dream in our hearts, let's
talk to Jesus Christ, and just say to him, "Jesus, I want to last.

And even better than that, I know that you want me to last. You're working for
me to last in faith. Even though I get tired sometimes, I want to last.

Even though I get frustrated sometimes, I want to last. Even though I get
confused, I get tempted, I get sidetracked, Jesus, I want to last. " And so I
pray now for the grace to focus on you.

Jesus, to focus on you in a way, not that causes me to escape this world, to
escape service, to escape others, but in a way that causes me to run to this
world, to run to others, to run to service, to joyfully serve, because it's
about you, it's not about me. It's about our relationship, and living that out
of my life, and not having to impress someone else. Jesus, out of my
relationship with you, give me peace of heart, give me motivation for life, and
give me the strength to last.

I pray this in your name, amen. Well, join us next week. We're going to be
looking together at John chapter seven, including what I believe to be one of
the most dramatic teaching moments in Jesus' ministry.