Hard Teaching

Jesus said, the spirit gives life, the flesh is no help at all.

Father, we do want your spirit to speak now.

The words I speak are no help at all unless you are at work.

So please would you speak as we hear the words of Jesus read to us.

And then as I try to explain them, please speak by your spirit to each of our hearts and draw us to Jesus.

We pray in his name. Amen.

Now, I don't know if there's a there's a phrase that I don't know if you've heard it.

You're sometimes at watermark, maybe a prayer meetings.

Twenty five in twenty twenty five.

Does that ring a bell?

Yes, some people.

Twenty five in twenty twenty five.

Yeah, so twenty five.

That's what we wanted at the start of the year.

This year we wanted to see like twenty five people become Christians and get baptized.

Something like that.

Right.

So we thought twenty twenty five.

Twenty five is a great number.

Well, we have three months left and we're not even halfway.

And I don't know what you think about it.

The truth is actually, you know, it's not that easy for people to become Christians.

There aren't you know, it's not like amazing revival in Hong Kong.

For many people, it seems to be an objection even.

Right.

Maybe you're here.

You're looking into Christianity.

Christianity.

But, you know, if this really was real, if this really was so amazing, why don't we see

millions and millions of people in Hong Kong coming to believe that?

Right.

How can it be true if so few people respond?

I don't know if you feel that sometimes.

I mean, many of us, we love more people to believe, not because we want to have more numbers

here.

We think this is amazing news.

This is the best news ever.

This is wonderful.

And so we'd love people to receive this.

And yet that's not happening.

I don't know what people need.

Do you think maybe I wish there were more miracles today?

I wish there just was more evidence, you know, maybe a better preacher.

I mean, that would help definitely.

But you know what I mean, right?

What can we do?

Well, I think today will be helpful because we're doing the second part of this long chapter.

And I guess we'll have a few guests here who weren't here last week, visitors.

It's great to have you.

But yeah, where are we?

So this is in the Gospel of John, John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

And this has been quite a momentous occasion because just now, Jesus, well, the day before

what we hear, Jesus did this amazing miracle.

It's so famous.

It's in every single Gospel.

That's the only one, actually.

It's in every Gospel where Jesus fed 5,000 people plus their families.

So 5,000 men plus their families from just one lunch.

I don't know what you would have thought, right?

If all of you, you know, maybe one of you has some sandwiches and all of us could eat

from that just because Jesus did this amazing miracle, right?

That was amazing.

And people recognize it, right?

They want to make him king.

When he then goes away, they all run after him.

The next day, they find him on the other side of the lake.

Oh, Jesus, right?

They love him.

And Jesus then wants to explain what it means.

We started looking at that a little bit last week because, well, it's a special time.

In 6, verse 4, it says it's the Passover.

The Passover is one of many times that they remember the exodus from Egypt.

The exodus from Egypt, I mean, if you have read the Bible, hopefully you've come across

that.

Maybe you haven't.

Maybe you've seen The Prince of Egypt, that movie from the late 90s.

Yeah, a wonderful story of how God's people, the Israelites, they were slaves in Egypt,

but God rescued them.

And he brought them through the desert.

And, you know, walking millions of people in the desert, how would they survive?

He gave them bread miraculously.

And now, well, this miracle just happened.

And Jesus says, well, actually, that's about me, right?

This is a picture of what I've come to do.

I've come to rescue you from slavery.

I've come to bring you home.

I'm the bread of life, the thing that's going to get you to the promised land.

And if you believe in me, you will have eternal life.

Well, I think you would expect revival, right?

Because, you know, here's the best preacher who ever lived.

And they've just had this amazing miracle.

And they're all hyped about what Jesus can do.

And so, well, I'm sure we're going to get thousands of people baptized.

Well, let's read as we continue in this chapter.

So, Margo and Iris will come up and read John chapter 6 for us.

John 6 · chapter mention

Good morning, Watermark.

The scripture reading today comes from John chapter 6, verses 35 to 71.

John 6:35–71

If you're using the church Bible, you can turn to page 838.

Starting in verse 35, we read,

Jesus said to them,

I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger,

and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have sinned me and yet do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me,

and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven,

not to do my own will,

but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me,

that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me,

but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father,

that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him

should have eternal life,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

So the Jews grumbled about him,

because he said,

I am the bread that came down from heaven.

They said,

It's not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,

whose father and mother we know.

How does he now say,

I have come down from heaven?

Jesus answered them,

Do not grumble among yourselves.

No one can come to me

unless the Father who sent me draws him,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets,

and they will all be taught by God.

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father,

except he who is from God.

He has seen the Father.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

whoever 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 that 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 the bread that I will give for the life of the world

is my flesh.

The Jews then disputed among themselves,

saying,

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

So Jesus said 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 you.

Whoever feeds on 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.

Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me,

he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven,

not like the bread the fathers ate and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread

will live forever.

Jesus said these things in the synagogue

as he taught at Capanium.

When many of his disciples heard it,

they said,

This is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it?

But Jesus,

knowing in himself

that his disciples were grumbling about this,

said to them,

Do you take offense at this?

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man

ascending to where he was before?

It is the Spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

The words that I have spoken to you

are spirit and life.

And there are some of you who do not believe.

For Jesus knew from the beginning

who those were who did not believe,

and who it was who would betray him.

And he said,

This is why I told you

that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by the Father.

After this,

many of his disciples turned back

and no longer walked with him.

So Jesus said to the twelve,

Do you want to go away as well?

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 not choose you, the twelve?

And yet one of you is a devil.

He spoke of Jesus,

the son of Simon Iscariot,

for he, one of the twelve,

was going to betray him.

This is the word of God.

All right.

Yeah, great.

Good button works.

So, I don't know what you thought.

All right.

It's really not what we'd expect.

Here's a crowd,

and they start to grumble

about what Jesus says.

Jesus talks some more,

and they start disputing,

and when Jesus is finished,

verse 16,

man, this is a hard saying, right?

Who can endure it?

And then, ultimately,

verse 66,

many of his disciples

walked away,

and no longer followed him.

They had thousands of people,

and now, well,

I don't know,

twenty, thirty?

I have no idea,

but a lot less.

And I don't know

if it's a big shock to you, right?

It's so surprising

how few people believe.

And we're not just talking

about, I don't know,

the Pharisees,

the religious leaders.

Of course,

they always don't like Jesus,

but it says

these are disciples, right?

People who started following him,

who, yeah,

who followed Jesus,

and yet they gave up.

Well, what is going on?

That is the topic

for basically today,

the next few chapters.

There's actually

quite a lot of that

in these chapters of John,

and today will be

one part of it

that, yeah,

I think is something

we should listen to

that will be helpful

in many ways.

Now,

how will I divide it up?

I'll just basically

go through it

and then make

a few applications.

I'll just divide it

by the paragraphs here,

the three times

that basically

there's a negative response

from the people

leading to this

wholesale rejection.

But there's a few

hard sayings from Jesus

that they struggle with.

So, yeah,

hard saying number one,

Jesus is from heaven.

That's what it says, right?

So he says,

well,

I'm the bread from heaven

in verse 41.

So the Jews

grumbled about him

because he said,

I am the bread

that came down

from heaven.

They said,

is not this Jesus,

the son of Joseph,

whose father and mother

we know,

how does he now say,

I have come down

from heaven?

Right?

They really struggle

with it.

He says he's come down

from heaven,

from God.

Now,

isn't this just

an honest question?

You know,

because here's this guy,

he just looks like

a normal,

you know,

Middle Eastern male,

30 years old,

and he says he's from heaven.

Of course,

that's hard to believe.

Actually,

I don't think

this is a very honest question.

I mean,

John says they're grumbling.

I don't know

if you know the word grumbling.

It's a Bible word

and actually,

it's a Bible word

that we hear a lot

in,

well,

those stories

of the Exodus

back in the Old Testament,

right?

All those people

brought out of Egypt,

what are they known for?

Well,

they're grumbling.

They complain.

They don't believe God.

They don't trust him

and actually,

as a result,

they all die

in the desert.

Grumbling already says

this is not good,

but,

I mean,

do these guys know

Jesus is special?

They do,

right?

Yesterday,

they were with

thousands of people

in the desert

and they got their

free lunch

out of nothing,

created out of

five loaves of bread,

right?

Surely,

I mean,

they wanted to make

Jesus king.

They said he's the prophet,

right?

They run to the other side

of the lake

to be with him.

They know Jesus is special.

Why are they now

complaining?

Well,

I don't know.

Exactly.

John doesn't tell us

that much,

but you can see

that there is maybe

a kind of pride

at work,

right?

Because now Jesus

says,

actually,

I'm not one of you.

I'm very different.

I don't know

how to illustrate it.

Maybe imagine

a football team,

right?

Somewhere,

some town,

they have their

local football team

and the team

is not doing well,

right?

They're losing

every game.

But then

they discover

a young man

on the street

of that town

who actually

is really good

at football

and they hire him

and now they're

winning all the games,

right?

And,

I mean,

they will really

love this new player.

It would be very

different if maybe,

I don't know,

they hire someone

from Brazil,

right,

to pay a few million

dollars and

would they like

that person?

No,

they won't.

Why not?

Because he's not

one of us,

right?

Actually,

this,

you know,

the local player

is one of us

and,

you know,

hey,

we're the Jews,

we're God's people,

we're,

here's our prophet,

rather than actually,

no,

I haven't come

from here.

I've come from

somewhere else

to save you.

I don't know

if that is what it is

but they were not

happy,

right?

And even though

they've seen

this amazing miracle,

they have amazing

evidence for Jesus,

actually,

they struggle.

Jesus isn't faced,

Jesus keeps repeating,

no,

I'm the bread of life,

you really need me,

I'm,

I've come to

rescue you,

right?

I'm really from heaven,

I'm from the father,

I mean,

that's why I can

take you there,

why can I take you there?

Well,

that's where I'm from,

right?

That's what he says

in verse,

yeah,

no one has seen

the father

except he who

comes from the father.

But,

yeah,

but then he starts

talking about,

okay,

this bread of life,

this bread that you need,

I'm sure you've heard that,

right?

It's the bread that we

saw on the screen.

Actually,

there's something

more specific,

this bread that you need

is my flesh,

right?

End of verse 51,

the bread that I will give

for the life of the world

is my flesh.

Now,

this sounds very weird

and they thought it was,

sounds very weird,

right?

The Jews then disputed

among themselves,

saying,

how can this man

give us his flesh

to eat?

Jesus doesn't

back down,

of course,

he repeats it so often,

right?

verse 53,

Jesus said 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 you.

Whoever feeds on 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.

Is the mic okay?

Seems to be fading

in and out.

Okay.

Sorry,

I have a very

old shaped head

and that's why.

Maybe this,

is this better?

Yeah,

okay,

let's try this.

I will raise him up

verse 55,

my flesh is true food,

my blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh

and drinks my blood

abides in me

and I in him.

I mean,

you can't miss it,

right?

He keeps talking

about his flesh

and blood.

Now,

what is this?

I think if you've

been around Christian things,

you know for a while,

he's talking about

his death.

I mean,

when you see

flesh and blood,

I don't know

what kind of movies

you watch,

but you know,

when you see

flesh and blood,

people die,

right?

He says,

he's going to die.

That's actually

not a weird thing

for him to say

because remember

the festival

that it was,

right?

This is,

John said,

this is the Passover time

and what do they remember

at the Passover?

Well,

how did they actually

come out of Egypt?

How did God

rescue the people

from slavery?

Well,

God said

he would punish

the Egyptians.

He would send

a plague

and every firstborn

son would die,

kind of repayment

for what the Egyptians

had done in the past.

But how would people

be protected,

right?

If every firstborn son

in every house

is going to die,

how would the

Israelite families

be protected?

And God said,

well,

you need to take

a lamb

and you kill that lamb

and you put the blood

kind of on the doorpost

and around the door

and then God

would pass over.

That's why it's called

Passover.

He would pass over

that house

because basically

there was already

a death in the house.

Someone had already

died,

something,

and so the firstborn son

did not have to die.

That was the idea,

right?

Every firstborn son

would die.

Again,

if you've seen the movie,

if you've read the story,

you probably know that.

And they didn't just

put the blood there.

What did they do?

They then had to eat

the flesh.

They had to kind of

roast the lamb

and eat the flesh.

So eating flesh

at Passover

would have made

a lot of sense to them

because it makes it

personal, right?

Okay,

here's this rescue.

God is going to rescue us

but I need to make it personal.

I need to eat it.

I need to receive it.

So I think that is just

what Jesus is saying.

Plus,

he's the Passover lamb.

And actually,

chapter 1 already said

that he was the lamb of God,

right?

He takes away

the sins of the world.

But,

you know,

if that is what he says,

it does have

certain implications,

right?

If he talks about,

okay,

my flesh and my blood

as a Passover lamb,

well,

for example,

that does mean

that his death

probably has to do

with sin,

right?

Because when God

came to

bring that plague,

it was judgment,

right?

Sin is a Bible word.

If you don't know it,

it's about our rejection

of God,

the way we just live

our own way,

even though God made us.

And,

yeah,

if God is our loving maker

who made us,

we,

you know,

we,

we,

we,

we,

you know,

it's wrong to walk away

from him.

If it's wrong to reject him.

And so we face death.

Death is the punishment

for sin.

And,

you know,

that's why all those people

in the desert died.

They,

not because of old age,

but they were judged

because they grumbled

and didn't believe

and rejected God,

right?

But Jesus says,

I can give you life.

The manna is just bread,

right?

Bread can't save you,

but I can,

because I will die

in your place,

right?

Just like the lamb

died in place

of the firstborn son,

I'm going to die

for you

in your place.

And then you don't need

to face judgment

for the things

you've done wrong.

That's basically

the point,

right?

So,

again,

it's believing

in my death

on the cross,

as John will go on

to say in the future.

Before we have to

think about it more,

I know when you heard

this chapter,

some of you will think,

hey,

isn't this communion

or something?

you know,

because he talks

about eating my flesh

and drinking my blood.

I know there's people

here from a Catholic

background,

and,

you know,

you've probably

always heard,

hey,

you need,

you know,

communion.

That is where

you really get saved

because that is

what Jesus says here.

Just,

I want to speak

to that for a minute.

I don't think

that that's the case.

I mean,

first of all,

Jesus talks about

his flesh,

not his body,

right?

What's the official

warning?

This is my body

broken for you.

I mean,

why would he use

a different word?

It doesn't really

help his point.

And also,

as you heard,

they're not actually

having any food,

right?

I mean,

if he really says,

okay,

it is about this,

why doesn't he serve it?

Actually,

the bread

was the day before.

And his whole speech

is about,

it's not about bread,

right?

It doesn't make

any sense.

Actually,

if you take

these two verses,

maybe you can see

what he means.

So,

verse 40

says,

this is the will

of my father.

Verse 40,

next picture,

yeah.

this is the will

of my father

that everyone

who looks on the

son and believes

in him should

have eternal

life.

And I will

raise him up

on the last

day.

And then verse 54,

whoever feeds

on my flesh

and drinks

my blood

has eternal

life.

And I will

raise him up

on the last

day.

So,

how do you

get eternal

life and

be raised

up?

I think the

two verses

are just saying

the same thing,

right?

Eating my flesh

is a metaphor.

It's a metaphor

for believing

because,

again,

that's what

the Passover

symbolized,

right?

When you take

it,

the flesh,

you're saying,

yes,

I need this.

You're trusting

God.

Again,

lamb chops

can't save

you.

It's just,

right?

It's not about

the flesh.

It is about

the symbolic

action that

expresses your

faith.

Again,

same with

communion.

You know,

the little

wafer and the

juice can't

give you

anything.

It's just,

you express

your faith

in Jesus'

death.

That's what

you do.

Okay?

So,

this chapter

is not about

communion.

This chapter

and communion

are both

about the

cross,

if that

makes sense.

But,

with that

aside,

what do

people think

of this?

They think

it's a

really hard

saying,

right?

Verse 60,

when many

of his

disciples heard

it,

they said,

this is a

hard saying.

Who can

listen to

it?

Right?

And I

think,

why is it

so hard?

Because of

all these

assumptions,

right?

Because the

Passover means

that you

deserve

judgment.

that you've

done wrong

and that

you're going

to die

and you

can't do

anything about

it.

That's why

Jesus had

to come

and do

something.

Right?

You can't

save yourself.

The lamb

needs to

die in

your place.

And maybe

that's very

humbling.

Right?

he says,

without this

you have

no life

in you.

It's

difficult to

hear,

right?

You have

no life.

You have

nothing if

you don't

without me.

Rescue,

yeah,

he's offering

a rescue,

but you

need to

accept that

you need

rescue.

I don't

know,

silly

example,

we had a

typhoon last

week.

And actually,

to me,

that sounded

in some ways

quite exciting.

because we

have this

river near

our house

and the

water level

would rise

by four

meters and

flood all

the cycling

paths.

I think

that would

be really

cool to

see.

So,

maybe,

what will

I do?

Shall I

build a

hut next

to the

riverbank

and just

go and

see what

it's like?

I'd love

to see

that,

right?

Well,

my guess

is if I

would do

that,

I think

the police

would come

and knock

on the

hut and

tell me,

hey,

we want

to bring

you to

a

shelter.

Now,

in a

way,

it's a

nice

offer,

but it's

a bit

humbling,

right?

Because they

are thinking

that my

hut will

not withstand

a T10.

They are

having doubts

about my

superior

engineering

skills,

right?

If I'm

proud of

what I've

done and

they tell

me,

actually,

come,

you need

help,

I don't

want to

hear that.

So,

if I'm

humble and

accept,

yeah,

accepting

rescue means

you need

to be

humble.

You need

to accept

that,

actually,

I need

help,

I can't

save

myself,

I'm

in

trouble.

And if

you don't

want to

accept

that,

yeah,

then it's

offensive,

because that

is how people

respond,

right?

Again,

the result,

yeah,

is this

mass

departure,

right?

Because then

what happens

after he's

talking about

his death

and the

cross,

well,

many of

his disciples

leave him,

verse 60,

that is a

hard saying.

Jesus says,

well,

are you

offended by

this,

right?

Verse 61,

do you

take offense

at this?

He says,

it's going

to get

even worse,

right?

He's just

said he's

going to

die.

Actually,

he's going

to die a

criminal's

death on

the cross

by the

Romans.

It's going

to get

even worse.

But,

you know,

it's the

only way.

Verse 63,

it's the

spirit who

gives life.

The

flesh is

no help

at all.

The

words that

I've spoken

to you

are spirit

and life.

And flesh

here doesn't

mean flesh

as in

Jesus'

flesh.

Flesh

means human

effort,

often in

the Bible.

And so,

human effort

is no help

at all.

You can't

save yourself,

he's saying,

right?

The only

way is

through this

message that

I'm preaching

to you,

right?

that's how

you can

have

spiritual

life,

but you

can't help

yourself.

There's

nothing you

can do

by your

human

efforts.

You need

me.

But they

don't believe

it.

And so,

verse 66,

many of

them walk

away,

and they

turn back

and no

longer

walk with

him.

They

decisively

reject

Jesus.

Only a

few

remain,

including

his 12

closest

followers.

And why?

Well,

they know

what Jesus

came to

bring,

right?

He

asked them,

hey,

do you also

want to

leave?

Verse 68,

Simon Peter

answered him,

Lord,

to whom

shall we

go?

You have

the words

of eternal

life.

Why do we

want eternal

life?

And where

can we

find it?

Only in

you.

That's what

they believe.

And that's

what they

hold on to.

And that's

why they

stay with

Jesus.

But now,

what should

we do

with this?

I hope

you can

see,

basically,

yeah,

it's the

negative

end to

this speech,

right?

This great,

the first

big gospel

explanation

in John,

and yet,

yeah,

so many

people go

away.

Well,

I want to

put a few

questions on

the screen.

I guess the

first one,

I mean,

that's what

Jesus'

question,

right?

So we have

to ask it,

will you

believe?

Will you

believe?

Jesus is

offering eternal

life,

right?

Don't miss

this.

We can

focus on

the bad

reaction,

but look

what Jesus

says,

you can

have eternal

life.

There's no

other way,

you can't

help yourself,

but I've

come to

rescue you,

I've come

down from

heaven,

and I'm

going to

die for

you.

And for

us now,

he has

done that,

right?

Such a

huge effort.

I mean,

he wouldn't

do that if

it wasn't

necessary.

So if you

are here,

do you

believe what

he says?

Do you

believe that

actually you

need Jesus?

That,

yeah,

well,

then there is

a wonderful

offer here,

that you

can have

eternal life.

You just

have to

come to

him,

you just

have to

rely on

what he

did on

the cross,

on his

death,

and you

can be

forgiven,

you can

be back

with God,

you can

have eternal

life that

starts now

in your

new relationship

and then,

yeah,

raised up on

the last

day,

that will

last forever,

right?

You just

need to

pray and

come to

him,

and Jesus

says you

really need

it.

Please do

that if

you're not,

yeah,

if that's

you,

but yet,

at the

same time,

this chapter

would ask

us,

well,

if not,

why not?

Because this

chapter is

about people

who don't

believe,

and it's

not because

they lacked

a miracle,

they had

this amazing

miracle,

right?

It's not

that they've

never met

Jesus.

I hear other

people say

that,

yeah,

if I could

just meet

Jesus

personally,

then I'll

believe.

These people,

they met

Jesus

personally.

It didn't

help,

right?

No,

the problem

was not

Jesus,

the problem

was not

the miracle,

it's the

message,

right?

People

don't want

to believe

this,

and I think

because it's

just a hard

message,

it's offensive

because of

what it says

about us,

right?

That's what

they struggle

with,

and we're

going to

see more

of that

in the

coming

two chapters.

Although

one surprise

that you

may have

if you're

thinking

about this,

the surprising

thing here

is that

Jesus'

audience,

right?

Because if

there's one

place you

would expect

a result,

well,

these are

Old Testament

Jews,

right?

They are

God's

historic

people.

I mean,

don't they

know this?

I mean,

if I go

here to,

you know,

I'm going

to stand

out at

Wong

Chuk

Hang

Station

and I'm

going to

tell people

Jesus is

the bread

of life.

You need

to eat

his flesh

and then

you'll be

raised on

the last

day.

People will

look at me

very,

like,

what are you

talking about,

right?

Because people

have no idea.

But these

people,

they knew,

right?

They know

the Bible,

they know

about sin,

they know

about judgment,

they know

about sacrifices,

they know

about the

Exodus,

they've been

celebrating it

since they

were born,

like every

day,

every month,

right?

Big festivals

every year.

And yet,

these people

are not

interested in

Jesus'

offer.

How can

it be?

How can

people with

so much

background,

you know,

maybe some

of us,

right?

You know,

some of us

grow up in

church,

and so

much background,

and yet,

people don't

believe.

That's surprising,

right?

Now,

again,

that's going

to come up

more and

more,

you know,

I want to

have it in

our minds,

hey,

what's going

on?

So that the

next few

weeks,

we can look

at that

more.

I guess

there's some

hints you

can see.

Maybe you

picked it up

in the

reading.

Ultimately,

that's because

people are

saved by

God's work,

right?

Verse 44,

Jesus says,

well,

no one can

come to

me unless

the Father

who sent

me draws

him.

Verse 65,

this is why I

told you that

no one can

come to me

unless it's

granted to

him by the

Father.

God needs

to be at

work.

God needs

to be at

work,

and otherwise

people can't

believe,

is what it

says.

That's a big

topic behind

their predestination.

I'm not going

to go into

that.

Again,

we're going

to see more

over the

coming weeks,

although if

there's something

you struggle

with,

please come

and talk

to me.

I'd love

to help

you.

The interesting

thing,

though,

is that it

means Jesus

is not

worried.

He had

15,000

people there,

now he's

got 12,

and yet he's

not worried.

He doesn't

panic.

He says,

I'm working

with my

father,

and I

trust him.

I guess

that's

something we

can do

as well.

Maybe,

I hope this

place will

be filled

with people

from Wong

Chukang.

Maybe it

won't.

We should

trust God

with that.

But I

think this

is not

just about

other people.

I think

the interesting

thing is

he shifts

from the

Jews to

the

disciples,

when many

of his

disciples

heard it.

After

this,

many of

his

disciples

turned

back.

So these

are people

who were

following

him.

These were

not people

who reject

him,

who haven't.

They're

people who

follow

Jesus.

They've

seen

Jesus,

but now

they walk

away.

Maybe the

equivalent

would be

people who

come to

church,

and they're

part of

the church,

and they

would say

they're a

Christian,

and yet at

some point

they walk

away.

So maybe

this is more

challenging

for us.

Jesus has

this good

question that

I think this

chapter would

raise.

He asks,

do you

take offense

at this?

Do we

find this

offensive?

Again,

if someone

asks if you

need help,

it kind of

applies that

you look like

you need

help.

Is that

something you

struggle with?

When Jesus

says,

well,

your efforts

helped

nothing.

We've

rejected

God,

we face

death,

and the

only one

who can

do

something

about

it

is

me.

I

have

to

come

down

from

heaven,

and I

have

to die

for you.

That's

the only

way you

can have

any

hope.

In a way,

that's so

depressing,

right?

But do

you say,

yes,

absolutely,

that's

me?

Or

actually,

do you

find it

just too

much?

And maybe

you're a

youth here,

and every

time it's

about Jesus,

every

time in

youth,

and you

get a

bit sick

of all

the talk

about sin,

and judgment,

and Jesus,

right?

Well,

maybe in

your CG,

it's always

about Jesus,