Jesus and the gift of eternal life

Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he came. Thank you that he lived amongst us a fully human life. Thank you that he died on the cross. Thank you that he tasted all there is to taste of death. Thank you that he rose again, defeating sin and death. And thank you, Father, that all who believe and trust in Jesus, that you will raise us up. You will give us eternal life and raise us up.

Father, thank you for this. May your Holy Spirit bring the words of the gospel deeply into our hearts and our minds and our lives. Help us, Father, to gnaw on them and inwardly digest them. And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated. As you know, I sometimes criticize newspapers or make comments about newspapers and other things in the media. So it's important to give credit where credit is due. I don't know how many of you read the National Post editorial.

I might be the only person in the room who read the Saturday editorial in the National Post. But it must have been written by a devout Christian. I was really surprised.

So kudos to them. And if you have a chance, go online and read the official editorial of the National Post yesterday. And one of the things which they said, which was very interesting, I didn't know that we we probably all are aware of that French police officer who traded himself for a woman.

Terrorists had killed some people, was had a hostage situation. The police officer willingly traded places with the woman.

I don't know if you know this, but he was an adult convert to the Christian faith.

He was in his early to mid-30s when he gave his life to Christ.

And it was directly his widow, I was told, in the French press, it's been very public.

They just make a bit of a hint at it in the National Post editorial.

But his widow on French media has been very outspoken that it was precisely because of his Christian faith that he took that stand.

But it's quite dramatic, really, isn't it?

And the National Post editorial drew out the similarities between this police officer's story.

I keep fading in and out. Do I? Or is it just my imagination?

So anyway, it's a very interesting story.

There's a very, very clear, obviously, Eastern analogy between this man who traded places with the woman

and as a result of him trading places with this woman, she lived and he died.

And there's a very obvious sort of parallel to the Christian story, the gospel.

But, you know, the thing which, and many Christians struggle with this,

and I know not only do many Christians struggle with this,

but non-Christians struggle with it in a really, really big way.

And they say, George, well, what's up with this? Okay, what's up with this?

I get this sort of story, and it's very, very moving to hear about this police officer and his...

I know it's a story of courage. It's a story of heroism.

But what's up? Like, Jesus just died.

Like, he didn't live. Like, I mean, he just died.

I mean, we have to talk about the living part, obviously, with many non-Christians.

But he just died.

But I don't see how anything that could have happened 2,000 years ago, almost 2,000 years ago,

like why his death back then means anything to me.

And sort of usually if somebody, a non-Christian, says something like this to us,

after we get through our maybe deer-in-the-headlights look,

we often do something like saying, well, part of the big difference is that Jesus was God.

And because Jesus is God, his death has this far greater power, has this far greater reach.

It's just far more significant.

And then often what happens, they might not say this to you, but they think it.

And what they think is, what people think is this, well, what's up with that?

Like, what's up with that?

Like, how can somebody with a birth certificate and an address say they're God,

that they came down from heaven, right?

Like, how can somebody who has a birth certificate and an address say that they came down from heaven,

that they're God?

That's a pretty good question.

Do you know that that exact question is asked in the Bible?

In fact, I read an ancient biography of Jesus.

And in that ancient biography of Jesus, it's in John's ancient biography.

And John tells us the story of the resurrection.

But did you know that earlier in that gospel,

John records somebody literally saying to Jesus, what's up with this?

Like, what's up with, I mean, you got a birth certificate and an address.

I mean, that's a bit of a figure of speech.

They didn't have birth certificates back then.

But what's up with this?

So if you'd be, it's a great help.

If you turn back earlier in the gospel, Jesus actually answers this question.

And it's in John chapter 6, verse 41.

John 6:41

John chapter 6, verse 41, that they asked this question.

John 6:41

I have all sorts of things going wrong.

These aren't my normal glasses.

I left my glasses in my car.

They're very lopsided.

So if I look like a crazy professor, just pray harder for me.

So not only is my voice is going in and out, but my glasses are all askew.

So really pray hard for me.

Anyway, so back to this story.

So what's happened up to now, because remember, it's a story, right?

And so what's happened is just less than 24 hours before this, Jesus does his most public miracle.

And we talked about that last Sunday.

He does his most public miracle.

It just records that there were 5,000 men there.

But that 5,000 men means it might have been 20,000 people.

Maybe it was 25,000.

Let's just say 20,000 because it's an easy number.

And so Jesus does his most public miracle.

He, with five loaves and two fishes, he feeds 20,000 people.

And the way the miracle is set up with everybody sitting down, it would have been very obvious to the 20,000 people that Jesus had performed an unbelievable, like a spectacular miracle.

And then where the story is right now is that Jesus, because the people want to make him king, they realize that he's done this miracle.

So Jesus sort of goes up into the mountain to get away from them.

And what people don't know, only the disciples know, is that in the middle of the night, Jesus does another miracle, but only 12 people know this.

And the 12 people are those who see Jesus walking on the water and then moving the whole boat in him four miles to the shore.

But what happens is just before this, because they go looking for Jesus, they know there's no human explanation for how Jesus got from where he was to where he was.

But Jesus doesn't explain it to them.

And that's part of this conversation.

And as part of Jesus' conversation to them about what's up, because he's trying to get to the heart, he tells them, listen, don't spend your whole life just trying to get food.

I have something more to offer you.

I am the bread of life that will give you eternal life.

And that's what you should really be focusing on, not the fact that your bellies are full.

And as part of that, that he's come down from heaven to bring them life, that brings it up to 41.

And look what they say in verse 41.

So the Jewish people grumble about him.

And actually, those of you who use the old King James Version, the word they use there is murmur.

That's a great word, isn't it?

Murr.

What's going on here, right?

You know, people murmur, you know.

The person, the cash is going really slow and you murmur and you grumble.

So if you put murmur and grumble together, you get exactly what's going on.

They're murmuring, they're grumbling, they're a bit bothered.

So verse 41.

So the Jews grumble, they murmur about Jesus 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.

So they've just said what I just, they said, listen, he has a birth certificate.

And on the birth certificate, it says Joseph and Mary.

And he has an address.

In fact, at this time he lived in Capernaum.

So how can a guy, how can a guy who has a birth certificate and an address say he came down from heaven with a straight face?

Now, many of us are saying, okay, now this is going to be really interesting.

How's Jesus going to answer this question?

Well, let me tell you, he's going to disappoint everybody in the room.

He's going to disappoint all of us.

And this disappointment tells something about us.

So how does Jesus answer?

Look how he answers in verse 43.

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.

Well, 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.

He's talking about himself.

He's saying he's 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.

That's in the Exodus when the people of Israel were in the wilderness.

God did a miracle and provided a grain type substance for them every day so they wouldn't starve.

That's the manna in the wilderness.

Your fathers, verse 49, ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.

This is the bread, and he's probably pointing himself.

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.

So isn't this a bit of a disappointing answer?

Look at how he says in verse 44, if you missed it.

Verse 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

And I will raise him up on the last day.

Isn't that disappointing?

Weren't you hoping either for something like the Athanasian Creed that talks about the two natures of Christ in one person?

Weren't you maybe hoping for some argument from philosophy, some analogy from science or nature that would try to explain how it is that as God, he's lived forever, but as a human being, he was born of Mary.

Aren't you maybe hoping he could explain a little bit about the incarnation?

Aren't you hoping he could give some analogy from science or physics?

Like this is a very disappointing answer if we're honest with ourselves, aren't we?

Isn't it?

So what's going on?

Well, here's the first thing.

You have to understand, on one level, Jesus is giving a very profound answer.

On another level, he waits a year to give his real answer because his real answer is the resurrection.

If you could put up the first point, Andrew, that would be great.

His real answer is this.

The real, true, literal, actual resurrection of Jesus changes everything.

I'll say it again.

The real, true, literal, actual resurrection of Jesus changes everything.

Jesus really dying.

Jesus really decomposing in a tomb.

Jesus really resurrecting.

So the body is gone and he appears to his disciples.

And he appears to lots of different people in many different ways.

So they can't just take it as an hallucination.

And the body is never found.

Like if this has happened, it changes everything.

It changes how you think.

It means you have to reconsider everything.

It means you have to reconsider how he tells us to understand the Old Testament.

It means that we start now looking for analogies from physics or biology or biochemistry or genetics.

It changes everything.

But in the short run, this is actually what Jesus says by saying,

listen, unless the Father draws you, you can't come to me.

It's actually a very profound answer.

Why is that?

Everyone here has probably had the experience where, I don't know, it could be something like

somebody makes a comment about something about the first year of the senators.

Or they make a comment about how money works.

Or they make a comment about history.

Or they make a comment about science.

And you happen to know a lot about that subject.

And so you say to them, no, no, listen, look at the webpage.

And look, this is who the senators play.

And look at the statistics.

Or you say, look, this is how money works.

Or listen, don't blame the conservative government or the liberal government for this.

Like, look at the actual bill.

This is what it actually says.

And we've all had this experience of maybe spending 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes,

maybe half an hour, an hour,

like just actually showing the person why they're wrong and they won't change their mind.

And we go back and we say to our friends,

good grief, that person, what do we say about them?

They refuse to change their mind.

They refuse to acknowledge their wrong.

They just refuse.

Haven't we all had that experience?

They just refuse.

Well, what if that person is us?

Like, you know, we can all remember instances where somebody,

where we've done that,

but we're probably not as quick to remember the instances

where somebody spent an hour with us.

And we just refuse to change our minds.

We just refuse.

And so what Jesus is saying here,

think about how the book works, okay?

It's a book.

And so what's just happened is less than 24 hours earlier,

Jesus has fed 20,000 people from five loaves and two fishes.

And as I talked about last week,

the way the miracle is set up,

everybody's sitting down.

The men sit down.

The women sit down.

The children sit down.

They're all sitting down.

They're waiting for Jesus to do something.

It's very obvious.

He just has a basket like this.

He just has a basket.

And he just sets it down.

And he starts to break it and put it in another basket

and break it and put another basket,

break it and put another basket.

The basket goes away.

Ta-da.

Ta-da.

Ta-da.

You can just imagine people's eyes like saucers.

What on earth is going on?

And John records,

and some of the other gospel writers record,

it's the only miracle that's in all four of the gospels

other than the resurrection.

People all want to make him king after they see this.

And he has to actually go in and go up into the mountain

to get away from them.

And so what's just happened here

that we're so disappointed about Jesus's answer,

but what's just happened is Jesus is just saying to himself,

if you think about it,

one moment, these folks don't believe me.

They don't trust me after I've just taken five loaves and two fishes

and fed 20,000 people.

What's the problem?

They refuse to believe.

They refuse to believe.

They just refuse.

In fact, the part we looked at last week,

people's response was,

okay, Jesus,

do something dramatic to show us that what you're saying is true.

And Jesus must have been going,

good grief.

Like, I just fed 20,000 people from five loaves, two fishes.

They want me to do something better?

Well, he's going to do something better.

It's going to be the resurrection,

which is going to change everything.

So, but some of you might say,

okay, George, well, that explains things very, very well for me.

Thank you very much.

That's very helpful.

You know, it just is telling me that,

like, if God wanted me to be a Christian,

he'd make me a Christian.

Like, I'm off the hook.

Isn't that what Jesus says, George?

Isn't that what he says in verse 44?

Isn't that what he says, George?

You just read it.

No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him

and I will raise him up on the last day.

Well, I guess God just doesn't.

So, what, Kalish?

Is Jesus saying this to let people off the hook?

No.

Is he saying this to shame them?

We all know who the people are who refuse to believe.

We can all look and shake.

No, he's not.

He's not doing this to shame people.

Why does he say this?

He says this, if you could put up the next point.

He says this because our response should be to call out to the father

and ask him to draw you into a saving faith in Jesus.

Like he's trying to prick your conscience.

It's in a sense, remember, Jesus' words are constantly going to our heart,

the command center of where we are, that place where our will, our emotions,

our intellect, our ideas, our culture, our idols, they all,

I'm not pointing at you, by the way, just going like this,

and it's where all these things sort of come together.

And the hope is that by hearing something like this, our response is,

is Jesus talking about me?

Is that my problem?

Is my problem just that I refuse to come?

And Father, if that's my problem, please help me.

I want you to draw me to Jesus.

I want to believe.

Help my unbelief.

Father, do whatever you have to do

so I might come to faith in Jesus.

That's why Jesus says this.

But now some of you might be saying,

okay, George,

what's up with the cannibalism stuff?

Like, what's up?

Like, come on, George.

Like, is Jesus saying,

take my finger, gnaw on it for a while.

Like, here's my fingernail clippings, eat them.

I'm going to cut myself, suck my blood.

Like, come on, George.

Like, what's going on with this?

Didn't he just say, like, you got to eat and drink me?

Like, come on.

What's up?

Well, as some of you know who are Christians for a long time,

this next part is something that's divided Christians for a long time.

And I'm going to,

I talked in my blog last Sunday a little bit about it.

And that's sort of the,

I'm going to sail over the debate, okay?

I'm going to sail over the debate.

So how does Jesus respond to the cannibalism claim?

Well, let's look.

Verse 52, that's where they ask the question.

Because you see, once again,

people who are there,

they ask the cannibalism question.

It's not just us most smart, postmodern,

urban, hip, postmodern

who figure out this is a bit of an objection.

Like, just always remember when you read old books,

just because they didn't use flush toilets

doesn't mean they were dumb, okay?

People who don't use flush toilets can be way smarter than you and me.

And so they understand.

So look at verse 52.

Then the Jews then disputed amongst themselves.

They've gone from grumbling to arguing.

And they say, verse 52,

how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

So how's Jesus going to answer it?

Well, let's look what he says.

So then 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.

So he makes it worse, right?

But then he's going to do something

which isn't as obvious in English,

although this version of the Bible

that I'm reading from,

one of the translation values of the ESV

is that when the same Greek word

is used in a text,

they keep the same English word if they can.

And when the Greek word changes,

they change the English word.

It's a translation.

Every version of your Bible

has translation values.

And they're just different.

Some are better for certain situations

and some are better for others.

And so the ESV,

I happen to know this,

that's a translation value.

So in fact,

the original word changes here.

So they change the English word

to give you a bit of a clue

that something's going on.

So I'll read verse 53 again,

and then I'll read verse 54.

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.

Yuck, really, right?

But then he goes on,

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.

Notice there's this type of abiding.

In verse 57,

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.

So, what's going on?

Well, the English word,

the Greek word,

which is there for most of the verse,

which is translated here as feeds,

it can be translated in several different ways.

It has several different meanings attached to it.

One of the meanings is like ongoing consumption,

which is what they've chosen here

to translate as feeds.

It's that whatever's going on,

whatever Jesus means by this,

we're to, in a sense,

consume it daily,

day by day.

But the other two meanings are very interesting.

One of them is gnaw.

You know how like a dog gnaws on a bone?

You know how when you get,

I don't know,

you bought that really, really,

sorry vegetarians,

you brought this really, really, really

delicious barbecue chicken,

you know,

from a grocery store,

and you eat part of it one day,

and you eat the rest of it the next day,

and boy,

you sort of ate over half of it yourself

the day one,

and you're still hungry,

so you sort of gnaw

and suck on the bones,

and you gnaw on it, right?

You spend some time gnawing on it.

That's the word here.

The other word that can also be translated

is chew on it.

I'm chewing gum right now.

You can chew on it, you know?

And it's a very, very interesting,

in fact,

if you could put up the point, Andrew,

here's what Jesus is doing.

He's saying gnaw on the gospel.

Inwardly digest it day by day.

The Lord will raise you up on the last day.

I almost put it beforehand

because it's sort of the basic idea.

I don't know if you noticed,

but in this Bible text,

with this you wouldn't know it

because it's in 39 and 40,

just before I read,

but four times in this text,

Jesus says,

and I will raise him up,

and I will raise him up,

and I will raise him up,

and I will raise him up.

I will raise him up,

I will raise him up,

I will raise him up,

I will raise him up.

Four times.

And in 54,

it's the fourth time

in just 15 verses

that Jesus says this.

So he's emphasizing,

I'm going to raise you up.

What do I want to do?

What do you want to do?

Well, I'm going to raise you up,

but what do you need to do?

You need to gnaw on the gospel.

You need to inwardly digest

the gospel day by day

because you see,

Jesus is doing several things here

with this very, very gruesome type.

What it is?

It's not so much

it's a gruesome analogy,

it's a very, very physical analogy.

And here's one of the things

that we know

because we've read

the end of the story.

And if you've read

the end of the story,

Jesus rises from the dead.

Jesus rises from the dead

and we're waiting for him

to come a second time.

Hallelujah.

And so what's going on here

is that Jesus is speaking

not just to his hearers,

he's also looking down

the corridors of history

and he sees you and me

here in the room today.

And the big problem

that you and I have today

is to think that these are just ideas.

They're just stories.

They're just spiritual things.

They're just myths.

In lots of liberal religious circles,

the New Testament would just be

sort of a repository of symbols

that we use to think about God.

And our tribe,

the Anglican tribe,

we use our symbols

out of the repository of the Bible.

We pick the symbols we like

because it helps us

to think about God.

And it's a very, very common problem.

And Jesus wants to say,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

This is all about flesh.

This is going to be about,

in fact, you know, if you think,

I've used this analogy many times,

sorry for those who come

to the church a lot.

You know, it might very well be

that when Jesus is speaking

to these people,

he has pita bread

and a little bit of parsley

in his beard.

He didn't have a wife

to come and sort of do this.

Jesus, you're speaking to people.

You got bread in your beard.

Let me clean it up for you.

He didn't have a wife

or a girlfriend

to help him with that.

So he might very well

have been standing there,

talking away,

flecks of parsley

from his tabbouleh,

little bits of pita bread

stuck in his beard.

I'm the bread of heaven

that comes down

to save the life of the world.

And it's going to all be,

like he's talking about flesh,

isn't talking about the incarnation.

It's all part of this,

that John's gospel presents

that there's this,

in a sense,

one motion,

one swooping motion

of God,

the Son of God,

coming down,

taking,

and the word became,

in the beginning was the word,

and the word was with God,

and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him,

and without him,

nothing was made that was made.

In him was life,

and the life was the light of men.

And then a few verses later,

and the word became flesh,

and dwelt among us,

and we have seen his glory,

glory as of the only begotten

Son of the Father.

And there's this one movement of God,

the Son of God,

to come and take on flesh,

and live amongst us,

and die on the cross,

and physically rise from the dead,

and ascend into heaven.

It's just this one movement,

and Jesus is saying to these guys,

listen,

don't just think this is about ideas.

Don't just think this is about symbol.

This is about flesh and blood.

This is about time.

This is about history.

This is about somebody

with a birth certificate,

and an address.

And this is going to eventually be about

whips tearing flesh.

And it's going to be about

walking and falling,

and the splinters from the cross,

getting in my open wounds in my back,

and dust from the ground,

getting into the cuts in my back,

and infecting.

And it's going to be about blood

dripping down my forehead.

And it's going to be about soldiers

cursing and swearing

as they try to manage

and manhandle three of us

up onto crosses.

And it's going to be about them

gambling and laughing and mocking

and doing all the sort of thing

that rough and ready soldiers would do,

especially just to mock

and insult a captive people,

to maybe swear and curse

and do all sorts of things to offend.

And it's going to be gory.

And it's going to culminate

in a body and a grave

that decomposes.

That's what it's about.

It's about real stuff happening.

And what you need to do

is you need to gnaw on this.

You need to think about the fact that,

yes,

there's things that happen

in real space and time

that affect eternity,

that connect us to God,

the creator of all things,

the sustainer of all things.

It's connecting us to a new heaven

and a new earth.

These things came down

and walked amongst us

and what it takes for you

to be made right with me

is going to be my flesh broken,

dead on a cross.

It's real.

It's historical.

It's true.

It's actual.

It's not make-believe.

It's not made up.

It is completely and utterly true.

And you need to remember this.

And you need to inwardly think about this

and digest it deep into who you are.

And you need to gnaw on it.

And one of the things

which is so wonderful about this,

this happened this morning.

I made a bit of a joke about it.

But at the 11 o'clock service,

we don't have a mic.

I mean, mic,

this is a mic.

That's a mic as well.

We don't have somebody

standing by the door.

And so I'm here

and I'm doing my sermon

and two street people come in

and they disappear out of my sight.

So part of our using this place,

part of the lease,

is we're not allowed to let people

wander around in the building.

So I actually had to stop my sermon

and go over

and try to figure out where they were.

Like, I wasn't sure

if they'd gone,

taken that first door,

which would allow them

to get back there

and get up into the cage

and the sound room

and break doors

and sort of maybe sneak around

and get to the alcohol cap.

Like, I didn't know, right?

So I had to go see where they were

and they wanted to go

into the washroom.

And let me tell you,

it was very distracting for me.

For the next three or four minutes,

first of all,

I lost all ten people

at the service.

I half lost them

because something was gnawing on them.

What's gnawing on them?

There's two street people

wandering around.

It gnaws on them.

They're not really listening.

So finally,

a person from the congregation,

after three or four minutes,

he could sense

it was bothering everybody.

So he came up

and went and sat right there

and he just,

he gave up listening

to the rest of the service.

He gnawed on what they were doing

so we could gnaw

on something different.

And you know what?

Isn't that part of our life?

Don't we gnaw on things?

We gnaw on wounds.

We gnaw on lack of forgiveness.

We gnaw on bills.

We gnaw on,

and don't we digest things all the time?

We inwardly digest things from Netflix

and we inwardly digest people

who've wronged us

or how we're going to wrong them.

Like we,

these are very,

this is what Jesus is talking about.

This isn't,

like this isn't space language

or astrophysics.

It's how we live,

isn't it?

And so Jesus is saying,

listen,

this really happened.

And he's saying to these people

that really,

at the end of the day,

what's really going to prove to you

that I am the bread

that came down from heaven

is when I do die on the cross

and you know I die on the cross

and you know where the grave is

and you know my body

was put in the grave

and you know there's soldiers there

and you know the soldiers,

Roman soldiers,

they guard that tomb

and it's probably the same soldiers

who stuck the spear in my side

that know I'm dead.

They're going to be the same ones

guarding the tomb

and you know that,

you're going to know

that the grave is empty

and that nobody stole it

and you can't account for it

and I'm going to appear to people

and it's going to go throughout

the whole community

that I rose from the dead

and you're going to see

that it's actual,

that's going to be the final proof

but it's real, it's true

and we need to understand

that we need to gnaw on the gospel

that Jesus gives his flesh

for the life of the world.

He gives himself,

he dies himself

and that's what we need to,

we need to remember

all the blood and all the gore,

we need to remember

all of it and its reality,

we need to understand

the symbolism and the meaning

and how it,

it just,

it blows your mind

but we need to gnaw on it.

Now,

you know,

for many, many people

in our culture,

the idea,

you know,

it's really funny,

in our culture,

on one hand,

we have a love-hate relationship

with religion

and spirituality.

I saw a poll this week

that how many people

still believe in real devil

and a real hell?

It's really quite astounding

how many Canadians

still believe in demons

in hell.

And you know that

in Saudi Arabia,

they have a special branch

of their police force

to go after witches.

True,

they do.

They still kill people

for witchcraft

in Saudi Arabia.

Very,

these ideas

haven't gone away.

But, you know,

we'd be very comfortable,

like,

it wouldn't excite

that much controversy

to say that there's a,

you know what,

like if I was to say

that when you die,

you go to a better place.

Everybody in Canada

just yawns at that.

It's just a yawn.

But George,

a body,

a man,

who actually dies,

and then he rises

from the dead.

And you're saying

that his death,

he dies,

is the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world,

that this is not

just a human being dying,

but in some way

which is hard

for us to understand,

it's God dying

as well

for human beings.

It's the word

that made all flesh

dying for all flesh

that all

who put their trust

in him

might have

eternal life.

It's a pretty hard idea.

Well,

that's exactly

how a lot of people

at Jesus' time

responded to that.

Did you know that?

Let's see what happens.

It's in verse 60.

I have to watch my time.

When many of

Jesus' disciples,

this isn't the 12,

at this time

there's a broader

group of disciples,

when they hear it,

they said,

this is a hard saying,

who can listen to it?

But Jesus,

knowing in himself

that his disciples

were grumbling,

murmuring about this,

said to them,

do you take offense

of this?

Then what if you were

to see the Son of Man

ascending to where

he was before?

And just pause.

You see,

in John's Gospel,

you have to know

what's gone on

before this.

How does Jesus ascend?

What's in the way

before he ascends?

The cross.

His ascent

begins

with his death

upon the cross.

So if you're having

a hard time

with this, guys,

wait till you see

the soldiers

cursing and swearing

as they hammer

in the nails

to my wrists

and my ankles

and as they

place the cross

in the ground

and lift it up.

If you're having

a hard time with this,

wait till you see that.

Wait till you see

the sword piercing

to my side.

Wait till you see

me

being embalmed

and then the empty tomb

and then there is

the ascension.

Then he says

something,

verse 63,

is the spirit

who gives life.

The flesh is of

no help at all.

The words that I

have spoken to you

are spirit and life,

but there are some

of you who do

not believe.

I mean,

here's the same

type of idea

of the father

drawing him.

It's an invitation

for us to call out

to the Holy Spirit

to make the words

of Jesus

come alive in us.

Father,

help me.

But isn't that

interesting?

But 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.

Like,

what's up with that?

What's up with this idea

that Jesus knew

that Judas

was going to betray him?

Like,

what's up with that?

Why didn't Jesus

kick him out?

Like,

that's what we would do,

wouldn't it?

If you knew right now

that one of your friends

in a couple of months

was going to betray you

in such a way

that it would threaten

your life,

how many of you

would still be friends

with them?

I mean,

let's be honest,

some of you would

slug them right now,

wouldn't you?

If you really knew

they were going to

betray you.

So what's up with this

with Jesus?

Well,

let's continue to see.

verse 65,

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 Jesus.

So Jesus said to the twelve,

do you want to go away as well?

And Simon Peter answered him,

Lord,

to whom shall we go?

This is such a wonderful phrase,

isn't it?

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 choose you,

the twelve?

One of you is the devil.

He spoke of Judas,

the son of Simon Iscariot,

for he,

one of the twelve,

was going to betray him.

I sort of missed a point.

If you could put the point up,

Andrew,

the final point,

but I sort of missed it.

You can just sort of read it.

But actually,

it fits with this too.

The real God offers

a real gospel

because he really loves you

as you really are.

You know,

one of the wonderful things

about this,

you know,

it says,

Jesus loves me,

this I know for the Bible

tells me so.

John 3, 16,

for God so loved the world.

I shared this with somebody

in the coffee shop

about two weeks ago.

In fact,

it was very humbling.

On the same day,

there were two people

who bore witness to Jesus.

Me to this person

in this coffee shop

and then I was there

later on in the afternoon

and a mentally ill guy

to another mentally ill guy.

Me and the mentally ill guy

working on the same team.

If you're proud,

that's very insulting.

But you know what?

I have done nothing

to deserve eternal life.

I am a donkey.

I am Balaam's ass.

God speaks through me.

The Holy Spirit

doesn't move in our midst.

Everything I say

is like onion,

those little bits

of the onion skin

that just everybody

throws out

that just blow away.

Unless the Holy Spirit moves,

I say,

my words are worth nothing.

And it's a great honor

that I would share

with a barista

on his break

and that later on

a mentally ill guy

would share the gospel

with a mentally ill guy.

And I said to the barista,

for God so loved the world

that he gave

his one and only son

to the end

that everyone

who believes in him

will not perish

but have eternal life.

And I said,

that's you.

That's you.

So what's with Judas?

You know what?

If Jesus was like you and me

and you and I know

that there's going to be

one of our friends

or one of our family

are going to be a Judas

that are going to get me

in trouble with the law

and maybe get me killed

and we'd boot them out.

In fact,

we might boot them

in their butt

before we boot them

out of our friendship.

Well,

then they could just go away

and say,

well,

that's just George.

He doesn't even give me

a chance.

Like,

who does he think he is?

You know what?

Judas can't say

that Jesus ever

stopped loving him.

Can he?

Jesus never

stopped loving Judas.

Jesus' love

is unfailing.

Judas' problem

wasn't that Jesus

stopped loving him.

Judas' problem

was that he refused

to repent

and believe.

He refused.

the unfailing

love of Jesus.

Friends,

if anyone is here

and they feel

they are far from God,

Jesus' love

towards you

is unfailing.

He will not

cast you out.

He will not

kick you away.

but he respects

your freedom.

You know,

there's a very old

Christian saying

that the door

to hell

is locked

from the inside.

Not the outside,

but the inside.

The theme song

of hell

is,

I did it my way.

That's what

the theme song

of hell is.

Frank Sinatra,

I did it my way.

But Jesus

doesn't cast us out.

He died for you.

He died for me.

He died.

He really died.

And he really loves you.

And his heart

is that for

every one of us here

that we would

call out to him

to be our savior,

to be our bread

of life.

And the promise

of the Bible

is that when we

call out to him

that he will be

our bread of life,

that he will be

our savior and Lord,

the promise

of the gospel is

and I will

raise him up.

I will raise him up.

I will raise him up.

I will raise him up.

Brethren and sister,

if you are in Christ,

you might be feeling weak.

You might be feeling lonely.

Jesus will not let you go.

The father brought you

to Jesus.

Jesus will never

let you go.

You have believed in him

and trusted in him.

You already have,

in a sense,

your passport

and your ticket

for the new heaven

and the new earth.

And Jesus will never

take it back from you.

He will never

take it back from you.

He will raise you up.

He will raise you up.

Let's stand.

Bow our heads in prayer.

Father, thank you for Jesus.

Thank you that he really did

live amongst us,

that he really did

live a sinless life,

that he really did die

upon the cross,

that he really did die

as the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world,

that he really did

taste all there is

to taste of sin and death,

that he really did

defeat death

and that which causes death,

which is our sin,

that he really did

defeat that

in his resurrection.

And so, Father,

unlike the police officer,

as brave and courageous

as he was,

who could only offer

his life, Father,

for another human being,

that that other human being

might live while he died.

Father,

we thank you for Jesus,

that he not only died

upon the cross,

that he was resurrected.

And so,

as the resurrected Savior

and Lord, Father,

we thank you that he can

offer us

his death to stand for us

and he can offer us

that,

he can really give us,

Father,

life that will never end.

Father,

pour out the Holy Spirit

upon us.

Help us to gnaw on

the gospel,

who Jesus is

and what he did for us.

Help us to inwardly digest

day by day

who Jesus is

and what he did for us.

And, Father,

we thank you

that you will raise us up.

All this we ask and thank

in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.