To Whom Shall We Go? | John 6:60-71

If you have your Bibles with you, please turn in them to John six. It’s my plan this morning to finish our study through John six. Not nearly done with our study through John. This morning we’re going to be in John six, verse 60 through 71. Please look at those verses as I read. If you’re visiting Trinity Church this morning, we at Trinity practice expositional preaching. That means I expound whatever is the next text in the book that we’re preaching through. And that means what I’m trying to do this morning is to understand what this text means—what did it mean to its original readers and hearers? What did Jesus’ words mean to the crowd? And thus how does it apply to our lives today? This is the living Word of God. It never loses its relevance, and it demands our attention now. The Lord Jesus speaks to us in the preaching of His Word. Now, as I read John six, verse 60 through 71, and then I’ll pray.

“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. 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.) 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 Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.”

Let’s pray.

Father, in the confidence of the power of your word, in the confidence in the power of the Spirit who awakens souls, who grants us sight of Christ, we still pray that what we ask not, you would give us; what we know not, you would teach us; and what we are not, you would make us see the merits of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There is an important maxim that shapes my view of Christianity and the life of the church. And it goes like this: If Christians didn’t need it 200 years ago, it’s probably not essential today. If Christians didn’t need it 200 years ago, it’s probably not essential today. Now, I am not a Luddite. Okay, do you know what a Luddite is? Somebody who doesn’t like technology and lives like the Amish? I’m not a Luddite. And I’m thankful for many modern advances. But I fear far too many of us are tempted to view non-essentials as essential. We become tethered to modes of Christian expression and ministry that are historically novel. I have in mind things like worship bands and projectors and stage lights, amplification, youth pastors, support staff, small group ministries, websites, blogs, podcasts. None of these are problems in and of themselves, yet anyone familiar with the history of the church would know that the absence of these modern amenities has never posed an obstacle to the health of the church. We don’t need non-essentials. That’s what makes them not essential.

Here’s something Christians didn’t need 100 years ago: megachurches. Today, a megachurch is defined as a congregation with weekly attendance of more than 2,000. And there’s roughly 100 times more megachurches in America than there were 50 years ago. And I would argue this dramatic shift has reshaped what many people look for in the church. It’s also revolutionized the very shape and scope of Christian ministry itself. So, for example, a bustling industry of church leadership books teaches pastors how to grow their congregations. Growth, speed, size, multiply is the crying need of the hour.

Now, brethren, I’m not here to bash big churches at all. I actually think there’s nothing spiritually positive or negative inherently about a big church or small church. There are big churches that are big to the glory of God, and there are small churches that fail and are not great churches. So there’s no spiritual maturity that the Bible assigns to church size. I only bring this up to make this point: that when it came to Jesus and His earthly ministry, He never altered His methods or His ministry in pursuit of church growth. In fact, if Jesus were to publish a Christian leadership book based on His experience in John six, the title would be *How to Shrink Your Church: Eight Simple Steps to Repel Your Hearers*. Or *How I Lost 5,001 Church Members in One Day: A Memoir*.

You see, brethren, at the beginning of John six, the crowd following Jesus would have packed the State Farm arena, and by the end of the chapter, the Lord’s disciples could fit in my study down the hall. The narrative of John six is simply devastating, and it demands our attention. In the context of John’s gospel, it’s filled with instruction for the people of God. It just teems with lessons for us. We learn something about unbelief, the human heart. We learn something about trust and faith in Christ. We learn something about God’s providence.

I have three points. Point number one: a hard saying. Point number two: a good confession. Point number three: a chosen devil. Somebody said to me before the sermon today, “I need to repeat myself more.” So I’m going to repeat those. Point number one: a hard saying. Point number two: a good confession. And point number three: a chosen devil.

Consider with me point number one: a hard saying.

Look at verse 60: “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” This is a hard saying, says the crowd, as the Bread of Life discourse reaches its final movement. The theme of the madness of crowds reaches its climax. We’ve seen this theme develop over the last several sermons. The crowd has moved from feverish excitement to consternation. How does John six begin? Jesus feeds 5,000. He gives them the bread that perishes. And what do the people do? It says they sought to seize Him, to make Him their king. Feverish excitement about the ministry of Christ. These were followers of Jesus. And they at least wanted to follow Him. We see it move from excitement to consternation. It moves from consternation, then to grumbling and vexation. And now we see the final turn: from grumbling to retreat and flat-out rejection.

Now why does the crowd here reject Christ? Why do they reject Him? The text says because of a hard saying. So we need to ask—if we have Bible questions, we want to get answers—what was the hard saying that rebuffed this crowd? Why did they reject Him? What did Jesus just say that turned them off to His ministry, to His message, to what He was all about?

Look at verse 56: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Verse 58: “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.” Elsewhere He says, “Unless you eat this bread of life, you have no life in you.” And what do they say? “This is a hard saying. Who can receive it?”

Last week I noted that Jesus’ words were troubling to the Jews because they sounded like cannibalism. Some people would probably have taken Jesus literally. I noted that the rhetoric of drinking blood, even figuratively, would have been abhorrent to the Jews. That’s because the Mosaic law said, “Hey, you don’t drink blood,” and even the meat that you cook, you got to cook it well enough so that there’s no more blood in it.

But I don’t think that’s actually why the Jews ultimately rejected Jesus. Now, the hardness of the Lord’s hard saying was the call to total allegiance to the Son of God. That’s why they hated Him. That’s why they sought to kill Him. That’s why they leave Him. Because He demanded something from them, and it was total allegiance to the very Son of God.

And friends, that’s what Jesus demands of you right now: total allegiance to the Holy One of God. Jesus called His hearers to a life of radically altered desire, and their raging hunger, their rattling bellies and blinding lights kept them from seeing the glory of God. It was a hard saying because He asked for something they weren’t willing to give in exchange for something they didn’t want. He wasn’t their miracle man anymore. There is no more perishing bread. There was nothing that could fill their bellies. No more baskets of bread. Only Jesus of Nazareth. And this was a hard saying.

Brothers and sisters, I ask you: Do you bristle at the hard sayings of Jesus? We know the world bristles at the hard sayings of Jesus. So many Christians wither, wilt, avoid. What are the clear, plain, rock-solid sayings of the Lord? Do His words ever unsettle you? Do they bring you discomfort? Do you avoid the hard sayings of Jesus and run the greatest hits on repeat? You know He’s a good shepherd. He’s gentle and lowly of heart. He calls sinners to come to Him. All of that is so, so true. His name is Jesus because He will be a Savior for the world. But do you ignore the hard sayings?

I find myself often wondering about the hard sayings as I interact with the Lord. I’ve often wondered, “Jesus, you just take a chill pill, man. Like, why do you always have to say things that way? Where’s your bedside manner? Why do you always have to say it the hard way? That’s going to turn people off. They’re not going to receive that. That’s not going to welcome them to you. You need a PR department, Jesus, to soften a little bit. Change your tone.”

We cannot ignore the hard sayings of Jesus. He is relentless throughout the Scriptures. It’s one of the greatest tricks that Satan has ever pulled on the world at large—to convince them that Jesus was not only gentle and lowly. Jesus was far, far more than that. He demanded everything.

Consider secondly: a good confession.

Look at verse 66: “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.’”

This is one of the great confessions in all of Scripture. Peter speaks for the twelve. He says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Notice what Peter does not say. Peter does not say, “Well, Lord, we’ve seen the miracles. We’ve seen the signs. We’ve seen the healings. We’ve seen the feeding of the 5,000. We’ve seen the walking on water. We’ve seen Lazarus raised from the dead.” No. He says, “You have the words of eternal life.” It’s the teaching. It’s the doctrine. It’s the message. It’s the hard sayings included.

And notice what Peter says next: “We have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” This is not a superficial faith. This is not a faith that says, “We like the Jesus who gives us bread.” This is a faith that says, “We have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Peter is saying, “We have staked our lives on you. We have believed. We have come to know.” This is a confession of deep, settled conviction.

True faith clings to Christ alone. It does not look within. It does not rely upon self-examination for assurance. Healthy faith looks to Jesus on the cross. Jesus died. The wrath of God was satisfied. Satan tends me to despair; he tells me of the guilt within. Upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.

What is the emphasis on in that verse? It’s on the object. It’s on what my faith relies upon. It doesn’t look within. Oh, you’re only going to be discouraged. You’re only going to be brought to great anxiety. You’re only going to be ransacked by sin and Satan and all the rest if you look within, if you rely upon the self. Oh, but look to Jesus. Let not conscience make you linger, nor for fitness fondly dream. All the fitness He requires is to feel your need of Him. None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.

Sinful people say, if we look to Jesus alone, true faith looks outside the self and clings to Jesus. Everyone, look at yourself. Take ten looks to Christ. I think this is why Peter says, “Where else shall we go?” Should we go to the law? Do I look to another rabbi? Do I rely upon the promise of a prophet? Do I rely upon the word of a good man dead and gone? Do I look to dead kings like David or Solomon? You know there’s nowhere else to go. There’s nowhere else to go. “You alone, O Lord, have the words of eternal life.” It’s a good confession.

Consider thirdly, and lastly, and soberly: a chosen devil.

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. I don’t think John took a creative writing class because, like, talk about a spoiler alert, but he just tells you the whole plot. Yeah, Judas is going to betray Him. Like, come on, we’re going to spin a yarn, you know, help us out here. Just says Judas is going to betray Him. His dad was Simon.

But what is Jesus saying to Peter? Peter doesn’t know. Jesus doesn’t tell Peter, the apostles, that it’s going to be Judas. Why does Jesus say, “One of you is a devil”?

I think there are three reasons, and these are lessons for us.

First, brethren, Jesus emphasizes His own initiative in the salvation of His disciples. Peter says, “We have come to believe that you are the Holy One of God.” I think Jesus seems to be saying, at the end of the day, your faith is not a result of your decisiveness, but of My choice. “Did I not choose you, the twelve?”

It teaches something about the Lord’s initiative in salvation.

Secondly, I think Jesus shows how God performs His perfect providence even through sin and tragedy. God is at work. He performs His perfect providence even through calamity, sin, and tragedy. John 17:12: “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”

Sidebar: When Jesus says He chose the twelve, He’s not talking about from before the foundations of the world in Christ; He’s talking about the choosing of His earthly disciples and the band of followers He had in life. So when Judas betrayed Jesus, he didn’t lose his salvation. He proved he never had any sort of reliance and faith upon Jesus Christ.

Jesus affirmed what the Scriptures, however, emphasize again and again and again: God plans and controls all things. And the words of our confession: “God has decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to pass.” For many this is a hard saying. It should be a word of comfort. Everything in your life is not just known by God. He doesn’t just know the end from the beginning. He plans the end from the beginning. He is at work in every meticulous detail of our lives, and that can be sobering at times. But the Bible assures us this is as a warm embrace from our Heavenly Father. He works all things for those who love Christ, for His glory and their ultimate good.

In the infinite wise counsel of God, He superintended the darkest calamity for His glory and the good of His people. Even the death and betrayal of His Son was planned by God. Heidelberg Catechism—we read this last week: “What do you understand by the providence of God?” This is so sweet. “The almighty and ever present power of God, by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.”

You want to know things aren’t just happening by nihilistic chance? I promise you they’re not. Because the Holy Spirit has assured me: God is planning everything for the good of His people and His glory.

So Jesus shows how God performs His perfect providence even through sin and tragedy.

Thirdly, and lastly, Jesus teaches that not everyone who outwardly believes has true faith. Not everyone who says they’re a Christian, not everyone who says they’re a church member, not everyone who says they believe has true faith. Peter says, “We have come to believe.” Jesus says, “Speak for yourself. Not all of you believe. One of you is a devil.”

Judas was an unbelieving demon who suffocated on his own toxic proximity to Jesus. And friends, he stands as a warning to us all. I can’t say it better than J.C. Ryle, who said: “If ever there was a man who had great privileges and opportunities, that man was Judas Iscariot: a chosen disciple, a constant companion of Christ, a witness of His miracles, a hearer of His sermons, a commissioned preacher of His kingdom, a fellow and friend of Peter, James, and John. It would be impossible to imagine a more favorable position for a man. And yet if anyone ever hopelessly fell into hell and made shipwreck that lasts for eternity, that man was Judas Iscariot.”

And now he says, “If neither place nor light, nor company, nor opportunities, but grace, that man needs to make him a Christian. Marvelous grace of a loving Lord. Without grace, we may live in the full sunshine of Christ’s countenance and yet, like Judas, be miserably cast away.”

I say this before: This is the greatest anxiety I have for my own children. This is the greatest anxiety I have for—if there were unbelieving members of this church—it’s the greatest anxiety I have for so many of you children and young people. That you stand before God and He’ll say, “You had the full sunshine of My Son’s countenance, and you rejected Him.”

It doesn’t need to go that way. You can turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith.

Now, the narrative of John six is absolutely tragic. An enormous crowd of followers dwindles down to nothing. Nearly everyone abandons Jesus, even one of His closest disciples. John six is tragic, but it’s not the main point of John’s gospel. These things are written so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you would have life in His name.

The question for you is, to whom shall you go? We all need to answer that question. Where are we going? On whom do we rely? Who’s on the throne of your heart? Who has your affections? Who has your calendar? Who has your priorities? Who has your life? Do you belong to Jesus? Does He belong to you? To whom do you go?

You, outside of Christ—where are you going? Go to the world. Go to your pleasure. Go to philosophy. Go to fun. It’s a hard taskmaster. It will never satisfy your soul and will only bring you ruin. It will only bring you destruction. But Jesus offers you life. “All those the Father gives me, they come to me. Those who come to me I will in no wise cast out.” Ungentlemanly? I’m meek. Come to me. Cast your burden upon me. There’s no other name under heaven by which men and women can be saved. Will you come to Him now?

And for those of us who are in Christ, when we make the confession with Peter—“To whom shall we go?”—we’re not saying that Jesus is the best of bad options. Some of you, that’s how you found Christ. You were so rebuffed and sick of the world, and Christ was your last hope. The life of the Christian is not one in which we say, “Oh, Jesus is just the best of bad options. I’ve got no other way to go.” No, it’s saying with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? There’s nothing in the world that compares to you.”

We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. He has the words of life. He’s granted us forgiveness. He’s brought us fellowship with God. He is with us to the end as our everlasting friend. We have communion with Him and a life united to His Son.

Let’s pray.

Father, we pray once more for this: that we, all the saints, would comprehend together what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and know the love of Christ, that we would be filled with your fullness. Shine on us now. Arouse our hearts. Now, Lord, give us a greater sense of the love of Jesus, greater connection to Him. Lord, may we confess with all 100% sincerity: There is nowhere else we would go. For Jesus has the words of eternal life, and He is your Holy One. He is the Messiah. He is the Christ, and He has the words of life. Fill us with those words. We ask, may this be the day of salvation for many. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.