Will Ye also go Away?

John 6:61-67. “When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profitteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are life.
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who would betray him.
And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”

It is one thing to hear with your ears; But another thing altogether to hear with your spirit.

Jesus was talking to men who had walked with Him for a while. Those who had heard what He preached to the multitudes, and taught to His disciples; yet when they became “offended”, they went away.

The word “offend” here, means to scandalize. These men, who had followed Jesus, as the coming Messiah, were scandalized that He was claiming to be the Bread of Life!
To begin this we must go back:
Jesus had fed the five thousand. (John 6:11-13)
The people were so impressed, they thought He was the Prophet that should come into the world or the Messiah. (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
The next day, they found Him on the other side of the Lake; and He told them plainly that they should not labor for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that the Son of man gives, that endures unto everlasting life. (John 6:24, 26-27)

So begins a conversation about the Manna and the Bread of Life:
Our fathers did eat manna; as it is written He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Jesus said, Moses did not give you the true bread from heaven, but my Father has: which gives life unto the world.
(Now, you have to wonder about their hearing: Jesus had plainly told them that the Bread of Life was unto everlasting life;
But they are still thinking of food, filled bellies, rather than filled hearts and lives)

So, they said “Lord, evermore give us this bread. (Wow, they are not following His Words at all. They been fed, now wanted to be fed all the time.)

Then Jesus said, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst.
And this is the will of the Father that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son, (as the Son of God), and believes on him, may have everlasting life.(Here is the everlasting life which is our bread to eat and to drink; believing on Him)

O.K. The line is drawn clear enough for some, because they begin to murmur; basically saying : We want bread we can eat from you; But to believe you came down from heaven? We know your family. This is getting to be fantastical!

Jesus begins to explain that everyone who comes to learn of the Father, will come to Jesus, because I am the Bread of Life, which the Father has sent to feed you, not with food, but with life everlasting.
Therefore you have to “eat” it. Digest my Words, and believe on me.
This is to eat my flesh and drink my blood.

Wow! Did this start a argument! How can this man give of his flesh to eat?

Some people never understand Christ’s Words, because they are light and life; and they live in the darkness of their own thoughts.
If it was not real food Jesus was giving them, then all this talk was nonsense.
So the people turned away.

But the sad thing was:
John 6:60 “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?”

You will notice they said “Who can hear it?” , not Who can understand it?
They understood that it was it was their spiritual ears, not their minds that had a problem.
When you “hear” Jesus words aright; they should not scandalize, but comfort.
He is saying that God had not forgotten this generation, under Rome, and under Herod; but had sent His Son, to give the life He promised to them….even by the giving of His body and blood by death; if they would receive it.

They “heard” Jesus words, with ears that refused to YEILD to His words. They did not like the way He said the truth. They wanted Him to say it differently. And because He had continued using this illustration of the life God wanted to give; they were “offended” or scandalized.

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

In other words, listen to the Spirit which would speak through My words; for My words are spirit and life.
If you are not encouraged and quickened by My Words, then your heart is not yielding to the Spirit in My Words.
If hearing Christ’s Words does not bring life to you; then you have not heard aright.

John 6:66 “From that time many of his disciples when back and walked no more with him.”
There were many who would follow Jesus for the good life.
But few who wanted to hear about Jesus giving His life’s body and blood, that they might have spiritual life.
This was not the Mighty Messiah that they had expected.

John 6:65 “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”
To live for Jesus, you must be empowered to do so. You cannot, of yourself, come to God, and you can not, of yourself, live for Him.
(And if you are not being empowered to do His Will, then something is stopping that flow of power.)

John 6:67 “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”

Now, it does not say whether the twelve liked the illustration Jesus gave; but when Jesus asked, the answer came instantly:
John 6:68-69 “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Here is what “hearing” aright does: It brings you to believe, and trust in Christ Jesus.

So, will you also go away? What have you heard lately, which has caused you to be offended in Christ?
Go to Him and tell Him your complaint: but tell Him you believe in Him, and He will give you life.

Would you be a Follower of Jesus?
Matthew 16:24. “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

(This is for born again ones, for they have received the Holy Spirit, and grace for all their way.)
If any man will come after Me. What does it mean to come after Jesus?

First, it means that you get up from where you are in your life and leave it. To come after means leaving; But not in the physical sense.
It is a “leaving” of the past attitudes, past sins, and past pursuits to come after Him.
2 Corinthians 6:17 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, ”

Second, it means you follow Christ, by being obedient to His commands on your life.
John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

Third, it means to suffer for, and because of Christ. Every follower of Christ will, sooner or later, come to the place where they must choose the world or Christ, and if you choose Christ; the world will make you “suffer” in some respect.

Fourth, it means to stand with those for whom Christ died: other Christians.
John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

You deny yourself and take up YOUR cross and follow Him. You need to “bear” your cross, to the place in your experience that you no longer resist His will in anything.
Your cross is anything God has required, which cuts across your will. There you need to say “no” to your will; and do God’s Will for your life. This is to bear your cross.

This is a very personal thing, between you and your Lord; for He says, “if any man will”. It is not any Church, any group, any family, even; but any man.
The personal aspect is important. The necessity of it dates back to our beginnings:
We were not consulted in our creation: Where we were born, in what family, or when we were born, and the person we were born as.

We just were, and that was that.
As Christians, we are to come to the place in our experience that we don’t just acknowledge God’s Creative Right, but we submit to it.
We will be the creature before the Creator.
Letting His choice for us, be our best.

For some of us, we must acknowledge, we have been having a fit with God about ourselves, in some realm, since we knew God.
Maybe it was our family: Why put me with these people?
Maybe it was our abilities: Couldn’t you at least make me GREAT in something?
Maybe it was our looks: My nose is too big; my eyes not blue enough; You could have made me prettier than “them”.

Whatever it is; we are not satisfied with our circumstances, or (often) ourselves.

So, here is a GOOD place to follow Jesus:
Matthew 11:25-26 “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.”
Jesus came to do the Father’s Will, and never tried to do otherwise; even to His shame and death.

Jesus said He came to give life, and to give it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
If you are a Christian, He offers this abundant life within the life He gave you in your beginning; and in what He gives you now as His servant.
In this abundant life there is joy of spirit, peace of heart, courage in peril, love of others, and a personal relationship with the One Who loved and saved you. (More personal than any other relationship you will ever have: for He knows everything about you, and loves you.)

Would you be a follower of Jesus?
Then come after Him, by denying yourself, picking up your cross and following Jesus into your abundant life. Not without troubles, but always with His presence and power by the Holy Spirit to help.

The Woman at the Well

John 4:3-4, 6-7 “He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. For he must needs go through Samaria.
Now Jacobs’s well was there, Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.”

Why is the woman at the well important?
Because she came to the well when no one was around, because of what she was; and yet sought Truth from this Jewish stranger that was there, even though she was what she was.

“Why do you a Jew ask a drink of me, a Samaritan?”
It seemed a simple question, for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, thinking them defiled.

Christ Jesus came to save all those who would believe and receive His life. So, instead of pressing His right to a drink again; Jesus speaks to her about “living water”.
If you had known Who asked you, you would have asked of Him, living water, so that you never have to thirst again. (John 4:10, 13-14)

Her reply was very practical: “Give me that water so I won’t have to come and draw from this well.”
So Jesus brings her a step further toward real life: “Go get your husband.”

Would she tell the truth?
She replied, “I have no husband”.
“…Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.”

What would she do now? Run away? Spit on Him? Throw water on Him?

But instead she considered the truth, instead of her feelings; and spoke to this man, now, of worship. Of what was right, in God sight.
“Were they right to worship in this mountain, as their fathers did? Or were the Jews right in saying Jerusalem was the only place to worship God?”

Odd conversation for a woman who had been looking for satisfaction elsewhere.

Jesus answer was of the future; after He was crusified and risen again:
To worship God would be in Spirit and in truth.
Right here, could have been a problem; if she did not really want the truth.
(Maybe this was what she had been searching for in those 5 husbands she’d had.
But to want the truth, generally, and to face the truth for yourself is two different things.)
Yet, here again, she does not back away from getting the truth, getting that living water; even when it came to what He would say about herself.
John 4:25-26 “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will teach us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speaketh unto thee am he.”

Jesus had revealed Himself to very few people; but to this woman who wanted the truth, He did.
How this shows us the great value the Lord Jesus puts on Truth, and truth seeking.
(John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
When truth is faced, grace is always given)

Afraid of people, and how they treated her, brought her to the well, and Jesus; but the truth sent her into town to tell all that she would meet about the Man who was, she thought, the Messiah.
John 4:29 “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

By her witness, many came to believe on Jesus, too:
John 4:39-42 “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified , He told me all that ever I did.
So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
And many more believed because of his own word.
And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
What of us? How much do we value the truth, especially for ourselves?
Have we hidden lives we do not want to admit to?
Have we doctrine that we adhere to, and that is enough?

The truth is that everyone who comes to Jesus can find the water of life…real satisfaction and know for themselves that He is the Savior of the world.

Empty your Hands
What is that in thine hand?
Have you ever considered what hinders you from doing the work the Lord wants you to do?
Are you hanging on to something that you need to let go of?
Or are you hanging on to “the rod” , which will never be used for God, till you give it to God?
Exodus 4:2 “And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.”

Moses had been a prince of Egypt, a defender of his brethren, a fugitive, and a shepherd.
But now he was called of God to go and bring out the Israelites from slavery, to take them to the promised land of Canaan.

But how was he going to do this?
The Lord first called him, then showed him one of the means he was to use, to do the work.

Of course, this rod was not the only means, Moses used to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt.
But it was in his hand at the time God called him. So it would have to be set aside, for other means; or sanctified to God’s work.
Exodus 4:3-5 “And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared into thee.”

God chose to sanctify the rod for His work: so it was given to Moses for a means of deliverance for the children of Israel.

I remember how often, as a child, a older person would tell me to “empty my hands, so you can pick up that other thing.”

Here, the Lord is telling Moses that it is time to let go of the life he had in Midian, and to do the next call.
Now we can not fill our hands with God’s work, if we will not empty them of other things.
Exodus 4:21 “And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”

“Which I have put in thine hand.”
Only the things God puts in our hands are for His work.

Sometimes they are for a specific work and then to be laid aside. Sometimes they are for our whole life work.
The means are all at God’s disposal, not ours.
Our job is to empty our hands, and fill them with what He puts there.

One of the means we are always to use is His Word. It is always right at hand, and it is for our instruction in righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:16-17. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Another means we are to use is grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of power. Power for what we need in this circumstance. Given by God at the time we need it, as we ask for it. (Hebrews 4:16). Grace can be strength, courage, words, and /or whatever we need at the time.
2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

Faith is another means we have. Faith is given to us at new birth; and increased as we follow after Christ in believing obedience. It is to be used: (“I believe, help my unbelief”. Mark 9:23-24).

The means for God’s Work, are God’s.
Our job is to empty our hands, and fill them with what He puts there.

Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

His mercy is a wonderful character of God. It is the benevolence of God to those who are fallen sinners.
(We, who are called to follow Him are called to show mercy to others, remembering that God has shown it to us.)

Mercy is the kindness of God to those who are sinners.
Mercies for mankind in general, include: light, heat, rain/water, food. The external mercies for life.
Matthew 5:45 “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

But to His beloved Church, His mercies are internal, as well. He brings them closer by His love and Care, by the mercy He gives. This mercy includes their Salvation: Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”
(The first time “merciful” is used is with Lot, [Genesis 19:16] who was saved from the destruction with the rest of the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah. “The Lord being merciful unto him”.)

The mercy of God lifts up the trembling sinner, to see God, in the face of Jesus Christ.
And brings comfort and knowledge to those who are following after, seeking a closer relationship to God.
James 3:17 “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

God’s mercy completes (perfects) the work He has started within us: He will not desert us, because we often fail Him; rather, in mercy, He sanctifies us, and preserves us by His Word, that we may be kept in the love of God.
Jude 20-21 “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

God’s grace holds us up in power; God’s mercy puts His arm around us in love, and keeps us close to Him and His life for us.

We, who are called to follow Christ Jesus, are called to show mercy to others, because God has shown it to us:
Remember the Good Samaritan? The only one who showed mercy to a wounded man on the road?
Jesus was using this illustration to a man who asked about Eternal Life. (Luke 10:25)
When Jesus asked him (for as a lawyer [one who knew the law, and was to interpret it to the people] he should have known: “What is written in the law?”
He answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy souls, and with all thy strength, and with al thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
(Perhaps if he had left the last part out [and how many of us do], he could have walked away in pride; But, putting that last part in there made him responsible in a way that had to be seen)
“So who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then tells of the Good Samaritan. He had not only stopped in a place of robbers to help this man, but paid with his own money to get him well.
So, Jesus asks this man: Which one was the neighbor to the man that fell among thieves?
In other words, ” Which man acted in God’s Way?”

Luke 10:37 “And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus, Go, and do thou likewise.”

This is mercy: The kindness of God to us who are sinners; And the kindness of us to others. God’s mercy should lead us to be merciful to others.

The Lord will complete my education in His school of life, and bring me to have His likeness, by His mercy; for His mercy endures, and lasts through my whole life experiences; for He will never forsake His work in me.