who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, Do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12? And one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him being one of the 12. Let's pray together. God, we thank you for this word. We thank you for this wonderful chapter, Lord, where you tell us that you are the true bread from heaven, come down to give life to the world. God, we thank you that you have provided yourself freely for us, that you have opened wide heaven's doors, Lord, that all who trust in you might come in. We thank you that you have drawn us by your sovereign fatherly hand into faith in Christ Jesus. God, I pray even right now as I begin to preach this word that none of us, none of us, Lord, would be like Judas, following Christ for a time, but nevertheless a devil. Lord, I pray better things for this congregation and for all those we know and love who are confessing your name. Lord, I pray as we work through this text, you would open hearts. Lord, I pray that you would bless each and every person sitting, standing here right now, Lord, that you would open their hearts, that you would revive them again, that you would draw them to renewed love of you, trust in you as our only perfect and completely sufficient Savior. God, I pray for your blessing and your unction upon me as I seek to preach your word. Let me not say anything, Lord, apart from your will. Lord, let me just speak what is true and what just resounds the truth of your word in this passage, Lord, that proclaims who you are in your fullness, God. Lord, if I begin to stray and go off course, I pray that you would just direct my mind and my mouth back on target. God, we ask your blessing now as we seek to hear from you in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Our text today in John 6 and verse 60 opens up with the word, therefore. Now, whenever you stumble upon a therefore in scripture, you need to go back a little bit and see what it's there for. What is John drawing our attention to? We worked through the last, through verses 52 through 59 last week and went into this in great detail. And it is possible that John is referring back to the entire bread of life discourse, which spans dozens of verses here in John chapter six. But I think the main thrust and focus of his therefore here in verse 60 is Jesus's bold claim that you cannot have everlasting life unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood. Therefore, or because of this word from Christ that you must eat his flesh and drink his blood if you would be saved. Therefore, many of the disciples murmured and complained within their own hearts and to one another. This is a hard saying, they said. Who can understand it? Now, when John refers to many of Jesus's disciples here, he's not talking about the 12 apostles, who sometimes we just call disciples. He's talking about a much larger group of people. Jesus did not only have 12 disciples when he was here on earth. He's talking about the great group that had been following Christ, listening to his teaching, and had in some way attached themselves to Jesus. These were people who consider Jesus their rabbi. They would say, yes, I am a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. They probably heard him say a lot of deep and challenging things during his ministry, even if they'd only been following him since the other side of the Sea of Galilee, where he multiplied the loaves and fishes. Even just from there to Capernaum, one day, I'm sure they heard a lot of challenging things. But when Christ gets to the point of telling them that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, they think, whoa, this is a hard saying. I'm not so sure about this anymore. Some of the stuff was challenging that he said before, but this is different, this is hard. Now, Jesus often said hard things during his ministry. For example, he said that if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. That's a very hard saying. He tells his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount that they must be perfect, even as perfect as his heavenly father is perfect. That also is a very hard saying. These things require some unpacking. So saying difficult things is not something unusual for Jesus. And even his true born again children can genuinely have a hard time understanding Christ at times. I think we can all admit, yep, that sounds about right for me. I have a hard time sometimes knowing what exactly Jesus means. But what we see here with these disciples in John 6 is not just something that they have a hard time understanding in their minds. It is that, for sure. They are clearly confused about what Christ means by eating his body and drinking his blood. But more to the point, this is something that they have a hard time understanding in their hearts. This is something they cannot accept. It is something they cannot submit to. And it is something that even offends them. Listen with me again to verse 60 of our text. This is a hard saying. Who can understand it? This is not a humble searching question that is seeking a true answer from Christ. Rather, this is a proud mocking question that is seeking justification. The great Puritan pastor Matthew Henry says this about these grumbling disciples. He says, they think it is impossible that anyone should like Christ's saying. Who can hear it? Surely none can. Thus the scoffers at religion are ready to undertake that all the intelligent part of mankind concur with them in their disbelief. They conclude with great assurance that no man of sense will admit the doctrine of Christ, nor any man of spirit submit to His laws. Because they cannot bear to be so tutored and so tied up themselves, they think no one else can. Who can hear it? Thanks be to God, Henry writes, thousands have heard these things of Christ and have found them not only easy but pleasant as their necessary food. Matthew Henry wrote these words over 300 years ago, but it is very much like they could have been written yesterday. the so-called best and brightest of our scholars at the top universities in the world, most of them will not submit to Christ in spirit and in truth. Many of them have this exact attitude that religion, like Mark said, is just an opiate for the masses, something just for the uneducated and uncultured and the backwards to kind of keep them at bay. Of course, many unbelievers today think no truly smart person really believes everything that's in the Bible anymore. Certainly, we've evolved past these silly old claims. And so these disciples here think the same thing. They think, how could anyone believe this? Eating this man's flesh and drinking this man's blood? However, as the apostle Paul would write, professing to be wise, they became fools. Someone might say, well, okay, James, where do you and Matthew, Henry get all of that? Why are you accusing these people so much? I'm saying they're proud and that they're mocking our Lord. How do you know these people's hearts? We've heard that one a lot these days too. Well, how do you know someone's heart? Maybe they're sincere, but they're just confused. Well, I know these people's hearts because the passage clearly teaches what's in these people's hearts. Most people don't come right out and say, hey, I'm a hypocrite. I have a cold, hard, dead heart. That's me. Some people do. Some people are so hardened that they are proud these days of their wickedness. But most people are still honest enough with themselves and with society to kind of put up a face, kind of put up a veneer. They're not out and out hypocrites with their words. One of the things I said in our Wednesday night study this past week is what's in the well, though, will come up in the bucket. What's in the well comes up in the bucket. That's something one of my previous pastors, Mike Michener, used to say all the time. What's in the well comes up in the bucket. Because it is true, you usually cannot go to the bottom of a well and see what the water is like down there. Some wells are a thousand feet deep. But you know what you can see? You can see the water that comes up in the bucket when you draw it out of the well. And that water that comes up in that bucket gives you a pretty good indication of what it looks like down at the bottom of the well, no matter how dark and deep that well is. So we can't be absolutely 100% bet your life on it certain about the state of a person's heart. But we can have a really good idea of what's going on inside of a man by how he talks and how he acts. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. We have some pretty clear actions and words by these folks. Pretty clear actions later, especially of this passage that showed that they may have been following Christ for a time, but they were not following Him from their hearts. A man can fool other people for a time. He can fool his friends. He can fool his family. He can fool his boss. He can even fool his spouse, his most intimate companion. He can fool his pastors and his fellow church members. But eventually, usually, true colors will start to show. And these disciples who are murmuring and complaining against Christ's teaching, they show their true colors more and more and more as our passage goes on. And of course, the clearest evidence here in this passage that these disciples were not true, humble followers of Christ is the words of Jesus Christ himself. Beginning in verse 61, we read this. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, does this offend you? What then if you should see the son of man ascend where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. Even though the apostles may not know right away that many of the people in the crowd were not true followers of Christ in their hearts, they even realized by the end of chapter six. But Jesus, our text says, he knew from the beginning. Now when John says he knew from the beginning, here in verse 64, I don't think he's referring to Jesus knowing all things from eternity past. That's not the, as I read it, the clear sense of the passage. Because the Son of God, he voluntarily laid aside his access to his omniscience. when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The little infant baby Jesus did not have direct immediate access to every knowledge of everything in the world. Not because he was less than God, but because he had humbled himself to become a man. We know from direct biblical statements even that Jesus not only grew in wisdom as his body grew, or not only in stature as his body would grow, but he grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man. His mind grew. He came more and more aware of the things around him. He even seems, at times during his public ministry, it seems like Jesus asks genuine questions that he wants the answer to, and it seems like he doesn't automatically know the answer sometimes. But the Bible also makes it clear that in his earthly ministry, Jesus had an infallible knowledge of the heart of every single person He interacted with. Everyone that Jesus talked to in the Gospels, He knew whether they were His or whether they were not. He knew their hearts. And it's the same today. Jesus knows the hearts of all men. He doesn't have to call character witnesses. He doesn't have to ask you any penetrating questions. He just knows you completely and absolutely. He knew within himself that these so-called disciples were complaining and grumbling against his teaching. He knew his teaching offended their sin-loving, natural hearts, and he knew that they would shortly walk away from him. No external show of religion can convert the heart of the natural man. You have to come to Jesus in humble faith, and that is what these disciples lack. They lack true humility. In fact, these disciples not only lack humility and understanding, not only will they not submit to Christ's teaching, but apparently, as it says in our text, they are offended by Christ's words. The claims of Christ will always be offensive to unbelievers. We don't need to apologize for that. We don't need to add offense, but we don't need to apologize that the gospel is offensive. We preach a gospel that says that without Jesus, you can do nothing. Natural man does not wanna hear that. We preach a gospel that says that without Jesus, you are going to hell. Without Jesus, you are rotten to the core. Without Jesus, you cannot under any circumstances have eternal life. You are a worm and no man. That's very offensive to our flesh. And that's what the natural man focuses on. All you preach is hate and bad news, unbelievers say. But the man or woman or child who has been being drawn by the father, they hear that, of course. But they hear it in a different light. They hear a different word from Jesus Christ. The Christian hears, I am a wicked sinner who deserves hell. But Jesus loves me despite my sin. And He has purchased for me an eternal title in heaven. I indeed do have a corrupt heart and a filthy mind. I know that. But Jesus has given me a new soft heart and he has promised that he will renew and transform my mind from glory unto glory. Jesus has promised to crown me even with glory and honor and immortality. Yes, yes, I am a wayward and disobedient child. But Jesus said, He has adopted me as His own, and He will raise me up and dress me in shining garments, and I will reign with Him forever and ever in the new heaven and new earth. All that I am called to do is obey the gospel. All I have to do is submit to Christ as Lord and Savior. But the natural man does not want to hear that. The natural man does not like the word obedience or submission. It offends him. The apostle Peter says this, therefore to you who believe, Jesus is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. Do not be like these disciples, church, who followed Jesus, ate with Jesus, heard some of Jesus's teachings with interest, perhaps even heard some of what Christ said with joy, but then took offense at Jesus's words and walked away. They heard the clear message of salvation from our Lord himself, but their heart and hearts could not understand the things of the Spirit. When Jesus says that it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing, He's telling these men and women still in the bond of iniquity, He's saying, stop thinking that I'm talking about you eating my physical body and drinking my physical blood with your physical mouth. Can't you hear what I'm saying? Jesus might exclaim, I am giving my body and blood as spiritual food for the life of the world. You can't feed your soul with something that goes into your mouth. You have to feed your soul with that which goes into your heart. If you try to feed your soul with only physical food, then in the end, you'll lose both body and soul in hell. But if you feast on Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit, then both your body and your soul have a bright future laid up for you in the presence of our Lord. Look with me now back at our text, starting at verse 66, if you will. John chapter six, verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12, and one of you as a devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the 12. We learn here that not all of Christ's disciples are his elect children. This is also a hard saying. There will be some people who follow Jesus who come to church, who receive the sacraments, who are not truly converted. Think of the parable of the sower. If you remember Jesus teaching on another occasion, he says that a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is a hard saying, but then in his grace, Jesus explains the parable to his disciples. He says this, therefore hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, there's that same word, understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on the stone he places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a little while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. but he who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. These disciples who grumbled against Jesus in our text today and ultimately went back and walked with him no more are like the soil that receives seed. The soil really truly receives seed. But it was either on the stony ground or on the wayside. Maybe some of them had been traveling with Christ and following Him for some time even. Maybe some had even recruited others to follow Jesus. But they only endured for a little while. They had no root within themselves. They heard and for a time they received the word of the kingdom, but they did not understand it. That means in their hearts, they did not truly receive and submit to this teaching. And so Satan snatched it away. Like the apostle John says, these people are those that went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. These disciples were not of the kingdom of God. They were under the administration of the kingdom and covenant of God. They were receiving teaching from Jesus. They had the word sown in them. They were numbered among the disciples of Christ. They were even for a time in the kingdom and covenant of God. Just like in Matthew chapter 13, those fish who were in the dragnet, Jesus says the kingdom is like a great dragnet that is dragged through the water, filled with fish. But some of those fish are not good fish, and they were thrown out of the net when it was pulled up. These are like those disciples. Or how Jesus says the kingdom is like a great field, and wheat is planted in the field, but the enemy comes and sows tares alongside the wheat. And so the wheat and the tares grow up together, both in the kingdom. But the tares were there only to be burned on the last day. These disciples were really in the kingdom, just like the tares and just like the bad fish, just like how the ethnic Jews were really part of the covenant. They were really part of the olive tree in Romans chapter 11, only to be clipped off because of unbelief. These disciples were in the kingdom, but they were not of the kingdom. These disciples that walked away were not of fruit bearing, enduring kingdom stock. They were of a different tree entirely. They were followers of Jesus with their feet and with their minds for a time, but they were not followers of Jesus with their hearts. They had no root of the spirit within them. It's like painting the roses red. Underneath, the rose might still be white. Paint it over with a veneer of redness, doesn't make it a red rose. These disciples were not disciples, we could even say. They had no root of the Spirit. They were followers after the flesh, and the flesh, Jesus tells us so clearly, profits nothing. It is the Spirit poured into our hearts by the grace of God that gives life. These disciples may have been truly drawn to Jesus by the miracles, by the power, by the crowns, but they were not drawn by the Father, as Jesus says earlier in John 6. They did not have that irrevocable, irresistible drawing by the Father to salvation. Brothers and sisters, my goal here as I discuss these true and false disciples is not to scare you, But I nevertheless must warn you, do not be like these disciples. Do not only walk with Jesus for a little while, only to turn from him when his word offends you or is hard for your heart or your mind to understand. As the Holy Spirit says, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me, tried me and saw my works 40 years. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart and they have not known In their hearts, we could add, they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. These were people who were really part of God's people, who God had really delivered, but they fell because they were disobedient. How were they disobedient? The word says, because they didn't have belief in their hearts. They didn't receive and understand the mighty love of God in their hearts. Do not be like these disciples. Now, many people will read passages like this and they will not be concerned in the slightest. They think, of course I wouldn't do this. Are you crazy? I would never leave Jesus. I wouldn't walk away. I would endure with Christ until the end. If you were thinking like that, then I would say, I truly hope that's true. And I believe good and better things for you, but I would urge you also to be humble. Therefore, the word says, let anyone who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. Don't think that your confidence can come from yourself. It is always from Christ. There are also people, though, who read passages like this, and they have great distress in their souls, anguish in their souls. They begin to get very introspective. They start to look within. And they wonder, like the disciples at the Last Supper, is it I, Lord? Am I the one you're talking about here? Will I walk away? Am I just a tear among the wheat? How do I know if I'm truly one of the elect? If you're thinking like that, then I want you to do a couple things. And I think almost every believer at some point in their life has those thoughts. Some are oppressed by them constantly, like one of my great heroes, John Bunyan, his whole life, one of the godliest men ever to walk this earth, one of the most influential men ever, the most prolific Baptist ever to live. Almost his whole life, he was distressed. Am I one of the elect? Can God really love me while I keep sinning? If you're thinking like that, then I want you to do a couple things. First, know that it is a good thing to have a concern for your soul. The Bible even encourages us to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. But when you examine yourself, you need to remember that in this life, you will never be totally free of sin. So you're not examining yourself for sinlessness, you're examining yourself for faith in Christ. So when you look within, You should actually find yourself looking without, looking to Jesus. When you look within, you really should see yourself looking right back to Jesus. Even if you look within and you begin to despair from what you see, you know the thoughts of your heart, you know the imaginations of your mind, and you hope no one else ever finds out sometimes, because they're wicked. You might begin to despair, but even when you begin to despair, then call out for mercy to Christ. Call out for salvation to Christ. Call out for assurance from your Lord and Savior. And if that's your response, that's a good sign. That means you realize you're a sinner and that there's a Savior there who is powerful and able to save you. Looking within, examining ourselves, that's not wrong. It's actually right, but it is also a smaller part of the life of a believer. Because even looking within should, as I said, result in looking above. Robert Murray McShane said that for every one look we take at ourselves, we must take 10 looks at Christ. The essence of faith, the essence of our faith, is not in good works. We start examining how many good works did I do this week? It's not in our faithfulness even. God's word says, even when we are faithless, he remains faithful. It's certainly not in our sinless perfection. What did our assurance of pardon say? It said, if anyone says that he is without sin, he is a liar and the truth is not in him. The essence of faith is looking to Jesus. That's it. That's the essence of faith. Looking to Jesus by the power of His Spirit. That's what Jesus has been saying this whole chapter, over and over and over. Verse 29, the work of God is that you believe on Him whom He sent. Verse 35, he who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Verse 40, and this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life and I will raise Him up at the last day. Verse 47, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. The most important question to ask yourself is, am I looking to Jesus for salvation? Not, did I do enough good works? Was my repentance real enough? Was I really sorry enough over my sin? No, it's, is my only hope in Jesus? Am I looking to Jesus? And if you think to yourself, I don't know, I'm not sure, then look even now, even right now, as you're sitting here, look right now, cry out to Jesus for mercy and say, with the words of God, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. The Lord will not despise this humble plea for help. This is the essence of saving faith. looking to Jesus in humility. So that's the first thing to do. Realize that your concern for your soul is a good thing. And this should drive us perhaps to examination, but not to navel gazing, looking within. It should drive us to looking within and then straight to the cross. Look to the cross. And second, if you're asking yourself, am I one of the elect though? Say, I looked within, I looked without, but I still, I'm wondering, am I just a tear among the wheat? Then ask yourself, have I walked away from Christ? Like the disciples who grumbled and complained and didn't understand Jesus's word. They weren't sitting there distressing about their souls. They got up and said, I'm done with this. And they walked away. Have you walked away in a clear way or are you still following him? Ask yourself, am I still seeking and following after Jesus, even when it's difficult or confusing, or even when I don't want to? When I know my heart's hard, am I still striving after Christ? Am I taking advantage of the ordinary means of grace he has given to me? Am I going to church? Am I praying? Am I reading the word? Have I been baptized? Am I coming to the Lord's table? Am I confessing my sins? Your assurance can't be in any of those things, because that could quickly turn into an assurance by works. And it's true that there are people who do all these things, but it's just a show. People that have a religion of the flesh, but no religion of the heart, that honors God with their lips, but their heart is far from Him. That's true. But you also see here in John 6 that one of the marks of a true disciple is that they continue following Jesus. And these are ways we continue to follow Jesus. Are you doing the ordinary things that you ought to do if you are following Christ? Or are you just living out your lone ranger Christian lifestyle without these ordinary means of grace that he has given us? These things are important. You also see here in John 6, though, that one of the marks of the true disciple is that even when they are confused, when they don't understand in their mind, they continue to accept what Christ is saying in their hearts. even if everyone else begins to turn away. Many of these disciples in that crowd, doesn't tell us an exact proportion, but many of these disciples walked away. And after many disciples walked away, Jesus turns to the 12 and talks to them. It's not even impossible that almost all of this huge crowd that had been following Jesus since the feeding of the 5,000, came with him to Capernaum, listened to him in the synagogue, could have been hundreds or thousands of people still, It's possible that all or almost all of them walked away because he leaves off talking to the crowd and he turns back to the 12. Now, even if everyone turns away, will you still follow Jesus? Think of that song, I have decided to follow Jesus. One of the verses says, though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back. No turning back. That has to be your mindset, that even if the world has all gone this way, just like John Knox said, one man with God is still in the majority, and you go with the majority every time. You see, there are two responses to Christ that his disciples give in our text today. Response number one, the disciples receive a hard teaching, they take offense at Christ and his word, and they walk away. So often today, we still see this happening. People get offended by things that they hear in God's word. Maybe it's something that doesn't square with the message of our culture today. So many people that have so-called deconstructed, that's what it's been. Well, I didn't really embrace or understand or accept the Bible's teaching on homosexuality. So I just couldn't be part of the institutional church. That is the story of so many people today. Or maybe it could be something that assaults the pride of man. something that debases you, like the doctrine that we are all sinners to our core, or the doctrine of unconditional election, that God chooses to save some, but not all. That offends the pride of man. Whatever the reason, there will be some that walk away. Do not do this. Nothing in this world is worth losing your soul over. Be humble before the Lord. That's response one. Hear something, get offended, walk away. Response number two that we see in our text here is this. When we meet a hard teaching in the word of God, when we begin maybe even to be offended by the Bible, When we see others walk away from the faith and we find ourselves confronted with this question, do you also want to walk away? We must answer like Peter does in verses 68 and 69 of John chapter 6. This should be the slogan of the Christian. But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. when you realize that there is no hope anywhere else, that the world cannot offer you anything, that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, that Christ is the only source of eternal life, and that you wouldn't walk away if you were offered the entire universe. That is the humble response of a true disciple of Jesus. No matter what God's word says, I will believe it. I'm not above God's word. I can't say, well, I don't accept that teaching. That's a hard saying, who can understand it? No matter what God's word says, I will believe it. And even if I begin to be offended by something in God's word, I'm gonna start by asking forgiveness for being offended by the word. And I'm gonna humble myself. If I find something in God's word that doesn't make sense to me, I'm gonna humble myself yet again. And no, I will understand it one day. Just because I don't understand something right now doesn't mean I won't understand it always. Whether I understand it tomorrow, or in 10 years, or not until eternity, I will understand it one day. And God can understand it for now for me. And I can trust Him. He knows what He's doing. This is how a disciple has the root of faith, who understands in their heart, who not only has the appearance of religion, this is how a disciple responds to challenging and hard statements from our Lord, and this is how we have to respond even today. You, oh Lord, have the words of eternal life, and we believe and we know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, amen. Let us pray. God, we thank you, Lord, that you are our only savior, that you are our hope, that you have the words of eternal life. God, we thank you, Lord, that even though we are wicked sinners, God, that you loved us and you came down to save us. You are the true bread, Jesus Christ, which came down from heaven to give life to the world. We thank you for that. Lord, let us feed on you truly, even right now. Let our souls reach out and lay hold of this bread of life and eat until we lack no more. In Christ's name, amen.