NOT EVERYONE WALKS AWAY. [JOHN 6: 56-69].

 EVERY MINISTRY FACES DIFFICULT TIMES. IT JUST A GIVEN!  THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN THIINGS ARE UP AND THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN THINGS ARE DOWN. DURING ALL THOSE TIMES THERE ARE FEW MINISTRY LEADERS WHO ARE DOING ALL THEY CAN TO SEE THAT THE MINISTRY DOES NOT LOSE LOSES SUPPORTERS. IN FACT, THOSE WHO ARE CALLED TO LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN THE CHURCH AND OTHER CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES ARE DOING ALL THEY CAN TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED SUCCESS AND GROWTH OF THE MINISTRY.
 IN JOHN CHAPTER 6, JESUS SEEMS TO BE DOING ALL HE CAN TO DRIVE AWAY AS MANY PEOPLE AS HE CAN FROM HIS MINISTRY. EVIDENTLY, HE DIDN'T READ SOME OF THE BOOKS I HAVE READ ON THE SUBJECT OF LEADERSHIP AND SUCCESS IN MINISTRY. I MEAN, WE ARE ALWAYS TRYING TO FIND A SUCCESSFUL "ENGLARGMENT" CAMPAIGN, HERE. JESUS RAN AN SMALLMENT CAMPAIGN!  WHEN JOHN CHAPTER 6 OPENS, JESUS HAS OVER 5,OOO PEOPLE FOLLOWING HIM AND LISTENING TO HIM SPEAK. WHEN THIS CHAPTER CLOSES, HE ONLY HAS 12 MEN WITH HIM AND ONE OF THEM IS NOT EVEN SAVED. IF JESUS IS DOING ANYTHING IN THESE VERSES, HE IS ISSUIING A CALL TO COMMITMENT. HE KNOWS MANY OF THESE FOLLOWERS ARE MERELY THERE FOR WHAT THEY CAN GET FOR THEIR FLESH. JESUS LAYS DOWN THE GAUNTLET AND CALLS FOR EVERYONE OF THOSE FOLLOWERS TO COMMIT TO HIM AND HIM ALONE. HIS CALL TO COMMIMENT HAS A TWO FOLD OUTCOME. FIRST, IT CLARIFIES HIS CALL. HIS MISSION AND HIS MINISTRY FOR THOSE WHO WOULD FOLLOW HIM. SECOND, IT PURIFIES THE RANKS OF HIS DISCIPLES EFFECTIVELY WEEDING OUT MOST OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT GENUINE IN THEIR FAITH OR COMMITMENT.
OUR TEXT VERSES REVEAL JESUS CLEARLY STATING THE TRUTH ABOUT HIMSELF AND HIS MINISTRY. HERE WE ARE ALLOWED TO SEE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TURN THEIR BACKS ON HIM AND WALK AWAY. AFTER THE CROWDS LEAVE, V.66, JESUS IMMEDIATELY TURNS TO HIS TWELVE DISCIPLES, IN VERSE 67, AND ASKS THEM TO MAKE A PERSONAL COMMITMET AS WELL. ONE CAN ALMOST HEAR HIS HEART BREAK AS HE ASKS THEM, " WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY?"
 FRIENDS, WE ARE LIVING IN AN HOUR WHEN MANY ARE WALKING AWAY FROM THE THIINGS OF THE LORD. THIS SHOULD NOT SURPRISE US BECAUSE IT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE BIBLE SAID WOULD HAPPEN IN THE LAST DAYS. WE ARE TOLD THAT THERE WOULD BE A "FALLING AWAY", 2 THES. 2:3. WE ARE ALSO TOLD THAT IN THE ENDTIMES, MEN WILL "HAVE A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF." 2 TIM. 3;5. YET WHEN WE SEE IT HAPPENING ALL AROUND US, WE ARE SURPRISED. WE ARE SHOCKED! IN VERY TRUTH, ANYONE WHO GIVES HEED TO WHAT JESUS SAYS AND PUTS HIS TRUST IN HIM WHO SENT ME HAS A HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE, DOES NOT COME UP FOR JUDGEMENT, BUT HAS ALREADY PASSED FROM DEATH TO LIFE. IN TRUTH, IN VERY TRUTH I TELL YOU, A TIME IS COMING, INDEED IT IS ALREADY HERE, WHEN THE DEAD SHALL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD, AND ALL WHO HEAR SHALL COME TO LIFE. FOR AS THE FATHER HAS LIFE-GIVING POWER IN HIMSELF, SO HAS THE SON, BY THE FATHER'S GIFT.  AS THE SON OF MAN, HE HAS ALSO BEEN GIVEN THE RIGHT TO PASS JUDGEMENT.
 DO NOT WONDER AT THIS, BECAUSE THE TIME IS COMING WHEN ALL WHO ARE IN THE GRAVE SHALL HEAR HIS VOICE AND MOVE FORTH: THOSE WHO HAVE DONE RIGHT WILL RISE TO LIFE; AND THOSE WHO HAVE DONE WRONG SHALL RISE TO HEAR THEIR DOOM. I CANNOT ACT BY MYSELF; I JUDGE AS I AM BIDDEN, AND MY VERDICT IS JUST, BECAUSE MY AIM IS NOT MY OWN WILL, BUT THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME.
IF I TESTIFY ON MY OWN BEHALF, THAT TESTIMONY DOES NOT HOLD GOOD. THERE IS ANOTHER WHO BEARS WITNESS FOR ME, AND I KNOW THAT HIS TESTIMONY HOLDS. ALTHOUGH THEIR TESTIMONY POINTS TO ME, YOU REFUSE TO COME TO ME FOR THAT LIFE. I DO NOT LOOK TO MEN FOR HONOR. FOR YOU HAVE NO LOVE OF GOD IN YOU. YOUR ACCUSER IS MOSES, THE VERY MOSES ON WHOM YOU HAVE SET YOUR HOPE. IF YOU BELIEVED MOSES YOU WOULD BELIEVE WHAT I TELL YOU, FOR IT WAS ABOUT ME THAT HE WROTE, I AM "CHRIST THE GIVER OF LIFE." AMEN!
 BUT IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT HE WROTE, HOW ARE YOU TO BELIEVE WHAT I SAY. THEN WHAT MUST WE DO?  THEY ASKED HIM, ' IF WE ARE TO WORK AS GOD WOULD HAVE US WORK?  THIS IS THE WORK THAT GOD REQUIRES; BELIEVE IN THE ONE WHOM HE HAS SENT; AS LUTHER SAID, THE "GREATEST OF ALL SINS" IS THE SIN OF UNBELIEF!  THE MAN WHO COMES TO ME I WILL NEVER TURN AWAY. I HAVE COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, NOT TO DO MY OWN WILL, BUT THE WILL OF HIM  WHO SENT ME. IT IS HIS WILL      THAT I SHOULD NOT LOSE ONE EVEN ONE OF ALL THAT HE HAS GIVEN ME, BUT RAISE THEM ALL UP ON THE LAST DAY. AT THIS THE JEWS BEGAN TO MURMUR: SURELY THIS IS JESUS SON OF JOSEPH; WE KNOW HIS FATHER AND MOTHER. HOW CAN HE NOW SAY, " I HAVE COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN"?  JESUS ANSWERED, ' STOP THE MURMURING AMONG YOUR SELVES. NO MAN CAN COME TO ME UNLESS HE IS DRAWN BY THE FATHER WHO SENT ME; AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP ON THE LAST DAY. IT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS: " AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD."
  THIS WAS SPOKEN IN SYNAGOGUE WHEN JESUS WAS TEACHING IN CAPERNAUM. MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES ON HEARING EXCLAIMED, THIS IS MORE THAN WE CAN STOMACH!  WHY LISTEN TO SUCH WORDS? JESUS WAS AWARE HIS DISCIPLES WERE NOW MURMURING ABOUT IT AND ASKED THEM, ' DOES THIS SHOCK YOU' ? WHAT IF YOU SEE THE SON OF MAN ASCENDING TO THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS BEFORE?  THE SPIRIT ALONE GIVES LIFE; THE FLESH IS OF NO AVAIL. THE WORDS I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU ARE BOTH SPIRIT AND LIFE. AND YET THERE ARE SOME OF YOU WHO HAVE NO FAITH.'  FOR JESUS KNEW ALL ALONG WHO WERE WITHOUT FAITH AND WHO WAS TO BETRAY HIM. SO HE SAID, ' THIS IS WHY I TOLD YOU THAT NO ONE CAN COME TO ME UNLESS IT HAS BEEN GRANTED TO HIM BY THE FATHER.' FROM THAT TIME ON, MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WITHDREW AND NO LONGER WENT ABOUT WITH HIM. SO JESUS ASKED THE TWELVE, ' DO YOU ALSO WANT TO LEAVE ME? SIMON PETER ANSWERED  HIM, ' LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO? YOUR WORDS ARE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE. WE HAVE FAITH, AND WE KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD.  JESUS ANSWERED, ' HAVE I NOT CHOSEN YOU, ALL TWELVE?  YET ONE OF YOU IS A DEVIL.'  HE MEANT JUDAS, SON OF SIMON ISCARIOT. HE IT WAS WHO WOULD BETRAY HIM, AND HE WAS ONE OF TWELVE.