“Why disciples go back” part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on “Why disciples go back” part 2. He will be in John 6:60-71

We have abandoned everything so that we can do it our way and we wonder what’s wrong with this generation that 70 percent of them leave the church. What’s going on? I’m here to tell you that we have abandoned the Spirit of God and the Word of God church and I’m calling every servant of God and every child of God and every follower of Christ get back into the Word, continue to proclaim the Word and pray for the anointing and the power of the Spirit of God in your life.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders and we want to welcome you from the Open Door Church to the Hope Worth Having broadcast as we continue to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person, every heart, and every home and we thank you for taking time to tune in with us today.

We’re going to be right back in the gospel of John chapter 6 and we’re going to study verses 60 through verses 71 and we’re going to continue on why do disciples go back? You know it’s one of the most confusing things is how is it that disciples would walk away from Christ?

You may have had a friend, you may have had a mentor, you may have had someone you’re helping and then all of a sudden they decided to walk away from the faith. Why is it that that happens? And so we take time in this passage of scripture to answer that question.

So let’s get our Bible, let’s get to John chapter 6 and let’s really study together today. I want to make sure that every mom and dad, every person present this morning is really evaluating their hearts because if you’re building your child’s faith on entertainment, if you’re building their faith on the razzle dazzle, if you’re building their faith on something that is Miraculous, I’m telling you it will collapse as soon as they get out of your house.

You don’t believe me? 70% of young adults leave the church. 70%. That’s why I always remind Paul and Kristen as they’re serving with our young people, build it on the word of God. I’m not just interested in our kids getting together.

I’m glad that they get together, but I want them to hear from the Bible. I want them to hear from the word of God because these young people, their spiritual future is on the line. The third thing I want you to note and where we’ll spend most of our time today is that the mission of Christ repelled them.

Why do disciples go back? They’re offended by the message. They’re attracted by what is miraculous, but the mission repels them. Look at verse 63. This is beautiful. It is the spirit that quickeneth.

It’s the spirit that gives life is what that’s saying. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. What gives life? Two things, God’s spirit and God’s word.

That’s what gives spiritual life. That’s why I’m not interested in this PowerPoint being a video. I’m not interested in some fancy design. I’m just interested in pumping the word of God into you, because it is the spirit and his word that gives life.

If videos and movies gave life, I’m telling you friends, there’d be more people saved. Don’t we live in a video generation? Don’t we live in a visual generation? Here’s the problem that this generation has to understand and the church has to understand.

And I know many of you are gonna disagree with me. It’s okay. I tell people it’s America. You have the freedom to be wrong. I know it’s hard, isn’t it? You don’t like what Pastor Mike teases you. It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay.

But get this church. It is so good that you ought to write it down. Not as a quote from me, but just something I’ve learned and studied, okay? God has chosen to be heard and not seen. God has chosen to be heard and not seen.

You see, I don’t believe that, Mike. Faith comes by what? Hearing the what? But nowhere did he say faith comes by seeing God. Faith comes by a video. Faith comes by some kind of entertainment. Faith comes by hearing the Word.

I get it. I know it offends you. I know it’s not palatable. I know it’s not popular. I understand that. I get it. But all throughout the Bible, when Moses went up to the mountain to get to receive the Ten Commandments, God did not give him a video.

He sent him his Word. When Moses strived to see God, he said, Moses, you can’t even see me. You can only see a glimpse of my glory. God has chosen to be heard and not seen. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 21 again, the Bible says, that it is through the foolishness of preaching that God saves some.

You see, God is chosen through his word and through his spirit as it is being taught to our children, as it is being taught to our grandchildren. It can happen in a Bible study. It can happen in a class.

It can happen in a church service. It can happen one -on -one at Chick -fil -A across the table over a nice sweet tea, amen? I don’t care, but I’m here to tell you, this is how God works. For God has not only ordained his message, the death, bear, and resurrection, he has ordained his method.

And if you don’t believe me, again, the scripture’s clear. Jesus says the Spirit gives life. The Spirit quickens, and my word, they are life. My words are life that I speak unto you. They are life, and so is the Spirit.

It is life, that is how we have spiritual life. Now let me help you illustrate this. Every animal on earth has a set of correspondences with the environment around it. And some of those correspondences far exceed even us as humans.

Humans can only perceive 30% of the sun’s light. 30%, that’s 1 70th of the spectrum of the electromagnet energy coming from the sun. Yet many animals exceed our abilities. Bats can detect insects by sonar.

Pigeons navigate by magnetic fields. Bloodhounds perceive a world of smell that is unavailable to us. Likewise, the spiritual world requires an inbuilt set of correspondences that are activated only through spiritual quickening or awakening by God himself.

Remember what Jesus said in John chapter three? No one can see the kingdom of God without being born again. You can’t even see it. You cannot even perceive it. You cannot even understand it without the Spirit of God helping you to see it.

Jesus said, or the apostle Paul said, the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

So my point to you is that there is a need for the work of the Spirit because I have limitations. I am spiritually dead. I have to be awakened by the Word. I have to be awakened by the Spirit. I have to be awakened.

And the reason disciples go back is because we are abandoning the Spirit and the Word of God. We are not giving them the Spirit and the Word of God. And as a result, they make an emotional response to God.

They make an emotional decision to God. But when it comes down to take up your cross and follow me, they’re out of here because they’ve never been spiritually wicked. They’ve never been awakened. And that’s what we have to understand.

And the disciples were appalled at this mission of Christ. They were appalled at not only the great redemptive plan of God, but the process by which God would bring sinners to salvation. And that’s what Jesus was teaching them all throughout the gospel of John.

He is teaching them that the gospel is for the world, that the gospel is for every person, that the gospel must be heard, and we’re to take it to every heart, and that they must be drawn by the Spirit.

They must be awakened by the Spirit, that the Word of God must do its effective work. Remember what Isaiah the prophet said? He said, as he was quoting God the Father who had given him his words, my word shall not return void.

And yet the church has said, I don’t believe the Bible. I’m going to retreat from the Bible. I’m going to rely on my techniques and my methodologies. I’m going to rely on the things that I have so that I can persuade people to come to Christ.

There is a great redemptive plan that God has. It begins in the book of Genesis, it continues throughout the Scriptures all the way to the book of Revelation, and it is centered around one person. It is Christ Himself who would go to the cross and die for sinners, and then He would be buried, and the third day He would rise again, and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have what?

Everlasting light. Do you know why it repelled them? Because, again, not only are they offended by this message, but they wanted to do it in their flesh. They wanted to be religious, and they wanted to work their way to heaven.

That’s why Jesus said in verse 63, go back church, go back to it, the flesh profits nothing. Did you get that phrase? The flesh profits nothing. It doesn’t matter how religious you are. It doesn’t matter how moral you are.

It doesn’t matter how many classes you go to. Without the spirit and without the word of God, it means nothing and does nothing in your heart. Doesn’t matter, parents. It doesn’t matter how many vacation Bible schools you take your kids to.

The flesh profits nothing. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Sunday school teacher. It doesn’t matter how many graphics, PowerPoints, and graphic designs you have. You know what matters is when you open that Bible to those students and you share John 3 16 with them, and you share with them, and then on Saturday night, you take your role list and you’re on your knees praying for little Johnny, and you’re praying for little Sally,

and you’re praying for the anointing of the spirit when you get up and teach on Sunday morning. That’s all that matters, church. But we have abandoned everything. We have abandoned everything so that we can do it our way, and we wonder what’s wrong with this generation that 70% of them leave the church.

What’s going on? I’m here to tell you that we have abandoned the spirit of God and the word of God, church, and I’m calling every servant of God and every child of God and every follower of Christ, get back into the word, continue to proclaim the word and pray for the anointing and the power of the spirit of God in your life.

Now, what is God’s role in my salvation? Let’s learn. First, God wills your salvation. Go back to John chapter one. John chapter one, I’m just helping you get rooted in your faith because I am convinced that if you had strong theology, you would have better methodology.

I am convinced that if your theology was rooted in the Word of God then your methods would be rooted in the Word of God rather than the latest gimmick that is coming through the evangelical church. John chapter 1 verse 12 through 13, but as many as received him, to them gave he power authority to become the sons or children of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of whose will God’s will.

God wills your salvation. Don’t be troubled by that. God is not willing that any should perish. That all should come to repentance. Don’t you believe that church? It’s a work of God. Jump over to John chapter 5.

John chapter 5 verse 21. John 5, verse 21, for as the Father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. He’s talking about your spiritual. Just as the Father will raise you up physically, the Son will raise you up spiritually.

John 6, our text that we preached on last week, John 6, verse 37, all that the Father gives me shall come to me, and Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Here’s what I want you to get. I’ve already told you once, but you’ve got to be reminded.

And that is that you are a gift from the Father to the Son. You are a gift. All that the Father gives me shall come to me. And He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Jump down to verse 39.

And this is the Father’s will. This is the Father’s will, not my will. This is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which have been given to me. What did I tell you? You are a gift from the Father to the Son.

You are a trophy of God’s grace, a gift from the Father to the Son, all which He, referring to the Father, has given me. I shall lose nothing. I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Now I want you to look at verse 40. And this is the will of Him that sent me. Who sent the Son? The Father did. That everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day.

It’s not limited. Everyone, everyone who sees… everyone who believes in Christ, everyone who puts their faith in Jesus, you will have everlasting life and you are part of this will of God. You are part of this great redemptive story.

You are part because you believe. So what is God’s role in your salvation? He wills your salvation. He draws you to salvation. Go back to verse 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

God is drawing you to him. Look at verse 44, further exclamation, no man can come to me. Stop right there and think about that. No man. Your kids, you yourself, you can’t come to God on your own. The flesh prophets nothing.

No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me what? You must not be drawn by entertainment. You must not be drawn by the world. You must not be drawn by the razzle dazzle. You must be drawn by the father.

How does the father draw? He draws through the spirit. He draws through the word. And I will, Jesus says, raise him up at the last day. Look at verse 45, I’m sorry. It is written in the prophets. They shall be taught of God.

Every man therefore that hath heard and has learned of the father cometh unto me. Again, it’s the power of the word of God being taught because God has chosen to be heard, not seen. God has chosen that his word would go forth.

His word would draw people to him and everyone, whether you are in a Bible study, a small group, a large group, across the table from someone, everyone that hears and learns comes unto the father. Verse 65, verse 63, I’m sorry.

I’m just teaching you theology. It is the spirit that quickens. Is it Mike Sanders that quickens? No. The word quickens is an old King James word that means to be made alive. It’s the spirit that makes you spiritually alive.

You are spiritually dead without Christ. It’s the spirit that makes you alive. The flesh profits nothing. Your flesh, my flesh, anybody’s flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, he has chosen to be heard.

The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are what? God’s word is life. You want your kids to be saved and inundate them with God’s word. You want your kids to be saved. You fast and pray for the anointing and conviction of the spirit.

Because the spirit and the word gives life. Jump down to verse 65. Therefore, that I unto you that no man, no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father.” Divine influence is necessary for the reception of the truth, it is the Spirit of God.

Acts 16, 14, a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, she was religious, she heard us, she heard them teach. God has chosen to be heard, not seen.

She heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of by Paul. Paul got up and taught, he got up and preached, he went house to house pleading, begging for people to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ and the Lord. blessed his word and the Lord blessed the Apostle Paul his prayers and the Lord opened her heart why do people not get saved today they are attracted by the wrong reasons and they are not truly drawn by the spirit and the word are you desperate to see your kids saved when’s the last time you shed tears for the salvation of your family when’s the last time you weep that your family member would be saved that you would not let go that you would not give up but that you sought God night and day for the anointing of the spirit to draw them to Christ that you pleaded that you sent them Christmas cards not with hey we’re happy Jesus is in a manger and he’s born but Christmas cards that had God’s word in it when’s the last time that you recognize God’s word so powerful that you just want to write a letter to your son and you just want to inundate him with God’s word because the spirit gives life and the word gives life how does what is God’s role in our salvation it is that God grants you salvation we saw that in verse 64 he said no I said unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of the father when you believe the father grants you salvation but you must be drawn by the spirit and the truth you must be drawn by the word of God only when we are touched these are my notes I wrote this down only when we are touched by the convicting power of God’s spirit and God’s word do we come to him by faith church I’m not teaching you a new doctrine I’m teaching you what John R.

Rice believed, what Martin Lloyd Jones believed. I’m teaching you what Charles Spurgeon believed, what George Whitfield believed. I’m teaching you what John Wesley believed. I’m teaching you what the old fundamental Bible -believing preachers believed.

You have bought into a new doctrine, not me. You have been sucked into a Christianity that is about attracting people by entertainment, not the Word of God. Not the Word of God. Now, I close with this.

I’ve given you a lot, and a lot of you are just like, you’re just not even sure. But I’m telling you, I’m not teaching you a new doctrine. And some of you are concerned about Mike. Okay, and it’s okay.

I’m concerned about Mike, too. Listen to me, we pray, we preach, we teach, we work tirelessly because the word and the spirit give life. But every person still has to respond, don’t they? And the chapter closes out with this truth that Judas chose not to believe.

Jesus, because he’s Jesus, he’s God, he already knew it. He already knew it. It’s a sad story. It’s a devastating story. It’s a life that has been ruined because, again, it wasn’t that Judas didn’t get enough teaching.

It wasn’t that he didn’t see enough ministry. It wasn’t that Judas didn’t go on enough mission trips. It wasn’t that he didn’t do all these things that was needed for him to come to Christ. He had it all.

He saw the power of the Spirit. He saw the power of the Word. He hung out with Jesus. Wouldn’t you like to do that every day? But he did not believe. I believe in human responsibility. I believe that I’m to preach and teach the gospel and every person has to make a decision for Jesus.

But I also believe that the only way you come to Christ is through the power of the Spirit and the power of the Word. And anything apart from that, it might fill time and space, and I’m not against you, and it might put you in a happy place, but it will not save your soul.

For Terry and I, as our kids have grown before they came into this world, prayer was a powerful tool for our reaching out to our children. Not just praying for them, but praying with them. There are many times when my kids We had this problem, that problem, and we grabbed them by the hands, and we knelt down at the couch, and we sought God, because there was no good answer but Jesus, Jesus.

And we prayed for conviction for our kids. We prayed for the Spirit to do His work. And Terry and I, when we pray together, we grab hands, and we pray for the power of the Spirit and the power of the Word to do its work in this congregation and among its people.

And I know there’ll be people that will get mad at Mike, they’ll get mad at the message, they’ll get mad at whatever, and I get all that. But there’ll never be a day, God willing through His grace, okay, not through the power of Mike’s flesh, but there’ll never be a day that I will stop preaching from this Bible.

I just won’t and I’m not trying to be pious, let there only be 10 of us. We got a lot of work if there is, but let there be 10 of us, because God’s Word will do more than any of us can all do, thousands of us in the flesh.

There are true disciples and there are false disciples, just like in every arena of life. And we need to come to that understanding. When we say, why do disciples walk away? It is because at the heart of the matter, their faith was not real.

Because true faith is a persevering faith. True faith is a faith that continues to move forward for the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be trials, there will be adversity, but the adversity reveals the character of our faith.

The trials reveal whether we mean business or we’re just pretending. And you see, as Jesus Christ was teaching, and he would teach about these great principles of who he is and salvation, the Bible says that many said this is a hard saying and they walked away, they followed him no more.

Why is it that this happens? Because at the heart of the matter, the reason that they originally followed was for selfish reasons. It was not a true abandonment of self and sin and it was not a true embracing of the cross and Christ, but rather they did it for the miraculous.

They did it so that they might achieve their own agenda, whether they did that intentionally or unintentionally. At the heart, there was no authentic faith. And so this is why this message is so important, because it stands as a warning to all of us.

And it helps us to continue to evaluate where are we at? And are we following Christ for the right reasons? Are we just wanting to follow him as long as he provides? the miraculous as long as He gives us what we want?

Is that why we follow Him? What if everything falls apart in this world and we are all of a sudden are persecuted? Will we quit following Jesus? If it’s not easy to follow Christ anymore, would we walk away or would we continue to believe?

I hope that you’ll be a person who will love Jesus Christ forever and ever. Listen, I want to let you know that on our website we have DVDs available. We also have things that you can download. You can download sermons.

You can download some great gospel music and there’s great information that you can download. You can get some notes to my sermons and all these things are designed to help you in your daily walk with Jesus Christ to encourage you in your faith.

So don’t forget to go to hopeworthhaving .com. Don’t forget to check us out. Let us know what God’s doing in your life. and certainly take advantage of this website. It is designed to help you to move farther along in your faith.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.