Jesus, The Holy One Of God Series

Jesus: The Holy One of God: John 6:64-71

I love preaching through books of the Bible because I always know where I will be preaching next week…and so will you! John 6 is a very powerful chapter and we have seen Jesus feed 5,000 men and their families with two fish and five small barley loves. As the sun was going down, Jesus send His disciples out in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum: He caught up with them later as He defied the creative order of gravity as well as principles of water as He walked out upon the sea. He then gave His discourse on “the Bread of Life”, referring to Himself as the True Manna from Heaven which alone would give life. We saw that many of the crowd including disciples left him because His teaching was too difficult to understand and accept, namely, that there is only life in THE Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus sent from God’s Heaven to die for sinners.

Look at John 6:64 "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 it was that would betray Him. 65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" 68 Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" 71 Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.

Jesus Reinforces His Teachings

Did you ever notice how many times its teachings are repeated in the Bible. Here Jesus repeats and reinforces several key Biblical DOCTRINES that have been witnessed and taught before. At the end of chapter 5 we had learned that Jesus discerns the heart of man. Nothing comes as a surprise to Him concerning human nature. Jesus knew the history of the woman at the well. Jesus created all things and was the initiator of all things from the beginning. He knows the thoughts and words of a person before they are uttered. He knew who would believe in Him and follow Him, and He even knew the particular individual who would betray Him.

How could a mere human being know the things that only God could know? Because Jesus is God; He shares in the characteristics and very nature of God, namely that He knows ALL THINGS, both secret and revealed, and has known from the beginning; just like God, Jesus is omniscient because He IS GOD.

Jesus repeats the doctrine of Divine Election by saying in verse 65: "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

Salvation is initiated by the Father as He draws people to the truth of Jesus Christ. Salvation is from above; we are forgiven and saved by God’s Grace, not “by man’s choice.” Man does make a choice, but only after God in His mercy has given life to a person who has known only spiritual death and blindness as a result of being born “dead in sin” from the beginning of life, which is at conception.

The Father draws those who will come to Jesus and BELIEVE and HE GRANTS the gift of life to them. (“it has been GRANTED him from the Father”: “Granted”(didomi) means “of one's own accord to give one something, to his advantage, to bestow a gift, to supply, furnish.” God GIVES SPIRITUAL LIFE AS A GIFT; that is what Jesus meant in John 3 when He spoke to Nicodemus about being born from above.) Here is what we MUST understand: Apart from God’s initiative, salvation is impossible-coming to Jesus is not a matter of free human decision; Judas betrayed Jesus in the worst way possible.

Why Disciples “withdraw” from Jesus

Why do disciples “withdraw” from Jesus? Why do they quit walking with Jesus? (John 6:66-67) Verse 66 says:” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” The literal translation is like this: “Many of the disciples of Him went away into the things they had left behind.” The NKJV states it this way: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”