WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY?

  
     JESUS  ASKED, "WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY?"
                                       JOHN 6:67

INDEX:
-THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE
-THE GARDEN OF AGONY
-WHAT WAS JESUS LOOKING TO?
-OBSTACLES OF VICTORIOUS FAITH:
THE HARD SAYINGS, and the REPROACH OF DISCIPLESHIP BACKSLIDING - Not letting go of our ways 
THE UNBELIEF OF FEAR WHAT ABOUT THE...?
-ANSWERS FOR THE PREESTABLISHED DANGERS
-THE DEFIANCE OF REBELLION
-WEARY OF THE JOURNEY
-CONCLUSION

 "For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and departed to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me..." 2 Timothy 4:11 

"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then said I, 'Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do You will, O My God, Yes, Your law is in My heart.'" Psalm 40:6-8
 

"And He said to them all, 'If and man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away.'" Luke 9:23-2

 

"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:33  

 

 "So we see that they could not enter in (to the promise land) because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:19

 

THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE 

 Making a decision to obey or follow Jesus has and will always pose a challenge to every professing believer. The promises are sure and the rewards of faith and obedience are glorious, but in our eyes, the magnitude of the obstacles can appear insurmountable, which is why many turn back and or fall away. The following study is designed to help us see our inhibitions for what they really are and the treasures we can miss if we give way to doubts, fears, or other desires.

THE GARDEN OF AGONY -

Jesus Himself had to face such decisions.

 This term I learned as a Catholic referring to the great struggle Jesus had while in the garden of Gethsemane as He was preparing to face His Crucifixion. Here, in full realization of what He was about to face and undergo, the torment of fear, and the temptation to not go through with the completion of His mission to pay for our sins, bore down on Him in full force "And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44 

"O My Father, if it be possible, let the cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will...O My Father if the cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done." Matthew 26:39,42

 This struggle appeared to had been the greatest battle that the man Christ Jesus fought. It was the point of His single greatest decision and choice of submission, "Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father." John 10:17-18

 Once He finalized His resolve the power of the Holy Spirit took over, "...Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God..." Hebrews 9:14

 But He had to make the choice, and He had a very narrow window of time to do so. It was then and there. (We do not always have unlimited time to make our choices and decisions).

 Remember that although He was/is the Son of God, He was also fully man and "...was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15 This means that it was not any easier for Him than for you and I, and His suffering was no less. Therein He has left an example for us to follow in His footsteps, and by the grace of God we can and shall.

 WHAT WAS JESUS LOOKING TO?

 Beyond Jesus's passion He had His heart fixed and was looking to the RESURRECTION, OUR COMPLETE REDEMPTION ("Bringing many sons to glory." Hebrews 2:10), and conquering the devil, sin, hell, death, and the grave!!!"Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him Who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin." Hebrews 12:2-4 Jesus kept the eyes of His heart on the prize - us!

The value of the prize that God our Heavenly Father puts before us in both things related to us, and so often in things related to others, far out weighs the cost to us.

 Notice that from this point on there was not a flinch in His resolve through all the following opposition, temptations, unspeakable pain, and sorrow, regarding the finishing of His divine mission. Dear friends, the ability to carry out the Father's will in our lives comes strictly and solely from Him through the power of His Holy Spirit in us. Our duty is to believe, trust, and obey, and He will see it through in us. We supply the obedience of faith, and He supplies the GRACE! What I am trying to say here regarding obeying the Lord is that we do not need to fear what we will have to do, but agree to obey and He will see it through in us regardless of what we may fear. "I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENS ME." Philippians 4:13

 (If you have access to a Bible, read Hebrews chapter 11. In this chapter the Lord gives many examples of how those who have gone before us laid hold on the promises of God in the face of great opposition and even suffering.)

 Where people often turn back is that they despise what they think they may have to do, or dread the losses they will or may suffer, and the fears that they may or will face. Our mind, heart, and faith must be lodged in the right place, and that is on His promises and His faithful loving character.

OBSTACLES OF VICTORIOUS FAITH:

THE HARD SAYINGS and the REPROACH OF DISCIPLESHIP

"...He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood dwells in Me and I in him...Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this said, 'This is a hard saying, who can hear it?' When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, 'Does the offend you?'...From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve,  Will you also go away?' Then Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'" John 6:60-61, 66-68 .

 In this passage of Scripture, the Lord is challenging His disciples in something that, first of all, is not only very offensive, but against the Law as they understood it, and without trying to be careless with my words, ridiculously unreasonable. Although He explains that the flesh profits nothing and that His words are spirit and life (vs  63), yet such a challenge was obviously much too offensive, irrational, and unreasonable for many of His followers to endure.

We often assume that Jesus was highly regarded because He is so good, and that everything He said and did was praised by the common person, but..."And when His friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him; for they said, 'He is beside Himself/mad.'" Mark 3:20

 Being associated with Jesus and His sayings in a world that is diametrically opposed to God and the Gospel can be a serious offense in the public eye, yet it is a cross He calls us to bear. "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:38

 So association with Him and carrying out His will can bring a huge reproach on our 'good reputation' or self image in this world. When we are more fearful of what we think others think about us and how we will look, we may be at risk of walking out on the Lord, missing His blessings, and hindering the grace He want to bring through us to other needy souls. So how shall we respond; like the disciples who walked away, or like Peter who answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"? When a person surrenders to Jesus Christ, it is a swap, our life for His!

BACKSLIDING - Not letting go of our ways. 

Charles Finney said that backsliders tend to follow an endless cycle. The Bible says that, "...the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." Proverbs 14:14 Faith requires a letting go of our ways, our thinking, our desires... and laying hold on the Lord and His ways.

 Backsliding is when a person moves forward a little, but then slides back into their old sinful ways. Backsliding can be endlessly repetitive. A person who backslides sees the Lord in his or her heart, embraces the promises in their mind, but when confronted by the cost to commit, surrender, or give something up, they back down, or turn back. We must be clear about something here. A person can never go forward or grow in the Lord unless they overcome this obstacle and let go of what they are holding on to! The next stage of their growth in Christ is beyond this point. They cannot progress to the next step of faith and liberty until they overcome in this one. It is not even the Lord that is holding out on them, but actually it is they that are holding out on the Lord. You know what you have to do. 

THE UNBELIEF OF FEAR 

There is a genuine fear that enables us to be cautious in an otherwise dangerous situation; however, in a situation where God is calling us to trust Him, fear can turn into an oppressive enemy. When it was time for the Children of Israel to enter into the promise land at  the Lord's command, and after seeing the amazing miracles for their deliverance from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, along with untold other fantastic miracles, the children of Israel refused  to enter into the promise land for fear of the inhabitants and especially the giants in the land. They were obviously not factoring God's  sovereign control into the equation.

 Moses had sent out twelve spies to scout out the land of promise. When they returned they confirmed that it was truly a land flowing with milk and honey showing the leaders the amazing fruit of the land, but said, "'Nevertheless the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there'...And Caleb (one of the twelve spies) stilled the people before Moses, and said, 'Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.' But the men that went up with him said, 'We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.' And they brought an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, 'The land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.'" Numbers 13:28-33

 Then they decided to find a new leader and return to Egypt and the life of slavery. "'And why has the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey?  Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?' And they said one to another, 'Let us make a captain, and let us return to Egypt.'" Numbers 14:3-4

 How many times have we drawn back in doubts, fear, unbelief, at the challenge the Lord has put before us? Doubtless, many of us have, but this is no small issue before God Almighty our Leader. This is how we miss out on the promises of God when we give way to our fears and harden our heart in unbelief. "...without faith it is impossible to please Him." Hebrews 11:6 "But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it no with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore He that they should not enter in to His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:17-19
 Whatever command God puts before us is for our ultimate good, and often opens a path for others to follow. Guess what, faith and love in Jesus overcomes fears! "All thing are possible to him that believes...perfect love casts out fear." Mark 9:23, 1 John 4:18 In such situations, the root of our succumbing to fear is unbelief in the faithfulness and SOVEREIGENTY of God.  Did you notice how dramatically different Caleb's observation of the situation was to theirs? What was the difference? He could see from God's perspective the task He was setting before them, and His faith/confidence gave him the assurance that they were well able to take the land. A further reproach to that generation was that the children, who their unbelieving fathers thought would be taken captive, were to become the ones who conquered the promise land. What is more, Caleb, forty-five years later as a man of eighty five, went in and conquered the giants who were on his portion of the promise land. On the other hand, the spies who brought a bad report, "... made the hearts of the people melt with fear." Joshua 14:8 and caused the entire nation to wander forty years in the desert as punishment until all those who had rebelled died in the wilderness. Spreading doubts and unbelief is like spreading pollution or poison, and can harm all who come in contact with it!!!

ANSWERS FOR THE PREESTABLISHED DANGERS
 Our loving Heavenly Father does not randomly subject us to otherwise dangerous or unhealthy situations. Whatever He asks of us is trustworthy, righteous, and for our the greater good of all. 

WHAT ABOUT ALL THE MISSIONARIES WHO DIED OR WERE KILLED FOR SHARING THE LOVE OF JESUS? OR WHAT ABOUT THE UNTOLD THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED AND OR BRUTALLY KILLED JUST BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS? In no way do I wish to say this lightly, and in the great fear of God these are some hard Biblical facts:

 1 - We have an adversary, the devil, who has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), and he has the intention of holding captive his prisoners, our fellow man. If any will attempt to rescue them and bring them to Christ, he (the devil) will try and stop them any way he may be able. The devil has also indiscriminately targeted followers of Jesus to destroy us how he can and whichever way he can. "Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me..." Isaiah 54:15 In some societies he uses oppression and death. In other societies he uses doubts, immorality, lawlessness of any kind, bitterness, offenses...anything that can destroy us. In every situation we have to face these temptations as Jesus did, and overcome them by faith. How and why the devil is able to do to some and not to others is complicated and related to strongholds and other issues we will not attempt to cover here.

 2 - Taken from Psalm 44:22, the apostle Paul, who suffered so many things in the service of the Lord, writes, "As it is written, 'For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' " But he goes on to pen, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of GOD, which is in CHRIST JESUS our Lord." Romans 8:36-39. In the covenant of faith in Jesus Christ, we are to expect persecution, and be faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10), and the type of death is not specified, but absolute faithfulness is. However, through it all, nothing can or will get between He and us, and we always end victorious no matter what may happen!

 3 - "For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God..." Colossians 3:3, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 As we live out our lives from this position in which God has placed us, we are free from all worldly bondages, and free to face any challenge placed before us, because this world is no longer our home, and this life we live is no longer ours. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God. What an amazing and wonderful place to be! True, this is not always easy to live out, but this is all in the covenant that we may be prepared and equipped for every good work and free to carry out His will without hindrance or restraint.

THE DEFIANCE OF REBELLION

  After the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, there remained a remnant of survivors who were put under care of a Chaldean appointed governor, Gedaliah. Shortly afterwards, one of the surviving members of the royal family and ten other men, assassinated Gedaliah, the other Jews with him, along with the Chaldeans and soldiers at Mizpah. Out of fear of retribution by the Babylonians, the remnant of Jews and soldiers who were not victims, contacted Jeremiah the prophet to enquire of the Lord what they should do and where they should go. "Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, 'Let, we beseech you, our supplication be accepted before you, and pray for us unto the Lord your God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes behold us): that the Lord your God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing  that we may do'...Then they said to Jeremiah, 'The Lord be a True and Faithful Witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord your God shall send you to us, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.'" Jeremiah 42:1-6

 We must realize that they were the survivors of God's judgment on Jerusalem and Judah for all the rebellion and corruption that His people had fallen in to. Jeremiah brings them the word of God's grace and assurance of deliverance (because He was grieved for all the punishment He had inflicted on them)vs 9-11, but on the condition that they remain in the land of Judea and not flee to Egypt for fear of the king of Babylon. The people, however, refused to believe that his word was from God, defied it and headed out to Egypt to their own destruction (The Babylonian invasion was headed to Egypt). 

 What I want to point our here is something so revealing about the folly of our behaviours which Jeremiah told the people when they said they would not heed his word."...Be sure of this: I warn you today that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the Lord your God and said, 'Pray to the Lord our God for us, tell us everything He says and we will do it.' I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the Lord your God in all He sent me to tell you..." Jeremiah 42:19-21 NIV. So many people deceive themselves thinking that when they feel they are ready they will obey God and make it to heaven, yet all the while they live a life of rebellion and disobedience to the known will of God in their lives. Dear friends, our presumption can be our ultimate downfall. To assume that you will be obedient to God when you have been deliberately disobedient all along is self deceiving. The attitude that, "No one is going to tell me what to do. I will do what I want when I want." is a most fearful and dangerous attitude. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6. We may not like the message, or we may not like the messenger, but if we do not humble ourselves and obey His word, whatever it is or however it comes, we may very well miss GOD, and the consequences can be extremely costly! Our Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, and what is coming our way. What's it going to be?

WEARY OF THE JOURNEY

 Some years ago I read a fascinating book by a Russian woman who was serving under the communists regime and then became a Christian. Apparently the new converts had priests who mentored them, and her priest initially told her three things which were really practical for her faith, but I only can remember one - Be prepared for a LONG JOURNEY. That stuck with me. Over the years of serving the Lord I have seen many who began well but eventually turned back, fell away, surrendered to compromise, doubt, unbelief, apathy, offenses. Jesus gave us the parable of the seed and the sower as an example Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-25, Luke 8:5-15. When things do not turn out the way we anticipated, when things go terribly wrong, when we are unable to reconcile the Word of God with our life's experiences, it becomes a sure fire test of our faith. The apostle Paul, after an extremely hard life of persecutions that involved beatings by rods, multiple scourging, ship-wrecks, imprisonments, hunger, suffering in the elements, and facing all kinds of threats amid responsibilities and labours 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, and still near the end of his life when he was facing the sadistic Roman Emperor, Nero, almost everyone abandoned him. "At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. BUT THE LORD STOOD AT MY SIDE AND GAVE ME STRENGTH...and I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me SAFELY to His Heavenly Kingdom. TO HIM BE GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER! AMEN!" For him, like untold multitudes of others, the hardships persisted, but God gives us the grace to persevere in whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in.

2 Timothy 416-18 NIV  Before Paul started on his mission the Lord said, "...for I will show him how much he must suffer FOR MY NAME'S SAKE." Acts 9:16 Now, as we look on his accomplishments and all that we have reaped from the Lord through him, how can we not give glory and praise to God Almighty for him and what he and so many others like him did and endured? And we haven't even seen the fruit of any of those accomplishments that are yet to be manifested on the other side of eternity. Jesus said, "He that endures to the END shall be saved." Matthew 10:22  May we all be faithful until the end!

CONCLUSION

 Regardless of what He calls us to do, where we go, what we face, we can be fully assured that it is Jesus Who will be with as and see us through, and HE IS OUR REWARD on the other side!!! WE WILL STAY.