Disciple

John 6:22-71
Broadcast Featured Image

In today’s sermon, Pastor Colin focuses on the importance of having a lasting faith. He emphasises that a fleeting interest in Jesus Christ is not enough to save anyone. Together, the congregation examines three characters: drifting, defiant, and doubting, from Hebrews chapter 6, seeing reflections of themselves in these personas.

Pastor Colin introduces a fourth character, a true disciple whom he hopes everyone will strive to emulate. This disciple is firmly rooted in the Word of God, acknowledges their need for a Saviour, and lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Unlike the other three, this disciple is not drifting, defiant, or doubting but is secure in their faith and grateful for it.

The sermon turns to John chapter 6, recounting the story of when Jesus lost His crowd. Initially impressed by His miracles, the crowd becomes offended by Jesus’ teachings, particularly the uniqueness of His incarnation, the necessity of the atonement, and the dependence on grace. Despite witnessing Jesus feed 5,000 people, the crowd abandons Him when faced with these challenging truths. This story is used to draw parallels with today’s culture, where people are often offended by the same core beliefs of Christianity.

Pastor Colin warns that believers will face immense pressure throughout their lives to abandon their faith, just as the disciples did when many walked away from Jesus. He encourages the congregation to stand firm by recognising three key aspects: the richness of life with Jesus, the poverty of life without Him, and the unsurpassing glory of Jesus.

Highlighting Peter’s response to Jesus, Pastor Colin underscores the importance of knowing the richness of life with Jesus. Eternal life in Christ offers a freedom from the fear of missing out and gives a profound peace, allowing believers to serve Christ wholeheartedly.

1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:09,680 We focused in on a theme that really matters—faith that lasts, and a faith that lasts is really 2 00:00:09,680 –> 00:00:12,920 the only kind of faith that’s ever worth having. 3 00:00:12,920 –> 00:00:21,400 No one is saved by a passing interest in Jesus Christ, and so we have looked together at 4 00:00:21,400 –> 00:00:27,959 three characters, drifting, defiant and doubting, and I think that we’ve seen something of 5 00:00:27,959 –> 00:00:34,040 ourselves in these characters as we have listened to what God has to say to each of them from 6 00:00:34,040 –> 00:00:37,180 Hebrews and chapter 6. 7 00:00:37,180 –> 00:00:41,639 And in this last session that we have together this morning, I want to introduce you to a 8 00:00:41,639 –> 00:00:49,040 fourth character, and my prayer from the heart is that each and every one of us will be increasingly 9 00:00:49,040 –> 00:00:50,040 like her. 10 00:00:50,040 –> 00:00:53,439 She is not drifting. 11 00:00:53,480 –> 00:01:01,240 The basic principles of the Word of God are clearly established in her life. 12 00:01:01,240 –> 00:01:07,699 She knows that she is a sinner and she knows that she needs a Savior and that she has a 13 00:01:07,699 –> 00:01:12,279 Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ, so she’s not defiant. 14 00:01:12,279 –> 00:01:17,220 She’s not among those who are saying no to the Lord Jesus Christ, not among those 15 00:01:17,220 –> 00:01:20,260 who refuse His Lordship in her life. 16 00:01:20,260 –> 00:01:26,199 She’s not crucifying again the Son of God to her own harm or holding Him up to contempt 17 00:01:26,199 –> 00:01:28,360 and she is not doubting. 18 00:01:28,360 –> 00:01:34,680 She believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and she knows that she belongs to Him and she 19 00:01:34,680 –> 00:01:39,580 is thankful for it and so I’m going to call her today disciple. 20 00:01:39,580 –> 00:01:49,760 And again, my prayer for every one of you is that you will be a true, lifelong disciple 21 00:01:49,820 –> 00:01:52,800 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 22 00:01:52,800 –> 00:01:58,919 And here’s what I want to say to you from John in chapter 6 in this last session. 23 00:01:58,919 –> 00:02:10,160 If you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you really follow after Him, you will come 24 00:02:10,160 –> 00:02:17,839 under great pressure and it will keep coming at you all of your life, I promise you. 25 00:02:18,039 –> 00:02:22,839 And you need to know how to stand against it. 26 00:02:22,839 –> 00:02:30,160 Now John chapter 6 tells the story, the whole chapter tells the story, of the day that Jesus 27 00:02:30,160 –> 00:02:32,559 lost His crowd. 28 00:02:32,559 –> 00:02:37,440 The story begins in fact, the previous day, the beginning of John 6 is the story of when 29 00:02:37,440 –> 00:02:43,639 Jesus fed 5,000 people miraculously from five loaves and two fish. 30 00:02:43,639 –> 00:02:48,899 It was a stunning unveiling of the glory of the Lord. 31 00:02:48,899 –> 00:02:53,820 And people were so impressed that John tells us verse 15 of chapter 6 that they wanted 32 00:02:53,820 –> 00:02:59,559 at that moment, in the desert after the miracle to take Jesus by force and make him king. 33 00:02:59,559 –> 00:03:03,160 In other words, they wanted to politicize Jesus. 34 00:03:03,160 –> 00:03:07,940 They wanted to capture Jesus for their own agenda, and Jesus will never be captured for 35 00:03:07,940 –> 00:03:10,360 anyone’s agenda. 36 00:03:10,360 –> 00:03:12,800 And so He slips away. 37 00:03:13,100 –> 00:03:16,899 And he goes to the other side of the lake on the boat. 38 00:03:16,899 –> 00:03:21,360 And the next morning, these people who have been miraculously fed, they come looking for 39 00:03:21,360 –> 00:03:23,100 Him, they don’t find Him. 40 00:03:23,100 –> 00:03:27,020 And so John records how there’s a little flotilla of boats that are there. 41 00:03:27,020 –> 00:03:31,160 It’s a kind of aquatic uber service from the first century. 42 00:03:31,160 –> 00:03:36,259 And all these people get on the boats, and they come across the other side of the lake, 43 00:03:36,259 –> 00:03:38,779 and they come looking for Jesus. 44 00:03:38,779 –> 00:03:43,119 And when they find him, on the other side of the lake, Jesus begins to teach them. 45 00:03:43,119 –> 00:03:44,679 He says, verse 27, 46 00:03:58,339 –> 00:04:03,139 Now these people then had eaten the food that perishes, the bread and the fish, they’d 47 00:04:03,160 –> 00:04:08,639 eaten that the previous day and Jesus begins to speak to them about what lasts forever. 48 00:04:08,660 –> 00:04:12,740 What endures to eternal life. 49 00:04:12,759 –> 00:04:18,739 Now what happens next as you follow the story of the chapter, is that the crowd that were 50 00:04:18,739 –> 00:04:28,820 so impressed by Jesus at first, so enthusiastic about Jesus at one point, they take offence 51 00:04:28,820 –> 00:04:34,140 at what he then says to them and I want you to notice particularly the three things that 52 00:04:34,320 –> 00:04:40,359 Jesus says that really offended these people. The first is the uniqueness of the incarnation. 53 00:04:40,359 –> 00:04:48,239 Verse 41, the Jews grumbled about him, about Jesus why, because he said, I am the bread 54 00:04:48,239 –> 00:04:54,899 that came down from heaven. Now you see that’s something that no one else in the history 55 00:04:54,899 –> 00:05:00,179 of the world could ever have said. That puts Jesus in category of his own with no peers 56 00:05:00,179 –> 00:05:05,000 and no rivals. I am the bread that came down from heaven. Who else in all of the history 57 00:05:05,000 –> 00:05:11,880 of the world could ever have said such a thing. That makes Jesus unique, and they don’t 58 00:05:11,880 –> 00:05:18,359 like that. So they say is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know, 59 00:05:18,359 –> 00:05:23,859 how can he now say I have come down from heaven? So the uniqueness of the incarnation, that 60 00:05:23,859 –> 00:05:27,640 Jesus is unlike any other person that has ever lived, that offended them. 61 00:05:28,299 –> 00:05:33,739 Second, they were offended by the necessity of the atonement. Jesus says to them verse 62 00:05:33,739 –> 00:05:41,380 56, Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him. Now the 63 00:05:41,380 –> 00:05:46,299 flesh and the blood of Jesus of course, are a clear reference to the sacrifice of Jesus 64 00:05:46,299 –> 00:05:53,399 when he stood in our place and bore our sins and died for us on the cross. And it is by 65 00:05:53,459 –> 00:05:59,700 believing in or feeding on as Jesus puts it here, on him that we become his and the life 66 00:05:59,700 –> 00:06:07,320 that is in him comes to be in us. And, verse 60, when many of the disciples heard it, that’s 67 00:06:07,320 –> 00:06:14,320 what he said about the atonement, they said, oh, this is a hard saying. Who can listen 68 00:06:14,760 –> 00:06:21,760 to it? So, they did not like the necessity and the centrality of the atonement of Jesus 69 00:06:25,239 –> 00:06:32,239 dying on the cross for our sins. It offended them. And then the third thing that offended 70 00:06:33,440 –> 00:06:38,440 these folks, who initially were very impressed with Jesus was dependence upon grace. Look 71 00:06:38,459 –> 00:06:45,420 at it. It’s very clear, verse 65. Jesus said, this is why I told you that no one can come 72 00:06:45,420 –> 00:06:52,420 to me unless it is granted him by the father, and after this many of his disciples turned 73 00:06:54,899 –> 00:07:01,899 back and no longer walked with him. Now friends, the world seems to be always 74 00:07:01,899 –> 00:07:08,899 changing, but in the most profound ways the world never changes. In the most profound 75 00:07:08,940 –> 00:07:15,940 ways the world is always the same and today in the 21st century in your generation and 76 00:07:16,380 –> 00:07:23,220 in mine, the world is still offended by the same three things that caused offence right 77 00:07:23,220 –> 00:07:28,559 back there in the first century. We live in a culture that boldly proclaims, 78 00:07:28,559 –> 00:07:35,480 that we are all able to be our own saviour and therefore our own lord and therefore we 79 00:07:35,480 –> 00:07:40,179 don’t need the unique One who comes down from Heaven. In fact we deny his uniqueness 80 00:07:40,179 –> 00:07:46,519 at all. That’s what the culture does. The culture loudly proclaims that in our hearts 81 00:07:46,519 –> 00:07:50,500 we are all essentially good. If you dig down deep enough you’ll always find good at the 82 00:07:50,500 –> 00:07:56,399 bottom of the heart and therefore why in the world would we need an atonement for sin? 83 00:07:56,420 –> 00:08:02,339 And our culture loudly proclaims that we all have our own truth, that it all lies within 84 00:08:02,339 –> 00:08:09,760 us, and therefore essentially life is a journey, and why would anyone need, therefore, to depend 85 00:08:09,760 –> 00:08:16,100 upon God, if the truth already lies inherently within you? 86 00:08:16,100 –> 00:08:20,799 And so this vast crowd of people who have experienced a miracle, remember just the previous 87 00:08:21,079 –> 00:08:25,480 And so this vast crowd of people who have experienced a miracle, remember just the previous 88 00:08:25,480 –> 00:08:28,640 day – they’ve eaten the loaves and the fish, then they’ve come across on the little 89 00:08:28,640 –> 00:08:33,059 boats to seek Jesus – they’re so interested in learning more, and He speaks to them and 90 00:08:33,059 –> 00:08:39,059 when it gets to what His message really is – the uniqueness of the Incarnation, the 91 00:08:39,059 –> 00:08:43,479 necessity of the Atonement, and our absolute dependence upon His grace – they say, 92 00:08:43,539 –> 00:08:47,400 We are so out of here. 93 00:08:47,440 –> 00:08:52,320 And this vast crowd of people, thousands of people – thousands – who have shown some 94 00:08:52,320 –> 00:08:55,880 interest in Jesus, now are offended, and so verse 66 – 95 00:09:00,280 –> 00:09:04,919 disciples – notice that word, people had followed Him. People you never would have 96 00:09:04,919 –> 00:09:13,679 expected this from. They turned back and they no longer walked with Him. 97 00:09:13,679 –> 00:09:21,359 Now friends, you really don’t need me to tell you that we are living at a time when 98 00:09:21,359 –> 00:09:28,520 unprecedented numbers of people are abandoning a faith in Jesus that they once professed. 99 00:09:28,520 –> 00:09:37,179 The secularization of the culture in which we live is progressing at an astonishing pace. 100 00:09:37,179 –> 00:09:43,940 And what that means is that your experience throughout your lifetime is that you will 101 00:09:43,940 –> 00:09:49,260 be shaken to the core, by people who once professed faith, and you thought were really 102 00:09:49,260 –> 00:09:52,460 the lords, and they walk away and they don’t want anything else to do with it. And it will 103 00:09:52,460 –> 00:09:58,419 shake you. Every time it happens to someone you know, 104 00:09:58,419 –> 00:10:04,140 and someone that you love. And remember for the disciples, this was more than simply a 105 00:10:04,140 –> 00:10:16,359 cultural pressure. These events took place in Galilee, a rural area, Bethsaida, a very 106 00:10:17,359 –> 00:10:26,359 small town. And so what we’re talking about a very small population and many of the people 107 00:10:26,359 –> 00:10:31,719 who walked away would have been neighbors, extended family members of the disciples. 108 00:10:31,719 –> 00:10:36,179 It’s one thing to talk about the drift of the culture. It’s another thing when people 109 00:10:36,179 –> 00:10:43,919 you know and love walk away from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 110 00:10:43,979 –> 00:10:49,940 And how are you gonna stand when that happens to you? 111 00:10:49,940 –> 00:10:54,979 Now this scene and I want you to try and picture it with me for a moment in your mind’s eye. 112 00:10:54,979 –> 00:11:05,059 This scene of thousands of people, thousands walking away from Jesus by the shore of the 113 00:11:05,059 –> 00:11:07,080 lake. 114 00:11:07,080 –> 00:11:11,020 It speaks so powerfully to us today. 115 00:11:11,020 –> 00:11:17,820 The vast majority of people in our culture today, absolutely convinced that we can all 116 00:11:17,820 –> 00:11:20,640 be our own savior. 117 00:11:20,640 –> 00:11:24,119 Absolutely convinced that we’re all inherently good. 118 00:11:24,119 –> 00:11:28,320 Absolutely convinced that we all have out own truth. 119 00:11:28,320 –> 00:11:30,539 And here are you. 120 00:11:30,619 –> 00:11:34,880 When you’re going to take a stand believing in the uniqueness of Jesus, the uniqueness 121 00:11:34,880 –> 00:11:37,099 of the incarnation. 122 00:11:37,099 –> 00:11:40,299 The necessity of the atonement. 123 00:11:40,299 –> 00:11:43,760 And dependence upon grace. 124 00:11:43,760 –> 00:11:47,960 You can see you are going to be under enormous pressure, it’s going to last all of your 125 00:11:47,960 –> 00:11:49,239 life. 126 00:11:49,239 –> 00:11:53,460 Now picture the scene then of the thousands walking away. 127 00:11:53,460 –> 00:11:58,260 I mean, they’re not walking away quietly, they’re walking away in disgust. 128 00:11:58,260 –> 00:12:02,539 They’re spitting in the ground as they go. 129 00:12:02,539 –> 00:12:05,000 They’re outraged. 130 00:12:05,000 –> 00:12:10,679 And you’re standing with the disciples, and you’re seeing thousands walk away. 131 00:12:10,679 –> 00:12:14,940 And you say, wow look at everyone who’s no longer believing! 132 00:12:14,940 –> 00:12:16,320 How many of us are left? 133 00:12:16,320 –> 00:12:19,260 And you look around and how many are left? 134 00:12:19,260 –> 00:12:20,840 Twelve. 135 00:12:20,840 –> 00:12:26,059 And you say, well how can so many people be so wrong and so few people be right? 136 00:12:26,059 –> 00:12:29,500 You’re gonna feel that pressure in your life. 137 00:12:29,500 –> 00:12:39,919 So, John 6, verse 67, at that moment Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away 138 00:12:39,919 –> 00:12:41,460 as well? 139 00:12:41,460 –> 00:12:45,580 Now this is the question. 140 00:12:45,580 –> 00:12:54,179 How are you going to stand firm when vast numbers of other people are turning away? 141 00:12:54,200 –> 00:12:56,880 How are you going to have a faith that lasts? 142 00:12:56,880 –> 00:13:05,960 How are you going to move beyond drifting, away from defiance, and beyond doubting and 143 00:13:05,960 –> 00:13:12,159 live as a disciple of Jesus? 144 00:13:12,159 –> 00:13:18,559 And I wanted in this last session, therefore, just to leave with you very simply the marvelous 145 00:13:18,559 –> 00:13:21,539 answer that Peter gave to Jesus’ question. 146 00:13:21,580 –> 00:13:25,219 Do you want to go away as well? 147 00:13:25,219 –> 00:13:26,780 Notice three things very simply here. 148 00:13:26,780 –> 00:13:32,280 The first is, here’s how you will stand for a lifetime with Jesus. 149 00:13:32,280 –> 00:13:39,239 Because you know the richness of life with Jesus, the richness of life with Jesus. 150 00:13:39,239 –> 00:13:46,200 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? 151 00:13:46,260 –> 00:13:50,719 You have the words of eternal life. 152 00:13:50,719 –> 00:14:00,340 When I was in high school in Scotland, we had a math teacher, delightfully eccentric, 153 00:14:00,340 –> 00:14:06,380 who would give us an equation or whatever to work on and a certain amount of time for 154 00:14:06,380 –> 00:14:08,619 us to work on this thing and to resolve it. 155 00:14:08,619 –> 00:14:13,659 And he would always say the same thing after he’d finished doing his thing upfront and 156 00:14:13,659 –> 00:14:16,140 then got us to do an exercise together. 157 00:14:16,140 –> 00:14:22,200 He said, you’re going to have to get going on this because you’re short on time. 158 00:14:22,200 –> 00:14:23,820 And he said that every time. 159 00:14:23,820 –> 00:14:25,580 I mean, every day, you know? 160 00:14:25,580 –> 00:14:30,380 So of course, we helped him out as a class, you know, as soon as he said the first part 161 00:14:30,380 –> 00:14:33,460 of the tagline, you know, you’re going to have to get going on this. 162 00:14:33,460 –> 00:14:38,179 We don’t shout out because we’re short on time. 163 00:14:38,179 –> 00:14:45,479 And that phrase is embedded in my mind forever. 164 00:14:45,479 –> 00:14:51,979 Without eternal life, we would be short on time. 165 00:14:51,979 –> 00:15:00,419 Put yourself for one minute in the shoes of a person who doesn’t have eternal life. 166 00:15:00,419 –> 00:15:06,739 If you don’t have eternal life, I feel sorry for you. 167 00:15:06,739 –> 00:15:09,979 Your life is so short. 168 00:15:09,979 –> 00:15:14,739 And you will always feel that it is slipping away. 169 00:15:14,739 –> 00:15:18,700 And if the only good you’re ever going to enjoy is the good that you get hold of, now 170 00:15:18,700 –> 00:15:22,940 you are going to live with the fear of what you might miss. 171 00:15:22,940 –> 00:15:24,440 FOMO will be written all over you. 172 00:15:24,440 –> 00:15:29,580 Fear of missing out because you’ve only got this very, very little life. 173 00:15:29,580 –> 00:15:37,580 And with so little life, if something should happen to you that harms or spoils your life, 174 00:15:37,580 –> 00:15:41,280 you will feel ultimate loss. 175 00:15:41,280 –> 00:15:46,239 This life is all that I have and now it’s been spoiled! 176 00:15:46,239 –> 00:15:51,719 Without eternal life, you will inevitably be drawn to one of two alternatives. 177 00:15:51,719 –> 00:15:57,820 One would be to throw yourself into a life of indulgence. 178 00:15:58,080 –> 00:15:59,080 Try everything. 179 00:15:59,080 –> 00:16:02,679 Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. 180 00:16:02,679 –> 00:16:06,260 I’ve only got a little life so I’m just gonna try everything! 181 00:16:06,260 –> 00:16:09,979 Or, if you don’t do that, you go the other way. 182 00:16:09,979 –> 00:16:17,739 You will live with fear, caution, grasping onto this little life that you have, desperately 183 00:16:17,739 –> 00:16:21,919 trying to make sure that you don’t let it slip through your fingers. 184 00:16:21,919 –> 00:16:27,479 Now, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, 185 00:16:28,340 –> 00:16:31,559 think about the reality of your position in Christ. 186 00:16:31,559 –> 00:16:38,679 You have eternal life! 187 00:16:38,679 –> 00:16:48,320 You have life, stored up, inexhaustible, neverending. 188 00:16:48,320 –> 00:16:54,280 Pleasures greater by far than all the joys of life and love that you can experience here 189 00:16:54,280 –> 00:16:57,200 lie ahead of you. 190 00:16:57,200 –> 00:17:02,739 When you live your life here knowing this is your position, you will be in an entirely 191 00:17:02,739 –> 00:17:05,239 different place. 192 00:17:05,239 –> 00:17:12,140 If you know that you have eternal life, you will feel that you can give the life that 193 00:17:12,140 –> 00:17:15,680 you have now freely to the One who gave His life for you. 194 00:17:15,680 –> 00:17:20,640 You will be freed from this terrible fear. 195 00:17:20,640 –> 00:17:25,400 The haunting fear that somehow you might be missing out. 196 00:17:25,400 –> 00:17:34,800 And if something should come into your life that spoils, or harms, or hurts, or wounds, 197 00:17:34,800 –> 00:17:39,500 and you no longer have the life that you thought that you would have in this world, well you 198 00:17:39,500 –> 00:17:41,560 will grieve. 199 00:17:41,560 –> 00:17:47,640 But you will grieve knowing that you have an inheritance that can never spoil or fade 200 00:17:47,640 –> 00:17:50,119 and it’s kept in heaven for you. 201 00:17:50,119 –> 00:17:56,260 And when you feel that your ears are slipping away you will say, I am getting nearer to 202 00:17:56,260 –> 00:18:01,099 incomparable joy. 203 00:18:01,099 –> 00:18:10,380 The towel is a really important symbol and a very wonderful one here at Taylor. 204 00:18:10,380 –> 00:18:17,420 Jesus took the towel and He washed the disciples’ feet. 205 00:18:17,420 –> 00:18:19,680 The disciples’ feet. 206 00:18:19,680 –> 00:18:25,739 I mean, it’s not that difficult to love and serve people who are with you and for 207 00:18:25,739 –> 00:18:28,199 you. 208 00:18:28,199 –> 00:18:34,119 What’s really hard is to love and serve people who don’t understand you, to love and serve 209 00:18:34,439 –> 00:18:40,060 people who let you down, to love and serve people who don’t show up when you need them 210 00:18:40,060 –> 00:18:41,479 the most. 211 00:18:41,479 –> 00:18:46,420 I mean, you think about it, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, that means He washed 212 00:18:46,420 –> 00:18:53,079 the feet of Thomas who doubted Him, He washed the feet of Peter who denied Him and He washed 213 00:18:53,079 –> 00:18:56,560 the feet of Judas who betrayed Him. 214 00:18:56,560 –> 00:18:58,760 How did Jesus do that? 215 00:18:58,760 –> 00:19:03,880 Well actually, John tells us how Jesus did that. 216 00:19:03,880 –> 00:19:10,079 It says very clearly, John 13 in verse 3, Jesus knowing, so we’re being pointed to 217 00:19:10,079 –> 00:19:15,780 something that Jesus knew in the depth of His being, knowing that the Father had given 218 00:19:15,780 –> 00:19:23,280 all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going back to God. 219 00:19:23,280 –> 00:19:28,500 You see that’s how He rose from the supper, laid aside His outer garments and took a 220 00:19:28,500 –> 00:19:32,459 towel and tied it around His waist. 221 00:19:32,459 –> 00:19:33,520 How did He do it? 222 00:19:33,579 –> 00:19:37,160 He knew He was going back to God. 223 00:19:37,920 –> 00:19:43,300 And knowing this, He gave Himself to washing the disciples’ feet. 224 00:19:43,300 –> 00:19:51,000 Now I’m saying to you that in the same way when you know that you have eternal life, 225 00:19:51,000 –> 00:19:56,739 you will be free then to pour out your life in service for Jesus Christ. 226 00:19:56,739 –> 00:19:58,380 That’s the key. 227 00:19:58,380 –> 00:20:01,660 You got to know how rich you are in Jesus Christ if you’re gonna pour out your life 228 00:20:01,660 –> 00:20:03,339 in service. 229 00:20:03,339 –> 00:20:07,219 You got to be able to know and say, as it says in the New Testament, all things are 230 00:20:07,219 –> 00:20:08,579 yours. 231 00:20:08,579 –> 00:20:13,500 Life, death, the present, the future, all things are yours and you are Christ and Christ 232 00:20:13,500 –> 00:20:14,500 is God. 233 00:20:14,500 –> 00:20:17,180 You are rich in life! 234 00:20:18,599 –> 00:20:22,619 And when you know that you are more rich in life even than you can fathom, you will be 235 00:20:22,619 –> 00:20:32,420 free to go out and to give yourself in serving the Lord Jesus Christ for a lifetime irrespective 236 00:20:32,420 –> 00:20:35,660 of what it costs. 237 00:20:35,660 –> 00:20:39,780 And then there’s a second thing that you need to know as well and it’s in Peter’s answer 238 00:20:39,780 –> 00:20:41,160 here. 239 00:20:41,160 –> 00:20:48,099 You need to know first the richness of life with Jesus, but remember too, the poverty 240 00:20:48,099 –> 00:20:50,560 of life without Jesus. 241 00:20:50,560 –> 00:20:52,979 Siw Notice what Peter says here. 242 00:20:52,979 –> 00:20:54,400 Jesus says, well, what about you? 243 00:20:54,400 –> 00:20:56,060 There’s thousands going away. 244 00:20:56,060 –> 00:20:58,339 The culture is secularizing. 245 00:20:58,339 –> 00:20:59,339 What about you? 246 00:20:59,339 –> 00:21:01,900 You want to leave me too? 247 00:21:01,900 –> 00:21:06,420 And Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? 248 00:21:06,420 –> 00:21:14,160 Oh you see the point of what he’s saying, Lord, what’s the alternative to you? 249 00:21:14,160 –> 00:21:15,780 To whom shall we go? 250 00:21:15,780 –> 00:21:24,640 If you will not live for Jesus, for whom and for what will you live? 251 00:21:24,640 –> 00:21:33,540 I want to read you a testimony of a student who grew up in the church that I serve. 252 00:21:33,540 –> 00:21:37,040 I know him very well and love him. 253 00:21:37,040 –> 00:21:43,780 And he wrote his testimony to me, and I quote it with his permission, it’s moving for 254 00:21:43,780 –> 00:21:48,339 me to read as I think of the journey that he went on. 255 00:21:48,339 –> 00:21:51,140 So, let me just read this testimony to you. 256 00:21:51,140 –> 00:21:53,819 I’m sure you will relate to it well. 257 00:21:53,819 –> 00:22:01,260 He says, I knew from the time I was about 12 that there was something inside of me that 258 00:22:01,260 –> 00:22:04,459 wanted to run my own life. 259 00:22:04,459 –> 00:22:10,699 I felt something like a mass of impulses and a desire for power. 260 00:22:10,699 –> 00:22:17,939 In college I heard all the time about how these impulses were there to be let loose. 261 00:22:17,939 –> 00:22:23,219 I heard from therapists and counselors and an endless tidal wave of professors that the 262 00:22:23,219 –> 00:22:26,599 denial of the self was the same as repression. 263 00:22:26,599 –> 00:22:33,079 They told me I was damaged by my faith, that my faith made me naive. 264 00:22:33,079 –> 00:22:34,640 The attitude was very simple. 265 00:22:34,640 –> 00:22:39,459 Deep down you know that nothing you do matters, so you might as well have some fun before 266 00:22:39,459 –> 00:22:42,079 you disappear forever. 267 00:22:42,079 –> 00:22:46,560 My graduate-level work had me reading a lot of post-modernist writings. 268 00:22:47,020 –> 00:22:53,099 I learned that all the good things in the world are actually oppressive power structures, 269 00:22:53,099 –> 00:22:58,099 that God was a patriarchal lie to be killed off right away, that there is no such thing 270 00:22:58,099 –> 00:23:02,260 as evil, and consequently no such thing as good. 271 00:23:02,260 –> 00:23:06,380 For the first year of this reading I simply ignored it, but I couldn’t reject it all 272 00:23:06,380 –> 00:23:12,000 forever especially as I was becoming alienated from my colleagues who saw me as an obscurantist 273 00:23:12,000 –> 00:23:14,160 fool. 274 00:23:14,180 –> 00:23:17,040 Given time and given pressure it eventually started to sink in. 275 00:23:17,040 –> 00:23:20,780 The darkness offered freedom and unlimited pleasure at no cost. 276 00:23:20,780 –> 00:23:27,579 I could say, do, or be anything I wanted and there would be no God to judge me. 277 00:23:27,579 –> 00:23:34,540 So I became an atheist in the summer of 2016, and in the face of this nihilistic and bleak 278 00:23:34,540 –> 00:23:39,140 out-fluke on the world my entire value structure shifted. 279 00:23:39,140 –> 00:23:41,859 I decided to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. 280 00:23:41,939 –> 00:23:43,739 And what else was there to do? 281 00:23:43,739 –> 00:23:47,939 The symptoms of a sinful spirit vary. 282 00:23:47,939 –> 00:23:53,900 My mode of being was focused on drowning my pain with the noise of pleasure but as I’m 283 00:23:53,900 –> 00:23:59,939 sure you could have foreseen, a hedonistic lifestyle fixed precisely nothing and only 284 00:23:59,939 –> 00:24:01,180 created more problems. 285 00:24:01,180 –> 00:24:07,280 I was possessed by impulse because I gave it control over me. 286 00:24:07,280 –> 00:24:11,280 And I still somehow felt morally superior to everyone else around me. 287 00:24:11,300 –> 00:24:18,160 I was prideful and arrogant and all my friends were cheering me on for how far I’d come. 288 00:24:19,380 –> 00:24:23,680 I’d overcome the foolishness of the Christian lifestyle, beaten back the superstition of 289 00:24:23,699 –> 00:24:30,119 objective morality, and liberated myself from the bonds of puritanical moralising. 290 00:24:30,119 –> 00:24:35,119 But that cheering stopped when I left the echo chamber. 291 00:24:35,119 –> 00:24:41,099 I graduated and immediately went straight to the abyss. 292 00:24:41,160 –> 00:24:45,560 Like the majority of my fellow graduate students I was chained to alcohol, cigarettes, and 293 00:24:45,560 –> 00:24:47,680 antidepressants. 294 00:24:47,680 –> 00:24:52,339 I destroyed relationship after relationship. 295 00:24:52,339 –> 00:24:57,560 I believed that anyone who thought they loved me simply didn’t know me. 296 00:24:57,560 –> 00:25:01,180 At a certain point I didn’t believe in love at all. 297 00:25:01,180 –> 00:25:05,640 I thought that if only these people who said they loved me knew how terrible I was, they 298 00:25:05,640 –> 00:25:06,640 would abandon me. 299 00:25:06,640 –> 00:25:08,579 So I tested people. 300 00:25:08,579 –> 00:25:14,160 I tried to see how bad I could be before they would give up on me. 301 00:25:14,160 –> 00:25:19,880 And after I had killed off whatever good relationships I still had, I realized that I had nothing 302 00:25:19,880 –> 00:25:23,079 else to destroy and I felt worse than ever. 303 00:25:23,079 –> 00:25:28,520 I shuffled around in that darkness for several months wondering why this had happened to 304 00:25:28,520 –> 00:25:29,520 me. 305 00:25:29,520 –> 00:25:31,839 What had I done to deserve all this pain? 306 00:25:31,920 –> 00:25:38,619 I still had this belief that I picked up at university, that everyone but me was responsible 307 00:25:38,619 –> 00:25:39,760 for my problems. 308 00:25:39,760 –> 00:25:42,180 It was society’s fault. 309 00:25:42,180 –> 00:25:44,439 It was my parents’ fault. 310 00:25:44,439 –> 00:25:45,880 It was God’s fault. 311 00:25:45,880 –> 00:25:52,359 Yes, even though I didn’t believe in God, it was still somehow His fault. 312 00:25:52,359 –> 00:25:58,880 I hated everything, especially myself. 313 00:25:58,880 –> 00:26:07,479 There were only two ways to go, suffer meaninglessly for the rest of my life, or commit suicide. 314 00:26:07,479 –> 00:26:18,739 Those were my options, and I thought about them every single day for a year. 315 00:26:18,739 –> 00:26:23,619 I’m asking you this question. 316 00:26:23,619 –> 00:26:28,099 Where will the desires of your heart take you if you walk away from Jesus? 317 00:26:28,800 –> 00:26:36,040 What power will rule your soul if Jesus is not the Lord of your life? 318 00:26:36,040 –> 00:26:42,099 What fruit will come from your life if Jesus Christ does not nourish your soul? 319 00:26:42,099 –> 00:26:46,680 Lord, to whom shall we go? 320 00:26:47,939 –> 00:26:52,699 Only you have the words of eternal life. 321 00:26:52,699 –> 00:26:55,819 Now this story has a good ending, I expect you might like to hear it. 322 00:26:56,000 –> 00:26:59,599 Let me read it to you. 323 00:26:59,599 –> 00:27:06,439 The turning point came for my friend when someone sent him a video. 324 00:27:06,439 –> 00:27:12,800 And he says, I watched it probably 10 times on the day that I got it. 325 00:27:12,800 –> 00:27:15,199 Clarity. 326 00:27:15,199 –> 00:27:17,579 I was the problem. 327 00:27:17,579 –> 00:27:20,180 I remembered a time when things made sense. 328 00:27:20,180 –> 00:27:25,680 I remembered when I believed in the good and when I believed that the world could be redeemed 329 00:27:25,680 –> 00:27:33,099 and I suddenly realized quite clearly that faith was what was missing from my life. 330 00:27:33,099 –> 00:27:35,920 My conversion to christianity came gradually. 331 00:27:35,920 –> 00:27:40,459 First I pledged myself to whatever God was the god of love and truth. 332 00:27:40,459 –> 00:27:45,500 I still didn’t like Jesus and had a lot of hang-ups with christianity. 333 00:27:45,500 –> 00:27:53,719 The second thing I did was to try and ask forgiveness from the people I’d hurt. 334 00:27:53,760 –> 00:27:59,819 It wasn’t always forthcoming, but I started to learn that when love fails through faith 335 00:27:59,819 –> 00:28:04,560 and humility it can almost always be resurrected. 336 00:28:04,560 –> 00:28:08,239 I lost and regained this faith in the god of truth and love again and again, and for 337 00:28:08,239 –> 00:28:12,459 a month I tried to get a job, anywhere. 338 00:28:12,459 –> 00:28:18,180 My money was disappearing I felt desperation sinking in once more. 339 00:28:18,219 –> 00:28:24,780 I don’t remember what caused me to pray to Jesus for the first time, but I did. 340 00:28:25,599 –> 00:28:33,719 I desperately begged Christ for something to hold onto, and I asked for his forgiveness. 341 00:28:33,719 –> 00:28:36,979 I told him I couldn’t do this on my own. 342 00:28:36,979 –> 00:28:42,119 I told him I was sinking fast and I didn’t want to go back to the abyss I’d been in 343 00:28:42,119 –> 00:28:45,359 the year before. 344 00:28:45,939 –> 00:28:50,719 And that exact same day, I got three calls about potential jobs. 345 00:28:50,719 –> 00:28:58,979 I remember praying a few weeks ago, last paragraph, telling God again how sorry I was that I’d 346 00:28:58,979 –> 00:29:05,839 abandoned him, and the answer that came was, I never left you. 347 00:29:05,839 –> 00:29:08,520 And he didn’t. 348 00:29:08,520 –> 00:29:12,520 He’s been with me through this whole thing. 349 00:29:12,520 –> 00:29:17,359 And sometimes it brings me to tears to think of the things that I did, and then to remember 350 00:29:17,359 –> 00:29:21,420 that I am forgiven. 351 00:29:21,420 –> 00:29:29,319 And the only reason is the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God that’s a reality to 352 00:29:29,319 –> 00:29:34,780 me now, and it’s growing, too. 353 00:29:34,780 –> 00:29:40,319 Lord, to whom shall we go? 354 00:29:40,319 –> 00:29:50,079 Only you have the words of eternal life. 355 00:29:50,079 –> 00:29:57,959 You’re going to have to stand, friends, when a tidal wave of humanity is moving away from 356 00:29:57,959 –> 00:30:03,380 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and here’s how you’re going to do it. 357 00:30:03,380 –> 00:30:09,400 Because you know the richness of your life in Jesus, and because you are persuaded of 358 00:30:09,400 –> 00:30:21,020 the poverty of life without Jesus, and because you have seen the unsurpassing glory of Jesus. 359 00:30:21,020 –> 00:30:25,040 Peter says, you have the words of eternal life. 360 00:30:25,040 –> 00:30:31,640 And we have come to know and to believe that you are the Holy One of God. 361 00:30:32,020 –> 00:30:37,739 Jesus, there is no one like you. 362 00:30:37,739 –> 00:30:41,020 Not even close. 363 00:30:41,020 –> 00:30:46,579 No joy that this world can offer comes close to the joy of knowing you. 364 00:30:46,579 –> 00:30:53,819 No honor that this world can bestow can come close to the honor of serving you. 365 00:30:53,819 –> 00:31:00,079 You are God in the flesh, the Holy One with us. 366 00:31:00,339 –> 00:31:03,959 You’re asking us, do we want to go away? 367 00:31:05,040 –> 00:31:07,780 Lord, to whom shall we go. 368 00:31:07,780 –> 00:31:12,660 You have the words of eternal life. 369 00:31:12,660 –> 00:31:15,739 Will you pray with me please, let’s pray together. 370 00:31:15,739 –> 00:31:26,060 Father, at the end of this spiritual renewal series, we pray, form in us by the power of 371 00:31:27,060 –> 00:31:31,180 spirit a faith that lasts. 372 00:31:31,180 –> 00:31:42,199 Where there has been drifting, let there be the stability of knowing why I need Jesus. 373 00:31:42,199 –> 00:31:47,140 Where there has been defiance, let it cease. 374 00:31:47,140 –> 00:31:55,660 Deliver me from the rebellious hearts that would crucify again the Son of God. 375 00:31:55,660 –> 00:32:01,359 And where there is doubting, let the joy and peace of assurance grow. 376 00:32:01,359 –> 00:32:12,380 Lord, save us from drifting, save us from defiance, and save us from doubting. 377 00:32:12,380 –> 00:32:19,500 Establish in us, we pray today, a faith that will last a lifetime. 378 00:32:19,500 –> 00:32:31,239 And then, welcome us into the joy of Your presence forever, through Jesus Christ our 379 00:32:31,239 –> 00:32:36,319 Lord, in whose wonderful name we pray, and everyone together said, amen.

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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Faith that lasts is the only kind of faith worth having. In this series, you will meet four characters—Drifting, Defiant, Doubting, and Disciple. You may recognize some of these characters in your own life.

Colin Smith

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