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Marred Vessels
by Wayne Cox
Chapter 6-Why Do Men Go Away From Christ?
"Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? "When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. "But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. "And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."-John 6:60-66.
Verse 66 of this 6th chapter of the Gospel of John will suffice as the text. "From that time (after Jesus had said in verse 65, "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father") many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him."
The subject under consideration is one that, I think, is of vital importance. That is the answer to that oft asked question: Why IS it that men go away from Christ? There MUST be an answer.
If you will notice, the word DISCIPLE is used in the context: "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." They were not irreligious libertines, but they were disciples. The advocates of the doctrine of apostasy have capitalized on this verse. They entertain the fallacious, erroneous idea that this verse teaches the possibility of apostasy. They raise the question: Isn't it true that the Bible designates these who went BACK as Christ's disciples? Doesn't being a disciple mean that you are a child of God? But the word DISCIPLE does not necessarily mean that one so designated is SAVED. In its original meaning, it means one who is a LEARNER of Christ. Now, lots of people LEARN of Jesus and never actually come to the ACKNOWLEDGING of the truth. A lot of people are "ever learning," as Paul said, "but never come to the KNOWLEDGE of the TRUTH." That truth that is in Christ.
This vast multitude of disciples, who went back and walked no more with Jesus, had only been following Him for one purpose only: that they might be fed the NATURAL bread.
Jesus on two occasions multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed them all. He had performed a most noted miracle in their presence. They had decided, no doubt, "If we follow this man all our natural problems will be solved: He will absolve us from ALL responsibility of making a livelihood."
But after Jesus had said the second time (verse 65), "No man can come to me except it were given unto him of my Father," many of His disciples went back and followed Him no more.
It is an utter impossibility for one to just, at his own volition, take up bag and baggage and go to Christ. So many people get the mistaken idea that salvation is entirely up to the one who is to be saved; that HE can choose the time and place for his salvation. I'm sorry to say that this doctrine has permeated even Baptist people, who have the TRUTH, to the extent that men are encouraged to just trust the Lord, or just come on and be saved any time that they feel the inclination to be saved. High pressure EVANGELISM has been the scourge of Christianity; it has filled the churches that belong to Christ with lost, ungodly, alienated sinners, and there is no man in this world more out of PLACE than a LOST man in the Lord's church. He is as much out of place in the Lord's church as he would be in Heaven itself. An unbeliever certainly would be out of place there.
But the advocates of apostasy say, "Well, this group that had been following the Master were saved and they lost their salvation."
That isn't so. In I John 2:19, the Apostle John said concerning this same group, "They went OUT from us, but they were not OF us; for if they had been OF us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all OF us."
So, they were not SAVED. They were LOST. Religious Pharisees and Sadducees, who had religion to be sure, but they did not have CHRIST. It is one thing to be devout and religious; it is quite something else to be CHRIST-centered and saved. For these who went out from among the apostles were not OF the apostles. They did not BELONG to Christ, yet they were RELIGIOUS just the same.
You may ask me this morning, "WHY is it that men go away from Christ?"
First, these went away because they objected to the TRUTH. Then, if they objected to the truth, to WHAT truth did they object? They objected to the truth of the SOVEREIGNTY of God. That's exactly WHY. That is the truth. When they came in great numbers to be fed-on one occasion 4,000 men, not counting women and children, and on another occasion 5,000 men, not counting women and children-the very moment Jesus said, "NO man can COME to me except my Father, which sent me, DRAW him," and when He repeated this in verse 65, "from that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more." WHY? Because they objected to the truth of the SOVEREIGNTY of God. THAT is the truth that is despised today.
Most people entertain the idea that God is like a GRASSHOPPER. Their conception of God is that He is OUR servant; that He is at OUR beck and call; that He is the One to obey US. But if you will read Isaiah 40, as I said last Wednesday evening, you will find that GOD looks upon NATIONS of men as a drop in a bucket, and there are many DROPS in a large bucket of water. God said the nations of the earth are as drops of a bucket, and men, themselves, are like GRASSHOPPERS and worse than NOTHING upon this earth. Yet, men will say, "I do not believe in the sovereignty of God."
God WORKS and NO man can still His hand. God MOVES and NO man can stymie God's MOVEMENTS. God SPEAKS and the world must become SILENT before Him. God is a SOVEREIGN Cod. David, the sweet singer of Israel, says over and over in the Psalms, that HIS will is done in the heavens, and no ONE can stay His hand; that HE hath done whatsoever HE pleased. God is SOVEREIGN.
I'd hate to TRUST a God who could not do with me as He pleased. God is SOVEREIGN. I would be AFRAID to trust a God who cannot control the affairs of MEN and the UNIVERSE, but bless God, He IS sovereign; He is a sovereign being, and HE is to be OBEYED. We are at HIS beck and call, rather than He at OUR beck and call.
You start preaching on the sovereignty of God and folk get fighting mad; for Paul said, "Every man has a song; he has a doctrine; he has a prayer" (1 Cor. 14:26).
Then, people today have to tell GOD how that men are saved. I'll tell you this morning, God has this to say, "SALVATION is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9). Jesus said, "I am THE way, the TRUTH, and the LIFE: NO man cometh unto the Father, but by ME" (John 14:6). "Neither is there SALVATION in any OTHER: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). SALVATION is of the LORD.
Jesus talked to Nicodemus concerning the New Birth in John 3:8. Nicodemus, you know, was constantly asking the Lord, "HOW can these things be?" Had he ACCEPTED the sovereignty of God, he would not have QUESTIONED the Master. It would have been a matter of course for him to accept the TRUTH.
Well, how CAN these things be? I don't KNOW. I just know it is the power of GOD. Notice in the 8th verse of John 3 Jesus said, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the SPIRIT."
The Spirit of God works upon WHOM He pleases, WHEN He pleases, and AS He pleases. You cannot dictate the terms to Him; God is SOVEREIGN.
They, then, objected to the TRUTH, and that truth to which they objected is the sovereignty of GOD. This is a doctrine that separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls.
Why IS it that men go away from Christ? You know, when Jesus, in the 8th chapter of John, exposed the Pharisees and Sadducees, when He told them in the 6th chapter that He was the Bread of Life, that they had to partake of that Bread if they were to have eternal life, and He told them repeatedly that He came not of Himself, but His Father had sent Him; yet, they still questioned the Master. Jesus said, "Why is it that you don't BELIEVE me?" Then He said, "Is it because you cannot HEAR me; ye have eyes with which to see but see not; ye have ears with which to hear, and ye hear not." In John 8:47, Jesus TELLS us why men go away from Christ: "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them NOT, because ye are not OF God."
You know, when you preach a doctrinal message to people and you can see them, as you look out over the audience, getting fighting mad, angry with the speaker when he is telling the truth, you can put it down that they who get angry are not saved. You HEAR me; I'll PROVE it.
But some will say that is a HARD statement. Well, it's the TRUTH. The worst ENEMY in the world that you could p05sibly have is a man who will tell you a LIE. The best FRIEND in the world you could possibly have is a man who will tell you the TRUTH, regardless of what it COSTS. I am going to tell you the truth and PROVE what I say.
Jesus said in John 8:47-I want you to get this, this morning- "He that is of God heareth Cod's words: Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not OF God."
That is WHY. Don't ask me any more WHY men go away from Christ. There it is. Christ answered it Himself: "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye hear them NOT, because ye are NOT of God." Now, don't try to explain it away. Don't say it doesn't mean that; it means this, that, thus, and so. It means exactly what it SAYS. It is self-explanatory. Don't get mad at ME this morning, and you SHOULD not and BETTER not, get mad at GOD. WHY is it that men go away from the TRUTH? It is because they are "not of God." That is exactly why.
I was holding a meeting one summer in a place; everybody came and patted me on the back until the last night. The last night I had a great audience there, and I preached the best I could. There was one thing I tried to do: I abased MAN and exalted GOD. I tried to show them that salvation was in CHRIST, not in themselves or in their work; but in the Person of Christ. I tried to show them the SOVEREIGNTY of God, and their faces began to swell up, actually swell up they were so angry. After the service, a little girl of 12 or 13 was saved. But that did not matter to the crowds They were not interested in the salvation of anyone; they were only interested in man's self exaltation.
When I left the meeting, several weeks passed and a friend of mine, who had belonged to that church, came and asked me, "Brother Cox, what in the WORLD did you preach?"
I said, "I preached the TRUTH."
He asked, "Did you preach on the sovereignty of God?"
I replied, "I most CERTAINLY did."
"Boy! Do they hate you with a holy passion.
They got mad. Now, WHY? Jesus tells you why. "He that heareth God's words is of God." That is WHY. That is exactly why. They "therefore heard them not, because they were not of God."
Do you know why you fail to enlist so many people in the Lord's work? It is because they have never HEARD the voice of the Master. Do you know why you try -to get folk interested in the Lord's work and you can not? It is because they are NOT of God. That's the reason.
People go away from Christ because they seek to establish their OWN righteousness, and they will not submit to the righteousness of GOD (Rom. 10:1-4). Paul said, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved" (Rom. 10:1). He said, "They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2).
Now the Apostle Paul said that they were devout and religious, and actually had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They had gone about trying -to establish their own RIGHTEOUSNESS, and had not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for all who believe, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, or the Gentile. But folk like to say, you know, "I want to establish my own RIGHTEOUSNESS." Like the man at the wedding feast in Matthew 22 who said, "My wedding garment is SUFFICIENT; why, my wedding garment is alright." But when the Master came in HE said, "Take it off, cast him out where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; take him away.
Thus, beloved, the only kind of righteousness that will meet the demand of GOD is the righteousness which God Himself provided (Phil. 3:7-9).
Then again, men go away because they like to have their WAY. Folk like to have their own way, you know. When most people pray, they say, "Thy will be done." But they don't mean that. What they actually mean is: "MY will be done," and not THY will, regardless of the cost. They like to have their own way, and the lost multitudes of this earth want to have their OWN way as to religious inclinations, salvation, and what have you. Talk to a lost man and he will say, "Aw, I will be saved one of these days when I get my fill of this, thus, and so. When I get to where I can live right, I'll be a good boy and join the church."
Well, let me tell you something: joining the church will not get you ANY WHERE. Joining the church never saved a SOUL. The REFORMATION of LIFE, becoming a "good" man, woman, boy or girl, never saved a soul. You are lost if Christ has never TRANSFORMED that life. But men like to have their own way. In Proverbs 14:12, the wise man Solomon said, "There is a way which seemeth right (didn't say that it was right now, only that it SEEMED right) unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
How well we know that is true; for the ways of man ever lead downward, never upward, ever downward, downward into Hell itself. Men's ways never lead upward for "it is a way which seemeth right, but -the end thereof are the ways of death." Man likes to have his own WAY, but his WAY leads to Hell.
In Proverbs 21:2, once again, the wise man Solomon said, "Every WAY of a man is RIGHT in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the HEARTS."
He just THINKS his way is right. It is NOT; for God ponders the heart. Like a surgeon with his scalpel, digging, cutting, probing into the deepest part of the human body trying to find the ailment, God's TRUTH searches; God's EYES see; He unbares the HEART; He tears it asunder and exposes it: God KNOWS.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."-Luke 16:15.
Thus, that which SEEMS right leads to HELL. That which appears RIGHT unto men is an ABOMINATION in the sight of God. Jesus didn't pull His punches, did He?
Then there are those who go away from Christ because they are "pure in their own eyes." The most despicable man in the world is a self-righteous man; one who thinks he is the best man in the world. I have never seen a GOOD man, have you? Jesus SAID as much, "There is NONE that doeth good, no, not ONE" (Rom. 3:12).
But there are people in the world that think they are so pure and holy they are almost as good as Christ, and getting BETTER every day. I heard a man say one time in one of those so-called testimonial meetings years ago in Jackson, Tennessee-and this actually occurred-"Bless God, I'm saved; I'm as good as Christ and getting better every day." He was pretty GOOD (?) wasn't he? In a little while he was going to excel Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. Of course, he was a liar. He didn't even KNOW Christ; for had he known the Lord, he would not have spoken of himself in such a manner-boasting about what the Spirit had done for him, and how that he was filled with the Spirit and so on.
You say, "Where in the world is that, Preacher?"
John 16:13 says, "Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come . . . He shall not speak of himself He will not speak of Himself; He will speak of Jesus. But this fellow belittled the Lord by saying that he was as good as Christ and getting better every day. Was he SAVED? NO! What he needed was a cleansing by the power of the blood of Christ.
"There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness."-Proverbs 30:12.
Where is the self-righteous man, where is the religious bigot, where is the egotistical religionist of today as he faces this text in the Book of God? "There is a generation that are pure in their OWN eyes, and yet they have not been washed from their own filthiness."
You may say, then, "If men go away from Christ, where do they GO?"
Well, if they are SAVED they go into horrible backslidings. Do you know WHERE backslidings originate? In the HEARTS of men. Solomon said, in Proverbs 14:14, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways . . ."
Then God invites backsliders to come back. Now a backslider is NOT a lost person. He has lost the FELLOWSHIP of God, that's all. He is most WRETCHED.
In Jeremiah 3:22, God said, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." And, "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord, our God." They returned.
If men go away from Christ, where do they go? If they be LOST, they go to HELL.
Who was it that said, "I don't like to pronounce that word?" Well, it's in the Bible: the word is used 23 times in the New Testament. Jesus used it over and over. Why shouldn't I?
Then, if men die without Christ they MUST go to HELL; there just isn't any other PLACE for them to GO; and brother, there just isn't any PLACE called PURGATORY, either.
You go to HELL when you die if you are lost. Hear me now: old Dives, the rich man, in Luke 16 (you know, the Book of God says that he fared sumptuously every day)' died, and was buried; and in Hell he "lift up his eyes, being in torments." HELL is not a GOOD place to go. I don't want to go there. In fact, I'm NOT going there. It is a place where "the worm dieth not," and the "fire is not quenched." It is a place of endless, everlasting torment, and they live with their SINS, trying to PAY for them, living on and on throughout the ceaseless ages of a never-ending eternity; and they NEVER get through PAYING for them. Hell is a HORRIBLE place.
Brother, if you are DONE with Christ, you are done with His WORD; you are done with the truth, and you are left in the presence of three of the greatest mysteries that ever confronted man: SIN, DEATH, and the JUDGMENT.
What about your SINS? What are you going to DO about your SINS? What about your DEATH? What are you going to DO about your DEATH? You are going to DIE, you know. And what about the JUDGMENT? When the Son of God shall say, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never KNEW you," is THAT what you want to hear?
I tell you this morning in closing, there are only TWO places that men can GO: one is to HEAVEN and [he other is to HELL. The ONLY way you will get to Heaven is through CHRIST and by Christ; He is the ONLY Saviour. Brother, He IS our salvation. May it please Him to use the Holy Spirit in imparting life to you. May you come to know Christ as your Saviour as the Spirit imparts life to you. Amen.
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