SEARCH THIS WEBSITE …

ANDY SOCHOR JUNE 2, 2015 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

“Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?”

Email

Subscribe

“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking
with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go
away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have words of eternal life’” (John 6:66-68).

Public opinion can quickly change. This chapter in John’s gospel began with Jesus
miraculously feeding five thousand people – and this number only included the men
(John 6:1-13). As a result, the people concluded, “This is truly the Prophet who is to
come into the world” (John 6:14). Believing this, they were ready “to come and take
Him by force [and] make Him king” (John 6:15), even though this would require them
to do battle against the powerful Roman army. But by the end of the chapter, all of them
had left except for His twelve disciples (John 6:66-68).

Why did the crowd leave Jesus? There are at least two reasons for this:

His words were difficult – Jesus said to them, “‘I am the living bread that came
down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the
bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.’ Then the Jews
began to argue with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us His flesh to
eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats
My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
day’” (John 6:51-54). Jesus was not saying they were to eat and drink His actual
:
 flesh and blood, but they stumbled over this (John 6:61). They said, “This is a
difficult statement; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). While the Bible is
understandable (Ephesians 3:4), some teachings are more difficult to understand MY LATEST BOOK

(2 Peter 3:16) and require additional thought and examination. We must be

“diligent” to learn how to “accurately [handle] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
But some do not want to be diligent in learning what the word of God means. So
when they encounter a teaching they consider “a difficult statement” – as the
crowd did – they leave.
His words were demanding – If Jesus’ “difficult statement” (John 6:60) was
not enough for the crowd to decide to leave, His explanation of the statement was.
Jesus explained that He was not teaching them to literally eat and drink His actual
flesh and blood. He explained: “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you
see that Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives
life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and
are life” (John 6:61-63). Jesus did not want them to eat His flesh, but His words.
They needed to take His word as their sustenance (Matthew 4:4) and strength (Acts
20:32), as we must as well. John the Baptist said, “He who does not obey the Son
will not see life” (John 3:36). Jesus demands obedience which means that one must
“deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow [Him]” (Luke 9:23). Though
“His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3), many do not want to make
Jesus Christ came to set us free from the bondage
of sin (Romans 6:3-6; John 8:34-36). Yet many
Christians are content to remain enslaved to it.
They have been convinced that we can never
defeat sin; therefore, they have resigned
themselves to the belief that they will always
struggle with it.
Yet the Bible does not present the removal of sin
from one’s life as an unattainable ideal but as a
realistic goal. Paul said there is a way of escape
for every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). Peter
spoke of what one needs to do so that he will
never stumble (2 Peter 1:10). John wrote so that
we may not sin (1 John 2:1). Jesus told the
woman allegedly caught in adultery, “Go. From
now on sin no more” (John 8:11).

the wholehearted commitment that is necessary to follow Him.
Interestingly, when the crowd left, Jesus did not panic (as we might have done) and try
to appeal for them to stay. He let them go. In fact, He almost seemed to offer His twelve
disciples that remained an opportunity to leave as well: “You do not want to go away
also, do you?” (John 6:67). If any of the disciples wanted to leave, they had the
opportunity to speak up then and say so.
If they left Jesus, where would they go? More importantly for us, if we leave Jesus –
But how can we successfully remove sin from our
lives? We first need to understand the reasons
why we sin so we can learn how to find the way of
escape. This material has been written to help
each one of us overcome sin, rather than
struggling with it perpetually.
The second edition also contains questions at the
end of each chapter to aid in personal and group
Bible studies. There is also an appendix at the
end with additional articles related to sin and
temptation. This book is available in paperback
and digital formats.

either because His words are too difficult or too demanding – “to whom shall we go?” Click here for more information and to download a
sample of the book.

Will we go to those who will tickle our ears (2 Timothy 4:3), speaking only those
things that we want to hear?
Will we go to those who will use “smooth and flattering speech” (Romans 16:18),
RECENT POSTS
whose words sound good and make us feel good?
“O How I Love Your Law!” – The Message of
Will we go to those who “pervert the grace of our God” and offer us “a license for
Psalm 119
immorality” (Jude 4), so that we can live as we please? 18th Year of Plain Bible Teaching

Where Will Your Church Be in Twenty Years?

If we go to any of the teachers described in the verses above, we will “turn away…from Rest for the People of God

the truth” (2 Timothy 4:4), follow that which is “contrary to the teaching which [we Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

have] learned” (Romans 6:17), and depart from “the faith which was once for all Elias Smith: A Pen in One Hand and a Battle
Axe in the Other
handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).
Love Perfected

Joy in the Assembly

The problem with following these other teachers is that none of them have the “words
A New and Living Way
of eternal life” (John 6:68). Only Jesus possesses these words. He said, “I am the way,
Growing in Wisdom, Stature, and Favor
and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).
Speaking of Christ, Peter said, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no
other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be
PBT PODCAST
saved” (Acts 4:12).
Marriage and Church Help Buffer People
from Unhappiness (08.04.22)
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Monthly News Roundup (07.28.22)
:
If we are not interested in eternal life, we are free to turn away from Christ as the crowd Reading the Bible Provides Hope (07.21.22)

did. However, if we want eternal life, we have no other option but to follow Him and do Government Funding to Promote Atheism
Worldwide (07.14.22)
what He teaches us to do (Hebrews 5:9).
“Pastors” Taking Women Out of State for
Abortions (07.07.22)

Did you find this material to be helpful?

Get more content like this by signing up for the Plain Bible Teaching
Weekly Newsletter. This free newsletter will be delivered in your inbox
each Friday!

Email Subscribe

! "#$%& ! '(&&) ! *$+,

FILED UNDER: ARTICLES

TAGGED WITH: ETERNAL LIFE, FALSE TEACHERS, JESUS, OBEDIENCE, SALVATION, WORD OF GOD

Tweets by @plainbibleteach
Plain Bible Teaching
@plainbibleteach
"O How I Love Your Law" – The

Comments
Message of Psalm 119
preview.mailerlite.com/k0v2a9l5i5

4h

WAYNE D. TEEL SAYS

Plain Bible Teaching
JUNE
JUNE 5,
5, 2015
2015 AT
AT 8:31
8:31 AM
AM
@plainbibleteach
Alexander Campbell: New
Thanks, Andy, for such good thoughts. Reminds me of the song, “Where Could I Go.” Anyone
Testamentism
interested in eternal life would realize there is no place else to go but to the Lord. He is the only preview.mailerlite.com/k0v2a9l5i5
refuge for my soul!

5h

Plain Bible Teaching

@plainbibleteach
LARRY DEVORE SAYS
Marriage and Church Help Buffer
JUNE
JUNE 11,
11, 2015
2015 AT
AT 1:54
1:54 PM
PM
People from Unhappiness
preview.mailerlite.com/k0v2a9l5i5
Another excellent teaching article, Andy

6h

Embed View on Twitter

ANDY SOCHOR SAYS
JUNE
JUNE 11,
11, 2015
2015 AT
AT 1:58
1:58 PM
PM

Thank you, gentlemen.

PAGES RECENT POSTS BROWSE THE ARCHIVES

START HERE “O How I Love Your Law!” – The Message of

:
 About Plain Bible Teaching
Comment Policy
Contact Me
Permission to Use Articles
Subscribe to Plain Bible Teaching
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Plain Bible Teaching on Facebook
Plain Bible Teaching on Twitter
Andy Sochor on Twitter
SEARCH THIS WEBSITE …
RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE
:
Psalm 119
SELECT MONTH
18th Year of Plain Bible Teaching
Where Will Your Church Be in Twenty Years?
CATEGORIES
Rest for the People of God
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
SELECT CATEGORY
Elias Smith: A Pen in One Hand and a Battle
Axe in the Other
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE
Love Perfected
Joy in the Assembly
A New and Living Way
Growing in Wisdom, Stature, and Favor This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License.
If you have further questions about using any of the
material on this site, please contact me.
COPYRIGHT © 2022 · BALANCE CHILD THEME ON GENESIS FRAMEWORK · WORDPRESS · LOG IN