The truth will set you free, John 7:17-24

I am going to put to the test your spiritual acumen this morning.  I know it’s early, and maybe you can’t think all that well first thing in the morning.  Todays message is not a story, maybe not so easy to understand, but nevertheless it is essential doctrine that must be understood and followed if we are going to be true disciples of Christ.  So consequently, I am not going to approach this text today in my typical fashion of exegeting each verse in order, but I’m going to expound on a few verses from the text, not focusing so much on the historical content but hoping to bring us to a deeper understanding of the underlying doctrinal principles found here.

I hope that most of you here today would already know the fundamental doctrine that salvation is by faith.  We read a passage that illustrates that last Wednesday in Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So salvation is by faith.  But what is faith?  That is the question.  Well, we have the Biblical definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  So you can combine those truths by saying that salvation is by faith in what is not seen, but believed to be true and evidenced by my life.

Now that is the essence of what Jesus said in John 7:17, isn’t it?  “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.”  So what Jesus is saying is believe in Me, and believe that My words are the Word of God, and then be willing to do what I say, and when you do that the truth will be evidenced.  Now that is counter intuitive, isn’t it?  Be willing to obey what God tells you, and when you do His will, the truth will be evident. That’s contrary to the way we normally do things.  We want to see the evidence, the proof before committing.  But Jesus says My words are truth, and when you are willing to believe that and do it, then you will know the truth.

Now that segues into another important statement of Jesus, which is found in the next chapter,  8:31, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”   See, freedom doesn’t just come from accepting that Jesus lived on earth, or that God exists, or even from knowing that the Bible contains truth.  True freedom comes from knowing experientially the truth. That means that you submit to it, and obey it, and act on it, even though all the  evidence may not be apparent when you start to do it.  That means that our faith which saves us is not just an intellectual assent, but trusting in what God has said, even when we can’t see the proof of it.

Jesus says you must continue in My word, if you are truly disciples of mine.  Continue means to keep on being obedient, to keep following His commands, to keep walking by faith in the path of God’s truth.  That continuance proves that His word is truth.  As we continue in it, we prove it, and as such we know it.  It’s so important to recognize the difference between realizing something is truth in a detached kind of way, and appropriating that truth to the point of trusting in it for yourself and committing yourself to it.  When you trust in God’s truth, so that you prove it, you know it is true, THEN the truth will set you free.  A lot of people believe in a kind of theoretical way that God’s word is true, or contains the truth, but they have never acted upon it, and as such they have never been set free.

So being set free, what does He mean?  What does it mean for the truth to set you free? Free from what?  Well, Jesus makes it clear that you are set free from the bondage of sin and death. Jesus said in 8:34, that “everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”  But that the Son will make you free indeed.  And so freedom comes from doing the will of God, even when that means not relying upon the natural senses for evidence, or upon your common sense, or even academic evidence, but believing what God says is truth, and acting upon it.

Now let’s look at the next statement of Jesus which will help us to see how this is acted out and applied in our walk. Jesus accused the Jews of breaking the law of Moses which they claimed to be upholding, because they were trying to kill Him.  And of course, they deny it.  So in vs. 22 Jesus said, ”For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?”  

Now first we need to understand circumcision in order to understand the text.  I’m sure everyone here has a general idea of what circumcision is without me having to go into detail. But do you know what circumcision symbolizes?  It represents the cutting away of sinful flesh, so that you might live in the Spirit.  It was a  picture of the man’s sinful nature which is passed on from generation to generation, and which needs to be cut away in order for the promise of blessing to come from God.  

Jesus is referencing circumcision because it was routinely performed on the Sabbath when a child’s eight day after birth fell on Saturday, and even though it was considered work it was acceptable because it was mandated through the law.  Jesus, on the other hand, was being condemned for HIs work of healing the lame man on the Sabbath.  So what Jesus points out is the hypocrisy of saying that it was ok to cut away the flesh through circumcision on the Sabbath and yet condemn Him for freeing a man from the enslavement of the flesh on a Sabbath.

See, when Jesus healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda back in chapter 5, He not only removed the impediment of the flesh, but He gave him life in the Spirit.  The lame man, you will remember, encountered Jesus in the temple, and Jesus revealed Himself to Him, resulting in salvation; new life in the Spirit.  So that this man was able not just to walk physically, but to walk in the Spirit, to walk as a new creation in a new life.  This is a picture of salvation for us. The Sabbath then, argues Jesus, should be a day for freeing men from enslavement to the flesh so that they can walk in the Spirit.

Now let’s make sure we understand all that is implied by  this new life in the Spirit.  First of all, when you are given new life through salvation, you are given a new nature.  That’s the good news.  But the bad news is that you still have the old nature. So now there are two natures in you warring against one another. Rom. 7:22-23 “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”

So there is within us a war between the old man and the new man, or the physical versus the spiritual.  Which one wins is up to you.  Which one becomes dominant depends upon which one you listen to, the one you are obedient to. The way of faith is to cut away the old nature. Or to look at it another way, to starve the old nature. To ignore it’s cries for the lusts and passions that it craves. In effect we put to death the flesh, or as Paul said,  we "crucify the flesh" and walk in accordance to the Spirit. That is the way of sanctification, and the way of a true disciple.  That’s the way to have fellowship with God, to love God, and to know the truth of God experientially in your life. This is the path to freedom, to put away the old nature, and put on the new nature.

I was trying to explain this to a Christian the other day who had backslidden and fallen back into sin.  And so I likened it to waking a sleeping dragon.  There should be a sign posted in your soul somewhere which says, “don’t feed the dragon.”  Because when you wake him up, and then feed him, he is going to want more, to take over your life again.  The only way to deal with him at that point is to starve him to death until he becomes too weak to roar any more and eventually becomes dormant.  So Paul says we wait eagerly for the final redemption of our body when this natural man is exchanged for a glorified, sinless body.

Unfortunately, so many Christians miss out on true freedom because they are looking for some sort of experience or feeling or emotion that shortcuts obedience.  But there are no shortcuts.  God works through our sufferings to bring us to sanctification.  Even Jesus, the Bible says in Hebrews 5:8 “leaned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

Sometimes you may not feel close to the Lord.  But the way that intimacy happens is the result of listening to the truth, then obeying the truth, and then the feelings come as you are being obedient.  Don’t rely on feelings.  But as you draw near to God, He will draw near to you and as you trust the Lord, and rely on the Lord, and have intimacy with the Lord, then you will experience the joy of the Lord.

So this new life in Christ requires that we put to death the old nature, and live according to the new nature.  Or to say it another way, to turn away from the old paths, renounce the old lies of the world, and walk after the Spirit, according to the truth of God’s word. Ephesians 4:21 tells us to do that very thing.  “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him,  throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God--truly righteous and holy.”

Listen to what Paul says about this new nature in Romans 8:4, I’m going to read from the New Living Translation;  now that we are in Christ we  “...no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.  Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will.  That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.  But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)  And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.  The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.  Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.  For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."  For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.  And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.  Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.”

Now that is the practical application of what it means to cut away the flesh through circumcision.  What Paul calls having been circumcised in our hearts. This is the practical application of what it means to walk by faith and not by sight, to walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh. It is living according to the new nature, and putting to death the old nature. Letting go of the things of the flesh which are our security, in which we put our hope, and trusting in that which is unseen, yet true, things of the Spirit.

Then notice the next statement of Christ which I want to capitalize on, verse 24; "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”  Now I don’t want to go sailing off on a different tack with this verse, but I can’t help but point out this verse to those people who like to quote “judge not, lest you be judged.” Here it says we are to judge, but to judge with righteous judgment.  Now I will let you figure out what that means in that context.  

But to stay within the context of my message this morning, I would just say that this statement is really the culmination of all  I have been trying to say to you.  And that is, that we cannot depend on our natural sight, but we must use spiritual discernment if we are going to know the truth so that the truth will set us free.  But unfortunately as Christians, I think far too often we hold onto a token amount of what we think is the truth of God, presumably to secure our salvation, but we still hold onto, and rely upon the great variety of lies from the world and the devil.  

In other words, we claim Christianity, but we live as if it’s all about the here and now.  We say we trust God, but in reality we trust what we can taste, touch, or feel.  And that is not exactly the life of faith, is it?  Not according to the definition of Hebrews 11:1 - “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  

Now Jesus rebukes these Jewish leaders because they were judging, or looking at things as they appeared outwardly.  They did not have spiritual discernment because they were not spiritual. They had not been born again by the Spirit of God. They did not have the Spirit of God in them, so their spirit was dead.  As 1Cor. 2:14 says the “natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Listen, these Jewish leaders prove that it is possible to be very religious, to be knowledgeable about the Bible, to claim Jehovah God as your God, and still be spiritually dead, and as a result, spiritually blind.  I worry about some people that attend our church from time to time.  If you asked them, I’m sure they would claim to be a Christian, and yet they do not understand the kind of things that I am talking about today.  And even more to the point, they live very obviously in the here and now, as a citizen of the world, entranced by the things of the world, and perhaps unbeknownst  to them, enslaved by the world.  

This statement of Christ could be said differently and still, I think, retain the principle that Jesus is teaching.  We could say, “don’t look at things as they are externally, and be attracted to them or believe in them.  But look at things spiritually, and be attracted to the things unseen.  That is spiritual discernment so that you might know the truth.

That is what Jesus means when He said, “judge with righteous judgment.” He’s not necessarily talking about judging people, He is talking about spiritual discernment. Having eyes that have been opened spiritually, so that you might know spiritual truth. Spiritual discernment is being able to know truth from error, to recognize the lie of this world, and believe the truth of God’s word.  

Now these Jewish leaders missed the truth that would have set them free because they were looking at external things, and depending upon external appearances.  They loved the externals.  They loved banging a gong or blowing a horn to announce their good deeds.  They loved the chief seats in the synagogues, the seats of prestige and power.  They loved parading their good works and claiming their righteousness based on the law.  They loved their long robes and funny hats and all the bells and whistles which showed their religious pedigree.  

Jesus did none of that.  I don’t think you could have picked Jesus out of a crowd and said anything special about Him.  Isaiah 53:2 says, “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should ]be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”  

So the Jews scorned Him because He came from Galilee where they believed the second class citizens lived.  They scorned Him because they didn’t think that He had the right credentials to be a teacher. They derided Him because He hadn’t graduated from the right rabbinical schools.  They scorned Him because they were jealous of the authority with which He taught, and the power that He had.  They looked at Him in derision because they didn’t think that He had the right kind of evidence of being the Messiah that they considered important. Ultimately, the thought that if they needed a Savior, it would have to be someone more important looking than He was in order to be of use to them.  So they rejected Him on the grounds that He didn’t meet their expectations, and I also I think because they were afraid that the kind of kingdom He was espousing would result in them being dethroned from power.  

And as a consequence they did not believe His teaching.  And because they didn’t believe His words then of course they would not do His will, and because they would not do His will, they would not know the truth, and because they did not know the truth, they were not set free from their sins.  

I’m afraid a lot of people are like the Jewish leaders.  They are happy with a form of religion, which is a religion made up of half truths.  Which amounts to nothing more than a lie.  But they are happy there, perched upon their thrones, in which they judge truth based on their criteria. From the throne of their self rule they live as they want to live, and do as they want to do.  And as such they reject the will of God, living in the natural world, while claiming to have some part of the spiritual. 

But that is not the way of the new life.  We must cut away the old nature if we are going to be set free from sin and live in the new life. And that happens through true repentance.  That is really what Jesus is saying in vs.17.  If you are willing to submit to do God’s will - that is repentance, you give up your will in exchange for God’s will.   If you repent, then God will give you His Spirit, and having spiritual discernment,  you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  

I hope that you will examine yourself today in light of God’s word and see if you are really of the faith, or if you have never actually renounced the world, put away the old nature and lived by faith in the new nature.  True discipleship is simply recognizing truth from God,  then submitting your will to obey the truth, and asking God to help you be obedient to the truth. I pray that you will believe the truth, and that the truth will set you free.  

True disciples versus false disciples, John 7:1-17

Jesus Christ is without a doubt the most important figure in the history of the world.  He was born more than 2000 years ago, contrary to the laws of life. He lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He exchanged a royal robe for a pauper’s ragged coat. He did not travel extensively. Only once did He cross the boundary of the tiny country in which He lived; and that was during His exile in childhood.

He possessed neither wealth nor influence. His relatives were inconspicuous and He had neither training nor formal education. Yet in infancy He startled a king; in childhood He puzzled doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of  nature, walked upon the waves as if pavements, and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charges for His service.

He never wrote a book, yet all the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been  written about Him. He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all the songwriters  combined. He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many  students. He never marshaled an army, nor drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun; and yet no leader ever had  more volunteers who have, under His orders, made more rebels stack arms and surrender without  a shot being fired.

He never practiced medicine and yet He healed more broken hearts than all the doctors far and  near. Every seventh day businesses and public offices close down and multitudes wend their way to  worshiping assemblies to pay homage and respect to Him. The names of past, proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone, but the name of  this man abounds more and more.

Although 2000 years between the people of this generation and the scene of His  crucifixion have passed, yet He still lives. Herod could not destroy Him and the grave could not hold Him.
He stands  upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of GOD, acknowledged by  angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the living personal Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Such we can say from the vantage point of history and the testimony of the Word of God. Though millions today that claim to believe His teaching, that are attracted to Jesus, yet Jesus Himself said that many are called but few are chosen, that many will seek to enter His kingdom but will not be able. Though many are attracted to Him, there is a tremendous difference between true and false disciples.  Two thousand years ago, even  his own family did not believe in Him and his own nation rejected Him and put Him to  death.  Even after feeding 15000 people and healing many of the sick in attendance, when He began to preach His gospel many of His disciples stopped following Him. John 6:66 says,“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”

Those disciples who came for the miracles but left after the message were obviously superficial. They were disciples or followers in name only.  There were still the 12 however.  Christ’s inner circle.  And when the others left Him, He turned to them and said, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”  Peter, acting as spokesman answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”  But even then, Jesus said that one of them had a devil and would betray Him. 

So Jesus ministry was characterized by true and false disciples.  I believe much of Jesus’ teaching is to show a distinction between His followers,  to separate those that followed Him for superficial reasons, and to develop true discipleship. Jesus seems to almost go out of HIs way to talk people out of following Him.  Let me give you  just a few examples.  

In addition to telling people that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood, Jesus told those who wished to follow Him to let the dead bury the dead, and not even go to their father’s funeral.  He told a rich man to sell everything he had and give it to the poor and then to follow Him. At another time He told a crowd that unless they hated their father and mother and family, and even his own life, he could not be His disciple.  Then He told them to pick up a cross and follow Him. He said in Luke 14:33  "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” Jesus told others to leave their nets, their professions as fishermen, and He would make them fishers of men. 

I could go on and on. Jesus called disciples to abandon all that they held dear in life for the sake of knowing Him.   I’m sure most of us would have responded to this call for radical abandonment  with the response; “you lost me at hello.”  But sadly this call of leaving all for Christ is not the gospel message of the modern church today.  We have changed the message to be as accommodating and appealing as possible.  We don’t ask for anyone to leave anything, but to come as you are.  We don’t ask for any sort of personal sacrifice; but say all God wants is a relationship with you because He loves you so much.  

If we are not careful, we find that we have redefined discipleship.  We are guilty of twisting the Jesus of the Bible into a version that 21st century hipsters are more comfortable with.  A non condemning, non controversial genie who is able to grant wishes upon our command and more importantly, places no demands upon us.  

But that is not the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus never presented discipleship as anything close to being easy.  The Jesus of the Bible talked about offering Himself as a human sacrifice for sin, and man’s need to repent for the forgiveness of their sins, and the people rejected Him.  When He condemned religionists of His day as hypocrites in turn they hated Him and plotted to kill Him.  So it says in 7:1 that Jesus avoided going to Judea, which was the seat of religion in Israel, because He knew that they wanted Him dead.  

His home by the way was in a small city called Capernaum, in Galilee, which had a population of about 1500 people.  We can assume that  it was the family home.  And so about six months after the feeding of the 5000/15000 on the seashore of the Sea of Galilee, His brothers come to Him and said, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”

From a logical perspective, what they said seemed to make sense.  It seemed to be good advice for how to raise up a ministry, or in Jesus’ case, how to establish your Messiah-ship. But their motive was not really in the best interests of the kingdom of God.  The underlying motivation for their comments are found in vs.5, “For not even His brothers were believing in Him.” So even His own brothers were false disciples.  They were perhaps willing to benefit from their relationship with Him if in fact He could pull off some sort of coup in the socio/religious culture that they belonged to.  But in fact they did not really believe that their own brother was the Messiah, much less the Son of God.

In chapter 6, you will remember, the crowds were taken back by His claims of having come down out of heaven, and they said in vs. 42, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” Now in chapter 7, you have His brother’s agreeing with the crowd.  After all, they had grown up in the same house with Him 24/7.  They shared the same parents, or so they thought.  How could He have come down from heaven? 

Matthew’s gospel identifies His brothers. Matt. 13:54-58 “He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household., And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”

So from that text we know that Jesus didn’t do many miracles in His hometown because of their unbelief. And in John 7 we learn that even His brothers didn’t believe in Him.  That explains why they say, “IF you do these things show them to the world.”  They didn’t even believe that He had done any real miracles. 

I see a parallel here in the life of Joseph from the Old Testament.  Joseph was hated by his brothers, because they were jealous of him.  And so they scorned him and eventually plotted for his death.  Jesus’ brothers did not plot His death, but I do think that they rejected Him and really wanted Him to get out of town.  He was an embarrassment to them.  And His greater brethren, meaning the family of the Jewish nation did plot His death, even as with Joseph.

The Bible does indicate that His actual brothers did eventually come to believe in Him, even as Joseph’s brothers eventually came to bow down before him.  But it was not until after Christ’s resurrection according to Acts 1:14.  Tradition tells us that Simon became a servant of the church for many years.  And James became the author of the book of James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and a martyr for the faith.  He describes himself in his epistle as "James a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ,” establishing Jesus as Lord, Messiah and equal with God.  Jude describes himself also as a servant of Jesus Christ. And then in his book he speaks about looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.  So His brothers eventually come to recognize Him as the Son of God, but at this stage they are filled with contempt and scorn for Him. Though they could claim a relationship with Him, yet they could not claim true discipleship.

Their suggestions are indicative of false disciples as well.  They basically are espousing the mantra of modern evangelism; that if you are successful, if you have a big crowd, then you must be doing something right.  That’s why they wanted Him to go to Judea.  Why hide out in Smallville Galilee when the big crowds and the success was in Judea. If you’re really the Messiah you are going to have to become popular with the multitudes and accepted by everyone. But notice that’s not Jesus’ plan for taking over the world.  In chapter 6 Jesus spent about 2 days teaching the 15000 people.  But they all deserted Him there when they found out the cost of discipleship.  So for the next 6 months Jesus spent all His time primarily with just 12 guys - discipling them.  That was His plan for establishing the kingdom of God in the world.

Jesus’ commission is the same to us; Matt. 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The command is not go into football stadiums and attract a crowd.  Not to organize giant crusades and get a lot of people to walk and aisle and repeat a prayer.  But make disciples, and teach them, note that, teach them, to observe all that I commanded you.  Attracting a crowd is easy if you have enough money.  But making disciples is hard work.  It’s time consuming.  It’s not done in a single outreach.  It’s not done in a short term mission trip.  It’s a long term affair. It’s teaching disciples to be doers of the word and not just hearers, not just superficial disciples.

Now the occasion of His brother’s suggestion to go to Judea is because it was the time of the Feast of Tabernacles.  There were three feasts which Jewish men were required to Jerusalem to celebrate.  The Feast of Tabernacles was one of those feasts, which lasted 7 days.  From a human perspective, it would have been a great opportunity for Jesus to appear before every able bodied man in Israel and start doing some miracles and show everyone that He was indeed the Messiah.  

That’s another indication of false disciples, by the way.  They are attracted by signs and wonders.  Great crusades happen in our country all the time which purport to be visited by signs and wonders.  One just happened last week I believe in Los Angeles, the city of the angels.  And one of the organizers of that event claimed to see a giant golden angel up in the sky above the stadium as he was driving in on the freeway.  Their whole program was about signs and wonders.  I heard one speaker proclaim that everyone there was going to be able to walk behind someone afterwards and know everything about that person.  I guess that is what they consider a word of knowledge.  There were people who were acting “drunk in spirit” all over the auditorium.  

But the Bible warns about such signs and wonders as a means of leading people into a false discipleship. .  Matt. 24:24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  Jesus rebuked others who followed Him for seeking signs and wonders in John 4:48 So Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”  And Paul warns in 2Thess. 2:9 about “the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”

Jesus is not interested in accommodating man’s agenda, even if it’s His own family members who are pushing it.  So He responds, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.”

There are a couple of points that need to be made concerning this important statement.  First of all, God has His own timetable and agenda, and we need to be aligned with it, rather than trying to get God to accommodate ours.  Jesus had an appointed time that He was going to go into Jerusalem and present Himself as the Messiah.  It would be 6 months later at the Passover Feast.  At that time, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds celebrate His coming as the Messiah, the son of David.  A week later, He is crucified as the lamb slain for the salvation of the world.  That is the timing of God, and Jesus is fully in agreement with that plan.  This was the plan of God before the foundation of the world.  And though it doesn’t look like it to His brothers or His disciples, all is going according to God’s plan.

Listen, I’ve said before that there is no safer place than in the will of God, and there is no safe place outside of the will of God.  It should be a great comfort to us to know that we are in the will of God, so that even when it seems like everything is going wrong, we can trust that God is in control, and He has a plan and things are going according to His plan.  If you are going to be a disciple of Christ, then you have to get in tune with the timing of God, and then trust in His sovereignty to accomplish His will in HIs time.  All our anxiety is usually because we have a different timetable and different expectations than God has.

Trusting God is hard work. Faith is hard work. The idea that faith is easy is contrary to scripture. It’s hard to walk by faith and not by sight.  I heard a story that illustrates trust.  It’s setting is back in the day when televisions still required antennas on roofs.  Something that has gone by the wayside in the digital age.  But this man was up on his roof fixing his television aerial when he slipped and began to slide down toward the gutters. He tried to catch himself, but he went over the edge. He managed to grab hold of the rain gutter as he dropped, and he hung there, suspended in the air. He couldn't look down and he didn't know how far it was to the ground, and in his desperation he cried out. "Oh, God help me!" And a voice replied, "I am ready to help you." And he said, "Tell me what to do." The voice asked. "Do you trust me?" He said, "Yes, I trust you." The voice said. "All right then. Let go." And man asked, "Is there anybody else up there who can help me?”  Trusting God isn’t always easy.  Letting go of things we depend upon though is fundamental to really trusting in God.

Secondly, if you are on God’s timetable, doing God’s will, then you are in opposition to the world, and the world is going to hate you.  True disciples are hated by the world.  But contrarily, false disciples love the world, and so the world does not hate them.  Now why is this true?  Well, because if you are a true disciple, then you are in agreement with what Jesus said, “it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”  That’s it.  We call sin, evil.  And we testify that their deeds are evil.  

Let me tell you something that you need to really understand.  This is the defining point of true disciples versus false disciples.  The defining point between true and false disciples is their deeds.  Don’t get me wrong.  You are not saved by works, you are saved by grace.  But don’t get Jesus wrong either.  You shall know them by their fruits.  The most damning statement of Jesus was for false disciples, found in Matthew 7:20-23  "So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”  

So their fruits are the deeds that they did.  Notice that they did signs and wonders.  They even cast out demons and performed many miracles.  They named the name of Jesus.  And yet they were not true disciples because they practiced lawlessness.

Now that is exactly what Jesus accused the Jews of in vs.19.  He said to them,  "Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” They claimed the righteousness of the law, but they did not carry out the law.  They sought to kill Him, in opposition to the law.

Their hatred of Jesus was equal to murder, and so it beget a plot to murder Him, which was eventually fulfilled.  So if you are a true disciple of Christ, then the world will hate you.  That really is the irony of the seeker friendly church model, isn’t it?  That we are trying to ingratiate ourselves to those who really hate what we stand for.  Because what we stand for is the truth of God’s Word which declares sin as evil, and defines it by God’s law.

So Jesus did eventually go up to the Feast of Tabernacles, but secretly.  That means that He did not enter into Jerusalem with a big fanfare.  His family would have been part of a large caravan, and His coming would have been with thousands of pilgrims, which would have probably instigated some sort of great political, religious rally to make Him King.  But He was not interested in their agenda, He was interested in fulfilling God’s agenda. So He shows up midweek, without fanfare, and when they find Him, He is teaching in the temple.

But notice that there was grumbling going on amongst the people concerning Him.  Vs.12, ‘There was much grumbling among the crowds concerning Him; some were saying, “He is a good man’; others were saying, ‘No, on the contrary, He leads the people astray.’ Yet no one was speaking openly of Him for fear of the Jews.”

Notice that neither of those comments are the marks of true disciples.  Jesus was not just a good man.  Either He was God incarnate, or He was a lunatic.  Most of the world’s false religions say that Jesus was a good man.  But they fail to believe that He is God.  That He is alive, having risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.  And as such their belief is of no avail.  Believing that Jesus is a good man will not save you.  Of course, the other half of the people were under the influence of the religious leaders who were saying that He was a deceiver.  But neither group were professing saving faith, and neither group spoke openly about Him for fear of the Jews.  That word Jews is used of the religious Jewish leaders.  They feared being ostracized, or kicked out of the temple because of any allegiance to Christ.  

I read a quote by DA Carson which said, “as the social cost of claiming to be a Christian increases, the percentage of nominal Christians decreases.”  I believe the day is already here when being a true disciple of Christ will bring persecution in the social arena, which may cost you your job, or mean you are sued for everything you have and then some, or even thrown in jail.  That day is here.

So Jesus starts teaching in the temple.  And the Jews hearing Him, ask in astonishment, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”  This is the great thing about preaching the Word of God.  It’s the wisdom of God. The Holy Spirit working in us, in conjunction with the Word of God, teaches us the things of God, so that we have the wisdom of God.  You want wisdom?  Read the Word of God.  [1Co 1:25 NASB] 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Notice Jesus says in John 7:16-17 "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.”  Jesus spoke the words of God.  When He refuted the devil in the wilderness, He quoted from the Word of God.  This is the habit of Jesus when He preached.  So as well I believe it’s a good habit for preachers to preach the Word of God.  Jesus goes on to say, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”  We have a lot of glory seeking preachers out there today who speak in order to glorify themselves.  They speak to gain a crowd, to please people, to entertain people.  And they fail to preach the full counsel of God.  Jesus testified that people’s sin was evil.  He preached the Word of God in it’s fullness.  Only when man is convinced of His sin does he come to know his need for a Savior.  And only when man has come to know Jesus as His Savior will he come to serve Jesus as Lord.

But here is the key Jesus gives us in those passages regarding true discipleship.  He says, “If anyone is willing to do His will, that is the Father’s will, he will recognize the teaching is of God.”  (my paraphrase) Here is the key to true discipleship.  You first have to come to a point of being willing to submit and obey the will of God, and when you do that, when you obey, then God will reveal more truth to you.  This is the principle I have mentioned so many times, that of progressive discipleship.  When you are obedient to the light God has shown you thus far, then He will reveal more to you.  God’s word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.  That means it’s walking revelation.  As you walk out the truth in obedience, God will continue to lead you.  Too many people want to see the light at the end of the tunnel before they start to walk.  That’s not discipleship.  Believe and obey.  Trust and obey, for there’s no other way. 

Well, there is more to this message that Jesus gives during the Feast, but it will have to wait for next Sunday.  In the meantime, I believe that you have been given enough light to start to be obedient to the light you have.  I hope that you will prove to be a disciple this week by your deeds and not just your claims on Christianity.  I hope that you are indeed a true disciple.  If not, then today is the appointed day of salvation.  Salvation is simply believing all that Jesus claimed He was, that He was the bread of life which came down out of heaven, that men might eat of Him and receive eternal life.  To eat of Him is to receive Him, as Savior and Lord.  To be willing to forsake the world, even all that life offers, in exchange for eternal life.  To be willing to take up your cross and follow Him.  True discipleship is not without a cost.  But the reward is so much worth it all. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  

I AM the bread of life, John 6:41-71

We are considering today one of the great sermons of Christ. This message marks a turning point in the ministry of Jesus.  It reveals the moment when the vast throngs of people that initially followed Him in response to His miracles, turned away and rejected Him when confronted with the truth of the gospel. It would be foolish for me to think that I can add anything new to this message.  But I do hope that we can exegete the text in order to make it’s meaning more clear.  Jesus was speaking to a large group of disciples, or followers, of which the 12 were included.  There were, as verse 66 indicates, a large number of superficial disciples there, as well as His inner circle.  And we know from studying the gospels that in most cases Jesus taught by using parables or metaphors, to illustrate spiritual principles.  For reasons known only to God, He said in Matt.11:25 that He spoke in such a way as to hide things from the wise and reveal things to infants.  And He does so in this sermon as well, especially by use of the metaphor of the bread of heaven. 

So as we consider this sermon of Christ, we are going to break it down into 6 courses, in hopes of helping us to better digest it, as we see the picture that Christ presents, the provision of God, the predicament of the people, the principle of salvation, the proposal to believe, and the profession of faith.  That’s our outline of Jesus’ sermon.

First then, the picture that Christ presents. Before we can go too far in the text we must recognize that Jesus is speaking metaphorically.  He is using the picture of a physical thing to illustrate a spiritual principle.  He did that also when He healed.  It was not simply to provide healing, but to illustrate a spiritual principle.  So when He says He is the bread of life, we must understand that He is speaking metaphorically.  He obviously did not look like a loaf of bread, His body was not actually made up of bread, and people were not being told to physically eat His body.  You would think it unnecessary to have to say that, but unfortunately, there are those who have misapplied certain verses in this passage as a result of misunderstanding of the nature of a metaphor.

In fact, this is the first of seven “I AM” statements of Jesus given to us in the book of John.  The purpose of course is to show Christ’s correlation as the Lord who appeared to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3:14, where God answered Moses’ question as to His name by saying “I AM Who I AM.”  There are seven of these statements in the gospel of John, this being the first in vs.35, “I am the bread of life.” Then in John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”  In John 10:9, “I am the door.”  In John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd.”  In John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  And 7, in John 15:1, “I am the true vine.” 

Now in all those statements Jesus uses metaphors to illustrate His divine character and purpose.  He was not literally a door, He was not literally a vine, not actually a light.  He is speaking metaphorically in all of these statements.  To say that He is bread is to use really a metonym for food, bread being the staple of man’s diet, which sustains life. Jesus is basically saying that I am the spiritual bread that gives spiritual life, which is the source of all life.  

But the people continually seem to misunderstand  what He is saying.  They have just eaten bread that He manufactured out of His hands at the feeding of the 5000, and as a result they can’t seem to get beyond the physical aspect of bread. In fact, back in the 31st verse, we see them speaking of the manna, or bread, from heaven which Moses had given them. They wanted Jesus to give them bread which they could eat which would be for physical nourishment. We need to be careful we don’t make the same mistake.  We need to understand the picture; Christ is like bread which comes down from heaven, in that He is the source and sustainer of spiritual life which is given for men.  So that is the picture.  

Next, let’s look at the provision of God. He is the bread of life which came down out of heaven. He came to be broken for man.  Notice how many times Jesus states this in His sermon.  He starts by accommodating their comment regarding manna, and clarifying it in vs. 32; “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”  But they still don’t get it.  So He continues to stress that He is the bread of life which has come down out of heaven.  Verse 38, “I have come down from heaven.” Verse 46, He says, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God.”  He is saying He has come down out of heaven.  Verse 50, “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven.”  Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven.”  Verse 58, “This is the bread which came down out of heaven.”  

This is the provision of God, that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son to the world, so that the world might be saved by receiving life.  Jesus is emphasizing what John said in his opening remarks in chapter one, that the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  The plan of God from before creation was to select a people from the face of the earth to be HIs bride, and in order to accomplish that, it was determined through the foreknowledge of God to send Jesus from heaven to man, to offer Himself as an atonement for their sins, that they might be joined to God.  

So in the provision of God, the disciples were challenged to believe in the preexistence of Christ, having been in heaven, One with God, and now coming down out of heaven to mankind.  And we also see the purpose of God, in sending Christ to be the provision by which man is reconciled to God. 

Notice the purpose of God in verse 32, “It is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.”  Verse 33, “The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven.”  Verse 38, “I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  Verse 39, “This is the will of Him who sent Me.”  Verse 40, “This is the will of My Father.”  And again in verse 57, “As the living Father sent Me.”  So you have here divine preexistence and divine purpose.  The Father sending the Son and the Son’s obedience to the predetermined will of God.

Then there is the predicament of the people.  This is really a two fold problem.  The first predicament is that they cannot understand how Jesus can say that He has come down out of heaven.  After all, they say in vs.42, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”  Don’t forget that Jesus had grown up in this area.  Most of those people came from small villages, and so they would have known Him, seen Him grow up, known His brothers and His family members.  Remember we said that at the wedding in Cana it was probable that one of Jesus’ family was married there that day.  So He was known of prior to His ministry, and now to suddenly declare to be  the Messiah, the Savior of the world, to have come down from heaven, sent from God, would have been a stretch for their imaginations.  It would be a stretch for our imaginations, frankly.  Imagine if I were to start saying that I had been sent down from heaven to teach you.  You would probably nod appreciatively and then call the men in white coats at your earliest convenience.  It wasn’t a logical conclusion for those people either, in spite of all that Jesus had done.  

So how did Jesus answer that concern?  Why not perform some undeniable sign? Why not call down fire from heaven?  That would probably at least scare them into obeisance.  Instead, Jesus tells them to stop grumbling.   Notice He says do not grumble among yourselves.  But what or better yet, who are they grumbling against?  I would suggest that it is Jesus they are grumbling against.  I think in effect they are saying, “Who does He think He is?  He puts His pants on the same way we do.  We know where He is from.  We know HIs family.  He is not better than we are.”  Right there, even before they walk away at the difficult statement about eating and drinking His blood they are already turning on Him.

So Jesus says, ““No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”  Now a lot of preachers want to get off the train right there and preach a series of messages on election.  And I could do that as well.  But Jesus is not necessarily presenting a side message here about predestination.  What He is doing is deflecting their criticism.  He is saying in effect; you cannot believe Me because you have not been taught of God about Me.  You don’t know what the Father has said about Me, and so you cannot come to Me. That’s a soft, backhanded rebuke right there.  Because they thought they knew about God.  They thought they knew what the scriptures said about the Messiah.  But Jesus is saying they are ignorant of both.

I find that true today.  People think that they know about God.  They think that they know about Christianity.  But the truth is they have created a god out of their own imagination, which is subservient to their own desires.  And when a preacher such as I challenge those assumptions that they hold so dear, I become the object of their grumbling.  Their criticisms.  But as Jesus said, a servant is not greater than his master.  If Jesus suffered that criticism, then so will I.

The other predicament of the people is found in vs.52.  Their predicament is characterized by grumbling and now by arguing. “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’” Now here is what Jesus had said which prompted this debate.  He said “I am the bread of life, 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.”  And the question is based in a literal interpretation of Christ’s words.  How can this man give us His flesh to eat?  

Notice how Jesus emphasizes this truth over and over again.  Verse 53, “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 yourself.”  Vs.54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.”  Vs. 55, “For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink.”  Vs. 56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me in and I in him.”  

Now it’s apparent that the Jews stumbled over this saying.  From the perspective of the law, what Christ was asking them to do, even if possible, was reprehensible.  It was against the law.  What they were arguing about then the same thing we might argue about.  In fact, I would suggest that the church has been arguing about the correct interpretation of this since the Middle Ages.  One of the main arguments of the Reformation was against the doctrine of transubstantiation which was and is practiced by the Catholic church, in which they believe the elements of the Lord’s table literally become His flesh and blood, and by eating it, you receive remission of sin.  However, I don’t believe that this is a statement about communion, but it has been incorrectly interpreted that way for centuries, and consequently has given rise to the view  that when you eat the bread and wine of communion, you are actually eating the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.  

But my answer to that is to remind you of point one; the metaphor of bread is the means by which Jesus  illustrates Himself as being offered by God to man to give life to the world.  It is a picture, a symbol, the same as the door, the vine, or the light was a symbol.  But the Jews miss the symbolism and are fixated on the literal, physical bread and blood, and consequently miss the truth in what Jesus is saying. And in like manner, those who misconstrue the physical eating and drinking as a means of the remission of sins are in error as well. So after hearing Jesus present the sermon, the disciples say, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”

And that leads us to the principle of salvation which Christ is declaring. Vs.61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?” Notice that the disciples are still grumbling.  They are grumbling at the dual predicament that Jesus has generated by His message.  And so Jesus answers the first predicament, the one of His coming down from heaven, of His preexistence. He says in vs. 62, “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”  He is saying, “Look guys, you have a problem with Me saying that I came down from heaven?  What are you going to do when you see Me going back up into heaven? Is that going to be a problem for you too?”  Of course, Jesus knew that He was going to ascend again into heaven after His resurrection.  The problem for those that rejected Him now would be that they would not be there to witness the ascension.  That speaks to the progressive nature of revelation, by the way.  To those that are obedient to the light that they have, God will give more light.  But if you reject the light God has given you, then you will not receive more.  God gives progressive revelation to those that are obedient, as they are being obedient.  What God had revealed to these disciples up to this point should have been enough to believe.  But since they don’t believe HIs words, and the signs which accompanied His message, they would not be given more.  

The answer to the second part of the predicament, that of eating flesh and blood is found in the next verse, 63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” This verse is the key to understanding the symbolism of what Jesus was preaching.  Eating bread, even eating His flesh, profits nothing.  He isn’t speaking of eating literal flesh and drinking literal blood.  That has no benefit whatsoever.  Rather, it is the Spirit who gives life.  If you want spiritual life, then it must come from the Spirit of God.  It cannot come from physical things, it cannot come from physical effort, but it must come from the Spirit of God.  So obviously what Jesus is offering is not to eat of His physical flesh or to drink His literal blood, but spiritual life through the Spirit of God.

And what does that Spirit life look like?  Is it goosebumps and chills?  It is signified in animal sounds, or speaking in tongues, or writhing in convulsions?  What constitutes the Spirit given life?  Listen to this: “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  Man!  I hope you get that folks.  I hope you are not duped into thinking that the Holy Spirit gives life through physical convulsions or expressions.  But the word of God is Spirit and life.  That principle is stated by Paul to Timothy in 2 Tim. 3:14-17 “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  The word is life from God, the scriptures are God breathed(pneuma, breath of God, inspired), able to produce salvation which is spiritual life, and able to sustain that life by training us in righteousness, so that we might be equipped to live as God would have us live.  The word life there which Jesus uses is zoe in the Greek, not bios, which means organic life, but zoe which refers to the vitality of the soul, an animated, abundant life in the spirit. 

So that is the principle: the Spirit gives life, and the words of Christ are spirit and they are life. Now then the fifth course; the proposal to believe. There are multiple aspects of what it means to believe in Christ. First in verse 35, He says, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me.” Listen, don't get so hung up on the sovereignty of God that you neglect your responsibility in the matter.  We cannot understand the predestination and election of God.  That doesn’t mean we don’t accept it, it just means it’s above our pay grade.  But what we do understand is our responsibility.  So the first requirement is to come.  Verse 37 joins those two principles together saying, “All that the Father gives Me will come, and the one who comes to me, I will not reject.” So you don’t have to worry about whether or not you were elected for salvation.  If you come to Christ, He will not reject you. Period. Let God worry about God’s responsibility of divine appointment, and you just worry about your responsibility.  Come to Jesus. That is the invitation of Christ.  Come to Me.  All come.  The invitation is open to all who hear.

The second aspect of believing is to look.  Notice verse 40, “This is the will of My Father that everyone who beholds the Son…” Notice the word “everyone.”  There aren’t limitations here based upon our understanding of the doctrine of election.  All who come,  anyone who comes, I will not reject.  Everyone who beholds. Not a cursory glance. I really think it’s similar to the idea found in Hebrews 12:2, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”  The word behold in the Greek means to look at intently, to examine, to study, to gaze on. Jesus is saying, look closely at Me.  Examine Me in the light of the scriptures.  He can accept that kind of scrutiny, in fact He desires it, because He knows it will produce faith in Him.

There’s another phrase that’s really critical as well.  Look at verse 35, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me will not hunger and he who believes in Me…”  He who believes in Me.  Verse 40, “This is the will of my Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.”  Verse 47, “I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 20:31 says the same thing. The theme verse for the whole gospel of John, “These things are written that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in His name.”  Salvation is about believing.   Another way to understand it would be John 1:12, “As many as received Him.”  You have to come.  You have to look.  You have to be exposed to the truth, but you must believe. 

Going back to the metaphor of the bread, go to verse 50, and from verse 50 on is really the proposal to believe unto salvation from Jesus. “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat,”   Believing is eating.  Taking in, receiving, appropriating.  Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”  Verse 57, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.”  Again, verse 58, the end of the verse, “He who eats this bread will live forever.”  Eating the bread is a powerful metaphor that everyone should understand as believing or receiving who Jesus is and what He came to do.  You have to take Christ in.  It’s not enough to just believe He existed.  It’s not enough to just come to church  and listen.  You have to eat.  You have to appropriate. That’s what it means to believe.  You have to receive Christ.  That’s our responsibility.

You not only have to believe in Him as living bread, you have to believe in Him as dying, which is represented by blood.  Verse 51, “I am the living bread.  I came down out of heaven.  If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”  There He’s talking about giving up His life so that we might have life. But listen to what He says in verse 53, “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 yourself.”  54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.”  Verse 55, “For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink.”  Verse 56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me in and I in him.” 

Blood is simply a metonym for His death, as it is throughout the New Testament. You must believe in Jesus as the preexistent Son of God who came into the world and is the source of spiritual life, eternal life, and you must believe in His sacrificial death in order to be saved.  As bread, He gives life.  As blood, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  Blood, then, speaks of His death by which He makes a sacrifice for our sin.  

That brings us to the last point, the profession of faith. When the disciples hear the words that Jesus says, they do not accept it.  They say this is too difficult for us to accept. Vs.66, “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” So Jesus turns to the 12 and says, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” And Simon Peter, speaking on behalf of the 12 gives the quintessential profession of faith in vs.68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

What a great profession! First of all, note that even though it was a difficult statement, Peter recognizes that there is no where else to go because these are the words of eternal life. I find that so many people today are seeking for a more palatable gospel.  And so when you speak of judgement, of sin, of the wrath of God, of repentance, of obedience, they don’t like the sound of those types of doctrine.  So they turn away.  They walk away, looking for something more palatable, something that is more appealing to the flesh. A taste of religion but still able to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. But the fact is, that the truth is life, and anything less than the truth is a lie.  It’s like taking your prescription if you are seriously ill.  You have to take it all, if it is going to have the desired cure.  I will admit, there are some difficult things in the gospel.  It’s not easy to renounce the world, to give up sinful habits that you enjoy.  It’s not easy to let go of the pursuit of fame or wealth in exchange for life in the Spirit.  But it’s the way of life.  And if you don’t accept it all, then it’s not going to be effective.  There is no half truth and no half gospel.

And notice also that Peter capitalizes on what Jesus said earlier in vs.63 which says, “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Peter reiterates that in his profession; “You have the words of eternal life.”  He believes the word of Christ.  Secondly, he believes in Christ.  And what exactly does He believe?  He believes and has come to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God.  That’s a tremendous statement of faith.  That is saving faith.  That is faith whereby God imputes righteousness to our account.  

Peter and the disciples don’t know everything yet.  But the gospel is progressive.  God is willing to take the faith of a child and develop it to mature faith.  But we start with what light we have been shown.  And as we are obedient in faith to that light, then He will show us more light.  Sometimes we have to believe what we don’t understand in order to gain understanding.  In due time, Peter and the apostles would see everything clearly.  But for now, they understand enough.  They understand that Jesus is holy, that He is from God, that He preexisted with God, and that God had sent Him to earth so that we might have eternal life.  They believed that He was the source of life, and that His word was the bread of heaven by which life is sustained.

Listen, Jesus spoke this sermon 2000 years ago, but today I believe God has spoken to you through His word, and as a result, God has given you a proposal; to believe in Christ, to receive Him as your Savior and Lord.  I trust that you have made a profession of your faith in response to that proposal; That He is the Holy One of God, that He is the source of life, even eternal life, and that believing in Him, you will trust Him for the salvation of your soul.  That is only made possible by the fact that Jesus offered Himself as our substitute, bearing our sins upon the cross, so that God might transfer our sins to Him, and Christ’s righteousness to us.  If you believe that, and receive that, then you have eternal life.  Note that vs.54, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, HAS eternal life.  Not will have, but has now.  It is the present reality of your salvation. Eternal life begins today if you receive Him today.  I trust that today is the day of your salvation.