Drawn To God Series

We continue our series of hearing from our Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ. We continue our series in the gospel of John. I invite you to find your Bibles and find John 6 with me.

If you were to pause to consider some of the most important speeches in American history, you might think about Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech all the way back in 1775. Others might point to Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech that fueled civil rights in 1963. But, none of these compare to the eternal significance of Jesus’ message delivered in His hometown synagogue in Capernaum (John 6:59).

If we look at His message through the lens of our eternal future, surely Jesus’ message is on a different level altogether. Jesus clearly shows us our “why” for this life and the next.

Invitation

After today’s message, you will be invited to respond to Jesus’ offer of a clean, fresh start. You can respond by going to the Encourager’s Room or a virtual room. If you would like someone to pray with you, we are here. We would love to meet with you personally.

In the moments to come, Jesus will challenge us. Today, we would say, “Buckle up,” because part of what Jesus is saying is really difficult to hear. Even the disciples who first heard Jesus speak these words respond, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60b).

Today’s Scripture

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves. 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 will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, 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 you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum” (John 6:41-54, 59).

This is heated dialogue, and it’s really heavy in parts. What do we get from it?

I want to answer 3 questions with you this morning:

Sermon Preview

1. Why Do Some People Believe?

2. Do I Have a Need to be in Control?

3. How Is This Relevant to Me?

1. You Don’t Come to Me, I Come to You

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).

1.1 Resistance

Resistance to Jesus is increasing as you move along in the story of the gospel of John.

1.1.1 The Jews

The Bible says “a large crowd” is following Jesus back in verse 2 as well as verses 5, 22, and 24. Ominously, John does not use the term “crowd” but “the Jews” in verse 41. John, a Jew, tells us about a group he calls “The Jews,” who will oppose Christianity at nearly every turn. Don’t let race and ethnicity confuse you.

John’s Gospel uses the “the Jews” 70 times.1 John knows that Jesus is Jewish, and some Jews are believers in John’s gospel. Resistance to Jesus soon grew to resentment for Jesus. Just as Lincoln offered his Gettysburg Address in 1863, where he only spoke for 2 minutes, during a time of conflict, Jesus speaks in the face of fierce resistance.

1.1.2 Grumble

This group grumbles about Him. They specifically complain about His claim that He is the “living bread that came down from heaven” in verse 41. Notice in verse 42, “We know his parents. How can he claim heavenly origin when his human ties to Joseph and Mary are so plain?”2 They were saying, in effect, “Don’t listen to him. He is a nobody from the sticks of Galilee, the son of a carpenter named Joseph. Listen to us.” They don’t get Jesus, and they don’t want to get Jesus. If I faced grumbling or complaining, I would tell you to stop your whining. We might even add a story, “You think you have it bad? I walked uphill both ways when we were kids.” ?