The difficult sayings of Jesus John 6:60-71
This is an unusual chapter in John’s book. It’s one of the longest in the N.T. and I think that’s because those who determined where the chapter divisions would be took into account that everything here is connected to one main point. It begins with the public miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000, then we have the private miracles of His walking on the water, calming the storm and bringing His disciples immediately to their destination. The miracles are then followed by His teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum where He declares Himself to be the bread of life. The rest of the chapter focuses on the reaction to who He claims to be by the three groups that make up the crowd who were gathered at the synagogue. The central message of the chapter is this, "Jesus Christ is God." He demonstrates this by His miracles, He declares it in His teaching and the crowd doesn’t argue with Him they either walk away because of their lack of commitment or they declare themselves to be His disciples.
We’ve been looking at the groups within the crowd. First, we saw how Jesus challenged those who were just there for the free food when He told them to look for something more out of life than just filling their stomachs. These people remind me of those who will join any organization no matter what it is as long as there’s food, fun and fellowship. As soon as there’s work to be done, bills to be paid or offices to fill they lose interest and quietly disappear.
Next, we saw how Jesus told the religious leaders that they needed something more than just religion if they were going to have eternal life. They needed a relationship with Him and that meant they would have to believe in Him and trust in His sacrificial death to pay for their sin. Religion may make a person appear good but it doesn’t do anything to actually change his heart.
There are people in this town who are religious and good living but for whatever reason they’ve never come to accept the Lord as their personal saviour. They might make great neighbours and good citizens but if they’ve never repented of sin and received Jesus as their personal saviour they’ll receive His word of rejection and condemnation. We see this in Matthew 7:21-27.
" Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name ? and in your name cast out devils ? and in your name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine,and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine,and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
Here are two stories here that are parallel in their message. The first one talks about those who claim the right to enter heaven based on their good works. We know that both believers and non-believers do good works and the works by themselves don’t tell us anything. Let me give you a Biblical example of this. At one time the disciples went out two by two preaching, healing and casting out demons. Judas was one of the disciples and we have no reason to doubt that he did the same good works as the rest of the disciples. In the end we find out that he was just along for the ride; he wasn’t really a believer. Could you tell it by his works? Of course not.
Jesus then drives home His message with the parable of the two men who built houses. Like the people doing the good works the homes were identical, looking from the outside you couldn’t tell the difference. The distinction was the foundation. When the storms came and storms come to all of us it’s the foundation, the part that no one sees that determines our survival. The foundation of the christian life isn’t our works but it’s our relationship with the Lord, our works are the expression of that relationship.
Today we’ll see the conclusion of the chapter as Jesus challenges His disciples about their faithfulness in spite of the demands He makes on those who follow Him.
Jesus had spoken to them about eating His flesh and drinking His blood and as I said last day this was a reference to their personal identification with His death, burial, resurrection and their subsequent commitment to Him. He was calling them to a lifetime of surrender. He wasn’t looking for an offering, a public testimony or membership applicants. He wanted people who would willingly submit to Him in time and then reap the benefits in eternity. This brings us to where we are today. The crowd is murmuring about His hard sayings.
I The hard sayings of Jesus.
a) "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?" I always thought they were saying, "this is too hard to understand, how can we do what He wants if we don’t know what He’s talking about?" You’ve got to be a Ph.d to listen to Him. They weren’t saying they couldn’t comprehend it but that His message was too hard to take, too demanding, too difficult, too narrow, His teaching left a bad taste in their mouths. It’s like Mark Twain when someone mentioned how hard it was to understand the Bible, he said, "It’s not the parts that I don’t understand that bother me but the parts I do understand." They were in the same boat, they understood all too well what He wanted.
b) What was He saying that was so difficult ?
i He was the bread that came down from heaven. He was emphasizing His pre-existence in heaven and His special relationship with God. The crowd understood this because when He spoke like this elsewhere they were ready to stone Him for blasphemy. They could accept Him as a king, a teacher, a miracle worker or a prophet but when He claimed to be God come in the flesh that was too much for them.
ii He also spoke about the need for His death. In verse 51, " And the bread that I will give is My flesh which I give for the life of the world." Of course we know and later the disciples would understand that He was referring to His crucifixion and substitutionary death.
iii The third hard saying was in verse 65, " No man can come unto Me unless the Father draw him." This is a saying that not only disturbs the unbelievers but the believers as well. Here Jesus points out that God is absolutely sovereign not only His creation but also over the matter of salvation.
Man by himself is on the run from God. The Bible tells us that it was God who came looking for Adam after he sinned. God is described in Luke 15 as the good shepherd who goes looking for His lost sheep; the one who finds the lost coin and the father who stands at the front door waiting for the prodigal son to return. We weren’t looking for God when we were saved He came looking for us. I was reading the kids a poem last week, you might have heard it.
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And doesn’t know where to find them,
Leave them alone, and they’ll come home
Wagging their tails behind them.
It’s too bad there’s no second verse to explain what happens next because I have a sneaking suspicion that someone gave our little Bo Peep some bad advice. These are sheep not dogs. Sheep don’t find their way home. They’re lost and if she doesn’t go looking for them she better find herself another nursery rhyme to hang around in.
The Bible says,"All we like sheep have gone astray." The Lord needs to come get us or we’ll never get home. So, Jesus is telling us that there are those who are drawn by the Father and those who are drawn by their own selfish and materialistic desires. Hearing this some might wonder how do we know if He’s drawing us ? I think it’s simple enough to say as Isaiah 55:1 says, " Every one that is thirsty, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." If there’s a hunger in your heart to know God then the relationship is yours for the asking.
What was so hard to take ? He was saying, I’m God come in the flesh, I’ll provide your salvation at My expense but at the same time you need to know that not everyone is going to be saved.
c)c) They heard that and they murmured. Murmuring is an expression of semi-quiet discontent. It’s what people do at business meetings when things don’t go their way. It’s not out-spoken disagreement but the kind of mumbling that makes everyone aware that someone disagrees with what’s going on but for whatever reason they won’t come right out and say anything, so they mumble things under their breath.
There are a couple of instances in the O.T. during the wilderness wanderings where God killed many of the jews for murmuring and as we come to the N.T. Paul says in Philippians 2:14, "Do all things without murmuring and disputing." God doesn’t like murmuring. We can honestly disagree with one another but if we murmur we’re just being disagreeable. The murmurer doesn’t care what’s right he’s just angry that he didn’t get his way. So this crowd murmured about His sayings.
II Jesus says, "Does that offend you, what if you see the Son of man ascend to where He was before ?" I don’t think He’s refering to His ascension that will take place after His resurrection but about His going back to heaven. Let me explain.
I remember watching a film in grade three or four. It was a documentary on peanut farming. They went through the tilling and planting, weeding and watering, and then we watched the plants grow through time lapse photography. Then the plants were dug up and the peanuts were picked. Peanuts grow under the ground like potatoes. The film was over and just for a laugh or maybe just to waste some time the teacher turned off the sound and played the film backwards. It showed the farmer taking the peanuts out of the bag, sticking them to the roots and planting them in the ground. Everything was done in reverse.
This may have been what Jesus meant and He’s saying," You’re offended at the plan of salvation but look at it from My perspective. I’m going to the cross for your benefit not mine. What if I reversed time and took back My food, miracles, teaching and virgin birth ascended back into heaven where I was before? Would you be offended then, if there was no plan or promise of salvation?" They didn’t like what He said and they were offended, they were going to quit following Him and He knew it.
What does it take to offend us? What does it take to make you want to quit? For some people the answer is,"not much." A bit of criticism, maybe someone forgets to thank them for doing something or if they experience a little persecution for their faith they’re history.
There’s an unusual verse over in Jeremiah 12:5, "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, where you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?" This says to me, if you can’t get along with those who love you what will you do when you have to deal with those who hate you. If you can’t make it in the easy times, what are you going to do when things get difficult? If you don’t live for the Lord when there’s no persecution, what are you going to do if it ever costs something to be a Christian. Will you be offended and leave?
d) "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life."
The written and living word of God are the source of life. It’s only when we believe the written word and receive the living word that we have true spiritual life.
"Baptism is a good thing; it’s commanded by God but we know baptism doesn’t save anybody. It’s actually become a curse in some denominations where it’s practised on unbelievers because it gives them the impression they’re saved when in fact they’re lost. The same is true of the Lord’s table. It’s a real blessing and a special time of soul searching for those who know the Lord but there are those who take it on a regular basis thinking it’s doing them some good when in fact they’re placing themselves under the judgement of God by taking it unworthily. The same can be said about church membership, prayer and reading the Bible." (J.M. Boice)
If we are doing these things because we’re saved they can be a great source of spiritual blessing but if it’s to earn salvation then we are just as lost as ever before except that we might feel better about ourselves.
The flesh profits nothing. Paul said in Romans 7:18," In my flesh dwells no good thing." And over in Philippians 3:3 he wrote that we are to have "no confidence in the flesh." 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us that in our flesh we can’t even understand spiritual truth. "But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." When it comes to the things of the spirit the flesh really can do nothing. We can do nothing for our salvation except to receive what has already been done.
e) Here are some of the saddest words of the N.T. "From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." Where did they go? They went back. Back to their homes and back to their empty religion. Their leaving reminds me of the passage over in Hebrews 6:4-6,
" For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."
This is describing those who have heard the gospel and saw the evidence of it’s power to change lives. They came to the point of surrender but some reason they walked away. How can they be saved. They’ve rejected God’s only provision and they’ve crucified Him afresh. As far as they were concerned Jesus died for nothing.
Why did they leave? They didn’t get what they came for. They wanted a leader who would give them everything and expect nothing in return. I’m afraid we are seeing history repeat tiself before our very eyes. There are several books out now describing the baby boomer generation. Those are the people who were born between 1948 and 1965. This is the generation who has experienced nothing but
prosperity in North America. Rather than having a sense of owing something for all they enjoy there’s a consumer mentality of wanting to help themselves to all that’s available.
We are starting to see the effects of this in the church and it’s expected to get worse. The consumer mentality has no sense of loyalty but shops for a church that has the programs to meet their needs. They are there to be ministered to and not to minister. It’s no longer what can I do to serve the Lord but what’s in it for me. As this mentality slowly creeps into the church we will see a shortage of workers and then programs will have to be cut. But just because the world is heading in the wrong direction there is no reason for the Christians to go along for the ride.
III Jesus question to His disciples.
a) " Will you also go away?" As we read that question I wonder how many were left. Is it possible that all the crowds who followed Him the day before had left and all the jews who saw His miracles and heard His teaching were offended at the kind of commitment He was demanding and quietly slipped away and there’s only the twelve? Peter spoke for the group and said,"Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. And we believe that you are the Christ the Son of the living God."
b) Jesus responds to Peter’s statement of loyalty by demonstrating His omniscience (the fact that He knows everything) as He basically says to him," Don’t be too quick to speak for everyone, I’ve chosen twelve but one of you is a devil." What a thought, Jesus told them a whole year before His betrayal that one of them wasn’t a believer and yet they never once suspected Judas. Right up to the moment he was going to betray Jesus they thought he was going out to buy something for the feast or give something to the poor. Judas fooled the disciples, he may even have fooled himself into thinking he was something he wasn’t but he never fooled the Lord. Here’s one more piece of evidence to prove that Jesus is God come in the flesh.
c) Just like Peter we will all face doubts and difficulties. The christian life is an ongoing battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. Regardless of what we have to endure we know in our heart of hearts that only Jesus has the words of eternal life there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.
Conclusion
There will always be those who join churches like they join any other social organization. They’re there for a good time but not for a long time. Then there are those who seem sincere but for what ever reason they fall away. But then there are the faithful. They may not be the most gifted, the most intelligent or even those who appear the godliest but they’re always here are if God spares them they’ll still be here until they die or Jesus returns. I believe that’s what God is looking for - the faithful. He’s looking for those who will live for Him and that means dying to self on a daily basis.
