John 6:60-62 (KJV)
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Have you ever had one of those conversations where it seemed like the more you talked the worse things got?
I want to bless you right now.
Jesus never said a word He shouldn’t have, but he had some of those conversations too.
John chapter six is one of them.
I. We can see the first sign of the trouble that is about to happen in John 6:2 (KJV)
And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
First of all, it’s a great multitude
Mark it down, you get enough people together and someone is going to get upset about something.
Whenever you have a bunch of people together, you have people of:
· Different opinions,
· Difference experiences and
· Different levels of maturity
That means someone is almost surely going to ask a question or make a comment that doesn’t sit well with everyone who hears it.
There are some people who seem oblivious to anyone else around them or else have zero concerns about those people.
They just say things that should not be said in a crowd.
That leaves others with the following options:
Ignore what they said –
Which could offend the person who said it or someone else because you didn’t correct the person who said it.
Answer what they said –
Which will most surely offend someone else who isn’t mature enough to hear the answer or isn’t interested in the answer or doesn’t like the answer.
Correct the person for saying it in the first place
Which will probably offend the one who said it and may offend their friends and family.
Second, this multitude had assembled for all the wrong reasons
It was because they had seen the miracles Jesus did.
When you put together a huge group of people, most with unfounded expectations, you have everything you need for an explosion. All they need is a reason to get set off.
That thing is going to be the subject of the Passover, which the Bible says is “nigh.”[1]
Then, to top things off, this crowd is hungry.
They have walked to the other side of Sea of Galilee.
Jesus did, right here, what a shepherd would do.
He became concerned for their well being. He instructed his Apostles to feed them all before He sent them away.
You would think that feeding more than 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two small fish would impress people.
In this case it impressed them but the wrong way.
They wanted to force[2] Jesus to become their king and give them free food for life.[3]
At this point
II. Jesus withdrew Himself from them, went into a mountain to pray, and then crossed over the Sea by night.
This is a huge difference between progressive religion and genuine Christianity.
Jesus wants nothing to do with large crowds of people who want to “work the works of God.”[4]
He wants but one thing – to seek and to save the lost through their faith in His death, burial and resurrection.
Notice the conversation in John 6:26-29 (KJV)
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
It is to these words that the crowd then asks John 6:30-31 (KJV)
They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
From here on,
III. This whole conversation will have to do the bread of heaven
Jesus claimed to be that bread.
They knew that to mean Jesus was the Messiah, the Saviour, the One who could forgive their sins.
· They had no problem making Him give them food But
· They did not believe He could give them eternal life.
May I tell you this morning that churches are filled today with people who have no trouble believing that Jesus teach them some good things.
They just do not believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, come down to save any and all that will ask Him to do it.
IV. This conversation takes another huge step downward
in John 6:52-53 (KJV)
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
From here on we are going to get into the Jewish Passover and, for Christians, the Lord’s Supper.
The two coincide. They are not the same thing but they happen about the same time and the similarities are so powerful that many people get the two mixed up.
John 6:54-58 (KJV)
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
The Catholics take this passage and create a doctrine they call Transubstantiation – that the bread and cup of the Lord’s Supper is the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.
Protestants refine that a bit and teach a doctrine they call Consubstantiation – that the flesh of Christ is with the bread and the blood of Christ is with the cup.
But when you look into the context you have to se that Jesus isn’t teaching anything about the Passover or the Lord’s Supper here.
He is teaching about what it means to believe.
You see,
· Trusting Christ isn’t just saying a prayer.
· Trusting Christ isn’t just coming to church most Sundays
V. Trusting Christ is radical, life changing.
It is making Jesus Christ the very essence of your life.
Paul said it this way
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
VI. Now look at John 6:60 (KJV)
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Notice
· These are not the Pharisees and Sadducees murmuring here
· This is not the huge multitude
These are His disciples - the people, who in our day, would call themselves Christians.
And Jesus said to them, “Doth this offend you?”
John 6:62 (KJV)
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Those of us who have read the Bible know He did ascend back into heaven[5] –
· He did it bodily
· He did it visibly and
· He did it gradually
And when He did it, the angels promised those who saw it He would come back Just like they saw Him leave.
I want to remind you that before He ascended, He did three other important things:
· He Died
· He Was Buried and
· He Rose Again
The most offensive words the world hears is that there is:
· No way of salvation,
· No redemption for our past failures,
· No life after death,
· No eternal peace
except that we believe that:
· His death
· His burial and
· His resurrection
is the only hope of that salvation and eternal peace.
VII. Look what happens after this.
John 6:66-69 (KJV)
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
· Some left Jesus never to follow Him again but
· Some stayed with Him because they were certain He was the only Saviour
Conclusion
In this room right now there are likely people of a number of different spiritual conditions
· Someone here probably hopes they are good enough to please God
· Someone here just assumes they are Christians and everything is going to work out for them
· Someone here trusts in their religion to make them good enough to go to heaven
· Someone might go to church because it just seems like a good thing to do
But all of us eventually want the same thing.
We want peace when life is over.
Jesus said there is only one way to have it. This is:
To accept that Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection was for your own sin.
To believe that Jesus is God, risen from the dead and alive today in heaven and
To call out to Him and ask Him to save you and make you a new kind of person entirely.
[1] John 6:4
[2] John 6:15
[3] They must have been democrats.
[4] John 6:28
[5] Acts 1:9 (KJV)
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.