John 6:28-71
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
The Doctrine of Miracles: What shall I do that I might work the works of God??…. “I want to perform miracles… I want to heal people….I want to be a famous healing evangelist like Benny Hinn…” You laugh, but some think that they are the ‘chosen one’ for something like this. It all starts from some unique miracle that happens only to them, and then they start having communications from god (some spirit) and it tells him (or her) that they are special chosen and annointed for doing God’s work here on Earth. Wow! And off they go… So, can a Christian today ‘work the works of God’? Well, God can certainly do mighty works through them, but they are not ‘gifted’ with what some in that first century were gifted with, and thus cannot ‘at will’ perform miracles. Some in that first century had the gift of miracles (i.e. Paul did).
The miracle that they need, and everyone else, is that you believe on Him whom He hath sent….Jesus Christ!
But, that’s too easy…basic. They want some great miracle to occur, or it must not be from God. They can’t just simply
believe and be saved… it’s got to have some fireworks, healing, audible voices, visions, etc.. They just don’t feel that it is of God unless there is some paranormal experience associated with it. It’s kind of like using drugs; nothing seems to be ‘good’ or ‘satisfying’ unless it is associated with the drug ‘high’.
What is your testimony of salvation? Does it involve some miracle happening to you? If it does, then you might be like these… trusting in the miracle and not in what the Bible says about Jesus Christ.
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
The Doctrine of Jesus Christ: Verse 36’s statement offended a lot of the people listening to Him. These folk didn’t think there was anything that special about Jesus. They didn’t believe His words (or His miracles). They didn’t believe that He came down from Heaven and that God the Father was indeed His Father. There were many who believed that Joseph was Jesus’ father. Some today don’t either; they believe in God, but they don’t believe that Jesus is God. Some today don’t believe that there is anything special about the Baptists (independent type). They don’t believe our words.
Maybe some of you murmur from time to time about things that I say… about things that we believe… about Baptists.
What do you murmur about? Do you murmur about this church….about this pastor…about the Baptists?
Are things said here that get you a bit bothered?
43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
The Doctrine of Salvation: You don’t get to choose when you are going to finally get serious with God…get saved…repent and stop backsliding… God the Father must first draw you through the blessed Holy Spirit.
When one hears the truth, that should draw them to more truth. They should come unto Jesus, and then come unto the pillar and ground of the truth. Those that get saved and then stay in their ‘church at home’ philosophy, or liberal mainline Protestant church, or Charismatic church, I wonder about. They should be drawn to the truth. When we invite them here, why don’t they come; if they happen to come, why don’t they stay? Do we not have the truth?!
Have you believed on Jesus Christ? What did it mean to you to ‘believe’ on Him? Was it associated with some miracle?
Were you mentally accepting it, but that was it? Did you sorrowfully repent and fully trust solely in what He did on the cross for you to save you from eternal Hell fire?!
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 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. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 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 Doctrine of Jesus Christ: Jesus uses a metaphor of ‘bread’ and ‘wine’ to explain Himself to the lost religious folk around Him. Most of the lost that heard His words could not understand the metaphorical meaning. Jesus spoke in parables about Himself and the kingdom of God in order to divide out those that were opened to the Spirit and His leading them to truth, and those that were not. The Jews got ‘hung up’ on Jesus statement saying that they were to eat His flesh and drink His blood. It was a gruesome thought, for sure… Satanists practice such nonesense today. The true teaching of this is understanding that Christ would give His flesh and His blood for us for salvation, and we need to ‘partake’ of this…i.e., believe that it purchased our salvation; and it will give eternal spiritual life.
The Doctrine of Communion: Catholics practice Transubstantiation (the bread and the alcoholic wine truly become Jesus’ flesh and blood); Lutherans practice Consubstantiation (the bread and the alcoholic wine mystical have Jesus’ presence in them, but do not truly become His literal flesh and blood). These two groups both wrongly interpret this passage to be stating that in order to be a part of Jesus, to be born-again, to be in His body, one must partake of the ‘elements’ (Communion). Catholics go as far as to ‘adoring the Eucharist’.
59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
The Doctrine of Discipleship: There are a lot of hard sayings in the Bible, in Baptist churches, with our church; and some will get offended. It is interesting that even His disciples were offended at Jesus’ metaphorical language here and stopped following Him. In order to be a true disciple of the Lord’s, you will be challenged with new ways of thinking and new levels of commitment that might very well ‘offend’ you at first. The true disciple will not let these ‘bumps in the road’ get them ‘off track’. They might say that ‘this is an hard saying’, but then they will say ‘but I’m going to believe it and follow it because it is clearly what the Bible says’. Those that walked no more with Jesus were focused in on their flesh (which profiteth them nothing) rather than the spirit. It appears that these disciples that quit were not truly saved; they were following Him because of the hype, or because of the miracles, or because they saw that He was an impressive teacher, etc.. Thus, there were some disciples of Jesus that weren’t even saved.
Some of our visitors are no more with us; some of our members are no more with us… What has happened? Many times it is because they were offended. Something was said that they disagreed with. Preacher, know this, that there will be times where you have a challenging sermon, and some member will raise a stink about it and not come back anymore. There are some so-called ‘disciples’ out there that when they are challenged with new ways and new levels of commitment that they will balk at it and ‘go back’ to where they were before coming to your church.
67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
The Doctrine of Discipleship: Those 11 disciples were true disciples; they didn’t balk at this; though, they did all flee and hide themselves when Jesus was taken by the Jewish leaders. There was even 1 of those 12 disciples that was a ‘devil’; they were under the control of the devil. Thus, even an apparent true disciple could be living a lie and turn on you or against you at any moment. Also, there will be some true disciples of the Lord that will eventually quit, give up, go back, and be offended and walk no more with you.