John 6:52-71

Life That Endures

John 6:52-71

10.05.11

1. Life that Endures-Part Two
• Last week
• “I am the Bread of Life”
• The Father draws- all who are drawn come to Christ
• All who come to Christ will have eternal life
• “I am the Living Bread”
• Christ is the fulfillment of the picture of His coming in the Old Testament
• They ate manna and died- Eat of Christ and Live
• “The Bread I give for the life of the world, is my flesh”
• This week.
2. Christ’s  Body is Eternal Life - Put your Faith in Christ (6:52-59)
• Verse 51-“The Bread I give for the life of the world is my flesh”
• Christ explains the Bread of Life, then the Living Bread; then sums it up with this ground-shattering statement.
• Immediately met with confused opposition.
• “How can he give us his flesh to eat?”
• Deut. 28:5 -  Eating humans is the result of God’s judgement on disobedience
• You must not eat blood (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; Lev. 7:26–7; Lev. 17:10–12; Lev. 17:14; Lev. 19:26; Deut. 12:16; Deut. 12:23; Deut. 12:25; Deut. 15:23); the people ate the animals with the blood (1 Sam. 14:32–4)
Day, C. A. (2009). Collins Thesaurus of the Bible. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
• The Explanation (Verses 53-58)
• Communion?
• Luke 22:14-23
• What is communion a picture of?
• New Covenant in My Blood?
• John 19:1-3; 16-18; 28-30; 31-34
• Christ’s flesh was offered up, His blood was shed so we can eat The Bread of Life
• Isaiah 53:5-7
• Romans 5:6-12
• John 6:53, 58
• How are these verses cast in a different light after considering their ultimate context?
• This is a Hard Saying (Verses 60-63)
• “Do you take offense at this?”
• They wanted a political ruler, v.15
• I Cor. 1:23- Christ was a stumbling block to the Jews
• They could not deal with the incredible implications of Christ’s words being true.
• Christ puts his statements in perspective with an almost humorous reminder in verse 62.
• I’m not talking about physical things, I’m talking about spiritual things.
• The flesh is no help at all.
• This is about Spirit and Life
• Only the chosen will endure until the end (verses 64-65)
• Known from the beginning, the ones who would leave.
• Your leaving because i said that you would
• The great departing (verse 66)
• Jesus was not a seeker friendly teacher
• His preaching is not always cut & dry
• When asked or questioned Jesus makes it even harder to understand
• This man, with this message would last this long
• if you are not granted to me, my word will force you to leave
• What about you? (verses 67-69)
• What a loaded question
• No other Game in town
• Genuine saving faith
• The Disciples “belief” lead to their loyalty, but not apart from their LITERAL call from God
• John the Baptiser
• Jesus is the only way John 14:5 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
• “come to know” Call upon your walk with Jesus and remember His faithfulness during times of hard teaching. John 12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
• One of you is a devil
• Just keep this in mind that Jesus knew this from the beginning
• Be careful not to assume that all your friends are on the same page as you.
• Use discernment
Car Question:
Do we ever find ourselves tempted to quit on the Christian faith but then come back
to these same words and testify that we have nowhere else to turn?  How can we find
assurance from Peter’s confession here?

John 6:22-51

Life That Endures
John 6:22-51
09.28.11
Life that Endures-Part One
The crowd that Christ fed the previous day follows Him across the water.
Christ lays out an explanation of the one food that actually satisfies.
He does this using three related lines of reasoning.
“I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35–40)
“I am the Bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41–51)
“Eat the flesh of the Son of man” (John 6:52–59)

I Am the Bread of Life - Salvation in an mortal context
If this passage is a beautiful picture of salvation, then why is Christ talking about bread again?
He has already provoked them to thought in John 6:26-27
You didn’t come because you believe me, you came because I gave you food...
The Bread of Life is Salvation
Never Hunger, Never thirst
“Sir give us this bread always” (v. 34)
Why did they say this?
Christ explains, seeing is not believing.
This should frighten us to the core. Examine your heart.
God is Sovereign in our Salvation
Read verses 37-48 Stubborn hearts breed grumbling mouths.
Father gives, salvation is secure.
Christ came to carry out God’s purpose
Those drawn by the Father who believe will have eternal life.
Argument is brought forward. (familiarity breeds contempt) Evangelism Tip!
Christ sidesteps, redirects the conversation and reaffirms his authority.If your going to grumble prepare for rebuke.
No one can come unless drawn by Father
Quotes Isaiah then casually pulls out a line that strongly implies that He is the only one there who has actually seen the Father.

I Am the Living Bread that Comes Down from Heaven - Salvation in an spiritual context
Christ continues his explanation of Salvation, this time framing in a more direct spiritual context
Let me try to explain this in a different way...
Eternal life is on the line
It’s me, I am the Bread
Don’t die with a full stomach like your fathers
You will exist somewhere eternally

The free gift of God is Himself, His flesh
Free gift (verse 51)
Undeserved gift


Car Question
Do you consider if fair that God only draws certain individuals (and not others) to
Himself for spiritual understanding and salvation? Why do so many believers stumble over this precious truth?

John 6:15-21

09.14.11
Wrong Motives
The crowds wanted to make Christ King.
What is wrong with this? Sounds like a good thing right?
Similar Scene: Acts 1:6
Political Ruler vs. Spiritual Victory
Christ’s Kingdom: John 18:36
Matthew Henry: “Religion is often prostituted to a secular interest...”
Augustine: “ Jesus is usually sought after for something else, not for his own sake”
What’s your motive in everyday life?
Are you using Christ for your own glory?
Keep the Goal in Sight
Christ could have been crowned king, but he kept His Father’s goal in mind and did what
was necessary to protect that goal.
John 12:44-50
Protect the Goal
Acted with intention and responded in a way that removed himself from the situation.
Christ Watches
v.18 Stormy water, high seas, darkness, slow progress.
We are guaranteed trials: 1 Peter 4:12-19
Despite the trials Christ is watching,
Entrust your soul to a faithful creator while doing good!
Christ Assists
Christ saw the disciples need for assistance in their time of need
The disciples payed attention to what was going on around them
They were not complacent. They saw and understood God’s active hand in their situation.
We don’t often find our selves on boats in Montana, What might a time of need look like
for us?
We have the Holy Spirit: John 16:4-8
Because of Christ’s work on the cross, the Holy Spirit convict’s us when we are
in sin.
Christ is Security
They arrived immediately at the shore.
Christ watched them embark, he assisted in their time of need, and was the source of
the immediate security that they found.
Christ is our harbor, our rest.
Psalm 46

Car Question:

Are you paying attention to what God is doing in your life?
Why do we (as a family) follow Jesus?

John 6:1-15

Intro:
The feeding of the 5,000 is a well known story for most Christians. Some have said that is should be entitled the feeding of the 15,000 and some the 20 - 25,000. They use the fact that the Greek word that is used for “men” is the specific word that distinguishes men from women and children. We can assume from scripture that there were women and children there, especially given that one of the “boys” was the one willing to share his lunch with at least 5,000 other people. I don’t know how many exactly were there and the number shouldn’t be important at all. If Jesus fed 20 people with a ritz cracker and then had an extra basket of crackers left over that is still a miracle that neither you nor I have ever accomplished, to embellish the numbers would be pointless so for the sake of staying within bounds of scripture we will use 5,000.
There is not a ton of super deep theological principles to dig out here. This is very practical, the main over arching message that I want to leave you with is “go and do likewise.”

1. No people no problem vs More people no problem
According to Mark 6:35-36, the disciple’s solution was simply to send the people away. This would get rid of the problem but it wouldn’t be in the peoples best interests.
Jesus reacts differently:

Mark 6:37
What does Jesus ask Philip? John 6:5
What’s Philip’s response?
One of the things people discover in our world is that money often isn’t the answer to all things.

2. Know your role
Who are the main characters in this story?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
At certain times in our life we may take on the roll of any one of these characters.
Who is the main focus of this passage?

What are the other people doing?

Who gets the glory? Are you ok with that?
He is the One who multiplied the food and they had the privilege of passing it out.
3. Expect God to blow your mind
-Give unto God and see what he will do.
Now, this is a very important picture here because we see that in contrast to the ‘little’, in verse 7, the Lord gives it with abundance.
example:
4. Waste not want not
There is more than enough to satisfy the people, but it is interesting that it is still precious, so they gather it up and do not waste it.
5. Be Thankful
Two times, by the way, John mentions that Jesus gave thanks, here is verse 11 and again in verse 23. Remembering God in all things.The act of thanksgiving or being thankful is a discipline.
6. King or KING OF KINGS
THE PROPHET Deut. 18:18
KING of kings

MOVIE ON THE WALL!!