July 21, 2026 • 25 mins
A crowd follows Jesus because they want bread for today, and Jesus answers with a claim that detonates the room: “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” From the synagogue in Capernaum, we work through John 6:41–71 and watch the moment shift from curiosity to confrontation. The religious leaders grumble because they understand what Jesus is implying, and they try to flatten His words with a familiar label: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
We slow down over one of the most debated lines of the passage: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” That leads to a practical and personal question, not just a theological one: if salvation is truly grace, what does that do to our pride, our excuses, and our confidence? We also connect Jesus’ teaching to the prophets and to the work of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus insists His words are “spirit and life” even when they offend human instinct.
Then we tackle the shock phrase head-on: “eat My flesh and drink My blood.” We explain why a literal or ritualistic reading that focuses on fleshly things misses Jesus’ point and how the imagery presses for real, life-changing faith. The result is a turning point where many disciples walk away, and Peter answers with one of the clearest confessions in Scripture: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” If this conversation helps you think more clearly about faith in Jesus, eternal life, and what true discipleship costs, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can find it.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
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SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
Grace and peace to you, and thank you for joining
me for the mysteries of God'sWord.
Last week we had learned thatmany people came to Jesus who
had been with him at the feedingof the five thousand, and they
found him in Capernaum, and whenthey found Jesus, they were
(00:35):
asking him for more food, with adesire to fill their bellies.
But Jesus pointed them toeternal life, and he pointed
them to himself, telling themthat he was the bread of life.
Last week we had gotten throughverse forty, which was about
(00:55):
half of Jesus' sermon, and todaywe pick up in verse forty one.
So the Jews grumbled about himbecause he said, I am the bread
that came down from heaven.
They said, Is this not Jesus,the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know?
(01:16):
How does he say I have come downfrom heaven?
In verse forty one we areintroduced to the Jews in this
setting.
Prior to this, the people werereferred to as the crowd or the
people.
The Jews here refers to theJewish leaders.
And as we will see at the end ofthis discussion, Jesus had been
(01:38):
teaching in the Jewish synagoguein Capernaum.
So all of this discussion orsermon of Jesus took place in
the Jewish synagogue inCapernaum.
But now we are introduced tothis element of the Jewish
leaders being part of thiscrowd, and these Jewish leaders
are grumbling about Jesus.
(01:59):
This reminds me of how thepeople once grumbled against
Moses out in the wilderness.
And now these Jewish leaders aregrumbling against Jesus.
And these religious leaders knowthat when Jesus is making a
claim that he came down fromheaven, he's making a claim of
deity, which is why they say, Isthis not Jesus, the son of
(02:23):
Joseph?
Whose father and mother we know?
This is an argument that theJewish leadership will level
against Jesus more than once.
Later in chapter seven, they saythe same thing.
Their argument is that we haveknown this Jesus his whole life.
We know his mother, we know hisfather.
(02:44):
How can he possibly have comefrom Father God?
How can he possibly be theMessiah?
While the Jewish leadership knewthat the birthplace of the
Messiah was to be in Bethlehem,there was a tradition that had
developed amongst the Jews.
The tradition said that theMessiah would appear suddenly,
(03:07):
and that his origins would beunknown, he would suddenly
appear and that salvation forthe nation of Israel would come
out of nowhere.
So these Jewish leaders areplaying off of that tradition.
They're quick to point out theyknow Jesus' earthly father,
Joseph.
However, if these Jewish leaderswould have done their
(03:30):
investigation properly, if theywould have gone with due
diligence to investigate andquestion Jesus' mother, they
would have discovered there wasa virgin birth, and they would
have discovered the incarnation.
Jesus answers them, Do notgrumble amongst yourselves.
(03:51):
No one can come to me unless theFather who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up on thelast day.
It is written in the prophets,and they will all be taught by
God.
Everyone who has heard andlearned from the Father comes to
me.
(04:11):
Not that anyone has seen theFather, except from he who is
from God, he has seen theFather.
Truly, truly I say to you,whoever believes has eternal
life.
I am the bread of life.
In verses forty four throughforty eight, Jesus begins by
(04:34):
saying no one can come to meunless the Father draws him.
An interesting note on thisstatement, when Jesus says no
one can come to me, it means noone is able to come to me.
Man is unable to come to God onhis own will, through his own
(04:57):
ingenuities, through his ownperceived goodness.
Man does not possess moral orspiritual capability to come to
God.
No one can come to Jesus withoutdivine help.
And the Father here representssovereignty over all creation.
(05:19):
And it is only through oursubmission to the divine will of
the Father who originated, whoordained the plan of creation,
who ordained the plan ofsalvation that man can come to
God.
And it is God that brings aboutsalvation.
And then Jesus says, And I willraise them up on the last day.
(05:44):
Again Jesus points to hisauthority as God to raise the
dead.
Jesus then proclaims, It iswritten in the prophets, and
they will be taught by God.
What an amazing picture oftruth.
Jesus as God in the flesh,teaching these people face to
(06:08):
face.
Yet these people are grumblingagainst him.
In perhaps a parallel way to howScripture teaches us that God
has shown all of mankind throughcreation who he is, and that men
suppress this truth inunrighteousness.
So now as God is revealing truthto these people face to face,
(06:33):
these men suppress that truth inunrighteousness.
But Jesus says that everyone whohas heard and learned from the
Father will come to me.
As Jesus often said, those whohave ears to hear and eyes to
see, those who genuinely listen,and those who hear the message
(06:57):
of God, those who accept theproclaimed message given by God
throughout creation, throughoutthe special revelation of the
gospel, and accept the will ofthe Father, will come to Jesus.
Because Jesus is the Son of God,he is the one who is from
heaven, he is the only one whohas seen the Father.
(07:23):
And then Jesus calls thesepeople to salvation.
He calls them to faith.
Truly, truly, Jesus says,Whoever believes has eternal
life.
I am the bread of life.
Jesus again emphasizes that Heis the way of salvation.
(07:45):
He is the way to the Father.
Picking up in verse forty nine,your fathers ate manna in the
wilderness and they died.
This is the bread that comesdown from heaven, so that one
may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that camedown from heaven.
(08:08):
If anyone eats of this bread, hewill live forever.
And the bread that I will givefor the life of the world is my
flesh.
In verses forty nine throughfifty-one, Jesus directly
answers the argument that thecrowd had made on him when they
(08:28):
demanded another sign fromJesus.
The scripture that the crowd hadquoted was Nehemiah 9.15, which
talked about the manna in thewilderness being bred from
heaven.
And Jesus here contrasts thatmanna.
The manna that their forefathersate and then later physically
(08:50):
died to, he contrasts tohimself.
Jesus is the manna that iseternal.
Jesus is the bread that bringseverlasting life.
Jesus says, I am the livingbread that came down from
heaven.
Much like Jesus told thatSamaritan woman that he could
(09:12):
give her living water, he nowtells these Jewish leaders and
this crowd, he is the livingbread.
When people simply look to Jesusto fill their temporary hungers,
their temporary needs, Jesusredirects them to look to
himself for eternal life.
(09:32):
And then Jesus says, if anyoneeats of this bread, he will live
forever.
Jesus is making this personal.
He's saying that you have topartake of what he is giving
you.
Jesus isn't talking about eatingliteral bread.
He's talking about believing inhim, personally, partaking of
(09:56):
eternal life.
Just as he said in verse thirtyfive, I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me shall nothunger, whoever believes in me
shall never thirst.
Through faith in Jesus Christ,we have our spiritual hunger
satisfied.
Just as we take physical breadfor physical life, so a person
(10:20):
must partake in Christ foreternal life.
And Jesus says, The bread that Iwill give for the life of the
world is my flesh.
Jesus foreshadows hiscrucifixion and how he will give
his flesh for the sins of theworld.
(10:42):
Picking up in verse fifty two.
The Jews then disputed amongstthemselves, 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 Manand drink his blood, you have no
(11:02):
life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh anddrinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him up onthe last day.
For my flesh is true food, andmy blood is true drink.
Whoever feeds on my flesh anddrinks my blood abides in me,
and I in him, as the livingFather sent me, and I live
(11:29):
because of the Father.
Whoever feeds on me, he alsowill live because of me.
This is the bread that came downfrom heaven, not like the bread
that the fathers ate when theydied.
Whoever feeds on this bread willlive forever.
Jesus said these things as hetaught at Capernaum.
(11:51):
In verses fifty two throughfifty nine, we are given
clarification by Jesus to thesespiritual things, but it has
been my experience that itrequires spiritual eyes to see.
I have spoken with many people,still very confused about these
verses.
In verse fifty-two, some of theJewish leaders are blinded to
(12:16):
these spiritual truths, justlike many people are blinded
today.
They don't understand what Jesusis teaching, and they're arguing
with one another.
They themselves are taking thismetaphor literally.
Some of them try to use Jesus'words against him, saying, Jesus
is claiming that people must eatof his physical flesh, and this
(12:40):
angered the Jewish leaders.
The Mosaic law prohibited peoplefrom eating flesh or drinking
blood.
So these words taken by Jesus ina ritualistic sense can lead you
down a wrong path.
In response to these peoplearguing and their claims that
(13:02):
Jesus is speaking of eating hisphysical flesh, Jesus responds
with an even more shockingstatement.
But Jesus is doing so becausehe's being intentional, he's
being purposeful.
Jesus says, whoever feeds on myflesh and drinks of my blood has
(13:22):
eternal life.
Jesus had just foreshadowed hiscrucifixion in verse 51.
And he continues down this lineof thought.
Now, obviously, to eat ofsomeone's physical flesh is
abhorrent.
It is against what God teaches,perhaps even more so to the
Jewish people, considering theMosaic law.
(13:43):
And then Jesus adds an image ofdrinking his blood, which is
equally revolting to the Jewishleaders.
But what Jesus is doing iscommunicating the need to
believe in him for theforgiveness of sins and eternal
life.
Jesus is communicating that youmust partake in a genuine and
(14:08):
real faith.
That belief in him isn'tsuperficial, it is
life-changing.
Jesus tells us that to be achild of God means you must
feast on something real.
Faith in Christ isn't somethingmystical.
This isn't a fake superficialreligion.
(14:30):
The living God has realsubstance, and he offers true
life, true eternal life.
And Jesus clarifies this bysaying that when a person feeds
on him, they will abide in him.
(14:51):
Jesus once used a similaranalogy of a grapevine, saying,
I am the vine, you are thebranches.
Whoever abides in me and I inhim, it is he that bears much
fruit, because apart from me youcan do nothing.
Jesus wasn't saying you are aliteral branch and he's a
(15:12):
literal vine any more than he'ssaying you must literally eat of
his flesh.
But he is saying in both cases,that faith in Christ is
something real.
Picking up in verse sixty, whenmany of his disciples heard it,
(15:33):
they said, This is a hardsaying, who can listen to it?
But Jesus, knowing in himselfthat his disciples were
grumbling about this, said tothem, Do you take offense at
this?
Then what if you were to see theSon of Man ascending to where he
was before?
(15:53):
It is the spirit that giveslife, the flesh is no help at
all.
The words that I have spoken toyou are spirit and life.
There are some of you who do notbelieve.
For Jesus knew from thebeginning who those were who did
not believe, and who it was whowould betray him.
(16:15):
And he said, This is why I toldyou, that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by theFather.
In verses sixty through sixtyfive, we once again see how
difficult these very words ofJesus were, both to those who
heard at the very time Jesusspoke them, and it reflects even
(16:38):
to today.
Many of the people who heardthis, many of Jesus' followers,
said this was too hard to hear.
Now this isn't referring to thetwelve, but it's referring to
many of the disciples.
The disciples in this case arepeople that followed Jesus.
At this point in history, Jesushad become the latest fad in
(17:02):
rabbinical teaching.
He was very popular and he hadmany new ideas.
Many ideas that contradicted allof those extra laws that the
Jewish leadership had placed onthem.
But now they say to Jesus, Thisis a hard saying.
Who can listen to it?
It might be better translatedwho can accept it, or who can
(17:26):
hear it, or who can submit tothis.
This was not simply a hardteaching, it seemed intolerable.
Many of the people that hadbegun to follow Jesus as their
teacher found what he was sayingnot only difficult, but
dangerous.
Their hopes for Jesus as aleader that would both feed
(17:48):
their stomachs and set them freefrom the Roman oppression was
suddenly coming to a halt.
And Jesus knew that this was astumbling block for them.
Because the cross of JesusChrist is a stumbling block, it
is an offense to those who areself-righteous.
The Apostle Paul said, We preachChrist crucified, which is a
(18:13):
stumbling block to the Jews, andfolly to the Gentiles.
Jesus here point blank asksthem, What if you were to see me
ascending back to the right handof God?
Would you then believe?
Most of these people who aregathered around Jesus heard his
(18:33):
teachings.
They saw his miracles, but theyrefused to believe.
How many times in my generationhave I heard people say, Well,
if I could only see God, then Iwould believe him?
My friends, clearly seeing isnot believing.
These people saw Jesus.
(18:55):
They saw his miracles, theyheard the words of life, yet
they did not believe.
And Jesus says it is the Spiritthat gives life.
The flesh is no help at all.
Jesus directs us to how thethird person of the Trinity, the
Spirit, leads us into truth.
(19:16):
It is the Holy Spirit that wemust be born again of.
But people refuse to listen, notonly to the words of Jesus
Christ, but they refuse tolisten to the Spirit prompting
their hearts.
Jesus had spoken words of lifeto these people.
Jesus directed them to stoptrusting in the temporary things
(19:38):
of this world and trust in theeternal Son of God.
And Jesus even points to how theHoly Spirit is working in
conjunction with his words.
But despite the fact that lifehas been spoken to them, despite
the fact that the Spirit was atwork upon them, these people
(19:59):
refuse to believe.
And Jesus once again says, Thisis why I told you no one can
come to me unless it is grantedby the Father.
Although all people arecommanded to believe, and while
everyone is accountable fortheir unbelief, genuine faith is
(20:23):
only given by the Father.
It is testified to through theSpirit, through whom we are born
again as we trust in the Son ofGod.
Sinful man cannot come to God onhis own terms.
Rather we must submit to thewill of the Father.
(20:45):
And the will of the Father isthis, that you might believe on
the Son of God for eternal life.
Picking up in verse sixty-six,after this many of his disciples
turned back and no longer walkedwith him.
So Jesus said to the twelve, Doyou want to go away as well?
(21:10):
Simon Peter answered him, Lord,to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternallife, and we have believed, and
we have come to know that youare the Holy One of God.
Jesus answered them, Did I notchoose you?
(21:31):
The twelve?
And yet one of you is a devil.
He spoke of Judas, the son ofSimon Iscariot, for he, one of
the twelve, was going to betrayhim.
In our last verses for today, wesee that many disciples turned
back.
They no longer walked orfollowed Jesus.
(21:54):
As we see, this is not thetwelve disciples, but rather we
see how many people had chosento follow Jesus as their rabbi.
And when so many people turnedaway, Jesus asks the twelve, Do
you want to go away as well?
Jesus is actually using thisopportunity of great apostasy to
(22:15):
encourage the faith of thetwelve.
Simon Peter answers Jesus, Lord,to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternallife.
Simon Peter both shows hisleadership amongst the disciples
and his great faith in Christ.
Peter says what seems to beobvious to him, To whom should
(22:37):
we go?
Peter has believed on Jesus asthe Messiah.
He knows there is nowhere elseto go.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the Christ.
He is the only one to cling to,and he is the only one with the
words of eternal life.
(22:58):
Peter says, We have believed.
We've come to know that you arethe holy one of God.
That title, the Holy One of God,is unusual in the Gospels.
In Mark chapter 1, verse 24, ademon once addressed Jesus as
the Holy One of God.
(23:18):
And here Peter speaks for theother disciples when he says
that he believes that Jesus isthe Holy One of God.
Peter shows that some, if notall of the other eleven, have
begun to trust and place theirfaith in Jesus as the Messiah.
And Jesus responds to them, DidI not choose you?
(23:41):
Peter thought at this point alltwelve of the disciples were
believing in Jesus as theMessiah.
But Jesus reminds Peter that allof them are in his personal
service because of his callingon their lives.
However, Jesus also makes itclear that his calling on your
life does not equate to personalfaith.
(24:06):
Jesus' call to the twelve wasnot a call of election for
salvation, for one of them was adevil.
It might be better translated,one of you is Satan.
Jesus is making it clear thatSatan was at work behind the
unbelief of Judas.
(24:27):
Judas was giving in to the evilthinking and was coming under
the control of the devil.
This is the first mention ofJudas as the son of Simon
Iscariot in the Gospel of John.
Thank you so much for joining metoday, as Jesus finished up his
(24:47):
sermon on how he is the bread oflife that came down from the
Father.
God bless you this week.
Grace and peace to you, and thank you for joining
me for the mysteries of God'sWord.
Last week we had learned thatmany people came to Jesus who
had been with him at the feedingof the five thousand, and they
found him in Capernaum, and whenthey found Jesus, they were
(00:35):
asking him for more food, with adesire to fill their bellies.
But Jesus pointed them toeternal life, and he pointed
them to himself, telling themthat he was the bread of life.
Last week we had gotten throughverse forty, which was about
(00:55):
half of Jesus' sermon, and todaywe pick up in verse forty one.
So the Jews grumbled about himbecause he said, I am the bread
that came down from heaven.
They said, Is this not Jesus,the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know?
(01:16):
How does he say I have come downfrom heaven?
In verse forty one we areintroduced to the Jews in this
setting.
Prior to this, the people werereferred to as the crowd or the
people.
The Jews here refers to theJewish leaders.
And as we will see at the end ofthis discussion, Jesus had been
(01:38):
teaching in the Jewish synagoguein Capernaum.
So all of this discussion orsermon of Jesus took place in
the Jewish synagogue inCapernaum.
But now we are introduced tothis element of the Jewish
leaders being part of thiscrowd, and these Jewish leaders
are grumbling about Jesus.
(01:59):
This reminds me of how thepeople once grumbled against
Moses out in the wilderness.
And now these Jewish leaders aregrumbling against Jesus.
And these religious leaders knowthat when Jesus is making a
claim that he came down fromheaven, he's making a claim of
deity, which is why they say, Isthis not Jesus, the son of
(02:23):
Joseph?
Whose father and mother we know?
This is an argument that theJewish leadership will level
against Jesus more than once.
Later in chapter seven, they saythe same thing.
Their argument is that we haveknown this Jesus his whole life.
We know his mother, we know hisfather.
(02:44):
How can he possibly have comefrom Father God?
How can he possibly be theMessiah?
While the Jewish leadership knewthat the birthplace of the
Messiah was to be in Bethlehem,there was a tradition that had
developed amongst the Jews.
The tradition said that theMessiah would appear suddenly,
(03:07):
and that his origins would beunknown, he would suddenly
appear and that salvation forthe nation of Israel would come
out of nowhere.
So these Jewish leaders areplaying off of that tradition.
They're quick to point out theyknow Jesus' earthly father,
Joseph.
However, if these Jewish leaderswould have done their
(03:30):
investigation properly, if theywould have gone with due
diligence to investigate andquestion Jesus' mother, they
would have discovered there wasa virgin birth, and they would
have discovered the incarnation.
Jesus answers them, Do notgrumble amongst yourselves.
(03:51):
No one can come to me unless theFather who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up on thelast day.
It is written in the prophets,and they will all be taught by
God.
Everyone who has heard andlearned from the Father comes to
me.
(04:11):
Not that anyone has seen theFather, except from he who is
from God, he has seen theFather.
Truly, truly I say to you,whoever believes has eternal
life.
I am the bread of life.
In verses forty four throughforty eight, Jesus begins by
(04:34):
saying no one can come to meunless the Father draws him.
An interesting note on thisstatement, when Jesus says no
one can come to me, it means noone is able to come to me.
Man is unable to come to God onhis own will, through his own
(04:57):
ingenuities, through his ownperceived goodness.
Man does not possess moral orspiritual capability to come to
God.
No one can come to Jesus withoutdivine help.
And the Father here representssovereignty over all creation.
(05:19):
And it is only through oursubmission to the divine will of
the Father who originated, whoordained the plan of creation,
who ordained the plan ofsalvation that man can come to
God.
And it is God that brings aboutsalvation.
And then Jesus says, And I willraise them up on the last day.
(05:44):
Again Jesus points to hisauthority as God to raise the
dead.
Jesus then proclaims, It iswritten in the prophets, and
they will be taught by God.
What an amazing picture oftruth.
Jesus as God in the flesh,teaching these people face to
(06:08):
face.
Yet these people are grumblingagainst him.
In perhaps a parallel way to howScripture teaches us that God
has shown all of mankind throughcreation who he is, and that men
suppress this truth inunrighteousness.
So now as God is revealing truthto these people face to face,
(06:33):
these men suppress that truth inunrighteousness.
But Jesus says that everyone whohas heard and learned from the
Father will come to me.
As Jesus often said, those whohave ears to hear and eyes to
see, those who genuinely listen,and those who hear the message
(06:57):
of God, those who accept theproclaimed message given by God
throughout creation, throughoutthe special revelation of the
gospel, and accept the will ofthe Father, will come to Jesus.
Because Jesus is the Son of God,he is the one who is from
heaven, he is the only one whohas seen the Father.
(07:23):
And then Jesus calls thesepeople to salvation.
He calls them to faith.
Truly, truly, Jesus says,Whoever believes has eternal
life.
I am the bread of life.
Jesus again emphasizes that Heis the way of salvation.
(07:45):
He is the way to the Father.
Picking up in verse forty nine,your fathers ate manna in the
wilderness and they died.
This is the bread that comesdown from heaven, so that one
may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that camedown from heaven.
(08:08):
If anyone eats of this bread, hewill live forever.
And the bread that I will givefor the life of the world is my
flesh.
In verses forty nine throughfifty-one, Jesus directly
answers the argument that thecrowd had made on him when they
(08:28):
demanded another sign fromJesus.
The scripture that the crowd hadquoted was Nehemiah 9.15, which
talked about the manna in thewilderness being bred from
heaven.
And Jesus here contrasts thatmanna.
The manna that their forefathersate and then later physically
(08:50):
died to, he contrasts tohimself.
Jesus is the manna that iseternal.
Jesus is the bread that bringseverlasting life.
Jesus says, I am the livingbread that came down from
heaven.
Much like Jesus told thatSamaritan woman that he could
(09:12):
give her living water, he nowtells these Jewish leaders and
this crowd, he is the livingbread.
When people simply look to Jesusto fill their temporary hungers,
their temporary needs, Jesusredirects them to look to
himself for eternal life.
(09:32):
And then Jesus says, if anyoneeats of this bread, he will live
forever.
Jesus is making this personal.
He's saying that you have topartake of what he is giving
you.
Jesus isn't talking about eatingliteral bread.
He's talking about believing inhim, personally, partaking of
(09:56):
eternal life.
Just as he said in verse thirtyfive, I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me shall nothunger, whoever believes in me
shall never thirst.
Through faith in Jesus Christ,we have our spiritual hunger
satisfied.
Just as we take physical breadfor physical life, so a person
(10:20):
must partake in Christ foreternal life.
And Jesus says, The bread that Iwill give for the life of the
world is my flesh.
Jesus foreshadows hiscrucifixion and how he will give
his flesh for the sins of theworld.
(10:42):
Picking up in verse fifty two.
The Jews then disputed amongstthemselves, 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 Manand drink his blood, you have no
(11:02):
life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh anddrinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him up onthe last day.
For my flesh is true food, andmy blood is true drink.
Whoever feeds on my flesh anddrinks my blood abides in me,
and I in him, as the livingFather sent me, and I live
(11:29):
because of the Father.
Whoever feeds on me, he alsowill live because of me.
This is the bread that came downfrom heaven, not like the bread
that the fathers ate when theydied.
Whoever feeds on this bread willlive forever.
Jesus said these things as hetaught at Capernaum.
(11:51):
In verses fifty two throughfifty nine, we are given
clarification by Jesus to thesespiritual things, but it has
been my experience that itrequires spiritual eyes to see.
I have spoken with many people,still very confused about these
verses.
In verse fifty-two, some of theJewish leaders are blinded to
(12:16):
these spiritual truths, justlike many people are blinded
today.
They don't understand what Jesusis teaching, and they're arguing
with one another.
They themselves are taking thismetaphor literally.
Some of them try to use Jesus'words against him, saying, Jesus
is claiming that people must eatof his physical flesh, and this
(12:40):
angered the Jewish leaders.
The Mosaic law prohibited peoplefrom eating flesh or drinking
blood.
So these words taken by Jesus ina ritualistic sense can lead you
down a wrong path.
In response to these peoplearguing and their claims that
(13:02):
Jesus is speaking of eating hisphysical flesh, Jesus responds
with an even more shockingstatement.
But Jesus is doing so becausehe's being intentional, he's
being purposeful.
Jesus says, whoever feeds on myflesh and drinks of my blood has
(13:22):
eternal life.
Jesus had just foreshadowed hiscrucifixion in verse 51.
And he continues down this lineof thought.
Now, obviously, to eat ofsomeone's physical flesh is
abhorrent.
It is against what God teaches,perhaps even more so to the
Jewish people, considering theMosaic law.
(13:43):
And then Jesus adds an image ofdrinking his blood, which is
equally revolting to the Jewishleaders.
But what Jesus is doing iscommunicating the need to
believe in him for theforgiveness of sins and eternal
life.
Jesus is communicating that youmust partake in a genuine and
(14:08):
real faith.
That belief in him isn'tsuperficial, it is
life-changing.
Jesus tells us that to be achild of God means you must
feast on something real.
Faith in Christ isn't somethingmystical.
This isn't a fake superficialreligion.
(14:30):
The living God has realsubstance, and he offers true
life, true eternal life.
And Jesus clarifies this bysaying that when a person feeds
on him, they will abide in him.
(14:51):
Jesus once used a similaranalogy of a grapevine, saying,
I am the vine, you are thebranches.
Whoever abides in me and I inhim, it is he that bears much
fruit, because apart from me youcan do nothing.
Jesus wasn't saying you are aliteral branch and he's a
(15:12):
literal vine any more than he'ssaying you must literally eat of
his flesh.
But he is saying in both cases,that faith in Christ is
something real.
Picking up in verse sixty, whenmany of his disciples heard it,
(15:33):
they said, This is a hardsaying, who can listen to it?
But Jesus, knowing in himselfthat his disciples were
grumbling about this, said tothem, Do you take offense at
this?
Then what if you were to see theSon of Man ascending to where he
was before?
(15:53):
It is the spirit that giveslife, the flesh is no help at
all.
The words that I have spoken toyou are spirit and life.
There are some of you who do notbelieve.
For Jesus knew from thebeginning who those were who did
not believe, and who it was whowould betray him.
(16:15):
And he said, This is why I toldyou, that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by theFather.
In verses sixty through sixtyfive, we once again see how
difficult these very words ofJesus were, both to those who
heard at the very time Jesusspoke them, and it reflects even
(16:38):
to today.
Many of the people who heardthis, many of Jesus' followers,
said this was too hard to hear.
Now this isn't referring to thetwelve, but it's referring to
many of the disciples.
The disciples in this case arepeople that followed Jesus.
At this point in history, Jesushad become the latest fad in
(17:02):
rabbinical teaching.
He was very popular and he hadmany new ideas.
Many ideas that contradicted allof those extra laws that the
Jewish leadership had placed onthem.
But now they say to Jesus, Thisis a hard saying.
Who can listen to it?
It might be better translatedwho can accept it, or who can
(17:26):
hear it, or who can submit tothis.
This was not simply a hardteaching, it seemed intolerable.
Many of the people that hadbegun to follow Jesus as their
teacher found what he was sayingnot only difficult, but
dangerous.
Their hopes for Jesus as aleader that would both feed
(17:48):
their stomachs and set them freefrom the Roman oppression was
suddenly coming to a halt.
And Jesus knew that this was astumbling block for them.
Because the cross of JesusChrist is a stumbling block, it
is an offense to those who areself-righteous.
The Apostle Paul said, We preachChrist crucified, which is a
(18:13):
stumbling block to the Jews, andfolly to the Gentiles.
Jesus here point blank asksthem, What if you were to see me
ascending back to the right handof God?
Would you then believe?
Most of these people who aregathered around Jesus heard his
(18:33):
teachings.
They saw his miracles, but theyrefused to believe.
How many times in my generationhave I heard people say, Well,
if I could only see God, then Iwould believe him?
My friends, clearly seeing isnot believing.
These people saw Jesus.
(18:55):
They saw his miracles, theyheard the words of life, yet
they did not believe.
And Jesus says it is the Spiritthat gives life.
The flesh is no help at all.
Jesus directs us to how thethird person of the Trinity, the
Spirit, leads us into truth.
(19:16):
It is the Holy Spirit that wemust be born again of.
But people refuse to listen, notonly to the words of Jesus
Christ, but they refuse tolisten to the Spirit prompting
their hearts.
Jesus had spoken words of lifeto these people.
Jesus directed them to stoptrusting in the temporary things
(19:38):
of this world and trust in theeternal Son of God.
And Jesus even points to how theHoly Spirit is working in
conjunction with his words.
But despite the fact that lifehas been spoken to them, despite
the fact that the Spirit was atwork upon them, these people
(19:59):
refuse to believe.
And Jesus once again says, Thisis why I told you no one can
come to me unless it is grantedby the Father.
Although all people arecommanded to believe, and while
everyone is accountable fortheir unbelief, genuine faith is
(20:23):
only given by the Father.
It is testified to through theSpirit, through whom we are born
again as we trust in the Son ofGod.
Sinful man cannot come to God onhis own terms.
Rather we must submit to thewill of the Father.
(20:45):
And the will of the Father isthis, that you might believe on
the Son of God for eternal life.
Picking up in verse sixty-six,after this many of his disciples
turned back and no longer walkedwith him.
So Jesus said to the twelve, Doyou want to go away as well?
(21:10):
Simon Peter answered him, Lord,to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternallife, and we have believed, and
we have come to know that youare the Holy One of God.
Jesus answered them, Did I notchoose you?
(21:31):
The twelve?
And yet one of you is a devil.
He spoke of Judas, the son ofSimon Iscariot, for he, one of
the twelve, was going to betrayhim.
In our last verses for today, wesee that many disciples turned
back.
They no longer walked orfollowed Jesus.
(21:54):
As we see, this is not thetwelve disciples, but rather we
see how many people had chosento follow Jesus as their rabbi.
And when so many people turnedaway, Jesus asks the twelve, Do
you want to go away as well?
Jesus is actually using thisopportunity of great apostasy to
(22:15):
encourage the faith of thetwelve.
Simon Peter answers Jesus, Lord,to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternallife.
Simon Peter both shows hisleadership amongst the disciples
and his great faith in Christ.
Peter says what seems to beobvious to him, To whom should
(22:37):
we go?
Peter has believed on Jesus asthe Messiah.
He knows there is nowhere elseto go.
Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the Christ.
He is the only one to cling to,and he is the only one with the
words of eternal life.
(22:58):
Peter says, We have believed.
We've come to know that you arethe holy one of God.
That title, the Holy One of God,is unusual in the Gospels.
In Mark chapter 1, verse 24, ademon once addressed Jesus as
the Holy One of God.
(23:18):
And here Peter speaks for theother disciples when he says
that he believes that Jesus isthe Holy One of God.
Peter shows that some, if notall of the other eleven, have
begun to trust and place theirfaith in Jesus as the Messiah.
And Jesus responds to them, DidI not choose you?
(23:41):
Peter thought at this point alltwelve of the disciples were
believing in Jesus as theMessiah.
But Jesus reminds Peter that allof them are in his personal
service because of his callingon their lives.
However, Jesus also makes itclear that his calling on your
life does not equate to personalfaith.
(24:06):
Jesus' call to the twelve wasnot a call of election for
salvation, for one of them was adevil.
It might be better translated,one of you is Satan.
Jesus is making it clear thatSatan was at work behind the
unbelief of Judas.
(24:27):
Judas was giving in to the evilthinking and was coming under
the control of the devil.
This is the first mention ofJudas as the son of Simon
Iscariot in the Gospel of John.
Thank you so much for joining metoday, as Jesus finished up his
(24:47):
sermon on how he is the bread oflife that came down from the
Father.
God bless you this week.
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