The Words of Christ Are Spirit & Life

DofG Class

If you’re interested and can take the class, please sign up. We need to gauge whether we should have the class on the specified dates or try a different time of year.

Read

John 6:60–66 (ESV)

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Opening Prayer

Setting the Stage

Here is a crowd that after Christ’s miraculous feeding of some 20k people…

Wanted to make Him their King.

They’ve found Him in the synagogue in Capernaum…

They’ve called Him Rabbi, their Teacher.

They’ve announced that Jesus is the prophet that Moses spoke about.

They’ve asked for more food.

Christ teaches them that He is the Son of Man come down from heaven.

Christ points them to His sacrificial mission.

Christ teaches them of the necessity of believing upon Him for eternal life.

Christ teaches them that their ultimate need is for Him to die for them.

That His laying down His life will gain for His people, eternal life.

He’s just taught them that what they need is to believe upon Him for atonement and righteousness.

The true nourishment they need is His blood and flesh…

Separated due to His coming sacrificial death.

Come to Me, Believe upon Me…

Jesus has exclaimed and you will have eternal life.

But, look at their response…

John 6:60 (ESV)

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

There are levels of disciples here.

Some who are just flattering Jesus with the term Rabbi.

And, some who were most likely interested in hearing what Jesus had to say so long as it fit their idea of what He should say and do.

And then the twelve.

Look at v.60 again…

heard it [the teaching] = hear audibly

hard saying = a teaching that pushes away

—> because of the hardness of heart

listen to = heed, hold to

It would be like someone today coming to church and hearing a preacher preach against sin and the need for Christ’s righteousness and them leaving saying…

I’m not going to sit under that kind of preaching.

And, so they complain under their breath.

Seemingly a whisper to one another in an attempt to not let Jesus know they are grumbling.

But we are told…

John 6:61 (ESV)

61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?

Notice, Jesus’ knowing within, not without.

He didn’t overhear them.

He knew their thoughts within Himself.

We see the omniscience of the Son of God.

Imagine their thoughts as Jesus says…

Are you offended that I have told you that the greatest meal you need is spiritual?

That what will really sustain you, will be offered because of the my life will be laid down?

Are you offended because I have told you that I have come down from heaven to give my life?

That you need my flesh and blood to be your nourishment unto eternal life?

He is peering into their very thoughts and motives.

As Christians, we may say rightly that the omniscience of God is a comforting truth…

But, dear friends, to the soul that is not reconciled to God…

It is a truth that has always cause mankind to run from God…

To suppress the truth of God in our minds.

These disciples are not comforted by Jesus knowing their thoughts.

And, Jesus asks them, is this your cause for rejecting me?

Are you so easily rejecting the Son of Man?

The Messiah?

Then Jesus adds…

John 6:62 (ESV)

62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

Is this a helpful statement?

If they’re stuck in an earthly, temporal, carnal understanding of what Jesus just taught…

Does this statement by Jesus of His future ascension bring clarity?

Clarification Is Given, But Not Heeded

When Jesus says then what if…

He doesn’t mean that His ascension is a possibility.

It is a sure thing.

What Jesus is saying is more of a concluding statement.

Like…

If you see Me ascend to where I was before…

Earlier Jesus has taught that He has come down from heaven.

If you see Me ascend to heaven, where I was before…

Two things you will know; Two truths that will be clearly proven:

FIRST

It will prove, as additional proofs, who I am.

Not only is the descending of God in the Messiah, prophesied in the OT by the Messiah being Divine.

Having divine names.

Being described as God with us.

But, the ascension is prophesied in the OT by the Messiah coming up to the throne of God.

Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

The ascension is an act of the Divine Son, Messiah, God-Man.

SECOND

It will prove that the eating of my flesh and drinking of my blood is not literal, but spiritual.

As I, Jesus, will ascend as a whole person.

Which would be impossible if you were actually feasting on my literally and physically.

So, what Jesus is teaching here of His future ascension back to the throne of God in heaven, from which He descended…

…does clarify, and further teach, what He has already been teaching the congregants in the synagogue in Capernaum.

that He is the incarnate Son of God

that we need the nourishment that only He can give

His flesh and blood, offered as a sacrifice.

Jesus continues…

John 6:63 (ESV)

63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

The Spirit Gives Life

In light of what Jesus has been saying…

And the gross misinterpretation of the hearers…

Jesus now states with crystal clearness…

It is not the consumption of my literal flesh, as you have so misunderstood, that gives life…

But it is the Spirit of God who gives life.

A clear teaching of the OT is that the Spirit of God is the giver of life.

In the very opening words of Genesis, the Spirit is hovering over the face of the waters.

In the Valley of the Dead Bones, it is the Spirit of God that breathes life into those skeletons.

In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, it is the flesh that can do nothing to save oneself…

It is the Spirit of God that creates a person anew.

Jesus is essentially saying this…

My literal flesh, as you have so grossly misinterpreted Me, cannot benefit you…

Stop thinking that I was asking you, literally, to eat my body or, literally, to drink my blood.

It is my spirit, my person, in the act of giving my body to be broken and my blood to be shed, that bestows and sustains life, even everlasting life.

And then Jesus takes them all the way back to the true meaning of eating and drinking…

That which He clearly spoke previously…

That which shows the true meaning of what they must do for eternal life…

As stated in…

John 6:35 (ESV)

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

So, now he states it as…

John 6:63–64 (ESV)

63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

Jesus is telling them to believe upon Me is to believe what I say.

You cannot separate the two as if one is true without the other.

If you believe upon Me, you will believe what I say.

What Jesus says is in perfect harmony with the Father.

All that has been revealed in the Scriptures are pointing to and preparing creation for…

Jesus Christ, the giver of Eternal Life.

The Word of God, the testimony of Christ believed…

Is what lays hold of Christ.

Faith alone …IN… Christ alone

Is the eating and drinking in of Christ.

It is this spiritual nourishment that Christ gives that we need.

Man Lives By the Word of the Lord

Deuteronomy 8:3 (ESV)

3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Not only do all creatures live, breath, and have their being by the sustaining word and power of God…

But true life, eternal life only comes by believing God at His Word.

The prophet Jeremiah stated…

Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV)

16 Your words were found, and I ate them,

and your words became to me a joy

and the delight of my heart,

for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.

The prophet gives us a picture of the delight and joy that God’s people have as they glean from, meditate upon, and believe the Word of God.

But, Jesus says…(a tragic instance of this three letter word)

64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

The Tragedy

The tragedy is that they had no interest in understanding Christ according to what He was actually teaching…

They had no actual desire for learning…

Or to be taught.

They only wanted to understand Him according to their wishes.

Their wishes were for temporal food.

Temporal comforts.

A willingness that was limited to teaching that supported their carnal desires.

They don’t want to hear hard sayings.

They don’t have time:

to ask questions

to study the words of Christ

to meditate on His words

to look to the OT passages that Jesus has pointed them to

to see if what Jesus is saying aligns with OT Messianic prophecies.

Eternal life has such little significance to them that it is not worth the investment of time and submission.

All that they care about is temporal comforts and pleasures.

As one theologian states and we see it practiced here in this very passage of Scripture.

This very discourse of truth from the very mouth of God incarnate…

“Most people don't really want the truth. They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.”

JC Ryle said…

“Be very sure of this--people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.

They understand it too well; they understand that it condemns their own behavior; they understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment.

They try to believe it is false and useless, because they don't like to believe it is true.”

The crowds misinterpreted Christ’s words.

Christ gave further clarification.

Christ left no doubt in the meaning of His words.

Yet, because of the hardness of the human heart we are told…

John 6:66 (ESV)

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

The reality that this crowd of people were faced with was…

The Words of Christ Give Life, if Believed

If believed they prove life has been recieved.

If believed they prove the Father has drawn you, taught you.

The Word of God ought to make men eagerly attentive, not hostile.

Yet all of these people are rejecting the very words of life.

Jesus states once again…

John 6:65 (ESV)

65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

In this we see…

The Mercy & Grace of God in Christ

Inherently, we are no different than the disciples who walked away.

—>Without the electing grace of the Father…

—> Without the saving grace of the Son…

—> Without the regenerating grace of the Spirit…

No one would come to Christ.

Dear friend, if you are in Christ…

You should be so filled with joy and praise for God’s mercy upon you, a rebel…

That, by sheer grace and benevolence…

God reached down to your dead spirit…

In the deadness of your trespasses and sins…

And, He spoke to your spirit in His omnipotent power…

And He said live…and you came alive, spiritually…

To see, and savor that the Lord is good.

Oh, this should move you to sing His praises.

Move you to live for Him.

Prone to wander…to never stop running back to Him.

We should never stop boasting in Christ.

We are who we are because of Him.

We are who we are for Him.

We will be His and with Him forevermore.

Closing Prayer