John 6, Part 5

Jesus’ message was to the synagogue crowd in Capernaum. Many disciples and followers of His were present, but they had difficulty accepting what He had said. The words hard saying (skleros) mean rough and harsh. What Jesus had said was hard and difficult to accept, but His words were clearly understood. The people’s problem was not in their understanding, but in their hearts. Jesus knew this, so He covered some reasons why men are offended by Him.

Men are Offended

John 6:60–61 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?

Many of these men are offended by the claims of Christ and the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Men, including counterfeit disciples, are offended and repulsed by what is sometimes called a bloody religion or a religion of cannibalism.

Note two things.

Jesus claimed to be God incarnated in human flesh, but not in a grotesque sense—not half-man, half-god. In very simple terms, He was man, fully man; that is, He had the nature of man, being made of the very same substance as all men. However, there was one difference: He was not born of a human father; He was born of God. God very simply spoke the Word and a miracle took place, just as He spoke the Word and created the world. There is nothing grotesque about God’s speech nor about His willing something to be done and doing it. God did what He always does when He wills something. He simply spoke and the event was set in motion. Very simply stated, Jesus Christ was born by the Word of God and by human flesh. He was fully Man, fully God. He came from God’s Word; He became a Man by God’s Word. Therefore, all men owe their obedience to Christ.

The cross or the blood of Christ is offensive and repulsive just as some people feel it is. It represents the awful shame of sin and the death of Jesus Christ, God’s very own Son; therefore, it is bound to be repulsive. But it also represents salvation and deliverance from sin and its awful guilt. Therefore, the cross is also the most attractive symbol in all the world..The words “take … eat” of Christ are not cannibalism. The words simply mean that a man is to spiritually receive Christ into his life, into his whole being. A man’s deliverance from the bondage of sin and death is by spiritually taking and eating of Christ’s body; that is, the man must spiritually receive, partake, consume, absorb, and assimilate Christ into his life. He must allow Christ to become the very nourishment, the innermost part and energy, the very consumption of his being.

John 6:62 ESV

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

Men are offended by the ascension and exaltation of Christ. Why? If a man accepts the ascension and exaltation of Christ, he has to surrender the control of his life to Christ. He can no longer control his own life and do the things he wishes.

Christ referred to himself as the Son of Man. The counterfeit disciple is unwilling to look at Jesus as the “Son of Man,” that is, as the Ideal and Perfect Man, as the Pattern for all men to copy. If a man accepted Christ as the Son of Man, he would have to pattern his life after Christ by doing his very best to live as Christ lived. The man would have to diligently seek to be like Christ.

God exalted Jesus as Lord and Master. The counterfeit disciple is unwilling to submit himself under the control and dominion of Jesus. He is adamantly opposed to patterning his life after Jesus.

The words “where He was before” point to the fact that Jesus is eternal. He was preexistent: God of very God. Therefore, a man is to believe and surrender to Him as Lord.

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.)

Men are offended by the teaching that the Spirit quickens and the flesh profits nothing.

The flesh cannot quicken and make a man alive. The flesh cannot profit a man. Men do not like to accept or think about the zero value of the flesh. They do everything they can to keep its youth, attractiveness, and stamina. They use cosmetics, clothing, and activities to appear young, attractive, and physically capable. But before too long, before they ever imagine, the flesh proves unprofitable; it ages, deteriorates, and surrenders to the process of decay. The seed of corruption within wins, and man dies. The flesh proves its zero value; it profits nothing, not eternally. Once a man dies, his flesh is gone forever, never to return, and there has never been an exception to the fact.

Such a thought, such a teaching—despite its truthfulness—offends men. They love the world and the flesh, its pleasures and feelings; therefore, they want the right to feed it. They want more and more good feelings, getting and keeping all the physical and material pleasures they can.

Only the Spirit can quicken a man and make him alive, giving him abundant and eternal life. How? By receiving the Word of Christ. The words that Christ spoke were Spirit and life. When a man receives the words of Christ into his heart and life, he begins to live: he actually experiences the Spirit of God entering his life and begins to experience real life.

But note what Jesus said. “There are some of you who believe not.” They did not accept His Words; therefore, they did not have the Spirit of God abiding in them nor did they have life. They were only existing, not living abundantly and eternally. They did not have the knowledge and unswerving assurance of living forever. They doubted and wondered, ever hoping, but they were not quite sure.

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.”

Men are offended by the fact that God draws and saves man, that man does not save himself. Christ said: “No man can come unto me, unless it were given him of my Father.”

This fact disturbs people greatly, for most people feel they are good enough and have done enough good to be acceptable to God. Few people think they are lost and doomed to be separated from God; therefore, hearing the fact preached offends them. But note the critical point. The only saved person is a person who has been drawn to Christ by God and who has surrendered to God’s pull and movement within his heart.

Response

John 6:66–71 ESV

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

There were three responses to the Lord’s message.

There were disciples or followers who turned back. Note that “many … went back, and walked no more with Him.” They forsook and deserted the Lord. Why? Very simply, following Christ cost too much. It involved the cross, which meant complete denial of oneself.

1) Jesus was claiming to be Lord. This meant that a man had to give all he was and had to Christ.

2) Jesus was claiming to be the very Son of God, to have come down out of heaven. Some just could not receive and accept the fact.

3) Jesus was demanding total allegiance and complete self-denial, and following Him would just cost too much.

people in Jesus’ day knew what it meant to “take up” a cross. They saw scores of criminals bear the cross to the place where they were to be executed, and they witnessed scores of crucifixions, some even by the side of the roads that led in and out of the cities.

The cross does not mean merely bearing one’s particular hardship in life, such as poor health, abuse, unemployment, invalid parents, an unsaved spouse, a wayward child. The cross is always an instrument of death, not just an object to carry or bear. The Christian is to die mentally and actively. He is to deny himself daily. He is to let the mind of Christ, the mind of humbling himself to the point of death, be in him and fill his thoughts every day. He is to put his will, his desires, his wants, his ambitions to death. In their stead, he is to follow Jesus and to do His will all day long. Note this is not negative, passive behavior. It takes positive, active behavior to will, to deny self, to take up one’s cross, to follow Christ. A person has to act, work, get to it, be diligent, consistent, and enduring in order to die to self.

b. There was the disciple who believed that Jesus was the Lord. Note four facts.

1) Peter spoke for all the apostles. He was their leader and spokesman.

2) Peter called Jesus “Lord,” and he used the title in its fullest meaning. Jesus was recognized to be the sovereign Lord of the universe, the One to whom all men owe their allegiance.

3) Peter declared that Jesus’ words were the words of eternal life. He declared that what Jesus had just proclaimed was true (v.63).

4) Peter proclaimed that he and the apostles both believed and knew something: Jesus was …

• “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (the latest manuscripts read this)

• “the Holy One of God” (the oldest manuscripts read this)

c. There was the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Note these facts.

1) Judas was a “chosen” man, chosen not only to be saved, but to be a minister of Christ.

2) Judas was called “a devil,” a false accuser, an adversary, an enemy of Christ.

3) Judas was a betrayer, a professed follower, but a hypocrite.

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2004. The Gospel according to John. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.