JOHN 6:27-34 | TITLE
Notes
Transcript
JOHN 6:27-34 | CONFIDENTLY WRONG
JOHN 6:27-34 | CONFIDENTLY WRONG
ILLUSTRATION: Have you ever been confidently wrong?
My mind goes back to the school days when public humiliation was encouraged by the teachers.
Maybe you remember public humiliation
Math flash card competitions
Classroom spelling bees
The worst: Public Reading
You don’t want to be embarrassed so you count ahead to see what your paragraph will be and then you pre-read it so you can make sure you know all the words.
I’ll never forget it… the word setting in the middle of my paragraph
EPITOME
I remember another time, I had another word:
HYBERBOLE
So I just read the words with confidence… and I was confidently wrong, and the teacher had to correct me.
Now, this terrifying experience gets to happen nearly every week as I stand before you all and read verses from the Bible
People wonder why I read so fast, it’s because I don’t know all the words, but if I read it fast enough and with enough confidence, maybe you’ll think you’ve been getting it wrong your whole life!
EXPLANATION: Jesus has just called the multitude out on the reason they were gathered before Him there in the synagogue.
They had followed Jesus for the benefits, not for the relationship.
And now He is challenging them with what they should be seeking for:
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
He says, “your searching for physical food, meat, and it will only provide temporary fulfillment. But the One standing before them could give them spiritual fulfillment that would fill the hole in their life.”
It is reminiscent of the woman at the well that Jesus had given an earthly example of eternal significance.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Once again, Jesus is teaches spiritual truth from a physical need.
But just like the woman at the well, they don’t get it.
They ask Jesus, what can WE DO?
What WORKS do we need to do to get God?
The people here were thinking from a perspective of religion/
All religion teaches the same thing… Do this list of things, and then you will have eternal life.
APPLICATION: Friend, I want to try to make things as simple as I can for you this morning and Jesus does to.
The way to know if you truly have eternal life based on the Bible is how you answer the question, what are you depending on to get you to heaven?
If your answer is Jesus plus… You’ve got religion.
Take your denominations out of it.
We aren’t talking about Baptist, Catholic, Mormons, Church of Christ, Methodist, Assembly, Pentecostal, Islam, Buddhist, or any other denomination you can come up with.
We are talking about the Bible.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Friend if your answer to how you know you are going to get to heaven includes Jesus plus anything, you have religion but you don’t have salvation!
Now we aren’t talking about how you should behave and live after you accept Jesus as Savior, we are just talking about your soul being saved from the fact you are a sinner.
EXPLANATION: Religion provides a list of actions for you to check off…
But Jesus narrows it down to one thing on the list and He gives it in v.29
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
The people asked, “What are the WORKS we must do”
Jesus said “the WORK that God does, is based on you believing on Him whom he sent.”
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were freed from the chains that bound them in the prison, and just before the jailor took his own life, Paul cries out to him and stops him
The man then asks that sweet question: Acts 16:30
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
If that man believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and his house believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they all could be saved!
Salvation always has been and always will be wholly dependent on a belief, a trust, that while you are a sinner, Jesus Christ died for your sins, and you can have forgiveness by trusting in the sacrifice He made for you.
And these people were so close… Jesus was standing before them.
He’s given clear evidence of Who He is
He’s given a clear path to fill that spiritual void in their life through Jesus Christ alone.
And look at how they respond:
They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Prove you are who you say you are… and here’s how you can prove it… give us bread.
Now I hope the irony isn’t lost on you.
What did Jesus just give them the day before?
BREAD!
And now they say, “Ya, but Moses gave bread for the children of Israel in the wilderness not just one day… but every day for 40 years.”
And Jesus’s answer to them in v.32 is where I want us to spend the bulk of the rest of our time today.
APPLICATION: Because whether you have accepted Christ as your Savior or not, we can all fall into the same pitfalls that these people were standing in before Jesus on that day in the synagogue
You might be confident… but you are confidently wrong!
And sometimes Jesus has to step in and correct our thinking.
Now none of us like correction… But sometimes we need it.
But I once heard someone say “the best way to learn is through experience.”
I repeated that saying and a someone stopped me and shared with me, “No, the best way to learn is from other people’s experience.”
This morning, let’s see the correction Jesus gave in their life, and let’s see if we can learn for ourselves this morning.
V.32, THEY HAD THE WRONG GIVER
V.32, THEY HAD THE WRONG GIVER
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
EXPLANATION: The people in Jesus’ day revered Moses.
He was the greatest to ever live.
It was Moses who had delivered them from Pharoah and Egypt with the pleagues
It was Moses who had lifted his staff and parted the Red Sea
It was Moses who had given them the 10 commandments
It was Moses who had given them water from a rock in the wilderness
It was Moses who had led them in the wilderness
It was Moses who had fed them for 40 years
Or was it?
Yes, Moses had gone to Egypt and served as a mouthpiece but Who rained down the 10 plagues?
Yes, Moses had raised his rod, but Who parted the Red Sea
Yes, Moses brought down the tablets from the mountain, but Who gave the 10 commandments
Yes, Moses had struck the rock with his staff, but Who gave the water from the rock
Yes, Moses gave instruction where to go and to camp in the wilderness, but Who showed Himself in a pillar or smoke or fire to lead Moses?
Yes, Moses had instructed the children of Israel to collect the manna in the wilderness, but Who gave the manna?
The people had elevated a man, a good man, but in doing so, they had missed the real giver of the blessings.
ILLUSTRATION: It’s in our nature to want to elevate people.
That’s why we have super heroes.
That’s why we build monuments and statues.
And those things aren’t necessarily wrong in and of themselves.
But sometimes we elevate the man at the expense of elevating God.
ILLUSTRATION: Just about a week ago, there was a video that came out on social media, and it had a bunch of big name preachers of yester-year, standing and preaching against compromise.
They preached against certain kinds of music and certain kinds of actions.
And I’m not here to tear them down or even to say the video was wrong.
But as I read some of the comments in the video, comment after comment went on and on about how great these men were.
And I couldn’t help but wonder, how many people are forming their convictions and their standards based on the opinions of some “great man” rather than being led by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
Now I’m not saying their positions were wrong or were right, but what I do know is there are a lot of people who base their belief systems on what some MAN says
And if we aren’t careful, we will forget who the real “Giver” is!
APPLICATION: Church, don’t ever build a statue for me!
WBC isn’t about me… it’s all about Jesus and bringing Him glory!
If your heart is ever touched in a service here, I appreciate the kind words, but don’t forget where the praise belongs… It belongs to Jesus!
If God has changed your life through some ministry or some church, I hope you’ll get involved in it yourself and find a way to serve, but don’t ever forget Who deserves the praise… It’s Jesus!
Preachers will come and they will go… I wont be the pastor of WBC forever
One day God will bring someone better along or He’ll just take me out, and my prayer when He does is that the next preacher will stand up here with an open Bible and will give you the next chapter and the next verse, because you don’t need me… You just need Jesus!
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Don’t mistake Who the Giver is like the people did here in John 6
It wasn’t about Moses… it was about Jesus!
They Had the Wrong Giver
V.32, THEY HAD THE WRONG TENSE
V.32, THEY HAD THE WRONG TENSE
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
EXPLANATION: The people were so focused on what had happened in the past, they were missing what Jesus was doing right in front of them.
ILLUSTRATION: Have you ever met someone who just loved to talk about “the good ole days” all the time?
It was a simpler time when people just lived on their own farm and tilled the land
And you woke up when the sun came up and went to bed when the sun went down.
You got your news from the weekly newspaper in town
The good ole days…
There were a lot of good things that came with the “good ole days”
But I’ll tell you… I like being able to go to the bathroom inside
I like taking hot showers every day
I like some the luxuries of life like heat and having a car
There’s nothing wrong with the good ole days… but don’t they become so focused on the way things used to be they miss the blessings of today!
APPLICATION: You know there are some people that they are so focused on the traditions of the way things used to be.
We just like the way church used to be.
We like the old songs and the old pews and the old musty smell of an old church
And you know, we like to call those things tradition, but you know what they really are?
Nostalgia
And sometime we can become so focused looking behind, that we miss the blessings and opportunities that are sitting right in front of us.
Friend, it has never been easier to be a Bible scholar than it is in the day we live it.
The apps, the books, the Bible studies and devotions.
You have more available at your fingertips or in your pocket than what the people that translated the Bible into English had available to them!
When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Timothy had to pull out a scroll and that was all he had.
He didn’t have any commentaries or lexicons, or concordances
There were no Bible apps
He couldn’t even call up Paul on the phone to ask questions about passages
It has never been easier to be a student of the Bible!
It’s never been easier to go to church
You didn’t have to hitch up your horse and buggy this morning
You get to sit in an auditorium that has AC this week, on a padded chair, with screens that show the verses for you to follow along, and usually we are done with the service by 11:45!
It’s not just easy to go to church, it’s comfortable!
It’s never been easier to be a witness for Christ
ILLUSTRATION: All of the disciples died martyrs deaths except for John who was just boiled alive and banished
Paul was beheaded by Nero
Polycarp, who was a disciple of John and a preacher of the Gospel, was burned alive at the stake.
The dark ages are in large part called the dark ages because of the persecution of those who identified as Christians.
Some were murdered
Others had their families tortured and killed before them
Some were removed from the house in the middle of the night and if anyone mentioned their name, that person would meet the same fate.
We live in America where we have religious freedom
And while it may not stay that way forever, we are able to enjoy that blessing today!
APPLICATION: Today, if you talk about Jesus, someone might not like your post on Facebook
If you tell someone about what Christ did for them on the cross, it might make things awkward.
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Friend, we’ve got it so good today to get to be a Christian.
Let’s not be so focused on “how good things used to be” that we miss how blessed we are today.
And let’s get busy sharing the Gospel in the day we live in.
Let’s dive into the Word of God and grow deeper in our knowledge of the Scriptures
Let’s be faithful to the church house we are so privileged to be able to be a part of
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
It’s still a command in God’s Word… let’s be faithful to it!
They had the wrong giver, they had the wrong tense
V.32, THEY HAD THE WRONG BREAD
V.32, THEY HAD THE WRONG BREAD
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
EXPLANATION: They were so focused on what they wanted, their next meal, that they missed the blessing that was in front of them… the One Who gave eternal life.
They were focused on the wrong bread
APPLICATION: People seek fulfillment in all different places
More money
Bigger house
Nicer car
Kid’s sports
Next promotion
Someone to accept you
Success
If I could just have this or that, then I would be fulfilled.
“Success at the expense of Christ isn’t success… it’s just emptiness.”
ILLUSTRATION: At 27 years old, Tom Brady had won his 3rd Super Bowl Ring
To win one is considered one of the greatest pinnacles in sports, and he had 3 rings on his fingers.
Sitting in an interview with 60 minutes he told interviewer Steve Kroft, “Why do I have three Superbowl rings, and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, you’ve reached your dream, your goal.’ Me, I think, there’s got to be more than this.”
EXPLANATION: The Bible is clear in Proverbs 27:20
Hell and destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.
When it comes to the things of this world, you will never find total satisfaction!
You will always want more.
The people in John 6 had just experienced a miracle the day before.
They were filled with so much bread they left fragments sitting around
And yet here they were 24 hours later seeking for more.
APPLICATION: Friend, are you searching for fulfillment in the wrong bread?
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Maybe this morning, you are intentionally trading in your love for God for a love of the things of this world… your love for God just isn’t what it once was.
That was exactly the place the church at Ephesus had found themselves.
They were doing good things, but there was a problem:
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Friend, can you honestly say you love God today more than you ever have?
If your answer isn’t “yes” then maybe it’s because your love for the things of this world has stolen away form your love for God!
You see, Paul challenged Timothy with a challenge that is just as real for us today:
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Have you been seeking for the wrong bread?
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
EXPLANATION: In the weeks to come, we will develop the thoughts further, but for today let’s finish where Jesus gives clear direction:
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
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.
APPLICATION: Friend, it can be so easy to be so confident in your life direction… and yet be confidently wrong.
That’s where these people were on this day.
They had the Wrong Giver
Church, keep your eyes on the One from Whom all blessings flow
They had the Wrong Tense
It’s never been easier to be a follower of Christ
They had the Wrong Bread
Fall back in love with Jesus this morning.
Maybe you’ve just be reading along through your life thinking your were getting everything right… and today Jesus showed you some places you were getting it wrong.
Find your way to the feet of Christ, and let’s be closer to God when you walk out of the doors today than you’ve ever been!
