No Turning Back

Setting Up The Story

A few thousand years ago, back in the day of Moses, this kind of well known thing happened. God used Moses to “let his people go” and freed them from slavery to the Egyptians.

Remember the plagues? Pharoah chasing Moses? The Red Sea? “Pharaoh Pharoah, oh Baby let my people go! Huh! As the Israelites are led into the wilderness out of slavery, what is the first thing they do?

They complain. ,

2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

As the people of Israel complain, God provides for them what they need. He provides salvation from the sure death of starvation in the wilderness.

English Standard Version Chapter 16

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

Lets fast forward a few thousand years… Jesus is feeding people bread. John chapter 6…Jesus feeds a few people...

People had been following Jesus around witnessing miracles.

The sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, which we will almost finish today, begins with 5,000 men following Jesus. And it ends with eleven. - John Piper...

English Standard Version Chapter 6

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

We know the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. The crowd gathers, people sit in the grass, there is no money to buy bread or even enough bread to buy if they did…Andrew finds a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish… kind of small for thousands of people don’tcha think…5 thousand men…Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks. and distributed fish and bread to all. They had more than enough...

Jesus goes up a mountain...

Walks on water… no big deal...

the next day…

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

And this…This is where it gets interesting....There seems to be the flip of a switch…not just in Jesus, but in the crowd and the direction of John as a whole.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

English Standard Version Chapter 6

So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

English Standard Version Chapter 6

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. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, which we will almost finish today, begins with 5,000 men following Jesus. And it ends with eleven. - John Piper...

The Gospel of John, Volume 1 The All-Important Spirit (John 6:59–65)

The real difficulty of Christianity is twofold. It demands an act of surrender to Christ, an acceptance of him as the final authority; and it demands a moral standard of the highest level. The disciples were well aware that Jesus had claimed to be the very life and mind of God come down to earth; their difficulty was to accept that as true, with all its implications. To this day many refuse Christ, not because he puzzles intellect, but because he challenges their lives.

Here is a passage charged with tragedy, for in it is the beginning of the end. There was a time when people came to Jesus in large numbers. When he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, many saw his miracles and believed in his name (2:23). So many came to be baptized by his disciples that the numbers were embarrassing (4:1–3). In Samaria, great things happened (4:1, 39, 45). In Galilee, the crowds flocked after him just the day before (6:2). But the tone of things had changed; from now on there was a growing hatred which was going to culminate in the cross. Already John launches us on the last act of the tragedy. It is circumstances like these which reveal people’s hearts and show them in their true colours. In these circumstances, there were three different attitudes to Jesus.

Barclay, W. (2001). The Gospel of John (Rev. and updated., Vol. 1, p. 266). Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press.