John 6:41–51 Sermon

Sermon Text

John 6:41–51 ESV

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Introduction

1. The Grumbling (v.41-42)

Verse 41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

In verse 41, we see for the first time the Jews mentioned in chapter 6.

One of the things that we need to know about Jesus being in Capernaum is that He was saying these things in the Synagogue there.

We see in verse 59,

John 6:59 ESV

59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

We often bring to mind this chapter and forget that He was saying these things in a synagogue.

A Synagogue was an assembly or a congregation of Jews that met for the purpose of worship and study. They met in a building that they would use where the Scriptures were opened and a Rabbi (a teacher) would teach.

Jesus was there when He said the things we have been reading here and this is why there were Jews there.

Synagogue sinʹə-gog [Gk. synagōgḗ—‘assembly’]. An assembly or congregation of Jews for the purpose of worship and study () or the building where such an assembly met (). In America, the term is generally not used for Reform congregations, which prefer the term “temple.”

So there was the crowds that followed Him there from Tiberias, His disciples and the Jews who were most likely there in the synagogue.

So this is why there were Jews there.

They were there and they were grumbling.

W. S. LaSor and T. C. Eskenazi, “Synagogue,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 676.

In the next part of the verse we see why they grumbled.

They grumbled because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

To grumble meant to to express one’s discontent. To complain about what someone said or did.

33.382 γογγύζω; γογγυσμός, οῦ m: to express one’s discontent—‘to complain, to grumble, complaint.’

Both the ESV and the NASB use the term grumble.

In the NRSV, KJV and the NLT we see complain, murmuring and murmuring in disagreement.

γογγύζω: ἐγόγγυζον οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι εἶπεν ‘the Jews started complaining about him because he said …’ .

They complained and disagreed with what Jesus said about Himself.

γογγυσμός: ἐγένετο γογγυσμὸς τῶν Ελληνιστῶν πρὸς τοὺς Εβραίους ‘a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Jews’ . In a number of languages it may be necessary to restructure ‘complaint’ as a verb rather than as a noun, and therefore this expression in may be rendered as ‘Greek-speaking Jews complained against what the local Jews were doing.’

Prior to our passage, Jesus said,

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 431.

John 6:33 ESV

33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then in verse 34 and 35,

John 6:34–35 ESV

34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 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.

This is why they grumbled.

Jesus called Himself the bread of God who came down from heaven, who would give life to the world

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life

Jesus said, whoever comes to Him shall not hunger

Jesus said, whoever believes in Him shall never thirst

They grumbled because Jesus said these things.

Question: So what does this reveal to us about those who are grumbling, disagreeing and complaining?

Answer: Read Verse 42

Read Verse 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Verse 42 shows us exactly what is at the core of their grumbling.

They saidn

They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph?

John 6:27 ESV

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.”

John 6:31 ESV

31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

This statement is very revealing.

Jesus constantly throughout the chapter said something else.

John 6:27 ESV

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.”

John 6:32 ESV

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.

John 6:32 ESV

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.

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:40 ESV

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.”

First,

John 6:40 ESV

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.”

For on him God the Father has set his seal

My Father gives you the true bread from heaven

All that the Father gives me will come to me

For this is the will of my Father

Jesus said it clearly and boldly in the Synagogue.

And remember what it meant when Jesus called God His Father.

John 5:18 ESV

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

This was offensive and blasphemous to them!

They denied the truth of God being His Father and here in their response and it shows us their spiritual condition.

They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph. Which proves their denial of Jesus as the Son of God.

They could not understand Jesus saying that He was the bread that has come down from heaven.

Which reminds us that there are those that complain about what is true about Jesus.

This still happens today!

In my experience I have heard many disagree and complain about the doctrines of grace.

Here are some examples of someone who could be in danger of this.

They might complain about worship that seeks to exalt Christ

They might complain about worship that seeks to exalt Christ

They might complain about preaching from the Scriptures because they speak about Christ

Why does everything have to be about Jesus?

They might complain about prayer when prayer is petitioning to Christ

whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Examples

They might complain about the sound doctrine that is faithful to a careful observance of Christ

John 3:19–20 ESV

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

John 3:19 ESV

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

John 14:16–17 ESV

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Second, the doctrine of Unconditional Election

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

J

John 15:16 ESV

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Third, the doctrine of Limited Atonement

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:15 ESV

15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Fourth, the doctrine of Irresistible Grace.

John 6:37–40 ESV

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.”

Fifth, the doctrine of the preservation/perseverance of the Saints.

John 10:27–30 ESV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

They might complain about what they don’t get from church

People disagree with Jesus being the Son of God

People disagree with Jesus being from the Father

I have heard much grumbling about this in the visible church.

People disagree with Jesus being able to keep us permanently

People disagree with Jesus being both God and Man

People disagree with Jesus preexisting

People disagree with Jesus being worshipped and prayed to

Anything that is seeking to exalt Christ and faithfulness to Him can cause one to grumble and complain.

I have friends who disagree with me who I believe are genuine believers and I wouldn’t say that they are grumblers.

But I have been around folks who have shown harsh disagreements with me in these doctrines.

And I have to admit that it happens from our end as well.

The people here who grumbled did so in unbelief and denied what Jesus said about Himself.

This is what one does when they only see Jesus as the son of Joseph (only a man) and refusing Jesus as the Son of God.

The cause of their grumbling was that they only saw Jesus as the son of Joseph.

This was their condition. They were those that the Father had not drawn.

Proving that they did not believe.

Which is what we see in Jesus’ response in verses 43-47.

2. The Response (v.43-47)

Read Verse 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.

Read Verse 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Jesus is telling them what is wrong here.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

A question I asked when reading verse 44.

Question: Why is it that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them?

Answer: To draw meant to pull or drag. To pull or draw in by force.

No one can come to Christ unless the Father pulls them in.

15.212 σύρωa; ἕλκωa; σπάομαι: to pull or drag, requiring force because of the inertia of the object being dragged—‘to pull, to drag, to draw.’

This reveals the inability of anyone who has not been drawn to Christ.

Jesus also says,

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.”

So the only way someone can come to Christ is by the Father drawing Him and being granted faith to come.

And only by being granted by the Father can one come to Christ.

In other words, coming to Christ is given not found.

That is what granted means.

This was not the case with those who believed Jesus to be the son of Joseph and not the Son of God.

They are there because it has not been granted to them to be drawn by God.

They did not believe. And by not believing in Jesus as who He said He was, they prove that they are dead in their sins.

Example (Lazarus):

John 11:38–44 ESV

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Question: Did Lazarus raise himself from the dead?

Answer: No.

Question: Was life granted to Lazarus? Meaning was it given to him to live or did he give himself life by choosing it?

Answer: No.

No one comes to Christ unless it is granted by the Father to come.

No one comes to Christ unless the Father who sent Christ draws him.

And Christ will raise those who have been drawn and granted life in the last day.

Coming to Christ entails being drawn by the Father (granted belief by the Father) which is how one comes to saving faith.

Philippians 1:29 ESV

29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

Belief in Jesus is granted to us. Given to us by the Father.

Faith has been granted to us.

God by Sovereign election chose us even before the foundations of the world to believe!

Question: Does this cause you to grumble?

Be careful and think about this.

If God is the One who chooses, draws and grants us to come to Christ then salvation is a complete work of God.

ἕλκωa: οὐκέτι αὐτὸ ἑλκύσαι ἴσχυον ‘they could not pull the net back in’ ; Σίμων οὖν Πέτρος ἔχων μάχαιραν εἵλκυσεν αὐτήν ‘Simon Peter had a sword and drew it’ .

σπάομαι: εἷς δέ τις τῶν παρεστηκότων σπασάμενος τὴν μάχαιραν ‘one of those standing by drew a sword’ .

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 207.

Which is crystal clear here in our passage.

But if One comes to God by cooperating and choosing God then it is synergistic. Meaning that it not only takes God to bring one to salvation but the last word on whether or not one comes to Christ is by their own will.

But Jesus in His response makes it clear that we are unable to come unless the Father draws us.

And those who grumble and complain about this may find company with the Pharisees and Scribes.

So be careful about this.

There is much confusion when calling someone a pharisee.

Often those who hold to the doctrine of election have been accused of this.

But one who grumbles and complains about this doctrine I would say, would find good company with those who grumbled here.

So, be careful to complain about what is clear in Holy Scripture.

The Scriptures do not seek to cater to how you feel.

The Scriptures seek to reveal who God is!

They speak of God as sovereign

They speak of God as eternal

They speak of God as deserving of worship

They speak of God as deserving of all glory

They speak of God as holy and like no other

They speak of God as having all power and authority

It even speaks of God as the One who will teach everyone to hear and learn about Christ

Meaning that He is the author and finisher of our faith!

Jesus followed in verse 45 with

Read Verse 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me

Jesus paraphrased where it spoke of how all will be taught by God.

This is actually explaining what happens to someone who has been drawn by the Father.

Those taught by God have heard.

Those taught by God have learned.

But this is not possible unless God was the One who taught them.

So God initiates the necessary means that allow one to understand and learn about Christ!

Which no one can do by themselves or by others.

Notice that Jesus said “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father.”

He made sure to include the Father. Which leaves out Rabbi’s and teachers who taught God’s word.

Everyone who has heard and learned

Hearing and learning saves no one. But hearing and learning from the Father will bring one to Jesus Christ because Jesus is the message they will hear and learn of and the Father is the One who brings one to that understanding.

Salvation is a complete work of God!

Jesus is the message that one must hear and learn of.

And in believing this truth it will prove that one has been drawn and granted faith. Which is why we preach the gospel.

Jesus would again speak of Himself in verse 46 as the One who has seen the Father.

Read Verse 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.

This is Jesus revealing that He pre-existed.

Only Jesus has seen the Father because He was from the Father.

This is what they were rejecting.

And it was what

Jesus in chapter 8 would say this very thing about Himself

John 8:58 ESV

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Christ and Christ being the only One who has seen the Father give eternal life to those who believe in Him.

Read Verse 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Verse 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Question: Whoever believes in what?

Answer: In Him.

Again, Jesus goes on the reveal who He is.

3. The Admission (v.48-51)

Read Verse 48 I am the bread of life.

He also says in verse 51, “I am the living bread.”

Jesus goes on the compare Himself with the bread that was given to God’s people in the wilderness.

Read Verse 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

In other words, the bread that perishes cannot save someone who is perishing.

The food that they could work for cannot save them.

They ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.

But...

Read Verse 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

Read Verse 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

Verse 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Verse 47 tells us how this happens.

John 6:47 ESV

47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

The way someone eats of the living bread that comes down from heaven is by believing. And one cannot believe unless it is granted to them by the Father.

This is talking about belief. And this is why if someone teaches that this is a literal eating of His flesh, they are not understanding what Jesus is saying here.

This is actually what Roman Catholicism teaches.

Which we will cover next week.

Read Verse 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

What Jesus is talking here is not a literal eating of His flesh.

These words that He is speaking are spirit and life not bone and flesh.

Verse 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

These are never meant to be taken as carnal. The flesh is no help at all in understanding this.

In fact, those listening who only believed Jesus to be the son of Joseph did not and could not believe!

Jesus made it very clear in ,

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.

I often don’t do this but I felt that we should ask the question, “What is the application here?”

Question: How is the bread that He gave, which is His flesh, able to give life ?

Answer: Jesus is speaking about the sacrifice that He would give at the cross.

John 3:14–15 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:14 ESV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Jesus was speaking about His body being offered as a sacrifice for sins. And His blood for the remission of sins.

Belief in this which is granted by the Father, saves.

Communion represents this.

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.