Wed Oct. 9

Joel Thomas Strahan

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Chasing after Jesus.

22-

John 6:22–27 CSB

22 The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone. 23 Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

Jesus had fed the 5000. He had just walked on the water and when He calmed the sea.

The people were looking for Jesus. When they found Him, they asked Him: Rabbi, when did you get here?

Jesus answered them by reveling thier hearts. They were interested in Jesus for the wrong reason.

They were not seeking him because they perceived the signs He was giving them. They weren’t watching Him heal people and concluding that Jesus is the Messiah. They were not concluding that Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise of salvation.

They were really interested in the fact that He had fed 5000 of them! They wanted food.

Jesus admonishes them and tells them not to work for food that perishes. He tells them 3 things:

1. Work for the food which endures to everlasting life.

2. The Son of Man (Son of God: Isaiah, Son of David: David, Son of Man: the seed of Abraham) will give this kind of satisfaction that does not fade.

Isaiah 9:6–7 CSB

6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

3. God the Father has set His seal on the Messiah/Jesus.

The angel foretold Jesus’ birth to a virgin

God spoke at Jesus’ baptism: This is My Son with whom I am pleased.

There was already enough proof that Jesus was the Messiah.

Getting to the heart of the matter

The people hear Jesus command them to work for the food that the Messiah will give them—the food that will cause them to be satisfied forever. So they ask a legitimate question:

John 6:28–29 CSB

28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”

They are asking how to work for the food that never perishes

Jesus answers: believe in the One God HAS sent. In other words, believe in Me.

The crowd understands what Jesus is telling them, because they respond:

John 6:30–31 CSB

30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

john 6 30-

They are basically saying: prove that you are God. They ask Him for a sign. (Don’t just feed us one meal…our ancestors ate manna for 40 years…if you do that, we will believe that you are the Messiah. If you do that, we will believe that you are God.

Jesus answers: The bread your ancestors ate was given by Moses’ intercession for you. It is not the bread I am talking about. My Father gives the bread I am talking about…The bread I am talking about is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

John 6:32–33 CSB

32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

john 6

The crowd is still with Him…but they still don’t understand that Jesus is telling them that He is the bread that God has already sent to them.

John 6:34 CSB

34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

34-

I am the Bread of Life

John 6:35 CSB

35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

John 6:35–40 CSB

35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

john 6 35-

Jesus says I am the Bread of Life…then He explains what He means:

The one who COMES to Jesus will not hunger.

The one who BELIEVES in Jesus will not thirst.

In other words there is a satisfaction that Jesus provides that is beyond our understanding physically. However, if you think about eternal life…a return to the Garden…the right to eat from the Tree of Life…complete satisfaction in Jesus for eternity!

Then Jesus confronts the hardness of their hearts (keep in mind from this point on that Jesus is speaking directly to this group of Jews who are hard-hearted and stifnecked):

John 6:36–40 CSB

36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:36 CSB

36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe.

36-

They have seen Jesus and do not believe. They have seen amazing signs already, and still do not believe.

Vs 37 reads like God is picking and choosing who can come to Jesus. If you rip this verse out of context, you might use this verse to for a doctrine of salvation that is incomplete. Jesus makes a statement in vs 37, then He explains it (remember Jesus is speaking to this group of Jews who do not believe Him):

John 6:37–40 CSB

37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

37-

Jesus has said that everyone who COMES to Him (the Bread of Life) will never hunger. Now Jesus says that everyone who COMES to Jesus has been given to Jesus by the Father, and Jesus will never cast out the one who comes to Him. How does Jesus explain this?

1. Jesus has come from heaven…not to do His own will, but the Father’s will.

2. What is God’s will? That Jesus should secure redemption for everyone who COMES to Him and raise them up on the last day.

3. What does it look like for someone to COME to Jesus? The will of God is that everyone who sees (this crowd) the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and Jesus is commanded by the Father to raise them up on the last day.

So…why would God not give Jesus everyone who is seeing Jesus right now in this crowd. Why is Jesus telling this crowd this? two reasons:

1. God’s terms for salvation have never changed. God has always required faith in the Promised One and repentance of faith from sin. Salvation has always been by grace through faith in God’s promise to atone for sin through the shedding of the blood of the innocent on behalf of the guilty.

2. The sign that God gave Ahaz:

Isaiah 7:10–14 CSB

10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God—it can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” 13 Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

Isaiah continues to unpack this sign: The son born to a virgin will be the king God promised to David:

is 7

Isaiah 9:6–7 CSB

This child would be a stumbling stone to Israel:

CSB14 He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be snared and captured.

God will allow His people to stumble over the stumbling stone and be judged, but He promises to save a remnant:

CSB20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. 22 Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows. 23 For throughout the land the Lord God of Armies is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.

back to John 6

The Jews do not believe

John 6:41–42 CSB

41 Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

The New King James Version Chapter 6

41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

The word for complain: “grumble” …just like there ancestors in the wilderness.

Jesus respond to them by reaffirming what He has already said (But now, He begins speaking in general terms…not just to this crowd):

John 6:43–45 CSB

43 Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining 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 listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—

john 6 43-45

Stop GRUMBLING! The parallels between this crowd and their ancestors in the wilderness is unmistakable.

vs 44, now Jesus is not just speaking about that generation who could SEE Him…Now is speaking in general terms…so how do we apply this to us?

1. The sign of Ahaz still applies to the Jews of this generation. When Jesus was asked why He spoke to them in parables, He answered in this way:

Luke 8:9–10 CSB

9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” 10 So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Mark 4:10 CSB

10 When he was alone, those around him with the Twelve, asked him about the parables.

luke 8

2. When we come to this verse, we must measure it against other Scripture. Jesus uses this same word “to draw” in . These are the only two places in Scripture where this verb is used in this way:

John 12:32 CSB

32 As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.”

mark 4 10

John 12:22 CSB

22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

So when Jesus is crucified, He will draw ALL PEOPLE to Himself. Before He is crucified, the Father is DRAWING a remnant while preserving the rest for judgement. Before Jesus is crucified, God is DRAWING the remnant through Jesus’ presence among them, His miracles, healings, and teaching…at the same time God is ALLOWING the rest of the Jews to stumble over Jesus and made to hear parables that they don’t understand.

Before you say: That is harsh! Remember the day of Pentecost, where Jews from ever nation were gathered and had rejected Jesus. They were the ones that the parables were meant for…the sign of Ahaz was meant for. 3,000 of them repented on the day of Pentecost. So even though God judged His people be preserving the hardness of their hearts so that they would crucify Jesus, God showed them mercy after the resurrection and brought them back into the new covenant.

3. Now Jesus is continuing to DRAW people the very way these Jews were DRAWN on the day of Pentecost—through the GOSPEL. The church is commanded to preach the GOSPEL to every creature. As Jesus promised when He said that He would draw all people to Himself, there is only one name under heaven by which man can be saved.

Acts 4:10–12 CSB

10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

Conclusion

Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life. The people have asked for a sign and Jesus has told them: I am the sign…I am the sign of Ahaz. I am God. I am the Messiah.

In this passage, Jesus also speaks of people needing to eat the bread of life. They need to eat His flesh and drink His blood. The crowd took this quite literally, but Jesus explained this when He had the Passover feast with His disciples:

1 Corinthians 11:24–26 CSB

24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.