Sermon for 8/22/21 16 Minutes "Staying With the Bread of Life"

Boyd Thrash

Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

John 6:56–69

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John 6:56-69

This morning I'll be reading John chapter 6 verses 56 through 69.

And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

John 6:56-69

We are back in the book of John this week and these verses that we will look at this morning are a continuation of the conversation between Jesus and those that have followed Him across the Sea of Galilee,,, and this happened the day after the feeding of the five thousand.

John 6:56–69 (HCSB)

56 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your fathers ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 Therefore, when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?” 61 Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were complaining about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 The Spirit is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray Him.) 65 He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted to him by the Father.” 66 From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him. 67 Therefore Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!”

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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As we begin another week,,, we again need to be reminded that God is still in control,,, and He knows,,, what we are going through.

I am always thankful for answered prayers,,, you know,,, those prayers where things go the way that we want them to go,,, but we need to remember,,, that just because prayer wasn’t answered the way that we wanted,,, doesn’t mean that God didn’t do what was best in that situation.

These last couple of weeks,,, I’ve heard of so many that have lost their personal battle with covid,,, and I’ve seen where many have won their battle.

And the lines haven’t been clearly seen where God answered the prayers of this group,,, and didn’t answer this group,,, no,,, we are left here trying to figure out what is happening,,, and the best answer that I can give is that we live in a sin infested world,,, and we are,,, at times,,, having to live with the sickness caused,,, from sin.

So again,,, we must trust God,,, remember Isaiah 55:9

Isaiah 55:9 (HCSB)

9 “For as heaven is higher than earth,

so My ways are higher than your ways,

and My thoughts than your thoughts.

We don’t know what God is doing,,, we don’t know how all of this will play out or when it will end,,, but,,, we do know the One that does,,, and God will,,, get us through this,,, if we trust Him,,, as we go forward!

Last week we studied Psalm 111,,, and,,, “The Wonderful Works of the Lord".

I forgot to mention that the King James Version is written using different words than the Holman Christian Standard,,, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are called “Hallelujah Psalms”.

Possibly a better explanation would have been to use “Praise Psalms” but that was the way that my Wesleyan Commentary explained it and I forgot to mention that the King James Version was written differently,,, but I did intend to,,, but I missed it apparently.

But anyway,,, we looked at the “The Wonderful Works of the Lord" and the way that we can remember these works so that they can comfort us when we are going through hard times and we need something to lift our spirits.

This morning,,, we are going back to the conversation that Jesus has with those that have followed Him across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.

So let’s look at these verses and see how they can help us in our walk with God this week.

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Verses 56 and 57 say: 56 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

My Bible Knowledge Commentary explained it this way,,, The Father remains” in the Son (14:10), the Spirit “remains” on Jesus (1:32), and believers “remain” in Jesus and He in them (6:56; 15:4).

So,,, a Christian enjoys,,, fellowship with Jesus,,, and,,, security in Jesus.

Just as He has His life from the Father,,, so we as Christians have life because of Jesus.

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Verse 58 says: 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your fathers ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Jesus is repeating the earlier phrase that we looked at week before last,,, where Jesus says that the Israelites ate the manna in the wilderness that was sent from heaven,,, but they died,,, you see,,, the manna only took care of a limited need,,, but Jesus is the “Bread of Life” and whoever eats of this bread will live forever.

In other words,,, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior,,, through our faith,,, believing in Him,,, then we have,,, eternal life!

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Verses 59 and 60 say: 59 He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 Therefore, when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?”

Jesus’ teachings,,, were hard for them to understand and accept,,, at that time.

And,,, to a point,,, they are hard to understand today,,, although we have the benefit of thousands of years of writers that testify to the truths of these words!

But as we see in the next few verses,,, Jesus calls them out for complaining about these things.

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Verses 61 through 64 say: 61 Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were complaining about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63 The Spirit is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray Him.)

Jesus knew who He was talking to,,, He knew their innermost thoughts,,, and being aware of this,,, He confronts them and asked what was so offensive to them?

And tells them that,,, “The Spirit is the One who gives life.

The flesh cannot give life,,, but the words that Jesus spoke that day,,, were about the “Holy Spirit”.

That is,,, by the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual,,, Jesus’ words provide spiritual life.

And,,, just as Jesus knew everything about what they were thinking,,, He also knew,,, those who would not believe and the one who would betray Him.

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Verse 65 says: 65 He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted to him by the Father.”

In verse 44,,, that we looked at Sunday before last,,, Jesus has already explained to them that no one can come to Him,,, unless God,,, through the Holy Spirit,,, guides us to Him.

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Verse 66 says: 66 From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him.

For many,,, when Jesus rejected their desire to make Him their political king,,, or earthly king,,, with His demand for personal faith,,, His teaching on atonement,,, His stress on total human inability,,, and on salvation as a work of God,,, things that they just could not understand,,, it says that,,, many left.

They gave up being His disciples,,, or followers.

Of course,,, these weren’t any of the 12 disciples,,, because Jesus has a question for them,,, in verse 67.

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Verses 67 through 69 say: 67 Therefore Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!”

When Jesus asked the disciples,,, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”,,, He possibly was trying to encourage their faith since He knew that they would be upset by the news of many leaving Jesus.

Jesus also knew they didn’t fully understand His teachings at this time either,,, and we know that they don’t until after Jesus resurrection.

But Peter,,, the spokes person for the disciples,,, the one that had a tendency to speak without fully understanding what he was saying at times,,, but yet at the same time,,, the only disciple with enough faith to get out of the boat and walk on water,,, had enough faith at that time,,, even though we know that he didn’t understand exactly,,, still knew enough,,, to know and say,,, that Jesus’ words,,, lead to life eternal!

68 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!”

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My question to you this morning,,, “Do you have the faith that Peter had?

Will you,,, like the disciples that are left,,, stay with “The Bread of Life”

Even though Peter didn’t fully understand everything that Jesus was saying at the time,,, he did apparently understand that Jesus was “The Bread of Life” and no one else could give them eternal life.

Peter knew that Jesus was their only hope,,, just as Jesus is our only hope today.

So as I end this morning,,, I urge you to consider these words,,, and be sure,,, that you are committed,,, to “Staying With The Bread of Life” and living forever,,, in heaven with Him!

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Hymn: 337 - Oakdale

Hymn: 337 - Seminary

Benediction

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