The Power of Words

Sticks and stones…

What is a disciple? A disciple surrenders their will to Jesus and sacrifices all for Jesus.

Genuine disciples continue to follow Jesus, no matter the difficulty or cost.

Not everyone who claims to follow Jesus is a genuine disciple.

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, people followed Him because of the amazing things He did. Jesus healed people, He showed compassion, He spoke with authority, and in this case, He fed them.

But, when Jesus said things that were hard to take, they walked away from Him.

Nothing has really changed since Jesus spoke these words. People often follow the caricature of Jesus. They follow the Jesus they can respect. The Jesus who is filled with love. The Jesus who is gentle. The Jesus who advocates for the poor. The Jesus they imagine as a social justice warrior.

But when they really listen to what Jesus said and when they hear what Jesus demands, they often turn away from Him. So, there is a profound sadness that we sense from the heart of the Savior in this text. Jesus does experience the sadness of surprise, but the sadness of the reality of the condition of those who determined to stop following Him.

If you’ve been in any Bible-preaching church for any amount of time you’ve seen this happen. You’ve watched people come into the church and profess Christ—only to get offended when the pastor or another teacher proclaims the truth of Scripture. They walk away, not only from the church, but from the biblical Jesus. John MacArthur said,

Biblical ministry, gospel ministry, certainly pastoral ministry has a sadness to it that never goes away, and frankly, it accumulates the longer you do it. It is the heartbreaking reality that people come, hear, stay, and profess (Christ), and then they turn their backs on the Lord Jesus Christ and eternal life and plunge back into their sin and leave.[1]

Now we’re seeing that some churches have determined that they don’t like what Jesus said either.

By the way, it’s important to understand we’re not only talking about the red letters in your Bible. God is the author of the whole thing, and we know that God is a trinity, therefore every word that was breathed by God in the Bible was given also by the Son and through the Spirit.

But the Word of God doesn’t sit well with our culture—so what are churches and pastors doing? They are walking away from it. They are teaching that the Bible doesn’t really mean what it says about any number of things. Much of this will bloom into apostasy, which is the willful rejection of God and His Son.

Today, I want to show you from the Word that there is a clear distinction between false disciples and true disciples. The word also reveals the one thing that makes the difference.

What is it that determines if a person continues to follow Jesus?

False disciples walk away from Jesus, despite His works, because of His words – vs. 60-66

Up to this point, Jesus had a large following of “disciples.” But many of those disciples made a final decision to stop following Him when they heard what He said.

Verses 60-65 tell us these people walked away from Jesus because they heard Him, but they did not like what He said.

They liked what Jesus did—they were so amazed by His works that they were going to take Him and make him their king (vs.14-15).

The day after Jesus fed them, they came looking for Him and found Him in Capernaum because they wanted more food (vs. 25-26).

Jesus told them that He wasn’t there to meet their physical appetite, but to give them bread that would bring everlasting life.

Jesus told them that they had to believe His Words.

Jesus revealed that He was better than the mana their father ate in the wilderness.

Jesus revealed that He is the true bread from heaven, and He alone gives spiritual and eternal life to all who believe in Him.

Jesus revealed that He is the one who came to be the final offering for sin and no one can have life without believing in His saving work.

John 6:53–56

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

The people who were listening in the synagogue were appalled by what he said. They missed the truth in the metaphor that He was using and to them, the idea of cannibalization was scandalous (v. 61 – skandalizei).

This is why they said, “this is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

The word translated “saying” is logoV which means “word.” The words Jesus was speaking were harsh, unpleasant, offensive, hard to take.

It’s not that Jesus teaching was hard to understand—it was hard to swallow.

We don’t watch many television shows—we really don’t watch much television. But one of the shows we do like is the Amazing Race. Last week the racers were issued a challenge that included eating a type of cheese that is a delicacy on the island of Corsica. The cheese was infused with live maggots and when the contestants arrived at the challenge, the maggot cheese was spread on a piece of dry baguette, and they had to eat it.

Rebecca and I would have lost the race right then—but the point is each contestant understood what they had to do, but it was tough to see, tough to taste, tough to swallow. That was the reaction of the people to the message Jesus preached.

This is why they were grumbling, and this was when Jesus, who is God and has all the power of deity, knew that they were being tripped up by His words. There was no way they were going to put their faith and trust in a Messiah who was going to be crucified—a death that was reserved for those who were cursed.

Jesus asks, have I shocked you?

These Jews should have understood the symbolism of their sacrificial system.

They should have understood that every atoning offing was pointing to the one who would, by His own sacrificial death, make atonement for their sin.

They should have understood that the law that they loved was a prosecuting attorney continually proving their guilt before God—the righteous judge who condemns all sinners.

They should have known that the Messiah was going to set them free, not from political oppression, but from bondage to sin and the penalty of sin.

They should have realized that their Messiah was to be a suffering Servant, a sacrificing Savior, and triumphant King.

The Jews missed it all and Jesus said that it wouldn’t make a difference even if they saw Him ascend back into heaven.

How could they miss it? Why didn’t they accept and believe His words?

Jesus said they didn’t believe because the Spirit gives life. Their flesh—the natural, unregenerate state into which they were born—offered no assistance or benefit.

Please listen to the Word of God—the only way for someone to be saved is through faith. The Spirit gives life through believing the words of Jesus. In other words, life comes by the Spirit through believing the words of Jesus.

Romans 10:17

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Jesus said the words are spirit, they are the animating force, and they are life—they are spiritual life—they are eternal life—they are the life of God, and they are life with God.

This is one reason why those who are saved have a hunger for the word of God—they believe the word of God is necessary for life itself.

Job 23:12

12 I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

The word of God is not just good to bring us to salvation, but they are also good to bring us through sanctification and into glory.

The people who walked about from Jesus walked away because they did not believe His words. Jesus was not surprised because He knew from the beginning (from the time they started following Him, and from the beginning of time) who would not believe.

Jesus also revealed why they didn’t believe—even though they saw the miracles. They didn’t believe because belief had not been granted to them by the Father.

John 6:37–40

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.”

So, Jesus grieved because many walked away, but He leaned into the sovereignty of God. Yes, each person who walked away was fully responsible for rejecting Jesus and they rejected Him because they did not believe His words. They did not believe His words because their eyes were not opened.

This reality should fuel and encourage us in evangelism. We are called to share the words of Jesus with the lost so that, in hearing the truth, they will believe and be saved.

At the same time, we should grieve when anyone rejects Jesus. But we must not feel responsible when people reject the Savior—nor should we ever try to manipulate people into following Jesus.

Practically, I know that some of you today will be in this first group of people—you will walk away when you don’t like what the Bible says or demands. For you it will be a hard saying and it will be easier to walk away than to deny yourself.

You’ll walk away for the same reason those former disciples of Jesus walked away, because you do not believe. You do not have spiritual life that comes through faith in Jesus—faith in what He has done and what He said.

False disciples walk away from Jesus because they do not accept His words, but…

True disciples walk with Jesus because of His works and His words – vs. 67-69

After seeing a massive number of former disciples walk away, Jesus asked a question the remaining disciples needed to answer—“Do you want to go away as well?”

Jesus knew the answer, but the question was asked in such a way that their answer would have to have been, “no.”

So, let’s say that the last place you want to go to lunch today is Taco Bell. You hate Taco Bell. You know it’s not real meat and you know that your body typically rejects anything from Taco Bell.

How then do you ask where your spouse or family or friends want to eat in a way that they don’t say the one place you don’t want to go?

You’ll say, “you don’t want Taco Bell, do you?” Asking the question that way demands a “no” from the person you’re asking. This is what Jesus did—He wanted them to affirm their faith in Him and their commitment to Him.

Then Peter spoke up for the group and his response gives us the why of discipleship. Why do you follow Jesus? Why do you surrender your will to Jesus and sacrifice all to Jesus? Why do you live as a disciple?

You follow Jesus and believe His words and by this you know that Jesus is the Holy One of God who speaks words that lead to eternal life.

Jesus is not just a miracle worker or a great teacher or a wonderful example of a kind and compassionate human being. Jesus is the Holy One from God!

Therefore, you don’t follow Jesus because of what He can do for you—you follow Jesus because of who He is and because of what He said—both of which were proven true by what He’s done.

This means that being a disciple has never been nor will ever be about you. Being a disciple is entirely about Christ!

Closing

When you believe Jesus, you will follow Him. Belief always determines behavior.

Genuine disciples continue to follow Jesus, no matter the difficulty or cost.

Maybe you struggle because you don’t really believe.

Not everyone who claims to believe, believes. Judas was one who was chosen by Jesus, but never believed the words of Jesus. Ultimately, he betrayed the Son of God—selling Jesus out for the price of a slave.

God’s Word tells us that what you truly believe will become obvious one day.

[1]John MacArthur, The Pathology of False Disciples: Part 3, January 19, 2014, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/43-39/the-pathology-of-false-disciples-part-3, accessed February 11, 2022.