Jesus, The Discerning One
John 6:41-51
We’ve been studying the book of John in search of the Biblical Jesus. Who is the Jesus of the Bible?
Most recently we have been examining Jesus second sermon.
It all started one day when He was moved with compassion and fed a multitude of 5,000 men with just 5 loaves and 2 fish.
When they wanted to make Him King, He walked across the water.
JESUS MANIA SET IN.
The people were enamored with Jesus for all the wrong reasons,
And as they began to ask questions,
Jesus began to allow His sermon to unfold.
It started in verse 25.
Verse 25, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
To that Jesus responded with His first point: FOCUS
Vs. 26-27, “Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
Jesus wanted them to focus on eternal things, not temporal things.
But the fact that Jesus used the word “work” caused them to miss the point.
Vs. 28, “Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
And that led to Jesus second point: FAITH
Vs. 29, “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
God wants men to believe in Jesus, not try to earn their way in.
And at this point, the crowd understood Jesus point.
He was claiming to be the Messiah, but they would not believe it.
So that brought them to a third question.
Vs. 30-31, “So they said to Him, ” What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'”
And Jesus responded with His third point: FIGURE
Vs. 32-33, “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
They needed to seek the true bread, and not just the figure.
But again they missed the point.
Vs. 34, “Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
Jesus was the bread of God right in front of their eyes,
And they couldn’t see it. They still wanted to literal physical bread.
And Jesus gave us the fourth point: FAMISHED
Vs. 35-36, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”
They were starving to death spiritually because all they could see was a temporal, selfish desire to have their bellies filled.
At this point, as Jesus gazed on their hardened hearts,
He gave us a mini-sermon that showed us His commitment to the Father, even when it seems like the Father’s plan isn’t working.
Even though this entire multitude had failed to “get it”
Jesus was still committed to the Father’s plan.
But in our text tonight,
We see that the crowd is not yet finished with their inquiries.
From this point on, we will see a tone change in the crowd.
They go from seeking the benefits of Jesus
To seeking how they can prove Him wrong.
So tonight, first we are going to see one of the major barriers that keeps people from believing in Jesus, and then we are going to see how Jesus ministered in the face of such a barrier.
Just as last week we saw that Jesus is the committed One, this week we learn another lesson from the example of Jesus.
And that is that Jesus is “The Discerning One.”
The work of Salvation was clear in His mind.
He knew what it took for people to get saved,
And He knew His role in their salvation.
This understanding allowed Him great confidence
In the face of an obstinate people.
After revealing that He is the bread that came down from heaven,
The crowd takes offense.
Vs. 41-42, “Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘ I have come down out of heaven’?”
It will help us to first see why these people won’t believe.
And we can sum it up in one word: LOGIC
Worldly logic is the enemy of faith.
All throughout the gospels, we see evidences of people who would not come to faith in Christ because they were too dependant upon their own logic.
John 7:48-49 “No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? “But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.”
Logic told them that majority and clout couldn’t be wrong.
We see this today.
(When I got fired at Crawford)
“I may not know him, but if Mike and Larry are that mad,
then there has to be something wrong.”
After Jesus healed the blind man and this blind man was put on trial they religious leaders gave four reasons why they would not believe in Jesus.
John 9:16-17 “Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
Here they logically concluded that because He didn’t respect their traditions they way they wanted them respected that He must be wrong.
John 9:24 “So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.”
I like this excuse. But really, how did they know? They were willing to condemn Him based on hypothesis. People still do this today.
John 9:29 “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”
This is a really good one. Jesus didn’t have the proper training. We don’t know where He came from, or who taught Him, so He obviously can’t be trusted.
John 9:34 “They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”
Here is another that people use. They fail to believe in Jesus because they can discredit those that witness about Him.
I was told by the underground church leaders that this is the #1 excuse they get from Chinese people not to believe. How can the westerner’s religion be so good when westerners have treated us so bad?
The point is that they allowed their logic to distort the truth.
Here in John 6 they won’t believe because they don’t see how a simple carpenter from Nazareth could actually be God.
Logic got in the way.
That is why the Bible says.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
LOGIC CAN BE A HUGE BARRIER TO SALVATION
Now don’t get me wrong,
I don’t have a problem with presenting facts to people.
Jesus certainly used logical facts as a means of evangelism.
Matthew 16:24-26 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Paul also used logical facts.
Acts 18:1-4 “After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.”
There is nothing wrong with presenting facts to people,
But we must understand we will never prove anyone into the Kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Man does not logically come to Christ.
You come by faith, not by sight.
That is why Jesus says what He does in verse 43.
“Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.”
If their debating would have led them to salvation,
Certainly He would have encouraged it, but it doesn’t.
And here in our text, we see the 5th point of Jesus sermon: FOLLOW
JESUS IS NOT ASKING THEM TO DEBATE HIS EXISTANCE,
HE IS ASKING THEM TO FOLLOW THE LEADERSHIP OF GOD.
And we see Jesus miss an evangelistic pothole we often fall in.
We are often tempted to get down in the mud and wrestle with them.
BUT YOU WON’T FIND JESUS DOING THAT HERE.
What is the old adage? “You only have to wrestle with a pig in the mud for so long before you begin to realize that the pig is enjoying it.”
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
JESUS DOESN’T TAKE THEIR BAIT AND BEGIN ARGUING WITH THEM, INSTEAD HE REMINDS HIMSELF HOW SALVATION REALLY OCCURS.
If a person is going to be saved, it takes three things.
#1 THE SUMMONING OF THE SPIRIT
John 6:44
Salvation is the great work of God.
Psalms 3:8 “Salvation belongs to the LORD; Your blessing be upon Your people!”
Salvation is not ours to give. Salvation is not ours to offer.
We also have no power at all to lead a person there.
Flying back from China, I was allowed to speak with Nannon.
We talked a while, but I realized, if God isn’t tugging her heart, I will get nowhere.
So I stop and say, “Nannon, I’m just going to begin praying for you. Because I believe if God is big enough to save you, then He is big enough to tell you.”
There is no use arguing a point with a heart that is not being drawn.
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”
Without the conviction of the Holy Spirit,
You will never lead a person to Jesus.
In fact, this is why the Holy Spirit is so important.
John 16:7-15 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
It is important that you and I understand this
As we seek to win the lost to Jesus.
Remember Peter?
Matthew 16:13-17 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
I can say this with 100% confidence.
I never met a truly saved person whose testimony did not include the moment when God confronted their heart.
One of the reasons we have so many phony Christians in our churches Is because our pews are full of people who were persuaded by their parents, or their friends, or their preachers to walk the aisle and pray a prayer. But there is no power in that.
NOW WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THAT?
If we truly want to be effective in our witnessing to the lost,
We must be fully listening to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. You don’t evangelize on your own time table.
Just like a farmer can’t pick and choose when to harvest the grain
You don’t win souls to Jesus on your schedule, you do it on God’s.
The first person I ever led to Jesus was in the parking lot of my school when I was late for class.
The second person I ever led to Jesus was after being delayed at a gas station while trying to get home in time for a church meeting.
Very seldom has anyone ever come to Christ on my schedule.
It usually happens when I am busy doing something else,
Or when I am late, or when I am preoccupied.
If you want to lead people to Jesus
Then learn from Jesus and watch for where God is working.
Salvation requires the summoning of the Spirit
#2 THE SUBMISSION OF THE SINNER
John 6:45-47
In order to validate His claim that God must speak, Jesus quotes from the Old Testament where it was promised that God would speak.
And then Jesus makes a very crucial statement.
“Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”
If you don’t hear from the Father, you don’t come.
But also, if you don’t learn from the Father you don’t come.
If salvation is to occur in a person’s life,
They must first be drawn by the Spirit of God,
And then they must be obedient to that drawing.
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
This is another area that is completely out of our hands.
We can’t save them if God doesn’t offer it,
And we can’t save them if they won’t submit.
We so often blow it in evangelism here.
God is drawing, and we try to submit for them.
1) We try to answer for them: (Tell them to repeat after me) HOW FOOLISH
2) Let them think that something less than what God is asking for is acceptable
Jesus didn’t. If they left, they left,
But they weren’t getting in without total submission.
Matthew 19:21-26 “Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
If salvation is to occur it requires the submission of the sinner to God.
But there is another crucial point to be made here.
Vs. 46-47, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”
What Jesus makes sure to remind us of here is that there is a mediator people must go through if they are to answer to God.
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
This person must come to Jesus.
“he who believes has eternal life”
The point made here is simple.
If salvation is to occur, not only does God have to offer it, but the sinner must respond to God through Jesus on his own.
It requires the summoning of the Spirit
It requires the submission of the Sinner
#3 THE SACRIFICE OF THE SAVIOR
John 6:48-51
He reveals His part in the great work of salvation.
He is the sacrifice. He is the atonement.
Hebrews 9:22 “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
There had to be someone to pay the price for sin.
And this is what Jesus says of Himself.
“I am the bread of life.” – I am the only One who can give life.
He is the provision of God for eternal life.
Vs. 50, “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”
Jesus is revealing His role in the salvation of man.
Vs. 51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
If salvation was to occur, God had to draw men,
Men had to submit to God,
And Jesus had to pave the way through His shed blood.
Salvation is the great work of God.
But I do want you to understand.
This last verse is where Jesus outlines His role
In God’s great work of salvation.
Jesus role was to die for sinners.
While we are not a suitable substitute, we also have a role.
Romans 1:15-17 “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Jesus could have entered the argument, but He didn’t.
Jesus could have manipulated an answer, but He didn’t.
BECAUSE JESUS UNDERSTOOD HOW SALVATION WORKS
Salvation is the great work of God in the life of a sinner.
It only occurs when a sinner fully submits to God through Jesus After being summoned by the Spirit of God.
Salvation works when God draws a sinner
Salvation works when the sinner submits to God through Jesus
Our part is to share the gospel message on God’s time-table.
When we lose sight of this, we are tempted
To turn salvation into the work of the church.
Jesus reminded us that salvation is God’s job,
And we play a role when we are faithful to do our part.
I want to encourage you to be sensitive to what God is doing
It might not be in a familiar setting, but it might be the right setting.
John 5:19-20 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”
