The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 11: Doubts

Episode Date: June 20, 2021

What do you do with doubts and unanswered questions? You pick them up and follow after Jesus. He is the only one offering eternal life. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, - John 6:68 Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. How we doing? Church, doing okay? Well, happy Father's Day to all the dads. That's about what you just expect for the rest of your lives there, dads. If you got into the Fatherhood thinking you would be applauded,

you were going to be in for a rude awakening, my brother. Hey, grab your Bible's John Chapter 6. It's where we're going to be. Today we're going to be talking about doubts. As excited as I was to teach John 316 when we began to teach through the Gospel of John one of the things that you know is coming up if you're a Bible teacher is John chapter 6 things get very very complicated and today what we're going to talk about is what

do you do when life gets really really complicated what do you do with doubts because like that video showed anybody ever been in that place in your life where you've got anger towards God where you've got doubts about why God would do things that he did that way have you ever have those times in your life where you've figured out everything that God needs to do and you even put it to him in a prayer request. All he has to do is say yes and amen to your prayer request, and everything would work out the right way for your good and His glory, and yet God won't behave. You ever been there? Well, we've got 71 verses to talk about in our time together, so this should be the greatest three or four hours of your life. And really, it should be a four-part series as I was

looking over this over the last couple of weeks, but we're going to do it all in one, I hope. And what I need you to know about this sermon, it should be four sermons, but it's going to be one. And the first, like, 35 minutes or so, 40 minutes is really set up for the last about 15 minutes. So hang in here for that. We're going to pick it up in verse one, and it's going to start off on a high note, which is good, all right? We've had a real strong start through the first five chapters so far in the gospel of John, and chapter six is going to start off with a high note. We've had such a strong start in the Gospel of John that we've averaged about 100 salvation per chapter. There's been about 500 people gather our lives to Christ as we

started teaching the Gospel of John. Here we go. Chapter 6 verse 1. And after this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius. And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now, the Passover, the Feast of the Jews, was at hand. And lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? Verse six, underline these words. He said this to test him. That the reason Jesus asked the question is to test him. For he himself knew what he would do.

How many of you know that the Lord will test us? That sometimes he puts you through something just to test you. In fact, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews that the son that is not disciplined is the illegitimate son. That the reason that God disciplines us or tests us or sends us through trials is because he loves us because we are legitimate children of God. Now, if that is the definition of legitimacy, then I was raised super legit. In other words, my dad must have loved me a lot because he disciplined me a lot.

And by the way, he disciplined me was we'd wear us out. And I know some of you aren't raised that way, and that's half your problem, but I don't have time to get in all that, okay? And most often, I think the reason God tests us and allows us to go through trials is, is to remind us of our desperation for him. In fact, J.I. Packer says it this way. And still, he seeks the fellowship of his people. And he sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things

and attach it to himself. So what Jesus is going to do is he's not always going to give the disciples the answers they're looking for. Sometimes he asks them questions that they don't have the answers for so that they will look to him. That's what he's doing. Now, we've covered this several times throughout the Gospel of John, but I just want to remind you, if you were going through trials, first of all, the Father knows, okay?

And the reason that you were going through trials could be many. One, it could be a direct test from God, like right here, it just says it. Secondly, the reason you're going through trials could be a result of your own sin. Some people are like, is God testing me? No, you're an idiot. That's what it is, okay? Sometimes it's because somebody else has sinned against you. Sometimes it's a demonic attack specifically like a sniper shot at you.

Sometimes it's the collateral damage of the fall of humankind. And regardless of what the reason the trial is happening, Romans 828 is still true for all of them. That God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his goodness. And so Philip answered, he's answering the question of how are we going to buy food for all these people? And Philip answered him, 200 denary, that's eight months wages, worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. Now, here's what Philip does. Philip, when he goes to this test, immediately goes to pragmatism. Which makes me wonder, was he not paying attention when Jesus turned water to wine?

Like the question Jesus asked is, Philip, I got a question for you. How are we going to buy bread for all of these people? Now, wouldn't you think that Philip would say, hmm, I don't know, if you can do water to wine, what can you do with bread, right? But that's not what he does. He immediately looks to the temporary. He immediately looks to pragmatism, and he's like, man, we would have to work for eight months just to get everybody here like a half a corn dog, all right?

That's what he's saying. And then one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said to him, well, there's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. And don't think like a delicious bass, think like a little sardine that you would rub on the bread to flavor it. That's what it would be. But what are there for so many?

Here's what Andrew says. Well, there's one here that's willing to say, Lord, we seem to be staring down an impossible situation, and I know it's not much, but it's all that I have. and it's amazing what God can do with just one person that's willing to take what's in your hands and put it into his hands and then see what he can do. You see, this isn't a message on stewardship, so everybody relax, but there are basically three attitudes when it comes to money and stuff.

Attitude number one, it's the most prevalent in our country, which is this, what's mine is mine. That's called selfishness. Attitude two is this, what's yours is mine. That's called stealing. attitude three what's mine is god's that's called stewardship and what this little boy andrew understand is what's mine is yours god and when we take what we have when we put it in the hands of jesus we have no idea what is possible and what's about to happen just in case you're new to bible study is this miracle is about to happen and the reason that the miracle happens is because one little boy

with just a little bit, takes his little bit, and puts it in the hands of Jesus, trusting that what he has in the hands of Jesus, it's infinitely greater than what he could do with all of it on his own. So Church of 1122, let me just ask you, are you trusting Jesus with what he's put in your hand? And so Jesus says, have the people sit down.

Now, there was much grass in the place, and so the men sat down about 5,000 in number. Now, again, it just said the men sat down in the first century, you only counted heads of household, so there could be up to like 20,000 people. And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, this is why we say the blessing, he distributed them to those who were seated,

and so also the fish as much as they wanted. Now, by the way, this miracle is contained in all four of the Gospels, and in the gospel of Matthew, the Bible says that Jesus took the bread, took the fish, gave thanks, and then handed the fish and the loaves to the disciples and then said to the disciples, you feed them. Now think about that from the perspective of the disciples. There's Jesus, here's the disciples, there's 20,000 people.

And then Jesus takes five loaves and two little itty-bitty sardine-like fish and hands it out to each one of the disciples and says, all right, boys, start giving it away. Now we're going to find out in just a second here that every single person had as much food as they wanted to eat and there's going to be leftovers. But it did not happen in the hands of Jesus.

Where does the miracle happen? The miracle happens in the hands of the disciples. I mean, think about this. You're the disciples. There's Jesus. You hit the command. You turn around. You look at the little bit you have.

You're like, I don't think this is going to work. Like, how is this going to? I'm going to look like an idiot. And there are so many times where God calls us a dead. do something, and in our own natural mind, we think we may look like an idiot. And you know what? You might. But if you don't take that step of obedience, you have no idea the miracle that's waiting on the other side. And they take the little bit that they have. The boy had a little bit. They got a little bit. You understand? And they just began to hand it out. And I don't know how

it happened. But at some point, as they are handing it out, they begin to realize, I give you some and you some, and as I keep handing it out, I still have plenty to hand out. That's what's going on here, that the miracle does not begin to happen as long as they hold on to it in their hands. The miracle happens when they take what Jesus has put in their hands and begin to give it away. That's what's going on. I hope you're smart enough to make the connection there about what the Lord has put in your hand. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. Again, I said that if you think what's mine is mine, that's selfishness, what yours is mine is stealing, but what mine is God, that stewardship. So look what Jesus wants

us to be. He wants us to be a good steward of it all. I don't want you to waste any of it. It's not just being a good steward of the first and best that you bring to me, but it's also being a good steward of every single bit of it. I heard one older pastor say this, don't waste Jesus' bread. That's what he's saying here. and so they gathered them up and they filled up 12 baskets with fragments of the five barley loaves that they left by those who had eaten.

Now, the Bible doesn't say this, but what if the boy gets to take one of the baskets home? Right? Like the boy was thinking, this is all that I have, but I'm willing to give it to you, Jesus. But when he comes home, he's got a basket full of more

than his mama gave him to go to lunch with that day. So, they gather it all up, there's 12 baskets left over, and when people saw the sign that he had done, they said this indeed is the prophet who has come into the world. So what's going on so far is their hearts are full, their minds are full, their bellies are full. It's like a great day at church, all right? You ever come to church sometimes, and it is, I mean, you just walk out of here just full, just, I don't know, beach baptism, you walk away, you be like, getting this amazing.

You see a miracle of God. Or like our prayer and anointing service a couple of weeks ago, and you just walk out of here, and you're just filled with the spirit. Pastor Cam last week when he came and brought the word, and you're just filled up, and you'd be like, it is good that we are here. You know what I'm talking about. Now look at what happens next. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Jesus by force and make him king,

Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. Because let me tell you what people have any propensity to do. The moment people think that Jesus can meet their needs, then they will quickly try to get Jesus to be on their team. They begin to think, look what he can do with fresh and loaves. Imagine what he could do with the stock market. Imagine what he could do with Medicare. Imagine what he could do with the Romans and get them out of here. And so Jesus knows that they are going to want to make him king.

but the reality is this, is that Jesus did not come to take sides. He came to take over. And he will one day come to rule and to reign, but the first time he came, he came to redeem. And Jesus will not work for you in your cause. You ever notice how no matter what people's cause is, they want Jesus on their side?

But the gospel is greater than your cause. The gospel is greater than my cause. And so when they come and try to put Jesus, in political power, he won't put up with it. And so he plays the little game of hide and seek, and it works so well that he's gone all the way till evening. So we got the feeding of the 5,000. Things are going great in the ministry here, verse 16.

And when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. They got into the boat, and they started across to the sea, they started across the sea of Copernan. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. And the sea became rough because of a strong wind was blowing. And when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. Do you think? So I don't know if you've ever been to Sea of Galilee.

It's pretty awesome, but they're really steep hills, mountains on both sides. It's kind of a long and lean sea. And so sometimes wind from the east and wind from the west will hit on the Sea of Galilee, and it can go from super glassy to super rough in just a second. and a bunch of professional fishermen now are afraid. And the reason they're afraid is two reasons. One is they're rolling and rolling and rolling and they're having a hard time getting there. And then secondly, they see somebody walking on the sea.

They are frightened. By the way, the most commanded thing in all of the Bible, Jesus is going to give them in just a second, and it is this. Don't be afraid. I've read that at least 365 times, 365 times, in the scriptures we are commanded to not be afraid. Why? Because I don't know about you, but every single day of my life, including leap ear, I need

to hear these words. Don't be afraid. Now here's the thing. Fear is not a feeling. Paul tells Timothy this, that God has not given us a spirit of fear. That fear is not a feeling. Fear is a spirit. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind or

self-control. And so the reason Jesus tells them not to be afraid, is not because their circumstances are going to change, but because their Savior is there. Do you see the difference? Now, scared, no problem being scared. Scared's a feeling. You see, what you do, if you feel scared,

is you just trust Jesus and keep marching forward, all right? And I don't know if the scared goes away. But when you march forward, even when you feel scared, that's called courage. Praise God for that. But what fear causes us to do is fear causes us to be paralyzed, and that's why fear is the opposite of faith. And so Jesus shows up on the scene, and they're all freaking out, and he says to them, it is I do not be afraid.

Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. Now, here we go. We're only 21 verses in, and we've already got two epic miracles, two faith-building miracles. You've got the feeding of the 5,000, and you got Jesus walking on the water. Now, you would think at this point that these two events would be enough to sustain the faith of the disciples for at least a chapter, right? But I'm telling you, man, the mountaintop will never sustain you. That moment where you see the miraculous, it will never sustain you.

And again, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, oftentimes we get addicted to the mountain top. Me too, man. I love the experience. I love those worship moments. You ever have those worship moments where you just sing to the Lord and it's you? And you feel like, oh, I feel the spirit. It's really like, you know that song really good, but you know what I'm talking about? I mean, we've got some, we've got some of the most incredible worship leaders on the planet. I don't know. I know y'all don't know it. You all don't get to compare them to anybody else. I get to preach to other people churches and they sing some of the songs we sing and I think, oh, that's a good try. y'all just hear it at our church and i love it man i'm into it i'm into it or the the times and

prayer at the end of our services you ever get you ever get caught up in it man you just love it you come down front and you kneel down and you just feel like you just feel like the hand of the lord on your head praying for you know what i'm talking about you ever have those moments those experiences those mountaintop moments maybe it's on a mission trip or or maybe it's during saturated i hear people every year at the end of saturated come up to me and they're like pastor saturated it should be like four weeks long. I'm like, oh, God bless you in your ministry. That would kill us all.

But I understand what you're saying, okay? But those moments will never, ever, ever sustain us because we don't get to live on the mountaintop. That oftentimes we experience Jesus the most when we're coming off of the mountain and into the valley or out of the valley and back up into the mountain. So if things are going really, really well for you,

God bless you, God bless you. I got really bad news for you, though. By the end of this service, you're going to be one hour closer to the next valley that you're going to get to walk through. You see, because God does not bring us up to the mountaintop for us to just sit and soak there, but to fill us up with His spirit so that we can be sent out into the valleys to do the ministry that he's called us to. And one of the things that you're going to see throughout the scriptures is that often the deepest valleys in the Bible come off of the highest mountains. mountain tops. Let me think about this.

Jesus gets baptized. That's got to be a high holy moment for him. That the heavens open up after he gets baptized and God the Father says out loud, behold my son in whom I am well pleased. And then the very next verse, he was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That Jesus has transfigured on the mountain. And remember Peter sticks his head in there and says, it is good that we are here.

That's where he wants to say. We can build tents. stay here forever, make it like camp. And yet, the very next thing that happens is they step down into the valley and there is a man. There's a dad with a sick son. If you'll remember, the Lord's supper is going to happen. We're going to celebrate that in our time together today. The Lord's supper happens. The disciples' feet are washed by Jesus. Has to be a high holy moment. And then the next thing that happens is that Jesus is arrested. So I want you to see here in John chapter 6. Two major miraculous events.

The feeding of the 5,000, Jesus walks on water, and then here's what's next. And on the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberius came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. and so when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples they themselves got into the boats and went to Copernum seeking Jesus and when they found when they found him on the other side of the sea they said to him rabbi when did you come here now at this point you got to be thinking that the disciples who just started following Jesus not too long ago are feeling super good about their life decisions

like they left all that they had to follow this rabbi Jesus and now as they love they left all that they had to follow this rabbi Jesus and now as they over the past couple of days of their ministry, they've got a crowd of 20,000 people. And even though Jesus does not even announce his next showing, they get in boats and ride all over the region to follow after Jesus. Does this make sense? They are thinking God is blessing us. Everything that we are doing is being blessed. They're feeling super good about being Jesus followers at this point. And Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 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. In other words, what Jesus says to this crowd that keeps chasing him around is this. He says, you're not looking for me. You're looking to see what I can do for you. And Jesus, ultimately, to this crowd, is saying, I will not be a means to your end. That if you keep chasing after me just to fill your belly, then you're chasing after the wrong thing. You see, around here we often say this, that we don't follow Jesus because he makes our life better. We follow Jesus because he is better than life. Now, let me just say something. By and large, in a man, in a man, right now, by and large, if you follow Jesus, your life will be better. Generally speaking,

okay? Now, this has not been true for all of human history, but I promise you, if you do life the way God has marked out for you to do life, like if you don't lie and you don't commit adultery and you don't steal and you don't covet, it tends to go better for you. These things are all true. But the abundant life of following Christ is not. that things go better for you, the abundant life in following Christ is that you get Christ. And so that no matter what, whether rich or poor, whether well-fed or starving, whether free or in prison, if you have Christ, then he and he alone sustains you. So in that context, we say we don't follow Jesus because he makes our life better.

We follow Jesus because he is better than life. That Jesus came that we might have full life, not full Belize. and full life is fully knowing him. Then he goes on to say, then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Now, that's an okay question, but it is the question that all religious people want to ask.

Okay, we know you're God, we know you're good, we know we're not God, we know we're not good, so what must we do? But it is the wrong question. The right question to be asked is this, what must be done? That's the difference. What must be done?

And Jesus answers them. He's going to break it down as simple as he can. This is the work of God that you believe in him who he has sent. Jesus just puts it on the bottom shelf. It's as plain as it gets. What is the work that must be done? Here's what must be done. Trust Jesus.

That's what he's saying. And so they said to him, then what sign do you do 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 from heaven to eat. Now listen to this.

The reason that I went over those first two miracles before I got here is this. How quickly they forget. I mean, there are 24 hours off of two super legit miracles that Jesus has done. And then they come to him and say, well, what must we do to do the work of God? And he says, it's simple, it's simple.

Put your faith in me. Believe in me, trust in me. And their first thing they say is, well, what sign? What sign? Now listen, proof and practicality will never be enough. It just won't. Proof and practicality will never be enough until you were just overcome by the presence of Jesus.

And I don't know how to explain it any better than that. A great sermon and a great song will never sustain you. but only the presence of a great Savior will sustain you. This is what he is saying. And by the way, by the way, they say, show us a sign because Moses called down manna from heaven. Side note, what did the people that followed Moses do every single day, complained and grumbled and said it was never enough? You see, these high holy moments will never be enough. You see, what Jesus is going to tell us is that,

it is just relationship with him that matters. And that's it, verse 32. And Jesus 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. Okay. Once again, Jesus is going to speak on two planes. Okay, he's done this over and over and over and over.

He's talking about the physical experience that they have that points to the supernatural realities that are happening in their presence. He says, for the bread of God is he who, comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And they said to him, sir, give us this bread always. Now notice, once again, this has been a theme in the Gospel of John, that it's not about what you do to climb up to heaven, but that God has sent his son, Jesus Christ, on a mission trip down from heaven, on a rescue mission down from heaven. It's not about what you can do

to make your way to God, but it is what he has done to make a way available to you. And then Jesus says to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Again, for the last several chapters, Jesus has had this conversation over and over and over and over. That you were created in this temporary physical body, and you have appetites, I have appetites.

And as we try to fill these appetites with the temporary things of this world, it does not quench the appetite, it does not sustain the appetite. Ultimately, it only increases the appetite. And Jesus is saying, I am the only thing that will quench your eternal hunger and your eternal thirst.

And so he says this, I am the bread of life. Seven times in the Gospel of John, Jesus is going to make these I am statements. It's a really, really big deal. Seven is the number of completion. And so every single time Jesus makes one of these I am statements, he is saying, I am completely God.

By the way, I am is the covenant name of God. We find out in Exodus chapter 3. The Hebrew translation of I am is Yahweh. It's supposed to sound like, it's supposed to sound like breathing in, yeah, breathing out, way. Yahweh. It's God's covenant name. It's translated, I am that I am or I be that I be.

And what Jesus is saying, when they say, give us this bread, so that we'll never hunger again. He says, hey, look right here. Yahweh, the bread of life. That I am the bread of life. I am the covenant name of God. He goes on to say, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

Verse 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For some of you theology nerds, this is where we get phrases. like unconditional election and perseverance of the saints. This is, what you're going to see here is really incredible. Jesus is going to talk about the reason behind how we are able to have a relationship with God.

Okay? So he says, all that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. That's a really big deal. I will never cast out. Some people will often ask me this question. pastor can a Christian lose his salvation? And I say, well, that's the wrong question.

The real question is, can God lose one of his children? Answer, no way. Verse 38, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raised it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father,

that everyone who looks on the sun, and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. You see, here's what Jesus says. They're like parallel traps. They're not competing theologies. He says, the only people that can come to me are the people that God draws to me.

And God wills that everyone that would believe in me would receive eternal life. And so some people, theologians, love to say, okay, so which one is it? Does God draw or does everybody have to decide? And Jesus goes right. Right. So listen, man, if you're listening to this sermon right now,

I believe that is empirical evidence that right now God is drawing you unto the Savior. So you need to believe and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's what's happening right now. All right. Now up into this point, if you're one of the disciples, everything's still going pretty good, okay? Huge crowds. People are asking questions. Jesus is answering them.

Verse 41, and so the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And they said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? You see, the people that were most religious couldn't see Jesus for who he was because they could not get over their own religion and tradition.

And in doing so, they're going to miss out on true life. And Jesus says to them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. and I will raise him up on the last day. 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. Here's what Jesus is saying.

Very unpopular these days. Jesus is saying, you cannot reject God the Son and claim to know God the Father. What Jesus is saying to these faithful Jewish men is this, you cannot say that you know God, and reject Jesus. Because if you knew God, if you knew the God of Abraham

and Isaac and Jacob, then you would recognize Jesus. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died. He was talking about something that happened that was temporary. This, he's talking about himself, this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. He is saying, I am the only thing

that will satisfy the insatiable appetite of your soul. 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 him, the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Now, this is where it gets weird. if you're a disciple you're sitting back and you're taking notes and he's getting after the religious people which was their favorite thing right and can you imagine so he does this whole bread of life thing

and they're like not they kind of know what he's talking about but not exactly and he's teaching he's talking about his father and you've heard him talk about that a lot and then right there at the end he says and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh and can you imagine peter and thomas and the disciples did he just say fish he's said fish, right? Not flesh. Fish. He's going to get fish. Because we got 12 baskets worth of fish left over, and somehow we got some magical saving fish. Is that what he said? It's like, I don't know.

It sounded like flesh. No, that don't make sense. Okay? Hold on. He's probably going to clear it all up, right? And the Jews then disputed among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? They're going, this doesn't make sense. These people don't even eat pork, much less a prophet, right? Verse 53. and so Jesus said to them, and I can just imagine the disciples are like, oh, everybody chill out, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, okay, it's fine. He's going to clear it all up right now, okay?

Last thing we need for our growing ministry is some kind of PR mishap. All right, we don't want to get canceled, we just got started good. So he's going to explain himself, he's going to say, that's not what I meant. Here's what I meant. All right, here he goes. Here's his explanation. 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.

I think the cyber's going, uh-oh. He just added blood to the equation. All right, well, hold on. Maybe it means something else. Here we go, verse 54. I'm sure this is going to get better. It's going to get way better. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,

and I will raise him up on the last day. They're like, not better. That is not better. And I imagine this did not happen at all, okay? This didn't happen. But in my mind, if I'm one of the disciples, I think I'm stepping in right here. I'm like, all right, time out. We're going to take a time out, audience.

If you just wait, going to do a brief intermission here. The Messiah's tire from walking on water last night and feeding all 20,000 of you. So if you'll just step out into the lobby, we've got some refreshments of leftover fish and loaves that we collected from the previous miracle. Remember the miracle? You remember the miracle. Jesus, what are you doing? You're screwing this up? man we left everything for you what are you doing why don't you just tell one of those stories

again tell the one about the dad and the two sons and one of them's kind of cruddy and he comes back home there's a party everybody loves a party or why don't you call the pharisees names we they love it we know how about a miracle all right how about a minute why don't she just levitate do something do something cool man or would you at least please explain yourself okay and so all right act two here we go jesus is back on here's how he's going to explain himself for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living father sent me and I live because of the father,

so whoever feeds, and for whatever reason in my mind, eats isn't as bad as feeds. Eats is like take a bite. Fees is like walking dead. You're just kind of on me. He also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the father ate and died. That's it.

So Jesus comes to them and says, and they say, so what works unless we do? He goes, this is the work, believe in me. And they say, well, what sign? Because Moses gave our people manor. Moses gave our people bread from heaven. And he says, I got your bread from heaven. I am the bread from heaven. Eat my flesh.

Drink my blood. Which, by the way, he's kind of been doing this all throughout the gospel of John, if you'll remember. Remember, there's kind of been like, oh, you want a word? I am the word. You want some wine? My blood is the wine. You want a lamb? I am the lamb.

You want a sign? Look at me and be saved. You want a sacrifice? I am the sacrificial son. You want some bread? I'll show you some bread. I am the bread. whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Copernum, boom, mic drop, no explanation. Now let me tell you, this bothers us as Americans. This bothers us as Westerners. You see, because nobody understands what he's talking about, and we feel like we deserve for God to explain all that he does for us. I don't know who taught us that, but nowhere in the Bible can you find that. that because he owes us no explanation. And a part of the reality that we have to be reminded of is this, that we are not saved by our understanding of a teaching. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ

by the finished work of Christ. I know a lot of very well-educated religious experts that have not surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and I know a whole bunch of people that barely know the difference between the Old and the New Testament, but they believe that when Christ died on the cross, that counted for them. And our salvation is not tied to our incredible understanding of the wise behind everything happens, but our salvation is tied to, do you believe that when Christ died on the cross, it counted for you? He explains nothing. Now, verse 60, and when many of his disciples heard this, they said,

this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? By the way, you ever been there? You ever get to parts in your Bible you just kind of wish weren't there? You ever get to some doctrinal realities that you just think, that doesn't make sense to me.

You ever get to some of your own experiences that don't line up with what you thought God would do? Well, this is what's happening here. Now, Jesus makes it worse. First 61. but in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this. He says to them, do you take offense at this?

And they're saying, yes, we take offense at this. Growing up, our parents wouldn't even let us eat a medium rare steak. And now you're talking about we got to eat your flesh and drink your blood. Yes, this is offensive. Then he says this in verse 62. He does give a little hint, a little hint. He says, then, what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? This is the key to understanding this text, what he's talking about.

Here's what he's saying, basically. He's saying this. One day, this is going to make total sense to you. Like, what if, imagine one day, just trust me on this, you're going to be standing on the other side of a mountain, and there's going to be a bunch of stuff in the rear view, like my life, death, and resurrection, and you are going to see me ascend to the right hand of God, the Father. And once you see the full picture of the gospel, once you see the full picture of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus

and me ascending to the Father, then you will be able to understand what I am talking about. But right now, I'm not going to explain any of that to any of you. And he says this, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit in life. But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by my father.

And after this, many of his disciples turn back and no longer walk with him. Many of his disciples turn back and no longer walk with him. And what does Jesus do about it? Because I'm going to tell you. I can tell you what I would do, okay? Like if I was teaching here today and I said something that was true and right and godly, but this whole section didn't understand what I was talking about,

and you all decided just to leave, I'd be like, y'all can hold on for a second, and I'd run over to this and like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not what I meant. Let me just explain it, this is what I meant. You see, because you realize in about four sentences, Jesus could clear up everything that he was talking about. And in fact, in just a little while,

we are going to celebrate what he was talking about. He's talking about the gospel. If you don't have the gospel, then you can have no part with me. So I'm not asking you to be a vampire or a cannibal or do something weird like that. And yet, they walk away, and Jesus does not go chasing after them to explain himself.

And the reason that they walk away from him is a bunch. One is they want him more signs. I'm sure there were some in the crown. They were like, he's changed so much. I was here back in the beginning, and he would just, he would fish and loaves and walk on water and water to wine. It's all he ever did. He never talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Some people didn't feel like their needs have been met.

They're like, I'm hungry, and I used to come here and I got fed, and now it don't get fed. Well, I can eat him, but I'm not doing that. That's weird. Well, for some people, the teaching of Christ did not line up with some belief that they already had. For some of them, because Jesus wouldn't act right. For some of them, because they felt like they had a bad church experience, that's what's going on. And after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walk with him. And so Jesus said to the 12, he looks at those that will be apostles.

And he asked this question, do you want to go away as well? Now, real quick, you ever been there? I know you're not supposed to talk about this stuff at church, right? I think Jesus is then in the crowd because Jesus wasn't into crowds he was into making disciples doesn't take much to make a crowd especially in Jacksonville

monster trucks biggest crowd we ever had but you ever been there I mean I know I know this is a terrible way to say it but have ever have ever felt like walking away from him too because God wouldn't behave

because he said something hard? Because he didn't do what you thought he ought to do. I'm not saying it's not legit, man. I'm not saying it's not legit at all. I mean, like two weeks ago, you had all the faith in the world and you came down

and somebody prayed over you and you believed, man, you believed. You believed God was going to heal you. You believed God was going to reconcile that marriage. You believed God was going to bring your prodigal son or. daughter home. It's been two weeks now and nothing. And you're like, God, I don't understand. I feel like that's kind of what's going on right here. He looks at the disciples, not just the people

that wanted to show up and have their bellies filled, but the ones that followed Jesus. And he looks at them and he says, do you want to leave as well? I mean, for you, maybe it's a sickness. maybe it's cancer and you begin to ask yourself God I just don't understand why why help me understand why should why do Christians get cancer you see because if I were you I would have terrorists would get cancer that's how to work all right if you're a terrorist boom you got cancer that's how that would work all right and I prayed to pray to pray and I prayed by faith and yet and they started to go good and now they're not going good and so God I don't understand I mean if you would heal me I promise I will give you all the glory.

I've pre-decided. I see my testimony video that they're going to show in church already and I could be physically healed and then point to you how could that go wrong? I don't understand. Or maybe it's your marriage? I mean, legit. You have done your part in the vows that you made

on that day with him or her. And they have turned their back on you. In fact, you've been here for, weeks and weeks and weeks and months and even years praying for your unbelieving spouse. Or maybe your spouse is a believer, and then they completely cheated on you, and you're still willing to take them back. You read Jose, and you're like, all right, I'll do that. Me forgiving my spouse and receiving them back, Jesus, it's going to be a picture of the

gospel for your glory, even though it's going to hurt me like crazy, and yet they still walk out on you. And you say, I don't understand, God. Or maybe it's that addiction. And you've begged God, God, would you please take this away for me? And you can't understand. Why would you not take this addiction away? Or it's financial problems.

And honestly, man, and you didn't get there on your own. The previous part, but I saw about the kid with the fish and the loaves, you're like, yeah, right. I gave my fish and loaves. And now somebody that I love got sick or an investment. went bad or somebody that stole something from me and here I am. And I feel like I can't even, I can't even pay the bills that I have. And Jesus, you own it all. So I don't understand why you would answer my prayer or a prodigal child.

You hear me say it over and over and over, man, no pain like kid pain, especially this Father's Day. And anybody that's got a sick kid, anybody that's got a prodigal kid, anybody that he's got a mentally, physically, spiritually sick kid, especially the dads, we go all internal. Was this my fault? Did I do something wrong? Who's sinned here, God?

Me? I prayed, I prayed, I prayed. I believed the word. How come you won't come home? You struggle with depression? Maybe for some of you, it's a bad church experience. You did the church thing, man. You did.

And you tried to do it right. And the people that were supposed to be your shepherds were actually the ones that hurt you and abused you, and you think, well, God, if that's how that place works, that I forget you. Maybe it's infertility. I mean, let's just be honest. How do you get your head around that? I've been doing this for a long time. I've been a pastor for 25 plus years.

And I am telling you, it seems to me that some of the people that would be the greatest parents on the planet or some of the people that have the hardest time being a parent. And it also seems to me that some of the people that are the least qualified in our society seem to be the most fertile humans. Help me understand that one, God. I mean, can we just switch that up or you lose a loved one? And you try to tell yourself all the right things. You see, what's happening here is that Jesus has a very hard teaching. And he could step right in and just explain it away in about two seconds, and he doesn't. Instead, he looks at his disciples and it says,

you want to leave two? So what do you do? What do you do when you find yourself in that kind of place? And listen, we all have our stories, man. We all have our stories. You see, let me tell you what the enemy wants to do with your doubt. The enemy wants you to believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. He wants you to believe your doubts and to doubt your beliefs.

but what faith in Christ helps us do is to believe our beliefs and to doubt our doubts. So when life doesn't make sense, when God doesn't do what you think he ought to do, or when God doesn't do what you think you would do if you were in his spot, what do you do? Honestly, I don't even have time to go through at all, but Simon Peter's answer is the thing I come back to. when I scratch my head and say, Lord, what are you doing? What are you doing? Why don't you just heal them?

Why don't you just reconcile them? Why don't you just let them have a baby? Why don't you just break the addiction? God, this is a hard teaching. And I begin to have that gnawing feeling, those doubts. You don't want to leave two, do you? Look what Simon says. Jesus looks at his disciples and says,

you don't want to leave too, do you? Do you know why he asks this? Because he knows their thoughts. He knows that they're thinking. thinking, you know what? Yeah, I do. I kind of want to leave. And Simon Peter,

is what I love about this brother, man. He's always going to talk first. He's always going to talk most. And if you say enough words, sometimes you get it right. And he nails it. And Simon Peter answered him, Lord,

to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. God. That's it. Simon Peter looks at Jesus. He looks at the situation. He doesn't know what Jesus is talking about. He can't reconcile this whole eat my flesh, drink my blood stuff. I imagine that Peter is looking at the rest of his ministry and the rest of his life thinking, well, I guess I made

a poor career choice because the whole crowd's leaving and now it's just going to be me and you, Jesus. And Jesus says, you want to leave two? And again, he's thinking, sort of. But then he looks around at all of his options, and he asks Jesus this question. But where are we going? Where else am I going to go? Because here's what Peter understands, I think.

To walk away from you, Jesus, is to walk towards something else. And every single one of us know a whole bunch of people that have turned away from the Lord and walk towards everything else this world has to offer. Here's the problem with every single person that's done that. They find no peace, they find no answers, they find no resolution over here walking away from Jesus. If and when they do come back, they just come back with scars and more pain and more hurt. So they look at Jesus and say, where else we're going to go? Because you are the only one that offers eternal life.

Here's the point of all of what I think chapter 6 is about. Listen, man, we don't follow after Jesus for full bellies. That's not what we follow after him for. And when the day, not if, when the day comes in your life and you don't understand. And you can't get your head around why God would do things this way. And you get to that place where you feel like you want to walk away, here's what you do.

What do you do with your doubts? What do you do with your unanswered questions? You just pick them up and you keep following after Jesus. because he's the only one that offers eternal life. And the way, the way, the way, the way that we know that God loves us is not because of our current circumstances. The way that we know that he loves us is because our sovereign Savior died on a cross

to prove it once and for all. Romans 5.8 says this, but God demonstrates his love for us and this, that while we were yet, still sinners, Christ died for us. Because no matter how tragic your current situation is, and I'm not saying it's not a big deal. It is a really, really, really big deal.

And if we had time to sit down and talk about the details of your life, I'm telling you, I would weep with you, I would mourn with you. I'm not saying it's not a big deal. But I also will tell you, if you and I, 2,000 years ago, we're standing at the foot of the cross at Galgotha, before seeing the end of the story, if we were on that side of the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension,

and not this side of it, and we saw Jesus, God made flesh, the son of God, hanging on a cross, crying out, it is finished. I think every single one of us would be tempted to say, God, what are you doing? What are you doing? God, have you completely lost control? God, what are you doing?

But God would answer us, I'm redeeming the world. You see, what Jesus was pointing at when he said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, it's not, he wasn't pointing at communion, he was pointing at what communion means to us. So when you came in, hopefully you got the elements.

And if you go ahead and start trying to open, in the top because it's going to take you longer than it all too. We're working on that, I promise. You see, for about 1,500 years, man, longer than that, people didn't have, like, acts. They didn't have the Bible in a book, definitely not in their pocket. And so Jesus establishes what we know is the Lord's Supper.

Now, I want to be really clear about this. This is the Lord's table. This is not my table. I do not determine who comes to this table. The Lord invites anyone who would believe. leave. Anyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ, you are invited to the Lord's table. No denomination keeps people in and out. Well, they do, but that's not the Lord's intentions. You see, when Jesus says, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me,

here's what he could have done. He could have stepped into the crowd and said, well, whoa, well, here's what I'm talking about. You see, the night that he was betrayed, he gathered his disciples together, and it was the Passover again. And he took the bread, and they had done this every year of their life. And it was to help them remember God releasing his people out of the bondage of Egypt. And Jesus breaks the bread, and he said, this is my body broken for you. And as often as you eat of this, you do so in remembrance of me. They didn't know what he was talking about that night either, because it hadn't happened yet.

But the next day, that Friday, when he went to the cross and his body was broken, it was broken because God's wrath was poured out on Jesus who died in our place to pay the full penalty for our sin. So as believers, every time we eat of his body, what we do is we remember that the sin that we committed he became and he paid the full price for our sin debt. And so what we remember, we don't confess our sins so that we might be forgiven of the sins that we have committed. We confess that we have been forgiven by the broken body of Jesus on the cross. And so this is the body of Christ broken for you.

As often as you eat of it, you do so, remembering that when he said it is finished, that it counted for you. And then that night he took the cup. Again, the disciples had no idea what he was talking about here yet. And he said, this is the cup of the new covenant, my blood. Because at the cross of Jesus Christ, there's really two cups. There's the cup of the wrath of God poured out on Jesus. And then there's the cup of the new covenant.

Covenant and testament mean the same thing. The old covenant is the covenant of law. And he says, but this is the new covenant, the covenant of grace. That you are not saved by the law, but that Jesus came and fulfilled. filled every bit of the law, every promise and prophecy of the scripture, every law of Moses in the old covenant, Jesus is the fulfillment of that law. And now, by grace, you and I have been invited to the table. Because when Jesus dies on the cross and spills his blood at the cross for whosoever that would believe in him that we would be reconciled unto a holy and righteous God.

and he says as often as you drink of this cup you do so in remembrance of me that this body and this blood of Jesus Christ is his demonstration of his glory and his love for us and because of this good gospel that we are made right with him would you please stand and pray with me our good and gracious heavenly Father God we love you more than anything because you first loved us God, I pray for the men, the women, the students that just don't understand right now. God, I pray for the folks that are walking through a time in their life where they are attempted to walk away from you. Lord, I pray that their faith would not be grounded in their circumstances, but their faith would be grounded in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, I pray that we as believers would snatch back our trust and our faith from the things.

things of this world, from the temporary things of this world, including the circumstances in our life that don't make sense. And God, I pray that we would continuously, daily, take up our cross and re-decide, once again, recommit ourselves to put our faith in you, our sovereign savior, who bled and died in our place, and who resurrected on the third day, who ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and His, the God that continues to work in all things, the painful things, the unexplainable things, the things we don't understand, the things that are our fault,

the things that have happened to us, that God, you work in all things for the good of those that love you and are called according to your purpose. And Lord, I pray that we would continuously answer the way Peter did. To whom shall we go?

For you are the only one that offers eternal life. So God, when we face troubles and trials and temptations and doubts, I pray that we would just pick those things up and continuously follow after you because you are the one that offers eternal life. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, we're going to respond.

We respond by singing. We respond by bringing. And we respond by praying. And one of the ways when Jesus says, do you want to go to, instead of turning and going the other way, one of the ways that you can respond is you can come to him. You can come to the feet of Jesus. You can bring your doubts, you can bring your fears, you can bring all of your unanswered questions,

and I wish it was going differently. But right now it's not, but God, I choose, by lifting my voice and by coming forward and praying, I choose once again to put my faith in you. So as we respond, let us sing, let us bring, let us pray. Let's respond.