WWUTT 848 Jesus Rebukes His Followers?

In Revelation 2 23, Jesus says, I am he who searches mind and heart. He knows what is in the heart of every man and he knows whether you truly love him or you just have a convenient religion when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky.

The Bread of Life Discourse in John 6

We come back to our study of John chapter six and today, starting the section where Jesus talks about being the bread of life. I'm gonna start in verse 22 and read through the rest of John six. This will be the only time I do that since it's a pretty good chunk of scripture.

When we come back to these lessons again on Monday, I won't read such a significant portion, but at least you hear it and it keeps things in context. John six, starting in verse 22. 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 Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? 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 you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal. Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God?

Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. 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.

Then 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. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

They said to him, sir, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. 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 to me, but raise it up on the last day.

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 the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.

They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered 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, 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 the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.

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 for the life of the world is my flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

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. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.

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 on me, he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this said to them, do you take offense at this?

Then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you here 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 him by the father. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well?

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. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12?

And yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him. And that's that entire section of John 6, verses 22 through 71, where Jesus talked about in this discourse being the bread of life.

Jesus Knows the Heart and Exposes Convenient Religion

Now, we've seen some very similar things here in this particular section that we've seen before, like what Jesus said to Nicodemus or Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. There are some similar themes in all three of these conversations.

With those individuals and then with this crowd and these that followed him as his disciples. And again, as I mentioned yesterday, disciple just means learner. So there's certainly something that distinguishes between the 12 whom he chose to follow him and then those others who followed him because they wanted to see something or they wanted more bread or something to that effect, but did not truly believe.

And it mentions in there, Jesus knew from the beginning who truly believed in him and who it was that was going to betray him. He had chosen the 12, including Judas, who was going to betray him, but all of this was to bring about salvation for all who would believe on the name of Jesus Christ.

Seeking Jesus for Signs Versus Seeking Him for Bread

John 6, 22 again, 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.

So this is right after the feeding of the 5 ,000. And then yesterday we looked at the story of Jesus walking on the water. So this was at night after the feeding of the 5 ,000, Jesus sends his disciples across the lake.

A big wind comes up. They're not able to get there because of the wind and it even threatened the integrity of their boat. Jesus comes walking out to them, showing himself as the son of God. He who has created all things, who has power over creation, that he can even walk on the water or stop the wind and even transport the boat from where it was to the shore safely.

This is Jesus Christ who has done these things. And his disciples got to know this of Christ, that he had chosen them to show himself to them. So the next day, the crowd that had been on the other side of the sea, when there had only been one boat there, Jesus hadn't gotten into the boat.

He had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

There's a lot of details there. Tiberias was not the same place as Capernaum. It was a few miles south. So you had some that came from Tiberias to the other side of the lake. They did not see Jesus there.

So then they left and went toward Capernaum because they figured if there was any other town along the Sea of Galilee that he would have crossed to go to, it had to have been Capernaum. We've come from Tiberias.

We know he's not there. So they're going to Capernaum. Now I'm just combining the cities. They're going to Capernaum to see if they could find him. So in verse 25, they found him on the other side of the sea and they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here?

And rabbi meaning teacher. So you got disciple that means learner, rabbi that simply means teacher. 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.

Now, remember I'd mentioned before that when Jesus began an answer with truly, truly, I say to you, the word that we have translated truly in the Greek is the word amen, which means so be it. We say it at the end of prayers because we are in unison declaring that we are in agreement with the things that have been prayed.

Or if a pastor says something in a sermon and we'll say amen, because we agree with what the text says and the point that the pastor has made from the text. When Jesus starts a statement with this word and it's translated truly, truly, it is a claim of authority.

What he is about to say comes from an authoritative voice and he himself being the author of truth, it originates with him or it is from the father and he testifies to the father or whatever the father says the son is in agreement with.

The son does not do anything of his own accord as Jesus had said earlier. So truly, truly, I say to you in response to this statement that the people have made, this question that they've asked him, when did you come here?

Because remember you go back to the kind of the start of this section verses 22 through 24 and it says that the crowd saw there had only been one boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone.

So the people are kind of trying to put all of this together. If Jesus and his disciples are here in Capernaum, how did Jesus get here? He didn't get in the boat with his disciples. So how did he arrive here?

Remember, he walked on water. They knew that he did not get in the boat with his disciples, but nobody saw him walk on water to his disciples. That was something that only the 12 were privileged to see, just as I made the connection yesterday between this account and God passing in front of Moses.

God didn't do this for all of Israel, but very specifically for Moses because he was gonna be the prophet of God to the people of Israel. The apostles are going to be the sent ones to the world preaching the gospel.

They are the eyewitnesses to these things. And so there are certain things that they are privileged to see that the rest of humanity does not get to see, at least not with physical eyes. But the people can put things together here.

They can figure out, okay, something miraculous has occurred because the disciples left without Jesus and now here he is over in Capernaum. He could not have walked all of this way, could not have gone the long way around the lake and have arrived here.

So how did Jesus get here? There's only one boat. His disciples are the ones that got into it. Jesus didn't arrive in a boat. So how did he get here? So that's the nature of their question when they asked him, when did you come here?

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. So Jesus' answer to them is that he knows their hearts. He knows their motivation and the reason why they're there.

It's not because they know he is God and they seek to know more from him. It's because they want him to appease something in their flesh. In particular, it might be because they want more bread. They want more food.

They want to see him do that again. But Jesus said, you have not come here because you believe in the signs. You're here because you ate your fill of the bread. Now, isn't it true that the people are not supposed to be asking for signs?

So why is it here that Jesus seems to be suggesting that they were supposed to see the signs and then come after him because of the signs? Yet we have in a place like, you know, Matthew 12, 39, where he says, an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except for the son of the prophet Jonah.

Yet here, he seems to be rebuking the people for not seeking the signs. Well, it's actually a different context. What Jesus is suggesting is because of the signs they have been shown to them, they should have believed in him as the son of God, but that's not why they've come after him.

They've not come after Jesus for Jesus. They've come after Jesus for themselves because they want more bread or they want Jesus to appease them somehow. That's why they're there. And Jesus knows that because he knows what is in the heart of man.

There is nothing that we can hide from him. To the churches in Revelation chapters two and three, he says, I am he who searches mind and heart. He knows what is within us way deep down to our core. There is nothing that we can think.

There is nothing that we can feel. There are no prejudices or biases that we can hide from God. He knows all. He knows what is in the heart of man. And so this should drive us all the more to come before the Lord in repentance, in prayer, whenever we feel anxious, whenever we are questioning or wondering where God is or what he is doing, when praise fills our heart, whatever the instance might be, we must bring ourselves before God for there is nothing that we can hide from God.

He knows all. And it is the stupid and the proud man who does not pray to God because he thinks, eh, God doesn't need to hear from me, or God already knows, or I don't want to trouble him with this, or I can take care of this problem by myself.

That's prideful. When we don't take ourselves before the Lord, when we don't come to him because he's God, because we have access to the throne through Jesus Christ, our Lord, when we don't come to him for that reason, then we just have a convenient religion that's for our benefit whenever we need to pull it out and it serves us somehow.

It's not about what religion does for us. It is about being with God, desiring God, knowing him. And we have fellowship with him and a relationship with him through Jesus Christ, which we've just celebrated yesterday at Christmas, the coming of Christ into our world.

Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus is our fellowship with God. The curtain in the temple was torn after Jesus died, after his crucifixion on the cross. The curtain that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple, the place where God dwelled, that temple was torn, signifying that his place is now with man.

And God lives within each and every one of us through the Holy Spirit that has filled our hearts for everyone who is a follower of Jesus. So as followers of Christ, we must pursue him for him, not because it's convenient for us or beneficial for us somehow, but because we desire God and we want to know him.

Jesus is rebuking the people for not desiring him. The signs that he has shown to them shows who he is. And that should be enough for the people to know that he is the son of God and therefore follow after him for that reason alone.

But that's not why they've come. They've come because they want Jesus to do something for them. And so this is the rebuke that Jesus gives. I say to you, truly, truly, I say, you are seeking me not because you saw the signs, not because you know I am the son of God, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

And then going on to say, do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. And notice how he uses that word work, took some work for the people to get there. You saw kind of the back and forth thing that was going on, Tiberias to the other side of the lake to Capernaum.

So they worked to get to Jesus for something that would satisfy themselves, but ultimately would not sustain them because they're just trying to appease their flesh. So Jesus says, do not work for the food that perishes.

Do not work for things that will gratify you for a little bit of time, but then you're just gonna be hungry again and you're gonna want more. Rather work for the food that endures to eternal life. And praise God, that work is done for us by the Holy Spirit of God, who has been poured into our hearts.

As it says in Ezekiel 33, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. And that has happened for us as followers of Christ because of the regeneration that has happened in our hearts.

No longer a sinful man or woman who is rebellious against God, but instead we are made to people who love God and desire him. So examine yourselves, examine the motivation of your heart. Do you just have a convenient religion or do you truly love Christ?

Let's pray. Our wonderful God, we thank you for the gift of your son. We thank you for this every day, not just during the Christmas season, but we thank you always for considering our need and sending your son into this world that he might put on human flesh, that he might live as we have lived, tempted even as we are yet is without sin so that we have a savior who sympathizes with us in our weaknesses.

There is nothing that we should keep from God for we can take everything to him, everything to you, knowing that you care for us. Peter says this in 1 Peter 5, cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

So may that be the desire of our heart that we would come to the presence of God. We would want to know you. We are growing in you all the more every day. Teach us to be more like Jesus. And as we follow after the savior, it's not just because we want a convenient religion, but because we want to give our lives as Christ has given his life for us.

Forgive us our sins and our tendency to be lazy, but we thank you for your patience and your mercy upon us for your mercies are new every morning. In Jesus name we pray, amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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