Why People Stumble at Christ's Words?

Laurel Bible Church

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And so as we come to the end of chapter six, we see really the conclusion of this discourse, the crowd, the

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Jewish people who were talking with Jesus and grumbling against him have now moved on, but now this large crowd of, really a large group of disciples, not just the 12, but more than the 12, have now basically done the same thing as the

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Jewish people. And so why do people stumble at Christ's words?

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I saw a Q &A once where a pastor was asked a question that was sort of like a challenge.

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It really wasn't a forthright question. It was a Q &A and this particular pastor was asked a question about homosexuality.

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It could have been any topic, but the question was framed in such a way that, what do you think about this topic?

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And it wasn't sort of like, well, we wanna know from scripture, what do you teach us as the minister and how should we think about this issue according to the word of God?

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It was sort of framed in a way like, now that we know more, what do you think about this topic?

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Implying that whatever the Bible says about that particular topic is incorrect because now we've learned so much more as a culture.

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Now that our culture has moved along, what do you say about this? And so it was sort of a bait, you know?

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And the pastor actually didn't go to any verse. He just tried to answer it with reason, just kind of logically.

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And he said, you know, as we read the Bible, we're followers of Christ, we claim allegiance to him.

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He is the Lord, our Lord and Savior. So if I was reading a book of the

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Bible and I came to a chapter and verse that said something I didn't necessarily understand or even that I might not agree with in my humanity, well, then

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I would have to decide, well, am I gonna listen to what the Bible says? And so he gave sort of a silly illustration.

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He said, if I got to chapter and verse and it said, well, the fifth day of the week at noon, the

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Lord has commanded that you need to stand on your head for 20 minutes in order to meditate and pray.

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And we would come to that passage and say, what? I have to stand on my head? I don't know why

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I have to do this. How does this make me pray better? But his point was, if we're Christians, if we follow the word of God, we claim to follow

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Christ as our Lord. If the Bible says something, well, I guess that's what we do.

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And he said, okay, well, I guess on Thursday, yeah, Thursday would be the fifth day. Yeah, I guess at Thursday at noon,

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I'm standing on my head for 20 minutes. I don't need to question it. The Lord has said,

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I claim to be his follower. I do what he says. And so it made me think about this passage.

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This passage made me think about that Q and A. In this passage, we encounter the unsettling, really aftermath of Jesus's profound teaching on eternal life.

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And he claims to be the bread of life. And the reaction of his followers is striking.

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And it's not unlike the response seen earlier in Jerusalem in chapter five, and then the beginning of this chapter in Galilee, where unbelief and refusal to accept were basically rampant, a refusal to accept him.

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And here again, we see a division. And there's really two groups, two groups, two distinct reactions.

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First, we see the false disciples who stumble at his words because their hearts were hardened with unbelief.

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And that's the group we'll look at this morning, verses 59 through 65. And then we observe the faithful disciples clinging to Christ with trust.

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Where else would we go? You're the one who has the words of eternal life. Yeah, they cling to him and trust and surrender.

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And so Lord willing, we'll look at that next Sunday, verses 66 through 71.

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And by the end of this, this exodus, there's only this small faithful remnant remains.

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And this moment is a powerful revelation of how Christ's words can either harden or soften hearts.

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It's really a sifting. It's a sifting of those who truly believe versus those who refuse to trust him and really just take his words at face value.

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And it forces us to confront the crucial question. When his words challenge us, do we press in closer or do we walk away?

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In these verses, we are confronted with the raw and sobering response of those who claimed to follow

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Christ. Remember, this isn't the larger crowd. These are this crowd that's followed him that could claim to be his disciples.

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Jesus had just delivered a message that pierced through their comfortable religion and he declared himself to be the bread of life.

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And as he spoke with divine authority, many who once followed him began to grumble.

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And just as the crowds in Jerusalem and Galilee had turned away, so too now many of his so -called disciples had recoiled at his words.

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The apostle John doesn't mince words here. He gives us an account. It's like we're a fly on the wall.

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We get to hear all of it. He shows us two types of followers. The first are those who hear the truth and turn their backs in unbelief, their hearts exposed by Christ's hard teachings.

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The second group consists of those who despite their weakness cling to him in faith and by the end of this sermon, really only a small group remains.

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This passage shows us the terrifying reality that not all who call themselves disciples will endure.

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When confronted with the true and from a human perspective, offensive words of Christ, they fall away.

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And the question is this, will we walk away when the truth cuts us or will we bow in submission to the words that Jesus speaks?

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He's the one who has the words of eternal life, not anyone else. In verses 59 through 65, we see a vivid picture of the danger of unbelief, a response not only found among Jesus's original hearers, but one that permeates our culture today.

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Jesus had delivered this profound message about being the bread of life, a teaching that penetrated to the heart of who he was as the son of God and the only means of eternal life.

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But rather than responding with faith and submission, many of his so -called disciples grumbled, stumbled and ultimately rejected him.

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This pattern of unbelief is not confined to the first century. It's the same rebellion we see today, a culture that loves spirituality, but on its own terms.

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It loves spirituality, but it wants it its way, it redefines, it's basically a culture that rejects the exclusive claims of Christ.

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Our society, much like the false disciples, hears the truth of who Jesus is and recoils, dismissing him as too narrow, too demanding, too offensive, and the new thing is too old -fashioned.

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Oh, that book is just antiquated. No, many want a Jesus who affirms them, but not the

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Jesus who calls for repentance and surrender. The consequences of such unbelief are eternally catastrophic.

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Just as those disciples in John 6 walked away from the only source of life, our culture, too, in its unbelief is walking away from the only one who can save them.

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The question remains, when faced with the hard truths of Jesus's claims, will we respond in faith?

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Or will we follow the world to its fatal end, its fatal unbelief? In verses 59 through 65, the apostle

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John recorded Jesus's response to the disciples who were questioning his teaching on salvation in unbelief, so that you won't make the same mistake, that you won't make the same mistake of stumbling over Christ's words.

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The apostle John gives added detail in describing the setting of Jesus's words.

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This took place in a synagogue, in the synagogue that's in Capernaum, in the dialogue following what appears to have been a sermon, some kind of teaching moment.

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We see the aftermath of the discourse with the Jews by being privy to this conversation with a large number of the disciples that had been following Jesus.

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John recorded the stumbling question of these disciples, and then we see Jesus's straight response by challenging their question, and Jesus's spiritual explanation of his teaching about feeding on his flesh and blood by faith.

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And so, in verses 59 and 60, we see the beginning of this exchange, and it's a stumbling question.

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Verses 59 and 60, the stumbling question. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.

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Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it?

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Here, the apostle records a defining moment, a moment when the words of Christ shattered the surface of really religious comfort and exposed the true state of many hearts.

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Jesus had just delivered a sermon in the synagogue, not in some quiet, private setting, but before a large assembly.

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It was a message of immense weight, a declaration that he was the bread of life, the only source of eternal salvation.

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Yet, rather than humble submission, the response of many was disbelief and rejection.

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John tells us that these so -called disciples reacted with outrage, saying, this is a hard saying.

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Who can listen to it? But here's the truth. What was hard was not

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Christ's words themselves, but the hardness of their own hearts.

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These disciples who once followed Jesus for the miracles, the wonders, and the loaves, now stumbled at his words.

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They could not bear to hear the truth because it contradicted their self -righteousness, their pride, and their fleshly understanding of salvation, which was a works -based salvation.

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They had no desire for a savior who would confront their sin and demand their surrender.

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And in their unbelief, they turned away, murmuring, grumbling, rejecting the one who came to give life.

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And this is a warning to us today. Friends, this is a warning for us today.

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Let us not think, oh, we wouldn't be like that. Those people don't really describe us. We're the good disciples in 66 through 71.

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No, the scriptures are for our edification. This is our heart. There's no difference. The heart of man is not changed.

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Just like those disciples, we too can be tempted to resist the difficult truths, the truths we don't agree with, that Christ so clearly teaches us.

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Our culture is filled with voices that would rather dismiss the exclusive claims of Jesus and follow a comfortable, watered -down version of Christianity.

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But the words of Christ are not meant to conform to our preferences. They are meant to break our pride, to expose our need, and to draw us to saving faith.

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We don't wanna make the same mistake, the same fatal mistake as those disciples who stumbled in unbelief.

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Instead, when his words cut deeply and it brings the sin in your heart to bear to the surface, let them soften your heart.

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Let his words soften you, that you may find in him the only way to eternal life, true change, true heart change.

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In verses 59 and 60, we are confronted with a scene that lays bare the darkness of the human heart when faced with the uncompromising truth of Christ.

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Jesus had been speaking in the synagogue, a place where many had gathered to hear him, and this was the habit of Jesus.

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We see a parallel passage in the Gospel account of Matthew, in Matthew chapter four,

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Matthew recorded this, and Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the

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Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people, as was his habit.

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And so Capernaum is in the northeast part of the region of Galilee. And he delivered a sermon, he delivered a teaching, he taught in the synagogue, and it just had immense gravity, the exclusive claims that he was making, a message about salvation that would determine the destiny of souls.

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And yet, despite the significance of his words, we see that only a handful were impacted for good.

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The majority, though they had followed him and even professed to be his disciples, found this to be a turning point, a moment when they could no longer tolerate the claims that he made.

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And so they stumbled. John tells us that these words caused many to leave, and this was no minor reaction, this was not a few individuals quietly leaving the room, this was a mass exodus, a crowd rising up in opposition against the very one they claimed to follow.

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It is a staggering picture of unbelief. If only a few had turned away, we might call it tragic, but when the masses revolt, we are forced to see the depth of human rebellion against the truth of God.

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Let this sink deeply into our hearts. These men walked with Christ, saw his miracles, heard his words, and yet they rose up against him when the truth became too much for their pride to bear.

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And so we are warned. When Christ speaks, when his words confront us, we must not murmur in our hearts.

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When the truths of scripture press against the idols of our flesh, we must not join the crowds rejecting him.

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And today we see the same pride in many who claim to follow Christ, yet stumble and fall when his words demand submission.

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But do not let their rebellion disturb your faith. Don't let this turning away that we see all around us disturb your faith.

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In verse 60, we read their complaint. This is a hard saying. Who can listen to this? Who can listen to it?

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They were not willing to endure the truth because their hearts were hard, not the words themselves.

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To those who are humble in spirit, broken in spirit, the teachings of Christ are life -giving, life -giving and sweet.

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But to those who persist in unbelief, his words are like a hammer. They're like poison.

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Jeremiah, the prophet, says that the word of God is like a hammer. It shatters the rock of human pride.

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It is not that Christ's words are too harsh, but that we are too proud and too stubborn to receive them.

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This is the wickedness of unbelief. To take the son of God who offers life and accuse him of being unworthy to be heard.

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And we see this same rebellion today. Those who reject the gospel often do not do so quietly.

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That hasn't been my experience, certainly in street evangelism. No, those who reject the gospel do it with blasphemy and arrogance, declaring that God himself is in the wrong.

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And they desire darkness and they flee from the light. But we who are

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Christ's, we belong to him. We must respond differently.

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When his words challenge us, we must submit with humility, trusting the spirit to inscribe his truth on our hearts.

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For his words, though they may cut deep in our sin, are life to those who receive them.

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And let us not be like those who stumbled in John 6, rejecting the only true savior.

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Let us not harden our hearts when the truth confronts us. The truth confronts our lifestyle and we don't want to listen to it.

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But rather, by the grace of God, let his word break us of those sinful habits.

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Let his word heal us. The words of Christ are not just to be heard, they are to be obeyed and treasured.

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Don't make the same fatal mistake of turning away when they challenge you. Imagine walking into a crowded room where Jesus himself is speaking.

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You're surrounded with people who have followed him, watched him perform miracles, and perhaps even thought to themselves, this must be the one.

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Then in the middle of his teaching, Jesus says something that cuts straight to the heart. A truth about who he is and what it means to follow him.

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It's a truth so radical, so demanding, that it leaves no room for halfway discipleship.

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And suddenly, you start to see people grumble, to shift in their seats, their faces hardening, and one by one, they begin to leave.

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Not in quiet disappointment, but in open rebellion. This is what we see start to take shape in verses 59 and 60.

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A moment when the truth of Christ was so clear, so undeniable, that it exposed the hearts of those who had only been following him on the surface.

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They didn't leave because they didn't understand. They left because they understood perfectly, and they hated what they heard.

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Is this not what we see in our culture today? People are willing to follow Jesus as long as he fits into their mold.

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So long as he doesn't confront their sin, or challenge their autonomy. But when his words demand total surrender, when the gospel reveals the depth of our pride and calls for repentance, their response is often the same.

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This is a hard saying, who can listen to this? The world doesn't reject

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Jesus because he's too complicated to understand. It rejects him because of the truth of who he is, the

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Lord and Savior, the only way to God. And it cuts against the grain of human pride.

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Unbelief is not passive ignorance. It's an active, willful rejection of the light in favor of darkness.

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And it's as true today as it was in the synagogue that day. So the question for us is this, will we, like the crowd, stumble over Christ's words?

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Because they challenge our pride. Because they call us to conform our lives to his image.

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Or will we humbly submit and let those words bring life? And so the stumbling question, the stumbling question reveals a heart of unbelief.

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It reveals a heart of unbelief, unwilling to submit. But instead of listening, we just don't want to listen.

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It's not confusion based on an unclear teaching. No, it's a heart of unbelief unwilling to submit, not confusion based on an unclear teaching, the stumbling question.

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And then we see that Jesus' response, and he doesn't placate them at all.

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He gives a straight answer by actually asking a question back to them.

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In verses 61 and 62, we see the straight response. Gets right after the heart of the matter.

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But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling at this, said to them, does this cause you to stumble?

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What then if you see the son of man ascending to where he was before? So as we open to verses 61 and 62, we find a sobering reality.

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The apostle John records the response of the disciples as they grappled with the teachings of Jesus.

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He had been speaking about the bread of life, the bread that came down from heaven, eternal life, faith, salvation.

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And he knew the hearts of those who listened. Many, though they had followed him for some time, were now recoiling.

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They were stumbling over his words. Not because the words were too difficult to understand, but because the words revealed something about their own hearts.

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Verse 61 begins with this, but Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, he said to them, does this offend you?

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Does this offend you? Jesus knew their thoughts before they even spoke. He knew that his words had not just puzzled them, but had exposed the deep -seated unbelief in their hearts.

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When Christ speaks, it often cuts to the core of who we are. It exposes what we've been trying to hide.

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What you can hide perfectly from everyone around you, you cannot hide from God. He knows the heart.

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And that's exactly what's happening here. His words revealed the ulcer of sin within.

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And instead of humbling themselves and seeking the truth, these disciples grumbled and murmured in the shadows.

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Jesus responds by asking, does this cause you to stumble? His question is piercing.

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The offense wasn't in the words themselves, but in their pride. Their hearts were offended because they refused to let go of their own understanding.

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And Jesus doesn't soften the blow, he goes even further. In verse 62, he says, then what if you were to see the

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Son of Man ascending to where he was before? In other words, if you're stumbling over this teaching, what will happen when you see me in my full glory ascending back to heaven?

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If you can't accept my words now, how will you ever accept the reality of my resurrection and ascension?

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This is a direct challenge to their unbelief. Christ in his wisdom doesn't apologize or water down the truth.

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He calls them to face the reality of their hearts. The problem wasn't that their words were too difficult.

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The problem was that their pride was too strong. And this, brothers and sisters, is where we find ourselves today.

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In our culture, people are willing to entertain the idea of following Christ until his words demand something from them.

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Until his truth cuts against the grain of their pride. And then what happens?

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They stumble, they stumble. They stumble.

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They murmur in their hearts, this is too hard. But Jesus does not cater to our pride.

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He calls us to humble ourselves and submit to his words because his words are life.

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When he confronts us, it's not to harm us but to heal us.

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So let us not make the same mistake as those disciples who stumbled. When Christ's words challenge us, let us humble ourselves before him.

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Asking for the spirit's guidance to understand and obey. We need God's help. And God has sent help.

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He has sent the helper, the Holy Spirit. Let us ask the spirit to guide us.

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God, help me to understand. God, cause me to be able to obey. Give me joy to listen to you,

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God. Give me joy to follow you. For those who persist in unbelief, we'll find

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Christ's words a stumbling block. But for those who believe, his words are the path to life and glory.

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And we need to understand the context. Jesus had just delivered a profound teaching about being the bread of life.

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Emphasizing that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood have eternal life.

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Back in verse 53. This radical statement leaves many puzzled and offended, which sets the stage for the confrontation.

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But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, does this offend you?

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Does this offend you? And the Greek term here for grumbling conveys a sense of discontentment.

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Dissatisfaction. They're discontented. They're dissatisfied at what they're hearing. This claim of exclusive allegiance.

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And this is, it's not just a mild complaint. It's a murmuring that stems from a deep -seated offense.

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Jesus, fully aware of the thoughts and attitudes of their hearts, confronts them directly.

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He says, does this cause you to stumble? The Greek word here is scandaliso.

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And you can hear the word in there. Scandal. It's a scandal. It's an offense.

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And he knows where they're at. He knows where their heart is. Scandaliso, it's where we get the word for scandal.

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It means to cause someone to stumble or to cause to be offended. He asks this not to appease them.

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It's not an appeasement. He doesn't ask to appease them, but to expose their unbelief.

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And here lies the crux of the matter. Their stumbling is not due to a lack of clarity, but a refusal to accept the truth.

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Let's consider his follow -up statement in verse 62. Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

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Here in the original language, Jesus employs the term meaning to ascend or to go up. This word in the

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Greek not only anticipates his eventual ascension, but also indicates a deeper truth about his divine authority and his identity.

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Jesus had said something similar to the Pharisee Nicodemus. In John chapter three,

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Jesus said, and no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the

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Son of Man, referring to himself. And Jesus, by referring to himself as the

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Son of Man, is making a crystal clear claim to really his messiahship.

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He's adopting the language of the prophet Daniel. Daniel chapter seven. Daniel wrote,

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I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a

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Son of Man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days and came near before him.

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Now there, Daniel was referring to Christ's return and the millennial kingdom. But in verse 62,

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Jesus was referring to his glorification. Of course, what Jesus says to the disciples happened after his resurrection.

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Mark records it like this, chapter 16. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

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What Jesus is effectively saying is this. If you find my words too difficult to accept now, how will you handle the revelation of my glory when

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I ascend to the Father? He's pushing them to reckon with the full implications of who he is, the

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Son of Man, who will be exalted above all. Brothers and sisters, the message is clear.

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This message is very clear. The offense lies not in Christ's words, but in the hardness of our hearts.

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The disciples had just witnessed miracles, heard profound truths, and yet confronted with the demand of faith, they stumbled.

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And this serves as a warning for us today. When Christ's words challenge our comfort, when they demand more than we are willing to give, we can easily find ourselves grumbling.

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We might think, this is too much, this is hard to accept. But let us not forget that the problem does not reside in the message, it resides in our unwillingness to yield to the message.

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As we reflect on this passage, we must ask ourselves, are we willing to be challenged by Christ's teachings?

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Are we prepared to face the hard truths that confront our pride, our sin, and our desire for control?

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If we're to grow in our faith, we must approach Jesus with humility, with humility.

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And that means that we're ready to submit to what the Bible says about our lives, even when it offends.

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And in some ways, because it offends, Jesus does not shy away from challenging our misconceptions or our comfort.

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His direct response to the disciples serves as a model for us. When we stumble, it's an opportunity for growth, an invitation to seek clarity, and really it's a call to a deeper faith.

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So let us heed the warning of verses 61 and 62. The apostle John recorded this exchange so that we might not fall into the same trap of unbelief.

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When Christ speaks, we must listen. When his words challenge us, we must not grumble, but respond with a heart of submission.

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Brothers and sisters, the way to spiritual maturity is through humility, it's through humility.

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To be teachable, to have a humble attitude. And that helps us to embrace the truth of Christ without reservation.

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Let us not stumble over his words, but allow them to penetrate our hearts, transforming us into faithful followers of the one who offers us life.

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Imagine a crowded theater filled with people eagerly anticipating a highly acclaimed film.

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As the lights dim and the screen comes to life, the audience is captivated until a pivotal scene unfolds, the plot twist.

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In this moment, the protagonist reveals a shocking truth about his identity that completely reshapes the narrative, and it sometimes ruins the film.

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Some in the audience, instead of embracing this revelation, cross their arms, they whisper to one another, this is too much,

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I can't accept this. We see Jesus facing a similar reaction from his disciples.

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They had witnessed his miracles, heard his teachings, yet when confronted with his claims about being the bread of life, and the promise of eternal life, they murmured among themselves, this is a hard saying, who can listen to this?

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Jesus cuts through their doubts, and he gives them a straight response, does this offend you?

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What if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? He challenges them to consider their unbelief.

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If they could not accept his words now, how will they handle the greater revelation of his glory and his second coming?

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In this moment, Jesus exposes their propensity to reject the truth that offends their pride.

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His challenge is not just for them, it reverberates through the ages to us today.

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We too can find ourselves wrestling with hard truths. When Christ's claims about eternal life and his appending return confront our understanding, or it confronts our comfort, will we respond with humility or rebellion?

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Just as that audience may walk out of that theater refusing to accept the plot twist, many today turn away from Christ when his truths challenge their unbelief.

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But Jesus calls us to embrace the hard sayings, reminding us that his words are not meant to offend, but to lead us into the fullness of life.

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So let us not stumble over his claims, but rather embrace them as the lifeline that they are.

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They point us to the eternal hope found in him alone. And so we see the straight response.

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The straight response of Jesus challenges unbelief and gets to the heart of the problem.

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The heart of the problem, which is an unwillingness to submit to him as Lord. Ultimately, that's the issue.

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I wanna follow Jesus. I'm a Jesus person, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And then

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Jesus says, you need to do this with your life. You need to do this with your living. Oh, I'm out. Nope, that's too much.

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No, this is an unwillingness to submit to him as Lord. To claim to follow him, but to reject his

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Lordship is not logical, it's not reasonable, and it's not possible.

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And so as he answers them, now he's going to give them this explanation of what was said before.

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The spiritual explanation in verses 63 through 65. The spiritual explanation.

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Jesus says, the spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.

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The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.

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For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who it was that would betray him.

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And he was saying, for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the

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Father. We find a powerful moment where Jesus challenges his disciples regarding their response to his radical teachings about eternal life.

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And this moment is crucial not only for those disciples, but also for us this morning.

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Jesus knows our hearts, and he understands our willingness to stumble, our propensity to stumble, as the hard truths are presented.

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His response serves as a spiritual examination inviting us to dig deeper into the significance of his words.

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Here Jesus begins with a profound statement. The spirit is the one who gives life.

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The King James Version translates it like this. I love this. It is the spirit that quickeneth.

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It is the spirit that quickeneth. And so the Greek word here for quickeneth, for this idea of giving life, it means to give life or to make alive.

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The spirit makes alive. This is essential because it underscores the fact that our understanding of Christ's teaching cannot be achieved through mere intellectual or fleshly means.

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The flesh represents our human condition, which is limited, corrupted, and ultimately unable to grasp spiritual truths on its own.

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When Jesus states that the flesh profits nothing, he's not dismissing his physical body.

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Clearly he was just referencing even in verse 53 his sacrifice, his physical sacrifice.

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No, rather he is contrasting the spiritual significance of his teaching with our human limitations.

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What he is declaring is clear. Without the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, we will misinterpret, we will misunderstand the very words that offer life.

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Jesus turns to his disciples and acknowledges a painful truth. But there are some of you who do not believe.

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There are some of you who do not believe. This emphasizes a lack of faith or trust.

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Jesus is keenly aware of those among his followers who are merely spectators of his miracles, but not true disciples.

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Their lack of belief is not an oversight. It's a condition of the heart. This moment reveals the stark reality that many who are close to Jesus can still reject him.

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How many today sit in churches, hear the gospel, and yet remain in disbelief?

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Jesus confronts this head on, reminding us that genuine faith is a gift, a divine enabling that cannot be conjured by our own will or our own intellect.

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As he continues, even think of the statement in verse 65. It's profound. It demands our attention.

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Here, Jesus asserts the sovereignty of God in the matter of salvation. The Greek word forgiven means to grant.

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This is a granting, a bestowing. It's to grant or bestow freely. This highlights that coming to Christ is not merely a matter of human choice, but is a result of God's initiative.

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Jesus is emphasizing the truth that true faith is a supernatural act initiated by God.

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The Father must grant this faith, which calls us to humility.

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How humbling is that, but a joyful humility as we recognize our dependence on his grace.

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And this is where many people stumble, believing they can approach God on their own terms.

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But the truth is that unless God opens our eyes and draws us to himself, we do remain blind to our need for salvation.

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I mean, it's so many times I've counseled folks and I've evangelized folks and I'll give them the sort of Ray Comfort treatment, which takes you through about four of the 10 commandments.

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I mean, just four. And I'll say, well, if you were to pass away today, would you go to heaven based on not following these?

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Everybody doesn't follow the 10 commandments perfectly. Spoiler alert. And the answer is, yeah,

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I guess I would go to hell. I guess I wouldn't go to heaven, I guess I'd go to hell. I'll say, does that concern you?

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Does that concern you? Oh, no, not really, I just don't think about it. It's like, what? The heart of unbelief.

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Friends, how often do we find ourselves grappling with the hard sayings of Jesus? When he calls us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to embrace the difficult truths of scripture, do we respond with faith or doubt?

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It's like sort of like, hey, I'll follow him, but can I do this? If you're asking what you can do to subvert his commands, you may need to, you might wanna rethink that.

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That's not even a question that should come to our minds. Willing submission to submit to him.

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And this claim over our lives is a stumbling. The same way the disciples stumbled, we too can falter when faced with the weighty claims of Christ.

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But let us not be like those who, hearing his words, turn away because they are too difficult to accept.

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Instead, let us approach him with humility, asking for the spirit to illuminate our understanding and to soften our hearts.

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In this passage, Christ's assertion that the spirit gives life reveals the essence of our spiritual vitality.

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He emphasizes that mere flesh devoid of spiritual influence profits nothing.

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This is a clarion call to all who hear him, to hear his words.

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Our human understanding and efforts are inadequate in grasping divine truths unless the spirit of God empowers us.

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This is the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Jewish people struggled with the profoundness of Christ's teaching because their hearts were not prepared.

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They stumbled at his words, failing to perceive the spiritual realities he was presenting.

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Their focus was on the physical, what they could see and touch, thus missing the depth of spiritual nourishment offered freely to them.

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Some have mistakenly attributed this lack of understanding solely to the Jewish people's carnal nature.

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However, to confine this statement to them alone is to misunderstand Christ's intent.

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His declaration that the flesh profits nothing is not a dismissal of his physical presence, but a recognition that without the spirit, even the most miraculous events become meaningless.

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The early church father, Augustine, rightly suggests that we should interpret

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Christ's words as stating that the flesh alone does not profit.

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It is vital that we approach Christ's teachings with an awareness that we need the spirit's assistance to comprehend the depths of his truths.

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The flesh is in fact food because by it life is procured for us, but it must be received in the spirit, lowercase s, in our spirit.

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We must not overlook the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in the words of Christ.

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Without this understanding, the spiritual significance of his flesh and blood is lost. For many today, the church serves as merely a social gathering or a platform for moral lessons, but true spiritual engagement comes from a heart that has been awakened by the

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Holy Spirit. In verse 64, Jesus directly addresses the unbelief among his followers, but there are some of you who do not believe.

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He points out the absence of belief corrupts the purity of his message. Here we must pause.

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We need to pause and reflect on the condition of our own hearts. Are we coming to Christ with a spirit of humility and reverence, reverence?

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Or do we approach with skepticism and disdain, ready to challenge what we cannot fully understand?

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When Christ teaches, he is revealing divine truths that often clash with our carnal perceptions.

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We may ask ourselves, why do so many reject the gospel? Why do so many reject the gospel?

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The answer lies not in the gospel's inadequacy, but in humanity's depravity.

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The gospel is not inadequate. It's that mankind is depraved. Our inability to comprehend unless we are enlightened by the

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Holy Spirit of God. In verse 65, we find this sobering truth.

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Therefore, I said to you that no man can come to me, except it were given to him of my father.

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Here, Jesus underscores that genuine faith is a supernatural gift from God.

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Jesus's explanation of why he taught in parables gives us some insight here. The gospel account from Matthew, I'm sorry, chapter 13.

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We find this, and the disciples came to him and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables?

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Listen to Jesus's answer. Jesus answered and said to them, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

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Salvation is a gift granted by God. It has been given.

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God's grace is a granting of Christ's righteousness in perfectly obeying the law of God.

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Imputed to sinners in Christ's obedience of laying down his life by death on the cross.

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Faith is not simply a matter of human choice or intellectual assent. In this context, it is crucial for us to recognize that faith is not something that we can manufacture.

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The Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts, enabling us to grasp the need for Christ.

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Unless we receive this divine revelation, we remain in darkness. Thus, when we see people rejecting the gospel, we ought not to despair, but remember this very important truth that this reflects the profound mystery of divine grace and sovereignty.

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In the face of the unbelief that surrounds us, we are called to stand firm in the truth of Christ.

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The words he speaks are spirit and life, but they are only life giving to those who receive them in faith.

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May we never stumble at his words, but rather may we embrace them, allowing the

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Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out. As we ponder the truths of this passage, let us remember it is the spirit who quickens.

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The flesh profits nothing, and our faith is a divine gift. Let us come to Christ in faith, believing that he is who he claims to be, the only source of eternal life.

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Let us not stumble over Christ's words. May we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, discern the life giving truth of his teachings.

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May we approach him with hearts that are willing to be transformed. For in Christ's words, it doesn't just contain information.

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It's not just information, it's spiritual life. As we grapple with the profound realities of our faith, may we always seek the illuminating work of the spirit, enabling us to not only hear, but to truly understand and embrace the words of our savior.

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And I would say there's a correlation between understanding and obeying. Understanding and obeying.

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Sometimes you just have to listen to what he is saying and take it at face value, and not try to solve it like a riddle.

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It's not a riddle, it's the truth. Just listen and do what he says. Really a wonderful thing to think about, that God enables us to live the way he wants us to live.

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Imagine a bustling city street, alive with the sounds of laughter and conversation.

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As people rush by with their coffee cups and shopping bags, in the midst of this chaos, a small cafe stands, inviting and warm the aroma of freshly baked bread, wafts through the air, beckoning passerby to step inside and experience something special.

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Now suppose a hungry traveler, weary from their journey, approaches this cafe. They see the sign that reads feast of bread inside, but instead of entering, they hesitate.

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They're skeptical. Thinking, what can this cafe possibly offer me? It's just a cafe, surely it's just bread.

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In that moment, they miss the truth. The cafe isn't merely offering bread, it was offering a full meal with all the trappings, sustenance.

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An offer is made, but misunderstood. Jesus told the Jews in John six, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

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Jesus' words were bewildering to them. Many stumbled, thinking in mere physical terms, struggling to grasp the spiritual reality that he was conveying.

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They couldn't see that he was inviting them to the meal of life. They couldn't see that he wasn't inviting them to some kind of grotesque thing, some meal.

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No, he's offering them life himself. In verse 63, Jesus clarifies it.

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It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no help at all. Here, he unveils the true meaning behind his statement.

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Just like our traveler must enter the cafe to enjoy the feast, we must approach

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Christ with hearts open and ready to receive him. His call to eat and drink is an invitation to embrace his sacrifice, to internalize his grace and to allow his life to flow through us.

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Consider this, when we partake of a meal, we are not just consuming food. We are engaging in an act that sustains our very being.

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Similarly, when we feast on Christ, we are partaking in a divine communion that nourishes our souls and awakens our spirits.

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But here's the catch. If we stumble over his words, dismissing them as mere symbolism or misunderstanding, we might walk away hungry, missing the life he offers.

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Our response to Christ's invitation must be one of faith. Just as the traveler must decide to enter the cafe and partake of the meal, we must actively choose to believe in the power of Christ's words.

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We are not called to understand every mystery of faith. Rather, we are called to trust the one who offers himself as the true bread of life.

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Let us not make the same mistake as the disciples who stumbled over Christ's teachings. Instead, let us approach him with faith, ready to feast on his flesh and drink his blood, not in a literal sense, but as a profound acceptance of his sacrifice and grace toward us.

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May we enter the sustenance of his presence, hungry and expectant, ready to receive the life he so freely offers.

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In doing so, we will discover that his words are indeed spirit and life. This is the very sustenance our souls crave.

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And so we see the spiritual explanation. The spiritual explanation of Jesus, of feeding on him by faith, points to the sovereignty of God in salvation and the free offer of God's grace.

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The spiritual explanation. In verses 59 through 65, the apostle

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John recorded Jesus' response to the disciples. They were questioning his teaching, they were questioning his teaching on salvation, and their questioning was in unbelief.

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And he shows us this, he records this so that you don't make the same mistake, so that you don't make the same mistake of stumbling over Christ's words.

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We see the aftermath of the discourse with the Jews by being privy to this conversation. There's this large number of the disciples who had been following Jesus, and John recorded the stumbling question of these disciples.

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In verses 59 and 60, the stumbling question revealed a heart of unbelief, unwilling to submit, not confusion based on an unclear teaching.

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And then we see Jesus' straight response by challenging their question. In verses 61 and 62, the straight response of Jesus challenges unbelief and gets to the heart of the problem, an unwillingness to submit to him as the

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Lord. And Jesus' spiritual explanation of his teaching about feeding on his flesh and blood by faith.

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In verses 63 through 65, the spiritual explanation of Jesus, of feeding on him by faith, points to the sovereignty of God and salvation, and the free offer of God's grace.

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As we draw to a close this morning, let us reflect deeply on verses 59 through 65.

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Where we witness the stark division among those who claim to follow

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Jesus. His teaching about the bread of life created a rift that forced his followers to confront their beliefs.

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In this passage, we see two responses. Those who stumble and turn away in disbelief, and those who cling to him with unwavering faith.

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This moment echoes through the ages, reminding us the danger of unbelief is ever present, even among those who gather in the name of Christ.

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Just as many turned away then, so too many today recoil at the hard truths of the gospel.

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Our culture often desires a version of Jesus who fits nicely in their preconceived notions of spirituality.

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One who comforts, but doesn't challenge. Who affirms, but doesn't demand.

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And this is not the Jesus we encounter in the scripture. Jesus' words can indeed be hard to swallow from a human perspective.

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They confront our comfortable beliefs and invite us to surrender fully to him. The warning is clear.

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Those who refuse to accept his claims risk walking away from the only source of eternal life.

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As the disciples question his teaching, they faced a critical decision. Would they press in closer, or would they retreat in unbelief?

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Today we stand with the same decision. We stand before the same choice.

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When confronted with the profound and potentially unsettling truths of Christ that challenge us, will we allow his words to soften our hearts, drawing us into deeper faith?

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Or will we harden our hearts, joining the ranks of those who dismiss his call? Let us remember the small remnant who remained, who clung to Jesus despite their doubts, despite their weaknesses.

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Their response exemplifies the essence of true discipleship, a willingness to wrestle with his teachings, to acknowledge our struggles, and to trust in him fully.

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So as we leave this place, let us examine our hearts. Are we willing to embrace the truth of Jesus even when it challenges us?

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Will we stand firm in faith when the world around us falls away? For in him alone are the words of eternal life.

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May we choose to follow him wholeheartedly, trusting in his promises, surrendering to his will, knowing that he is our only hope and our salvation.