The Effect of Strong Doctrine (11/03/2002)

In the last few Sundays we've been talking about Jesus, the bread of life, falls under the general topic of the fact that God is our life.

Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.

And so we've talked about the fact that God is the way, God is the truth, now we're talking about God is life.

And specifically, we're talking about Jesus as the bread of life in John chapter 6.

You remember that the chapter begins, to put it in context, with the feeding of the 5 ,000, which was really probably the feeding of the 25 ,000, because they just listed the men there, so probably they had their families with them.

And then it's the story of Jesus walking on the water, and verse 21 says that immediately the ship was at the land where they were going, that was the miraculous event.

So several miraculous events have taken place before we get to this teaching on the bread of life.

Now last time in this passage, we kind of noticed the nature of man in this passage.

First of all, we noticed that man likes to focus on the physical. They were more interested in the food that Jesus gave them than they were interested in the teaching that he gave them.

Secondly, we noticed that man likes to worship God man's way rather than God's way.

And thirdly, we noticed that man likes to tempt God. You remember how they told Jesus, well, if you're the bread, show us, do something, do something magical, do something that we might what?

See and believe. They didn't want to just believe, they wanted to see.

Do you see that that's the very violation of the definition for believe? Because what is the definition of believe that the book of Hebrews gives us?

Say it, evidence of things not seen, isn't that amazing?

So they said, well, to believe we need to see something, show us something. So they tempted God. That's not all unlike our generation today, is it?

What is the fastest growing movement in the entire world of Christian religion today is the movement that says we want to see things.

We want to see you be able to slap somebody on the forehead and make them fall down. You know, that's really not the hard part, is it brother

Roger? That's not the hard part. The hard part would be making them get up again.

They don't care about that, but I'm being facetious, but you know what I'm saying. We have a generation that wants to see something in order to believe or in order to encourage further belief, and that's not a real godly trait, by the way.

That's a very human trait, very human trait, and we see that that is part of the nature of these men and it's still part of the nature of men today.

Show us something God, then we'll believe. And then the fourth thing we saw about men was that they seek salvation through trappings and traditions.

Still true today? I think so. And we discovered that really what the passage teaches is

Jesus is salvation. Salvation is not a thing. It's not a religion. It's not a program.

It's a person and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

We talked about how he said to drink, and that equals faith for life, and he says to eat, and that equals bread, which gives us strength.

Both were aspects of Jesus' salvation that he taught. And we looked at the example of the rich young ruler, how both of those attributes or both of those aspects of salvation were taught in that passage.

Jesus told him to go sell everything you have. You couldn't do that without belief, could you? So that shows the faith aspect, and then he said, but you lack one thing.

Come and follow me. That's the bread part. That's the eating, the daily bread, being with Jesus, being in Christ, walking with him.

And that part of salvation has been left out for the greater part of the last 75 years in the teachings on salvation because we've moved so far from works and conditions to grace, and grace is wonderful, but we've moved out almost to the area of easy believism, to the place where you, dear

Jesus, come to my heart, say amen, and then go live like you want to. That's never been biblical salvation because that's not even the biblical

Jesus, as we discussed last time. That's a Jesus that we have invented, a

Jesus that won't mess with our lives. He won't change our lives at all, and that's not the true

Jesus, is it? Did you ever see a man, a woman that came in contact with Jesus in the

Bible where it didn't totally make a profound change? They could not walk away the same, and the same is true of the true

Jesus today, and yet we have a religion today that wants to base salvation on pure mental ascent, and it's never been so.

The Greek word, pisteo, for believe, is a far stronger word. It has to do with commitment.

It has to do with relying upon. It has to be with being totally convinced of something, and that's the

Bible word for belief. And Jesus, when he told him, yes, you need to believe, he said, but come and follow me.

And all through this passage in John chapter 6, we see the drinking and the eating of the bread.

The drinking relates to faith. The eating of the bread relates to the coming with me aspect, the relationship, the day to day, moment by moment relationship aspect of our salvation.

So this creates some further problems, though. Let's look at this passage and continue through it.

Look at about chapter 6, about verse 41. Now we've covered some of this before, but we're going to take a look at this now from the point of view of the effect of strong doctrine.

And that's the message for this morning. The effect of strong doctrine.

Now you'll kind of, if you're going to take notes, you'll need two columns. On the left, you can start to list the effects on the people or how the people responded, if you like.

On the right, you can list the doctrines that are discussed in this passage. It's amazing to see some of the major Bible doctrines that are listed in this one little passage.

But to see how the people responded, and we have two groups here. We have a group of, just like everywhere, we have two groups, a group of lost people and a group of saved people.

And it shows how each respond, and of particular interest to us is how the saved people respond.

And it's kind of frightening when you look at it here in a moment. So let's start with verse 41.

We'll kind of give both as we go, but you can keep them in the proper column as we go. The Jews then murmured at him because he said,

I am the bread, the bread which came down from heaven. Well, there it goes in your left column.

Number one for the responses of the people, they murmured. Now we're talking about what are the effects of strong doctrine.

How does strong doctrine affect people? On your left column put, they murmured at verse 41.

Why did they murmur? Now on your right column, we'll start listing some doctrines. The first doctrine that they murmured at, and this is,

I'm not going to give it in a theological term, I'm just going to tell you what it is. It's the fact that Jesus is the only door.

The fact that Jesus is the door. There is no other door. Moses was not a door.

That bothered the Jews. Muhammad is not a door. That bothers zillions of Islamic people today.

And I kind of like what Jerry Falwell said about two weeks ago. He said, you know, it's my opinion after having read the

Koran and having studied many books on Islam, both by Islamic people and non -Islamics, that their leader was a terrorist.

And so they immediately came back and proved his point by saying, we're going to assassinate you.

And I'm sure he said, well, that proves my point. I don't know if I'd like to win an argument that way, but Falwell likes to win arguments.

I hope he doesn't win that one in that fashion. But they did not like the fact that Jesus is the only door.

And people don't like that fact today. That causes a lot of murmuring. People like the idea that, well, everyone's going to God their different ways.

We're all going to the same place. It's just through different religions. And that is wonderful. It'd be great if we could believe that.

But you know what? It's not the truth. Because there is only one door, and that's

Jesus Christ. There's only one great shepherd who loved the sheep enough to what? To die for the sheep.

And what does he say that the other shepherds like Muhammad do when the lion comes?

They flee. And they let the people be devoured by the lion who pictures whom?

Satan. So Jesus is the only great shepherd who didn't flee the lion.

He died for the sheep. And therefore, he's the only door. And therefore, the people murmured because he said,

I am the bread which came down from heaven. Now, let's go on verse 42.

And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? We discussed that last time a little bit.

You know, Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14 told these people very clearly, and they had that word, didn't they?

Didn't they have the book of Isaiah? And that particular part of their oracles of God said, behold,

I send you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son, and his name shall be called

Emmanuel, which means God with us, by the way. And so they say, well, this can't be him.

He has a mother. Well, what did God say he would have? A virgin mother.

They said, well, this can't be him. He said he has a mother. And so we won't discuss that any further.

We talked about it last time. Let's go to the next verse. Jesus therefore answered and said to them, murmur not among yourselves.

No man can come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him.

Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you think that perhaps that doctrine might cause some murmuring today?

That no man, woman, boy, or girl can be saved in and of themselves.

You ever see the bumper sticker that says, I found

Christ is a bit of a misnomer. Christ has to find us. And he initiates salvation just like the bridegroom initiates the marriage.

The bride doesn't do that. She responds, just like the parents initiate childbirth.

The infant does not initiate that, Brother Rick. That child will be born having nothing to do with anything he did or she did.

And yet people all over the world today in Christian circles want to believe that we save ourselves. God knew us before the foundation of the world.

In fact, he says here, no man can come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him.

Now, we might put that in a theological light. We might call that the effectual call that you can't be saved unless God calls you to himself.

It is a fact but is not popular today in our churches. And people murmured about it then.

And they will murmur about it now as you'll see in a few moments. Well, let's move on.

He says, I will raise him up in the last day. Now there's another doctrine but I'm going to save it because we'll come to it in again in a few moments.

But that's eternal security. He doesn't say, I might raise him up in that day if he's a good boy.

He says, I will. But let's move on. We'll find that later. It is written in the prophets and they shall be taught, all taught of God.

Now the little word of, you might want to write the word by in your Bible because the word of can mean by even in our

English language but it means by here. It means they shall be all taught by God.

But every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned from or by the

Father cometh unto me. So there are those who have not ears to hear and they never hear anything from the

Father and they don't come to Jesus. But everyone who comes to Jesus had to have heard from the

Father first. Now this verse 45 proves a great doctrine, a historical doctrine of the church called irresistible grace.

How many of you are familiar with Calvin's five points? I found out this morning on the way to church

I was really only familiar with four. I was trying to name them and I've got one I'm not sure about but let me try to name them.

You might can help me out with the second one. Okay, well it had with me too. I hadn't looked at that in a while. A lot of people remember it by spelling the word tulip in each letter starts one.

It didn't help me. I couldn't get the second one. Maybe somebody here will know what it is. The first one is easy, it's a T. It stands for the total depravity of man.

Man is not capable of coming to God. As Romans chapter one says, no man seeketh after God.

The second letter U is the one I had a little trouble with and I figure it's unconditional something. Unlimited.

No, no there's limited atonement. So that's not, see I thought that too, that's not quite it. Is it unlimited grace or is it unlimited justification or could it be,

I think it's probably unconditional justification. Unconditional justification. In other words, you can't get saved by works.

Your salvation is not based on anything you do. Let's let it mean that this morning and I'll look it up when I get home this afternoon but I think,

I know that that's one of the principles. Now the remaining three I'm sure of, L stands for limited atonement.

Now let me tell you what Calvin meant by that. Calvin meant that Jesus died only for the elect, not for the whole world of people.

Now he did die for the whole world if what you mean is what the Greek means when it says world aeon which means age or I'm sorry cosmos,

I'm getting the wrong world. It's cosmos in that verse which means his entire orderly arrangement, the entire universe.

Jesus in fact died that this universe and this earth and all that's in it and all of God's people could be saved.

But it doesn't mean that he died for every man, woman, boy and girl that's ever born into the world because if he did then those who end up in hell,

Jesus failed. On the other hand, if he did die for those who end up in hell, they can't be in hell because he died for them.

So limited atonement is true but it's extremely unpopular. In fact, how many of you ever heard of people say

I'm a three -point Calvinist? You hear that all the time. Let me tell you which two points they always leave off.

They leave off limited atonement and they leave off, wait just a minute, let me find it here, irresistible grace which is what

I'm talking about right now this morning. Irresistible grace and limited atonement are both left off and so we have zillions of three -point

Calvinists today and really as you grow in the word, you will add points.

As you grow, and it's okay to be a three -point Calvinist, it's okay with me if that's where you are in your growth and I don't mean, and I'm not saying that sarcastically,

I truly mean that. I was a three -point Calvinist until oh, about four years ago when

I was sitting at a meal with Dr. Rocky Freeman who was my mentor. He passed away a couple of years ago.

About two years before he passed away, I was sitting at dinner with him and we had another young preacher with us and he was talking with the young preacher and I was just listening.

Boy, I love that. That was like being a fly on the wall. So Brother Rocky, he brought up this point, the very thing about well if, he said,

Brother Greg, if you believe that Jesus died for every person, then if those people go to hell,

Jesus failed in that case. And I said, hmm, how's Greg going to answer that one? And Greg didn't answer that one and no one's ever answered that one because it can't be answered.

But I remember a time when Brother Rocky was a three -point Calvinist, when I first met him in 1979 or 1980.

So as you grow, that's when you met him, I didn't meet him that time because I didn't go that time, but you grow in that area.

Brother Russell, would you find out a way to give us a little air, please, cold, not hot.

So let's look at this a moment. Now, I'm not as concerned about limited atonement, that's probably the most difficult point of Calvin to come to a place where you can see that, where you say he only died for the elect.

It is true, but if it takes you another 20 years to find it, it's okay with me. But let's look at this one, irresistible grace.

This has been highly unpopular in the church. Because think about what irresistible grace means.

Calvin meant, when he used it, that when God comes upon you and calls you to himself, you will be saved.

Well, the reason man doesn't like that, it tends to violate our will. It tends to violate our freedom of choice.

And man doesn't like to think that God is sovereign. Who was the lady in Brother Otis' class that said,

Brother Otis, I've always known God was sovereign, but I never knew how sovereign he was. You sit under Brother Otis' teaching, you'll know how sovereign he is, won't you?

But he is sovereign, and that plays against man, because man wants to be sovereign. Man wants to be king.

Man wants to be God. And he got that, it rubbed off from Satan, who said,

I will be like the most high God. And man likes to be that way, so irresistible grace does not feel good.

It ought to, but it doesn't. So it's one of the two points that are left off, usually, by most people today in the modern circles.

But let's look at verse 45 a minute and see what it teaches us. It does not matter to me what

Calvin taught or whether you believe what he taught or not, but if you find something in the scripture, then we have to reason together.

Verse 45 says, it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God.

Now, it's talking about, by the way, God's children, the elect. It's not talking about all people, because Jesus said very plainly to a group of people in his day, you have not ears that can hear.

So there are... And then he said, you will not come to me because you are of your father who? The devil.

So there are people who are the seed of Satan. Now, we don't know who they are. I love what Spurgeon said, the great

Baptist preacher of England. He said, and they said, why do you witness then if you believe some people are not elected and they're not going to make it?

He said, because God didn't paint a yellow stripe down the backs of the elect. I don't know who they are, and I'm told in the

Bible to witness to all men. So I do, and I expect them to be saved when I witness to them.

And that ought to be our attitude. But the Bible teaches us very clearly that not all men have ears to hear.

But look what it does say about those who do. Verse 45, they shall all be taught by God, every man.

How many is every in this context? It's talking about this group that hear.

It's not talking about every man in the world, but every man who is in this group that hear, every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned or been taught by the

Father comes to me. That's irresistible grace. It does not leave room for you to decide after the light comes on.

You remember Paul as he walks down that road to Damascus, and he's a God hater. He hates

Jesus Christ. He is killing Christians. He thinks that's God's will for his own life.

And he saw a bright light in the heavenlies, and his immediate reaction was what?

Lord, what would you have me to do? So you see, everyone who sees that light and hears the voice of God says,

Lord, what would you have me to do? It's irresistible. His love is irresistible. His grace is irresistible.

His mercy is irresistible. We don't understand how great his love is.

We don't understand what it means, you can't come to me unless the Father draws you. What does he draw you with? Love, like we've never known except from him.

But in the human circles, love like we don't even understand. Love, Peter didn't understand it in Sunday school class this morning, did he?

He didn't even want to use the word agape love because he said, that's beyond me. And that's what

God does when he shines, when your eyes open for the first time, you see that love.

And those who'd like to be three -point Calvinists would say, and then I decide I don't want it. Nah, don't want that.

That's impossible. You know why it's impossible? You wouldn't have seen it and he wouldn't have shown it to you if you hadn't been known before the foundation of the world.

So irresistible grace is taught very plainly in verse 45. But you know what? Look at verse 41.

What did the Jews do with some of this teaching? Murmured.

Could that really be true? Now, murmuring is kind of quiet under breath, complaining. God hears it loud and clear, but they murmured.

Now, let's move on. You know, the murmurers, the skeptics cannot come to him because the

Father has not drawn them. Jesus taught them that. Why do you think? You think that might make them murmur a little bit?

They say, hey, we're not hearing you. He says, well, I know. It's because you can't hear me.

You can't hear me because you're of your father, the devil. And the Father is not drawing you to me.

Would that make them a little bit upset? Make the hair on the back of their neck stand up a little bit?

Make them sweat in their palms a little bit? Make them want to pick up a stone or two? It did.

Look at verse 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the

Father. Now, let me tell you what this is. These Jews like to think that they had an avenue to God because they were born

Jews, didn't they? A lot of Baptists think that because they're born Baptists and so forth.

But Jesus said, well, let me correct you on something. None of you have ever seen the Father. Your Moses didn't get to see the

Father. There's only one who has ever seen the face of the

Father, and that is me. This teaches the necessity of having a mediator, or as Job called it, a daysman.

Job said in Job 9 .33, neither is there any that daysman betwixt me and God.

He was wrong, and he learned later that there was one. But he felt at that time in his life, there's no one between me and God.

But you know what Job recognized that was good and probably a first step in his being able to understand

God more fully was that he could not just go straight in the presence of God. He said, there is no daysman between me and God, implying that he knew we needed one.

Jesus is the only mediator. Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter, first let's look at chapter 8, verse 6.

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises.

Would the Jews like that if Jesus began to bring that forward? Now turn to chapter 9, verse 11 there in Hebrews.

But Christ being come in high priest of good things to come by greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, not of this world, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkled the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from the dead works to serve the living

God. And for this cause, he is the de -mediator of the

New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the

First Testament, they which are called, that's the effectual calling, that's irresistible grace, might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

So Jesus is the days man and it is necessary that we have one and the

Jews did not like that fact. They didn't like it that Jesus didn't say Moses was the days man.

Moses didn't die for their sins, Jesus was going to. Now they're murmuring still, let's go on to verse 47.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

I told you we would get to eternal security. So this is the fifth great doctrine we've seen already in these few verses, almost that many verses.

Eternal security. Notice that he said he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

He didn't say might get everlasting life. He says might have someday everlasting life.

No, that's not what he said. He said he hath it. That means he already has it now if he has the son.

And notice what kind of life this is called. Everlasting, how long does that last?

Well, let's put it this way, by definition, when does everlasting stop? If it doesn't stop and you already have it, how can you lose it?

Duh, that's eternal security. Now we have many, many people among us today that don't believe that.

The Pentecostals don't believe it. The Methodists don't believe it. Church of Christ don't believe it. Presbyterians do believe it, or they used to, and they still do,

I believe. And the Baptists have always believed it. Hope they always will.

Take the name off the sign if they stop believing that one. Eternal security. He that believes on me has already life that never stops.

I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat man in the wilderness, the Old Testament economy that you're so proud of.

They ate that and guess what? They're dead. You know what? At the time

Jesus said that, they were. They were in Shoal. They were not in heaven with God.

They were in what the Bible calls Shoal, which is the grave. They were in that place where the great gulf is fixed.

Remember the rich man was there and he cried across the gulf to Father Abraham.

But Father Abraham was down there too. Not in the same place.

There was a gulf between it. There was perdition over here where the rich man was.

There was Abraham's bosom, which we call paradise over here. But that wasn't heaven. At the moment

Jesus said this, he said, your fathers ate bread and manna which you liked because it was a sign that you could see with your eyes and they're dead.

Isn't that amazing? Now they were on hold. They were in a pretty good place.

But they weren't in the heavenlies with God. Because they didn't have the real manna, did they?

And now they don't like the real manna very much, do they? They would rather have a sign that they can see with their eyes than one that they can believe upon and come with and have a relationship with.

This is all a problem and they're murmuring because of this. He says, I am the bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and they are dead. He didn't always preach a popular message, did he?

This is the bread which came down from heaven. He was probably pointing to his breast when he said that.

This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die.

You see, eternal security is placed both in the positive and in the negative here. In the positive, he says you have life that cannot stop.

In the negative, he says you cannot die. Verse 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If any man eat this bread, he shall live forever.

He puts it back in the positive again. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the cosmos.

God's orderly arrangement, which includes his elect. Now, when he starts talking about this eating of the bread, look what happens.

He mentions it here in verse 51. What he is about to teach, and you'll see it as we go into verse 52 and 53 in a moment, is the necessity of the indwelling of the

Spirit of Christ. If he is not in us and we not in him, there is no salvation.

Because salvation is only in Christ. When he says, I'm going to give you a physical example.

Remember, we started this whole message out way back up in the passage where he said, to drink is to believe and to eat is to come with me.

Remember that? If you don't get that, you've missed this. He gives a physical example. He said, it's like if you could eat me.

It's like if you could eat my flesh so that I go inside of you and I'm digested and become part of your cells.

It's like that. It's not what happens, but that's the closest physical example

I can give you of what it's like spiritually. It's like I become a part of you because you eat me. They said, ah, that's disgusting.

The Jews therefore strove. Now, on the left side of your column now, put number two. The second response of the people to this strong doctrine is they debated.

Now, we've moved from murmuring, which is a quiet, I don't know if that's true or not. I can't be.

How can that be? I don't know. I'm not going to say anything about it, but I'm going to let it be known by my accountants and my body language that I don't agree with this.

They've moved from that to debating. This can't be true. You think it's true?

Explain to me why you think it's true. Well, I think it's true because Jesus said, well, who is he? He's got a mother and a daddy. I saw his father's

Joseph or something like that. Married. Can't be him. Striving together.

Now, this doctrine is creating fighting in this group. Does that ever happen today?

Nah, nah, it never happened. Not among Christian people. So I'm glad that we are enlightened and have changed from this day because back then they murmured and debated.

They strove among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Kind of reminds you of, how can a man go back up in his mother's womb and be born again?

Physical. They're thinking physical. No, today we think our children are literal. You know, they think they can't get into the abstract when they're, you know, grow up a little bit, go through school a little bit, basically get into geometry, right?

Isn't that about it? They start learning to think abstractly right there. Well, people were this way in Jesus' day.

The Jews had been programmed to think physically. Everything in the Old Testament is a physical religion at all.

What they did not know is those were pictures for us today in the last days to look at and see the spiritual truth.

So they focused on the physical. They missed God because they were so focused on the tabernacle.

I mean, that's just how they were. And here they are. He says, eat my flesh. And that's how you'd be saying, oh, how can we eat him?

Because, you know, they don't see any spiritual thing from it at all. So they begin to debate.

Then Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you figure out what I'm talking about, you're going to go to hell.

I didn't word it in Texan like that. He said it more like this, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood.

You have no life in you. And if you have no life in you, when you take your last breath, you're in trouble.

Because you can't generate yourself or regenerate yourself. You cannot bring your life back again because you have no life in and of yourself.

So unless you eat my flesh, which means to what? What did he already tell him?

Come with me and drink my blood, which means what? Believe in me.

Then you have no life. Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood has.

Doesn't say you might get someday. It says you have right now eternal life.

Why? Because Christ is in you. If you have spiritually eaten

Christ's flesh and drank his blood spiritually, which means you have partaken of Jesus Christ, you have invited him into your life, you've received him into your heart, the deepest part of you said,

I want you to come and live there. Take control of me. I'm not a good boss for myself. I want you to be my

Lord. Lord, what would you have me to do? And the Bible says he instantly indwells your body. He is now in you as if you had eaten him physically and it had become part of the cells of your body.

He becomes part of you spiritually. He is connected never to be disconnected. And when you eat of him and drink of him, you become one with him.

And even though you still don't have life in yourself, you're attached to his life and wherever his life goes, your life is with him forever.

Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood has eternal life. And I will, didn't say

I might, I will raise him up the last day, eternal security. For my flesh is food indeed, spiritual food.

My blood is drink indeed, spiritual water. He that eateth my flesh, he that comes to me and has a relationship, a walking, a day -to -day walk, and he that drinketh my blood, he that believes in me dwelleth in me.

And here's how I know all this stuff I'm saying is right, because it's where I got it. I just read ahead of you. I was already to verse 56.

He dwells in me and I in him. That shows we're talking about the spiritual. This dwelling, this word meno in the

Greek language means to abide within. And so here we see the doctrine of teaching the necessity of the indwelling spirit of Christ and they murmured and debated.

First, let me see if you're up with me first. On your doctrinal side, the right hand side, number one, the fact that Jesus is the only door, the exclusivity of true biblical

Christianity of our Christ. Number two, the effectual call.

Number three, irresistible grace. Number four, the necessity of having a mediator or a daysman.

Number five, eternal security. And we just finished number six and the necessity of the indwelling

Christ. Now we can move on. You're caught up with me on the left hand side. You only have two things.

You have murmuring and debating. So let's go see if there's anything else on this plate.

Look at verse 57 as the living father had sent me and I live by my father.

Now, isn't that fascinating? Does this not teach the importance? Yes, we understand the oneness and the unity of God.

But does this not teach the importance of understanding the triunity of God that there is a

Jesus Christ? There is a son of God. And there are times as we study the scripture and study

God himself and try to know him more that we are to think of him as the son, not just as one

God that's there. But we are to focus on the aspect of God that we know as the son of God.

And this shows a difference. I mean, there is a unity and a sameness and a oneness, but there is a difference.

The son says that he lives by the father. The father never says he lives by anything.

He is self -existent. Now, it's interesting that Jesus in one place in his life said,

I can raise it. They take my life away. I raise it up again. But why did he say he could do that? Because he said it is given unto me by the father, didn't he?

So I live by my father. But now look at this. So he that eateth me, he that comes to me, he that has a relationship, a walking relationship, a real vital relationship with me, even he shall live by me.

Have you ever wondered why it is some Christians look dead in their life? They quit coming to church.

You don't know if they're praying or not, but you assume if they can't do the easy part, which is coming to church, they're probably not praying as much anymore.

And you know they're not in the word anymore because of their language. And they look dead to you.

Do you know why that is? Because they were taught a salvation that said, dear Jesus, come to my heart and say me amen, and then belief is all of it.

Belief is all of salvation. Belief is not all of salvation. Relationship now is a huge part of salvation.

That's why we teach a past salvation, a present tense salvation, and a future tense salvation.

It's not just a past. You know, Baptists love to say when and where. Well, 46 million years ago, I prayed and asked

Jesus in my heart in a coffee shop that day. That's my salvation. Yeah, and that's about it for most people.

A lot of Baptists, that's about it. It was an experience that happened 20, 30 years ago. But the vibrant Christians that you look at and you say, man, he's alive.

This person has an abundant life. That's a person that didn't just drink. He's also been eating. He didn't just drink the life.

He's been eating the bread today. Do you know if you don't eat it today, you'll be hungry today, even though you ate it yesterday?

Try fasting three days. I challenge you. Do a spiritual thing and fast for three days.

I'm not kidding here. Try it. Fast for three days and don't do anything but eat. Drink some juice.

You know what you'll do? That third day, you'll walk by a banana and think that's angel food cake.

Hallelujah. Now, yet we think we can go four or five days without this.

This is the spiritual food and it is a huge part of our present tense ongoing salvation.

He says you have no life without it. He that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

Yes, I know we have eternal salvation, but you want to have life now? You want to be vibrant today? Eat the bread today.

You only live by him. Here's what we think. I got saved 2 ,400 years ago.

I read the Bible 1 ,200 years ago and so I'm okay. The thing is we may be saved, maybe, but you are not living a vibrant life today because you only live by me today too, not just yesterday.

Today, if you want to live, you have no life in yourself. That's like a slap in the face, isn't it?

No life in yourself. So unless you get some life from him today, you'll have a dead carnal life.

You won't be spirit filled. That's basic and it's taught very clearly in verses 56 and 57.

The word by where he says you live by me is the Greek word dia, which means the channel through which something happens.

You can't have life without the bread. You cannot have it. You don't stay strong very many days.

Three days is about it. You're going to get very weak by that third day. Now, if you cross that line, you might get fast another four or five.

That's because you're so weak, you're dying and even that's too, you're too dead to even know you're hungry. So you can't live very long without this bread.

Same is true spiritually. This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead.

He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now we're at the last one.

And I know you're ready to be there at that place. We are there. But this may be the most amazing.

The last passage teaches the last two of the great doctrines that were mentioned in this passage and the third of the responses.

So let's read through and see if we spot it. Verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.

Many therefore of his disciples when they heard this said this is a hard saying who can hear it.

What sayings are they referring to right now that you have no life in yourself? Unless you eat and drink meat, you have no life.

His own. Now this is not the lost people. These are the followers, and they say this is a hard saying who can hear it.

Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured. Now they're murmuring.

His followers are murmuring. So can it happen in church? Yes. He said unto them, doth this offend you?

Can church people be offended by something the preacher says or the teacher says? Are that any of you say if you give them a doctrinal truth?

Can they be offended by scripture? Yes. Yes, very, very much so.

They murmured and he said, Jesus said, you're offended. I mean, how do you like to have Jesus reading your heart and saying you're offended?

He said, oh, no, no, you're offended. Oh, no, no, I'm not offended. I just I just don't understand.

See, we never will admit when we are offended. Jesus knew that they were.

And he says, what and if you shall see the son of man ascend up where he was before? Well, he piles it on sometimes, doesn't he?

They get offended by a little doctrine in their view. I can't understand how can we eat his flesh?

They get offended by that. He piles on another one says, I'm God. He says, there's never been a time when

I didn't exist. He says, well, what if you see me go back where I was before?

Well, how many of them were anywhere before they were born? None of them. But he was.

He's the everlasting. Eternal son of God. And he told him that right there in that verse, he said, you want to be offended?

Let me tell you who I am. I'm God in the flesh. And I've always existed. And I can read your thoughts right now.

You're murmuring in your thoughts. You're offended at me. It was what he was saying. So now we have the deity of Christ and the preexistence of Christ taught in this first very strong doctrines.

And what's the effect of murmuring? Verse 63. Is it the spirit?

It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

They're offended. Because they thought this was too hard.

They are offended by the exclusivity of Jesus's way. They're offended by the lack of effectiveness of their outward religion.

They're offended by the fact that it's all about a personal relationship with a person.

So the deity of Christ is mentioned. It goes on. It mentions his omniscience, his omnipotence in verse 64.

But there are some of you that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not who should betray him.

That's omniscience. Verse 65. And he said, therefore, said I unto you that no man can come to me except it were given of him by the father.

We've already covered that one. He comes back in verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back.

Now, what does verse 65 cover? We actually listed it under a different topic. So I'm going to list it as number eight under your doctrines.

Did you get number seven? Number seven was deity of Christ and his preexistence. Number eight now is election and predestination.

Now, this is the last of the last. And look what their response is. He says in verse 65.

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

He's already said that once. Now he says it again. And look at what the people do. Verse 66.

From that time. Not from the time when he talked about his deity, not from the time when he talked about the exclusivity of it.

It is the only way not from those time. But from the time he said, you can't come to me unless the father draws you from that time.

The disciples went back and walked no more with him. That's sad.

So can strong doctrine cause division in a church and cause people to leave and go somewhere else where they don't have to hear it?

It most certainly can. It did then. Two thousand years ago, it did. And Jesus was a pretty good preacher.

But they left him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve.

Will you leave also? You know, Brother Bill could have sat up here this morning with the twelve and said, teaching pretty strong stuff.

You'll be back next Sunday or go find a church where you can get whatever you want. Rah, rah. Feel good.

Success living. They'll tell you, you'll be wealthy if you just give me a little bit of your money. You can go get that.

But I tell you what, strong doctrine can cause people to go away.

Will you also go away? Now, look at this last idea here. But what about the ones who don't?

What's the effect on them? Then said Simon Peter unto him, Lord, where would we go?

It's not that he might not be thinking about going away. Peter certainly is almost too truthful for his own good.

When he talks, he opens his mouth, he gets in trouble. Good lesson for all of us, isn't it? He said, well, you know,

Lord, you know, we might think about going away. But he said, well, where would we go? That's not quite the same as saying, oh, no,

Lord, we'd rather stay with you because you're God and we love you. We couldn't even think of going.

He said, you're the best we got. That's what he said. Where would we go?

You have the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure what better definition of belief is this, we believe and are sure that thou art the

Christ, the son of the living God. This is peace to you. We believe we're persuaded and are sure.

Genesco, which means we have certain knowledge that you are the son of God.

Jesus said to him, have not I chosen you twelve and want to use the devil? He's testing him.

He said, well, you know, do you think maybe I messed up there? I chose one that's not so good.

Peter said, no, you're the one. You're the one. And he spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him being one of the twelve.

So that's where that chapter stops. We have eight great doctrines that were listed there.

When the last one, the doctrine of election and predestination was mentioned, many of his own disciples turned and walked with him no more.

That means never again. Never went to church with him again, never saw him again, never fellowshiped with him again because of that one doctrine.

But the ones who were abiding in Christ, what was their response? We can't leave even if there's no worldly success, even if there's no great following.

You see what God did to these people, don't you? He whittled it down and got rid of all the shaft, brought it right down to the place where there were basically 12 of them.

They'd had 25 ,000 the same day. Now they're down to 12.

So they don't have worldly success. They don't have a huge group which spells worldly success.

They are not popular. And he is not going to set them free from Rome. They have no physical worldly gain.

Now, where are they in their life? They're the place where all they could say is, you have the words.

You're the bread. You're the bread. So we're staying.

It may well be that God is doing that in our churches today. It may well be.

This is not the only group. It's a small group that came from other large churches. There's a little group in Mahea just like this one that came out from a big successful church.

And they're having church in a house this morning together. There are churches like that all over this country probably that have.

I met a man on the internet just last week that's going through the same thing out in California. But you know what?

You get the place where you know he's the bread. You don't need what your eyes can see. You don't need all the trappings, the religious trappings.

You have the bread. You have life. Let's stand and pray together. Father, we thank you so much for your word.

For if we'll walk through it rather than running through it. If we'll just walk slowly through your word.

We can find multitudes of doctrinal teachings in a small passage. We can find multitudes of lessons in everyday life by watching how the people responded in just a small number of verses.

We can find the power behind the universe in just a verse or two.

We can find out about your great love. We can find out about your great strength and life that you give us when we partake of you.

Help us, Father, to go from here with a keen zeal to want to partake of the bread every day.

The bread of life to read from the word of God, which you said the very words are your spirit and life.

Let us read the word as such and grain gain great strength each day.

Lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you for our fellowship time to come. We ask you to bless our meal in Jesus name.