John 6:28-34

It's been a while since we've been in John. I

'm just going to want to set the

setting for you. If you remember Jesus had bed

what was over

25,000 people when you include women and

children here in John chapter 6 and

the next day after Jesus remember had walked

on the water and all of that and then they go

to the other side of the lake will

The crowd is just overwhelmed with what they

had experienced and so you remember they went

in that little flotilla of boats across the

lake to find

Jesus to find him on the other side of the

lake and there's a lot that happens in this

long

6th chapter 71 verses here in John chapter 6

but the main thrust of this whole chapter is

we've already been learning is

deals with the subject of

true and false

discipleship

Now in this chapter the word that word

Disciple is used and oftentimes when we hear

the word disciple we kind of automatically

equate it with another word for apostle, but

really that word itself really

Disciple means nothing more than a student or

a learner

Or a follower if you came up in the Southern

Baptist Church, you probably went to disciples

hip training

When you were a kid or older

But that's exactly the way we want to approach

this word because some of the disciples of

Jesus in

This text we're fixing to look at and continue

through it's going to take a little while to

get to verse 71

But some of them turned out to be false

disciples as we're going to see

And some of them turned out to be true

disciples

They were all

learners

they all had

some kind of

Prolonged interest in Jesus to varying degrees

they they were following all of them

Jesus for some

prolonged period of time

But by the time you come to the end of this 6

th chapter

It becomes very clear as we're going to see

that some of them were indeed

false

Disciples in fact

most of them

Appeared to be false and out of the number

really it's only some of them

That turn out to be true disciples and this

reminds us of how important it is to

understand this

that all throughout history as

We've seen and as we're going to continue to

see until Jesus returns

We are going to be in the midst of many

false

followers of

Jesus it's just the way that it is

now

eternal judgment is a

frightening thing

For anyone to think about

It really if you start to think about this

subject which most people don't like to think

about and that's good reason why

But if you really start to think about it it

stretches our minds

That subject way past

Our ability to comprehend in so many ways but

eternal judgment

Eternal hell is

most

Severe and we've looked at this before

for those

Who know the truth in this life and

Rejected

It's less severe

Though it will be an eternal judgment for

those who never heard it

We'll be judgment for them because Romans 1

tells us they have enough

Revelation to be held accountable

But it'll be less severe for those who never

knew or understood the truth and while it's

most severe for those who know

Christ and rejecting

Let me tell you this

Those who claim to follow Christ and

In some measure to some degree in their

lifetime do follow Christ

including especially

People in leadership men in leadership and

then

They turn their back in this lifetime and they

walk away

From Christ after having followed him and

professed him and even possibly been in his

ministry

They will find that their eternal judgment

will be the most severe of

all

As I've told you probably many times

He gave me a choice

Who would I rather be on judgment day a

serial killer or

A man who made money off of Jesus with a huck

ster ministry who was really not a Christian

I'll be that serial killer every single time

The Bible is loaded with warnings

Loaded for any would-be defectors of the faith

for for everyone to read all about it

and

It's really sad that there are people right

now who are literally building their religious

houses on sand and

Those houses collapse in on them even before

judgment comes

Jesus said this

and

That's a big if if

you

Continue

In my word and the thought there is a

continuous continuous continuous if you

continue in my word

Then are you?

My disciples indeed and put that with another

verse

That you continue in my word and you persevere

to the end

Are you my disciples indeed and so as I said?

This chapter focuses on

this issue

These people in Galilee have not only seen but

I want you to remember this

They have participated in this

astonishing miracle of Jesus

feeding

25,000 people

with just a little bit of food and

Nobody is saved by simply

Believing in the works of Jesus just that you

you must believe in his works

Of course, you you must believe that he was a

miracle worker

You you must believe that he also is

Who his works declare him to be who else could

he be feeding 25,000 people at one time

Who else could that possibly be but I'm here

to tell you that's not enough

and

so in this sixth chapter

You not only have these great and astonishing

miracles that

demonstrate who he is but

More importantly, you have his words

Jesus gives this great sermon here in this

chapter from verses 32 to 59. We'll look a

little bit at it today

great sermon on

the bread of

Life right after he feeds bread to all these

people and what it means

This sermon what it means

To believe in Christ is what we're going to

get into

Believing in just the miracles of Jesus doesn

't save anybody

Every person has to believe in the words of

Jesus what he did

Validates who he is what he says though

That's the means of salvation and that's why

in this chapter

It's the it's the words of Jesus that are

really

Preeminent we're gonna get to a section here

in John 6 coming up pretty soon

that's really

fly over land for a lot of

Preachers we're gonna start getting into

No one can come

Unless

The father draws him

Now if you understand that biblically that

that brings you great comfort

But for some it's just nothing but

Absolute controversy, and they don't want to

deal with it

Everybody believed in the miracles back then I

Witnesses I mean

Every there was nobody that denied them. I've

told you this many times the Pharisees

Didn't deny the miracles not one time in the

pages of scripture. Do you find the Pharisees

denying the miracles of Jesus? You couldn't

They were just too breathtaking

True disciples believe them false disciples

believe them everybody believed them

You couldn't be denied but but everybody did

not believe in

the words of Jesus

That right there is what separated the true

from the false

His words

Now so far we've been working our way in this

sixth chapter of an outline of the

Characteristics of a false disciple and you're

not gonna remember my last couple of summons

from John and this outline

So I'm gonna remind you about it to build up

to where we're going to the next point today

But as I say it it may trigger your memory

first

We saw that false disciples are attracted to

the crowd remember that

The truth in true now false disciples are

attracted to

Superficially took to Christ by a crowd and a

crowd attracts a crowd and it still does and

then secondly

They are fascinated by the promise of the

supernatural back then Jesus delivered on the

supernatural and today

It's astonishing to me every time I see it

whether it's a miracle healing on TV or a

higher level of fulfillment in life or

Prosperity in your bank account for people

today just a possibility of maybe engaging

with the supernatural even though these

Huxters can't deliver that's another

attraction to people over and over and over

again. It's so funny how it only

Happens for the guy up there collecting all

the money

Thirdly, we saw that false disciples think of

only earthly benefits

This crowd who got fed

Remember, what did they do? They tried to

force Jesus to become king so that they could

get all that permanent meals on wheels deal

That's what they were looking for

Fourthly false disciples have no desire for

true worship

True worship is not on their agenda

today oh

Folks will flock to churches for what is

called worship, but they're coming for the

show

They're coming from the outstanding musicians

and the lights and the music and all of the

rest

But it's not true worship from the heart

through the mind

According to scripture alone directed solely

at the glory of God. It's a show

Fifthly, we saw that false disciples seek

personal prosperity or personal

fulfillment last time we saw how the whole

crowd

Really they were following Jesus. They were

getting in those little boats and they were

going across to see a Galilee

They just wanted to get the next meal

That's what they wanted

It's the temporal appeal

That attracts false disciples and that's where

we left off in verse 27 with these words from

Jesus indicating

That they were only sinking as you look down

in your Bibles there at verse 27 temporal

personal satisfaction on a worldly level, but

look what he tells them in verse 27

Do not work

For the food

Which parishes

You're spending all your energy for something

that's going to burn up with this earth

That's going to perish when your life ends

stop doing that is what he's saying there

Then look next in verse 27

But for the food which endures

To eternal life

Which the Son of man will give to you

for on him

the Father God has set his

Seal and that brings us to verse 28 and our

sixth

Point it's an incredible point

false disciples are so bold

That they actually have the nerve and the gall

to make

demands on

Almighty God

Look in verses 28 to 34 and let's read those

verses together. This will be our text for

today

Therefore they said to him what shall we do so

that we may work works the works of God

Jesus answered and said to them. This is the

work of God

Did you believe in him?

whom he has sent

So they said to him what then do you do for a

sign so that we may see and believe you what

work do you perform our

Fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it

is written. He gave them bread out of heaven

to eat

Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you it

is not Moses who has given you bread out of

heaven

But it is my father who gives you the true

bread out of heaven for the bread of God is

that which comes down out of heaven and gives

Life to the world then they said to him Lord

always give us this

bread

What we're gonna find as we dig into this text

is that

The false disciples who are drawn by

superficial things for personal fulfillment

Will go all the way to the point

Where they will make demands of God

We see this manifested today in the word of

faith movement

The positive confession gospel the health

wealth and prosperity what some call it name

it and claim it theology

They teach that as a Christian you do have the

right to make demands on God as a Christian

If you remember some years back some of you

may remember the American gospel video that we

watched in church together and they had

Examples of that there are loads of

Documentable evidence of leaders in this

movement

Who say don't say God your will be done don't

ever say that

It's not about his will it's all about your

will and God must respond to your will if

You have the right faith

There is power in your words and you can

literally speak your own reality in to

existence in

Jesus name of course

Such terrible teaching this is

That's the direct route of false discipleship.

That's like on I-55 going a hundred miles an

hour

They make demands on God

Let's look at the first demand these people

may in our text look at verse 28

Therefore they said to him what shall we do so

that we may work the works of

God now think about it

He just got finished tell of them

Don't work for what parishes and

What this question is saying back is really

How do we get this power?

How do we do and what do we do to make this

power permanent for us

Very simply what they're saying that Jesus is

we want the power that you've got that's what

they're saying

Remember back in in John chapter 2

Verses 23 to 24 he says

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover

during the feast many

believed in his name

observing his signs

Which he was doing but Jesus on his part was

not entrusting himself to them for he knew all

Men remember that

What did they believe well they believe like

Nicodemus and John 3 we know that you come for

God

Because no one can do this stuff. You're doing

unless God is with him and

That's the same with these people here in our

text for today and John 6

They believe he came from God. It couldn't be

any way else and they believe he had divine

power

There's no other way you can explain what he

did

But not only that they've gotten a taste of

the greatest meal that they ever ate in their

whole life

The day before and nobody has ever seen

anything like this. He created it out of thin

air

25,000 people and what they're saying here in

verse 28 is we want that power right there.

That's what they're saying

read between the lines

they're not asking

For information about works that they can do

to please God. Do you see anything in that

verse right there about that? No

They've got in their minds

They've got that down pat because they have a

highly developed works righteousness system in

Judaism

So they figured they got all that down pat.

They want Jesus to transfer his ability to

them

You hear this from guys like Kenneth Copeland

refro dollar

Benny the Hinn and

Sadly the new head of our White House faith

office Paula White

That's I told you there's gonna be things you

didn't like that the president is doing that's

one of them. We really don't like

Okay, we call it out when it's time to call it

out. She has no business being a pastor period

women can't be pastors read the Bible

Beyond that she shouldn't be in any position

of the authority certainly in the

administration, but I digress

We have these people on video

Saying things like

You are little gods I

Got a video right back there if you don't

believe me you can watch it

And what they're teaching is you have all the

divine power

Just like God you can do what Jesus did you

can create your own world the way that you

want it and let me tell you

The people that that appeals to are just as an

era

Because they're only seeking

Temporal benefits from Jesus when they follow

that kind of false doctrine and it's the same

with these people here in our text

They they are not asking well Jesus what

spiritual things can we do what righteous

deeds?

Can we do they want Jesus's power in the here

and now so that they can fulfill their

temporal desires?

They're very much like Simon Magus. Do you

remember him? I want to draw your attention to

him and acts a as an example of this

The setting here is Philip is in Samaria

And he's preaching and through the power of

God he's doing miracles and signs

Through the power of the Holy Spirit look in

Acts chapter 8 verses 7 through 8

So that's for in the case of many who had

unclean spirits

They were coming out of them shouting with a

loud voice and many had been paralyzed who had

been paralyzed and were lame

Were healed so there was much rejoicing in

that city and of course that power

That Philip had had been delegated from Christ

through the Apostles and those who represented

him had that power and and they

They knew that

But look next in verse 9 and 10

Now there was a man named Simon

Who formerly was practicing magic in the city

and

astonishing the people of Samaria

Claiming to be someone great and

They all from the smallest to the greatest

were giving attention to him saying this man

meaning Simon is

What is called the great power of God?

So you see here by the fact that they gave him

that title and they made some kind of icon out

of him that they were all

captivated by this notion that

Somebody could possess this power of God, but

this guy Simon was a deceiver

He was a magician looking verse 11 and

They were giving him attention

Because he had for a long time

astonished them with his magic arts and

This is kind of like the stuff we have. We

have some very clever

Magicians today. I don't know if you've ever

watched any of these modern-day guys

I mean the David Copperfield. Yeah, he was

pretty but you ever watched David Blaine ever

see that guy ever see Chris Angel

I mean these guys are doing things the far

beyond what I the magicians

I used to see as a kid and look unless

something is demonic is going on with some of

these tricks that they do and it very

Well, could be but there's there's if it's not

that then then then it's a very high level of

being a magician

What you see today, but look at verse 12

But when they believe Philip preaching the

good news about the kingdom of God in the name

of Jesus Christ

They were being baptized men and women alike.

Look at this verse 13 even Simon himself

believed the magician

Simon believed

But as we will see

He's gonna turn out to be a believer

Like the people of chapter 2 is the

superficial kind of belief

He's attaching himself look next in verse 13

and after being baptized

He continued on with Philip and as he observed

signs and great miracles taking place. He was

Constantly amazed so look think of this. He

gets baptized. He professes faith. He

continues on with Philip

He's kind of a disciple at this point

But what is it that's drawing him as he

observed it says signs and great miracles

taking place

He was constantly amazed now. Why was Simon

the magician?

Constantly amazed because he knows the

difference between supernatural power and

deception

Because he knows deception better than anybody

He constantly did it and he could tell what

they were doing was not sleight of hand, right

?

Now further down here in Acts 8 it talks about

Peter and John coming and laying hands on

people and praying for them

And then they received the Holy Spirit

probably Pentecost repeated. We've seen that

before but look in verse 18 now

When Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed

through the laying on of the Apostles hands

He offered them money

So Simon saw that when the Apostles went and

laid hands on people

It's not like when Benny the hen does it fall

out on the floor and start shaking all around

Simon saw there was this transfer of power.

And so he reasons to himself if it can be

Transfer this power to other people. Maybe I

can get the power and

Maybe I can buy it from them

Maybe I can offer him money

Tells you about the world that he operated in

was not a spiritual world, but a very carnal

war look in verse 19

He says this give this authority to me as well

so that everyone whom I

Lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit,

but he didn't want the invisible part

He only wanted the visible phenomena that

occurred look at verse 20

Peter steps up like a man

But Peter said to him may your silver perish

with you because you thought you could obtain

the gift of God with money

You have no part or portion in this matter for

your heart is not right before God

therefore

Repent of this wickedness of yours and pray

that the Lord that if possible the intention

of your heart may be

Forgiving you for I see that you are in the

gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniqu

ity

And Simon withers at that point verse 24

But the Simon answered and said pray to the

Lord for me yourself so that nothing of what

you have said may come upon me

I mean, it scared him half to death. Why?

Because he knew they had the power

God

When the real

Power of God was on display

Simon wanted to buy it and when he saw that it

could be transferred. He thought it was this

is a transferable commodity

I got to get this whatever the price and there

's an old story about Charles had in Spurgeon

Spurgeon's ministry is incredible. I

Really need you read a biography of Spurgeon.

I think I have some in my library an

incredible ministry

That the Prince of Preachers as he's called

Had and it's really crazy that in the 1800s

his fame went all over this world because he

was such a

Tremendous tremendous preacher where word had

gotten to PT Barnum of Ringling brothers Barn

um and Bailey Circus here in America

about this great preaching ministry of

Charles had in Spurgeon and how many thousands

of people were constantly coming in the London

Times they they printed

Hadn't Spurgeon's sermons in the newspaper. It

was just really incredible for the time

So so PT Barnum figured hey, it'd be a great

idea if I could get Spurgeon over here

With my traveling circus and I could get him

to preach at the same time and we could make

all this money

So he sends a telegram over to Spurgeon and

giving him this great plan of how much money

could be made

And he could go all around the United States

and be able to preach the gospel to all these

people and think of the money

Both of the committee and Spurgeon sent a tele

gram back

Verse 20 may your silver

Parish with you because you thought you could

obtain the gift of God with money in

Telegram

So back to John 6

That's the same thing that was in the minds of

these people

Give us the power

That we may work the works that you do Jesus

Well, the answer was no and

Jesus of course as always gives a very

interesting answer look at verse 29 for it

Jesus answered and

Said to them this is the work of God

That you believe in him

whom he has sent

You know what that means

Folks the only miracle parallel that you're

gonna be getting is faith

If you get it

Saving faith the only miracle power that you

will experience here is to believe

That's the only work of God that you're gonna

possibly know and that is a miracle

That is the work of God when any person

Exercises saving faith in the Lord Jesus

Christ. We're gonna see later down in verse 44

. I alluded to it earlier

Jesus says no one can come that's ability. No

one has the ability to come to me unless the

father who since me draws him

That's very clear language. You can't come to

Jesus and believe unless the father

Draws you just like he did me just like he did

you if you're saved

There are miracles that happen in the world

today

every single solitary time a person

Exercises saving faith after hearing the

gospel and they are regenerated and granted

the gifts of repentance and faith

That is a miracle if you know me before that

happened to me

You would say that is a miracle right there

Regeneration that precedes faith is a miracle

Jesus is saying to these people the only work

of God that you must do is to believe

So again what we see here is a demand

These people are demanding the power. They

want the power so that they can control it

their way

They want the power so that they can put that

power into action any way that they want to

this is no

Different from what people are wanting today

and there are plenty of

Religious shysters out there who are offering

it Jesus wants to give you the power to

fulfill all your dreams

And get your breakthrough the man-centered

earthly temporal American dream and with that

power

They they sell them this fiction that with

your word

You have the ability to control your own

destiny in Jesus name, of course

But God's gospel

Says the only miracle power that you can

experience is to believe and

That is a miracle from God

So the answer here in the text is no

No, they're not done. They make a second

demand look next in verse number 30

So they said to him

What then do you do for a sign?

Can you believe that that they even said that

Well, really what they're getting at if you're

not gonna let us do it

Then what can you do?

What are you gonna do if you're not gonna

delegate the power to us so that we can create

food and healing and control our

World look again at verse 30. What then do you

do for a sign so that we may see and believe

you what works?

Are you going to perform literally right there

? What works?

Will you continually perform is more the word

and you think well, wait a minute?

I mean they were just part of him creating all

this food the day before

Did they forget that and

We know it didn't make them believe saving Lee

we've seen evidence of that it proved he was

divine

But it didn't make them believe what they're

saying is okay. If you won't give us the power

Okay, then just continually give us the

miracles

What what what we're asking is a whole lot

more than you've done up to now that was great

for yesterday

But what have you done for me lately?

Basically is what they're saying

And how do we know that how do we know that

well?

Right now they had just showed up for the

breakfast buffet this morning because this was

the next day

Notice verse 31

This is what they say

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as

it is written. Oh, we're gonna quote scripture

, huh?

He gave them bread out of heaven to eat

You know why they said that one simple reason

they are

Minimizing what Jesus did the day before. Oh,

you gave us one meal. Yeah, it was a big one

But Moses fed millions for years and years in

the wilderness

What you did is really not that impressive as

to what Moses did compared to him as it is

written

We have actually the record of God here

providing manna in the wilderness for millions

of years and for many many years in the Old

Testament

So so here he we're just zeroing down into the

real issue

They're just trying to get perpetual food

Remember how hard it was to come by food. I

told you that and then that day and if he won

't give them the power to create it

Then he needs to create it himself constantly

Or they're just gonna keep telling him we don

't believe

Well Jesus responds as he always does

Verse 32 Jesus then said to them truly truly I

say to you it is not

Moses who has given you the bread out of

heaven, but it is my father

Who gives you the true bread?

All they want from Jesus is temporal

earthly

carnal

satisfaction and either he

gives them the power to generate it or

They're gonna make him to be stuck right there

giving it to him permanently and they're never

gonna say ever it's enough to convince us

because remember in Matthew 20 or Matthew 12

verse 39 Jesus says an

evil and

adulterous generation craves for a sign and

So with that very strong emphasis here in

verse 32

Jesus says truly truly I say to you it is not

Moses

Who has given you the bread out of heaven?

It wasn't Moses

As long as you're gonna be quoting scripture,

why don't you go ahead and quote Exodus 16 for

Correctly, how about let's start with that

because it says the Lord said to Moses. I will

rain rain bread down from heaven on you

Moses what in the source of the bread?

The father was the source of the bread so

Jesus is saying let's get that straight

Hebrews 3 3 says of Jesus for he has been

counted worthy of more glory than Moses

And that doesn't send them into apoplexy

anytime they thought of that and so they're

here trying to

Diminish Jesus to make him less than Moses

Because they say well Moses gave us man up for

millions for years and years and

Jesus said hey, man

Moses didn't give you nothing

He didn't have anything to do with creating

that manna Moses couldn't have created that

manna all

Moses did was organized the collection. It's

like he's working at Mary's house of bread.

That's all he's doing

God was the source of the food and

Then Jesus says in verse 32 it is my father

who gives you the true bread out of heaven

The father gave the physical bread in the

wilderness, and it is my father then he goes

further that offers you

the true bread

What's the true bread quick scan skip down to

verse 35 Jesus says I am the bread

Verse 48 I am the bread of life verse 51. I am

the living bread

My father gave that Old Testament

Generation bread from heaven and guess what

that entire generation died every single one

of them assumed room temperature

They all died in the wilderness

Including Moses himself that physical bread

couldn't prevent death

But the bread of God

Look next in verse 33

But the bread of God is that which comes down

out of heaven and gives life

To the world God gives the true bread out

heaven

I am the bread and the bread of God. It doesn

't just give no biological life. It gives

spiritual life

Eternal life your forefathers got the physical

bread from nourishment

But they all died and they never even entered

into the Promised Land not one of them, but my

father gives you the true bread

Me he's saying and when you eat the true bread

You get to go to the eternal Promised Land

And you get to live in the eternal Promised

Land

Forever man who was for life in the here and

now the true bread is for eternity future the

words of Jesus here are so clear

And he's gonna go on

To expand on this this great sermon of the

bread of life

But they are still stuck on their demands look

next in verse 34

Then they said to him Lord always give us this

bread

It's still the physical you're not getting it

man

You won't give us the power then give us the

bread always all the time

Let me tell you that's the superficiality and

shallowness of the false followers of Jesus

They are curious self-centered

Who continue to tell Jesus what they want when

they want and how they want it if they're

going to believe him

He's gonna have to operate on their command

Seekers of personal satisfaction

Who see God as their personal servant oh so

many that make me sick to my stomach that act

like

Jesus is some kind of genie just because you

say some magic faith words

And there's some kind of power in your stupid

words to give them what they want

It's the six characteristic of a false

disciple

now

Real quick. I'm just gonna introduce the

Sabbath

And then we're gonna close because I can't I

don't have time to go into all of this

seventh month

false disciples do not find their

satisfaction in the

person of Christ

So important next verse

35 and 36 Jesus said to them I

Am the bread of life

He who comes to me will not hunger and he who

believes in me will never

Thirst but I said to you that you have seen me

and yet you do not

believe

What's the interest of the false disciple?

It's what Christ can provide

It's not Christ himself

Not for the false disciple false disciples do

not

Find their satisfaction in simply the person

of Christ

Only true disciples find their satisfaction in

the person of Christ later in this chapter

many of the disciples

Can't handle the words of Jesus. They can't

have they can't handle no man can't come to

the father

Except the father who sent me jaws him

And what do they do we're gonna see it?

They're out of there

They turn and they leave and Jesus looks at

the 12

And he says you too will not go away. Also,

will you?

And great response

They give the only right answer

To who shall we go?

Who else are we going to go to?

You and you alone have the words of eternal

life and we believe and are

Sure that you are the holy one of God

When you examine Jesus is that your answer I

pray

That it is

Because it's all about him

It's not about us

And we'll get into more of this the next time

we study this amazing chapter of John

Yes, let's pray rather. We thank you

Every single

Fillable in this book is yours, but this this

gospel of John is just amazing because we have

the first-hand account of Jesus himself

In word and in thought and indeed and it is so

incredible to study Jesus. There's no subject

Matter greater. There's no person greater than

we can study and I pray that today

That your people have received a deeper

understanding of the person of Christ

And if there are any here who have not bowed

the knee to him in saving faith

I pray that you would use the miraculous power

of the Holy Spirit combined with the word

preached

To bring another into your family. We pray we

have honored you today. We pray we have rever

enced you today

We pray from your church because it's your

church. You have received all the glory

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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