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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