35

John 6:41-51 BELIEVING GODS RECORD OF HIS SON

Introduction:

In our text last Sunday Jesus informed the people that

He had come down from heaven and that He had come down to do

the will of God the Heavenly Father. He informed them that

it was the Father's will that of all the people which the

Father had given Him, He should not lose nothing. He said

that anyone who would come to Him for salvation He would

raise up at the last day.

In our text today the Jews murmur against Jesus and

Jesus rebukes them and answers their complaint against Him.

I. The murmuring of the Jews

V. 41, "The Jews then murmured at him, because he said,

I am the bread which came down from heaven." It appears

that there was a lull in the conversation between Jesus and

the multitude at this time. During that lull the Jews began

to murmur and complain about Jesus. They were not really

complaining to Him, tut they were complaining about Him.

They had two chief complaints. They complained because

Jesus had told them that He came down from heaven and they

complained because He said that He is the true Bread from

Heaven. He had told them that Moses did not give their

forefathers the true bread from heaven. He said that He is

the true Bread from Heaven.

Their reasoning was altogether from the worldly point of

view. V. 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?" They knew nothing

about Jesus being born of a virgin. They knew Mary, the

mother of Jesus and they knew Joseph, her husband. They

assumed that Joseph was actually the earthly father of

Jesus. Thinking that Joseph was the father of Jesus, they

said to one another, "How can He say that He came down from

heaven? We know where He was born. We know his father and

we know His mother. How in the world could He come down

from heaven? How could He expect us to believe such a

thing?"

II. The effort of the Father to draw the lost to Jesus

V. 43, "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,

Murmur not among yourselves." Jesus said, "Stop your

murmuring! Stop your gripping! Stop your complaining and

stop jumping to the wrong conclusions. Just let me

explain."

V. 44, "No man can come to me, except the Father which

hath sent me draw him..." In other words, no man is

naturally inclined to come to Jesus and believe in Him.

Only those who yield to the drawing of the Father will come

to Jesus.

Let me point out to you that Jesus is not at all saying

that God the Father has picked out a certain few and that

those few are the only ones whom He draws to Him. Jesus

later says in John 12:32 that He draws all men unto Him.

Since Jesus draws all men to Himself, we can be sure that

the Father draws all men to Him. I cannot believe that the

Father draws only a few men to Jesus but Jesus draws all men

to Him. They always work in harmony and draw the same

people to Him.

He is simply saying that He will save every one who does

respond to that drawing and who comes to Him trusting Him

for salvation. (V. 44), "...and I will raise him up at the

last day." He would save everyone who comes to Him. He

will also keep him saved and will raise Him up in the last

day.

He explains further. V. 45, "It is written in the

prophets, And they shall be all taught of God..." Jesus

refers to an Old Testament Scripture which says that the

time would come when all the people would be taught by God,

Himself, speaking of God the Father, Himself. Jesus is

saying that this Scripture foretold of that very period of

time in which He was living here on earth.

The Scripture to which Jesus refers is Isaiah 54:13. It

reads, "And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD..."

I want you to note that word "all" because I want to refer

back to it later.

What Jesus is saying is that this Old Testament prophecy

looked forward to the time of the coming of the Christ and

of the witness which God the Father would give concerning

His Son. Back in chapter five in verses thirty-six through

thirty-nine, Jesus told this people that He had a greater

witness than John the Baptist. He told them that God the

Father had born witness of Him that He is the Son of God.

He named three different ways that God the Father had born

witness that He is the Son of God. First of all, He had

spoken from heaven when Jesus was baptized and said plainly,

"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." That

Son is Jesus. Secondly, by the miracles that God the Father

had empowered Jesus to do, He had born witness that Jesus is

His Son, the Christ. Thirdly, Jesus told the people to

search the Old Testament Scriptures because those Scriptures

testified of Him. Through the Scriptures, God the Father

had given witness that Jesus is His Son, the Christ.

Now let us look back to that word "all." Isaiah 54:13

had foretold that God would teach all the people, meaning

all the people of Israel. In the days of Jesus here on

earth, God the Father did teach all the people of Israel.

Not all heard the Father's voice when He spoke from heaven

and said, "This is my beloved Son." But they all did hear

about the miracles which God enabled Jesus to perform.

Through those miracles, God taught them all that Jesus is

His Son.

Furthermore, all of the Jews were familiar with the Old

Testament Scriptures which identified Jesus as the Christ.

They all heard them read in the synagogues every sabbath

day. They all read or heard those Scriptures read and

through those Scriptures God the Father taught all the

people of Israel that Jesus is the Son of God. Yet even

though God taught them all and through His teaching He drew

them all to believe in Jesus, still not all of them did

believe in Jesus. The great majority still did not believe

in Him. Relatively few believed in Jesus for the salvation

of the soul. But as many as would believe what the Father

said about Jesus would come to Him and believe in Him.

(V. 45), "...Every man therefore that hath heard, and

hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." They must not

only hear, but they must learn what the Father was teaching.

It follows then, that everyone who would not come to Jesus

believing in Him as Savior did not come because they did not

believe God the Father. Listen to 1 John 5:10-11, "...he

that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he

believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this

is the record, that God have given to us eternal life, and

this life is in his Son."

V. 46, "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he

which is of God, he hath seen the Father." Now those people

had not personally seen God the Father. Jesus was the only

person in all that great big crowd who had personally seen

God the Father. He was the only person on earth who had

seen the Father. He had seen the Father because He had been

in Heaven with the Father. Yet the people had all received

the witness of God the Father that Jesus is the Son of God.

They had not all believed God, but there was still

opportunity for them to change their minds and to accept the

witness of God the Father. There was still opportunity for

them to accept the truth that Jesus is, indeed, the very Son

of God the Savior of the world. In an effort to persuade at

least some of them to change their minds and believe in Him

Jesus dangles before them an incentive for them to trust Him

and be saved. V. 47, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He

that believeth on me hath everlasting life."

I hope that every unsaved person in this building today

would respond to that same incentive and turn to Jesus

Christ today for salvation. I wish everybody in the world

would do so.

III. The insistence of Jesus that He is the Bread of Life

V. 48, "I am that bread of life." Jesus goes right back

to the very thing that had offended them. He still seeks to

persuade them of its truth. He is not going to back down

and say, "Well, maybe I was wrong. Maybe I am not the Bread

from Heaven after all." He insists. "I am the Bread of

Life."

V. 49, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness,

and are dead." They did not eat the true bread from heaven.

They ate a bread which did not really give life. It only

sustained life. It only enabled those who were already

alive to live a little longer. But even that was only

temporary. It only sustained life for a little while. They

all died. They all still dead.

V. 50, "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven,

that a man may eat thereof, and not die." Jesus said, "The

true Bread from Heaven does not just sustain life, He gives

life. He gives a brand new life. That is the kind of Bread

that I am. When a man comes to me and trusts in me, I give

him new life. I give a new and different kind of life that

he never had before. Furthermore, when one trusts in me, I

give him a life that will never end. If one eats this

bread, he will never die."

Now Jesus was not saying that one who trusts in Him

would never die the physical death. Rather, He was saying

that even though he does die the physical death, yet He

would still be very much alive spiritually. Listen to what

Jesus said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the

life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet

shall he live." In essence, Jesus is saying, "When I save a

man, he will be saved forever."

IV. The sacrifice which Jesus would make for the unsaved

V. 51, "I am the living bread which came down from

heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:

and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will

give for the life of the world." In this verse, Jesus tells

how He will sacrifice His own life in order that men may be

saved. Note that He still insists, "I am the Bread of Life.

I am the living bread."

When literal bread is eaten, it is sacrificed for the

benefit of the one who eats it. The bread is eaten and

taken into the body of the eater and gives life sustaining

energies to the eater. In a similar way, Jesus, who is the

spiritual Bread of Life from heaven, would give Himself in

sacrifice for the benefit of those who would believe in Him.

He said, "I will give my flesh, which I will give for the

life of the world." That is, "I will be give my flesh to be

crucified so that the people of the world may have eternal

life."

In order for a man to get the benefit of literal bread,

He must eat of that bread. In order for a lost sinner to

get the benefit of Jesus's death on the cross of Calvary, he

must believe in Jesus. Me must put his faith and trust in

Jesus. He must trust Jesus to save his soul and to give him

that everlasting life.

This is what God the Father was trying to teach these

people in that day. He was trying to teach them that Jesus

is the very Son of God, that Jesus is the Christ of God, the

Savior of the world. God the Father was trying to draw

people to Jesus in order that they might be saved. Not all

would come to Jesus and trust Him for salvation, but Jesus

would save all who would come. He would save them and give

them everlasting life. As the Spiritual Bread From Heaven,

as the Bread of Life from heaven, He would save everyone who

would come to Him with an everlasting salvation. He assured

them that He would raise them up at the resurrection of the

just.

V. The efforts of God the Father to persuade men today to

come to Jesus and trust in Him for salvation

God the Father is still trying to get men, women, boys

and girls to be saved today. He is still trying to persuade

lost sinners that He sent Jesus Christ to this world to save

sinners. He is still trying to persuade the lost to come to

Jesus and place their faith in Jesus. All who will come to

Jesus trusting in Him, still get saved. Every one who comes

to Jesus, Jesus saves.

Conclusion:

Have you ever trusted Jesus for the salvation of your

soul? I am not asking if you have ever been baptized? I am

not asking if you have ever joined a church? I am asking if

you have ever trusted Jesus Christ to save your soul and

take you to heaven?

If you have never done so, would you come today and

trust Jesus to save your soul?