Who Can Listen To It?

Please remain standing, if you would, as we read the Word of God, we'll stand in reverence.

God, reveal your glory through the preaching of your Word. That's our prayer this morning.

We're back in the Gospel of John, John chapter 6, this morning.

John 6 · chapter mention

We'll remain standing as I read from 51 through the end of the chapter this morning.

Jesus says,

And drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said,

This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?

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

Do you take offense at this?

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

It is the Spirit who gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.

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

And he said,

This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.

After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

So Jesus said to the twelve,

Do you want to go away as well?

Simon Peter answered him,

Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.

Jesus answered them,

Did I not choose you, the twelve?

And yet one of you is a devil.

He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

For he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

This is God's word.

If you would, let's be seated and go to him once more in prayer.

Father, it is your spirit that gives life.

The flesh is no help at all.

So we pray now that through the preaching of your word,

that the spirit would give life this morning.

That you would feed us spiritually as we open up your word and feast by faith on the Savior Jesus.

We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

What were you doing ten weeks ago?

It's hard for us to remember what we were doing yesterday,

much less ten weeks ago if you're like me.

But that is what we're asking you to do this morning as we take a pause,

take a break from the book of Psalms,

get out of David's head and place ourselves back in the book of John,

back in John's head this morning.

And I hope that we'll get ourselves caught up quickly this morning.

You may remember John's gospel.

It was written to answer one big question.

Do you remember what it was?

This is the biggest, most important question that anybody in the room could answer,

anybody to settle in their minds.

John writes to answer the question,

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

Not just who do we want him to be,

who do we think that he is,

who is he to me,

but who is he actually,

and how will we respond to who he is?

And so he tells us in chapter 20, verse 31,

this is his thesis statement for the book of John.

He says,

I have written these things that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God,

and that by believing you may have life in his name.

That's the point of the gospel of John.

Life through faith in the Son of God,

Jesus,

Jesus,

the Christ.

And it's not only the point of the whole gospel of John,

it's the point of our passage this morning.

If I had to sum up our passage this morning in one sentence,

I would do it like this.

It said,

Jesus has come to give life to all who believe.

Jesus has come to give life to all who hear his words,

and listen by faith and believe.

But as we see in our text this morning,

not all listen to the words of Christ.

Not all receive him for who he is.

Not all believe what he says.

Ten weeks ago,

we left Jesus in the middle of a conversation.

And Jesus has been explaining how anybody might be saved.

It's not by our doing.

It's not by our natural birth.

It's not by our personal accomplishments.

It's not by anything in us at all.

We are saved simply by hearing and believing the words of Christ.

But some of the words of Christ are not easy to hear.

For example,

our passage this morning,

look there to chapter 6,

verse 51.

Here's what he says.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread,

he will live forever.

And the bread that I will give for the life of the world

is my flesh.

Now when you say something like that,

inevitably there are going to be questions.

And so our passage this morning is structured around three questions.

These are three questions that must be answered

if we are to have spiritual life.

Three questions that must be answered

if we are to have eternal life in Christ.

The first question is asked by the Jews here in verse 52.

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

You know,

sometimes I think we forget that Jesus was a real person.

I just want you to place yourself in this situation for a minute.

How would you respond if you heard somebody say these words?

If I went and stood in Walmart

and stood up and I said these words,

these things that Jesus is saying here,

if anyone eats this bread,

he'll live forever.

And the bread,

by the way,

is my flesh.

How would you respond?

You would ask some questions,

I would hope.

You would wonder,

what in the world is this man talking about?

If anybody eats this bread,

he'll live forever.

The bread he's given is his flesh.

How is he going to give us his flesh to eat?

What does that mean?

This is a rational,

logical question to ask.

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

But Jesus doubles down here in verse 53,

doesn't he?

He says,

truly,

truly,

I say to you,

unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,

unless you drink his blood,

you have no life in you.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

Do we understand this?

That a necessary condition of our salvation,

a necessary condition of our future hope

and our resurrection to come,

is that we would feed and drink

and consume the body and blood of Christ.

You all wonder why sometimes people think

Christians are strange.

We believe some weird stuff,

don't we?

The Bible talks about some very strange stuff.

I mean,

just imagine if you had no knowledge of the Bible whatsoever.

If you're here visiting with us for the first or second time,

just imagine if this is your first sermon that you're sitting through,

and you're like,

y'all eat Jesus.

What does he mean by this?

Is he advocating for some sort of religious cannibalism?

What is this?

How do we eat his flesh?

How can he say this?

Well, to set the record straight,

I hope that it's clear,

I think it's meant to be clear,

Jesus is not speaking in physical terms here.

Nobody in the history of mankind

has ever physically,

actually eaten the body and blood of Jesus.

He's speaking literally.

He means what he's saying.

If you don't eat and if you don't drink,

you have no life in you.

But he's not speaking physically.

And this was the Jews hang up here,

isn't it?

They're seeing and they're hearing,

they're listening to Jesus's words

through a purely physical filter.

And they cannot get past that physical lens

to get to the spiritual point

that Jesus is trying to make.

But as he often does,

this is exactly what Jesus is doing.

He's taking a physical object,

a physical lesson,

a physical experience

that each of us experience day in and day out.

And he's drawing from it a spiritual point.

What's the point?

Verse 55 tells us.

He says,

My flesh is true food.

My blood is true drink.

It's a comparison.

Comparison.

Think about this with me.

Just as physical food,

it gives us physical energy.

So feasting on Christ gives us spiritual energy.

Just as food gives us physical nourishment,

feasting on Christ gives us spiritual nourishment.

Just as food and drink is necessary for physical life,

so this true food is necessary for spiritual life.

If we go physically famished for long enough,

we will die.

If we are spiritually famished,

we will truly die.

Just as food and drink,

it satisfies desire.

It meets a need.

It satisfies a craving.

So feasting on Christ satisfies true desire,

ultimate desire,

ultimate need,

in a way that nothing else ever can.

I wonder if you caught the lesson from your breakfast this morning.

You know,

the way that our bodies crave and desire

and need physical sustenance,

it's meant to teach us of our true need,

not for food,

not for food,

but for true food,

for Christ himself.

Here's one more.

Just as what you eat,

in a sense,

becomes one with you,

you ever heard,

you are what you eat?

It abides in you.

So,

verse 57,

he says,

whoever feeds on my flesh

and drinks my blood

abides in me

and I in him.

Do we realize

what a glorious invitation that is?

if we can,

if we can grasp the depth

of what Jesus is extending to us here,

we are,

we are invited not just to benefit from Christ,

but to share in the very life of Christ.

We're invited not just to receive something from him,

but to be united with him.

He in us

and us in him.

This is,

this is right at the heart of the gospel.

Track with me here.

Because too often we treat our relationship with God

as if we simply receive something from him.

We come to God to get forgiveness.

We come to God to get peace.

We come to God to escape from the wrath of God.

We come to God to escape from hell.

We come to God to get heaven.

These are glorious gifts,

but they are byproducts

of the central gift of the gospel.

You know what it is?

God himself.

That we are united with Christ.

It's union with Christ himself.

This is the only way anyone is saved.

Christ comes down from heaven,

is born in the likeness of man,

lives perfectly where I have failed,

where you have failed.

He dies in our place.

He rises from the grave and says,

if you come to me,

I will take what you have earned.

You can have what I have earned.

Not just have it,

but become it.

2 Corinthians 5, 21.

He made him who knew no sin

to become sin for us,

so that in him,

in him,

we might receive the righteousness of God.

No.

In him,

we might become the righteousness of God.

That's union with Christ.

And this is why Jesus says in verse 57,

as the living Father sent me,

and I live in my humanity,

in the humanity of Christ,

because of his obedience,

I live because of the Father.

So whoever feeds on me,

he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven,

not like the bread the fathers ate,

that manna from heaven and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

The Christians are those who share in the life of Christ.

Why?

Because we are in Christ,

and Christ is in us.

We are one with him.

And so,

because we are one with Christ,

we have peace with God.

God.

Because we are one with Christ,

we have joy that transcends all circumstances.

Because we are one with Christ,

we have forgiveness that he has earned,

not us.

Because we are one with Christ,

we are justified,

declared righteous on his record,

on his merit,

not ours.

Because he is righteous,

not because we are.

Because we are one with Christ,

we will be raised up on the last day

because we share in his life,

his death,

and his resurrection.

Because we are one with Christ,

we have every blessing of the gospel.

Union with Christ is the fountain

from which every other blessing,

every other benefit of the gospel flows.

So how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Well, he does so by dying on the cross.

How can he give us his blood to drink?

He does so by pouring it out on behalf of sinners.

By dying, not for his own sin,

but for the sin of all who will come to him in faith.

How do we receive his sacrifice?

How do we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man?

And we do so by faith.

By feasting on him.

By faith.

John Calvin.

He says,

Faith is the mouth and the stomach of the soul.

If you want to consume,

if you want to receive what Christ has done,

we do so

by coming to him daily

by faith.

Church,

is your soul satisfied in Christ?

Do you seek to satisfy the hunger and longing of your soul

with a life-giving satisfaction of Christ

or with earthly bread?

Do you listen and receive his words?

Do you consume them as life to your soul?

Do you constantly fill yourself

with the body and blood of Christ

broken and poured out for you?

If you don't,

ask God right now to do a work in you.

To cause you to hunger and thirst

for that life-giving sacrifice.

And if you do,

then praise God.

Because that did not come from you.

We see that in our second point this morning.

The second question.

Question number two.

Who can listen to this?

Who can listen to it?

We see this in verses 60 through 65.

His disciples now have a turn to ask a question.

The Pharisees responded.

The Jews responded.

His disciples were listening to his message.

And verse 60 says,

When many of his disciples heard it,

they said,

Jesus,

this is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it?

That's a good question,

isn't it?

Because this message,

this gospel message,

is not naturally comprehended.

The message of the gospel is beautiful,

and it is good,

and it is simple,

and it is true,

and it is offensive to sinful flesh.

Sinful flesh hates what Christ is presenting here.

The very fact that we need salvation

is offensive to a sinner,

isn't it?

Who, me?

I need salvation.

You're telling me I need salvation?

The Jews here,

as they hear this,

they think their standing with God

is clean,

is pure,

is fine,

based on their lineage.

They belong,

they're children of Abraham.

Who are you to tell us

that we need to be saved from anything?

How different is that from anything today?

When we share the gospel with our friends,

with our family,

with our neighbors,

I need to be saved?

Who are you to tell me I need salvation?

It's offensive to sinners like us

that we are all spiritually dead

apart from the grace of Christ.

Jesus says,

unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood,

you have no life in you.

And that's our condition,

apart from Christ.

We can't wrap our minds around this

in our flesh.

How hard is it for somebody

who is living, breathing, thinking, acting, doing,

to tell them you're dead,

spiritually dead,

in the trespasses and sins

in which you walk?

You have no life in you.

Who can hear it?

Not only this,

but the method of receiving salvation

is offensive to sinners like us,

isn't it?

We want to earn our salvation.

If salvation is possible,

we want to play a part

in making it happen for us.

We are far too proud

to receive something freely from God,

so we want to work up our strength,

be good enough,

balance out the scales

in the favor of us

with our deeds,

with our thoughts,

with our actions.

But look what Jesus says.

He says,

whoever believes

has eternal life.

Everyone who looks on the Son

and believes in Him

should have eternal life,

and I will raise Him up.

The beginning and the end

of our salvation

is simply through faith in Christ.

We cannot earn it.

It's offensive to sinners like us.

Not only this,

but the exclusivity of salvation

is offensive to sinners like us,

isn't it?

Jesus says clearly

and without apology,

if you come to me,

you have life.

If you don't come to me,

you have no life.

And there is no third option here.

In North Myrtle Beach,

I was invited,

I was invited to speak one year

at a Lenten service,

a community Lenten service

in preparation for Easter.

And the church had invited

several pastors

from the community

to come speak.

I knew a couple of the pastors.

I knew them well.

I knew that they preached the gospel.

But I also knew

some of the other pastors

that were going to be there

and some of the other churches

that were going to be represented there,

including the church

that was hosting the event.

And I knew that

they were universalists.

Do you know what that means?

Meaning they believe

everyone at the end of the day

goes to heaven.

Everybody,

it doesn't matter

what you believe,

what you do,

what you say,

what you think,

who you follow,

what religion you claim

to be a part of,

who your savior is,

universalists.

At the end of the day,

everybody winds up in heaven.

And so knowing this,

I thought carefully

about the text I would choose

and I landed on Acts 4.12,

which says this,

there is salvation

and no one else.

For there is no other name

under heaven

given among men

by which we must be saved.

I preached on the exclusivity

of salvation in Christ

and Christ alone.

no other name.

Salvation in no one else.

Thankfully,

no one revolted.

I made it safely

to the end of the sermon,

but I was not invited back.

But I hope the message was clear.

Our salvation is,

as the famous

Reformation doctrine summary goes,

is by grace alone

through faith alone,

in Christ alone,

according to the scriptures alone,

to the glory of God alone.

And this is hard

for modern ears to hear,

isn't it?

But modern ears need to know

that we don't get to stand

as judge over the words of Christ.

Do you hear that?

We don't get to stand

as judge over the words of Christ.

Quite the opposite.

Look there to verse 61.

It says,

Jesus, knowing this in himself,

that his disciples

were grumbling about this,

said,

Do you take offense at this?

Then what if you were to see

the Son of Man

ascending to where he was before?

In other words,

you are treating my words

as if they were up

for your examination.

You are treating my words

as if they were on par

with the words of any other man.

You are sifting through them

to see what is acceptable to you

and what is not.

What is up to your liking

and what is not.

What is hard and what is easy.

You are treating my words

as if they were the words

of any other teacher.

If you only knew,

if you could only see

who I was,

who it is that is speaking

these words to you,

you would know that

my words are not subject

to your evaluation.

You don't rule over

the words of Christ.

Christ's words rule over you.

How tempting is it

when we share the gospel

with our friends,

with our family,

to be worried,

so worried about

how it might be received

to the point where

maybe we just soften it up

a little bit.

Maybe we just alter it

just a bit.

Maybe we keep all the good parts

and leave out

all the hard parts.

We try to make it

more palatable for them

so that maybe they would

just come to faith

and get all the hard stuff later.

How tempting is it

even as a pastor

to stand week in

and week out,

open the word of God

and attempt to appease a crowd

rather than deliver

words of life.

Jesus says,

that is not how anyone

will hear my words.

It's not by our curating

of the word of Christ.

How then will we hear

the words of God?

Verse 63.

He says,

the spirit must give life.

The flesh is no help at all.

If you would have spiritual life,

it must come from the giver

of spiritual life.

Your flesh

and all your goodness

and all your efforts

and all your accolades

and all your accomplishments

and all your works

are worthless.

And how does the spirit

give this life-giving

spiritual life

is through

the words of Christ.

Jesus says,

the words that I've spoken

to you are spirit

and life.

But,

Jesus says,

even still,

there are some of you

who do not believe.

Have you ever wondered

why,

how it could be

that two people

can sit in the same room,

listen to the same,

text,

hear the same sermon

in the same place

at the same time,

and one person

receives the word

and the other person

rejects the word.

What's the difference?

What happened to you

when you believed

the word of Christ?

What happened to you?

What happened was

the spirit gave you life.

The spirit,

it says,

no one can come to the father,

no one can come to Christ

unless it is granted

to him by the father.

And if it is granted

by the father,

then at the right time,

at the exact moment,

ordained and arranged

by God

before eternity began,

the spirit will take

the words of Christ,

take them into your ears,

take them into your brain,

take them down

into your heart

where they will be

for the first time

believed and cherished

as life for you.

Do you remember

what that was like

for you, believer,

when that happened to you

for the first time?

I do.

I remember reading

the book of Romans

and all of a sudden

I'm seeing Christ

like I've never seen him before.

All of a sudden

I'm seeing my sin

like I've never seen it before.

I remember studying

the gospel of Mark

with some men

who discipled me

in college

and all of a sudden

I'm hearing things

that I've heard

my whole life.

I'm hearing stories

of Christ

that I've read as a child

up until that point

in my life

but all of a sudden

for some reason

I am seeing

the glory of Christ

like I've never

seen it before.

All of a sudden

this everything

to me,

the spirit

had taken the words

of Christ

and lit them on fire

in my soul.

Has he done that

for you?

That's what has happened

if you are in Christ

but not all belief.

Jesus wasn't guessing

about the spiritual state

of his followers.

He knew

that there were some

there hearing his words

who did not yet

truly believe.

Verse 64

says he knew

from the beginning

who those were

who did not believe

and who it was

who would betray him.

Verse 70

says that he chose

the twelve

knowing full well

that one of them

Judas

would betray him.

this should sober us

church

that we can be

so close

to Christ

we can

be directly

under his word

we can hear it

week in

and week out

claim to be near

to him

and yet not

truly

believe

which leads

to our third

and final question

this morning

question number three

this time

it's Jesus' turn

to ask a question

do you want

to go away

as well?

Look there

to verse 66

it says

after this

many of his disciples

many

not a few

many of his disciples

turned back

and no longer

walked with him

so Jesus said

to the twelve

do you want

to go away

as well?

I don't know

how many

disciples

left Jesus

that day

it seems like

his message

was too much

for them to bear

you know

it's interesting

to me

as I read this

that if Jesus

preached this sermon

at a Sunday service

in a lot of churches

in America today

he wouldn't have a job

on Monday

Jesus

by modern

church standards

church planting

standards

he would be a terrible

church planter

he just drove

the crowds away

didn't he

I think it's clear

Jesus wasn't

interested in

simply drawing

a crowd

he was interested

in delivering

the words

of life

and then putting

the impetus

on us

to say

well what are you

going to do

about it

here's who I am

here's how

eternal life

is given

how will you

respond

we don't get

to judge

the words

of Christ

but we all

must respond

to them

all of us

this morning

have heard

the word

all of us

this morning

have heard

my flesh

is true

food

my blood

is true

drink

whoever feeds

on my flesh

and drinks

my blood

abides in me

and I

in him

we have all

heard

forsake your

sin

turn to Christ

and you

will have

eternal

life

we've heard

it

and the

disciples

have heard

it

my part

is done

how will

you respond

to the

word of

Christ

do you

want to

go away

as well

Peter

as he often

does

he speaks

up first

doesn't he

it's always

a gamble

with Peter

he gets it

right about

50% of the

time

but this

time

he gets

it right

he speaks

the response

of a true

disciple

of Christ

listen to what

he says

in verse 68

Lord

to whom

shall we

go

you have

the words

of eternal

life

and we

have

believed

and have

come to

know

that you

are the

holy one

of God

is this

your response

to the word

of God

where else

can we go

Lord

where else

can I go

with my

with my

anxiousness

you have

the words

of eternal

life

where else

can I go

with my

troubled

marriage

Lord

where else

can I

go

you have

the words

of eternal

life

where else

can I

go

with my

with my

suffering

with my

sickness

Lord

where else

can I

go

with my

sin

we've

tried

the world

I've

turned

there

I've

been

affirmed

and wrapped

up

and spit

up

and chewed

out

by the

world

I've

turned

to myself

and found

it

lacking

I've

turned

everywhere

else

tried

every

flavor

of bread

the world

has to

offer

none

of it

satisfies

where else

can we

go

Lord

you

alone

have

the

words

of

eternal

life

is that

the desire

of your

heart

a few

years ago

Amanda

took up

a new

hobby

somebody

had given

her some

sourdough

starter

bless them

whoever

that was

and for

a season

our house

was filled

with bread

loaves

of bread

big round

I don't even

know what

you call

them

just bricks

of bread

rounds

of bread

she made

sourdough

cookies

everything

was sourdough

and it

was unreal

I'll tell you

what I never

heard said

in my

house

thanks for

the offer

I'm gonna

go to the

store

get my

own

bread

no we

we

wisely

said I

I want

more

when

when can

I have

more

give me

another

taste

of that

that's

the good

stuff

give me

some

more

why

would

I

settle

for

less

church

the bread

of life

has come

down

from heaven

all

satisfying

life

giving

true

bread

why would

we settle

for anything

less

feast your

souls

on Christ

he offers

himself

fully

to you

this

morning

are

you

satisfied

in

him

let's

pray

Lord we

can't even

begin

to

fathom

the

depth

of the

ways

that

you

nourish

our

soul

when we

come

to

you

so

we

pray

father

for

those

who

have

never

turned

to

you

who

have

never

trusted

in

Christ

we

pray

now

would

be

the

moment

the

spirit

gives

life

and we

pray for

us

who

are

constantly

drawn

towards

other

things

Lord

even

as

we

just

sang

we're

prone

to

wonder

Lord

I

feel

it

prone

to

leave

the

God

I

love

here's

our

heart

Lord

take

and

seal

it

we

pray

help

us

to

trust

in

Christ

every

moment

and

feast

our

souls

on

him

we

pray

in

Christ

name

amen