John 6:30-70, Our real need is God's word

John 6:30-43 (NIV) So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"


32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."


34 "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."


35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."


41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."  42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"


43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.


• The people set the tone and background for this discourse. What OT story do they bring up and why?
• The Exodus story of manna from heaven
• Because they wanted bread to eat like the forefathers did
• They challenge Jesus to do a miracle -- hint, hint -- like bread from heaven
• There is a basic misunderstanding between Jesus and the crowd?
• The crowd is interested in physical blessings -- they want bread
• Jesus is talking about a spiritual blessings -- eternal life
• Jesus declares in the first of the seven "I AM" statements that he is the bread of life. If you believe, you will never go hungry (spiritually) and never be thirsty (spiritually). Four times here, and three more times in the following passage, John records the phrase that Jesus had come down from heaven. This is a key point 
• According to Edersheim, the Jews regarded the real bread from heaven as the Law.
• Therefore if Jesus is the real Law, everything he says would supersede the OT law which was given through a mediator, Moses, and was only a shadow of the real thing, which was Jesus
• What is the response of the Jews to Jesus message and why is it significant?
• Their response was to grumble
• The Exodus generation grumbled about everything, but also about the manna
• APPLICATION: Constable writes "Mankind's dissatisfaction with God's good gifts shows the perversity of the human heart." We are never satisfied with the good things that God gives us but whine and complain because we didn't get what we wanted. Even though God's good thing is far better than our idea
• What does Jesus say about their faith (v. 36)? They do not believe
• Constable writes "Jesus promised not to turn away anyone who came to Him in faith. He used a figure of speech (litotes) to stress strongly the positive fact that all who believe in Him find acceptance and security. In litotes the speaker or writer affirms a positive truth by negating its opposite. For example, "This is no small matter," is a litotes meaning, "This is a very significant matter."
• Again, this stresses our eternal security. A true believer cannot lose his salvation
• Note Jesus' command, "stop grumbling among yourselves." What does grumbling indicate?
• Dissatisfaction
• APPLICATION: What image of a Christian do we present to the outside world?


John 6:44-59 (NIV) "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."


52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"


53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."  59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.


• Verse 44 is a difficult verse to understand. Not only must we understand it in context, it must also fit within the overall teaching of scriptures. What do we know of salvation?
• Scripture teaches that a person chooses to follow God (that very fact is seen in the next passage as the disciples of Jesus turned back from following)
• Scripture teaches that Jesus died for the whole world
• Scripture teaches that all men have knowledge of God through nature (Rom 1:16)
• But scripture also teaches that God begins the work of drawing a person, not forcing a person to believe, only drawing
• Augustin answers from the poet, . . . ; a man is attracted by that which he delights in. Show green herbage to a sheep, he is drawn by it: show nuts to a child, and he is drawn by them. They run wherever the person runs who shows these things: they run after him, but they are not forced to follow: they run, through the desire they feel to get the things they delight in. So God draws man: he shows him his wants-he shows the Saviour whom he has provided for him: the man feels himself a lost sinner; and, through the desire which he finds to escape hell, and get to heaven, he comes unto Christ, that he may be justified by his blood. Unless God thus draw, no man will ever come to Christ; because none could, without this drawing, ever feel the need of a Saviour.
(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
• Verse 45 answers the question of who?
• All people -- the spirit and the word teach
• But some are drawn, but find no interest
• Jesus makes a strong claim to be God in his statement in verse 46, why?
• Because no man could ever see God
• Even Moses did not see God's face (it would kill him)
• Therefore, Jesus is more than a man to be able to see God
• Jesus also claims to come from God -- indirect way of calling himself the son of God
• This is the first of the seven "I am's" in John
• John's emphasis on these statements directly matches his early argument that Jesus is God
• Yahweh is construction from the hebrew phrase "I am that I am"
• What is Jesus response to their desire for bread like in the days of Exodus?
• Those who ate the manna died
• Jesus was offering them bread so that they would never die, but have everlasting life
• What did Jesus see as their real problem and what did they see as their real problem?
• They wanted life to be easier. They wanted free food
• Jesus wanted them to be set free from sin and experience eternal life, which might not make their life easier
• If Jesus also offered a better life by being a Christian, why didn't he point that out?
• BECAUSE IT IS NOT TRUE
• Twice Jesus says that those who ate the manna died, but he offered something different. They needed to eat his flesh and drink his blood. What is this an illusion to?
• Communion
• APPLICATION: Our most desperate need in life is not a better physical life, but a deeper spiritual life


John 6:60-71 (NIV) On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"


61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."


66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.


67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.


68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."


70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!"  71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)


• I seriously doubt Jesus was suggesting cannibalism, but if there is any doubt Jesus makes it clear that the words are spirit and they are life
• Jesus attitude toward this world is clear, what does he say?
• The flesh counts for nothing
• What is Jesus saying that no one can come to the Father unless God enables them?
• It is the Greek word didoomi, and it has various meanings (one of the most common verbs in the bible). It can mean to give, to grant, to supply, to deliver,  and to pay
• What is given? Jesus already answered that the Prophets, God's word is given. But if you don't believe what is written, or what is said (as in the case with Jesus and the crowd of disciples), you cannot come to the Father
• Simon Peter recognizes this, why?
• Because he says that Jesus has the words of eternal life, and he wanted to hear them
• If a person rejects God's word, he cannot be saved
• APPLICATION: Our greatest gift that we have received is the bible. It has the words of eternal life. It is worth far more than any thing of material value on this planet, but do we really believe it? What do we really live for, God or more things?