John Chapter 6 — The Bread of Life, the Storm, and the Dividing Line of True Disciples [Bible Study]

All right, good afternoon everyone. Paul Woodley here, and I'm glad you're with me and joining me today. It's, uh, starting a little bit later than the last couple days, so it's in the afternoon, a little bit warmer. No gloves today, which is great. Sun is across from me, so that's why I've got my shades on. All right, so today we are going to be in John chapter 6. So today we are continuing our journey through the Gospel of John. And we're going, uh, verse by verse. And if you've been following along or watching any of the videos, um, you'll see that I do sometimes refer to my Bible study notes, but for the most part, we're going, uh, verse by verse. And this particular chapter is a hard-hitting chapter, um, in the Gospels, right? So we won't review the first 5 chapters, kind of like what I did yesterday, which kind of added another 30 minutes to our review. But high level, so far in John, as we enter John chapter 6, Jesus has done in John 3 miracles so far. One is he did the original turning water into wine. Then he healed that official's son. And, um, and, uh, and I'm looking at the third one here. Of course, we are, we are going off the cuff here, so let's see here. Let's make sure in John chapter 5. Yes, he healed the man at the pool, right? So 3 healing— 3 miracles to date as we enter John chapter 6. One is we see Jesus having the power and the authority to change the elements of nature, turning water into wine at that wedding feast in Cana. Then we see a man, we see his authority over the human body by stopping a fever in a boy who was miles away, and then we see him also having the authority and the power to heal an invalid man who couldn't walk, who was in that condition for 38 years, That's the man he says, "Pick up, get up, pick up your mat and walk." And at the end of that chapter, of chapter 5, right, we see Jesus is talking a lot about how he is equal with God. And in chapter 5, starting in verse 18, we learn that the reason why the Jews wanted to kill him was because not only was he healing and calling God his own Father, but he was doing this on the Sabbath. So, but, but I'll read verse 5:18 specifically. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. And so this is why they were really after him. Verse 19 to the end of that chapter of 5 where we came out of— remember, we were talking about how we want to pay attention to every time Jesus says truly, truly. And we see in 19, truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. Skipping down to Verse 24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life." He says it again in verse 25, another truly, truly. He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God." and those who hear will live. We see here, skipping down to verse 30, he says, I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. All right, and then we skip all the way to the very last verse of John chapter 5. This is where we will bridge into chapter 6. In verse 47 of John chapter 5, Jesus says— I'll pick it up in 46— "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me." Verse 47: "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" So he's talking to the leaders of Jerusalem right now, of Israel, the religious leaders. And remember, these are the people that, that want to kill him because he's making himself equal to God. Okay, now we're going to go into chapter 6, and if you have a Bible, this is good for you to follow along as well. Of course, you could always catch the replay later, but there's a lot of miracles here. There's a lot Jesus is going to say here, and he's going to lose a lot of disciples. Now, as, as before, what we want to do is we want to start identifying the location, the people, the place, um, and, um, and we want to see if we can identify with any one of these people. So try to challenge yourself, uh, to see who you are. You might be that unbelieving Jew, you might be that disciple that's walking with him, or you might be a member in the crowd. At this point in the game of us reading our study, it's not really that important. Like, I'm not trying to make you— call you out and say, "Oh, you know, repent and believe the gospel," that Jesus would say. But, you know, the great thing about reading the Bible is if you put yourself honestly into the story, you can appreciate a person's path, just like in real life, right? That's why we like to hear, um, hear people's testimony. And so, so we can identify and say, oh well, if that person can do it coming from where they came from, maybe I can too. So that is, um, so we'll, we'll analyze the crowd, especially the crowd, especially the disciples, because, um, we'll see here that, um He starts saying some language here that was really confusing to a lot of people, but to you and me, hopefully, Lord willing, we'll understand today what He's trying to say, because His word is still applicable today as it was back then. So let's pick it up, John chapter 6, verse 1. "After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias." And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?' He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Verse 7: Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. One of the— one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a boy here who has 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, but 'What are they for so many?' Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000 in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. Verse 12: And when they had eaten their fill, He told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the 5 barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who has come into the world." Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. So that is the first 15 verses of John chapter 6. So we're going to break this down and see what's really going on here, right? So remember chapter 5, he was talking to the Jews. He says, if you do not believe his writings, Moses, how will you believe my words? And verse 6, there's a segue. It says, "After this." So after this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Galilee, which is identified here as the Sea of Tiberias. That's the location. And we see here that in verse 2, there's a large crowd. So that's the first kind of people group that we're seeing. There's a large crowd that was following him. Why were they following him? Verse 2 tells us why: because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. So he's healing sick, many people that are sick, and so he's drawing a crowd and they're all following him. They've never seen anything— nothing like this has happened in history. Verse 3, so because of that, these large crowds, verse 3 tells us that he went up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. So he went up to the mountain to kind of get away from, from the crowds. Now verse 4, the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. And so he's on the mountain there, and verse 5 says, lifting up his eyes, right, he sees that a large crowd was coming toward him. How large? Well, we're going to see that in verse 10, about 5,000. In number. So just imagine what 5,000 looks like. So he looks up, he's sitting on this mountain with his disciples, he's teaching them, and lo and behold, there's 5,000, and probably plus women and children, it could be up to 25,000 people, some people have said. But he sees this mass of people coming. Remember, they're doing that because they saw the signs and wonders. Word's getting around now. I mean, the reason why he went to the other side is to get away from the crowds, but they still following him. So he looks up in verse 5, and he says to Philip— now he's doing this, why? We learn here, to test him. He says to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? Okay, so he starts off with a kind of normal question anyone would ask of provision. Okay, well, they're coming to see me. I guess I'm obligated to take care of these people, give them something to eat. So he says to Philip, how basically, or where are we going to go to buy bread, right? He's not talking— he's not meant— he's not— he's not mentioning, oh, look at all these people, don't worry guys, I'm just gonna multiply some food here. So he's at— even though he can. So he's asking Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? Right? And just me observing, he's not, um, he's not asking, you know, hey guys, how much money do we have? Hey guys, go into the crowd, why don't you go collect some money, go do a fundraiser here, we, we should really take care of these people. But he's simply asking a question because he wants Philip to think creatively, how can we feed these people? So he says, where are we to buy bread? So verse 6, it says, he said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. So Jesus already knew, but he did this to test him. Okay, that alone is a hint of how Jesus works sometimes. Is he already knows what he's going to do for you, but he's going to ask you the obvious question: where are you? What are you going to do? How are you going to afford that? Who are you going to go see? But he already knows what he's going to do, but he wants— he wants us to really think things through so that we can come to a proper understanding of who he is and what he's about to do. So Philip checks his pockets, if you will, probably checked in with Judas who's handling the money, and he says, verse 7, "200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little." Remember, a denarii is about one day's worth of wages. So we're talking about 200 days worth of work, of money saved, that they would have had to spend on that moment to give people just a little bit. So it's really almost an impossible task to feed that many people. And so Philip is saying, well, basically we have 200 denarii, which is 200 days of wages. So you think about your 200 days' worth of wages if you're an hourly worker, because that's how they did it back then, and see if you can feed between 5,000 and 25,000 people a nice full meal. So Philip is rationalizing, well, how much can 200 denarii really— would really pay— buy the food? My notes say here that 200 denarii would be approximately 8 months of wages. And so, rightfully so, Philip says, you know, that's not enough for each of them to even get a little. Verse 8 says, one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said to him— and this is interesting— there is a boy here who has 5 barley loaves and 2 fish. But what are they— what are they for so many? Now, the way I look at— read things, I choose to sit here and I'll be like, well, Andrew, what was your point there? Are you being sarcastic, or are you— are you saying that because you know that you know the nature of Jesus, that Jesus can, can, can create So we don't really know, but Andrew says that there is a boy here who has 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, but what are they for so many? Jesus says, verse 10, "Have the people sit down." So what's interesting about Jesus, he's very organized, and he's like, "Have the people sit down in this," and it says, "Now there was much grass in the place." So everyone's sitting down on the side of the mountain there, a lot of grass. Kind of comfortable. So the men sat down, about 5,000 in number. Okay, and my notes say it was probably around 20,000 people because, you know, they— there were women and children there. But here it says 5,000. And verse 11, it says, Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, 'Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.'" So He feeds them, that alone is the miracle, but now we're going to learn here there's another part of this story that is important, and that's the fact that there's leftovers. And there's a couple of applications here too, guys, because we see the abundance of God. God doesn't just provide, and he's not a scarcity God. He just doesn't give you the bare minimum, you know. By other parts about this, you know, he presses down and his cup runneth over. So, you know, here we see here that he didn't just feed these 5,000 up to 20,000 people, he just feed them the bare minimum so that they're still hungry. It says as much as they wanted. So they were full from bread and fish, these people. Mind you, they're full from fish that never swam and bread that never was in the oven. He just can do that. He just multiplied them. He's a Creator. We see the nature of Jesus, and we should sit here and realize, wow, This God, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus, he is Creator. He can create, and he's creating all this food not to just satisfy them but to more than satisfy them. And there's leftovers. Why is that? We'll see that a little bit later. It says in verse 13 or 12— let's pick up there again— and when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples 'Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.' So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from 5 barley loaves left by those who had eaten. Okay, and 14 says, 'When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet He was come into the world. So rightfully so, they had the right understanding. But we learned earlier that Jesus knows the heart of man. We see here that perceiving, verse 15, then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself, which shows us that Jesus didn't come to be their king, which is what they've always wanted. They always felt the Messiah was gonna come and deliver them from the Romans and establish Zion on earth and the prophet would be the king. So He also knew that they wanted a miracle worker to always feed them, right? And yeah, and He didn't come for that. He came to share the message of the kingdom. All of these signs and wonders were there to testify who he was, but they're seeing it differently. They're saying, oh, this is a miracle worker. Not only can he heal us all, but he can feed us, right? So now we skip to the evening time in this gospel. Verse 16: When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about 3 or 4 miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, 'It is I; do not be afraid.' 21. Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. Okay, so there's a couple amazing things even in that that I want to unpack. That's why we do this verse by verse, just to make us think, okay, what really happened here, right? So we see there's a bridge, verse 16. Okay, the miracle feeding the thousands. Right? It doesn't talk about what he, what he spoke about and what he did there. It just— this in John, remember, the Gospel of John is to showcase the divinity of Christ. When we put all the Gospels all together, then we can kind of see the, you know, the chronological of what he's doing in, in, in the, in the moment. But here John is highlighting certain parts because he wants to show us the divinity of Christ. Let's show him that he is the Son of God, that he is divine, that he's Creator God. So he— John talks about how he fed all these people and created, you know, basically something out of near nothing because he had a couple of things to work with. But then we see, we skip over to now the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. All right, why would John even talk about— why would— of course this should be recorded in history. The man is walking on water. So evening came. The disciples, obviously, they left Jesus over there on a mountain. Evening came, and they get into the boat. They start across the sea. It was dark. Now, these are experienced fishermen, by the way. So they're experienced boaters. And it says Jesus had not yet come to them in verse 17. We see that the sea is becoming rough, a strong wind was blowing. It was basically a tempest, like Category 1 or 2 hurricane, very, you know, it was— everything was, uh, was swamping on them. But it says, verse 19, when they rowed about 3 or 4 miles, which is quite a distance from land, they look, and you know, if you can imagine, they're probably— there is some kind of light, so it's probably the moonlight. They're seeing this figure coming to them on the, on the water. It's Jesus. It says they saw him walking, coming near the boat. So he's walking, so they're kind of just stuck in this, you know, waves or whatever, and this— he's just calmly walking on the sea. And naturally they were frightened. That's what it says. But he said to them, because he knows they're frightened, he says, it is I, do not be afraid. And we're going to hear this all the time throughout all of the gospel, throughout all of the Bible, is this theme with God: do not be afraid. So whatever you're going through right now, do not be afraid. God is with you. He says to them, it is I, do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat, right? So now he gets into the boat. And this is the part that's amazing to me, verse 21: And immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. It's almost like time stopped, and boom, there they are on land, right? Another amazing thing. So I'm going to read my notes on that part here. It says this wording, immediately the boat was on the land, indicates that another miracle occurred besides walking on the water, i.e., the boat miraculously and instantly arrived at its precise destination as soon as Jesus stepped into the boat. So imagine, we all know about Jesus walking on water, but did you know there is another part of that? He's walking, they think he's a ghost, they're afraid. He steps on the boat and boom, they're there. They've arrived, right? Kind of Matrixy, if you will. But that's a miracle, right? Let's not— let's make sure we understand. We see all the miracles. It's all pointing to Jesus. It's all— it's all there to show us something here. That's why we read the Bible. Okay, so now we're getting to another section of the Book of John, John chapter 6. And these are kind of like the I Am statements that some of y'all are very familiar with. These are very important statements, theological statements that we should hear, understand, believe in, um, have faith in. So let's pick up the story in verse 22. It says, on the next day, right, on the next day The crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Right, so they're stalking Jesus. Remember, they went on their own, the disciples. He waited, and then he comes walking himself. You know, he didn't take a boat, he walked on the boat. The crowd is still there, right? They left the crowd behind. Here we see in verse 22, the next day, it says, "The crowd remained, and they saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone." So then we see verse 23, the very next verse, it says, "Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks." So they're on a hunt for Jesus, right? They just got fed, they saw it, they're all thinking he's a prophet, you know. They think he's, you know, they want to take him by king, take him as king. Verse 24: So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus. Okay, so we have about 5,000 plus women and children, so 5,000 to 20,000 people. They stay overnight, they're looking for Jesus the next day, he's not there. Remember, they followed him, they came, the crowd, right? And now they went back to Capernaum to go seek Jesus. Verse 25. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?' Jesus answered them— here comes another 'truly, truly'— 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal. Okay, so I've highlighted in my Bible this section here, the truly, truly. They come to him like, you know, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus knows their heart. He calls them out. You're seeking me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. So you're not coming to me because you saw the signs, the signs that I am he, but because you got your stomachs filled with the loaves. You're seeking me because you want, you want the prosperity, per se. This is kind of like a lead into the whole prosperity gospel, if you will. You're coming to me because you think that if you're connected to me, you're going to get all these blessings, and one of them is free food. Verse 27, Jesus talking about work: Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. There's a comma there, and I'll pause there. Do not work for the food that perishes, which is what we all do. That's why we have jobs. We have to make money, right? But But he's saying here, do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. Okay, and then he's going to go on to explain what that food is specifically, but right here, that's what he says. And then there's a comma, and we're in verse 27. He says, which the Son of Man will give to you. So do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. So he's going to give to you this other food, this other food that if you work for, he'll give it to you. And then we see, for on him, he says in verse 27, for on him— this is Jesus— for on him God the Father has set his seal. Okay, so he's saying, hey, I am sent from God. And, you know, you know, back then, all through medieval times, there's always a seal. There's the ring seal, the wax seal on documents. Like, when we talk about the seal, we're talking about this, this is, this is a verifiable— this is verification, proof positive that This person here represents me. And that's what Jesus is talking about when it comes to, um, how God sets the seal on him. Verse 28: Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Okay, what must we do to be doing the works of God. 29 says, Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. Boom, bang, exclamation! I added the exclamation. So many— this goes against the whole works-based salvation mantra, that you've got to do all these good works to enter heaven, be approved by God. This is— this is— this has everything to do with faith. This is— this is clearly right here Jesus saying that all you need to do is believe, right? So, and we'll unpack that as we go on because I get it. What does that even mean, believe? Remember we talked about that man, the, the official man? He believed two times. He believed, you know, when Jesus says, go, your 'Your son will be well,' and he says, 'There, he believed.' But then we see later on, right, when he got home and they said, 'Oh, your son is okay,' and he said, 'What time and hour?' And they told him, and then he remembered that was the time and hour that Jesus said, 'Go, your son will be well.' It says, 'Then he believed again,' and then all his household was saved. So there is a surface-level belief, and then there's a for-real, for-real belief where you're like, 'I really believe that this is the Son of God.' right? The Savior of the world, the one that has the authority to forgive sin, right? So here they're asking, well, what can we do? Verse 28: What must we do to, to, or be doing to demonstrate the works of God? First, that was verse 28. And Jesus says, this is the work of God, okay, that you believe in him whom he has sent. That's the work. How hard is that? This is the work of God, 29, that you believe in him whom he has sent. Verse 30, so they said to him, and this is interesting, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? So they're basically saying, all right, well, if you want us to believe in you, then, you know, prove it to us. Even though they've been following him for the free food and blah blah blah. They're like trying to negotiate. "Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?" they ask in verse 30. They continue in 31, "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" So they're trying to say, well, back in the day when Israel was in the wilderness, God gave us the manna from heaven. 'God performed the miracle. God provided for 40 years with the manna, so God fed them. You should do the same.' It's basically what they're saying. And Jesus' response to that was in verse 32. He says, 'Jesus then said to them'— here it comes, another 'truly, truly'— 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven.' So remember, they are— they're really into Moses, right? Um, the law and everything. So, so Jesus is saying, truly, truly I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. Now they don't understand up until this point, and this is— remember, this is why he got crucified, because he was making— he was calling God his Father. And he was making himself equal with God. We have to remember that this is a real problem for them. As far as they're concerned, they have the law, they have Moses, they have the law, and they're looking— they're, they're waiting for the Messiah. But here he is, the Messiah, but they're not connected. They're not seeing what he's trying to say. So, so Jesus is trying to make a distinction here. He's trying to say, okay, the Moses got you so far, that's the law. 'But now I am the completion of the Law. I am the fulfillment of the Law.' That's what He's trying to show all of them, Jew and Gentile. So He's making a distinction that, 'Okay, well, Moses did that, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.' That was 32. Verse 33, 'For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So first they're talking about manna, which you can make little cakes with back in the Old Testament. You can make, you know, that was food. That's what they survived on in the wilderness. So now, you know, he— now he's talking about bread, which we all can relate to. And they're talking about physical bread that you can eat. Remember, he just fed them literally with loaves and fish. So they've experienced the physical reality of that. Now we're transitioning into this concept of spiritual bread that he's talking about. They're still on the physical bread, right? They want him— they want to make him king because they want more of that, to be fed for free. But now they're talking about, um, manna. So they're slowly going into manna, justifying that, "Hey, if you want us to follow you, you've got to do what you just did over there on the mountainside over there. You know, God gave us manna. That's a sign." So now we're talking about bread. So Jesus is now saying that the real bread, the spiritual bread, is actually himself. So he says, "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven," and gives life to the world. So now we see another interesting part that John is highlighting here, and we can't miss it, is that Jesus is saying that he came down from heaven, that he was somewhere else before today. He was in heaven. So time and time again, that's what he's saying. We have to understand that. Why do we— why do I belabor that point? Is because there are some false religions that believe that Jesus was just a regular human being that was, um, got a, uh, you know, got the Holy Ghost or got the Christ or got the Spirit. And but he's no different than you or me. The only thing that makes him different is that you know, he— God, God made him more spiritual than us, per se. We have to remember that we're talking about an actual God. I say an actual God because he is a God, but when I say that, I know it's going to confuse many people because he is also the God. And that's why when I talk about God, you know, I differentiate quite a bit Because high level, God is one in three persons, which some of y'all know and many people reject. But we hear here distinctively, in the— at least in the Gospel of John, and we're going to try to take John face value, right? We're not going to project our opinion on the text. We're, you know, if we know our Bible from— and we know our Bible, we're not going to Here, what I'm trying to do here is I'm trying to go verse by verse as if I never read the Bible before. I'm not going to presuppose things or doctrinal issues like, let's say, the Trinity. So that's the approach we're taking here in our Bible study, is we're going to assume that this is the very first time we're reading this, this Bible. Because for all of us, there was a one time, there was an original time where we first read the Bible. We may not have gotten it the first time But now what I encourage you to do is put aside all of your previous belief systems, even if you've been a Christian forever, and start from scratch. That's what we're doing here. And we're going to just read it at face value and let the words rebuild our understanding, right, of Christ. So what do we know? We know that Jesus is calling himself the Son. We know that he says there was no one that's been to heaven and been back except for him. We know that he said that he has seen God and heard God, no one else has. So we know he's calling God his Father, he's calling himself the Son. That's what we know so far, right? I'm just going back and looking at chapter 1, um, where we're talking about John for a second. Verse 32, 132: And John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. Okay, so that's where we, that's where we, we we are introduced to the Spirit. But John so far hasn't really gone into talking about the Holy Spirit much, but we see that Spirit's mentioned there. But for the most part, we're talking about the Son and the Father. And now Jesus is talking about that in verse 35: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." Let us go back again where we were, 33, verse 33. "For the Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven." That is where he is talking about where He was before, positionally. There was a time that Jesus was in heaven only. "For the Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They say here in verse 34, they said to him, sir, give us this bread always. Same kind of thing that the Samaritan woman said, sir, give me that water so I don't have to come to this well anymore. Same, same response. We want that. Give us that. That sounds good, right? So Jesus says in verse 35, I am the bread of life. Whoever— remember, whoever— all tribes, all tongues. I am the bread of life. This thing called life. What is life, right? We know what life is. It's the essence. It's— you're hearing me because you're alive today. He said, I am the bread of life. Bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. So that's a promise. That is a promise of God. That's important. We have to really be in tune with promises of God, because when you're in a situation You need to remember the promises of God. That's what's going to get you through your thing. That's going to get you through your situation. What did God promise you in relation to the thing that you're going through right now? If it's a promise, he can't lie. He's not going to break his promise. But it really is kind of your duty to search out the scriptures, if you will, to find if he made a promise, right? Whatever that thing is, he's saying here, a promise. I am the bread of life, verse 35. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. He's not saying you got to clean up your act and come to me first. He's saying whoever. He's not saying you have to be rich to come to me. He's not saying you have to be poor first and come to me. He says, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. All right, now verse 36, we're in John chapter 6. He said there's a but, and we want to pay attention to the word but whenever we hit a but, right? A but is like, you know, however. I gave you a promise, but there's a but. So we need to know what the but is, the thing that can unravel the promise, per se. Or shall we say, the promise is always there, but it may affect you from believing in it. So he says the but, verse 36. 'But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.' Okay, let's put it together. 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.' 37. 37 is very important to all our faith. You're very familiar with John 3:16. Jesus is talking a lot about the Father. That's why we have to really, in my opinion, dial in to the nature of God and the love of God. And it all started with the Father. The Father is paramount to our— to the story. I'm going to just queue up 3:16 for a second because I'm going to go back to that. Matter of fact, I'm going to read 3:16 first, and then I'm going to read where we're at right now, which is 6:37, because this will describe— if you call yourself a Christian today, amen, if you are, if you're a born-again believer, amen. Right? But this is going to specifically instruct you and tell you the how. How did you become? Because it wasn't you, it wasn't what you did, it wasn't your decision for Christ, your raising hand in church, you're filling out a card— that is not what made you a Christian. It's what is from 3:16 and what is right here in 3:37. So let's see what 3:16 says. Well, then we're going to go back to here, okay? Because we want to have a biblical understanding of why things are the way they are so that we can appreciate and have confidence and assurance in our faith, right? So 3:16 says, you all know this now, for God, that's the Father For God so loved the world— everybody— that he— this is God— that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him— the Son, remember, God gave the Son, he gave us Jesus. 3:16 says that whoever believes in the Son shall— should not perish but have eternal life. Great. 17 says, for God the Father did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18, whoever believes in him— this is Jesus— is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. This is why it's so important. That's why Jesus is such a polarizing person in, in the world, right? So we see there that it— the transaction began with the Father. It began with God. So, so, so God sends the Son um, for us. So he— so God sent the Son. He gave the Son. Now let's go back to chapter 6 where we were at. Chapter 6:37: All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me I will never cast out. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. So if you have faith in Jesus Christ, it's because the Father gave you to Jesus Christ. He designed it. So that all of the situations that happen in your life, in your mind, in your surroundings, all of that stuff was purposed so that you would come to Jesus. And it says here that if God has marked you and identified you as going to his Son, that Jesus will receive you and never cast you out. Once you're in Jesus' clutches, You're in his clutches. You will never lose your salvation. He will never cast you out, no matter what you do from there on out. If it's valid, true belief and faith in Jesus Christ, Bible says that he will never cast you out. If you came to Jesus— yeah, we all remember, guys, we're human, we're fallen, we're going to sin, we're going to keep on sinning until we die, you know. There's different levels of that. We're going to fall all the time, and the devil is going to want to tell you you're not worthy, you're a sinner, you're not saved. But if you confess truly and believe in your heart, if you did the Romans 10:9 thing, which is the first hint— confess with your mouth, that's important, you got to confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's one of the best quotes, best memory verses. But if you confessed in your mind and never confess with your mouth, then in the vernacular of the younger generation, it's sus. Or maybe you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, but you didn't believe— you don't believe this stuff here. You don't believe that he was in heaven, came down, and born a man, and understand the Incarnation per se and what it means to die on the cross. We hear all the time, oh, Jesus died for your sins, or Jesus died on the cross. Okay, that is facts, but do we know what the actual transaction meant? Do we know why He had to do that? Why does John call Him the Lamb of God? Well, what was a lamb meant to be back then? Why did they sacrifice lambs, for example? Why was there a Passover in the first place? What did that mean? Well, it's the same thing. That's the illustration we're learning is that He, Jesus, was on that cross, He was Jerusalem's very last Passover lamb. Okay, because remember, the, the curtain was torn in two, the earthquake happened, and, and all of that. And true, and even the centurion standing at the cross, like, truly this was the Son of God, right? We see a confession there. So there's a lot to unpack there. But I will say this, that, you know, because there are many people that can get baptized, and this is why just me talking. I think it's better that if you're going to get baptized, you give a testimony at baptism if you could. Oftentimes we see preachers say, well, Paul, do you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior? Or, you know, and it's a yes or no, and I guess that could work, but You should confess with your mouth. You should do the 10:9. Who else knows? Who else heard you say Jesus is Lord in your life? Is there a witness? Did God hear that through your mouth, audible? So I don't want to belabor the point, but that is, um, that is the, the real believer that Jesus is talking about here. All that the Father gives me will will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Okay, once saved, always saved. Verse 38: For I have come down from heaven. Again, he's talking about where he came from, right? I didn't come here from North Dakota, guys, or wherever. I didn't come from India on a long distance and here I am, you know. I didn't even come from Mary, my mother. He says, I have come down from heaven. That's where he came from. That's what we have to understand, is he was in heaven already for a very long time. And we have to understand that he, with God and the Spirit, created all things. He is Creator God. Imagine that the creator of the world and the universe, who existed outside of time and space— he created time and space, so he exists outside time and space. And I would submit to you that heaven is outside of time and space. You can't take a rocket ship and, and get to the end of the universe and get into heaven. It's just not possible. We're constrained to the laws of the universe that he created. So he's outside of that time and space, and he entered into time and space. He entered into our time and space, which is part of his humility. We talk about the humility of Christ. So he says, I came from heaven. And he did it through natural birth. He had to because he had to take on human flesh, and he had to do it in the way he did with the particular people in his lineage to fulfill prophecy. That's why it is what it is, right? Everything is— this was designed on purpose for us to say here, because as we know, we're always criticizing all kinds of, uh, things, but It was all designed so that we can always trace back his heritage and all of the things in Scripture, so we can also say, like the centurion did at the cross, truly, truly, this is the Son of God. So he says, I came down from heaven, right? Verse 38: For I have come down from heaven. Why? He says it here in 38: not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.' 39. And this— this is when we talk about, 'Oh, I want to do the will of God,' or, 'You want to know— you want to know what the will of God is? Here it is.' 39. 'And this is the will of him who sent me.' Cancel that. That's a separate, separate section. This is Jesus speaking about himself. Because there is another part about what is the will of God. But here, this is the will of God for Jesus. 39: And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. So what I said before is once saved, always saved. It is literally in scripture here the will of the Father that all that he gives Jesus that Jesus will lose nothing. And we see this other— we talked about this in another lesson— that Jesus will raise it up on the last day. And he's talking about resurrection. So he has the authority and the power to raise people from the dead, and he will on this thing called the last day, okay? Verse 41. So the Jews grumbled. Okay, that's, that's, that's, that's interesting. My notes say here, the reaction of the synagogue crowds to Jesus' statements was the same as the Jews in the wilderness who grumbled against God both before and after the manna was given to them. And then furthermore, on the part where he said, "I am the bread from heaven," the Jews' anger centered in two things. First, that Jesus said he was the bread, and two, that he came down from heaven. Both the Jews in Jerusalem— this is John 5:18 now, in the previous chapter— and the Galileans reacted negatively when Jesus placed himself equal with God. Okay, so here we are picking up in 41. So the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. 42, they said— now they're tracking with him. They're saying, you're telling us you, you were in heaven? You're, you're telling us that's where you're from? You're not from Earth? So they said in verse 42, they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43, Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." Again, he's saying it again. Again, he's telling them that the Father is the one that's drawing people to him. The only way you're going to believe in Jesus, the only reason why you do, is because God himself has been drawing you, has been drawing a person to Jesus. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. So he's repeating himself. 45. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Okay, that's, that's important. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. So we see here kind of how God works in a person's life. Because no one is born a Christian. You may be born into a Christian home, you may have Christian parents, but no one is born a Christian. You're not— you're not a Christian, which means follower of Christ. You're not a Christian until you do the Romans 10:9, until you get to a point in your life where you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. That has to happen, which means you have to have an understanding of who you're confessing about. You have to have an understanding of God and Jesus. Otherwise, it's a false confession. It doesn't make any sense, right? Because it's not true. God knows what's true. So we see that before that happens in our lives, there was a time we just lived life. We borrowed the opinions of our parents and our friends. We borrowed their faith because many people come from different backgrounds. They don't know the gospel. That's why Jesus says, go into all the world and preach the gospel. So everyone is born in the kingdom of darkness, every single person. Only Jesus didn't because he came from heaven. Everyone else had to have a transaction. Everyone else had to be— had to become adopted by God. So we see here again, so before you became saved, God himself, the Father, is working in your life. Now I'll give a personal testimony on that real quick. So I didn't— I was not born Christian myself. I was not born into, uh, a gospel-centered household. I was born into a religious household, no doubt, but I didn't know— I didn't— my family didn't believe that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, divine begotten Son of God, who takes away the sin of the world, that he himself was— that he died, buried, resurrected on the third day, like that whole gospel. I didn't understand that. I got saved at 35, praise God. Now, what was happening in those first 35 years of my life? Well, according to scripture, I was still living in another kingdom. There's two kingdoms: kingdom of light, kingdom of darkness, right? When you make your confession, when you believe in Jesus Christ, you're translated into the kingdom of light, into the— right, God's kingdom. You have a new king, that's Jesus. But in the meantime, call it ignorance, you're, you're following a different king. You're a slave. The Bible uses that language. You're a slave to a different king. You're a slave to, if anything, your sin, yourself. Okay, and the Bible says there's nothing good in ourselves. So if we're all up about ourselves and prideful about who we are and what we've accomplished, whatever, that's really just— that's dangerous. But I get it because I was there. No, you know, you don't— you know what you know, right? So what was happening with me coming to Jesus? Well, according to scripture, Jesus, though he's God, though he's the Son of God, and though he knows everything He was not in my life per se, right? Who was in my life? The Father, God. God drew me to Jesus. Now, I, in my little bit of understanding of God, always believed— I had a Bible, King James Bible, back then. And I was going off of another book that's not inspired, like so many other, uh, religions. They say, hey, read our book, our book explains the Bible. I totally disagree with that, and I think that's false doctrine. Anytime you have to put your faith in another book rather than the Bible itself is, um, heresy, my opinion. Sola Scriptura, only Scripture, by the power of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is really the ideal way to learn our Bible and read the Bible, right? Expositively, like we're doing today. We're going verse by verse, and sometimes we have to go back and forth throughout the Bible to, to reference things. But for me, I did believe in God, you see. I did believe in God. I knew the Lord's Prayer. That was the extent of my faith. I did pray to God, one God. In my mind, I didn't— the whole Trinitarian thing was foreign to me. I didn't even understand that. That was not even a concept to me. I believed in God like many people do. We believe, you know, we understand that there is a divine order, that there's a Creator. Someone had to make this kind of thing. So at least God, according to Romans, used nature to impress upon me that God exists. So that is really the first step for all people, is you have to believe. According to the book of Hebrews, you have to believe that God exists— the God, right? So, but all that while, God allowed me to get in trouble and do things, uh, not righteous things, not godly things, um, And but I was chosen. Every person the Bible calls that elect. And I can't explain it, why some are not and some are, but you get it when you confess and believe in your heart, because there is an assurance that happens in a Christian that um, that they're saved per se, right? So when I did hear the gospel for the first time at age 35, it all clicked. Like, I was battling in that moment. I was battling my false belief system, which everyone has to do. You, you're gonna battle. You have to go to battle with yourself. To come to Jesus, you have to wrestle in your brain, in your mind, wrestle with your nature. It is, it is, it is, it is hard. It's a hard pill to swallow depending on where you're coming from. Some people are born Muslim or whatever religion you are, very difficult to, you know, you have peer pressure, you have parent pressure, there's a lot of pressures. Right, to confess with my mouth Jesus is Lord. To some people, that's death, right? So there's a struggle. And, uh, but when I read the Bible after the fact and I see stuff like this, how God drew people to Jesus and Jesus won't lose any now, I'm like, okay, I get it now. And when I read this part here where it says, um, When it says, uh, 45, it is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has learned, everyone has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me. Is you have to— if you're coming to Jesus, you're gonna, you're gonna have to have— you have to know about God. You have to believe in God. That's paramount. You have to believe in God, if anything, first, before you can even believe in Jesus. Right? So reading the Bible is our form of learning. When we teach our children stuff, when we send them to church, they're being taught by God. They may not have— they may not profess Christ for many, many years until they're old, but they're being taught, right? So it says here, verse 45, it is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Everyone. So everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. And he goes on to say, verse 46, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Remember, it's another time he's saying only he has seen the Father, right? So I'll put it all together. If you don't have your Bible, it is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Verse 47: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. Okay, 47, truly, another truly, truly. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. That's the promise of God. 50— sorry, 49. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. So he's talking— he's juxtaposing the, the manna that they're eating, that they're talking about, and him being the bread of life. Verse 50. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. You're gonna eat that bread, you're gonna be hungry again, you're gonna die in time eventually. But if you eat me, if you eat my bread that comes from heaven, you're not going to die. And 51, he says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Again, he's talking about coming down from heaven, right? 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. Right? And that really got them all upset. Like, what are you— what are you talking about now, man? It's like your flesh? So he says, and the bread that I will give First he says, I am the bread, I am the bread of life. So he's identifying as the bread. And he says, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world— like, he's going to give now. He's now— he's the bread, but he's going to give bread. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world, for the life of the world, is my flesh. So now we're talking about The crucifixion. The crucifixion is defined here in this bit where he's saying that his flesh is bread and he gave it. Why? For the life of the world. Are you seeing it now? The cross— when we say Jesus died for you and Jesus died for your sins, but whenever we're talking about Jesus died. He's saying specifically here that that transaction on the cross is basically him giving bread to us, him giving life to us. He says— I'll read it again— and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Does that mean he's going to be creating bread and in the oven forever and ever and we're going to eat it like they did on the mountains? No. Does that mean he's going to be making manna like they did in Israel in the wilderness, right, for 40 years, and they scoop it up, make manna cakes and eat? Like, no. This bread is a supernatural bread, and this bread, this supernatural bread, is The belief that he absorbed all of the sins of the world, which is punishable by death, that he absorbed all that and was slaughtered like the Passover lamb as a peace offering to God. That's the imagery. That all of the evil and wickedness that you and I possess, that this world has ever possessed— and future tense— all of humanity's evil, he absorbed all that. I think of the Green Mile guy, right? Remember the Green Mile guy? I forget the actor's name. Remember he sucked in all— he sucked out all of the whatever, the sickness out of the people, and he blew it out like little fleas. I kind of imagine that. It's kind of, kind of— it's a good imagery that Jesus, when he was on that cross, being obedient to the Father, knowing that that's what it took to free us from death, right? He, he did it. We would never— no one would ever— no one knew, no one ever understand. People still don't understand why that transaction happened, but it was a transaction. The wages of sin is death, and he paid that wage for you and I. That's why the cross is so important. So he's the bread. On the cross was his way of giving, giving us the bread for the life of the world. My flesh, verse 40, 51, and the bread that I will give For the life of the world is my flesh.' 52. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' So Jesus said to them, another 'Truly, truly, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man 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. So you could just imagine all of that language— eating my flesh, drinking my blood— just what the— how it made them feel. Talking about how you have to eat his flesh and drink his blood for you to have life. Disturbing imagery for these folks. They said, you know, they says You know, they're like, what, what is— how could this man give us his flesh to eat? 52, right? They're not getting it. He's Spirit. He's talking about the spiritual flesh and blood, you know. Verse 60: When many of us— when many of his disciples— now I want us to to, to, to talk about. And I get this is long because this is a long chapter. We're trying to do a chapter every day. But he says in verse, you know, we've seen here that, um, there's crowds, there's disciples, there's followers, but they're superficial followers. So this language that he's saying is really dividing his followers because many of them are, you know, the crowd, there's diff— this crowd is a mixture of different kinds of belief systems. I won't call them believers per se, but belief systems. There's some of them traveling with him because they want to— they just want to see the signs, right? Like a circus act. They just want to be— some just want to be proximity to power. They just want to hang around the crowd, and, and they feel like, I, I can associate with the guy, that guy, whatever, right? Some are actually his disciples. Some are friends of disciples. But everyone has a different, um, everyone has a different, uh, motive to be around Jesus right now. So verse 60, it says, when many of his disciples heard it— this is all that language we talked about— they said, this is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? It's true. Who could listen to that? You think normal Gospel presentation is hard? Imagine hearing this in church all the time. Verse 61, "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. Words matter, especially if the words come from Jesus. He's saying that the words I've spoken to you are spirit and life. He says, verse 61, do you take offense at this? Right? We're so worried about what people say, what people are going to say or think if we talk about the gospel, whatever, right? Even right now, you know, I've got my detractors, my haters. Maybe you're one of them, who knows? But the gospel is always trying to be suppressed. Nobody, you know, we, we— what's Romans 1:16? I'm— for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Right, let me pull it up so that I'm not misquoting. Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith, right? We talked earlier, uh, I think in the last chapter we talked about— or two chapters ago— we're talking about how the wrath of God is pressing down on humanity, right? And we see in Romans 1:18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, right? That's a whole nother study, Romans 1. That's a good one. So Jesus is talking to his disciples, you know, why are you offended? Well, what are you going to say when you see me go back to where I was before, which is heaven? What are you going to say then? All right. And ironically, that's exactly what he did in the flesh. If you remember when he rose again and he, you know, he had his 500 disciples and he shot up into the sky, the two angels were sitting there saying, 'Oh, men of Galilee, the same Jesus, the way you see him go up into the sky is the same way he's going to come back,' right? So another foreshadow here. So he goes on to say, um, verse 63. Okay, we see in 63, '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. Verse 64: But there are some of you who do not believe. It says he's talking to his disciples. There are some of you who do not believe. Parentheses, verse 64: For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. It's tough language there. Jesus knows really where you stand. Do you really believe in him, or are you going to betray him? Time will tell. My prayer for you, listener, is that you have complete and utmost faith in Jesus Christ and read all of this and believe that this, number one, is historical truth, that God loves you, and all of this, that God gave you Jesus. And when you came to Jesus, Jesus promised now is great. Now that you're here, you're locked in. That's the promise of God. You're locked in. So if there's ever anyone who tries to say you're not saved and you did the Romans 10:9, and you believe in your heart, and you repented, and you're trying, Jesus says you're mine. Forget the— forget them, right? So anyways, it goes on to say here, um, 65, 6:65, and he said This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.' Again, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.' 66. 'After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.' That was their response. All that language— eat my flesh, drink my blood, you know, I, I'm the one that came from heaven, you can't come to me unless God sent you, right? And it says here that many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. We got a few more verses and then we're done. So Jesus said to the 12— so of course there's other disciples here besides the 12— do you want to go away as well? You know, this, this sentence hit me, uh, hard one time. I've, you know, actually it always hits me all the time because, you know, we, we, we rock with the, uh, the crowd a lot, right? We want to be with the popular kids, the popular church, the popular pastor. We want to have this identity. Many times it's a false identity. We only do what other people are doing. We're, you know what I'm saying, we're such followers, per se. And remember, the gospel is very narrow. It's a narrow message. Jesus says, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, do many things in your name? Yet he will say, depart from me, I never knew you. Right? We got to remember, it's a very narrow message. There's going to come a time, if it hasn't already, but there's going to come a time where you're going to have to make a decision for Jesus. You're going to have an opportunity to defend him or not, right? And here's another example of— here we have these 12 disciples tracking with him, following him. Remember, he's got other disciples at this point in time. And, um, eventually he's going to break off and, and just do the 12. But remember, he was, he was sending them off in pairs like 70s. So he's got a lot of followers right now, people calling disciples. But the harder the language got, the more the commitment got, the more in the weeds they got, the harder it got, right? And now we see that in verse 66 It says, after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So imagine the scene. You've got all these people, everyone's praising you, everyone thinks you're great. Then you start preaching the gospel, the truth. Truth is hard. And all of a sudden you're noticing that, um, people are leaving. Maybe you're a pastor, maybe you're in a church. You're preaching something and then a third of the church gets up and walks out the back door. That's happened. I've seen it on video, at least. How difficult that must feel for that pastor to experience that, because you said something that hit a nerve, but it was truth. Truth hurts sometimes. So these disciples leave Jesus And 67, He turns to the 12. He says to them, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered Him, 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." That is a great confession. Verse 70: Jesus answered them, 'Did I not choose you, the 12? And yet one of you is a devil.' He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the 12, was going to betray him. So it was good words that he said, Simon Peter. It is true, Jesus remind them that, you know, yes, these people call them disciples, yes, they're following, but I picked you guys. Guys, remember that I picked you. But even so, is one of you is a devil— not the devil— is a devil. Right? And we learn, as we know, he's the one that's going to betray Jesus. All right, guys, I appreciate you hanging in there. It was 71 verses, chapter 6, one of the longer ones. Uh, let's pray, and we'll do it again next time. Father, I want to thank you for this day in your word. 24 hours in a day, Lord, and even so though sometimes our Bible study can go 1 to 2 hours, it's still plenty of time to do our work, to do what we have. We just— I am grateful, Lord, that I have the opportunity to do this lesson. I just pray, Lord, that it would bear fruit, not only in my own life but in the life of those that hear this word. As always, Lord, should I have erred in any kind of way, I pray that You strike that from the mind of the hearer. But Lord, I pray that your name be glorified at all times. I pray, Lord, that we are not like those disciples that abandon you when times get tough or when we have to accept the hard truth about matters. I pray that you would allow us to be bold in our faith, and, uh, and I pray, Lord, that you would give us the confidence and assurance knowing that once we've come to you that we're locked in. You will not abandon us or forsake us. That is a promise that You gave. And because, Jesus, You said You are the Son of God, because You say You are God, You are walking with God, You mirror God, because You made the promise, we trust in that, that that promise will be fulfilled in us. So give us the courage, Lord. Give us the courage to walk out our faith. Give us good spirits, Lord. Let us not worry anymore. And we pray all these things in the name of your Son Jesus. Amen. All right guys, thanks for hanging out there with me. I hope wherever you're at, you're— things going okay. Um, I do look at the comments, see who viewed these, uh, these videos, and I do pray over y'all. But until next time, you have a great day. Bye.