John chapter six, beginning in verse 41, we read, the Jews then complained about him because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, 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. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly 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 eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats 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 he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a hard saying, who can understand it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, does this offend you? What then if you should see the son of man ascend where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and who would betray him. And he said, Therefore, I have said to you that no one comes to me unless it has been granted to him by my father. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the 12, and one of you as a devil? He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the 12. This is God's word. there are two things that we have been told for a long time not to discuss in polite company. Religion and politics, right? Two things that we're not to speak in polite company. Now why? Why are we not supposed to speak in polite company about religion or politics? Well, it's because they're strong opinions, right? And it's going to typically cause an argument. It's going to cause offense, and people are going to be bothered, and thus we are told not to speak of these two things. Now, Jesus didn't get the memo on one of those things. Jesus didn't talk a lot about politics, but he did talk a lot about religion. He talked a lot about these things. And you know what? it caused offense. It caused offense and it divided people. And remember church, we are to be like our master, we are to speak these things too. So as we consider this morning, this message by Jesus, what we call the bread of life discourse. We want to consider that the message of the cross, as we hear so often in the scriptures, does cause offense to the world. But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And so we need this message of the cross. Now, the signs. What did the signs do? I mean, up to this point, John has recorded five signs for us, right? First one, changing water to wine. Second one, healing of the nobleman's son. And then another healing of the paralytic. And then the feeding of the 5,000. And then Jesus walking on water. So John has recorded five signs, and signs tend to draw Jews. In fact, the Apostle Paul says that to the Corinthians. Jews are seeking a sign. They like the signs. The crowds come around the signs. Signs draw crowds. They did with Jesus, but his discourses, his sermons, not so much. As we see at the end of this chapter, the crowds left at this point. His sermons did cause controversy and they continue to do that. When we preach the cross, it will bring controversy. This sermon that we look at this morning in John chapter six we often call the bread of life discourse. Jesus says that I am the bread of life. We see that a number of times. We saw this the last time we were in chapter six. He's already said that to them. I am the bread of life. This morning we saw a couple of times where he said again I am the bread of life. I am the living bread. John captures for us seven signs but he also has these discourses he captures for us and presents to us, and Jesus making these very weighty statements where he says, I am this. In fact, 23 times in John's gospel, there's this meaningful phrase of Jesus saying, I am, and A number of times, Jesus uses a metaphor, I am this. In fact, there are seven of those. John deals a lot in sevens, the seven signs, the seven I am statements. And this is the first one, I am the bread of life. As we go through the Gospel of John, we'll see Jesus say, I am the light of the world. I am the door of the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the true vine. But this morning, we're going to consider Jesus' discourse of I am the bread of life. And we are going to look at the offense of that to people and also how this produces division, this message that Jesus brings, that we also are to bring about our Lord. So first of all, I'll break this passage into two parts. The first is this, we'll look at the offense of the sermon, the offense of the sermon, and then we'll look at the division the sermon caused. The offense of the sermon and the division the sermon caused. So first of all, the offense of the sermon. Now, again, Jesus has just said to them, I am the bread of life. And then in verse 41, we read, the Jews then complained about him. They complained. They were offended. What was the reason for their offense? Verse 41, it says that they complained. Now, the word that John uses here in Greek, gagoutso, It literally means to whisper, murmur, grumble, generally of a smoldering discontent. I like that description. Generally of a smoldering discontent. You know what something smoldering is. It's a slow, flameless form of combustion. It's what you have in your fireplace when there's just ashes down there. There's heat there. And that's the idea of what they're doing. They are grumbling. It's not this violent, angry outburst, but rather it is rather kind of an internal, you know what it is to complain. You know, you may not have lost your temper this week, but did you grumble? Did you say, oh, why? Under your breath. That is the kind of thing that's going on here. They begin to grumble and complain about Jesus. They're murmuring. There's this smoldering discontentment that they have with Jesus. Now, why do we do this? Why do we grumble? Are you a grumbler? I hope not. Are you a complainer? Oh, you may not blow up in anger, but do you complain? Why do we do this? Why do we grumble? Why do we murmur? Well, I think that it's because we're just simply not happy with how the situation is going. We're not happy with the situation. This week, were you not happy with the situation? Did you grumble? Did you murmur? Did you know that we are commanded not to do this? Philippians 2.14. Paul uses the exact same Greek word as John uses here. Don't murmur, don't grumble or complain about anything. Wait a second, we gotta be able to complain about some things, we say. No. God says, I don't want your complaining at all, period. And that's amazing to us, because students grumble about their professors, parents, about professors, parents, about their children, children about their parents, about their spouses, about church people, their neighbor, the person they work with. We are a grumbling, oftentimes, people. And yet, God has told us none of it. I don't want any of it. Why? Why are we not to grumble or complain about anything? Well, it's because God is the God of that situation. Right? I mean, we grumble because we're not happy with the situation, but who's the God of the situation? God is the God of that situation. He brought it. You know, I remember when the Jews were in the wilderness under Moses, remember? And they begin to complain and grumble. And Moses says, you're not really grumbling against me. It's God. You're complaining against God. And so this week, when you are tempted to grumble and complain, just remember that your ultimate gripe is with God. Your ultimate gripe is with God. Just speak it for what it is, and then confess that as sin, that it is. Don't grumble or complain about anything, and yet here we have the Jews complaining, grumbling, and what are they so upset about? What are they not happy about, right? There's a situation before them that they don't like. Well, what is it? Well, look at what they say in verse 41. They complain about him saying, I am the bread which came down from heaven. They are not happy with Christ's words, with what he is saying. Why is that? Why were they not happy with his words, what he was saying? I am the bread that comes down from heaven. And then they go on to say, you know, he says he's from heaven, yet we know he's from down here in Galilee because we know his father and his mother. Well, they don't know his true eternal father. They don't know him at all. but they think that they know who Jesus is, and so they're complaining about this because he's saying, I'm the bread which came from heaven. Why are they complaining? Ultimately, the reason they're complaining is that they are natural men. that are unwilling to receive heavenly words. They're not willing to receive spiritual words. They're purely natural, carnal people. All they can do is look at Jesus and only see in the natural realm. They have no spiritual vision. They don't understand the things of God. I mean, this is what the Apostle Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, when it says, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. Well, the Jews, these things Jesus was saying to them, it was foolishness to them because they were natural, carnal men that didn't understand the things of God. They didn't understand heavenly things, only earthly things. I hope that is not the way it is with you. They are unhappy with Jesus because they are natural men, carnal people that can only understand natural things, and thus they are complaining about natural things. You know, we should catch ourselves in our complaining and recognize that the situation that's before me, let's not live like atheists, that this is just happening. and then complain about the situation. Rather, let's live as Christians who understand that God is the God of providence, that God is the God of every situation, and thus live our lives as spiritual people, discerning the things that are happening in our lives, and to react appropriately, understanding that these are things from God. You know, they have the same spirit, these Jews, have the same spirit as their forefathers in the wilderness, don't they? I mean, I already mentioned this. Think about the Jews back in the wilderness, wandering in the wilderness. How many times do we hear that they murmured, they complained against Moses and against God and against Aaron? But they are of the same spirit as their forefathers. Because their forefathers were natural men, too, that wanted simply the things of this earth. They didn't understand the things of the spiritual realm. They complained that they didn't have food. And then when God provided them food, then they complained that that food was getting too old and they didn't like that food anymore. They wanted Egyptian food. See, they wanted earthly food. You see, the natural man tries to live on bread alone. Remember this? Moses taught the people, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And yet, the Jews then and the Jews in Jesus's day tried to live on bread alone because they had no appetite for heavenly food. They had no appetite for spiritual things. And that's what we find here. In fact, not only did they not have an appetite for spiritual things, but they actually had a positive disdain for spiritual food. In Numbers chapter 21, we read about how the Israelites began to grow tired of the food, and we read this in Numbers 21, verse five. It says, and the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." We hate this bread. You know, their heart towards the manna that came down, I mean, it's bad because God gave it to them, but I want you to stop and think for a minute. That manna typified something. What did it typify? Jesus. And so as they say, we loathe this food, they might as well be saying, I loathe, we loathe Christ. What a horrible statement. This shows the heart though, that the natural man, the man or woman, if you are here today and you do not have the spirit of God dwelling in you, you have no appetite for the things of God. You have no appetite for true spiritual things and ultimately you even despise Christ. This is the state that you're in. And what they wanted was they wanted Egypt's food. They didn't want God's food. They didn't want heavenly food. Well, why not? Why do we not have an appetite? Why did they, why did the Jews here and the Israelites back in the wilderness, why did they not have an appetite for the things of God? I think the Apostle Paul speaks well of this. He speaks to this point in Philippians 3.19 when he says their God is their belly. Their God is not God, but their God is rather their own cravings. It's simply, I want the things here. I want to live for temporal things, for food and for money and for shelter and for pleasures down below, earthly comforts. In our sinfulness, our fallenness, we live for ourselves. We live very much for the temporary. for the things below. So what do we need to do about this? This is the reason for their offense with Jesus. It's because they don't understand spiritual things. So what does Jesus do? How does Jesus, how can he help us to overcome the offense? Well, look at verse 43 and 44. First of all, in verse 43, Jesus answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. First of all, you gotta stop. You have to stop. And he calls them, stop. And what is that? That's repentance. Turn. Stop it. Stop the complaining. Repent. And then think. Think. Think about what? Well, think about it this way. Think, the problem is not with Christ. The problem is with me. Their problem with Christ wasn't Christ. Their problem with Christ was themselves. So Jesus goes on in verse 44 and says, you need divine help. You need help. Look what he says. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. The problem is not with Christ. The problem is with us. The problem is with our heart and our will is that we will simply not go to Christ. It's not that he truly can't provide for us, it's simply that we do not desire him, we have no heart for him, we have no will, and thus we are in need of divine assistance for God the Father to, look what he says here, to draw us to Christ. It's really the same thing we already heard in this sermon back in verse 37a, where Jesus says, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. And so the Father gives certain ones to Christ. The Father draws certain ones to Jesus. We need divine assistance because our wills are so bent to go away from Christ. We have no heart for Christ. We have no will for Christ. It's towards other things. And that's what he's helping them with. He says, stop complaining and consider the problem. Consider that your will is so bent, your heart is so blackened by sin that you won't come to me. So the father must draw you to me. Consider that. Now. Understanding the Father's sovereignty in salvation, that the Father has to give a person to Christ, has to draw a person to Christ, does not take away responsibility. I don't want anybody here to think, well, you know, well, I guess I can't go to Jesus because he hasn't drawn me, he hasn't, you know, the Father hasn't given me. No, there is a responsibility. You're not off the hook. You are called to go to Jesus. Jesus already actually said this back in chapter 5, verse 40. Look what he says there. In chapter 5, verse 40, he says to them, you know, you search the scriptures because you think that you'll have eternal life. He says, those testify to me. But then verse 40, he says, but you are not willing to come to me. The problem is not like you're saying as a non-Christian, a non-Christian cannot say, well, I'm willing to come, but the Father hasn't drawn me. No, you're not willing to come. You are stubborn in your sins, just like these Jews, just like the Israelites back grumbling in the wilderness. You're not willing to come, and you need to repent, and you need to humble yourself before God, and beg him to bring you to Christ. That's what you need to do. How does the Father draw? Because Jesus here says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. The Father has to draw people to the Son because otherwise we're going to go the other way because we are natural, carnal people that like just earthly things. We have no taste of heaven. We have no taste for God. We really don't. I mean, we might say we do. Many people on the world say they do, but they make up a spirituality that's earthly rather than truly spiritual. They may even make up Jesuses, different Jesuses. My Jesus is like this. But they don't want the true Jesus. Because the true Jesus offends. The true Jesus, they don't naturally come to him. They naturally go the other way. So the Father has to draw them. But how does the Father draw? Does he use a rope? Does he use a chain and pull us against our wills? And sometimes I think some people present it like that. Like, we had to come, you know, kicking and screaming, no, I don't want to come. Well, how does he draw? Verse 45, look at it. After he says, my father will draw, and I'll raise him up, verse 45, it is written in the prophets, and this comes from Isaiah 54, 13, this is a prophecy of the rebirth of Jerusalem, the reestablishment of Jerusalem, which we find in the New Testament being the heavenly Jerusalem, God's reestablishment of his people, but verse, Isaiah 54, 13, it says, it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. How does the father draw someone? He speaks to them. And then continue on. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. The father does not put a rope around you and say, you're coming against your will. Rather, he changes your will. and he speaks to you lovingly, to your heart. I mean, even right now, I'm preaching and telling you about Jesus, and the Father is speaking to hearts and saying, come to my son, come to my son, and bringing these things truly to bear upon your hearts. This is the drawing of the Father. He teaches, he speaks, And we learn from the Father and we come, those who learn from the Father come to Jesus and believe. Now, after he gets done saying this, he says, the one who comes to me, believes upon me, verse 47, has everlasting life. And then Jesus again brings up this, I am the bread of life. Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Then verse 51, I am the living bread. So he brings up that phrase, that statement again, I am the bread of life. And notice what he does, though, in this section, 48 through 51, when he's talking about I am the bread of life, he begins to contrast himself as heavenly bread with the manna back in the wilderness. He says, you know, bread has come from heaven twice. Right now, I have come as bread, but there was bread before, too, and it was the manna in the wilderness. There were two breads that came from heaven, and this bread that is being presented to you right now, if you will eat of this bread, you will live forever. He said, however, the other bread, the manna that your ancestors, your fathers ate, they ate it in the wilderness, but they died, okay? It kept them alive alive for a day, a week, a month, a few years, but they died. Jesus is saying, there is another bread from heaven that if you will receive it, you will live forever. You will live forever. Though you will face a physical death, it will be temporary. Because first of all, you will, when you die, go on and live in heaven with the Father and with the Son, the Spirit, you'll go to heaven, and then you will wait for a day when I will raise you up. Remember, he said that twice in this passage. I will raise them up on the last day, because we are waiting for a resurrection of the body so that we live forever, body and soul, in a new creation. This is eternal life, knowing the Father and knowing the Son and living forever with them. And he says, this bread Me, to receive me, is to have life forever. So he contrasts the bread here. This bread you will eat and you will die eventually. This bread you will eat and you will live forever without dying. Now, he goes on in verse 51 and says, the bread that I'm speaking about is my flesh, my body, which I'm going to give for the life of the world. And then the Jews complain again in verse 52 and say, they begin to quirrel and say, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Now, they're struggling with this, this saying of Jesus. Well, how can Jesus give his flesh? What is he referring to here? he is clearly referring to what he has come to do, and that is to give his life upon the cross, where upon the cross he will give himself for the sins of the world, that all who believe in him, anyone who places their true rest in Christ and come to Christ, will have life. He is talking about his cross when he will give his flesh for the world that the world might be saved. John the Baptist has already spoken of this. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the Lamb who will be placed upon the cross and will give himself, his body and his blood for the world so that the world might have life. Jesus gets pretty blunt with the statement in verse 53 when he says, Moses surely or truly, truly, amen, amen. He says, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The idea of blood in the scriptures is usually of a violent death, and he is here referring to I must die in your place. I must die for you to give you life, that through my death will come life for you so that your sins may be forgiven. This is what he's referring to. And he says, whoever receives me like this, verse 54, he says, I will raise them up at the last day. And then he states in verse 56, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. The idea of abiding, of remaining with Christ, of truly believing upon Christ, knowing who he is and trusting him. appropriating him for salvation so that he abides in us and we in him so that we actually do have life. But you notice in this last verse of this section, verse 58, he says, this is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate. Again, look what he does. He contrasts the bread. He says, here's the bread now. Here was the bread from heaven years and years ago. He said, this is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate. So he contrasts that with the manna. He says, they ate it and they're dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. And so he contrasts the bread. He says, if you'll eat of me, you'll live forever. But why don't we want to eat of Christ? Why do we not want to receive him? One of our great problems is that we live so much for down here. the temporal. Why do we live for that which is temporal? I mean, the bulk of our lives is lived for the temporal. Eating, drinking, sleeping, resting, working, interacting with others. Why do we not work for the food that goes into eternal life? The eternal fruits, the spiritual fruits that we heard last week, as Marco preached that to us, Why do we live so much for this world, for today? We're very much hedonists. The moment, the pleasure, right now, satisfying right now. The major problem is that we do not have a vision of the eternal. We're not looking towards eternal things. We're not looking towards eternal life. We don't live for eternal life. And why is that? Because we are carnal. We're fleshly people, natural. And we have to be drawn by the Father to these things so we might eat and live forever. And so Jesus gives this sermon up to verse 59. We see he's preached this in a synagogue at Capernaum. And so we've seen the offense of this sermon. But in the last part, verses 60 through 71, we find the division that the sermon caused. There's two divides here, actually. Two divisions of people, two separations. The first one, you notice in verse 60, it says, Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can understand it? And then in verse 66, it says, From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Now, typically when we read the Gospels and we hear disciples, we think of the 12, right? But there's a contrast here between disciples in the 12, because in verse 67 it says, then Jesus turned to the 12. So there were other disciples, that is, people who generally followed Jesus. They tended to see the signs, and they followed him, and they believed something about him. In fact, remember earlier in the chapter, they said, this is the prophet. This is the prophet. So they did believe something. So there's a division that Jesus has here. A divide not based upon race, but a division between how we respond to Jesus. First of all, you have the disciples in verse 60 through 66, and these are not true disciples of Jesus, and then you have the division between these and the 12. Just as there are two types of faith, A false faith and a true faith, and we saw this back in John 2, 23-25, when it says, many believed in him because of the signs, but he didn't entrust himself to them because he knew what was really in them. That's a false faith. There is such a thing as a false faith of people saying, yes, I believe in Jesus, I trust him and all of this, but it's not a genuine true faith and they're lost in their sins. So just as there is a false faith and a true faith, there's also a false disciple and a true disciple, and that's what John is pointing out right here. There are people who talk of following Jesus, and they actually do religious things, and they attend churches, and they kind of believe the right thing, but they are not true disciples. So there are two types of faith, a false and a true, and there are two types of disciples, a false and a true. Well, what is a true disciple like? Well, just from chapter six, we can see a few things. Number one, a true disciples given by the father to the son. A true disciple is somebody who actually the Father has given to the Son. A second thing is, a true disciple is somebody who's been drawn by the Father to the Son, to adore the Son, to love the Son, to abide in the Son, to stay with the Son. That's a very important principle right there, is the perseverance of the saints, the one who abides in Christ and continues to believe upon Him and continues to receive Christ. That's a true disciple. And as we saw, Jesus say back up in verse 56, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, remains in me, and I in him, a remaining. That's another thing. A true disciple is one who abides in Christ, abides in his words. Look over at chapter eight, verse 31, and see what Jesus says about a true disciple there. 831. We read, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. If you abide in my word, what does a true disciple do? A true disciple abides in Jesus' word, remains with Jesus, remains in his word. Remember, Jesus taught the parable of the four soils. Well, who was the true disciple among the four soils? The first one heard the gospel and rejected it right away, and there are people like that. But the next two, they received it quickly, they enjoyed what they heard, yes, Jesus sounds great, let me accept him, but what happens? After a time period, they wander away. They don't abide in Jesus' word, they don't abide with Christ. But who is the true disciple? It's the one who receives him and bears fruit, 30, 60, 100 fold. It's one who abides in Christ. That's the true disciple, given by the Father, drawn by the Father, abiding in Christ, staying with Christ, and in his words. Well, what's a false disciple? Well, let's look at a description here. In verse 60, these false disciples say, this is a hard saying, who can understand it? It's not so much that it is hard to understand what he was saying, it was hard to accept what he was saying. It's hard to accept. It's hard to accept that this man in front of me is saying, I came from heaven and unless you receive me, you're gonna die in your sins. The only way to eternal life is by taking me into your life. That is a hard saying. You know, to go out into this world and say, you know, you're following this religion or this religion or this false Jesus, you're going to go to hell if you continue to follow that. You must turn to the true Jesus. That causes offense to our wills that are bent away from the things of God. So it's not so much that these things are hard to understand, but they are hard to accept. And so a false disciple finds these things hard to accept. They might follow for a while, but it offends them. And Jesus asks them in verse 61, when he hears them complaining, he says, does this offend you? I mean, he knows. Does this make you stumble? Does this bother you? Are you having a hard time accepting what I'm saying? And the answer, of course, is yes, we don't like this. Does this offend you? Well, it does offend them, and as we see in verse 66, they leave. A sign of a false disciple is someone who just simply can't accept certain things Jesus is saying. and they get offended time and time again with the word of God until finally they go, I'm out of here. And sometimes that's just because of the difficulties of life. When Jesus doesn't give you an easy, cushy life, he maybe sets you into major trials and persecutions and difficulties, and you just say, this isn't what I signed up for. I can't accept what Jesus is saying, and they leave. That's a sign of a false disciple, one who has never truly known Christ and is not a true disciple. You know, so Jesus says to them, does this offend you? But it's interesting in verse 62, he says, okay, well, if this offends you, then what might offend you more if you see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? That's an interesting statement when he asks that question. He says, okay, if me just telling you that I'm going to be bread that you must receive, that I'm gonna suffer and die, if that offends you, This is gonna offend you even more. When you see me ascend to where I was before, which is of course back to heaven, but what would Jesus have to do before he could ascend back to where he was before? The Gospel of John is always pushing us to Christ's glorification on the cross. Will you be offended of my crucifixion, that a Messiah died and died in your place for your sins? And that's my pathway back to ascend to my Father, to my glory. Does that offend you? This is the offense of the cross that Peter speaks of, I'm sorry, that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 1.23. He says, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block. To them, it's an offense. And to the Greeks, foolishness. But to us, it's the power and wisdom of God. Why? Because we've been drawn by the Father to the Son. We've been given. When it doesn't offend us, when we hear Christ's words and we receive Christ's words and we live upon them, you see a true disciple are people of the Spirit of God. And that's what Jesus goes on to in verse 63 and following when he says, it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are life. He says, listen, you cannot receive life from physical things. You must receive it from the spiritual, from me, from the spirit that I can give. And my teaching is spirit and they are life. If you receive my words into you, you will live. I mean, again, that's another sign of a true disciple. We are people of the spirit. We receive the words of God. We're not offended by his words, but we actually embrace his words. We love all of his words. We love when he says to us all of these things, when he says that we must eat of him and drink of him, that we must believe upon him, that he is life. That's a sign of a true disciple. And notice in verse 64, it says, but there are some of you who do not believe. Jesus knows, he can look at every one of them and go, that one really believes and that one doesn't. That one believes and that one doesn't. In fact, look what John comments, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. He knew from the very beginning each one that did not really believe in him and he knew which one was going to betray him. He knew it was going to be Judas. He knew all of this. And so we see this division that Jesus brings, and he does. The only true division there is is between those who are in Christ and those who are outside of Christ. Race matters nothing. Status in life means nothing. All that matters is do you belong to Christ or do you not belong to Christ? That's the only division that matters, the only separation that matters. And it is Christ, as his words go out, that begins to divide the sheep and the goats. and how we receive his words. How do you receive Christ's words, all of his words? Do you let them sink into your heart and change you and cause fruit to abound in your life? But there is another division that we want to look at right here at the end in verses 67 and 71. As I said, the sermon went out and it divided the disciples from the 12. But now there's another division, but now the division is among the 12. There's the 12, but there is 11, and there's one. There's 11 who believe. There are 11 that are true disciples, but actually among the 12, there's one who's not a true disciple. He's actually, what does Jesus call him? A devil. His father's Satan. One of you, can you imagine Jesus saying that? Did I not choose you, the 12, and one of you as a devil? Did they not have a discussion about that? I think I would want to. Which one of us belongs to Satan? And John will show this later on at the end, in John chapter 13, when it says that Satan put into his heart to deceive, to deceive and to, okay, what's the word? Betray, betray him. But then a few verses later it says that Satan entered into him. And so Jesus says, there's one of you that is a devil. Now notice Peter is the spokesman as Jesus turns to the 12 and says, do you want to go away too as people are leaving? Peter is the spokesman and what he says is beautiful. He says, Lord, to whom shall we go? And notice what he says here. He says, you have the words of eternal life. And that's right, because he just heard his master say, the words that I speak to you are spirit and life. And he turns around and says, your words are life. Your words are spirit. Where else can we go? We want eternal life. We want to be raised up on the last day. We're staying with you. You see, they had humbly received Christ's words and rejoiced in those words, and yet Judas had not. Judas became disgruntled with Jesus's words. Jesus isn't doing what I want him to do. But the true disciples They received Christ's words. It's like Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15, 16. Jeremiah states, your words were found and I ate them and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing in my heart. What about you? How do you receive Christ's words? Do you have no real taste for them? Or can you say with Jeremiah, I ate Christ's words and your word was joy and rejoicing in my heart? Because true disciples live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Not by just bread alone, but by every word that proceeds. So which disciple are you this morning? Are you true or are you false? Very important question. Am I a true disciple of Jesus or a false disciple of Jesus? Do Christ's words cause offense Or do they humble you and give you a desire to embrace them with all joy because you know that in them is eternal life and you will eat and live forever? Listen, do not be offended by Jesus. Don't be offended when Jesus doesn't do what you want him to do. But recognize he is giving you exactly what you need so that you might have life in him. Can you say this morning, I won't leave Christ ever because he has the words of eternal life. Not because he's giving me everything I want. No, you've got the words of eternal life and I know that if I believe upon you, I remain in you, you will raise me up on the last day. You will give me life. Can you say that this morning? Can you say, Jesus, your words are spirit and life? I've tasted Christ. I've tasted his words, and now nothing else can truly satisfy but Christ and his words. I'll remain with Christ. Can you say, I'm not looking at the present day, I'm looking to the last day? I'm looking to that last day when he will raise me up and I will live eternally, forever and ever with him. Are we looking to Christ alone? And you know, Jesus was willing to offend. It's not that he got a big joy out of it, but he was willing to offend because he spoke the truth to them. So must we, if we be his disciples. We must so love his words that we will speak his words. And you know what? It will cause offense. Not that we want to be offensive, but it will cause offense. You know, this morning in Sunday school, Gosia mentioned when she received Christ and was saved, she went back to her small town. She began to work again and started sharing Christ with people at work, and they all ostracized her. It's separated. Well, that'll oftentimes happen. It's happened for me, and I'm sure it's happened for you, too. You know, you begin to speak the things of Christ, and there's a separation that tends to happen. We don't force it. We don't do it, but we bring up Christ, and we have to bring up Christ because he is life. Do we want people to have life or not? They're not going to have life if we're just trying to live a good life in front of them. We need to give them Christ's life. Give them Christ. Christ gave himself because only is life found in him. So we must live on his word and not be fearful to speak of him in polite company. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this wonderful sermon that Jesus gave that's been captured for us to read. We thank you that you have given your son the bread of life, that if we will come to him, if we will believe upon him, if we will receive him, then we will have eternal life. Oh, Father, forgive us for feasting on things in this world rather than upon him. We want to be true disciples. who abide in Christ's words, who abide in Christ, who remain with him. So Father, help us to be filled up with the words of Christ, filled up with love for Christ that we might spill out. And might we never in ourselves be offensive, but may we so love the truth that the truth would offend, the truth would separate, the truth would bring some into the kingdom and others we know won't come. But Lord, help us to be faithful to the words of Christ, to love them, to abide in them. So Lord, we thank you for your word this morning, in Christ's name, amen.