We're going to open our Bibles this evening once more to the book of John. John 6, 14, and 15. And the Lord's Word says, those men then, seeing the sign that Jesus had made, they said, this is truly the prophet who had to come to the world. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that the prophets the prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into the mountain himself alone. Let's pray. Father, we thank you this afternoon for the opportunity you give us to open the scriptures. We ask you to open our hearts, Lord, so that the seed, Lord, In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. It's going to be a little bit difficult to advance in John 6, trying to cover complete events in the text. It'll be difficult to walk that way or go that way in chapter 6. When we look at John 6, there's a theology that comes out in each text. Presents us as Jesus, the only sufficient God that came to this world to die for us. We can know Christ profoundly in each one of the texts that John shows us. For example, in the first of John 6, we can stop here and look at this, the first four verses, and then continue from verse 5 and following. But at the end of verse 13, John takes up the same point. It's easier just to take the two texts and expose them as one. The texts that we read this evening, they're a little bit complicated if we don't take it in the context of what we're studying in John 6. Es más, cuando nosotros miramos la reacción de estos hombres en querer ir y tomar a Jesús para hacerlo rey o para llevarlo y coronarlo como rey, that they would take Jesus and make him king, tal vez no tendría sentido si nosotros no leemos lo que Juan ha expuesto en los textos anteriores. Maybe we don't understand what we saw before. When we see the reaction, we can see in reality the man that has exposed himself. If we study what John wants to show us, we can see it written in the New Testament and the Old Testament. The reaction that we see in verses 14 and 15. My mind is drawn to the Old Testament. To the story of Absalom. Do you remember in 2 Samuel 13, verses 1-23? The son of David who killed his brother. For violating his sister. And then he ran from the kingdom. The story says when David allowed him to return. So this man sat in the way of the door to the city. Y trataba de platicar con cada una de las personas que iban entrando al reino. And he tried to talk to everyone who was going into the kingdom. A tal forma que hubo un momento en que la gente le decía sus problemas. In such a way that people would come and tell him their problems. Le decía la situación en la que ellos se encontraban. They would say the situation they found themselves in. Y esto logró traer la mirada del pueblo hacia Axalón. And this brought the eyes of the people on Absalom. When he heard what they said, He said, who set me as a king over the earth? So the ones with problems and business would come to me and I would give them justice. Who made me king over this? To hear this from the mouth of the son of the king was something good for the people, they thought. Because the people thought they needed that. Everyone needs that people would fix their problems. Absalom promised to fix all of their problems. He was able to convince them to take their eyes off of David and put their eyes on him. We know the story. The people yelled for Absalom. David had to leave running from Jerusalem. Let's come back to our modern day. Acabamos de pasar unas elecciones en este país. We just went through an election process in this country. Nosotros pudimos vivir el proceso el año pasado. We lived the process last year. Situaciones incómodas entre las personas que estaban en la condienta. Political uncomfortableness in political realm. Algunos prometiendo cosas que tal vez no iban a cumplir. People promising things they cannot fulfill. Others promising things that maybe it was in their hands to do. But every promise that they made was directly to fix the situation where people find themselves in. People ran to the places to vote for the one who could make them the most promises. The people who offered the solution to the problems that they had. That is politics. Someone promised you to fix things that maybe you don't even need fixing. They say, we're going to fix it. And the people say, I need you to do that. The people in all the history of the world are in need. People saying, I need someone to secure me calmness or peace in my life. I want someone to secure me or promise me to secure a good life. I want you to secure me peace in my life. Not only do they look to have economic things resolved in their life, but that they would just give them money to fix their economic problems. That's why the prosperity gospel is so famous. They promise people a better life if they would follow Christ. People look for stability in this world. And their eyes are the ones that promise to give it. When we set our minds in that perspective, or when our perspective is subject to what we've seen before, We can fall in the same reaction that these men fell into. Something we can't leave out of the story that we're studying. The event that just went, the 13 verses before. Jesus had fed almost 20,000 people with five pieces of bread and three fish. If we add to that the political society of the times, John tells us in the first part of chapter six that the people were on the edge of the Passover. If there was a time where nationalism in Israel would rise up, it's in the time of the Passover in Israel. Because they're reminded in that moment, the moment that God took the people out of Egypt. Out of the yoke of the Egyptians. We can add to this that many of these people were following Jesus just for the signs that Jesus was doing. The people had lived for centuries anxious, awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. People had set their eyes on Jesus as the one that could be that person. When we see this text, we see the sign that Jesus does in this text. The synoptic gospel said the miracle that Jesus did, the encouragement of the city rose up. The multitude was outside of themselves. What we had commented before was the fuel to these people. If we set in order these four points we just mentioned, The people were about to celebrate the Passover. People were anxiously awaiting the Messiah. Here was a man. His signs couldn't be ignored amongst the people. They had never seen signs like this amongst the people. And now Jesus performs a miracle. A miracle that is outside of all the other miracles that he had done. The people had to be amazed at what they were seeing. So the reaction of the men in verse 14, It was the right action, they thought. Who could fill the shoes of the Messiah? I want you to think about these men in this moment. For years the nation of Israel had not seen a prophet. More than 400 years. Here's a man that's doing extravagant miracles before the people. Things that maybe weren't even revealed in the Old Testament. Their mind was taken to the story behind them. And they said, this is the man who is going to be the Messiah. Look what verse 14 says. And those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, this is of a truth that the prophet, that prophet that should come into the world. Who else could come and do this? I want you to think of the moment Israel is living in. They find themselves under the yoke of the Romans. The same thing where the people found themselves under the yoke of the Egyptians. Who could satisfy the hunger of the people under the Roman rule? Who could make stable the needs of the people? Something else we cannot leave outside the history here. And many of the ones who were following Jesus were part of the Sanhedrin. There were men who studied the history of the Old Testament. The men who not only had a consensus of the first five books of the law, But they studied what the prophets had said through the centuries. They began to remind themselves of what Moses said in Deuteronomy 8, 15 and 18. A prophet shall come from among us. And we'll follow Him. We'll go with Him. And everyone who doesn't hear the prophet will die or be left out. Jesus has fulfilled everything the Old Testament has said about Him. They could remember the event when Jesus caused fire to come down from heaven. They knew the Messiah that they had been waiting on for so long. And here's the man that would fulfill all the points they'd studied. But something that doesn't fit in the text that we're reading is the reaction of Jesus in verse 15. We see in the difference here of the other Gospels How John presents Jesus to us. He shows us as God incarnate. The one who came to the world to take the role, the place of each one of us. And the Bible that we read, It says, when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him, it's like Jesus had a knowledge in itself of what was going to happen afterward. I like some translations that I read in English. They said that Jesus knew that they were going to take him and make him king. It's like they're showing the omniscience of Jesus to know what was going to happen. It's like we're fitting together verse 15 with verse 7. He knew what was going to happen. Here it says he perceived what was going to happen afterward. We could think of ourselves as human. This would be the perfect moment that Jesus could proclaim himself as the King of Israel. Maybe yes. But you know Jesus knows the heart of each one of us. He knew the intentions of the leaders of Israel. He knew the purpose in their minds. He waited for a Messiah that would come and free them from the Roman rule. We can see it in the reaction of each one of the disciples. Not even when Jesus was risen from the dead. Luke tells us in the book of Acts that the disciples still had this mindset. Is it the moment that you'll reveal your kingdom in this world? The people of Israel expected a different Messiah than the one that had been given. Jesus wasn't the type of Messiah that they were looking for. Even more so, Jesus doesn't want to be the type of Messiah that maybe you want for your life. Jesus didn't come to the world to die on a cross to be ready as we snap our fingers to do whatever we wish him to do. That's why this type of gospel that's preached today is so hurtful. A gospel that says you can live your best life here and now. A gospel that says you can have everything you want just to declare it. Or a gospel that promises you to have everything you want, when you want it, and how you want it. That's not the type of king that God is going to be in your life. That's the type of king humans want. A king that whenever somebody snaps their fingers, he comes and fixes their problems. A type of Superman who would free them of all their problems. That's a confusion of what God wants for our lives. The question we're obligated to ask this afternoon What is the type of king that God wants us to have? What does it mean to be a subject in Christ's kingdom? I love the conversation that Jesus had with Pilate. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom was of this world, my subjects would come and fight for me. Something else we need to know, even though his kingdom is not of this world, his kingdom is set in this world and it functions in this world. Through his church. This king has the power to conquer anything he wants. It doesn't matter if we think he can or not. Even farther along, John, in John 15, verse 16, he reminds us it's not us who choose him, but he chooses us. When you see a kingdom of old, the kings would not go to the different nations and say, would you give us permission to conquer you? Los reyes mandaban un heraldo para decirle el rey viene y ustedes tienen que someterse a ese rey. They would send a herald saying the king is coming and you must submit. Por eso es que Cristo no pide permiso para entrar en tu vida. Because Christ doesn't ask for permission to enter your life. Él entra en tu vida y ya. He enters your life and that's it. Ese es el propósito de conquistar tu vida. That's the purpose of conquering your life. He doesn't need you to give him authority to come in. Even more so, before we think about it or want to say yes, the Word of God says He gives us the power through the Spirit to say yes by faith. The work of the Kingdom of Christ doesn't depend on us or what we're going to do. It depends on His plan of conquering in this world. They were waiting on a different type of king. A king that would fix all their problems. The same problem that there was in the time of David. The people wanted him to fix their problem. Even when they were contrary to the law. That happens in the human life. Many times we practice a double morale. When someone else breaks the law, we want a very strong punishment for them. But when we're the ones who break the law, we want the law to be merciful to us. Even though the problem could be the same. The same problem that was in the time of David. Many who lost their cases because they were contrary to the law, they would leave from the presence of the king and submit to the law that Absalom promised them. They didn't care if they were right or wrong. They just wanted someone to say, you're right. Even though they're not right. But the Kingdom of Christ is what He has left in His Word. His laws were given that they would be fulfilled. And it's here that when he comes to the life of each one of us, and we submit ourselves to this kingdom, we are obligated to obey the laws that he puts. It doesn't matter if they're comfortable or not for us. He put them and they're perfect for us whether we think so or not. This people wanted a king that would fix all their problems. When we read the Gospels, when we go to Matthew chapter 10, we see that to submit ourselves to this kingdom in place of fixing all our problems, can make more problems for us. Many people preach, when you come to Christ, all your problems will end. But when you read the gospel, The word of God says, when you come to Christ, problems are probably going to start. Because the one who came to fix your problems, is the one who came to aument our problems in our lives. Think for a moment. While you're the good person at home, when you give everybody what they want, when you tell your children you can do whatever you want, You have your own thoughts, you can make your own decisions. It doesn't matter if you drink or whatever you do, as long as you don't have problems with other people. You're good. But when we see the word, the word of God says we've got to go against those things. And that's going to bring an effect on our lives. If you want to submit yourself to the king, and fulfill what the king says to do, you've got to reject everything that's against the king's will. It doesn't matter what position this person has before you. You've got to stop giving them reason. And that's going to bring controversy, not only in your family, but in your work. A modern gospel promises you your best life now. The gospel of Christ says, now your problems are going to start. Look at what Matthew chapter 10, verse 34 says. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. Because I have come to disown the man against his father, and the son against his mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Y los enemigos del hombre serán los de su casa. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. When you submit to the reign of Christ, you get to submit yourself to every law he's written in his word. To fulfill that law means to turn your back on the world. And to turn your back on the world means dissension in the world between the people that you love. Because the one you say, it's good, son. Now you have to say, you're in error of what you're doing. This is something practical in the Christian life. When the Christian wants to live in both ways, applauding the sin of their own, living for Christ, has there been a true change in their life? When Christ says, the kingdom of God has come to the world, and when he says, repent and believe, our way of thinking, our way of acting in this world has to change. And that means dissension in our family. Because everything you thought was right in your life, now it's something you hate because that's the way God sees it. In Mark 1.15, he says, the kingdom of heaven is near. It doesn't mean to impose a physical reign in this world. But the king of heaven has brought his kingdom down. So that his people would fight against sin in the world. Y someternos a ese reino significa morir a este mundo. Morir a los deseos de este mundo. When the kings would come to a nation, and they would conquer it, the first thing they would do is take away the king. This meant that everything that the king had ordered in that place was no more. That's why the ring and the crowns were being taken before the emperors. So that they would know nothing is superior to the new king. The law could bring their new laws to the kingdom. And to say, here and following, it's going to be like this. And the same way in our Christian life. When Christ comes to our life, our eye is mortified into this world. Now we willingly submit to the kingdom of Christ. And myself has to die before the presence of God. Our hearts must be subjected to him. Not living for our own desires, but fulfilling the desires of the king. Luke reminds us in chapter 9 verse 23 that everyone who wants to follow the king in this world has to deny himself, take up his cross daily. When we talk about taking up our cross, Clearly saying we must die to ourselves every day. Submit ourselves to the authority of Christ. Deny ourselves ourselves. Our life is no longer ours but his. Farther along Luke in verse 24. He says the one who loses his life for my sake will save it. That's the type of king he wants us to see in him. It's a king who must be the center of our lives. That must occupy each one of our thoughts. That must be the principal point in our lives. That we love him above all things. And before all things. We must know, like Matthew 10.37 says, It means to remove everything that is an obstacle between us and God. It doesn't matter if it's our father, mother, children, grandparents. Jesus must be the center point in our daily life. We must pay the price to be a subject in his kingdom. To live according to the authority that he has called us to live. To leave everything that is a distraction to us and follow hard after him. Matthew in chapter 10 tries to show us this in verse 37. He says, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. El que ama mas a hijo o hija mas que a mi no es digno de mi. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. El que no toma su cruz y sigue en pos de mi no es digno de mi. He that taketh not his cross and followeth me after me is not worthy of me. This king demands central priority in each one of us. He wants to be the center of your life. He wants his word to be the center of your life. Every one of his precepts that would be central in our way of life. That every time you try to do something, you consult with the thoughts of the king. You're going to ask, brother, what's the cost of the gospel? What does it mean to be subject to this new kingdom that Christ has given us? It means that if you would be glorified, you must pay the price. You've got to pay with your life the price to follow him. I want you to determine the difference or see the difference between a religion and Christianity. Religiosity teaches you a way that you can feel better as a Christian. But without letting go of the world. You can say, well, I live in such a way, I'm a good Christian. You don't want to let go of what the world offers you in your daily life. But true Christianity teaches. To know Christ, you've got to die to the desires of this world. There's a great difference in thought in someone who's in religiosity and someone who's in Christianity. The life of the Christian is completely focused on the kingdom of Christ. Religiosity focuses on having our place in this world. It's necessary that we lose everything that we've gained in this life. Nothing interferes in our relationship with Him and us. That's the greatest thing we can do in our daily life. Material things, physical things, things that interpose themselves between us and God, they must be left along the way. further along in this chapter, chapter 6 and verse 16. Sorry, verse 66 says it's the best we can do in this Christian life. What does a man gain if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Do you understand what Christ is saying? The desire to live with one foot in and one foot out causes you to lose everything. Jesus says, what would a man give in exchange for his soul? Many theologians say we don't have anything of value to give to Christ. I agree with them. Our life is nothing for Him. We don't have anything in our imperfection to give to him. Isaiah reminds us that our works of righteousness are like filthy rags. There's nothing worthy that we can add to the work of Christ. What can a man give in exchange for his soul? Someone said that the only thing we bring to Christ is a sin by which we need to be saved from. So to keep ourselves connected to the world, we don't gain anything. Rather than gain something, we lose everything. Jesus is the type of king who doesn't share his glory with another. The multitudes come to Jesus to resolve all of the earthly problems that they had. A Jesus that satisfied his hunger. A Jesus that would satisfy their physical problems. In the first verses of chapter 6, we see Jesus healing people and giving them to eat. Many people want to use this chapter to say we've got to be good people. We want to be nice in the world. Yes, but no. It's not about that, the text isn't. This text teaches us that the king of kings brought his rule to this world. Not to fix people's physical problems, but to impose a spiritual kingdom in this world. That's why they wanted to bring all these people before Jesus to be healed. But Jesus thought of something bigger. Something that wouldn't just cure their physical pains. Something that wouldn't just heal the hunger in their stomachs. but would heal their physical problems. Something that would unite this world or would unite us with the Father. Do you remember what Paul says in one of his books? That wall that separated us The great separation that was between us and him was removed by the death of Christ on Calvary. Something we see that's not comfortable in this text is that the calling isn't for everyone. We see this in these texts. In verse 1 to 13, we see Jesus feeding the great multitude. In verse 16 to 21, we see Jesus walking on the water, calming the storm. But when you go to verse 66, we see many of the disciples that were involved in this event, Leaving Christ to go follow their own lives. Because Jesus presented himself as the bread of life. And he told them it was necessary that they would eat and drink of him. Even though the calling of God is for everyone, it doesn't apply to everyone. Jesus says that in the following verses. Only the ones who eat and drink can be saved. That's the true calling of a Christian. I'm not talking about the Eucharist that the Roman Church presents, but to eat the flesh of Christ. To eat of his word. To know that there is a new covenant that we are subjected to. I want you to think a little bit farther along. We're in the second Passover for Jesus in the narrative. There's one Passover more. Where these same men who came before Jesus to crown him, We're in the crowd saying, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. A week later, they're yelling out, crucify him. Even though the calling is for everyone, not everyone will enter. Only the ones who eat and drink of His blood. This should encourage the church. Because we've been brought to be members of this kingdom. That we have a great King and Savior of our lives. This brother is preaching on this part. Where we see the ministry of Christ. Jesus as the king, as the priest. But we see Christ not only as the king, but the prophet was awaited. Every one of the functions that Jesus presents in the world. This king who came and died in weakness, through his death, saved us in the cross. Paul says he made us alive in the Spirit. How can we say this? What does it mean to be alive in the Spirit? To give us a new nature in our life. You remember Ephesians 2? The ones who were dead in trespass and sin, now they have life with a new nature. A nature not to live as the world, but to submit ourselves to Christ. A nature that separates us from our sinful nature. It's something that changes in our way of being. I like how Jonathan explains it in the pulpit sometimes. We can't continue to eat the things of the world. Because our life has been changed. Like the analogy says, we're no longer pigs. Now we're men who eat of the joys of heaven. Now we eat the bread of life that the scriptures say. There's a warning in the middle of this text. This kingdom that has been put among us. It's set by Christ for the one end. That we obey the king. And we obey his rule. Even though we were brought contrary to our own will. It says in the word, he put in us the will and the do. So that we would receive him by faith that God put in us. Now we're free from the body of death. And now, in the new kingdom, we serve our king. The Christian cannot be almost Christian. Jesus sat in the middle of a true Christian and not a Christian. He said, the one who's not with me is against me. And the one who The one who doesn't come is cast out. There's not a gray area in the gospel. There are not Christian measures in the gospel. A few months we'll come to one of the letters written in the book of Revelation. Jesus says he doesn't accept the lukewarm in the church. You're not cold nor hot, I vomit you out of my mouth. You're either part of the kingdom or you're out of the kingdom. Every parable we find in Matthew 14, that's what it means. To show how the kingdom grows in this world. And how the members of that kingdom have left everything to follow him. This is a calling we should give to our lives every day. Que podamos morir a nosotros mismos y que nuestras vidas se enfoquen completamente en él. Morir al mundo y vivir para Cristo. Ahora, algo más que nosotros encontramos como una advertencia en este texto, es que hay muchos que no están adentro del redil que Cristo ha dado para cada uno de nosotros. Many are outside of the kingdom, not part of the... Sheep. Sorry. He calls us to something. It's our calling to go through the world and preach the gospel. Paul says, how are they going to go if there's not one to preach? The calling of the church is to be ambassadors for Christ in the gospel. And to say, our King came to this world. He walked in this world and He took on the form of servant. Talk on the form of flesh, as John says. Or he took on the form of a servant, Paul says. That he submitted himself and became man. And being in that position of a man. He humbled himself, even death on a cross. This is something that differentiates us from many religions of the day. He says, how could your king come and die? How is it that a king can win losing? The Word of God tells us our King won by suffering. He died in a cross for us. Isaiah reminds us in a painful cross. Isaiah 53, the suffering servant. Speaking of Christ. He took on his back the sin of us all. But he died in a cross. The Word of God says he didn't stay in the tomb. The tomb is empty and he's seated at the right hand of the Father. Waiting that all of his enemies be set under his feet. Do you understand the work that we have as a church? This is a calling for each one of us to evangelize the people close to our lives. It doesn't matter what position they have in our natural life. It doesn't matter if it causes dissension between him and us. You were called to take the gospel, the good news. I love the term that Paul uses. We're called to be ambassadors for Christ, or heralds Christ. To bring a change to the life. Something that could be unacceptable by the people. Something that they don't want to hear. Maybe it will cause you not to be invited to family reunions. Maybe you're not going to be as cool in the family. It's better that we're good with Christ than others. The herald had a very important position. It's to go before the king, as we saw in the first part of John. He would proclaim the good news. It doesn't matter if these were not so good news. It doesn't matter how the people would see it. It doesn't matter what the people would do with the herald. It doesn't matter if he had to pay for his life. He had to take the news. And there's a herald in front of a new people, reading the edict of the king. The king's coming. It's necessary that you submit to the king. The people who would hear the herald had two options. Submit ourselves to the king, or other, or pay the consequences of their life for not submitting. That was a great warning. The herald has come. The gospel is the message. The preach to the nation. Now we see if the nation will repent or not. There's not a middle ground for the nation. They can't say, well, I'm going to submit, but farther along. We know what happened to Jerusalem. In the year 70, they were destroyed. The calling is given. The king of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe. It's a calling not only for the Christians, but the unbelievers. The gospel's been preached. You're either going to submit or pay with your life. It's a difficult decision for people to understand this. Colleen, what are we going to do to show ourselves to the King? The kingdom is here. There's nothing that can impose our authority on this king. His word is not only sufficient to convert, but even to do an event like this event in Bethsaida. I tell you to beg for mercy for your life. He can change the will of your heart and you can submit to his kingdom. A general calling for each one of us this evening. The calling to submit yourself to the feet of Christ. is not to obey the laws that the world gives. We can see history. Many who have opposed the king had to pay with their lives. That's something voluntarily we can't resolve. The only thing we can do is ask for mercy that we'd understand the truth. That the power of the Holy Spirit would transform our lives. That he would do a miracle in our lives because we can't do anything. Unconverted here. The one who is here and heard the gospel. The good news has been preached this evening. The message of the King has been brought to this place that you would hear. The only thing you can do is raise your white flag and accept, receive him as your king. It's the only thing that can save your life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, once again this afternoon. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, because you are King and not us. Because you govern over the life of each one of us, Lord. Because you govern over this world, Lord. Evil and sinner, Lord. Amen. Thank you, brother. Gracias, hermano.