The Fourth Discourse: Jesus, the Bread of Life (7)

It is our intention today to complete our study of this discourse of Jesus contained in John 6. Last time we had begun to address the last section of this passage, which is contained in verses 60 through 71. The main theme is that only those enabled by God's sovereign grace will believe on Jesus Christ unto eternal life (6:60-71). Up until this point in our chapter, our Lord had "many disciples", as we read in verse 60. They voiced their concern and confusion to Jesus regarding His teaching, saying, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" Our Lord did not soften His tone or mince His words to them when they expressed resistance to His teaching. He then spoke to them in terms that aggravated their dissonance and fueled their defection from Him. The result was that many of these "many" disciples stopped following Jesus, due to what they heard Jesus teach them in this discourse. In their departure from following Jesus they proved themselves not to have been true disciples of Jesus Christ. For had they been true disciples, they would have continued with Him regardless of the difficulty or confusion that might have characterized their thinking. Jesus would say in another place, "If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples" (John 8:31). We stressed last time that true Christians are true disciples of Jesus Christ. If one is not a disciple of Jesus, he does not know Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior. Temporary disciples are not true disciples of Jesus Christ. Temporary disciples are not true Christians. Only those who endure unto the end in their faith in Jesus Christ are saved from their sins and are granted by Him the gift of everlasting life.