Test of Discipleship part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Test of Discipleship part 2. He will be in John 6:51-59.

It’s who you know, that’s how you get to heaven. You don’t get to heaven because you’re religious. You don’t get to heaven because you came to church. Thank you for being here. I’m glad you’re here and I want you to keep coming.

But here’s the point is that religion and rituals will not save your soul. Only a relationship with the true living bread of life will save your soul. Amen. We’re back. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders and it’s great to have you here.

And we’re excited to be able to have this opportunity to broadcast the word of God. We know that we live in some unique times and it’s important for us to get the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ out.

And so today we’re gonna continue our study on the test of discipleship. And we’re gonna be in the gospel of John chapter six, verse 51 through 59. And in this text, we are gonna continue to learn what it means to be a true disciple for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want you to grab your Bible or whatever device that you’re using to help you study God’s word and make sure that you got your pen and paper so you can take some notes. Remember that you retain 70% more of what you write down.

So take advantage of that. So that you can continue to learn and you can continue to grow and be what God wants you to do. Now let’s get right into our study in the gospel of John chapter six. You can come to church and you can visualize all that is taking place every day.

You can even visualize your neighbors who love God and are living for Christ. But listen to me until you internalize it by faith in your own life. It has no impact. It has no effect upon your life. Jesus was not saying to them, just come and observe the bread of life.

Just come and observe the bread of life. come and watch the bread of life, but he was telling them, I want you to eat of my flesh, I want you to eat of my blood. He was not telling them physically, but spiritually, Jesus is saying that his sacrifice on the cross and his giving of his life for you and I, the blood and the body being sacrificed for us is what we need that we might have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

There is no salvation in any other no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus is the answer and you must eat of that flesh and you must drink of that cup. I’m not talking about communion.

I’m not talking about the Lord’s Supper. I’m not saying something sacred and special as the Lord’s table is something that brings us eternal life, but what I’m saying is symbolically that as you by faith internalizes Jesus Christ into your heart that his impact upon your life is eternal life and that you will know him in a very personal way and that’s huge in your life and that’s why my question to you this morning is have you internalized Jesus Christ have you partaken of him are you feeding on him in your life because without him there is no eternal life and so here it is as a pastor I know a lot of people who grow up in Christian homes who grow go to a Christian school and I know a lot of people who are nothing more than religious pagans and they can tell you the Christian jargon and they know what to say and they know when to pray and they know when to stand and they got it all down but they do not have Jesus Christ someone was recently looking for a job and I said to them it’s who you know that’s how you get a job it’s who you know you got a network and it’s the same thing it’s who you know that’s how you get to heaven you don’t get to heaven because you’re religious you don’t get to heaven because you came to church thank you for being here I’m glad you’re here and I want you to keep coming but here’s the point is that religion and rituals will not save your soul only a relationship with the true living bread of life will save your soul amen and to do that you have to buy faith eat of him symbolically spiritually you must feed on him or there will be no spiritual life let me just give you some thoughts here about the nature of saving faith John has been teaching us about what real faith is because some people think that faith is just that I mentally got it up here,

Mike, that I can mentally recite verses, or I can mentally recite the plan of salvation, or I can mentally read or recite the creeds or the different doctrines of the faith. Friends, listen to me. I want you to know all that stuff, and I’m glad, but it will not save your soul.

I just wanna remind you that Jesus said in Matthew 7 that there are gonna be many that say to me, Lord, haven’t we done all these wonderful things in your name? All these wonderful works in your name?

And he will say to them, depart from me because I never what? Knew you. It’s who you know. It’s not only how you get a job, it’s how you get to heaven. If you don’t know Jesus Christ, friends, you will not go to heaven.

So what is the nature of this saving faith that the pastor is talking about? I think John has already been teaching us, but let me remind you. of what John has been teaching us about this saving faith.

Number one, it is looking to Christ. Remember when he taught us in John chapter three that as the serpent was lifted up, that Christ would be lifted up? That as the people looked unto the serpent, they found healing?

That as we look unto Jesus, we find spiritual healing and it is looking up to Jesus who has been high and lifted up and he went to a cross and he died for our sins and he rose again out of that grave to affirm to us that his sacrifice is not only sufficient but it has been accepted by the father and the father is pleased with the son and the father has accepted the sacrifice and now my friends, all who look unto Jesus have eternal life.

Where are you looking? Faith is looking unto Jesus. But I also want you to note that John has been teaching us that faith is coming to Christ. In verse 37 and 44 and 45, he keeps reminding everybody if you will come to me, come to Christ.

You see, faith is not staying in the world. Faith is not staying in your mess. Faith is not staying in the pit. Faith is not staying in the problem. Faith is getting up and stepping out and walking towards the Lord Jesus Christ this morning.

That’s what faith is. We complicated and we have all this jargon but Jesus spoke with metaphors and he is saying, get up. Get up and walk towards me. That is faith. Come to him and find eternal life.

Faith is eating of Christ. It is to internalize it. It is to take it, it is not just to look at Christ in the sense that, hey, it’s right before me, but it is internalizing it. It is to partake of Christ in my relationship, in my symbolism, is that I am partaking him into my heart.

I am internalizing him into my life. I’m not just observing this church thing, this religious thing, this Christianity thing, but it really is a part of who that I am. Hebrews 4, 2 says this, and I want you to get this.

This is a powerful verse. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with what? In them that heard it. You can hear, but if you do not believe, my friends, it will not transform your life.

And so there are many. that are under the sound of the gospel, that hear the proclamation of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it never changes their life because you know why? It is not mixed with faith in their heart because they do not partake of it.

They do not believe it. They do not partake and eat of Jesus Christ. I don’t want that to be true for you. I don’t want you to grow up in a church and get it all the jargon right, but never really have a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

And that’s why I’m asking you, have you really internalized Jesus Christ? Number three, do you trust Him? Now I know that seems simplistic and sure I trust Him, but look what Jesus says in verse 54. Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise Him up at the last day.

See, what I’m saying to you is that Jesus is saying this, do you trust me to take care of your salvation from the beginning to the end? Do you trust me to give you a spiritual resurrection when you trust me and believe in me, partake of me, internalize me?

Do you trust me to raise you from the dead spiritually and to make you a new person in Christ? All things are passing away and behold, all things are becoming new. Do you trust me to not only raise you up here spiritually, but do you trust me to raise you up physically on the last day?

From beginning to end, do you trust me for your salvation? We think of salvation as a moment. We think of salvation as a decision, but when God looks at salvation, He sees it as the beginning of our justification, being declared right before God.

We’re being sanctified, molded, and shaped in the image of Christ, and then finally, we are glorified as we are resurrected and stand before God Almighty in a brand new body. Do you trust Him, my friends?

But think about this. When He says, do you trust Him, do you trust what He did on the cross when He gave His life, when He gave His body, when He shed His blood, do you trust Him, that that is sufficient?

It is enough. I need nothing else. I need no more than Christ and Christ alone for my salvation. See, I see a lot of Christians that are out there and they want Christ plus something. They want Christ and something else.

That’s why Christians have the problem of sometimes they… Gotta make rules and they gotta make a list of do’s and don’ts to define their spirituality because they think they need something else, but Jesus said this, it is what?

You see, when I try to work or add to salvation, it is an attack on the atonement of Christ. It is an attack on the work of Christ on the cross, it is an attack saying Jesus, it wasn’t enough, good try, thank you, you got me halfway there, but let me finish this out.

And I’m asking you, do you trust His atoning work on the cross? Do you trust that His body was given for you, that His blood was shed for you, is that enough for you? Spurgeon said faith is the hand of the soul, and I think that’s so powerful because I take of Christ, I partake, and I bring it to my mouth, and I ingest it, and I believe and internalize it, and I say to myself, I know that what Christ did on that cross is more than enough for my salvation,

and He’s not only gonna raise me up spiritually, but He is gonna raise me up physically, and it is the cross, it is Christ, and it is alone, and I need not add anything else, Jesus is enough for me. That’s why Paul could say, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave His self for me.

Faith is relying on the complete work, the finished work of Christ on the cross for my eternal life. Let me give you another question. How do you nourish your faith? Jesus said this in verse 56, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me.

me and I in him it’s the idea of abiding connecting are you Christian abiding in Christ are you truly letting Jesus nurture your soul so many Christians want an experience so many Christians think they need some kind of a second effort or some kind of a second grace listen to me you have all of Jesus that you need it’s just that Jesus needs more of you you need to be fully surrendered to him you need to be a living sacrifice to him and you don’t have to seek out something special or something unique I’m telling you Jesus will nourish your soul that’s why every day as believers we get up and we have our time with God we have our devotions whatever you want to call it someone said they couldn’t call it a quiet time because they were too rambunctious as a child They had ADD or ADHD or whatever all that stuff is.

And so it was too hard to have a quiet time. If you want to have a loud time with God, whatever it takes, just have time with Jesus and let him nourish your soul every day. Abide in him. So we start with Christ, but we walk back.

We neglect our feeding time, nurturing time. We’re not nourished in the faith. Our faith is weak. And listen, a Christian that is not spending time with Jesus and feeding on him every day is a vulnerable Christian.

And a vulnerable Christian is susceptible to all the attacks and the temptations and the deceptions of the devil and the demonic forces of this world that are working tirelessly to bring you down, to bring me down.

And that’s why I need to be in the Word. I need to be feeding on Christ. I need to nurture my relationship with him. And I want him to pour his life into me. And I want to grow in him. And I want to be spiritually filled with Jesus Christ.

A, so I can discern. B, so I can be alert. C, so I can continue to emanate the joy and the peace and the hope that is in Christ. And people can see that in my life. Number five, last question. God’s people said, amen.

You don’t want this many questions on Sunday, do you? Have you personally responded to Jesus? Have you ever noticed that when you sit down to eat, you can’t eat for somebody else? Did you notice that?

Now, you can eat their food, I know that. And we do that all the time, amen. We’re just, hey, any leftovers bring it my way. but you can’t eat for somebody else you have to personally partake of that food you can’t eat for somebody else spiritually either parents you can’t eat for your children and you can’t eat for your brothers and sisters in Christ you can only personally respond to God and eat in your personal relationship with Christ and that’s why I’m asking you have you personally responded and you say well Mike my dad’s a deacon my dad has done this my dad Mike laid the first brick at this campus well praise God I’m happy for you but it doesn’t get you to heaven God doesn’t have grandchildren right he only has children As our children were growing up,

for Terry and I, it was very important for us that they had a living relationship with Christ. And when we sat down with them and had talks with them and we dated our kids one -on -one and all that kind of stuff, you know, that you’re supposed to do, we never asked them, is your hair short enough?

Are you wearing the right clothes? Are you listening to the right music? Those were never our questions. Did you know what our question was? How is your walk with Christ? What books are you reading that are pointing you towards Jesus?

What is God teaching you? What is He showing you in His word lately? How’s your relationship with Jesus? See, parents, we get all messed up, don’t we? We tell our kids, here’s what’s important. We got this list, bam.

I’m not saying those aren’t some good stuff, you know what I mean? Like, it used to irritate me to see kids walking around with their pants hanging off their Gladius… whatever. I gotta be careful what I say.

Their bottoms. That muscle in the back, you know? Gluteus maxis muscle, thank you. And so, you know, I want everybody to pull your pants up and get a job, amen? I mean, I’m all in for that. But what’s more important is their relationship with Christ.

See, parents, if you take care of the relationship with Jesus, the rest falls in place. And so it is in our own personal lives. We gotta not only challenge our children and our grandchildren to have a personal relationship, but we gotta make sure that we have personally responded to Christ.

And we don’t just respond once, we are always responding to Christ. And as I am feeding on Christ and he brings to my attention, Mike, there are some things you need to change. There are some things wrong in your life, Mike.

Then I respond to him personally. Nobody else can change for Mike but Mike. And there are some things that God wants me to commit to. And there are some things that God wants me to accomplish on his behalf and callings that are upon my life that he’s saying, I need you to go do this and so I must personally feed on Christ and I must personally respond to him.

I must constantly be in a living relationship with Jesus. I think the psalmist said it best in Psalm 34a, O taste and see that the Lord is what? He is good and blessed. is the man who trusts in Him. Jesus won’t disappoint, He won’t let you down.

He won’t fail you. He will satisfy you. He is the true bread of life. And when you hear Him say, eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, do not be offended. He is inviting you to be at union with Him, to partake of Him, and to know Him intimately, and to walk with Him daily and feed upon Him because He is more than enough for you.

Let’s pray. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. The test of discipleship, how did you do? What areas is God speaking to you about? Maybe your hunger and your love has waned because there are problems in your life.

There are things that are alluring you away from Jesus. Now’s the moment, now’s the time to confess that to God. Just be real with Jesus. And say, Lord, here I am. I’m flawed. I’ve got imperfections.

I’m struggling. And I’m just confessing these areas to you in my life. And here’s the great thing, God will cleanse you, forgive you, and give you a great brand new start. If you’re here this morning and you say, Pastor, I truly do trust Him.

I truly have internalized Him. But I’m not consistently feeding on Him like I should. And I keep looking for something else. I’m inviting you back to the table. I’m inviting you back to feast on Christ.

Renew your heart to Him and commit to feed on Him consistently and constantly in your life. Commit your heart to find tools that’ll help you so that you can feed on Christ. If you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus, you know religion, you know rituals, but you don’t know Jesus, I invite you to receive Him this morning.

To just simply acknowledge that you’re a sinner for all of sin to come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. You stand in peril, my friend, to be separated from God. But listen, the good news is this, that God commences love towards you.

While you and I were yet sinners, Christ died for us, gave of His body, gave of His blood. He sacrificed and appeased the wrath of God and the wages of sin. He paid it. He commends, He demonstrates His love towards us.

He gave His life for us. And here’s the promise, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This morning, would you call upon Him in your heart? Would you call upon Him in your life? Would you cry out for God’s forgiveness and mercy?

And I promise you this, He will not turn you away. For all that are humble and honest and true before Jesus, He brings redemption, forgiveness, and salvation. So even now, call upon Him. As we pray together, you pray as the Spirit has led you, and you respond to Him personally.

As God has spoken to you, you respond to Him. And however and wherever you’re at on this test, don’t be discouraged. The test only reveals to you where you’re at with God. But it also reveals to God where you’re at.

And God is ready to bridge that gap and take you to the next level. Father, thank You. Thank You for sending the Son who lived a sinless life and was more than qualified to go to that cross and pay for my sins.

And not only my sins, but the world’s sins. Thank You, Lord, that You have accomplished. all that is necessary so that I might have eternal life in you and I pray Father for all that are present now that do believe in you who have eaten of your of your body and they have drunk of your blood symbolically but I pray for them Lord that they would be energized and motivated to continue to feed upon you that they would find their satisfaction in you Jesus I pray God for those that don’t know you Lord draw them call them through the power of your word and your spirit move them to really believe in their hearts to really follow through on what they know to be true that they would personally respond to you this morning and have an authentic relationship with you.

And I pray, Father, that you will continue to add to your church, that you will continue to bring sinners into the family of God, and that you will continue to build your kingdom throughout this world and even in this community, and that you would raise up mighty trophies of your grace, to be great demonstrations of the power of your mercy and your gospel and your truth and your life.

We love you, Jesus. Thank you for loving us, and thank you for pursuing us and not giving up on us. And we pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, and God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, we live in a spiritually hungry world that is desperate for meaning and hope for life, and many have discovered that life without Christ is empty.

And so we’re thankful that Jesus Christ teaches us what it means to be a true disciple of Christ and to follow Him and to be faithful to Him. And this test helps us to examine our life and to look where we’re at in our walk with God.

And I hope that it has been a blessing to you, and I want to remind you to go to our website, and we have so many resources available to you. We also want to make sure that you are available for you.

We have a few coffee mugs left and so I’d like to give out some of these coffee mugs, kind of finish them out and every time you have a cup of coffee we’d like you to be praying for hope with having ministries.

We’re on television, we’re on the radio, we’re on the internet, we’re on social media. We are broadcasting through all these different means the gospel of Jesus Christ and making sure that people are hearing the truth of God and we’d love for you to be praying and we want to send it to you for free so please reach out to us by going to our website and you can contact us and request your free mug or you can write us at 600 Miller Street, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201 or feel free to simply just give us a phone call 717 -264 -3266 extension 120 and we’ll be glad to make sure that we get you out this free mug. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.