Test of Discipleship

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

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.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders and this is Hope Worth Having and we are so grateful that we could be with you today and today we’re gonna be in John chapter 6 verse 51 through 59 and we’re gonna be talking about the test of discipleship.

We live in a spiritually hungry world that is desperate for meaning and hope and life and I hope today that as you look into the Word of God that you will continue to see that Jesus Christ is the answer and that if you are hungry today you will be filled with Christ and that you would know Him as your Savior.

Let’s get into the Bible now as we study this passage. Now we’ve come to verse 51 through 59 because if you remember of several weeks ago before Easter we talked about how the crowd was looking for Jesus but Jesus reminded them that they were not looking for Him because of the fact that they had real faith in Him but they just simply wanted more to eat.

They just were interested in the bread rather than the true bread of life Jesus Christ and so as they are very frustrated in hearing what Christ has to say Jesus continues on in this discourse about Him being the bread of life and I want you to note with me in this text in beginning in verse 51 the Bible says as Jesus himself says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And the Jews therefore strove among themselves, or they were arguing among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, accept you, eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood. You have no life in you, who so eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.

And I will raise him up the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

This is that bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat, manna, and are dead, he that eateth of this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

We’re living in a spiritually hungry world. A world that is desperate for meaning and hope in their life. And many have discovered that in this effort to try to feel the void and the emptiness in their life, that there really is no satisfaction in a life without God.

Our culture is constantly pushing God and Jesus out. We want to get them out of every area of our life. And as we can simply just review the history of America, we can see that constant push of getting God out of our life.

And what has it led to? It has led to a generation that is hopeless, meaningless. Meaning they are struggling for purpose, and they are struggling for hope in their life, and they’re looking for answers.

And church, I want to say to you that this is not a time for us to retreat. This is not a time for us to be silent. This is not a time for us to be quiet. It is a time for us to be a voice in the wilderness and to speak up and stand up, because Jesus Christ is the answer for every person.

Amen. He is the hope of the world. We will not find our answers in the White House or in politics. We will only find it in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ stands before this group of people and he shares with them this incredible truth.

I am the bread of life. And what is interesting is that as Jesus speaks, he speaks in metaphors, he speaks in symbolism. And as he’s speaking, the people are struggling with what he is saying. You kind of have to put yourself in the shoes of the Jewish community that is sitting in this synagogue listening to what Jesus is saying.

Because Jesus is saying that he is the bread of life and you have to eat his flesh and you have to drink his blood. And the first thing that the Jews are thinking is how insulting this is and what a violation of God’s word this is because the Old Testament clearly taught that it was wrong to drink human blood and it was wrong to eat flesh, human flesh, and therefore for them cannibalism is a rejection of the truth of God and Jesus is up telling them these things and you’ll note if you’ll go back to your text in verse 60 it says many therefore of his disciples when they had heard this said this is a hard saying who can hear it later on as we’ll learn is that they up and left they up and left and said we can’t follow this guy anymore we cannot be a part of this movement anymore because these are difficult sayings and Jesus Christ put out before them a test of whether their faith was authentic and whether their discipleship and their commitment and their loyalty to him was genuine and what he brought to the surface in their hearts was that they were just following for the material they were just following for the temporal they were just following to see what they could get out of Jesus certainly some maybe were following Christ for political ambitions hoping that he would take over the Roman Empire the Roman government and he would then set Israel free and they would then once again go back to the glory days of King David and enjoy those great peaceful challenging wonderful times of progress.

and prosperity, and Jesus shares these truths that you have to eat of His flesh. You have to drink of His blood, or you cannot have eternal life. Now as you and I look at this, I want to remind you that Jesus speaks all of this as symbolism.

It’s all a metaphor, but in doing so, it helps us to understand spiritual truth, what it means really to have faith in Jesus Christ. And I believe that as we go through, I’m going to just throw out some questions to you, and when these questions come out to you, they’re rhetorical, which means don’t stand up and answer them, okay?

But in your heart, answer these questions. I will show you the answer, ultimately the answer is Christ, but your answers determine. whether you are truly a disciple of Jesus. For some of you it’s going to be very affirming.

You’re going to be secure and safe and be affirmed by Christ in the Spirit of God that you know your faith is real and that you trust in the Lord and you’re just going to be so filled that He is the bread of life to you.

But for some of you you’re going to realize that your religion is failing you. Your list of rules of do’s and don’ts is coming up way short of what you need for eternal life. And some of you are so checked out with God and Jesus that you’re going to be under conviction as you realize that Christ is drawing you to Him and to partake of Him and to eat of Him in a sense symbolically and to receive Him internally into your heart so that you might receive the forgiveness that is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So let me share with you just a few questions. My first question for you is who are you hungry for? What are you hungry for? What are you hungry for? Jesus says this in this text in verse 51 here He says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever and the bread that I will give him is my flesh and I will give for the life of the world. That’s what Christ has done. Exactly that. He is the bread of life who has come down from heaven.

When the Jews heard Jesus say that he came down from heaven they were reminded that he was again declaring his deity. that he was God himself, that he was the promised Messiah that they had been waiting for, that the prophets had proclaimed to them, and truly Jesus has come from God the Father sent to them to bring eternal life to them.

But Jesus couches it in terms that are repulsive to the Jewish mind and maybe even repulsive to you. But his point is that he is trying to help us to see who are you hungry for? Because who you are hungry for determines your salvation.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after what? Righteousness, for they shall be what? Filled. They will be filled. You see my friends, your feeling is always in proportion to your hunger and your first.

And I want you to note that we are called to hunger for God. We are called to pursue Him and to thirst for Him, to desire Him. And here is the defining mark for your faith. It’s really simple. We sometimes complicate it.

It is who are you hungry for? If you’re hungry for the world, you need to do a check in your heart. If you are hungry for the things of this world, if you keep going back to that well as we learned in John 4, and if you keep going back to the world’s bread, you will always be hungry and you will never be satisfied and you will always fall short of that fulfillment and that purpose and that forgiveness that can only be found in the true bread of life,

Jesus Christ. And so I’m calling you this morning to hunger for Christ, the true bread of life. And when you partake of Him, all my friends, you will be filled and satisfied. But if you go back to that world, you’re going to find disappointment.

You’re going to find heartache. You’re going to find that people are going to let you down. You’re going to find that it’s a world that just never, ever satisfies in your life. And so we’re called to have this great hunger for God.

And I think it’s important for us to understand that and make sure that we’re not hungering for the wrong things in life. That even in our spiritual life, in our journey of faith, that it’s easy as believers to be fed a pseudo religion that we think somehow is impacting our relationship with Christ.

when the truth is it is making us anemic before God it is draining and sapping the joy out of our hearts and our life is not a living life it’s not a living water that’s flowing out of us but rather we have crumbs in our spiritual life but Jesus is saying partake of him partake of him my friends and make sure that you have a passion and a hunger for the Lord Jesus Christ whoever you desire whoever you hunger for is a manifestation of whether your faith is real my friends do not get it mixed up Jesus is not inviting us to religion he is not inviting us to rules he is not inviting us to rituals but he is inviting us to a living relationship with him Throughout all eternity and those who have this living relationship with Jesus Christ,

they will live forever with God almighty. Who, what are you hungry for? The second question that I want you to notice is have you internalized your faith in Christ? Have you internalized your faith in Christ?

Jesus said unto them in verse 53, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, And drink his blood, you have no life in you. You’ve heard it said you are what you eat, right?

That’s not only true physically, but did you know that’s true spiritually? It is true spiritually in your life. When we think about eating, we all enjoy eating, at least a few of us left do, amen? I know that some of you are trying to be skinny, but I tell people you can either die happy or skinny.

Make your choice. But listen, if they put a spread before you, and you just look at it, what good is it? Buddy I want to partake of it, amen. I want to eat it. I want to dive into it, unless, now I know this is going to make Jeff upset, but my wife is from Virginia, so she kind of understands the southern world, and I’m from Oklahoma, but down there in the south, they eat these things called collards.

They’re green, and they look a little nasty to me. Do you like collards? You love collards. That’s one thing I cannot eat. No collards. No collards. You put chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, I’m all in, and I’m diving in, and I’m doing too much.

And if my wife’s like, you better hit that treadmill. but so it is spiritually 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 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 the 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 by 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 want to 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 the 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 onto 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 up. 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 too 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 do not want that to be true for you. I do not 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 is why I am 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.

Whoso 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 be 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 got to make rules and they got to 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. Christ is the fulfillment of the deepest hungers in our hearts and I encourage you today to turn to Jesus Christ. I know this world will continue to dangle temptations in front of you, offering you satisfaction and hope and meaning only to find out that you are left and abandoned and hopeless.

But in Christ, He will fill your heart with truth. He will fill your life with strength. He will bless you in forgiving you of your sins and He will create in you a new heart that you. could have a new purpose in life and live for Him.

So today we invite you to receive Christ and trust Him as your only Savior and believe that He is the one that can wash away your sin. There is no person that He will turn away that has a broken and contrite heart.

If you’re honest with God and you are being real with Him, He will hear your prayers and He will respond to you. So you reach out to Him as He is calling you and drawing you to Him today. We hope that this message has been a blessing to you that you have been encouraged in your faith and that you are finding that the truth is setting you free from the entanglements of this world and that you are walking in new life as you commit your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.