WEBVTT 00:00:00.210 --> 00:00:09.710 Good morning everyone. I'm going to start by apologising for the sound of my voice and I'm going to try not to cough really, really loudly right into the microphone at some point. 00:00:10.930 --> 00:00:19.380 Also, hopefully the people at home can't hear the sound of the menthol sweets bouncing off my teeth inside my mouth to try and keep my nasal cavities clear. 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:20.660 Hopefully you can all hear me. 00:00:20.660 --> 00:00:26.850 So, yeah. So Nick assures me that when he gives out the passages of who's going to preach on what, 00:00:27.170 --> 00:00:32.830 it is not premeditated in the slightest, or it's just look at the draw. 00:00:32.930 --> 00:00:35.790 But I've got the last section of John chapter 6. 00:00:35.870 --> 00:00:38.550 So if you want to read along, then you have access to a Bible. 00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:42.310 We're going to be looking at the last 11 verses of John. 00:00:42.410 --> 00:00:44.690 I already need to cough, so I'm going to cover the microphone a second. 00:00:46.170 --> 00:00:48.450 Excuse me. That didn't work at all. 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:57.120 so um so before we read let's get a bit a little bit of context so john chapter six has got 70 00:00:57.120 --> 00:01:05.600 verses in it it's a very long one and there's a lot going on it started with um the feeding of 00:01:05.600 --> 00:01:13.200 the 5 000 miracle um let me see if i can get it in front of me where is it um so yeah it's a very 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:21.820 very long chapter. And what happens throughout the chapter is, as is John's style, he goes from 00:01:21.820 --> 00:01:27.960 telling a more straightforward Bible story that we've heard a few times before into an incredibly 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:38.220 long speech that Jesus gives on some really deep philosophical subjects. If you find it easy 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:46.960 reading the book of John. Yeah, hats off to you. It's incredible. Because the interesting thing 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:52.200 is that Andy mentioned, when he preached two weeks ago, he sneaked ahead at my passage and mentioned 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:56.600 one of the first things that it says in my section is, people struggle to understand what Jesus is 00:01:56.600 --> 00:02:00.200 saying here, or at least to accept what he's saying. And he's not the only one, you know. 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:08.420 So it's one of these things where John tells a very brief story and then gives an incredibly 00:02:08.420 --> 00:02:12.900 long and elaborate explanation from Jesus, but Jesus is trying to teach his disciples 00:02:12.900 --> 00:02:21.560 deep truths about the realities that they're seeing. And so it's basically the story of 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:28.100 John. It is the story of trying to help people to grapple with all these difficult decisions, 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:33.840 sorry, the difficult difference between what we perceive and what we see and what we experience 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:40.420 in life and who God is and what he is like, what he's doing in this world and what that has to do 00:02:40.420 --> 00:02:49.450 with us. And that Jesus' whole ministry was reaching out to the kind of people who spent so 00:02:49.450 --> 00:02:54.170 much of their life trying to feed their family on a daily basis, just trying to make ends meet, 00:02:54.710 --> 00:03:02.850 trying to avoid oppression and taxation from Romans, trying to avoid stigma and judgment 00:03:02.850 --> 00:03:09.580 from their neighbors, all the challenges of life in their particular period in history and their 00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:15.280 place in the world was super challenging. And Jesus was trying to help people to see beyond 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:24.590 their present circumstances, to see something that God was doing in the world. And this is what he's 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:29.810 spent a lot of chapter six talking about. He's been talking about himself as bread. So the vast 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:37.600 majority of what Andy spoke about, Jesus gives these long, long speeches about himself as what 00:03:37.600 --> 00:03:45.350 he describes as the bread of life, and that he is the connection to God. He's saying that he is the 00:03:45.350 --> 00:03:53.460 way that people experience life, and all of the incredibly complicated meanings of that word, 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:59.120 and what that all means. If anyone believes that the Bible is super simple and straightforward, 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:09.560 um i have to say i've i disagree there's a lot going on um but there's always something to learn 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:17.060 and not only that god respects those who want to learn god calls people to study his word 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:22.080 not because it's an academic process not because we're good at reading the bible or good at 00:04:22.080 --> 00:04:29.300 understanding if we the people who truly get the most from reading the bible are those whose heart 00:04:29.300 --> 00:04:35.380 hearts are wanting to find God, wanting to seek him, because God is wanting to reveal himself 00:04:35.380 --> 00:04:42.020 to us. He's wanting to do that today. And so, yes, I'm supposed to be just summarizing chapter 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:47.340 six, aren't I? So it's very, very long. But anyway, Jesus goes on about this really challenging 00:04:47.340 --> 00:04:54.090 stuff. And I'll read you a couple of verses from the passage that Andy spoke on. In John chapter 00:04:54.090 --> 00:04:59.790 six, verse 54, Jesus says, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I'll 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:06.000 raised them up at the last day for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink whoever eats 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:12.360 my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and i in them just as the living father sent me and i 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:19.300 live because of the father so the one who feeds on me will live because of me this is the bread 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:25.580 that came down from heaven your ancestors ate manna and died but whoever feeds on this bread 00:05:25.580 --> 00:05:34.710 will live forever you see talking about metaphors and language of how god is the one who sustains 00:05:34.710 --> 00:05:40.110 us and god is the one who feeds us this is all you can find all this in the old testament this is 00:05:40.110 --> 00:05:46.350 um yeah this is common kind of language you'll find things like this throughout the bible in 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:51.970 particular this is making reference to the story of when moses was leading the people of israel 00:05:51.970 --> 00:05:56.190 through the desert before they've arrived in the promised land after they have been slaves in 00:05:56.190 --> 00:06:01.630 egypt they've been set free through miraculous signs and wonders the 10 plagues have struck 00:06:01.630 --> 00:06:06.850 egypt they have passed through the red sea to escape and they're free but they're out in a 00:06:06.850 --> 00:06:13.910 desert and there's no food and there's grumbling starting and people are struggling they're 00:06:13.910 --> 00:06:18.770 struggling with this particular issue that i've already mentioned how do we reconcile our current 00:06:18.770 --> 00:06:24.450 circumstances and the struggles and challenges of life with what God is saying. And God is saying 00:06:24.450 --> 00:06:27.470 he wants to set us free and he wants to care for us and provide for us, and yet we're stuck out 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:32.930 here in a desert and there's no food. How can those two things go together? And yet that seems 00:06:32.930 --> 00:06:37.950 very reasonable, doesn't it? But in the story, what that devolves into is the kind of grumbling 00:06:37.950 --> 00:06:41.770 that the people say is, it would be so much better for us if we went back to Egypt, because at least 00:06:41.770 --> 00:06:49.340 we knew there was food there, forgetting that the whole story of the persecution of Israelites 00:06:49.340 --> 00:06:55.840 in Egypt was that their children were being thrown into the river, that the Israelites were being 00:06:55.840 --> 00:07:02.900 systematically wiped out by their oppressors, and that they were considered a threat to the 00:07:02.900 --> 00:07:07.520 Egyptians, and that the Egyptian pharaoh had redefined good and evil for himself to say, 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.780 you know what is good for us? It's good for us to keep these Israelites down, because if they rise 00:07:11.780 --> 00:07:16.660 up against us, they could overthrow us. And when the people are out in the desert and 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:21.010 are saying, we could go back to that because at least there'll be food on the table, they 00:07:21.010 --> 00:07:25.650 are not even valuing the lives of their own children. This is a little bit more than just 00:07:25.650 --> 00:07:32.030 irritation and grumbling. This is a self-centered hardness of heart, which is exactly what Pharaoh 00:07:32.030 --> 00:07:37.750 had just been condemned for. And that this was the challenge to the people, saying, it 00:07:37.750 --> 00:07:42.330 is a reality that you are in the desert and there's no food for you right now. God is 00:07:42.330 --> 00:07:48.920 not ignoring your circumstances but if your heart says it would be better for me if i was back in 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:55.270 slavery do you really realize what god has done do you remember what he's done for you because 00:07:55.270 --> 00:07:59.630 you walk through you know this is like people who are complaining about lack of food walk through 00:07:59.630 --> 00:08:06.630 two walls of water god did an incredible never before seen miracle to rescue these people bring 00:08:06.630 --> 00:08:12.170 them literally from a place of death into a place full of potential for life and yet they go but 00:08:12.170 --> 00:08:15.770 there's no food here. What are we going to do? They saw him rescue them, and they still don't 00:08:15.770 --> 00:08:20.320 know where their food is going to come from, and they'd be willing to go back. They'd be willing 00:08:20.320 --> 00:08:26.000 to go back for the food. And this is the challenge that Jesus, this is the story that Jesus is 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:32.980 alluding to when he says, even those people were provided with bread by God. Even in the midst of 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:37.720 that hardness of heart and that lack of understanding from the people of Israel 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:41.020 of the freedom that God had provided for them, 00:08:41.260 --> 00:08:43.100 even in the midst of that, God shows mercy 00:08:43.100 --> 00:08:45.580 and God provides bread for those people. 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:46.880 But it was just bread. 00:08:48.690 --> 00:08:50.190 Jesus is saying they needed something more. 00:08:50.390 --> 00:08:53.250 And what they needed is true life. 00:08:53.910 --> 00:08:56.890 This is another brilliant example from the Bible 00:08:56.890 --> 00:08:58.570 that when I'm leading youth, 00:08:59.530 --> 00:09:01.830 the modern generations often, 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:03.790 we struggle to engage with the Bible 00:09:03.790 --> 00:09:05.950 in a relevant and realistic way sometimes. 00:09:05.950 --> 00:09:16.230 And often I feel that understanding how things work, understanding our digestive systems and the sciences behind all the food types 00:09:16.230 --> 00:09:25.930 and how when you eat bread, how that gives you energy can actually detract from the very, very real reality of what they're expressing 00:09:25.930 --> 00:09:27.630 and what ancient people understood. 00:09:28.010 --> 00:09:30.090 If you eat bread, it gives you life. 00:09:30.670 --> 00:09:35.230 They may not have understood what carbohydrates were, but they knew bread gives you life. 00:09:35.230 --> 00:09:40.610 if you don't eat it you're going to know soon enough yeah that it is what is giving you life 00:09:40.610 --> 00:09:45.570 because if you don't eat it you're going to be in big trouble and this connection between what 00:09:45.570 --> 00:09:50.910 you feed on and the life that it gives you is exactly what Jesus is alluding to if you feed on 00:09:50.910 --> 00:09:57.090 me you can receive the life from me that is where the energy comes from the thing that you feed on 00:09:57.090 --> 00:10:02.220 And Jesus talks about himself as a connection to God. 00:10:03.260 --> 00:10:06.940 He is saying, I am the bread that comes down from heaven. 00:10:07.790 --> 00:10:15.410 He is describing himself as the sustenance and the energy and the life that God wants to give to people. 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:24.040 He is the way that people experience and receive life in all its fullness in a way that food cannot provide. 00:10:24.560 --> 00:10:27.580 Because he keeps saying, people eat food and still get hungry. 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:29.520 It only lasts for a little while. 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:32.440 Yet again, you don't have to understand the science behind it. 00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:33.580 People have always understood this. 00:10:33.640 --> 00:10:36.660 You eat food, it's only going to keep you going for a certain amount of time. 00:10:37.430 --> 00:10:39.490 But Jesus said what people need is something more. 00:10:39.490 --> 00:10:43.990 They need connection to the bread that lasts, that gives true life. 00:10:46.290 --> 00:10:49.550 And the bit that I'm not supposed to be talking about is the very next bit of the passage. 00:10:49.870 --> 00:10:53.310 After Jesus has said this, spoken about the bread of life, 00:10:53.810 --> 00:10:55.430 this is the bread that came down from heaven. 00:10:55.430 --> 00:11:03.710 in verse 58 from verse 60 here's what the passage says on hearing it many of jesus's disciples said 00:11:03.710 --> 00:11:10.300 this is a hard teaching who can accept it aware that his disciples were grumbling about this 00:11:10.300 --> 00:11:16.890 jesus said to them does this offend you then what if you see the son of man ascend to where he was 00:11:16.890 --> 00:11:23.670 before the spirit gives life the flesh counts for nothing the words i have spoken to you they are 00:11:23.670 --> 00:11:30.450 full of the spirit and life yet there are some of you who do not believe before i go on i'm just 00:11:30.450 --> 00:11:38.460 going to go back it's really interesting if you the best things that i best piece of advice i've 00:11:38.460 --> 00:11:43.160 learned about studying the bible in recent years is they just love patterns the people who write 00:11:43.160 --> 00:11:48.000 the bible patterns patterns patterns you know i was just talking about the ancient israelites 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:54.640 being out in egypt and when they didn't have food they grumbled guess what the word john uses to 00:11:54.640 --> 00:11:57.820 write down here it's in a different language but he's being very specific here he says 00:11:57.820 --> 00:12:04.040 the people who listen to jesus are grumbling in verse 61 jesus says aware that his disciples 00:12:04.040 --> 00:12:08.560 were grumbling about this jesus said to them it sounds like a very reasonable question let me say 00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:12.040 this is a hard teaching who can understand it but he's saying this is grumbling behavior 00:12:12.040 --> 00:12:17.050 and you remember how before when i said grumbling behavior on the surface can seem very reasonable 00:12:17.050 --> 00:12:22.200 when you're in a desert and you don't have any food but if it leads you to the conclusion that 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:23.880 it's better for me to go back to slavery. 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:25.800 It's better for me to go back to slavery. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:27.860 That's the problem. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:31.020 The perception of the Israelites 00:12:31.020 --> 00:12:32.960 in the desert was, it may not be better 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:34.800 for my children and for their generation, 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:36.900 but it's better for me right now 00:12:36.900 --> 00:12:38.700 if I can go back. They've got 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:41.040 beautiful food back in Egypt. 00:12:41.760 --> 00:12:42.420 That's what they said. 00:12:42.560 --> 00:12:44.560 There's a weird bit that you can read in Exodus 00:12:44.560 --> 00:12:45.720 where they describe the cucumbers. 00:12:46.420 --> 00:12:47.720 Egypt's got their best cucumbers. 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:50.860 The people of Israel 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:52.060 were focused on themselves. 00:12:52.060 --> 00:12:54.460 and they made decisions what were best for themselves 00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:56.060 and they said it's better for us to go back 00:12:56.060 --> 00:12:57.700 because at least I'll have cucumbers. 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:02.120 Jesus is challenging his disciples 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.240 seeing their grumbling behaviour 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.820 when they say this is a difficult teaching 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:10.480 but what that means is 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.580 the people are starting to realise 00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:14.160 oh, this could cost me. 00:13:15.280 --> 00:13:19.800 Following Jesus could hurt me, 00:13:20.380 --> 00:13:21.400 it could cost me something. 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:24.080 This is what was challenging his followers 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.720 and this is what Jesus is starting to realise. 00:13:26.160 --> 00:13:28.920 And this is what starts happening from this point forward. 00:13:28.920 --> 00:13:36.060 You see, Jesus arrived riding on a wave of public opinion and rumours of incredible stories. 00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:38.300 Jesus has just fed 5,000 people. 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:43.980 That's over 5,000 stories of, have you met this guy and have you any idea who he is and what he can do? 00:13:45.110 --> 00:13:46.630 Thousands of those stories are circulating. 00:13:46.850 --> 00:13:47.790 Everyone's got a story. 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:51.780 You know, there are people being healed constantly, day and night, everywhere he goes. 00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:56.550 People who have been sick their entire lives are telling stories. 00:13:56.550 --> 00:13:57.810 I could never walk, and now I can. 00:13:58.840 --> 00:13:59.400 No one can do it. 00:13:59.420 --> 00:14:00.860 Who's ever heard of that story like that before? 00:14:02.270 --> 00:14:04.530 And then Jesus approaches his people and says, 00:14:05.520 --> 00:14:06.720 I'm offering you life. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.700 But they're starting to realize it's going to take sacrifice here. 00:14:11.400 --> 00:14:13.180 It's going to take walking through the desert, 00:14:13.280 --> 00:14:16.820 and it's going to take an act of dramatic trust 00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:18.700 that is going to be costly, 00:14:19.380 --> 00:14:21.540 that's going to be really difficult. 00:14:22.920 --> 00:14:25.640 Yeah, and it's potentially not, 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:27.790 from the worldly point of view, 00:14:27.890 --> 00:14:30.010 might not be in your best interest. 00:14:30.250 --> 00:14:31.690 If what you're looking for is food, 00:14:32.780 --> 00:14:34.280 you're not going to find what you're looking for here. 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:35.960 That is what Jesus is saying. 00:14:36.180 --> 00:14:39.020 These people had started with this experience 00:14:39.020 --> 00:14:41.620 of God providing more bread than you could possibly want. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.360 Providing and providing and providing and providing. 00:14:44.740 --> 00:14:46.940 You've got God's generosity pouring out to people. 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:48.680 But then when they come to Jesus and they say, 00:14:48.780 --> 00:14:50.260 give us another, another miracle. 00:14:50.900 --> 00:14:52.860 Jesus is like, don't you see how that bread 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:54.740 is only going to keep you going for a certain amount of time. 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:56.480 If you're going to keep coming to me 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.120 for miracles upon miracles, 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:00.580 you're going to see it's not going to keep you going. 00:15:00.900 --> 00:15:01.960 It's not going to sustain you. 00:15:02.020 --> 00:15:05.480 What you need is real life, is true life. 00:15:06.780 --> 00:15:10.500 And what that requires is an act of trust 00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:12.520 that is massive, that is huge. 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:14.440 And this is what is challenging people. 00:15:14.540 --> 00:15:15.980 They're starting to see the cost. 00:15:16.140 --> 00:15:18.040 They're starting to see the cost that is coming. 00:15:18.460 --> 00:15:20.600 And the disciples are the ones, 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:24.280 this is the interesting part of this story, 00:15:24.280 --> 00:15:26.580 it starts to show you that the followers of Jesus 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:31.380 come in layers. That there was a group of 12, we know about them, but there was heaps of others. 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:35.240 Jesus, when he was walking around from place to place, the amount of times it says he couldn't 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:40.120 even fit in a room or people, you know, were clamoring at the door and getting, you know, 00:15:40.140 --> 00:15:44.380 struggling to even get to him. And like whole villages were being mobbed and overwhelmed by 00:15:44.380 --> 00:15:48.650 thousands of people. You know, these countless disciples, these were followers. They were going 00:15:48.650 --> 00:15:52.830 from place to place wherever he went. And yet they came in layers. There were some who were 00:15:52.830 --> 00:15:56.070 just hanging on for the free meals. There were some who were like, this guy seems to know what 00:15:56.070 --> 00:16:00.980 he's talking about. But at this point in the story, people start to say, this is really 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:06.400 challenging stuff. This guy is saying very controversial stuff that is really making 00:16:06.400 --> 00:16:12.040 the religious leaders angry. He's making claims about himself, that he understands and knows God 00:16:12.040 --> 00:16:17.780 better than other people. And they're starting to see this is potentially dangerous here. This 00:16:17.780 --> 00:16:23.610 could cost me. And so it's interesting, isn't it, that when Jesus says, he says, my words, 00:16:23.610 --> 00:16:24.950 the Spirit gives life. 00:16:25.790 --> 00:16:27.270 In verse 63, he says, 00:16:27.410 --> 00:16:29.170 The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. 00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:32.450 The words I have spoken to you, they are full of the Spirit and life. 00:16:32.870 --> 00:16:34.770 Yet there are some of you who do not believe. 00:16:36.540 --> 00:16:38.660 He's talking about the fact that the Holy Spirit, 00:16:39.540 --> 00:16:40.720 the Spirit of God, 00:16:41.380 --> 00:16:43.700 the one that had the story of Jesus' baptism, 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:45.460 came and landed upon Jesus. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.880 The power through which Jesus, in his ministry, 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:50.760 went and spoke to people and said, 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:52.760 God is here, God is for you, 00:16:52.760 --> 00:16:59.080 God is bringing his kingdom down here. God wants to bring life to you. These are the words that he 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:05.040 was speaking, but people were starting to struggle with that as they saw that doing things God's way 00:17:05.040 --> 00:17:13.590 means sacrificing doing things. This can be difficult. And so it says, for Jesus had known 00:17:13.590 --> 00:17:18.170 from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. That's why he's saying 00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:24.030 these words. He went on to say, in verse 65, this says, he went on to say, this is why I told you 00:17:24.030 --> 00:17:30.060 that no one comes to me unless the Father has enabled them. From this time, many of his disciples 00:17:30.060 --> 00:17:37.770 turned back and no longer followed him. It's really humbling to come to terms with the fact that 00:17:38.530 --> 00:17:47.180 this can be a real part of a lot of people's journey with Jesus, to see the better we understand 00:17:47.180 --> 00:17:53.260 him, the more we understand the cost, the more we understand the sacrifice and the pain and the 00:17:53.260 --> 00:18:02.780 potential for hardship of following jesus because jesus um never promises an easy road and this is 00:18:02.780 --> 00:18:10.230 exactly the process that his disciples are going through right now um and simon's answer is really 00:18:10.230 --> 00:18:15.070 telling in a lot of respects so verse 68 this is the verses i want to really focus on here 00:18:15.070 --> 00:18:23.050 because this is the the standout verse the the um phrase that seems to really pop when you read it 00:18:23.050 --> 00:18:28.270 go, that's the one that sticks in my mind. That's the one I remember. And yet, there's a lot to dig 00:18:28.270 --> 00:18:35.070 down into here. Simon Peter's response to Jesus. Sorry, verse 67. Jesus says, you do not want to 00:18:35.070 --> 00:18:41.850 leave, do you? Jesus asked the 12. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have 00:18:41.850 --> 00:18:51.160 the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know you are the Holy One of God. This is 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:58.700 the point where Jesus challenges his disciples and says, I've expressed this amazing truth about 00:18:58.700 --> 00:19:03.640 who I am. I'm the connection to God. I'm the way that you can have life and have it in all its 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:09.340 fullness, the way God wants it. Not just living from day to day, but giving yourself a transformed 00:19:09.340 --> 00:19:15.790 heart. But you're also starting to see it's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take putting 00:19:15.790 --> 00:19:17.910 others above yourself. He's going to say 00:19:17.910 --> 00:19:19.210 seeking God's will 00:19:19.210 --> 00:19:22.100 above yourself. And all these 00:19:22.100 --> 00:19:25.080 difficult things. Are you sure 00:19:25.080 --> 00:19:26.660 you don't want to turn around? 00:19:27.580 --> 00:19:29.000 This is Jesus talking to his disciples 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:30.920 saying, are you going to go somewhere else? 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:34.480 Do you want to leave? 00:19:34.780 --> 00:19:36.760 He's being honest. He's asking them, do you want to? 00:19:38.570 --> 00:19:39.570 And Peter's response 00:19:39.570 --> 00:19:42.930 is one that is 00:19:42.930 --> 00:19:45.230 full of the experience 00:19:45.230 --> 00:19:47.350 of Jesus. He's someone who 00:19:47.350 --> 00:19:49.110 has walked alongside Jesus 00:19:49.110 --> 00:19:51.550 through almost every single one of these stories 00:19:51.550 --> 00:19:52.450 that we've read so far. 00:19:52.670 --> 00:19:53.710 He's been right there. 00:19:54.350 --> 00:19:57.450 He has seen the healings of people right in front of him. 00:19:57.830 --> 00:20:01.670 He has been the one handing out the bread and the fish 00:20:01.670 --> 00:20:03.630 to those 5,000 people. 00:20:04.050 --> 00:20:05.190 He was the one giving it out. 00:20:05.870 --> 00:20:09.110 He's seen God provide generously in incredible ways. 00:20:09.850 --> 00:20:14.190 And he says, Jesus, you have the word of eternal life 00:20:14.190 --> 00:20:17.000 and we've come to believe in you. 00:20:18.860 --> 00:20:19.340 Guess what? 00:20:21.180 --> 00:20:24.540 Peter didn't understand a lot about Jesus. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:31.040 The rest of the story of John and the other Gospels tell us really clearly. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:35.920 John and the other writers of the Gospels tell us about Peter. 00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:39.900 Peter did not understand the cross at this point in the story. 00:20:41.150 --> 00:20:43.570 This is the revelation that's come to me as I've been reading this passage. 00:20:43.690 --> 00:20:44.230 It's a reminder. 00:20:44.650 --> 00:20:45.890 This is the middle of the story. 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:54.260 Jesus said sorry Peter says Jesus your words are life and I put my trust in you but this is also 00:20:54.260 --> 00:20:58.800 the point if you read this this very story in Matthew and Mark there are similar kind of stories 00:20:58.800 --> 00:21:03.480 where Jesus talks to his disciples and says who do people say that I am who do you think I am do 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:09.850 you believe in me do you trust in me and when they say yes you're the chosen one of God Jesus 00:21:09.850 --> 00:21:16.460 says to them chosen one of God's got to die and Peter goes whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa do you 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:23.480 understand who you are? Jesus turns around to, sorry, Peter turns around to Jesus and says, if 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:27.560 you think you've got to die, do you know what the chosen one of God's got to do? The chosen one of 00:21:27.560 --> 00:21:34.490 God has come to rule and reign and conquer death and sin. He knew that. That's what God's word said. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:42.270 And yet Jesus said, I've come to be a suffering servant. I've come to give my life so that I can 00:21:42.270 --> 00:21:53.440 conquer sinners. The path to victory is one full of humility, sacrifice, pain. It's hard. It takes 00:21:53.440 --> 00:22:01.160 real guts to accept some of the real difficult truths of Jesus, that Jesus was willing to go 00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:08.490 through all that. And yet God says, this is real life right there. This is the promise of life. 00:22:08.830 --> 00:22:13.830 And this is the promise that Jesus said. And this is the interesting point. Simon's words resound 00:22:13.830 --> 00:22:15.390 in an amazing and incredible way. 00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:16.750 It sounds very soundbitey, doesn't it? 00:22:16.790 --> 00:22:19.170 He says, you have the words of eternal life. 00:22:20.390 --> 00:22:21.430 We have come to believe 00:22:21.430 --> 00:22:23.070 and to know you're the Holy One of God. 00:22:24.370 --> 00:22:25.350 Peter didn't know 00:22:25.350 --> 00:22:27.990 what the Holy One of God had come to do. 00:22:29.080 --> 00:22:30.260 He didn't understand the cross. 00:22:31.090 --> 00:22:32.290 The story of the gospel 00:22:32.290 --> 00:22:35.010 is that after Jesus had died 00:22:35.010 --> 00:22:36.170 and come back to life, 00:22:36.770 --> 00:22:38.530 the disciples still came to Jesus and said, 00:22:38.850 --> 00:22:40.250 what was the cross all about? 00:22:41.280 --> 00:22:42.980 Now, surely now, now is the time 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:44.140 when you're going to throw out the Romans, right? 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:50.380 now's the time when you're going to restore the kingdom. They still didn't get it. After seeing it 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:55.780 and coming out the other side, they still didn't understand. And yet, he accepts them and he 00:22:55.780 --> 00:23:01.040 welcomes them because they believed in him. And here's my point. Their belief does not come from 00:23:01.040 --> 00:23:06.600 understanding. They don't know. They don't know what God is doing at this point. But they believe 00:23:06.600 --> 00:23:13.940 in him because they've met him. They've seen him. And it's the person of Jesus who has revealed God 00:23:13.940 --> 00:23:21.540 to them. The person of Jesus has revealed God to his disciples, and the person of Jesus has revealed 00:23:21.540 --> 00:23:26.760 God to us. This is the story. This is what it's talking about. When he said, I'm the bread of life, 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:32.280 this is what it means. It says, if you read these stories and you learn about who I am, 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:40.660 you can experience life, true life, the way that God intended life to be. Life in all its fullness 00:23:40.660 --> 00:23:47.390 this is how Jesus describes it. And this is the point. Jesus is the way. In Jesus' person, 00:23:47.810 --> 00:23:55.710 God reveals himself. Two things. God reveals his heart. All of the stories of Jesus are so in line 00:23:55.710 --> 00:24:01.430 with the Old Testament picture of who God is and what he is like. My favorite verse of the Bible. 00:24:01.950 --> 00:24:09.150 I don't have a visual aid, unfortunately. We're saying goodbye to some of the older 16-year-olds 00:24:09.150 --> 00:24:14.810 from youth who are just finished their GCSEs and are going to be moving on in the summer 00:24:14.810 --> 00:24:21.050 and are going to be sitting in here with you guys. And we have been giving them a little 00:24:21.050 --> 00:24:25.390 thank you present to say goodbye. And one of the verses that Micah chose, she asked 00:24:25.390 --> 00:24:28.550 me, what's a good verse? And I said, oh, I don't know. My brain is full of other stuff 00:24:28.550 --> 00:24:31.890 this week. And I've read all the ones that she's chosen. These are all brilliant. Why 00:24:31.890 --> 00:24:34.990 didn't I think of those? Because one of them is my favorite verse of the Bible. Exodus 00:24:34.990 --> 00:24:41.410 chapter 34, God describes himself and says, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is gracious and compassionate 00:24:41.410 --> 00:24:48.830 and slow to anger and rich in covenant love and faithfulness. And that Jesus revealed the person 00:24:48.830 --> 00:24:54.650 of God in the way that he did things, in his personality, in his actions. He demonstrated 00:24:54.650 --> 00:25:02.170 in real terms what it means to be a follower of God who shares God's heart. It says that Jesus 00:25:02.170 --> 00:25:07.190 did things because he saw people and was filled with compassion. He was full of the love of God. 00:25:07.530 --> 00:25:15.110 He was full of the understanding of God's heart and God's desire to rescue those who are trapped 00:25:15.110 --> 00:25:21.600 by sin and death. That's God's heart. That's been God's heart from the very beginning and you can 00:25:21.600 --> 00:25:26.240 follow it all the way through the Bible. That verse from Exodus 34 is the most quoted verse 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.860 in the Old Testament. God quoting himself, the Bible quoting itself. It's one of the best things 00:25:30.860 --> 00:25:34.820 about the way that I'd said, there's repeating patterns in the Bible, aren't there? God wants 00:25:34.820 --> 00:25:39.560 you to know he is gracious and he is compassionate and he is full of love and kindness and faithfulness 00:25:39.560 --> 00:25:45.530 and he'll never give up on you. And that is what Jesus demonstrated. And that is why Peter had 00:25:45.530 --> 00:25:51.850 confidence in Jesus, because he'd seen God through Jesus. This is what John wants us to know, doesn't 00:25:51.850 --> 00:25:55.270 he? In John chapter one, we already read some verses from John chapter one. My favorite verse 00:25:55.270 --> 00:25:58.490 from John chapter one is the bit, I think it's John chapter one. I didn't look it up. I think 00:25:58.490 --> 00:26:04.800 verse 13, God, John says, no one has ever seen God, but God the Father through the Son has made 00:26:04.800 --> 00:26:11.490 himself known. No one's seen God, but people have seen Jesus. And when you see Jesus, you know God 00:26:11.490 --> 00:26:18.400 because he reveals God's heart. He reveals God's heart in everything that he does and everything 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:28.830 that he says. Secondly, God reveals, Jesus reveals God's heart and God's will. Jesus, the person of 00:26:28.830 --> 00:26:35.320 jesus reveals god's will this was something i really struggled with when i was a young christian 00:26:35.320 --> 00:26:43.740 so often um as i've alluded to a few times i can honestly say i'm probably more confused 00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:49.560 about what jesus achieved on the cross right now than i ever have been in my entire christian life 00:26:49.560 --> 00:26:56.520 yeah it's big and it's complicated atonement and redemption are deep and massive subjects 00:26:56.520 --> 00:27:00.060 that span the entire Bible and impact my life 00:27:00.060 --> 00:27:03.000 in crazy ways I would never have imagined before. 00:27:05.170 --> 00:27:07.630 My friend Darren asked me a few weeks ago, 00:27:08.110 --> 00:27:09.130 a few months ago now, 00:27:09.530 --> 00:27:11.030 why did Jesus have to die on the cross? 00:27:11.190 --> 00:27:12.930 And I talked for 40 minutes, I think it was. 00:27:13.210 --> 00:27:13.790 It took me a while. 00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:15.210 I'm not going to talk that long now, I promise. 00:27:16.110 --> 00:27:18.430 But I'm like, there's a lot going on on the cross. 00:27:18.870 --> 00:27:20.270 There's a lot going on. 00:27:20.670 --> 00:27:22.840 And this is the point, though. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:25.480 The person of Jesus reveals the heart of God 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:27.080 and reveals God's will. 00:27:27.820 --> 00:27:28.880 You see, when I was a young Christian, 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:31.280 I used to think God's will is the most complicated thing 00:27:31.280 --> 00:27:32.640 I could possibly get my head around. 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.100 God has, does God have some kind of perfect plan for my life? 00:27:37.620 --> 00:27:40.380 Is God's will a path that I can't see, 00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:43.000 that I have to walk along and I get in trouble if I step off? 00:27:43.870 --> 00:27:47.090 Yeah, in this very passage earlier in John chapter 6, verse 40, 00:27:47.090 --> 00:27:51.890 Jesus says, the will of God is that everyone who looks to me 00:27:51.890 --> 00:27:54.280 shall be saved. 00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:56.500 I'm paraphrasing there. 00:27:56.500 --> 00:28:00.640 look it up, John chapter 6 verse 40, I'll look it up, I'll look it up real quick, 00:28:01.490 --> 00:28:08.800 John chapter 6 verse 40, where is it? For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the 00:28:08.800 --> 00:28:14.480 Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. This 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:20.280 repeated phrase about being raised up is all about God's healing plans and His power that is 00:28:20.280 --> 00:28:25.460 demonstrated when Jesus is raised up on the cross. You see, it's Jesus' death that brings the life 00:28:25.460 --> 00:28:32.080 that God is promising. Talk about the upside down kingdom, a backwards nature of a king, a ruler 00:28:32.080 --> 00:28:37.080 who's willing to sacrifice his life for his subjects. That's the power of the cross. That is 00:28:37.080 --> 00:28:41.820 the story he's talking about. And yet he's saying, if you are confused about the will of God, 00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:47.340 read this passage. If you are confused about the will of God, know that his will is known when you 00:28:47.340 --> 00:28:53.420 see his heart. If you understand God's heart, you'll know what his will is. Because his will 00:28:53.420 --> 00:29:00.140 is to rescue people his will is to save people his will is for compassion and love to abound 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:06.750 my father's will is that everyone who looks to the son believes in him shall have eternal life 00:29:06.750 --> 00:29:13.570 there's a story that alludes to um i've got time to go into a lot of story but there's a very 00:29:13.570 --> 00:29:19.490 bizarre story in the old testament of exodus about a bronze snake being made when the israelites are 00:29:19.490 --> 00:29:24.150 acting in a way that is yet again showing their rebellion against god and their greed and their 00:29:24.150 --> 00:29:29.410 selfishness, and the consequences of that are snakes are going through their tent and striking 00:29:29.410 --> 00:29:33.750 people down, and people are dying left, right, and center. But God provides this incredible way 00:29:33.750 --> 00:29:40.430 where he creates a bronze snake and says, anyone who looks at it is saved. That's all you've got 00:29:40.430 --> 00:29:45.590 to do. You've just got to look. It's a bizarre story, and yet this is exactly the imagery that 00:29:45.590 --> 00:29:51.820 Jesus uses when he describes himself. Peter didn't understand. He didn't understand the cross at this 00:29:51.820 --> 00:30:01.110 point. But he had faith. He looked to Jesus and he said, I have faith that who you are is showing us 00:30:01.110 --> 00:30:08.070 God's heart and is showing us God's will. And so he chose to follow him. And that's all Jesus calls 00:30:08.070 --> 00:30:15.170 us to do. Just look. Because when you look to Jesus, you see God's heart and you can know God's 00:30:15.170 --> 00:30:20.650 will. You can know God's will for your life in the midst of incredibly hard circumstances. I know 00:30:20.650 --> 00:30:22.530 that in this church we're all going through 00:30:22.530 --> 00:30:24.290 some really, really hard stuff. 00:30:24.930 --> 00:30:26.610 And we're going to continue to support and pray 00:30:26.610 --> 00:30:27.830 for each other through all those things. 00:30:29.010 --> 00:30:31.360 And that's what I'm going 00:30:31.360 --> 00:30:33.880 to do now. Father God, 00:30:34.120 --> 00:30:36.080 thank you for the revelation in Jesus 00:30:36.080 --> 00:30:37.760 that we can know your heart. 00:30:38.520 --> 00:30:40.240 Thank you for this incredible statement 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:42.060 of trust that Peter makes. 00:30:43.360 --> 00:30:44.660 He says that your words 00:30:44.660 --> 00:30:46.720 are eternal life. And he didn't know 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:48.720 the end of the story. And even when he saw the end 00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:50.780 of the story, he still didn't understand, but he knew 00:30:50.780 --> 00:30:57.200 God that you are revealed in Jesus. Thank you, God, for revealing yourself in Jesus. And thank 00:30:57.200 --> 00:31:01.440 you that the revelation of your heart is that you're a God whose heart is full of love and 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:06.900 compassion for his people and that your will is to rescue. Thank you for the death and sacrifice 00:31:06.900 --> 00:31:10.920 that Jesus makes on the cross. Thank you that even if I might not fully understand it, your death 00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:18.880 makes a way, your death makes a way possible into life. Father God, help us to trust in you today, 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:22.420 to step out in faith and to bring that love 00:31:22.420 --> 00:31:25.120 that you demonstrated in Jesus into our lives 00:31:25.120 --> 00:31:27.240 and into the lives of those that we love. 00:31:27.860 --> 00:31:30.920 God, fill our hearts with love, I pray in Jesus' name. 00:31:31.340 --> 00:31:31.560 Amen.