THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
(Chapters 6-10)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Timothy Sparks and Ben Bailey.
Ben Bailey:
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn. 6:68). I’m Ben Bailey.
Timothy Sparks:
And I’m Timothy Sparks. Welcome to our study of the Book of John. This broadcast is being brought to you by individuals and congregations of the churches of Christ. We hope you will visit the churches of Christ in your area, and let them know how much you appreciate their support of this broadcast. If you have a Bible question or a spiritual concern, they would be happy to help you with it. If you would like a Bible study, they also would be glad to assist you with that. We, too, would like to be of service. Visit us on our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com, where we have streaming audio and video lessons of our broadcasts. You may download these and use them to assist you in your study of God’s Word. We also are making available CDs of these broadcasts, as well as VHS and DVDs. We will be glad to send any of these to you completely free of charge.
As we begin our study with John 6, we learn that Jesus is going to teach us about how we can conform our will to the Father’s will. He refers to Himself as “the bread of life,” and says, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (Jn. 6:38).
Ben Bailey:
The only way to get to Heaven is through Jesus Himself. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 6 begins with Jesus feeding a great multitude. And on the heels of His having fed these people with a few loaves and fish, Christ makes the statement, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst…. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (vss. 35,54). Jesus is not talking, of course, about cannibalism. He’s talking instead of consuming his attitude, His “person,” and His way of approaching God. Paul said, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). Peter wrote, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). Paul urged Christians to imitate him as he imitated Christ. Jesus is saying the same thing He has said on several occasions: Follow me, walk in my footsteps, and bring My life into your life, and then you will be pleasing to God the Father. Jesus is the bread of life. He is our spiritual sustenance. He is our strength. John thus tells people in this chapter how they can approach the Savior.
Timothy Sparks:
In John 6:63, Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Jesus is clearly dealing with the Scriptures—His message of eternal life. When Peter asked, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,” he was asking the question in a certain context. On occasion, when Jesus said something “hard”—something that people did not want to accept—they abandoned Him. This was one of those occasions. So, Christ asks His disciples, “Will you also leave?” Peter was smart enough to realize that if they left Christ, they were leaving the only source of eternal life. The words that Jesus spoke are what enable us to have eternal life. Hebrews 1:1 reminds us that today, God speaks to us through His Son. There is nothing difficult about Christ’s saying, in John 6, that we have to eat His “flesh” and drink His “blood.” He’s talking in figurative terms about how we should consume His Word as our spiritual food. Those who followed Him, hoping for physical food, were looking for the wrong kind of food. Christ, however, had something to offer them that was of far greater value.
Ben Bailey:
Yes, and that was the message about God and eternal life. Jesus is dealing here with important spiritual issues. In verse 29, Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Some people in religion today suggest that salvation is by “faith only,” and that if you have to “do” anything—anything at all—then your salvation is based on works, it’s meritorious, you’ve “earned” it, and thus it’s no longer based on grace. There is a serious problem with such thinking, however. As Jesus makes clear in this text, belief is a work from God for us to do! Just like confession, repentance, and baptism, believing is a “conditional work”—i.e., it’s a condition we must meet. But doing these things does not “earn” us salvation. After I confess Christ, repent, and am baptized, I don’t have the right to look up to God in Heaven and say, “Now you owe me salvation.” We are still saved by grace. But we must meet the conditions that God has set forth for us to be saved and to receive that grace. Belief is a part of the “conditional works” that God has set forth for us to do.
In John 7, we learn something about Christ’s earthly brothers. They don’t appear to be believers at this point in time. Do we learn anything else about this matter a little later in the Bible?
Timothy Sparks:
Yes, we do. For example, we learn that Jude, the Lord’s half brother,
wrote the 25 verses in the New Testament book that bears his name. It is
that very book, in fact, that teaches us to “contend earnestly for the faith”
(vs. 3). This is evidence that although his brothers did not believe in Him initially, later they did
come to accept Him as the Son of God. In John 7:17, Jesus then says, “If
anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is
from God or whether I speak on
My own authority.” Jesus makes it
clear that we must
possess the mindset to do God’s will. Someone has suggested that when we approach
the Scriptures, it’s not just a matter of “understanding,” but also of “will.”
Ben Bailey:
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and it shall make
you free” (Jn. 8:32). We can understand. But we must have the will to do what the Scriptures tell us
to do. We must want to do what God commands us to do. Sometimes, people don’t
want to do God’s will. And sometimes,
they want to judge us when we do
want to do what God says. As an example, people on occasion will go to
John 7:1 (“Judge not that you be not judged”) and suggest that it is wrong to make any decisions, or come to any
doctrinal conclusions, because that is condemned by Scripture. This is a good example
of a text pulled out of its proper context. We must consider John 7:1 with other
teachings—especially those of John 7:24 where Jesus said, “Do not judge
according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” If we consider the entire chapter, we can see Jesus saying, in essence, “Don’t
be like the Pharisees, who have a giant 2-by-4 sticking out of their own eyes,
yet they are trying to extract the tiny
splinter from your eye.” Righteous judgment (vs. 24) is where we first make
sure our own lives are right before
we try to help others get theirs
right. We must not judge solely on what we think we see; rather, we must judge
“righteous judgment.” We obviously need to ask, “What does it mean to ‘judge
righteous judgment’?” The Scriptures say that “the commandments of
God are righteous, true, just, and holy” (Psa. 19). Thus, if we make a judgment on matters of morality, character, or salvation, we do so
based on a “thus saith the Lord.” We should
ask, “Is there any word from the Lord?” (Jer. 37:17). If there is, then we should not hesitate to say, “This is what the Bible
says, and this is what we must do.” If you stop and think about it, we aren’t the ones who are actually making
the judgments. There is no mystery about what God wants us to do, or how He wants us to
act. These things have been revealed through the Gospel. The
psalmist said, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89). God has already made the decisions for us.
All we
have to do is follow His Word. This, then, means that we aren’t actually the
ones doing the judging. God has already done
that.
Timothy Sparks:
In Romans 2:1, Paul wrote, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” The context of John 7:1 and Romans 2:1 is this: Do not judge hypocritically! If we repeat what Jesus and His Word have said, have we then become the judge? Of course not! If we speak at all, we must speak “as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). In John 7:46, the people who heard Jesus said, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
Ben Bailey:
We get a little more insight into this statement when we examine the comments made in Matthew 7 at the end of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:28-29 we read, “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Jesus didn’t say, “I think,” or “I feel,” or “This might be the case.” Jesus spoke, and it was the final word. He said it with authority, and what He spoke came directly from God. Jesus stated in John 7:16, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His Who sent Me.” Jesus spoke with inspiration from Heaven. He spoke with divine authority. Everything He said came straight from God. Thus, His preaching was powerful and impressive. Preachers today ought to learn something from this. People respect a sermon that quotes a “thus saith the Lord” and that is backed up by book, chapter, and verse. Anyone can get up and offer a message composed of “fluff” that is nothing but mere feelings or “a social gospel.” But to put a biblical message together takes a lot of work, and when it is presented properly, it carries a great deal of weight and authority.
Timothy Sparks:
In John 8, Jesus makes it clear that the truth, and only the truth, can make us truly free. In John 8:24, Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” This is a reference to Exodus 3:14, where God says, “I am that I am.” This is the same thought presented in Revelation 1:8 where God is referred to as “the One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come.” God is the great “I am.” Here, in John 8:24, Jesus is purposely using terminology that puts Him on the same level with God the Father. He is claiming deity—i.e., that He is of “divine rank and nature.” The people who heard Him understood His claim. If Christ is divine, then He has the authority to tell them what truth is. Jesus can say, therefore, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (vss. 31-32). We need to take this to heart, and continue to abide in His Word so that we will always be His disciples. In verse 36, Jesus went on to say, “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” True freedom comes only when we are released from our sins by the blood of Christ (Rev. 1:5). Paul said, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). John 8 reaffirms Christ’s deity—the topic that was under discussion as the Gospel of John began in chapter 1. Because He is “I am,” He is able to tell us the truth that will set us free.
Ben Bailey:
Later in John 8, we find the Jews boasting of their lineage through Abraham. They are by right “the promised seed,” they want Jesus to know. Jesus looked at some stones on the ground, and said that God could raise up children of Abraham from such stones. Jesus’ point was: “Don’t say to yourselves that just because you are ‘children of Abraham,’ you are going to Heaven, because that is not the case. In verse 44, in fact, Jesus said to them, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” Jesus told these people—who wanted to put their own personal feelings and beliefs before God’s Word—that they were children of the devil! We learn from previous verses that some of the people to whom Christ spoke believed on Him. This tells us that some of those who believe can still become children of the devil if they don’t handle the Scriptures correctly.
Timothy Sparks:
It has been said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Consider Uzzah in the Old Testament. He was walking beside an ox cart carrying
the Ark of the Covenant. It appeared to him that the
Ben Bailey:
In John 9, we will see Jesus prove His claim of deity by working a miracle. He comes upon a man who is has been blind since birth. The people around Jesus ask Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (vs. 2). Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” Jesus heals the man, and restores his sight. This is a marvelous thing. Everyone knows the blind man. They’ve seen him around. And now they see him with his sight restored. The people repeatedly question the man, and even his parents, wanting to know how this happened. They are told that it is a miracle, and that Jesus did it. But the people didn’t want to accept that explanation. Sometimes, things can be so clear and so compelling, but because they don’t agree with our way of thinking, or because we are biased, we just refuse to accept them as true. There was no way to deny Jesus’ miracle. And there is no way to deny the truth of God today. When we read the Bible, we can understand it (Eph. 3:4; Jn. 8:32). If we will set aside our personal biases and what our families might have believed in the past, and instead come to the Bible with an open mind and simply accept and obey whatever Jesus says, then we won’t have to spend a lot of time trying to find ways around what God’s Word teaches. The Bible alone will make us right before God.
Timothy Sparks:
In John 9:4, Jesus remarked, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” Here, Jesus uses the word “night” in a figurative sense to refer to death. His point is that we must do God’s work while we are alive—while we have time and opportunity. Eventually “night” (death) will come, and no one will be able to work. Solomon wrote, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Eccl. 9:10). Whatever we do for God, we must do now. Paul wrote, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Col. 3:23).
In John 9:5 Jesus says, “As long
as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus is the light that dispels
the darkness. In John 14:6, He said, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life.” He is the break (Jn. 6). He is the light (Jn. 8:12;
9:5). He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. He is all these things to
those who are receptive to His Word. Here, then, we see that Jesus is trying to
direct us toward eternity.
Ben Bailey:
In Jesus 10:11, we learn that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. Jesus also says that He is the door—the only way by which one can enter into God’s presence (vs. 8). Thus, we see that Jesus not only leads us to God, but that He also is the opening (the way) to God. God wants you to be saved and to live with Him for all eternity. God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Are you right with God? Have you obeyed the Gospel? Have you allowed Jesus to lead you to salvation? He alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Have you decided to follow Him?
What must a person do to become a Christian? Romans 10:17 tells us that we first must hear the Word of God, and that is the Word of God that produces faith. Then, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus said in John 8:24, “Unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.” Thus, we must believe. But according to James 2:24, belief alone isn’t enough. We must combine our belief with other biblical teaching as well. We also must repent. Jesus said in Luke 13:3, “Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” Repenting means that we change our will, and that we change our ways. When we repent, we become a different person. Then, we learn in Romans 10:9-10 that we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is God’s Son. Jesus emphasized this fact in Matthew 10:32-33. But we also must be baptized for the remission of our sins. Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
Today, it is our hope and prayer that you will
continue in your study of the Word of God. Do not take our word on any
of this, but search the Bible. And if the things we are saying are true, they
are true because God said them, not because we said them. If you would like to
have a copy of this broadcast, we will be happy to send it to you free of
charge. Log onto
our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com
and send us an e-mail, and we will be happy to send you a DVD, VHS, or
CD of this lesson. Also, on our website, you can view these lessons, or listen to them, via streaming
video and/or audio. We also make available a Bible correspondence course
at no charge. We hope you will visit the
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST is brought to you by loving, caring members of the church of Christ. The McLish Avenue church of Christ in Ardmore, Oklahoma, oversees this evangelistic effort. For a free CD or DVD of today’s broadcast, please write to:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
You may call 580-223-3289. Please visit us on the
web at www.thegospelofchrist.com.
We encourage you to attend the
1. In John 6, Jesus fed a multitude of people, and then said, “I am the bread of life.” Why, in the specific context, did He make this comment?
2. When Jesus said in John 6:63 that “the words I speak until you are spirit and life,” what was He trying to get across?
3. If “belief” is a “work of God,” does that mean that our salvation is “works based”? Support your answer with Scripture.
4. In this lesson, the following comment is made: “When we approach the Scriptures, it’s not just a matter of “understanding,” but also of “will.” Explain the meaning of that statement.
5. What does the phrase “conditional work” mean in the context of this lesson?
6. What is the proper correlation between John 7:1 and John 7:24?
7. Explain Paul’s statement in Romans 2:1—“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
8. Matthew 7:28-29 records that the people who heard Jesus were “astonished at his teaching.” Why were the people astonished?
9. What is the implication of Jesus’ statement in John 7:16 for us today? (“My doctrine is not Mine, but His Who sent me.”)
10. In Exodus 3:14, God told Moses that He is “I am Who I am.” What did God mean by that?
11. Why did the Jews think that they could boast about being “children of Abraham”?
12. Jesus told the Jews that something “trumped” being of the lineage of Abraham? What was the “something”?
13. Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples.” Explain the phrase “abide in my word.”
14. Why did God strike Uzzah dead when he touched the Ark of the Covenant?
15. What is the meaning of this statement: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12).
16. What did Jesus mean when He told the Jews?—“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (Jn. 8:56).
17. Explain Solomon’s statement: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Eccl. 9:10).
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,