SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/22/2016 9:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 The Reaction of the False Disciples
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 6:60-66
Message of the verses: “60 Therefore many of His disciples, when
they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to
it?" 61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to
them, "Does this cause you to stumble? 62 “What then if you see the Son of
Man ascending to where He was before? 63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits
nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64
“But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray
Him. 65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no
one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." 66 As
a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him
anymore.’”
We can see
from verse 61 and of course other places that Jesus knows everything and so He
knew that His disciples grumbled at His teaching, and did not believe it, and
so He asked them if His teaching caused them to stumble. The word “grumble” reminds me of what the
children of Israel were doing in the wilderness when they, too did not get the
things that they wanted, and so it is here as many of Jesus’ disciples were
only looking for a “health and wealth gospel.”
We have mentioned the word stumble in an earlier SD, but I want to quote
what John MacArthur has to say about this word.
“Stumble translates a form of the verb skandalizo, which can mean either ‘to take offense’ (e. g. Matt.
13:57; 15:12) or ‘to give up believing’ (e. g. 13:21; 24:10). Both meanings are appropriate here; the false
disciples took offense at Jesus’ teaching, and that caused them to abandon
their superficial faith in Him.”
The major
problem that these “disciples” had with Jesus was his statement or claim that
He had come down from heaven. I suppose
that these people thought they knew things about what their Messiah would do
when He came to earth, but because of the fact that they only believed in “One
God,” that they could not believe that there were three persons in the godhead,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because
they did not believe the claim that Jesus came from heaven He then says to them
“What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” Of course this was true as they did not
believe that He arose from the dead and later on ascended back to heaven. Jesus Christ did indeed ascend bodily into
heaven as seen in Acts 1:3-11. John
MacArthur writes “It should be noted that some commentators see Jesus’
reference to ascending as an implied reference to His crucifixion (3:14; 12:32,
34), which led to His resurrection, and then His ascension. According to that view, the Lord was making a
crucial point: If the false disciples
were scandalized by His teaching, how much more would they be offended by His
execution (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23)? In any
case, Jesus left the question open-ended, because how His hearers responded to
Him would determine how they would answer it.”
Now we want
to get into the following ““It
is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing;” as this phrase
has much meaning in it. Let us look at
Galatians 2:20 to see exactly how spiritual life comes to those who are
believers, it is something we have to look back at when we become a believer. “"I have been crucified with Christ; and
it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself up for me.” Another verse
that helps us understand this is Colossians 3:3-4 “3 For you have died and your
life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” John MacArthur writes “It does not come
through ‘the will of the flesh’ (1:13), which as R. V. G. Tasker notes,
‘signifies the outward to the exclusion of the inward, the visible apart from
the invisible, the material unrelated to the spiritual, and the human
dissociated from the divine.’” John 1:13
says “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man, but of God.” “The Lord exhorted
those who took issue with eating His flesh (v. 52) to focus instead on
partaking of His Spirit (vv. 53-58).”
Jesus goes
on in verse 63 to say “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are
life.” We can understand from this
phrase that it is the Words that reveal to us who Jesus really is as we looked
at earlier we can either accept or reject the words that Jesus has to say about
eternal life, and for that matter all of His words. However rejecting His words is rejecting Him,
and rejecting Him is rejecting the only way to have salvation for Jesus said in
John 14:6 “"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father but through Me.” Luke writes the
following in Acts 4:12 “"And there is salvation in no one else; for there
is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be
saved."” These words were written
by Luke, but spoken by Peter. MacArthur
writes “Thus the Bible teaches that salvation comes through the agency of the
Word of God.” Peter writes “for you have
been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is,
through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23).” James writes “Therefore, putting aside all
filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word
implanted, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21).”
Let us move
on “64 “But there are some of you who do not believe."” Jesus was not holding these false disciples
accountable for not knowing the truth He had told them, but that they did not
believe the truth, as they rejected God’s offer of salvation given to them,
they had a lack of faith to believe the truth.
The fact is that they would not believe.
We can be
assured that Jesus was saddened that they did not believe, but the truth is “Jesus
knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe,” and He also knew “who
it was that would betray Him.” Jesus, of
course was speaking of Judas and we will talk more about Judas when we get to
verses 70-71 which says “70 Jesus
answered them, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of
you is a devil? 71 Now He meant Judas
the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.”
We now want
to look at His parting words to these false disciples “"For this reason I
have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him
from the Father."” MacArthur adds
that these words “reinforced His earlier teaching that God is absolutely
sovereign in salvation (vv. 37, 39, 44-45).
Verse 64 and 65 maintain the tension between divine sovereignty and
human responsibility found throughout Scripture. On the one hand, unbelievers are condemned
for their unbelief (v. 64); on the other hand, they are lost because the Father
did not draw them (v. 65).”
Verse 66
tells us the sad outcome “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew
and were not walking with Him anymore.’”
MacArthur writes that “as a result of this,” could also be translated
“from this time.” “Both translations are
correct. The false disciples permanently
abandoned Jesus after this point ‘as a result’ of His teaching in the sermon in
general (especially vv. 48-58), and His condemnation of their unbelief in
particular (v. 64). ‘What they wanted, he would not give; what he
offered, they would not receive.’”
(Highlighted quoted from F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John.)
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is because of this passage that when I
pray for the salvation of people that I care for, and some that I don’t know
that I pray that they receive the effectual call from the Lord, and that they
also accept that call. There certainly
are two truths involved in salvation as we have seen in this rather long 6th
chapter of John’s gospel.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To continue to seek the Lord
to know Him better, and to love Him more, and to learn more about Him as I
study His Word.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Thirteen” (Joshua 6:3-4).
Today’s Bible question:
“Where is a prophet not accepted?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/22/2016 11:10 AM
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