The Work You Must Do To Have Eternal Life (John 6:27-71)
We are in a very controversial passage of Scripture this morning in the divide between the Protestant and Roman Church. And so, I think it would be prudent to get the controversy out of the way before beginning the sermon.
Like other Protestants that have gone before me, there are a lot of reasons to believe that the discussion about eating flesh and blood is not about the Lord’s Supper. In fact, the objections that I will make today have been stated repeatedly for over 500 years by Protestants and have never been given a sufficient answer.
First, to think that this discussion is about the Lord’s Supper is anachronistic. An anachronism is when you take something out of the time period of which it belongs. It would be like writing a story about medieval knights and having them carry a modern rifle. The same sort of thing happens here because Jesus had not yet instituted the Lord’s Supper. Essentially, Roman Catholics argue that Jesus is teaching about the Lord’s Supper long before He instituted the Lord’s Supper.
Second, a long discourse about the Lord’s Supper is against the Book of John’s purpose. As we have already discussed earlier, the purpose statement of the John’s gospel is evangelistic in nature.
Third, and probably the most difficult for Roman Catholics to even begin to explain is that Jesus’s statements are far too dogmatic to be about the Lord’s Supper.
“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54 ESV)
If this were about the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist as they call it, then the only thing necessary for salvation would be to partake in the Eucharist.
Fourthly, this verse also makes it impossible for people to be lost forever if they partook in the Lord’s Supper. There is such a thing as an unworthy receiver. And I’m sure that we all know people that partook of the Lord’s Supper with us that abandoned Christ and abandoned the faith.
Fifthly, the one act of eating and drinking is said to give eternal life. That is, Jesus puts this forward as an event that is done once and once done the person has eternal life.
The reason it doesn’t make sense is that it’s not about the partaking of the Lord’s Supper. This discourse is about faith in Christ. It is about believing in Him.
Roman Catholics use this passage to teach that they call the priest re-presents the sacrificed Christ in the bread and wine. They teach that the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, in an act called transubstantiation. And this is the passage of Scripture they use to defend this practice.
But, for the reasons stated above, this is simply not the case.
The flesh and blood discourse in John 6 is about faith in the sacrificed Savior.
The Work You Must Do To Have Eternal Life Is Faith In Jesus Christ (John 6:27-55)
After the people search and find Jesus, a discussion begins between them and Jesus. And eventually they ask a tremendous question. It is a question that at some point all of us ask. They ask Jesus what work they must do to have eternal life.
Jesus’s answer to them is quite simple. The work that they are to do is to believe in him.
From here the discussion goes a bit sideways. They ask for another miracle. It is as if they say, “If we’re being called upon to trust in You, then we’re gonna need a little more.” And this may seem outlandish, but they were thinking about this sign. They were expecting a prophet like Moses. Moses fed the people of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus had just given this crowd dinner.
Simply put, they were expecting the easy life, with regard to their food, for a while if Jesus was the one foretold.
Jesus’s answer is a corrective to them. Moses didn’t feed the people, God did. And Jesus is Himself the bread from Heaven that truly satisfies (John 6:35).
This is very similar to a discussion that took place earlier in the Book of John with the Woman at the Well.
“Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” (John 4:13-14 ESV)
In both cases, the point is clear. The physical food or drink you seek will not give you eternal life, but He would.
And then Jesus emphasized that He is not on His own program. He is the bread from Heaven that would accomplish the redemption that the Father gave Him to do. Again, as He has already stated a few times in the Gospel of John, He is doing the will of the Father.
Statement after statement comes at us concerning this.
- All that the Father gives Him will come to Him (John 6:37)
- He came to do the Father’s will (John 6:38)
- He does His Father’s will and will not lose anyone given to Him (John 6:39)
- After making the “I AM” statement, signifying that He is God (John 6:41), they complain about knowing His Mom and Dad (John 6:42-43). Then Jesus again speaks of the cooperation with the Father. Jesus tells them that they do not have the ability to come to Him unless the Father draws them (John 6:44)
He has come to accomplish the redemption of people. He is the bread from Heaven, and the bread He gives is His flesh (John 6:48-51). They question all of this and Jesus tells them that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood, they have no life in them. But the one who does will be raised up on the last day (John 6:52-55).
Our first parents rebelled against God. They broke His command and so we have all been corrupted. We are part of this corrupt mass of humanity. Humankind is a fallen race. That is why the Scriptures say things like, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It is why Solomon says that mankind was created upright, but have sought out many schemes (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Though we were created good, we are now stained with the taint of sin. And God could have left us in this condition. He could have left us condemned under the sentence of justice from Almighty God. But that is not what He did. His Son came to us, the true bread from Heaven. He clothed Himself in human flesh, lived a perfect life, and died on our behalf. His flesh was torn for us. His blood was spilt for us. And all those who trust in Him have eternal life.
All those that eat His flesh and drink His blood have eternal life.
What is the work that we must do to have eternal life?
As it turns out, it is not a work at all. It is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I once had conversation with a friend of mine. It was really a sad situation. He and I had been in a band together that travelled and led music at youth events. Almost all of them had been evangelistic. His mother was Roman Catholic, but he had spent a lot of Sundays and Wednesdays with me.
He had heard the gospel presented countless times at these different events. This one was a DNow. He and I talked a lot more at this one because we got snowed in. It was a winter storm that was much stronger than expected, so rather than going to the homes of parents, they ended up staying in the church. He and I were the band this time around. We both played guitar and sang. And we slept on the couches in one of the pastor’s offices at First Baptist Farmington.
We spent the weekend chatting, playing ping pong and foosball with the students, and playing music. And at one point, just before we were about to go up to the stage to play music after the preaching he said, “I don’t think anyone really knows how to be saved.”
I was taken aback by his comments. And we were able to discuss it more later. But here was a guy that had heard countless sermons, played music for countless invitations, and still didn’t know what work he needed to do to be made right with God.
But here it is from Jesus’s mouth. What is the work that must be done to have eternal life? It is faith in Jesus Christ. It is not a work at all.
Maybe that is you today. Maybe you have struggled for years attempting to understand how a person has eternal life. Maybe you are struggling as you see that you are not good enough. You know you are a sinner and are separated from God. What is the work that you must do to have eternal life?
Trust in Jesus.
We could never be good enough to earn God’s favor.
We could never be right before God on our own.
We could never love people well enough to rid yourself of the stain of sin.
We could never earn this on our own.
What is the work we must do to have eternal life? It is faith in Jesus Christ.
The Work You Must Do to Have Eternal Life Unites Us to Jesus Christ (John 6:56)
You may be asking why Jesus would speak of His flesh and blood as being taken in by the believer as being an analogy for faith. But the answer is right here. Faith unites us to Jesus. The one who trusts in Jesus abides in Him and Jesus in the believer.
When I eat food, I take it into my body. I eat eggs every morning. They are nature’s multivitamin. Every bit of nutrients that a baby chicken needs to grow for around 21 days is found in that egg. And on most mornings I eat three of those. And those nutrients are broken down in my body and dispersed to organs, to my brain, to muscles, and excess makes fat. This food is incorporated into my body. There is a sense in which I am united to the food that I eat.
When we trust in Christ, we are united to Him (John 6:56). Jesus isn’t some strange addition to our lives that we reach for every now and then. Faith in Him unites us to Him. We live because Jesus and the Father are one and we are united to Christ (John 6:57).
Jesus is not like the bread that came down in Moses’s day. We have eternal life because we are united to Christ by faith (John 6:58).
And imagine this. This was said in the synagogue at Capernaum (John 6:59). Was Moses part of the day’s reading. We’re not told. But I do wonder.
Being united to Christ is repeatedly discussed in the New Testament. That is the condition of the believer.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 ESV)
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5 ESV)
“In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:11-12 ESV)
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” (1Corinthians 6:15-17 ESV)
In marriage, the two become one flesh. It is a union that we understand but not quite. And the same is true for the person who believes. That person is united to Christ. He has become one spirit with Christ. We are united to Him by faith. He lived for me and accomplished righteousness for me. He died for me and accomplished the payment of my sins. He rose from the grave for me and accomplishes my justification.
You ate yesterday, and maybe this morning. That food became one with you. It went into your stomach, was broken down, and the nutrients were dispersed around your body. There is a real sense in which, through the process of digestion, the bread I ate yesterday became one with me through the process of digestion.
Take in Christ, believe in Him and find nourishment for your soul. Be united to Christ by the metaphorical dining upon His flesh and blood that is called faith.
The Work You Must Do to Have Eternal Life is a Work of God (John 6:60-66, 37-40, 44-45)
In the face of unbelief, Jesus responded by stating that people are not able to come to Him unless God first works in them. He states this plainly in John 6:60-66 and refers back to the things that were already stated in the discourse.
These statements are scattered. But what I hope you see is that Jesus refers to Isaiah 54:13, which speaks of what was to come.
“All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.” (Isaiah 54:13 ESV)
And then he explained what this meant.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (John 6:44-45 ESV)
No one has the ability to come to faith apart form a miraculous work of God. That is why Jesus used the word “can”. The word speaks of a person’s ability. I have said on a few occasions that unbelief is a moral issue and not intellectual. The unbeliever is blinded by their sin and rebellion and because of that they are unable apart from the grace of God to believe.
We’ve already seen this in Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus.
“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”” (John 3:3 ESV)
On the positive side, in the face of rejection of His message, Jesus says that all that the Father has given to Him will come to Him. And all those given to Him will be raised up on the last day (John 6:37-40). So, you have both sides of this thing explained by Jesus. But they both tell the same story.
People cannot believe on their own. They lack the ability to do so.
We tend not to realize just how wicked we are. As Augustine put it, our first parents fell and produced a damnable mass of humanity. We don’t start in neutral. We start in rebellion against God. Our hearts are selfish and at our core, the natural man hates God and lives in rebellion against Him.
This natural inclination of rebellion against God is not overcome simply by repeating some sort of formula. It is found in the miraculous working of God to change us.
How do you know that God has done this work in a person’s life? They now love God.
If I were to place a bucket of slop and a steak at opposite ends of the front of our sanctuary and then unleash a pig on the place, he would run for the slop. But if he were to be supernaturally transformed into a human, the slop would make him vomit. And after he recovered, he would go to the good food. That’s the sort of work of God we are discussing.
The natural man does not love the things of God. The natural man does not love Jesus. God works in Him. He is taught by God and then he comes to his senses.
Another way of putting it. Dead fish in a river only move in one direction and that’s down the river. It takes a live one to move against the current.
This work of God becomes evident when the heart is changed and they now love God. When they are enabled to follow Christ and abandon the life they once loved, then you can see that they have received this light.
This is why we pray for the lost. This is why we walk confidently in a world that is in rebellion against God. Because Jesus brings people to faith in Him through the preaching of His Word and the miraculous work of God in the life of people to bring them to Him.
One of my favorite hymns depicts this very well.
“I know not how the Spirit moves,
convicting men of sin,
revealing Jesus through the Word,
creating faith in Him.”
I don’t know how that works. I don’t know how God works this miracle in the life of a believer. But I know that He does it. I know that He convicts of sin, reveals Jesus through the Word and creates faith in the believer. I know that is something that He does.
But I also know that, because it is a work of God, it will not fail.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44 ESV)
God works in us to bring us to Himself. And God will raise us up on the last day. What incredible confidence we have in our salvation!
The Invitation to Have Eternal Life (John 6:35, 47-51, 54-55, 61-71)
Think back through our text today and consider how many invitations to believe in Jesus were given. And notice that it was repeatedly rejected by many.
How many times did Jesus look at the crowd and tell them the work that they must do to have eternal life?
How many times did He invite those people to feast on Him, the Bread from heaven?
And how many times did they reject the invitation?
So, Jesus asked the remaining disciples if they would also leave Him. Would it take them seeing Jesus ascend to Heaven to believe? But even that wouldn’t do the trick, for “the Spirit gives life; the flesh is of no help at all”. (John 6:63 ESV) But the words that Jesus spoke to them were “spirit and life”. (John 6:63 ESV) God was at work in the disciples.
But even among the disciples there was a traitor, Judas. He did not believe, and others that were still listening. (John 6:64) He probably thought he believed at the time, but Jesus knew better than he what was in his heart. And Jesus went on to say that no one had the ability to believe “unless it is granted him by the Father. (John 6:65 ESV) And people don’t like being told things like this. So, most of Jesus’s followers left.
At this point, Jesus turned His attention to the 12 Disciples and asked the question. “Do you want to go away as well?” (John 6:67) I have felt the disheartening feeling of people leaving. Person after person left and Jesus asked this question of His disciples.
It was at this point that Peter spoke for the group, as he often did.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69ESV)
If you consider what Jesus is doing here, it is abundantly obvious that this is an invitation for the people to believe in Him. It is an invitation to see that the miracle of feeding the 5,000 was a sign of who Jesus was. This is an invitation for them to have more than dinner. This was an invitation to see that they could have eternal life in Jesus Christ.
The language here is strikingly similar to the woman at the well. When she understood, she believed and the whole village came to check out Jesus Christ.
The same invitation offered to her was offered to the people here, but the response was vastly different. The offer that the Samaritan woman accepted, the vast majority of them rejected.
But the response of Peter, is the response of faith. It is the response of the one who feeds on the flesh of Christ.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)
That is us today. That is the response of faith in Jesus Christ. He has the words of eternal life, we have believed, and we have come to know that He is the Holy One of God. We have come to know that He is the lamb slain for our redemption. We have come to know that through Him we can be adopted into God’s family and become children of God.
You Can Be Close, And Not Have Saving Faith (John 6:70-71)
Jesus chose the 12 Disciples that were listening to Him at that point. Yet one of them was “a devil”. (John 6:70) Judas, who would later betray Jesus, was among the 12 that heard Peter’s confession.
Judas heard the words of life repeatedly. He walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, laughed with Jesus, and probably cried with Jesus. He listened to Peter’s confession and later betrayed Jesus.
And there’s a lesson here for all of us. Being in the vicinity of Christ does not mean that you are His. You must eat His flesh and drink His blood or you do not have eternal life. You must believe in Him.
I preach and teach from God’s Word every week. I proclaim the gospel every week from God’s Word to this congregation. And it would break my heart if, after years of preaching here, I found out that someone heard sermon after sermon and did not truly believe.
Conclusion
Eat His flesh, drink His blood, believe in Him. Be united to Him by faith.
The free gift of salvation is offered to you today. You yourself must eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ. You yourself must believe in Jesus Christ.
Christ gave the food of His body as it bled and died upon the cross. You must receive into yourself, Jesus Christ. You must receive the free gift of His divine mercy. Eat His flesh and drink His blood. Trust in Him!
It reminds us of the invitation of Isaiah 55:1
“”Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1 ESV)
Receive Christ and find satisfaction for your soul.