Introduction:
Three Telltale Signs of a False Disciple. (John 6:52-65):
- You can't Understand Jesus' words. (John 6:52-59)
1 Cor 2:14 - The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
- You can't Understand Jesus' words. (John 6:52-59)
- You get Offended at Jesus' words. (John 6:60-65)
- You don't Stick Around Jesus' people. (John 6:66)
1 John 2:19 - They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
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Three Telltale Signs of a True Disciple: (John 6:66-71)
- You don't go with the Crowd . (John 6:67)
- You don't see any Alternative to following Jesus. (John 6:68)
- Your decision to follow Christ is Settled . (John 6:69)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:57-01:20
Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 6. As we continue our series knowing Jesus, today's message is knowing the words of eternal life.
01:20-01:24
This is the last message from John 6.
01:25-01:38
While you're turning there, you know, my brother and I know this man who was always boasting about his priceless ruby red china collection.
01:38-02:01
This man had these... they were bowls and saucers and plates and they were these red glass things and this guy was always, always boasting that don't go near it, don't touch it, don't look at it, don't think about it, stay away from that because this collection is priceless and this is going to be my retirement someday.
02:02-03:11
And I remember one day my brother picked it up, picked up a piece of the precious priceless China and looked at the bottom of it and at the very bottom it said Avon and he told me about this and immediately I went to eBay and I did a search for this ruby red China from Avon and at the time I looked it up you could literally buy a 10-piece set of this stuff for a dollar I really considered buying a set and the I was around this guy just taking one of the ruby red glasses and just smashing it on the ground and saying, "Money means nothing to me." Well, obviously the treasure wasn't real. It was fake stuff that looked like real treasure. You know, I thought that would be so handy in church as I try to minister to people and try to discern if they're born-again believers in Christ or if they're not.
03:11-03:19
It would just be so easy for me if I was able to grab people and spin them around and see if Avon was stamped on their backs.
03:19-03:29
But regardless, John 6, Jesus taught the crowd that He is the living bread and they must consume Him.
03:30-03:33
That statement of Jesus really drew a line in the sand.
03:34-03:37
And suddenly it became pretty clear which side people were on.
03:38-03:47
The side of "I'm with Jesus" or the side of "I don't want anything to do with Jesus." What side are you on?
03:48-03:58
I know what side you would like to say that you're on, but in Jesus' day, and in ours, there's lots of ruby red Avon China Christians.
04:00-04:02
They look the part, but they aren't legit.
04:03-04:12
And some of you who come to Harvest Bible Chapel or listen to our podcast, you're not born-again believers in Jesus Christ.
04:13-04:14
And look, I'm not condemning you.
04:15-04:17
I don't know anyone's heart.
04:18-04:21
But this is true in every single church.
04:21-04:28
You're going to have people that know Christ, and people that maybe look like they know Christ, but they really don't.
04:28-04:31
And from this passage we're going to look at today, we're going to learn the difference.
04:31-04:37
Are you a true follower of Jesus or are you a false follower of Jesus?
04:37-04:39
Like what do you mean a false follower?
04:40-04:44
Meaning you're a church attender, you're a pew sitter, whatever.
04:44-04:46
You're not opposed to the message.
04:46-04:50
You even come to church, but you haven't been transformed.
04:51-04:58
You need to answer this question for yourself as we go through this passage, and I encourage you as always to take notes.
05:00-05:02
Which of these two categories better describes you?
05:04-05:06
On your outline, true or false?
05:07-05:11
What kind of disciple are you?
05:13-05:14
A true one or a false one?
05:16-05:23
First of all, letter A, here are three telltale signs of a false disciple.
05:24-05:26
Three telltale signs of a false disciple.
05:26-05:27
Do these describe you?
05:28-05:34
First of all, number one, you can't understand Jesus' words.
05:35-05:37
You can't understand Jesus' words.
05:38-05:41
That's a sign that you're not a true disciple of Jesus.
05:42-06:14
And as we've been going through John's gospel, we have seen over and over and over, John's gospel is full of people who miss the point of the symbols and metaphors and figures of speech that Jesus was making. This is throughout John. For example, in John chapter 2, Jesus said, "If you destroy this temple, I'll rebuild it in three days." And the audience was like, "Oh, he's going to tear the temple down." That's not at all what he was talking about.
06:14-06:22
We get to John chapter 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, "You must be born again." And Nicodemus says, "Wait, wait, wait, wait.
06:23-06:28
How can I enter back into my mother's womb now that I'm older?
06:28-06:32
I don't understand how that happens." Went right over his head.
06:33-06:45
John chapter four, Jesus told the woman at the well that the water he gives will spring up into a well, a fountain of eternal life within.
06:45-06:52
And the woman said to Jesus, "Can I have some of this water?" Again, over the head.
06:53-07:04
You've seen when we go through John chapter six, no matter how many times Jesus explained this bread metaphor, they just didn't get it.
07:05-07:08
Jesus is the true and living bread.
07:09-07:14
And you have to not just look at the bread, you have to eat the bread.
07:15-07:17
You see, this is the metaphor Jesus is using.
07:17-07:19
This is the sustained illustration.
07:20-07:25
Jesus is talking about eating, as He is the bread of life.
07:25-07:27
Let's talk about the metaphor here for just a second.
07:27-07:28
I'm gonna go through this quickly.
07:29-07:36
At the point of Jesus' metaphor, Him is the bread and people needing to consume Him to eat from the living bread.
07:37-07:38
Why this metaphor?
07:38-07:41
Well, first of all, eating is necessary, right?
07:41-07:42
Eating is a necessary thing.
07:43-07:47
Bread does you no good unless you eat it, right?
07:47-07:48
It does you no good just sitting there.
07:49-07:55
In the same way, Jesus Christ does you no good unless you take Him into your life.
07:55-08:00
So eating is not only necessary, eating is a response to a need that we have.
08:01-08:03
You eat because you're hungry.
08:05-08:11
And bread doesn't really have any attraction or pull if you're not hungry.
08:11-08:18
In fact, if you're full, if you're stuffed, bread seems kind of repulsive, right?
08:19-08:30
Like, "Oh, I'm so not interested. I am so full. I can't look at a bite of food." But when you're hungry, you can't resist the bread, right?
08:31-08:34
Think of going to Red Lobster. Have you ever been to Red Lobster?
08:35-08:38
When you go to Red Lobster, what do they bring to your table?
08:38-08:41
They bring you a basket of those cheddar biscuits, right?
08:42-08:51
And I think literally every time I've been to Red Lobster, I've been full of those biscuits before my meal came, because I was so hungry.
08:52-08:58
But the only thing better than the Red Lobster bread is if you've ever been to Texas Roadhouse.
08:58-09:04
Have you ever been there where they have the basket of the rolls with that cinnamon butter?
09:04-09:10
And I just tell the waitress, "Just keep a steady stream of those rolls coming.
09:11-09:20
Like, so hungry, and those are so good, and I just can't stop eating them." Well, eating is a response to a need.
09:20-09:21
When you're hungry, you eat.
09:21-09:24
When you're not hungry, you don't want to eat.
09:25-09:33
Spiritually, as sinners, we stuff ourselves, we fill our appetites, not with righteousness, but we fill ourselves full of sin.
09:34-09:44
And you see, when we stuff ourselves full of sin and selfishness and all the unrighteous things that we want, we're not hungry for the bread of life, Jesus Christ.
09:45-09:50
But on the other hand, when someone is spiritually hungry, he's going to see his need for the bread of life.
09:51-09:56
So eating is necessary, eating is responding to a need, eating is personal.
09:56-09:59
That's another part of this metaphor. Eating is personal.
09:59-10:01
Someone can't do it for you.
10:03-10:06
You have to make the choice to put the food in your mouth.
10:07-10:16
Another part of this metaphor, we're going to get to this here in a second, in a little deeper sense, but eating is making the bread a part of you.
10:17-10:21
Food taken into your body becomes a part of you.
10:22-10:25
And the more you eat, the more of you there is.
10:26-10:32
But in the same way, when you take Christ in, Jesus Christ becomes a part of you.
10:33-10:36
His life is now my life.
10:36-10:40
Okay? So that's the metaphor that Jesus is using.
10:40-10:46
That's why He said, "I'm bread, and you have to consume Me." Do you got that? That's the metaphor.
10:46-10:48
Now we're going to get to the text finally.
10:49-11:00
Verse 52, "The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" We're in verse 52, not verse 53.
11:00-11:12
"So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
11:13-11:18
Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
11:19-11:35
"For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink." So Jesus, with this bread metaphor, the response is, "How can He give us His flesh to eat?" Jesus already told them the answer to that.
11:36-11:42
Eating is believing in Him, and believing is what leads to eternal life.
11:43-11:46
And Jesus' statement here is unequivocal.
11:46-11:49
There's no exceptions, there's no middle ground.
11:50-11:53
You consume the bread of life, you have eternal life.
11:53-11:56
You don't, then you don't have life.
11:57-12:08
Pick up in verse 56, Jesus says, "Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood," mark this, "abides in Me, and I in him.
12:09-12:18
As the Living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, So whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me.
12:19-12:22
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
12:23-12:25
Not like the bread the fathers ate and died.
12:25-12:28
Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
12:29-12:33
Jesus said these things in the synagogue as He taught in Pernaim.
12:34-12:40
You see, the basis of intimacy, relationship, is abiding.
12:40-12:43
It's sharing Jesus' life.
12:44-12:45
That's what it means to abide.
12:45-12:59
Jesus said, "I dwell with you, and you dwell with Me." As a believer in Jesus Christ, we share every single aspect of our lives with Jesus.
12:59-13:10
We go through everything together, whether it's work issues, or school, or marriage, or parenting, or sickness, or whatever we go through.
13:11-13:13
It's walking through life with Jesus Christ.
13:14-13:17
This is the illustration that he's using.
13:17-13:37
He says, "You have this intimacy with me in the same way that I do with the Father." And Jesus said, "This is a beautiful picture that God would dwell with us and in us." and that's what it means to take in the bread of life.
13:37-13:46
And the response that he gets is, "How's he going to give us his arm to chew on?" But this is the first sign that you don't know Jesus.
13:47-13:53
You're unable to understand Him, because His words are spiritually discerned.
13:54-13:56
Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 2.
13:58-14:04
Verse 14, he says, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to Him.
14:05-14:13
And He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." That's the first sign that you're a false disciple.
14:13-14:15
You can't understand the Word of God.
14:16-14:19
You open up your Bible and try to read it, you have no idea what's going on.
14:19-14:22
You hear a sermon, you can't follow it.
14:22-14:29
You go to a small group, none of it makes sense, but you smile and you nod because you don't want to let on.
14:29-14:30
But you can't understand.
14:30-14:35
You need God's Holy Spirit to understand the Word of God.
14:35-14:39
And if you don't have God's Spirit, you're not a follower of Jesus Christ.
14:39-14:40
You can't understand the Word.
14:40-14:42
You end up just like this crowd.
14:43-14:44
But you have no idea what's going on.
14:45-14:47
You can't understand Jesus' words.
14:48-14:55
Number two, second telltale sign of a false disciple, is you get offended at Jesus' words.
14:55-14:57
Look at verse 60.
14:57-14:59
You get offended at Jesus' words.
14:59-15:12
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, he said to them, "Do you take offense at this?
15:13-15:16
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
15:17-15:21
It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all.
15:22-15:34
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.
15:35-15:48
And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." Second telltale sign you're a false disciple is you get offended at Jesus' words.
15:48-16:00
Just like everybody today, when this crowd heard something from Jesus that they didn't agree with, They were offended. That's the American way.
16:00-16:24
Not, "Well, that's different than what I think, but that's okay, live and let live." Or, "That's not how I'd say it," or "I'm not really sure about that." It's, "I hear something I don't agree with, I don't like, I'm instantly offended." But what did Jesus mean in verses 62 and 63 that talk about, "If you were to see me ascend and go back," here's what he's saying to this crowd.
16:24-16:46
Jesus was saying, "You know, if you followed My ministry all the way to the end, you know, through the cross, through the resurrection, all the way to the end, when I ascend back into heaven to where I came from, and you saw Me ascend into heaven, you would know that what I'm saying to you, these things are spiritual truths.
16:47-16:52
And I'm not talking about flesh and blood and bones and meat.
16:53-16:56
I'm talking about what these things symbolize.
16:56-16:58
I'm talking about spiritual truths.
17:00-17:02
But this is a second sign that you don't really know Jesus.
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That when you hear His words, when you hear the Word of God, you get offended.
17:09-17:21
That's why they said in verse 60, "This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?" That word "hard" literally means "inflexible." Like, there's no wiggle room here.
17:21-17:28
This is a very serious and hard thing that He's saying to us.
17:28-17:30
Who can listen to this?
17:30-17:36
Who can stand and listen to a man say the things that this man is saying?
17:37-17:53
And I can't tell you the number of times in my ministry that I've had people come to me and say, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, I just need to know what the Bible says about a certain subject." Hey, I need some counsel. I need you to tell me what does the Bible say about this?
17:54-18:04
And I tell them exactly what the Bible says about that and they are instantly Offended I can tell you so many stories about this. How about just one?
18:05-18:16
Many many years ago. I had this young couple married young married couple come to me and They say hey, we need to talk to you. And I said, well, what's the problem and the wife?
18:16-21:06
Said I'll tell you what our problem is and their husband was sitting across the table from her in the counseling room She said he's jealous I'm like, well, let's talk about that. Why why is he jealous and she said because of Friday nights I go to this local honky-tonk Line dancing bar thing. I'm not gonna say the name of it She goes I go to this place with this guy friend of mine and dance with him all night and my husband can't take it jealous that I would go with my guy friend to this place." He's like, "He's got a real problem with jealousy." And I said, "He should be jealous." And she about went through the roof. I said, "You see, jealousy is... there's a right context of jealousy. We know that because God says that his name is jealous. God says that he is jealous. In the right context, jealousy means right to ownership, that you belong to me. And as a married couple, wives belong to the husband, and the husband also belongs to the wife. So your husband should be jealous." And she said, "I can't believe you would say that God is jealous! Jealousy is bad!" And I remember taking the Bible, and I was showing her black and white clear passages where it says that God is jealous. She goes, "I don't believe that!" I'm like, "Well, here's what it says." "I've never seen that before! I don't believe that!" Here's what it says. As she left angry. Well, she didn't even let it sit there. I would occasionally, for months, I get a random call. The phone would ring, "Hey, Pastor Jeff, call on line 2," and I pick it up, and it would be this woman, and she'd be like, "I can't believe you said God was jealous. He's not jealous." And I'm just like, "Okay, let's look at the Bible again." And see, Jesus says hard things, and the Bible says hard things and we're left with this a lot of times we're just left with this unsettled feeling this conviction because the Bible says something that doesn't sit well with our sinful heart you see when that happens a true believer in Jesus Christ will examine himself and say well this is what God says I'm gonna really take a look and see if I'm aligning myself with God's word. That's what a true believer does. But a false disciple, when he hears something that brings this unsettled conviction, his response is "Protest. I'm offended. I don't like that." Getting offended at Jesus' words, it's a sign that you're a false disciple. And then thirdly, third telltale sign of a false disciple, is you don't stick around Jesus' people. You don't stick around Jesus' people.
21:06-21:21
Look at verse 66. It says, "After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him." That's painful. That's painful to be in ministry and to pour into people and love people and serve people.
21:21-21:27
And they come and they hear the message and they stick around for a while and then they leave.
21:28-23:25
And it's painful not because the numbers are down, like, "Oh, we're losing numbers of our church attendance." that doesn't matter. We didn't really care about that. And it's not painful because the preacher is forsaken. I mean, I'm nothing special. It doesn't matter that they've forsaken me. That's not the problem. What's sad is watching people forsake the Lord. To see and hear Jesus Christ and see the effect that he has on people and then to walk away from that. While I was going through Bible college, I pastored a little country church. I worked a lot of jobs in addition to pastoring this little church, but one of my other jobs was I was a magazine vendor, and the one store where I was in charge of rotating and stocking the magazines, I had invited these two cashiers. Their names were Hope and Gina, and they were just like two best friends. They worked at this store together, and I said, "Hey, you guys should come to church sometime," and they did for a while, and then suddenly they stopped coming, and I ran into them on the magazine route. I said, "I haven't seen you guys at church. Where have you been?" And I'll never forget this. Gina said, "I can't go to church and still live the kind of life that I want to live." I so appreciated her honesty. It's a sad decision, but I appreciated her honesty. And I just I said to her, "Well, the gospel's not for everybody." "What do you mean?" I said, "Oh, don't get me wrong. The somebody that doesn't want to forsake their sin and receive Jesus Christ and allow Him to transform you, if that's not what you want, then the gospel's not really for you. False disciples don't stick around, they walk away. God's Word repels them because it's just too uncomfortable and it's too convicting.
23:26-23:36
John talks about this in 1 John 2.19. He says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.
23:37-24:29
But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us." Alright, those are three telltale signs of a false believer. I want to close with three telltale signs of a true disciple, a true believer in Jesus Christ. We're going to go through these very quickly. Pick up in verse 66. It says, "After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you want to go away as well?' Simon Peter answered him, '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.' Jesus answered them, 'Did I not "I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil.
24:30-24:42
He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him." Three telltale signs of a true disciple.
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And we're going to go through these very quickly.
24:45-24:46
They'll come straight from the text here.
24:47-24:49
Three telltale signs of a true disciple.
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Number one, you don't go with the crowd.
24:51-24:52
You don't go with the crowd.
24:53-25:00
In 1967, as people were walking away from Jesus, He turned to the twelve and said, "Do you want to go away as well?" The true disciple doesn't go with the crowd.
25:01-25:06
And yes, peer pressure is a legitimate thing, but it's not a legitimate thing for a true disciple.
25:06-25:11
A true disciple says, "I don't care if the entire world denies Jesus Christ.
25:11-25:19
I don't care if everyone else leaves the church. They can leave. I'm staying." A true disciple does not go with the crowd.
25:19-25:23
They don't care how unpopular it is to follow Jesus.
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They don't care.
25:24-25:30
Number two, if you're a true disciple, you don't see any alternative to following Jesus.
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You don't see any alternative to following Jesus.
25:34-25:42
Verse 68, after Jesus said, "Are you going to leave too?" Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" You have the words of eternal life.
25:42-25:44
Peter says, "There's no one like you.
25:45-25:47
There's no alternative.
25:47-26:13
words lead us to eternal life. And yes, following Jesus Christ can range from uncomfortable to hard at times, but if I were to just walk away and say, "I'm done," where would I go? Who am I going to follow that's going to lead me somewhere greater than the place that Jesus leads me, which is to eternal life? There's no No alternative.
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Then number three, check this.
26:17-26:20
Your decision to follow Christ is settled.
26:21-26:22
It's settled.
26:23-26:24
Like, what are you talking about?
26:24-26:25
Look at verse 69 again.
26:25-26:31
Peter says, "And we have believed and have come to know." I love that phrase.
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Peter says, "We have come to know." We went through this process, okay?
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And in this process, we have learned that you are the Holy One of God.
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That's another way of saying God.
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like Old Testament, from the book of Isaiah type terminology.
26:48-26:52
He was basically saying, "We've really come to understand that you're God.
26:53-26:56
That's why this is settled." This wasn't an impulse.
26:57-26:59
"We've come to know you and understand you.
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And because of that, our commitment to you is cemented." This is true of all born-again Christians.
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You cannot leave.
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You can't walk away from Jesus Christ.
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Not for any reason.
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Not for any amount of money.
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Not if it costs you your job.
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Not if it costs you your friends.
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Not if someone has a gun to your head and says, "Deny that you know Jesus Christ." A true believer cannot do it.
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Cannot walk away from Jesus.
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The issue is settled.
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Because in the process of coming to know Jesus Christ, He actually becomes your very identity.
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That's why a true born-again believer has settled in this place.
27:44-27:49
They say, "Jesus, I've studied Your Word. I understand who You are.
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I have walked with You. I know Your love.
27:53-28:02
You died for me, and You promised me heaven, and You went there to prepare that place for me.
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"Jesus, you have carried me through some horrible circumstances on this earth.
28:10-28:14
Jesus, you've always been faithful. This isn't a fad.
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I didn't follow you on whim or on condition.
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This is who I am, and this is how I'm going to live.
28:24-28:28
It's settled in my heart, it's settled in my mind, there's no turning back.
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"Jesus Christ, I'm going to follow you with my dying breath." The decision to follow Christ is settled.
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So everyone who hears this message is a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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True or false?
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Now that wasn't a question, that was a statement.
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And it's hard for me to discern sometimes if someone is legit or not, But God knows, and time will tell, and your response to Jesus' words will tell, that if you're one of the people in this crowd in John 6, or if you're actually a Simon Peter, that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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True or false? Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, I pray that You would give us an honest discernment of ourselves, because Your Word speaks so much against self-deception.
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We lie to ourselves and we believe the lie that we made up to tell ourselves.
29:33-29:41
Father, I pray that by the light of Your Holy Spirit, we would see things as they are, not as we want to think they are.
29:41-29:51
And for those of us, Father, who are hearing this and truly do know You, we thank You for the way Your Holy Spirit has sealed us and keeps us.
29:51-30:06
But Father, for those who are listening to this who don't know You, I pray, Father, that You would open up their eyes, Father, that You would open up their hearts, that You would give them the faith to spiritually discern these truths.
30:07-30:14
Father, we thank you as we are a spiritually starving people.
30:15-30:18
We thank you that you've sent the bread of life to feed us.
30:19-30:24
We praise and glorify your name, Father, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior forever.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 6:52-71
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Explain, in your own words, what Jesus meant by “feeding on His flesh and drinking His blood” (John 6:53-54).
Tell of a time you shared Christ with someone and they were offended. How did you respond (John 6:61)?
BONUS QUESTION: How was Judas both “chosen” and a “devil” (John 6:70) at the same time? And why did Jesus mention this here?
Breakout
Pray for one another. Pray HBC is able to stay as connected as possible though we are apart for a season.