John: Jesus Christ-Living Bread & Water (Chapters 4-6)

Peter responded to the Lord by saying, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,’ John 6:68.Welcome you today to our study of the gospel of John. In this context of our study today especially, we're going to be noticing John chapters four through six. We want to encourage you to get your Bible and please follow along with us as we're going to think today about Jesus as the bread of life, and Jesus as the living water which gives complete spiritual satisfaction to everyone who follows Him.As we think today about John chapters four through six, in John chapter four, one of the great practical teachings that we're going to find in the gospel of John is Jesus' discussion with the woman at the well. Jesus begins to tell this woman about her life, that she's been in multiple marriages, that the husband that she has is not her own, and as a result, she perceives that Jesus is a prophet, and as a prophet, it says though she always wanted to meet a prophet, and if she ever did she had a question ready. From John 4:20, when she perceives Jesus to be a prophet from God, she wants to know ‘Where's the right place to worship? The Jews say we need to go to Jerusalem, our people, they say we need to go to Mount Gerizim, where is the correct place of worship?’ You'd be surprised by Jesus' response. Jesus does not respond by saying Jerusalem, Mount Gerizim, here or there or someplace on the map. Jesus puts the focus on the type of worship, the quality of worship, and the nature of worship, notthe location of worship. Jesus said, ‘It's not where, the geographical location on the map,’ Jerusalem, New York, Dallas- He doesn't say anything like that. It's the nature of our worship and how we worship is what's important to God. John 4:23-24, Jesus says to this woman ‘But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.’ Jesus identifies that it's not the location- it's how you worship God that's essential to God today. How do you do that? In spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship God in spirit? If you worship God in spirit, we're worshiping Him with the human spirit, the heart, soul, mind, and strength engaged and in line with the teaching of the Holy Spirit found in the New Testament.The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14:15 ‘I'll sing with the spirit, I'll sing with the understanding, I'll also pray with the spirit, and I'll pray with the understanding.’ I've got to have my human spirit engaged in song and prayer, meaning I think about the words, my motion is involved, my intellect, my conscience, my will is involved in that, and it's also aligned with my understanding of the word of God. Jesus was asked by a lawyer, a scribe of the law in Mark chapter 12, ‘what's the greatest of every commandment that's ever been given?’ Here's what Jesus said: ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.’ Every fiber of my being I've got to love God with. That's the idea of putting out whole spirit into worshiping God.But friend, it's not all about spirit. We also have to worship God in truth or according to the truth. When I worship in spirit, that's my human spirit, my emotion, my mind being engaged with my conscience and my will- but that has to be governed and guided by the truth of God's word in spirit and in truth.We begin by asking this question that is demanded from this idea- what is truth? Pilate asked that, did he not? John 18:36-38, and of course, a chapter earlier in praying to the father, Jesus identified what truth is. In praying to the father, Jesus said in John 17:17 ‘sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth.’ Jesus is the truth, John 8:32; Ephesians 4:24-26,is the truth, God is truth, God's word is truth- therefore, if I'm going to worship in spirit and in truth, I've got to worship according to how God tells me in the Bible. It isn't the case that I can just go out and do anything I want.There is a specific way God has told us to worship Him in the Bible, and the word of God, the Bible, must govern and guide our worship for it to be acceptable. How do we know that? Listen to 1 Corinthians 4:6, Paul said he had transferred some things to himself and Apollos for the Corinthians' sake so that they would learn in him, listen now, ‘not to think beyond what's written.’ What does the Bible say about following it? It says this; don't think beyond what's written. Where's our guide? What should we look to? From Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, and especially for Christians, from Matthew through Revelation is the New Testament, that's our guide to follow on how to worship God correctly. The Proverb writers said it this way in the long ago, ‘do not add to His word lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar,’ Proverbs 30:6. ‘Whatever we do in word or deed we're to do all in the name of or by the authority of Jesus Christ,’ Colossians 3:17. The scripture teaches us don't add to nor take away from the words in the book, the Bible, Revelation 22:18-19. If Jesus has all authority, and He does, Matthew 28:18, if He is the head of the church, and He is, Ephesians 1:22-23, and His word tells me I've got to worship in spirit and in truth and God's word is truth- then friend, not only does my heart and my mind, my emotion, my intellect, not only is that engaged, but it's guided by the words of the Bible.If we're doing things in worship that are not in the Bible, can I ask you are we worshiping according to truth? If I'm doing something that God hasn't asked for, or that isn't found in the Bible, it can't be according to truth if it's not in the truth. God word is truth, and if it's not in the Bible, and we're doing it- that's not worshiping God according to truth. Things that we find in the Bible that are identified as ways we honor and magnify God, we find Christians pray as a way of worshiping. Acts 2:42 says of the early church ‘they continued steadfastly and in prayer, breaking of bread, fellowship, doctrine, teaching, all of those things, prayer was one of the ways they honored and glorified God.’ ‘I desire therefore that men pray everywhere,’ 1Timothy 2:8. When we pray, we pray ‘our father who art in heaven,’ Matthew 6:9. Another way in which we honor and magnify God as God's people, as the church, is through our giving. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Christians came together on the first day of the week and they were commanded to give as they had been prospered. I honor God when I give as ought to. The Lord's Supper is another way that we worship God; we remember the death of Jesus as He taught us in Matthew 26, 1 Corinthians 10, and 1 Corinthians 11. We do as the first century church did; they came together on the first day of the week to break bread. When we gather on the first day of the week, Christians remember the Lord's death. We also honor God by preaching the gospel. 2 Timothy 4:2, we were told to ‘preach the word, be consistent in season and out of season.’ Paul in Acts 20 in that same context in which they also took the Lord's Supper, continued his message, preaching God's message for a long period of time there until midnight. The preaching of the gospel is one of the ways that we worship God.Singing is another way that we honor and magnify God. Here's what Christians were told: ‘sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord, teaching and admonishing one another's psalms, hymns, spiritual songs,’ Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16.As you think about worshiping God in truth, then friend, I've got to worship God the way that He wants me to. There are things that people do today that you just don't find in the scripture. You don't find a concert type idea or a concert type environment in the New Testament. A lot of times when you'll see, you know, especially big places today on TV maybe, they've got big concert arenas as it were and a seven piece rock band and it looks like you're going to see some rock, where do you find that at in the New Testament? Christians are told to sing and make melody in your heart, and thus, if we're going to worship God correctly- then we've got to worship the way God wants us to in the New Testament.Now, another lesson that we're going to learn from the book of John as you think about these messages and these teachings, we learn that Jesus is also seen as God, because one of the great miracles He did prove He was master over time and over the elements. Listen to John 5:1-9. The Bible says “After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there's in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water, then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had. Now, a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he'd already been in that condition a long time, he said to him ‘do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him ‘sir, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred, but while I'm coming, another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him ‘rise, take up your bed and walk.’ and immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked, and that day was the Sabbath.”Now, you think about this, this man had wanted to get in that pool for a long time; he'd been in this predicament 38 years. Every time he got close, somebody stepped in in front of him. Jesus healed that man with just a word. Now, what was the whole purpose of this miracle? Well, not only did it show the power of Christ, that Jesus could heal this man just by speaking the word, but you know, this was the second chance for that man, it's likely that man was going to lie there until he died, somebody was always probably going to beat him in that water, yet Jesus gave that man a second chance. How about me and you? Doesn't Jesus give us a second chance? ‘If anyone's in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all has become new.’Another lesson Jesus emphasized from this miracle was His authority. They would go on to question Jesus ‘by what authority and power have you done these things?’ Jesus would definitively let them know that He is the power and authority. He has all authority, Matthew 28:18-19.Now, let's think about another very practical lesson from the fifth chapter of the gospel of John, and that's found toward the end of the chapter as it relates to the finality of all things. Listen to John chapter five, Jesus will speak with authority, and he will say these words in verses 28 and 29. Jesus says ‘All who are in the grave will one day come forth. Those who have done good, all in the grave will one day come forth, do not marvel at this, the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will come forth, will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.’ Jesus here speaks with great authority and clarity there's a day coming when everybody is going to hear the voice of God. Those who have done good, those who have obeyed Jesus, those who have walked in the light, those who are Christians- resurrection of life. Those who have done evil- to the resurrection of condemnation.There are several things that are very clearly taught from this passage, one of those is all men outside of those who were alive when the Lord comes will leave this life the avenue of death. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 ‘it is appointed to man once to die.’ But there's also another lesson taught, and that is that men will not stay in the grave, Jesus defeated death and the grave, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58. Since Christ has triumphed over the grave, all men will one day come out of the grave. When people die, they're not annihilated, that's not what's taught. All men will die, we will be judged by God, Hebrews 9:27 and all men will either go to eternal life or eternal death. Death, representative of separation as in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death. All men will face judgment, and some, those that do not obey the gospel, will be separated from God for all eternity.Jesus said in Matthew 25:46 ‘the righteousness will go away into eternal life, the unrighteous into eternal condemnation.’ When I leave this life, there are only two places to go. There’s not a third option. There are only two options. If I've lived right, I can hear those words, ‘well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joys of your Lord.’ If I've not lived right, friend, won't it be sad to hear those words ‘depart from me you worker of inequity, I never knew you’- into the fire prepared for the devil and hisangels where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternal torment, as the Bible describes it, the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, Revelation 14:11. Jesus teaches us about finality and about the need to follow Him in this life.Then, in John chapter six, Jesus is now going to introduce us to the fourth sign that He's going to perform, and that's the feeding of the 5,000. You know, a lot of people are very familiar and remember the feeding of the 5,000 because of the great act of humanity Jesus did in feeding those who were hungry. I want you to think about what this sign teaches us. There are 5,000 people, and many believe that would be the men, not including the women and children. Jesus has been teaching the people, and they've been following Him. They’re listening intently to His message, so focused on Jesus that they're now beginning to get hungry, and they don't have any way of feeding them. So, the disciples say ‘do you want us to go back into the city and buy food? I don't have enough money to do that.’ So, Jesus provides the cure. There's a young lad there who's got five loaves and two small fish. Jesus says ‘bring those to me and have everybody sit down. I'm going to feed them, in essence.’ Jesus blesses the food, and then they take those five loaves and two small fish and feed 5,000 people with that- to the point that there are 12 baskets of fragments leftover. What does that passage teach us? It teaches us the power of Jesus that Jesus is the master over quantity. As you think about this, it shows us that the quantity of God's blessings are unlimited to His children. “Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the father of lights with whom there is no shadow or variation of turning.” That shows us the great power of our Lord and Savior, but the main point, and Jesus will identify this, the main point is that Jesus, this miracle is going to prove that Jesus is that prophet Moses spoke about in the long ago. John 6:14, the Bible says then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said this is truly the prophet, the prophet who is to come to the Lord. What prophet? Deuteronomy 18:15. God said to Moses ‘I'm going to raise up a prophet after you, him who will follow in your, him they will hear, he's going to be like you, him they'll hear.’ They had been looking for that prophet. Who was that prophet? Jesus Christ was that prophet.Now, John six also introduces us to the fifth sign of Jesus. In this context, Jesus was able to walk on the water, proving He was the son of God, and as a result, these people needed to trust and believe in Him. Who can control gravity except the one who made it? That's the very idea that Jesus walking on the water teaches us, and so we need to have faith and put our trust in Jesus. But friend, sometimes when we talk about obedience to God, sometimes people balk at that idea because they will sometimes say ‘well, yes, you've got to believe in Jesus, but you can't do any works- because the Bible says works, no, we're not saved by works.’ Wait a minute now, the Bible doesn't say we're not saved by works, the Bible says ‘we can't earn our salvation, that we can't merit our salvation.’In scripture, there were two various kinds of works. In John chapter 8, there were works of merit where the Jews would say to Jesus ‘because we're Abraham's children, we therefore are naturally going to be the sons of promise.’ Jesus said wait a minute now, ‘God's able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones, don't say to yourself we've got Abraham as our father, don't use that type of merit to say we're going to be saved.’ But friend, that doesn't mean there aren't conditions, conditional works one has to do. Meritorious works will never get you to heaven; you can never earn your way. Luke 17:10, ‘and you when you've done all those things commanded you to say, I'm a unprophetable servant, I've only done that which is my duty to do, but don't think to yourself that there isn't anything that I don't have to meet God's conditions.’Friend, let me illustrate it this way. The people who say you can't do any works; do we really understand what we're saying there? Do we understand that belief is also a work, and therefore, you've excluded believing in Jesus as well? Let me show you from the scripture, look in John 6:29. Jesus said in John 6:29, Jesus answered and said to them ‘This is the work of God that you believe in him, whom he sent.’ It's a work from God- it's a work for us from God, what? To believe in Jesus. Wait a minute now, believing is a work? Sure, it's a condition. It’s not a meritorious work, but it's something God's asked me to do. And so, let's not say that all works have to go out, now sure, we can't merit or earn where we don't deserve it. I can't say to God ‘I've done enough of these things,’ - no, I'll never earn it.There are conditions I've got to meet. Belief's a condition, and hearing the message of God is a condition. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Romans 10:17. Once I've heard that message, I've got to believe in Jesus- it is a work from God for us. John 6:29, my friend, I've also got to meet God's condition to repent. Luke 13:3, ‘unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish.’ I've got to acknowledge with my mouth Jesus is the Savior. Romans 10:10, ‘with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, with the mouth, there's a condition; with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’The Bible teaches that I must be baptized, it is a condition- nothing more, nothing less- it's a condition God set forth that I must obey. How do I know that? Here's what Peter said: ‘baptism does now also save us.’ Paul was told ‘arise and be baptized and wash away your sins,’ 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 22:16. Remember in the gospel of John? John 3:5 Jesus said ‘unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’Don't buy into the idea that there aren't any conditions. There are conditions. There are two types of work: there's works of merit, which will never save us, and then there are conditional works, which we must do. Believing in Jesus is a work, not a meritorious work, but it's a condition. John 6:29, it's something God has said we must do to be saved. If I ignore those, friend, I have not obeyed the will of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.As John is clearly teaching us, Jesus is divine. He is God, therefore, to be raised to eternal life on that last day, I must submit to, I must obey, and I must follow Jesus each and every day of my life.Friend, our prayer and our encouragement for you today is that you'll have the mindset that no matter what Jesus says, I want to do it so that one day I can live with Him in heaven forever.Study Questions for:John: Lesson 31. According to John 6:68, who has the words of eternal life?2. According to John 4:23-24, what is most important in worship: where or how?3. According to John 4:23-24, how must we worship God?4. What did Jesus say is the greatest command in Mark 12?5. According to John 17:17, what is truth?6. According to Proverbs 30:6, what are we not to do?7. According to Colossians 3:17 how are we to do all things?8. According to 2 Timothy 4:2, what are we to be?9. According to John 5:28-29, where will the good go? The bad?10. According to James 1:17, where do good things come from?