Temple Baptist Church - 1-4-2023
John 6:22-31
Introduction:
A. In the verses 22-25, we find the verification of the miracle of Jesus walking upon the sea.
1. Those whom the Lord fed knew that only one ship had launched out into the sea (it was getting dark when it left and not a time for sailing) and only the disciples got into it. Jesus was not in the ship.
2. In the morning, they could not find Jesus, so they crossed back over the sea to Capernaum.
B. When they found Jesus there, they asked Him when He came, and He answered them not. The Lord never explained how He did miracles, he just let men observe them and then, believe them or not. They were aware of many miracles that this point:
1. The Miracle of Incarnation. John 1:14-18.
2. The Miracle of the Water made Wine. John 2:9-11.
3. The Miracle of the New Birth. John 3:1-2. (The Pharisees knew that Jesus was sent from God.)
4. The Miracle of the Healing of the Nobleman’s Son. John 4:49-52.
5. The Miracle of the Impotent Man made Whole. John 5:6-9.
John 12:37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
C. The Lord knew that their interest was not in His previous miracles, but in full bellies. Great multitudes followed Christ because he fed and healed them but forsook Christ for the words that He spoke because their hearts were hardened.
John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Mark 6:52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
D. Faith verses Sight or Works. John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
E. They had the Son of God. Verses 30-31. They were knowledgeable concerning these 5 miracles (Nicodemus said that the Pharisees knew in John 3:1-2) and then they asked for a sign, after all these miracles, and gave Jesus an Old Testament example of what the Lord did for Israel in the wilderness.
a. Sign seekers grieve the heart of God. Mark 8:11-12 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. (12) And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.
b. Signs constitute extra-biblical revelations. In many of today’s religious denominations, extra-biblical revelation is imperative. Dreams, revelations, visions, tongues, etc. are examples of sight walking instead of faith walking.
c. We are to walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
1. Israel had the Word of God, both in the Old Testament Canon and the incarnation of Christ Jesus.
a. The Word of God in Jesus’ day. They now had Christ Jesus, according to John 1, the Living or Incarnate Word of God. John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
1) These Jews had the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ: their Messiah. But Jesus Christ was not enough for them.
1 Corinthians 1:22 For the Jews require a sign …
John 1:10-11 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (11) He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
2) The Person of Christ, the Saviour of the World, became the Sword of Division. Matthew 10:32-36 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. (33) But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. (34) Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. (35) For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (36) And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
3) Four reasons that Israel rejected Christ:
a) Because of where He was raised. John 7:40-43 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. (41) Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? (43) So there was a division among the people because of him.
b) Because of His miracles that contradicted their religion. John 9:15-16 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. (16) Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
c) Because of who He claimed to be. John 10:17-19 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. (18) No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. (19) There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
d) Because of the words that He said. John 6:64-67 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. (65) And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. (66) From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (67) Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
2. Today, we have the inscribed Word of God. Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
a. We have the King James Bible, but the Bible is not enough for many. 1 Corinthians 1:22b … and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1) From 1611 until 1881, the King James Bible was not a version, it was the revered Word of God for the English-speaking people and was all that God’s people needed for the next 270 years. The greatest revivals and mission outreach the world had ever known came out of this Bible.
2) I believe the greatest extrabiblical revelation of the end time is that of the rise of critical texts from which come all the new bibles of our day have been translated. In the mid-1800’s came the introduction of the Westcott-Hort Text with the translation of the Revised Version New Testament in 1881. This line of texts was and still is extrabiblical revelation as they did not complement the Textus Receptus, they criticized and corrected it.
3) These texts have been rightly labeled the minority text, the critical text, and the Catholic text. There has been nothing but confusion and division since their discovery and translation!
b. Though there have been sporadic groups who were different, for the most part, there were no extrabiblical revelations.
1) In 1906, unbiblical tongues (Biblical tongues were earthly languages, not unintelligible gibberish) were first heard in Los Angles, California, (The Azusa Street Revival) and the Pentecostal Movement was born. This movement swept across this nation through people who were not content with the Bible as the only means of faith and practice. They wanted extrabiblical revelations and began to seek these passing gifts.
2) Today, this movement continues to speak in unknown tongues, dream dreams, see visions, and practice sign gifts that passed away 2,000 years ago.
Conclusion: They missed Christ then and they are missing Him today. Salvation is found in the Word of God through the hearing of faith.
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