What Jesus Did

[Jesus said,] "The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe me." (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn't believe, and he knew who would betray him.) Then he said, "That is why I said that people can't come to me unless the Father gives them to me."
At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.

—John 6:63-66 NLT

Key Thought​

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Many of [Jesus'] disciples said, "This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?"
Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again?"

—John 6:60-62 NLT

Key Thought​

"Make it easy for them!" That seems to be the slogan today. "Don't set the bar too high!" "Don't make it difficult!" Unfortunately, the best things in life and the truest things in...

 

[Jesus said,] "I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever."
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in ###.

—John 6:57-59 NLT

Key Thought​

Our power comes from a living Lord who was sent to us by the living Father! He gives...

 

Then the people began arguing with each other about what [Jesus] meant. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked.
So Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains...

 

[Jesus said,] "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh."

—John 6:51 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus, unlike wheat that has to "die" to be made into flour, is alive. He died and rose again. He is "living bread." The gift of his flesh, taken to the cross and sacrificed as a sin offering for us and then raised up on the third day, is offered so that the world...

 

[Jesus said,] "Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die."

—John 6:48-50 NLT

Key Thought​

Manna came down from heaven once a day. [1] It couldn't be kept until the next day except for the Sabbath. It was a blessing from God, but it wasn't enduring. Jesus, however, is the bread of God that comes down out of heaven and gives lasting life. His words, his life, his body...

 

[Jesus said,] "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life."

—John 6:47 NLT

Key Thought​

John repeatedly reminds us that deciding about Jesus is THE watershed event in our lives. When we believe and obey Jesus, we pass from death to life — this is not a delayed transaction, but something that happens now. We no longer stand under judgment, but share in eternal life. While this life that God gives us now is not all that life will be when Christ returns, it is a...

 

[Jesus said,] "As it is written in the Scriptures, 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)"

—John 6:45-46 NLT

Key Thought​

Sometimes we miss the exclusive claims of Jesus because we've heard them so often. This claim is bold: "If you have learned the truth from the Father, then you are going to come to me!" Jesus not only claims...

 

But Jesus replied [after he said he came down from heaven and the people complained that he couldn't be anyone special since they knew his family], "Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up."

—John 6:43-44 NLT

Key Thought​

One of the reasons we pray so fervently for the lost is that God's work of opening their hearts and drawing them to Jesus is crucial. Who are you...

 

Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because [Jesus] had said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Isn't this Jesus, the son of ###? We know his father and mother. How can he say, 'I came down from heaven'?"

—John 6:41-42 NLT

Key Thought​

"I came down from heaven!" That is the claim of Jesus' life and ministry in the Gospel of John. Either he is the Son of God, come from heaven — from God the Father — or he is not. Believing that Jesus is God's...