2004-07-18 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

John 6:41-44

41. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?

These folks know Joseph and Mary, so perhaps some of them had known Jesus all His life. But, as He had just finished explaining to them back in verse 26 and 27, they were living to please the flesh. They wanted the bread that satisfies the belly, not the Bread that satisfies the soul. Flesh and blood cannot reveal spiritual Truth, so we should expect to be deceived when we rely on our own understanding of spiritual things, or if we trust in the words of men more than we trust in the Spirit of God.

When I'm living to please my flesh, the hard sayings of Jesus won't make sense to me, and I'll fail to recognize a good thing (Jesus Christ) even when He's standing right in front of me. The Bible gives us countless examples concerning this indwelling, deceiving wickedness of the human heart. Yet even with these examples, we'll persist in holding on to sinful things, showing our dissatisfaction with God's gifts, deliberately deviating from His best, His purpose for our lives.

The things of the flesh are so familiar to us that we scoff at anything contrary to our own understanding about it, and this attitude keeps us from recognizing the supernatural things of God. "We know this man's family, so how could he have come from heaven?"

43. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Probably no other verse in the Bible better ties together the truth about the all-sovereign power of God to draw you to Him, and your personal responsibility to come to Him. It's not enough to believe in the Resurrection, we have to come to know the Truth. If God has been drawing you to Him, it should give you a wonderful feeling because not everyone will be raised up at the last day. If He's already living in your heart, then He expects you to become "fishers of men," casting His net and helping Him draw it in.