On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them." From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God." -- John 6:60-69 (ESV)
The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has become a catchall term for modern day heresies. It has many tentacles that choke out sound doctrine and it is driven (pun intended) by the Purpose Driven Church (PDC) and the seeker friendly industrial complex. Now the PDC was an actual book written in 1995 as a new guidebook for pastors to grow the mega church monstrosities we see dotting the evangelical landscape today. Among other things, the PDC teaches that we must compromise the Gospel in order to draw more goats to church every week. It markets the church away from the sheep and onto the goats. It makes "reaching them" such a bloated priority that it leads to biblical myopia. Rick Warren actually taught younger pastors that in order to convince their Easter visitors to comeback to their church they should NOT preach the Gospel! He said start a series on some unmet carnal need. That is what happens when you no longer consider the lost unsaved but instead view them as merely unchurched. Let us consider these things as we read through the sixth chapter of John's Gospel account.
This chapter provides a stark and interesting contrast. The first half of the chapter deals with the feeding of the five thousand. I liken this to those sitting in apostate churches who are contented with the positive experiences of Christianity. Everyone was fed. Everyone was happy. So much so they rushed to exalt Christ as King! This despite the fact that they did not know Him. They mistakenly thought He was just a prophet who had come into the world. This is all in the text beloved. The next day, after Jesus had withdrew, the people still sought Him out and the Lord cuts them to the quick:
Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. -- John 6:26 (ESV)
How many people follow the false Christs of this world because of the carnality that is satisfied? People follow prosperity teachers because they want to believe you can be saved, rich and greedy. They seek out false signs and lying wonders and experiential Christianity so they can be their own gods. They seek out dominionism to pretend they are saved while idolizing this world and its politics. They are seeking because they get their carnal needs filled. Jesus decides to deepen the teaching in the second half of this chapter, knowing full well that most would not put up with it. The teaching was about Jesus as the bread of life. The people had questioned Jesus for a sign because Moses gave them a sign through manna from heaven. Christ corrected them and said that God had given them manna and now is giving them the bread of life. When they asked to always have this bread, Jesus revealed that it was in fact He. While they were confused by the notion that we had to eat his flesh and drink His blood, the issue as Jesus described it was that they did not believe Him even after they saw. They were people following Jesus but they were not His. In end times correlation, these are the people in Matthew 7 who will say Lord Lord and He will say He never knew them. Do not gloss over this point. There are millions of people who sit under false teaching, who do not actually know Jesus, and will spend their lives serving a false Christ. This brings us to our key verses for today.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
Who indeed? Who can accept the hard teaching that Jesus is Lord? That we are not in fact our own God? That we are not self-made. That we are in fact sinners, with righteousness as clean as filthy rags? Who can accept the fact that we are called to die to our self and pick up our cross daily to follow Him? That we are to turn from our sins and repent before a holy God? The people that day got hung up on the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood but those are representative of Christ being the Savior. People run to mega church security today because the cult of personality pastor promises them eternal life without having to hear any of the hard teachings of Christ. We no longer hear preaching about sin and repentance. We never hear about dying to self and picking up your own cross. Mega Heretic and Presidential advisor, Paula White once said that anyone who tells you deny yourself is from Satan! No Paula, but you are.
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
