JESUS IS ALL YOU NEED
PRINCETON CHRISTIAN CHURCH JOHN 6:59-71
One day Paul looked out upon life. He thought of all the problems of an individual. He thought of all the troubles men had and all the burdens they had to carry. And he came to a conclusion and said, “Who is sufficient for these things” (2 Corinthians 2:16) The NIV puts it in a little different translation and has Paul saying: “Who is equal to such a task?”
To that question, there can only be one answer. No human being, no matter how great and accomplished, can meet every need of life. But there is One who can. His name is Jesus. He is the adequate, all-sufficient Savior. He meets every need of every life. In Him and with His help we can face up to life and all its problems.
READ: John 6:59-71
John 6:59-71 NIV
59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[a] and life. 64 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. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
This text comes just after the feeding of the 5,000. He had proved He could meet man’s physical need. The crowds began to gather around Him. They did not care so much for Him, but they did care about what He could do for them. They simply, like a lot of people today, want something without any responsibilities or action on their part.
So, Jesus saw a preaching opportunity here. A sermon in which He appealed to them to surrender their lives -- a sermon in which He demanded that they give instead of just receive.
They were willing to follow Him as long as He was feeding them and requiring nothing of them. But – He began to tell them what would be expected of them if they continued to follow Him. The result of that was what we see in verse 66. “Many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” In other words, they had no desire to do anything other than to sit by and let Jesus feed them. They returned to the world and back to serving other gods.
It is the same today. A man preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People are ready to listen to what He can do for them. But, when he goes to meddling with teaching we must forsake the world and follow Jesus wholeheartedly, many will turn their backs on Him.
It is so easy for us to say, “Amen” when we are hearing all about what Christ gives us, but do we become strangely silent when we hear that we should give something (ourselves) to Him?
As the crowds left Jesus, He turned to his apostles and asked, “Will you leave Me, too?” Peter, of course, answered: “Where could we go? You have the words of eternal life. We know that you are the Son of the Living God, the Christ.”
There are many different kinds of people in this world: rich and poor, young, and old, ignorant, and educated. But – all of these have the same three basic needs:
1. Forgiveness of Sin
2. Strength for the Present
3. Hope for the future
Let’s look first at Forgiveness of Sin. We all need forgiveness for a life lived in the past. Sin is like a great rock tied around the neck – pulling us deeper into the water and to our destruction.
Christ is the only one who can cut that rope. He is the only one who can rescue us. Sin is like a cloud that hangs between us and God. Only Christ can melt that cloud away to give us a glimpse of God.
When Jesus was in Capernaum preaching, a sick many was brought to Him. He forgave the man’s sins. The crowd thought He had committed blasphemy because they believed that only God could do that. But, of course, what they did not understand, or believe, is that Jesus is God in the flesh. God sent Him to earth to do those very things.
The church can’t forgive sin. The priest cannot forgive sin. The preacher can’t forgive sin. Only Christ can do that because of the blood which He shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Because of that forgiveness, we are restored to God, and we are promised a home in heaven.
At Pearl Harbor, in 1941 a sailor manned an anti-aircraft weapon on a battleship. He fought for 4 hours and was finally taken to the hospital with burns and shrapnel wounds. He received 8 pints of blood from the Red Cross blood bank, and that saved his life. When he recovered, he said, “I am going back home and give back pint by pint all the blood that was needed to save me, and more besides.”
It was Jesus’ blood that saves us from sin. We cannot pay back the blood like the sailor could the blood he had received to save his physical life. What we can do, though, is to serve Him, in gratitude, with the very best that we have.
The old hymn, At the Cross, has a line verse that reads: “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe; Here, Lord, I give myself away, Tis, all that I can do.”
Jesus is sufficient – He forgives all our sins of the past and brings us into a right relationship with God.
Again, there are many different types of people in this world, and we all also need strength and guidance for the Present.
Where do we go to seek knowledge? Who can provide us with solid guidance? Some people go to fortune-tellers. Some try to find answers to life’s problems from a TV phycologist. Some seek guidance from trusted friends. But we will always find that perfect lasting guidance and strength can only be found through our relationship and dependence upon Jesus Christ. James, in his short letter, tells us: “If you lack wisdom, ask of God who gives it liberally.”
Jesus knows our past, our present, and our future. There is no uncertainty in Him. What we can experience is before coming to Christ is temptations, sorrows, tears, heartaches. After coming to Christ guess what happens. Those same temptations, sorrows, tears, and heartaches still exist.
But there is a difference. Before we came to Christ, we were alone in facing these things. After we come to Christ, we now have Someone to help us. That help comes from Jesus. The temptations and troubles now will last only as long as it takes to get into communication with God through prayer to ask for His help. Whatever your need is today, Jesus is ready and willing to supply it.
A family had recently lost three children in an accident. On Sunday the man, his wife, and the remaining child went to Sunday School and the worship service. The man taught his Sunday School class. The wife taught hers. Then they sat and listened to the sermon. People who saw this had questions, like, “How do they do it.” But there was one 15-year-old girl who saw something different, and said to her father, “They really believe it, don’t they – the resurrection, and all of it.” His answer was, “All true Christians believe it too, but not like this family does.”
The point of that is that we need to believe it all. Not just parts of the Gospel message, but all of it with all our heart, our soul, and our body.
Jesus is alive! He is real! He can and will help when life’s problems become too difficult for us to solve, and our burdens become too heavy to bear.
So, we have seen that we need forgiveness for our past, and strength and guidance for our present. Now, we need to look at our Hope for the Future.
We will all go through the experience of death unless Jesus returns before we die. So, we need hope for the future.
You can stay away from the church, fail to read the Bible, say no to salvation, and totally reject Christ. But no one can say no to death or reject death. We cannot say to death, ‘go away, come back another day,”
The writer of the Hebrews letter in chapter 9, verse 27 tells us this: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, comes judgment.”
There is no fear for the Christian with Jesus by his side. There is no fear in this life. There is no fear at the judgment seat of Christ if our life has been lived in Him. That will be a time of great blessing and rejoicing.
The Christian may have little of the world’s fine things. But the person who has lived life looking to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of past sins, strength, and guidance for the present while we wait for His appearing, and for hope for the future – that is, eternity – that person is rich in the knowledge and reality that we are promised that we will never die. But we will live eternally in the presence of our Lord.
Jesus stands waiting before you. He is ready to forgive you of the sins of your past, to help you through the rough day you are having today or tomorrow. He is ready to give you hope for your future.
Let me close with this illustration. A man tells of seeing three pictures hanging, each with an inscription to describe the picture. The first picture showed a man with the ruins of a city around him. The inscription read: “The past has deceived me.” The second picture showed a snake trying unsuccessfully to climb up a slick pole. The inscription read: “The present overpowers me.” The third picture showed a cannon with a man looking down into it. The inscription read: “The future terrifies me.”
If you have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to your life, you have a very present help for every day of your life, and you have a bright prospect for the future.
Going back to John 6:68, where Peter asked, “To whom would we go? You have the Words of eternal life.” Thank God that Jesus Christ is sufficient for our needs. He is all we need.
Do you have Him today? Who else can you go to?