05/18/26 TRUTH CAN BE A "HARD SAYING"
I used the term "hard sayings" recently. This comes from two words, "difficult" and "words" in John 6:60. In John 6, Jesus had said that men must eat His flesh and drink His blood. This was said as a figure of speech. The passage refers to taking bread and wine as a metaphor of the body and blood of Christ, but some of those hearers chose to interpret His words literally. God had told His people in the Old Testament not to eat or drink blood. Some of those standing near Jesus that day interpreted Jesus as teaching false doctrine. They were so revulsed that they left Jesus.
Jesus acknowledged their disapproval and addressed the problem. He pointed out that the flesh profits nothing, and His words were actually spirit and life. Remember, Jesus was talking about eating bread and drinking wine. That was the physical reality, representing the spiritual meaning. He attached the figure of His body and blood to the metaphor of bread and wine. He also pointed out that those people were offended because they did not believe Christ.
Jesus then asked the disciples if they would also leave Him. Simon Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure (we know) that you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
Here is the problem today. People hear the words of Jesus, but they do not believe (hear with their inner man) what Jesus said. They hold on to what they think is truth even when it is contrary to what God's word actually says. They don't like it, therefore, they don't accept it (believe it).
The teaching about the bread and the cup is not hard to understand. The problem is accepting a man-made meaning that has been imposed on the passage, rather than what the passage and collateral passages say about the subject.
There are various Hard Sayings in the Bible. I recently addressed the New Testament position concerning Christians taking violent actions against other people.
It is a major problem when anyone dismisses the revelation of God. God's specific instructions concerning specific issues are vital to the Christian experience. However, rejection of one part of God's revelation also leads to rejecting other truths God reveals to us through His word. A specific truth is related to other specific truths, as individual cells are related to tissue and tissue is related to organs and organs are related to systems and systems make up the human body. Damaging a specific area of the Christian understanding and life will damage other areas of the Christian life.
When you read or hear a Biblical truth that conflicts with your understanding, your heritage, your training, your culture, you need to find out what God's word actually says and then you need to bring your beliefs and behavior into submission to God's word. Do not swallow what anyone says. Examine the issue in the light of the Bible. Do not allow a hard saying to turn you away from Christ.
Conversion requires submission to Divine transformation, and growth in grace will continue to accomplish major transformation in our lives.
