John 6:22-59
Notes
Transcript
I Am the Bread of Life
I Am the Bread of Life
Tonight we begin a new topic for our Wednesday night services, for the next 7 weeks we are looking at the “Great I Am’s of Jesus”
7 times, Jesus declares something special, He declares I Am…
I am the bread of life
I am the light of the world
I am the gate or door to the sheep
I am the good shepherd
I am the resurrection and the life
I am the way, the truth and the life.
I am the true vine
Each of these serve to teach us a valuable lesson in understanding who Jesus is, and mercy, grace and love that He extends to humanity.
So lets begin today and we will look at the Gospel of John, chapter 6 and we will look at verses 35-40 in particular, but the larger passage begins back at verse 22.
So lets look at our text John 6:35-40
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
So what is being said here...
In verse 35, Jesus said to them “I am the bread of Life....” Why does he communicate this to him?
Well if you go back and look at chapter 6 as a complete unit, something wonderful happens in that passage..
At the beginning of chapter 6, Jesus feeds the 5000 … Now this is important, this is one of the few miracles that Jesus does that is recorded in all 4 of the gospels.
Now verse 2, tells us that a large crowd had been following Jesus because the of the signs he was doing…
And the passover feast was close at hand and coming up upon a mountain side Jesus gave a challenge to His disciples ‘Where are we to by bread so that these people can eat…”.
Wow, now that is something, it isn’t like they are in downtown Capernaum, and on top of all that they didn't even have the money to purchase the bread if they had the opportunity too.
Now Andrew presents a boy’s sack lunch, 5 barley loaves and 2 fish.. but his words were simple, what are they among so many??
Andrew, and the other disciples look at things like we do.. naturally, from a human limitation and perspective…
We dont have the money, we are not in the place and there are so many...
5000 men were counted but if women and or children could have been traveling with them, the numbers could be 10 to 15 thousand plus.... But regardless, if it were only 5000, that is a huge number.
But Jesus had them sit down, be blessed and broke the bread and fish and they were will filled, so much that even 12 baskets of leftovers were gathered so that no food would be wasted… I love Jesus wording here “That nothing be lost....” oh he is alluding to something wonderful my friends… Jesus is able to keep.
Now when the people understood what Jesus had done, they were excited and perceiving that they would try to take him and make him King, he slipped out of their presence miraculously.
Now the next day, understanding that Jesus and his disciples where not there, they made their way to Capernaum seeking Jesus verse 24.
Now verse 25 tells us they encountered Jesus and speaking with member of this group Jesus tells them plainly that you did not seek after me because of the signs I did, but because your stomach was filled with the bread and fish.
It is hear that Jesus challenges then… Lets look at verse 27 John 6:27
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Now this is not a new concept that Jesus has told the people… He tells them, saying instead of chasing after physical bread that perishes , but work, labor seek after the bread, food that leads to eternal life...
Jesus said in Matthew 6:19
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
And Paul would later tell us in Col 3:2
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
In all three of these instances the call is for man to look beyond the physical life, physical realm and look at the Spiritual.
And Jesus tells them where they can find this bread, this life.... He tells them which the Son of Man will give them..
Which He will give them… and I love the last part of that verse… “...For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
To set His seal on Him.. refers to God the Father having giving his authority and laid it upon the Son.
Seals in those days were often made of wax or clay and was used to authenticate that the message was from the one who claimed to send it.
Here Jesus, the only Son of God is the authenticate the message of God’s love and Salvation...
Now lets look at verses 28-29 John 6:28-29
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Jesus has just told them to work “for the food hat endures to eternal life… ( v.27)
But they didn’t understand Jesus, they are still earthly minded… they are focused on the works needed to please God the Father.
And we are that way too…what must I do to be saved… well there are a lot of groups out there leading people astray telling them, oh you’ve got to do that, you have got to be this, do that..
JW’s, Mornons, and others do this.. you are working to make sure you are acceptable in front of God. Get cleaned up
But that is not the truth, we are guilty, sinful and we cannot please God. Isaiah tells us our best efforts are like dirty rags...
Jesus has done the work, he gave himself as a sacrifice for sin that we might be acceptable in front of God based on His efforts not my own.
They want to know what the works are and Jesus tells them.. “...This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who God has sent.....”
Sounds pretty simple.... but for humanity, it is a struggle...
Look at verses 30-34 John 6:30-31
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
So what will you do to convince us.... have they forgot already the feeding of the 5000 the day before? They wanted to take him and make Jesus King the day before and now they ask for a sign.
Signs were used to authenticate the message, we understand that… but friends, Jesus has done nothing but signs...
But they fall back that their fathers ate manna from heaven in the wilderness, their claim is that “he (Moses) gave them bread from heaven to eat.”Thus they have ascribed the miracle from Moses himself and not God… which is a faulty took and Jesus takes the time to correct the matter.
Look at verses 33-34 John 6:32-34
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus tells them it wasn’t Moses who did this, but God the father, Jesus says accurately , but my Father gives you the true bread from Heaven.
Now two thoughts are implied, here, it wasn’t Moses but my Father, And my Father will give you the true bread of God.
And listen to Jesus explanation in verse 33..The true bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
Jesus is the true bread.. In the OT the bread was temporal, it was only there for a while and it only satisfied the phyiscal needs of the people..
What God the father has brought to the world now is the true bread. This bread gives life to the world, enteral life to all who would receive it.
People, in that day were guilty of looking at it through the restrictions of religion, but God was unlocking their old ways and bringing a new on the scene. A New covenant was upon their scene
And their words were simple…Sir give us this bread always verse 34.
Look at Jesus response to them. Verse 35
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Look at this, their request for Bread brought a two pronged response from Jesus...
A. Jesus tells them, asserts to them, I am the “Ego Emimi” I am … now this is incredibly important… This is the first of 7 statements, where by Jesus connects himself to the eternal one of the universe.
In Exodus 3:14, we find Moses asking God the quesiton, when I go, what if they ask me… who sent me to you? God’s answer was this...
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
And Jesus in conversation with the religious leaders who claimed to be the children of Abraham, they was their guarantee of the good things to come.. we are his offspring. But a true child of Abraham would be ones who worship God in spirit and truth first, secondary, and could claim a physical...
Jesus said Abraham rejoiced seeing the days ahead about the Son.. and they looked at it physically but you are not even 50 years old and you say you have seen Abraham??
And Jesus said to them, before Abraham was, I am …I am the ego eimi, the great I AM.
And their response was they picked up stones thinking to stone Jesus..
And back to our text, Jesus is the great I Am, the eternal one of the universe and he has the power and authority to extend eternal life to them.
Go back again to verse 35 John 6:35
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Jesus says I am the eternal one, the one who comes to Me will never hunger or thirst...
The conversation up to this point had been the physical but Jesus extends it to the eternal..
You do not have to worry about the continual supply of bread, I am the bread that once received you will never hunger or thirst again...
Bread and water will sustain life, for as long as you have it… Jesus says i will give you life and life eternal.
But there is a problem… Lets look at verses 36-37 John 6:36-37
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
They had seen the gift of God, but they did not believe.
The coming disciples, believers are what the Father has given to them, it is a gift to the son in a sense. And those who come to the son will never be cast out...
Jesus is finishing the Divine Mission of God, verse 38 Look there John 6:38 .
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
And thus believers are enabled to come and have confidence, they will be saved and nevrer are they lost again
I love that Jesus testifies over and over again, He is doing the Father’s will. But it also reminds me the father has a plan for this world, without a doubt it involves the Son and then us afterwards to see His kingdom come into the world.
Now lets look at the two verses I will look at today
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
A future promise here my friends. Everyone who comes to the Son and believes has eternal life.
And all those will be raised up on the last day. Of course the Pharisees believed in a last day resurrection of the dead but more pointedly here the idea is the dead in Christ will be raised on the great day of the Lord.
For us today, we know that refers to the day of the Lord’s return 1 Thes 4:13 —to verse 18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Now we know the Jewish leaders, they grumbled among themselves, is this not Jesus the son of Joseph?
He is a man we know and can identity with… in a sense they were denying His divinity my friends. Verse 42...
Jesus will repeat his message to them, Look at verses 47-50
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
Now there is an important contrast for the religious leaders and others to see.
Those in the OT who had the manna from heaven, they saw death. The manna sustained them physically, it provided life but only temporary, in that moment.
This bread, Jesus who has come down from heaven, belief in Him bring life whereby a person will never know death.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life my friends, He gives life and life eternal.