Bread of Life - 5 Points
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Introduction
We have a lot to cover today.
Today we are going to go for a journey.
Like a walk in the mountains, we are going to see a lot of trees in the forest.
We are going to cover a lot of ground.
But even with all that we are going to look at 5 points in scripture today.
John 6:22:59
The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Let’s Pray
Point #1
John 6:22-29
The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
Have you ever wondered - what do I need to do to do the works of God?
Have you ever asked the question - what do I need to do for God?
Have you thought - Do I need to a goody, goody, Christian like so and so?
Some of us need to hear this today
You do not need to be perfect!
God did not call us to a life of perfection!
There is only one thing we need to do - “Believe in Him whom He has sent!”
That’s it!
That is what we are called to do.
There is freedom in this!
Stop trying to be perfect!
Stop striving to please God!
There is only one thing that we are called to do, “believe in the One whom God sent.”
That is the work we are called to do.
The Jews asked - what work do we need to do? Look how Jesus responded.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He sent!”
Doesn’t that feel good!
Jesus didn’t say, “Go be perfect!” or “Strive to impress God the Father”
There is nothing you can do that will make God love you any more than He already does!
There is nothing you can do that will make God love you any less either!
You are loved by God!
There may be some here today that have never made a decision to believe in Jesus!
Doesn’t it feel good - that all you need to do is believe in Jesus?
Point #1
Point #1 - Our work is to believe in Jesus.
Our work is to believe in Jesus.
Point #2
John 6:30-33
So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
John 6:30
So Jesus tells them - Just believe in Me - and the Jews say - prove it!
Perform a miracle for us - Disregard the fact that you just fed 5000 of us with five loaves and two fish last night - prove it by making manna come from heaven!
The Jews said, Moses made manna come from heaven.
Jesus said, Wait - that wasn’t Moses, God made manna come from heaven
The Jews looked at one story in the Bible and had it all messed up.
We can do that too can’t we.
I will give you one easy example -
Ecclesiastes 10:2
A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.
The Bible says right there - the wise are on the right and the fools are on the left - which way did you vote?
See how easily you can take one verse out of the Bible and get it all messed up!
The Jews thought it was Moses that caused the Manna to come from heaven, when it was God that provided it.
Point #2
Point #2 - Don’t take verses out of context!
Point #3
John 6:34-40
Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
This is what we call the Perseverance of the Saints or once saved, always saved!
Look at verse 39 - “The will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has give Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day!”
Once we make a decision to follow Jesus - He will not let us go.
He is not going to lose us.
As sheep we tend to wander, but even when we wander, we are not lost to Jesus. He knows right where we are at.
Jesus knows what we are going through.
Look at verse 40 - “The will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.”
Everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life. - That is God’s will!
Nothing can take that away from you!
Once you are saved, and believe in Jesus, you are always saved!
Eternal life.
Point #3
Point #3 - Once Saved, Always Saved
Are you ready to be saved today?
Point #4
John 6:41-47
Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
There is tension in these verses.
The Jews were grumbling because they knew Mary and Joseph -
How could Jesus come from heaven when they knew Mary and Joseph
Look at Jesus’ response
Let’s go back to verse 44 - “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”
So it is God who draws us to Jesus
We have to make a decision to follow Him
Let me ask you a question.
Is God drawing you to Jesus?
If God is drawing you to Jesus is today the day you will make a decision to follow Him?
Point #4
Point #4 - Pray for those who are being drawn to Jesus
We have a number of people in our church that are being drawn to Jesus and need to make a decision to follow HIm.
We haver a number of people on our prayer guides that we are praying for God to draw them to Jesus
Will you join me in praying for salvation for those who God is drawing
Point #5
John 6:48-59
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
This is beautiful!
John gives us a picture of communion in these verses
This is not a description of communion
Communion is a description of
When you first read this - you think - are you serious? Are we cannibals?
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood?
What is Jesus talking about?
There is this strange figure of speech
We use it all the time
Your granddaughter is so cute, I could just eat her up.
Some of you are sitting there chewing on this sermon.
Your complaining is eating me up inside.
Jesus wasn’t saying to literally eat His flesh, and drink His blood.
But figuratively we do eat His flesh when we eat the bread of communion.
We drink his blood, when we drink of the cup during communion.
Jesus’ body was broken for us on the cross.
Jesus’ blood covered our sins.
Every time we take communion we remember His death and resurrection
The Jews brought up Moses and his manna and Jesus said, “look at them they died.”
If you eat my bread, you will live forever and have eternal life - because I am the bread of life.
Bread allows us to live - sure we eat bread on sandwiches, bread in pizza, bread with pasta, but we will die one day.
The bread that Jesus provides us is eternal life. Jesus is the bread of life. If we believe in Him we will live forever with Him.
Point #5 - Jesus is the bread of life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Point #1 - Our work is to believe in Jesus.
Point #2 - Don’t take verses out of context!
Point #3 - Once Saved, Always Saved!
Point #4 - Pray for those who are being drawn to Jesus.
Point #5 - Jesus is the bread of life.
How can we apply these 5 points in our lives?
What did you need to hear today?
Point #1
Did you need to hear that you do not need to be the perfect Christian?
That the only thing we need to be perfect at is to believe in Jesus?
There is comfort in that.
Point #2
Do not take verses out of context.
It’s so easy for us to look at one verse and take it out of context.
We need to be careful that we are not beating each other up with scripture.
We need to be careful that we are causing pain for others by taking one verse and dying on that hill.
Just because the wise go to the right and the fools go to the left that does not mean that Ecclesiastes was written for American politics!
Point #3
Once Saved, Always Saved!
We can take comfort in knowing that once we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are saved! And we are always saved!
Point #4
We have a number of people in our congregation that are being drawn to Jesus that have not made a decision to follow HIm.
Will you pray for those people.
Will you also pray for me. As we push back darkness your pastor gets spiritually attacked.
As we continue to lead people to the Lord that is going to get worse.
Pray for those being drawn, and please pray for me.
Point #5
Jesus is the Bread of Life
Jesus is going to make seven statements in John that begin with “I am”
This is the first “I Am” statement in John.
I am the bread of life.
Believe in Jesus and you will have eternal life.
Is today the day to make that decision?
Let’s Pray