Sermon Tone Analysis

The Lord's Guarantee of Eternal Life

The Gospel of John

John 6:28-51

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - October 26, 2016

(Revised August 15, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 6, and think about God's guarantee of eternal life.

Most of you know that this Scripture centers around one of the Lord's most famous miracles.

It was when Jesus multiplied a little boy's lunch to feed 5,000 men, plus thousands more women and children.

*Verses 11-13 tell us that everybody ate as much as they wanted.

Then in vs. 14-15:

14. . .

Those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.''

15.

Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone.

*In vs. 16-19, the disciples got into the boat to head back to Capernaum.

They were struggling against the wind and waves 3 or 4 miles from shore, when Jesus came to them walking on the water!

Naturally they were terrified, but in vs. 20-21:

20.

He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid.''

21.

Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

*What a miracle!

-- Jesus is Lord over all time and space!

Then the next day in vs. 25-29:

25.

When they (i.e. the other people) found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?''

26.

Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

27.

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.''

28.

Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?''

29.

Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.''

*With this background in mind, let's read vs. 30-51, and as we read, think about how we can get the life that God guarantees forever.

MESSAGE:

*Have you ever had problems with a guarantee?

The first new car Mary and I ever bought was a 1975 Datsun B210, and that car was a piece of junk!

It had a 12,000 mile warranty, and the clutch went out at 12,050 miles.

It's a bad feeling to let your clutch out, and go rolling backwards down a hill!

*Things will let us down in life, so will people.

We will even disappoint ourselves.

But the Lord will never let us down!

And the life that Jesus gives is guaranteed to last forever!

How can we get this life?

1. FIRST: IT MUST COME FROM THE BREAD OF LIFE.

*Eternal life must come from Jesus Christ, because He is the heaven-sent bread of eternal life.

[1] THINK ABOUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS BREAD.

*The Bread of Life is most important.

We know this, because Jesus mentioned it at least ten times in this chapter.

And the key verse is John 6:35 where Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.

He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

This is supremely important!

[2] AND THAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS BREAD.

BUT ALSO THINK ABOUT IT'S SOURCE.

*In vs. 32 we see that this bread of eternal life has come down to us from Heaven: "Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.'"

*Then vs. 33 tells us that the bread of eternal life is God.

Jesus said, "The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.''

So the bread of life is not just from God.

It IS God.

The Bread of life is God the Son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save us from our sins.

*You see, in vs. 35 when Jesus said: "I am the Bread of life," He was claiming to be God.

Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah, the great I AM, LORD GOD of the Old Testament.

Back in Exodus 3, the one who spoke to Moses from the burning bush was the pre-incarnate Christ.

And this was the first time God ever revealed Himself by the name "I AM".

*In Exodus 3:10-14, the Lord said this to Moses:

10. "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.''

11.

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?''

12.

So He said, "I will certainly be with you.

And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.''

13.

Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?''

14.

And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.''

And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' ''

*In Hebrew this name "I AM" was "Jehovah" or "Yahweh."

And this great name for God shows up 6,823 times in the Old Testament.

The exact pronunciation and spelling have been lost, because this name was so holy the scribes and teachers didn't dare to pronounce it or completely write it out.

Instead, they would write the Hebrew letters equal to our letters YHWH.

In many of our English Bibles it shows up as LORD written with all capital letters.

(1)

*And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.''

And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'''

*Jerry Shirley asked: "Why didn't God finish that phrase?

Why did He just say, "I AM has sent me to you?" -- Because there is no beginning and no ending to God.

There are no boundaries and no limitations with God.

God is the great I AM!

There is no limit to what He is.

(2)

*Almost 1,500 years later God the Son humbled Himself to become a man.

And as He ministered among His people, Jesus gave us at least eight "I AM" statements in the Gospel of John:

-"I am the bread of life."

-"I am the light of the world."

-"I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.''

-"I am the door."

-"I am the good shepherd."

-"I am the resurrection and the life."

-"I am the way, the truth and the life."

-And "I am the vine."

*Jesus spoke these "I AM" statements as further evidence that He IS the Almighty God of the Old Testament, one with the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit of God.

This is the crucial truth that Jesus wants to communicate.

And that's why in John 6:35, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.

He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

*The unbelieving Jews in this chapter knew all about Jesus' claim.

That's why they were so upset down in vs. 41-42:

41.

The Jews then murmured against Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven.''

42.

And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?''

*Jesus was making Himself equal with God, and it wasn't the first time.

John 5:18 says, "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God."

*Jesus was making Himself equal with God, and that's good, because He IS God!