Unfolding the Truth
Notes
Transcript
Unfolding the Truth
Unfolding the Truth
30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
key verse
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
This group had been fed on the side of the lake
They had witnessed many miracles after the feeding of the 5,000
They crossed the lake looking for Jesus and Jesus healed many ....
They sent round about all the region here is a healer ...
This was about to get out of control - explain our of control here .... riots
he had done this the day before
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
etc… more here
Now is time
34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; 36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
Now Jesus again starts to reveal who he is
he had already started this and it went unheeded
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
The truth is being unfolded
He will reveal who he is
the 5,000
The trip across the lake
the healing on the other side of the lake
Like pealing an onion until the sweet spot
Dont be alarmed not all got it right away
Some it took longer
52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
Jesus is coming to a point soon where many will leave
They will follow him no more because of what he is saying
But some will get it
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
This is the text where Jesus points to His deity and the crowd chasing miracles and food will be thinned
I They Asked the Messenger
I They Asked the Messenger
30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
They asked give us that bread!
It almost like You have done a miracle like Moses .
Jesus says very clearly Moses did not do that God did!
What sign so we can believe?
Really you need another sign?
Seriously
To say that He is bread is to use really a metonym for food, nourishing food that gives life and sustenance.
Jesus used the word “bread” to refer to that when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”
Bread, then, was simply a word that encompassed all nutritious food.
Jesus is saying that, “I am your food. I am your true soul food.”
First of all, let’s look at the divine provision of the bread. This is God’s side here, the divine side, the heavenly side. God’s provision.
Look for the phrase, “came down out of heaven.” You will find it, for example, in verse 32 at the very beginning of the message.
32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Now, he switches from the metaphor, the bread has come down, and applies it to Himself and says, “I have come down.”
41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Verse 41, there’s a lot of shock about that, but I just want you to notice they understood exactly what He was saying. The Jews are grumbling because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of 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 saith, I came down from heaven?
If you go back to John, chapter 3, there’s a helpful statement our Lord makes in the conversation with Nicodemus. He says, “No one has ascended into heaven. No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven,” and who is that? The Son of Man.
I think of that verse every time I see another silly book about somebody who went to heaven and came back.
So clearly they are asking the messenger
He responds I am the bread !
I am what you need and are looking for
I am the bread from heaven -
All spiritual nourishment
They asked and he told them
But they did not understand.
II. They Saw the Messenger
II. They Saw the Messenger
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
The messenger says I am - equal with God!
vs 35 - I AM statement
Nor must we ignore the I AM at the heart of the statement. Later, in his controversy with the Jews, the Lord will plainly announce himself to be the I AM of the Old Testament (Exodus 3:13–14).
When God said “I AM WHO I AM” (the Hebrew verb, to be) he was declaring his self-existence (by using the verb 'to be'). He is eternal and unchangeable.
Am the Bread of Life.2)
I Am the Light of the World.3)
I Am the door or gate & 4)
I Am the Good Shepherd.5)
I Am the resurrection, and the life.6)
I Am the way, the truth, and the life.7)
I Am the true vine.
6 other I am statements - in John
Here, and in the six other I AM assertions in John’s gospel, the Lord showed how that mysterious name for God was amplified in him.
A personal response was needed (6:35). A hungry person can sit down at a table, turn up his nose at what is set before him, push back from the table, and leave as hungry as he came.
Evidently his hunger has not yet reached the point where he is starving. Not until a person eats does food do him any personal good.
A personal response to Christ’s claim to be the true bread, the bread of God, the bread of life, is needed.
Not until Christ is personally received by an individual, into his or her life, can Christ impart the life of God.
But here a personal response was neglected (6:36): “But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.”
The Jews had asked, “What sign showest thou?” The Lord’s answer was, “I am the sign. You have seen me. You have seen the sign. You refuse to believe.” That was why the situation was so hopeless.
This bread
This savior is right in front of them
They reject it or dont understand!
Illustration - Right in front of you eyes!
Sometimes it’s something they are looking for.
Illustration
Has this every happened to you? Somebody is asking you for something. You put it right in front of them or give them the answer.
And yet they don’t see it. Or, they still don’t hear it?
Somehow it doesn’t register.
It’s because they have a belief.
Either they believe you don’t have the answer or that you can’t have the answer or you can’t have the answer right here, right now.
Or they believe the answer needs to look like something else.
Schotomas are Mental Blind Spots
It’s a schotoma.
And, we often build our own schotomas.
Beliefs Filter Our Communication
Beliefs are powerful stuff, they limit what we can see or don’t see.
“So again, what are beliefs? They are preformed, pre-organized approaches to perception that filter our communication to ourselves in a consistent manner.”
“Imagine the following situation. Someone says to you, ‘Please get the the salt,’ and as you walk into the next room, you say, ‘But I don’t know where it is.’ After looking for a few minutes, you call out, ‘I can’t find the salt.’ Then that someone walks up, takes the salt right off the shelf in front of you, and says, ‘Look, dummy, it’s right her in front of you. If it was a snake, it would have bitten you.’ When you said, ‘I can’t,’ you gave your brain a command not to see the salt. In psychology, we call it schotoma.”
If You Don’t Believe It, You Won’t See It
They say “seeing is believing,” but in a lot of cases, it’s actually the believing that enables the seeing.
The great I AM was right in front of them and they did not see it ...
Jesus was right in front of their eyes and guess what soem did not see him for who he is ....
III. They Came to the Messenger
III. They Came to the Messenger
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Wow - Jesus is saying that those that come will never be cast out!
The Lord now discusses the basis of life (6:37–40). But he is by no means through with the analogy of bread. He has much more to say about that.
But first, given the seriousness of refusing the bread of life, he must talk about the basis of life.
Its serious not to accept Him !
The matter of sovereignty (6:37) is involved in the case of all those who do trust in him: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
God does not act in an arbitrary way nor in defiance of the human will when he draws people to Christ.
Whatever is to be said about the sovereignty of God in human salvation, God never sets up arbitrary, impossible, and wholly unobtainable terms for our coming to Christ.
God knows all those who will accept Christ and he knows them because he knows everything.
Moreover, God dwells in an eternal present tense (hence he describes himself as the I AM).
So, from God’s standpoint of events, his choosing and our choosing are simultaneous acts. They both occur at the same moment in God’s eternal present tense of “time.”
Security of the believer
The sovereignty of God in salvation results in the security (6:38–40) of the believer. exegete
vs 40 - see Him with the eyes of faith
and believe that is God’s will for everyone!
The idea that a person once saved can be lost again is foreign to Scripture. “All which he hath given me” are to be kept secure, Jesus said.
The concept brings peace to the heart and joy to the soul. The goal of our salvation is realized in the redemption of our bodies and our entrance into a glorified life beyond our power to imagine or describe.
The accomplishment of this preordained goal has been entrusted to Jesus by the Father.
Truth unfolded
They came to Him !
Some believed Him !
Many Missed him !