The Bread Of Life
Names Of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Over the last several weeks we have been studying on Sunday evenings the theme “Names of Jesus” with the hope of drawing closer to our Savior through the names and titles given to him.
Up to this point we have studied a number of such names such as…
Only Begotten Son
Immanuel
Almighty Alpha & Omega
Lord
In our study today we are going to take a look at what Jesus “titled himself” as in John 6:35…The Bread of Life.
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.
Before we move right in to the significance of such a title I want us to step back for a moment and examine the context of Jesus’ words here or…
The Background
The Background
Jesus Feeds The 5000.
Jesus Feeds The 5000.
Jesus in a place outside of Tiberias feeds over 5000 (John 6:1-15).
This crowd had been fed by Jesus with a boys 5 loaves and 2 fish.
After 5000 men and countless others such as women and children had eaten their fill, they picked up 12 baskets of leftovers.
The crowd was so enamored by this they sought to make Jesus king right then.
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
We then read that…
Jesus Goes To Capernaum.
Jesus Goes To Capernaum.
Jesus and His disciples go across the sea of Galilee to Capernaum (John 6:16-24).
The crowd the next day looks for Jesus and does not find Him.
They get in some boats near Tiberias and head north across the sea of Galilee to Capernaum.
Here they find Jesus and his disciples.
This make the curious and so…
Jesus Is Questioned.
Jesus Is Questioned.
Jesus listens to the questions and responds appropriately (John 6:25-33).
The crowd's first question…
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
Jesus answered…
26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 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.”
We then read of the crowds second question.
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Jesus responded…
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
This naturally led to this crowd’s final two questions when they asked Jesus…
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.’ ”
Jesus knowing their fleshly longing to be filled always with their spiritual need to be filled always responds to their two questions by saying…
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.”
This statement is what leads the crowd to…
The Key Saying.
The Key Saying.
That key saying was…
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Summary
Summary
Though this crowd was only thinking of their stomachs their response was exactly what Jesus was wanting he just needed to point them to the spiritual instead of the carnal.
Again, right after they said, “Sir, give us this bread always,” Jesus responds…
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.
What was Jesus trying to get the crowd to understand?
Jesus was wanting the crowd and subsequently us to understand that he is…
Our Spiritual Food.
Our Spiritual Food.
I Am The Bread Of Life.
I Am The Bread Of Life.
It is only Jesus that can perpetually sustain us.
It isn’t the food we eat or the liquid we drink, there is only a filled satisfaction when we consume “The Bread Of Life” our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
But what exactly is Jesus striving to convey by calling himself the Bread of Life?
What he is getting at is that…
The Bread Of Life Is…
The Bread Of Life Is…
That which satisfies the greatest hunger.
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.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
That which will make us disciples of Jesus.
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.”
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
That which will make us live forever.
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. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Summary
Summary
Jesus as the Bread of Life satisfies the hole that exists within each of us without God, allowing us to be content in this life.
This is done when we start consuming Jesus i.e., learning more and more about him, through his word, and becoming a follower or disciple of Jesus.
It’s then that we come to realize that feeding upon the riches of Jesus will make us live forever in the presence of our Creators, The Father, Son, and Spirit.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In the movie Forest Gump, there is a famous line given by Tom Hanks i.e., Forest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to get.”
And though, in this sinful world, there is certainly truth in such a statement, this line couldn’t be further from the truth concerning the “Bread of Life.”
We don’t have to “pray we get the good chocolate instead of the bad.”
In Christ, the Bread of Life, we will always have the good chocolate or bread and be filled with joy and peace even in turmoil.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.