I am the Bread of Life

Introduction:

Tell funny stories about me always being hungry-

When I woke up one of the first things i would say is “mom what kind of cereal do we have for breakfast today I’m hungry” and that conversation was usually followed up with “Mom Im still hungry can I have another bowl of lucky charms before I go to school?

At Lunch time We would sit in class just waiting for the bell to ring so we could go to the school cafeteria to sit with our friends and eat our lunches.

The second i got home the first thing out of my mouth was “Mom Im home, whats to eat?” I wanted a snack before I went outside to play.

And as I played with the neighbor kids I always had an ear open for the dinner call “ Jason Come home its time for supper”

We all know what its like to be hungry Food is an important part of our lives.

God created our bodies to run on food and our hunger pains are the warning light going off to let us know that our fuel is running low and its time to fill up.

In the same way God created us to get physically hungry He also created us to be spiritually hungry.

Our text this morning which begins in John 6:22 is the culmination of the teaching that Jesus began the day before tot he crowd when he fed more than 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

John 6: 12 Tells us that After everyone had their fill of food Jesus sent his disciples in a boat away from the crowd , across the sea of Galilee back to the town of Capernaum. but as they tried to row across the sea a great a storm came up and stranded them in its midst. and as they rowed hopelessly in the sea Jesus came to them walking on the water and rescued them from the storm.

When Jesus performed miraculous signs, meeting the physical needs of people, like feeding these 5,000 hungry men, it always laid the foundation for him to preach a spiritual sermon to them.

Our text today is the sermon Jesus preached following this miraculous event when everyone had enough food to fill them up from that boys small lunch of 5 loaves of bread and two fish.

in vs 22 of Chapter 6 John says, when the people realized that Jesus and the disciples were gone they got into boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus .

and verse 25 tells us that when the crowd found Jesus They said to him “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

and Jesus answers them with the first of 4 truth statements he makes in this sermon. ”

John 6:26 “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.”

Do you get whats happening in our story?

The crowd was so amazed at the meal Jesus just served them that they wanted to experience it again. So they found boats that Just arrived on shore that morning, and traveled the 7 miles across the sea so that they could find Jesus once again and get another free meal. They were looking for a dinner theatre for their next meal.

Illustration: How many of you like to be entertained at meal time? I like going to a show that also gives me a meal.

Growing up my family ( Mom not included) loved to go skiing, and when us kids were teenagers we would go out to Winter Park Colorado for vacation to go ski in the mountains. It was amazing. the snow was perfect and the views were awesome.

But there was one thing we always went out of our way to do. We always made a stop in the middle of Denver at a restaurant called Casa Bonita.

This place was cool. Not only did they serve tacos and chips and salsa, and the best Sopapillas in the world the had Cliff divers performing a show right in front of your eyes as you eat the meal.

BIBLE STORY:

This crowd had seen Jesus do the impossible He performed a miracle right before their eyes. He took 5 small loaves of bread and 2 fish and with it he fed a crowd of more than 5,000 people to the point everyone was full .

and now the crowd is looking for an encore of the show and meal they experienced yesterday

And Jesus ‘s response to the crowd reveals their selfish motives. He says to them “you didn’t come all this way because you believed in me as the son of God after seeing the miracles works that i just performed, You came here looking for another free meal .

What Jesus is saying to the crowd is “YOU HAVE MISSED THE POINT!”

In John Chapter 2 after Jesus Performs his first miraculous work We see the purpose of Jesus’s miracles

John 2:11 “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”

The purpose of the miracles Jesus did was to prove his deity as God and so that those who experienced the miracle would believe in him for eternal life.

This crowd of people missed the point, all they saw was that Jesus filled their hunger for physical fullness . and now they wanted more of the same.

As Jesus interacts with this crowd He is going to repeat three truths to them multiple times, so that they will understand his purpose is not just to meet their physical needs but more importantly to meet their spiritual need.

Remember what John 1:17 says about Jesus Ministry on earth?

John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The Law is what Condemns mankind of their sin

The law is the standard that proves no one is good not even one.

Romans 3:10-12 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

The law is the proof that we are all guilty of unrighteousness in our lives.

The law is the proof that no one is worthy of the eternal glory of God.

the law is the proof that all mankind are desperately wicked and it is what condemns al of us to an eternity in hell apart from God forever.

and this is why Jesus Came to this world!!!

Jesus came to bring grace and truth to mankind,

Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve

Truth is God showing us how to get right with Him

Author Warren Wiersbe speaking on the feeding of the 5,000 said it “was a ministry of “grace and truth”. In grace, our Lord fed the hungry people; and now in our text this morning Jesus gives the crowd the truth, He gives them the Word of God. He teaches them that they are in need of the bread that only God can offer them.

This is truth: Jesus was teaching the crowd how they can get right with God.

As Jesus interacts with this crowd He is going to repeat three truths to them multiple times in his sermon, He in his grace wanted to provide for the peoples physical needs but more importantly for their spiritual needs.so that they will understand his purpose is not just to meet their physical needs but more importantly to meet their spiritual need.

This morning I want us to consider these three truths together.

The first truth that we can see from our text this morning is that

God’s Bread is offered to all who are Eternally Hungry

listen to t eh words of jesus

John 6:27 “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.””

John 6:32 “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.”

John 6:35 “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 had just satisfied the people’s physical hunger and now he is offering to satisfy their spiritual hunger.

So what do we mean by spiritual Hunger ? It is spiritual emptiness.

Have you ever gone to work or to school and forgot your lunch? Your stomach is empty your body is tired, and all you want is a meal to fill the void and make you feel better. Hunger pains are our bodies warning sign that we need nutrients in our lives.

This is what spiritual emptiness is like. Your life is empty, and your heart longs for something to fill its a void.

In Ephesians 2:12 Paul is talking to the redeemed church and he says don’t forget who you were with out jesus in your life.

Ephesians 2:12 “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

without the Bread of life we are hopeless - without God in the world. We are spiritually hungry!

The term we use to describe mankind without God is “total depravity.”

We are so lost, we are so empty that our lives seem hopeless around us.

and in our passage this morning in john 6:44 Jesus says that we are so hopeless we are so empty in our spiritual hunger that we cannot even come to the father to receive the bread of life unless God himself draws us to him.

think about it this way- you are laying in bed in a comma, unconscious, and no way to save yourself.. It doesn’t matter who you think you are or what you have done in your life, at this moment There is no possible way for you to ever feed your self the nutriance your body needs to stay alive. and if someone doesn’t step in and feed you you will die.

This is what it means to be You are completely spiritually hopeless

The bible tells us that all of mankind are on a spiritual death bed and are incapable of feeding themselves even the smallest spiritual meal and without God stepping into our spiritual life and bring us to Jesus we will all die eternally in our sin.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:26” because of that sin we deserve eternal seperation from God for ever and ever in a place of punishment called Hell.

Understand church, All of mankind are in desperate need of spiritual bread that only Comes from God.

Just like the miracle Jesus performed for the 5000 where everyone recieved the bread from Jesus in full , this offer of spiritual bread is offered to anyone who is willing to receive it.

When it comes to the bread of life that God offers it is for all people.

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

the first truth we need to see from our text is that God’s bread is offered to all who are hungry.

There is no one including each of you that is not qualified to receive this offer of the bread of Life.

The only requirement is a sinner in need of a savior.

Transition; the second truth Jesus communicates in this sermon is that that bread that God is offering is sufficient to satisfy Eternal emptiness completely

God’s Bread Satisfies Our Eternal Emptiness Completely

When Jesus fed the 5000 people they went away full -their physical need was met, but now they have come toJesus again looking for more physical bread to satisfy their physical hunger.

and Jesus uses this to illustrate the bread of life that will never leave you hungry again.

John 6:27 “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.””

John 6:35 “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.”

John 6:57-58 “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. 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.””

just like the miracle of the 5000, Everyones physical hunger was satisfied fully. no one was left wanting more, their bellies were full Because Jesus completely satisfied their physical hunger.

and now Jesus in this sermon is using the miracle from yesterday to teach them the truth that He can bring them eternal spiritual fullness.

Jesus was telling the crowd I am offering spiritual fullness that will never go away! I can satisfy your hunger for eternal life.

Church, have you looked at the world around us lately? We are not just spiritually hungry we are in a spiritual famine.

people are dying of spiritual starvation. they are being lost eternally to condemnation in hell because they have not recieved the bread of life.

The people in our story were more concerned about their stomachs being hungry than they were about their souls being eternally condemned to hell.

in Verse John 6:49-50 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [but this bread I am offering you] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”

physical bread can only satisfy our temporary needs and will always leave us hungry again.

But the bread of life the God is offering all mankind is sufficient to fill our emptiness completely and it will never ever ever ever leave you hungry again.

Finally the third truth Jesus teaches the crowd in this passage is that

God’s Bread is the Only requirement for our eternal Fullness

In our story this morning we read in verse 26 that the crowd wanted the food but they did not want the truth; But Jesus cared more about the spiritual truth than he did the physical food. and our text in verse 66We read that in the end, most of them abandoned Jesus and refused to walk with Him. The crowd of 5000 dwindled down to just a few.

People came to Jesus looking for physical fullness but when he offered them spiritual fullness they walked away.

The crowd refused to believe in the Bread of Life and as a result of their unbelief they walked away from an eternity with God,

Look with me at our text this morning as Jesus says eternal fullness can only come through the bread of life.

John 6:29 “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

John 6:35 “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.”

John 6:40 “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.””

John 6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”

John 6:50 “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”

John 6:51 “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.””

John 6:53 “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 you.”

John 6:58 “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.””

John 6:65 “And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.””

Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life-

he is the one sent by God to bring life to this dead world. Without him there is no life.

Put very simply You can not enter the kingdom of heaven without Jesus in your life.

Without the bread of life you are dead in your sin.

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God sent us himself in the form of Jesus the second person in the triune God to be our bread of life.

I love how Paul speaks of this marvelous intervention of God in our lives.

Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [the bread of Life] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

Jesus says in order to gain eternal life we must eat the bread of life. We must be partakers of who Jesus is.

jesus doesn’t mean to literally eat his physical body but What he is saying is that salvation only comes to those who completely put their faith and trust in Jesus alone for their fullness.

We are partakers of the finished work of Christ on the cross of calvary.

Gods Bread is offered freely to all who are spiritually hungry

God’s Bread fills our eternal emptiness completely

Gods Bread is the only Requirement for our Eternal fullness.

Lets...

Bring it Home this morning

Jesus miraculously met the physical needs of the people so that he could teach them spiritual truth.

Jesus met their physical need with bread so that he could teach them how he is the bread of life.

John 6:66-69 “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.””

The people had a choice to make some chose to walk away and others chose to follow Christ completely.

Which one will you be today?

You have heard the words fo truth

God is offing you the bread of life

The only Source of eternal life with him in heaven, But you must choose to accept it as your own.

You must believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be full spiritually

TO believe in Jesus means that you believe that he is big enough to pay your debt of sin,

that he is perfect enough to pay your debt of sin

and that he is sufficient enough to pay your debt of sin in full.

WHEN YOU BELIEVE IN JESUS THERE IS NOTHING MORE YOU EVER HAVE TO DO IN ORDER TO GAIN ETERNAL LIFE.

JESUS SAID “ I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE WHOEVER COMES TO ME WILL NEVER HUNGER AGAIN, WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER BE THIRSTY AGAIN.”

don’t be like the crowd that Walked away FROM JESUS IF YOU ARE HERE TODAY AND HAVE NEVER ACCEPTED HIM AS YOUR SAVIOR DON’T LEAVE THIS PLACE SPIRITUALLY EMPTY ACCEPT HIM TODAY!