Sermon Tone Analysis

Tonight we are really hoping to give the defining answer to the question that Pilate asks Jesus in John 18:38, “What is truth?”

While we did answer that to an extent on Monday night, tonight is where the rubber meets the road.

Tonight is the night where each of us must be confronted with truth, to see the truth not as it relates to our own personal preferences but to see it as it really is.

Tonight we must preach to ourselves that we see Jesus as He really is.

He either is who He says He is or He isn’t.

There is no other option.

Tim Keller said, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said?

The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”

But we aren’t here tonight to prove that the resurrection of Jesus really happened.

Our goal tonight is to ask ourselves the question, “If Jesus really is who the Bible says that He is, how must my life reflect that truth?”

What do I mean by this?

I mean that the Gospel is not good advice that we can take or leave, it is a command to be followed.

Tonight we are going to hear this Gospel straight from the lips of Christ and you might say, “I’ve heard this a million and one times, there’s nothing here for me tonight.”

But let me tell you this, I have seen in my own personal ministry more people come to saving faith in Christ that thought they were Christians and were not than I have seen hard-hearted unbelievers do it.

Even the most seasoned Christian never tires of hearing the Gospel because it has so captured their affections that it is like being reminded by the greatest love in the universe that it still loves you unconditionally and perfectly.

As we go through tonight, we will see how the Gospel addresses the areas of identity that we have talked about over the last 3 nights.

We will see how the Gospel confronts our loneliness, our future, our desire to be loved, and how it points to the ultimate authority of God alone.

We will see how it addresses anxiety, depression, and worry.

We will see how all are invited into the Family of God and how racial walls are torn down by the Gospel.

Jesus Christ really is the answer to our deepest longings and greatest worries.

Let’s pray and then I want us to open up to John 6:35-40

Who is Jesus?

(Verses 35-37)

The first question that we must answer is who is Jesus?

In verse 35 He says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Now those first 6 words: I am the Bread of Life are one of 7 I Am sayings of Jesus that are recorded in the Gospel of John.

This is the first of those 7 sayings.

In John 8 Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.

In John 10, “I am the door of the sheep” and “I am the Good Shepherd.”

In John 11, “I Am the resurrection and the life.”

In John 14, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

And finally in John 15, “I am the true vine.”

All 7 of these sayings tell us something incredible about the Lord but we will just focus on what Jesus says in John 6:35.

What does Jesus mean when He says that He is the bread of life?

There are three truths that I believe we can gather from in this one title.

I Am- Christ Alone

The first truth to note is that exclusiveness of Christ’s claim.

He says, “I Am.”

The Bread of Life is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.

No one else can produce the claims that this title brings forth.

The I Am nature of the statement itself even tells us more than what many realize.

John writes in John 8:58-59 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”

At first glance this might look like an overreaction on the part of the people but for Jesus to say, I Am meant that He was claiming to be very God of very God.

I Am is the very name that God revealed Himself as to Moses way back in the book of Exodus.

For Jesus to say this is one of the strongest statements that He could possibly make in regards to His deity.

If Jesus were to not be God and to make that statement, the Jewish people had every right to stone Him because He is committing top-tier blasphemy.

John Frame writes, “The I Am especially in light of other such references in John, clearly identifies Jesus with the I AM of Exodus 3:14, with Yahweh Himself.

The Jews understand: in verse 59 they pick up stones to kill Him.

From their point of view, this statement was blasphemy.

From the Christian standpoint, it can be nothing less than a claim to deity in the fullest sense!”Jesus makes claims about Himself that we cannot ignore.

For Jesus to claim that He is God in the fullest sense, if those claims are true, then all of mankind is ultimately under His authority and must respond to that reality.

If Jesus is the Bread of Life that means that no one else can be and if He alone is the bread of life, that means that ultimately nothing else will bring us any sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, or abundant life like He can.

Now Jesus does not make this claim without backing it up.

The clearest evidence of Christ’s deity comes from the fact that He rose from the dead.

If the resurrection didn’t happen; then it doesn’t matter what Christ said about Himself.

If Christ really did rise from the dead; then everything that He says must also be true.

The evidence for the empty tomb cannot be ignored.

There is far too much going for it to just explain it away.

The only thing that could alter the course of human history in the way that it was altered is if Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father.

There is not a single person in history that has had a greater impact than Jesus of Nazareth.

Nothing would have changed the mind and the lives of the Apostles unless they really did believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

You can’t explain the empty tomb by ignorance, you can’t explain the resurrection by hallucination, you can’t explain the life of the Church without the life of a risen Savior.

Christians, understand that if Jesus was not raised from the dead, the world should feel bad for us because we are wasting our lives over something that isn’t true.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:16-19 “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

If the resurrection of Christ didn’t happen, any hope that we have in this world or the next is gone.

Charles Hodge wrote, “All that Paul means to say is, that if you take Christ from Christians, you take their all.

He is the source not only of their future, but of their present happiness.

Without Him they are yet in their sins, under the curse of the Law, unreconciled to God, having no hope, and without God in the world; and yet subject to all the peculiar trials incident to a Christian profession.”

For Jesus to say I Am is to say that He is God in the flesh but that is not the only claim He makes about Himself, He says that He is the bread and that brings us to the second truth that we can gather from this title.

Bread- the Sustainer

For Christ to be spiritual bread means that He is that which sustains us.

Just as one needs food to remain alive, man needs Christ to live.

To understand the depth of what Christ is saying, you have to understand just how greatly man relied on bread during the 1st century.

Bread was one of the most important elements of the table.

To lack bread was to lack what you needed to survive.

To be the Bread of life means that Jesus is God for all types of men.

From the richest to the poorest, every single human being relies on bread.

J.C. Ryle said that Jesus Christ is just the Savior that meets the wants of every class.

For Jesus to be bread, our spiritual food, means that we continually come to Him because He satisfies that which is most pressing for us.

Jesus does not just save us once, He continues to save us and sustain us.

For Christ to be our spiritual bread means that He meets the absolute need of our great spiritual hunger.

Jesus goes on to say that he who comes to Him will not hunger and whoever believes in Him shall never thirst.

When we come to Christ, the things that we long for no longer seem as satisfactory because we have come to that which we have most needed.

Finally, Jesus tells us that He is the giver of eternal life.

Life- eternal

Jesus isn’t the bread of death.

John 8:50-51 says, “Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge.

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Deep down we all want to feel alive don’t we? Haven’t you heard people say that?

“I just want to feel alive!”

We want something that gives our lives meaning, we want to feel like our lives matter and have a purpose but all lives come to a close.

But Jesus gives life that is eternal.

Jesus is the answer to every longing that you have ever had.

Do you want purpose?

It’s in Christ.

Do you want love?