Transcript: Jesus Christ: The Bread of Life for Eternal Life

Music Music I always like to preface the title of our message as we begin, because it always seems to help us keep our focus on the subject and the importance of hearing what God speaks to us throughout the Word. Our title today is called, The Bread of Life Stands Before You Today Offering Himself. Well, to begin, there is a story I read recently that is very fitting for our message today, and it speaks about how probably most people start out in life searching and laying up the treasures of gold of life in this world, rather than storing up and planting the living seed of life in their hearts and souls, so that in the time of want or bad times or famine comes, they try to make it up. The story begins by telling that a ship bearing a hundred immigrants has been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert island far from the tracks of any man. There is no way of escape, but there are ways of means of subsistence. An ocean, unvisited by ordinary voyagers, circles round their prison, but they have sea, with a rich soil to receive and a genial climate to ripen it. Ere any plan has been laid, or any operation begin, an exploring party returns to headquarters reporting the discovery of a gold mine. Instantly, the whole party begins to dig for the gold. they labor successfully day by day month after month they acquire and accumulate large heaps of gold but spring is past and not a field has been cleared nor a grain of seed committed to the ground the summer comes and their wealth increases but the store of food is small in harvest they begin to discover that the heaps of their gold are worthless when famine stares them in the face a suspicion shoots across their fainting hearts that the gold has cheated them they rush to the woods, fell the trees dig the roots, till the ground and sow the seeds it's too late, winter has come and their seed rots in the ground they die of want in the midst of their treasures this earth is a little island eternity the ocean around it on this shore we have been cast there is a living seed but the gold mines attract us we spend spring and summer there winter overtakes us toiling there destitute of the bread of life forgetting that we ought to first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to us wow what a wonderful analogy of a command that Jesus teaches us in Matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 19 when he declares do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal verse 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal verse 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. You see, in these verses, our Lord states several reasons why living for material things is foolish. For one thing, material things do not last. Beautiful fabrics were treasured by the Jews, yet moths ruined them. Rust stains metal, and thieves break in and steal riches. But dear listener, spiritual treasures are used for God's glory and are invested in heaven where they last throughout all eternity. The way people use wealth is an indication of the condition of their hearts. If we spend our time and money on just business matters and neglect God, then our hearts are in business business and are not fixed on God. God wants us to be single-minded when it comes to growing in the matters of his word and sowing the seeds of righteousness in our hearts. A single eye means that one is fixed on the spiritual matters, just like the analogy of the dove mentioned in Song of Songs. And this is so because her eyes are fixed on the one in whom her heart loves. And it is said about a dove that they only look at one thing at a time. This is opposite of the double-minded man in James chapter 1 verse 8. Actually we will begin in 6. But let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. Verse 8, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. Jesus clearly tells us in Matthew chapter 6, verse 24, that we cannot look in two directions at one time or serve two masters and live for God and material wealth. Please understand, the Bible does not condemn the possession of wealth, but it does warn about the love of money and the wrong use of wealth. I find it interesting along these same lines that in 2 Peter chapter 1, the word tells us as believers we are to be partakers of the divine nature. Let's look at that in 2 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 2. May grace, God's favor and peace, which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts, be multiplied to you in the full personal, precise and correct knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For his divine powers bestowed upon us all things that are requisite and suited to life and godliness through the full personal knowledge of him who called us by and to his own glory and excellence. virtue. Verse 4, by means of these he has bestowed on us his precious exceedingly great promises so that through them you may escape by flight from the moral decay, rottenness, and corruption that is in the world because of covetousness, lust, greed, and become sharers, partakers of the divine nature. Well, we can see what God's great objective is in giving us these exceedingly great and precious promises. And it is that we become morally and spiritually like himself. We will not become God's dear ones, but we will become like him who is just and true and holy and righteous. We really fall short of the high example that we find set before us by our gracious God. But nevertheless, as we press forward towards the goal, strengthened by God himself, who, having begun to make us like himself, will never cease the wonderful and blessed work until he has fully accomplished it within us until he comes to take us home. A prime example of our message title, which is again today, The Bread of Life Stands Before You Today Offering Himself, is found in John chapter 6. We're going to begin in verse 22. The next day, the crowd that still remain standing on the other side of the sea realized that there had been only one small boat there and that Jesus had not gone into it with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away by themselves. Verse 23. But now some other boats from Tiberias had come near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks Verse 24 So the people finding that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there themselves got into the small boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus And when they found him on the other side of the lake they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Verse 26, Jesus answered them, I assure you most solemnly, I tell you, you have been searching for me, not because you saw the miracles and signs, but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and satisfied. Verse 27. Stop toiling and doing and producing for food that perishes and decomposes in the using, but strive and work and produce rather for lasting food, which endures continually unto eternal life. The Son of Man will give and furnish you that, For God the Father has authorized and certified him and put his seal of endorsement upon him. Verse 28. They said then, What are we to do that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires? Jesus replied, This is the work, the service that God asks of you, that you believe in the one whom he has sent, that you cleave to, trust in, rely on, and have faith in his messenger. Jesus, who is the bread of life, was standing before this massive 5,000 people that day after they had been fed with the fish and with the loaves of bread that Jesus had performed a miracle to feed them all with. We see the absolute selfishness of man regarding our precious Savior who had come on their behalf to offer himself as their Redeemer. And we see in verses 22 through 24 where the people having come to Capernaum seeking Jesus desired him only for temporal benefit. this is like many in our day they go to church pretend to be religious make a show of piety and religion because it's fashionable or convenient method of getting bread without toiling for it on their own during the course of the week and this kind of sanctimonious insincere fraud is a more dangerous enemy to Christianity than outspoken faithless spiritual adultery or infidelity. In verses 25 through 27, we saw where our Savior admonished and rebuked the crowd when he scolded them by having the shallowness of their pretensions exposed. Verse 22, And when they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, you have been searching for me not because you saw the miracles and the signs, but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and satisfied. Stop toiling and producing for food that perishes and decomposes and using, but strive and work and produce rather for lasting food which endures continually unto eternal life. The Son of Man will give and furnish you that for God the Father has authorized and certified him and put his seal of endorsement upon him. Dear Church, it is so, and found everywhere in the Bible, where hypocrisy is condemned with severity. Anyone who speaks or teaches or preaches the word for Jesus Christ must not be afraid to rebuke the pretender. Jesus called out true motives of their hearts when he said in verse 27, Stop toiling and doing and producing for food that perishes and decomposes in the using, but strive and work and produce rather for lasting food which endures continually unto life eternal. The Son of Man will give and furnish you that, for God the Father has authorized and certified him and put a seal of endorsement upon him. We must be sincere in seeking Jesus as the bread of life and the Savior of our souls. You see, everlasting life must be a deeper consideration in our hearts than the life of our bodies on this earth. to offer eternal life the righteousness to the world was the purpose of Jesus Christ coming to this earth God the Father sealed and set apart and has given the power and authority to perform the high office of imparting the bread of life to all believers who come to him in all sincerity to obtain this dear one salvation is found in Jesus Christ and that must be our main and only motive. Did you notice in verse 28 and 29 how people responded to Jesus when he admonished them when they asked, what are we to do that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires? In verse 29, Jesus replied, this is the work, the service that God asks of you, that you believe in and whom he has sent that you cleave to and trust in, rely on and have faith in his messenger. So believe in Jesus Christ is every man and woman's supreme work in salvation. It is just in the human heart to think salvation as a matter of works as stated by people in verse 28. You see the scripture everywhere declares that to be saved, that is to work the works of God, we must believe on the Son of God. We must believe first. Man in his good works thinking excludes this belief, but true belief does not include good works, according to Ephesians 2, verse 8, which states, for it is by free grace God's unmerited favor that you are saved delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation through your faith and this salvation is not of yourself not of your own doing it came not through your own striving but it is the gift of God verse 9 not because of works not the fulfillment of the law's demands lest any man should boast. But it is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in or take glory to himself. Verse 10. For we are God's own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live. So you see, faith is not an act or a work that earns merit with God, which he rewards with salvation. When a person puts out his hand to take a gift that someone else offers, he or she is doing nothing to merit that gift. The giver gets the credit for the gift. not the receiver. Likewise, faith is not meritorious work. Salvation is not by works. Since its basis is grace, and it means the reception is faith, no one will be able to boast that he or she has done something that earned him or her salvation. All the glory will go to God for accomplishing salvation in any man or woman. In verse 10, Paul gives the reason salvation is not from man or by works. Rather than salvation being a masterpiece that we have produced, regenerate believers are a masterpiece that God has produced. Workmanship, in Romans chapter 1 verse 3, means a work of art, a masterpiece. Good works are not the roots from which salvation grows, but the fruit that God intends to bear. God has not saved us because of our works, but he has saved us to do good works through us. God saves us by faith for good works. Good works are what God intended for us to practice with his divine enablement God is ultimately responsible for good works according to Philippians 2 which declares Not in your own strength, for it is God, who all the while effectively works in you, energizing, creating in you the power and desire, both to will and to work for his good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. people in our scripture in john chapter 6 verse 28 asked jesus when he told them to stop working for food that does not last but strive rather to work and produce food which endures unto eternal life they said well what are we to do that we may habitually be working the works of god what are we to do and carry out what God requires. And Jesus said, this is the work, the service that God asks of you, that you believe in the one whom he has sent, that you cleave to, trust on, and have faith in his messenger. You see, the influence which God exerts on the mind is in a way of helping any sincere believer of God. And his influence will not embarrass or frustrate or make it difficult for them to work out their own salvation. That happens with each and every one of us. We are told to work out our own salvation. And we can be sure, dear listener, that all the influence which God makes or uses or utilizes over our minds will be to help and to support us in the work of salvation and not to embarrass or to frustrate us. This is not God's way. His support will be to enable us to overcome our spiritual enemies and our sins and teach us through His word how to stand up against them by trusting and having faith in God's almighty power to defend us against their evil cunning craftiness. God is our shield and the protector of our souls. Both Jesus and Paul declared that faith saves the soul. Now continuing in our opening scripture, in John 6, I guess I should have told you to keep your finger there in that chapter. John chapter 6 verses 30 through 31 we're going to read therefore they said to him what sign will you perform then that we may see and believe you what work will you do our fathers ate the manna in the desert and it was written he gave them bread from heaven to eat now we come to the place where we see man's unwillingness to accept Jesus from the miracle of the loaves the multitudes would gladly have received him as king but being informed that they must believe on him as savior they demanded more evidence by intimating that Moses in giving the manna for many years was greater than Jesus who only furnished one meal I don't know about you but when I read this account I cringe because the creator of the universe was standing before them the very one who gave them breath and physical food and life that they were chasing after him because they had it in abundance on the day in which he performed the supernatural miracle of the loaves and the fishes but we see where people are always willing to exalt Christ as a great personality, maybe such as a prophet, or being very notable, but they're very reluctant to receive him as their Savior, their Redeemer. Yet he must be the one or the other that you listen to, dear listener. Either Jesus has won your heart, or he is just somebody you've put on the shelf and you look to as an insurance policy in hope that you will be saved on the day that you die and leave this earth. When people crowded around Jesus and he told them what they needed to do to ensure eternal life and was that they have faith in him who is the very bread of life. Jesus made it clear who he was and he admitted that there was no comparison, not even Moses, who called out the manna for them to eat. God provided the manna, not Moses. Look at John chapter 6. Again, having your finger in that chapter. Beginning in verse 30, we notice what they ignorantly wanted from him next. Therefore they said to him, What sign or a miracle or wonder work will you perform then, so that we may see it and believe and rely on you and adhere to you? what supernatural work have you to show us what you can do. Verse 31, our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as the scripture said, and he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Verse 32, Jesus said to them, I assure you most solemnly, I tell you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven. What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven, but it was my father who gives you the true heavenly bread. Verse 33 For the bread of God is he who comes out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always, all the time. Verse 35 Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry. And he who believes in, cleaves to, trusts in, relies on me, will never thirst anymore at any time. verse 36 but as i told you although you have seen me still you do not believe and trust and have faith jesus in these verses was referring to the holy spirit who would come after jesus when he went to be with his heavenly father the holy spirit would do the wonderful work of regeneration by entering into the lives of those who have faith and trust in Jesus Christ, God's own Son. And Jesus made it clear in verses 33 through 36 what conditions of our laying a hold of him would be, must be, the Holy Spirit by coming into the hearts of those who seek after Jesus will be drawn, convicted of their sins. They will be enlightened by the Spirit of Truth who is also called the Spirit of Life. There is one huge condition before anyone can come to Jesus, and that is each and every individual must come on their own free will. Jesus said in verse 35, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and trusts, cleaves in and relies on me will never thirst anymore at any time. Verse 36 But as I told you, although you have seen me, still you do not believe and trust and have faith. Those who believe and come to Jesus and truly live in him will have eternal life, but those who do not will inherit eternal death. and those standing before Jesus still did not believe and trust or have faith in him now in the next verses verses 37 through 40 we read that Jesus is the executor of the father's will on this earth verse 37 all whom my father gives in trust to me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will most certainly not cast out. I will never, no, never reject one of them who comes to me. Verse 38 For I have come down from heaven and not to do my own will and purpose but to do the will and the purpose of him who sent me. Verse 39 And this is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all that he has given me but I should give new life and raise them all up at the last day. Verse 40 For this is my Father's will and his purpose that everyone who sees the Son and believes in, cleaves to, trusts and relies on him should have eternal life and I will raise him up from the dead at the last day. Jesus' will for the Father was to offer and secure eternal life to all believers Notice it doesn say to all people because they must be believers who have faith and trust in him who love him with all of their hearts their souls, their minds and all that is within them understand though Jesus died on the cross offers himself as the bread of life to all who will accept him as their savior and obey his commands in order to live in the righteousness of the new life found only in him. Those who do not take Jesus as a source of their life perish through unbelief. All who do receive him and obey are kept in perfect safety from the evil foe. This is God's will. It is not only Jesus who is able to bring it about in the wonderful supernatural change with the cooperation of the one who has faith in him and lives in him and is obedient to the very end by drawing on him as the bread of life. In John chapter 6 again, verse 35, Jesus identified himself to all who had gathered around him with murder in their hearts. He said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry and he who believes in cleaves to have trust and relies on me will never thirst anymore at any time when jesus declares himself as the bread of life it is a figurative statement which says the bread that jesus gives is a supernatural divine bread that gives eternal life and saves one from eternal death in hell. Jesus tells us that the person who comes to him and believes in him and receives his truth and teaching and lives in it and has faith in him as the atoning sacrifice shall be perfectly satisfied and will never anymore feel misery of a troubled mind and have the fear of death. All the guilt of one's sins will be blotted out and his soul shall be purified by the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. True redeemed children of God will be empowered to truly know the love of God and will be able to love him back with all of their hearts and to share his love with others. These will know the rest and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ and they will find their joy in him as they grow in his knowledge and grace as they draw on Christ as their bread of life. Jesus identifying himself with bread is in effect saying that he is essentially life itself. And dear one, the life of Jesus is referring not to physical life, but it is eternal life found only in him. The Jews were thinking only of the physical realm then, And Jesus was pointing them to the spiritual realm when he was referring to the bread. He was contrasting what he brings as their Messiah with bread, as he miraculously created the loaves of bread in feeding around the 5,000 people that day. Physical bread eventually perishes, but the bread that Jesus offers is spiritual bread that brings eternal life and lasts forever. when Jesus in our same verse began to tell that he was the bread of life he made another statement of his deity when he began saying I am when he said I am the bread of life the phrase I am is the covenant name for God Yahweh who revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush and this is a phrase the Jews who were listening to Christ that day would have automatically understood it as a claim to deity when Jesus also said in the verse were the words to come and believe this is an invitation for those listening to place their faith in Jesus as Messiah and the Son of God this invitation to come is found throughout John's Gospel. Coming to Jesus involves making a choice to forsake the world and follow him. Believing in Jesus means placing our faith in him that he is who he says he is and that he will do what he says he'll do and that he is the only one who can do what he says he will do. We are finally told in these verses that anyone who comes to him will never thirst again. Jesus made a similar statement in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verse 6, when he declared, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. When Jesus says those who come to him will never hunger, those who believe in him will never thirst, He is saying that He will satisfy our hunger and thirst and our desire in Him to be made righteous and holy in the sight of God. When Jesus died on the cross, He took all of the sins of mankind upon Himself and made atonement for them. And when we place our faith in Him, our sins are imputed to Jesus and His righteousness is then imputed to us. Jesus satisfies our hunger and our thirst for righteousness because he has now become our bread of life Dear Church, as you grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ your good works then begin by sharing the wonderful truth of what your Savior has done for you Not everyone will be a teacher or a preacher behind the podium but everyone is required to share the good news, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and spread abroad the sweet fragrance of his person. There is a story and I thought it was appropriate to share with you in this message today. Captain Alan Gardner was a missionary among six other men whose ship landed on a very unfriendly coast in South America where he and his missionary friends slowly perished with hunger. In the hope of attracting the notice of someone passing by in a ship, he wrote on the cliff in large letters, Delay not, we are starving. Years after the words were seen, but it was too late. The bleached bones of the brave hero with words still embedded in the cliff and the cross he drew in the beach came too late. Help had been delayed and he and the other missionaries had perished. Dear Church, there is a similar cry that the dying world has those engraved in the cliff which again said, Delay not, we are starving. And this is like the cry of the dying world for the bread of life which should be ringing in the ears of the people of God who have enough in personal experience and the word of God in their hearts to share with those around them in this day and year of 2023. Our sick world is dying and all around us is perversion of every kind. Will you be one of those who will share an example, the bread of life who lives in you to those around you that you may meet in the grocery store or the doctor's office or classroom that you sit in each day or those with whom you work? This world is in need of immediate workers in the field which are white and ready to harvest. A few have responded already, but where are the others among so many? Dear listener, if only each and every one of us would arise to do our part every day for the kingdom of God. The bread of life stands before you today, offering himself. Have you fallen in love with him yet? Have you grown in his word and found him as your bread of life who satisfies your soul with every good thing? If so, will you do your part and share your bread of life with others? Because this world is in need of immediate workers and we are each responsible to do our part as a redeemed child of God.