True Bread

John 6:30-33

I would like to do a little survey to begin. In our culture and society bread is considered to be a staple. At almost every meal bread is offered.

And it is amazing how many different kinds of bread there are: white bread, whole wheat, sour dough, whole grain, Rye, biscuits, French, Ciabatta, cornbread, matzo, ginger, pita, croissant, bagel; the list of different kinds of breads is almost endless.
With that in mind which do you like best: white or wheat? (Raise Hand)
What about white or cornbread?
Do you like a croissant best or a bagel?
Which is healthier: white or wheat or whole grain?

Now, you are probably wondering what this has to do with our lesson this morning. Well, perhaps more than you might realize.

Let me refresh your memory a little.

Here in John 6 Jesus has performed this massive miracle of feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

And afterwards the people who “witnessed the miracle” said “this is of a truth the Prophet who is come into the world.”
And immediately they wanted to make Him king.
They didn’t come to submit to Him; they didn’t recognize Him to be what the miracle confirmed Him to be which is the Messiah and the Son of God (John 20:30-31). Instead they wanted Him to be what they wanted Him to be.

So, Jesus left the crowd behind because He will not obligate Himself to man on man’s terms.

He doesn’t give in to ever changing whims and wishes; He calls on sinners to mourn their sins, to be penitent, and to acknowledge Him as Sovereign Lord.
And He will always withdraw from the superficial crowd.

So, He leaves the crowd behind and in the middle of the night and He walks across the sea of Galilee, and gets in the boat with His disciples.

And immediately the boat is at the shore; and Jesus goes into Capernaum.

When the crowd that Jesus has fed with the loaves and fish realize that Jesus has left they make their way back to Capernaum and they, along with some of the Jews who opposed Jesus (vs. 57), find Him in the synagogue (vs. 59).

And the people come to Him and say, “Rabbi, not Messiah, not Lord, but Rabbi, when did you get here?” (They didn’t learn anything from the miracles)

And Jesus ignores their question and says, “You are not seeking Me because you saw signs. You are not seeking Me because you are interested in salvation and eternal life.”
“You are seeking Me because you ate of the loaves and the fish and you were filled; You are seeking Me because you want breakfast.”

And in vs. 27 Jesus tells them to “Don’t work or strive for food that perishes.”

Jesus isn’t telling them that they shouldn’t eat or work in order to eat; 2 Thess. 3:11.
They need food for their physical body.
But that is all they are interested in!
They have no interest in the “spiritual body.”

So Jesus says in the second half of verse 27: “Work or strive for the food which endures to eternal life.”

“Man shall not live on bread alone.” (Matthew 4:4)
“What good is it if you have all this food to eat; what good is it if you work and work for food, but don’t have eternal life?”
There is something that is more important than having your belly full.

There are several examples in the scriptures where kings held great feasts or banquets and yet no one found salvation because they got their bellies full.

Today, some people will spend a small fortune to eat some exotic food or some delicacy and yet they do absolutely nothing to gain eternal life.

So at the end of vs. 27 Jesus tells them where they can get “this food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus says that He is the One who gives the food that endures to eternal life, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal.”

Jesus is the only One who can give them eternal life and God the Father confirms that.

Yes, Jesus could fix them some breakfast; He could feed them again and again and satisfy their hunger; but He has so much more to give; something so much more important to give but they weren’t interested.

And this hasn’t changed.
People today are more interested in having their physical appetites and their material appetites and their sensual appetites satisfied than they are their spiritual.
And If He doesn’t satisfy their physical or material needs when they want it and the way they want it they most often are no longer interested in what He can do for them spiritually.

Now, look at vs. 28. Jesus has told them to “work for the food which endures to eternal life” and they ask, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

In other words, “What can we do to please God and gain this eternal life?”

These people were Jews and when they are told to “work for the food that endures to eternal life” they have grown up with the idea of “justification by works” all of their life and so they want to know, “What works can we do to gain salvation?”

And that is what so many people today believe. They believe they can do enough of the right things that they can save themselves.

But look at vs. 29: Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

Eternal life is not obtained by “works” or by human performance. You cannot do enough or be good enough to earn your salvation.
Salvation or eternal life is obtained only by “faith” in Him.
And the idea of “faith or believing” in the gospel of John is “obedient faith”; John 3:36.

You cannot get eternal life from anyone else or in any other thing.

It is not a matter of “works” or human performance; it is a matter of “faith, believing in Christ and His perfect works.”
And yet these Jews, like many others, think that they can gain it by “works”, by human effort.

Now, Jesus has said in vs. 27 that He is the One who gives the food for eternal life.

And here in vs. 29 Jesus says that if “they want to do the work of God they need to “believe” in Him.”
Now, that is a powerful statement. The Jews know that “eternal life” is in the hands of God.
So, in view of Jesus’ claims they want proof; look at vs. 30:

They said therefore to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

They want Jesus to perform another miracle to prove who He claims to be.
But they don’t want just any miracle. Look at vs. 31.

“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'”

These Jews are throwing down the gauntlet!
“You fed the 5000! That’s no big deal. Moses fed the entire nation of Israel for 40 years! You only fed the crowd for 1 day!”

What they are expecting is a sign greater than Moses! If Jesus is really the Messiah, the Son of God as He claims, if He can give “eternal life” which is possibly the greatest miracle because it involves forgiving sin, He should be able to do something greater than Moses did!

Perhaps feed the entire nation of Israel from now on!

Now, here is where the bread comparison comes in.

In vs. 31 these Jews say that “He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.”

Now, look at Jesus’ response in vs. 32: Jesus therefore said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven…

Jesus seems to be flatly rebuking these Jews by reminding them that it was not Moses who gave them the bread out of heaven.
The bread they ate in the wilderness did come from heaven but it wasn’t Moses who gave it to them.
How often do we do this same thing; give man credit for what God has done and at times give God credit for what man has done (the evil).

And notice the second thing that Jesus says here in the second part of this verse. He says that, “the bread the Jews were given by God in the wilderness was not “the true bread of heaven.”

If these Jews want the same bread that God provided in the wilderness they need to understand that there is a lot of difference between the bread the Jews received in the wilderness and the “true bread” that Jesus speaks of here in vs. 32.

For instance, the manna that God provided for them in the wilderness didn’t last.

They had to go every day, day after day except on the Sabbath and get only a “day’s portion” and if they kept any of it overnight it “bred worms”; Ex. 16:20.
And if the “sun grew hot the manna would melt”: Ex. 16:21.
So, it didn’t last.

In comparison the “true bread out of heaven” lasts forever! Remember what Jesus said in vs. 27: it endures to eternal life!

It never molds. It never breeds worms. And it never melts!

And the manna that the Jews received in the wilderness didn’t satisfy their hunger.

They had to eat it every day.
And In Numbers 11:4-6 we are told that the “people of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat FREE in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”
And in Numbers 21:5 the people of Israel speak to Moses and ask, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”
They eventually hated the “bread out of heaven.”

What about the “true bread out of heaven?” Look at vs. 35: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

The bread of life satisfies forever man’s hunger and thirst for salvation.

And the people in the wilderness who ate “the bread out of heaven”; they all died; vs. 49. It couldn’t save them.

But the true bread out of heaven? Look at vs. 33: For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

The manna or bread out of heaven that the Jews ate in the wilderness, it was limited to just the Israelites; I don’t recall that any Egyptians or Canaanites got any of it.
But the “true bread” gives life to the world.

But only to those who eat of it; and truthfully it is not “it”; it is Him. Look at vs. 35:

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

So now, what is your favorite bread?

There are thousands of different breads in the world and you can eat it until you weigh 400 pounds.
But there is only One “true bread” that can give you eternal life. Will you come to Him?
Not like these Jews came; not superficially; but will you come to Him sincerely; willing to obey Him and follow Him?

Bread is a staple in our daily diet, will you make Him a staple in your daily diet and obtain eternal life?

Or will you refuse Him and like the Jews, die in the wilderness?

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