- How to spiritually starve yourself: (Jn 6:25-27)
- Ask, "Jesus, what can You do for me?" (Jn 6:25-27)
- Ask, "Jesus, how can I earn my way?" (Jn 6:28-29)
- Ask, "Jesus, how are You going to prove yourself to me?" (Jn 6:30-35)
- How to be spiritually full: (Jn 6:35)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:05
We're beginning our sermon series that's going to take us through the week after Easter.
00:08-00:14
And we're going to be talking about some famous "I am" statements.
00:15-00:16
Do you know any?
00:17-00:19
How about this one?
00:21-00:21
Muhammad Ali.
00:23-00:26
"I am the greatest." Who knows the rest of that?
00:26-00:28
He said a little more after that, do you know what it is?
00:30-00:33
He said, "I am the greatest.
00:34-00:44
"I said that even before I knew I was." How about this one?
00:46-00:48
Richard Nixon, what was his famous I am statement?
00:49-00:51
I am not a crook.
00:55-00:58
One more, you all know this one.
01:00-01:02
The famous I am statement of Darth Vader.
01:04-01:07
Luke, I am your father.
01:09-01:10
Do you know the rest of that one?
01:11-01:12
Now give me a hug.
01:15-01:20
We're not talking about any of those obviously, but here's my point in sharing those.
01:21-01:27
When you start a sentence with the phrase I am, That's powerful.
01:29-01:30
Because do you know what you're doing?
01:32-01:35
You're defining yourself, aren't you?
01:37-01:38
Think about it.
01:38-01:39
We hear it all the time.
01:42-01:42
I am retired.
01:44-01:46
I am a Marine.
01:47-01:49
I am a cancer survivor.
01:53-01:56
Well, defining yourself with an I am statement.
01:59-02:09
Was sort of a specialty of Jesus Christ because he made some serious, serious I am statements, but they were more than just self disclosures.
02:11-02:17
Because every I am statement of Jesus Christ ties into his deity, did you know that?
02:18-02:49
Remember in John chapter 8 and verse 58, as Jesus once again was facing some antagonism, Jesus made this comment, "Before Abraham was, I am." In that statement, Jesus Christ was claiming to be God himself.
02:51-02:52
Where do you get that?
02:53-03:00
Do you remember when God sent Moses to free Israel from the Egyptians?
03:01-03:03
And Moses was like, "Well, I'm going to go to them.
03:04-03:19
I'm going to go to the Israelites, and they're going to be like, 'Who sent you? What's his name?'" And Moses is like, "So what should I tell them?" And God says, "I'll tell you what to tell them." What did he say?
03:20-03:28
"I am who I am." God said, "That's my name." God's name is I am.
03:32-03:33
Not I was.
03:35-03:37
Like, you know, back in the day, man, I used to be something.
03:38-03:40
I was great back in the day, Moses.
03:40-03:41
you should have seen me in high school.
03:42-03:46
No, nor is God, I will be.
03:47-03:55
Like, you know what, Moses, if I keep practicing, someday, someday, someday I'm gonna, God says, I am.
03:56-03:57
I am.
03:57-04:10
And Jesus Christ was echoing that same claim, claiming himself to be God.
04:12-04:24
And as we look at the I am statements of Jesus Christ, we're going to see not only that he is God, but in these statements, Jesus Christ also reveals how he meets our greatest needs.
04:25-04:26
Are we ready for this?
04:27-04:27
Let's pray.
04:29-04:41
Father in heaven, we are about to embark on a, on a journey that's already shaken my soul a lot over this past week.
04:45-04:48
We're going to be looking at some statements your son made.
04:50-04:58
Statements that we can't just walk away from and say, "Oh, that was nice," or, "Oh, that was interesting." We can't do that because Jesus didn't leave that as an option.
05:03-05:07
I pray, Father, that the veil would be lifted.
05:11-05:20
I pray for hard hearts to be broken up, ready to receive the seed of your Word.
05:27-05:32
I pray that commitment is made to Christ.
05:34-05:46
I pray that lost people come alive through receiving the eternal life that Jesus Christ gives.
05:51-05:52
Father, have your way with us.
05:53-05:55
Let your Holy Spirit reign.
05:57-06:03
Whatever needs to happen, God, we trust You.
06:06-06:10
And ask for nothing more than Your name be glorified.
06:11-06:14
In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
06:15-06:20
Open up your Bibles to John chapter 6.
06:23-06:24
John chapter 6.
06:31-06:38
You know, I've been to a lot of churches, and this church by far is the quietest Bible turners I've ever heard.
06:39-06:39
Come on, turn.
06:40-06:42
Turn like, "I'm ready for this.
06:42-06:46
I'm ready to get into God's Word." This is serious business.
06:49-07:04
The title of today's message is, "To the Hungry, I am the Bread of Life." And while you're turning to John 6, I want you to think about something with me that you've known all your life.
07:09-07:10
But I want you to really think about it.
07:15-10:14
were designed to be hungry. Think about that. We were designed to be hungry. We were designed to need something outside of ourselves. We were created in such a way that we have a constant longing within ourselves that must be fulfilled from an external source. This is a physical and a spiritual truth. I am NOT self-sustaining. That is a physical truth and that is a spiritual truth. I am NOT self-sustaining. I'm not. I ate this morning and I'm going to need to eat again eventually if I want to live. I'm never going to in this life eat and be done with eating. As long as I live I know I'm going to be dependent on something outside of me to keep this body going. And that's exactly how God created us. But we are more than physical beings, aren't we? We get so focused on the here and now, on the immediate needs, an empty belly, a craving, a hunger, that we neglect to focus on the deeper hunger that is within, and that's the one in our souls. You know the hunger in your soul. Every single one of us have it. We have a hunger for significance, don't we? Don't we want to feel like we matter? We who am I? We have a hunger to be a part of something that's bigger than ourselves and something that's beyond ourselves. We have a hunger for eternity.
10:15-10:27
Don't you have a hunger in you that says there's more than this? You know man I I just kind of roll out of bed and I eat and I go to work and I come home and back to bed.
10:27-10:31
And there's more than this.
10:35-10:37
There's a hunger inside us.
10:39-10:41
But what do people fill up on?
10:44-10:47
That hunger of significance and identification and eternity.
10:48-10:49
What do people fill up on?
10:50-10:51
Here's what they fill up on.
10:52-10:56
They fill up on things like lust and greed and pride.
10:59-11:07
Thinking that if I can fulfill my spiritual needs in a self-centered way, I'll be okay.
11:12-11:16
But what we find, those things are just empty calories.
11:16-11:18
Do you know what empty calories are?
11:19-11:21
Amanda Frederick, do you know what an empty calorie is?
11:22-11:23
Let me explain it to you.
11:25-11:27
She's a dietician, if you didn't know.
11:28-11:31
She should be up giving this part of the speech, but I'm gonna take a swing at it.
11:33-11:39
An empty calorie is when you eat something that does nothing for you, or it has a negative effect.
11:40-11:44
It actually tricks your body into thinking that it's getting nourished.
11:46-11:48
What's a food that would like give you empty calories?
11:50-11:51
Soda, okay, what's that?
11:52-11:53
Oh, I thought you said soda.
11:54-11:55
I was gonna say you're from around here, aren't you?
11:55-11:56
Okay, we call it pop.
11:58-12:00
Or a donut, right?
12:00-12:01
Those are empty calories.
12:02-12:15
When you eat those things, you're not full, really, but your body has tricked itself into thinking that you are, but you don't get anything good from those foods.
12:19-12:31
There are a lot of spiritual empty calories out there that we are stuffing our souls with and we find that we're not satisfied.
12:32-12:42
So let's look at John chapter 6 and right now turn to your neighbor and say, "He's not going to read all 71 verses, is he?" No, I'm not.
12:44-12:44
Good question.
12:45-12:47
I encourage you to do that on your own.
12:50-12:54
I wanna paraphrase, if I may, because it's important to get the big picture.
12:54-12:58
In John chapter six, in the first 15 verses, it's the big miracle.
12:59-13:03
If you look at all the miracles of Jesus, what would you say is like the highlight?
13:03-13:07
Like, what would you say is like his marquee miracle?
13:07-13:08
Do you know what it is?
13:08-13:10
It's the, go ahead, shout it out.
13:11-13:12
Feeding of the 5,000, right?
13:13-13:15
Yeah, good answer. That's like his marquee miracle.
13:15-13:19
Like, "Well, how'd you come up with that?" It's in all four of the Gospels.
13:20-13:29
It was such a huge deal, all four of the Gospel writers were like, "Man, that's going to make it in my account of Jesus." Okay?
13:30-13:35
So, it's in Matthew 14, it's in Mark 6, it's in Luke 9, here it's in John 6.
13:36-13:46
Jesus fed, actually, he fed 5,000 men, but there were also women and children there, The estimate is he fed somewhere between 12 and 15,000 people.
13:50-13:51
And what did he feed them with?
13:51-13:52
You know this story.
13:52-13:53
What did he feed them with?
13:55-13:58
Don't be shy, come on, we've all been to Sunday school.
13:58-13:59
What did he feed them with?
14:00-14:02
Okay, little boy brought his lunch, right?
14:03-14:11
Like his mom packed his, I'm sure he had some kind of like, you know, whatever passed for Spider-Man in that day.
14:11-14:17
he had this lunchbox and he had a couple of biscuits and some fish in there, that was his lunch.
14:18-14:21
And it's like, okay, it's time to eat, like how are we gonna feed all these people?
14:23-14:27
And this little boy's like, you know, I got my lunch and you can have it.
14:29-14:37
And in the hands of God, it fed thousands of people to the point that they were full, to the point that they had leftovers.
14:39-14:40
Isn't that awesome?
14:41-14:47
Oh, the things that God can do when we put them, when we put things in God's hands, right?
14:47-14:51
The things He can do with what we're willing to give up.
14:56-15:05
So, this caused quite a stir and the people were like, "Hey, Jesus, here's a guy that gave us free lunch.
15:06-15:08
I think, I think he should be king.
15:09-15:15
And they tried to force Jesus to be king and of course Jesus had no part of that and he withdrew.
15:16-15:23
Well then verses 16 through 21 say that the disciples crossed the sea to Capernaum by boat.
15:23-15:25
I don't understand that part of the story.
15:26-15:30
At least my Bible doesn't say anything like the disciples are like, "Where's Jesus?
15:30-15:39
Should we wait on him?" They're just like, "Let's go." And not a problem for Jesus though, because he just like walks up to them, right?
15:39-15:44
They're on the boat in the water and Jesus just walks up to them, just walks on water.
15:46-15:47
And awesome.
15:49-15:57
Well, in verses 22 through 24, the crowds started doing a little math.
16:00-16:06
They were like, well, OK, there was one boat here and it left and Jesus wasn't on that boat.
16:08-16:09
So where is he?
16:09-16:13
And they're trying to figure out what happened to Jesus.
16:16-16:20
All right, and that takes us to verse 25.
16:22-16:28
Eventually, the crowd makes their way to Capernaum, looking for Jesus, and then they find him.
16:28-16:31
All right, that's where we are in John chapter six.
16:31-16:40
Now, first part of your outline, if you're taking notes, first thing we're going to look at is how to spiritually starve yourself.
16:42-16:42
You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on.
16:42-16:44
I didn't come to hear this.
16:44-16:48
I came to hear something uplifting and encouraging and something that'll be good for me.
16:49-16:52
And seriously, your sermon's called how to spiritually starve yourself.
16:52-16:53
Well, here's why.
16:54-16:57
Some of you are starving yourselves and you don't even realize it.
16:57-16:58
That's why.
16:58-17:00
And you're going to see it right from the text.
17:01-17:04
Some of you are starving your spirits.
17:06-17:07
And you don't know it.
17:10-17:16
And I pray that God's Holy Spirit would show you from the word of God the way that we starve our spirits.
17:19-17:19
So, first of all.
17:22-17:26
Look at verses 25 through 27, how to spiritually starve yourself.
17:26-17:35
the first thing you do is ask, "Jesus, what can you do for me?" "Jesus, what can you do for me?" Look at verses 25 through 27.
17:35-17:59
It says, "When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, You are seeking me not because you saw signs.
18:02-18:05
But because you ate your fill of the loaves.
18:08-18:15
Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.
18:16-18:23
Which the son of man will give to you for on him, God, the father has set his seal.
18:25-18:31
So the first way we see in our text, how to spiritually starve yourself, put yourself in the place of this crowd.
18:31-18:36
The first thing they do when they find Jesus, Jesus, what can you do for me?
18:36-18:40
They looked at Jesus like, there's a couple of things we could say here.
18:40-18:42
First of all, we can say they looked at Jesus like Aladdin.
18:45-18:46
Come on, I have some wishes.
18:49-18:51
And I don't mean this offensively.
18:54-18:57
But they were looking at Jesus like the welfare program.
18:59-19:01
And Jesus called them on that.
19:03-19:03
Did you see that?
19:08-19:13
You came, not because you saw that I'm God in the flesh performing miracles.
19:14-19:15
Jesus said, "You came because," why?
19:17-19:18
I was giving handouts.
19:20-19:22
You got free lunch from me and that's why you're after me.
19:26-19:35
As most of you know, I used to work at a downtown church, a church that was located in the middle of a city.
19:37-19:45
And I had to preach this John 6 sermon a lot because we would get a lot of people walking off the street.
19:46-19:49
Give me free lunch, buy my kids Christmas presents.
19:51-20:11
You know, we certainly would try to reach out and oh, so many times I'd take people into the office and be like, "Hey man, you know what, I want to try to help you, but let me share some things with you from God's Word." And it would just be, "Ahh." So many times I'd see people rolling their eyes and sighing and folding their arms.
20:12-20:14
The one guy was actually like falling asleep.
20:15-20:19
Like look, are you going to give me the free stuff or not?
20:19-20:21
I didn't come here for the little spiritual lecture.
20:22-20:23
Are you going to give me the free stuff?
20:26-20:29
If you're going to start with the preaching, I'm out of here.
20:29-20:33
I had one time I had somebody call me on a on a Saturday.
20:35-20:39
They called me on a Saturday afternoon and said they didn't have any groceries.
20:41-20:46
And I said, I'll tell you what, come to church tomorrow and we'll go to the grocery store afterwards.
20:46-20:48
I'll buy you whatever you want.
20:52-20:55
All right, how many people think that they showed up for church?
20:57-21:03
How many people would say they were like, "Yeah, I'm not interested in that bargain." That's what happened.
21:05-21:17
Like, "No, I'd rather starve than sit in church for an hour." The scene is played out over and over and over and over across the world.
21:18-21:28
We come to the church for a handout, there's a community meal served, or there's a, you know, some sort of a social program to help people.
21:29-21:33
But as soon as the gospel is shared, they split.
21:34-21:38
I remember sharing the gospel at some of the community meals at my former church.
21:38-21:43
You know, as soon as they were done eating and you'd get up to talk, it'd be like, "Where's the nearest exit?
21:43-21:44
You got to get out of here.
21:49-21:52
Now, let me ask you, are there benefits to following Jesus Christ?
21:53-21:54
Are there benefits to following Jesus?
21:56-21:58
Yes, there are.
21:59-22:02
But here's the thing that Jesus was pointing out to this crowd.
22:03-22:10
If you just want the benefits, but you don't want Jesus, you remain spiritually starved.
22:12-22:21
These people came to Jesus saying, "We're just content to have our bellies full." And Jesus pointed out, "Well, my purpose isn't political, and my purpose isn't physical.
22:22-22:26
My purpose is spiritual." Jesus said, "I wanna give you eternal life.
22:26-22:31
That's what you should be going after." I came to point the way to the Father.
22:33-22:38
I came to satisfy the longing that's at the very base of your being.
22:40-22:41
That's what you should be going after.
22:44-22:46
And you'd rather have a biscuit.
22:50-23:01
You see, God wants to give us gifts, but God is so awesome and God is so gracious that God doesn't want to just give us a gift.
23:02-23:05
God wants to give us the giver of gifts.
23:06-23:06
Isn't that awesome?
23:08-23:13
God says, I'm going to give you the giver of the gifts.
23:13-23:15
And if you have the giver, you'll have the what?
23:16-23:19
You'll have the gifts. But frankly, here's the problem.
23:22-23:23
The giver requires too much.
23:26-23:28
The giver requires too much.
23:29-23:34
Jesus Christ calls us to die to ourselves, to repent from sin, to turn from self-centeredness.
23:37-23:38
Jesus, what can you do for me?
23:40-23:43
Let me ask you this morning, did you come to church just for a benefit?
23:44-23:46
Is that why you're here today is for a benefit?
23:48-23:54
Maybe you're here today and you're saying something like this, you know, maybe God will see that I'm religious and he'll give me money.
23:56-24:00
Or maybe my wife will get off my back if I'm more churchy.
24:03-24:11
Or I'm in a real crisis here and God's going to see that I was in church on Sunday and he's going to bail me out.
24:12-24:13
If that's you.
24:14-24:17
You are going to leave starved today.
24:19-24:28
You're going to completely miss the abundant and eternal blessings because all you're after was your own comfort, your own benefit and your own personal wish list.
24:28-24:30
Give me the gift. I don't want the giver.
24:33-24:34
So that's how to spiritually starve yourself.
24:34-24:36
Ask Jesus, what can you do for me?
24:37-24:38
No, no, no, no, not you, Jesus.
24:38-24:39
I don't want you.
24:39-24:41
I just want what you can give me.
24:43-24:47
Here's another way you can spiritually starve yourself, let her be.
24:48-24:51
Ask Jesus, how can I earn my way?
24:52-24:55
This conversation is so fascinating to me.
24:56-24:58
Let's get back in the text here.
24:58-25:04
You see, Jesus told them, you know, you need to go after the food that endures to eternal life.
25:05-25:06
The Son of Man will give you.
25:06-25:09
And God the Father has set his seal on him.
25:10-25:14
And look at their response in verse 28.
25:16-25:26
Then they said to him, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?" This is evidence to me that Jesus Christ is God.
25:29-25:32
Because anybody else would have started slapping people.
25:36-25:42
I want to give you, I want to give you eternal life.
25:46-25:47
How must we work for it?
25:50-25:51
Are you not listening?
25:53-25:55
But you know what, that's default mode, isn't it?
25:55-25:56
That's default mode.
25:57-25:58
It's wrong.
25:58-25:59
But this is man's default mode.
26:00-26:00
"Oh, it's a God thing.
26:00-26:02
Okay, well then tell me what I need to do.
26:04-26:08
Tell me what I need to do." You know why it's default mode?
26:11-26:17
By nature, we prefer religion over relationship.
26:18-26:21
By nature, we prefer religion over relationship.
26:21-26:22
You know why?
26:24-26:26
Somebody tell me, why do we prefer religion over relationship?
26:28-26:31
Because it's easier, right?
26:32-26:33
Because it's easier.
26:36-26:37
You don't believe me, do you?
26:39-26:40
Well, here's a little experiment.
26:42-26:47
Let's line up all the husbands and line up all the wives, and we'll do little separate surveys.
26:52-26:54
You'll hear this from a lot of husbands.
26:54-27:01
"I just want my wife to tell me what she wants me to do to make her happy." Give me a list.
27:01-27:03
Husbands, have you ever been guilty of that?
27:03-27:03
I have.
27:04-27:04
I have.
27:04-27:06
"Just tell me what you want me to do to make you happy.
27:07-27:07
Write it down.
27:08-27:08
Here's paper.
27:09-27:11
Give me a list." That's religion.
27:12-27:25
Give me the list of things that I have to perform in order to make you happy." Meanwhile, wives, what are you after? You're after the relationship, aren't you?
27:26-30:09
And you think after, you know, how long have we been married now? Like almost 11 years. You'd think I'd get this. Like, what do I need to do? What do I need to do? And my wife's like, "I just want to spend time with you, you idiot!" She's much nicer than that, but I can really feel that "you idiot" thing like in the tone of her voice sometimes. She wants the relationship. She wants, she wants you to, she wants like to share your hearts with each other, and man will tell you that's harder than religion. Just give me the list. So Jesus hits them with it. They're like, "Okay, well you're going to give us something, so apparently there's a way that we need to work for it, so what must we do to be doing the works of God?" I think they were sincere, by the way. I'm not mocking them. I think they were sincere. "Oh, well you just give us the list. Lillia verse 29, "Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.'" Understand with your mind who Jesus Christ is and what He has done. Embrace trust in your spirit who Jesus Christ is and what he has done. You don't get to work in the church in order to get fulfilled. You know, if you're like, "Oh, I want to sign up to help in the church because I think that'll make me feel fulfilled." It won't. It won't. Fulfillment has to come from Christ and the work you do in the church is simply an extension of that. It's Christ flowing out you. It's a joy to serve. It's a joy to serve when it's done that way. You know, if you're involved in the church because you're thinking it's getting you brownie points and God's going to be happy with you and I'll be more fulfilled, you're going to quit before too long because that doesn't cut it. But when it's Christ in you and flowing through you and coming out of you, that's when it's joy. So if you're on the "I gotta earn it" plan, these are fascinating things you're telling me about Jesus, Pastor Jeff. What works must I do in order to receive Him? You're gonna leave starved.
30:10-30:35
You're going to leave starved. So here's a third way. Here's a third way how to spiritually starve yourself, ask Jesus, "How are you going to prove yourself to me?" Look at verse 30. Again, this conversation just absolutely, it absolutely kills me.
30:38-30:44
Jesus told them, "I'm going to, God's put his seal on me. I'm going to give you eternal life.
30:44-30:49
if you come to me, how do we like work for it? This is the work, believe in me.
30:50-30:57
So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?
30:58-31:22
Are you kidding? What sign do you do?" Does that like strike anybody else as just Appalling? What sign do you do? How about verse 26, Jesus reminded them that they saw the signs. Verse 14 says when the people saw the sign that he had done.
31:23-32:32
Verse 2, a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. These were people that had seen Jesus over and over and over and over and over, show that He is God. And the icing on the cake was the feeding of the 5,000. Like, if that doesn't settle it, I don't know what to tell you, pal. And now they're standing before Jesus and they're like, "Okay, what do you got? Show us something. We're about to buy into you being God, but we're gonna need something here. We're gonna need more than a, you know, a nice glossy business card. We're gonna need some kind of a trick. These are the same people that not only saw the miracle, they ate from the miracle. Do you realize that was less than 24 hours ago? Their bellies were full because they were front-row participants of a miracle of God. Jesus, do you have a trick for us?
32:35-32:39
If you demand a sign from Jesus, you're never going to be satisfied.
32:40-32:40
Write that down.
32:40-32:44
If you're demanding a sign, you're never going to be satisfied.
32:44-32:57
There's probably somebody here that's like, "You know what, Jesus, I'm just about to commit to you, "but I really need you to come through here for me, "and you're gonna prove your existence for me "by putting $2,000 in my bank account, "or by making this person call me this afternoon.
32:57-33:11
"And if you just come through for me "and really prove yourself to me, Jesus, You are not going to be satisfied because the person looking for a sign never has enough signs.
33:12-33:15
You're in a church where you're seeing lives changing.
33:15-33:28
I'm just so blessed to hear people sharing with me how God has been working on their lives and healing relationships and the spiritual growth and miraculous provision.
33:29-33:32
I'm so blessed to be at the center where I can hear that from this church.
33:33-33:52
People sitting in this room saying, "Here's how the God of the universe is intervening in my life." And then the person sitting across the aisle says, "God needs to prove himself to me." What work do you perform?
33:52-33:52
Look at the text.
33:53-33:54
This is just like, seriously.
33:57-34:31
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat like what tree were they barking up there what they were saying was Jesus can you top Moses I mean you fed a few thousand moderately impressive I suppose, Moses fed hundreds of thousands of people every day for 40 years.
34:32-34:39
So I mean, seriously, seriously, that's what Moses did.
34:41-34:42
You know that story, right?
34:42-34:42
You know about manna?
34:44-34:45
You know about manna?
34:46-34:46
What is manna?
34:47-34:47
You're like, exactly.
34:48-34:50
Manna means what is it?
34:51-34:52
It was this stuff.
34:52-34:57
Actually, it's Exodus chapter 16 to Joshua chapter five.
34:58-35:07
As Israel was going from Egypt to the promised land, as Moses was leading the Israelites out and they were on this pilgrimage to the promised land.
35:08-35:11
Do you know that they didn't have sheets in the Middle East back then?
35:12-35:15
So they couldn't like stop and get like an MTO.
35:18-35:20
When I say sheets, I don't mean bedsheets, I mean with the Z.
35:23-35:24
They didn't have sheets.
35:25-35:27
What did they cover with?
35:29-35:30
Let's try that again.
35:31-35:32
They didn't have get-go.
35:36-35:38
Or as we say in Pittsburgh, they didn't have giant eagle.
35:43-35:44
So, how did they eat?
35:46-35:51
Well, Exodus 16, it started, Joshua chapter 5, it stopped.
35:52-35:54
God actually rained bread from heaven.
35:55-36:07
They woke up every day except for Saturday, the Sabbath, and they would find that when the dew on the ground had dried up, it left behind this flaky stuff.
36:08-36:15
And they would like scoop up this flaky stuff and they would make food out of it.
36:15-36:19
And actually it was perfectly nutritious food.
36:19-36:23
It would have been the absolute superfood.
36:24-36:30
It would have had every vitamin and mineral and it would have been like the absolute most perfect food ever.
36:33-36:37
And they called it manna because that's what they said, what is it?
36:37-36:38
And that's what manna means.
36:40-36:41
That's in the Bible.
36:42-36:48
It doesn't work at my dinner table and Aaron serves me something and I'm like, what is it?
36:52-36:54
But the Israelites got away with that one.
36:55-37:06
But what was the point of man that God was saying to Israel, this, you're going to need to trust me every day, every day.
37:07-37:09
God didn't give them monthly bread.
37:10-37:11
God didn't give them yearly bread.
37:12-37:12
God gave them what?
37:13-37:14
Daily bread.
37:14-37:34
Every day when you wake up, you're going to have to say, "God, I'm going to have to trust you again today because you're all that I got and you're all that I need." So that's what these guys were talking about here with Jesus like, well, here's what Moses came up with.
37:38-37:42
Our fathers ate the man in the wilderness as is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
37:43-37:51
Now you have to see this in verse 32, Jesus sort of gave them a bit of a verbal smackdown, you could say.
37:52-38:04
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.
38:06-38:27
"For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven "and gives life to the world." So Jesus here is saying, well, as they say, "Well, Moses gave us bread." Jesus said, "Well, you're only wrong for four reasons by that statement." And here are the four reasons.
38:28-38:28
This is important.
38:31-38:33
Here are the four reasons you're wrong by your statement.
38:34-38:39
Jesus was saying, "First of all, you're looking to man, not to God." Did you catch that?
38:39-38:44
Jesus said, "Moses didn't give you that food. That was my father." Okay?
38:46-39:24
God gave the man and not Moses. And I would remind you, church, listen, no other person is going to fulfill you. No other person is going to fulfill you. Whether you're married or single, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, dispel of the silly notion that being with the right person means I'm going to be spiritually satisfied, my soulmate so to speak. No, no other person on this earth is going to fulfill you. That was their problem. They were putting all their trust in Moses. Moses did this, Moses did that. Jesus said that Moses did not.
39:24-39:28
Number two, Jesus said you're looking at the physical not the spiritual.
39:31-41:56
Manna is not the true bread from heaven. I am. That's what Jesus told them. The stuff earth can't fill you. Number three, Jesus said you're looking at the present, not eternity. In verse 31 they said our fathers ate manna in the wilderness and in verses 49 and 58 Jesus said your fathers died. He points it out to them twice. Moses didn't keep them alive. The manna in Moses, they didn't have permanence. It was just physical. It kept their physical bodies going along. It didn't do anything to give them eternal spiritual life. You were made for eternity and nothing of the earth can keep you going for eternity. Jesus said, "Okay, here's your fourth problem. You're looking at your little house, not the rest of the world." Did you see that? They said, "Our fathers ate the man in the wilderness and Jesus said the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to who to the world to the world it's time to expand your horizons a little bit Jesus was saying I'm not just here for Israel I'm here for the whole world certainly salvation is of the Jews and there was certainly the priority to Israel but Jesus here again in his ministry was pointing out he just come for the Jews, he didn't just come for Israel, he came for the whole world. So get out of your little self-centered box. God has a global agenda. You want some more proof that Jesus is God? You want some more proof of divine patience? Look at verse 34. "They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always. Let me get a shopping cart. Load us up. We would like some of this bread that you speak to us of." Wow. Wow. "You're going to give us superfood." That's what they thought. They were so missing, and how many times did Jesus say what the bread is and they're like, okay, well give us some.
42:03-42:06
Then Jesus makes the shocking statement.
42:06-42:06
You ready for this?
42:10-42:18
You've probably read this before, but I want you to imagine if you can, putting yourself in this context and these people say, oh, do you have this really amazing bread?
42:19-42:19
Can I have it?
42:20-42:21
Look at what Jesus said.
42:21-42:24
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.
42:28-42:54
"Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, "and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." The hunger you have inside you, the longing, the there's more than this, the restlessness, All of that is satisfied by consuming the true spiritual bread.
42:59-43:10
Spiritual fulfillment is not going to come from something within yourself, something on the earth, true spiritual bread, true spiritual fulfillment is going to come from heaven.
43:12-43:14
And it's God himself, Jesus Christ.
43:18-43:33
Just as manna came down at night to feed Israel, Jesus Christ, the true bread of life, came down in the darkness of this world to feed us spiritually.
43:36-43:38
So that's how to spiritually starve yourself.
43:39-43:41
Would you like to hear how to spiritually be full?
43:43-43:43
Would you like to hear that?
43:46-43:50
"I don't think I could let you leave "without telling you the good news." Here it is in verse 35.
43:51-43:53
Jesus said, "I am the bread of life.
43:53-44:04
"Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, "and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." It's a two-step plan.
44:06-44:09
Come to Jesus, believe in Jesus.
44:12-44:15
If that's hard for you to memorize, it's really just a one-step plan.
44:15-44:16
It's Jesus.
44:18-44:21
You know, we often tell people, "Seek the Lord," which is biblical.
44:24-44:25
But you know what else the Bible says?
44:26-44:27
The Bible says God's seeking you.
44:29-44:33
Because let's be honest, God's not lost.
44:36-44:36
We are.
44:38-44:40
We're the ones that are lost.
44:40-44:42
We're the ones that are wayward.
44:44-44:52
And that's why Jesus over and over in this passage is teaching that God draws people to himself.
44:54-44:59
He says it in verse 37, verse 39, verse 44, verse 65, verse 70.
45:03-45:07
I've already told you, I can't explain the whole Calvinism, Arminianism thing.
45:07-45:10
Does God pick us or do we pick God? The answer is yes.
45:10-45:11
They're both in this passage.
45:12-45:17
Jesus said, "Come to me and believe in me." Oh, by the way, you can't do that unless God's drawing you to me.
45:20-45:21
Here's what I do know.
45:23-45:27
I do know that a dead body is pretty worthless and useless.
45:28-45:32
And the only way that it can do anything is if life is put into it.
45:32-45:51
So unless God somehow takes the initiative to take my dead spirit, my dead self, self. But I can't figure all of that out. Here's the good news, I don't need to.
45:52-46:38
Jesus said that both are true. I haven't lost a minute's sleep over it. But God is drawing people unto himself. How many people here went to the Chris Tomlin concert last night. Oh, like even more people than I realized were there. The Katie's were there? Wow. What's that? You were there. You saw me and totally pretended you didn't. That's okay. No, actually I went and sat down. I'm like in the exact same section. Aaron and I were in the exact same section as Taylor and Kate. I'm like, "Well, that's cool." But they were talking, Louis Gigliar last Last night was talking about Luke 15, that God is one who seeks after the lost.
46:39-46:41
Like a shepherd would look after a lost sheep.
46:42-46:43
Like a woman would look for a lost coin.
46:45-46:49
Like a loving father would be looking for his lost son.
46:50-46:58
That's why Jesus said, "God is out actively looking for you." What does that look like?
46:59-47:29
hear me, when you sense the reality of Jesus Christ, when you realize your need for forgiveness in eternal life, that is God drawing you to himself. When you know that your heart is stirring, when you know God is trying to get my attention and I really feel like I really feel like God is after me. He is.
47:34-47:57
And Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me and whoever believes in me. So do you believe? What does belief look like? And I'm going to close with just a couple thoughts here, and we're going to be receiving the Lord's Supper.
48:01-48:47
But what does belief look like? Look at verse 53. I want you to skip down. Jesus I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." This is another shocking statement. Jesus said we must consume Him. This has nothing to do with communion. Do you know that? Jesus actually said this before the Lord's Supper was instituted, and if this has something to do with communion, what that would imply is all you'd have to do is take communion and you'd have eternal life.
48:47-48:48
And that's not true.
48:51-48:52
It's about Jesus.
48:56-49:00
But in this shocking statement, Jesus said we must consume him.
49:00-49:04
Jesus does not offer us the option to try him out.
49:06-49:08
It's it's not a taste.
49:09-49:13
It's not take a little nibble and and see how see how you like him.
49:16-49:25
Jesus said, you have to consume him, I am in him and he is in me, my whole life is Jesus.
49:26-49:37
That's what it means, and you'll see skipping down to verse 66, you're going to read this whole passage because it just it blows my mind every time I do the verse 66 after this teaching, it says.
49:38-49:50
After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him." This is a dividing line.
49:52-49:55
And the question is, where are you going to go from here?
49:58-50:07
Sad reality is some people are confronted face to face with Jesus Christ and walk away.
50:12-50:36
The one who came to seek and to save the lost, the one who was found to be perfectly sinless, the one who loves you with a love that's far beyond anything you can wrap your brain around, confronts you, and some people are content to just walk away from that.
50:40-50:42
So where are you going to go from here?
50:43-50:46
What have you done with the bread of life?
50:50-50:58
In your heart, in your home, at your job, Your words, your attitudes, your conduct.
50:59-51:17
Let me ask you, when someone consumes Jesus Christ, when someone has Jesus Christ at the center of their very existence, what does that person's prayer look like?
51:19-51:20
What do you think?
51:21-51:23
How do you think somebody prays?
51:27-51:30
When Christ is the driving force.
51:33-51:38
What do you think that person's worship looks like when Christ is at the center?
51:39-51:53
Do you think when somebody's sole purpose for existence is Christ at the center because they've consumed the bread of life, do you think they can come in to an exciting worship service like this and kind of stand with their hands in their pockets and kind of mumble the words.
51:57-52:04
More like, I'm going to need a few of you to grab me because I'm about to start break dancing in the middle of the aisle.
52:04-52:06
That's how excited I am.
52:10-52:18
When somebody's consumed with Jesus Christ and has consumed the bread of life, what do you think their church involvement looks like?
52:26-52:30
Let me ask you, is Jesus everything to you?
52:33-52:36
If not, He's nothing to you.
52:38-52:38
Pray with me.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read John 6:25-35
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.