The Bread of Life
John 6:48-58
April 12, 2020
This morning we gather here on this Easter Sunday,
And we do so because here we commemorate the resurrection of Christ.
It is THE event that separates Christianity from every other religion.
OUR SAVIOR LIVES.
And as Peter said, in His life we have our hope.
1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
• We don’t have a fake hope
• We don’t have a frail hope
• We don’t have a fools hope
• WE HAVE A LIVING HOPE.
Tonight we will study 1 Corinthians 15:20
1 Corinthians 15:20 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
Christ’s resurrection is “the first fruits”.
That is to say is His the picture that more is on the way.
What God did in Him, God will do through Him for every believer.
It is the ultimate hope of those in Christ.
The absolute worst this world can do to us
Can only usher us into the presence of Christ
Because we hold the promise of eternal life and resurrection.
We love Easter and we love what it represents.
This morning, as we go to the word of God
We are going to look at a small portion of the sermon Jesus preached
At the synagogue in Capernaum in John 6.
And we are looking at this text because Jesus has so much to say here
About LIFE, RESURRECTION, ETERNAL LIFE and LIVING FOREVER.
Just notice how much our Lord speaks of:
• (35) “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;” (again in vs. 48)
• (39-40) “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but RAISE IT UP on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have ETERNAL LIFE, and I Myself will RAISE HIM UP on the last day.”
• (44) “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will RAISE HIM UP on the last day.”
• (47) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes as ETERNAL LIFE”
• (51) “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will LIVE FOREVER”
• (54) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has ETERNAL LIFE”
• (57) “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also WILL LIVE because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will LIVE FOREVER.”
It’s all throughout the passage.
Jesus is talking about life, eternal life, resurrection, and living forever.
That makes this chapter a tremendous one to settle in for a moment here this morning on this resurrection Sunday.
Now, you already know that John 6 is quite a lengthy chapter
So there’s no way to study it all this morning.
We don’t even have time to outline it all this morning.
But I do need to give you context and the scene.
• (1-14) It began with Jesus feeding the 5,000.
• (15) When Jesus noticed they wanted to make Him King, He left.
• (16-21) That night He walked on water (He’s back in Galilee; Capernaum)
• (22-25) The crowd from both sides flocks to Him to hear Him preach in the synagogue
• (26-34) The crowd simply tries to solicit more bread out of Him and He seeks to reveal that they need spiritual bread, not physical bread.
John 6:29-32 “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.”
But the crowd just doesn’t get it.
The simply want bread and they are seeking any way they can
To manipulate Jesus into giving it to them.
So inn verse 35 Jesus makes HIS GREAT ANNOUNCEMENT.
(First of 7 “I Am” statements He makes in John’s gospel)
• “I am the Light of the World”
• “I am the Door”
• “I am the Good Shepherd”
• “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
• “I am the Vine”
• “I am the Way, The Truth, and The Life”
Here we read the first
John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
It is a great announcement, but the problem is that
THE PEOPLE ARE TOO STUBBORN TO HEAR IT OR BELIEVE IT.
John 6:36 “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”
• And from there Jesus begins to reveal that the reason they don’t believe is because they can’t believe apart from the sovereign prerogative of God.
• Jesus actually outlines those precious doctrines of sovereign election and effectual call, noting that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them.
• But we don’t have the time to get into those truths this morning.
But this morning we are going to pick up sort of mid sermon in verse 48
• Because here Jesus confronts and even argues with the non-believers in this
synagogue.
• And as He confronts them He will outline for them the true blessing and
benefit of His life and death and resurrection.
And though I’d love to look at the entire sermon,
This morning I just want to make sure you see this portion.
So we are going to study verses 48-58.
And we can break these 11 verses down into 3 points.
#1 THE DECLARATION
John 6:48-51
Now He’s already said this all before,
But in the midst of the sermon He emphatically DECLARES IT AGAIN.
These are marvelous theological truths that Jesus boldly proclaimed.
1) “I am the bread of life’
He uses here the analogy of bread to describe His benefit to the world.
Certainly we all understand bread.
The only person I know in the world who tells me they don’t care for bread is Peggy,
But I’ve even caught her eating donuts.
And the analogy of bread is worth examining for a moment.
You know this about bread.
TO BE OF ANY VALUE, IT HAS TO BE EATEN.
While bread smells good, looks good, might even feel good,
It does your body no good if it’s not eaten.
You have to receive it and eat it.
SO IT IS WITH JESUS.
• Jesus can be examined, watched, studied, read about, sang about, but if He is not accepted there is no eternal benefit.
PEOPLE ONLY EAT IT WHEN THEY ARE HUNGRY
We’ve all had times in our lives when we were so full you couldn’t offer us another roll or piece of cornbread or cinnamon roll.
Hunger has to be there…a felt need.
SO IT IS WITH JESUS.
• People don’t desire Him if they are not aware of their need.
• If there is no spiritual hunger, no recognition of starvation, then people are not interested.
WHEN YOU EAT IT, IT BECOMES PART OF YOU
I’ve forever remembered a girl in Jr. High who when offered a roll,
She turned it down saying, “You might as well tape it to your thighs”.
You are what you eat, and when you eat bread it becomes a part of You.
SO IT IS WITH JESUS,
• As He will tell us in a moment.
• (56) “he who eats My flesh and drinks My flood abides in Me, and I in him.”
Hopefully you understand a little better now what Jesus meant
When He referred to Himself as “the bread of life”
We also learn from Jesus here.
2) That He is “the bread which comes down out of heaven”
Jesus not only claimed to be sustenance to the world,
But also the One who came from heaven; that is from God.
He is God’s appointed savior.
3) If one eats of this bread he will “not die”
That is certainly good news.
• Unlike the fathers back during the Exodus (vs. 49) who ate in the wilderness.
• They at the manna but still died.
• If you eat this bread you won’t.
In fact Jesus says the one who eats this bread (51) “will live forever”
5) The bread He gives “is My flesh”
When He speaks about bread, He is talking about His own life.
He is the bread.
4) Jesus “will give” this body “for the life of the world”
That’s what you call a great offer!
I am offering to give My life so that you can live.
Galatians 1:3-4 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who GAVE HIMSELF for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and GAVE HIMSELF up for me.”
Ephesians 5:2 “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and GAVE HIMSELF up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and GAVE HIMSELF up for her,”
He came to give His life.
That is why He reminds you that the bread is actually “My flesh”
He will pay the ultimate price.
He will give the ultimate sacrifice.
He will give up His physical life for the world.
THAT IS THE DECLARATION OF JESUS.
• I have come to give Myself up so that you can live.
• That was why He came.
And at that point any hungry person in need of forgiveness
Should flock to this bread of life
So that they might gain this eternal life.
But as we said, you have to be hungry.
• You have to know your need.
• You have to sense your poverty.
• And these Jews weren’t, so instead of a great response, we get an argument.
The Declaration
#2 THE DEBATE
John 6:52-57
Here was their response.
(52) “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
Jesus gave an analogy and they tried to take Him literally.
Not the first time, by the way.
Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be born again, and he said:
John 3:4 “Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
To take either of these statements literally is absurd.
Jesus most certainly was not advocating cannibalism here.
As if they were supposed to literally cut off one of His fingers and eat it for salvation.
Incidentally, this is one of those verses that the CATHOLIC CHURCH uses to advocate transubstantiation, (that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus),
But that interpretation is just as far-fetched
As the Jewish misunderstanding here.
You don’t get life by physically eating Jesus.
In fact, Jesus had ALREADY TOLD THEM what He meant.
John 6:40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
They had to “behold the Son and believe in Him”
That is what the analogy of “eating” represented.
Jesus simply meant that they had to embrace and accept Him.
We use analogies like that today.
• Someone may tell you a tall tale and you respond with, “You’re feeding me a
bunch of bologna”
Is that really what they are doing?
No, it’s just an analogy to mean you aren’t accepting what they are saying.
But the Jews here tried to argue with Jesus on a hyper-literal plain
And pass His requirement of accepting Him
Off as being ridiculous and absurd.
But, in one sense we are glad they argued
Because it prompts from Jesus a truly wonderful set of statements
Which show us the true benefits of believing in Him.
NOW, we’re going to break what Jesus says here down a little further
So that it’s easily digestible.
(If you’re taking notes, here’s where we’re headed)
Jesus is going to give two main truths about His flesh.
1) IT IS ESSENTIAL (53)
2) IT IS EFFECTIVE (54-57)
So first let’s talk about why Jesus flesh is ESSENTIAL.
LET’S TALK ABOUT: Why it is essential that Jesus come from heaven in a human body and give that body up for the life of the world.
Why did that have to happen?
(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 yourselves.”
Did you catch that last part?
“you have no life in yourselves”
That is to say, that in and of yourself,
So far as it depends upon you; you are spiritually dead.
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
This death, by the way,
• Came to you from your father Adam who sinned & brought death to the world.
• And thanks to him we are all born dead.
• That is what Paul said, “And you were dead”
We know what dead is.
• Dead doesn’t respond to stimulus.
• It can’t see, it can’t smell, it can’t taste, it can’t touch, it can’t respond.
But it also can’t decide to just not be dead.
Have you ever been at the cemetery when all of a sudden a hand pops through the ground and then slowly pulls itself and a body out of the dirt, and then says, “There, I did it!”
You’ve never seen that because a dead man can’t resurrect himself.
That is what Jesus is talking about.
A physically dead man can’t raise Himself
And a spiritually dead man can’t do it either.
“you have no life in yourselves.”
There is nothing in you
That is accounted as living or valuable on your own.
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
Humanity, on his own, is dead.
That makes partaking in the flesh of Jesus
(beholding and believing in Jesus) ESSENTIAL.
“unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.”
• You can argue all you want about the statement…
• You can say it is foolish and hard to understand…
• You can say, “I’m not hungry” or “I don’t want it”…
• BUT WHERE ELSE DO YOU PLAN ON GETTING LIFE?
HE IS THE ONLY VENDOR.
His flesh, His offering of Himself, is essential.
But, His flesh is also EFFECTIVE
Here Jesus lays out the effectiveness of His flesh in two ways.
• He lists the first in verse 54 by saying, “He who eats…”
• And the second in verse 56 by saying, “He who eats…”
He’s giving you two reasons that explain
The effectiveness of the offering of His life for us.
His flesh is effective because it is ACCEPTABLE to God.
(54-55) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.”
Jesus reiterates again that same promise.
• If you eat His flesh and drink His blood you’ll have eternal life and resurrection.
• That’s the glorious promise and He makes it again.
BUT WHY?
(55) “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.”
That’s interesting.
Incidentally we learned the same about Him in regard to being light.
John 1:9 “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
• As opposed to an “untrue” light Jesus is the true one.
• As opposed to “untrue food and untrue drink” Jesus flesh and blood is “true”.
It is NOT a lie.
It can be TRUSTED.
When Jesus says that He gives His flesh for the life of the world,
He also says that you can be certain that His offering will work.
You can trust that it will be acceptable to God.
There will be NO SHOCKING DISAPPOINTMENT after partaking.
You won’t eat that bread only to find out that it didn’t work.
When Jesus gives this bread, the One He gives it to will accept it.
We are talking about the absolute perfection of the life of Christ.
• This is why it is so important that Jesus be sinless.
• This is why it is so important that Jesus resist Satan’s temptation.
• This is why it is so important that Jesus lived under and fulfilled the Law.
• This is why we love it when the Father twice speaks from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
And incidentally, this is why the resurrection is so important.
The resurrection proves that when Jesus died He really was sinless.
• Had He possessed some secret sin…
• Had He privately offended God…
• Where He not true or not real…
Then after He died, God would have left Him dead
Like every other sinner before Him, but God raised Jesus up.
The resurrection is the ultimate testimony that Jesus was in fact sinless.
It is the ultimate testimony that Jesus was in fact perfect.
Jesus His flesh is indeed “true food” and His blood is indeed “true drink”
God approved! God accepted!
Can you say that about any other offering that was ever given to God?
• Can you tell me of any other offering ever made throughout the history of the Old Testament
• That caused God to tear the veil and give permanent access to the people?
• No, only the offering of Jesus.
Hebrews 10:1-7 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'”
Jesus didn’t offer God another goat or another bull.
Jesus offered God a righteous and holy and obedient life.
Jesus offer of salvation is a true offer.
Jesus offer to give His body so that we might live is an acceptable offer.
You can’t say that about any other offer.
But let me show you the other reason it is so effective.
His flesh is effective because it can be APPLIED to believers.
(56) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
Jesus reminds that for all those who eat His flesh and drink His blood;
(That is who behold and believe in Him.)
Jesus says that person “abides in Me, and I in him.”
As much time as we have spent talking about these realities lately as a church body, you should be keenly aware of what Jesus is speaking of here.
But if you’re joining us new this morning,
We are talking about the oft mentioned reality of Scripture
Of being “in Christ” or “in Him”
What we see here is that when we believe in Jesus.
We are found to be “in Him” and He is found to be “in us”
Now this is exactly what we said about bread earlier.
When you eat bread it literally becomes a part of you.
Jesus pushes that analogy here.
That when we believe in Him,
We actually believe “into Him” and He “into us”.
I am in Him, and He is in me.
AND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS ARE HUGE.
There is a SUPERNATURAL CONNECTION and IDENTIFICATION
That is here produced.
We saw one recently in our Ephesians daily devotion.
Ephesians 1:22-23 “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
We see the union there with Christ and His church (those who believe)
• He “fills all” and is “in all”.
• And we are “the fullness of Him” (a word that means completion)
We are eternally united with Him.
• All that happens to Him, happens to us.
• The way the world treats Him, they treat us.
• The way the Father treats Him, He treats us.
There is a supernatural union, an eternal fellowship.
BUT IN AN EVEN GREATER SENSE,
Here Jesus speaks of the great reality of IMPUTATION
That occurs for believers which provides them with eternal life.
When He was found in us.
• He was treated as we deserved to be treated.
When we are found in Him.
• We are treated as He deserves to be treated.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
• On the cross Christ was identified with believers, and bore the wrath we deserve
• We are also united with Christ and receive the inheritance that He deserves.
This is why Paul could say in Romans 6 that
• We were crucified with Christ
• We were buried with Christ,
• We were raised with Christ.
This is why Paul could say in Ephesians 2 that
• We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
This is why Paul could say to the Galatians.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
What Christ was promising here to this crowd is that
Not only is His flesh effective in that it is acceptable to God,
But it is also effective in that He can be applied to us.
That means that God accepts Christ’s perfect life on our behalf.
This is why those who eat His flesh and drink His blood (believe in Him)
Will have eternal life.
And that is what Jesus says next by way of analogy.
(57) “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.”
We DON’T have the promise of life because of anything we do.
There is no life in us.
We HAVE the promise of eternal life because of what He did.
He lived righteously.
He bore God’s wrath on sin.
And all that He did is applied to those who believe in Him.
Those who accept Him.
Those who eat His flesh and drink His blood.
That is Christ’s answer to this debate.
• Eating My flesh is essential because you have no life anywhere else.
• Eating My flesh is effective because God will accept it on your behalf.
The Declaration, The Debate
#3 THE DECLARATION
John 6:58
I know the point is the same is the first.
That’s because after answering the debate,
Jesus returns back to that same declaration.
What He said in verses 48-51 He here says again.
(58) “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
He has returned again to the main point of the sermon.
These people all showed up wanting actual bread.
• He filled their stomachs yesterday and they wanted Him to do it again today.
• It was yet another group of people who totally missed the point of who Jesus was and what He came to do.
So many in our world only see Jesus as the fixer of earth’s discomforts.
• We are hungry, give us food.
• We are sick, give us healing.
• We are poor, give us riches.
• We are discontent, give us fulfillment.
• We are sad, give us joy.
• We are scared, give us peace.
And so many in His day and our day continued to flock to Him
That He might make this life more comfortable.
And together they miss the true purpose and the great offer.
Jesus didn’t come to give you bread.
Jesus IS the bread.
He came to live a perfectly righteous life before God
So that He might, on your behalf, satisfy God’s holy requirements.
He came to die a sinner’s death at the hands of God
So that He might, on your behalf, satisfy the wrath of God on your sin.
He came to rise from death by the power of God
So that He might, on your behalf, destroy the power of the enemy and set you free from fear of death.
He came to save sinners from their sin and from the wrath of God which surely dwelled upon them, so that all who believe in Him might be forgiven and have eternal life.
These people only wanted a dinner roll, He told them…
“I am the bread of life”
Friend, that is what I would tell you this morning as well.
I would tell you the same thing Jesus told this crowd.
• You have no life in yourself.
• You must obtain life from another source.
• Jesus is that source of life.
• His life was acceptable to God.
• His life can be applied to you.
But you must eat the bread.
You must believe in Him. You must accept Him.
And this is something you do personally.
One other thing I know about bread is that no one else can eat it for you.
You, you personally, you apart from anyone else, must believe in Christ.
You must eat the bread.
AS YOU CONTEMPLATE YOUR DECISION
Let me show you the folly of these people.
Most of these people didn’t like what Jesus just told them.
John 6:60 “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
And even later.
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
When Jesus was handing out bread they all wanted Him.
But when Jesus offered spiritual life they were not interested.
There was no hunger for forgiveness.
There was no hunger for salvation.
Not for most of them.
But there were a few.
John 6:67-69 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
And there it comes to you friend.
What about you?
• Will you today confess Jesus as the Son of God?
• Will you today confess Jesus as the bread and only source of life?
• Will you today realize that in you there is no life, only death?
• Will you turn from your own goodness and self-reliance and run to Jesus?
• Will you believe in Him and confess Him before men?
That is the invitation to you today.
Believe in Christ, eat the bread.
And if you do,
• You will abide in Him and He will abide in you.
• As they sang, you can wear His righteous robe instead of your filthy one.
• Your sins will be forgiven based on His sacrifice.
• Righteousness will be applied to your account.
• And you will be given eternal life.
Don’t seek this world which will only leave you empty, seek Christ.
John 6:49-50 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”
