Jesus, The Bread of God
John 6:30-33
RECAP
JESUS IS TALKING TO AN UNSUBMISSIVE CROWD OR PEOPLE
They just wanted their stomachs filled.
But last Sunday night we heard the first point of Jesus sermon.
FOCUS – He wanted them to quit working for the things of world and to work for eternal things.
Of course as we saw this morning, they completely missed the point again, because they then turned His lesson into a works-salvation theology. Asking what they needed to do to work the works of God.
That prompted the second point to Jesus sermon.
FAITH – God isn’t asking you to do good things to go to heaven, God wants you to believe in Jesus.
I wish I could say the entire crowd went, “Ahh”,
But they didn’t.
Verse 30, “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?”
There is no doubt that they understood
The claim that Jesus just made.
Jesus had told them to believe in Him for eternal life.
But instead of believing Him, They wanted more proof.
They want Jesus to prove that He can truly save them and give them eternal life.
HAD JESUS NOT BEEN WORKING MIRACLES?
DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE JESUS IS DURING THIS CONVERSATION?
John 6:16-17 “Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.”
Capernaum was in Galilee.
Now I’m sure Galilee is familiar to you in regard to the miracles of Jesus.
John 2:11 “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”
John 4:46 “Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum.”
Of course you remember that Jesus healed this son with a word.
John 4:54 “This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.”
Jesus had been working miracles all over Galilee, not to mention half of this crowd had just eaten the bread on the other side of the lake, but somehow the miracles must have slipped their mind.
No wonder Jesus said what He did in Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 11:23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.”
This was the art of suppressing truth at it’s finest.
They had gained no benefit from the miracles / signs they had seen.
It rings true the statement.
Matthew 12:38-39 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;”
Vs. 31, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'”
They look at Jesus and seemingly throw down the gauntlet.
What they do is throw His measly feeding the 5,000 back in His face.
“Sure Jesus, you fed the 5,000 over there on the other side of the lake. Big deal, Moses fed the entire nation of Israel for over 40 years.”
What they were expecting was a sign greater than Moses. They were expecting that if Jesus really was the Messiah, then He should be able to do something greater than Moses did.
This again points to their blindness.
And it is a characteristic of the wicked in every generation.
THEY CANNOT SEE THE MIRACLES RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM.
Such is also a characteristic of the blind today.
They look back at Jesus day and see God at work,
But they cannot see God at work right in front of their eyes.
All they want is more bread.
And this brings about the third point to Jesus sermon.
The first point is characterized by the word FOCUS
The second point is characterized by the word FAITH
We could sum up this point with the word FIGURE
A figure is an outline of something.
It is a shadow of something.
It is a mere copy of the truth
We see figures all the time in the Bible.
The Passover Lamb was a figure of Jesus.
Melchizedek was a figure of Jesus.
Jesus third point tonight is that the bread of Moses was also a FIGURE
We need to look past the figure and find the substance.
And in Jesus response to these doubters
He shows us three things about Himself in relation to the bread that these people were asking for.
#1 THE HEIGHT OF HIS SATISFACTION
John 6:32
Moses gave you bread, “but it is My Father who gives you the TRUE BREAD out of heaven”
These Jews were asking Him to supply them with something that couldn’t really do what it claimed.
They want bread because they wanted their hunger satisfied.
But bread cannot satisfy your hunger.
Bread can only silence your hunger for a little while.
I have a two year old boy that is living proof.
And we know this is true about manna.
They weren’t satisfied with manna.
Numbers 11:4-6 “The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons 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.”
Numbers 21:5 “The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SATISFACTION TO YOU?
Bread can’t satisfy.
Actually, the world can’t satisfy.
It isn’t true bread.
God gives the true bread.
God gives what can truly satisfy.
That is why in verse 33 Jesus calls it “the bread of God”
Manna was the bread of man.
Numbers 11:7-8 “Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil.”
Now I’m not saying I don’t appreciate God’s physical provision.
Jesus Himself said to pray that God would “give us this day our daily bread”
BUT THE POINT IS IF THAT IS ALL YOU ARE SEEKING,
YOU WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED, BECAUSE IT CAN’T SATISFY.
This crowd needed to realize that.
Look at what the prophet Isaiah said.
TURN TO ISAIAH 55
CAN YOU SEE THE POINT OR THE CONTRAST THAT JESUS IS MAKING?
You are asking me to provide the figure,
And I am the substance standing right here in front of you.
That’s like a man who would rather have a cardboard cut out of his wife than have his wife.
Jesus is far more satisfying.
Don’t get caught up seeking the things of this world.
Don’t get caught up trying to satisfy your longings with possessions.
Your hunger is spiritual and you need the bread of God to satisfy it.
What was it that allowed Peter to leave his fish?
What was it that allowed the woman at the well to leave her water pot?
What was it that allowed Saul to leave his religion?
What was it that allowed James and John to leave their father?
What was it that allowed Mary Magdalene to leave her life of sin?
What was it that allowed Matthew to leave the tax collector’s booth?
They all found something that satisfied them
In a way they had never been satisfied.
Don’t ask for worldly things, Jesus is superior and we see that through the height of His satisfaction.
#2 THE DEPTH OF HIS SOLUTION
John 6:33a
“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life”
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF MOSES MANNA IN THE WILDERNESS?
It served the purpose of sustaining life.
Exodus 16:13-17 “So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. “This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.'” The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little.”
That manna was to sustain life.
It did not give life.
I have never seen a loaf of bread that you could stick in the mouth of a dead man and cause him to come back to life.
Only One has a solution so deep.
There is only One who can give life.
People invest so much into things that can’t solve
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”
People will push themselves to unthinkable ends
In order to try and find life.
Buddhists will push for inner tranquility
Mormons will circle the world on a bicycle
Jehovah’s Witnesses will knock on every door ever constructed
Muslims will fly airplanes into buildings
But only Jesus has the answer.
Mark 16:5-6 “Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.”
This is why Jesus had the authority to say.
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,”
John 14:19 “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.”
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
It this fact that prompted Paul to write.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The height of His satisfaction The depth of His solution
#3 THE BREADTH OF HIS SUFFICIENCY
John 6:33b
“to the world”
I don’t recall any Canaanites going outside and finding manna.
But this new bread has a much larger scope.
This new bread is to give life to the world.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
These Jews wanted Jesus to top the sign of Moses.
Moses fed the Israelites for 40 years.
They wanted something like that.
SUPPOSE JESUS HAD GRANTED THAT REQUEST
What Jesus had in mind was life giving bread for the entire world, and yet all they wanted was 40 years of bread for their own people.
DO YOU SEE THE PROBLEM WHY WE CAN’T SEEK WORLDLY THINGS?
They don’t satisfy
They don’t solve
They aren’t sufficient
No matter what you seek:
It will never be enough – you will want more
It will not solve your problem – you will still die
It won’t be sufficient – moth and rust will still destroy it
All these things are temporal.
BUT THE BIGGEST POINT TO JESUS 3RD POINT IS THIS:
Why are you willing to satisfy with the figure or the shadow when you could have the real deal?
These people were content to stay on manna instead of having Jesus.
These people were content to stay on the sacrificial system instead of having Jesus.
They were content with religion instead of having Jesus.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
It is a sad lonely life if religion is all you’ve got.
Religion is not the answer.
You come to church, you go through the motions, you play the games, sing the songs…
IS THAT REALLY WHAT YOU WANT?
When God has something so much better waiting for you out there
Isaiah 55:2 “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”
