Let’s open our Bibles to John chapter 6 this morning. As you’re opening your Bible I want to tell you about Andy Harris. Andy was one of a several people leading an expedition up Mt. Everest. When he reached the peak, he stayed there just admiring the amazing beauty. But he stayed there too long and on his descent, he became in dire need of oxygen. Andy radioed the base camp and told them about his predicament. He mentioned that he had come across a bunch of oxygen canisters left by other climbers but they were all empty. But the climbers who already passed the canisters on their own way down knew they were not empty, but full. But Andy maintained that they were empty. The climbers pleaded with Andy on the radio to use those canisters, but it was to no avail. Andy Harris was starved for oxygen but he continued to argue that the canisters were empty. The lack of oxygen had so disoriented his mind that though he was surrounded by the very oxygen he needed, he continued to complain that he didn’t have any. The very thing his body needed so badly was the very thing he held in his hand. And I want to say to you this morning that what oxygen is to the body, Jesus is to the heart and soul. Many in the church have Bibles in their hands and in their homes, and Jesus on their lips, but are suffocating and starving and don’t even know it. What oxygen is to the body, the Bread of Life is to the soul.
Having just miraculously fed the multitude (in verses 1-15), and miraculously walked on the water to come to the aid of the disciples (verses 16-22), Jesus now begins to teach the crowd of people (verses 23-71).
And while there are numerous things about Jesus’ teaching that I love, what I love the most is that He teaches the most important things.
And what is the most important thing? What is the main issue in life? It is how to be right with God, and how to live forever. You know, often children and young adults think a lot about what they are going to do for a living, who they are going to marry, where are they going to live? But there are more important issues in life that are very urgent, because life is fragile. The Persons lost a friend this week through a horrible accident, please pray for them and their families. Life can be short and being right with God and having eternal life are the most important things. And this is what Jesus teaches.
One example is in verse 27 where He says “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.” His focus is on eternity. Look at verse 40: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Look at verse 47: “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” And finally verse 58: “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." Eternal life, everlasting life, living forever. These are the things that matter. Jesus focuses people on eternal life because this is the main thing, and it puts all the rest of life in perspective. And He says in verses 27 and 47 exactly how to get this eternal life. It’s through believing.
But what exactly does it mean to believe? I mean if our whole eternity depends upon whether or not we believe in Jesus, what does it really mean to believe in Jesus? You should know it is possible to believe in Jesus but not be saved. The Bible says the demons believe, yet they don’t have eternal life. Many Hindus believe in Jesus, yet they also believe in Brahma the Creator and his wife, Saraswati. They believe in Jesus and Vishnu, and his wife Lakshmi. Many people believe in Jesus, but not in a saving way. Not in a way that secures their eternal life. So what does it mean then, to believe in Jesus so as to be right with God and live forever?
Well in the passage that Jeremy read for us this morning, Jesus gives us three definitions of real believing. #1: Believing means feeding on and drinking in Jesus (verses 32-35), #2: Believing means coming to Jesus (verses 35-37), #3: Believing means looking to Jesus (verse 40). We will study these over the next few weeks, but I just want us to see the first one today: believing means feeding on and drinking in Jesus.
Let’s look at verse 27; 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
So this tells us that there are two kinds of food; not health food and junk food, but rather physical food and spiritual food. Physical food spoils, spiritual food endures eternally. And Jesus taught the Jews here to place priority on spiritual life, on spiritual and eternal food, not on the physical and temporary.
Now this prompts a question from the Jews, in verse 28 they ask: "What must we do to do the works God requires?" That’s an important question. They are asking, how do I be right with God? How do I fulfill His requirements? What works do I do to obey God? It’s a very important question; a question no doubt that you may have asked, and if you haven’t you should.
But the Jews were focused on doing and on works. What could they do to make themselves right with God? What works could they do to gain eternal life? Listen to this; “What must we do to do the works that God requires?” Do…do…works.
And in verse 29 Jesus corrects their misunderstanding and says: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." The way to be right with God is to believe in Jesus. The way to obey God is to believe in the One God has sent. See Jesus is correcting the misunderstanding that the Jews have. Eternal life does not come by doing but by believing. What a shock.
Paul, also would shock the Galatians when he said this in chapter 2:16: “a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” That’s exactly what Jesus said: “the works of God are to believe in the One He has sent.” In other words, you Jews, you cannot make yourself right with God by anything you do, but you can be right with God and gain eternal life by believing in Jesus.
And this prompts a request from the Jews in verses 30 and 31. It’s a logical request: 30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ’He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’"
OK Jesus, you want us to believe in you, go ahead and work your magic. Do a miracle and we’ll believe. After all Moses gave our forefathers bread from heaven. How about you do that Jesus? Let’s see a miracle, how about it?
Now time out a minute. Does anything strike you as really strange here? I mean they’re asking for a miracle, but what had Jesus just done the day before? Just yesterday He had walked on the water. And the people knew He had done that, you can see that from verse 22. What a miracle. And just before that He fed 20,000 people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. Talk about bread from heaven! What did we forget about that miracle too? Well then, how about a couple days ago when he healed a paralyzed man, or before that when He healed a nobleman’s son who was at the point of death, or how about when He turned water into wine?
You know what this tells us? It tells us that there is a prejudice in the human heart, a bias against Jesus, against believing in Him, a bias that will ignore miracles and deny the supernatural so that I do not have to submit to the Lordship of King Jesus. They had seen plenty of miracles, yet they refused to believe, and to live.
But I want you to notice an amazing comparison here. Look at verses 32-33: 32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." The Jews imply that Moses gave them bread from heaven. A man giving the Jews bread from heaven. You know what’s a better miracle than that? How about Jesus giving His own life for the world? Moses gave bread to the Jews? Jesus gives His body, His blood to the world. Oh you want to see a miracle? Look at the cross, and see the Bread that came down from heaven, giving Himself for the life of the world.
See this passage teaches us two very important truths: 1- You and I were absolutely starving in our sin. That’s why we turned to alcohol or pornography or gambling. That’s why we fill up our schedules so full with all kinds of important activity. We fill our schedules because our hearts and souls are empty. We were starving in our sin. And number 2, Jesus’ death on the cross is nourishment to the souls of all who believe. See verse 33? “The Bread of God is He Who comes down and gives life to the world.” Look at the end of verse 51: “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
See Jesus says He is the True Bread. He’s saying here that He is the fulfillment of the Manna that was given in the Old Testament. That Manna was a picture of Himself. God gave the Manna. It came down from heaven. So I invite you to turn to Exodus chapter 16 and let’s learn some lessons from the manna, keeping in mind that Jesus is the True Bread from heaven.
In the first 3 verses the Israelites are in the wilderness and they are grumbling because they have no food. And in verse 4 God says, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.” So right away we see that God would give the bread that would save their lives. This bread was their salvation.
Look at verse 21: “Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.” So they were to gather it early in the morning. They were to seek first this manna. Their priority each day was to be on getting the manna early before it melted away. David says, “early will I seek You.” Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Our priority in life is to be gathering in Christ. But notice, the manna was on the ground, so they had to gather it on their knees.
Then notice verse 31: “The people of Israel called the bread manna (“what is it?”). It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.” In other words, this was sweet. This Manna was their salvation but it was also sweet. I mean they could taste and see that this Manna was good. It was sweet. And to every person who goes to the Word and gathers in Christ every day, they discover how good and pleasant He is. Jesus is made with honey. This Manna was their salvation, and it was sweet.
And finally, notice verse 35. “The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.” You know what this means? It means that the Manna was sufficient. It sustained their lives for 40 years. It was all they needed.
So the manna was their salvation. It was sweet. And it was sufficient. And Jesus says, “I’m the true Bread that comes down from heaven.” So the Manna was designed to teach us that Jesus is our salvation. Jesus is sweet to our souls. And Jesus is sufficient, all we need for life and godliness. But I want to show you something else that Jesus is. He is satisfying. Look back at John chapter 6.
Verse 35 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” You know what it means to believe? You know what it means to believe in a way that saves us? It means to eat and drink Jesus in. And all who come to Jesus eat and drink, and are eternally satisfied. And this is what it means to believe. It means not just that I give mental assent to Jesus, no, that would be like a man sitting down to dinner acknowledging that that really is food on his plate, and then getting up and leaving. What good did it do that man to sit down and believe that what was on his plate really was food? None.
You know what it means to believe? It means to feed on Jesus, to get nourishment from His death. In fact, look at verse 51, the last part: “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Jesus predicts His death here, saying that He would give His flesh for the life of the world. It means that Jesus would die for us and that we would live through His death.
Now, just one thought by way of application here: If believing means eating and drinking, are we feasting on Jesus Christ? Or are we like Andy Harris who had the oxygen all around Him but he wouldn’t believe, he wouldn’t take it in and live because of it.
Oh we have some great excuses don’t we: 1. I don’t have time. Oh yeah, try using that one on your body. “I don’t have time to eat today.” Why don’t we just admit that we don’t have tasted buds for this kind of food, and ask God to change our desires. If our desires change, we’ll discover we have time. How about this one? 2. “I don’t understand it.” You know what, that’s like someone reading the nutrition contents on the back of a food package, “glucose, monosodium nitrate”. Oh man, I can’t eat food, I don’t understand it.” 3. “They’re a bunch of hypocrites, I’m not going to church.” If you’re hungry you’ll eat. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
I want to close right now with the thoughts of a doctor who has been in the room as people died from starvation and dehydration. I am reading this to you for a reason. He writes, “I watched as her tongue and lips cracked and bleed. Her skin became so sensitive that it peeled off upon contact. The lining of her nose cracked and started to bleed. She had extreme thirst, nausea. She became dizzy and began to have cramping in her arms and legs. She often tried to cry, but her body would not make tears. Her mouth became dry and her saliva thick. She got severe headaches, then became lethargic and finally went into a coma, followed by seizures. Then her blood pressure dropped, her heart raced, and she went into shock, and finally died of a stroke.”
Now I have not read this to gross you out. I have read this as a picture of the church across America today and around the world. People gorge themselves on the trash of the world, spending their time on entertainment and hobbies and habits, and then they wonder why they’re sickly, why they have all these symptoms in their lives. You don’t eat and drink? You’re going to be sickly and have symptoms.
Summary: Jesus came down from heaven to give His life for all who would believe. But believing means feeding on Him, deriving life from His death. Let’s pray: “Lord Jesus, thank you for giving Your flesh to forgive our sin. Thank you for pouring out Your blood to make us right with God. Help us this week to derive nourishment from the cross.”
