We left off with Christ speaking to the group that crossed over the river Jordan without him. Now they want to know what they can do work the works of God. I have no doubt they wanted to know how they can have a couple of fish and keep eating. No doubt they had Elijah in mind and how God made sure that their oil and meal never ran out. Let’s back up to verse 30 to help pick up the thought.
John 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? (31) Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
I think we all know this story.
John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. (33)For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Jesus is the light of the world, it’s life. He is the Word and it is that word which is that bread. Remember what Paul told us? (1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come). That wasn’t just he things he mentioned in that chapter. It is the entire bible. That manna was a picture God showed us so that we could understand the larger spiritual truth.
John 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Sure this sounds good. It was nice when all they had to do was go out and gather the manna.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Notice how you have to go to him. Just as you had to go out and gather the manna.
John 6:36But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
Eyes to see and ears to hear, but again they did not come to seek him. They came for the free lunch.
John 6:37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (38)For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
This is the example that Christ gave us and that is simply to do the will of God. And how do you know what God’s will is? You eat the bread and put it inside of you. And what is the bread? The Word of God.
John 6:39And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
He’s coming back.
John 6:40And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
They key is to believe upon him, but that doesn’t mean you just believe that he exists. The demons he cast out knew who he was and believed he was the Son of God. This word believeth here is G4100
Πιστεύω, pisteuō, pist-yoo’-o From G4102; to havefaith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ): – believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
It takes faith that He is who he says he is and not just a magician running around performing tricks. This G4102 that the word comes from is persuasion or moral conviction. Are you completely convicted in your faith?
John 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. (42) And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
See He was good enough to follow for a free lunch, but that is all they cared about. Be careful you are not the same. It is easy to just use Christ for your own gain or to make yourself seem something you are not. Look to your heart and see if you have the complete moral conviction it takes. If you don’t then you might as well leave because playing Christian doesn’t cut it. God knows your heart and he will not give you to Christ if your heart is not right.
John 6:43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
You would think at the very least they could confront him about these issues. If they weren’t sure. What a bunch of wet noodles.
John 6:44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (45)It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
This is one of those verses where you will have guys running around saying they don’t need to read the bible because God will teach them. Yes, God will teach you through the Holy Spirit, but he uses the Word to do it and you use the Word to correct you if what you think He taught you didn’t come from Him.
Let’s take a moment and look at what God has to say about this, since this topic comes up from time to time and some of you meet knuckleheads that think they don’t need to read or study the bible to know what God would want. What is ironic is they start off by quoting scripture to prove their point. Let’s look:
John 14:26But the Comforter,which isthe Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Taking this one verse they say since we have the Holy Spirit now we don’t need to do anything else, right? Heck by this reasoning we shouldn’t bother going to school because the Holy Spirit will teach us math, science, language. The first problem is they don’t read the whole chapter. Let’s back up some. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Keep Christ’s words? Well golly, where might those words be? Are they not written in the Bible?
John 14:24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Wow seems to be that you could be in a look of trouble if you don’t keep His words. “But wait, I have a hard time reading and understanding and God knows this so he doesn’t make me have to read it. He does things differently with me, you just wouldn’t understand.” Really? That’s odd because for most of human history a majority of people couldn’t read which is why in the beginning God said this:
Deuteronomy 31:10-11 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, (11) When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
Every seven years thou shalt read this law. Do you have trouble reading? No problem, find yourself a good teacher. Cannot find a teacher? Guess what we have audiobooks in this day and age. But, perhaps your difficulty in understanding is a lack of desire to seek him out.
This isn’t a new thing and it isn’t a thing that God takes lightly because it is mentioned many times in the bible.
Isaiah 28:9-10 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. (10) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Notice how we again are to hear it all and take it step by step? Look at Ezra and Nehemiah:
Nehemiah 8:8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.
Does your preacher cause you to understand the reading or does he just talk about french fries?
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Have you studied? Study what? I think you know. I have beaten this to death I know, but look at this: Matthew 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Do you know Christ asked the question ten times, Have you not read. Do you want him to ask you that when He returns? I pray He wont need to because you will have His stamp of approval in your forehead. His seal.
John 6:46Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. (47)Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (48)I am that bread of life. (49)Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
That whole generation in the wilderness died because for forty years they complained and wanted to go back to Egypt. So God let them die. Today the world is Egypt and when you turn your heart to God and accept Christ into your life you leave the bondage of Egypt. Remember Lot’s wife and do not look at on it, for there is death. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones of that generation that were allowed to go to the promised land. Think about that. Many are called and few are chosen.
John 6:50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Do you want eternal life? Listen up.
John 6:51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
We do communion in remembrance of Him and his sacrifice, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Christ is the Word and it is in the Word that you will find that bread and yes the Holy Spirit will teach you all things if you stick to His word and seek him out. Many wont. This bunch of knuckleheads wont as we will see. They followed him for the bread. You could even say they became Christian until they learned what that entailed.
John 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (53) Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.(54)Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (55)For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
It is time to put the milk aside and become men and women of God. Are you a Christian or not? Are you only interested in cute pictures on Facebook that say funny things or are you ready to be a soldier for God?
John 6:56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Is Christ in you or are you just too busy to get the DAILY bread?
John 6:57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (58)This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (59) These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
We will stop here today and I want you to ask yourself if you really want the manna from heaven or are you only interested in the bread of the flesh. Following God doesn’t mean this world is going to be easy. How easy was Christ’s trip through the flesh? Are you better than He was?
