In John 6, by way of introduction,
I want to read verse 28 to you. Then said they, those to whom
the Lord Jesus Christ spoke, then said they unto Him, What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Our depraved hearts are manifest
in four ways right here. One, we know that some work must
be performed before God will accept us. Number two, we think
God looks to us to perform that work. And number three, we think
we can actually perform the work that will please him. And fourthly,
Without the power of God working in us, we cannot do the one thing
God requires of sinners. Look in verse 29. Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe
on Him whom He hath sent. The title of the message is The
Living Bread. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
believer's eternal life. And those who simply believe
on Christ and continue in Him by faith have and shall live
forevermore. I want you to see that this morning.
I'm going to start with my text in John chapter 6, verse 51. And we get all of our points,
our three points from this one verse. The Lord said, I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. I
want you to see first of all that Christ is the living bread. Secondly, I want you to see the
bread which Christ gave. And thirdly, for whom this bread
is given. Christ is the living bread. That's
what he says there plainly in verse 51. I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. The Lord is speaking here to
unbelieving Jews who trusted in the law of Moses. So he describes
himself here as the living bread in contrast to that bread which
fell in the wilderness that their fathers gathered and did eat
in the wilderness. That bread was a type of Christ. He's saying to them here, I am
the living bread. First of all, Christ is the living
bread which does not perish but endures unto everlasting life. back with me at verse 26. He had fed 5,000 from five garlic
cakes and two fish, and many followed him. And this is what
the Lord said, verse 26, Jesus answered them and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because you saw the miracles,
but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. just
for a carnal, temporal, fleshly appetite. That's the only reason
you followed me, to get carnal handouts. And he says, labor
not for the meat which perisheth. That's perishing meat. But for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son
of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed.
He's the bread that endures unto everlasting life. Then secondly,
he's the living bread, the true bread which God the Father gives.
That's what it means when he says, I came down from heaven.
Look here in verse 30. They said therefore unto him,
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. Then Jesus answered 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." Those to whom the Lord
was speaking here were comparing Christ Jesus the Lord to Moses. When they read the scriptures,
it said, and they said here, they said, He gave them bread
from heaven to eat. They thought Moses gave their
fathers the bread from heaven to eat. And the Lord corrects
them, first of all, and says, Moses didn't give your fathers
that bread, but my father gave the bread in the wilderness.
He gave it. And then he says, but furthermore,
that bread is not the true bread. He says, my father has given
you the true bread, and he is that true bread. One of the old
writers pointed out an interesting fact that that whenever they
received the bread from heaven in the wilderness, Moses told
them plainly that this is what the Lord has given you from heaven. Moses didn't take credit for
doing it. He said, the Lord has given you this. This is the bread
from heaven that He's given you. But they only called it manna.
They never called it bread. The only time they called it
bread was when they got fed up with it and they called it light
bread. And you know what manna means is what is this? They just
ate it. They didn't know what it was.
But then when they got tired of it, they complained about
it. And the only time God calls it manna is in Psalm 74 when
he's talking about their disobedience. Every other place you'll see
it was bread from heaven because it typified Christ the true bread
from heaven. Then thirdly, Christ is the living
bread which fills the sinner's hunger and quenches his thirst
forever. Look here in verse 34. Then said
they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. When he spoke
about this bread, they got their attention. And they said, give
us this bread evermore. 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." Now
what does the Lord mean when He says, he that believeth on
me shall never hunger and never thirst? You who believe Christ,
who trust Christ by God-given faith, do you get hungry? Do
you wake up in the morning hungry? Do you get hungry around lunchtime?
If you're out working in the yard on a hot summer day, you
get thirsty. So He's not talking about that
hunger and that thirst, is He? Look here, read on with me. Verse
36. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen Me, and believe not. He can't be more plain. He said,
I am the bread of life. You've seen Me. You don't believe. All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me. This is as the servant of God,
as coming to earth and being God's righteous, faithful, true
servant. This was his consolation. That
even though he faced people like these that he faced that saw
him out of eye and didn't believe on him, he had this one thing.
He knew this for sure. That all that the Father had
given him shall come to him. And he says, in him that comes
to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And 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. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life. and I will raise him up at the
last day." This is the hunger. A believer, when God works on
a sinner's heart, they begin to hunger and thirst after true
righteousness. They begin to hunger and thirst
after true bread, after the spiritual bread from heaven. They begin
to hunger and thirst after spiritual things, eternal life. And he
says, it's my father's will that all that he's given me shall
come to me. And I'll raise them up because
it's my father's will. This is the hunger and the thirst
that he promises that he'll put an end to. Look back with me.
John, chapter four, John, chapter four. When the woman came to
the well, Samaritan woman, in John chapter 4 verse 10, towards
the end there, he said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with.
You don't have a pail. or bucket, and the well is deep.
From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater
than our father Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered
and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. So He's saying, I'm the true
bread. You eat of this bread by faith. By faith, that's how
we eat of this bread. And you'll never hunger or thirst
after righteousness again. It's in Him plentifully. Plentifully. And then, fourthly, Christ is
the living bread to whom God assuredly promises to draw each
of His elect children. Look here back in our text in
John chapter 6 and verse 41. They began to murmur. And it
says in verse 41, the Jews then murmured at him because he said,
I am the bread which came down from heaven. 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? You
put yourself in their shoes, can't you? Some fellow tells
you that he came down from heaven and he's the son of God? And
they said, we know his mother and his father. They knew his
mother, but they didn't know his father. His father is God
Almighty, God the Father. But it says here, Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves,
no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
drawing, and I will raise him up at the last day. It's written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, hath
been taught of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath
seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
This fact, brethren, that no man can come to Christ, that
no man can discover Christ by the natural intellect, Except
God the Father drawing and teaching. It's offensive to the natural
heart. It's offensive to the natural
mind. But to the believer, this is
a great, great comfort. Because this means that He shall
indeed draw everyone that He's determined to save. And that
gives me great hope for this little one, and that little one,
and that little one back there. And us here together as adults,
that he might be pleased to draw us to himself, that we might
indeed be the children of God. And it gives me great comfort
to know that everyone that he's given to Christ, he'll draw,
he'll teach them in the heart, he'll instruct them in the heart.
And everyone that's learned of him, by him, They'll come to
Christ and they'll believe on Him. And we find great comfort
in that. That opens the door to depraved
sinners. It doesn't close it. It opens
it. If He didn't open it, we couldn't open it. If He didn't
open it. And then Christ is this living
bread because He's everlasting life. He's everlasting life. Verse 47. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die." Martha
was concerned about her brother Lazarus. He had been in the grave
for four days. And when the Lord came, she said,
if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
And she said, but ask God Because I know that if you ask Him, He'll
give you whatever you ask Him. And he said, Martha, your brother
shall rise again. And she said, I know he'll rise
again in the last day in the resurrection. It was a doctrine
to her, but it wasn't a person to her. And he said, Martha,
I am the resurrection. I am the life. Believest thou
this? You believe that? This is everlasting
bread. It's a person. It's a person. It's not a doctrine. It's a person. And Christ is that living bread.
We eat of this living bread by faith, by continual preserving
faith, persevering faith. And it says here, he that believeth
on me hath eternal life. He has it. It's not a thing we
look for, it's a thing that we're possessive of. We have it by
faith in Him. So He is the living bread. Now,
secondly here, let's see what this bread, what He gave. The bread is Christ crucified. He says here in verse 51, I'm
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh." Now, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. What's
he talking about? The bread I give is my flesh. The Lord told us clearly here,
Hebrews 10, that all those Old Testament
offerings for sin, It could never take away the sin of the people.
All they served to do was to bring to remembrance their sin
every year. Because the blood of a bull or
a goat can't take away the sin of a man. And it says here in
verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first. That which is called circumcision,
that which is called the law, the law of Moses, he said, I
take away that law of ordinances that was against us. He said,
it never would please God. And he said, he takes away that
first. And he says, he establishes the
second. He establishes the second. By
the witch's will, by God's will, by him performing God's will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once, by his one offering. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expect until
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
them that are sanctified." So we see that when the Lord says,
the bread that I will give is my flesh, He's speaking first
of all of the offering that He's going to make to God. He said,
a body thou hast prepared for me. You weren't pleased with
those offerings. You prepared this body for me
to come and enter into the Son of God. became the Son of Man. And He said, You gave Me this
body to lay it down, to take away all those Old Testament
ordinances and satisfy the law. By giving my flesh, a man's blood's
got to be shed to clear a man of his guilt. So first, this
offering he makes is to God Almighty. And then secondly, this offering
that he makes, and that he makes us satisfied with, is through
the Holy Spirit, and it's a covenant that he makes in those that he
died for, in those that he perfected by that one offering. Look here
at verse 15. St. Hebrews 10, 15. Whereof the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. You know what the book
says? By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. By one man's obedience, many
shall be made righteous. It's not mine and it's not yours.
It's His. And he says, I won't remember
your sins anymore. There's no more offering for
sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, through his flesh. And
having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
This is that peace and mercy that Brother Jaime read about
in Galatians. This is that peace and that mercy that God has upon
us. You know when we will draw to God with a true heart? When
He's made us to taste of the true bread. We'll come to Him
then. We have access by His blood. And by faith we draw near, leaving
all our filthy rags of works behind. Leave them alone. And
we come to Him in Christ's work alone. He said, the bread that
I give is my flesh. It satisfies God and it satisfies
His people. They're both satisfied in Him.
And then, look here with me back at our text in John chapter 6,
verse 51. For whom did Christ give His
life? Well, He says, I'm the living bread which came down
from heaven. And if any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And then secondly, we saw He
said, and the bread that I will give is my flesh. Now here's
the third thing. which I will give for the life
of the world. Christ the living bread is so
much better than that bread that God fed their fathers with in
the wilderness because Christ the living bread gives himself
not to the Jews only but to us Gentiles also, a people that
God has chosen that are spread abroad, around the world, out
of, from among every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
tribe under heaven. This living bread encompasses
His people in the four corners of the earth. If we would understand
John 3.16, look with me there, John 3.16. For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. If we're going to understand
something about His love, something about God's love, connect that
phrase back up there with me to John 3.14. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. God so loved this people that
He put in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world that
He gave His only begotten Son to be lifted up on a cross, crucified,
this one who knew no sin, who was the very image of God, this
one who came and there was no sin in him whatsoever, this one
was made to be the sin, the vileness, the God-hating sin that his people
are. Because by law, by God's own
holy law, somebody had to die. God will in no wise clear the
guilty. But by the same token, He will
in no means pour out His wrath on the one unless he is guilty. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, came and took flesh upon Himself that He might go
to the cross. And not as if He was made sin,
Do you want to be as if you were made righteous? Do you want to
be as if you could dwell in God's presence one day? Or do you want
to be made the righteousness of God? Then it's going to take
God being what you are and presenting Himself before God's thrice holy
law and putting away your sin once and for all. That's how
much God loved his people. That's how God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son to accomplish that work. That's who he gave his life for,
for the life of the world. Well, now let's see how the Lord
Jesus concludes what he has so plainly stated here. Look there
with me in John 6, 52. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They were just looking at things
with the carnal eye, weren't they? That's the only way we
look at them until God gives us a new nature. That makes us
that new creation that Paul spoke about in Galatians. Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily. How many times has he said that
to 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. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Eating and drinking is simply
this. Well, he says there in verse
47, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life. This is what He means by eating
my flesh and drinking my blood. And He says here, verse 55, for
my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. Now He
puts the emphasis on His person and His work so as to declare
to us that it's not by our act of eating. It's not by our act
of believing. It's Him. He is meat indeed. He is drink indeed. He is. And that's how we're saved. The
object of our faith. Even He shall live by me. The One that eats my flesh and
drinks my blood. Now look here at verse 56. He
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I
in Him. As the Living Father hath sent
me and I live by the Father, so He that eateth me, even He
shall live by me. Everything He's spoken so far.
He's spoken to unbelievers. Now He's speaking that which
is the blessing that belongs only to the believer. This is
a blessing that belongs only to a believer. And this is union. This is union. He dwelleth in
me and I in Him. That's a vital union that He
must make happen, that He must cause to take place. And then
we have union and communion, co-munion with Him. Just as the
Son of God in the flesh, as the servant of God, depended upon
God for life. That's what he said. Just as
I depend upon my Father, even so you depend upon me. What does
the Scripture say? The just shall live by faith. We live in total dependence upon
Him for everything. And He blesses us, the believer,
with that blessing. And then verse 58, he says, 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 forever. He makes a clear distinction,
a clear contrast between the true bread and that manna, that
death. from their fathers, in which
they were in the middle of themselves. They didn't believe Christ. They
didn't trust Him. He said, your fathers ate manna.
They physically engaged in the act of eating, saying, what is
this? We don't even know what this
is. Until they got full of it. They said, we hate this light
bread. We despise it. But He says that His people eateth.
That's a different word entirely. They don't just eat it one time.
They live upon it. They live upon this bread. They
continually feed in spirit and in truth upon Christ our King,
the true bread from heaven. We live forever in Him. And what
was the result? Verse 60. Many therefore of His disciples,
when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? They were ready when He said,
labor not for the meat to perish. They heard that word labor and
they said, what are the works that we must work? They were
ready. But when He said, this is the work, just believe on
the one God has sent, the true bread. They said, that's a hard
saying. We can't do that. We can't do
that. Verse 66 says, from that time
many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?" Then Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that Thou
art that Christ, the Son of the living God. I pray that God will be pleased
reveal Himself in the hearts of His redeemed just like He
did in Simon Peter. We may be able to say with assurance
that you are indeed that living breath, the Son of God, the Christ,
God's Deliverer.