It is such a blessing to be with
you again. It's been a little while. We
were here the second Sunday of last month because they wanted
to trade. So here we are the last Sunday
of November. Can you imagine we're in the
last week of November already? Well, there is a message that
I'd like to look at. We started it last time we was
here and over in the book of Exodus, we read about a man by
the name of Moses. Now Moses was raised by the king. He was raised by Pharaoh and
Pharaoh's daughter. He was raised as a son of Pharaoh. And as time went on, he displeased
the king. He displeased Pharaoh and he
escaped with his life. And he spent 40 years herding
sheep for his father-in-law. That's what it mentions, shares
with us in the book of Exodus chapter two. And he's out there
in the middle of the desert herding sheep. Now, most sheep herders
at that time led their sheep. They didn't push their sheep,
they led their sheep. And it really lends itself to
what we read about the Lord Jesus. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. Well, here in the book of Exodus,
we find that Moses saw a sight he had never seen before in his
life. He saw a bush that would not be consumed with fire. There
was a fire coming out of that bush. And people may say, how
did that happen? God did it. I don't know how
it happened. There's a lot of mysteries about
God. God is bigger than us. And we don't want to get to the
point that we can understand God because that makes him too
little. We want a God that is great and mighty and powerful
and able to keep, able to save, able to keep, and able to deliver
us spotless before the throne of grace. We need that God. Well,
there in the Old Testament, that fire came out of that bush and
Moses said to himself, I think I'll turn aside and see what
this is. And as he got over there, there was a voice came out of
that bush and told Moses, take off your shoes for you're standing
on holy ground. Now the angel of the Lord spoke
to him out of that bush. We have the Messiah spoke to
him out of that bush. And he told Moses, you are going
to be used to go down to Egypt and set my people free. They've
been down there 400 years in slavery and you're gonna be used
to set them free. He asked a good question though.
He said, when I go talk to the people of Israel, what name should
I tell them sent me? In the book of Exodus chapter
two, let me get over there, Exodus chapter two, I want to read this
so I don't make a mistake. in the book of Exodus chapter
two. And Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament, and
it's assumed to be written by Moses. The real writer's the
Holy Spirit. He's just the secretary that
did the writing. The Holy Spirit gave the words.
So in Exodus chapter two, and in verse 11, I believe it is,
we'll start there. You see it? It's chapter three, isn't it?
Exodus chapter three and verse 14. Now Moses asked
the question, The God of our fathers has sent
me unto you and they shall say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? So
when they ask, who was the one that sent you? By what name did
he reveal himself? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. Now there's so much summed up
in that name. His eternality is summed up in
that name. He's never not been. When we
use the word am, it's always present, ever present. So from
beginning to end, and I use those words, and it's not even correct
because there is no beginning and there's no end with God.
He's eternal. And we also find in that, that
as he gave the sign, I'm self-existent. I'm not depending upon a soul
for my well-being. We are. We're dependent upon
people to grow us food. We're dependent on people to
make us our clothes. Very few people grow all their
own food and very few people make their own clothes anymore.
So we're dependent upon people. When I get old, I will be dependent
upon my wife to take care of me. We're dependent. All right. But with God, he is self existent. There is nothing about him that
and all of his promises. They're always fulfilled. I am
that I am. Well, as we step ahead many hundreds
of years, we find the Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven.
He was born of a virgin. It was absolutely essential that
he have that kind of birth so that he would not have the nature
of Adam. When Adam sinned, he passed that
nature on to all of his descendants, including me and you. We have
that nature given to us. But the Lord Jesus did not have
Adam's nature. He did not have the nature of
sin. He came and was born of a virgin. And as he grew, he
did a lot of teaching and he did a lot of healing. And in
the New Testament, we find that the Lord used this word, I am,
about himself. It gives us a clue. Over in the
Old Testament, I am that I am. In the New Testament, we find
that the Lord used this term. about eight times about himself. And the first time that we find
one is found in the book of John chapter six and verse 35. I wanna
go over there and read that verse of scripture. John chapter six
and verse 35, it tells us that Jesus said this about himself.
Now he's gonna go on and he's gonna share in the book of John
a number of times about himself, who he is. He wanted people to
know who he is. And when he used this term, we
find that he was referring to who appeared unto Moses out of
that burning bush. He is the all ever Messiah. He is the Christ. He's always
been, he has never been anything else. And here in the book of
John chapter six and verse 35, we read this, that Jesus is sharing
this, I am the bread of life. Now that means he's always been
the bread of life. He will ever be the bread of
life. He is eternal with this nature about himself, that he
is the bread of life. Now the bread has been called
through the centuries, the staff of life. It is, we depend on
it. People have depended on it. Nancy
and I just took a cruise and every city you go to has a different
kind of bread. depending upon the kind of grain
they grow. And that is one of the staples
that they eat is this bread. Well, the Lord uses this figure,
this picture, this type, this shadow about himself. He's spiritual. He's the one who gives spiritual
blessings, but we find he's referring to a physical thing to tell us
about a spiritual thing. And he says, I am the bread of
life. In the Old Testament, again, under Moses, it tells us that
God fed the children of Israel with a material called manna. My dad used to buy food for our
calves, and it was called calf manna. And I never put together
where that word came from until I grew up. But that calf manna
was supposed to be a completely sufficient food for the calves,
had all the minerals, nutrients, and vitamins they needed to grow.
Whether it did or not, but this food, the manna of heaven that
came down and the people of Israel made bread out of it, it had
every vitamin, every nutrient, and every thing that was needed
to survive on. And you know what? Besides that,
it tasted good. It tasted like honey. It tasted good. It was all sufficient in feeding
them for 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness. But God had
to give them a taste for it. Now, before I was married, there
were a lot of things I didn't care for. I just couldn't eat. But after I got married and we
had started having that, I acquired a taste for those things. And
my food, Kinds broadened. Well, God had to give a taste
for this manna. And we find that many of those
in Israel said this about the manna. Can you imagine saying
this about bread that God gave them? It had every vitamin, nutrient
and mineral they needed. They would not go hungry. They
wouldn't deteriorate. They wouldn't get diseases. They
would not have anything. They didn't have to take a vitamin
supplement. It was in their bread. And so we find that those people
that God did not give a taste for, they said, we loathe. Do you know what loathe means?
We don't like. We do not like. We do not like
this light bread. And they're saying, we don't
like the manna. God provided it. If they're gonna survive,
they're gonna have to eat it, but they didn't have a taste
for it. Well, we're thankful that God gives his people a taste
for the bread of life. Yes, ma'am. Is he coming? The Lord is coming back. Yep. And he said, I am the bread of
life. I am the living manna. I am what God promised in the
Old Testament. The Jews murmured about the manna
and people in the time of the Lord Jesus while he was here.
They murmured about him. He did not do what they expected
him to do. So they murmured about him and
found fault with him. But the Lord Jesus claims here
to be giving himself as the source of true life. I am the bread
of life. Now we don't eat him. in a physical
way, we eat him in a spiritual way. We feast on him. He becomes
the all and in all. In the new birth, we're able
to spiritually enjoy the spiritual Christ. He is the bread of life. He is the bread of heaven. He
is the one that feeds his people. In the Old Testament, God gave
manna. In the New Testament, we read about the bread of life,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I mentioned there in the book
of Numbers that they loathed that light bread. Also in the
Old Testament, there was a bread called showbread, and it was
brought into the tabernacle and later into the temple. And it
was made very special. It didn't have any leaven in
it. It was a picture of not having any sin. And it was, I read one
person said the loaves of bread weighed 13 and a half pounds.
They were huge loaves of bread, and 12 of them were put into
the tabernacle or into the temple, depending on the time period,
and they represented our Savior. There is enough for all who will
trust Him. There's nothing lacking here.
And He is not a sinner like we are. He is without sin and without
reproach. He is large enough for His entire
family to consume and eat on. And it tells us that every Sabbath,
they traded that bread out, and a new batch was put into that
tabernacle, or into the temple, and it was on the Sabbath. And
we find out in the New Testament, the Lord is our Sabbath. He's
the place we rest. We quit trying to work for our
salvation, we rest in Him. So in many respects, He is, as
He said, I am the bread of life. He is the only life giving source
that we have. There is not life in anything
else or anyone else. There's no life in church. There's
no life in baptism. There's no life in the Lord's
supper, but there is life in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the
bread of life. Now, one time it was against
the law. But David came into the tabernacle
and ate the showbread. And I find it was interesting
in the New Testament, it says, David came and ate the showbread
when he was a hungered. When he was hungry, he was permitted
to come into the holy place and eat the showbread. Now, the scriptures
tell us blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. He will satisfy everyone that
comes. There is no lack with this one,
the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we hunger, he's
always there with the bread and sufficient to fill us. This bread
from heaven, Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He came down
from heaven, the manna was given by God, came down from heaven,
but people that ate that manna eventually died. People who feast
on the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, I give unto them eternal
life. So the bread is so different.
Even the manna is different. People ate it, it filled up every
requirement that their body needed, and they made a loaf of bread
out of it and ate the same thing every day. And there were a few
that understood, this is the best possible thing that we could
have. We've never had meals like this. When they were down in Egypt,
they had food, but it didn't cover all of the nutrients and
all the minerals and all the vitamins that they needed. But
this bread did. And then he speaks of a picture,
a type and a shadow. One of my favorite places to
see a good menu was at Denny's. If you've been at Denny's, they
bring this beautiful menu to you. And you pick off of that
menu and they bring you the food. You know, I never saw anyone
eat the menu. They ate the food. People want
to depend on the Old Testament type shadows and pictures, but
we have the real here. We have the bread of heaven,
the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first I am that
we've looked at is I am the bread of life. Jumping way back over
in the Old Testament, we find the I am that I am spoke to Moses. Same person spoke to Moses and
through that same person he delivered Israel and through that same
person he delivers us from the consequences of the fall and
he delivers us to himself and we are granted eternal life. We're going to stop there and
we'll sing a song.