Such a helpful hymn for us to begin
this service with. Thank you, Adam. I want to try
to bring a message on Christ, the bread of life, from John
chapter 6. And as we were singing that hymn,
Breaking the Bread of Life, I was thinking about In Luke chapter
24, when those disciples, after the resurrection, those disciples
were walking with the Lord on the road to Emmaus and they couldn't
recognize him, they couldn't see him, their eyes were holding. And when they got to their home
in Emmaus, they pleaded with the Lord. He acted as if he would
have gone on. And he put it on them to plead
with him to stay with him. And they did. And the scripture
says that in the breaking of bread, their eyes were opened
and they saw him. They responded to one another
with, did our hearts not burn within us as he walked with us
along the way? But now they could see. in the breaking of bread. Always
our hope when we come here is that the bread of life, the Lord
Jesus, the living bread is revealed in his written word. And these are they which testify
of me. So whenever we open God's word,
we're hopeful that in breaking this bread, that the living bread
of life will reveal himself and save us. You have your Bibles
open to John chapter six. We'll begin reading at verse
31. These are the same people that
our Lord, we just sang about that bread that was broken by
the Sea of Galilee and how it was multiplied to the feeding
of the hungry. This is that story. These are
those same people. And so they say to the Lord,
our fathers did eat manna in the desert As it is written,
he gave them bread from heaven to eat. And our Lord's response
to them makes it clear that the he in verse 31 is a reference
to Moses, not God. These men were followers of the
law of Moses. They were looking to their law
keeping for their acceptance before God. And verse 32, then
Jesus said unto them, verily, verily. And anytime our Lord
uses that word, all of scripture is the word of God and it's all
inspired. It's all the perfect word of
God. It's all profitable. But when
the Lord says verily, verily, what he's doing is he's calling
our attention to a summary. In other words, he's saying to
us, much of the scriptures is about to be condensed in one
very brief saying. And so pay special attention.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread which came
from heaven, or the true bread from heaven. For the bread of
God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the
world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore, give us this bread. 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. thirst, but I said unto you that
you also have seen me and believe not." Physical hunger pains are
a very natural and common experience for all men. If we have a body
and that body is alive, couple times a day, it's going to tell
us that it needs sustenance, it needs nourishment. I suspect
that in the next hour or two, most of our bodies will be alerting
us to that need if the thought hasn't already caused you to
think of it now. Natural. Very natural and very
common among all men. The Lord is saying that he is
himself for the spirit what food is for the body. When the Bible
speaks of bread and it also speaks often of meat, it's not talking
about bread as we would identify that which is made from dough
or meat only as that which would come from an animal. Meat and
bread in the Bible mean food, all manner of food. Whatever
the body requires to be sustained with nourishment is called bread
and meat. And so the Lord Jesus is telling
us, as bread and meat are to the body, so I am to the soul,
to the spirit. Now, the difference is that hungering
for Christ is not natural. Unlike the natural impulses of
our physical bodies, the hunger of the soul to have Christ is
not a natural impulse of our spirit. It is a supernatural
work of grace that God must give us. The Lord Jesus in the Beatitudes
in Matthew chapter five said, is the man who hungers and thirsts
after righteousness for he shall be filled. Now he's not saying
that if you hunger and thirst after righteousness God will
bless you. He's saying that hungering and thirsting after Christ is
the blessing of God. And that blessing of God manifests
itself with a spiritual desire, a spiritual need. Even as the
body says to us, stop. And if you If you're not hungry,
you can go long periods of time without eating, it generally
means that there's something wrong. You're sick. What do we
say when a person begins to recover from an illness? I'm getting
my appetite back. That's a good thing. That's a
good sign. Appetite's returning. Something's wrong with the body
if it's not hungry. And if the body goes long enough
without eating, everything else becomes irrelevant to the feeding
of the body. Whatever else might be needful
or pressing in life, those things are pushed aside until we provide
for the body that which it needs. That's what the Lord is talking
about. He's talking about that work of grace in the heart that
causes the spirit of a man to crave Christ. As newborn babes desiring the
sincere milk of the word. We have a lot of babies in our
church. And I suspect that every three or four hours, Adam, you
correct me on this, those little children are crying for nourishment. Their bodies are telling them,
and we stop all that we do to meet that need. As newborn babes
desire, crave after, that's what that word means, to crave after
the sincere milk of the word that you might grow thereby. That's a work of grace. The Lord
Jesus is telling us, I am the bread of life. I'm the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth in me shall
never thirst. Now, It doesn't mean that we
don't continue to hunger and thirst after righteousness. What
the Lord's saying is, if I feed your soul with myself, you'll
never need to go anywhere else. That's what the Lord was saying
to the woman at the well in John chapter 4. If you drink of the water that
I give unto you, you shall never thirst again. Lord, give me this
water. Isn't that what she said? Just like these people said,
give us this bread. We want this bread. She thought he was talking
about physical water. They think he's talking about
physical bread. He's talking about himself. Oh, if you knew
who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, you would ask
it of him and he would give you living water. and out of your
belly would flow rivers of living water. You would never need to
go anywhere else. Men run to and fro trying to
satisfy a desire, an itch, a need, and they can never be satisfied. The Lord Jesus is saying, if
you eat of this bread, You'll never hunger. You'll never have
to go anywhere else to find your nourishment. And if you believe
in me, you'll never thirst. You'll not need to run to and
fro. I'll provide for you all that you need. I'll provide for
you what this world can never offer you. But you won't believe
on me. That's what he said, isn't that
what he said? That's the last verse we read. You've seen me, but
you don't believe. You're still looking for some
physical food. David said this in Psalm 107
verse nine. He satisfies the longing soul
and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Now that's a promise
from God. He satisfies the hungry soul. He's the one who has to make
us hungry. And then when we come to him hungry, he satisfies that
hunger. He never creates a need that
he doesn't supply. What a blessing it is. Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. They've
been blessed. for they shall be filled. I am the bread of
life. How futile and how vain it is
for us to try to meet a spiritual need with earthly things. These people were looking for,
the Lord told them earlier, he said, you're following me, not
because you did see the miracle, you didn't understand the meaning
of the miracle, but because you did eat of the loaves. That's
why. Psalm 146 says this, he giveth
food to the hungry. He giveth food to the hungry.
Where are we left in this, brethren? Where are we left? Lord, make
me hungry. Cause me to be dissatisfied, discontent in trying to meet
the needs of my heart. I mean, we have physical needs.
We have to work. We have to do those things and
be responsible, certainly. But how oftentimes those things
can be an attempt to meet a need that only he can meet, only he
can meet. He giveth food to the hungry.
In Luke chapter 15, the Lord speaks of a man who had two sons
and he was going to divide his inheritance among these two sons.
And one of them said, I don't want to wait till you die on
my inheritance now. And so the father gave him his
inheritance. And being a man of the flesh
as he was, they that are after the flesh, they do mind the things
of the flesh. And he took his inheritance and
the scripture says that he wasted it on riotous living. He went out into the world trying
to buy that which would satisfy his soul. And he found himself
in a pig pen. He found himself eating, the
Bible says, the husk that the swine do eat. He was feeding
pigs and eating for himself the pig food. And spiritually speaking,
this happens often with men. Not in a physical sense, but
they in their pursuit of God and their pursuit of happiness
and their pursuit of some spiritual light will end up in a freewill
works church teaching a Sunday school class and eating the husk
that the swine do eat. And the scripture says that this
prodigal came to himself. He came to himself. And here's
what he said, I perish with hunger. I perish with hunger. I will
go unto my father and say unto my father, I have sinned against
thee and against heaven. Would you just make me as one
of your hired servants? And he went home. And on his
journey home, he found his father waiting for him. Standing out, I can just see
this long driveway from the house out to the road and the father's
out on the road and he sees his prodigal son coming. Oh, he is
waiting on him. He knew he was coming home. He
knew he was coming home. And the father kisses him. Hollers to the servant, kill
the fatted calf. This son which was lost is now
found. Bring the ring and put it upon
his finger and the robe. The son came to himself when
he was hungry. I'm going to perish. I'm hungry. I can't sustain my soul with
this pig food. I can't do it. I've got to go
home to my father. I've got to say to my father,
I've sinned. Maybe he'll put me in the house
in the back and let me work with the servants. Maybe he'll do
that. Oh no, he's not gonna do that. He's not gonna do that. He's gonna receive his son. and
he's gonna lavish him with grace and gifts. The other son was
jealous, wasn't he? I've served you all these many
years and you haven't killed the fatted calf for me. That
was the Pharisee. That was the man who thought
that the favor of the father was gonna be given to him because
of his goodness. But the prodigal who was seeking
nothing but mercy, Nothing but the mercy of his father. He's
the one that the fatted calf was killed for. That fatted calf
is Christ. That's the blood that was shed.
That's the sacrifice that was made. And it's always made for
the prodigal who comes to himself and says, I'm gonna perish of
hunger if I don't go home. I've got to be fed. I've got
to have Christ. And here our Lord is saying to
me and you, I am the bread of life. Not just physical life,
abundant. I have come that they might have
life and have it more abundantly. I can remember when I was feeding
pigs in a freewill works church. And thinking that abundant life
meant a life that was filled with lots of happiness and lots
of joy and lots of gifts and lots of prosperity. Health, wealth
and prosperity. If I could just serve God more,
I'll get more of that. That's not what that word abundant
means. I have come that they might have life and have it more
abundantly, have life that is more than this life. Not more
of this life, but more than this life. Eternal life. Life that nothing in this world
can provide for you. Life that you can only get from
me. That's what we need. That's what
men That's what men are looking for. But they won't have Christ. They won't have Christ. They
won't have it given to them as a gift. They'll have it if they can work
for it. In John chapter 11, after the raising of Lazarus...
Some of those who actually saw this man who had been in the
tomb for four days raised from the dead and be loosed from his
grave clothes ran back down into Jerusalem and told the Jews.
And the Jews got the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin were the leaders
of the Jewish nation. They were the religious leaders,
70 men who got together and made all the important decisions for
Israel. And they got together. And they
said, what are we going to do? After hearing about the raising
of Lazarus, if we let this man live, the Romans are going to
come and they're going to take away both our place and our nation. And from that day forward, they
plotted what they would do to have the Lord put to death. They didn't want to lose their
place. And they didn't want to lose their nation. Now that's the natural man. That's
why men hate Christ. Because they don't want to lose
their place. What were these men? These were the Pharisees
that walked around with their tassels and their robes and everybody
moved out of their way. Their place was their power.
What is the natural man's power when it comes to having a relationship
with God? What's the natural man's power?
It's his free will, that's his power. God wants to save everybody
but his hands are tied and he can't save me unless I give him
permission to, unless I make a decision and pray a prayer
And that's my man has set himself up on the throne of God. We'll
not have this man reign over us. We will lose our place. The
Romans will come and they'll take away our place.
I'm not going to relinquish my free will. I'm gonna hold on
to my power. And what was the nation? The
nation was their glory, their glory. All these people, all
these Jews that thought these 70 men were the, I mean, they
were the ones to look up to. They were, and they gloried in
them. And these men prayed long public
prayers in the square and people, you know, gloried in them. If
we let this man live, we're gonna lose our place, we're gonna lose
our free will, we're gonna lose our power and we're gonna lose
our nation. We're gonna lose those people
who are glorying in us. Now what is the natural man's
glory when it comes to his salvation? It's his works, it's his works. That's what the natural man glories
in. You talk to your religious friends, you talk to your family
members that are caught up in a freewill works religion and
just listen to them a little while and they'll tell you about
what they're doing for God. They'll tell you about what they've
done and all their good works and they'll make great sacrifice
in order to impress their peers. so that they can get affirmation
from other men as to how dedicated they are. And so, these works
religions are filled with all sorts of programs and all sorts
of religious activity so that one man can impress another man
and everybody can debate with each other about who's more spiritual. And not only in the free will
works religion but in the Calvinist works religion. You see these men competing with one
another about who's more holy than another and this whole doctrine
of progressive sanctification. One man debating with another
man about who knows more about what and who's more religious
and who's more spiritual. That's their glory. That's the
natural man's glory. That's what he's glorying in,
but he's getting his glory from man. The Lord Jesus said to these
Pharisees, you love the praise of man more than the praise of
God. You're not going to get the praise of God except in Christ. Only to be found in him are you
going to be accepted before God. God glories in his people because
he sees them in his son. And his people glory in his son. They delight in giving all the
glory to Christ. They see themselves as unprofitable
servants. Do they want to serve the Lord? Of course they do. Do they want
to do what they can do with all their hearts unto the Lord? Of
course they do. Do they acknowledge the fact
that everything they have was given to them of God and that
they would share and give and devote? Yes. Yes. But they don't acknowledge it.
Lord, when did we do those things? When did we do those things?
Not what the sheep say on the day of judgment. What did the
goats say? Lord, we've been doing those
things all our lives. Oh no. I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth in me shall
never thirst. Men hate Christ. Now I know some
people hear that and they say, well, you know, I know what the
feeling of hatred feels like because I've experienced that.
It's animosity, it's contemptuousness, it's anger. You know, I don't
hate God. Well, let me tell you about the
God who is. And if you hear about the God
who is, It's like the Lord Jesus when he went to the synagogue
in Nazareth when he began his public ministry and they wondered
at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth until he told
them about his sovereignty and salvation. And then they wanted,
they gnashed their teeth and they were wroth and they wanted
to kill him. Don't doubt it for a minute.
The natural man hates God. He hates Christ because the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to rob from him his power and he's going
to rob from him his glory. And man will not give up his
power or his glory. Tell him about the God who is
and you'll find the fangs will come out. And they'll say things like,
my God's not like that. start getting angry with you
and want to argue with you and fight with you about it. You say, well, I know some unbelievers
that they're just indifferent, they don't seem to have a hatred
for God. What does God say about that?
He that does not gather with me scattereth from me. Indifference. The Lord calls
indifference hatred. You see, you can't be indifferent. All men are in one of two categories.
They love Christ. They've got to have Christ. They
have no power and no glory in themselves. And they love, they love the
truth of a salvation that does not require of them or depend
upon them to do anything to be saved. Because That's the only
salvation that gives them any hope, anything else, they find
in themselves nothing to produce, nothing to offer. They need a
salvation that is accomplished outside of themselves, a salvation
that's finished. What is it that when God gives
his children hunger for Christ, what is it exactly are they hungering
for? Well, I've already quoted, I think twice from Matthew chapter
five, blessed is he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness
for they shall be filled. Lord, I believe what you said.
I believe that all of my righteousnesses are as filthy rags before thee. Lord, I believe that if you took
the best thought I've ever had and the best prayer I've ever
prayed and the most sacrificial act I've ever performed for anyone
else and judge me by it, I'd go to hell for it. I believe
that. I don't have any righteousness.
It's not before God. Not before God, I have no righteousness. Lord, I've got to have a righteousness
that is outside of me. And here's what 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30 says. God, the Father, has made Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, all our wisdom, all our righteousness,
all our sanctification, all of our redemption. What is righteousness? Well, it's a right standing before
God based on a perfect obedience to the law of God. That's what
righteousness is. So if we've infringed on God's
law in one small manner, the scripture says we're guilty of
the whole thing. Truth is, we've never kept any God's law, any
time have we? Well, the Lord makes you a sinner,
you just realize that everything about you is sinful before God.
And you hunger and thirst for a righteousness. I've got to
have a righteousness that I can't produce. And that righteousness is only
in Christ. And so we hunger and thirst after
him for our righteousness. That passage I just quoted in
1 Corinthians 1.30, God has made him to be all our wisdom, wisdom. What do we hunger for? When God
gives us a hunger, what does he give us a hunger for? He gives
us a hunger for wisdom. It gives us a hunger for understanding,
for discernment, spiritual discernment. This is not something you can
learn in school. It's not something you can learn from another man.
It's not something you, it's not, you just can't, you can't teach
yourself this. Lord, I've got to know spiritual
truth and not just be able to I've got to know in such, not
just be able to articulate some accurate truths that would be
doctrinally true. I can remember back in swine
religion, I was a Calvinist and I got up and preached a message
on total depravity one time. in a very, very large church.
I mean, I'm talking thousands of people. And the senior pastor
came to me the next morning in my office and he said, he said, Greg, he said, I listened
to that message you preached last night. And he said, you
need to know that when people come here, They're looking for
a message that makes them feel better about themselves. And
what you preached last night only made people feel worse.
And we can't have that kind of preaching here. Well, God had
given me enough integrity, I wasn't a believer. I was preaching a
message on total depravity. That I was a sinner and everybody
else... I was giving accurate doctrine that I had learned from
other Calvinists. I ended up leaving there right
after that. I knew I couldn't stay there.
But I was reciting accurate doctrine. But I had yet been made a sinner. I had some knowledge but I didn't
have any wisdom. What is it that we hunger for?
We hunger for wisdom. Lord, you've got to teach. They
shall all be taught of God. You have no need that a man should
teach you, John said. for you have the unction of the
Holy Spirit. I've got to have the Holy Spirit.
Now, it doesn't mean that the Lord doesn't use the voice of
a man to teach us, but I'm talking about I can't teach you anything,
and we can't teach each other anything. We can speak words,
but in order for us to learn them, God's got to teach them
to us. Lord, I can't trust my salvation
and my soul on words and information and knowledge. I've got to be
taught of God. I've got to have the wisdom of
God. Lord, you're going to have to show me what it means to be
a sinner. You're going to have to show me who you are. You're going to have to reveal
yourself. You're going to have to speak these things to my heart. So when God makes us hungry,
he's making us hungry for the bread of life. And this wisdom and this righteousness
and this sanctification, my holiness before God, and all of this redemption
to be redeemed to be bought with a price, to be owned by God,
to not be my own? God has made him to be unto us
all our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. When the Lord Jesus said, I am
the bread of life, he that cometh unto me, shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." All the glorious
hopes of salvation and all the spiritual truths come to us in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. None of those things are detached
from Him. It's like assurance of salvation.
As soon as you start looking for assurance of your salvation,
you've lost it. As soon as you start looking
for the assurance of your salvation, you've lost it. Because to look
for assurance, you're looking for evidence. You're looking within, you're
looking for, you know, you're looking for, for the evidences
of your faith. Assurance only comes when we're
looking not for assurance but we're looking to Christ. We're
looking to Him. The only comfort and the only
peace and the only hope and the only way I know for sure is that
when Hebrews chapter 11 and 12. You
remember Hebrews chapter 11 is the great hall of fame, those
Old Testament believers. It starts with faith is the evidence
of things hoped for. What is faith? Well, Hebrews
chapter 12, turn with me here. Hebrews chapter 12. tells us what faith is. Verse
1, in light of all of these Old Testament believers who trusted
in Christ and believed God, they believed the revelation that
had been given to them. Wherefore, verse 1, chapter 12,
seeing that we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us. What is the weight
of sin that doth so easily beset us? It's our unbelief. Let us lay that aside. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus. There it
is. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher. And notice the word our is in
italics. The Lord Jesus himself is the
author and the finisher of all true saving faith. Now to look
to Jesus means that I'm not looking behind me to see how I've been
doing. I tried plowing like that one
time. I never plowed before. We moved
out in the country, I was determined we were going to have a garden
and I got me a rotor tiller and I was going to plow out the garden.
I was so proud of myself and about every four or five steps
I'd look back and see how I was doing. I was all over the place. I couldn't keep that rotor tiller
straight. You ever worked one of those things? My neighbor
came over, he stuck a flag at the end of the, he said, you
just keep your eye on that and you'll be all right. You look behind you to see how
you've been doing, you're gonna be all over the place. Looking
onto Jesus, the author, he's the one that created it and he's
the one that sustains it and he's the one that will keep it
and he's the one that will finish it, the person of Christ. Look to your right, see how you're
comparing to your other peers. Oh, you're gonna, you see, as
soon as you start looking for assurance of salvation, you're
looking to see how you compare to others, you look to see how
you're doing over there, you're looking down to your feet to
see how they're, keep your eye on Christ. Just look to him. That's how the Lord summarizes
these Old Testament believers. Looking unto Jesus, who himself
is the author and the finisher of faith. Who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross and despised its shame. What was the joy that was set
before him? It was the salvation of his people and it was the
pleasure of his father. That was the joy that was set
before him. He had a purpose. The purpose was the pleasure
of his father. The purpose was the salvation
of his body, his bride. What is our purpose? It's the
pleasure of God. And it's the salvation of our
souls. And for the joy that is set before us, we endure. We endure the cross, despising
its shame and all the afflictions that the Lord sends in this world
because we have such a great hope. The Lord calls them. I would never say to anyone who's
going through a great trial, and I'd be offended if anyone
said it to me, that your affliction is a light affliction. My afflictions
are not light to me and your afflictions are not light to
you. But God calls them a light affliction compared to the glory
that shall be revealed in you. There's no comparison. The Lord give us grace to believe God. Amen. Believe God. I am the bread of life. Except you eat of my flesh and
drink of my blood, you have no life in you. for my body is meat indeed and
my blood is drink indeed. What I did in my body is I worked
out a perfect righteousness for you and I laid down a sacrifice
before God the Father that satisfied him. He that believeth in me shall
never thirst. Eat of this bread, you'll never
be hungry. Never have to go anywhere else. You just keep coming back to
Christ. Keep coming back to Him. Our Heavenly Father, thank You. Thank You for the simplicity
and the truth of the gospel. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us
for glorying in ourselves. Forgive us for holding on to
the power of our will. Lord, bring us to this table
worthy as we find by your grace We are looking unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of faith. We ask it in his name, amen. 334, let's stand together, number
334. We're going to sing two hymns.
I'm going to leave these both.