Turn with me this morning now
to the sixth chapter of the book of John. I read to you from chapter
seven at the outset here, and now I want to read to you from this sixth chapter. having conversation here with
kind of a mixed crowd, but primarily his apostles, his disciples. And there was a mixed bag here. And he said unto them, beginning
there in verse 31, He said, our fathers did eat
manna in the desert. It makes reference to the children of Israel, the days of Moses, as they were led out or delivered
out of the hands of that monarch, Pharaoh. and delivered into the promised land eventually. But while they were in the wilderness, they were hungry. They had really
no means to bring about enough food or get
enough food to help them. So they murmured. And they told
Moses, they said, What have you done? He said, You've led us
out here to kill us. We're going to die here in the
wilderness. We have no bread. So our Lord
here uses that illustration of truth. It wasn't a parable. It
was a truth. It was something that happened.
He said, our fathers did eat manna in the desert. I don't
know what the manna was, what the substance of it was, but
I do know it came from God, so it's got to be good. It sustained
them for many and many a day, this manna, until they got tired
of the manna and desired something else. But anyhow, God provided
the manna for them. They came down of a morning and
lay upon the dew, and all of the households went out and gathered
enough manna for the day to sustain them through the day, and then
the next morning they got fresh manna from heaven. Certainly
that is an indication of the concern and the care and the
love of God for these Jews, this nation that was set apart from
every other nation. They did not choose God, but
God chose them. There were probably other nations
that were far more likely to do good than the Israelites,
but they were the least. He chose them and supplied them
throughout their forty years wandering in the wilderness.
And our Lord said, Our fathers did eat manna in the desert,
as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. God gave them bread. God's always
the giver, he's never the taker. He gives, we take. There's a
difference between givers and takers and movers and shakers.
God's the giver, we're the taker. We have our mouths soaked and
he fills it. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, which means truly, truly, And any time you see the two
words together, barely, barely, or truly, truly, it's an indication
that something is about to be said of great importance. And this is of great importance.
Moses gave you not the bread from heaven. That wasn't Moses.
Moses had no magic about him. Moses was just a mere man. a
good man. As a matter of fact, God gave
this testimony concerning Moses that he was the meekest man upon
the face of the earth. Oh, Moses! Anyhow, Moses didn't
give you that bread from heaven. Understand that. It wasn't Moses
now. But my Father giveth you the
true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. So the significance
of what he's saying here is that bread that you got in the wilderness,
that was a temporary thing and it came from God and it sustained
you for a while, but it was withdrawn. But he said the real, the true
bread, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven, And
the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. And so immediately this crowd
said unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. And that's what I want
to talk to you just a little bit here this morning. I am the
bread of life. Now, I am the bread of life in
these verses. I'll read some more to you here
in a minute. I'll go from where I started,
verse 31, down to verse 40. And these are the verses that
I include in this particular statement here. Our Lord begins
here to speak in the first person, I and me. And I and me is mentioned
no less than thirty-five times in these particular verses here
in the sixth chapter of the book of John, I and me. Now, he makes it plain as to
the truth concerning the bread of life. He tells them plainly
without hesitation. He tells them plainly, I am the
bread of life. That is the true bread that comes
down from heaven. The bread of life that he's talking
about is a spiritual bread. It is not a loaf of bread as
we know it today, but he's talking about a spiritual bread which
conveys life to the soul. This bread sustains and gives
life to the soul, not to the body, but to the soul. It's living
bread, which does not merely feed the body like common bread
does, but it gives nourishment to the soul. It's a must for
the believer, the believer must have that living bread that comes
down from heaven to sustain him, to nourish him, and to keep him
going. It does not merely feed the body
like common bread, but it gives nourishment to the soul. Now
reason, at least one reason, there's many reasons I'm sure,
But one reason why he calls himself the Bread of Life is that he
is intended to be to the soul what bread is to the body. It's food to the body and bread
is a necessary food just as The bread of life is necessary for
the nourishment of the believing sinner. Now, it's a food that
everybody can eat. Everybody can eat bread. There's
no one that I know of or ever heard of that cannot eat bread
or does not like bread. The rich and the poor both eat
bread. It's a food that suits all or
everybody. It suits the old. It suits the
young. It suits the weak. It suits the
strong. All like bread. Isn't that right, Bob? Everybody
likes bread. Regardless of whether it's wheat
or whether it's rye or whether it's white bread or corn bread,
everybody has a taste for bread. You want it in the morning, you
want it at noontime, and you want it in the evening. Nothing
does so much good, and that is so indispensable to our bodily health. It's a food that we need daily,
morning and night, and we go on eating bread all of our lives. We start with it after we make
a few years in life, or a year, or maybe just nine months that
a baby starts to eat something besides baby food. He begins
to like bread, and his diet then begins with bread. So everyone likes bread always. at all times, under all conditions
and circumstances, and goes on eating bread all of his life. Now, we can manage pretty well
or pretty easy without many things on the table, but we cannot manage
or get along without bread. We've got to have bread. So it
is with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have Christ or we'll
die in our sin. I am the bread of life that will
sustain you. Now, we must have him or we'll
die in our sins. If we do not have him, then we
shall never enjoy that place that he hath gone to prepare
for us if we don't have him. We must have him. We must have
Christ or die in our sins. I've already said that bread
is a food that suits all. Some cannot eat meat, and some
cannot eat vegetables, but everybody likes bread. Is that not right? Everybody likes bread. It's a
food that's fit for the President of the United States, and it's
fit for the poorest man on the face of the earth. So it is with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is just the Savior who meets
the need of every class of men, women, and boys and girls. We
need bread every morning and every evening in our lives. So it is with the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is no day in our lives
but what we need, His righteousness, His blood, His intercession,
and His grace and His everlasting love. We need it. We must have
it. We've got to have it. We cannot
endure without it. Those who are believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So well may be He called the
bread of life. I am the bread of life. In contrast
to what He said to them about Moses. You had the bread of life,
the bread of heaven, but he said it's not the real bread of life. I am the real bread of life. Well, do you know anything this
morning about a spiritual hunger? Most people don't. And those
that do know something about a spiritual hunger, they are
certainly highly favored by God because, for the most part, there
are not many among the billions on the face of the earth this
morning that have a spiritual hunger. But there are some that
have a spiritual hunger. And I want to know this morning,
I want you to think about this and be able to come up with some
sort of an answer, yes or no? Do you know anything of spiritual
hunger? I mean, do you feel any craving
and emptiness of conscience and emptiness of heart and emptiness
and feelings in your affections? Well, we must come to God by
faith. We can't come any other way. We must believe God's testimony
concerning His Son. If so, if we do believe the testimony
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the bread
of life, the Savior of sinners, if so, well, we have His pledge. He pledges His royal and sacred
blood, His royal and sacred Word that if we come to Him that we
shall find eternal satisfaction for time and eternity and will
never hunger no more. This bread that came down from
heaven during the reign of Moses, you ate it but you got hungry
again. But the bread of God that the
Lord Jesus Christ says He is, If you come to him and make application
of this bread to your soul, he says, you'll never hunger again.
Your conscience will be satisfied and you'll be satisfied. Well,
he that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on
me shall never thirst, he says. Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life. That's in that thirty-fifth verse.
I am that bread of life. Now he says, he that cometh to
me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst. Well, those that come to him,
come to Christ. And that's what I've been talking
about. That's what I've always talked about. Always, every time
we meet here, I talk to people about coming to Christ. He's
the answer to all their problems. Come to Christ. All right? He that cometh to me, he said,
I will in no wise cast out. Let me read that. I am the bread
of life, and he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he
that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that
ye also have seen me, and believed not. Now listen to this, All
that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. What does this coming mean? He
that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. But what's involved
in this coming? Well, I'll tell you what it means.
It means the movement of the soul which takes place when a
man feels his sins and knows that he's a sinner and finds
out that he cannot save himself. When that takes place, then he'll
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, God will not cast him out. When he hears of Christ,
the Bible says that a man must hear. Faith comes by the hearing
of the Word. He's got to hear the Word. And
when a man hears the Word and applies to the Lord Jesus Christ
and trusts in Christ and lays hold of Christ, and leans all
his weight on Christ for righteousness and God's salvation. When this
happens to a man, it is said in scriptural language that he
has come to Christ. What did our Lord mean by saying,
I will in no wise cast him out, the man that comes to Christ? If he comes to me, I will, under
no circumstance, cast him out. I will not deny him. I will not
push him away. I will not forsake him. I won't
cast him out. Well, he meant that he will not
refuse anyone who comes to him, no matter how great his sins
might be. I won't cast him out. If he comes
to me, if he comes to the place that he knows that he's guilty
before me, he knows that he's a sinner, his conscience is smitten,
he knows he can't save himself, he knows he's guilty of the charges
against him, but if he comes to me, I won't cast him out. So it means he will not refuse
anybody regardless of race, language, situation or circumstance, regardless
of how vile he is or how good he is. If he comes with nothing
in his hands, to help God save him if he comes empty and broken
without help, if he comes flat out without nothing and sees
that he's got nothing and knows that he is nothing. If he comes
to me, I won't cast him out. I won't reject him. I'll receive
him. And I'll pledge my sacred word
to him that under no circumstance or condition will I ever cast
him out. Now that always makes me happy. That suits me. That suits my
need because one day I'm up and the next day I'm down. But he
said, I'll not cast you out whether you are up or down. I won't cast you out. Now that
makes me happy. Regardless of how vile a man
he is, if he comes to Christ by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ
will graciously receive him. and pardon him freely, forgive
him of all of his wrongs, all of his sins, past, present, and
sins to come, and freely give him eternal life. He'll live forever. Live forever,
not in hell, but he'll live forever with God. I'm the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. He that cometh to me shall never
thirst to be with me. I'll clothe him with my righteousness. My blood shall wash him clean. And what God hath cleansed, let
no man call common or unclean. I'll never forsake him. I'll
never cast him out. These are blessed words. You know what makes them so blessed? It's because of him who uttered
them. Who uttered them? The Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what makes them so blessed.
He uttered them. Jesus Christ who never changes. He's the same yesterday, today
and tomorrow. He that comes to me, I'll never
cast him out. Blessed words. They'll smooth
down a dying pillar, I'll tell you that. They'll calm a troubled
conscience because there's a day that will come to pass when flesh
and blood will fail. A day will come when the world
and our mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters can't help
us. That day will come. We'll be
there by ourselves. No one else can help us. Blessed
will be the soul in that day if the Spirit of God witnesses
with His Spirit that He has really come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we have here, lastly, a
saying of Christ about the will of His Father. Two times He said
in these verses, This is the will of Him who sent me. Well, first He said, All that
the Father giveth to me, they shall come to me. Well, I like
that. They shall come. It does not
say, All that the Father gives me, maybe they'll come to me. I hope they'll come to me. I
want them to come to me. But he says, All that the Father
giveth to me shall come to me. Precious words because of who's
speaking. He who knows all. He said, They
shall come to me. Someone says, Well, what if he
doesn't want to come? Well, he's not stronger than
God. God will make him willing to come. He'll make him willing. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast him out. If he comes to me, he's on safe
ground. I'll never cast him out. Why? For I come down from heaven.
I left heaven in all of its glory. I come down not to do mine own
will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will which sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing. All that the Father gave me,
I come down to do the Father's will, Father gave some to me,
and all that the Father gave to me, he said, shall come to
me, and I shall lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of the Father
that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." And the Jews then begin to murmur at him, Oh, what blessed words are these! He may have everlasting life,
and I'll raise him up again. Blessed words. Once we are told
It's his will, it's the will of God, that everyone that seeth
the Son may have everlasting life. Once we're told that it
is his will, of all which the Father hath given to Christ,
he shall lose nothing. Well, he kind of draws a picture
here from a happening that took place back during the time of
Moses. They were in the wilderness and
the serpents bit some of the Israelites. And the remedy that
was given by God unto Moses, God told Moses to make a a replica of the serpents that
bit the children of Israel out of brass. And they said, hang
it on a pole in the midst of these Israelites that were bitten.
And he said, now, whosoever looketh upon the brazen serpent shall
be healed. And all those that looked were
healed. Everyone that looked at the brazen
serpent lived and did not die. So that's what our Lord is saying
here. Whoever comes to me, whoever
sees me by faith, shall live and never die. You see, there's
no No barrier, no limit, no restriction. It says look and live. Can you look? If you can look,
you can come. If you come, you can live. And if you live, you've got God's
Word that He'll never cast you out. Never cast you out. You haven't done enough. It hasn't
got anything to do with your doing. It's all His doing. It's
all His giving. You're the receiver. You're the
taker, and He's the giver. He said, if I needed anything,
I wouldn't ask you. He said, cattle on a thousand
hills are mine. He said, you'd think that if
I needed anything, I'd ask you. You don't need anything. He supplied
everything that's needed to save the sinner. It's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He meets all the sinner's needs
by His person and by His Word. No barrier. He will never allow
any soul that comes to Him to be lost or to be cast away. He'll keep him safe from grace
to glory. He'll keep him safe. He'll keep
him in the cradle of his arms. He'll keep him under his everlasting
wings. He'll hide him under the rock
that's higher than us. He'll keep him safe from grace
to glory in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Not one bone of his mystical
body shall ever be broken. Not one lamb of the flock shall
be left behind. Remember, I talked to you here
this past Wednesday about the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd
knoweth his sheep. The Good Shepherd keepeth his
sheep. And I told you about David. of old who said in regard to
prior to him killing that champion Goliath of the Philistines, he
said to Saul the king, he said, let me at that uncircumcised
Philistine. He said, a bear and a lion. I tacted my father's sheep,"
and he said, I grabbed one of them by the beard and slew him
and killed the other one. He said, defending my father's
flock, let me at this fellow. And you know the end of the story.
Not one lamb of the flock of God shall ever be left behind. Not one that ever comes to the
Lord Jesus Christ will be left behind. Not one of them. That's a promise of God himself
in Christ. Not one. Not one that's blemished. I won't leave it behind. Not
one that's crippled and tattered and torn. I'll leave no sir. Not one shall be found missing
that's been entrusted to the charge of our champion and our
conqueror, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ the bread of life,
Christ the receiver of all that come to him, and it's Christ
the preserver of all who come to him. Christ is the eternal
possession of all that come to him. And he says, I give unto
them eternal life. Coming to the Lord Jesus Christ
is the act of the soul. It's the soul's movement towards
Christ. No man comes who does not believe,
and all who comes, comes believing and continues to believe and
continues And at the last minute or second of his life, he's still
believing. Is that any help to you? That's
help to me. All the Father giveth to me shall
come to me, shall come. And if he comes, I'll keep him.
I won't cast him out. I won't lose him. He's mine forever. I've sanctified him and made
him holy. I've clothed him in my righteousness. I've bathed him in my blood.
I've atoned for his sins. I've pardoned him forever. Nothing
shall ever be brought up against him anymore. There's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, nothing will separate him
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Well, shall
this separate him? Shall that? Nothing shall separate
him. He's mine and he's mine forever. We're the Jews. We're the Jews. I know that the world doesn't
see us that way. You could get some strangers
to come in here or some to stand on the outside when we leave
and they'll say they don't look any different than we do. But
bless God, there is a difference. Who hath made thee to differ? It's God that has made us together. He's made known the Lord Jesus
Christ to our poor, lost souls. And He's the bread of our souls.
He feeds His little lambs of the flock. He feeds some a little
more than others, but every one of them. He passes the loaf around. And they all get a bite. God
help you and me to come to Him. To come to Him. By faith, to
trust Him. And I'll quit. We'll meet again
this evening.