Seeking once again the Lord's
help to grant me the words to speak
to you, I would like to turn to the chapter that we read together,
the Gospel according to John, chapter 6, and the text you'll
find in verse 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. Those who were here a couple
of weeks ago remember that we looked at the book of Exodus
and how when the Lord appears to Moses from the burning bush
and he sends him into Egypt and Moses is worried and he says
who shall I say has sent me they will ask what is his name and
God says to Moses I am that I am and he said unto him thou shalt
say unto the children of Israel I am has sent me unto you and
we saw that God revealed himself in greater detail to Moses he
says by my name Jehovah I have not made myself known to Abraham
to Isaac and to Jacob and he was revealing himself in a greater
way now to Moses and to the people of Israel and he says, tell them
that I am has sent me unto you, the one who is, who never changes,
the unchanging almighty and powerful God and in chapter six we see
that that word or those words are translated
into that name Jehovah by the name of Almighty God but by my
name Jehovah I was not known and we saw that as the translators
of the KJV and other translations they translated that Yahweh or
Jehovah into LORD in capital letters out of respect to God. They didn't want people misspelling
or mispronouncing the name of God as such was the respect and
reverence the Jewish nation had to God that they wouldn't spell
his name. Sometimes if you go on to the
Jewish websites and you read there even when they spell God
itself they miss out the O and just put a blank out of such
as the awe and reverence and fear of who God is. And so he reveals himself as
I am. The Lord Jesus Christ also reveals
himself as I am. I am the bread of life. We've just sung in that hymn
121, come unto me I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life,
I am the life. There is also I am the door,
I am the good shepherd, I am the bread and so Jesus reveals
himself in the New Testament as being associated with the
deity. He is God and he is all-powerful,
he is the bread, he is the life, he is the truth, he is the way. And so I want to, as by the help
of God, to go through these I Am's of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
had the I Am in the Old Testament, as we saw that Christ revealed
himself in the midst of the burning bush, that he is the I Am, the
Jehovah, the almighty, powerful God, the unchanging God, the
same yesterday, today and forever. And in the chapter that we have
read together if we were to have gone right from the very beginning
you would have seen the Lord Jesus Christ feeding the 5,000. Out of the five loaves and the
two fish he was able to feed the multitude. Scripture tells us there was
about 5,000 men beside women and children and the Lord Jesus
divided the loaves and divided the fish and all the people fed
till they're full. They were sufficed. He performed
a great miracle, an impossibility, something that is impossible
with men but is possible only with God. He is the I am. And so he feeds the 5000 people
in the wilderness. In the Gospel of Matthew it tells
us there that they are in a desert place. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 15. And when it was evening,
his disciples came to him saying, this is a desert place. and the
time is now past. Send the multitude away that
they may go into the villages and buy themselves rituals or
food.' But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart, give ye
them to eat. And they say unto him, we have
here but five loaves and two fishes. And he said, bring them
hither unto me.' And so the multitude were in the wilderness a barren
place unable to feed themselves there was no place for them to
go and buy food and even if they had a multitude of money there
would not be enough in the villages to feed this multitude and so
out of the five loaves and the two small fish the Lord Jesus
Christ feeds the multitude of people. Not only does it speak
about this five loaves and two small fishes, but it also speaks
of the manna that fed the children of Israel in the wilderness. You'll remember in verse 31 it
says, our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it is written,
he gave them bread from heaven. Verse 49 it says, your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread
which came down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not
die. And so they were speaking of
their history of their people. How that in the wilderness as
they grumbled and complained God gave them manna to eat which
came down from heaven. They were to gather it in the
morning and by gathering it they were able to sustain themselves
in Exodus chapter 16 it tells us there. And the whole congregation of
the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness. And the children of Israel said
unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when
we did eat bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth
into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from
heaven for you, and the people should go out and gather at a
certain rate every day that I may prove them whether they will
walk in my law or no. And we read on, we see how the
Lord miraculously provides for the children of Israel to go
out every morning and to gather in that bread in which they called
manna. They called it manna because
the Baba tells us they says what is it? They were unsure as to
what it was but they had to eat it in obedience to God. They
had to eat it by faith as to the Lord knew what it was and
the Lord had given it to them and they ate it and they were
provided for. So the chapter that we have read
together it is really the chapter of bread. The bread the five
loaves which fed the five thousand, the manna in the desert which
fed the multitude that came out of the land of Egypt that sustained
them for their 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness and
then there is the bread of life, the true bread of the Lord Jesus
Christ that came into this world. In verse 51, it says, 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. And
so there is the feeding of the 5,000, there is the feeding of
the multitude in the wilderness, and there is the feeding then
of the whole world, the whole or whosoever will believe upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. But the scripture tells us that
there is this physical bread, the physical bread which sustains
us every single day. But then there is the spiritual
bread. The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 8 that man should not
live by bread alone. We need more than physical food
and so Jesus as he distributes the five loaves he provides physical
food. As God rains manna down from
heaven he provides physical food for the people of Israel. He
helps their bodies but these physical foods are types of the
spiritual food. The Lord Jesus Christ who sustains
the spiritual soul of a person. Deuteronomy 8 it says, And thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee,
to know what is in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments or no. And he humbled thee and suffered
thee to hunger and fed thee manna, which thou knewest not, neither
did thy fathers know, that he might make known that he might make thee know
that man does not live by bread only but every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of the Lord does a man live. And so men,
God's creation, the human race does not just live on food only
like the animal kingdom. They need a spiritual food. And as we see round about us
we have people who are searching for some satisfaction. They feel within themselves that
something is missing from their life. It's like they are starving
and they are seeking to satisfy those cravings by material things. They fill themselves with doing
things that excite the flesh which They are trying to suppress
a spiritual starvation. And the scripture is very clear
that we human beings cannot live only on bread. We need something
spiritual to sustain us. We have, as it were, a hole in
our lives that must be filled only with the spirit of God.
And if we try and fill it with material things, it will never
be satisfied. And so there's that constant
craving for more and more and more because it doesn't satisfy. You can describe it like a McDonald's. A McDonald's doesn't satisfy. It may fill a hole for a little
while but it's not a substantial meal. You cannot live off it. It'll make you very ill. And
this world is like that. something that doesn't satisfy.
You may keep eating it and eating it and eating it but it doesn't
fill the void. You need something substantial.
A man doesn't live by bread only but the Word of God. the word
of God we know as we've seen is a living word it is a quickening
word it's a sharp word but then there is the true word of God
the Lord Jesus Christ he is the living word of God and so what
the world need to satisfy their spiritual craving is not more
sinful indulgence for that will never satisfy just keep needing
more and more and more. What they need and what we need
is Christ. We need his word for he is the
true bread or the true food that came down from heaven. And he begins it with, I am the
bread of life. We saw with Moses the word I
am, it means to exist or to be. That is, he is unchanging. We cannot say although we exist
now at this moment in time, we cannot guarantee that we will
exist in an hour from now. Our lives can be snuffed out
in a moment, but Christ, he ever will exist. and he ever will,
will be. And by saying I am, he links
himself to the one and true living God. And we see how angry this
makes the Jews. They realize by him saying that
I am, especially I am the bread that came down from heaven, it
inflames their anger. They cannot comprehend what he
is saying. They say in verse 43, and he said unto them,
Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? How is it then that he saith,
I am come down from heaven? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, murmur not amongst yourselves. No man can come unto me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him and I will raise him
up at the last day. And so they see the connection
that Jesus is making. He is saying that I am God or
I have come down from heaven. I've been in the presence of
God and I've come down to this world. And they're saying, well,
how can that be? have seen your parents your father
and your mother we know your brothers and your sisters we
have seen them and Jesus says you can't fully know me until
my father draws you to me and you see exactly who I am that
I am the I am The I Am God who provided the manna in the wilderness,
who sustained the multitude through the wilderness. The I Am God
who divided the five loaves and sustained the multitude in the
desert place is the I Am who is the food for the whole world,
the true food, the living food, the living bread. that has come
down from heaven. He is the greater manna. You see they looked back didn't
they to their forefathers Abraham. We're the children of Abraham
and Jesus says to them if you were the children of Abraham
you would believe on me because Abraham spoke about me. They
say well our fathers ate manna in the wilderness. But Jesus
says yes they did but now they are dead. I am the true bread,
I am the true manna that has come down from heaven and if
you eat of me, if you believe in me, if you partake of me,
if you are in me then you won't die. You will have eternal life. We know that Jesus as he speaks
of eternal life, yes the body may die but the soul will live.
and will live for all eternity and the body will be raised up
on that great and that terrible day to stand before the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so although we do die in
one sense yet, we live. What Christ has given is eternal
life. Jesus says, I am the true bread
that came down from heaven. In verse 32, Jesus says 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. In verse 42. Sorry, 51. He says, I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eats of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give to the whole world. The Jews
therefore strove amongst themselves saying, how can this man give
us his flesh to eat? And so as with all bread, with
all food, it must be eaten. It's no good, is it, sitting
down for dinner when you're really hungry and just looking at it. It's no good going to a restaurant
and just reading the menu and reading about the nice food that
is there. It's no good it being just brought
to the table and you smelling it. You have to eat it. And Jesus says to be a partaker
of this true living bread, you've got to eat it. children of Israel had never
seen manna before and they went out of their tents first thing
in the morning the first time that came all they had to rely
on was what God had said. God had said I will give you
bread to eat and so they had to eat it by faith believing
in what God had said And it's only when it had been eaten that
it was able to satisfy the body. And so they ate by faith. Those in the wilderness when
Jesus divided the five loaves and the fishes they ate by faith. Christ had distributed it to
the multitude and they ate and Christ himself, his sacrifice
has to be as it were eaten by faith. His bread, his body gives eternal
life to those who are hungry. In verse 38 it says 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. At all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise him up on the last day.
And this is the will of him that sent me. At every one that seeth
the Son, and believeth on him, may I have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up. at the last day and so as those
who see the Lord Jesus Christ and believe upon the Lord Jesus
Christ it is those who have everlasting life and so this sacrifice as
it were must be eaten by faith to have any benefit. As we look at our dinner it can
have no benefit to us unless it be eaten. It cannot satisfy
our hunger unless it be eaten. It cannot make us strong unless
it be eaten. And therefore the sacrifice of
Christ, it cannot have any benefit to us except it be eaten by faith,
received into the heart by faith. It is only then that we can be
truly, truly satisfied. Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness for they shall be healed. The Spirit of God gives a spiritual
hunger and points a person in the right direction as we see
the world seeking to satisfy a spiritual hunger with material
things. They're unable to satisfy that
hunger. Yet the Spirit of God gives someone
a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness and the only one
who can satisfy that hunger and thirsting is the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not until they come to him and receive him by faith and
partake of him that they can truly be satisfied and receive
the benefits of his salvation. There must be a hunger and a
thirsting for a righteousness, that righteousness which is the
Lord Jesus Christ and it's only there that we can be satisfied
and we can receive the benefits of his sacrifice. And Jesus must be received. So I've said food cannot benefit
us until it is received into the body. And Christ cannot benefit
us until he is received into our lives by faith. We believe
upon him in John chapter one. It says, and he came to his own
and his own received him not. They did not receive him. They
did not receive him as the bread that came down from heaven. The
I am the bread that came down from heaven. They rejected him
because they said we know his father and his mother. He's obviously
telling a lie. He's claiming to be from God
and coming down to earth and therefore they rejected him. it says in verse 12 but as many
as receive him to them he gave power to become the sons of God
even to them that believe on his name they received him they
received that bread that came down from heaven they were satisfied
their hunger was stopped they were enabled to lay hold of this
gospel as truth. They believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ and they were saved. They received him as who he is. The bread that came down from
heaven. The bread of life. And he that
cometh to me shall never hunger and never thirst. And so once
this person a believer has received the Lord Jesus Christ they are
satisfied. They may backslide, they may
taste of the things of this world but it won't satisfy them anymore
because they have received Christ, the full of bread, the true bread,
the bread that came down from heaven and they will never go
away from him because nothing else will satisfy them other
than himself and his word, the living word and they will never
thirst. And so they receive strength
The Christian receives strength given every day by this living
word, by this bread that came down from heaven. 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. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Let's sing our final hymn this
morning from Gadsby's, hymn number 736. 736. Show me some token, Lord, for
good, some token of thy special love. Show me that I am born
of God and that my treasure is above. Hymn 736, tune 310. you of you, that all the world should
know its place, when thee to me now Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee for Thy Word, we thank Thee for the bread that
came down from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that
He may satisfy those who are hungering and thirsting after
righteousness this day, that they may be filled. We pray that
Thou would dismiss us with Thy blessing to return us here in
peace and safety this evening, according to Thy will. And now
may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the
Father, with the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
rest and abide with us each now and forevermore. Amen.