"Eat & Drink" Sermon: John 6:41-59

“Eat & Drink”

[John 6:41-59]

September 6, 2015Second Reformed Church

            In order to be saved, we must eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood. 

What does that mean?

            We continue looking at Jesus’ response to the crowd on the other side of the sea this morning.  Jesus had fed some fifteen thousand people with five loaves and two fish the day before – fed them until they were stuffed and fell asleep, leaving the disciples to collect twelve baskets of fragments.

            Jesus told the disciples to take the boat and go to the other side of the sea while He prayed alone.  This disciples left and got caught in a violent storm, but Jesus walked across the sea, through the storm, and transported the boat to the opposite shore.

            In the morning, the crowd woke up and couldn’t find Jesus – and they were hungry.  So, they walked around to the other side of the sea and asked Jesus when He got there.

            Jesus exposed their true motives – desiring more bread – more food, and He explained to them that He is the Bread of Life – it is only through faith in Jesus alone and the work He accomplished that anyone is sustained into life eternal, that He is given as a gift from God the Father, and the Gift of salvation that is given through Jesus is for a people chosen by God who will believe savingly and never completely fall away, but are received into the Kingdom of God to be physically raised on the last day.

            Jesus continued as the Jews grumbled and complained and expressed their skepticism about what He was saying.

            And we see, first, this morning, Jesus affirms His supernatural birth.

“So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, ‘I am the bread that comes down from heaven.’  They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How does he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’”

The Jews heard Jesus’ explanation about how He is the Bread of Life, and they got stuck on the first point, because Jesus said that He came down out of heaven.  The Jews understood what He was saying – He was not a mere human being.  Jesus was not simply born of the union of Joseph and Mary.

And so they grumbled – “What is He talking about?  ‘Came down from heaven’ – Who does He think He is?  God?  We know Him.  He is Jesus, the Son of Joseph and Mary.  We saw Him grow up.  We saw Him work in the carpenter’s shop.  Who does He think He is claiming to have come down from heaven?”

Mary knew.  Joseph knew.  Jesus knew. 

We remember what was said by the angel Gabriel to Mary:

“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God” (Matthew 1:35, ESV).

God the Son incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  According to the Will of God the Father and by the Power of God the Holy Spirit, God the Son entered the womb of Mary and united with her seed and was born to her – the God-Man – Jesus of Nazareth.  Both born of Mary and descended from heaven.  Both one hundred percent human and one hundred percent God in One Person, as He had to be, if He was to save His people.

Jesus had to be a real human being in order to take our place – to be our Substitute before God, and He had to be the real One God in order to keep the Law of God perfectly and bear God’s Wrath for our sins, that we might be saved by His life and His death and Resurrection.

The Jews understood what Jesus was saying – they didn’t like it.  They didn’t believe it.  But Jesus claimed to be God born in the person of Jesus.

And He is, and He must be – else we are all dead in our sins!

Second, God the Father causes people to be saved.

“Jesus answered them, ‘Do not grumble among yourselves.  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day.  It is written in the Prophets, “And they will be taught by God.”  Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me – not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.’”

Jesus told the Jews to stop grumbling about what He was saying, and He explained to them why they could not believe it:  No one can come to Jesus – no one can receive the Gospel by faith alone and believe in Jesus as the Savior – unless God the Father draws that person to Jesus.

We might naturally read this and understand the word “draw” to mean to “woo” or “make interesting” – as though Jesus was saying that no one can come to Him unless the Father makes Him attractive to a person.  But that is not what the word means here.

The same word is used and translated differently elsewhere:  “The net full of big fishes [sic] is drawn or dragged ashore (21:6, 11).  Paul and Silas are dragged into the forum (Acts 16:19).  Paul is dragged out of the temple (Acts 21:30).  The rich drag the poor before the judgement-seats (Jas. 2:6)” (Henricksen, John, 238, italic his).

Jesus is not saying, “No one can come to the Father unless the Father says, ‘Hey, over hear, look how attractive Jesus and His salvation are – come over, pretty please.”  No, Jesus is saying, “No one can come to the Jesus unless the Father drags him to Me.”

Since we are born dead in our sins, we are unable to come to Jesus.  The only way we can be saved is if the Father picks up our dead bodies and brings us to Jesus – if God the Father graciously raises us from the dead and makes us believe through that miraculous work.

The positive side of this – that we noted last week – is that everyone that God the Father drags to His Son, Jesus, will be saved now and forever by His Work alone.  God makes us right with God, and we can do nothing to change that.

So, the reason they did not believe – the reason they were grumbling about what Jesus was saying, is that they had not been dragged by the Father to the Son.  But, if and when they were, they would believe, and Jesus would physically raise them to life on the last day.

God “teaches” those He wills – He “educates” those He wills in the Gospel – in the One Way to salvation.  And everyone that God the Father has “schooled” will come to true and eternal saving faith in Jesus.

Then, Jesus clarifies that this is a heart-work of God – it is not that all who believe have seen the Father – only the Son has seen the Father – and so Jesus again asserts His Divinity – that He is also God – because no mere human being can look up the Face of God and live, but God the Son has seen God.  And it is because He is God that He can grant eternal life to all those who believe savingly in Him.

And so, God the Father causes people to be saved.

Third, the Incarnate Son gives His flesh to save.

“’I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’”

Jesus again states that He is the Bread of Life – He is the One that sustains spiritual and eternal life.  And He parallels the manna which God gave to Israel in the wilderness to eat to sustain them physically – with Himself – Who God the Father has sent down from Heaven to be the Bread of Life to grant and to sustain the spiritual and eternal life of all those who will ever believe.

Jesus says that He – as the Bread of Life – is greater than the manna, because the fathers ate the manna and eventually died, whereas anyone who eats the Bread of Life will never die, but live forever.  And the bread that Jesus gives is His flesh – that is His life – His physical body.

Paul explains:  “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4, ESV).

In other words:  God the Son, while remaining God, became a real human being in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, so He could live under the Law of God, keep it perfectly, and be judged righteous – sinless and holy – and, so He could take on all of the sins of all of the people who would ever believe in Him and receive the punishment for all of those sins on our behalf.

In doing that, Jesus, as our Substitute, credits us with His Holy life, so we are seen as holy before God, and He takes away our sin and pays the debt for it, so we are seen as sinless before God.

So, Jesus – the God-Man – gave His flesh – His flesh and blood – so that all we who believe savingly in Him would be received by God and into eternal life, as holy and sinless.

God the Incarnate Son gave His flesh to save.

Fourth, eternal life comes through eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood.

“The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”

Was Jesus saying that His disciples should cannibalize Him? 

During the first century of the Church, one of the charges that Christians had to defend themselves against was that they were cannibals – because they talked about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus.

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.  Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’  Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum.”

If Jesus was not telling them that they were to engage in cannibalism, what was He saying?  What is it to “eat His flesh and drink His blood”?

I suspect that most of us, here in the twenty-first century, hearing this language, would conclude that Jesus is talking about the elements of the Lord’s Supper.

But there are two reasons why that cannot be what Jesus is talking about:

First, the Lord’s Supper had not been instituted yet.

Second, eating and drinking the elements of the Lord’s Supper do not cause a person to have eternal life.

Jesus said, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Let’s ask the question from its conclusion:  how does one gain eternal life?

Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).

Eternal life is granted to those who, by faith alone, confess and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ – in Who He is and what He has done.

Now, how are we who are born spiritually dead in our sins able to confess and believe in the Gospel of JesusChrist?

Again, Paul writes, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For one who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him.  We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:3-11, ESV).

Paul explains that – as our Substitute – Jesus lived for us – on our behalf He kept the whole Law of God – and He died for us – He took upon Himself the full Wrath of God for our sin.

So, just as Jesus was put to death and buried, we are symbolically put to death and buried in baptism.  And just as Jesus lived a perfect and holy life under God’s Law and was crucified for our sin, we are now empowered by God the Holy Spirit living in us so that we can keep the Law – as a response to salvation – and we are to turn from sin and not sin any more.  And just as Jesus was physically raised in His Resurrection to eternal life, we also shall be physically raised to eternal life on the last day.

Why?  Because we are united with Christ in His work through faith; we are feeding on His flesh and drinking His blood.  We are united with Jesus in His work through faith.

Jesus put it another way:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-5, ESV).

Just as the branches can’t live without being part of the body of the vine and drinking the sap, we are united with Christ through faith, and it is in that way that we “feed on [his] flesh and drink [his] blood.”

We are not really meant to drink Jesus’ blood and eat His flesh in any sort of cannibalistic way, and He is not pointing to the Lord’s Supper in any way with these words here.  Jesus is saying that salvation and eternal life are only had by those who remain united with Him by faith.

Eternal life comes through eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood – that is, through faith – a faith which bears fruit in faithful obedience to God’s Word.

So, we see that it is absolutely necessary that Jesus not be a mere human being – He has to be both fully God and fully human at the same time in the same person to be our Substitute and Savior.  Thus, God the Son came down from Heaven and incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The work of salvation is all of God:

God the Father has chosen a people for Himself and God “drags” all those spiritually dead that He has chosen to Jesus and spiritually raises them from the dead.

The Father raises them based on the work that Jesus did in living and dying and rising – living a life of perfect obedience and suffering God’s Wrath for all of our sin – finding more joy in physically rising and saving the people God gave Him than He did horror in the sufferings of crucifixion.

As those who have been raised to spiritual life – forgiven for our sins – and empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow in faithful obedience, we are to do so.  We are to seek to understand what God would have us do and be and prayerfully seek to do and be all those things as those who are united with Jesus – now and forever – to the Glory of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for sending Your Son to be our Substitute and Savior that we would be saved from Your Wrath and raised to spiritual life.  Keep us united with Jesus – eating His flesh and drinking His blood – as we seek to know You through Your Word and follow after You in faithful obedience in all things through the guidance and power of God the Holy Spirit.  Lord, cause us to desire to know You and to show You to the world by doing those things which are pleasing to You.  Grow us as branches in the Vine.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

Review: "Street God"

Street God, by Dimas Salaberrios, is the author's story of how, though he was brought up in a "good" family, he turned to selling drugs for money and power, and then turned to using them himself. 

He ended up in prison several times, and escaped.  While he was on the run, he reunited with his sister who had become a Christian, and he was called to Christ as well, though changing from a drug boss to finally turning himself in and witnessing to Christ took time.  But the day came when he turned himself in and went to prison a final time, this time as a servant of Christ.

After being released from jail, he encountered Rev. Tim Keller, and together, Dimas started a church, which he pastors to this day.  (I wish he had written more about this, especially with the author's claim to "hear" God speak to him frequently.)

This is a persuasive story of how God can redeem anyone for Himself.  May God use it to encourage others to give up and surrender to Christ.

[I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  This review appears on my blog and Amazon.com.]

#StreetGod

http://smile.amazon.com/Street-God-Explosive-Hood---Courageous/dp/1496402782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442238269&sr=8-1&keywords=street+god

Hearing the Sermon

Starting this past Sunday (the 6th), my sermons are being recorded and played at 7 PM Sunday evening -- and perhaps at other times -- I'll have to check -- on Internet radio at www.BibleAloneMinistry.org

If you unable to get to the Internet, you may also call in to listen at:

In the USA:  213-992-4376 or 712-832-7128
In Canada:  438-795-9011
In Europe:  0180142697
In the Dominican Republic:  849-943-5686

If you are still having trouble figuring it all out, call Rev. Jean Tilus at:
973-666-0226 or 973-677-0436

Review: "40 Questions About Baptism and the Lord's Supper"

John S. Hammett's 40 Questions About Baptism and the Lord's Supper is the second volume I have read in this series edited by Benjamin L. Merkle.  And, like the first one I read, I found this volume very readable, thought-provoking, and expansive in its coverage.

The first four questions are general questions about how many sacraments there are, are they sacraments or ordinances, who should preside over them and where.

Questions 5 through 8 consider the origin of baptism and compare it to John's baptism and Spirit baptism, and consider why Jesus was baptized.

Questions 9 through 13 present the major denominational views about baptism.

Questions 14 through 19 ask questions about infant baptism, grace in baptism, and the mode of baptism.

Questions 20 and 21 ask how all of this plays out, especially with regards to children.

Questions 22 through 25 present the origin, reason, and meaning for the Lord's Supper.

Questions 26 through 30 present a variety of denominational views of the Lord Supper.

Questions 31 through 35 ask whether and how Christ is present, who should receive, and what God does in the Lord's Supper.

Questions 36 through 38 consider how frequently the Lord Supper should be observed and what -- liturgically ought to be included in the Lord's Supper.

The book concludes with question 39 and 40 asking questions about the importance of both sacraments.

Hammett has done an admirable job is both raising the major questions and provoking thought about which view or views hold the better interpretation of the questions.  (There are also questions for discussion at the end of each question.)  He also does an admirable job in accurately presenting the variety of views on these questions.

However, as Hammett repeatedly confesses, he is a convinced Baptist, and the strongest criticism and most accepting interpretations come from his Baptist convictions.  Although he is obvious in his views (so much so, I found myself smiling at times!), but he is not offensive, even in his disagreement.

This is an excellent introduction to baptism and the Lord's Supper and the questions and views about them.  It will serve well as a general introduction and discussion study group volume.

#40QuestionsAboutBaptismandtheLordsSupper

 http://smile.amazon.com/Questions-About-Baptism-Supper-Answers/dp/082544277X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441645420&sr=8-1&keywords=40+questions+about+baptism

[I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  This review appears on my blog and on Amazon,com.]

September Sermons

Join us at 10:30 AM for worship.  D.V., our preaching schedule will be as follows:

9/6/15 "Eat & Drink"  John 6:41-59

9/13/15 "The Words of Eternal Life"  John 6:60-71

9/20/15 "Judge Rightly"  John 7:1-24

9/27/15 Guest preacher:  Rev. Tom Henion, Jr.

Review: "The Colson Way"

I have read and been inspired and profited by Charles Colson’s books over the years.  I remember in high school reading Born Again and Life Sentence with great excitement.  It is with that background that I read Owen Strachan’s book, The Colson Way.

Strachan does a good job in overviewing Colson’s life, showing Colson’s natural talents as a communicator and fighter and how those talents blossomed in Christ in a way that Colson found himself unable but to present the Gospel whenever he had the chance – for the love of others and out of his great conviction that Jesus is the Only Way to salvation.

In the final chapter of the book, Strachan well argues that the Christian life is not merely an intellectual pursuit, nor is it one that cloisters Christians away from the world, but each one is gifted by God in his or her own way and called by God to do whatever we can do to stand for Christ in the public forum – whether that means running for office, mowing a neighbor’s lawn, witnessing at an abortion clinic, and/or sharing the Gospel with those we work with.

All Christians are called to live lives of faithful obedience before the world – no matter how hostile it may be – not matter how great our cross may be – to witness Jesus and His Gospel to the world through all that we do and are.

#TheColsonWay http://smile.amazon.com/Colson-Way-Loving-Neighbor-Hostile/dp/1400206642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441212026&sr=8-1&keywords=the+colson+way

[This review appears on my blog and Amazon.com.  I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]

Thursday Night Study

This Thursday night (September 3rd) at 7 PM, D.V., we will begin a study of the books of Colossians and Philemon, being guided by Mark Johnston's book, Let's Study Colossians and Philemon 
http://smile.amazon.com/Lets-Study-Colossians-Philemon-Johnston/dp/1848712391/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441123692&sr=8-1amp;keywords=lets+study+colossians
  (the pastor will bring the books).

Much thanks to the Banner of Truth Trust 
https://banneroftruth.org/us/
for donating the books for this study!

Please join us!

"Where's the Bread?" Sermon: John 6:22-40

“Where’s the Bread?”

[John 6:22-40]

August 30, 2015Second Reformed Church

            We will remember that Jesus fed five thousand men – plus women and children – with five loaves and two fish – and they ate until they were stuffed, and there were twelve baskets of pieces left over.  This sign was performed for the sake of the disciples – in particular – and for the crowd more generally, but they still didn’t understand.

            The point of a sign, we will remember, is to point to something or someone else.  Signs are given so we will look at them and understand a greater meaning.  The signs Jesus performed – the miracles that Jesus performed – were done so those who saw them and believed would receive Jesus as God the Son and Savior.

            Jesus sent the disciples to the other side of the sea, while He spent some time in private, praying.  Then, during the night, a violent storm rose up, and Jesus walked across the water, through the storm, and met the disciples in the center of the sea, and transported them to the other side safely.  The point they were to understand from this sign is that Jesus is God, Who is sovereign over the Creation, and time and space.

            Our text continues the next morning, and we see:

            First, the Son of Man is bread to eternal life.

“On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone.  Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.  So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.”

Apparently, after the crowd ate their fill of the bread and the fish, having spent the day with Jesus and walking around the sea, they lay down in the grass where He had been teaching and slept.

When they woke up, they remembered that Jesus and His disciples had crossed the sea in a single boat, and Jesus had told the disciples to go back across the sea ahead of Him.  The boat was gone and the disciples were gone, and their stomachs were rumbling – they remembered how Jesus had miraculously fed them the day before, and they looked for Him.

The crowd searched for Him, but they couldn’t find Him.  And His disciples were gone.  And the boat was gone.  So they made their way around the sea – again – as they looked for Jesus – Who had provided them with such a large meal the day before.  They still didn’t understand the sign.

“When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’  Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.  For on him God the Father has set his seal.’ 

The crowd made their way around the sea and found Jesus on the other side, and they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

“We know You only have one boat, and You sent the disciples on ahead last night while You went up the mountain to pray.  When did You come here?  How did You come here?”

They were puzzled about how Jesus got from one side of the sea to the other without a boat, overnight, with none of them seeing Him leave.

But Jesus understood what they were really after.  Yes, they were curious about how He got there, but they were looking for another meal.  “Do it again, Jesus.  Feed us until we can’t stand up.  Fill our stomachs.”

They didn’t get it:  Jesus fed some fifteen thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish and had lots of food left over.  He could solve the hunger problem in the world.  (And He is, in fact, able, but that was not the point He was making.)  But for now, it was breakfast time, they had walked around the sea to find Him, and they wanted more food – more bread – “Where’s the bread?”

Now, we do need food to live.  And we are to be wise in providing for our physical needs.  But these people were more interested in bread than in Jesus being God the Son and Savior.

Jesus was not offering an all-you-can-eat buffet, and He wasn’t going to be forced into it.  The point of the sign was for them to understand Who Jesus is, to believe in Him savingly, and to trust Him for all of their lives.

As Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air:  they neither sow or reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin, yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-33, ESV).

God willprovide for our physical needs through various providences; we are to be about seeking His Kingdom and His Righteousness.  We are to be about seeing and acknowledging His Sovereign rule over all of Creation and following after Him in faith and obedience.

We are to be seeking and knowing and understanding the eternal – the non-perishing bread – that bread “which endures to eternal life.”  We are to prefer the eternal over the temporal.  We ought to desire to know God and His Word better above our favorite TV show.  We ought to desire to know what God would have us do and be and to strive after Him above having a full pantry.

Jesus tells the crowd– and us – not to come after Him for the sake of a free meal – not to come to worship for the sake of Costco bread or coffee hour – but to come to learn about Jesus and the salvation that He alone gives as the approved Savior Who comes in the Name and the Authority of God the Father.

And we might well ask why Jesus says that He is the “food [or the bread] that endures to eternal life.” 

The point that Jesus is making is not that He is a loaf of bread or that He is an everlasting source of physical food for our physical body.  “Food” or “bread” is being used here to mean the thing that sustains life – and just as “food” or “bread” sustains physical life, so Jesus is the “food” or “bread” that sustains all those who believe in Him toeternal life.

So, the crowd comes after Jesus, and Jesus rebukes them and tells them, “You missed the point – the point is not ‘where’s the bread?’  The point is:  I am God the Son, the Son of Man, the Savior, ‘the food that endures to eternal life.’”

Jesus – the Son of Man – is bread to eternal life.

Second, the bread of the Son of Man is a gift from God. 

“Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’  Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’  So they said to him, ‘Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you?  What work do you perform?  Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”  Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives his life to the world.’  They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

“Eternal food” was appealing to the crowd, so they asked Jesus, “What must we do – what works must we do – to get – to earn – to merit – the bread of the Son of Man?”

They didn’t get it.  They were still thinking that salvation was something you could earn – eternal life was something you could earn.  They didn’t realize that it is impossible for anyone to do anything that would merit eternal life.

Paul explains it this way:  “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once waked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, bring rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved by faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV).

What do we have to do to be worthy of eternal life?  Nothing.  We cannot be worthy of eternal life.  Eternal life is given to us as a gift of love from God.  God does the work of making the Way of Salvation through the Incarnate Son of God – Jesus Christ – the Son of Man – and all who believe in Him – in Who He is – in what He has done – these will receive the gift of eternal life through faith alone.

Does that encourage you?  It encourages me over and over throughout each week.  We very easily compare ourselves with others and think, “Well, I’m really not so bad compared with him and her.”  But that is the wrong way to think, because we are not to compare ourselves with each other, but against the standard of God – the thrice holy –  perfect, sinless, pure God – and then, especially as we repent of our sin – if we are truly repentant, we ought to find ourselves covering our mouths with Isaiah, saying, “woe is me” – and then, having repented, rejoice and give thanks and praise to God, because I am forgiven only for the Sake of Christ and you are only forgiven for the Sake of Christ – and all we who believe are received into eternal life – not for anything we have done or not done, but only because God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son – Who has done the work to save a people for Himself through faith and belief in Him.

We cannot do anything to receive the “food to eternal life.”  The bread of the Son of Man is a gift from God to those who believe through faith alone.

But they still didn’t get it; the crowd asked Jesus for a sign.  Even though they had seen Him heal many people and feed some fifteen thousand, they were still stuck on getting breakfast.  They said they needed to see more signs to believe Him, because Moses had provided their fathers with the sign of manna to eat for forty years.  Yes, one giant lunch was impressive, but Moses had provided food for them for forty years.

Jesus explained to them that though Moses led their fathers through the wilderness, it was not Moses who produced the food, but God the Father Who gave them bread from heaven – physical food for their physical bodies that they would physically survive the forty years in the wilderness.  However, in the Son of Man – in Jesus – the Son of God and Savior – the Father has sent the true bread from Heaven – Jesus, God the Son and Savior – to give eternal and spiritual life to everyone who will believe.

The bread of the Son of Man given by God is superior to the bread of the manna in the wilderness, because the manna only sustained their physical bodies, whereas the Son of Man – Jesus – sustains all those who believe spiritually and eternally.

And the crowd responded by crying out, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Does that sound familiar?

We may remember in chapter four of John’s Gospel, Jesus spoke with a woman of Samaria and said, “’Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’  The woman said to him, ‘Give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. … Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he’” (John 4:13-15, 26, ESV).

Just as Jesus had explained the He is the Living Water, He explained to this crowd that He is the Bread of Life.

Third, the Son of Man is the bread of life Who saves irresistibly and finally.

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.  But I say to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.’

Jesus explains on the one hand that those who come to Him by faith alone, believing that He is God the Son and Savior will eternally be satisfied, but one the other, He tells them that they have not yet believed savingly and received Him by faith alone.

“’All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’”

            Then Jesusexplained that God the Father has chosen a people to come to Jesus through the gift of the bread of the Son of Man – God has chosen a people – out of all the people throughout the world and time and space – and these people – without a doubt – will absolutely come to Jesus by faith alone and believe in Who He is and what He has done – the Gospel.  Everyone that God has chosen to save will be saved.

            What that means for us is that the burden we often put on ourselves to convert someone is lifted.  We are commanded to go and to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world – we must go and tell others Who Jesus is and what He has done.  But God converts people, not us.  Everyone God has chosen will believe.  Our job is to proclaim the Gospel; God’s job is to save.

            And then Jesus says something that is very comforting:  “whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  If God has called you and me to respond in faith in believing savingly in Jesus Christ, He will never, never, neverlet us go.  God saves Who He will.  God has a people He intends to save.  Those people that God saves cannot do or not do anything that will ever cause God to take their salvation away.

            When we are down and discouraged and can’t believe we have sinned that sin again – be encouraged – repent wholeheartedly – and be encouraged – be assured – that we who believe have been saved by God for God and nothing will ever change that.  God will never allow us to totally fall away.

            Why not?

            Because the Son of Man – Who is the Son of God – came down from Heaven, incarnating in the person of Jesus to do the Will of the Father, and the Will of the Father is this:  that Jesus, the Savior, will not lose even one person that God has given to Him, but everyone that Jesus saves, Jesus will physically raise from the dead to eternal life in His Kingdom on the last day.

            

            This is the Will of the Father – everyone who looks on the Son savingly – and believes in Him savingly – will have eternal life and Jesus will physically raise Him to eternal life in the Kingdom on the last day.

We may remember the imagery that is being used here:  when Moses and the people were in the wilderness, they complained about not having food and water, and God sent fiery serpents to kill the people.  When they repented, God told Moses:  “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8b, ESV).

This was a foreshadowing of Jesus and the work He would do in being hung on a tree for the sin of the people God has chosen for Himself.  All we who look upon the pieced Savior in faith and believe are saved.

At the end of the age, all people will see Him when He returns, and we read, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pieced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.  Even so.  Amen” (Revelation 1:7, ESV).

And so, as Jesus begins His response to the crowd, He tells them:

The Son of Man is bread to eternal life.

The bread of the Son of Man is a gift from God.

The Son of Man is the bread of life who saves irresistibly and finally.

Let us repent of being obsessed with the things of earth and not trusting God to provide for us.

Let us strive to know Jesus and His salvation more and more, for in Him is eternal life.

Let us recognize and be relieved that the work of salvation is God’s Work, and He has given us His Son as a loving gift of salvation.

And let us be comforted in knowing that God will bring every single person He intends to bring to salvation, and all we who believe savingly in Jesus cannot possibly lose our salvation.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of Your Son and the Salvation He has brought us.  Help us to desire You and trust You for all that we need, knowing that You are our loving Father.  Let us go forth will renewed courage and desire to tell others the Gospel, leaving the results to You.  And we ask all these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen.