I AM the bread of life, John 6:41-71

We are considering today one of the great sermons of Christ. This message marks a turning point in the ministry of Jesus.  It reveals the moment when the multitudes that initially followed Him in response to His miracles, turned away and rejected Him when confronted with the truth of the gospel. Jesus was speaking to a large group of disciples, or followers, which included the twelve.  As verse 66 indicates, there were a large number of superficial disciples there, as well as His inner circle.  We know from studying the gospels that in most cases Jesus taught by using parables or metaphors, to illustrate spiritual principles.  For purposes known only to God, He said in Matt.11:25 that He spoke in such a way as to hide things from the wise and reveal things to infants.  And He does so in this sermon as well, especially by using the metaphor of the bread of heaven. 

So as we consider this sermon of Christ, we are going to break it down into 6 courses, in hope of helping us to better digest it.  We will look at the picture that Christ presents, the provision of God, the predicament of the people, the principle of salvation, the proposal to believe, and the profession of faith.  That’s our outline of Jesus’ sermon.

First then, notice the picture that Christ presents. Before we can go too far in the text we must recognize that Jesus is speaking metaphorically.  He is using a picture from the physical realm to illustrate a spiritual principle.  He did that also when He healed.  It was not simply to provide  physical healing, but to illustrate a spiritual principle.  So when He says He is the bread of life, we must understand that He is speaking metaphorically.  He obviously did not look like bread, His body was not actually made up of bread, and people were not being told to physically eat His body.  You would think it would be unnecessary to have to say that, but unfortunately, there are those who have misapplied certain verses in this passage as a result of a misunderstanding of the nature of a metaphor.

In this message is the first of seven “I AM” statements of Jesus given to us in the book of John.  The purpose of course is to identify Christ as the Lord who appeared to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3:14, when the Lord answered Moses’ question of what is His name by saying “I AM Who I AM.”  There are seven of these I AM statements in the gospel of John, this being the first in vs.35, “I am the bread of life.” Then in John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”  In John 10:9, “I am the door.”  In John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd.”  In John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life.” John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  And 7, in John 15:1, “I am the true vine.” 

Now in all those I AM statements Jesus uses metaphors to illustrate His divine character and purpose.  He was not literally a door, He was not literally a vine, not physically a light.  He is speaking metaphorically in all of these statements.  To say that He is bread is to use what is called a metonym for food, bread being the staple of man’s diet, which sustains life. Jesus is basically saying that I am the spiritual bread that gives spiritual life, which sustains all life.  

But the people continually seem to misunderstand  what He is saying.  The day before they had eaten bread that He manufactured out of His hands at the feeding of the 5000, and as a result they can’t seem to get beyond  physical bread. In fact, back in the 31st verse, we see them speaking of the manna, or bread, from heaven which Moses had given them for 40 years in the wilderness. In the same manner, they wanted Jesus to give them bread which they could eat for physical nourishment. We need to be careful we don’t make the same mistake and misunderstand the spiritual principle which was being taught.  We need to understand the picture that Christ presents; Christ is the bread which comes down from heaven, in that He is the source and sustainer of spiritual life which is given for men.  

Next, let’s look at the provision of God. Jesus is the bread of life which came down out of heaven. He came to be broken for man.  Notice how many times Jesus states this in His sermon.  He starts by clarifying  their comment regarding manna in vs. 32; “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”  But they still don’t get it.  So He continues to stress that He is the bread of life which has come down out of heaven.  Verse 38, “I have come down from heaven.” Verse 46, He says, “Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God.”  He is saying He has come from heaven.  Verse 50, “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven.”  Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven.”  Verse 58, “This is the bread which came down out of heaven.”  

The bread of heaven then is is the provision of God. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, the bread of heaven, to the world, so that the world might have life by receiving Jesus.  Jesus is emphasizing what John said in his opening remarks in chapter one, that the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and in Him was life.  The plan of God from before creation was to select a people from the face of the earth to be HIs bride, and in order to accomplish that, it was determined through the foreknowledge of God to send Jesus from heaven to man, to offer Himself as an atonement for their sins, that they might be joined to God.  

So in the provision of God, the disciples were challenged to believe in the preexistence of Christ, having been in heaven, being One with God, and now coming down out of heaven to mankind.  And we also see the purpose of God, in sending Christ to be the provision by which man is reconciled to God. 

Notice the purpose of God in verse 32, “It is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.”  Verse 33, “The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven.”  Verse 38, “I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  Verse 39, “This is the will of Him who sent Me.”  Verse 40, “This is the will of My Father.”  And again in verse 57, “As the living Father sent Me.”  So you have here divine preexistence and divine purpose.  The Father sending the Son and the Son’s obedience to the predetermined will of God.

Then there is the predicament of the people.  This is really a two fold problem.  The first predicament is that they cannot understand how Jesus can say that He has come down out of heaven.  After all, they say in vs.42, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”  Don’t forget that Jesus had grown up in this area.  Most of those people came from small villages, and so they would have known Him, seen Him grow up, known His brothers and His family members.  Remember we said that at the wedding in Cana it was probable that one of Jesus’ family was married there that day.  So He was already known prior to His ministry, and now to suddenly declare Himself to be  the Messiah, the Savior of the world, to have come down from heaven, to have seen God, and to be sent from God, would have been a pretty big stretch for their imaginations.  It wasn’t a logical conclusion for those people, in spite of all that Jesus had done.  

So how did Jesus answer that criticism?  Why not perform some undeniable sign? Why not call down fire from heaven?  That would probably at least scare them into obeisance.  Instead, Jesus tells them to stop grumbling.   Notice He says do not grumble among yourselves.  But who are they grumbling against?  I would suggest that it is Jesus they are grumbling against.  I think in effect they are saying, “Who does He think He is?  He puts His pants on the same way we do.  We know where He is from.  We know HIs family.  He is not better than we are.”  Right there, even before they walk away at the difficult statement about eating and drinking His blood they are already turning on Him.

So Jesus says, ““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 SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.”  Now a lot of preachers want to get off the train right there and preach a series of messages on election.  And I could do that as well.  But Jesus is not necessarily presenting a side message here about predestination.  What He is doing is deflecting their criticism.  He is saying in effect; you cannot believe Me because you have not been taught of God about Me.  You don’t know what the Father has said about Me, and so you cannot come to Me. That’s a backhanded rebuke right there.  Because they thought they knew about God.  They thought they knew what the scriptures said about the Messiah.  But Jesus is saying they are ignorant of both.

I find that true today.  People think that they know about God.  They think that they know about Christianity.  But the truth is they have created a god out of their own imagination, which is subservient to what they think God should be like. They’ve substituted a different gospel according to their desires. And when a preacher such as I challenge those assumptions that they hold so dear, I become the object of their grumbling.  Their criticisms.  But as Jesus said, a servant is not greater than his master.  If Jesus suffered that criticism, then so will I.

The other predicament of the people is found in vs.52.  Their predicament is characterized by grumbling and now by arguing. “Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’” Now here is what Jesus had said which prompted this debate.  He said “I am the bread of life, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”  And so their question is based in a literal interpretation of Christ’s words.  “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 

Notice how Jesus emphasizes this truth over and over again.  Verse 53, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself.”  Vs.54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.”  Vs. 55, “For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink.”  Vs. 56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me in and I in him.”  

Now it’s apparent that the Jews stumbled over this saying.  From the perspective of the law, what Christ was asking them to do, even if it were possible, was reprehensible.  It was against the law.  What they were arguing about then is the same thing we might argue about.  In fact, I would suggest that the church has been arguing about the correct interpretation of this since the Middle Ages.  One of the main arguments of the Reformation was against the doctrine of transubstantiation which was and is practiced by the Catholic church, in which they believe the elements of communion literally become His flesh and blood, and by eating it, you receive remission of sin.  However, I don’t believe that this is a statement about communion, but it has been incorrectly interpreted that way for centuries, and consequently has given rise to the view  that when you eat the bread and drinking the wine of communion, you are actually eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ.  

But my answer to that is to remind you of my first point; the metaphor of bread is the means by which Jesus  illustrates Himself as being offered by God to man to give life to the world.  It is a picture, a symbol, the same as the door, the vine, or the light was a symbol.  But the Jews miss the symbolism and are fixated on the literal, physical bread and blood, and consequently miss the truth in what Jesus is saying. And in like manner, those who misconstrue the physical eating and drinking as a means of the remission of sins are in error as well. So after hearing Jesus present the sermon, the people say, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”

And that leads us to the principle of salvation which Christ is declaring. Vs.61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?” Notice that the disciples are still grumbling.  They are grumbling at the dual predicament that Jesus has generated by His message.  And so Jesus answers the first predicament, the one of His coming down from heaven, of His preexistence. He says in vs. 62, “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?”  He is saying, “Look guys, you have a problem with Me saying that I came down from heaven?  What are you going to do when you see Me going back up into heaven? Is that going to be a problem for you too?”  Of course, Jesus knew that He was going to ascend again into heaven after His resurrection.  The problem for those that rejected Him now would be that they would not be there to witness the ascension.  That speaks to the progressive nature of revelation, by the way.  To those that are obedient to the light that they have, God will give more light.  But if you reject the light God has given you, then you will not receive more.  God gives progressive revelation to those that are obedient, as they are being obedient.  What God had revealed to these disciples up to this point should have been enough to believe.  But since they don’t believe HIs words, and the signs which accompanied His message, they would not be given more.  

The answer to the second part of the predicament, that of eating flesh and blood is found in the next verse, 63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” This verse is the key to understanding the symbolism of what Jesus was preaching.  Eating bread, even eating His flesh, profits nothing.  He isn’t speaking of eating literal flesh and drinking literal blood.  That has no benefit whatsoever.  Rather, it is the Spirit who gives life.  If you want spiritual life, then it must come from the Spirit of God.  It cannot come from physical things, it cannot come from physical effort, but it must come from the Spirit of God.  So obviously what Jesus is offering is not to eat of His physical flesh or to drink His literal blood, but spiritual life through the Spirit of God.

And what does that Spirit filled life look like?  Is it getting goosebumps and chills?  It is characterized by animal sounds, or speaking in tongues, or writhing in convulsions?  What constitutes the Spirit given life?  Listen to this: “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  Man!  I hope you get that folks.  I hope you are not duped into thinking that the Holy Spirit gives life through physical convulsions or expressions.  But the word of God is Spirit and life.  That principle is stated by Paul to Timothy in 2 Tim. 3:14-17 “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,  and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  The word is life from God, the scriptures are God breathed, able to produce salvation which is spiritual life, and able to sustain that life by training us in righteousness, so that we might be equipped to live as God would have us live.  The word life there which Jesus uses is zoe in the Greek, not bios, which means organic life, but zoe which refers to the vitality of the soul, an abundant life in the spirit. So that is the principle of salvation: the Spirit gives life, and the words of Christ are spirit and they are life. 

Now then the fifth course; the proposal to believe. There are multiple aspects of what it means to believe in Christ. First in verse 35, He says, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me…” Listen, don't get so hung up on the election of God that you neglect your responsibility in the matter. I don’t think we can fully understand the predestination and election of God.  That doesn’t mean we don’t accept it, it just means it’s above our pay grade.  But what we should understand is our responsibility.  So the first requirement is to come.  Verse 37 joins those two principles together saying, “All that the Father gives Me will come, and the one who comes to me, I will not reject.” So you don’t have to worry about whether or not you were elected for salvation.  If you come to Christ, He will not reject you. Period. Let God worry about God’s responsibility of divine appointment, and you just worry about your responsibility.  Come to Jesus. That is the invitation of Christ.  Come to Me.  All come.  The invitation is open to all who hear.

The second aspect of believing is to look.  Notice verse 40, “This is the will of My Father that everyone who beholds the Son…” Notice the word “everyone.”  There aren’t limitations here based upon our understanding of the doctrine of election.  All who come,  anyone who comes, I will not reject.  Everyone who beholds. He’s not talking about a cursory glance. I really think it’s similar to the idea found in Hebrews 12:2, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”  The word behold in the Greek means to look at intently, to examine, to study, to gaze on. Jesus is saying, look closely at Me.  Examine Me in the light of the scriptures.  He can accept that kind of scrutiny, in fact He desires it, because He knows it will produce faith in Him.

There’s another phrase that’s really critical as well.  Look at verse 35, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me will not hunger and he who believes in Me…”  He who believes in Me.  Verse 40, “This is the will of my Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.”  Verse 47, “I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 20:31 says the same thing. The theme verse for the whole gospel of John, “These things are written that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in His name.”  Salvation is about believing.   Another way to understand it would be John 1:12, “As many as received Him.”  You have to come.  You have to look.  You have to be exposed to the truth, but you must believe. 

Going back to the metaphor of the bread, go to verse 50, and from verse 50 on is really the proposal to believe unto salvation from Jesus. “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat,”   Believing is eating.  Taking in, receiving, appropriating.  Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”  Verse 57, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.”  Again, verse 58, the end of the verse, “He who eats this bread will live forever.”  Eating the bread is a powerful metaphor that everyone should understand as believing or receiving who Jesus is and what He came to do.  You have to receive the truth about Christ.  It’s not enough to just believe He existed.  It’s not enough to just come to church  and listen.  You have to eat.  You have to appropriate. That’s what it means to believe.  You have to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior.  That’s our responsibility.

You not only have to believe in Him as living bread, you have to believe in Him as dying, which is represented by blood.  Verse 51, “I am the living bread.  I came down out of heaven.  If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”  There He’s talking about giving up His life so that we might have life. But listen to what He says in verse 53, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself.”  54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life.”  Verse 55, “For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink.”  Verse 56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me in and I in him.” 

Blood is simply a metonym for His death, as it is throughout the New Testament. You must believe in Jesus as the preexistent Son of God who came into the world and is the source of spiritual life, eternal life, and you must believe in His sacrificial death in order to be saved.  As bread, He gives life.  As blood, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  Blood, then, speaks of His death by which He makes a sacrifice for our sin.  

That brings us to the last point, the profession of faith. When the disciples hear the words that Jesus says, they do not accept it.  They say this is too difficult for us to accept. Vs.66, “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” So Jesus turns to the 12 and says, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” And Simon Peter, speaking on behalf of the 12 gives the quintessential profession of faith in vs.68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

What a great profession of faith! First of all, note that even though it was a difficult statement, Peter recognizes that there is no where else to go because these are the words of eternal life. I find that so many people today are seeking for a more palatable gospel.  And so when you speak of judgement, of sin, of the wrath of God, of repentance, of obedience, they don’t like the sound of those types of doctrine.  So they turn away.  They walk away, looking for something more palatable, something that is more appealing to the flesh. They want a taste of religion but still to be able to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. But the fact is, that the truth is life, and anything less than the truth is a lie.  It’s like taking your prescription if you are seriously ill.  You have to take it all, if it is going to have the desired cure.  I will admit, there are some difficult things in the gospel.  It’s not easy to renounce the world, to give up sinful habits that you enjoy.  It’s not easy to let go of the pursuit of fame or wealth in exchange for life in the Spirit.  But death to the flesh is the way to life.  And if you don’t accept it all, then it’s not going to be effective.  There is no half truth and no half gospel.

And notice also that Peter capitalizes on what Jesus said earlier in vs.63 which says, “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Peter reiterates that in his profession; “You have the words of eternal life.”  He believes the word of Christ.  Secondly, he believes in Christ.  And what exactly does He believe?  He believes and has come to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God.  That’s a tremendous statement of faith.  That is saving faith.  That is faith whereby God imputes righteousness to our account.  

Peter and the disciples don’t know everything yet.  But as I said the gospel is progressive.  God is willing to take the faith of a child and develop it to mature faith.  But we start with what light we have been shown.  And as we are obedient in faith to that light, then He will show us more light.  Sometimes we have to believe what we don’t understand in order to gain understanding.  In due time, Peter and the apostles would see everything clearly.  But for now, they understand enough.  They understand that Jesus is holy, that He is from God, that He preexisted with God, and that God had sent Him to earth so that we might have eternal life.  They believed that He was the source of life, and that His word was the bread of heaven by which life is sustained.

Listen, Jesus spoke this sermon 2000 years ago, but today I believe God has spoken to you through His word, and as a result, God has given you a proposal; to believe in Christ, to receive Him as your Savior and Lord.  I trust that you have made a profession of your faith in response to that proposal; That He is the Holy One of God, that He is the source of life, even eternal life, and that believing in Him, you will trust Him for the salvation of your soul.  That is only made possible by the fact that Jesus offered Himself as our substitute, bearing our sins upon the cross, so that God might transfer our sins to Him, and Christ’s righteousness to us.  If you believe that, and receive that, then you have eternal life.  Note that vs.54, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, HAS eternal life.  Not will have, but has now.  It is the present reality of your salvation. Eternal life begins today if you receive Him today.  I trust that today is the day of your salvation. 

The spiritual vs. the physical kingdom, John 6:22-36

I think that quite often, the greatest difficulty in living the Christian life is being able to distinguish between the physical and the spiritual realities of our faith.  By that I mean, how does God operate in the physical realm, and how does God operate in the spiritual realm, and by extension, how are we to operate in both?  I have said from this pulpit repeatedly, that every physical healing or miracle presented in the gospels, is given to illustrate a spiritual principle.  For instance, what I mean by that is  when Jesus healed the paralyzed man, spiritually speaking He was giving life to that which was dead, so that it illustrated spiritual new life in Christ.  I hope we can all agree with that.

But let’s take that principle and work it out more thoroughly and I think you will realize it’s difficulty.  Does that mean then that God is not concerned as much about the physical as He is the spiritual?  Does the fact that we do not see paralyzed people restored to full use of their limbs today emblematic of the fact that the blessings of the kingdom of God are primarily spiritual?  Is it wrong  then to expect to expect faith to produce physical healing? Are miracles something that we should expect in this new life in Christ?  Or does being a Christian mean we find spiritual life which transcends physical difficulties?  And even if that is true, does that mean that all physical difficulties must simply be endured in suffering until we one day die and then in the resurrection given a new body?  Is our hope only in the resurrection? 

I don’t know if I can fully answer all those questions in our study today.  But I will truthfully say that I ask myself many of those questions on an ongoing basis.  I am quite familiar with all the arguments and doctrines on both sides of all those questions.  But in practice, in day to day living, I still find myself asking where is the line of demarcation between the physical world we live in, and the spiritual kingdom we belong to.  And I must confess that for me it is a daily struggle to walk that line and live within it’s limitations.  

But I believe that this question of the spiritual and the physical characteristics of the kingdom of God is exactly what Jesus is teaching in this passage.  And yet it is still difficult at times to understand precisely the limits of what our salvation qualifies us to expect.  And to be quite frank, even Jesus Himself seems at times to deliberately leave us with some questions unanswered even as He is teaching us the principles.  

The question though which is quite clearly presented in this passage is - what constitutes the kingdom of God? How do we understand it, grab hold of it, appropriate it from the spiritual realm into the physical realm and what does that look like?  And I think we find a key to answering this question in vs.15, as the people wished to make Christ king in response to His miracles, and yet Jesus obviously does not want that to happen, and so He withdraws from the crowd and disappears to the mountain alone, only to remerge walking across the storm tossed lake in the middle of the night and then arriving at the opposite shore, leaving the multitudes to try to figure out where He went.  

Now that would be almost comical if it were not such a serious issue.  Imagine a preacher today becoming so popular that the people want to make him president of the United States.  Most of us would think that would be a great opportunity.  Christians seem to think that is the answer to our problems, to get a Christian into the White House.  And then imagine that this immensely popular preacher disappears from public view and goes into hiding right before the national convention.  It would go against all reason for a successful, popular Christian preacher to act like that, and throw away such a great opportunity to exercise his influence in the nation.  And yet that is exactly what Jesus did. He disappeared. 

Now though it is not stated here explicitly, we know why Jesus refused to be king of Israel.  We know that He came to establish a spiritual kingdom and not a physical one.  He said to Pilate in John 18:36 "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”   But we might imagine that even after His resurrection He could have chosen to set up His rule on the throne of Israel and began to physically rule over the world.  But instead He chose to leave this world and send us His Holy Spirit to rule over our hearts.  So we know without a doubt from the vantage point of history that Christ did not come to establish a physical kingdom but a spiritual one.  We also know through prophecy that He will one day come again and at that time He will physically rule the world when the world will be spiritually and physically remade.

So there is this disconnect as Christians in determining how we live in God’s spiritual kingdom and yet live in the physical realm.  On the one hand, Jesus as God’s ambassador to Earth, reveals certain spiritual principles in physical manifestations of power, and yet on the other hand, He does not want to establish a physical kingdom by exerting His rule physically.  And as I indicated, not only was it difficult for the Jews to understand, but it is difficult for us to understand in this age.  On the one hand we read in Phil. 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  And on the other hand we read in Phil.1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”  It’s tough to make the right distinction sometimes as to what we are to expect in the spiritual life. 

And then to add even more confusion there are a lot of people out there which are teaching that as a Christian you never need to have to suffer at all.  But that we are to claim success or prosperity and God’s blessing on our lives so that we are able to live above the fray and have victory in all things.  They teach that the things which beleaguer the world such as sickness or hardship does not have to be the lot of people of faith.  If you have enough faith, you can create your own nirvana.  That is widely taught, and immensely popular, especially by certain preachers on television, but also in many churches throughout our country.  

So as I said, I don’t anticipate being able to fully answer all those questions and concerns here today, but I do believe that this discourse that Jesus engages in here is the beginning point for us to understand the distinctions between the spiritual and the physical.  So I want to look at five of those distinctions, in a sort of comparative manner, and I hope we will get some insight into understanding the difference between the spiritual and physical perspectives.  And so we are going to look at two types of appetites, two types of work, two types of signs, two types of bread, and two types of disciples.  

First two types of appetites.  Remember the context; Jesus had fed the multitude bread and fish on the mountain the day before.  Probably close to 15000 people had eaten dinner and been filled up from one little boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and two fish.  That was a dramatic miracle of great magnitude which 15000 people experienced.  The result was they wanted to make Christ king of Israel, but He disappears because that is not what He came to do at that time.  

So the next day the multitudes are looking for Jesus.  They can’t find Him, they know that He didn’t get in the boat with the disciples, and so eventually they get into boats themselves and go to the other side, thinking that somehow He will eventually go to His home to Capernaum and they will be there when He arrives.  Turns out, He is already there.  He walked across the lake in the middle of the night in the midst of a storm.  They don’t know that, so they say, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 

This would have been a good opportunity for Jesus to put another feather in His cap, and tell them about how He walked upon the water and all of that story.  But Jesus doesn’t do that.  He instead discerns their motives for seeking Him, and so He cuts to the chase.  He says is in vs. 26, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

So here is the problem.  These people are seeking Jesus.  Most preachers would think that is a good problem to have.  People want to come to your church.  They are seeking you out.  But not so much for Jesus.  He wants seekers who are interested in the truth, not just looking for a free meal.  See, the difference is that they had an appetite, but for the wrong things.  They wanted to eat.  They wanted to fill their stomachs again.  They were hungry again.  And their appetite for physical fulfillment was what was driving them to Jesus.  

So there is an appetite which is geared towards the physical.  It’s an appetite fixated on finding physical fulfillment.  On being physically satisfied.  And for those people, they will find that nothing physical really ever satisfies.  We are programed to eat three meals a day everyday, because everyday we get hungry again. And that is a picture of the food which perishes.  

Jesus is offering another type of food.  Spiritual food.  He says the Son of Man will give you spiritual food, which gives eternal life.  But they could not understand that. They could only see the physical bread. That is why He rebukes them by saying “you seek me not because you saw the signs but because you ate of the food.” In other words, the miracle of feeding the 5000 was not an end in itself, to quench physical hunger, but it was to be a sign.  And a sign points to something.  A sign advertises something.  And what that sign should have revealed to them was the truth about Christ; that He was the source of eternal life.  

In Matthew 5:6, Jesus speaks of satisfying our spiritual hunger, saying, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  So that is the comparison that I think Jesus is speaking of.  They were seeking satisfaction for their physical appetite, and consequently would not find satisfaction.  If they would have had a spiritual appetite, then they would have found Jesus, who can satisfy our spiritual appetite for eternity.

Then the second comparison He makes is two types of work. Vs.28, “Therefore they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’”  Now obviously, two types of work refers to physical works or spiritual works.  The work that they are asking about is physical work, because they say, “what shall we do?”   This is really the quest of religion, isn’t it?  All religion is a system of works whereby man seeks to gain acceptance with God.  And that is what Judaism had devolved into.  A system of works, keeping the law, keeping the Sabbath, circumcision, sacrifices, etc.  This was the religion of  Judaism.  Remember what the rich young ruler said to Jesus in Mark 10:17, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The Jews were conditioned to think in terms of works as a means of salvation.  

So when Jesus says that there is a work of God which results in eternal life in vs.27, they want to know what work that is.  Like the Jews that asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment.  And today in religion the question is the same; what must I do?  What work can I do to ensure my acceptance before God?  

Well, the answer to that question is that it’s not according to our works. Titus 3:5 says it’s “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”  So on the one hand Jesus said in Matt.5:6 that we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, but in Titus it says that it is not by our works of righteousness.  So then how are we saved?  Well,it must be by another’s work.  That is the answer.  By faith we appropriate Christ’s righteousness for ourselves.  

That is what Jesus is referring to in vs. 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”  Believe in Him.  What does that mean?  They could see Him, so it could not refer to simply believing that He existed. To simply believe in God does not save you.  Then what?  To believe that Jesus was sent by God, that He was God.  And if He was God, then He was righteous and holy.  That there is none righteous but God. Romans 10:10 says, “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Note the contrast in what Jesus says though in vs.29; He says that faith is a work of God.They had asked what work they could do, and Jesus responds by saying what work God has done.  Faith is not a work of the flesh, but a work of the Spirit.  Ephesians 2:1 in the KJV says, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”  The idea behind that verse is that God must give us spiritual life; eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to understand so that we might believe.  Faith then is a gift of God.  It says that very thing just a few verses further along in Eph.2:8, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”  Neither grace nor faith is of yourselves.  But in the mystery of God He predestined us, and called us, and justified us, so that He might glorify us.  Salvation is a work of God from start to finish.  But the Jews thought that salvation was through their own work.  But like Jesus told Nicodemus in chapter 3, if you want to be spiritual, and receive spiritual things, then you must be born again spiritually.  So we are to trust in the spiritual work of God through Christ. That is faith, that is what it means to believe in Him.

Then they asked Him another question, and this one illustrates yet another comparison; the comparison of physical miracles or spiritual signs.  In vs. 30 they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so 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 OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’"  

This is the cry of the world, the cry of the unbeliever, the cry of the doubters.  Give us a miracle so that we might believe.   Jesus said to the crowds in Luke 11:29 "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.”  I have to interpret that as it is wicked to ask for a sign.  You can even go so far as to say that it is a sin to ask for a miracle, if you are asking as a precondition for faith.  Romans 14:23 says, “whatever is not of faith is sin.”  And remember what Heb. 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

I will admit to a similar failure of faith, and that is to doubt or fail to trust the Lord because He does not act in a supernatural method when I ask Him too.  I will say this with some degree of admitted confusion.  Sometimes it’s difficult to know what we are at liberty to ask for, and what things we need to trust God in spite of. I will admit to often wanting God to act in a supernatural fashion and when He doesn’t do it as I wish, I find myself doubting the goodness of God, or the reliability of God, or perhaps my understanding of God.  And in such cases I would just say that we must be careful not to treat God like a genie, which if we say abbra caddabra, in just the right formula, He is obligated to perform our wishes according to our command.  God is not a genie, nor is He our servant, but He is Lord, and we are His servants.  So we must come to Him not with an air of entitlement, but of entreatment for His favor, if it is according to His will.

So what they were looking for was a daily supply of food, like Moses seemed to provide.  The Jews followed Moses because everyday there was manna from heaven.  That was the daily evidence that they needed to follow Moses, even though they did not accept all that Moses said, yet they followed him because of the miracles.  But Jesus corrects their thinking.  Vs.32, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”  

Now there is a lot in those verses which we don’t have time to expand on right now, but suffice it to say that it’s like what I said earlier; a sign points to something or someone.  And in the case of the manna from heaven, Jesus said Moses didn’t give them the bread, God did.  And the sign of manna from heaven was designed to point to the bread of heaven which God gave to the world, that is Jesus Christ.  They not only misattributed the miracle to Moses, but they completely missed the message of the sign.

That is I think the problem with the church today that is so taken with signs and wonders.  They point back to the signs of the apostles and say that since they had that power, then we should have the same power.  But they make the same mistake that these Jews made; they misattribute the power as residing in the apostles.  It was God who was working through them.  It wasn’t in the apostle’s power to perform miracles.  God had to do it, and He did it for a purpose.  And that purpose was to point to Jesus Christ.  The signs and wonders of the apostles was to attest to the fact that they spoke the life giving words of Christ.  And once that was established, and the Bible was written, then the signs and wonders ceased, even as the manna from heaven ceased. 

Jesus did not need to give manna from heaven everyday in order to prove He was the Son of God.  The life that He came to give was not physical, which is sustained by bread.  But the life He came to give was spiritual, and in that sense He gave Himself once and it was sufficient for all the world, for all eternity.

So that leads us to the fourth point, where we see that there are two types of bread. Vs. 34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread."  Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”  I think that the Jews were still expecting physical bread.  I guess they could not really see what Jesus was talking about beyond what they could see, touch or taste.  They were sensual, physical, but spiritually dead. They desired an experience that they could feel or taste.  And so notice that they sound like they are asking for the bread of life, but the fact that they add “always” indicates that they still don’t understand the spiritual nature of what Jesus is talking about.  They are still hung up on the manna which fell from heaven every day for the life of the Jews.  That indicates they are still thinking about the physical.  That reminds me of those poor people that go to confession week after week, saying prayer after prayer, doing penance after penance, trying to find assurance of salvation.  Trying to earn their way into heaven by being good.  Instead of realizing that by one sacrifice their sins were put away forever they sacrifice Christ daily in an effort to effect their salvation.  But Heb.9:26 says, “but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

So there is a bread of self effort that results in only sustaining the physical.  But there is another spiritual bread which gives everlasting life, abundant life, spiritual life. And Jesus says if you eat of this bread, you will never be hungry again.  He obviously is speaking of something better than manna, better than daily bread, but bread which is eternal, which satisfies forever. 

I’m reminded of how back in the hippy movement, it was popular to use “bread” as the slang word for money.  I guess they were right to some degree.  Money is like physical bread.  It makes the world go around.  It really takes me back to the original statement of Jesus in vs.27, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.”  I think of so many people today who are working for the physical bread which perishes.  They are working for what they call the “blessings” of God according to the American Dream.  That means a nice house, cars, vacations, entertainment, the latest technology.  I particularly see our Christian young people seduced into thinking that they have to acquire those things first, at whatever expense spiritually it may take, and then at some point in the future they think that once they have achieved the American Dream then they will be able to focus more on God’s desires.  But the truth is, they have believed the lie of the devil that there is satisfaction to be found in the physical bread of this world.  It will not satisfy, and so in their old age they will still be looking for more, more of what will never satisfy.  

I can only hope that such people become truly followers of Christ.  Because the truth is that there were two kinds of disciples there that day in Capernaum listening to Jesus. All of the people there that day were following Christ.  And John even goes so far as to call them all disciples.  But he was using the word disciples as a very general term.  It means followers, learners, students.  But some were following Jesus for the wrong reasons.  They wanted the daily benefits to their life that He seemed to be able to give. They were looking for a healer. They were looking for a political leader to deliver them from physical oppression.  There were probably as many reasons for following Him as there were people there.  But when Jesus really laid down the requirements for what constituted true discipleship, then it says in vs. 66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”

Why did they fall away?  Because they did not believe His word.  Jesus said in vs. 35,  "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.”  They believed in what they could see, taste and touch, what seemed good to them.  They did not believe in what they could not physically see, and so failed to appropriate spiritual insight.

Listen, we are going to continue this sermon of Jesus next week and we will look at all of this in more detail.  But I hope our study today has led you to examine yourself in light of the comparison between the spiritual and the physical.  What is your motivation for following the Lord?  Is it only in hope that He will fulfill your appetite?  Is your appetite for things of this world, for the physical, for the material?  Or do you hunger and thirst after righteousness?  How about your work?  Are you trying to work your way into heaven?  Are you hoping that in the long run your good deeds will outweigh your bad and so God will let you in?  Or is your work faith in what Christ has accomplished for you?  And how about your attitude towards the supernatural?  Have you found yourself trusting or not trusting God based on your efforts to manipulate God to do your will?  And then the ultimate question; have you eaten of the bread of life which satisfies, which saves forever?  If so, then you are truly a disciple of Christ.  But if you are seeking the bread of material gain, and trying to use Christ to fulfill that desire, then I’m afraid that you haven’t yet believed in all that Christ is, and came to be.  He came to be our substitute to pay the penalty for our sins, to be our Savior by His sacrifice, and our Lord and King when we surrender our will to do His will.  I hope that you are not one of those who turns away from the truth of Christ, but believes on Him unto salvation.