John: The Word Became Flesh - John 6:22-60

John: The Word Became Flesh - Part 15

Preacher

Scott Liddell

Date
Jan. 7, 2024
Time
10:30

Transcription

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.

[0:00] Let's read the passage together and we have a lengthy passage. I want us to listen well Scott he's gonna preach it, but this is the only time we're gonna read through the whole thing together So let's listen John 6 22 to 60 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 that his disciples had gone away alone Other boats from Tiberius 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 When they found him on the other side of the sea they said to him rabbi When did you come here and Jesus answered them truly truly?

[0:51] I say to you you are seeking me not because you saw 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 then they said to him What must we do to be doing the works of God and Jesus answered them?

[1:17] This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent So they said to him then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?

[1:28] What work do you perform? Our father's ate manna in the wilderness as it is written He gave them bread from heaven to eat and Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you It was not Moses who gave them 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 life to the world They said to him sir give us this bread always and 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 said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe 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

[2:30] And I will raise him on the last day So the Jews grumbled about him because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven They said is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know How does he now say I have come down from heaven and Jesus answered them?

[2:49] 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 all 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 I am the bread of life Your father's ate the 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 give for the life of the world is my flesh the Jews then disputed among themselves saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

[3:46] So Jesus said to them 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 him 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 a living father sent me 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 of the father's ate and died Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum When many of his disciples heard it they said this is a hard saying who can listen to it If there was something that were to occur each and every day you would think that you would

[4:47] Anticipate it well it occurs every day like clockwork It's nothing new and yet I have observed something that I have not yet anticipated well every day and It was this week as I was reflecting upon the message that it became apparent that I have yet some work to do in Anticipation of this event and that is this here's a confession. I do not anticipate hunger well I Leave my morning. I get up in the morning. I have my Daily routine my morning routine. I am quickly Preparing for I'm eager to get to work My head is reeling from all that I have to do and I can't get to wait to get to work so I can start in on these things and and so I leave and I don't anticipate getting hungry and yet I do every day and so then I work hard and then all of a sudden my stomach starts growling and I keep pushing through it I think oh

[5:51] That's that's unfortunate and and I keep going and and and then I All of a sudden I can't go any further and I think I am hungry and God has made us as such persons to to Have hunger to alert us you need food to live and just like that I believe that we have a spiritual hunger that God has hardwired into all of humanity and we ache and we groan and and There is only one bread that is talked about in our text today that will satisfy that spiritual hunger who is Jesus Christ But we We try to fill it if you watch society and watch our lives you may see the people trying to fill and Satisfy this hunger we do it a number of ways To fill this emptiness inside Some do it through addictive behavior sudden like social media or gambling food coffee porn

[6:54] Drugs alcohol or some controlling behavior that we just see keep tend to do something to quiet the hunger pains of our heart and In this passage that Jay just read this lengthy passage I see three themes and so we're gonna talk about three themes that we see in this passage of how Jesus is The bread of life and he is the one who can satisfy one's spiritual hunger So the first so the big idea in this passage is that Jesus is the bread of life He says that a number of times in this passage, but we come to our first theme and that is this God gives bread to those who are hungry. What's interesting about our passage is and I'm gonna ask that we keep the Bible open To our text today in John chapter 6 because I'm just gonna be referencing verses rather quickly Because of the 40 verses that I'm supposed to preach and so we all can just get some humor out of this so but

[7:58] We say we see if we start in verse 22 on the next day the crowd What is on the next day of the previous day the sermon before Christmas for us?

[8:09] It was what just occurred Jesus fed the the folks on the on the hillside with the 5,000 people 5,000 men totaling about 15 to 20,000 people Jesus just fed them all of this bread and on the heels of that bread and the fish that Jesus fed and Multiplied and fed all of these individuals miraculously on the very next day They set out looking for Jesus because guess what they're hungry They're hungry and we'll see that more and more clearly in the message in this miraculously event of Jesus feeding the 5,000 Caused them to consider another event when Jesus when God fed his people Israel and that is When Moses took them out of Egypt led them through the wilderness and God fed them manna in the wilderness And we know that because look on verse 31 we read our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and it is written

[9:14] He gave them bread from heaven to eat and so there was this bread that came down and Arrested on the land in in the wilderness there and that's how God fed them and Jesus is claiming to be this bread that Condescended from heaven to earth as well. And so we I would have loved to have been there and Seeing the people's reaction when they saw manna for the very first time we read the event in Exodus 16 14 through 15 this may be on the screen for us. It says this and when the dew had gone up There was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake like thing fine as frost on the ground And when the people saw it they said to one another what is it?

[9:56] For they did not know what it was and Moses said to them it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat And so for 40 years God miraculously provided this manna on the ground for the people of Israel And why did God send this bread first because they were hungry?

[10:15] They were traveling across the wilderness with no way to have enough food to sustain a nation of a million people out on the wilderness Secondly God loved them God wanted them to know that he would provide for them and he wanted them to be have an unmistakable experience that of God's Extravagant and kind provision and he did so through manna and then thirdly manna was a picture of what was to come It was a foreshadow of what was to come God satisfied Israel's physical hunger in the wilderness that one day this manna would foreshadow a one that would provide for their spiritual hunger in Jesus Christ and so this they're linking these two forms of bread if you will one in the wilderness to satisfy a physical hunger and Jesus now is trying to Communicate to them. Hey, I am here and I'm the one that can satisfy your spiritual hunger And that is the essence of what is taking place in our text today

[11:19] And It says on the heels of this look what they do in verse 23 They got in their boats from Tiberius from near the place where they had eaten bread after the Lord had given thanks So catch the context they had just eaten bread. It's on the very next day They they they had just eaten bread. They're going to that place So when the crowd saw Jesus was not there Jesus isn't at the place where he had just fed them nor his disciples they They themselves got into boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus and when they found him on the other side of the sea They said to him rabbi, when did you come here?

[11:57] They are looking for Jesus because they're hungry They know their We know their primary concern was physical hunger because of what Jesus said to them in verse 26 and Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you you are Seeking me not because you saw signs But because you ate your fill of loaves. I'll tell you why you're seeking me It's not because you saw the miraculous signs of me Multiplying the bread that I had in the fish and the loaves not because you saw the signs that confirmed my message and Affirmed who I am as the Messiah not because of that. It's because you had your fill of loaves That's why you're seeking me and Jesus knows it and he tells them directly People were seeking physical bread, but Jesus metaphorically speaking it says I am the bread of life

[12:57] And I'm the only one who can satisfy your eternal spiritual hunger But let's be honest often We hunger for the wrong kind of bread these individuals the Jews were seeking Jesus because they were seeking is there his physical bread once again and He he was providing another Kind of bread spiritual that would satisfy their spiritual hunger he the bread of life Jesus being the bread of life that could only satisfy their spiritual hunger But oftentimes even we ourselves seek the wrong kind of bread Leon Morris says it this way the people were moved not by full hearts, but by Because they wanted their bellies to be full We are often captive to our physical longings Consider how much time and effort and energy we put into making sure that our physical hunger is met

[14:00] We wake up in the morning. We think about food Some think only about coffee, but that's I'm gonna say that's still food. I Question the nutrient value, but that's a different subject Throughout the day we run from here and there lunch to dinner to coffee And we spend time making food heading to the store buying groceries All to ensure that we don't get hungry Compare that with how much time and energy and effort we put into making sure our spiritual hunger is met How often do we think about our need for Jesus throughout our day?

[14:40] Do we Do we give much time and consideration for our spiritual lives what nourishes our souls If your life concerns Consists of working day after day to put food on the table It's going to feel very empty if that is your only and primary concern If all your energy is targeted at making your physical needs met You will feel like you have a wasted life Is it no wonder why so many Christians feel so bored and restless trying to fulfill a spiritual need with physical possessions or wants You may be spending your life Pursuits with things that cannot satisfy if I only could get another promotion at work if I could only Have another week of vacation away if I could only have that sports victory

[15:40] If I could only have another fancy meal if I could only perform in one more theatrical performance if I Could have a new article of clothing another piece of technology another vehicle to drive Another day at the gym another day with a hyper controlled regimen of nothing But super healthy foods if this is your life No wonder why you may feel bored or restless pursuing things that ultimately cannot satisfy Or satisfy very temporarily Jesus is the bread of life. He is the only one who can fill this emptiness inside A full life is a life that is filled with A full life is spent pursuing Jesus Second theme that we see not only does God give bread to those who are hungry, but God

[16:42] Bread God's bread can give life and I when I'm saying God's bread I'm speaking of Jesus God's bread who is Jesus Christ the bread of life can is the only one who can give life I Have sometimes been Given and assigned the moniker captain obvious around our home It is because I think that sometimes my wife may miss the obvious and so I want to call it to her attention So I may hurt myself doing an activity or working on the house in some way and hit something and I'll say That hurt just in case you might missed it and didn't know how to Acknowledge what the grimacing of my faiths was I want to call it out that hurt. I also may Have a flat tire to begin my day which has happened or Mechanical failure something doesn't start and I will say something like this This is probably not how the best day of my life will begin now I don't know but I'm just saying this probably what it is

[17:45] And so I have now been given this moniker of captain obvious and so let me state the obvious for us No matter how good food tastes No, how much how much money you spend on your next meal?

[17:57] No matter how much how large the quantity size and the portion size of your meal is no matter how amazing Your eating experience was at some point in the future. You will become hungry Food only lasts so long Satisfies own so long then one gets hungry again ultimately If one does not eat one will surely die Look how Jesus recognizes this in chapter 6 verse 49 Jesus says to them your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and they died They got hungry again and and they ate manna in the wilderness a day Earlier the bread that Jesus filled them with on the hillside that bread could not keep them alive That bread could not keep them alive indefinitely They shared a miraculous meal for one day But then they were still going to die and this is what Jesus is communicating to them

[18:57] I like what C. S. Lewis said concerning fading hungers. He said it this way I cannot find a cup of tea. He was British. I cannot find a cup of tea big enough I cannot find a book long enough Eventually all that is physical will eventually fade and come to an end leaving one longing for more Eventually food and bread will not keep us alive neither will medicine nor essential oils Neither will money or the things that money can buy neither will friendships neither will family So is there any hope?

[19:35] And this is what Jesus is getting at. Is there any hope then? If people ate manna in the wilderness and they're going to die and so are you that's the implication that Jesus is communicating So what is the hope? Jesus throughout this passage promises that he is the bread of life To all who receive him he will eternally satisfy and satisfy a spiritual hunger forever Not only will this manna have satisfied those in the wilderness Temporarily every day they had to go out and find more manna For that day's portion But he says I am the bread of life and I will satisfy eternally And he's making this point only God's bread can give life is what he's communicating Look how Jesus promises to be this bread of life in this passage

[20:38] So we're going to walk through several verses in rapid fire fashion. Look with me in verse 27 Do not work for the food that perishes but For the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of man will give you for on him God the Father has set his seal look with me in verse 36 For the bread of God is he so who is the bread of God? It's a person. It's Jesus So the for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world notice this This commonality of the the manna coming down from heaven and Jesus saying I'm the one who came down from heaven This is going to satisfy temporarily and you'll still get hungry and die This is the one that can satisfy eternally and live forever Look with me in verse 40 for this is the will of the Father that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him Should have eternal life and I will rise him up on the last day. Look with me in verse 30 47 and 48 Truly truly I'd say to you whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life

[21:43] Look with me in verse 50 for 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 comes down from heaven If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever the bread that I will give For this life of I'm sorry And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh Look with me in verse 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks to my blood has eternal life And I will receive him up on that last day and we'll get into what that feeding is all about And look with me in verse 47 and 48 As the living Father has sent me and I because of the Father So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me This 58 this is the bread of that comes down from heaven Not like the bread of your father's eight and died Not like the bread of your father's eight and died whoever feeds on this bread will live forever

[22:44] What is Jesus communicating? Jesus is communicating he is the bread of life He is the bread that gives life and life that will never end. How many times did we see has eternal life?

[22:57] We'll raise him up on that last day. It will never end this bread There's this life has two dimensions we see in this passage firstly It makes an individual alive spiritually now Through believing in Christ the tony work on the Christ Forgiving sin raising from the dead to all who believe in his person and his work may have eternal life This is what he's communicating An individual who comes and places their faith in Christ and believes in him has eternal life today You don't have to wait until you die to have eternal life. You have it today Second it means that after you die physically you'll be resurrected to live with Jesus forever four times in this passage In our text that Jesus promises he will raise people up on the last day in verse 39 40 44 and 54 all have he will raise them up in the last day He is the bread of life and he gives life

[24:01] It will never falter He will never fail He will never fade The believer does not need to fear death. He promises to raise you up on that last day What a beautiful thing Thirdly we have three themes. Here's the third one first one. God gives bread to those who are hungry second one God only God Only God's bread can give life who is Jesus and then thirdly we must eat the bread of life Imagine being famished You've had an extremely busy day You haven't had much to eat your stomach is growling And you think all you can do is think about food. I'm hungry. Where is food?

[24:55] And and if you're like me at that moment, you may make poor choices in your food consumption You sit down at the table, but perhaps a plate of dinner rolls is set before you. What do you do?

[25:06] You take not just one You take five verse 10 Why? Because the only way you can satisfy your hunger is to eat Bread is the only way Ah bread only does good if you eat of it Look with me in verse 53 and 54. This is what Jesus is communicating You must eat the bread of life. Jesus is saying in this verse 53 So Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you unless you eat at the flesh Of the Son of man and drink of this blood You have no life in you unless you do that verse 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks of my blood has eternal life And I will raise him up on that last day and Jesus so what is Jesus doing here talking about Eating his flesh and drinking his blood is he endorsing some form of cannibalism here? What's going on? No categorically no Jesus answered them in verse 29

[26:10] Verse 29 kind of unhinges What eating his flesh and drinking of his blood is all about it is a metaphor for believing So now look how many times believing is mentioned in this passage collectively What is he's talking about in verse 29? Jesus answered him This is the work of God that you believe in him in whom you have he has sent Look with me in verse 50 or 35 verse 35 Jesus said to them Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger whoever believes in me shall never thirst Eating and drinking of his flesh is simply a metaphor for believing and lastly in verse 47 truly truly I say to whoever whoever believes has eternal life Whoever believes in the person work of Jesus the bread of life has eternal life So eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. What is what are you doing when you do that?

[27:10] You're internalizing what Jesus has done on the cross In shedding his blood and crucifying his flesh Believing in that person of work on the cross for your salvation that he atoned for your sins This is what he's communicating When you take bread you believe it is safe for you to eat Plus you believe it will give you strength you can't halfway eat Chewing and spitting out something is not eating you either eat it or you don't The same is true for believing in Christ. You either believe in him or you don't You either trust that he will give you life so as to receive him fully and completely or you don't There's no middle ground when it comes to believing in Jesus When you eat physical food and internalize physical food

[28:13] Thinking about eating is not the same as eating I think about eating a lot I still am hungry Knowing nutritional facts about this what you're eating is not the same as eating Understanding how food is processed in the body carbohydrates and sugars and all the rest Is not the same as eating So to liken that to your spiritual life To believe is to internalize the truth about Jesus It is to receive him into your soul think about Jesus is not the same as believing You can think about Jesus all you want. It's not the same as believing Knowing the facts about Jesus is not the same as believing Understanding how Jesus saves a person is not the same as believing I was a baptized Church going person on my way to hell

[29:21] I could have told you everything you wanted to know about Jesus But I did not believe and it wasn't until my brother at 19 years old Arrested me with a few questions that caused me to consider And it was then that I placed my faith in Christ and believed in Christ Knowing about Jesus is not the same as believing in Christ Knowing the nutritional facts is not the same as eating Believing is staking one's whole life On the fact that I will not have eternal life without the true bread of life Jesus Christ To believe in this person is work by placing your hope only upon him Now you would think after Jesus has made this case throughout this whole passage That the individuals hearing this the Jews would have just fallen on their face and said I get it

[30:23] I believe But that wasn't their response Let's look at the few of their responses that I have three of them that I want to cover and then we'll close First response is outright rejection look with me in verses 35 and 36 And 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 There's the invitation believe in me. You'll never hunger. You'll never thirst believe in me. That's all it will take Verse 36, but I said to you That you have seen me and yet do not believe You've seen me Yet you do not believe sadly the crowds predominant Predominantly chose to reject Christ Today perhaps you're sitting here You recognize that God and the person of this in the second person of the Godhead condescended to earth born of a virgin He did so for you And he lived a sinless life ultimately to die on the cross for sin Raising three days from later three days later from the grave

[31:26] And he did this to atone for sin to forgive sin on your behalf And to enjoy eternal life to know God is all you have to do is believe in that person in Jesus Christ the bread of life and his work But it's not But it's amazing How many today still reject this?

[31:50] And they and perhaps you sitting here today may still be rejecting this reality and truth and he offers eternal life to you Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the bread of life that will sustain eternally Second response that you have so they have outright rejection Second response that we see in this passage is in verse 41 and 42 They make excuses I do not receive glory from people verse 42. Oh, sorry, that's fourth chapter five Chapter six 41 and 42 So the Jews grumbled about him because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven They said is this Jesus not the son of Joseph?

[32:40] Isn't he the son of Joseph the father and mother who we know? How does he now say I have come down from heaven? Remember Jesus is the second manna if you will he the first manna that fed the people in the wilderness with moses Physically and he he says I condescended from heaven as well, which he did born of a virgin Mary But but that was a hang-up from them. So when when when in verse 41 we can see the hang-up I The Jews crumbled at Jesus because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven. They have they have a hard time Isn't this Jesus Joseph's son and Mary that we know them they're from Nazareth. Isn't that Jesus?

[33:24] How how can he say they condescended from heaven and they're stuck on this condescension from heaven? That they they're like how can he do that? And they're making an excuse and So there's second reason for rejecting him is they're making an excuse And why why do I say they're making excuse?

[33:47] Have they not heard John the Baptist? We saw him earlier in the chapter Book of John Have they not seen his miracles?

[33:57] Were they not seen in the book of John? Have they not seen his miracles? Were they not on the hillside? When Jesus fed the five thousand they were among them. It's the next day They're looking for him because they want their bellies to be filled. It's the same people Jesus taught on that hillside He performed a miracle those miracles confirm who he is And yet they're sitting there thinking isn't this Jesus just Moses or isn't he just Joseph's son and Mary's son?

[34:27] It's an excuse They had heard his teaching Their bellies were full They know who he is and they are making excuses for their unbelief years ago My wife and I Knew a young lady who Who grew up Curious about the Lord she went to Whitworth University is when I met her And she had a lot of good questions But she did not use her questions as an excuse to not believe but she had some zingers Scott described to me the problem of pain. Why is if God is so good? Why is there pain?

[35:09] Why is there death? Why is there so much suffering and on and on she went? And so I would schedule times to meet with her and I was thinking oh You are asking some very good questions And there are very good answers to your very good questions But she continued and she persisted and so I I just stopped her and I said okay Would you just read and so I gave her this book and it's a book that answers many has Biblical responses to those questions that she was asking and I this is more of a book that I thought you just You kind of referenced the the question you have and you you find that answer and then you can skip a few 100 pages and then find the next question and answer But but she she just read the whole thing from cover to cover a thousand pages. She read And I met with her later Her name is Ileana Today she lives in California and she's a passionate pursuer of the Lord She came to faith in Christ and she did not make her questions

[36:11] As an excuse not to believe she had good questions But she was an honest seeker and I applaud her for that And she got questions that she had or she got answers to the questions that she had She's a beautiful person Ileana made no excuses For her unbelief And she did not use The reasons for her unbelief As excuses Who is in your life that is prone to excuses for unbelief?

[36:53] Scripturally unbelief is an indication that people just love darkness rather than light What this is Would you all agree there's darkness in the cusp of my hand correct? I can look it's it's dark in there. So What I love about light is this is it invades darkness So if I go like this There's no more darkness in the cusp of my hands anymore and notice what also did not occur Is that darkness did not invade this lit sanctuary?

[37:26] My point is this If you have individuals in your life who I have honest questions that are really good questions Some may give you those questions to keep you at an arms length distance and the conversation about God at an arms length distance We know that to be true, but others Are sincere in their questions And I would just encourage you to continue to share the love of Christ and the gospel with those individuals Wendy and I have them in our life and what I love Is the the light of the gospel that is in you and the truth of the gospel that is in scripture dispels darkness Don't give up on those individuals continue to pray that one day they would might believe in In the bread of life Jesus Christ last If we find our last response and we'll conclude To say that we are in the light of the gospel And we'll conclude to set up the last response of the jews

[38:32] I want to begin reading in 52 verse 52 through 60 and we Is it going to be our passage the jews then disputed among themselves saying how can this man Give us his flesh to eat so jesus said to them truly truly I say to you unless you eat of the flesh of the son of man and drink of his blood You have no life in you whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks of my blood has eternal life And will rise him up on the last day for my flesh is true fruit and my blood is true drink Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks of my blood abides in me and I in him and again that use of feeding and drinking is a Is a metaphor for belief verse 57 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 of the father's eight and died Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever jesus said to these things in the synagogues as he taught in cappernum

[39:35] And here's the final excuse verse 60 when many of the disciples heard it. They said This is a hard saying Who can listen to it and their last excuse is it's this is just too hard to believe It's too hard to believe Believing in jesus is hard. It demands a few things number one It demands that you relinquish all other means of salvation Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life nobody comes to the father, but through me It demands a relinquishing of any other means of salvation Secondly Secondly, we read in acts there is salvation in no other name For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which one may be saved We trust in no one else for salvation, but in jesus christ alone Secondly, what also is difficult about believing in christ Is it destroys my pride?

[40:37] I cannot save myself No amount of good works can save No amount of self-improvement Self effort or self actualization Is helpful. Sorry maslow I cannot go into a holy site and be any closer to god I cannot say a few phrases of a prayer and demand god's listening ear I cannot be pluralistic relying on the best of all the religions in my self concocted religion that I will obey I cannot add jesus to my self-absorbed consumed life I am hopeless to save myself. I am helpless to save myself Salvation is hard One has to relinquish all other means of salvation No one else can save And it destroys my pride But the good news is this

[41:41] When one is in a place of hopelessness and helplessness and understanding their personal plight you are primed for salvation You're right. There's nothing you can do But believe in the lord jesus christ That's it That's the beauty of it The ephesian says it this way But god who is rich in mercy And because of his great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in sin Made us alive together in christ For by grace you have been saved It's the best most beautiful news God's rich in mercy He poured out his lavish extravagant love on you By dying on the cross for sin for your sake And all you have to do is believe God is the one who initiates salvation And our response is to believe Only jesus can fill the emptiness inside Only jesus can quiet the growling of the hunger of one's soul Only jesus can give the eternal life

[42:47] I want to pause and just speak now more broadly As for some application I'm saddened by the jew's response It's clear what jesus was communicating here And yet they rejected it And so if we're not careful we can say Well scott I'm a believer in christ And that's not my case And so what Well I want us to gather the big picture here Of what also is occurring On a principal form What is happening in this passage Is these individuals are going out to jesus To have their bellies filled again They come to jesus because they want something from him They don't want to necessarily know him They don't want to necessarily hear from him per se They just want their bellies filled So at a principal level what's happening Is people are coming to jesus because they want something from him

[43:48] Rather than just enjoying having a relationship with him So with that in mind I think perhaps Maybe we're not all that together different From the first century jews Consider your prayer life Do you pray merely to enjoy time with the lord Or do you only pray because you want something from christ Or because you're in a time of crisis And you have a need Are you going to jesus because you want something Or simply to enjoy him Second Consider why you gather corporately at church Do you come to commune with the lord And the lord alone to worship him And to adore him Or do you come hoping the lord will recognize your presence In some way and honor you in some way Because you have a need And the lord will recognize your presence And the lord will recognize your need And lastly consider why you may read your bible Do you read the bible to enjoy time with the father

[44:50] To commune with him And enjoy fellowship with him Or do you read because you need an answer And you find yourself in a pickle And you need help I love paul Writing to the church at philipi He says this I indeed count everything as loss Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus christ My lord I pray this year Would be a year where we on a principle form Are not like these jews That yes we may have needs And please jesus says Come boldly before the throne of grace We are to bring our request to him All of that being true But I think if all we do Is we treat prayer Our relationship with the lord Corporate attendance of gathering together as a church And then how we read our bible If we just do those things to get something from jesus Perhaps we're not all that together different

[45:53] And I pray that the surpassing worth of just knowing god Would usher us into his presence Rather than a need that we have We enjoy jesus that way Father Thank you so much for this day Thank you for the opportunity To gather together as church family At the first of the year To hear from you To hear what you have said in your word I pray that the surpassing riches of just knowing you Would be enough for us to come to you To come to commune with you in your word To come and listen Thank you for being the true bread of life That satisfies an eternal need And that we have the opportunity to dwell in the promise To dwell with you forever That you will raise us up on that last day

[46:55] We love you Amen