Well, I'd like us to turn back together to John chapter 6, and we can read again at verse 35.
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.
As we said when we were picking up this reading,
this discussion that Jesus has with the crowds comes immediately after two of his most famous miracles.
The first part of John 6, you read about the feeding of the 5,000.
That's followed by Jesus walking on the water.
And these miracles, along with all of the other miracles recorded in the Gospels,
are testifying to the identity of Jesus,
helping us to see more of just who he is,
that he's no ordinary person,
and instead that in him,
everything that God has promised in the Old Testament is being fulfilled.
And the people around Jesus are starting to realize this more and more and more.
As the disciples witness these miracles,
they are one,
on the one hand, they're amazed at what they see,
and on the other hand,
they're shaken,
recognizing that this man that they are following is like no other.
And so the identity of Jesus is being revealed more and more in the miracles that are recorded in John's Gospel.
But alongside the miracles recorded by John,
we also have some key statements of Jesus that tell us more about his identity.
And chapter 6 onwards introduces seven great statements that are recorded in this Gospel.
These are known as the I Am Sayings,
and this is the first of them.
I am the bread of life.
Later, Jesus declares,
I am the light of the world.
I am the door.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
And I am the true vine.
These great statements are helping us to see who Jesus is.
They're helping us to see what he's come to do.
And they're all drawing us to put our faith in him.
And I want us tonight to look at the first of these,
the great statement that Jesus makes in verse 35,
I am the bread of life.
And that's a very, very rich statement.
And this whole passage is bursting with amazing theology.
But it's also a passage that resonates with us
because it's using a very everyday object.
And it resonates a lot with me because I absolutely love bread.
And I don't know if you're like me.
I don't know if you ever go to a nice restaurant
and they come with a basket of bread.
There's all these lovely rolls.
I would just take that for my dinner
and forget everything else
and just eat all the bread for my meal.
The passage, in a way, is a bit like that.
It's a whole meal for us to chew on,
to think about, and to learn from together.
But sometimes passages like this,
and John's Gospel is perhaps a very clear example of this,
sometimes that can make it hard.
Because when you read through a passage like this,
you see the dialogue between Jesus and the crowds.
You see all the different things that are being said.
You see the allusions to the Old Testament.
And sometimes we can get lost.
And sometimes we can be tied in knots.
Passages like this are both wonderful and challenging.
Wonderful because there's so much to take in.
But also challenging.
Because it's hard to take it all in.
And I don't know about you,
but I know that certainly for me,
many times I've come to passages like John 6,
recognizing that these are amazing words,
but also struggling to think,
I can't quite follow everything that's being said.
I am not taking all of this in.
I hope that we can untie some of these knots
a little bit together tonight.
And when we find ourselves in that situation,
one of the best things that we can do
is just to try and keep things as simple as possible.
And this is something that we must remember
with the great I am statements that Jesus has made.
These are some of the richest theological statements
that you find in the whole Bible.
But they're also simple and clear statements.
And Jesus is using simple everyday language
to help us understand more about him.
And so first and foremost,
as we come to this great statement in John 6, 35,
Jesus is telling us that if we want to understand
more about who he is,
then we need to think about bread.
Bread is something that we need every day.
And that was particularly through the New Testament times.
It was just a basic staple diet
for people's day-to-day survival.
In other words, bread, food,
it's just talking about the daily nutrition
that we need every day in order to stay alive.
Bread is also something that we have access to.
So bread is not the food of the elite.
It's not the fancy, rare, specialist food
that you only get in certain places
or only certain times of year
or only if you've got loads of money.
It's not fancy.
It's not rare.
And unless something is majorly wrong
in a particular part of the world,
bread is available.
Bread is also something that,
to benefit from,
we actually have to eat it.
So bread is not nourishing us
if it's sitting in our cupboard.
It's not giving us what we need
unless we take it and receive it.
And if we refuse bread,
then we are being unwise
and we're being unhealthy.
And bread is satisfying.
It takes away our hunger.
It gives us energy and nourishment.
And a good, fresh loaf
that's just come out of the oven
is actually one of the nicest things you can eat.
It's so good and so satisfying.
All of these things are true of bread.
All of these things are true of Jesus.
And that's what I want us to see tonight.
We're going to go through these four things together.
The bread of life is needed.
The bread of life is available.
The bread of life has got to be received.
The bread of life is so satisfying.
So first of all, the bread of life is needed.
The whole discussion in this passage begins
with Jesus challenging the crowd
in terms of their motivation
for following him across the Sea of Galilee
back to Capernaum.
You see that in verse 26 and 27.
He says,
These are the people who've seen an amazing miracle.
They've been well fed
and they're thinking,
This guy's amazing.
Let's follow him.
And let's just keep getting
the provision that he can make for us.
Jesus responds to that
by majorly raising the stakes.
And he's saying to them,
Look, the thing that matters
is not your next meal.
The thing that matters
is eternal life.
Jesus is making them and us
stop and think about eternity.
About what matters more than anything else.
And that prompts the crowd
in verse 28 and 29 to say,
What do we do?
What should we do?
What must we do
to be doing the works of God?
And Jesus responds with the wonderful words,
This is the work of God
that you believe in him
whom he has sent.
But the crowd are getting a bit sceptical
and uncertain
and they respond with the question
that actually every one of us wants to ask.
In verse 30, they say,
Well, how do we know
that you're the one we should believe?
Verse 30,
They say to him,
Then what sign do you do
that we may see and believe you?
What work do you perform?
In other words,
they're saying the question
that everybody says
that when we're confronted
with the reality of who Jesus is
and the claims that the gospel makes,
we're like,
Well, how do we know?
How are you going to prove yourself to us
that you are the one
that we should trust?
And because they're still thinking about food
and about bread in the conversation,
they look back to the Old Testament
to the moment when God provided manna
for the Israelites in the wilderness.
Of course, this is referring back
to Exodus chapter 16
when God's people had been taken out of Egypt.
They were wandering in the wilderness
and they were very quickly confronted
by the fact that they had no food
and they realized that they were going to starve.
And God made a miraculous provision for them
that every morning when they woke up,
there was a bread-like substance
lying on the ground
that they were able to gather
and to eat for sustenance
and nourishment.
And that provision was made by God
every day
until they went into the promised land.
And so they're saying,
well, look, that's what Moses did.
What are you going to do?
As though Jesus needs to prove himself.
Jesus responds to this
by giving them and us a crucial lesson
in terms of how to understand
the relationship between the Old Testament
and the New Testament.
Jesus points out
that everything in the Old Testament,
including the manna,
is just a shadow
of the full provision
that God is going to make.
And it's really important
to remember that
when you look at anything
in the Old Testament,
whatever you see in the Old Testament
is highlighting two things.
It's pointing to a reality
and it's revealing an inadequacy.
So something in the Old Testament,
it will point to a reality
and it will reveal an inadequacy.
So manna points to the reality
that we are completely dependent on God
to provide what we need for our survival.
But it also highlights an inadequacy
that the manna only lasted for 24 hours
and then you needed more
and then you needed more.
And actually, as Jesus goes on to say,
the people who ate manna still died.
So it didn't actually keep them alive forever.
It was never fully adequate
and it was never meant to be.
Because everything in the Old Testament
points to a reality
and reveals an inadequacy
because the fullness of God's provision
never comes in the Old Testament.
It only comes in the new
through the coming of the Lord Jesus.
And that's what Jesus is revealing.
He did the same thing with the temple.
You see that earlier on
in John's Gospel in chapter 2.
The temple was this magnificent building
highlighting a reality
that we need access to God
and we need atonement for our sins.
But at the same time,
the Old Testament temple
was also revealing an inadequacy.
It was never enough
because it had been destroyed.
They were in the process of rebuilding it
and not long after,
these days, only 40 years later,
the temple would be destroyed again
because it was never meant to be the answer.
Instead, it was a sign,
a shadow pointing
towards the fullness of God's plan
being revealed
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so here you have the Jews
talking about manna,
talking about one of the most important miracles
in the history of the Jews
when God provided for a nation
who otherwise were going to starve to death.
And yet Jesus is telling them
that that massive miracle
is just a shadow.
And as we said,
that's highlighted later in the chapter,
48 to 50, 58.
It says they ate the manna,
but they still died.
That provision did not stop
their ancestors' death.
It was never meant to.
It was just a shadow.
The true bread is Jesus.
But there's a crucial difference
and a massive difference
that he does not come
to provide sustenance
so that you can survive
for another day
like the manna did.
Jesus comes
to give eternal life
so that you can live forever.
The Old Testament was never enough.
It was never meant to be.
It was only and always
a shadow
of the Savior
that they really needed.
Alongside that, though,
all of this
is telling us
that Jesus,
the bread of life,
has come
for a particular type of person.
He's come
for the hungry
and the needy.
And that's emphasized
so much,
so clearly
in verse 35.
Whoever comes to me
will never hunger.
Whoever believes in me
will never thirst.
The miracle of the manna
in the Exodus
came in the context
of imminent starvation
for the people.
And in the miracle
of the feeding of the 5,000
earlier in this chapter,
it perhaps wasn't
as urgent a situation
as it was
in the Exodus,
but still,
the people needed food.
They were far from home.
They were starving
and they needed
bread
to survive.
We need food
if we are going to live.
And the point
that Jesus is making
is that when it comes
to eternal life,
we desperately need
the bread
that will give us
life.
We desperately
need
him.
And that tells you
something so
incredibly important
about the gospel.
It's telling you
that the gospel
is not
for the people
who've got it all.
And it's not
reserved
for the spiritually
elite
because there's
actually no such thing.
The gospel
is for those
who desperately
need it.
In other words,
the gospel
is for the starving.
Jesus
has come
for the hungry.
And this is so
important to recognize
because
no matter what stage
you are in your
journey of faith,
whether you are a believer
or whether you're not yet
a believer,
for many people,
and maybe this is true
of you,
that in terms of your faith,
all you can see
is what you lack.
And so you look at yourself
and you think,
I don't know enough.
I don't feel
good enough
or settled enough
in myself.
I've
made a ton
of mistakes
in my life.
I'm struggling
with doubts.
I've got questions
that I still feel
unsettled by
and unsure of.
I know
that I have left
Jesus to one side
in my life
for too long.
I know
that I was maybe
in a better place
in the past
and I'm not there.
Today,
I don't think
that I pray enough.
I don't read
the Bible enough.
I feel spiritually
malnourished.
And Jesus
is saying,
that's exactly
who this bread
is for.
That's exactly
who this bread
is for.
And so if you feel
that your sin
is awful,
this bread
is for you.
And if you feel,
I don't understand
it all,
this bread
is for you.
And if you think,
I'm worried
that I'm going
to mess things up
and let God down
or let people
around me down,
this bread
is for you.
If you think,
my life's a mess,
I've made so many
mistakes,
this bread
is for you.
And if you're
sitting here thinking,
I am scared
of what's going
to happen
when I die.
This bread
is for you.
If you feel
hungry
for peace
and security
and joy
and hope,
if you feel
hungry
for that,
then that
is the
need
that Jesus
has come
to meet.
And really,
every one of us,
everyone,
everyone
has got that hunger.
Imagine,
imagine,
and maybe some of you
don't even need to imagine this,
maybe some of you
did this today,
maybe you've done it
many times,
but all of us
think in your minds
of standing
at the graveside
of your best friend
or of your mother
or your father,
your husband,
your wife,
maybe even
your child.
As you imagine
yourself standing there
in that moment,
are you satisfied
to think,
oh,
well,
they're gone,
that's it?
or are you
hungry
for hope?
Hungry
that there is hope
for them
and for you?
Hungry
for assurance
that they are safe
with Jesus
and that one day
you will see them
again?
That's
the hunger
that Jesus
has come to satisfy.
That's why
Jesus
raises the stakes
to stop talking
about the next meal
of the crowd
and instead
to talk about
their eternal destiny
because this
is what we need
more than
anything else.
The bread of life
is urgently
and desperately
needed.
And you know,
sometimes
if you're wondering
if God's working
in your life,
a great question
to ask yourself
is,
are you hungry?
are you hungry
for security,
for peace,
for answers?
Are you hungry
to never have to
be afraid
of death
again?
If that hunger
is in your heart,
the Lord
is drawing you.
That's the hunger
that Jesus
has come
to meet.
The bread of life
is needed.
Secondly,
the bread of life
is available.
As you read
through this passage,
you see that
one of the things
that Jesus
emphasizes again
and again
is that
he has come
down from heaven.
You see it
if you look
at verse 32
to 33,
Jesus says,
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 heaven
is he who
comes down
from heaven
and gives life
to the world.
The same thing
is repeated.
If you look
at verse 38,
you can see it there.
You can see it
in 45 to 46.
You can see it
in verse 50
to 51.
In fact,
this is the thing
that offends
the Jews.
There's a kind
of irony
in what they're
saying because
they're saying
to Jesus,
prove yourself
and he's saying,
well,
I'll tell you
where I've come from
and then he tells them
and they don't like it
and they're offended
by what he's saying.
All of it
is emphasizing
the fact that
because Jesus
has come,
eternal life
is available.
And so the bread
of life
is not being
kept secret.
It's not reserved
for the elite.
The bread of life
is available
and it's brought
out beautifully
in verse 32
to 33
that we just
read there.
These verses
contain
some of the
big theological
concepts
that explain
what God
is doing
in order
to make
eternal life
available.
And these
are big concepts
that we want
to learn
and that we
want to understand
and John's
gospel is so,
so good
for just
leading us
towards these
big theological
concepts
that lie
at the heart
of the gospel.
So Jesus
speaks,
first of all,
of the Father
giving the
true bread
from heaven.
The Father
gives you
the true
bread
from heaven.
And that's
pointing us
to the great
theological
concept of
divine initiative.
The fact
that the
salvation
that's offered
in the gospel
is always
initiated
by God.
That's one
of the most
important truths
in the gospel.
Sin has ruined
our relationship
with God.
Sin's left
humanity
alienated from
God.
Our relationship
with God
is broken
and we did
that.
It's humanity
that caused
that.
the situation
is our fault
because we've
rejected God.
We've sinned
against him.
And yet when it
comes to fixing
that, it's
God who acts
first.
It's God
who takes
the initiative.
We have long
forgotten about
God.
He has never
forgotten about
you.
And so the
whole gospel
starts with
him.
And that
divine initiative
prompts what
theologians
have often
called a
voluntary
condescension.
And I think
that is such
a cool
phrase.
A voluntary
condescension.
You find it
in the
Westminster
Confession
of Faith.
The Westminster
Confession
of Faith
is a very
important document
for our
church because
we believe
that the
Westminster
Confession
of Faith
is an
accurate
summary of
what the
Bible
teaches.
And so it
was written
about 400
years ago.
Very short,
but it's got
some really
helpful summaries
of what we
believe the
Bible says.
And I'm
going to
read you
the paragraph
where you
discover this
cool phrase,
voluntary
condescension.
It says in
Westminster
Confession
of Faith,
chapter 7,
paragraph 1,
the distance
between God
and the
creature is
so great
that although
reasonable
creatures do
owe
obedience unto
him as
their creator,
yet they
could never
have any
fruition of
him as
their
blessedness
and reward,
God,
but by
some
voluntary
condescension
on God's
part,
which he
has been
pleased to
express by
way of
covenant.
In other
words,
what that's
saying is
that the
distance
between God
and us
is huge,
it's
enormous,
it's so
great,
and in
every way
you could
say,
well,
look,
we're the
ones who
fell,
we're the
ones who
owe him
obedience,
we're the
ones who
should work
our way
back up
to God,
sin has
left us
in a
state where
we cannot
do that,
and so
if we
try to
work our
way up
to him,
we're never
going to
get any
blessing of
knowing him,
and so
the only
way that
things can
be put
right is
not if
we make
our way
back up
to him,
but if
he
voluntarily
condescends
to us.
In other
words,
if he
chooses
to come
down
to save
us.
And the
reason he
does that
is to
establish a
relationship
with us,
a beautiful
covenant
relationship
where he
is our
God and
we are
his
people.
But for
that to
be possible,
our sin
has to be
dealt
with,
and as
we think
about that,
we recognize
that we
need a
saviour
who's going
to make
atonement
for our
sins,
and that
needs to
be one
who can
represent
us,
so he
needs to
be one
of us,
but it
needs to
be one
who can
fulfill
everything
that God
requires,
which is
only something
that God
can do.
So the
mediator
between God
and man
has to
be God
and man,
and the
big theological
concept we
talk about
there is
the incarnation,
where God
himself has
come down
to be one
of us,
and this
is what
John's
gospel is
revealing to
us more
and more
and more,
that this
is who
Jesus is.
He is
God the
Son,
and he
has been
made
flesh,
he's
taken on
our
humanity,
and so
when we
say
incarnation,
the
carn bit
of that
word is
the Latin
word for
flesh,
so
enfleshment,
he's just
become
human,
like us,
that's how
far God's
come,
not to
appear above
us,
not to
draw near
to us,
not even
to touch
us,
but actually
to be
one of
us.
the
eternal
Son of
God has
become
human,
he's
come to
stand
with
us,
to stand
for us.
So you've
got divine
initiative,
voluntary
condescension,
culminating in
the incarnation
of God
the Son,
and because
of that,
he can be
the mediator
between God
and humanity,
and that
work of
mediation
involves him
standing in
our place,
which ultimately
involved him
dying in
our place,
which is
what Jesus
goes on to
speak about
at the end
of the
chapter,
where he
says that
the bread
that I
will give
for the
life of
the world
is my
flesh.
And so
Jesus here
is unfolding
the great
theological
truths that
lie at the
heart of
the gospel,
that from
God's
initiative,
there's a
voluntary
condescension
of God
the Son
becoming
flesh,
so that
he can be
our mediator,
and in
order to be
our mediator,
he needs
to die
for us,
and in
doing all
that,
God is
giving life
to the
world,
that takes
us back
to verse
33,
the bread
of God
is he
who comes
down from
heaven,
and gives
life to
the world,
and that
salvation
is a
gift
available
to all,
and that's
all because
of God's
grace,
and so
that's what
makes the
bread of
life
available,
that's what
makes salvation
possible,
so our
heading is
the bread
of life
is available,
behind that
heading lies
all the
massive
concepts
of our
theology,
the gospel
is never
about us
working our
way up to
God,
it's about
God
coming down
to us,
and this
is where we
see something
so beautiful
and so
amazing
in the
gospel,
because in
terms of
how the
gospel works
out,
on God's
side,
the availability
of eternal
life is
captured by
these great
theological
concepts that
we've listed,
divine initiative,
voluntary
condescension,
incarnation,
mediator,
grace,
these are
amazing,
big theological
words,
that's what
God had to
do,
that summarizes
everything from
God's side
in terms of
the gospel,
but from
our side,
the availability
of the
bread of
life is
summed up
in just
one word,
and you
see it in
verse 35,
whoever,
and that
is such
an incredible
word,
whoever
comes to
Jesus,
whoever
believes in
Jesus,
whoever,
and every
single person
in here
tonight is
a whoever,
doesn't
matter what
your background
is,
and it
does not
matter what
baggage you
come with,
and it
doesn't matter
if you look
around this
room tonight
and you
think everybody
else is
different from
me,
everybody
else is
better than
me,
and nobody
else has
done what
I have
done,
nobody else
doubts the
way I
doubt,
nobody
else has
the questions
that I
have,
nobody
else's
heart is
as cold
as my
heart,
all of
those thoughts
are just
blown away
by the
word
whoever.
you could
have a
million
reasons
that makes
you think
you're not
worthy of
Jesus,
whoever
trumps
them all.
And
it does
not matter
who is
coming,
the only
thing that
matters
is who
you are
coming to.
you come
to Jesus,
the bread
of life.
And so
the bread
of life
is available.
That takes
us to our
third point,
we're running
out of time.
The bread
of life
has got to
be received,
so the bread
of life
is needed,
we need it
more than
anything else,
the bread
of life
is available,
Jesus has
actually come,
but we
have got to
respond,
we have to
receive what
he's offering
us.
And you
can see that
the crowd
want this in
verse 34,
they say
to Jesus,
give us
this bread
always,
they want
what he's
offering,
and in
verse 35,
Jesus tells
them what
to do,
I'm the
bread of
life,
whoever
comes to
me shall
not hunger,
and whoever
believes in
me shall
never thirst.
And there's
two key
verbs in
that verse
that tell us
exactly what
we have to
do,
we have to
come,
and we
have to
believe.
come is
such a
beautiful
word,
it's an
invitation,
and it
tells you
that God
wants you
close to
him,
that God
is calling
you,
commanding
you,
urging you
to come
to him.
The
voluntary
condescension
of God,
the incarnation
of the
son of
God,
the mediation
of the
Christ,
and every
other
massive
theological
concept
that we
have in
the gospel
is all
because God
actually
wants you.
And whether
you have
been a
Christian for
years,
or whether
you are not
yet a
Christian,
or not
sure if
you're a
Christian,
you've got
to write
these words
on your
heart,
that God
actually
wants you,
because it
is so easy
to feel
unwantable
before God.
It's so easy
to feel
unlovable,
and it's so
easy to feel
like we are
just so far
from what
we wish
we were,
and Jesus
is saying,
the whole
reason I
have come
is because
I want
you.
And so
Jesus wants
you to
come to
him.
He wants
to hear
your voice
praying.
He wants
to hear
your voice
tonight,
whether
that is the
first time
that he'll
have heard
your voice
praying in
decades,
he wants
to hear
that
tonight.
And
whether you've
prayed every
day for as
long as you
can remember,
he wants
to hear
your voice
again.
And he
wants your
ears to
listen to
what he's
saying in
his word,
and he
wants your
hearts to
rest in
him for
every moment
of your
life.
He wants
you to
come.
and he
wants you
to believe.
That's the
language of
trust.
And so
as we
come to
Jesus,
we come
placing our
reliance on
him.
In other
words, we
just come
and lean
on him.
We come
and receive
and rest
upon him
for our
salvation.
And that's
just such a
beautiful,
beautiful picture
that it's
like Jesus
wants us to
come and
he wants
us to lean
on him.
Not to
come and
be impressed
not to
come for
a job
interview
where you
have to
be at
your best,
but actually
just to
come and
fall into
his arms.
That's
the response
that God
is looking
for.
That we
are to
believe in
Jesus.
That's how
the gospel
works.
We're saved
by faith.
That doesn't
mean knowing
everything.
And in so
many ways,
faith is an
expression of
the fact that
we don't
know everything,
but we know
that Jesus
is trustworthy.
And we
will lean
on him.
And believing
in Jesus
doesn't mean
never doubting.
All of us
doubt.
All of us
stumble.
But the
whole point
is that when
we doubt,
when we stumble,
all of these
are expressions
of our
hunger,
which is
just a
reason to
go straight
to Jesus
and to
fall into
his arms
again.
And believing
in Jesus
does not
mean feeling
strong or
confident.
confident,
it's actually
just recognizing
how weak
we are.
And the
thing that's
strong in
terms of
our faith is
not the
person doing
the believing,
it's the
person that
we believe
in.
He's the
one who's
strong.
It means
knowing that
you can't
stand on
your own.
It means
knowing that
I have to
rely on what
Jesus has
done for
me on the
cross.
And it
means realizing
that we
need him
more than
we need
anything else.
It doesn't
mean knowing
it all.
And, you
know, that's
definitely how I
could express
my own
conversion.
I became a
Christian when
I was about
14 and
honestly, I
think I knew
pretty much
nothing except
one thing.
I knew that
I needed
Jesus.
And that's
what we
need to
know.
That will
drive us
to Christ.
And the
amazing thing
is that his
promise is
that as we
fall into
his arms,
he will
carry us
all the
way.
Jesus
is the
bread of
life.
And the
bread of
life has
got to
be
received.
believed.
And
sometimes,
you know,
this is a
key, this
is I think a
really important
thing for us
to recognize
because sometimes
like the
people in
this crowd,
we kind
of want
proof about
Jesus and
we want to
be able to
sort of think,
well, how do
we know for
certain?
And we want
to sort of
test Jesus,
test evidence,
test arguments,
test the
Bible against
other viewpoints,
whatever it
might be.
And we kind
of think, I
just want that
proof that this
is true.
And sometimes
we also think,
well, I also
just want that
proof that I
really am
converted, that
there has to
be that sign,
that clarity,
that event,
that something
that is going
to make it
clear.
And we want
that proof.
But again,
think about
bread.
There's a piece
of bread in
front of you
and you think,
I want proof
that that's
bread.
And you could
do some
scientific
experiments on
it or you
could take
out a whole
pile of
books and
you could
compare the
bread in
front of you
with some
photos or
you could
listen to
some bread
expert who
might be
able to
say, well,
there's a
little bit
here that
says it's
bread or
not.
You could
do all
of that.
It's not
really going
to work.
How are
you going
to know
that that's
bread?
Stick it in
your mouth
and eat it.
Just take
it.
If you want
proof that
Jesus is real,
that he's
your saviour,
then just
trust him
and follow
him.
that bread
is to be
received.
And so
the bread
of life
is needed.
The bread
of life
is available.
The bread
of life
has got
to be
received.
Last of
all,
the bread
of life
is so,
so
satisfying.
And that's
because
Jesus
gives us
what we
long for.
This is one
of the biggest
mistakes that
people can
make.
They can
think that
becoming a
Christian means
giving up
the things
that we
really like.
That's one
of the devil's
biggest lies.
Because
putting your
faith in
Jesus means
that you
actually
finally
find
everything
that you
have really
longed for.
And in
fact,
you find
that it
reorders
your life
so that
all the
other things
actually
become way
better.
And that
enjoyment
increases so
much once
Jesus takes
his rightful
place as
the Lord
that we
are following.
Jesus gives
us what
we long
for.
He satisfies
our hunger
for identity
and purpose
in our
lives.
We all
want to have
purpose.
We all
want to be
special.
None of
us want
to be a
waste of
space or
a failure.
We all
want a
part to
play.
Jesus
gives us
that like
nothing else.
Jesus
satisfies our
hunger for
hope.
Nobody,
nobody can
live without
hope.
hope is
like the
I don't
know how
to describe
this.
Hope is
like the
sniper rifle
for the
atheist.
Because the
atheist,
a terrible
illustration,
but anyway,
might as well
go with it.
The atheist
goes along
and they're
like, I'm a
consistent
atheist, I'm
not believing
in anything,
I'm not
believing in
anything,
I'm not
believing in
anything,
da da da da da da da da.
Someone they love
dies, I hope I'll see
them again.
And the
sniper of hope
has just
shot their
atheism to
pieces.
Because they're
desperate for
hope.
We're all
desperate for
hope, Jesus
gives it to
us.
Jesus
satisfies our
hunger for
security.
And we
long for
that, don't
we?
Life changes
and sometimes
things happen
that we
dread.
And maybe
right now
some of
you have
received a
diagnosis or
news about
a family
member or
a friend that
is your
worst nightmare
and you
feel so
vulnerable and
yet you are
never, ever,
ever outside
the arms of
Jesus if
you're following
him.
That satisfies
our hunger for
security.
And Jesus
satisfies our
hunger for
love.
Because in
Jesus we
find perfect
love, eternal
love,
immeasurable
love, love
that will
never grow
cold, love
that will
never let us
go.
The bread of
life is so
satisfying.
and this
is seen,
this is
captured so
beautifully
in verse
35 but in
order to see
that we have
to actually go
back to the
Greek of
verse 35.
The New
Testament was
written in
Greek and
we are
always working
with a
translation and
our translations
are brilliant,
the ESV is a
brilliant translation,
but sometimes
there's things
that just are
hard to get
across in
English.
Now Greek
is a little
bit different
from English
in terms of
saying no
about something.
So if we
say I am
not, not
going to
the fellowship
afterwards,
what have I
just said in
English?
So I've said
I'm going
because the
not, not
cancels each
other out.
So if I
said I'm
not, not
going to the
fellowship, it
means I am
going to the
fellowship.
Not, not
in English, the
two cancel
each other
out.
That's not
how it
works in
Greek.
In Greek,
not, not
is an
intensification.
So it's
like absolutely
not.
So we
would say
that if we
said no,
no, that's
like an
intensification.
Not, not
in Greek is
the same.
And when it
says at the
end there that
whoever believes
in me shall
never thirst,
thirst, literally
what that
actually says
is whoever
believes in
me shall
not, not
thirst, shall
absolutely not
thirst ever.
You will
never thirst
again.
And that is
because Jesus,
the bread of
life, is so,
so satisfying.
And that is
something that I
want, if anybody's
here who's not
yet a Christian
or thinking about
becoming a
Christian or
thinking about
just taking that
next step, that
is the thing I
want to press
into your heart
more than
anything else.
I can't promise
you that it
will always be
easy and I
can't promise
you that things
will always go
well and
sometimes you
will have
rubbish days
because we
all have
rubbish days,
but I can
tell you this,
that if you
follow Jesus,
you will
absolutely
never thirst
again,
ever.
Surely,
you want
that.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus,
we thank you
so much that
you are the
bread of
life.
And we
pray that we
would all
come to
you and
believe in
you and
experience the
wonder of
never
hungering and
never
thirsting
again.
Please bless
your word to
us all.
Please press
it into our
hearts and
please may
your spirit
bring forth
fruit to
your glory.
amen.
Amen.
We're going
to close in
the Sing
Psalms version
of Psalm
63 on
page 80.
Sing
Psalms
63 on
page 80.
O God,
you are my
God alone.
I seek
your face
with eagerness.
My soul
and body
thirst for
you in
this dry
weary
wilderness.
Singing
to the end
of verse
8.
And if
you are
at that
point where
you know
you want
to put your
faith in
Jesus,
then just
make verse
7 and
8 your
prayer.
because
you're
my
help
alone.
In
shadow
of your
wings
I'll
sing.
You
hold
me
up
with
your
right
hand.
To
you,
O God,
my soul
will cling.
That's a
prayer of
conversion.
And we
can all
make it
our
prayer as
we stand
and sing
together.
O God,
you are
my
God
alone.
I
seek
your
face
with
weakness.
My
soul
and
body
urge
for
you
and
bless
my
living
wilderness.
I
sing
you
praise.
When
your
holy
place,
your
heart
and
glory
held
my
gains,
our
better
is
your
love
and
life,
and
so
my
lips
will
sing
your
praise.
I
I'll
bless you,
Lord,
throughout
my
life,
and
raise
my
heart
to
you
in
place.
My
joyful
lips
will
sing
praise.
My
soul
is
fed
with
riches
!
fail.
Upon
bed
I
lie
awake
and
in
my
thoughts
remember
you.
I
meditate
throughout
the
night
and
keep
your
constant
love
in
view
because
you
are
my
help
alone
in
of
your
and
you
are
my
help
alone
in
shadow
of
your
wings
I'll
sing
you
hold
me
up
with
your
bright
hand
to
you
O
God
my
soul
will
play
Just
to say
I forgot
at the beginning
fellowship
hall next
which
everybody
is
will hear
a little
bit more
from
Thomas
and
about
their
and
so
you're
all
not
going
do
come
through
if
able
to
thank
you
for
your
thank
you
the
fellowship
that
we're
able
to
share
we
pray
that
be
that
our hearts
and
will
rest
upon
all
we
week
our
to
your
Amen
to
the
to
may
Thank you.