Father, you know that we human beings have turned this wonderful part of the Bible into a battleground.
And Father, we confess to you that we get so caught up often fighting with other Christians over what this means that we stop listening to your word.
So Father, we ask that you would do a wonderful work in our hearts and our minds and our wills.
And that Father, you would calm our minds and hearts and wills.
That you would make our heart and mind and will more alive as you calm it.
So that we might listen to what Jesus says.
What he speaks to us, Father, by this part of your word written.
Father, we ask that you would do this and we ask it in the precious name of Jesus, your son and our savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So, I have sort of a love-hate relationship with superhero movies and those types of thrillers that involve some spectacular foe.
Something, I don't know, like some giant corporation.
Some evil criminal mastermind.
Genius mastermind.
Or just even, and or superhero movies.
Because here's the thing that, like on one level I like them.
But on the other hand, I'm almost always disappointed.
Because it seems as if the way they work is that, like for 90% of the movie, or 95% of the movie, the evil criminal mastermind and his vast network, they seem to be unstoppable.
They seem to be everywhere.
They seem to be able to accomplish everything.
And then for the last 5% of the movie, they can't do anything.
And there's never any explanation.
They just go from having power, power, power, power, to have like very little power so the good guy or a good gal can win.
Same often with superhero movies.
They have to get beat up a couple of times early on.
And then for some reason, well, I don't know, like their superpowers kicked in.
And it often just bugs the heck out of me when I'm watching it.
And I've been thinking about it this week because I've had a couple of conversations in coffee shops.
And that same type of inconsistency bothers a lot of people outside the Christian faith.
They hear us say different things.
And they understand everything we say, but they sort of, like I had just somebody tell me today, tell me this week, it's as if we don't catch the inconsistencies in the overarching story.
So the text we're going to look at today actually in some ways makes it worse, but ultimately makes it better.
So it'd be a great help to me if you turn in the Bible to John chapter 6.
John chapter 6, verse 1.
I began reading at verse 28 earlier.
Now we're going to look at verse 1.
Some of you who are longtime Christians go, oh my, John 6, that's a big battleground text.
I wonder what George's view is on this.
And that's why I prayed the prayer at the beginning.
Because, well, we're going to look at the text rather than fight battles.
What a unique idea.
So here's how the text goes.
After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
Just sort of pause there.
That first verse, the Sea of Tiberias, that's actually one of those really interesting little things that shows that this was an eyewitness account.
Because it wasn't a name that was used for that lake for a long time.
It only started around the year 22.
And so just one of those little tiny things that shows that John was probably, like, not probably, like, that it actually helps to emphasize that this biography of Jesus,
because that's what we're reading, this biography of Jesus was written by somebody of the time, not later, trying to make up a story.
Get back to verse 3.
So Jesus, oh, and the other thing which is really neat is that, you know, this whole story is taking place?
It has a name now that everyone here has heard of.
The Golan Heights.
Like a very, very controversial, war-torn, conflicted place.
That's where this story is taking place, this first part.
Anyway, verse 3.
Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.
Now, the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
And lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him,
Jesus said to Philip,
Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?
Jesus said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.
And just sort of pause.
If you're trying to figure out what on earth is a denarii, 200 denarii would be,
if you take what the average Canadian wage is, 40 weeks of working.
That's what it is.
Very simple.
40 weeks of working for the average Canadian.
That's 200 denarii.
Verse 8.
One of his disciples, Andrew Simon Peter's brother, said to Jesus,
There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?
Just one other thing here.
The barley loaves aren't like big loaves like this.
They'd be sort of like a large roll.
And the other thing is that barley loave is what the poor ate.
So this is a very poor kid, lower working class.
It's what the lower working class and the poor ate.
Back to this.
Verse 9.
There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?
Jesus said, have the people sit down.
Now, there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000 in number.
It doesn't mean that there's only men there, but for whatever cultural reason, only the men sit down, the women and children stand.
Not fair, but that's just the way it was back then.
Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.
So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
And when they had eaten their full, remember, he just had five little loaves, five rolls and two dried fish, 5,000 men, an unknown number of women and children.
And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.
So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
Now, let's just pause here about this.
So this is, remember I said, I began by saying that one of the things that people don't get is, from the outside,
is how that we Christians don't recognize that the overarching story of the gospel doesn't seem to make sense.
So amongst other things, the question would be, how on earth could somebody, like if you believe that really happened,
how on earth could somebody like that actually die on a cross?
Like, that doesn't make any sense to me.
It's like the superhero, the supervillain, who can do everything, and then at the end,
oh gosh, all my power's gone and the good guy's gone, except it's reversed.
Jesus is the good guy, right?
So here he says, good guy, good guy, good guy, good guy, can do all these unbelievable things.
At least, that's what a non-Christian would say.
And then, like, it doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't fit together at an intuitive and at an emotional level.
Now, just to make matters worse, this is a really, really interesting story.
And it's, other than the resurrection of Jesus from the grave,
it's the only miracle recorded in all four biographies of Jesus.
All four of the ancient biographies record this miracle, so they saw it was very important.
And the other thing that's really neat about it is that the way the story is told,
it emphasizes the nature, it emphasizes the miracle, and it emphasizes how public the miracle was.
So, I've never been in a refugee camp.
I've never had to go to a camp where people are starving and some food comes in a truck.
But if some movies are even remotely accurate,
I don't know if you've seen the beginning of the movie Black Hawk Down and people are starving,
and the UN brings in some food.
And it's almost like there's a mini-riot as they're just trying to,
people are clamoring to get the food.
They're sort of throwing food out.
And it's, see, what, it's really what Jesus does is he has the crowd, 5,000 plus,
he says, all sit down.
So they all sit down.
And when they all sit down, there's no big crowd.
It's not as if there's a whole riot of people trying to get food from a truck or a wagon.
And because of that, they wouldn't see how much food was on the wagon.
They wouldn't know other than the disciples if, like, where all the food was coming from
because it'd be a big, it'd be just a crowd.
It'd be chaotic.
But Jesus brings calm order.
They all sit down.
And the only one standing is Jesus.
And they would have seen Jesus stand.
He would have had a basket just like this.
And he prays.
And then he starts to break the bread and give it to the disciples.
And the whole crowd would just see him as he breaks the bread and gives it to disciples.
He just keeps doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it.
And the baskets go off.
And now the disciples start just breaking it and doing it and doing it and doing it.
And 5,000 men plus all the women would see in an unmistakable way
that Jesus has just fed maybe 20,000 people from a meal that might fill me.
I have a pretty big appetite.
And it would have been very public.
Everybody would have seen it.
So what's up with that?
What's up with that?
I'm going to explain the miracle in a moment.
Or how I think Christians should understand it.
But what I want you to understand is this ancient biography,
all four of the ancient biographies of Jesus,
they all record this miracle in the same way.
And the very nature of the miracle emphasizes that this was the most public miracle
that Jesus performed in his three years of ministry.
So what's up?
How could a guy who could do that die on a cross?
That's what doesn't make sense to a lot of people.
In fact, part of what is at the heart of the entire Islamic rejection of the Christian faith
is, amongst other things, it just does not make sense
that someone who could do that would die on a cross.
Well, the story gets even more, it gets worse, in a sense, or better,
depending on how you look at it,
because the very next miracle is an unbelievable miracle.
Not an unbelievable miracle, because I believe it.
It's a spectacular miracle.
This is a miracle that only the apostles would have seen,
although the story is told in such a way that the crowd understands
that something like a miracle must have happened,
but they don't know what it was.
And this is a miracle.
It's one of the second most recorded,
one of the group of second most recorded miracles in the ancient biographies.
Three of the ancient biographies record this miracle in different ways.
And it continues on in verse 16.
When evening came, oh sorry, go up to verse 15,
and perceiving then that they were about to come and make him,
take him by force to make him king,
Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
See the bit of the problem?
I mean, he didn't even have to use his miracle powers to avoid the crowd,
so how on earth could a group of ragtag soldiers actually capture him,
actually hammer him up on the cross,
and actually keep him on the cross?
Like, how on earth could that happen?
So verse 16, so he withdraws to a mountain by himself.
Verse 16, when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea.
It's called a sea, but in many ways it's a big lake,
seven by twelve miles, eleven and a half by twenty k.
That's approximately the size of it.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.
It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.
When they had rowed about three or four miles,
so no matter which way they'd started from,
they're in the middle of the lake.
Remember about seven miles by,
seven by eleven or whatever, seven by twelve,
eleven and a half k by twenty k.
That's the size of the lake.
They're about halfway into the lake.
And when they, at verse 19 again,
when they had rowed about three or four miles,
they saw Jesus walking on the sea
and coming near the boat,
and they were frightened.
And the original language is like they're terrified.
They're terrified.
But Jesus said to them,
It is I, do not be afraid.
Then they were glad to take him into the boat,
and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
In other words, it went instantly.
Jesus comes into the boat.
He's walking on the water.
He comes into the boat,
and the boat now is at the shore.
And you know they weren't all asleep
having an hallucination because it's a huge storm.
Okay?
Like everything in this story is emphasizing
that it's the claim of a spectacular miracle.
And so what's up with this?
How could a guy
who can actually move
13 people in a boat
four miles
in the blink of an eye?
A guy who can walk on water.
How could he possibly die on a cross?
If you could put up the first point, Andrew,
that would be very, very helpful.
Jesus reveals himself
as the creator,
the sustainer,
and the recreator
of all things.
Jesus reveals himself
as the creator of all things,
the sustainer of all things,
and the recreator of all things.
I don't entirely like that last one,
but it sort of fits with the rhythm.
These two miracles
are quite spectacular miracles.
And Jesus reveals something
about who he is.
He reveals it in a very public way
in the first case.
And he reveals it.
What happens in this miracle
is that there's more matter
in the universe
after the miracle
than there was before.
That's the claim of the text.
Out of nothing,
Jesus makes bread.
Out of nothing,
he makes fish.
What you're seeing here
is in a sense,
how does the gospel of John begin?
In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God,
and the word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
All things were made through him,
and without him,
nothing was made that was made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
And in this miracle,
you are seeing the six days of creation
enacted in front of them publicly.
And you see,
this is,
you see,
if this miracle is true,
there really is a God
that does exist.
Things aren't just a result
of random chance.
And if God did create all things,
then he doesn't,
he's the one who sustains all things,
and he can make more new things
at any time he wants,
because he's God.
And that's what's revealed here.
And the second thing is here,
C.S. Lewis in his book,
Miracles,
has a very,
he reminds Christians
of a very old distinction
that older writers knew.
And that old distinction is
that the miracles
that are recorded in the Bible
are of two types.
Most of the miracles
are what are called
miracles of the old creation.
In other words,
miracles that fit in
with how our created order
right now is.
But there's a small number
of miracles,
maybe just three or four,
that are miracles
of the new creation.
And by that,
Lewis says,
they are miracles
whereby for a brief moment,
we see what the new heaven
and the new earth
will be like.
Like after Jesus comes again
and judges the living
and the dead,
and all things
in this created order
come to an end,
and this entire created order
is recreated,
reborn,
and made new,
and we have resurrected bodies,
and we walk in the garden
with God
in the cool of the day.
This is one of three
or four miracles
in the New Testament
that show us what the new,
give us a bit of a glimpse
of what the new heaven
and the new earth
will be like.
And in the new heaven
and the new earth,
our bodies will have
a very different relationship
with our souls.
And our redeemed bodies
will react
and live
and move
in this created order
in a very,
very different way.
Brothers and sisters,
if you are in Christ
in the new heaven
and the new earth,
you will walk on water.
You will walk on water.
And you know how
so many times now
our bodies
just get in the way
of being able
to deal with things
like love?
Like don't we have times
maybe we hear of a son
or a daughter
or a friend
far away
and they're in trouble?
And don't we wish
we could just be there?
But we can't just be there.
Like gosh,
you know,
it's like on the other side,
it's in Vancouver,
it's in the States
or it's just even
in Canada
and we're here
and our bodies
just get in the way
and friends,
brothers and sisters
in Christ,
in the new heaven
and the new earth,
your body goes
from one spot
to another.
You don't have to be
beamed up by Scotty.
You just will it
in the new heaven
and the new earth.
And this is,
I mean on one level
this makes the whole problem
far more complicated
and difficult
for an outsider
to understand
how it is.
George,
if you're saying
that what's being revealed here
is Jesus is revealing
that he's not just Jesus,
that he is God,
the son of God,
that he is,
that the naturalistic account
of how things came to be
is wrong
and that there is in fact
a creator of all things,
a sustainer of all things
and that the actual creator
and sustainer of all things,
he came and walked among us
and this ancient biography
is saying that it's true.
He walked among us
and that this same person
who is God,
the son of God,
who's created all things,
who walked among us
is the same one
who will one day
make the new heaven
and the new earth
and he walked among us
and there's not two people,
there's one person
and it's revealed as Jesus.
How on earth
could he die upon a cross?
How on earth
does that,
like,
what's up with that?
What's up with that?
So Jesus begins
to explain it.
We're going to just
jump ahead,
well actually no,
we'll read it.
Let's look at verse 22.
So in the next day,
John chapter 6,
verse 22,
in the next day,
the crowd that remained
on the other side
of the sea,
remember that they're,
you know,
they're on the other side
of the sea,
it's mountainous,
they saw that there
had been only one boat there
and that Jesus
had not entered the boat.
They'd been watching the boat
and Jesus hadn't entered
the boat with his disciples
but his disciples
had gone away alone.
So other boats
from Tiberias
came near the place
where they had eaten
the bread
after the Lord
had given thanks.
So when the crowd
saw that Jesus
was not there
nor his disciples,
they themselves
got into the boats
and went to Capernaum
seeking Jesus.
When they found him
on the other side
of the sea,
they said to him,
Rabbi,
when did you come here?
See how the story
sort of points to the fact
that there's a miracle?
But Jesus doesn't answer
what's going on,
like how,
he doesn't tell them
anything about him
walking on the water
or him moving
a whole boat,
12 men and himself,
four miles,
just like that.
He goes to the heart.
Like they'd like to know
a fantastic story
so people would buy them
beer for years.
Boy,
you should see
what I saw.
Really?
Tell us a story again.
Here,
buy a round.
Buy a drink
for my buddy here.
He's going to tell me
this great story.
Right?
That's what they want.
They want to get beer
for years
with a great story.
And Jesus goes
to the heart.
Verse 26,
Jesus answered them,
truly,
I say to you,
you are seeking me
not because you saw signs,
in other words,
a miracle that reveals something,
but because you ate
your fill of the loaves.
Listen,
these are working class
men and women.
In the ancient world
and in many parts
of the world today,
people die of famine
all the time.
One bad crop
could mean that
most of you die.
Boy,
if there's a guy
who can just make bread
out of nothing,
I want to hang out
with that guy.
I'm never going to die
in a famine
ever again.
And then Jesus says,
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 a seal.
Verse 28,
then they said to him,
what?
Okay,
okay,
Jesus,
listen,
you're going to give me
bread forever.
Okay,
what do I have to do?
Very practical question.
Then they said to him,
what must we do
to be doing the works
of God?
Okay,
like,
I know you're sort
of a holy guy,
so it probably doesn't
mean getting drunk
every night.
It probably means
the works of God,
so what do we do?
And verse 29,
Jesus answered them,
this is the work of God
that you believe
in whom he has sent.
It's a bit of a riddle.
The work is,
you don't work.
You catch that?
It's a bit of a riddle.
You know,
this is the work of God,
okay?
Okay,
I have to say,
you know,
15 Hail Marys,
you know,
20 whatever,
I got to go to church,
I got to learn how to sing
the whole Chris Tomlin
playlist by memory,
like,
you know,
you pick your stuff,
you know,
I,
you know,
what is it?
Okay,
and he says,
but this is the work of God,
that you believe
in him
whom he has sent.
So they said to him,
that's not what they were asking,
then what sign do you do
that you,
that we may see
and believe you?
What work do you perform
if we're going to believe
in you?
Our fathers ate the manna
in the wilderness,
as it is written,
and they quote Psalm 78,
verse 24,
he gave them bread
from heaven to eat.
Jesus then said to him,
and just before you do,
I read this,
but see,
here's an interesting thing
about signs.
They just saw Jesus make,
feed 20,000 people
from five buns
and two fish.
But it's not enough.
You see,
if we set up
a whole pile of criteria
for God to meet,
if we set up
a whole pile of criteria
for Jesus to meet
before we believe him,
our arrogance,
I apologize for insulting you,
but our pride is insatiable,
has no end.
The goalposts will always move.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, you fit.
Okay, 20,000.
Do something better
than I'll believe.
Do something better
than I'll believe.
And it just keeps moving,
right?
Because you're standing
in judgment.
In fact,
I mean,
the main problem,
one of the big problems
in Canada is
it might have been
very well 100 years ago
that the average Canadian
would have understood
that they were
under God's judgment
in some vague way
or very specific way
and it might have bothered them.
But very few Canadians
worry about that anymore.
Why?
Because virtually
every Canadian
is in judgment on God.
Will God reach
my standards?
Will he explain
his intolerable views
and behaviors
or improve them
to my satisfaction
before I will believe?
As, once again,
C.S. Lewis said it,
in the older world,
most,
and in many parts
of the world now,
they have a very,
and a very easy
time understanding
that they,
in a sense,
when they die,
that they go
on trial before God.
But in our day and age,
God is on trial
to us.
So here is,
they've just seen
a spectacular miracle.
It's not good enough.
So they say to Jesus,
okay, do something better.
Verse 32,
Jesus then said to them,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
it was not Moses
who gave you
the bread from heaven,
but my father,
I mean,
he's just giving
a bit of a technical.
It wasn't Moses
who did that.
God did that.
And that verse
that you just quoted
about needing bread
that comes from heaven,
he's going to say,
the one who's standing
in front of you
fulfills that
scripture text.
Listen to it again,
verse 32,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
it was not Moses
who gave them,
gave you the bread
from heaven,
but my father gives you
the true bread
from heaven.
For the bread of God
is he,
a person,
who comes down
from heaven
and gives life
to the world.
They said to him,
sir,
give us this bread
always.
But notice here,
now remember,
so part of the thing
which is the emotional puzzle,
the intellectual,
it's a bit of a puzzle
for many people
on the outside,
the entire Muslim world,
and for many,
it's okay,
you say that Jesus
can make matter
out of nothing.
You say that he's going
to create the new heaven
and the new earth,
he can walk on water,
he can move objects
in himself,
and then he dies
on the cross.
If you could put up
the next point,
Andrew,
that would be very helpful.
What we see here
is that Jesus comes down
from heaven
to give his life.
In fact,
as we see,
how is it,
you know,
as we see here,
because he loves me,
he went to the cross
to die for me.
Because he loves me,
he stayed on the cross
and died for me.
Because he loves me,
he went to the cross
to die for me.
Because he loves me,
he stayed on the cross
and died for me.
I just had a conversation
about this week
in a coffee shop.
And, I mean,
the person says
they just have
a very hard time believing.
his experience of life
is that people
who are bigger than him
take advantage of him.
His experience of life
is that his parents,
he wasn't the favorite child.
His parents had favorite children
and he's a disappointment
to his parents.
and he's stuck
in a bit of a dead-end job
and he keeps getting
passed over for promotion.
And women
that he's interested in
don't ultimately
stay with him.
And his entire life
is one of how
people who matter
pass him by
or fail him.
And so this idea
that the same one
who could create all things
and sustain all things
I could see him
as I talked with him
struggling with
trying to get his mind
around this idea
that God himself
would do this.
Like, he has a very easy
time believing
that human beings
are screwed up.
In fact, he used
a word that began
with the word F
many times
in terms of describing
how human beings are.
And I tried to say to him,
I tried to share with him
that if you come
to that realization
then you know
unless God does
something
where, I didn't use
the F word,
I said we're screwed.
Like, unless
God does something
and that's the story here.
And I said this
for me
and I believe
there's good reasons
for this,
it's not just a story,
a clever story
to make you feel good.
It really happened.
Like it really happened.
happened.
And only love
could explain
why one who can make
matter out of nothing
would go to a cross,
die and stay on the cross
and die on the cross.
Only love
makes sense
of why one
who can walk on water
would allow himself
to be captured,
mocked,
put on a cross
and stay on the cross.
Only love
makes sense
of the inconsistency.
And only
a quite remarkable love
for you and me
makes sense of that.
One of the things
I shared with this person,
I'll call him Bob,
I said when Jesus
was dying on the cross,
he was thinking of you.
He was thinking of you.
He saw you.
Well, okay.
I mean, George,
what's going on here?
What's up?
You know,
I don't know what to say
about this,
but George,
I just want to focus.
I was listening
when you read something earlier
and doesn't Jesus
go on to say something
about whoever comes to me
will never hunger,
whoever believes in me
will never thirst.
George,
that doesn't make any sense.
Like,
George,
really,
you've never,
you don't keep hungry.
And I know,
I don't,
it's meaning something spiritual,
but George,
that actually makes it harder.
Do you actually
expect me to believe
that if I come to Jesus,
I'll never have any hunger
or thirst to gain
for meaning?
Like,
George,
you must get depressed.
Don't you get tired?
Don't you get grumpy?
Don't you do bad things?
Like,
George,
that doesn't make any sense.
And in fact,
actually,
I,
if we're honest,
a lot of us Christians
get very uncomfortable
with these next few words
that Jesus says
because it bothers us
that our experience
doesn't seem to match up with it.
I've,
over the years,
had many,
many conversations
with people
who say,
maybe I'm not really
a Christian
because I,
I feel so lonely
and I,
I feel defeated
and this text of Jesus
that I'll never hunger
and thirst again.
George,
maybe I'm not a Christian.
Well,
let's look what Jesus says.
Remember verse 34,
they say,
sir,
give us this bread always.
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.
It's our memory verse
for the week.
I encourage you
to memorize it
and there's two other verses
in this text
we should memorize as well
but just,
just pause for that
for a second.
I'm going to talk about it
but just listen to it again.
Jesus says to them,
Jesus who's revealed himself
as the same as the one
who's created all things.
He is our creator.
You know,
it's,
it's very interesting
in Hollywood.
What is it
that Hollywood movies
when they talk about cyborgs
and robots coming to life,
they want to meet their creator?
I mean,
these are non-Christian movies
but we have this intuitive sense
that if there's a creator
we should connect with him.
And Jesus is revealed
as the creator of all things.
He's revealed as the one
who will create the new heaven
and the new earth.
And he says,
in light of those revelations,
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,
verse 36,
that you have seen me
and yet you do not believe.
Verse 37,
another verse to memorize.
All that the Father gives me
will come to me
and whoever comes to me
I will never cast out.
Whoever comes to me
I will never cast out.
Brother and sister,
I'm going to keep reading it,
but brother and sister,
are you depressed?
Jesus will not cast you out.
Are you defeated?
He will not cast you out.
Are you worried about dying?
He will not cast you out.
Do you feel like you are
the world's worst loser?
He will not cast you out.
That's not George saying this.
This is Jesus saying this.
Verse 38,
For I have come down from heaven
not to do my own will,
but the will of him who sent me.
Verse 39,
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.
Listen to this again.
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.
Verse 40,
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in him
should have eternal life,
and I will raise him up
on the last day.
That's why Jesus dies on the cross.
Could you put up the next point, Andrew?
Because I am a dead man walking,
I need the true bread of life,
so that I will not hunger,
thirst, and die,
but receive eternal life.
Because I am a dead man walking,
I need the true bread of life,
so that I will not hunger,
thirst, and die,
but receive eternal life.
You see, here's this thing
about what it means
amongst other things,
that the most fundamental reason
this whole thing means
about the bread of heaven,
never thirsting,
never hungering,
is that saying that
if we,
Jesus isn't saying,
like,
I'm like this new powerful drug,
that, like,
when you get this drug,
it's like being on heroin,
but you never come down,
and you always have an,
like, it's not a drug,
he's not a drug
that just overwhelms you,
he makes you more human,
he's going to fit you
for the new heaven
and the new earth,
where you have body,
and you dwell,
and you dwell with other people
for all eternity
in the new heaven
and the new earth,
and you'll be able
to walk on water,
you'll be able
to walk on water,
you'll be able to eat,
and that's the new heaven
and the new earth,
and it's not talking
about that,
and if you're interested
about the,
you know,
the whole thing
about whether this
is all about communion,
and you read commentaries,
and whole forests
have been killed
to discuss whether this
is referring to communion,
read my blog,
I'm not going to go there
at all,
read my blog about it,
it's in there this week,
but you know what,
what is this fundamental image?
What's,
I looked it up this week,
every culture
from what I can gather
has bread.
Every culture
has bread.
Ancient cultures,
one of the first things
that they would have been
able to manufacture
and make was bread.
Jesus doesn't say,
I am the caviar
of life.
Thanks be to God.
I'm not just stuff
that only weird,
sorry,
maybe you love caviar.
The idea of eating fish eggs
is like just repulsive
to me, okay?
I know I have to try it,
you know?
He doesn't say,
I am the escargot
of life,
or the frog legs
of life,
okay?
Sorry,
maybe you like,
if you like it,
good for you,
if you like frog legs
and escargot.
You know,
everybody has their own thing.
An article newspaper
recently that bugs
are going to be
the new thing
that we're going to eat.
You know,
who knows, right?
But what does he say?
If you watch
The Crown
on Netflix,
you'll see
the Queen of England
cutting bread
and eating it.
And if you were to have seen,
you see shows
of very, very, very
poor people,
they eat bread.
The King eats bread,
the Queen eats bread,
I bet Bill Gates
eats bread.
Poor people eat bread.
Bread
is what everybody eats.
And it's a very profound image
of when everything else goes,
when you lose all of your money,
I mean,
that you can at least
afford some bread.
In those old days,
bread would have kept you alive
with water.
And, you know,
the other image is,
you know,
it's as if we read this text
and we're expecting
certain emotional things
and all of that type of stuff,
but we forget the fact
that apart from Christ,
like,
every human being dies.
And apart from Christ,
every human being dies
and our death
is an image
and a foretaste
of, in a sense,
eternally dying
and eternally perishing.
I am not some God.
I am not some God
demanding a whole pile
of emotional experiences.
I act like I'm a God
demanding emotional
and spiritual experiences,
but that's not who I am.
I am a dead man walking.
I am a cut plant.
I am a cut flower.
I am a dead man walking.
And what does Jesus say here?
I have come down from heaven
to give my life for the world.
Would you eat of me?
You know what?
What happens if we can eat bread?
We don't die.
You eat of me?
I won't,
you won't die.
You eat of me?
You will live eternally.
I give you eternal life.
You won't,
I am a dead man walking.
I need the true bread of life
so that I will not hunger and die.
I will not thirst and die,
but receive eternal life.
That's who I am.
And kings need me and eat me
and the poorest of the poor.
And people in South Africa
and people in Japan
and people in Canada.
Just one thing,
just to sort of wrap it up.
You know,
if you haven't,
you know,
these words are very,
very precious words.
If you are here today
and you have not given your life to Jesus,
just listen again to verse 35.
I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me
shall not hunger
and whoever believes in me
shall never thirst.
Listen to verse 37.
All that the Father gives me
will come to me
and whoever comes to me
I will never cast out.
Listen to verse 39.
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.
Listen to verse 40.
For this is the will of my Father
that everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in him
should have,
shall have eternal life
and I will raise him up
on the last day.
Friend,
if you are here,
come to Jesus.
And here's,
if you could put up the last point,
Andrew,
that would be really good.
And there's a wonderful thing here
that Jesus says.
On one hand,
it's completely true
that you have to come to Jesus.
On the other hand,
what is also true
is you actually don't come to Jesus
on your own power.
The Father brings you.
I mean,
that's why,
you know,
this person I was having
a conversation with this week,
Bob,
he asked me how it is
that I came to faith
and I told him
that it was
as if for a long,
long time,
for almost a year,
I could feel
that God was just
calling me
and urging me
and pushing me
to give my life to Jesus
and I was just resisting it
and resisting it
and resisting it.
And what we find,
and this is such a wonderful comfort,
you know,
if it was just up to me
to come to Jesus
then maybe I'll turn away.
If it's just up to me
to come to Jesus
then what happens
when I feel like a loser?
What happens when I feel sick?
What helps when I'm dying?
What happens
if I have emotional problems?
Like,
maybe I'll turn away from Jesus
but what this text is saying us
is that,
yes,
on one hand,
I give my will
and I say to Jesus,
I come to you,
I believe in you.
Be my Savior and my Lord.
Be that bread of heaven
that I might eat of you
and I will never hunger
and never thirst
and I will have eternal life.
I come to you, Jesus.
But we don't just come to Jesus,
it's the Father who carries us
and he'll never let us go
and once he has us in his hand
and brings us to Jesus,
he doesn't let us go
and he will see that
he will raise us up
at the end,
the last day.
That's why I've put up there
on the screen,
remember, Christian,
that you did not merely believe
in Jesus and come to him.
God the Father himself
gave you to Jesus
and brought you to him.
I invite you to stand, please.
Thank you.
And all of us in different ways
have some business
to do with Jesus
this morning.
For some of us,
it might just be,
Father, thank you so much
that my salvation
doesn't depend upon me
feeling so good,
but that you carry me
to Jesus
and you carry me
throughout my life
and you will carry me
into eternity
to be with you forever.
And that might be a response.
And for some of us,
it might be,
Jesus,
help me to believe in you.
I want you to be
that bread of heaven
that gives me eternal life.
I want the Father
to carry me to you
and say that
with your own words.
There's no better time
than now to just say that
with your own words.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you, Father,
that he reveals
that you are the creator
of all things,
that you exist,
that you brought
all things into being,
that you sustain
all things into being.
And thank you, Father,
that he reveals
a little bit
of what it will be like
to have our resurrection bodies
in the new heaven
and the new earth.
And Father,
for those of us
who are here in Jesus,
fan into flame within us
a longing and yearning
to see you,
to know you,
to be with you forever.
Fan into flame within us
a greater longing
and yearning
to know you
and to be known by you,
Father.
And Father,
for any who are here
who have not yet
given their lives to Jesus,
Father,
may your Holy Spirit
move deeply within them
that they might
give their lives to Jesus.
And if some have today
for the first time,
Father,
pour out your Holy Spirit
and your joy upon them.
And all these things
we ask in the name of Jesus,
your Son
and our Savior.
Amen.