John 6:22-36
Notes
Transcript
Turn to John 6:22-36. While your’e turning there I want to remind you of something...
John 5 begins with Christ healing a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. If you remember the sermon we did on it there was something pretty neat about the place it happened. It was in the name.
It took place at Bethesda. It was at Bethesda where Christ healed this man.
This man was an invalid…but he was also a sinner. This man had sinned against the God of all Creation. He had sinned against a perfect, Holy, Eternal God and Christ, the Son of God, chose to show this man mercy. He chose to not only show him mercy but also grace.
Whats neat is that this happened in Bethesda, which means “house of mercy” or “house of grace”.
Its not that God was lucky that there was a place named this. It was not that God over heard someone talking about a town named “Bethesda” and was like, “did you say Bethesda?” and then thought to himself… “i should go over there and show someone mercy and grace”.
This was planned out before time… to teach us about our Savior.
DONT FORGET THE INTRO...
And that’s the intro!
Lets look at our text this morning:
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 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?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, 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?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Prayer
Pretty cool that the gracious and merciful miracle at the Pool of Bethesda just so happened to take place that means “House of Mercy and Grace” isn’t it?
What is the Subtitle in your Bible above verse 22…it is what this section is about.
“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE”
Listen to me…we worship an ALL POWERFUL, ALMIGHTY, ALL KNOWING, SOVEREIGN GOD! Our God has a plan…and it will not be thwarted!
So, Darcy always encourages me to make some POINTS…like an outline and some POINTS. I don’t know why I don’t…i think i have that “AD-AD” disease but I have some points for this sermon…she’ll be impressed.
Point 1:
Why DO YOU SEEK CHRIST?
Now…lets look at this first section:
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 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.
Here’s what we got:
this CROWD seemed to be watching things pretty closely.
they noticed that the disciples went away on a boat
they noticed Jesus didn’t get in the boat with them
And…they went looking for Jesus!
It says they went “seeking Jesus”.
Man! That’s great isn’t it? A huge crowd “seeking Jesus”! I mean, these must be some sincere good hearted church people...
Isn’t that what we are wanting? A large, I’m talking LARGE, crowd “seeking Jesus”?
Look at verse 25: ON THE SCREEN
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
TWO things to point out here on this verse:
They found him! THEY FOUND HIM!
“on the other side of the sea” --
They acknowledge a miracle.
“Rabbi, WHEN did you get here”
They knew it was impossible to walk around “the sea” over night…through that storm that came through last night…impossible.
Remember back in John 3 with Nicodemus? He comes up to Jesus and says, “we know that you must be from God” because “no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him”
Remember Jesus’ response? HE JUST READ NICODEMUS’ MAIL. He didn’t even address the praise Nicodemus gave Him. He said, let me talk to you about what you’re really thinking Nicodemus.
Remember… ON THE SCREEN
But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
We see this again here...
Jesus doesn’t say, “man, guys, look…everybody gather round…squeeze in tight everybody…let me tell you how I got here and the look on their faces when they saw me walking on the water”...
He DIDN’T TRY TO IMPRESS the CROWD!
He addressed their deepest NEED!
So… WHY DO YOU SEEK CHRIST?
Let’s see why they were seeking Christ…Look at verse 26
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Again, Jesus doesn’t answer their question as to “when did you come here?”....Like his convo with Nicodemus, he goes straight to the heart...
Jesus KNEW why they were seeking Him…and He called them out on it.
They were seeking Him not because of who he truly was but they were seeking Him for what He could do for them...
They didn’t want JESUS for JESUS...
they wanted Jesus just so they could benefit from Him.
Many people come to Christ today the same way...
They come because they don’t want to go to Hell...
They come because they want to go to Heaven because that’s where Grandma is and I want to be with Grandma.
OR...
People come to Christ, and go to church, because they want to be respected by people
I got to church because its just what we do in the South, right?
But do you come to Christ because you have truly TRUSTED in Him?
Have you come to Christ and said, “take my life Lord…it’s yours! Use me to further your Kingdom”
Have you come to Christ and said, “Lord, I am a sinner and I need a Savior…save me Lord!”
Jesus is the same today as he was then...
you may be able to fool everyone else in the crowd…but you WILL NOT fool Him…He knows your heart and He knows my heart.
So…a good question to ask yourself is, “WHY DO I SEEK CHRST?”
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 to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Look at the first part of this verse, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the foot that endures to eternal life”...
See, they came to Jesus to get things from him that will not last them…they came to get things from Him that will soon fade away…for things that do not sustain.
Many today come to Christ for health, wealth, and prosperity.
And Im not talking the obvious…Im talking the subtle health, wealth, and prosperity.
They come to Christ for some other reason instead of coming to Christ to be with Christ and know Him more.
“Do no work for the food that perishes”…
work - to exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
DO NOT spend all your time working on things that will not last!
JESUS SAYS…don’t work for those things “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”.
This means that we should be “working”, spending our time with spiritual things because this is what our souls desperately need. **Christ should be our number one desire
Work for food that endures to eternal life:
Work, Labor in reading the Word of God...
pray
When you come to church, come like you are coming to see your brothers and sisters to hear your Father speak
JC Ryle says, “we must fight daily against sin, the world, and the devil, like those who fight for liberty, and must conquer, or be slaves”
And guess what…if we “WORK” or “labor” for the food that endures to eternal life… THE SON OF MAN WILL GIVE it to you!
So they hear Jesus tell them this…remember, they are spiritually blind still, so they ask this question…LOOK AT VERSE 28
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Like so many people around us....and like we were before we knew the grace of God…the initial question is always, “What must we do?”...
When you hear of Christ people immediately jump to what do I need to DO in order to go to Heaven.
What are the things I need to DO and NOT DO in order to go to Heaven...
Its always the thought of the spiritually blind…its the only thing that makes sense, because this is how the world works isn’t it?
If you want this…DO THIS!
“WHAT MUST we do?” — a sinner always wants to DO SOMETHING to Earn it.
But it’s also a good question and its an honest question.
One who does not know Christ or His Word would obviously think this way. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it...
So what do we do when someone asks us, “What must we do”…we don’t try to correct their bad theology and give them a Theologically Correct answer...
tell them what Jesus said and let the chips fall where they may…you never know where their question and your answer may lead them...
Look how Jesus answered their question on “what must we do, to be doing the works of God?”…LOOK AT VERSE 29
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
This goes against everything in us doesn’t it!
“Believing” isn’t work....seriously, tell me what TO DO!
You can’t just be SAVED FROM YOUR SINS by JUST “believing”.
Let me tell you something....it’s what we call a family secret...
YOU CAN’T JUST BELIEVE IF IT WASN’T FOR GOD.
The truth is that the hardest thing you could ever ‘DO’ is Believe in Christ ALONE.
See, people are good with believing in Christ and their good works to get them to Heaven.
If you are wanting to know “what to do”…listen, you CANT DO ENOUGH…YOU CAN’T DO IT.
the good news is that Christ did it for you…so BELIEVE IN HIM and His righteousness!
and when you believe…stop working for the things that perish and work for the things that endure to eternal life…give him everything because he gave everything for us.
Look at verse 30-31
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
So ‘JUST BELIEVE’ HUH....
“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe”?
how about i just fed 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish?
how about I just got over hear from the other side of the sea and you saw that I didn’t get in the boat with my disciples?
What they have already seen isn’t enough…JUST LIKE MANY TODAY…they say, “If I saw God do this or that then I would believe”...
But here is the deal....FAITH COMES FIRST THEN SIGHT.
The spiritually BLIND can’t see anything like this....
THEY ASK HIM TO SHOW THEM A SIGN AND it hasn’t even registered to them what they have ALREAD SEEN.
And it always goes back to the Glory Days doesn’t it...
“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
This is an example of the Spiritually Blind quoting Scripture out of context. They thought they knew their Bible but man did they miss it…just like Nicodemus did in chapter 3.
Look at Jesus’ answer:
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 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.”
Jesus is saying, you people have put TOO MUCH emphasis on Moses! You have missed it so bad!
It wasn’t MOSES that gave you the Mana! It was my Father!
Moses was an instrument of God...
God fed the people bread from heaven…Moses was the messenger....
Christ fed them by his own hand!
And our last verse....VERSE 34:
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
They still didn’t get it…CHRIST IS THE BREAD that has come down from Heaven…but they can’t see it!
But Hey, they came seeking Jesus…but Jesus isn’t looking for a BIG Crowd…He is looking for those who will give him everything…who will serve Him like they serve nothing else.
Have you come to Seek Jesus with the wrong motives or did you come to seek after Christ because you WANT CHRIST!
Remember the Intro… “the Pool of Bathesda”…Bathesda means “house of Mercy and Grace”.
How God is Sovereign over everything…HIs plans will not be thwarted...
Read real quick verse 35 with me…ON THE SCREEN
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.
I have a question for you.
Where was Jesus born?
Bethlehem
Bethlehem…that is interesting.
You know what Bethlehem means in Hebrew? “House of Bread”.
The bread of God came down from Heaven and was born in a manger in a town known as the “house of bread”…
if you do not know Christ…if you have not come to Him please come....
Only He can make you right with God who you have sinned against.
Only He can take away that guilt and shame that you carry…that weighs you down...
Because He not only lived a life for you perfectly, he died for your sins and for your guilt and shame...
Come to Christ to have Christ....Give Him your life if you never have…If you hear him calling you come....
Because there are many things you go without at a dinner table but one thing everyone wants and the one thing that everyone loves is Bread....
If there is no bread at the table, we know there is something missing...
IT’s the same with Christ…but if you do not have The Bread of Life, you miss everything!