Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction:

Last week we learned that man has a gnawing hunger within for both the physical and the spiritual.

Just as there is physical hunger that only physical food can satisfy, so there is a deeper, spiritual hunger in the pit of the human soul that only spiritual food can nourish.

Man hungers for both food and material things and for God and spiritual things, things such as love and joy and peace.

Therefore, most of man’s time and energy are spent in seeking to satisfy his hunger.

We learned that:

         1.

Man has a great hunger, a great need (v.22-25).

2.

Man’s motive is corrupt (v.26-27).

3.

Labor for food that endures—that gives eternal life (v.27).

4.

Do the work of God—believe (v.28-29).

This week we are going to learn that Jesus is the only Bread that can feed man’s hunger, the hunger that gnaws and gnaws within his inner being.

There is no other source upon which man can feed and be nourished.

1.

The people demanded proof (v.30-31).

2.

Christ is the true bread (v.32).

3.

Christ is the Bread of God (v.33).

4.

Christ is the Bread of Life (v.34-35).

5.      Christ was seen, but rejected (v.36).

A.

The Claims of Jesus

1.

The people demanded proof (v.30-31)

Jesus had just made some phenomenal claims.

He claimed to be...

q  the Son of Man (John 6:27).

q  the One who feeds man, who gives man bread which gives eternal life (John 6:27).

q  the One whom God had sealed (John 6:27).

q  the One whom God had sent into the world (John 6:29).

q  the One upon whom men were to believe (John 6:29).

The people demanded proof.

/Note two revealing things about the nature of man/.

/a)        //Man Focuses Upon The Physical And Material (John 6:26-27)—/Remember last week we looked at Esau & how he did not care about his birthright, all he wanted was to feed his stomach (Genesis 25:27-34).

We learned how to beware of /Paying to high a price for temporary satisfaction.

/Esau traded the /lasting benefits/ of his birthright for the /immediate pleasure/ of food.

He /acted on impulse/, satisfying his /immediate desires/ without pausing to consider the long-range consequences of what he was about to do.

We can fall into the same trap.

/Jesus said, /“Take heed to yourselves, /lest your, hearts be weighed down/ with partying, drunkenness, and cares of this life (Luke 21:34).

1)        /The Cost of Discipleship (Mark 8:34-37)/

(a)      The Parable Of The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21)

(b)      It is a choice that we make & /we must choose /not to indulge in the /passing or temporary pleasure of sin/ like Moses did (Heb.11:24-25).

This takes a /purposing of our hearts/ (Dan.1:9),

& a continuing /keeping our hearts with all diligence/ (Prov.4:23)./

/

/b)        /Man Demands That He First See, /Then He Will Believe (v.30)/—This is totally contrary to /true/ faith.

It is not the way faith works.

A man must first believe God, then he sees.

Faith must precede sight.

1)        /It Takes More That Believing In Miracles To Be Saved—/It is one thing to believe in His miracles but something else to commit oneself to Jesus Christ and continue in His Word (John 8:30-31).

1.         /Miracles & Signs That Jesus Did Were Important /& John says that he even wrote his book to record these signs and to encourage his readers to trust Jesus Christ and receive eternal life (Jn 20:30-31)… /“//And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name”./

2.         /Seeing Is Believing, Is Not The Christian Approach.

/(1) Lazarus /(John 11:4,23,40); /(2) Thomas /(John 20:29).

/Even though we have never seen Jesus we love Him (1 Pet.1:8)/  /

3.         /When Jesus Was on the Cross, people still wanted a sign (Matt.27:35-44)/

4.         /The Nobleman Believed Jesus’ Word Before He Seen the Miracle (John 4:46-53)/

/c)         //Our Father’s Ate The Manna In The Desert (v.31cf.

Exodus 16:1-15, 21, 35)—/Note that Jesus said to them that their fathers at the manna in the wilderness and are dead (v.49,58).

Manna literally means “what is it?”

So for the next forty years, six days a week, every morning the Jews ate “What is it?”

2.

Christ is the true bread (v.32).

/a)        //Man Cannot Provide True Bread, That Is, True Satisfaction, Only God can.

/Moses was not the one who gave Israel the manna from heaven; God was the One who gave the manna.

1)        We must look both /beyond other men/ and /beyond the things of this world./

Men and things cannot meet the hunger of man; they cannot provide true satisfaction.

(a)      Jesus said, /“Whoever Drinks Of This Water Will Thirst Again”/

1.         What is it that you are hoping to achieve or attain in life?

2.         What is it that you think will bring you satisfaction and happiness?

3.         What is it that you are pressing towards?

The goals that you hope to fulfill?

4.         Whatever it is, write over the top of it, /“//Drink of this water but you will thirst again.”/

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, /And/ hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.

(Jeremiah 2:13 /cf./ 1 John 2:15)

 

/b)        //God Alone Provides True Bread, That Is, Provides True Satisfaction (v.32b) /

1)        /The Bread the Father Gives Is “True” Bread—/the words true, truth, and real are taken from two Greek words very much alike.

1.    “Alethes” means true, the opposite of false.

2.    “Alethinos” means the true, the genuine, the real.

It is the /opposite/ of the unreal, the ficticious, the counterfeit, the imaginary.

It is also the opposite of the imperfect, defective, frail, uncertain.

Jesus Christ is seen as the true, the real, the genuine life which has come to give life to every man.

This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.

He who eats this bread will live forever.”

3.

Christ Is The Bread Of God (v.33).

/a)        //The Origin Of The True Bread Is God Himself—/It is bread which came down from or “out of” (ek) heaven itself.

/This Means Several Things./

1)        /The Bread Of God Is Not Bread Which Comes Out Of The Clouds Above Earth/.

Rather, it is bread which comes “out of” (ek) heaven itself, out of the spiritual dimension of being, from the very presence of God Himself.

2)        /The Bread Of God Is Not Physical Bread/.

It is of the nature of God Himself, spiritual and eternal bread (cp.

John 6:50-51).

3)        /The Bread Of God Is Possessed By God;/ therefore, only He can give it, and man cannot have the Bread of God unless God gives it to man.

4)        /The Bread Of God Was A Person/.

Note the personal pronoun “He,” and the word “bread” (ho artos) which is masculine.

Note that “He,” the Bread of God who feeds and nourishes man, came down or “out of” heaven.

He was not born of the earth.

/He came from the very presence of God Himself:/

He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.

He who comes from heaven is above all.

(John 3:31 NKJV)