The True Bread From Heaven - Grant Partrick

I've loved this collection, Jesus in His own words, and we've been talking about who does Jesus tell us that He is, straight to the source. Nobody's opinion, no what does somebody say about Him, but what does He say about Himself? This is the most important question of all time. And we've looked at things like Jesus' claims that He was the Son of Man, that He was the Lamb of God, the resurrection and the life. Last week, He claims, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And today, we're gonna look at a claim Jesus makes about Himself, found in John chapter six. So if you have your copy of scripture, I'd invite you to open it and turn to John chapter six. This is the longest chapter in John's gospel, one of the longest chapters in the New Testament, 71 verses. So hope you don't have brunch plans today. I'm kidding, only kind of kidding. It's not only one of the longest chapters, it's one of the most important chapters in John's gospel. And really, in essence, it's one long, beautiful, clear sermon from Jesus. It contains the first of the seven I am statements, which is what we're gonna look at today, found in John six, verse 35. This really is our key verse. We're gonna read a lot of other scripture, but let's just start with the key verse for the day, John six, 35. We're gonna put it up on screen.

I'd love for you to read it with me if we could do that, just a little bit of participation today. This is in red letter. Jesus says in John six, verse 35, here we go. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Now, most of these 71 verses are about bread. And the word bread doesn't mean the same thing in our context today as it meant to those who were listening to Jesus in the first century. In fact, when we talk about bread today, most of us are trying to avoid bread. We have a plethora of bread. Some might say too much bread. It's complimentary at restaurants now. I took my kids to Kroger over the weekend to count the different kinds of bread on the bread aisle. Don't you wish you were a pastor's kid? 178 different kinds of bread on the bread aisle. We got all different kinds. We got wheat, we got white, we got black, we got butter, we got artisan style, we got Hawaiian, we got Texas toast, we got sourdough bread, we got oil-free bread, we got quinoa power grain bread. Never heard of that. We'll pray for the people who are eating that. We got thin-sliced bread, thick-sliced bread,

gluten-free bread, stone-ground bread, honey, oak, flax, chia, ancient grain bread. It's a lot. But this was a very different culture when Jesus claimed, I am the bread of life. And that time, in the time of the Gospels in the first century, their meals were almost exclusively bread. It was essential for life. They didn't have meat at every meal. Bread was sustenance. Bread equaled life. And into that culture, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Let's pray and ask that he would help us to understand what it is he's saying about himself when he says, I am the bread of life. Father, thank you for the chance to gather today. Thank you for your word. Thank you that it is alive and active. Thank you that you have a purpose and a plan for everybody at our church today, everybody listening online today. Nobody needs to hear any of my thoughts today, but we all desperately need to hear from you today. We wanna understand who you are. We want more of you. We need you and we want you in this house. So would you help us today, God? Clear out the distractions. Allow us to focus on you and on your words.

Holy Spirit, I ask that you would illuminate Jesus today in a way that is irresistible for us and in a way that changes everything for every person. Soften the hardened heart and clear the foggy eye so that we can see you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray. And everybody said, amen, amen. Well, let me set the scene for you really quickly. Jesus is starting to gain quite the following by the time we get to John chapter six. He's turned water. into wine in the wedding in Cana. He's healed the royal official's son earlier in John. In John chapter 5 he's healed the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda and with each miracle the buzz gets louder and the crowd gets bigger. And now we come to Jesus's most public miracle. The only miracle that's recorded in all four Gospels, John chapter 6 verse 1. It says sometime after this Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. We just talked about. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. If you have your copy of scripture open and you got a pen in your hand I want you to circle the next verse. Verse 4. It's probably not circled in your Bible currently. Verse 4. The Jewish Passover festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him for he already had in mind what he was going to do. That's every time Jesus asked a question. Luke, who always gives us more of the details, tells us that the place where this took place is in Bethsaida. And we know from John chapter 1 verse 44 that Philip and Peter and Andrew were from Bethsaida. And I think that's probably why Philip and Andrew are on display here. I think that's why Jesus asked the question to Philip. Where are we going to get bread

for all these people? This is on their turf. It's where they grew up. It's their hometown. They knew the markets and the shops. And Philip answered him, it would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one of them to have a bite. Pretty pessimistic answer. We don't have enough money even to do the bare minimum. No money. Not even to hit the lowest goal, just for every person to have one single bite. Remember that. Verse 8. Another of his disciples, Andrew, also from Bethsaida, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. Here is a boy with five small barley loaves, which is important. There's no throwaway words. A barley loaf is the cheapest kind of bread possible. This is bottom-shelf bread, reserved for the lower class, often given to animals. And I think it's on purpose that this is the kind of bread the boy had. Two small fish. But how far will they go among so many? And Jesus said, have the people sit down. There was plenty of grass in that place. And they sat down. You ever read something in the Bible and you go, why put that in there? Why the detail about the grass in that place? It's an interesting detail. It's less about a comment about landscaping, and it's more of a timestamp. It's confirming again that verse 4 is true, that the Jewish Passover festival was near, which happened in the spring, where the grass would be green. It didn't happen in the summer. In this part, in the summer, the grass is burned. It's important that we know that it's the time for the Jewish Passover festival. It says that there's 5,000 men. They counted back then by households. This doesn't include women and children, so there would have been likely 15,000 to 20,000 people. Verse 11, Jesus then took the loaves, he gave thanks, he distributed those who were seated as much as they wanted. And he did the same with the fish. And when they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left over and let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Remember Philip's worry? What was it? We don't have enough money to do the bare minimum. Jesus doesn't do the minimum. Jesus's limitations aren't your limitations, and his limitations aren't my limitations. He provides enough bread not for a bite, but for everyone to have their fill. Verse 14, after the people saw

the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, surely this is the prophet who came, who is to come into the world. This is Deuteronomy 18, 15, looming in their minds. Jesus, it says though, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountainside. By himself. It's every introvert's favorite verse in the Bible. Okay? So at this time, in Jewish history, they were under Roman occupation. And remember, what time was it? It was time for the Passover festival. This was like a highlight, a high point, a climax of the year for the people of Israel and the people of God. A moment of national pride and a massive celebration. And they came together to remember God's faithfulness of delivering them from Egyptian rule. And they clung to this hope that one day they would be delivered again from Rome. And with all of this, with the Passover and lamb and bread and food and drink in their minds, here's this guy who can create bread. And they say, we've got the guy. Jesus could see what they were doing. He wanted nothing to do with it. He knew the kind of king that they were looking for. And he knew that the kingdom that they desired was not the kingdom he came to inaugurate. And in verses 16 through 24, you have the miracle of Jesus walking on the water.

I'm not gonna read it because you do have brunch plans, but promise me you'll read it later. I'll paraphrase. Evening came, his disciples got in a boat and they headed across the water for Capernaum. And Jesus wasn't on the boat with them. He went on the mountainside alone to pray. And the storms come out of nowhere, which happened often. If you've been to the Sea of Galilee, sit some 600 feet below sea level, kind of located in a wind tunnel with winds coming off the Mediterranean and the mountainside, storms can kick up like that. And these guys are three miles away from the shore, professional fishermen, many of them, scared to death. And then Jesus comes walking on the water and they're even more scared, which you would be too. And he gets into the boat. And I love that in John's account, he doesn't say a word about the storm being calmed. He doesn't talk about the water turning into glass. John just says, Jesus is welcomed into the boat and immediately they got to the other side. I can't wait to ask him how that went down. Was it like teleporting? Just he got in and boom, they were there? I don't know. And the crowd that had witnessed the miracle meal spent the night where the miracle happened. They knew there was only one boat

and that Jesus wasn't in it, but they couldn't find him. And so the other boats, it says, pulls up from Tiberias and the people load up and they're getting ready to head to Capernaum and they're searching for Jesus, which you would think Jesus would be happy about. And now let's pick up in verse 25. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? And Jesus doesn't answer their question, but I kind of wish he had. Imagine if to their question, how'd you get here? He just said, I walked. Wouldn't that be awesome? But he doesn't. Verse 26, Jesus answered, very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Now, remember back to the closing of the miracle meal. Jesus knew that they intended to make him king by force. This guy can fill our stomachs. So they did see the signs. But they missed the significance of the signs. They saw the product, but missed the purpose. Signs point to something else. Think about it. Who does signs better than anybody? Buckies. Nobody does it better.

I'll tell you one thing, you're never gonna sneak up on a Buckies. For 85 miles, they're letting you know one is coming. But what's the point of the signs? It's to tell you there's a store ahead. Right? It's communicating. That's the point of the sign. You don't get off the road and take a picture with the sign. If you take a picture with the sign and you miss the beaver nuggets, you missed the point. The point of the sign is something greater than the sign. Signs point to something. In John 2, it tells us that the sign that Jesus did at the wedding in Cana, that it was the first of the signs through which Jesus would reveal his glory. John 20, verse 31. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have life in his name. The signs of Jesus reveal his glory so that you might believe. Belief is the point. 98 times in John's gospel, you find the word believe, but they didn't believe him. They didn't believe him for who he was. They wanted to make him a king. They didn't realize he was already a king. They wanted to make, craft, build, curate, design,

customize, and concoct their own king. This guy's just what we've been looking for. It's estimated that up to 85% of your income in the first century would go to food. I hope that's not true of us today, but so not only did they get fed, they got a pretty big payday. And with their bellies full and some unexpected change jingling in their pockets, they seek Jesus. Here's what I want you to know. Motives matter to God. There are all kinds of reasons you might be here today. It's the holidays, and some of you didn't have a choice. Mom and dad made you come. Maybe it makes you feel better to be here. Maybe you need some help with your kids. Maybe financially, your back's against the wall and you think God can help. Maybe it's some form of career advancement. Maybe you have a big decision coming up and you think somehow if I come to church, I can kind of put God in my debt. For some of us, it could be a way to kind of deal with the guilt of life, or maybe you're here in hopes to meet a spouse and it's a good place for that. I met my wife here. It's worked out great for me. The list goes on and on and on. And these are not all bad things,

and God desires for us to seek him, but the error of the crowd is that they were seeking Jesus to get something else from Jesus. They weren't seeking Jesus to get more of Jesus. And that same risk is very real for everybody at Passion City Church today. It is very possible, likely, that many people are here today at church to get something else from him. But Jesus wants us to seek him simply to get more of him. He wants us to seek his face more than we seek his hands. Motives matter to Jesus. We come to him to get him. He's the prize. And then he gives us two commands. One's a positive and one's a negative. Look at verse 27. He says, do not work for food that spoils. Do not labor for food that spoils. C.S. Lewis wrote this. He said, most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want and want acutely something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. And if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation

is that I was made for another world. And Jesus says to them, they've crossed the shore, they're looking for him. Give us more bread, come on. Give us something else. And Jesus says to them, don't labor for food that spoils. Money and houses and cars and stuff, the bread of this world, it will only temporarily satisfy you. And we all know it. This is so much part of my story that I just kept going. Maybe another well will work, maybe another mountain. If I can scale that mountain, maybe when I get to the top of that, there will be some satisfaction there. And I get there and only find a higher mountain. And then I try, if I can get there, if I can get this prestige honor or this accolade or this thing that the world's selling in temporary bread after temporary bread, though I climbed higher and higher. And maybe you've climbed to the top of Mount Everest in your field. Maybe you have all the accolades, but the truth remains that as high as you climbed, you're no closer to heaven. That something still is too far out of your reach. That's because the bread of this world cannot satisfy the longing in your heart.

The promotion will fade. The new car smell wears off. The relationship, while great, will never fully satisfy you. The accolades, the fame, the notoriety, they all wear off. All have expiration dates. Someone else will win sales rep of the year next year. The money, the travel, the house, they are all food that spoils. Now, let me be clear. This isn't a call to laziness. This isn't, don't have anything to do with any of these things. This isn't, don't invest in a 401k. This is, don't rest the weight of your soul on your 401k. That's what he's saying here. It can't hold you. It's food that spoils. It will collapse in time. Good as it may be, it cannot hold the weight of your soul. It's a lesson against striving to achieve what can only be received. You cannot earn what he gives. It's free. Don't labor. Don't work for that which will spoil. Tim Keller said, if you love anything in this world more than God, you will crush that object

under the weight of your expectations. And then he gives the positive command. He says, but rather, rather, labor for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you. For on him, God the Father has placed his seal of approval. This is the hymn. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face, and the things of this world will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. This is what the prophet Isaiah is saying in Isaiah 55. Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Look what he says. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, he says, listen to me pleading with the people, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest affair. Give ear and come to me. Listen that you may live. And then a few verses down, he says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Augustine said, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. And there's somebody in every single room, probably on every single row today at our church,

and you're laboring for food that spoils and wondering why you're more hungry today than you were yesterday. I know what that's like. Everybody in this room knows what that's like. There is bread that can satisfy, and it's a person named Jesus Christ. That thing you've never been able to fully grasp, that hole that you can't seem to fill. It can only be filled by the person of Jesus Christ. He is bread that truly satisfies. Verse 28, then they asked him, what must we do to do the works that God requires? You're telling me don't labor for food that spoils and labor for eternal life? Okay, well then, okay, fine. Tell me, what do I have to do to labor for that? What must we do to be doing the works of God? And Jesus answered, the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. This is the line of thinking that the gospel opposes. What must I do to be doing the works of God? Religion is about doing. Jesus is about believing. So here they are. Okay, okay, okay, okay, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Tell me what to do. Give me the steps. Give me the roadmaps. Seven easy steps to squeak into heaven.

Tell me what I gotta do, man. Tell me, and I'll do it. Give me the rules and I'll play ball, right? This is the rich young ruler. What must I do to inherit eternal life? This is the expert of law in the account of the Good Samaritan, where he says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said, it doesn't work like that. It's not about you doing. It's about what I'm doing on your behalf. The work that you're responsible for is believe and receive what I've done for you. This is the message of the gospel. You can't climb high enough. You can't put enough good days together. On your best day, you're still miles away from the gap between you and a perfect holy God. No amount of doing, no amount of striving, no amount of you trying to be perfect can get there. If you could do that, there would be no need for the son of God to have come and give his life for you. But he did, because you couldn't. It's not about you doing. It's about believing. And so they ask him in verse 30. Well, what son? What sign are you gonna give us that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

Boy, if they only knew. Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it's written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. So listen, think about this. They stand in front of him with miracle bread in their stomachs, and they ask him, well, what sign are you gonna give us? They got food left over from yesterday. They're still digesting. And they go, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you gonna do? They go back to the famous story of Exodus 16, from 1,200 plus years earlier. They say, well, God rained down bread from heaven to feed his people, manna, each morning when they woke up. That there was dew, and the dew, when it was gone, would turn into thin flakes appearing on the desert floor, like a wafer with honey. I like to think of frosted flakes. And they're saying to Jesus, we need something better than that. We need you to do for us something better than what God did for them. Like, okay, fine, the thing you did yesterday was cool, but like, that was 5,000 men. And the manna fed 600,000 men. Like, last night was one meal, and okay, that was cool, that was awesome. But the manna fed the people for 14,600 days. What are you gonna do? And Jesus said to them in verse 32,

very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. The bread that your ancestors ate 1,200 years ago in the wilderness, newsflash, it wasn't Moses that gave you that bread, it was my Father that gave you that bread. And today, he's giving you the true bread, the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, right? Jesus' aim is to tell us who he is and what he came to do. And look what it says. He says, the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven. If you have your scripture, maybe homework for later, go through and circle how many times that phrase appears in this text, John 6, comes down from heaven. The true bread that comes down from heaven. It's in verse 33, it's in verse 38, it's in verse 41, it's in verse 42, it's in verse 50, it's in verse 51, it's in verse 58. Seven times the true bread is the bread that comes down from heaven. What's Jesus saying? He's going, I'm the one that's come down from heaven. This is Christmas, this is why we're here today. Repetition denotes significance. I'm the one that's come down from heaven.

And what did he come down from heaven to offer? He came down from heaven to offer life. And where was he born? In Bethlehem, which means, Beth, house, lehem, of bread. He was born in a place that means house of bread. Hello, isn't that awesome? Like maybe we should just put that in when we're singing all the Christmas songs about Bethlehem. Let's just change the words to house of bread. Wouldn't that be great? Just be a reminder for us. Oh, little town of houses. I'm kidding. It's telling us what he came to do. I am the one who's come from heaven and I am the bread of life who gives you life. That the bread of life was born in the house of bread. It's interesting, there's two words for life in the New Testament, maybe you know this. Bios and zoe. They really represent two different things. Bios kind of more means like your physical life. It means to exist. Zoe refers more to like quality of life, supernatural life, eternal life. It's like really living, right? You can have bios from worldly bread. Sustenance, you can actually physically live, but it won't last.

It is food that spoils and perishes. But the word here, I've come to offer life, is not bios, it's zoe. I've come to offer you eternal life. And in the seven statements that Jesus gives us, the seven I am statements, it's interesting to think about. He says, I am the bread of? I am the resurrection and the? I am the way, the truth and the? He says, I'm the light of the world. Whoever follows this light will have the light of life. I am the good shepherd. I am the gate. Sandwiched between those two verses, he says the thief has come to steal, kill and destroy. come that you may have and have it to the full. The only I am statement that he doesn't explicitly say, I've come to offer life is when he says, I am the true vine, but the whole picture he's painting is of life. You're not gonna wither and die, you're gonna live. He's come from heaven and he's come to give life. That's who he is. And they say, sir, always give us this bread. I bet they said that. Same way in John four, the woman at the well says, always give me this water. And then Jesus declared verse 35, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

John Piper says about these verses, he says, Jesus didn't come to mainly give bread, but to be bread. This is what separates Jesus from every other religion. It's not just that he has bread. He is bread. All other religions say, come on, I can show you how to get the bread. I know where it is, I'll tell you how to get it. No, Jesus, he doesn't know the way, he is the way. He isn't our guide, he is our God. He doesn't come to give bread, he's come to be bread. Verse 36, but as I've told you, you've seen me and still you don't believe. All those the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. It should be amen to that. For I've come down from heaven, not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those who he has given to me, but raise them up on the last day. This is our hope for my father's will is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day. And at this, the Jews began to grumble. I don't think they began, I think they just continued to grumble about him, saying, this guy keeps saying he's the bread that came down from heaven.

Isn't this Jesus, son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can you say I've come down from heaven? They're going, this is Jesus? He's saying he's from heaven? He's not from heaven, he's from Nazareth. And Jesus says, stop grumbling among yourself. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard the father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the father except the one who was from God. Only he has seen the father. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and yet they died. But here's the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Jesus is the true bread from heaven. Manna came from heaven at night and Jesus came from heaven into our night.

The manna wasn't defiled by the earth. Jesus was pure and sinless. The manna was sweet to the taste and the psalmist says, "'Taste and see that the Lord is good.'" The manna had to be taken and eaten. And Christ tells us that we are to eat of the true bread of heaven. Manna was sufficient for one million Israelites wandering in the wilderness. And can I tell you today that Jesus Christ is sufficient for anyone in the middle of your wilderness today. He alone will satisfy and he alone will sustain you. I read a story just as we close and we're gonna get to take communion together in response. I was reading a story. Many of you in Atlanta, you know the road Charles Allen. I used to live off of that road but never really knew who he was. Well, he was a pastor in Georgia in the late 40s, all through the 50s and into the 60s, led one of the largest congregations in the state. And in one of his books called God's Psychiatry, he writes a story about World War II and it's powerful. He said, immediately after World War II, there were countless hungry and homeless children. So the allied armies gathered up as many of these children as they could and they placed them into camps where they were abundantly fed and well cared for.

It was interesting though that even though these children were cared for and were very well fed, they couldn't sleep at night. They were gripped with fear and anxiety, understandably so. And so a psychologist came up with a solution and they gave each kid a piece of bread to hold as they went down for bed. The bread at night brought miraculous results. The children began sleeping through the night because they knew that they would have food for tomorrow. We have bread for the soul that will enable us to live forever. So my prayer for you, for us today, is that with the bread of life in your heart, regardless of what the wilderness looks like that you're in, you can lay down and sleep tonight, knowing that tomorrow and every day after that, your greatest needs are met in Christ. He says, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day. The bread of life is born in the house of bread and he's come to satisfy and nourish and sustain and give you ultimate satisfaction. And I pray that as we celebrate Christmas this week, that you will remember your greatest needs are met in Christ.