#33 Déjà Vu All Over Again Series

To go to the Father, to go to heaven, you MUST go through Jesus. He is the essential element of salvation.

Later in John 6:47-51, Jesus elaborated on this a little bit. – “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 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 will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

These verses tell us the Gospel in the metaphor of bread. Just as the Israelites received manna, a new kind of bread, from heaven, so Jesus as the Bread of Life came down from heaven. The bread He gave was His flesh, that is, His body, which was crucified on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins. To “eat” of Him is to take Him into your life by faith, for verse 47 says, “…whoever believes in me has everlasting life.”

Dear friend, have you come to a place in your life where you realized that your sin has separated you from God and that Jesus is absolutely necessary for you to be saved? Jesus is the Savior. This morning, turn from sin, give your life to Jesus, place your faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross of Calvary for your sin.

Illus. – The story is told of a missionary who was passing out copies of the Gospel of John in the central provinces of India. One man took the Gospel of John and the missionary was excited as the man opened it to read it. But when he realized it was Christian literature, he tore it into pieces and threw it on the ground. Another man shortly came by that same place and picked up a piece of the torn paper to see what it was. He read these words in his own language, “…the bread of life…”

He did not know what it meant so he asked some of his friends if they knew the meaning of this phrase. One friend told him, “I can tell you that these are words from the Christian Book. You must not read it, or you will be defiled.”

The man thought to himself, “A phrase as beautiful as this cannot defile.” So he bought a copy of the New Testament and read it until he found the statement, “I am the bread of life.” Which means he read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke until he came to John 6. As he read and studied the passage, the light of the God’s Word flooded his heart and he trusted Christ as his Lord and Savior. According to the story this man found a body of believer to worship with and learn God’s Word and eventually became a preacher of the Gospel in the central provinces of India.

That’s an amazing story, isn’t it? But everyone who has come to Christ has some sort of story of how they realized that Jesus Christ was absolutely necessary for his or her very soul. They realized He was the essential element to know God and be with God.

Listen again to Jesus’ words in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”