Jesus Is The Bread Of Life Series

Jesus Is the Bread of Life

John 6:28-51

Series: The Great I Am

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Jan. 19, 2014

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to John 6 as we start looking at the "I AM" statements from Jesus in the Gospel of John. The first is in John 6:35 where Jesus said: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." Our focus today will be on how we can get the life that is guaranteed forever. But as we begin, there are two important background topics on God, the great I AM

[1] The first is from Exodus 3 where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush. This was the first time that God ever revealed Himself as "I AM".

*In Exodus 3:10-14, the Lord said to Moses:

10. "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.''

11. But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?''

12. So He said, "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.''

13. Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?''

14. And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.'' And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' ''

*In Hebrew this name "I AM" was "Jehovah" or "Yahweh." And this great name for God shows up 6,823 times in the Old Testament. The exact pronunciation and spelling have been lost, because this name was so holy the scribes and teachers didn't dare to pronounce it or completely write it out. Instead, they would write the Hebrew letters equal to our letters YHWH. In many of our English Bibles it shows up as LORD written with all capital letters. (1)

*And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.'' And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'''

*Jerry Shirley asks: "Why didn't God finish that phrase? Why did He just say, "I AM has sent me to you?" -- Because there is no beginning and no ending to God. There are no boundaries and no limitations with God. God is the great I AM! There is no limit to what He is. (2)

*And the crucial truth Jesus wants to communicate to us is that He IS the Lord God Almighty, the "I AM" LORD of the Old Testament. So in John 6:35, Jesus made His first I AM statement: "I AM the bread of life."

[2] The immediate background to today's Scripture is Jesus miraculously multiplying a little boy's lunch to feed 5,000 men, plus women and children!

*Please look at John 6:13-15.

13. They gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

14. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.''

15. Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to a mountain by Himself alone.

*In vs. 16-19, the disciples got into the boat to head back to Capernaum. They were 3 or 4 miles from shore, when Jesus came to them walking on the water!

*Then in vs. 20-21:

20. He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid.''

21. Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

*What a miracle! -- Jesus is Lord over all time and space!

Then the next day in vs. 25-29:

25. When they (i.e. the other people) found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?''

26. Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

27. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.''