Jesus Is The Bread Of Life

Jesus Is the Bread of Life

John 6:30-51

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 23, 2012

BACKGROUND:

*Next Sunday is a fifth Sunday and we will worship the Lord through the Lord’s Supper. Our focus next week will be the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

*Today we focus on the bread. In John 6:35, 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.”

*This was the first of the Lord’s famous “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John. And in order to understand what Jesus said, we need to go over two important background topics.

[1] First, we go back to Exodus 3, where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush. It was at this time that the Lord first revealed that He is the great I AM.

*Starting in Exodus 3:10 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.” This great name for God shows up 6,823 times in the Old Testament. The exact pronunciation and spelling has been lost, because this name was considered so holy that scribes and teachers would not even 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: “Have you ever stopped to think why God did not finish that phrase in Exodus 3:14? -- 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.

-There are no limitations.

*Jesus Christ the great “I AM” is whatever we need!

-If you need a Comforter, He is a comforter.

-If you need a Provider, He is a provider.

-If you need a Savior, He is a Savior.

-If you need an understanding Listener, He is just that.

*God is the great I AM!

-There is no limit to what He is! (2)

*Jennifer Mears writes: No matter what you are facing, look to the great I AM!

I need help.

-God says “I AM.”

I need hope, peace, and love.

-God says “I AM.”

I need a fresh start.

-God says “I AM.”

I can’t hold on.

-God says “I AM.”

I’m not sure why I am here.

-God says “I AM.”

I’m not strong enough --

-God says, “I AM.” (3)

*The crucial truth that Jesus wanted to communicate to the people of Israel (and to us) is that He IS the Lord God Almighty, the great I AM of the Old Testament. So in John 6, Jesus made His first I AM statement, Jesus said, “I AM the Bread of life.”

[2] Now, the immediate background to our Scripture today is Jesus taking a little boy’s lunch and miraculously feeding 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!