The Bread Of Life Series

INTRODUCTION

• Who doesn't love bread!

• Breadsticks, hamburger buns, rolls, cinnamon rolls, French bread, Italian bread, white bread, wheat bread, whole grain bread, I would even eat glutton-free bread!

• Along with pasta and sweets, I LOVE ME SOME BREAD!

• Hungry yet?

• I am not picky either; there are too many types of bread I would walk away from.

• Jesus said that we cannot live by bread alone; I would like to try someday. 😂

• Honestly, I do not eat much bread anymore because it causes my breadbasket, as they call it, to grow. 😂

• The sermon Jesus delivers to the crowd is one that if you use applause and compliments as the gauge of a successful sermon, this sermon bombs.

• Today we continue our series on the signs of Jesus.

• This message continues the theme of how these signs show God at work in Jesus for our salvation, and it touches on the crucial answer to this question: "What must we do to be saved?"

• The passage's context is found in the first half of this chapter.

• At the start of the chapter, multiplying very little food into a huge meal, Jesus feeds over five thousand people (6:10).

• This miracle draws the crowds who want to crown Jesus as their king.

• As a result, Jesus leaves them behind (v. 15) and walks on water (v. 19).

• Today, instead of focusing on that miracle, we are going to look at what Jesus says about it.

• Unlike in Cana, or with the official or the man at the pool, here Jesus gives an extended reflection on this sign.

• In His sermon, Jesus tells us HE is the bread of life!

• We will not cover every verse in the text today, but we will begin with verses 25-35

John 6:25–35 (CSB)

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”

28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.

29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”

30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform?

31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

SERMON

I. Kneading bread that won't satisfy.

› VERSES 25-35

• This first observation ties into eating the wrong bread.

• Today, most of us will go to the store and purchase bread already made for us.

• If you don't do that, you may have a bread machine, or what I call a breadbasket expander! 😂

• If you have ever made your own bread, kneading the dough takes time and effort.

• My dad's family-owned an Italian Bakery when I was a kid.

• They made the very best bread; they got to the bakery at 4 am and started making dough and kneading the dough.

• That manna from heaven was then baked in a wood-fired brick oven!

• Oh my, I can still taste it today!

• After Jesus fed the 5,000, He sensed the crowd would seek to make Him king, so he left, and in the evening, He walked across the water to Capernaum.

• The crowd from the previous day was looking for Jesus, and when they realized He was in Capernaum, they headed over to meet Him.

• 😂I guess they wanted some breakfast croissants! 😂

• When asked how He got there, Jesus did not answer the question; instead, telling the crowd the only reason they were looking for Him was because He filled their bellies!

• Look at verse 27 again.

John 6:27 (CSB)