We'll read what we read last week which ties into what we're going to read a new This week, so we'll start in verse 16 and then we'll skip a look a couple of verses Between 37 and 40. Don't get upset if you like those verses. They're great verses. We're just gonna treat this separately next week And then on to 40 41 to 43. So John chapter 6 beginning in verse 16 When evening came it's disciples went down to the lake where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Copernium now it was dark and Jesus did not adjoin them a Strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough When they had rode three or three and a half miles they saw Jesus approaching the boat walking on the water and They were terrified, but he said to them it is I did not be afraid Then they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there And that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples But they had gone away alone Then some boats from Tiberius landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there They got into the boats and went to Copernium in search of Jesus When they found him on the other side of the lake they asked him rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered I tell you the truth You're looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs But because you ate loads and had your fill Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you on Him God the Father has placed his seal of approval Then they asked him what must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered the work of God is this to believe in the one he has sent So they asked him what miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and Believe you what will you do or for fathers ate mana in the desert as that it's written he gave them bread from heaven from heaven to eat Jesus said to them I tell you the truth It is not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my father Who gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world Surf they said from now on give us this bread Then Jesus declared I am the bread of life He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty But as I told you you have seen me and still you do not believe Now go down to verse 41 Verse 41 at this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven They said is this not Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know How can he now say I came down from heaven stop grumbling among yourselves Jesus answered And here ends our reading There's a response of thankfulness. It's printed for you there in your bulletin and up here on the screen the word of the Lord Thanks indeed, let's pray Jesus talks about bread here and as you see in the gospel of John throughout the gospel John There are a lot of physical Spiritual parallels that are being made and that the people generally in the gospel John they get the physical But they don't get how Jesus is talking about this in the same way spiritually for instance Nicodemus and birth Nicodemus gets the physical birth part but when Jesus talks about two of them about being born again Nicodemus is still thinking Physically you mean go back into my mother's womb and be born a second time And so this goes on here in chapter 6 as well Jesus has given them physical bread as Moses In the desert was leaning the people as God the father gave his people Physical bread back then but Jesus now speaks of spiritual bread Which the people still don't get? What we eat is important we know that We know that from health conditions we get or don't get sometimes We know that with certain events as I as I run I know I'm very careful the night before I I've got some running events to eat certain things at a certain time Before hand you can eat things that are helpful to you and You can eat things that are not helpful to you I remember a track me that Mallory had in middle school and One of the best runners on team. I forget her name now. I can picture her, but she was running The 400 or the 800 straight and she had had like a half dozen crispy creams before she ate and She literally stopped like five feet before the finish line and Like four people passed her because she stopped and just didn't keep going, but she couldn't you know go any further Because of what was she ate the wrong things? You know that and it's not that crispy creams don't taste good They they do You know there's a race right up at NC State each February the crispy cream race where they they race and you have a dozen crispy cream donuts And the choices that you can either you can eat them and then run or you can eat them and you can run and then eat them And then run some more or you can carry them But you've got to have those 12 donuts with you somehow and before your time can get clocked even if you've carried them the whole race You have to eat the 12 donuts before your time stops That's what they call the crispy cream challenge or what? Yeah, the crispy cream run and and you got to sign up early for it because it gets shut out I looked into it one year
But we want to eat the right things at the at the right time And Jesus talked about eating here, but he's not talking about physically eating We also see part of the condition of us Human beings in this passage as well and why sometimes we completely miss What God has and offers that's good for people If you like to fill out Blankton an outline you're welcome to do that this morning you can just listen if that's more helpful to you But if that if it helps you follow along here we go God says to us first of all and point out to us that despite Jesus Magnificence to spite his magnificence Jesus is widely rejected We know that was true here He's widely rejected. We'll see it at the end of the chapter We know it because we know Jesus is put on a cross by a crowd and there's just his mom and his mom's friends and John sneaking in there on you know behind Mary's back there and at the cross but but Jesus is widely rejected here at the cross in the first century among John's first readers of the gospel John Still being rejected by most Jews John writes the skulls for it looks like to Jewish Christians People would grown up Jewish, but had believed in Jesus and Their friends and their relatives largely were unbelieving But we know this we know this today as well That we live in a world where most of our most of our co-workers Most of our co-workers most of our classmates must for teammates Our neighbors when we when we pull out in the drive To come here that we live in an unbelieving world and This passage helps us with that again John's doing a lot of that in the gospel John showing why people don't believe to give us understanding to make us less Complex in the world You know that that's the case and peanuts and the peanuts stories and and you know the Halloween special and the Christmas special and thanksgiving special Charlie Brown is always perplexed by the world He's sincere He's honest and he's perplexed at how the world is a cruel place I didn't give you a I didn't give you a Christmas card Charlie Brown Don't you recognize sarcasm when you hear it? But he has a friend a comrade Linus and Linus understands the viewpoint of Charlie Brown doesn't he but he also understands the world and so Linus Stand there is the interpreter of Charlie Brown through all these these things I'll tell you what Christmas is about Charlie Brown or they're shopping for a Christmas tree that yeah I a great Charlie Brown, but I don't think everyone will like this But John is explaining the disbelief and why we live in a a cruel world in an unbelieving world as he goes through his gospel So number one despite his magnificence Jesus is widely rejected by people as God and King This was the case for Jesus here in this chapter on this scene as he's there in Capernaum, but also in the first century and in our day There's not a question regarding Jesus magnificence People maybe mad at you or or despise you because you're a Christian, but nobody despises Jesus Even today I mean think about that nobody does nobody despises Jesus or said he's a bad guy You know how how can you say someone's a bad guy who invents the phrase? Right treat others as you would want to be treated. How brilliant is that right? Muhammad didn't come up with that. That's not something from the the Hebrew the Islamic scriptures from from Allah You know, you don't find that in Buddhist philosophy. It's not in Hinduism But we find it on the on the lips of Jesus No one despise his magnificence is not questioned here in this scene His magnificence is not question people were following him around because they knew we follow him around we get free bread With him there was such a thing as a free lunch, right? His magnificence is not a question, but he's widely rejected by people as God and King and as King both and here are the two things a King does For you in Christ means King So that's you know John's objective to convince you and to assure you that Jesus it's the son of God and he's the Christ You know into King the King is this the King one of his jobs is savior That's your first blank and one of his jobs for you is director Like Charlie Brown at the Christmas play But but the King directs your life he gives you laws to live by and he says you can do this and you can't do that And there are consequences in life if you do this or if you do that Blessing and curses good things and bad things that will happen to you. That's him as King as director Jesus as Christ or King Directs your life as a Christian Jesus as King as David as Solomon as Hezekiah as as all these good kings in Israel and Judah They save you from enemies who want to burn your house down and kill you Part of the job of the King in Israel was to save the people So again King is the in the major category Jesus comes on the scene and says here the good news the Kingdom of God is at hand He doesn't say here's the good news. I'll be your savior Because savior is a subcategory of King That's just something the King does the King Goes out in front of you and fights Goliath for you because you're too scared and that's okay Now we can be scared of death, but we have a King who faced death Like David like Jesus who went to his death knowing going to Jerusalem was going to his death because he would overcome it as Jesus as David overcame Goliath and so but but people reject Jesus not as a magnificent Teacher or person or even miracle worker, but they reject him as God and They reject him as the King he had come to be Because they don't want someone to direct their lives They want to be King of their own lives And they don't believe they're bad enough to need a savior either So King is not a category. They're really interested in because they don't want to be saved and they don't want to be directed and they don't want God What do they what do they want and words of Jesse Jackson? What do I want? A unbelievers reject Jesus because they're not interested in God Which he is And that's what you see here and that's what Jesus puts in their face in this passage unbelievers don't they reject Unrelievers reject Jesus because they don't want God Which he is and despite what they say that's a front that's a smoke screen. I want God know they do not Jesus has provided adequate proof through what he did through what's recorded in the scriptures and Through the lives of believers who are following him There's something different about us There's something different about a committed believer to Jesus in their kindness and their forgiveness and their patience in their compassion Not a lot of Muslim hospitals not a lot of Buddhist hospitals But a lot of Christian hospitals Because Christians care for people They care for people who aren't even believers Okay, and so there's plenty of evidences we talked about in in past weeks But these people there there are many ways that that Jesus was showing he was God verse 17 looked there It notes that that Jesus hadn't gotten into the boat and then verses 19 through 25 Jesus walked on water to get to the boat and even though the people don't see it the apostles do But even though the people don't see it they recognize that something's happened He is miraculously in another town that he couldn't have just walked to They make the note we saw the disciples get into the boat There was only one boat Jesus wasn't in the boat that a disciples are are in this other town The boats not there and Jesus is with them But he didn't leave with them in the boat and so they ask him rabbi How'd you get here? There's something special about what's gone on here He was now verse 25 with those who'd gone in the boat And that was a miracle a sign of his being God Though more subtle for the crowd they're a little more let a little less culpable for not recognizing that miracle But there was a miracle that had just happened that wasn't so subtle and that's the beginning of chapter six Right they were there the reason they were following him the reason they were saying how'd you get here? They were the ones who've been fed the food and the fish the bread and the fish There at the beginning of chapter six And so there was a sign that who creates? God creates and so Jesus shows throughout his ministry and here at the beginning of chapter six He shows what John says and in chapter one verses one through three what's true of Jesus? He is not only God, but he is the creative one of the Trinity He is the creator and it creates bread and he creates fish Where there was none five fish and you know seven loaves is that right? Five loads two fish. Yeah, I always looked at else. Okay, five loads and two two fish And he creates more than that 12 baskets of bread left over. He's created bread So he's done this sign. He's done this miracle verses 11 through 14 here And that's a sign the word John uses for miracles Which we translate here miraculous sign, but John uses the word sign to mean it's a pointer Like a road sign Clayton 13 miles and it has an arrow. It's a sign it points you to something and what Jesus miracles did is they were assigned to point to his divinity That he was the Christ the son of God And so they have seen a sign that he was God the creator of Stuff of physical matter and God the father by these signs and by John the Baptist and by sending the Holy Spirit to come upon Jesus That is baptism by John the Baptist states in their verse 27 Verse 27 looked there on Jesus the father had placed his seal of approval That was also a public event and something that John the Baptist had declared The one who's the Christ John said the one who I've been looking for the one who I said I would not worry to untie his sandals God told me that he would give me a sign as to who it was The one upon whom I saw the Holy Spirit descending as a dove he is the one This is the father placed in upon Jesus his seal of approval So John can announce it there and then there are other fields of approval with each sign that Jesus does Like Nicodemus says at the beginning of John three, but we know that no one can do the signs that you do and Speak as you do unless God is with him So everything Jesus was doing his teaching his miracles were signs that he himself that he himself was God So again the evidence was and is plain and clear that Jesus has got people don't believe this not for lack of evidence In the face of evidence people don't believe this Even if people today were getting fed bread by Jesus It would be the same response that they have today that they had back then were no different than the believers of Jesus in the first century We're surrounded by people who have abundant evidence to say this has to be true That Jesus is God and then salvation is only in him and that he offers blessing to whoever comes to him This must be true the same amount of evidence that was there if it were there today There would be the same response among those who are around us and so be be First we said unbelievers through to Jesus because they're not interested in God which is and then be rather unbelievers are interested or are only interested in temporary thanks unbelievers like us before we believed Each of us we were only interested in temporary things and things about them or Like us before we believe we were only interested in things about us What's the benefit for me what's to take away in this what do I get out of this? And we're looking for temporary things Things that you know bread and fish and and healing of my you know headache right now It's okay to be concerned about those things, but ultimately that's all unbelievers are concerned about as Wordsworth said right getting and spending Just going going around just Buying more stuff buying do you ever get exhausted by that sometimes I get philosophical about the grocery store like Got to buy more food and eat it go the bathroom buy more food How long in the words of divo how long will this go on working in a coal mine? Yeah, but but that's all they're thinking about Getting the next meal to see that here in this passage
Yeah, so a lot of verses there that show this they want physical bread to eat look at verse 20 So this is where Jesus really hits them with it Here's why you're asking where how did I get here verse 26 Jesus answered I tell you the truth and This is his response to how did you get here? He doesn't answer? He just gets the hardest shoe that's going on with them He says I tell you the truth you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs That here what he's saying he's saying not because you saw the signs and Recognized those signs were pointing to the fact that I am God on earth That's not why you're here You're not here because I did a miracle he goes on he says But he continues because you ate loads and had your fill They were interested in the temporary things he was providing they were following him around because he provided temporary stuff Bread material goods He filled their bellies full of food. That's why they were there They were not there because that temporary stuff was a sign that he was eternal God and That they owed their eternal allegiance to them that they should bow their need to them to him as Thomas did When he finally recognizes that Jesus has got and he bowels to Nevy for him any worship Jesus and said my Lord and my God That's the response John is driving for From us and making us confident in that we are those as Christians who have recognized that Jesus is the Christ The son of God and the by believing we have life in his name We're the ones who bowed the knee and said my Lord and my God to Jesus But unbelievers aren't looking for God. They're not interested in God They're they're interested in in temporary things and things about them How do I how do I get a faster running time how can I where's the best place to eat food How can I get enough food how can I get a better car or a better job or or whatever whatever it may be Jesus notes in the next verse That what most people want is not him as God come for them They just want physical bread which he calls there in verse 27 food that spoils Think about that in life you as a person as a human being in your life until you see Jesus face to face I am surrounded by people who are in a constant pursuit of Food that spoils and that's all they're pursuing Food that spoils whatever that food is whether that food is a job or relationship It's something that's gonna perish as we say and crew. It's gonna burn Just temporary stuff is what they're pursuing day after day after day and they don't get tired of it That's all they know is true That's all they're pursuing that's all they want It's just Lewis saying you know their appetites are far too small They're not seeking the God who's before him who can give them eternal life. They're seeking bread So verse 30 look at verse 30 they ask What even with the well? I'll just say verse 30 they ask what miraculous sign will you then give? We're supposed to be frustrated by this when we read it. It's like we're supposed to say how did Jesus not say what more can I do I? Just fed you you know, and I Filled you know and cana you've heard about it. You know, I turned water into wine when I was at the Passover I did many miraculous signs there But they say whatever you know being his judge. Well, if you just show us one thing we'll believe
You know that's disbelief. They're in a fantasy world Right a fantasy world. They're ignoring what's right before them So they say what what what what miraculous sign will you give that we may see it and believe you what will you do? Verse 31 or four fathers ate man and the desert has it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat then there's this back and forth look down there and In your Bible there verse 31 He tells them that it was it was the father who gave the Israelites in the desert man Not Moses Moses was leading them but as a father who gave them that physical bread from heaven in the desert and That now the father the same father that gave Moses that physical bread in the desert was giving Jesus to the world The father that is was giving the world that Jesus says here true bread True see that spiritual physical parallel Now the father's giving true bed and at this point as Christians we recognize. Oh the man was a shadow and Jesus is the reality to speaking that the terms of the writer of Hebrews But Jesus was not not the father was giving the world true bread yet we keep looking down there They respond still without understanding thinking that Jesus is only speaking of physical bread and that he could feed them now And they say verse 34 Give us this bread and they're still talking physical Give us this bread that the father gave you know through Moses to the people and That the father is giving now give us this bread that the father is giving. They're still talking physically here and then They're not recognized as Jesus himself as a bread so finally Jesus verse 35 he just puts it to him bluntly. He says I I am the bread of Life Don't look for physical bread. Don't don't gather up, you know already forgot five more loaves and two more fish Don't gather that up I am the bread the father is giving now Don't look too small Don't look for physical stuff. Don't get and spend Look for eternal stuff like Paul tells us in Galatians put your put your mind in your heart up to heaven where Christ is The source of all wisdom and knowledge and everything we need Everything we need in life. So verse 35. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry See the physical spiritual split there again. He who comes to me will let their your souls will never be hungry If we come to Jesus. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never go thirsty verse 36 But and he still recognizes that they're only looking for more physical bread like in one verses one through fifteen He continues, but as I told you you have seen me and you still do not believe That I am God himself the Christ the son of God You're not coming to me for spiritual bread for food that endures and that last You're still just viewing me as a means of having stuff Yes, that's the prosperity gospel They are this crowd in John 6 just looking to meet Jesus as a means to getting more stuff That's the prosperity gospel today Summed up for us and that's what they were looking for. They're not looking for God Who they were seeing right before them. They're looking for temporary things and things about them things that would help them in their life Get through another day Just the stuff of physical life. So next line for you and you're outlined there unbelievers just want physical bread so to speak and physical bread We mean just stuff temporary stuff that doesn't last they just want physical bread things like And I left a big long outline there or a big long line put in there what you want here are some suggestions Here's what unbelievers are looking for the temporary stuff money food hobbies bragging rights sports and conquests and sports they're looking for fitness beauty longevity knowledge Oh, did you go to this I went to this did you go to this I was there Those things just one thing after another one up in each other and all these things and things just that they they like things of the world Jim Redforce from first John 2 15 through 17 where John sums up the stuff of the world Here's what John says the stuff What the stuff the world is is the cravings of sinful man the lust of his eyes the boasting of what he has and the boasting of what he does And this comes out from the father but from the world the world and its desires will pass away temporary food that you eat And then it's gone last you two hours maybe
Now see see and note that unbelievers will work They will work and sometimes very hard admirablely hard For the things that are temporary As far as the 22 through 28 realize this the people are working hard for physical bread They go to where Jesus was they go to where Jesus or his disciples are and they're going back and forth They're getting in boats They're traveling a good distance it's hard to i hate rowing boats Now the disciples to get where they need to get you know as three and a half miles four miles Something like that They're going back and forth between these places people are coming up from Tiberius You know which is another city is say where the bread wasn't The bread miracle wasn't done and people are working very hard and just don't that That's life The people around us unbelievers are working and they're working very hard For stuff that won't last That's life life in the world. We are people who care about the eternal Living in a world a People who are pursuing and working hard and chasing right treadmill chasing and exhausting themselves For stuff that will disappear Even in their lifetimes Maybe in two hours, you know great mail. Yeah, it doesn't last Not number two number two, but you as a Christian you as a Christian eat the bread of life That's John's that's John's excertation to us here as Christians eat the bread of life and here's why that makes sense Okay, so verse 27 Jesus says look there in verse 27 an important kind of crux verse in this passage Jesus says there that there is a food a bread that you can eat that endures to what Endures to eternal life. There's an enduring food That means it's not temporary It doesn't disappear It doesn't satisfy just for a little time and then we're gonna have to find something else right um What food is this we can ask verse 35 look at verse 35 what food is this Jesus tells us this food is Himself For he is the bread that the father is giving to the world He's the bread the father has sent from heaven who stood before them there in John 6 35 a just explain some things and get our categories all straight so to a the bread of life That endures to eternal life is Jesus Okay, so what is the bread of life? That's Jesus so verse 33 look at verse 33 for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world For John described for us in John chapter 1 Jesus was already in heaven eternal God But first chapter 1 verse 14 But he makes his home among us. He dwells among us. He takes on it takes on flesh So Jesus is this this bread of God that came down from heaven and gives life to the world or verse 35 Jesus declared simply I am the bread of life. So Jesus is the bread of life that endures Untreated eternal life then be uh How do we get this bread we get this bread by hold your hold hold on here we get this bread by Listen to what Jesus said now what you've heard before we get this bread by work We get this bread by work look at verse 27 Now again, don't be alarmed So I put Ephesians 289 is our declaration of the gospel this morning because I want you to not be alarmed A grace were saved by faith not through works that no one should pose But look at verse 27 um at the text there which guides our faith in life Jesus says there we are to work for this food that endures through eternal life now again, don't be alarmed We know that eternal life is something we don't earn It's by grace Through faith and not by works That no one can boast And so what is this work that doesn't enable us to boast see And note there don't be mad at me be mad at Jesus. He said work for the bread work for the bread that endures through eternal life Jesus said it not me and it is the word for work. It's the word we get ergonomics from They work inner and we get energy from that word work work So see the work we do for eternal life Jesus defines that later and we read the sigh of relief Because we know our systematics verses 28 and 29 the work we do is believe Jesus defines it there the work we do for eternal life is to believe in Jesus That's the work we do for eternal life to believe in Jesus look at verse 28 look down there. So you see it Then they ask him what what must we do to do the works God requires now Jesus has told them in verse 28 Work for the bread that endures Work for the food that endures not the don't work for the food that spoils work for the food that endures And so they say in response what must we do to do the works God requires Jesus answered verse 29 The work of God is this here's where he defines what he meant To believe in the one he has sent So the work we do for eternal life is to believe in Jesus the question is why does Jesus call this work To believe Why does it called work to believe and that brings us to do This belief and this is what john's readers were experiencing. This is what we experience work or belief has worked Belief is work. That's what Jesus gets at here. This belief the belief of stating faith is work or effort That's your blank there it requires effort for us to believe Um because belief in Jesus will cost you good effort and first of all in overcoming that's your word
Believe in Jesus will cost you good effort in overcoming the pressure against believing in the first place You're saving faith cost you work You didn't believe for a while because you knew what it would cost you And you had to overcome that and you ever came that by the work of the Holy Spirit and you regenerating you unto life And that gave you the power To believe but that was work And the reason people don't believe is because it requires that work and that's big There's an energy it requires to believe It's easy not to believe and just to keep flowing with everyone else We know as soon as we believe we're slow we'll start to get persecuted And as we're trying to believe there are other people that say all those Christians are crazy What you believe the Bible it's got all these errors in it you ever read? No But there's a work in believing there's an energy and believing It's not an energy that we have had It's an energy given to us by the Holy Spirit who's regenerated us Who's given us that energy but it is that energy that that work is pressure against believing in the first place And second way this is our belief is work It will cost you good effort in your area blanks enduring The persecution that your continued belief in Jesus will often bring There will cost you this work of belief Belief will cost you to you work To keep your faith don't you because someone discourages you from it and you say no, but I believe And I'll continue believing even if it brings embarrassment to me Even if it causes me to lose friends that's work That's angst that keeps us up that wears us out Psychologically and in our body and our torso that's hard for us We're all connected. There's an energy. There's a work in our believing Now to separate this out from a pulsing in Ephesians 289 What pulsing is there's not a deed that you can do that earns you merit before God that saves you Okay, that's the work Paul's talking about he's talking about a work that's a different definition He's talking about a work that's maritorious unto salvation and Paul says there's not such a thing But Jesus is talking about the work that's required in belief It takes energy. It's great cost to us to believe in Jesus because people say we're stupid We're crazy. We're not intelligent. We're wasting our lives That takes work To have that and to during that now think about John and his original audience and how this ties up With that they believed in Jesus and that was simple for a Jew, right? You know the Bible talked about that you were saved by your king and that the king had to come from the line of David And Paul or whoever comes into town and preaches and proves from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ that frequent Repetition in the book of Acts as the apostles teach They go into the synagogues talk to Jews and they prove from the scriptures meaning the Old Testament that Jesus is the Christ or the king So if you a Jew that's a simple decision, right? If you don't know anything Other than the Old Testament you say I believe this makes sense if you're like the Berean Jews in the synagogue You check the scriptures and to see if it's true and you say it is true but then You've got endure your own Jewish friends and relatives to maintain your belief And you're being persecuted and if you knew something before Paul came to town or whoever came to town Spoken your synagogue and and produce the gospel for you or preach the gospel to you you knew that your belief would cost you Because it cost Jews all over the Roman kingdom who believed in Jesus it cost them their family and their friends And now with John in AD 90 as he writes this gospel it was starting to cost them governmental persecution So there's great cost or great energy or a great work associated with this with this belief Again Jesus calls this he says work For the food that endures true eternal life And what endures true eternal life are faith Okay, our faith is what a brings to us that's that work that brings to us eternal life John 922 later with the blind man in the temple that Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue That's a quote John 922 the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue It took energy it took work to believe in Jesus and to this blind man's credit he believes But then there's an enduring cost to you. There's an enduring work John 641 and 42 We saw it in our own passage that we skipped down to today look look at that verse 41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him Because he said do you feel the weight on the apostles on the 12 disciples as their Jewish brothers here in this scene Are now this one that we've exalted that we've decided is the Christ Um, everyone's grumbling against him You know, they stood in the shoes of Aaron didn't they With the Israelites all grumbling against Moses who'd only just thrown down ten plagues on Pharaoh led them across the red see We're giving them the law and was now giving them mana. What are they doing? They're grumbling And that's a great weight Moses finally gets so tired worn out by the weight that that he says Lord, you know Why have you given me this this people? It's a constant weight upon me Paul talks about this weight It's upon him as it talks about all the hardships he goes through The well-being of the church was a weight done shoulders But John 641 and the Jews began to grumble against Jesus because Jesus said I am the bread that came down from heaven They said is this not Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know how can he now say I came down from heaven It's that ongoing persecution that we endure that work of faith that we have and then E um God wants you to know that as we um As we work for food That endures to journal as we in other words send an M here as we maintain our faith in Jesus throughout our lives As we maintain our faith in Jesus for throughout our lives or put it this way Yet eating the bread That's what we're doing. That's our faith eating the bread um that is believing in Jesus as God so those are blanks yet eating the bread Which means believing in Jesus as God and King And as King he's our savior. He's our life director Um number one. So two things Uh eating the bread number one will not just extend your life That's what mana did they extended the life of the Israelites for a day another day um But eating the bread eating having faith in Jesus won't just extend your life It won't just give you another few years of the end of your life um or it won't make you Uh, good word heard fleetingly happy It's fleetingly happy happy and a way that just disappears You're happy for a while and then you're not So like mad cow, right? It's here for a while and then It's gone fleetingly happy that's what people are working for Going from shore to shore in boats Working hard for physical bread um But when we the bread that Jesus when we continue our faith in Him We don't just extend our lives or make our lives fleetingly happy We don't just get something that makes us happy for a while And then we get tired of that car so we sell it and we get a new car Okay, or or that meal was good, but now I'm hungry again. I need to find another meal fleetingly happy um For just uh you heard your blanks for just a few days like temporary things that have nothing to do with Jesus Okay, so stuff that has nothing to do with Jesus that can make you happy and that's okay But it's fleeting happiness and it's not uh something that we bank our lives on and then secondly Eating the bread or believing in Jesus is God and King number two will extend your life eternally eternally It's the it's the um food that uh goes on to eternal goes on to eternal life Jesus said work for the food that ignores to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you Of verse 35 Jesus said I am the bread of life Few comes to me will never go hungry in your soul You will never be hungry like all your unbelieving neighbors. They're hungry and their souls That's why they're searching for physical things. They think physical things will make their souls be satisfied That that'll quench their souls thirst So their thirsty no more, but Jesus says he who comes to me will never go hungry and he believes in me Will never be thirsty So Number three number three. Don't be a grumbler Where to see that in this passage that there are grumblers who are searching for temporary things And then there are those who believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and who by their belief have life in his name So don't be a grumbler, but instead eat the bread eat the bread of life We're supposed to see here the fickleness and the lack of Admurability of the crowd here We're supposed to see what more can Jesus do and we are supposed to see just You know like dogs running around You know, you're running around from thing to thing. Oh bread over here You know and going that way for bread over there. We're supposed to see that they're ridiculous And we're supposed to see that unbelievers in our lives that we have compassion on and that we love our ridiculous And that we were ridiculous before we had faith in Jesus because we were going after temporary things To to fill in to satisfy something that could only be filled and satisfied by the eternal
And so we're vassal driven so don't be a grumbler and see See that we are people who go after the bread of life disbelief is grumbling Right the people under Moses thought that he wouldn't take care of They thought that God would lead them out into the desert and then would forget about them um And these people grumble against Jesus and say he's only the carpenter's son When he's created bread and somehow miraculously on a different shore than they last to solve him um So number one or sorry a a don't be a grumbler and instead eat the bread of life And here's what that means for you value the eternal In your life as a human being value the eternal value the eternal and that eternal stuff is Jesus and the things of him Though they may bring hardship Value the eternal over the temporary physical things of life Your neighbors unbelievers are going after the physical temporary things of life running running running Getting it here getting it there and always looking to the next new thing You see any new movies lately gone in any new cool restaurants Just one thing after another to stimulate them some stimulate themselves somehow like like drug addiction right You know it takes more and more because they're seeking a physical thing To satisfy us a sole cavity they have in their soul Then number number sorry letter B So value the eternal over temporary physical things of life and then which is what Jesus says And then be doing this work that is enduring in belief in Jesus as God and King Mayoring hardship, but its benefits are eternal Just realizes this belief that Jesus said you believe in me. I'm the bread of life for this bread is unto eternal life So see that contrast there And then see and know that the stuff of life that is eternal has to do with Jesus Your choices in life the things you're doing in life the stuff that's eternal has to do with Jesus And that could be that you're just in school But you're treating people around you like Jesus would treat them And that's the eternal stuff there or if you're learning things in school because then that will be Make you helpful to other people who bear God's image But you relate that to the eternal Why are you pursuing why are you learning that math So I can build a bridge and that will be helpful to those who bear God's image and in the world Why am I cleaning this thing so others can have a clean environment to be in so there won't be disease and that kind of thing We and that's eternal But we tie everything to the eternal and we're not just doing things for temporary for temporary stuff So the stuff of life that is eternal has to do with Jesus. So we put our work into the things of him We think put our work into the things of him both by your number one initial faith In Jesus to give you eternal life again. That's verse 27
So stuff of life that is eternal has to do with Jesus put your work into the things the things of him with your initial faith and By your priorities number two your priorities in life and what you do value Say and think because he's your king
So put your work invest in Don't go from shore to shore to get bred go from go from shore to shore um To do what's eternal to do what your king is telling you to do To do stuff that matters to build up his kingdom to glorify him in your lives In other words numbers number three. Don't value temporary stuff Don't value temporary stuff that ultimately doesn't matter Don't value temporary stuff that ultimately doesn't matter in other words don't be a fool um It's like Jesus and and Luke tells that parable the rich man who it's done so well and he's just chasing after temporary physical stuff And his crops are so big and he doesn't have room anymore and his barn to store all the extra all the surplus And so he says I'll build more barns to store the to store the store the extra And then he says you fool Don't you know that today your life is required of you and who will get all this stuff that you've stored up And so we don't want to be fools in life We always want to be going after the things that are eternal going after the bread that endures true eternal true eternal life Don't want to be going after the stuff that's don't have to we don't want to be going after the stuff that's spoils Don't want to go after the stuff that just provides you a pleading sense a pleading sense of joy or happiness So summary summary This passage teaches us God teaches us here to recognize that disbelief in Jesus is a function of valuing only the temporary That's the way it was with these people. They only valued the temporary. They only valued the bread. So they missed the bread giver They missed what was eternal who was standing right there before them and that's true today So recognize disbelief in Jesus is a function of valuing of only valuing the temporary And you as a believer value instead value instead the eternal value the eternal by believing in Jesus First of all and by enduring in your faith Walking with him according to his instruction according to the instruction of the Christ the king who's over you who reigns for your good Let's pray