John 6: 28-36 Jesus the Bread from Heaven

John 6:28-36

Recap:They had been running after Jesus, enjoying his miracles and how He provided food and healing. But Jesus told them they were heading the wrong way! He said:

MEMORY VERSE:
John 6:27” Do not Work for (chase after) food that spoils, but WORK for food that endures TO eternal life…” etc –
Jesus had told them to Work for the Bread that never spoils.

JESUS – APPOINTED TO TELL THE TRUTH (WE CAN TRUST HIM)

WHY? Why must they do this?
BECAUSE: God the FATHER has set His SEAL on JESUS – the FATHER has approved JESUS and given Him the POWER to give men Eternal life.
(read 27b “which the son of man will give you because the father has set his seal on him)

Jesus was telling them that there is something greater than following after temporal pleasures. Jesus is approved by God to show them something greater. He will show them food that gives Eternal Life. He was calling them to listen carefully to Him and trust what He says.

Read v28
They say, “OK, we will listen. How can we WORK for this Food? You say we must labour for this Food that doesn’t spoil. How?” “What will be acceptable to God then, so that we can get this food!” “What must we be doing every day? We will even change our habits to get this food! It sounds like good stuff!”

Jesus answerS: God has sent you something – you must believe in it. The Work you must do is to BELIEVE in WHAT GOD HAS SENT to you. You need to always work hard at believing in what that He sent.
(Habitually keep on believing in what God has given.)

Now this got them thinking:
Food? Sent From God? Remember what Moses did in the desert? … “We want to believe in what God has sent from Heaven – we want to do the work of God. This sounds quite amazing, but what sign will you do for us so that we know you are talking the truth? Moses gave Manna. What about you? Show us.

JESUS – APPOINTED TO GIVE ETERNAL LIFE (WE MUST BELIEVE IN HIM)
“That’s right”, Jesus says, “but what has come to you TODAY is not from Moses. Sure Moses saw bread from Heaven, but TODAY God has sent TRUE BREAD from Heaven. THIS TRUE Bread from God is that which comes from Heaven AND GIVES LIFE TO THE WHOLE WORLD, not just Moses and the Israelites!”

They could hardly stand still “Master/Lord/Sir, always give us this Bread!”

“Wow! Our time has come! God has sent us Bread that gives Life! I definitely want to believe in this Bread!”
I believe that this is exactly what was going through their minds.
“Forget the feeding of the 10000! God Himself has reached down to us and saved us from death! God has finally saved us! He promised to give us a kingdom that lasts forever, and now it is here!”

But amidst the buzz and excitement and wonder of the prospect of Eternal life, Jesus spoke again, and broke the atmosphere:
GNB Joh 6:35 "I am the bread of life," Jesus told them. "Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.

Therefore, Jesus was saying to them:
“I am the One who God has sent from Heaven”
“The work that God wants from you is to believe in ME”
“I AM the One that gives LIFE to the whole WORLD”


Joh 6:36 Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe.

“But,” says Jesus, “although you said you wanted Eternal Life, you don’t want ME.”. There is no other sign to show you. The sign is ME – I am the sign, you must believe.

But I know you … you will not believe”

Application
I had asked myself what was Jesus’ tone in this discussion. Was he trying to be secretive and condemn them, or was He trying to lead them gently and show them the truth in a way they would understand.
We know that Jesus had compassion on the crowds – because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
This is the attitude of God toward all men.

And what is interesting is that people do not reject the promise of Eternal Life. They know they need it. They want it. They will dream about it and hope to have it. Jesus proved this. He showed the promise of God – LIFE – escape from death and judgement of sin. And they all wanted it. They jumped at it. They were ready to work hard for it. However, they would do anything to get it except accept that Jesus is from God. They were willing to pay great sums of money, but unwilling to trust Jesus.

Why is that the case? Why do so many people reject Jesus? Why don’t they believe? We’ll find out next week.
But let’s at least ask ourselves the question today:
HAS HE BEEN SENT TO TELL THE TRUTH?
HAVE WE TRUSTED WHAT HE HAS TOLD US?
HAS HE COME TO GIVE ETERNAL LIFE?
HAVE WE BELIEVED IN HIM?