The Bread of Life

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.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you
the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 and this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”John 6:26-40

These are some of the most descriptive scriptures about the mentality and purpose of Jesus, as well as the will of the Father. To set up the scenario of what is taking place here, we have to understand that Jesus the day before, had fed five thousand men, along with the women and children that were with them with, with just five barley loaves and two fish.

They saw that a miraculous event took place right before their eyes, and just before that people were healed, demons were cast out and lives were changed forever. So they followed Him, yet they knew He hadn't went over to the other side with His disciples, and they were wondering how He got there.

We know how He did, but they didn't and so they were questioning Him as to how He got there, so what did Jesus say ?

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.

Jesus knew what their true intentions were. They weren't there because they saw signs and wonders, they were there because there was food and their stomachs were filled, nothing more, nothing less. That was it, a free meal. Whenever there is free food everyone wants to get in on it.

I do too, why do you think I come here on Saturdays ?

Some people have told me that even if there wasn't free food they would come just to hear the message, I would love to believe that but I know that isn't quite true. Churches use food to draw people to gatherings. It doesn't matter if it's a gathering of homeless people in a park or the people in a church, when there is free food, people show up. Jesus knew that too, that's why He said what He did. But in the next verse He wanted them to know what was really important.

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.”

All this food that we are blessed with will only help us to exist in this life, it will help us to live, it is only fuel to make our bodies function from day to day. We know that if we don't eat food or drink water, we will die a slow, miserable and painful death. If you don't believe that then believe the pictures you've seen with children with swollen bellies and skin covered arms and legs. Jesus said not to labor for that kind of food, it's nice to have, our bodies need it, but in the long run it doesn't determine where you will spend an eternity after your lights go out here in this life. He said to pursue food which endures for everlasting life that only the Son can give you.

Why ?

Jesus has “God's seal of approval”.

Have you ever seen ads where a company is trying to sell a product and they get the “seal of approval” from some outside company to give their product more validation so that consumers will want to by that product because of that seal ?

The Son has “God's seal of approval”. God the Father stands behind the product. He guarantee's the quality and the outcome. The Son meets all the standards needed to ensure where we spend our eternity. That is why Jesus said to pursue food which endures to everlasting life, it healthier than any food we can eat in this life.

Why is it so hard for people to wrap their thoughts around that idea ?

It was for the people following Jesus, they kept questioning everything He said, when He answered one question, they had another.

Is because they wanted to know the truth ?

No. They just wanted to try to out smart Him, to get Him to trip up, as we see in this scripture:

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.'”

Feeding 5,000 men, plus their women and children, wasn't good enough. Performing signs and wonders on the people they knew were sick and tormented, healings the blind, casting out demons, cleansing lepers and raising up the lame wasn't good enough. Raising the dead wasn't good enough.

If they are seeing all this happening in front of their eyes and they still won't believe, then what will be good enough ?

Jesus said all they had to do was this:

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

All that they needed to do was believe in the one God sent. It was that simple, there is no magic formula, you just simply believe.
But that wasn't good enough. There are people who will never believe anything, no matter how many great things happen right under their noses. That is why these people said this:

30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread
from heaven to eat.'” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the
world.”

Did they get it when Jesus told them this ?

No. Because they couldn't hear what He was telling them. They were too busy trying to get Him to trip up on His words, so they missed the whole point. Everything that God did before Jesus was born, was a sign of the things to come, everything pointed to Jesus, the things He would say and do. That's why they had so much trouble with it, that's why they couldn't see it. A lot of you here today, even though you've heard me say it over and over, haven't gotten it either. Here is the simplicity of what is being said, again we read:

32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

Jesus had to clear up who really provided the manna that came down everyday, these people were so far removed from Moses that they thought he was the provider, that's why Jesus said: Moses did not give you the bread from heaven. He had to make that clear to them to try to get them to understand His next statement:

For the bread of God, is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Jesus was always telling the people that He was here for a reason, it was written in all the scriptures they read, it was in every prophecy that was ever given concerning the Lamb of God. The message was simple:

I came into this world to give life. He said he was the bread of life, the product with God's “Seal of Approval”.

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

What was their response to that statement ?

They wanted a free meal that never stopped coming.

35 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

What did He say ?

36 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

You have seen me and don't believe, they saw the miracles and didn't believe, they heard His voice and didn't believe, they could touch Him if they wanted to and still didn't believe, is it any wonder that people have trouble believing to today when they can't experience all these things ?

Peter understood this dilemma that we face today, he knew that those who would believe after the life of Jesus would have a tougher time, he knew they would have to trust in the words that they testified about Jesus with. He knew that we would never get to hear, see or touch the Savior of our souls, so he wrote about it in his epistle:

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:6-9

Yes Jesus and Peter knew that we would have to just trust in the words that have been spoken, we would have to by faith, believe in the words that were written and by faith we would have to make our choice for eternal salvation.

That's why Jesus said:

36 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

By faith, there are some here feeling the Holy Spirit drawing you to the words you have heard here today, you are being compelled to give up the division you're feeling inside, you know there has to be a better way than the road you're traveling on, you want to fill that emptiness you feel inside.

That is God drawing you to Him, He said :All that the Father gives Me, will come to Me, you don't have to be afraid, he said: the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 and this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

If you really want God to change your life then come…