Bread that Satisfies - John 6:35-48

I know it’s pretty common for pregnant ladies to have strong food cravings. And it’s sort of stereotypical for the husband to run out to the grocery store for ice cream, or for a cheeseburger or whatever his pregnant wife wants. Because whatever a pregnant woman wants, let’s be honest men, they should get it. They deserve it.

But the thing that makes it really funny is how specific it gets. They want a cheeseburger from Five Guys with no mustard, ketchup and bacon. Or, ice cream from Cold Stone with gummy bears mixed in - stuff like that! Often when pregnant ladies have cravings they know exactly what they want.

I think in a somewhat similar way, by nature, we’re all spiritually hungry. But there’s a key difference: we don’t always know what we want. It’s not always clear what’s going to satisfy our spiritual hunger.

Maybe men can relate better to this, but spiritual hunger is probably more like aimlessly wandering around the kitchen looking for something to eat even though you’re not really that hungry. You eat some Oreos, a piece of bacon, then a slice of cheese, but nothing really satisfies you.

Our passage reminds us of a simple, yet glorious truth: only Jesus can satisfy the hunger of your soul. Certainly this is true for a non-Christian seeking to fill that “gospel shaped hole” in their heart. But isn’t it also true for each of us that are Christians, that we tend to forget this simple truth. It’s so easy to jump into the rat race of life in order to chase worldly pleasure believing those things are going to make our lives better.

Instead of relying on worldly pleasure, we must rely on Christ.

Up and to this point in our passage, Jesus’ words have been cloaked in mystery. He hasn't been explicit as to what he’s talking about. He’s said things like, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”

Then he said in verses 32 and 33, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave 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.”

We have the privilege of sitting here reading the Scriptures and understanding exactly what Jesus is referring to: himself! He’s talking about faith in him. But it’s not explicit, so the crowd he’s still speaking to has no idea what he’s talking about.

So when Jesus said in verse 33, “the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” It’s no wonder that the crowd responds to him in verse 34 with, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

They were looking for an endless supply of literal, physical food. They’re thinking great! Jesus will become our grocery store!

We Must Feed on the Bread of Life (v. 35)

So there’s no doubt that when Jesus clarifies things for them in verse 35, he annoys, provokes, and disappoints them. Look at verse 35 with me. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

This is the first of many “I AM” statements that Jesus makes in the gospel of John. And all of his “I AM” statements help us understand to some degree His divine nature.

Again, the “I AM” statements have a divine quality to them that calls us back to what the Lord says to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14 - where the Lord reveals his covenant name, Yahweh, or more literally, “I AM WHO I AM.”

Jesus is clearly claiming divinity, that he is the Lord by using the “I AM” language. And he connects the “I AM” language to the bread of life. A slightly better translation would be “bread of the life.”

I think this is important to note because Jesus isn’t simply referring to life in general. He’s not referring to mere human existence here on earth. He has something more specific in mind, thus “the life.” Clearly, “the life” is spiritual, everlasting life. “I AM the bread of life” is drenched in spiritual language because he adds that “whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

There are many Old Testament reflections in these words. One of which is reflected when the Israelites were wandering around in the wilderness. Weren’t they constantly hungry and thirsty? Weren’t they constantly grumbling and dissatisfied?

But then you also have what the Lord says in Isaiah 55.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

Doesn’t this sound familiar? Jesus wants people to come to him because he is the bread that satisfies!

There are lots of ways to analyze the words of Christ in John 6 in depth, but the idea that Jesus is communicating is very simple: the Christian’s bond or association with Jesus Christ must be so close that it reflects your reliance with the most basic life sustaining elements: food and water.

How often do you think of your Christian faith in those terms? Isn’t it true that we often describe our faith in Christ as a relationship? It’s not bad or wrong, but I don’t know it’s the best way to describe it.

Because a relationship implies an exchange. I hope and pray that we give him the glory he deserves, but isn’t the Christian’s relationship with Christ in the least, imbalanced?

Doesn’t everything we’ve done for him seem incredibly small in comparison to what he’s done for us? It’s interesting because when Jesus talks about faith in him, he puts it in terms of reliance. You need to rely on him like you do on bread and water. Jesus's expectation isn’t that you exchange anything with him, you don’t have to pay for the bread of life. You just have to believe that He is the sustenance that your soul needs!

But People Reject the Bread of Life. (vv. 36-40)

What a glorious truth? I think it’s one that we all understand on a surface level.

But I think it raises a natural question: Jesus is promising eternal life through faith in him and yet, there are still people in the crowd looking him in the eyes saying to themselves, “eh, I don’t know if I’ll like that kind of bread!”

“I don’t think I need the bead of life because Nature’s Own seems to be working just fine.”

I’m obviously joking, but I’m raising a serious question: Jesus makes incredible promises, Isaiah 55 describes the glorious benefits of what lies ahead for the people of faith, and yet, people still reject Christ. Christ promises all these amazing things and people say, “no thanks!” In many ways, it really doesn’t make sense does it? But this is exactly what’s going on with the crowd!

Jesus actually addresses that question directly in verses 36-40. Look at these verses again with me.

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 whoever comes to me I will never 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 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Notice that Jesus states he is the “bread of life” in verse 35 and proceeds to chastise the crowd in verse 36 because they, “[had] seen [him] and yet do not believe.”

Jesus is probably referring to what he had previously said in verse 26, because he fed the crowd when he fed the five thousand and now they’re chasing him down for another free meal. The crowd had literally witnessed Jesus perform an incredible miracle, and yet, they continued in their unbelief.

It really does raise an interesting question: how could these people have heard Jesus’ teaching and saw his miracles firsthand but reject him as the Lord?

Answer: Because there was something deeper, something spiritual at play. It wasn’t simply that they weren’t raised right, or were too embarrassed to walk the aisle during the altar call, or started hanging out with the wrong crowd.

There was a spiritual disconnect. Which helps us understand what Jesus says in verse 37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

The implication is that the crowd had not been given to him by the Father. There is a drawing out of unbelief and to faith in Christ. One commentator simply said, “God leads to faith all whom He plans to redeem.” In other words, what we have here in seed form is Jesus teaching that God is sovereign over salvation. That all those that are elected to salvation before the foundation of the world will, in the Lord’s time, put their faith in Christ.

And Jesus “will never cast [you] out.” Jesus will welcome anyone with open arms who is drawn to him. I don’t think Jesus is condemning the crowd to hell, rather, he’s telling them that they haven’t put their faith in him. They don’t believe in Christ.

And what must happen for someone to believe in Christ? God has to work in their hearts. Something supernatural must take place, but look at the wonderful promises Jesus makes in verses 38-39.

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Your faith in Christ is what SAVES you. “...everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life…”

Jesus goes beyond saving sinners. He promises to keep you and protect you and then raise you up on the last day. The Lord preserves all those who trust in Christ!

Not only that, but those that are truly born again, true Christians, walking with their Savior by faith, death will NOT have the final say.

Death is incredibly sad, isn’t it? Is there anything sadder than a funeral? They are profoundly sad. But there is one way for funerals to be even sadder: it’s a funeral for a non-Christian. Those are particularly sad. Why? Because there is literally no hope. The life they lived up and to that point was as good as it got.

Not that long ago, I went to the funeral of a family friend who was a football coach, and the whole funeral was about him, being a football coach. His life had no greater meaning, no higher purpose. Don’t get me wrong you can do a lot of good as a football coach, but is that really it?

How incredibly tragic and depressing is it when your life is defined by something as trivial as football?

Isn’t that generally true for the unbelievers? There’s no meaning to any of this? There’s no purpose to life and we’re just here by random chance. A worldview that excludes the Lord is depressing, nihilistic, and pointless.

Death is still sad even for the Christian, but for the Christian there is hope beyond the grave. You will have life beyond the grave in the new heavens and the new earth because Christ will raise you up. Every Christian will experience a bodily resurrection on the last day.

When the Christian dies, their body lies in a grave and their soul goes into heaven, but when the Lord returns, your soul will be united to a glorified body. There will be a literal bodily resurrection!

What a beautiful glorious hope! And we have this hope, not because I’m standing up here and saying this to you.

The Christian has tremendous hope because of what Jesus has said! You can’t raise yourself, but Jesus can! He’s going to do it for you! He says he’s going to raise the believer up twice!

This is in part why his prophetic claims of rising from the dead are so important. Jesus said he was going to raise himself from the dead and he did it. And here he is promising to raise the Christian from the dead… and he will do it!

His promises aren’t even really promises, they’re guarantees! Which stands in complete contrast to anything you or I say.

We’ve all made plans with friends and family and after the plans are settled, we think to ourselves, “there’s like a 75% chance they back out!” Because you don’t have a lot of confidence in what they tell you. To a certain extent, that’s true for all of us! Just because we say we’re going to do something isn’t a 100% guarantee it’ll happen.

But that’s not the case for Jesus Christ, is it? If he says it will happen, it will happen. He has and will continue to do all that he’s said he will do.

Because They Prefer Old Bread (vv. 41-48)

But many people prefer their own bread to the “Bread of Life?” Like the Jews in our passage. Do they receive the words of Christ with all joy and gladness? No. They respond to the glorious truths that Christ proclaims with anger, doubt and hostility.

Look at verses 41-42. “41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Notice that they’re grumbling just like the Jews did the wilderness over the manna!

But what do they say to Jesus? “You’re not from heaven, Jesus! You’re nothing special because we know your mommy and daddy!”

It is the same problem that we have encountered several times. The strict literalism of the Jews. Because they didn’t see baby Jesus drop out of the sky they didn’t seek to understand his words. They thought “he has parents like the rest of us! Therefore, he’s lying!” But they don’t know about the virgin birth, or his true identity, nor did they seek to understand it.

Their perception of Jesus inhibits their ability to receive his words. I think a similar mentality can take effect in a country that has a Christian veneer still on it.

Christianity is stereotyped, pigeonholed, and categorized that it inhibits one’s ability to receive Christ’s words. They reject Christ without ever investigating what He said. What kind of responses do you think you’d get if you just walked up to people on the street and asked, “what’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘Christian’?”

I think you’d likely get more negative feedback than positive feedback. Would the negative feedback be based on the words of Christ? Probably not. Their negative feedback would be based upon their familiarity and perception of Christianity.

I’m sure most of you have at some point heard the saying “familiarity breeds contempt.”

And there’s a real level of truth to the saying. We often experience it in our own households! Children and their parents can be at each other’s throats for no other reason than they know each other too well.

But isn’t that essentially what we see going on in the text? The Jews are so familiar with Jesus that it blinds them from being able to receive his words. In fact, they reject his words because they think they know him.

But what does Jesus do? He reiterated much of what he already said! In many ways, he doubles down!

“Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life.

He says again, “I am the bread of life” in verse 48.

But look at verses 43-47. Jesus uses the word, “draw” to describe coming to faith. Being drawn to the Lord is not like walking the plank because you have a sword poking you in the back, rather it’s like the wooing of a lover.

And when Jesus refers to the “Prophets” he’s referring to the fact that a believing person, a newly converted person, is led, guided, directed, “taught” by God. “Taught” isn’t a reference to gaining intellectual knowledge, rather, it’s a reference to following the instruction and teachings of the Lord. In other words, Christ is referring to how the Lord transforms the entire person! After being drawn to Christ and putting your faith in Him, you’ll want to do what he says.

The Christian no longer guides and teaches himself or herself, now the Lord guides and teaches you! Notice that God has to take initiative, the Lord has to teach you, before you can hear and learn from the Father.

The bottom line is that the crowd needed to be saved. They needed to feed on the bread of life.

The interesting thing here is that no one stops and asks the obvious question, “could Jesus be telling the truth?” Instead they jump to conclusions and reject what he’s saying altogether without any serious consideration!

Again, how often do we see that today? Folks reject Christianity for no other reason than they think they know it. And they have all these built in assumptions, but never take the time to explore it with any seriousness. No one ever stops to ask, could it be true?”

But simply understanding the facts of the faith isn’t enough. Simply assenting to the truth of the gospel is insufficient. It’s not enough to simply acknowledge Jesus. He requires more. He requires more than just your Sunday mornings.

He requires utter and total dependence upon him. In other words, your faith in Christ, isn’t simply an aspect of who you are - it is YOU who you are.

This is what he means by, “the bread of life.” Aren’t we all dependent on food and water to keep us alive? Aren’t we dependent upon the food we eat and the water we drink to sustain us? The food we ingest literally turns into energy and keeps us moving.

Our very existence is dependent upon that! There are people in the world that have to desperately search for food each and every day. Praise God, we live in a country where that’s not an issue right now.

Just imagine the relief they must feel when they finally find good food. Isn’t this the analogy that Jesus is trying to capture?

Do you depend on Christ in the same way your life depends on receiving nourishment from your next meal?

But here’s the glorious truth you and I must always remember: If you depend on the Lord Jesus like you do for bread he’ll always satisfy the hunger of your soul.

Let’s pray.