1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:25,120 Following this remarkable moment in the ministry of Jesus, and before we head to John chapter 6, we are beginning a new series that begins this week, and we'll go for six weeks following this, where in the Gospel of John, Jesus will identify himself in these sort of seven different ways. 2 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:43,180 One of the interesting things is most people have an opinion about Jesus, have some thoughts about who Jesus is and what he did. What we are trying to do is, rather than talking about Jesus, is to hear what Jesus has to say about himself. 3 00:00:43,180 --> 00:01:01,240 And so, in the Gospel of John, Jesus will say, "I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life." And then he will say, "I am the vine." 4 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:16,180 Over the next seven weeks, we're going to take a look at these. They are woven together not just in John's Gospel, but through the other Gospel accounts and into the Old Testament in such a beautiful, wonderful, and encouraging way. 5 00:01:16,180 --> 00:01:29,900 So let's have a word of prayer, and we'll dive right into it. Father in Heaven, thank You for Your Word. Be with us this morning. May You help us to see the truth of who Jesus is, and not just His greatness and glory, 6 00:01:29,900 --> 00:01:39,940 but You would help us to see how much better He is than all the things we tend to trust. So help us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 7 00:01:39,940 --> 00:01:58,560 Now, there are some things that really grab your attention quickly, and I remember one time in college, I was driving home from working. It was like 1:00 in the morning, and on the main road, there's a couple of stoplights, and at this time of night in rural Missouri, they're all flashing yellow, so you don't have to stop. 8 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:10,560 And so I'm just cruising home, and there was this one four-way stop right before I got the turn to our college dorm, and I'm going along, and it's night, and there's nobody that I can see around me. 9 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:22,560 I kind of look at my mirrors, look behind me, not really looking that carefully, don't see any headlights, kind of look at the four-way stop, and I'm like, "You know what? Nobody's here, so let's just go for it." 10 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:34,560 So I just kind of roll through the four-way stop, and immediately, the one thing that gets your attention in the middle of the night, right, blue lights right behind me flashing, and I'm just like, I'm having a heart attack. 11 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:43,560 I'm like, "Man, I don't make enough to pay a ticket for not just running a stop sign, but like blatantly running the stop sign. I didn't even touch the brakes." 12 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:53,560 So I pull the car over to the side of the road, and this policeman drives, not in behind me, but by me really slow, just waving at me. 13 00:02:53,560 --> 00:03:00,560 And I'm just like, I'm never going to run another stop sign, Lord. I'm a changed man. I repent. 14 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:09,560 And I went home, you know, thankfully without a ticket. But there are those moments in life, the things that just grab our attention. 15 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:18,560 And one of the things in the Gospels, as we have these four Gospel accounts, one written by Matthew, one by Mark, one by Luke, and one by John, 16 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:29,560 is they all tell about Jesus and record the life of Jesus, and there's so much about it that they all contain things that are just a little bit different. 17 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:44,560 And in all the four accounts of the life of Jesus, there is only one miracle that is recorded in all four accounts, and that is the feeding of the 5,000. 18 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:54,560 And that should grab our attention like flashing lights, because what that means is that as the Gospels are being compiled and written, 19 00:03:54,560 --> 00:04:01,560 inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, says that each Gospel account, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 20 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:08,560 none of these accounts are complete without the feeding of the 5,000. 21 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:18,560 And what it means is that God Himself is saying that every single one of us, as we learn about Jesus, needs to hear this, 22 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,560 because there are some wonderful things we will learn about Jesus. 23 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:31,560 And so we're going to begin, and I'm going to walk through a little bit of John chapter 6, and there is so much here. 24 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:36,560 But we're only focusing on one phrase, but in order to get there, we have to have some context. 25 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:44,560 And I will say this: this is an overwhelming situation, I feel, for Jesus and the disciples. 26 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:50,560 So this is not early in the ministry of Jesus, likely this is in the third year. 27 00:04:50,560 --> 00:05:01,560 Not too long before the cross, most of John's Gospel is not years one and two, but so much of it is devoted to the third year of Jesus' ministry. 28 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:09,560 Jesus, at this point, very popular, very well-known, people can't wait to see Him, hear Him, bring their sick people to Him. 29 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:14,560 The religious leaders can't wait to argue with Him and try to trap Him. 30 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:23,560 And the context of John chapter 6 is the twelve have just been sent out on their own for the first time. 31 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:30,560 And they go out, and we learn from the Gospel accounts that they come back and they are walking ten feet tall, right? 32 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:36,560 Demons came out, people were healed, we proclaim the good news, and they're so excited. 33 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,560 But there's also massive crowds surrounding them. 34 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:48,560 And so Jesus will say as they come back, "Come away with me for a little while and rest." 35 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:56,560 Because they can't rest because of the clouds. And the upside of having some disciples that are fishermen is there and says, "Make a break for the other side." 36 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:05,560 But while they do that, this crowd is so excited to be around Jesus that they just take off running around the lake, right? 37 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,560 Jesus is going across the lake in the boat with the disciples to find quiet. 38 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:14,560 And this crowd just takes off running to try to meet Him on the other side. 39 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,560 And as they do, they run through cities and villages, spreading the news. 40 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:29,560 And so by the time Jesus gets to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, we learn in the Gospels there's 5,000 men in addition to women and children. 41 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:38,560 Most scholars think that this crowd is somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people. 42 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:43,560 So I want you to try to put this in context for a minute. 43 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:48,560 So imagine you're in Winchester, we have Apple Blossom coming up in a month where tens of thousands, 44 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:55,560 sometimes Winchester can grow by 100,000 people coming to visit town for Apple Blossom. 45 00:06:55,560 --> 00:07:01,560 People who live in Winchester generally like, "Hey, that's the time we like to go on vacation and not to be in town." 46 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:07,560 So imagine Apple Blossom coming with the tens of thousands of people and you say, 47 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,560 "You know what, I'm going to my cabin in the West Virginia woods." 48 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:18,560 So you get in your car and you leave the crowds behind and you drive out and you pull down your driveway. 49 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:26,560 And as you do in your driveway, you look over and the Apple Blossom carnival is set up across the driveway from your house. 50 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:32,560 And then you look behind you and here comes the Apple Blossom parade down your driveway. 51 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:38,560 And you look over and in your front yard, the Boy Scouts are selling seats so that you can watch the parade from there. 52 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:44,560 There's a guy making cotton candy on the porch. Cars are parked all over your lawn, your neighbor's lawn. 53 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:51,560 And the neighbor, you know, two miles away is on and you got to walk inside. That's what's happening with Jesus. 54 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:56,560 They're going to a place of rest to escape the thousands of people. 55 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:03,560 And they get there and there's 20,000 people waiting for them. 56 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:09,560 And I want you to think how Jesus could have responded to this crowd, right? 57 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,560 Jesus could have simply said to them, "Sorry, I'm off duty." 58 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:18,560 I've done this before. We'll go somewhere on a Sunday afternoon and we're getting ready to eat. 59 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:21,560 And somebody says, "Oh, there's a pastor here. Why don't you pray?" 60 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,560 And they go, "Sorry, I'm off duty as of like 11:30 this afternoon." 61 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,560 It kind of is a joke, and then I pray anyway. 62 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:34,560 But Jesus is tired and he's busy. He could say, "Guys, it's been a long day. Can we do this tomorrow?" 63 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:41,560 Jesus could have said, "I have the disciples here. I'm trying to get them ready for these guys. 64 00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:47,560 They haven't been great at stuff so far. We've got a lot of work to do before the end of my ministry. 65 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:52,560 I love you," to the crowd, but I'm busy. But that's not what Jesus does. 66 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:57,560 In Mark 6, it says, "When he went ashore and saw this great crowd," 67 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:02,560 he's not mad, he's not angry, he's not too busy, "he had compassion on them." 68 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:07,560 Because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. 69 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:12,560 And when it says that he had compassion on them, it's not simply an intellectual, 70 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:18,560 man, these people need some help. It is a gut feeling. 71 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:22,560 In fact, the word in Greek literally means your guts. 72 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:28,560 That he looks at this crowd, and his stomach turns for love for them. 73 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:35,560 That he feels a physical manifestation of the motion of compassion for this crowd. 74 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:38,560 And he looks at them and says, "There are sheep without a shepherd." 75 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:43,560 We'll talk about that in a few weeks. It goes back to Moses and his prayer for the people. 76 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:47,560 And Jesus begins to teach them. 77 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:49,560 Jesus has compassion. 78 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:53,560 But as he's teaching the crowd, he's also teaching the disciples. 79 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:58,560 Right? Philip, where are we getting bread? And he's teaching Philip some humility. 80 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:03,560 Philip has just done some amazing things. And Jesus is saying, "There's still things that are bigger. 81 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:08,560 You still need to turn your eyes to me." 82 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:11,560 And look at what Jesus does. 83 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:14,560 As food comes, Andrew brings this young boy to Jesus. 84 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:16,560 That's what Andrew does in the Gospels. 85 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:19,560 He just constantly brings people to Jesus. 86 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:21,560 Andrew said, "There is a boy here. 87 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:26,560 It has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" 88 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:28,560 And Jesus says, "Have the people sit down." 89 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:30,560 And there was much grass in the place. 90 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:34,560 The men sat down, about 5,000 in number. 91 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,560 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, 92 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:39,560 he distributed them to those who were seated. 93 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:43,560 So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 94 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,560 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, 95 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:49,560 "Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost." 96 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:53,560 So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets 97 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:59,560 with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 98 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:04,560 You've gone from a sack lunch to a full food truck. 99 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:09,560 And the crowds began to look at this, and they began to think Jesus would make a great king 100 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:13,560 because in John 6:1, he heals a bunch of people. 101 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:15,560 Now he feeds a bunch of people. 102 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:20,560 And what better person could you want to lead an army to revolt against Rome 103 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:26,560 than a guy who can feed you, heal you, and who can teach you with wisdom? 104 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:32,560 And so what Jesus does is he goes up into the mountains to pray, leaves the crowd behind. 105 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:38,560 The disciples get into a boat, the only boat, and head out across the lake. 106 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:44,560 Middle of the night, Jesus comes down from the mountain and walks across the water in the midst of a storm 107 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:47,560 to the disciples to the other side. 108 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:51,560 And that's not the end of the story because the crowd who has slept on the ground 109 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:55,560 wakes up the next morning and goes, "Where's Jesus?" 110 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:59,560 and there's no boat, and they know Jesus, and they know Jesus went to the mountains, 111 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:04,560 and the disciples went to the boat, and then some boats begin to show up on the shore. 112 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:14,560 They will hijack the local boats and make their way across the Sea of Galilee to find Jesus. 113 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:20,560 And it's here we begin to see the patience of Jesus. 114 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:24,560 And between verses 25 and 35, if you want to follow along, 115 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:28,560 either on your handout or in your Bible, 116 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:33,560 there is going to be this conversation between Jesus and the crowns. 117 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:36,560 And in John 6:25, they will say, 118 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:40,560 "When they found him, Jesus, on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 119 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:44,560 "Rabbi, when did you come to be here?" 120 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,560 And if you've ever watched a movie in a different language, 121 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:50,560 right, you have subtitles on, and you hear the person in the movie, 122 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:53,560 and they'll say something, something, something, and then you see the subtitles, 123 00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:57,560 I want you to understand the subtitles for these people saying, 124 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,560 "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 125 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:03,560 The subtitle would be, "Where is the bread?" 126 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:07,560 Right, that's all they want, and we know that that's what the subtitle would be, 127 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:11,560 because Jesus, in his answer, will say this, 128 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:16,560 "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, 129 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,560 but because you ate your fill of loaves." 130 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,560 And so when they say, "Jesus, when did you get here?" 131 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:26,560 What they're really saying is, "We want bread." 132 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:31,560 And Jesus will see that, understand it, and then say this, 133 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:36,560 "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, 134 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:42,560 which the Son of Man will give you, for on him God the Father has set his seal." 135 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:48,560 Jesus, so wonderfully and full of grace, doesn't just address their want, 136 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:54,560 he sees past the things they want, to the deepest need of their heart, and addresses that. 137 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:57,560 And he says, "I have what you need." 138 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:01,560 And what they say is, "What then must we do to do the works of God?" 139 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:07,560 And that sounds really good, except what they're really saying is, 140 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:13,560 "Jesus, how do we earn and get this bread that doesn't spoil?" 141 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:18,560 So their conversation has been, "Where's the bread? How do we get the bread?" 142 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:21,560 And then Jesus will respond like this. 143 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:27,560 "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 144 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,560 So Jesus says, "Believe in the one that God has sent." 145 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:33,560 Listen to their response. 146 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,560 "So they said to him, 'What sign do you do so that we may see and believe you?' 147 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:39,560 'What work do you perform?' 148 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,560 Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness as it is written. 149 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,560 He gave them bread from heaven to eat." 150 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,560 And so they said, "Okay, so we want bread. 151 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:50,560 You've said there's this everlasting bread. 152 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,560 We've asked you how to get it. You've said believe." 153 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:58,560 Now historically, when people tell us to follow them, they give us bread. 154 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:01,560 Are you seeing a pattern in the crowd, right? 155 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,560 Where is the bread? How do we get the bread? 156 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,560 If we're going to follow you, there had better be bread. 157 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:19,560 And Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 158 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:25,560 For the bread of God is he," not an "it," but a "he" who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 159 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:30,560 Number one, it wasn't Moses. Number two, it's not a "what," but a "he." 160 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,560 Do you know what they say? Give us this bread always, right? 161 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:39,560 There's a pretty clear pattern, right? We want bread. How do we earn the bread? 162 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:45,560 If we follow somebody, they give us bread. Now we want the bread. 163 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:50,560 And then Jesus will simply say this, "I am the bread of life. 164 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:58,560 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall not thirst. 165 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:03,560 The bread you seek is me." How patient is Jesus? 166 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:09,560 Right? The one-track mind of these people, "Where's the bread? How do we get the bread? 167 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,560 Our leaders give us bread. We want bread." 168 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:23,560 And Jesus, instead of telling them, "Stop with the bread," answers them, engages them, and teaches. 169 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:30,560 And I look at this and I say, "Why is Jesus so patient with this obnoxious crowd?" 170 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:37,560 He sees them wandering and lost. Not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally, and He loves them. 171 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:45,560 And He's saying to them, "Let me take you home. Let me bring you to the place where there is love and there is hope, where your heart can rest." 172 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:53,560 Jesus is patient because He loves these annoying people who can't stop talking about bread. 173 00:16:53,560 --> 00:17:07,560 And before we're too hard on this crowd, because of their missing Jesus and seeing only bread, we have to remember that for these people, bread is their staple food and it is necessary for survival. 174 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:13,560 For us, bread is a nice side dish, right? We're going to have some spaghetti, let's have some garlic bread. 175 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:21,560 We're going to Texas Roadhouse, bring us some rolls and butter, right? For us, bread is a side dish for people in the first century. 176 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:32,560 It was their means of survival. You would go to work, you would work all day, earn enough money to buy bread, to eat a meal, to go to sleep, to wake up, to earn money, to get bread, to eat a meal. 177 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,560 It was your means of survival. 178 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:48,560 Now, our fixation may not be a nice loaf of sourdough, but every single one of us has something in front of our eyes that is competing with Jesus. 179 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:57,560 Something that is shouting to our hearts, "Trust me. Put your hope in me. You need me if you are going to survive." 180 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:03,560 A job, a relationship, a hobby, a plan, a future, an idea. 181 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:08,560 And we have this in our mind. If I could have this one thing, it would be okay. 182 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:17,560 And it may not be for us bread, but we are just as fixated on seeking something that we think would save us other than Jesus. 183 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:27,560 And to the crowd and to us, Jesus says, "Stop looking at that, and look at me." 184 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:32,560 Secondly, this is likely the first time that many of these people have eaten everything that they've wanted. 185 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:37,560 I sit down and make breakfast for our kids, and we make a package of bacon, right? 186 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:42,560 And you get the bacon to the table, and you count how many people there are, and everybody gets two and a half pieces of bacon 187 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,560 because that's what's in a package. And our kids are like, "Well, we love bacon." 188 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,560 They're like, "I love bacon. I could use more bacon," right? 189 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:56,560 And I remember the first time we went to Golden Corral for breakfast, and I'm walking that line with the girls, 190 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:01,560 and you come to like this bucket of bacon, and it's like, "Well, how many can we eat?" 191 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:08,560 As much as you want. These people came to Jesus having eaten enough bread to survive, 192 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:15,560 and all of a sudden they could eat all that they wanted. They went from never enough, 193 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:25,560 enough to a point where their hearts were filled from fullness, brought to fullness from survival. 194 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:33,560 Jesus' point is that this is not just a physical thing. The purpose of this is to point you to that this is a reality for your soul. 195 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:44,560 The things that you've desired and the depth of your being that you want, that you hope in, that hunger and thirst are filled by Jesus. 196 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:50,560 And they can't see that there is something more wonderful. Their minds don't stretch that far. 197 00:19:50,560 --> 00:20:01,560 C.S. Lewis says it this way, "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, 198 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:07,560 it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak." 199 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:22,560 We are half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum 200 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:32,560 because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. 201 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:39,560 And that is the picture of these people seeking physical bread when Jesus says, "I can give you something that's so much more wonderful." 202 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:50,560 And it is a picture of our hearts when we focus our joys and affections on something that is temporary rather than on Jesus. 203 00:20:50,560 --> 00:21:00,560 And Jesus simply says this, "I am the bread of life." To a group of people who are hungry and tired and in life frustrated and oppressed, 204 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:05,560 and there's never enough, and spiritually they've never been good enough. 205 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:16,560 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." And not to give you a grammar lesson, but the way this is constructed in Greek is literally the bread of life I am. 206 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:22,560 It's constructed in such a way that the point of this is not the bread, but it's Jesus. 207 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:32,560 Jesus is saying to them that this bread that you've eaten your fill of is a giant flashing sign pointing to something more wonderful. 208 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:47,560 Something that doesn't just fill your physical hunger, but satisfies the desire of your soul that is so good and is so wonderful, and it's found in me. 209 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:53,560 Jesus is doing and saying something far bigger than a sermon illustration about bread. 210 00:21:53,560 --> 00:22:01,560 And what's interesting is in Greek there's two ways to say I am. One of them is a word that's probably familiar, ego. 211 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:08,560 It's where we get our idea of the same word in English, in ego, we can say ego meaning I am in Greek. 212 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:15,560 The other way to say I am in Greek is a me. And so usually people pick one or the other, ego or a me, 213 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:22,560 but it's interesting when Jesus says I am the bread of life, he takes those two words and he puts them together. 214 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:28,560 And he says ego, a me, I am the bread of life. And the reason why this matters. 215 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:36,560 It's about 300 years before Jesus. The Hebrew Bible is translated into Greek. 216 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:43,560 And there comes a passage in Exodus chapter 3 where Moses is 80 years old 217 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,560 and he's standing in front of a burning bush. And God speaks to him out of the burning bush 218 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:54,560 and said, "I've seen the suffering of the people, and I'm going to send you to rescue them." 219 00:22:54,560 --> 00:23:02,560 And Moses goes, "Who am I?" And in his question of who am I as an 80-year-old facing this mission, 220 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:10,560 wrapped up in his question are the fears and uncertainty and unworthiness and inability and brokenness, 221 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:20,560 saying, "I'm on the run, and I don't know how." And he says, "Okay, who shall I say sent me?" 222 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:29,560 And in English, out of the burning bush, God will say, "I am send you." 223 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:37,560 And 300 years before Jesus, when they translated that Hebrew into Greek, you know what they said, "Who shall I say send you?" 224 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:48,560 God says, "Ego a me." Literally, when Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," he's calling us back to Exodus 3:14, 225 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:58,560 where Moses, uncertain, too small, afraid, and on the run, asked God what he should do, and God simply says, "I am." 226 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:04,560 And to you and I, in our uncertainness and our struggle, and we're too small, and we're not good enough, 227 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:13,560 and we're on the run, and we're afraid, and we don't think we have what we need, Jesus says, "I am." 228 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:20,560 And in this world, in these words, we find certainty in the presence of Jesus in the midst of our fears. 229 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:30,560 Just as God said to Moses, "I am always there." Not I was or will be, but I am. At creation, I am. With Adam, I am. 230 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:38,560 With Abraham, I am. With Joseph, I am. And Moses, with you, I am. And in the wilderness, I am. 231 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:49,560 Jesus says the same to us. He says, "I am." In the droughts, in the joys, in the sorrows, I am here. And Jesus is saying, "You are not alone." 232 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:57,560 And when you say, "Who is with me?" You hear the response of Jesus saying, "I am yesterday, today, tomorrow, right now." 233 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:05,560 And it's not just the presence of Jesus. It's that Jesus, in the midst of this, is moving us to progress. 234 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:13,560 It's not just when we're stuck, we need to be reminded. But in our lives, we need to be reminded. 235 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:20,560 Jesus, by referencing Exodus 3, is saying, "I am at work for your good." And in our perspective, we don't always see it. 236 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:28,560 This Thursday, we went to the Air and Space Museum in Dulles with our kids and our nephews and our niece. 237 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:33,560 And we were planning to eat at the museum, and so we've been about three-quarters of the way through the museum. 238 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:44,560 And we look up at the one fast food place in the museum, and there is a line that resembles the crowd waiting for Jesus on the other side of the lake. 239 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,560 And we go, "There is no way possible that we're going to survive." 240 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:53,560 And so the adults hold a council among ourselves and say, "Let's finish up the museum and go find some lunch." 241 00:25:53,560 --> 00:26:02,560 And there were some small children who were so hungry, and all they could hear is, "We're not having lunch right now." 242 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:07,560 Not knowing that we were going to go to a place that had better food. It was going to be quieter. 243 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:12,560 They would get their food faster, and more importantly for mom and dad, it would be significantly less expensive, right? 244 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:18,560 We had a plan, but in the moment they couldn't see it, right? 245 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,560 How many times is that the reality of your life? 246 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:29,560 That there is a plan that God has and He is working on, but we simply cannot see it. 247 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:36,560 It may be that we're just looking at the turn of a head where God stands at the mountain and sees the road unfold. 248 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:40,560 When Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," He's not just saying, "I am with you." 249 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:47,560 He's saying there is progress being made in your life, whether you see it or not. 250 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:53,560 And there is certainty in the satisfaction that Jesus brings our hungry souls. 251 00:26:53,560 --> 00:27:01,560 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst." 252 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:08,560 Jesus never runs out. We eat lunch. Four hours, we're hungry again. 253 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,560 We eat dinner. We're hungry again. We're ready to go to bed. We need a snack. 254 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,560 We wake up in the morning. We're hungry for breakfast. 255 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,560 The satisfaction that Jesus brings your soul does not run out. 256 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:24,560 It doesn't spoil. It doesn't get moldy. You never get to the end of the presence of God. 257 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:35,560 The things that you have been chasing in your life will never bring you to satisfaction and fulfillment like Jesus does. 258 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,560 Here's the problem. We don't see it. 259 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:46,560 Last week or two weeks ago, I was coming home, and I looked down the street, and there was a dog just kind of running down the street, heading toward Route 50. 260 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:50,560 And so I pulled up, and I was like, "Hey, buddy. Come on. Jump in the car." 261 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,560 And this dog, like a big old doofus, comes running over and jumps in the car. 262 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:58,560 And so I come back here, and Rachel gets a leash, and he's just a little guy. 263 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:03,560 So I put him on the leash, and you can't take him inside because we've got dogs. We haven't introduced him. 264 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,560 I was like, "I've got to put this guy somewhere where we try to find the owner." 265 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:13,560 So I bring him into the church, and the big room downstairs with the concrete floor, I said, "He's not muddy. I can stick him in here." 266 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,560 So I put him in there, shut all the doors so he can't get out. 267 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:21,560 I go home so we can try to find his owner, and Rachel's posting about it online. 268 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:28,560 And next thing I know, as I look out in the parking lot, and here goes this dog just running down the road with a leash around his neck. 269 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:36,560 And here is the dog who I put in this room, and he looks around the room, realizes that he can jump onto one of the folding tables, 270 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:42,560 and that there's a window into the kitchen that he can jump through, and jumps off that folding table, 271 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:47,560 goes down, jumps against the door, opens the door, and heads on down the road. 272 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:54,560 And so here's a dog who is being saved, and in a place of safety with refreshment and nourishment, 273 00:28:54,560 --> 00:29:00,560 and all he could see was a way to run away as fast as he can. 274 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:07,560 We go, "Man, that dog is a doofus." But that dog is us. 275 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:13,560 And the safety and nourishment and goodness and refreshment that Jesus brings, 276 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,560 we're so often just jumping out the window, heading our own direction. 277 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,560 In fact, that's what happens in John chapter 6. 278 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:27,560 In verse 60, the crowds go bread of life, and they begin to grumble. 279 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:33,560 And in verse 66, they say, "Who can accept this teaching?" 280 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:39,560 And of this 15,000 to 20,000 people, all of them leave. 281 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,560 All of them, except for the 12. 282 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,560 And Jesus looks at them and goes, "Do you want to leave too?" 283 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,560 And Peter goes, "Lord, where should we go?" 284 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:58,560 You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and we have come to know you are the Holy One of God. 285 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:04,560 I want us to think about our lives this morning and what it is we are chasing. 286 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:11,560 Because it's so easy to, like those crowds, just jump out that window and like that dog and head our own way. 287 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:16,560 And when we hear Jesus say, "I am the bread of life," 288 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:24,560 I want you to know with certainty that Jesus is with you, that He is working in you, and He will satisfy the desires of our soul. 289 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:31,560 And instead of running after all of the promises that we see made to us about what will make us happy in this world, 290 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:37,560 I want us to run to Jesus as individuals and as a church. 291 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:42,560 And maybe you're not a Christian. You've just been running your whole life. 292 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:52,560 I want you to know that you don't have to hide, and you don't have to run, and there is safety and that there is hope in the arms of Jesus. 293 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:59,560 Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your word. 294 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:09,560 Help us not to run after all of these empty things, but that you would help us to hold close to you, 295 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:16,560 to see that you are always with us, you are always working in our lives, 296 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,560 and that you are the one who satisfies the longing of our soul. It's in Jesus' name we pray.