 Our text this morning is John chapter six. We're in John chapter six, and we come to this section in John chapter six verses 30 through 40, and the discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ on the bread of life. The title of our sermon, The Enduring Bread of Life. And this is part two. I've missed you for a couple of weeks. We're gonna catch up this morning. But the Enduring Bread of Life part two is we've been walking through this segment of scripture, which is a glorious text. Very full, very rich. There's so much to learn here. We can spend a great deal of time in this text of scripture and never quite plumb the depths of all that is contained here. It's just a glorious passage of scripture. As we've been going through John's Gospel, we've seen many, many miracles. There are many miracles that are listed here for us that we've had the blessed opportunity to study together. We saw wine at Cana, right? The turning of water into wine at the wedding. We saw the nobleman's son being healed. We saw the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. We saw, next, the feeding of the 5,000. So many miracles. So many works of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that we've seen is what is recorded here. And it's not a fraction of all that Jesus Christ had said and done during this time. So many, in fact, that in John chapter 21, last verse of the Gospel, if all the things that Christ had done were written down one by one, he supposes that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. So much the Lord has done. It's incredible. All pointing to who he is, all pointing to his divine power, all pointing to his deity that he is God in the flesh. The purpose of those miracles, of all that he's done, of all that he's said, is to testify of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. To testify and point to the veracity, the validity, and the authority of his words. His words as the words of God. To point to the reality, the grace of God in the Gospel. And to point those who don't believe, to believe in him that they might be saved and have eternal life. So many miracle accounts then, many of those great works that we see are always followed by, are often followed by, a discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ explaining in a sense what just happened and pointing people to the Gospel, pointing people to Christ. And he does that with his words. We see his works. Then he follows his works with his words. You're gonna be saved. You're gonna turn to Christ. If your soul will be saved in that day, it is because you believe in Jesus Christ for who he is and you take him at his word. You believe both his works and you believe his words. You believe who he is. His words are authoritative. There are many today. What if we consider liberal scholarship and the way that people approach the Bible. There are many today who try to rationalize or do away with his words by rationalizing away his miracles. You look at liberals, right? Work so hard, so diligently to explain away the miraculous power of God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ and the miracles that he performed. Split the Red Sea and it becomes ankle deep reed sea that was split by the wind, right? Just the absurdity of it all. No different here, no different here. When Jesus walked on the water, he was walking on a silt sand bar just inches deep and it made it look like, what's the purpose of all that? Why do people approach the Bible that way? It's because they don't want his authoritative word, authoritative over them. They want to do away with his miracles. They want to reject his authority and they hold on to, often tight clenched fisted, hold on to rationalizations or explanations that do away with his word, do away with Christ. Often, we see even here on the pages of scripture, you see those that see the miracles so they can't just rationalize it away. They see the miracle but because they are so irrational against the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ being authoritative, they cling to irrational excuses that end up in hostility. Have you ever talked to someone like that? So defensive, so against what you're saying. So hostile to the idea of their sin being exposed and they lash out with hostility. No different here in the first century than it is today with many that we talk to. Many of us we've seen also as we go through the text were indifferent. They're just strictly concerned with their own material needs. Strictly concerned with just what's gonna get them one step farther, right? What's gonna make their life or their circumstances better. All they wanted was more of the fish maker, more of the bread baker, right? But they didn't want Jesus Christ. They just want their circumstances improved. And that they disregard again, disregard Christ and his words. So Jesus now in the mass of people in that kind of a circumstance and that kind of a setting the lost masses have followed him around the Sea of Galilee and we find Jesus according to verse 59 in John chapter six. We now find Jesus Christ teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. He's made his way around the Sea of Galilee. He's been followed after feeding the 5,000 after walking on water after the people seeing his works now in the synagogue at Capernaum Jesus Christ teaches with his words. He preaches a sermon here. And he gives in John chapter six verses 30 through 40 and following. He gives the biblical and eternal perspective on the miracle that we've just seen, right? Again, all miracles are sign miracles. They're sign works in the sense that they point to a spiritual reality. So now we've had the miracle. We've seen the feeding of the 5,000. We've seen Jesus miraculously walk on water, perform several miracles there and now we're gonna get the perspective on what that miracle is pointing to. He's told them in verse 27, setting this up for us. He's told them in verse 27, do not labor for the food which perishes but labor for the food which endures to eternal life which the Son of man will give you. I'm often, I don't know about you just often reminded of that particular passage. Don't toil and sweat and labor for that which has no eternal value. God's people can be so prone to that, can't they? So prone to laboring and toiling and sweating and working for that which doesn't matter. It's gonna go into the grave with you. You can't take your little red wagon of stuff with you through the pearly gates. It's not gonna go with you. And yet we find ourselves oftentimes laboring for that which just perishes. That which is temporal and not for that which sets up for us treasure in heaven, amen. So now Jesus is gonna preach a sermon and he's gonna explain his words. He's gonna explain verse 27. He's gonna give us insight into the miracle and he's pointing in this to who he is as the Christ, the Son of God. And he's pointing us to the fact there's more to this life than material gain. There's more to this life than having our physical needs met. More to this life than just what is surrounding is that any given moment in our circumstances more than just material well-being. We have to remember and we have to remind ourselves constantly that we are made to live forever. We're made to live forever and this life is so short. There is a temporary bread which perishes and there is the bread which endures to everlasting life that lives eternally. It does not come by work. Does not come by the sweat of our brow. It comes only from the Son of Man as a gift of grace which verse 27 says the Son of Man will give you. Is there anyone here? Or am I the only one in my past that thinks at one point or another that maybe the Lord Jesus Christ just won't save me? Maybe I'm beyond saving. I've just sinned too much. Look at the apathy in my own heart. Look at the way I live my life. I'm a disgusting offense to God. Will God, can God, will he really save me? Verse 27 says the Son of Man will give it to you. He will give it to you. Jesus says later that if you'll come to him and believe. Now that is yours. We're made to live forever. It doesn't come by the sweat of our brow. It comes as a gift of God's grace and only for those who believe in him. So as we get into verse 30, we're gonna take a look at three sections from this passage. And in those three sections, first, we're gonna see a brazen unbelief. There's a brazen unbelief. And we find that unbelief in everyone outside of Christ. Right, everyone who's outside of Christ is a brazen, rebellious, wicked unbeliever. That's just the way we are from the fall. Brazen unbelief. Point two on your notes. We're gonna see a devastating ignorance. A devastating ignorance. And thirdly, a tragic loss. A tragic loss. So first more passage. Let's take a look at an example. In the beginning here of brazen, brazen unbelief in verse 30. John chapter six, verse 30, the Bible says, therefore they said to him, what sign will you perform then? That we may see it and believe you. What work will you do? Our father's ate the manna in the desert as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 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. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. As powerful as the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ were. Right, as powerful as his teaching was. Remember they said they were astonished at his teaching because he taught as one having authority. They were astonished at his miracles. They were astonished at his teaching. Most people reacted to Christ with astonishing unbelief. Most people hearing his words, seeing his works, responded to the Lord Jesus Christ with a remarkable unbelief. Verse 30 begins with an astonishing example of that persistent and damning unbelief. After feeding the 5,000, after all the miracles they had seen, think about it now, one after the other. From last time we saw how those texts meant that he was constantly doing miracles. They were constantly seeing. It was a present, active reality in their lives. After all of that, what do they do? Verse 30, they request to see a sign. You know what I think to yourself, I'm reading that. When I read that, I'm like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? They request to see a sign. They've not just seen the water turned to wine at Cana. They didn't only see the nobleman's son healed. They didn't only see the lame paralytic man at the pool of Bethesda healed. They've seen miracles daily, constantly, culminating in a feeding of 20, 25,000 people. And they turn around having sought him out because they ate of the loaves and were filled, Jesus says. They sought him out, and the thing that they do in verse 30 is ask for another sign. It's just absurd, unless we think somehow that they are far more ignorant than the more fair-minded of us here today. Remember when you were lost? I mean, how many people have you witnessed you when they come to you and they say, listen, if Jesus is really God, why doesn't he just show up right now and prove himself? Now they want to seek a sign. Matthew said it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks a sign. And yet God, if you're real, just show up. Are you kidding me? How many ways, forms, and fashions does God have to show up? Not just any miracle here. If he were going to give them a sign in verse 30, they're expecting him to step it up a notch as if the feeding of the 20, 25,000 people was not enough. That's a little tiny sign. They want him to step it up a notch in verse 31 if they're gonna believe him. Can't just feed 5,000 for a meal that simply isn't enough? He has to perform a sign. This is what this is saying in verse 31. He has to perform a sign on par with Moses who they think fed them six days a week for 42 years in the wilderness. If Jesus was going to be believed upon by them, he was gonna have to step it up a notch. Look at verse 31. Our fathers ate the manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Brazen, right? Brazen. Listen, Jesus, that one meal isn't enough, we want you to feed us for a lifetime. Three squares a day, three hots and a cot. Give us this miracle and maybe we'll believe you. Wow, almost unimaginable belief, unbelief. A hard-hearted unbelief. We look at that and even a lost person would look at that and say, wow, that's pretty heavy-handed, right? It's pretty hard-hearted. There are a couple of lessons to take from this as we look at verse 30 through 33. One is unbelief is brazen because unbelief is never satisfied. Unbelief is brazen and hard-hearted and rebellious because unbelief is never satisfied. It simply doesn't matter how much evidence is given, right? Luke says that they're not gonna believe if one were raised from the dead. Just no amount of evidence is going to satisfy them because it is brazen unbelief. You must be born again. If you're gonna believe, if you're gonna follow the Lord Jesus Christ, it won't come by the efforts or the prowess of your intellect understanding the truths of God word. It's gonna come because the Lord God changes your heart, causes you to be born again, gives you a new nature and enlightens your understanding to understanding spiritual things. Never gonna be satisfied no matter how much it's indulged with material things, the things of this world. Brazen unbelief is brazen because it's just never satisfied. No matter how much you have, no matter what you accomplish for yourself, no matter what you set out to do, whatever you get, it will not last. Your pursuits in this world, Solomon calls vanity. It's all just vanity, it will not satisfy. I came across this story and it's a story about the 1930s author, William Somerset Mogam. He was a novelist, a playwright. He wrote one play entitled The Constant Wife that was, and I'm not seeing that, but it's played all around the world and in the 1930s, Mogam was one of the richest people on the planet, royalties just pouring in from the plays that he wrote and he got over an average of 300 letters a week from his fans, so incredible success, right? Plenty of money, incredible success, a loyal following and we get an insight of Mogam's life from an account written by his nephew, nephew Robin Mogam just before William Mogam died. Listen to this story, this is Robin speaking. I looked around the drawing room with the immensely valuable furniture and pictures and objects that William's success had enabled him to acquire. I remember that the villa itself and the wonderful garden I could see through the windows, a fabulous setting on the edge of the Mediterranean worth at that time, 1930s, 600,000 pounds, an enormous sum of money. William had 11 servants including his cook Annette who was the envy of all the other millionaires on the Riviera, he dined on silver plates, waited on by Marius, his butler, Henry, his footman, but it no longer meant anything to him. The following afternoon, I found William reclining on a sofa, peering through his spectacles at a Bible which had very large print. He looked horribly, I need often very large print, you can relate, right? He looked horribly wise and his face was grim because I've been reading the Bible that you gave me and I've come across the quotation. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loses his own soul? I must tell you, my dear Robin, that the text used to hang opposite my bed when I was a child. Of course, it's all a lot of bunk, but the thought is quite interesting all the same. That evening in the drawing room after dinner, William flung himself down onto the sofa. Oh, Robin, after reading the Word of God, right? Oh, Robin, I'm so tired. He gave a gulp, buried his head in his hands. I've been a failure the whole way through my life, he said. I've made mistake after mistake, I've made a hash of everything. My whole life has been a failure and now it's too late to change, it's too late. William looked up, his grip tightened on my hands, he was staring towards the floor, his face was contorted with fear, he was trembling violently, Willie's face was ashen as he stared in horror ahead of him, suddenly he began to shriek, go away, he cried. I'm not ready, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet. His high-pitched terror struck voice seemed to echo from wall to wall. I looked around but the room was empty as before. There's no one there, Willie, and Willie began to gasp hysterically. Magum died there, having everything that he could have wished for. Every material blessing that a man could hope to have, fame, popularity, wealth. But when the time came, when he was confronted with giving an account for his life, he found his life to be completely empty and worthless. Why is that? Because unbelief does not satisfy. Grasping onto the things of this world is just a futile grasping, it is all meaningless. As Solomon said, it's just all vanity, it is going away, it won't last. He's gonna die and he's gonna die dead, broke just like the day he was born. You can't bring anything into this world with you and you're certainly not gonna leave with anything like Paul says to Timothy, right? He found his life to be empty and worthless, ultimately unsatisfying. At the end of it all, despite all that he had done, all that he had acquired, he was afraid to die. That moment frightened him. That's not what God intends for anyone. That's not what God intends for anyone here today. He doesn't intend for you to die that way. Doesn't intend for you to chase the trappings of this world that way and die with nothing, spend an eternity in hell. So stop laboring for the food which perishes. Paul said to Timothy, with food and clothing, we shall be what? Content. The next high, the next dollar, the next lust, the next job, the next pleasure, your next trip to the liquor store, the next moment alone on your computer, the person that you are intent on being with no matter what God's word says, the lies you've told, your hypocrisy, will you continue to live for yourself until terror comes upon you, as it did with William Moggum? Or you live for the Lord. Put your trust in him. We're to ponder that which lasts to eternal life and strive and toil and labor to pursue that. Lay up for ourselves, treasure and heaven. So Jesus, after verse 30 and 31 there, and there braves an unbelief, he begins to rebuke their unbelief in verse 32. He levels a rebuke and it's a well-deserved rebuke. Verse 32, Jesus said to them, most assuredly, amen, amen, right? 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. Even that bread from heaven in the Old Testament was to point to the true bread of heaven and the Lord gave both. Verse 33, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Jesus Christ in this section of scripture had absolutely no intention of submitting himself to their self-indulgent whims. They wanted a sign, not gonna get one. Wasn't gonna submit himself to them. Wasn't gonna submit himself to their covetousness, to their unbelief, but instead here, he emphasizes the rebuke with amen, amen. He begins the rebuke, listen, most assuredly, I tell you, Moses didn't give you that bread. My father gives a true bread from heaven and here this rebuke is intended to tell them they've got it all wrong. They've got it all wrong and they have it all wrong basically in four parts from verses 32 and 33. One, Moses didn't give them that bread. Moses didn't give them manna. God provided that bread. Unless we forget, we need to remind ourselves that God gives us everything that we have. Unless we think we've gated ourselves, what do we have? Paul says to the Corinthians that we have not ourselves received, everything that we have we've received. It's all come from God. Two, manna wasn't the true bread from heaven. That which they say came to them as bread from heaven wasn't the true bread from heaven. And my father, Jesus says, gives you that true bread. Verse 32, if you notice, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, past tense, but my father gives. Present active indicative, it's an ongoing given. It's a present giving. So he's not talking there in verse 32 about the manna in the wilderness. Verse 32, the true bread from heaven is being given. It's present tense given. He gives the true bread from heaven. Now what is the father currently given? Giving, he's giving Jesus Christ. He sent Jesus Christ into the world to seek and to save that which is lost. The true bread the father is currently giving. This morning as we gather together to worship the Lord, it'd be foolish to think that in a group this size there aren't some here who are lost. And yet the father even now gives the true bread of life to those that will come and believe. Those that will turn from their sin and believe in him. He's giving true bread of life through his word. And he continuously gives. We're in a time where the Lord is saving, gathering in his elect from the four corners of the world. Saving people, calling his elect in with the gospel. There will come a time when that will end. And the Lord Jesus Christ will return in judgment. But right now he is saving those who will come. I don't know about you, I've gone through periods of time when I was lost thinking that I couldn't be saved, thinking maybe that the Lord had made me a repubate, that he would reparate, that he was gonna glorify himself in my damnation. Because of all my sin the Lord was gonna send me to hell and he was gonna glorify himself in my burning for all eternity. That's not the God of the Bible. We're in a period of time where the Lord God has sent Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners. And if you will turn from your sin and put your faith in him, the Lord Jesus Christ says he will give you the true bread of heaven, give you everlasting life. Dear present tense, the father is currently giving. What prevents you from being saved with your own brazen unbelief? What prevents you from being saved? If it's not your hard heart, your unwillingness to repent. If you'll come to Christ, he'll give you the true bread of life. Three, the third rebuke, part of the rebuke, the true bread of God gives that spiritual life. It is everlasting life. And four, that life is offered freely to the world. Verse 33, the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives present active indicative ongoing, gives life to the world. That's a glorious blessing. It's offered freely to the world. Now that doesn't mean that all go to heaven, right? There are many, many on the broad road to destruction who will wind up in hell when they die. But when it says that he gives life to the world, that Jesus Christ is the only option. He is the only mediator. He is the way, the truth, the life. There is no other option. He is the only savior available to the world. And so Jesus Christ comes and he offers this free gift of grace to the world for those that will come as he says and believe. He will repent of your sin, put your faith in him. He is the only savior. First John chapter four, verse 14 says, and we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as savior of the world. Not that all in the world would be saved, but he is the only option. When that serpent was raised in the wilderness, that was the only option for those Israelites to be saved, to look to the serpent once bitten, to be saved from the bite. Jesus Christ has been raised as the only savior of the world. No matter who you are, no matter where you're from, no matter what your background looks like, no matter where you're born. If you're a pygmy in the backwoods of Africa or New Guinea or you're raised in a wealthy neighborhood in Chicago, it doesn't matter. Jesus Christ is the only savior, the only way, the only truth, the only life. And it bears responsibility on us in light of that, doesn't it, to be faithful with the gospel. We've been given a sphere of influence. Let's be faithful with the gospel that those that were born here will hear the gospel and be saved. Gotta be faithful with that work. But it's brazen unbelief that simply doesn't satisfy, doesn't result in eternal life. But secondly, secondly, they demonstrate a devastating ignorance, a devastating ignorance that we see beginning in verse 34. And it's devastating for a number of reasons. Look at verse 34. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. 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. You see this trending pattern, don't we, consistent of unbelief. A brazen unbelief, a rebellious unbelief, a hard-hearted unbelief. Jesus Christ gives them the truth and gives them the truth condescends to preach the truth of the gospel to them. And yet, verse 36, there's this exasperation almost in the verse. I said to you that you have seen me, but he says even though you've seen me, yet you do not believe. Amazing condescension, amazing mercy on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 34, they're still referring here to physical bread. Still thinking of physical bread. Still demonstrating a devastating ignorance to spiritual truth. A severe ignorance of spiritual realities. They fully miss the rebuke in verses 32 and 33, right? They still don't get it from his statement in verse 36. Even after all of that, they still don't believe. They still don't get it. And so here's the crowd still persisting and simply wanting their physical needs met. Again, we have to remember that this is a work of God that one would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a work of man. It's not a decision that man makes. It is not of the will of man nor of the flesh, but of God. Simply not something that carnal man can do. The natural man, we're reminded, cannot accept the things of the spirit of God, right? 1 Corinthians chapter two. Their foolishness to him he cannot understand. They are spiritually discerned and man apart from Christ is spiritually ignorant. We see that today just constantly in churches, don't we? Oftentimes because of the lousy, terrible theology that's preached in most churches today, the gospel is boiled down to a simple decision that man makes. A simple ascent of the mind to what they believe is heavenly truth without their minds having been renewed by the Holy Spirit, without having their minds having been washed and cleansed of its filth and sin. They come like these around the Sea of Galilee just wanting their felt needs met. And churches catering to that were repeatedly inundated with and reminded of churches that structure their music such that it and treats and genders calls in the sinner to come. It caters to the world, caters to their fleshly desire. It doesn't cater to the praise and worship of God. They come with preaching, wanting to tickle the ears of the people, wanting to say things to encourage them and often encourage them in their sin and yet they refuse or refrain from telling them what they need to hear. Instead, they fill up their churches telling them what they want to hear. They have no understanding of spiritual things and they can't rather than preaching the new birth rather than preaching genuine conversion rather than preaching repentance and faith as gifts of God, which in a very subtle way would simply cause the sinner to look to God for the gift of those things, right? You can change your mindset if you've grown up in churches like that maybe even now you struggle with the idea of that. If you subtly change your mindset from salvation being a decision you make to follow the Lord to salvation being given as a gift from God, a gift of his mercy and grace, a gift including repentance and faith that it would cause the sinner to cry out to God for the gift rather than look inward in himself to chase off after the world, chase off after Jesus as a circumstantial savior. Obedience is a fruit of faith. All comes from the Lord, all comes from the Lord. Verse 35, in still thinking about physical needs they demonstrate complete ignorance of spiritual truth and they miss the even greater provision of their spiritual needs, which is the bread of eternal life, the bread of eternal life. Anyone who comes to Christ will never hunger and thirst again. Their eternal soul will be forever satisfied in the savior, satisfied in Christ. So in verse 35, having their mindset on the things of this world, they demonstrate here just an inexcusable ignorance of spiritual truth and they miss completely the gospel. They miss the gospel. Jesus said to them, I'm the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst. He who comes to me is repentance. There are those that say that John doesn't preach repentance. Here is John preaching repentance. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of John, preaching repentance. Turn from your old life and come to Christ. That's repentance. Trust Christ to live for him and submit to him as Lord. That is believe, believes, belief. And if you don't do that, you're simply gonna persist as one of those in the crowd. What will you do today? Will you turn from your old life? Come to Christ. Will you believe upon him? Submit to him as Lord. Or will you persist as one of those in the crowd? Just as our physical bodies need physical bread. We have to remind ourselves, if you're a Christian, you need spiritual bread also, don't you? As much as we need physical food, we need spiritual food. Jesus taught us to pray. Give us this day what? Our daily bread. Our daily bread. Pour yourself into his word. He knows what we need. We must not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You know, I've thought about this. You've heard the old phrase before, right? That absence makes the heart grow fonder. That's an untrue statement when it comes to Christianity and being in the body of Christ. It's absence makes the heart go wander. How many people do we have to see that? Neglect the means of grace. And before you know it, off the reservation, right? Off into their sin, maybe even off for good, apostatizing from the faith. If you're gonna neglect the means of grace, neglect a daily diet of spiritual food from God's word, you're gonna neglect the assembling of ourselves together with brothers and sisters, those that strengthen and encourage us, then absence makes the heart go wander. You know, five years, you're gonna be off the reservation completely. You're gonna be a Hindu wondering what happened? Because you neglect the grace of God, the means of grace. And we know people that do that. We've seen it, haven't we? Time and time and time again. So just cling to God's people. I can tell you, you know, if you have a bad week, let's say, you know, we get together for a small group on Tuesday or Wednesday night, get to see the brothers, and I can just walk in the door and see some of you and you smile on your face and everything that I thought was bad is good again, right? But then you go a couple of days between that time and Sunday, maybe you have a bad conversation or something bad happens and maybe you find yourself what you shouldn't be, is discouraged in your sin or something. And you walk in church on a Sunday morning and you see the brothers, you see the sisters and it just, doesn't the Lord just enlighten you? Make it all better. It's just, it's being close to the body of Christ, being in the Lord, being encouraged by his people, encouraged by his word. That we need to fervently seek after that and maintain that. Otherwise, you'll find yourself trailing off. This makes the heart go wander. Verse 35, still referring here to the physical and temporary need for bread, they demonstrate a condemnable ignorance of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, who he is. He says here, he is the bread of life. It wasn't long after this account here in John chapter six that Jesus asked the disciples in Matthew chapter 16, who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? They came up with various answers, but who do you say that I am? And that account not recorded here in John, but the answer is given in the Gospel of John in seven I am statements through the Gospel, okay? The answer is given. You might, if you just were breezing through reading this Gospel, miss the significance of that statement. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. And you might miss it. Ordinarily, this I am the bread of life, the way that it is worded in Greek would be a very unusual way of referring to yourself. It would have struck anyone as being unusual. Made up there of two Greek words when Jesus said to them in verse 35, I am. He uses the pronoun I in Greek, which is ego. And then he uses the verb A me, which means I am. So the two to go together would be I, I am the bread of life. Typically you would use one or the other. You would use ego or you would use A me. You wouldn't put the two together. However, here, verse 35, the use of those two words together is very deliberate, very intentional on the part of the Lord. The Lord is making a very important point by saying I, I am the bread of life. He's making the point with his divine power. He's also making that same point with his divine words. And let's unpack this to understand what he's saying here. We don't wanna be ignorant of this truth as they were in Copernum at that time. We need to understand what the Lord is saying. Go back with me to Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three. Let's unpack what the Lord is saying here. Exodus chapter three, look beginning at verse 10. What is the Lord referring to by using this very unusual phrase, is unusual reference to himself. I, I am, ego, A me. Exodus chapter three, look at verse 10. Here, the Bible reads, come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And this is God speaking to Moses, okay? We're familiar with this scene. This is when Moses is being sent into Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to let his people go. But verse 11, but Moses said to God, now that word for God there is the Hebrew word Elohim. It's a plural of the word for God, El. Why is it a plural? It's a reference to the, to the Trinity. God is plural, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So he uses the plural of the word for God, El, and the plural is Elohim. Moses said to Elohim in verse 11, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? So he said, God said, I will certainly be with you and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent to you. When you've brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve Elohim on this mountain. Verse 13, then Moses said to Elohim, indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. And I am is Haya, is the word. That is the verb form of the name Yahweh. Verb form of God's name Yahweh. I am Haya, who I am Haya. And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am, another verb form there, Ahia. Ahia, I am has sent me to you. All verb forms so far of the same name for God, which is Yahweh. And then he says, verse 15, moreover God, Elohim, said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, the Lord, you notice that's in small caps, all capitals right there, right in your Bible, the Lord, that's Yahweh. Yahweh best translated the being one or the self-existent one. I am is a good translation of Yahweh. It's the, he's the independent, immutable, never changing being one, self-existent one. So thus you shall say to the children of Israel, Yahweh, God, Elohim, of your fathers, the God, Elohim of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. Yahweh, this is my name forever and this is my memorial to all generations. Now, what does all that mean from Exodus chapter three? The Hebrew name for God used in verse 15 is Yahweh. That is the covenant keeping name of God to the children of Israel, to the people of God. It means the being one, the self-existent one. When God has life in himself, it's describing God as the being one, Yahweh. No beginning, no end. Sounds like a description doesn't it too of Jesus in John chapter one, when the Lord had granted him to have life in himself in John chapter one of the prologue, that he is life. So God now in Exodus chapter three calls himself Yahweh, a covenant name to the people. We know it's a covenant name in many respects but look at the last clause of verse 15. This is my name forever and this is my memorial. It's a remembrance of his covenant keeping faithfulness, his covenant keeping promises to all generations forever. It's a covenant keeping name of God. And we saw that also in Genesis chapter 15. In Genesis chapter 15, God makes a covenant with Abraham and he calls himself Yahweh. It's his covenant keeping name. He said in Genesis 15, then God said to him, I am the Lord, word for that is Yahweh. I am Yahweh who brought you out of Earth of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it. He's making a promise to Abraham and he uses his promise keeping or his covenant keeping name. This is my name forever, he says, my memorial to all generations. Now, we also know this form of God's name from its shortened version, which is the word Yah. So when we sing a song like we did this morning, we sing hallelujah, yah, that yah is a shortened form of Yahweh. It means praise Yahweh, hallelujah, yah, praise Yahweh. Communicates this name, infinite majesty, infinite worthiness to be praised, infinite greatness, unwavering faithfulness to his promises, to thousands, he says, of generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. In other words, forever, faithfulness of God forever, eternal being that always was and always will be. Now think about that, Yahweh, and listen to Isaiah chapter 45, verse 22. Verse 22 says, look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth, for I am God, L, and there is no other. I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that to me, and he's speaking of L here, God, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. He shall say surely in the Lord, and that word is Yahweh, covenant keeping name for God, I have righteousness and strength, to him men shall come and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against him. Now who is Isaiah referring to here? He's referring to God, to L, to Yahweh, right? Referring to Yahweh. Compare that to Philippians chapter two, beginning in verse nine. Isaiah 45 said that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. Listen to Philippians chapter two, beginning in verse nine. Therefore God has also highly exalted him. Who's the him? The Lord Jesus Christ has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, the name that is above L, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Who's he referring to there? He's referring to Jesus Christ. Isaiah, it's a direct quote from Isaiah. Isaiah's referring to God Yahweh. Further in Matthew chapter one, listen to this from verse 21. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you marry your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit and she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Call his name Jesus. So think about it for a moment. Jesus is an English transliteration of the Latin form Yezus. Yezus. The Latin Yezus is a transliteration of the Greek name Yezoon, which we see here in Matthew chapter one. The Greek Yezoon is a transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua. And what is Yeshua? Yeshua is a combination of Yah or Yahweh and the word for salvation or to save. The name of Jesus means Yahweh saves. It's where we get Emmanuel from, right? God with us. Yahweh saves. All of this gloriously testifying here to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his simple use of ego Amy, the Lord Jesus Christ has claimed to be God in the flesh. It's a claim to his deity. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 33. Verse 15, the Bible says, In those days, and at that time, I will cause to grow up to David a branch of righteousness. Now who is that? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days, Judah will be saved. Yah saves Yeshua. And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which you'll be called the Lord Yahweh our righteousness. It's the Lord Jesus Christ being called Yahweh. God in the flesh. That's why Peter, Peter who walked with him during his earthly ministry, can write in second Peter chapter one verse one that we who believe in him have obtained like precious faith by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ. He is Yahweh our righteousness. Lord Jesus Christ is Yahweh our righteousness. He's the one who stepped out of heaven, made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, coming in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Now the time of Christ, at the time that John wrote his gospel, Greek was the common language of the people. Greek was the common language that they spoke. And so during the time between Malachi and Matthew, it's called the inter-testamental period. During that time, King Ptolemy gathered 72 scholars 72 elders from Israel and commissioned a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, had it translated into Greek. And what resulted was what we know today is the Septuagint. Septuagint you'll see symbolized by LXX Roman numerals, right? Meaning 70, actually 72 scholars that wrote it. But it's called the Septuagint. We still use the Septuagint in context today. Many times when I'm doing my Bible study, I'll use the Septuagint. The Septuagint translates Yahweh as Ego Amy. There's a very word that Jesus Christ uses here in John chapter six, verse 35. So we're gonna translate the covenant keeping name of God. I, I am is his name, Yahweh. And what does Jesus Christ say of himself here in verse 35, but that I, I am the bread of life. He's gonna follow up that with seven other examples of it. There's no coincidence here. There's no confusion. This is exactly what Jesus meant to communicate. I, Yahweh in the flesh, am the bread of life. He'll go on further in the gospel to say, I, I am the light of the world. Before Abraham was, I, I am. He says, I, I am the door of the sheep in chapter 10, verse seven. I, I am the good shepherd in 10, verse 11. I, I am the resurrection and the life in chapter 11, verse 25. I, I am the way, the truth and the life in chapter 14, verse six. I, I am the true vine in chapter 15, verse one. To meditate on those passages where the Lord Jesus Christ displays his divinity, displays his deity, should provoke in us great worship, should provoke us in us in awe of who Jesus Christ is. He's our creator. He is the covenant keeping God. The second person of the trinity should provoke in us worship. He is the eternal, unchangeable one, the immutable one, God, our creator. Listen, God, our creator, who became for us, as Paul says to the Corinthians, wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That, as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. That's at the end of first Corinthians chapter one, verse 31. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. It's interesting there. That's a direct quote from Jeremiah chapter seven or Jeremiah chapter nine, forgive me. Where the Bible says, let him who glories, glory in this, that he understand and knows me, that I am Yahweh, exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. In a verse about the Lord Jesus Christ, if you glory, glory only in the Lord Jesus Christ, he quotes Jeremiah chapter nine, where the Lord says I am Yahweh. So we need to worship the Lord Jesus Christ as God in the flesh. He, finally in verse 36, he rebukes their unbelief once again, once again. And after all of this in verse 36, I said this to you. I've said these things to you. You've heard my words. You've seen my works and yet at the end of verse 36 and yet do not believe. Like how much more clearly could he have said it? How much more clear could it be? They just simply missed the point. Hebrews chapter four, talked about those in the wilderness who died because their faith was not mixed with works. Their claim to belief was not mixed with evidence of genuine saving belief, which is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It says there, therefore, since the promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it, for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them. Those here listening in the synagogue at Capernaum a word that Jesus Christ is preaching is simply not profiting them. Why? Why isn't it profiting them? Because it's not, as Hebrews says, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it, for we who have believed do enter that rest. As he has said, so I swore my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Those that will come to him, those that will believe, will believe who he is, will believe what he's done, will believe the work that he's done to save sinners, will believe that he is sent by God the Father to come into this world, to take the form of a man, to die on the cross, a perfect substitutionary sacrifice, such that God's people might be redeemed to him, they just, they wouldn't believe, they wouldn't believe. And for those of us who have believed, will enter that rest. Where are you this morning? Where are you this morning? We'll get through the rest of this passage next week. Are you one of the crowd who simply will not come, will not believe, just invested in your own material gain, your own material circumstances, or will you acknowledge God, the Son in the flesh, having come to this earth to take on the filth of our existence, to walk the filth of this world? And will you believe him? Come to him that you might be saved. He holds out freely to you an offer of bread, not the bread that perishes, but the bread that endures to everlasting life. Will you come to him this morning, be saved? Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this text. Thank you for this offer of the gospel. God, if we'll just turn from our sin, put our faith in you that you will save us, Lord. And we look forward to the glorious truths in this text that we'll study next week. I pray that if there's anyone here, God, who is not saved, you would just break their heart over their sin. Lord, show to them the glories of our blessed God and savior, Jesus Christ, that they might be saved for your namesake, for your everlasting praise and worship. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.