I invite you to turn with me this morning to John chapter 6, John 6, beautiful discourse in which our Lord explains to His audience that He is the bread of life. Our text this morning being verse 35. And of course, the context, the immediate context, obviously fits right along with that. We're going to read together. I had indicated verses 22 to 40, but let's read through verse 51. 22 through 51. The night before this episode, Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. And then in the few verses just preceding verse 22, we read about Jesus walking on the water. We pick it up at verse 22 as we now give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth. You are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. Then they asked him, what must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, The work of God is this, to believe in the one He has sent. So they asked Him, What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert. As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who 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. Sir, they said, from now on, give us this bread. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me, and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. At this, the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, I came down from heaven? Stop grumbling among yourselves, Jesus answered. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, they will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. Only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth. He who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, what did you have for dinner last night? Let's bring it a little closer. What did you have for breakfast this morning? We started church a little bit later today, so maybe your breakfast was a little further, a little longer time ago. Boys and girls, do you remember what kind of cereal you had? What you had on your toast? If you're having a hard time remembering, that's most likely because when it comes to food, our memories only last about as long as the satisfaction that that food gives. Now boys and girls, if I ask your moms what it is they hear from you most often, what question do they often hear you ask, or what statement do they often hear you say, I suspect that many of them might say that they hear you say, I'm hungry. I see some heads nodding. Or, may I have something to eat? We hear that often. We eat, beloved, physical food, and it's only a matter of time, isn't it? And we're hungry again. The satisfying power of food is temporary. It doesn't last very long. But Jesus teaches in John chapter 6, and especially in verse 35, He teaches that there is a source of food that never, ever loses its satisfying power. That's hard to imagine. Sounds too good to be true. Never have to eat again. Imagine the time that was saved. Not having to prepare meals and sit down for meals. And the audience of Jesus thought that this sounded like a good deal as well. Unfortunately, they were not thinking about the same kind of food that Jesus was talking about. As we see the Lord's table prepared before us this morning, the message of that table, the message of this text, is that Jesus guarantees eternal satisfaction. And He makes this guarantee, first of all, as the true bread of life. Again, we need to first of all consider a little bit the context that we find here. The context is that this was a time in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ where He had been preaching and teaching. He had been doing many wonderful miracles. The crowds were growing. They began to suspect just a little bit that maybe He was the one, maybe He was the long-awaited Messiah. And in fact, in John 6 here, Jesus tells the people, sort of directly, maybe indirectly, that He is the one by using the analogy of bread. And the result is that many doubted Him. His claims simply didn't make sense to them. They had just been the recipients and even witnessed that most awesome miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000, it is believed to be men, plus women and children, with five loaves of bread. Not the big loaves with so many slices, but we know the smaller type of loaves. Five loaves and two fish. We know the details well. At least most of us are amazed by this sort of thing. Five little loaves and two fish for more people that were in my hometown. Enough food maybe for two, three men, I would guess. He feeds this multitude in such abundance that every last one of them was satisfied. They were full. But what's even more is there were leftovers. Twelve baskets of leftovers. Mothers, have you ever had that happen in your house? that at the end of a meal you had more leftovers than what you started with? In our home, once or twice a week, we have what's called must-go. Everything in the refrigerator must go. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. There's never enough for a whole meal again. The people recognized, though, that something miraculous had happened by the hands of Jesus. And therefore, as verse 15 says before where we began reading, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him King by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. They recognized something that had happened, but they misinterpreted what had happened. They wanted to make Him the kind of kingly Messiah that they thought that He should be. But the very next day, after this miraculous feeding, Jesus exposes their ignorance. He brings to light their misunderstanding. In verse 26 he says, I tell you the truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. And since food was on their mind, Jesus uses the analogy of food and he says, don't be concerned about temporary food, the food that spoils, the food that perishes, but seek God's eternal food. Jesus had provided the multitude with physical nourishment, physical satisfaction, but to them it was just another meal. It was the next day. They were ready for the next meal. They missed the point of the miracle. Their idea of the Messiah was that life with the Messiah would be miraculous in the physical sense. Hadn't Isaiah said that the lion will lay with the lamb? The child will play next to the hole of the cobra? They thought it would be miraculous in the sense of fruit trees always having ripe fruit ready for the picking on them year-round. That the grain in the fields would always be fresh and ready for harvest, standing tall so that one could harvest it without much effort. Life with the Messiah would be a life of luxury and safety always. Now, of course, beloved, we know that all of this is true of the life to come for the believer. We don't fully understand what the glory of heaven, of God's presence, would be like, but we know it will be beautiful. We know it will be a life without tears and sorrow and sickness and sin. It will be a life of heavenly prosperity in the presence of our God. But these people thought that of this life on earth in the physical sense. And they thought they could work for it. They thought somehow they could earn the physical luxury that the Messiah was to provide. In verse 28, then they asked Him, what must we do to do the works God requires? But Jesus, without hesitation, says that the work of God is that you are called to believe. You are called to believe. And even that is the work of God in them. God does not require, first of all, the work of our hands or the work of our bodies, but first of all, He requires the work of our hearts to believe on the One He has sent. Jesus Christ. By this time, the people are getting a little bit edgy. A little bit impatient. The night before, you see, they wanted to crown Christ King. But now, really a matter of only hours later, now they want His credentials. Let's slow things down a little bit, see if this guy is really worthy of all of this. Verses 30 and 31, they asked him, What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you. What a short memory, huh? From the very night before. What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. They won His credentials. Yes, Jesus, you fed the 5,000 men plus women and children, but you know, you didn't start with nothing. You had the five loaves and the two fish. Of course, we today, we know how ridiculous even that thought is, don't we? But you started with something. But then there was Moses. He fed all of God's people for a long time, for many years, and he didn't start with anything. The bread rained down from heaven. So, Jesus, if you are greater than Moses, then you must have something even more spectacular up your sleeve to show us. When Jesus interprets the manna, He says it was sent by God, not Moses. Yet that still wasn't enough. Where are your forefathers? They're dead. That physical manna wasn't enough. They needed the true bread of God that gives life to this world. Well, still thinking about physical bread, the audience says, sounds good. Give us this bread always. until finally, as it were, our Lord looks them in the eye and says, you just don't get it. You don't understand. I am the bread of life. The people wanted a sign, but the sign himself stood right before their eyes. Jesus indeed had another miraculous work up his sleeve called the cross. But the people were too nearsighted to understand. They were blinded by their bellies. They didn't understand just how important and significant this bread talk was. It was an awesome analogy. It was a down-to-earth illustration. It was understandable. But they just didn't get it. They knew that bread was an important part of their daily diet. For us, it's an extra. We like soup, salad, and breadsticks to be sure. but still, bread is kind of like a filler, isn't it? It's not the main course usually, but for them it was. And it was baked fresh every day. That wasn't easy. They had to grind the grain into meal. They had to mix that with water and yeast. They didn't have the ready-made bread dough like we have. They had to knead it, work it, and then bake it in whatever way they did. We might throw the ingredients into a bread maker and turn on the switch and walk away, And a few hours later, there it is. Or even easier, we grab a loaf off the shelf as we're in the grocery store. And all kinds of people ate bread. From the mightiest to the lowliest. There was bread on the king's table. But the beggar also looked for and begged for scraps of bread. And we know that the word bread is used in Scripture for food and nourishment in general. And that's what Jesus is talking about there. He's talking about physical nourishment, physical sustenance. And that's what makes it such an appropriate analogy. Bread and nourishment are necessary for physical life. And therefore, Jesus compares Himself to bread. Just as physical bread is necessary for our physical existence, the bread of Jesus is necessary for our spiritual existence, for life everlasting. His audience knew that they needed bread. And they saw Him as the one who could feed them. He did it before. He can do it again. Yet they were only thinking of their bodies. They didn't understand just how truly satisfying Jesus could be. But Jesus makes it clear that there is none other besides Him. In the original Greek language, the word that is stressed is the. He is saying that He is the one and the only bread of life. And He guarantees eternal satisfaction as the true bread of life. And in the second place, beloved, He guarantees it for those who partake of Him by faith. Bread satisfies, it gives relief from hunger for a time. But Jesus, the bread of life, He alone is the source of eternal satisfaction. and He alone guarantees eternal satisfaction to those who hear and answer His call. He says, He who comes to Me will never go hungry. He who believes in Me will never be thirsty. That's a wonderful guarantee. But how certain is it? We don't have a lot of confidence in guarantees when it comes to the things of this life. They usually come for a limited time. Even a lifetime guarantee on an automobile, for example, or on your brakes is only for the lifetime that you own the vehicle. Or they're limited in their coverage. How certain is this guarantee? Well, again, in the original, it's beautiful. We don't quite pick it up in our translation, but in the original, it literally says, He who comes to Me shall not ever hunger. He who believes in Me shall never ever thirst. No exceptions. No exceptions. And there's a continual or a continuous aspect here. The tense of comes and believes has the idea of one who comes and keeps on coming. One who believes and keeps on believing. And these activities of coming and believing are not one-time events and once you profess your faith, boom, that's it. Don't have to worry about it again. But this coming and this believing is a lifestyle. A continual feasting, if you will, upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that way, it's a little bit the same as physical food, because when we get hungry, we have to eat again, right? Boys and girls, one meal will not do you any good for a whole lifetime. It will not take care of you for your whole life long. You need to keep feeding yourself. But it's unlike our physical meals in that we pause between our meals. We get full, sometimes too full, that we say, I don't even want to see another bite of food. But when it comes to the bread of life, Jesus Christ, it's continuous. It's more like a constant intervenous flow, a feeding tube, if you will. And this is the work of God's grace through faith. That wonderful instrument by which we are constantly connected and in communion with Jesus Christ. By faith, our thoughts and our words and our actions, our entire life, day by day, is constantly connected and in communion with Jesus Christ. And that too is the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Philippians 1, verse 6, He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. What does it mean to believe on Christ? Seems like a simple question, but think about that for a moment. What does it mean to believe on Christ? I think we can say a number of things about it. It means to receive God's testimony concerning His Son. To believe on Him means to rest on Him alone for salvation. it means to believe that he was sent to give his own life believing on him means to believe that it depends upon our connection with him or our partaking of the bread of life as to whether or not we shall have life eternal and then there's coming to him what does it mean to come to him really it's the effect of believing in him the two go hand in hand the people had followed Jesus for many miles but as the rest of John chapter 6 points out they had not come to Him in faith and belief to come to Him means that one's heart goes out to Him in loving confidence it means to approach Him in spirit with submissive trust it means to rest in Him as our all in all it means receiving Him and all of His gracious benefits as our Savior. To come to Him, you see, beloved, is a directional thing. We are directed toward Him. Our orientation is toward Him. He is before our eyes. We are not oriented toward Satan to follow Him. We are oriented toward Christ. Hebrews 11, verse 6 says, Without faith it is impossible to please Him because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists. One commentator says, I must know who the physician is and believe in his ability before I shall go to him to be cured. Beloved God in His grace reveals Himself and His saving purpose to His people. Bringing His people to saving faith. And then, as Jesus says in verse 44, the Father draws His people to the Savior. The satisfaction is continuous, but it's also complete. It's eternal, it's never-ending, but it's also complete. Boys and girls, when you're thirsty, what do you do? Do you go get a slice of dry bread? No. A large glass of water takes care of our thirst. But the bread of life, Jesus Christ, satisfies my hunger and quenches my thirst. We're not talking necessarily about physical food and drink again, although we know that comes from the hand of God. But Jesus Christ is sufficient for all of my needs. The whole of my salvation rests in Him. And God is satisfied with me because of Jesus. the audience of Jesus, they wanted what Jesus had to offer physically, but not spiritually. Many rejected Him. They demanded a miraculous, a wonderful sign from Him, and when He failed to deliver, they turned away from Him. They grumbled because of His claim to be the bread that came down out of heaven. In verse 42, they said, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how can He now say, I came down from heaven? There are many today who claim that they would believe if only they could see Jesus and touch Him. Or they claim that they would believe if only Jesus would do some miraculous work in their lives, something that they need to be done. If He would only correct a problem that they are having, then He would prove to them that He is who He says He is. Then they would believe. Or if only I had seen what His audience had seen. If I had seen Him take that few loaves of bread and fish and feed this multitude. Or if I had seen Him heal the sick, or better yet, raise the dead. If I had seen Him cast out demons or even read someone's heart and tell them all about their past, certainly then I would believe. But you see, beloved, that then begs the question, If that were true, then why didn't his audience who did see all those things, why didn't many of them believe? Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man looks from his new home in the fire of hell and he sees Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, the comfort of heaven. And he says, Father Abraham, send Lazarus back to my brothers to warn them so they won't come to this terrible place. Surely, if someone from the dead goes back, they'll believe. They'll listen. And Abraham says, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. Some say that seeing is believing. If I see it, then I can believe it. Then I know it's real. If I can't see it, then I just can't be sure. Seeing is believing. But that's not necessarily true, is it? When it comes to the bread of life, seeing is not believing. It is, first of all, with the physical eyes, but believing is seeing with the eyes of faith. And think about it for a moment. As believers, we are the focus. We are the focus or the objects of one of the most amazing miracles that has ever been performed. Have you ever considered that? You and I, as believers, we are objects of a miracle. A heart of stone being turned to a heart of flesh. We've been brought from death to life. The blinders of sin have been removed to see the truth of ourselves and the truth of Jesus Christ. We have been transformed from slaves of sin to servants of righteousness. The table of the Lord stands before us by the grace of God. And if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, even as you just look at this table, You have seen His work by faith. The table of the Lord is an emblem of His greatest work ever accomplished, His work on the cross. It's a sign of the greatest miracle ever done, His resurrection. And it is a symbol of the great heavenly banquet of eternal satisfaction. And we know that the cross is offensive to so many, Certainly, no Savior would allow Himself to be so humiliated and would be put to death by such an accursed death. And besides that, we know that the victor doesn't die. The loser does. But without the cross of Jesus, there can be no food. There would be no food on the table. Not this physical table for us to enjoy and remember and believe. and not the eternal table of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus is where Jesus became the bread of life. Just as the wheat is ground and the dough is pounded and kneaded and the bread is baked in the fire, so Jesus Christ was ground and pounded and subjected to the fierce fires of God's holy wrath as He took our place in judgment. The bread of God was bruised and pierced for our iniquities. this past week has been a week of self-examination and preparation for coming to the Lord's table. How was it? Unfortunately, if you're like me, you probably didn't give it a whole lot of thought. But you see, those who partake are called to come with a spirit of humility, a spirit of assurance, a spirit of thankfulness, With a longing and a desire to be satisfied at the Lord's table. Because apart from that proper spirit by God's grace, and apart from that longing and desire, this bite of bread and this sip of wine or juice is meaningless. But is this how you come this morning to the Lord's table? In that proper spirit? With that longing and desire? We see, even the boys and girls, we see the physical bread. We see the physical bread, the juice, and the wine. But that's not the true food. But what it represents is the true food. Yet even apart from this table, congregation, the true food is always on the table. The bread of life is placed before us every time we gather for worship and open the Word of God. It's before us in God's call to worship, in His greeting, in His law, in His assurance of pardon, in the reading of Scripture, in His sermon, in the benediction. It's before us. Do you eat? Or are you on a special diet? Is it only appealing to you if you have it your way? Or are you satisfied with admonition? With discipline? As well as encouragement and the easy to swallow and the good tasting portions of the Word of God. And beloved, as you examine your life in your heart, are you truly satisfied with your salvation? Are you truly satisfied with your salvation? Are you truly satisfied with what Jesus has done for you? Are you bored with this life? You say, how are the two connected? Well, they're very much connected. You see, if you are truly satisfied with your salvation and what Jesus Christ has done for you, then you live in the joy of that salvation. And there's no room to be bored in this life. Because God has made this life wonderful. Are you truly satisfied with His demands on your life, or is it too much? Are you truly satisfied with Jesus? Do you desire nothing more than Him, not even your own way? Are you truly satisfied with how you are living for Him? I hope that none of us are ever satisfied with that. That we all desire to be more faithful. Has Jesus done enough for you that you love Him more than anyone and anything else and you are willing to put your own desires in second place behind His will for your life? Are you so satisfied with Him that you desire to imitate Him, to imitate His love, to imitate His compassion, to imitate His patience, which we have received in such an undeserved way. Are you so satisfied with Him that you desire others to be satisfied with Him? See, beloved, we must confess that because of sin, so often we are unsatisfied in the way that we think of satisfaction and contentment. We are unsatisfied. We are not truly content, but praise God that we may have the assurance that He is satisfied with us because of Jesus Christ. And that God's satisfaction with us doesn't depend on us, but it depends on Christ alone. Jesus Christ alone satisfies for eternity and just as the bread and the juice of the wine must be eaten and drunk in order to do any physical good, in the same way the body and the blood of Christ must be partaken of by faith to be satisfied unto salvation. The bread of life is on the banquet table. Apart from Him, there can only be eternal starvation, eternal death. But if you believe on Him and come to Him by God's grace in faith, then you will receive eternal satisfaction. It's only for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet it's for all those who believe in Him. Again, this little piece of bread and this tiny sip of taste of wine or juice will not even begin to satisfy your physical appetite. But that for which it stands will satisfy for eternity as the Holy Spirit lifts our hearts on high where Christ is and nourishes our faith.