1 I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE JOHN 6:35-59 You're driving down the ...

said, ‘I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father
did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is
the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’” (John 6:32
NLT) In case anyone didn’t quite get it yet, He also says, “… ‘I am the bread that
came down from heaven… Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this
bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.’” (John 6:41, 51 NLT)
Here’s the first of two concepts on which to hand our thoughts today.
AS THE BREAD OF LIFE, JESUS SAVES.
The word “bread” was synonymous with the word “food” in Jesus day. Bread
was the staple in everyone’s diet. Bread was necessary to life itself. Bread
enabled you to live and prevented starvation. Do you see the significance of
what Jesus means He might as well have said, “I am the food of life.” He’s the
One you cannot do without. He also implies that there are different kinds of
hunger. There’s a hungry stomach and the remedy for that is bread. Then,
there’s the hungry heart and the only remedy for that is Him – the Bread of Life.
Why do people have hungry hearts It’s because we’re disconnected from God.
You were created for a relationship with Him and your heart tells you something
is wrong. It’s as if God excavates an emptiness in your life that only He can fill
with Himself. People hunger for heart stuff like truth, love, joy, peace, purpose,
forgiveness and relationships. Jesus claims here that He’s the ultimate answer
for those kinds of heart hunger. The ageless message of the Bible is this:
“‘There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven
by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:12 NLT) Jesus saves you from spiritual
starvation because He is the bread of life. Jesus saves.
How does He do that It’s clear to me from what Jesus says here that God
chooses us long before we choose Him. Jesus says here, “‘However, those the
Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them…. For no one
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the
last day I will raise them up.’” (John 6:37, 44 NLT) In other words, God took the
initiative to restore the broken relationship with us - not you and not me.
That word “draws” is an interesting one. When it’s used in other places in the
New Testament, it always implies some kind of resistance – like when the
disciples were “drawing” a heavy net of fish to shore. How does God draw you
Despite your reluctance, He draws you with love. Despite your foot dragging, He
draws you with kindness. The Old Testament prophet describes God’s method
like this, “‘I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing
love I have drawn you to myself.’” (Jeremiah 31:3 NLT) Let’s face it; we’ve all
resisted the drawing of God at some point in our lives. God tugs at us; we pull
away from Him. He, then, lets us feel the inner emptiness of life without Him; we
move back in His direction a little. How we can fight against and resist the love
of God and yet how we yearn for it all at the same time! Jesus saves.
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