In the sermon 'Bread From Heaven', Scott Brown discusses John 6:41-59, where Jesus declares Himself as the 'bread of life'. The sermon explores the metaphor of Jesus as spiritual nourishment, emphasizing the need for dependence on Him for eternal and temporal well-being. Brown highlights that Jesus is the only true source of nourishment for the soul, contrasting the temporary satisfaction from worldly pursuits with the eternal life offered through belief in Jesus. The sermon also addresses the distinction between true and false disciples, noting that true disciples seek heavenly bread, while false disciples pursue earthly desires. Brown explains that coming to Jesus requires being drawn by the Father, a divine act that transforms and teaches believers. The sermon concludes with a call to feed on Jesus Christ, turning away from worldly distractions to receive true life and satisfaction.

John 6, 41-59. The Jews then complained about him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves.

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, and they shall be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. And most assuredly, I say to you, He who believes in me has everlasting life.

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood his eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and die in him, as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father.

So he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum." Let's pray. Lord God, Thank you for your word.

Place it in us and just help us just to glean truth today. Open our hearts just to receive more of you and to just know that you are the bread of life. Help anyone here who does not know you to just be revealed of their sin and come to know you in Christ. Bless God as he brings us this word and just to help us to just impart more wisdom. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Well, I'm confident that what Jesus says here in this chapter is the answer to every need that you might have today or tomorrow or for the rest of your life. I'm confident in that. You know, I think back in my own life, and I'm confident that every ounce of happiness I've ever experienced, every appropriate correction in my life, every every good thing I've ever received is rooted right here in this passage that Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He's the only truly nourishing presence in the soul of a human being and as a root and it is that is absolutely true for me, but I know and believe that the only hope for our world or for our church or for our families or for Our own hearts really lies in this matter of feeding on Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

And so this is a passage that shows us our great dependence for nourishment and enlightenment and refreshment and help and healing and love. It's all here in John chapter 6. I'm so delighted to bring John chapter 6 again, I believe, for the fourth or fifth time to us. And just to declare again that dependence on Jesus Christ, the living bread, is really our only hope. Our greatest need is bread from heaven and refusing Him is the reason for all of our problems.

Amen. I know that's true and whatever maladies we're experiencing in our souls, whatever off course we're on, It's related to what we've been eating, figuratively speaking. This is a figure, this is a metaphor that Jesus gives that he is the bread of life. And the eternal state of your soul is dependent upon whether you have received the bread of life into your soul. And so, you know, we all recognize we live in a world of many different foods that people eat and it matters what you feed upon in this world.

Everything hangs up on it. Eternity hangs on it absolutely, but it isn't just eternity that hinges upon what you feed upon. It's your temporal life, it's your disposition, it's what you say, it's who you are, it's how you work, it's everything. What you eat is what you become. You know, somebody said a long time ago, you are what you eat.

And Jesus is making this very clear from an eternal happiness and a temporal happiness perspective. And so we come to John chapter 6 and Let me just give us a review of where we're at John chapter 6 is the longest chapter in the gospel of John there are four scenes in John chapter 6 and the first scene is stretches from verses 1 through 15 where Jesus feeds the 5, 000 he's at the height of his popularity thousands are flocking to him he's healing everyone that he lays his hands on apparently And the next scene is that Jesus goes up on a hillside. He sends the disciples off to cross the lake to go to Capernaum. And He's up on the mountain praying for them and they encounter a dramatically dangerous storm and he walks on the water as if he's going to pass them and then he gets in the boat, he calms the storm and then if you can believe this, and I believe that he transports that boat all the way to shore instantaneously, he gets them there. And he says to them those three things that Jesus says to his disciples all the time.

I hope you hear them this morning. Be of good cheer. I am here. Be not afraid. So the third scene begins in verse 22 and this is now Jesus' conversation with the Jews in the synagogue in Capernaum and so he's there on the other side of the Sea of Galilee And these things are happening here and and Jesus message in the synagogue is Capsulized in verse 27 labor for the food which endures for everlasting life Which the Son of Man shall give you and verse 32 my father gives you true bread from heaven and what Jesus is saying to these people because he knows their hearts they just want bread they just want food they just want you know health care and food that's what they want And so he's confronting them for their unbelief.

They're following him, but they're following him because they really just want success. They just want to be successful. Well, that's in the heart of every man. Well then in the fourth scene, the scene that we'll encounter next week, in verses 60-71, Jesus is teaching them and Then we see one of the greatest desertions recorded in the Bible, where the people who are called His disciples, who really aren't His true followers, they abandon him. So that's the whole flow of John chapter 6.

There are two recurring themes in this chapter. The first is that Jesus is the bread who gives you life. Verse 35, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Verse 41, I am the bread that came down from heaven.

Verse 48, I am the bread of life. Verse 51, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. So this theme that Jesus Christ is the bread of life is very prominent here. The second theme is what it looks like to be a false disciple And there are true disciples that are spoken of in this chapter and they're false disciples.

There's the crowd that just wants something of this world. And then there are true disciples who are looking for heaven. They're looking for bread from heaven. And there are many who are professing. Jesus nails the problem in verse 26.

You seek me because you saw the signs, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and are filled. And verse 36, you have seen me and yet do not believe. And then in verse 60 they say, this is a hard saying, we're leaving you. And Jesus turns to his disciples and says, his true disciples, and says, are you going to leave me? We'll get to that next week.

But the central matter of this chapter is that Jesus Christ is the bread of life. And he's giving us a metaphor of bread to help us understand what it means to believe, to love, to embrace, and to receive Him. Eating bread is the metaphor that He gives us, and this is food that satisfies but it must be appropriated and eaten. And that's what Jesus is teaching here. Now I want to say that there are two levels upon which we should consider this.

And the first level is on the level of salvation because he's speaking of those who have not partaken of the bread of life. They don't want to follow him. They want something else. They are still scamming. They are still trying to find all their pleasure in this world.

And so he's talking to those who have not partaken, they've not believed, because believing is equivalent to eating in this passage. So he's talking in terms of salvation that you can't be saved unless you internalize him. You take him into your very innermost being. You're not just adopting a lifestyle or trying to become a better husband or whatever, a better mom. It's deeper than that.

It goes down to the very innermost being of your soul where you want his life in you. Because you're sick and tired of your life and the dominant control that you are in your life. And the second level is the level of sanctification. The saved, those who've internalized, are still very needy and have this need to continually be filled. And so there's this continuous action that's also implied for the believer.

So The unbeliever needs to eat to be saved, but the believer continues to eat to be nourished by the Word of God. So those are the two levels that you should hear these words that Jesus is speaking here. Now, there's a very sober matter here that I want us to understand in this church, particularly in our family here at Hope Baptist Church. What Jesus says here is a very clear dividing line and that dividing line separates the matter of where there is real life here in this church or just a lifestyle. What are we feeding on is the central matter.

You know, what we feed on is what we become in this church. You know, everything really hangs upon that. It really does. You know, some are having turbulence in their marriages. Everything hangs upon what you're feeding on in your marriage.

Everything. Or at your work. Everything hangs upon what you are feeding on. Your relationship with your children. Everything hangs upon what you feed upon because you are what you eat in that sense, metaphorically.

By way of introduction, our greatest need is bread from heaven, and refusing His bread is the reason for all of our problems. And there are two problems. There's an eternal problem and there's a temporal problem. And Jesus Christ as bread satisfies both. So let's jump into the text.

Okay, so you can see I have this thing broken down into three sections I recognize there are several ways to do this This is why I broke it down this morning and the you can see the first section is the Jews are complaining in verses 41 to 42. Secondly, Jesus answers their complaint and explains why they're complaining in verses 43 to 45 and then 46 to 59. Jesus makes astonishing claims about who he is and man's need for him So those are the three Stages that we're gonna walk through in this passage So the Jews are complaining verse 41 then the Jews complained about him because he said, I'm the bread who came down from heaven. And they said, is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven?

Now they're rejecting Jesus' claim that he came down from heaven and they're murmuring and complaining and verse 38 says it very clearly why they're complaining for I came down from heaven Jesus claims to be better than the bread of the manna from the wilderness and they are objecting to his claim that he is a divine provision that he came down from God. They're rejecting that. They are objecting to the claim that Jesus Christ is the divine provision for salvation, and he's claiming to be the only provision for salvation as the bread of life. They're rejecting that he is the pre-existent Son of God who came down from heaven. This is very clear when you read the text over and over again.

Now one principle of interpretation that leads to accurate understanding of Scripture is the principle of repetition because this matter is repeated over and over again in this passage of Scripture. Notice there are words and concepts that are repeated over and over again and That helps you understand the heart of what is being said So the prominence of The idea that Jesus was sent from God from heaven is very prominent. Look at verse 32. Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. Verse 33.

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven verse 38 for I have come down from heaven verse 39 this is the will of the father who sent me verse 41 The Jews complained about him because he said I'm the bread which came down from heaven verse 42 How is it that he says I have come down from heaven verse 46? Not that anyone has seen the father except he who is From God he has seen the father Only Jesus Christ has seen the Father. By the way, if you're if you ever are tempted to read a book about somebody who died and went to heaven and saw the Father, throw the book away. Jesus is the only one who did that. Verse 50, this is the bread which comes down from heaven that one might eat of it and not die.

Verse 51, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Verse 58, This is the bread which came down from heaven They are rejecting that Jesus Christ is the divine provision of salvation who came down from heaven Jesus is not just another nice guy He's not just a healer. He's not just an amazing prophet. He's not the wisest man in the world. He is God.

He came down from heaven. And that's what is emphasized here. And Jesus is confronting their complaint with this truth. In John chapter 3, it says he ascended. Now, Jesus Christ is the one who comes from heaven and goes back to heaven and and they're complaining that he is saying that he is the only a man he's saying well they're saying well he's just he's Joseph sons We son we know his father and mother there there they are they're obviously his father and his mother and They're belittling him and So in verse 41 they are complaining in verse 43 they're murmuring and then finally it escalates in 52 where they're quarreling it's a very it's almost a violent word that's used there's this escalation of rejection this of this idea that Jesus Christ is the only divine Son of God.

That's what's bothering them. Because he's claiming to be the only way. There's only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life. You know, the world does not want Jesus to be divine because if he is you have to decide you have to decide about him you can't just push him aside and and so they continued to want this they wanted earthly bread and satisfaction and health care and earthly success that's what they wanted and they rejected that Jesus Christ was God because that means that he Would have authority over them and man fallen man doesn't want God's authority. They don't want God They want they want a nice happy friend They don't want his authority So then Jesus answers their complaint and he is explaining why they don't believe.

This is an amazing section here in verses 43 to 45. Jesus is going to come back to them about their complaint. You know, there are many places in the Gospels where someone asks Jesus a question, and he answers them, and he doesn't actually answer their question. He goes to the heart of the problem. He goes right around their question because he knows their hearts.

He knows what they need to hear. And that's what he does here. In verse 43, Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." You see what he's doing? He's saying, you don't want to come to me.

You're not coming to me. Here's why. Here's why you're not coming to me. That's why you're complaining. No one comes 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, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Jesus of course is answering their question by not actually answering their question the way they are hoping that it would be answered.

They are complaining about Him and Jesus is explaining to them why they will not come to him. And he says it very explicitly, that they have not been drawn by the Father to him. Now the word draws is used in other places in scripture. And it's not the kind of word that you might encounter drawing in terms of wooing, like a gentle wooing. It's not that kind of a word that he uses.

It's actually an aggressive, almost violent term that he uses. It's the same word that was used when Peter drew out his sword and he chopped off the ear of the servant of the high priest, Malchus. It's the same word that's used in John 21 of the drawing of nets, the dragging of nets, the heavy pulling and yanking that's necessary to pull in nets that are full of fish, over full of fish, as it was in that case there. And so, it's a drawing, it's a moving of the heart. The idea is that no one can come to the Father unless the Father draws, no one can come to the Son unless the Father draws him and he draws him with a mighty power and at the same time we come.

He draws and we come. Now there are two ways of interpreting verse 44. The first way is the way that many people around us interpret this, and that is that God draws all men, and God sort of gets them to the doorway, and then they finally make the decision. So it's your responsibility. That's one way that this is interpreted and he draws you but it's up to you to determine whether you're going to be saved or not.

So you decide. You decide right now. The other way is that the Father draws us to Jesus and by drawing us as the operative and decisive force, he saves us and raises us to everlasting life. And the other way, the operative, decisive force is your will. And I contend that the way that Jesus is speaking of here is that the operative and decisive force that Saves you into everlasting life is the power of God drawing you pulling you making you come and then You're you He causes you to be born again and you desire to come to Him.

And this is a very important doctrine. We would like to believe that we're wise, that we're in control, that we've evaluated all the options. You know, we've looked at Buddhism we've looked at we've looked at Islam and we've you know sorted it all out and we figured all this out and now we know that that Jesus is better well what what Jesus is saying is that you don't come to Him unless He draws you to come. Now there are four words that are connected here, verse 43, drawn. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.

The second word is taught, that's verse 45, it is written in the prophets, Isaiah 45, 13 is where it is, and they shall be taught of God so there's this teaching that God does to you and then heard that's in verse 45 everyone who has heard from the Father comes to me." So there's this, your ears are open and you hear, you go through your life, you don't hear anything, it doesn't hit you, it doesn't move you. Maybe you've heard a thousand gospel messages, maybe you sat in church until you were blue in the face since you were a kid and it never moved you but then you heard you heard for the first time you remember that when you first heard it's amazing and then learned that's in verse 45 he who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. So those words explain the leverage that God places on the soul to draw someone into believing. And this also I think gives us a sense of the depravity of man, our blindness, our hopelessness. We must be drawn, we must be taught, our ears must be opened, and we must learn from him.

Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. There's this transformation that happens that a drawing and a teaching and a hearing and a learning, it all converges at one time and you turn to Jesus Christ. So he's talking about how Jesus saves. Now I want to give you five proofs very quickly that this is what John is talking about. John 6.37, are you ready?

All that the Father gives me will come to me. All that the Father gives me. In other words, it's the Father that takes the action to give to the Son. And then 6.64 and 6.65, there are some of you here who do not believe for Jesus said for Jesus knew from the beginning Who they were who did not believe and who would betray him John 8 47 I Tell you the truth Why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's words therefore you do not hear because you are not of God the fourth proof or indication anyway John 10 26 and 27 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." And the fifth is John 12.37 And through 40 where we read, But although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? In other words, the strength and the beauty and the goodness of the Lord is revealed to the heart by God. That's the drawing. Therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn, so that I should heal them." You've recognized this probably as the doctrine of effectual calling or the doctrine of irresistible grace and We you know our church subscribes to a confession that speaks of this very clearly. It's in chapter 10 I'll just read you some of the words those whom God hath predestined unto life.

He is pleased in his appointed accepted time, effectually to call by his word and spirit out of the state of sin and death." It says, the minds are enlightened spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. The heart of stone is taken away, a heart of flesh is given. There's a renewing of the will and an effectual drawing to Jesus Christ as they come most freely being made willing to accept His grace. So you have the drawing and the willingness of the heart. There's another chapter on free will in our confession, chapter 9, it says that, that He frees him from the bondage of their sin and by his grace alone enables him freely to will to do that which is spiritually good.

In other words, the converted person does desire, there is a will involved, but it's a work of God. It's not a work of man's wisdom so that's that's the whole doctrine here that we find that you are that you are taught of God and you hear and you learn and you are drawn. Now it's very it's a very rich experience to go to Isaiah 54 and look at the context of this statement they shall be taught of God. I plan to do that in the afternoon this morning, this afternoon, when I give sort of a missions report because it describes this whole process of salvation and the expansion of the church. Okay, now then what we find here is that God is in control of our salvation.

In Romans 9 we read those words, I will have mercy on those whom I have mercy, I will have compassion upon whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not the man who wills or the man who runs, but of God who shows mercy." And then he says there in Romans 9, 18, Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. So, how can you read that without asking, what's the state of my soul? Am I hardened? Am I in a hardened state right now?

If you're in a hardened state right now, cry out to God and say, Lord Jesus Christ, save my soul. Cry out to your father and say father draw me my heart is cold my heart is hard toward you I see I see the danger to my soul Lord Jesus Christ save my soul cry out to God he's by these very words, He's calling. Our greatest need is bread from heaven, and refusing Him is our greatest danger. And then Jesus makes a number of astonishing claims from verse 49 to verse 59 and they're just piled up on one another. Verse 46, Not that anyone has seen the Father, except who is from God.

He has seen the Father. Most assuredly I say to you that he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, He will live forever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." And then verse 52, the Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Now he's speaking figuratively, speaking metaphorically. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood listen to this abides in me and I in him as the living father sent me because I live because and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me." This is the bread which came down from heaven.

So Jesus is the bread of life. This is the beginning of the I AM statements in the Gospel of John. There are seven I AM statements. They're all connected to Exodus chapter 3 verses 13 through 16 where Moses says, Who shall I say has sent me? And God says, tell them I am.

I am that I am. Now Jesus takes this very same terminology and he's connecting himself to divinity, to God himself. And so you have, I am the bread of life in chapter 6 verse 48, you have, I am the light of the world in John 8-12, you have, I am the door in John 10, 9. You have I am the good shepherd in John 10, 11. I am the resurrection and the life in John 11, 25.

I am the way, the truth, and the life in John 14, 6. And then I am the true vine in John 15 verse 1 now I've I have repeated these before in this church But I've just done it again purposefully Because these are such windows Into how good Jesus Christ is that's what they are. They tell you how good he is He's everything you need These are all metaphors, you know for the superiority of Jesus Christ over all other sources of life and wisdom you know he Jesus says I'm the door and thereby saying you know don't go through the doors of this world they'll take you where you don't want to go he says I'm the good shepherd Don't follow the shepherds of this world. They'll take you where the water is poison. He says, I'm the resurrection and the life.

You know, he's saying, don't look for the makeovers, the resurrections that this world has to offer you all these little self-help games forget that He's the one that's the resurrection He says I'm the way the truth and the life, you know, don't walk on the way and the truth and the life of this world. They'll take you just like they took those demonized pigs who ran over the cliff. That's where the shepherds of this world take you. He said, I'm the light of the world. Don't set your heart on the lights, the glimmering glitters of this world, they're nothing.

He said, I'm the true vine. You know, don't get your energy, don't get your life force From the vines of this world you can be fed from a thousand different vines Go ahead swing on the vines of this world as long as you want Here's what you're gonna find. There's nothing good there, and you're just left in a heap a heap all by yourself of yourself because you're nourished by the wrong vine and so here he says I'm the bread of life Don't feed on the bread of this world. That's really the whole message. And the Jews are quarreling in verse 52.

How can this man give us his flesh to eat? This is a word that actually indicates fighting. I mean, things got very hot. This would be profoundly offensive to Jews. Eat your flesh.

You know, the Jews were used to eating the portion of the sacrifice, and the rest of it went to the priests. You know, this, they were thinking of the Passover, and Jesus saying, eat my body, Drink my blood. This is offensive to them But it's a metaphor that he's giving them now this metaphor I believe what Jesus says here is in fulfillment of the Passover and it looks forward to the Lord's Supper. It's not the Lord's Supper. It's a picture of the Lord's Supper.

It informs us about what we're doing in the Lord's Supper and it also points to the great feast at the end of the age the marriage supper of the Lamb where we you know Jesus says come and dine with me all this imagery I think is wrapped up in it, but The Jews are fighting about this You know in verse 53 says unless you unless you unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you. Meaning, if you're without Jesus you're like the walking dead. Your soul is dead. You're dead in your trespasses and sins, and there's no help for your soul. That's why I'm sure every happiness I've ever experienced, every positive change that's ever happened in my life every truth that I've ever come to understand has come from this that there's life in Jesus Christ in verse 54 whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

In other words, without Jesus you don't have eternal life, you have eternal death. Verse 55, for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He's not like the bread of this world. He is flesh and blood indeed. In other words, he's real, and you can count on his life doing what you need to be done in your life.

In verse 56, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. This whole matter of abiding, which John will continue to speak about in the gospel abiding in Jesus Christ actually being in him and he in you and you have you have him and he has you that song that says I am His and He is mine. There's this abiding, this remaining in Him, and you have Him for all eternity. In other words, you don't have to worry about anything for the rest of your life. Because you're abiding in Him and He's really all that you need.

And then Verse 57, as the living Father sent me, I live because of the Father. So, and get this, He who feeds on me will live because of me. And he's not talking about just your blood flowing. He's not talking about your heart beating. He's talking about really living.

If you want to really live, Eat and drink of Jesus Christ. Believing means receiving Him, taking Him into the deepest parts of your being. I don't know if you noticed how many times life and everlasting life are mentioned there. The word life appears over and over in the gospel of John. John cannot get over saying that Jesus Christ is life.

Here's a truth. I wish I could get a hold of this every day. I really wish I could get a hold of this every day. If you have everlasting life, why are you worried about anything? Really, if you have everlasting life, what is the big deal?

Our greatest need is bread from heaven, and refusing Him is the reason for all of our problems. All of us this morning are experiencing different maladies in our thinking, in our relationships, in every part of our life. And Everything hinges upon what you're eating. Sometimes when people come for counseling, they come for counseling because they've been eating a lot of wrong stuff. And they've been thinking wrongly and acting wrongly.

And It's all tied to what they've been eating. They've not been feeding on Jesus Christ. They've not been filling up their minds with the knowledge of His will. They've not been like Jeremiah who said, I ate your words and they were sweet to me. They haven't been governed and turned by the words of God.

Which is why the Apostle Paul said, If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. This is feeding upon Him. Now, whatever concern you have, lay it before the Lord now, right now. What's bothering you? What are you fearful of?

What are you discouraged about? Lay it before the Lord right now and ask yourself, is it a result of what I have been feeding on? But let me just turn to a few conclusions, applications. First of all, settle it now. Has He drawn you?

Are you His? Do you see Him as true food? Do you want His ways? Do you love His ways? If you want His ways and you love His ways, most likely He has drawn you.

You know, Jesus has spoken of this much in the gospel so far. Remember when we were in John 3, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you believe, meaning that you embrace him, then you have everlasting life. The second application is, are there any bad foods that we need to turn away from? You know, everything in this world is an opportunity cost.

If you turn away from one thing, you turn to something else. And turning to Jesus Christ for nourishment means you're turning away from something. That's an opportunity cost, right? You're always turning toward and away from something. And what are you feeding on?

Now, as it turns out, in our world, most people are spending their days feeding maybe even hourly, maybe even quarter hourly on social media. They're texting all over the world. They're telling people of their little dits and dats of their lives, you know, they're off, they're feeding off of all kinds of things. We live in a world where you can just feed all day long on the most undernourishing things in the world. And you know, what are we feeding on?

Feeding on Jesus Christ every hour of the day is a lot better than feeding on social media every hour of the day. Like a lot better. You want to become emaciated, you want to become a stick man, you want to become useless to the people in your life just feed there all the time but we're always feeding on something that's just the way we're built you know The meditations of our hearts are always focused on something. You know, turn away from the bad foods of this world. That's, I think, an appropriate application for those who are being sanctified.

Sanctified. Here's a third application. Look to Jesus Christ for thoughts about yourself. As you grow older, I think it seems to me you become more aware of your dull heart, your inadequacy, your sin, your distractedness, and you know, you can easily just become overcome by a sense of failure and think that God is just always angry at you because you just aren't measuring up. You just, your heart isn't turned as hard as you, as it ought to be, and so you just walk around in a state of God hates me, God's angry with me.

And I want to direct us to Robert Murray McShane, who said, for every look at yourself, take ten looks at Jesus Christ. That's feeding on the bread of life. Take ten looks at Jesus Christ for every look that you look at yourself and feed upon him. In other words, get your disposition from him. You know, behold the face of Jesus Christ and be transformed into his glory.

That's how the Apostle Paul describes it. And another application, when we feed on him we are abiding in him now what's wonderful about abiding is that when when you abide in Jesus Christ there's more to me There's more to me than me. There's more to us than us. There's Jesus Christ in us. That's abiding.

That's abiding. And we're delivered from our self-drivenness, our self-obsession, our self-righteousness when we abide in Him, when our minds are fixed on Him. So we're delivered from ourselves and our lives become way more than just our lives. In other words, I'm delivered from me And that's really important. You know David said, early will I seek you.

You know seek his face, you know early in the morning. It's better to see his face than anyone else's face as the nourisher of your soul. He is the lover of your soul. God sent his son, sacrificed his life for you so that your soul would be nourished and cherished by Him. Well, all of this takes us back to the beginning of John 6 in the feeding of the 5, 000, where Jesus asks Philip a question, where do we buy bread that these may eat?

It all began right there with the physical situation. You had a hungry crowd of people that actually needed food and Jesus Christ feeds them and They become obsessed that, hey, would you teach us how to do this, to create food like this? We'd like food every day like this. And he says to them, Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you because the Father has set His seal upon Him." And that's why Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." That's really important for us as a church, that we're people who really care about one thing, feeding on Jesus Christ. I don't know what your concern is right now for this church or for other people in this church, but here's the greatest, most life-giving concern for a church, to feed on Jesus Christ.

So that your life is an outworking of his life. That you're actually connected to something real. He said, I am the vine and you're the branches. And you bear fruit as a result of that. And when you're abiding in Him, if you're truly feeding on Him, you'll always know how to treat your brothers and sisters, you'll always know what kind of a father to be, you'll always know what kind of a wife and what kind of a child to be.

If your heart desires to eat the bread of life, if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, that He is the bread of life, then He really will become the source of every good thing that comes out of your life. He is the only source of any good thing that comes out of anybody's life. And so let that be what marks us, that we've turned to Jesus Christ and we're feeding upon Him and we meet Him and He abides in us and that's what this church is all about feeding on the words of life. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord we thank you that you have given your Son, that he came down from heaven, that he was sent as the divine master of souls, and that you've given him the power of life and death, and that every happiness, every good thing, comes from Him.

And so Lord, that You would help each one of us to place all of our hope in Him, turning from the brackish waters of this world to what is true drink and what is true food. Amen.