The Bread of Life, Pt. 1 (10/20/2002)

John 6, Revelation 11, and Genesis 2: Life, Breath, and the Last Days

I turn with me to John chapter 6 this morning, place a marker there, and then turn to Revelation chapter 11, and while you're turning to Revelation chapter 11, I'm going to read Genesis chapter 2 verse 7.

You have to be multifaceted this morning. I'm going to speak to you this morning about the bread of life. We're talking about the topic, God is life, Jesus is life, I want to specifically speak to you this morning about Jesus, the bread of life.

Father, we ask that you bless the preaching time, keep us totally within the word, your word, and bless our hearts with spiritual blessings from on high as we hear your voice this morning from the written word, your Holy Spirit energizes it, quickens it, makes it the living word, and we know you will bless us as you feed our hearts.

But may we be a blessing as we come to worship you, as we hear your voice, may it lead us to worship this morning, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Genesis 2 verse 7 says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Can you picture that? The word formed where it says God formed man, literally in the Hebrew language means to apply pressure. He literally did make us from the dust, from the clay, and he formed us, but then he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

This Hebrew word for breathe is like kindling a fire. He breathed just the right amount to kindle life within man. Now, look at Revelation chapter 11 verse 2, I want you to see another place where it speaks in a very interesting way of this spirit of life that comes from God.

Jesus has said in more than one place that we have no life within ourselves. There's probably nothing that could be said that should remove more pride from our lives than that statement. We have no life in ourselves.

Our life comes from the spirit of life which God breathes into us. Revelation chapter 11 verse 2 speaks to our topic, but it also puts us into a context that is very near to us since we are in the last days.

So this speaks of the very last of the last days, but the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not. Now many times when God measures things, he's measuring it for judgment. For it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

How long is that? That is three and a half years, which is half, this would be the first half of the seven year tribulation period. And during this first three and a half years, Jerusalem shall be occupied by the United Nations perhaps.

The Bible doesn't say that, but it says by the Gentile powers. Could be the United Nations or it could be in the future and maybe the United Nations won't be here anymore. We don't know how distant this is.

It makes a sense when we read our newspapers every day that it's upon us, doesn't it? Paul felt the same way, but we have to admit there are things that are in existence today that were not in Paul's day that have to be in existence for these things to happen.

So we are certainly closer, almost two thousand years closer than Paul was. And my personal feeling, and I can't say the scripture says this, but this is just me as a Christian. My personal feeling is that we are in the end times.

I would say it's interesting to look at this and realize that Jerusalem, the city shall be occupied by Gentiles for three and a half years. Now, if you see the UN or if you see Bush or the UN begin to talk about the fact that the only way they're going to have peace in the Middle East between Arafat and the Israelis is to occupy Jerusalem and let it be an international city, then you're here.

That's all I can say. So watch for that and we'll see. But we do know that it's what it's saying here, that it will be tread under foot forty and two months. Now, during this time period, this three and a half years when the Gentiles overtake the city of Jerusalem doesn't necessarily mean they take all of Israel.

It's just speaking of the city. I don't know if you heard in your news in the last three weeks, there was another effort made to make Jerusalem be the capital city of Israel. The whole world has fought against that.

That's why their capital has been in Tel Aviv. Our embassy is in Tel Aviv and there was a move in this country to place it in Jerusalem. And the world just shot that idea down. They don't want Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel.

So during this three and a half years, an amazing thing happens. Look at verse three, I will give power into my two witnesses, God says, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days clothed in sackcloth.

How long is a thousand two hundred and three score days? It's exactly three and a half years. So during the entire period of this occupation of the Gentile powers in the city of Jerusalem, there will be two of God's prophets who will raise up and begin to prophesy this entire time.

But these two olive trees, these two candlesticks will be standing before the Lord, before God of the earth. And if any man would hurt them, fire proceeded out of their mouth and devour their enemies.

And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven that it rained not in the days of their prophecy. And they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they choose to.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, and this is true of all of us, each one of us in this room, this could be said of us, when we have finished our testimony, now it may not happen in this fashion, but when our purpose and duty and testimony is over, we will be taken home.

We'll be transported into heaven when their testimony was finished. The beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. Who is this? Speaking of.

Specifically, Antichrist, doesn't it tend to indicate to you that he does not show up on the scene until this moment and we're in chapter 11? So the white horse is not the Antichrist over in the early part of Revelation.

The Antichrist makes his appearance here in chapter 11. For the first time, he literally ascends out of the pit at this place and immediately kills these two prophets. That's the first thing he does. How many emperors have there been throughout history and how many Lenins and Stalins have there been who ruled by eliminating their foes, by killing their enemies, their political enemies?

And this is where he starts and he kills them and verse 8 and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of Jerusalem. Now look what Jerusalem is now called because the Gentiles have taken it over. This could be Arab forces, it could be UN forces, it could be a combination.

I don't know what it is. I know that it's not held by Israel at this time. It's held by the Gentile powers and look what it's called. It is now spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified.

It identifies it. We are talking about Jerusalem but it's called Sodom and Egypt spiritually. Now in the physical, it won't be called that. It'll be called Jerusalem. But from God's viewpoint, it is as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah and as worldly as Egypt because it's out of order as the Gentiles hold power over it.

Now look what happens as these two dead prophets lie in the street. In verse 9, and they of all people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies. Now how can everybody in the world see that at one time?

Television, could that have happened in Paul's day? So sometimes I get a little irritated at people that always say, well Paul thought it was going to happen in his day too. Well it's true, he did. But could it have?

No. We have the advantage of hindsight, don't we? Could there have been television where everyone including the American Indians at that time could have seen this happen? No. Could it be that way now?

Yes. Everyone's plugged in. All peoples, kindreds, tongues, nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them.

I had a bit of a problem the other night when I saw on the Dallas News. They gave almost five full minutes to a reporter who reported on the Billy Graham Crusades. And he was reporting on it in just a wonderful light.

Oh, this is wonderful, we've had people come down the aisles. He preached a simple but powerful message that affected everyone that was in the audience. Just gave great praise to Billy Graham's crusade.

That's not the way it's supposed to be. Now when you hear them doing that with Jerry Falwell, let me know. When you hear the news media go down and tell us how wonderful John MacArthur is, let me know.

It ain't gonna happen. And when these two prophets are killed, the world rejoices. That mindset is already upon us, ladies and gentlemen, and boys and girls. That mindset is here today. First thing that happened when Falwell claimed that the leader of Islam was himself a terrorist, he called Muhammad a terrorist, they immediately said, we're going to assassinate you.

Thereby proving that he was right. And the people and kindreds and tongues of the nation shall see their dead bodies three days and shall not suffer them to be buried, and they shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another, just like Christmas.

Because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. That's what a prophet always does when they come into a church, they torment everybody from the pastor to the littlest child sometimes.

That's why you don't see many of them coming into churches anymore. Most guys have their preacher buddies come and preach. Don't have a guy like Rocky Freeman come, and there may not be many of those left, I don't know.

I personally have a problem finding them, I wish we could. I look at verse 11, this is what speaks to our topic this morning. But have you visualized the story up till now? Can you be like a person watching this on television up until now, and you're watching the evening news, and they're partying, and you're seeing this, and they're partying, and all of a sudden, after three and a half days of lying dead in the street, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell upon them that saw them.

Wonder why. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them, come up hither. Do you think that might have frightened them? And it's interesting, but he didn't speak to all of them, he just spoke to the two prophets.

And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud just like Jesus did, and their enemies watched just like they watched as Jesus, with their mouths open, and said, why stand ye here gazing? This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you see him go into heaven.

These will ascend in the same manner, and the enemies will behold them with their mouths gazing, their jaws dropped open, and the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, this is Jerusalem, and the earthquake killed 7 ,000 men, and the remnant was affrighted.

Interesting King James English. They were affrighted. They were scared to death. And these enemies were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven. Can lost people do that? Oh yes. All creatures bring glory to God.

The Spirit of Life from God and the Two Witnesses

Now let's go into John chapter 6, and let's talk about this spirit of life from God that entered these two men. Same spirit of life from God that entered Adam the day he stood up. Same spirit of life from God that entered you the day you got saved.

It has a two-fold meaning. There is a physical life that comes from God that even lost people have, but there is a spiritual life that only you have, only his children have. Let's look at John 6 in verse 1.

I don't know how far we'll make it through this, but we have plenty of Sundays perhaps. But let's go for a distance through here. Notice that in verses 1 through 15, we have the feeding of the 5 ,000 and we're not preaching on this passage, but I want you to look at verses 13 and 14.

It will summarize this part of the scripture because this is the context that we find our passage in that we want to talk about. We're going to talk about Jesus, the bread, but first we have to understand there was the feeding of the 5 ,000 with physical bread, which pictured a spiritual truth.

It pictured spiritual bread. They didn't know it yet. In John 6, 13, therefore they gathered them together and filled 12 baskets. This was after all of the people had been fed. There were leftovers and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above and to them that had eaten.

Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. Brilliant, aren't they? Keep that in mind because that's what they said.

Now, verses 16 through 21, Jesus walked on water. You familiar with that passage? All of this is the context of what we're about to get to. Look at verse 19 to summarize this. So when they had rode about five and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh into the ship and they were afraid.

They were afraid. God is one who can make us a frighted. Then they willingly received him into the ship. And you notice that they didn't accept him. That's interesting, isn't it? He was coming on the ship whether they wanted him to or not.

So they received him, that was the smart thing to do. When you got born again, you were about to be born again, you just didn't know it. And it is really true. You didn't have the choice to accept him because that implies you had the choice to reject him, but you did receive him.

So he comes, they were afraid and he steps onto the boat from the water and they receive him. Willingly into the ship and immediately now, that's the human side of salvation, by the way, and it must occur in time and history or you can't be saved.

Then they willingly received him into the ship. And look at this phrase and immediately. Now, that's a strong word in the Greek language. It means the blink of an eye. The ship was at the land where they were going to go, but they were in the middle of the water, perhaps halfway across.

And all of a sudden, immediately they were at the shore. That's a miracle. So now we've had the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread. We've had Jesus walking on the water. And we've had the ship instantly transported from where they were to the shore in an instant of time, they transcended time and space.

When Jesus came on board. And now we introduce the passage we're interested in this morning. John, chapter six, verse twenty four, when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there. Now, these are the same people that he had fed and his disciples were not there.

They took ships also and they came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And they asked Jesus a question or two, and Jesus totally ignored their question, and he said this, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because you saw the miracles.

But because you did eat the loaves and were filled. It's interesting that the Jew is always asking Jesus to do something to prove who he was. Let us see this and we shall believe is what the Jew of that day always said.

Now, they just saw him turn five loaves into enough to feed five thousand people or more. If that's just the men, then it would be more than that. Maybe fifteen thousand people and twelve baskets left over.

And they come to be with him. And Jesus said, that's not even why you came. You just came to fill your belly again. The spiritual part, the miracle, you didn't even see it. You didn't worry about it, didn't even think about it.

Now, look what he says in verse twenty seven, labor not for the meat which perishes. This is what proves they were coming just to get fed again. They came all the way, went to the trouble to find a boat, come all the way across the stormy lake to get some more of this bread must have been pretty good bread.

Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endures unto everlasting life. The word meat here doesn't mean meat. It literally means food. That which feeds the body and he says, don't labor for that which perishes.

Now, the word perish is interesting because it's from two little Greek words put together as so often is the case. The word is Apollo May and the first of the word is Apollo, which we see a lot and it means off or away or it can mean fully.

And the second part of the word means to destroy. So Jesus says, don't labor. The word labor is interesting, too, because it comes from a little Greek word, Ergon, which means in English herbs. That's the word for work and power.

Remember how we talked about at one point how God supplies the power for his gifts to happen and he turns more power on when he wants to or less? Well, Jesus is saying, don't take the herbs that God gives you and waste them on things that will be totally destroyed.

But rather use these herbs, use the energy that God gives you, the life that he gives you. Only upon things which endure unto everlasting life, the word endure is a little special word that we find many, many times, especially in the book of John, the Greek word may know me and oh, it means to stay or abide within when he says I'm in you and you and me.

And when he says abide in me, my words and you and me ask what you shall and these things shall be done to you. That word abide is may know. And so he says, labor, use the urge, use the energy of life that God gives you only to go after things that abide.

Forever, do not spend the energy that God gives you for that which is destroyed, but for that which stays. And to everlasting life. And he finishes the statement by saying, which the son of man shall given to you.

For him, have God the father seal, the word seal in the Greek means attested to he has given in the stamp of approval, he's the only one that God attested to as the true son of God, which the son of man shall give to you labor after the things that abide forever, which Jesus gives to you, which implies the opposite of what the world gives to you.

The word the domain, which means to give, this is a gift from God, this is a gift of grace from him, you cannot earn it, you cannot work for it, you simply can receive it. This food, which stays unto eternal life, is a gift.

And it is a miracle. And there is plenty of it for everyone who wants it. It won't run out, but neither will God waste it, which was pictured by collecting it in the twelve baskets, it was not wasted that which was left over will be collected.

Reminds me of Ecclesiastes twelve seven. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Even when the lost people die and go to hell, God doesn't waste that life.

He takes it back, sticks it in the basket, takes it to heaven. And they go to hell forever. None of it's wasted. God is sovereign, he doesn't dish out salvation to anyone who won't receive it. He did not die for the world in the sense that he died for every single man, woman, boy and girl, because if that were true, then those that are cast into hell wasted his energy and time and he failed and his death was not sufficient for them.

If he truly died for them, they do not have to die. So he didn't. But he died for you, the ones he knew from the foundation of the world with love. He knew your name and he knew your new name. He knew the time of your birth and the date of your death when your testimony is finished, then your race is finished.

You cross the line and you wake up and find yourself instantly in heaven. With him. There'll be none of this wasted to trust the interesting word here. Look at John, John six, verse twenty eight. And it said they into him.

And it interesting, all this has happened now, think about the context, the feeding of the five thousand. Now, all of these people didn't see the walking on the water, but they did find it interesting that they were immediately at the other side of the shore.

When they got there and Jesus then tells them, you shouldn't be here for the food, the physical food, you should be here for the spiritual bread. That's why you should have come here. But you didn't. And now they're trying to be good.

Now they're trying to impress. Then said they into him. Oh, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? That's what we want to do. And it is what they wanted to do. They wanted to work the works of God.

That's how they wanted to be saved. They wanted to develop their own salvation. They wanted to earn their own salvation. They wanted to please God. They wanted to do something. For salvation. Jesus answered and said to them something they did not want to hear.

This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he had sent. This word believe is peace to owe. Now, listen, what it means. It is not just mental assent of something. Our consent of something it is to entrust oneself with to commit oneself to.

It comes from a root word, peace, peace, which means to be persuaded of. And to rely upon. So when Jesus said, this is the work you must do, believe on him whom he had sent, he said, trust on him, be committed unto him, be persuaded that he is who he says he is and rely upon him whom he had sent.

Today, the gospel message is just believe he's there. Just believe he's there. Go live like you want to. Dear Jesus, come on, say Amen. Hallelujah. I'm headed to the beer joint. Little children, that was called sarcasm.

The pastor does not do that. Now, no, you don't. You take things literally. So I didn't. It's a joke. But that's what a lot of people do, isn't it? A lot of people say, dear Jesus, come in my heart and save me.

Amen. And then they go to the beer joint. And they go do everything else the world is doing, and they do that for a lifetime. Were they saved? No, because just believing that God exists doesn't save anyone.

In fact, Jesus told him that he said, well, the demons believe and tremble. This word belief is a strong word in the Greek language to entrust your life to him. Children, let me tell you what it's like to get saved.

Ben, listen here. It's like this to get saved. You have to say, hmm. No matter how old you are, you always have to say, hmm, you know what? I've kind of done the stuff I want to do all the time. Always think of me first.

Always do what I want to do. And Lord Jesus, today, for the first time in my life, I'm willing to do what you want me to do for the rest of my life. I give my whole self to you. That's how you get saved.

That's commitment. You commit yourself to him and say, now your life is more important than mine. I give my life to you. You can, in fact, live through me on this earth so that you can help other people on this earth through my body.

I yield that to you. I give you my brain, give you my body, give you my toys. Give you my hobbies, the things I like to do. I won't do them unless you want to do them with me. It is commitment, being persuaded that Jesus can run.

Listen to me, can run your life better than you can run it. If you've never done that, it doesn't matter how many times you said, dear. Jesus, come on, save me. Amen. You're not saved yet. But just as easily as praying that false prayer, you can talk to him in reality from your heart in two or three words and say, I'm ready for you to be my boss instead of me being my own boss.

I'm ready for you to have my life instead of me having it. You can be saved just that quickly. But understand that the word means to entrust your life to him, to commit yourself to him, to be persuaded that he can live your life better than you can live it.

He can live with you and it'll be better and to rely upon him the rest of your life. Jesus said, that's the work you do. That's the only work you can do. And the funny thing is, it's not a work. He was being facetious.

Faith, Signs, and the Bread from Heaven

Verse 30, they said, therefore, unto him. Now, look at this, ladies and gentlemen, this is today. This is the modern charismatic movement. This is the Pentecostal movement. This is what's sweeping the world.

This is promise keepers. This is what's sweeping the world of religion today. They said, therefore, unto him, he just tells them how to get saved. He tells them what spiritual life's all about. Say, listen, it's not not about the food for your body.

It's about the manna from heaven. That's what it's all about. And they said, well, then what good stuff do we need to do then to please you? He said nothing. You can't please me. He said you can believe on me.

And they come right back and say, therefore, unto him. Well, what sign do you show us then that we may listen to this, see and believe thee? What does thou work? Every one of them that said that probably went to hell unless later God opened their eyes.

And I hope he did. Some of them was talking about 15 ,000 people here, perhaps many, many, many of those 15 ,000 people that saw him divide that bread, five loaves of bread to feed 15 ,000 people. Many of them are in hell right now and have been suffering in torment, breathing in liquid fire, breathing it out again and again for almost 2 ,000 years.

Because when Jesus, the bread of life, offered himself and said, I am eternal life, they said, what can we do? And they said, show us a sign so we can see and believe that defies the definition of faith.

It defies the definition. You can't see and believe. It's impossible to see and believe, because if you saw, you didn't believe it was fact. You can only believe if you don't see. Why is it that the whole world of religion today, they want to see someone heal?

They want to see someone throw down their crutches. They want to see somebody get slapped in the head and fall right down and act like some weird, mysterious, mystical thing happen. Why is it that they are still saying today, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Jesus.

Unless we can see something happening. We're not going to believe. Jesus says, well, then you can't believe because once you see it, it's too late. Wow. Verse 30 and 31 just totally destroys everything that most of the religious Christian world today believes.

What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? There's no more sinful statement that could be made than that. There are places where they ask the same thing and Jesus called him a sinner, the adulterous generation.

He seek for a sign and you'll not get one. The only sign you'll get is the sign of Jonas. And by then it may be too late for you. Today, the question is asked, what sign will you show me? You know, he went on and said, our fathers did eat man in the desert and it's written he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

So they want to see this. They want Jesus to produce some manna out of thin air. Did he do it? Not this time. You see, this is the start of a new dispensation. This is not literally the exact moment that I believe.

If you want to be theologically correct, this is not the exact moment that the New Testament dispensation started. But Jesus is preparing them for it. He's moving out of the Old Testament into the New Testament way of doing things.

And let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, the New Testament way of doing things is different. It is a religion of faith. Above all things, faith, not sight. And we have every Christian around you at work, you mark my words, everybody around you at the grocery store that claims to be a Christian, they're in that other camp now.

It's just you're just a very small remnant. They're in the camp that says, well, Jesus, show me something so I can believe. What sign will you show me that God is working in your life? They'll look at you and say, can you show me a sign that God's with you?

Have you spoken in tongues? Can you heal anybody? You do believe that the dead can still be raised, don't you? You, well, you believe God can heal, don't you? As if you don't. You see, you see, they confuse the issue.

We never had a problem with God, did we? The problem I have with is a fake faith healer. That's who I have a problem with. He can't heal. No, I don't believe he can heal. I believe God can heal. So show us something.

Show us God's working in your life. Show us he's working in your church. If we come to sit in your church, is it going to be powerful and exciting? A lot of activity or am I just going to hear the word and have to have faith that that's God speaking to my heart in a small, still voice with no verbal words?

In the Old Testament, God spoke to his people with. Verbal words, God parted the Red Sea in front of their faces, God spoke from a fiery bush, God met with them in the mount and talked with some of them as a friend, God gave them visions and dreams and prophets.

And they're saying, show us these things now and we'll believe. But look what Jesus said in verse thirty two. Then Jesus said to them, truly. Now, he could have said that just once and it would have been enough, wouldn't it?

But he says, truly, truly. Now, that's like saying, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you twice that what you're requesting is not going to happen. Truly, truly, I say unto you, yes, Moses in the Old Testament gave you not that bread from heaven, and that's what you want.

Are you listening to Jesus this morning? He didn't even give you bread from heaven. And that's what you want is what he gave, which was physical bread. That's why you followed me across the lake, because you want some of that.

That's all Moses could do, and you want me to be like Moses, Jesus said. And today I would say to Christians today that all that that all that this can accomplish is to make you feel really cool when you see someone slapped on the forehead and fall off and shake and quiver and maybe pull some of their clothes off.

Make you feel, oh, wow, it's like a prophet prophesying naked. Cool. And the women dance in front of everyone. How many of you gentlemen think that would be a good idea for church? Have the women come up, the young women come up and dance in front of us.

Would that be really spiritual, wouldn't it? Yes, sir. Show us something, God, let's do some of these things that they did in the Old Testament times. Jesus said Moses gave you not that bread that came from heaven, but my father now gives you true bread from heaven.

Hallelujah. You got it. You're looking at it. You're hearing it. You're feeling it. Feeling's OK as long as it comes from the bread from heaven. Hebrews one, one through three says God, who at sundry times, who used to is what it says.

What does that imply when you say something used to be this way? What does that imply? It ain't that way anymore. God, who at sundry time in diverse manners used to speak in time past. Now, what is past inferred?