I Am the Bread of Life

Forever be our joy, may redemption be the theme of our song.

By grace we have been saved, and by grace we shall proclaim to the corners of the earth that Christ has come.

Let the nations be glad. Let the people rejoice, for salvation belongs to our

God. Let the whole earth be filled with the praises of the

Lord, for salvation belongs to our

God. Let the nations be glad Ages gone before Through the trial and the sword

May the saints and martyrs conquered Though they die

Still we're holding out the cross Crossing oceans suffering loss

Shall endure all things to win the crown of life

Let the nations be glad Let the people rejoice

For salvation belongs to our

God Let the whole earth be filled

With the praises of the Lord For salvation belongs to our

God Let the nations be glad As your holy church goes forth

In the Holy Spirit's power With the glories of the gospel to explain

Pray your kingdom come And we pray your will be done

O name

Sing it out Let the nations be glad Let the people rejoice

For salvation belongs to our

God Let the whole earth be filled

With the praises of the Lord For salvation belongs to our

God Let the nations be glad Let the nations be glad For the nations have much to be glad about, right?

The nations have much to be glad about The people of Israel, they had the precepts

They had the law They were the only ones enlightened to the truth of who God is

And the good news that was to come at the time But now we have that good news

It's already been It's already come He's already come I wanted to read briefly from Psalm 67

This wasn't in our liturgy this morning But I thought of it as we were preparing to sing this song Which this is where this song was derived from The psalmist he says

May God be gracious to us and bless us And make his face to shine upon us That your way may be known on earth

Your saving power among all nations O let the peoples praise you

O God Let all the peoples praise you Let the nations be glad and sing for joy

And we do, we sing for joy this morning Because this world was an excruciatingly dark place

Before Christ came And when he came, he defeated He bound the strong man

The strong man was no longer allowed to just deceive the nations As he wills and as he pleases

Christ is the king And that light can go forth And it's gone forth in our lives

Many of us this morning That's why we've come together in worship this morning We just want to say welcome

Thank you for being here I'm so excited for the Lord's Day I always pump my kids up I want them to know

This is the pinnacle of the week This is the best day The Lord's Day This is when we the saints get together together

And we get to worship our great God We get to proclaim the good news to each other And walk in it

Encourage one another all the more As we see the day drawing near for Christ's return When he makes all things new

And we look forward to that Before we start our worship We always pray for another local church

We have brothers and sisters all over the world That are doing the very thing we're doing And many within our own community

This morning there's one that's near and dear to my heart Many of you know Journey They are a church over near Hilltop area

And they are a Baptist church We have many friends there Some of you have actually been there at different times

In your walk as a Christian And we have some dear brothers and sisters over there I reached out to a couple of the pastors this week

And Pastor Kevin this morning just responded I said hey how can we pray for you

And this is what he wrote He said pray for a new sense of boldness Among our people

To live out the gospel and to share his name He says they've been in a season of healing

And if you know what's been going on You know that they have They've been in a season of healing But it's time to encourage our neighbors

And our community with truth And so that is a prayer request that he's asked of us

His brothers and sisters here this morning So we just want to lift those brothers and sisters up As they gather to worship this morning

That that would resonate and be true And we just want to lift them So please bow with me as we pray for Journey Dear Heavenly Father We thank you for bringing us together this morning

We thank you for giving us the right To come together as your sons As heirs of this inheritance of glory

Lord we thank you for your kindness And your goodness in the midst of it Even though that we are left in this present darkness

For a season as sojourners God you bring us together in the body

And Lord we pray for part of the body We pray for Journey this morning Lord we pray for the brothers and sisters there

That we love them dearly We care for them We pray that your name would be magnified in their midst

We pray this morning as they gather That whoever's preaching this morning Lord I pray that you give them boldness and clarity

I pray that they could Boldly proclaim the full counsel of God That they would equip the saints for the good work

And that your word would do that sanctifying work In the hearts of the people Pray for their leadership

Lord give them discernment and wisdom Lord we pray this morning That their people would gain

As they asked a new sense of boldness For gospel proclamation in the community

We thank you for the healing that they've been undergoing From difficult times Lord we pray for continued healing there

That you would refine them through suffering And that they could encourage those around them

In this community with truth And that they would be a church That boldly proclaims the gospel

Lord for we know the nations are to be glad Because of the good news that is given to all people

Lord we pray this morning That you would work in northeast

Arkansas Father we ask that you would strip the religiosity

The legalism, the law, the rules That you would strip all the self -righteousness

And pride from us The moral deism that we think do better, be better And we'll be right with God Father I pray that the true gospel

The gospel of grace That Christ did it all And we our unworthy recipients would permeate

And revival would break out in our midst Let that be so with us

Father We ask that all of this In Christ's glorious name

We pray in Christ's name, amen Amen, all right Let's start off our service

Y 'all ready? Y 'all ready for worship? We'll start with a call to worship Our call to worship is a portion of Psalm 119

Verses 97 through 104 Where the psalmist says Oh how I love your law

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies I have more understanding than all my teachers

I understand more than the aged I hold back my feet from every evil way

I do not turn aside from your rules

How sweet are the words to my taste Through your precepts

I get understanding And all

God's people said amen For we do, we have greater understanding You can go to school, you can go over here to ASU And your professors can teach before you

And they seem to know a lot of things You can have older family members Who seem to have wisdom And they seem to say wise things

According to the world's standards Oh but you that glean from the word of God Oh we have the true wisdom

And we know more than they do They do not see reality We get to see reality Because reality is only seen

Through his truth, through his word And we gather together for that this morning Let's pray a prayer of adoration to our great

God As we get ready to continue to sing to him Oh Lord we bow before you once more

God we come before you humbly We acknowledge our frailty

We know that you are God and we are not You are good and we are not

You are righteous And the only righteousness that we have Is the imputed righteousness of Christ this morning

You are a good and gracious king You are a good and gracious creator God almighty above all things

You are so far above us We can't even comprehend your truth at times

And we desperately need the Holy Spirit To illuminate our hearts and minds

To your magnificent truth For you, you

God are Are the one worthy of worship this morning We long to humble ourselves and bow before you

Sing exciting glorious truths That you've saved our soul

To declare songs like this We know that the victory belongs to you

And we can stand firm in that To come and behold the wondrous mystery

That you've saved a people unto yourself And then to declare behold our

God For you are holy You are all together separate And we worship you this morning

Be honored in our worship We pray that you would move in our hearts and minds

Mold us more and more into the image of your son Our great savior And it is in his name that we pray all of this

Jesus, amen Sing this with me

You my God have saved my soul I am yours forevermore

I won't be moved of this I'm sure You my

God have saved my soul See I was lost when you came for me

I was lost when you came for me

Held in chains by the enemy But you broke them in victory

Now I'm free I am free You're my joy

And you are my hope I am saved by your grace alone

I will sing of your love for me I am free

I am free You my God have saved my soul

I am yours forevermore I won't be moved of this

I'm sure You my God have saved my soul

Now I stand with the king of kings

And ask pay for my every sin And from now through eternity

I am free I am free You my

God have saved my soul I am yours forevermore

I won't be moved of this I'm sure You my

God have saved my soul What once was dead is now alive

You gave to me the breath of life You brought me up out from the grave

I'm bursting out with songs of praise What once was dead is now alive

You gave to me the breath of life You brought me up I'm bursting out with songs of praise

I'm bursting out with songs of praise

Sing it to me You my God have saved my soul

I am yours forevermore I won't be moved of this

I'm sure You my God have saved my soul

Amen Sing this with me, this we know

This we know We will see the enemy run

This we know We will see the victory come

We hold on to every promise you ever made

Jesus you are You are who you say you are

You'll do what you say you'll do

You'll be who you've always been to us Jesus Our strength in your mightiness

In the darkest days Jesus Sing that this one, this we know

It's the truth we proclaim This we know

We will see the enemy run

This we know We will see the victory come

We hold on to every promise you ever made

Jesus you are unfailing Amen The truth this morning

Using our guide Our guide through the wilderness

Our joy You are our way

When it seems there is no way Jesus We will see the enemy run

This we know We will see the victory come

We hold on to every promise you ever made

Jesus you are unfailing We trust you

Lord we trust you Your ways are high

Sing that this morning God we trust you Trust you

We trust you Your ways are higher than our own

We will see the enemy run We will see the victory come

We hold on to every promise you ever made

Jesus you are unfailing

Our scripture reading this morning comes from Hebrews chapter 11 If you know much about Hebrews 11

This is the hall of faith We see a list of Old Testament saints that were saved

By Jesus They were saved through faith in Christ The coming

Messiah They were looking forward to Him And so our scripture reading this morning starts in verse 6 there of chapter 11

He says and without faith it is impossible to please Him For whoever would draw near to God Must believe that He exists

And that He rewards those who seek Him By faith Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen

In reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household

By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith

Noah wasn't saved by building the ark Noah was saved by the faith that led him to build the ark

It was a faith in God A faith in the fact that God will provide God will provide a means to keep you safe Just like Noah and his family inside the ark

As we are safe as we are in the righteousness of Christ And the wrath of God that comes out

Poured out on unwicked, righteous, unrighteous man

Does not touch us We are safe in Christ And that is good news this morning

At times when we know that we are safe there We are in the ark We are in Christ We still fall prey to the flesh at times don't we?

We still fall prey to sin We still fall prey to this wretched warring flesh that is within us

And we do the things that we ought not to do We do unrighteous deeds at times

And so we as a people like to be reminded of that as we gather We are not just going to overlook that We are not just going to hide that We are going to confess it

We are going to confess it before the Lord We are going to go to Him in a prayer of confession

But not only confession We get to go to Him in an acknowledgement of our sin

But an assurance That that sin is no longer accounted to us

That we stand in His righteousness And that we rest in that So please bow your heads with me for a prayer of confession and assurance this morning

Oh Heavenly Father we come to you once again Lord you know our frailty

You know our weakness You know that at times the old flesh desires to walk in unrighteous deeds and actions

Father you know that we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed at times

And we don't do the things that we ought to do We neglect the common means of grace in our lives that keep us looking to Christ And walking in your precepts

And we are tripped up And we fail

We falter We sin But God you said there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus And we hold to that promise

That even in our weakness and in our sin And in our actions that are not honoring to you

Our great glorious Savior has paid for even those That He did not walk in unrighteousness

He walked in perfect righteousness His holiness is now

Now seen in and through our lives His righteousness is now placed upon us

We are clothed in His blood that has purchased us Father we ask this morning that you not allow the enemy to Beat us down with condemnation

Making us feel as though we are unworthy Making us feel as though we are unloved

And that we can't possibly be in Christ God we ask that you allow us to see the truth

That we who are in Christ We in and of ourselves are not worthy

But you are worthy And you have now made us worthy Help us to rest in it

As a people corporately As a church and as individuals

And guard us Father Help us Help us to desire to walk in righteousness

Help us to look to you And continue to walk down this narrow path

We thank you for your grace and kindness We thank you for your forgiveness We thank you for the boldness that we get to stand in now

Because of our Savior And it is His name we pray once again

Christ Jesus Amen As we sing this next song

I want you to pay attention to the lyrics of this As it goes through the picture of Christ Come behold the wondrous mystery

In the dawning of the King He the theme of Heaven's praises

Wrote in frail humanity In our longing, in our darkness

Now the life has come

Look to Christ who condescended

Took on flesh to ransom us

Come behold the wondrous mystery

He the perfect Son of Man In His living, in His suffering

Never trace nor stain of sin

See the true and better Adam Come to save the hell -bound man

Christ the great and sure Fulfill all in Him we stand

Come behold the wondrous mystery Christ the

Lord upon a tree In the stead of proven sinners

Paints the land in victory See the price of our redemption

See the Father's plan unfold Bringing many sons to glory

Grace unmeasured, love untold

Behold the wondrous mystery Slain by death, the

God of love But no grave could ever restrain

Him Praise the Lord, He is alive For taste of deliverance

How a wave of Christ's in power

Resurrected as we will be

When He comes For taste of deliverance

How a wave of Christ's in power

Resurrected as we will be When He comes

He'll be oceans in His hands And every grain of sand

Kings and nations tremble at His voice

All creation rises to rejoice

Bones of God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him Behold our

King Nothing can compare

Come let us adore Him See who has given counsel

Who has given counsel to the low

Who can question any of His words

Who can teach the one who knows all things

Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds

Behold God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him Behold our

King Nothing can compare Come let us adore

Him Has felt the nails upon His hands

Guilt of sinful man

God eternal Humble to the grave

Jesus, Savior Risen now to reign

Behold God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him Behold God seated on His throne

Come let us adore

Him Let's sing that chorus one more time Behold God seated on His throne

Come let us adore Him We praise

You so much this morning, Jesus We praise You Lord, for what You've done

What You have planned What You're gonna do here Lord, with this body Lord, we praise

You Lord, I thank You so much for saving me, Lord Lord, I just pray,

Jesus, that You would Lord, be with this remainder of this service this morning,

Lord as we prepare our hearts and our minds to to hear Your Word preached, Lord I know that I know that it's gonna be good,

Lord I just pray that You would just that You would just anoint every word that that Pastor Keith has to has to speak this morning,

Lord just give him the words to say, Lord help him to preach boldly Lord, and speak truth

Lord, I pray, Lord, as we take up this offering this morning, Jesus, Lord I just pray that You would bless this offering

We love You, we praise You We ask all these things in Your Son, Jesus precious and holy name and all of God's people's sin

Amen How fitting of a last song

Come, let us adore Him and that's really what this is all about this seven -part series is how about we get to know

Him so we can adore Him more This is a seven -part series, as I said

We're gonna be talking about the great I Am statements of Jesus Christ and we titled this sermon this series of sermons is

Who Do You Say That I Am? That's a question Jesus asked of His disciples and I want to explain why this question is as important as it is today as it was when

Jesus asked of His disciples I think most of you are I've got a little bit of a ring

Y 'all are aware of R .C. Sproul This is a brand new mic,

I'm sorry so it might take you just a little while to get the bugs worked out of it Y 'all are aware of R .C.

Sproul's most of you are his ministry Ligonier Ministries Every couple of years they conduct a theological survey where they go and they question people who consider themselves evangelical

Christians so these aren't just, you know people on the street these are evangelical Christians and what they do is they give them a statement and they ask do you agree with a statement or do you disagree with that statement and I want to give you just a portion just a few of the statements that they made just to kind of give you an indication of why this series is so important The first statement

I chose was God accepts the worship of all religions

These are evangelical Christians answered 56 % of them agree

God learns and adapts to different circumstances so I want you to understand this means God is not all -knowing things happen that he learns from and then he changes his plan basically is what this is saying 48 % of evangelical

Christians agree with this statement Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God 73 % of evangelical

Christians agreed with that statement Jesus was a great teacher but he was not

God 43 % agree with that statement evangelical

Christians people who call themselves evangelical Christians the Holy Spirit is a force but not a personal being 60 % agree with that statement everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God 65 % of evangelical

Christians agreed with that statement and I think these numbers indicate what we should already know as a church we have a crisis that is growing in churches that is eating away at its very core it's eating away at its very foundation and that is who is

Jesus Christ the answer to this question will indicate if you truly know the one true

God his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and we know that getting the answer the answer to this question correct is life altering in fact it's life itself this is the reason

Jesus spent so much of his time teaching his disciples who he is and the work that he was sent to do now you can't separate the two you can't just know who

Jesus is it's more than that you have to know what did he come to do what did he do why did he do that if we don't know the foundational truths of the triune

God then we have a high likelihood as many have of accepting heretical beliefs and in the end it'll prove that we really don't know who

Jesus is at all it will be as John the Baptist said to the religious elite that came to question him he said there is one who stands among you that you do not know what a statement well

I see this problem in the church today in the churches around us more than any other time in my life many have become deceived many believe that they can pick and choose who

God is which parts they'll accept and which parts they'll just throw away and reject they've distorted the creator creature relationship they've come to the conclusion that man is sovereign and God is not they've become the sole arbitrators of truth they live their lives based on their cherry picking of scripture and distorting it based on what they want to believe and how they want to live their lives so this brings us back full circle to the question and how important it is who do you say that I am

Jesus asks of you today he asks of you every day who do you say that I am when you walk out into the public he is asking who do you say that I am are you living like you know who

I am so this is what this series is about so we can answer this question accurately and I feel the best book of the bible to find the answer to this question is in the gospel of John y 'all are aware of this this is the fundamental purpose of John's gospel he is proclaiming who is the messiah and one of the major ways that he points to who the messiah is is through these great

I am statements if you read what I put out on band Stephen Lawson says these seven statements are the backbone of John they're the backbone of who

Jesus is and at the time that Jesus made these statements most everybody that heard them knew exactly what he was saying don't get that out of your mind they knew that he was claiming to be the messiah that he was claiming to be

God come to earth now how profound are these claims several scholars feel that these claims are the most profound claims ever made throughout history and think about it

Jesus has come to earth claiming that I am God in the flesh come to earth but before we get started

I want to set a groundwork I want to set some foundational truths that I feel like we need to know before we get into this talking about these statements these truths are going to resonate through all seven of these claims all seven sermons that I will be bringing to you now if you've been with us for a while if you've been in the shop if you was over in the shop building we went through Everyone's a

Theologian by R .C. Sproul and if you was at especially at the very first of this this is going to kind of be a little bit of a refresher course but I think it's very important that we have an understanding of what these are so we can base everything that we cover on that these are foundational truths that are in the

Bible the first is God is eternal in his being Isaiah 57 15 says for thus says the one who is high and lifted up who inhabits eternity whose name is holy so not only is

God eternal but he dwells in eternity he's not bound by time or space like we are we're finite he is not he created in time he created time and he moves through past present and future and with our finite minds it's hard for us to grasp that it's hard for us to understand that truth but God tells us this in his word it is true the second foundational truth

God is creator and sustainer of all that is and all that ever will be

Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth now there's a reason for this being the first verse in the first chapter that's in God's revelation of himself it's because these ten words are the foundation for everything that follows these ten words speak of God's providence his sovereignty it speaks of his power it speaks of his eternality this verse is the first test in the

Bible you may not realize this God is giving you a test when you read these ten words he's asking you do you believe?

he's asking you do you submit? it's these two questions if you get the answer to these two questions wrong your train is on the wrong track before it even leaves the station you are already headed down in the wrong direction the third foundational truth

God is self -existence the name for this is a short name Aseity that's what it's called

A -S -E -I -T -Y Psalm 102 25 -27 you abode you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you will remain they will all wear out like a garment you will change them like a robe and they will pass away but you are the same for your years have no end now this is a really important concept

I want us to understand because it will be repeated today and in the six weeks to come one of nature's laws is the law of causality this is real important many think that this law states that everything has to have a cause but it doesn't state that what it states is that every effect must have a cause now let me give you an example your child is unruly he's back talking or whatever and you grab him up and you spank him and he cries what's the cause of him crying?

well you spanked him what's the effect of that cause? well he was crying well there's a whole chain of cause and effects that's taking place the original cause was he was being unruly and your effect is you grab him up and go get the paddle and you spank him so that effect actually causes something else to happen and that's for him to cry so he's crying now that's another cause you hope you hope that the effect from that crying that discipline is that he'll now start obeying you so it's not just a cause and effect usually there's a whole chain of causes and effects but the truth is the truth

I want us to get God is not an effect okay

God is not an effect he was not caused by any action that came before him he is the original cause he is called the first cause he's self -existent and he owes his being to nothing nothing outside of himself especially man

God has the power of being in himself that's why we refer to him as the supreme being the fourth foundational truth

God is immutable in his being and character he is unchanging and this is another very important truth that we understand

Exodus 3 .14 God said to Moses I am who

I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you in stating this

I am ego me is how it's translated in the Greek Septuagint God is communicating many things he's communicating his dominion over everything he's communicating he is the source of all power and he's communicating his eternal nature but to me one of the most significant attributes that God is communicating is that he is immutable he never changes he's always the same he has to be always the same he has to be he cannot change a

God that's changing is not a God at all you don't know if he's there or not what he said is true or not or anything he has to remain the same he's absolute he's undeniable he's indisputable again coming back to the original question which is detailed

I'll say in Matthew, Mark and Luke who do you say that I am in this series

Jesus is gonna tell us exactly who he is with his own words this is what he told the religious elite of the day the false religion the purveyors of this false religion,

Judaism this is what he told his apostles this is what he told his disciples and this is what he told the common

Hebrews who he was let us pray Father we come to adore you,

Lord we come to adore every aspect of your being every attribute every character trait that you show us,

Lord Lord, I pray today if there's those here who cannot answer this question who do you say that I am that you will reveal to them who you are and what you've come to do

I pray this in Jesus Christ's name Amen well, one thing we need to understand besides what

I've already explained is in this first statement I am the bread of life this is the first one that Jesus made that's recorded this statement is foundational it is foundational not only to the other six great

I am statements but it's also foundational to understanding the workings of salvation as A .W.

Pink calls it the machinery of salvation how salvation works so if you would go ahead and turn to chapter 5 verse 15 in your

Bible we are in John sorry what we're gonna see here and I'm kind of bringing everything into context we're gonna see here the rise of conflict now chapter 5 as my pages blow all over is actually talking it gives an account of Jesus when he healed the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda okay and there's a term that John uses and I'm gonna point out here he uses this term talking about a group of people and we'll see all through these seven statements the

Jews okay I want you to understand who the Jews are they're not only the common

Hebrews or Israelites but most importantly what he's pointing out is this group of people contain the religious elite that would include the

Pharisees the Sadducees, the scribes priests, rabbis members of the

Sanhedrin might be included in this group so what he's telling us is that the purveyors of the false religion of the day are included in this conversation so if you would we're gonna be in verse 15 and what this is this man that was healed he's now gone to the

Jews and he's reporting who healed him it says the man went away and told the

Jews that it was Jesus who healed him this was why the

Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the

Sabbath but Jesus answered him my father is working until now and I am working so here we see this rise of conflict they're persecuting

Jesus because of what he's claimed what he said and also what he did on the

Sabbath day now in the next verse it says well because he said this it says this was why the

Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because not only was he breaking the

Sabbath but he was even calling God his own father and making himself equal to God so here we see that it's escalating this conflict is escalating with the religious elite they've gone from persecuting

Jesus now they want to kill Jesus so if you'll turn over to chapter 6 the next chapter this details the feeding of the 5000 most everybody's real familiar with this and actually it says that there was 5000 men so there might have been many many more we don't know but it was a very public miracle of Jesus many people saw this and he took some loaves and some fish and multiplied them he created more from a few which is important but they saw this they all did they all witnessed this

I mean there wasn't a food truck or a bunch of food truck or restaurants or caterers around I mean they were out in the country on a mountain and now they have enough to feed all these people so it was very public so then

Jesus and the apostles kind of go away a little bit the apostles come back get on a boat they cross the sea of Galilee towards Capernaum Jesus comes back and here's the third miracle of John walks on the water we know that story all the other people and I'm not going to say all of them but a group of them come find some boats and they go across to Capernaum also and so that's kind of where we pick up here but I want to point out if you'll just look at verse 41 for just a minute it says so the

Jews grumbled so what this tells us it is not just the common people we have religious elite there also the

Jews that John talks about if you'll look over in verse 59 it says

Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum so that gives us the location they've crossed over the sea to Capernaum now they're in the synagogue

Jesus is giving them this discourse and the religious elite is there so in verse 25 if you'll look 25 and 27 says when they found him on the other side of the sea they said to him

Rabbi when did you come here? and Jesus answered them truly, truly

I say to you that you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you for on him

God the father has set his seal so what this is telling us is they have come to seek out

Jesus but for the wrong reason it was the miracle that they were interested in they weren't interested in the person or the work of Jesus Christ it was the power of Jesus Christ that they were interested in it is what

Jesus Christ could do to give them and meet their present physical needs so they're already on the wrong track they already don't understand what's going on here so as we go through this main section of our text we're finally arriving

I want us to see the different kind of hearts that are involved that are in place here the first heart that we're going to be looking at is the heart of legalism and that's in verse 28 and 29 then they said in him to him what must we do to be doing the works of God Jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent so the key word here in this first in verse 28 is works

I want us to understand because this is tied directly to the heart of legalism it is the works that they thought

God required of them to please him and this is nothing more than old self -righteousness of the natural man it's a heart of legalism one who is always occupied with his own doings the heart of legalism thinks that by his works man is entitled to a reward that he's entitled to salvation because it is due him he has earned it a heart of legalism puts

God in the place of being nothing more than a debtor God owes him he owes him for it with this kind of heart man thinks that salvation is not of grace but of debt these

Jewish questioners that were asking Jesus thought that you obtained eternal life by finding the right formula and performing the works for God the heart of legalism we need to understand is never satisfied they never are they always will require more and more and more to qualify

Judaism and their endless set of rules and regulations is a perfect example of this they kept on piling on more more requirements more requirements till it didn't even come close to resembling what

God had given them but so in reply Jesus is directing them away from their works to the work of God he's directing them to the gift of God that can only be obtained by believing in him now this is a real interesting word and this is definitely foundational when it comes to understanding salvation this word believe when it's rendered in Greek is called pisteuo p -i -s -t -e -u -o and it is a verb it signifies an action there's a corresponding noun to this verb and the name of it in the

Greek is pistis p -i -s -t -i -s they sound just alike they're tied together this is a noun this is what you have and then what that action is is pisteuo it's believe what is this noun what is this noun rendered as from the

Greek faith it is what we have it is the faith that we have now the concordance gives a comment on this it talks about the main elements of faith it says the main elements in faith in relation to the invisible

God especially brought out in the use of this noun pistis our faith and the corresponding verb pisteuo which is believe are and it gives three things three key elements one a firm conviction producing a full acknowledgement of God's revelation or truth it is an understanding and receiving of God's testimony concerning his son

Jesus Christ is what he's talking about here it's a conviction it's a belief an acknowledgement of his truth and his revelation of Jesus Christ is the truth second thing a personal surrender to him and third a conduct inspired by such surrender what this is telling us is more than just had knowledge it's more than just knowing these things about Jesus Christ it's a firm belief it's a firm conviction in verse 29

Jesus actually contradicts directly the presuppositions of his interrogators by stating that it is not our works that please

God and bring us to eternal life the legalistic heart is unwilling to accept this they're unwilling to come down to the place of a poor sinner and receive everything for nothing they're unwilling to do that and we see this truth played out again over and over and over again throughout scripture one short example is the rich young ruler in Luke 18 .18

he says and the ruler asked him good teacher what must I do to obtain eternal life you see this legalistic ruler had been sold by Judaism a false bill of goods in thinking that his own works can bring salvation and many still believe that even today they believe it's their prayers they believe that it's their tears their sorrows for sinning their giving their attendance at church their efforts at holiness in life they believe those are the keys to salvation but apart from Jesus Christ they're nothing more than works of the flesh they're our own efforts at salvation the truth of this doctrine is salvation is not a thing to be earned by religious life it's a free gift received by grace through faith

Romans 6 .23 says for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

Lord so what does verse 29 say about this what we just said this free gift well if you look back and it says this is the work of God it doesn't say anything about us it doesn't say anything about our works it is a work of God that he produces so we see here the heart of legalism the next heart

I want to talk about is the heart of stone and that's in verse 30 and 31 so they said to him then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you what work do you perform our fathers ate the man in the wilderness and it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat there is no greater example of unbelief and a lack of faith in this

Jesus show us a sign this shows how impossible it is for the natural man with his heart of stone to accept

Jesus Christ and his finished work by faith the Lord said believe and they replied perform for us show us a sign instead of relying on faith they wanted some evidence a performance first they were doing nothing more than searching for an experience something to excite their senses so they would be able to believe the truth is that those who rely only on experience are always wanting more they want the next great happening they want the next great experience for them and it's exactly like a drug addict looking for that next great biggest better high they always want more these

Jews were looking for a confirmation they were looking for what would authorize

Jesus Christ's mission on earth and we need to remember this was the morning after the feeding of the five thousand they witnessed it they witnessed this great miracle and you think that would surely be signed enough but it wasn't they were doing nothing less than demanding that Jesus prove his messianic status by duplicating or surpassing the miracle of the manna that was brought to them by Moses and their fathers the hard heart the heart of stone always will argue with you and they will always want more proof they will never be satisfied we've seen the heart of legalism we've seen the heart of stone and next

Jesus is going to show us the heart that is satisfied starting in verse 32

Jesus then said to them truly truly I say to you it was not

Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world they said to him sir give us this bread always

Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst so now we come to the true heart of the matter the only thing that can fully satisfy you see

Jesus starts out in verse 32 by correcting them telling them that it wasn't Moses who gave them their fathers the bread from heaven but it's the father's gift which alone can satisfy their deepest needs and that gift is the true bread from heaven see having a heart of stone they could not they would not understand that this true bread from heaven was as John the

Baptist said and I mentioned earlier one who stands among you that you do not know the

Messiah was right in front of them speaking to them and they didn't even know it verse 33 goes on to say

Jesus says for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world the bread that the

Jews were speaking of this manna did not give life all the Israelites that consumed it they died the manna was only for the

Israelites in the wilderness but the true bread gives eternal life to all who believe in Jesus Christ now

I want to note in this it does say gives life to the world and we'll talk about this word a lot as it goes through because John uses it in his gospel in many different ways and here what he is indicating is that this world actually reaches the area that reaches beyond Israel he's talking this is not only for Israel but it's also for the elect among the

Jews so now for the great I am statement I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst well here is with all the great

I am statements Jesus is making a clear unmistakable and undeniable claim to deity they knew it these people that were gathered around especially the

Jews knew exactly what he was saying and exactly what he was claiming in making this statement

Jesus is also clearing up the Jews misunderstanding when they said well from now on give us this bread they were suggesting that this bread needs to be given to them repeatedly over and over again just like the sacrifices that they performed they thought that it had to be continually given for them to be saved but Jesus insists whoever comes to me whoever receives this bread will never go hungry they never will the gift of this bread is eternal life it is only given by one giver and it's only given to each person one time that's all you need it's eternal it's eternal life he is the cause of this

Jesus is the cause of us having eternal life and what is the effect from this cause we have a heart that is satisfied so I want to examine this metaphor that Jesus uses here for just a minute when he says he is the bread of life this metaphor is he's comparing this bread to him that gives life well in the time of Jesus in the nation of Israel bread was considered a staple of life it is something that they had to have it was like water it was something that they used it gave them nourishment it was served with almost every meal that they had and for the most part just like I said water it was essential for their existence it was consumed daily and more importantly it was satisfying it satisfied their innermost hunger it satisfied their innermost need and that's the same way

Jesus fills our heart with satisfaction it's our inner craving that he takes care of he satisfies our innermost being the psalmist among others speaks of this psalm 34 8 oh taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him satisfied is the man who takes refuge in him psalm 119 103 how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth

Isaiah 55 2 why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and you labor for that which does not satisfy in Jesus own words

Matthew 5 6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for what they will be satisfied these verses speak of a heart that is satisfied and this can only happen one way that's through God's son

Jesus Christ who is the bread of life now this claim was even saying much more than just that it was also speaking of the exclusivity of Jesus Christ he says

I am the bread of life there is no other he is the only source to life and there is no other in John 14 6 and this is another one of the great

I am statements that we'll be covering in several weeks Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life no one can come to the father except through me in the world we live in there are two big red

X's I call it when it comes to the world's view of Christianity it's one that just blows them into a rage both of these one is the sovereignty of God and the other is the exclusivity of Christ with the sovereignty of God they cannot stand that God rules over their lives they cannot stand that there is only one truth and it is no way connected to what they think number two the exclusivity of Christ the world cannot and will not stand that there is only one way to salvation it can't be just one way they cannot stand that there's only one way to righteousness they cannot stand that there's only one way to God and that is through his son

Jesus Christ that is why there's so much persecution hate vitriol aimed at Christians when

Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life he is telling us to come and feast on him to be filled to overflowing to have life to have it more abundantly and to have it eternally he is not offering just some materialistic thing not some materialistic happiness that fades with time but the life to the fullest of satisfaction with Christ our heart is satisfied and we have the knowledge and the truth that he is with us that he is in us that we are in him and that one day he will return this is why

Jesus can make this claim in the second part of verse 35 whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst so here we have these two different things whoever comes to me whoever believes in me are these the same thing well not really but I like to say that it's really two sides to the same coin they're so closely tied together and once again what we have here is we have a cause and we have an effect from that clause and I'm going to try to explain this as simple as I can to believe in Christ is to have faith in Christ to have faith in Christ is to receive

God's testimony concerning his son Jesus Christ is to receive and know the truth the problem is we when we were lost we cannot receive

God's testimony much less understand it because we have a heart of stone we have a heart that is dead we have a heart that is darkness we must have a new heart a heart of flesh in order that we can receive and we can understand

God's testimony because that is spiritual

Jesus Christ God this book here is not just words it's spiritual and our hard heart before we were saved we cannot understand those things well so what had to happen this was accomplished through the work of the

Holy Spirit he is the cause of our new heart this gives us the ability him giving us our new heart to receive and understand

God's testimony about his son we receive this new heart and we understand we have belief we have faith so what is the effect from this cause of the

Holy Spirit the effect is we come to Christ we have faith we come to Christ and that's what he's talking about here it is a change in our nature it is our new heart going out to Jesus Christ in loving confidence and salvation is where these two things meet

Hebrews 11 6 write this down it's very important and without faith without belief without paraphrasing a little bit without belief without receiving and understanding

God's testimony about his son it is impossible to please him forever who would draw near whoever would come to God must believe they must have faith they must have these things that we've been talking about and believe what that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him we see here a cause and effect we have this faith because of the faith there's an effect we come to God we come to Jesus Christ we can clearly see here you must have faith you must have belief in order to draw near to come to God the key to obtaining a satisfied heart hinges on belief it hinges on faith in the person and the work of Jesus Christ so we've seen the heart of legalism we've seen the heart of stone we've seen a heart that is satisfied and now we're going to see a heart of disbelief verse 36

Jesus says but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe this is the undeniable picture of the unregenerate heart with original sin at work and natural man it gives evidence of the total depravity of man we've been talking about this on Wednesday night that was the first of the doctrines of grace even the sight of Jesus Christ in the flesh listening to his words of truth experiencing his miracle listening to all these words of truth witnessing his character it did not bring them to believe in him is because they had a heart of disbelief they couldn't believe it is because their natural man it is because of their heart their heart of darkness you see they didn't have the capacity and here's that word again to understand things that are spiritual this is because of our fallen nature we are in enmity with God now here we're at this verse again

I think two weeks ago I said this verse just just keeps popping up and it's second

I mean first Corinthians 2 14 this explains the heart of man the natural person does not accept the things of the

Spirit of God for they are folly the Greek word for this is also rendered as nonsense or foolishness so you could say they are folly nonsense and foolishness to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned well the flip side of this verse the direct contrast 180 degrees if you go to John 5 20 he tells us and we know that the son of God has come and has given us what understanding so that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son

Jesus Christ he is the true God and eternal life you see this verse tells us how we're given spiritual understanding it's

God's testimony how we can know it the cause of this understanding is the son of God the effect is we know him we are in him and we have eternal life you see the

Jews request for them to get for him to give him this bread always was worthless it was a valueless it had no value they trusted in Moses but they wouldn't believe in Christ they had a heart that could not believe a heart of disbelief so where was the failure why why this disbelief was it with God the father was it with his son

Jesus Christ was it with the Holy Spirit well as Paul said and I'm paraphrasing a little bit this can never be because there is no failure there can be no failure with God there can be no failure with Jesus Christ and there can be no failure with the

Holy Spirit if they can fail if the trying God can fail as the old saying goes the jig is up we will live in utter hopelessness we can have no hope if God can fail and next

Jesus' next words assures us of this truth God's purposes never fail we've seen the heart of legalism we've seen the heart of stone we've seen the heart that is satisfied we've seen the heart of disbelief and now we're going to take a look at the heart of eternal love and starting in verse 37 all that the

Father gives me will come to me whoever comes to me I will never cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me now

I'm going to take just a second Jesus is telling us why he came down the main purpose he came down is to do the

Father's will and for about the next five or four next four I am statements that's what we're going to be concentrating on is why did

Jesus come down who he was who he is and then the last two we're going to be focusing more on why is he going back to heaven so continuing in verse 39 and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last days and the

Jews grumbled about him I used to call him the pesky Jews but now I think I'm going to call him the grumbling Jews why did they grumble because Jesus said

I am the bread of life that came down from heaven they said is this not Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know how does he now say

I have come down from heaven and Jesus answered them do not grumble amongst yourselves no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day so back to verse 37 wow what a verse all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me

I will never cast out this is a clear statement and it contains promises and it's a beautiful picture of the eternal heart of love now

I want to cut this verse into three sections the first section is all that the father gives me and Jesus is clearly speaking here of a group of people that have been given to him by the father we see this again if you'll look down in verse 39 he's kind of repeating himself he says that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me notice past tense this has already occurred in chapter 10 verse 29 which we will talk about this is another one of the great

I am statements where Jesus is talking about being the door and the good shepherd he's explaining that his sheep will have eternal life and he states my father who has given them to me given these sheep to me which is those that are saved it's the elect is greater than all 2nd

Thessalonians 2 .13 but we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers beloved by the

Lord because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the spirit and belief there's that word again in the truth the big one concerning election is of course

Ephesians 1 4 through 5 even as he chose us in him when before the foundation of the world before time in eternity past when the decree was made why did he choose us that we should be holy and blameless before him in love the eternal heart of love at work he predestined us for adoption and if Jeremiah's in here here's that word that means adoptification to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will and I mean we could go on and on and on I could spend the rest of my time which is probably already down to zero talking about this and talking about the verses because the word elect election chose and chosen is in the

New Testament some 47 times it's not a strange obscure concept it's not a strange truth it is spoken about over and over again and somebody can't say that this is oh just from Paul because we see here that Jesus Christ is talking about it those given to Christ chosen in him before the foundation of the world in eternity past are

God's elect Jesus here is speaking of the election the choosing of the father of the saints before time began

John in his first gospel 419 this is an awesome verse and it speaks of this we love because he loved us first okay what he is saying here is we do not even have the capacity to love we don't even understand or know what love is much less love

God unless God loved us first and that is exactly what he did

God's electing eternal love which was undeserved we didn't deserve it we didn't do anything to earn it preceded us if it was not for his love and his grace we would never have had the capacity to love him he loved us first and he will love us always and here we have another one of the doctrines of grace unconditional election the second section of this verse we talked about all the father gives me this next phrase will come to me we see that the eternal loving purpose of the father the sovereign will of the lord most high cannot be frustrated it will happen all that have been given to Jesus will come to him it's been determined it's been decreed nothing

I repeat nothing the evil ones man's will, man's depravity man's inability man's enmity nothing can subvert the will of the sovereign

God Christ's mission on earth would have been an abject failure had not the father determined that the son would have the trophies of his victory we sang about that Jesus Christ's victory and the reward of his coming to earth again we see another one of the doctrines of grace irresistible grace they will come to me

Acts 13 48 and when the gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed we were redeemed in particular he loves us uniquely with sacrificial love the third section we've said all the father gives me will come to me and now whoever comes to me

I will never cast out you see in this whole the scripture here this verse 37 he says all the father gives me will come to me and then he says

I will never cast them out if you have doubt if you have confusion if you do not believe in this first will then you can't believe and have confidence in the second will if you do not believe that the father gives me will come to me then you can't believe that you will not be cast out because they're all the providence of God they're all based on God's eternal love for us we have seen in each person that the father has given to Christ in eternity past will come to him in time they come to Jesus a lost sinner to be saved having nothing nothing to offer him and in return they will receive everything that Jesus promised to never cast them out is a guarantee that he will surely keep them and here we have another of the doctrines of grace perseverance of the saints the cause for which

God is determined to bestow his electing love on the sinner are completely based on God alone it's not based on anything on the believer nothing in the believer's heart or conduct can finally even change the purpose of God's eternal love towards us

Titus 3, 4, and 5 but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared he saved us not because of the works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the

Holy Spirit there was a cause here there was a cause of our salvation and it wasn't our works it was

God it's not until we can come to understand that our salvation is not dependent on our weak and wavering love of God but rather upon his eternal and unchanging love for us that we can have peace and certainty in the outcome of this

Christian life Philippians 1, 6 and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ so verse 38 and 40 to move on for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me here

Jesus is repeating himself and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day and again this is a beautiful picture of the eternal loving heart of the obedient servant doing his father's will these doctrines that we've been talking about they're so important that Jesus is actually repeating himself here in this section of scripture he's telling them again what the father's will is he's being redundant so why can't

I okay when we see that coming to Christ is not because of our own will not what we want not what we desire but is the effect of the father's drawing us to the

Savior then we can understand our security doesn't rest in us or anything that we do but upon the father's loving choice and the son's obedient heart of love verse 39 and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that is giving to him but raise it up on the last day the truth of the matter is eternal predestination guarantees eternal preservation these are the two bookends of salvation these are the two bookends of the triune

God's eternal love for us eternal predestination and eternal preservation with our

Lord Jesus Christ what was the result of all this? what was the result of these doctrines and this truth?

the Jews grumbled about him in 43 through 44

Jesus answered them do not grumble amongst yourselves and he kind of triples down no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day so we see in this verse the father drawing those that have been elected those who come to Jesus Christ and as I pointed out repeatedly man's hope for salvation does not lie outside of divine action the word that's used here the

Greek word for drawing it's a strong one it means putting forth of power and obliging the object seized responds willingly it's the power of the

Holy Spirit overcoming the self righteous heart it's the power of the

Holy Spirit overcoming the hard heart the heart that cannot believe the heart of natural man it is the

Holy Spirit convincing him giving him understanding of his lost condition it's the

Holy Spirit awakening within him a sense of need creating in him a hunger for the bread of life his heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh and he doesn't just walk to Jesus Christ he runs to Jesus Christ because he knows that is his only hope period he has been born again a scholar said salvation is most exactly suited to the sinner's needs but is not at all suited to his natural inclinations the gospel is too spiritual for his carnal mind it is too humbling for his pride it is too exacting for his rebellious will too lofty for his dark understanding and too holy for his earthbound desires now

I want to do a comparison here in verse 44 I'm going to repeat myself it says and no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day and then if you'll look back up at verse 40 it says for this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day well when you combine these two verses when you take them together it shows us that it was not

God's plan to save every member of the human race if God has elected some and not others to eternal life then plainly the primary purpose of Christ's work was to redeem the elect verse 40 clears us tells us clearly tells us that it's the will of my father that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life but then he turns around and tells us but no one can come to me no one can do what's in 40 unless the father who has sent me draws him it is the act of the father's drawing and it was based on the decision in eternity for some to be elect to be drawn by the father to come to the son and others not to be

Matthew 20 28 states even as the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many not as ransom for everybody not as ransom for everyone or for all but for many and this is the last of the five doctrines of grace limited atonement so at the beginning of this sermon

I communicated to you that these I am statements especially this first one is foundational it's foundational whoops especially in regards to the salvation the workings of salvation you see

Jesus is the bread of life descended from heaven to provide what we need what our nature requires what it is missing and that is hope that is eternal life that is a way to God the father in righteousness we've seen the heart of legalism we've seen the heart of stone we've seen the heart of disbelief and all the three of these are wrapped up in the heart of natural man in John 6 through 60 and I'm about to close you know

Vody Bachman one time said and I thought of this because I knew I was going to go long that's why I hadn't even looked at my watch and I'll explain more in the sermon discussion but he said

I'm not going to apologize for going short on Christ's word so and I told my wife too this

I said I'll give him a minute shorter for the next 20 sermons I preach to make up for anyways

John 6 60 through 66 when many of his disciples heard it they said this is a hard saying who can listen to it but Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling like the

Jews about this said to them do you take offense at this then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before what if you used to see

Jesus going back up into the clouds to heaven it is the spirit who gives life the flesh is no help at all the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life but there are some of you who do not believe and this is important for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him and he said this is why

I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the father after this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with Jesus they said this is a hard saying who can listen to it and after he spoke more truth to them many turned back and no longer walked with Jesus why well it is simple they were only walking with Jesus there is a difference they were not walking in Jesus they weren't in Christ they were mainly just with him and walking with him it goes beyond just a head knowledge of liking

Jesus it goes way beyond that it is being in Christ they couldn't get past their heart of stone they couldn't get past their heart of disbelief of legalism of religion what a sad statement sadly we see evidence of this all around us in our community and in the world many take offense many turn back many turn away many no longer even walk with him

Jesus Christ the son of God has come to earth and is standing in their midst speaking the truth and still many do not know him in light of this

I want us to consider the eternal heart of love as it goes out to us this heart that loved us first I want to read a small poem by Dr.

G .S. Bishop t 'was the father's eternal love that knew us earth's foundation long before the same love to Jesus and drew us by its sweet constraining power will keep us safely now and evermore let's pray father we just thank you we thank you so much for your promises we thank you so much that you have revealed not only who you are but who your son is through your word and we rest on that truth father if there's any hearts in here of disbelief of stone of legalism lord and they have heard these words and they know who

Jesus Christ is I just pray that they would come forward and talk to pastor

Nathan pastor Jeremiah or myself I pray this in Christ's name amen amen thank you pastor

Keith if I know we've gone a lot longer than normal so if any of you families need to get up and around and move around you can do so but we are going to go ahead and open the table for those of you that would like to come and partake pastor

Jeremiah will be over on the side, pastor Keith will be over here if you are in Christ today you're in good standing with an evangelical church we welcome you to the table today and we pray that God will be honored in it so let me pray and we will come around and get the elements and we will go ahead and transition into our time of Koinonia feast as we get this wrapped up so let's go ahead and pray that God will be honored

Lord we thank you this morning we pray that you would be honored in our worship through coming to these elements as we've seen that you

Christ Jesus are the bread of life Lord and we partake of these elements and just a taste of the sacrifice of your blood that was spilled for us and your body given for us we thank you help us have grateful hearts as we worship you through this ordinance in Christ's name amen