John 6:22-27
Looking In All the Wrong Places
Two weeks ago, we looked at the first miracle in this chapter, the
feeding of the 5,000 men. Last week, we saw that instead of John
following his normal mode of operation and recording a sermon after
the miracle, that Jesus was interrupted by those who wanted to force
Him to be their king, so Jesus left that area, performing no less
than five miracles in that relocation.
However, Jesus did preach a message based on the feeding of the
5,000, and John does record it. That message began the next morning
in the synagogue of Capernaum \\#John 6:59\\, when people come
seeking for the Bread Giver.
Let’s consider the sermon in sections:
I. \\#22-27, 30-33\\ The people were seeking the wrong bread.
A. \\#22-25\\ The people came to Jesus, wondering how He got
across the Sea of Galilee.
1. This was not a major issue.
a. The Sea was not extremely large and people who walked
as their main source of transportation could easily
walk the few miles around it.
b. Jesus never answered that question, apparently not
wanting anyone but His disciples to know how He came
across the sea.
c. And the question was soon forgotten.
d. However, this account does raise a question about the
traditional location of the feeding of the 5,000.
(1) Traditional location is Tabgha.
(2) It is only about 1 1/2 miles from Capernaum.
(3) The question raised is why would the ship have
ever been 3 to 4 miles in the water Jesus feed
the people just a short distance away?
(4) The Biblical account makes me think that the real
location of the feeding of the 5,000 was not near
Capernaum but on the other side of the sea.
2. \\#26-27\\ Regardless Jesus uses the question and the
miracle He had done to preach and John gives us the
sermon.
B. Jesus told the people that they were seeking the wrong bread.
1. \\#26\\ They were looking for bread that only filled their
stomachs. Jesus was offering them Bread that filled
their souls.
a. Man’s emphasis is on the PHYSICAL. We are more
interested in the wrapper than we what’s in the
package.
b. From 1997 to 2011, plastic surgery procedures grew
from 2.1 million to 9.2. The industry went from
belonging to the rich and the famous to the common.
c. Almost $10 billion was spend on plastic surgery.
d. Most of those procedures and that money did
not improve the people’s health or well being.
2. \\#27\\ They were "laboring" for their bread. Jesus was
offering them Bread as a gift.
a. Man’s emphasis is on what he can do for himself.
b. Maybe it is part of sin’s curse or maybe we have been
condition by the curse to think we have to earn or
work for our salvation.
3. They were looking for a bread that would perish. Jesus was
offering them Bread that was eternal.
a. Man’s emphasis is on the temporal.
b. The word "eternal" is used 2x in this chapter and
"everlasting" is used 3x.
c. What Jesus was offering would last forever.
4. \\#30-32\\ They wanted bread like what Moses gave the
people. Jesus was offering them Bread that came from God.
a. Man’s emphasis is on tradition. We want to see what
those before us saw.
b. God wants to give us something better than anything
that has ever been!
C. It must have grieved God’s heart to be standing right in front
of the people but they could not see Him!
II. \\#34-35\\ This Bread is Jesus.
A. Jesus proclaimed that He is the Bread of Life \\#34, 41, 48\\.
1. Bread is the essential of life. We cannot live without
it.
2. In the same verse, Jesus refers to His ability to satisfy
our thirst. (The sermon in John 4.)
3. These two are the two essentials of life.
B. What does it mean?
1. Without Jesus, there is no life.
a. You have no life without Jesus.
b. Someone says that I am alive now. Only as a starving
and dehydrated person is alive. You are in a state
of slow, agonizing death.
c. \\#47-51\\ With Jesus, we will never die. In fact, we
will not even suffer death’s effects.
2. Jesus is the complete Meal! He is everything we need for
life!
a. He is Bread and Water; however, Jesus used these terms
because they were the most basic and universal.
b. Jesus was giving the truth that He satisfies all our
needs and longings!
c. He is our sweet tea and steak and potatoes, cooked
just like you like it.
III. \\#28, 24\\ How do we get this Bread of Life?
A. There is one clear answer and one curious expression.
1. \\#28-29, 40\\ The clear answer is to come to Jesus and
believe on Him.
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall
we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent.
John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent
me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life:
and I will raise him up at the last day.
a. The answer is to accept Jesus.
(1) Accept who the Bible said He was.
(2) Accept what the Bible said He did.
(3) Accept what the Bible said He will do.
b. That is believing, having faith, trusting Jesus, and a
host of other terms.
c. To believe does not exclude repentance.
(1) Jesus and John the Baptist both have and will
tell us the importance of repentance.
(2) However, the kind of believing that Jesus
requires is believing to the place that it
changes your life.
(3) Any other believing is insufficient for salvation.
2. \\#51, 53-58\\ The curious expression is that we must
"eat" Jesus’ flesh.
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down
from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he
shall live for ever: and the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world.
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the
last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live
by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from
heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and
are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live
for ever.
a. The word "eat" means eat.
b. It is used 10 times in this chapter and means the same
thing every single time.
B. Jesus’ expression caused immediate confusion.
John 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among
themselves, saying, How can this man give us
his flesh to eat?
John 6:60 Many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said, This is an
hard saying; who can hear it?
John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples
went back, and walked no more with him.
1. Why did Jesus use this expression? The same as always,
Because He wanted to get some important truth across.
2. What about those who were offended?
a. Jesus did not make getting saved easy.
b. \\#37, 44\\ He made it a Holy Ghost dependent work. If
the Holy Ghost was not drawing, they were not going
to get saved no matter how easy Jesus made His words.
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day.
c. There is also come character required in the hearer.
(1) There must be humble heart, like a child.
(2) There must be hungry heart, willing to learn,
willing to dig until you find the truth.
Mr 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you,
nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off
the dust under your feet for a testimony against
them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of
judgment, than for that city.
Ac 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and
said, It was necessary that the word of God
should first have been spoken to you: but seeing
ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
(3) Salvation is to be offered, never forced, upon
any human being!
C. What does this expression mean? (Three possibilities)
1. Jesus wanted us to be cannibals.
(1) Some of the heathen thought this, especially in
the early days of Christianity.
(2) Impossible for Jesus’ body was never eaten and,
in fact, never saw corruption as He was raised
from the dead on the third day.
2. A mystic or magical cannibalism.
(1) Catholics believe that the communion becomes the
body and blood of Jesus.
(2) They call it the Eucharist and list partaking of
it on their list of requirements for salvation.
(3) \\#53-58\\ And if they are in anyway correct
about this command be literal, we would have to
find some way to partake of Jesus’ body to be
saved.
3. Purely symbolic
(1) Jesus was instructing us that to be saved, we
must make Him one with us. We are to partake of
Jesus just as the Jews partook of the Passover
Lamb.
(2) A symbolic command would leave the literal
commands for salvation to be faith and
repentance \\#28-29\\.
IV. How long does this Bread of Life last?
A. Jesus introduces us to a new term.
1. It will be used only in John’s gospel.
2. It will be used 6x throughout the gospel but 4 in this
chapter.
B. The term is "the last day." \\#John 6:39, 40, 44, 54\\
1. The last day is the resurrection day (all of the above
references and \\#John 11:24\\.
2. \\#John 12:48\\ says it is also the day of judgment.
3. That leads me to believe this is the Jewish resurrection
not the Christian.
a. Christians are raised at the rapture and judged at
the Bema Seat.
b. While we do not know when the Bema Seat will take
place, many believe there will be one Bema Seat for
all the saved (church age, tribulation saints, and
millennial saints).
c. While on heaven’s time it will all happen the same
day, from earth’s perspective, that will be 1007
year after the rapture.
d. The Jews will be raised after the tribulation and it
would seem will be judged and granted positions in
the millennium based on their service.
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