We turn this morning in the Old Testament to a familiar passage, Isaiah 55. One of the reasons that we use an Old Testament reading along with the New Testament is to show how the two connect. And as you listen to these words, listen for the offer that is posed, and then we'll see the offer made again through our Savior. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Listen that you may live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you according to the faithful mercy shown to David. Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you. Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you." Come, come, buy and eat. Now we turn to John chapter 6. We pick up at verse 30. And we'll read through verse 35. So they said to him, What then do you do for a sign, so that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, he gave them bread out of heaven to eat. Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, always give us this bread. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. That's God's blessing. Father, as we come this morning to your word, may we hear the voice of our Savior and may that voice penetrate to the depths of our hearts Leave none of us untouched, O Lord. Move us, draw us by your sovereign grace and power. For we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. There is nothing more universally understood than the sensations of hunger and of thirst. People the world over know that gnawing feeling when the stomach is empty. Likewise, we can all identify with slaking thirst, that feeling that we just need to get a drink of water soon. Throughout history, mankind has devoted enormous resources to satisfy these recurring needs. Whether it is finding, preparing, and enjoying food, or locating sources of water for refreshments, this is always a top priority for the human race. Perhaps because it is so commonplace, we don't tend to think much about hunger or thirst. at least not in an analytical sense. We may consider how to subdue our hunger pangs, but do we think theologically about the sensation of hunger? The people in Jesus' audience were certainly no strangers to the sensations of hunger and thirst. But this crowd doesn't appear to have pondered these sensations very deeply. So as they continue to badger the Savior, the ongoing topic of discussion is hunger for bread. Jesus takes them to a deeper level as this dialogue unfolds and thus he reveals the true bread from heaven. So let's listen in on their discussion by first of all considering an impertinence question. Then we want to see Jesus' corrective and finally Jesus' well-intentioned offer. In order to evaluate the question posed by the Jews, we need to remember what Jesus had just said to them. In cautioning them against a works righteousness scheme, He had called them to believe in Him whom the Father had sent. This is a clear call to faith in Jesus Christ. Now, you might expect that they would respond in some obvious way to this call. Yes, Lord, we do believe in You. We want to be Your disciples. But instead, they ask a question. what I would term an impertinent question. It is impertinent because they are ignoring the offer just made by asking this question. They're essentially squelching the offer by insisting that he now meet their expectations. Now lest you think I'm being too hard on these Jews, Just look ahead to verse 41 where these same people are grumbling about Jesus' claims and disputing with him about his authority to even make such claims. So what exactly do they ask? What is their question? Typical of the Jewish mindset, they demand a sign. What then do you do for a sign, so that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Once again, the context shows us the inappropriate nature of this demand. Jesus had just performed a stunning sign by feeding over 5,000 people from a few loaves of barley bread and a couple of small fish. The twelve basketfuls of leftovers spoke volumes about Jesus' supernatural abilities. Recall, too, that some of those folk had been so impressed at the moment that they wanted to make him ting by force, and so he would become the front man for Jewish independence. But now, just a little over 24 hours later, they are saying, what sign will you show us? And we wonder, was any further sign needed? Hadn't the feeding of the 5,000 been enough? Wouldn't that suffice to show who he was and why he could make such an offer as he made? It's also the case that they were demanding a visible sign before they would believe him. They wanted to see him perform some great work before they would stoop to become his followers. And here is how natural man functions. He exalts himself over Christ and begins dictating the terms as if he has the right to make demands that Christ must meet. This is raw arrogance. It is pure pride. But this is not all. They go on to make haughty but misguided claims about Moses. By reiterating the story of the manna, they assumed that it was Moses who gave them bread out of heaven to eat but the he in that statement they quote doesn't refer to Moses but rather it refers to God most of the commentators agree that the Jews were referring to Psalm 78 verse 24 and in that Psalm the he is clearly Yahweh, Jehovah. It is the Lord Himself. So it was not Moses who did this, but it was God. They are misquoting and misusing and misunderstanding the Scriptures. And yet they confidently play their trump card thinking that they've got an ironclad case against Jesus. Well, the real problem here is not a lack of credible evidence, but the clear lack of humility on the part of the Jews. Their pride got in the way of thinking clearly. They had just been called to faith by the Messiah himself, but their hearts were hard and their minds were darkened. They were suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and they were displaying an arrogant autonomy. And we need to keep this in mind as we're dealing with unbelievers in our society, in our culture. The unbelievers who are out there are not well-meaning, innocent, neutral people. who would just probably believe at the drop of a hat if given half an opportunity. If you assume that, you don't know very much about human nature. You're not watching very closely because that's not how sinful fallen man works. Sinful fallen man is pushing the truth down. He's not lifting it up or waiting for it to be presented so He can embrace it. He is actually subverting the truth. And He is doing this not out of some good and godly motive. He is doing it in unrighteousness because He hates the truth and He doesn't want to face it. And so He's pushing it down constantly. And as He is pushing the truth down, He is exalting Himself as if He is the Lord of heaven and earth. And he is going around making these wild claims and pretending to be God and demanding that God meet his expectations. And this is just arrogance. The human heart in its fallen condition is just riddled with arrogance. And it is also full of autonomy. Autonomy is the desire to be a law unto yourself. To be your own king. To make your own rules. To live according to your own ideas. It's the idea that I'm not going to submit to anyone, so don't tell me what to do. I'll live as I please. I'll do as I choose. I'm the captain of my own ship. I'm the master of my own destiny. And I'll make up the rules that I will follow. Thank you. And that's the heart of man. The heart of man is not saying, Oh Lord, show us how we are to live. Show us what you want from us. The heart of fallen man is saying, God, if you want me to come around, you're going to have to answer some questions to my satisfaction, and you're going to have to meet some of my demands. Because if you don't meet my demands, there's no deal. I'm not going to submit to you, but you submit to me." And so the heart of man is constantly exalting itself. And these Jews are doing just that. This is not a neutral discussion where they're just saying, you know, we just need a little more information and we're very likely to come around. Just tell us a little more. He's saying, come to me and receive the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. And they say, what sign are you going to show us? So that we may see and then we'll decide whether we're going to believe or not. And so these Jews are just impertinent. They're constantly chafing against the Lord, even though he is offering to them the one and only thing that can solve their problems and give them what satisfies. Well, as he had done before, Jesus shows stout courage in replying to the Jewish misunderstandings. He wades into confrontation in order to correct their wrong-headed ideas about Moses and Manna. He prefaces his comments with the sobering words, Truly, truly, I say unto you, Amen, Amen. And when we hear Jesus use that repetition, it reminds us to listen carefully to what He is about to say. It's a verbal indicator that what follows is going to be vitally important. To their assumption that Moses was the one who gave the bread out of heaven, Jesus says to them, no, you're wrong. Moses was not the one who provided the manna. Now this is a case both historically and theologically. Historically, we see that God told Moses that bread would come down from heaven in the morning by divine instigation. God would distribute the manna. This is plainly what Exodus 16 verse 4 teaches. Listen to that verse. It says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether or not they will walk in my instruction." What does God say? Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for them. And then what happens? God rains bread from heaven. It was God who gave. That's just the historical record of what actually took place. So they're wrong on the historical front, but they're also wrong theologically. How could Moses, a mere sinful man, bring bread from heaven to feed the hungry Israelite nation? Only God could dispense such a provision. And even if Moses were to perform a miracle, it would still be the Holy Spirit of God who was bringing the bread and supplying the manna. And so it was not theologically possible that Moses could be the one who provided. Only God can make such a provision. So they're wrong on both fronts. Historically, they're inaccurate. Theologically, they're off base. It wasn't Moses. It couldn't have been Moses. But the errors don't stop there. For all of their professed love of signs, they had seriously misread the sign of manna. They assumed that manna pointed to a continual supply of physical and earthly bread. The kind of bread that you can really sink your teeth into. Apparently there had been some rabbis who had taught that when the Messiah came, the supply of manna would be restored again. So these Jews are still thinking about how to fill their stomachs and they hadn't seen what manna had pointed to all along. Jesus will spell this out later in the discourse, but even here he hints that they need to look to the Father who gives the true bread out of heaven. Now there's an interesting shift in verse 32 of the text, and you can see this even in English. Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven. Now that verb, has given you, is in the past tense. But, it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. Now, gives is in the present tense. It's shifting from past tense, what God did in the days of Moses, to present tense what God is doing right now. And this shift here in verse 32 from past tense to present tense suggests that Jesus is talking about what was happening that day, that moment, in their own midst. So even right now, God the Father is providing you the true bread out of heaven. Now he makes the point unmistakably plain in verse 35 when he says, I am the bread of life. Here and now, right here, God the Father is offering you the true bread of life. The bread that has come down out of heaven and I am it. Eat of me and live eternally. And so Jesus here is trying to guide them away from their false assumptions, their false understanding of an ancient event, and to bring them into the present and say, look at what's happening right here, right now to you! To you, Jews! The Father is offering you, me, the bread of life. Don't be yearning for some ancient manna or some eschatological expectation that manna would again start falling on the nation of Israel. I'm here now for you and God is giving me to you. Take me, eat of me and live. I am the one who comes to give life to the world. That's what he's telling them here. But the Jews simply don't understand it at all. They are so locked into their expectations that they cannot see what he is really saying. One of my seminary professors, old Dr. Long, used to say, a person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still. And these people were of the same opinion. All they could think about was earthly bread, and Moses, and manna, and primarily filling their growling, empty stomachs. Jesus attempts to lift their eyes to heaven to see that God the Father was offering them the one and only thing that would ever satisfy. The Father was offering the Son to them. If only they would drop their proud resistance and simply believe on Him." J.C. Ryle in his commentary makes the comparison for us. He says, wonderful and miraculous as the manna was which fell from heaven, it was nothing in comparison to the true bread which Christ had to bestow on His disciples. He himself was the bread of God who had come down from heaven to give life to the world. The bread which fell in the days of Moses could only feed and satisfy the body. The Son of Man had come to feed the soul. The bread which fell in the days of Moses was only for the benefit of Israel. The Son of Man had come to offer eternal life to the world. Those who ate the manna died and were buried, and many of them were lost forever. but those who ate the bread which the Son of Man provided would be eternally saved." Now, you can see how short-sighted these Jews were. They're being offered the true bread of God, the true bread come down from heaven, which bestows not just temporary earthly life, but gives eternal life. And what do they prefer? Manna. A bit of bread to fill their mouths for a time. But as we know, that manna did not last. What was consumed was digested and eliminated. Jesus makes this point in the Gospels. What was not consumed grew maggots and sank and had to be thrown out. So you would prefer that to what Jesus is offering? He's given you the key to eternity and you're saying we'd rather have a crust of bread to chew on for a few minutes. Because that's the better choice. Eternity, well, we'll leave it. Oh, but give us something to eat now, because we are hungry and we want lunch. And so you see, they're just completely blinded to reality. They're groping about in darkness, and yet they're thinking that somehow they are wiser than Christ. when in reality they are more foolish than the heathen. Well as for their response in verse 34, Lord always give us this bread, it must be viewed as simplistic, naive, and a bit disingenuous. If they really wanted what he offered, all they had to do was to believe on Him and receive eternal life. And yet they won't, as the further dialogue will make painfully obvious. Their clouded minds continue to misunderstand and all they really want is an unending, inexhaustible source of free earthly bread. What they do not want is Christ. And thus they refused his offer again, hoping, hoping for a short-term provision of food to take its place. I think it's very interesting that these same Jews, this same wicked generation that refused the offer, would then later on find themselves being besieged in Jerusalem And as the Roman armies kept them locked up, there was no bread to eat. And everything that could be eaten was eaten, and they were having to starve to death. Many of those Jews that died didn't die at Roman swords, they died by starvation. Because they refused the living bread, He even took away the earthly bread. Despite their stubborn refusals, Jesus goes ahead and he makes the well-intended offer. This is a good faith proposal and it begins with the words, I am the bread of life. And in these words, Jesus reveals himself as the true manna, the true bread come down from heaven. The manna in the wilderness was a type. Jesus is the anti-type. That bread was a shadow. Jesus is the substance. And there's a sense that this is even true for the daily bread that we enjoy today. Every single mouthful points us subtly, yet powerfully, to the only one who can satisfy our hunger, the only one who can quench our thirst. Before I left for church this morning, I made up a half of a loaf of one of my favorite garlic bread. and I put the butter on thick and I sprinkled the garlic salt on and I wrapped it up in tin foil and it is sitting in the oven waiting for the timer to go off at about eleven thirty so that when I get home there's hot garlic bread waiting for me and there is nothing I enjoy more than sinking my teeth into a nice soft piece of garlic bread and having the butter dripping down my chin As I eat that garlic bread at lunch, it should point me to the true bread of life. Everything that we eat should be pointing us to the true food that satisfies us eternally. And when you are feeling hungry at about 11.25 and you're thinking, how much longer can this Sunday school class last? I want to go home and have my lunch because I'm hungry. Come on, Pastor, finish. I'm hungry." Those hunger pangs should speak to you and say, are you hungry for Christ? Do you hunger and thirst after Him and His righteousness? And then as you go and satisfy that craving, think, think, think about your soul Think about the provision He gives you. And this is even true tonight as we come together to the Lord's table, as we will eat the bread and drink the cup. It is again a reminder that our hungry souls thirst and hunger for the only one that can satisfy. You see, in this way we sanctify these hunger and thirst hangs to our souls. And we realize, oh, the whole world around me is constantly pointing me to Him who alone can satisfy the deepest yearnings and cravings of my eternal soul. Well, in addition to revealing Himself to be the true bread from heaven, He promises that those who come to Him will not hunger and those who believe on Him will never thirst again. Jesus will so entirely and thoroughly satisfy our longings and our cravings that we'll never again hunger or thirst for anything. This is the promise of the Gospel. It's the benefit extended to you And it's not merely talking about those physical sensations of body, but the deeper and more mysterious longings of our souls. Listen to how the great Saint Augustine puts it in his confessions. He says, Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised. Great is thy power and thy wisdom infinite, and thee would man praise. man, but a particle of thy creation, man that bears about him his mortality, the witness of his sin, the witness that thou resisteth the proud. Yet would man praise thee, he but a particle of thy creation. Thou awakens us to delight in thy praise, for thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is restless until it repose in thee." Do you feel that restlessness of heart and soul? Do you feel that longing, that searching, and the sense that things here in this world just don't ever satisfy? I mean, it seems to satisfy for a time, but that new car gets rusty and ends up in the junkyard. That house that just seems to be the be-all end-all just slowly decays and has to be repaired. Or that relationship that you thought would be the one thing that would satisfy ends up at times being deeply disappointing and sometimes outright frustrating. And you're just always searching and searching and grasping, where is it? I want it. I need it. I'm restless. I'm longing for something. But nothing satisfies it because it's God. And our restless hearts are constantly searching and seeking until we find Him and we rest in Him and we say, oh, this is what I've been looking for. This is what I've been longing for. This is what I'm hungering for. I want God. And now I've found Him and now I am at rest. And all the striving and straining and searching is over because I have found the one my soul craves. You see, that's what God is providing to us through Christ. He is saying, you're hungry, take and eat my Son who is the bread of life and let Him satisfy you. So here in this passage, we discover the free offer of the Gospel, the well-intentioned offer of the Gospel. And I would just simply put it to you today like this. Come to Jesus today. Believe on Him now. And you are going to discover that He will meet every single one of your needs and He will fulfill the deepest longings of your heart and life. You are going to find Him to be all in all and beyond the wildest expectations or imaginations you could conjure up. You will not be disappointed if you come to Him in faith and embrace Him as He is being presented before you now. When I was a child, I was part of the Calvinist Cadets. And as Calvinist Cadets, we had to raise money for the cause of the Calvinist Cadets. So it was either sell light bulbs or magazine subscriptions. I hated this. I mean, I really despised this. But I would go out to friends and neighbors, and I would say, you want to buy some light bulbs? Would you like a magazine subscription? And part of my sense, my apprehension over this is, what if they don't like the light bulbs? Or what if the magazines they order don't ever show up? There's always that nagging sense of, am I selling something which is good? Or am I offering something which will turn out to disappoint? I think every salesman on the planet has always had this nagging, niggling feeling. Is my product worthy of a purchase or not? But I have no qualms and no anxieties about offering you Christ. fully expecting He will exceed everything you hope for. I'm not a salesman, but I am presenting the gospel and saying to you, if you'll just take this at face value, if you'll just believe in Him, you'll have no regrets. There will be no sense of, I've been sold a bill of goods. I'm left holding an empty bag. No, no, no. You're going to find that He is extraordinarily exceptional, beyond human description. So I plead with you today, be reconciled to God through Christ. Embrace Jesus. He is here for you now. Let's pray. Lord, please, please, by your grace and mercy, open hearts to believe and to receive this gospel, this Christ, this bread, that you have provided in your sovereign grace and goodness. For we know, Lord, that only you can open a sinner's heart to believe the gospel and to embrace it and to hold it fast. Would you, to the glory of your sovereign grace and goodness, would you change hearts and lives here today I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.