A Full Stomach vs. a Hungry Heart, Part 2 is from a series of sermons based on John chapter six.

Learn more from the complete series of A Full Stomach vs. a Hungry Heart:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

In Part 2, the sermon compares temporary physical bread that sustains the flesh and everlasting spiritual bread that sustains the soul.

Key verses:
John 6:30-58

Take your Bible if you will and turn with me to the Gospel of John chapter six, John chapter six. Last Sunday evening we began a series titled A Full Stomach or a Hungry Heart and we are looking at the difference and the contrast and the similarity of spiritual bread versus physical bread. This continues, to begin with, I want us to read verse 35. We’re going to eventually be looking at verses 30 to 58 but to begin with it, let’s just read John 6 and verse 35.

Life-Saving Bread

John 6:35: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Just to review a little bit from last Sunday evening, in verse 27, after Jesus had fed the 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and two fish, they followed Him across the Sea of Galilee. Now, this is one of the great stories of miracles in the life of the Lord Jesus where the disciples had launched out in their boat, and they were crossing the Sea of Galilee and He met them walking on the water. But the crowd followed Him to the other side. And here, in verse 27, He said:

John 6:27: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.”

He’s saying that there is a meat or bread, and by the way, when you read the word “meat,” often in the Bible it just means food. It doesn’t necessarily mean beef and it almost never means pork. The law forbade the eating of pork. But quite often, it just means food.

So, there is meat which is temporary. That means it perishes. You can eat today; you’re going to be hungry again tomorrow. Then there’s that meat which is everlasting and that brings eternal life. Now, there were some who were following Jesus in in John six, who are wanting Him to feed their body, but He didn’t come just to feed their body. He did that on at least two occasions, three, now that I think about it, but that’s not why He came. He came to give life to the soul. In verse 26, Jesus answered them and said:

John 6:26: “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”

Verses 28 and 29:

John 6:28: “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?”

That’s a good question they want to know, what to do to work the works of God. When they are asking that question, they’re saying, “We want to do God’s work.” Then they’re probably really saying, “What can we do to work our way to Heaven?” First of all, you cannot work your way to heaven, but I think that’s what some of them had in mind. So, in 28 or 29 rather:

John 6:29: “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

That’s, do you want to know what work you need to do to get to Heaven? You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what you need to do. So, there were those who thought they could work their way to Heaven. There were those who perhaps wanted to serve the Lord, but the Lord said what we need to do is believe on Him.

Show Us a Sign

Now look at verse 30. This is where we begin tonight

John 6:30: “They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?”

I want you to think just a minute with me about that question. They asked Him a question, “What sign show us thou then, that we may believe? Show us a sign. Show us a sign that we’ll believe in you. You say we should believe in you. Show us a sign that we believe in you.” Folks 2,000 years ago were just about like people today. They said, “Well if  there’s a God, why doesn’t He show himself?” He does.

One young man said to me years ago, and he said, “If this God of yours is real, why doesn’t He come to Earth and show himself?” I said, “Well, He did.” He thought a minute and he said, “You’re talking about Jesus.” I said, “Yes, I’m talking about Jesus.”

But they had to ask about what work they needed to do, and He answered them and now they’re asking for a sign. Now, if your Bible is open to John chapter six, look back at verse two if you will. I’m in John six, verse two.

John 6:2: “And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.”

A great multitude followed Him. Why was there a great multitude following Him? Because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased. So, a large crowd is following Him. How many? Well, we know later in the chapter that more than 5,000 people were following Him. But they followed Him. Why? Because they saw His miracles He did on them which were diseased. What miracles did He do on them which were diseased? He healed them. And then, in verse 10 and 11, Jesus sees that they’re hungry:

John 6:10: “And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.”

John 6:11: “And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.”

So, He took those few loaves of bread and those two fish and He fed more than 5,000 people. Five barley loaves and two fish. So, they’ve seen Him heal the sick. They’ve seen Him feed thousands of people with five little loaves of bread, and we’re not talking about a loaf of bread like you buy in the store. You’re talking about something like that and two fish, probably not large fish. And what do they say? “Show us a sign so we believe?” How much sign is it that you want? You know, I mean, after what you’ve seen, why are you still asking for a sign? That’s human nature, and again, the folks then were not so different than folks today.

Healing the sick and feeding the multitude should have been enough to convince them, but they’re asking this question. The ones who were asking this question probably did not see Him walking on the water. There were only a few who had seen that, the 12 who were in the boat. So, they will give them credit for that. But even if they had, the indication here is that they would still be asking for a sign. “Show us a sign that we can believe.” I think they wanted Him to do the loaves and fish miracle again. I really do. Or else they wanted Him to bring down manna from Heaven so that they could eat. They were so materially minded that they could not see the truth of God. Look at verse 31:

John 6:31: “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

Why, you feed 5,000 people plus, you heal the sick. They probably, again, hadn’t even heard about Him walking on the water. But they say, “You know, when Moses was here, people got fed every day and they did, for a lot of years, they got fed every day, and the manna came every day. You do something like that. I mean, we had a good meal the other day. We want to have more.”

They’re thinking about that which is physical and that which is material, and they’re not thinking about that which is eternal. Look at verse 32:

John 6:32: “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.”

“You want me to do what Moses did? Moses didn’t give you that bread. You know he didn’t. Moses prayed to the Lord. But the Lord gave it, and He gave it every day. “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven: but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.” Verse 33:

John 6:33: “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”

Do you know what He’s telling them? “That manna that you read about, that you heard about, that your ancestors ate, that wasn’t the real bread from Heaven, that wasn’t the real bread of life. My Father gave it to you so that you would have a picture of Him who was to come.” Well, how is manna a picture of Him who was to come?

My words, not His, but I want you to think about that. The manna, and I don’t know exactly what the measurements of manna would be, but it wasn’t large. We know that it was said to be small, it was round, and it was white. The white indicated purity. Not only that, but it was sweet. I imagine and it’s only my imagination, but I imagine it tasted like honey bread, I would think. Now, that may not be accurate and if you get to Heaven and find out it’s different, you can say, “Well, you were wrong about that too.”

But the fact of the matter is, it was small, round, and white, and it came every day, and it was always enough. Now, they were not supposed to keep it overnight. They were not supposed to hoard it. They were not supposed to store it up. They were supposed to come out every day and get more and have enough.

Except on the day before the Sabbath day, because they were not to go out and collect it on the Sabbath day, so, they were to have enough the day before the Sabbath day to the last through the Sabbath. Now, if they tried to keep it longer, it would go bad. It was spoiled because the Lord was teaching them that He would supply their need every day. But that bread sustained them.

This bread from Heaven sustained them, and now they’re asking Jesus, they say, “Well, Moses did that and you did the loaves and fishes thing. Can’t you give us bread every day? We don’t want to work anymore. We don’t want to have to earn our bread. Why, you can just give us bread every day. Why don’t you just feed us?”

Look back, if you will, to verse 15:

John 6:15: “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”

They want to make Him king. Why did they want to make him king? Not because in their heart they hungered and thirsted after righteousness but because they wanted a full stomach. They’re so concerned with that which is temporary, again, they ignored what was eternal.

Give Us This Bread

John 6:34: “Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.”

We want this bread you talk about, bread from Heaven. They’re thinking still like manna or they’re thinking like the loaves and the fishes. “Evermore, give us this bread.” Give us bread every day. They tried to force Him to be king. Now, He’s going to be king. He’s going to reign in Jerusalem.

I was sharing with the Sunday School class a couple of Sundays ago. This is, I don’t remember how many years it’s been, it’s been a few years ago, probably more than a few, but they were excavating what’s called the old City of David. The old City of David is a section of Jerusalem where David actually lived when he was King. They excavated some stairs there, steps, I guess I should say, and they said they believed that those steps led up to where David’s throne was when he was king.

Now, the throne’s not there, just the steps it would have led to where it was, but that’s significant in and of itself what happened to the throne of David because the prophecy is that the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior would and will reign on the throne of David in Jerusalem. Can I help you with that? Does the original throne of David still exist? I don’t know. If I had to guess, I would guess that it does not. It could possibly exist somewhere but I kind of doubt it. Why? Well, it’s been thousands of years and it’s probably long gone if it wasn’t gone before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem which, good chance it was, but if it wasn’t gone before that, it probably disappeared during that time.

If you’ll remember, Nebuchadnezzar took the vessels of the temple back to Babylon, and then later, his grandson, Belshazzar, was drinking from the golden vessels, which were made for the worship of the Lord, at a drunken orgy. So, would they have left David’s throne if it was even still there at that time? Not likely, but it doesn’t matter because the prophecy is not, will He sit in the same exact chair that David sat in. The prophecy is He will reign in the place of David. He will reign in Jerusalem. He’ll reign over the people of Israel and more because He’ll reign over all the earth.

But they’re saying to Him if you’re really the Messiah, if you’re really the Savior, you’re really the king. Give us bread every day. Take care of us. We’ll love you forever if you just feed us every day. You know the Lord does feed His people. He does.

“Well, I don’t know about where you got that idea, preacher. I have to go out and work for mine.” Yes, and He gives you the ability and the opportunity to do that. Let me give you a little illustration. I hope it’ll help you understand.

When I was in college, there were students who often would give testimony, and the testimony wasn’t always word for word, but it would go something like this, “My school bill was due. I needed to pay my tuition and my room and board. I didn’t have any money at all and didn’t know where any money was coming from. I just could not imagine I was going to have to pack my stuff up and go home. And then I went to my mailbox, and I pulled out of my mailbox, and there in the mailbox was a check. And it was just the amount that I needed to pay the school.” I heard that testimony again and again and again from other students.

Can I share something with you? Not once did I find anything like that in my mailbox. I’d go there. Most times, what I had in my mailbox was an echo. But the truth is, never once did that happen to me. So, would you get down, depressed about that? No. I gotta think about it. I never got that miracle money in the mailbox when I was in college. But you know what? I always had a job, always had a job. So, were my needs met? They were, they were, and I was thankful that I always had a job.

So, what I’m saying is the Lord does feed His people every day. Now, let me put an addendum on that story. Since being here, there have been many times now – it doesn’t happen every day, it doesn’t happen every week – but there have been many times miracle money has come in the mail here. There have been, and God supplied in absolutely miraculous ways, not just for my needs but for the needs of the ministry here.

The Bread of Life

But what the Lord is saying here is they’re focused on the wrong thing. So, in verse 34, they say give us this bread and in verse 35:

John 6:35: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

“Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life,” – that’s it. “I am the bread of life.” He didn’t say it this way. You read how He actually said it. But in essence, He was saying to them you’re looking at it, standing right in front of you, right now.

I was talking to a man not too long ago, just a few weeks ago, and he said he believes in the Lord Jesus but he doesn’t know much about the Lord Jesus, that’s for sure. I could tell by the conversation. Things he said, “But you know, I have a problem with the fact that none of the Gospel writers ever saw Jesus.” They all wrote their stories so much later, and so forth. And somebody asked, I think it was at Sunday School hour this morning, when were the Gospels written? Well, they weren’t all written at the same time, but 30 to 60 years basically, after the events is when they were written. Each one, again, not all, was written at the same time.

But can I help you with that? The first Gospel that we have is Matthew. Matthew was an eyewitness to the things that he wrote about. He was there. He didn’t write about things that he heard. He didn’t write about things people told him. He was there and recorded the events guided by the Holy Spirit, inspired by the Holy Spirit to be sure. But he was an eyewitness.

Mark was an eyewitness for much of it. I don’t think Mark was there for everything. He wasn’t one of the twelve, but he was there for much of it.  John’s going to write later, “We saw Him, we heard Him, we touched Him, we were with Him every day.” You can’t get a better eyewitness than that. These were eyewitness testimonies.

Now, Luke comes along, and Luke records a story as it was told to him by others. Why is that? You don’t meet Luke until well into the Book of Acts, the first few chapters of the Book of Acts, and he is there. As a matter of fact, as you’re reading the Book of Acts, you’ll find in the earlier chapters of Acts, the narrative is written in the third person.

And then, there comes a point where the Book of Acts is not written in the third person. It’s written in the first person. Why is that? That’s when Luke came into the picture. So, up to a point, he writes what he was told and then after that he tells us what he saw and what he experienced. You see pronouns change from “they” to “we” because he came on the scene and wrote as an eyewitness.

But verse 35, again, “Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life,” that should have told them right there that they were thinking the wrong way. They were thinking physically, and He was speaking spiritually. Now, He was there in the flesh. Don’t misunderstand me about that. He was there in the flesh but He’s talking about spiritual truth, 35 again:

John 6:35: “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Again, He’s not speaking physically. “You come, follow me. You’ll never be hungry again the rest of your life. Don’t worry about eating because you’re never going to get hungry, and you’ll never need to take a sip of water again because you’ll never be thirsty.” that’s not what He’s saying. He’s saying, “I am going to come and fulfill all your needs and when it comes to eternity, I am all that you need.” But He’s going to take care of you physically as well, but He’s not focusing on the physical. He’s focusing on the spiritual and He’s saying, “Look, come and follow me,” because He’s going to give them eternal life.

Now, this is John chapter six. Two chapters earlier in John chapter four, He tells the woman at the well that He is the water of life and that with the water that He gives, you’ll never thirst again. Now, do you suppose, and this lady was thinking like the ones in chapter six here, she said, “Well, give me this water. I don’t have to come to the well anymore.”

Can I ask you a practical question? Just think about this. You don’t have to answer. Just a thought question. After that day when she met Jesus at the well and she put her faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, and you know that because she went into the city and told men of the city and they all came out and met him, do you suppose she ever went to that well again? Probably. So, you suppose there was ever a time her mouth got a little dry again? Was she a little thirsty? Yeah, because that’s not what He was talking about. He was talking about giving life.

Now, understand something. You have to have food and you have to have water to live. If you don’t have food, you don’t have any energy for the cells of your body to stay alive. If you don’t have water, then your cells begin to shut down and not operate, and you will die of thirst long before you would die of hunger. But the truth is you need both. You basically need three things to live. You need food, you need water, and you need air. You got food, water, and air. You can live. “I need shelter too.” Shelter’s great but you know what? You can have all the shelter in the world but if you don’t have food, water, and air, you’re not going to live.

So, the Lord is saying here, and He says, “I am that bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” He’s talking about eternal life.

This Is the Father’s Will

John 6:36: “But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.”

And that’s it. “I’m standing right here in front of you. You see me, you’ve seen the miracles that I’ve done, and you still don’t believe.”

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.”

Do you understand that Jesus doesn’t turn anybody away? There’s never been. This is so important that some people have a kind of damaged theology on this point. Nobody has ever come to Jesus and said, “Lord, I believe in you, I trust you with all my heart, and I want you to save me.” He said, “Nope, not you.” “You’re not going to save me?” “Nope, I won’t have you.”

“Oh, well, preacher, you didn’t read the rest of the chapter.” I did.

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 6:38: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”

What is the Father’s will? Here it is:

John 6:39: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

So, we’re talking about resurrection. Anybody who comes to Him, anybody who puts their faith and trust in Him, is going to be partaker in the resurrection.

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.”

I was mentioning this last Sunday, I think it was, you want to know God’s will. So many times, it tells you so plainly what God’s will is. Look at the beginning, verse 39, “This is the Father’s will. Begin in verse 40, “This is the will of him.” So many times, it tells you exactly what God’s will is:

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.”

Why did He come? He didn’t come just to feed people bread. He came to be the bread of life. Bread is necessary for life. He is necessary for life. He came to give them living water. Water is necessary for life. He is necessary for life, but we’re talking about eternal life.

Here’s verse 40 again:

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.”

If it meant physical life lasted forever, and what if He wasn’t talking about eternal life, why would He need to raise anybody up?

You see, that’s not what He’s talking about. He’s talking about eternal life. So, when He explained that and He said so clearly that we’re talking about eternity, we’re talking about spiritual life, not just physical life. When He explained all of that, well, the people said, “Now that you put it that way, we get it, and uh yeah, we’re on board with you.” Is that what they did? No, it’s not at all what they did. Verse 41:

John 6:41: “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.”

“The Jews murmured at Him,” – now, I do this often, but it’s so important that you understand. John uses this term a lot, “the Jews.” When he says the Jews, he does not mean all the Jewish people. Let me carry that a step further. Everybody in this story is Jewish, everybody. There’s not a person in this story in John chapter six that isn’t Jewish. They’re all Jewish. When he says the Jews, he’s talking about the religious leaders of the day. He’s talking about the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, that’s who he’s talking about.

John 6:41: “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.”

John 6:42: “And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?”

Does that indicate that some of them knew Him when He was young in Nazareth? It looks that way, and it certainly does. So, He’s saying, “I came down from Heaven. I’m the bread of life which comes from Heaven.” They said, “No, this is Jesus. We’ve known Him all his life. We know who His daddy was.” They didn’t, or at least they weren’t willing to acknowledge it because they’re not going to acknowledge that this is the Son of God. They’re going to say this is the son of Joseph.

I made the statement right here in this pulpit one Sunday evening long ago that the Bible never referred to Jesus as the son of Joseph. And a lady challenged me. She said, “Yes, it does right here.” No, the Bible’s not calling Him the son of Joseph. The men of that day were calling Him the son of Joseph. And in this case, John recorded it. You know the Bible also records the words of Satan, and that’s an accurate recording, but what Satan says is not God speaking. You do understand that, right? And when these men speak, that’s not God speaking. It’s simply recording the words of men and they said, “Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father we know, mother we know? How is he saying, ‘I came down from heaven?’”

John 6:43: “Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.”

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.”

“There it is, preacher, see it, that’s it, not anybody can come, whosoever will, cannot come.” Of course, the Bible says whosoever will, may come. “But no, whosoever will, can’t come. You got to have a special invitation.” What invitation is given? “Whosoever will, may come.”

1 John 5:1: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”

Now, what does this mean, “drawing”? It means the Holy Spirit works in their heart. The Holy Spirit works in their heart as they hear the Word of God. The Holy Spirit works in their heart and then they have a choice, whether to come to Him and believe or not. Verse 45:

John 6:45: “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”

There’s your answer. How many people hear the truth? Well, in the days of those listening to Jesus, all of them heard it. And they that hear the Holy Spirit speak to them, they come. Verse 46:

John 6:46: “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.”

Here it is, couldn’t be simpler, couldn’t be stated in a simpler way:

John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

He That Believeth

I teach class and right now, it’s all young people in the class. It’s not limited by age but during that class, we require scripture memory. We teach Bible verses in the summer camp, and we don’t require scripture memory. But we reward scripture memory in summer camp. But I want to share something with you. I asked young people to memorize this verse:

John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

That’s clear and simple, clear and simple. Those who put their faith and trust in Him, they have everlasting life. Back in verses 41 and 42, they’re saying, “Who does this man think he is? He thinks he’s the Messiah. We know where he came from. How did he say, ‘I came down from heaven?’” He says to them, “You’ve seen and you’ve heard, but you don’t believe.”

They asked for a sign. The sign is standing right in front of them. And He says, “To see the Father you must believe in the Son.” Later on in the same book, in chapter 14, Philip, one of the twelve, says to Him, “Lord show us the father and it sufficeth us.” – We want to see the Father; we want to see God. You show us God. What was Jesus’ answer? His answer was, “Have I been so long time with you, Philip, and have you not known me? He that has seen me has seen the Father.” So, verse 47 again:

John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

And in 48, He says:

John 6:48: “I am that bread of life.”

He said that before. He’s saying it again, He’s emphasizing, He’s trying to get the point home to him, “I am that bread of life.” I am the life-giver, I am the life sustainer, I am that bread of life.

John 6:49: “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.”

They were fed physically. After they were fed physically, they needed to be fed again and again and again. And it came to the point when, even though they were getting manna every day, they died because there was an end to physical life. This life and everything we experience is temporary. He’s talking about things that are not temporary; they’re eternal. Start at 48 again”

John 6:48: “I am that bread of life.”

John 6:49: “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.”

John 6:50: “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”

Now, before we read the next verse, let me share this with you. Again, He’s speaking spiritual truth. They’re thinking here and now, flesh and blood, material truth. Is there such a thing as here and now, flesh and blood, material truth? Sure. That’s not what He’s talking about. Let’s start at 48 again:

John 6:48: “I am that bread of life.”

Did He mean that He was a loaf of bread? Obviously not. Did He mean that He was manna? By the way, the manna was small, white, pure, and clean. It was sufficient. It was life-giving. It was a picture of the Savior who was coming, the Messiah, the Savior. It was a picture. There were so many pictures in the Old Testament given of the Savior who was coming, 49 again:

John 6:49: “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.”

John 6:50: “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”

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.”

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven,” – now, watch this. This is what threw some of these people overboard, not because it wasn’t true, not because that God himself wasn’t speaking, but because they were not thinking spiritually, they were thinking only physically.

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.”

Did He give His flesh for the life of the world? Yes. When on the cross, is He talking about some sort of cannibalism? Absolutely not. He’s speaking spiritually. They’re not thinking spiritually.

John 6:52: “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

John 6:53: “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.”

John 6:54: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The third time He said that:

John 6:55: “For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”

John 6:56: “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.”

Now, this is where somebody will say well, that’s why we take communion. And you see if you don’t take communion, you don’t eat the bread or the wafer, and you don’t drink of the cup, you can’t be saved. That’s not what He’s saying, folks. Remember what I told you a moment ago, that manna was not Christ, that manna did not save, that manna helped sustain physical life, but it was a picture of the Savior who was coming.

Do you know what it is when you take communion? That is a picture of what Jesus has already done. His body broken on the cross, His blood shed on the cross, but at no point ever in the history of the planet Earth has that bread actually been the physical flesh of Jesus Christ, and at no point ever has what’s in that cup be it juice, which is supposed to be, or wine, it’s never been the actual physical blood of Jesus Christ. It’s not what He’s saying.

He’s talking in spiritual truth. He’s saying, “As you need bread to live physically, you need me to live spiritually. As you must partake of the bread in order to live physically, you must put your faith and trust in me to live physically.” How do you know that? Well, let’s go back to verse 47. What does it say? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that takes communion has everlasting life.”

Is that what it says? Are you looking at it? Verse 47, is that what it says? No. It’s not what it says. What does it say? “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” All the questions that people have about this passage are answered in the passage. Verse 57 again:

John 6:57: “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.”

John 6:58: “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.

“This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead,” –  physically, ate physical bread and died physically. “He that eateth of this bread” spiritually “shall live forever.”

That’s the truth. The Lord’s supper or communion is a picture of what happened. This is not the picture; this is the real truth. The Lord is saying, “You’ve got to put your faith in me, and you’ve got to trust in me, and I will give you life, everlasting life.”

And God willing, we’ll see you again, not next Sunday, because we have the guest speaker, but we’ll come back to this, and we’ll see you again. At this moment, they are still thinking of a full stomach, they’re still thinking of eating bread. They’re not thinking of partaking spiritually, and they’re not thinking of putting their faith and trust in Him and letting Him give them the salvation that they need.

Jesus is telling them they don’t need a full stomach. They need a hungry heart. He’s telling them that the contrast could not be greater. Believe, be saved, have life, or focus only on the physical and lose your life. That’s what He’s telling them. It couldn’t be any more obvious.

I could give you other illustrations that would help you understand, but I’m going to tell you just take the Lord at His Word. If you go back again to verse 47:

John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

John 6:48: “I am that bread of life.”

He is what you need for life.

~~~~~~~

Let’s pray together. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you that we’ve had this time together. It’s my prayer that you may bless us now as we come to an invitation time. If there’s a person listening, maybe present here, or perhaps listening electronically, who doesn’t know you as Savior, it is my prayer that they would open their heart right now and they would pray, and they would trust you.

They would say, “Lord, I believe. I know I have sinned. I know I’ve done what’s wrong, but I’m asking you to forgive me. I believe that you’re the Son of God, and I believe that you paid for my sins at the cross, and right here, right now, I am trusting you to forgive my sins. I’m trusting you as my living Savior risen from the dead to save my soul. And I’m trusting you to give me everlasting life, a home in Heaven with you forever. Thank you, Lord Jesus.”

Now, Father, it may be that everybody here tonight has already trusted you as their Savior, and if that’s true, we thank God for it. But if there’s even one who is listening tonight, maybe they’re listening now, or maybe they’ll be listening later, but they need to be saved. We pray for that soul.

For those of us who are here, help us, Lord, to realize that you give us everlasting life, and when it comes to being saved, you are all that we need. You’re all-sufficient. We don’t need to add anything else. We don’t need to receive anything else. We need to trust you.

Our heads are bowed, and our eyes are closed. God’s speaking to your heart tonight. Maybe there’s a spiritual need in your life. You want to pray, come, or you need some counseling words, or someone to pray with you, come. However God’s spoken to your heart, this is your opportunity to respond. Father, bless this time. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

---

Watch the prerecorded live version of the entire service and sermon, A Full Stomach vs. a Hungry Heart, Part 2, on Facebook.

Learn more from the complete series of A Full Stomach vs. a Hungry Heart:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A Full Stomach vs. a Hungry Heart, Part 2 — Related Sermons

You may also want to listen to or view these sermons:

To Be Or Not To Be: That Is the Question

What Time I Am Afraid

Photo source: Lumoproject.com