(worldwide communion Sunday)
Scripture: James 2:14-24
Passover / / Bread in the boat
Bethlehem = The house of Bread!
B. V. 30-33 Illustrated By The Manna - The Jews come to
Jesus and request a miracle, (What did they call the feeding of the
multitude?), and they remind Jesus of the Old Testament miracle of the Manna.
They tell Jesus that Moses gave the children of Israel Manna, and they want to
know what He is going to do. Christ's response is to remind them that Moses was
not responsible for the Manna, but that it was the provision of God. He goes on
to tell them that the true bread from Heaven is a person. In fact, it is Jesus
himself who is the Bread of Life, v. 33. What Jesus is saying is that the Manna
was a type of Himself. Notice the various ways that the Manna speaks of Jesus.
1. It Was Small - Exodus 16:14 - This speaks of Christ's
humility. He wasn't born in a king's palace, but in a manger. He never employed
the riches at His disposal, but lived a poor life all the time he was in this
world, Mark 8:20. He came this way in order to identify Himself with the
sinners He came to save.
2. It Was Round - Exodus 16:14 - This speaks of Christ's
eternal nature. Jesus did not have His beginning in Bethlehem, but He has
always been, John 1:1. Jesus is the eternal Son of God! There has never been a
time when He wasn't, there will never be a time when He will not be! He is the
I AM!
3. It Was White - Exodus 16:31 - This reminds us of the
sinless, holy nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born without sin, lived
without sin and died without sin. He was absolutely impeccable in His
character. Jesus is the sinless Son of God - 1 Pet. 2:22; 2 Cor. 5:21.
4. It Came At Night - Exodus 16:13-14 - Jesus came to a
world lost in spiritual darkness and gave them light and life.
5. It Was Misunderstood By Those Who Found It - Exodus 16:15
- They called it Manna which means, "What is it?" Jesus was
misunderstood by the very people He came to save - John 1:11; John 10:20. (By
the way, He is still misunderstood today! He is more than a teacher, a prophet,
a poor unfortunate man who got Himself killed. He is the Son of God! He is the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords!)
6. It Was Sufficient For Every Man's Need - Exodus 16:17-18
- This reminds us that Jesus is the all-sufficient Savior. He meets the need of
man's soul. Some go deep in the Christian life, others get in but chose to play
around the edges, but wherever you find yourself, as long as it is in Jesus,
you will find that He is sufficient to save your soul. (Ill. God gave them
approximately 240 boxcars of Manna per day for 38 years. What a God we serve!)
7. It Was Sweet To The Taste - Exodus 16:31 - Those who
partook of the Manna found it sweet and satisfying. By the same token, all
those who receive Jesus as their Savior find Him to be sweet to the soul and satisfying
to the life. That is why we are encouraged by David to "taste and see that
the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8.
8. It Was To Be Kept And Passed On To Others - Exodus 16:32
- Jesus is the same way, He is to be shared with those who cross our path. We are
to be certain that we share Him with the next generation, because we are only
one generation away from extinction as a people at any given time. (Ill. 2 Tim.
2:2)
9. There is more that could be said about he Manna, but that
is enough to let us see that it is a perfect type of Jesus.
C. V. 52-58 Illustrated By The Master - Jesus says that He
is the ultimate bread. The Israelites ate of the Manna in the wilderness and
eventually they died. The crowd was filled on the mountainside, yet eventually,
they too died! Jesus is the anti-type of the Manna. All that it was, He
exceeds. Jesus is greater than the bread given out on the mountainside. All who
partake of Him will live forever. His guarantee is that they will never die!
His guarantee is one of eternal life to all who come to Him, John 10:28; Ill.
John 4:14. After all, Jesus is the real Bread!
John 6:3-15 FEEDING THE 5000
Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and
sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus
looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he
already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months'
wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small
fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of
grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus
then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as
much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had
enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather
the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve
baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had
eaten. After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to
say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to
come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and
make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
John 6:16-21 WALK ON THE WATER
When evening came, his disciples went down
to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for
Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind
was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed three or three and a
half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they
were terrified. But he said to them, "It is I;
don't be afraid." Then they
were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the
shore where they were heading.
John 6:22 CONFUSED PEOPLE ON THE BEACH
The next day the crowd that had stayed on
the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and
that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away
alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had
eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that
neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to
Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the
lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get
here?" Jesus answered, "I tell you the
truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because
you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for
food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him
God the Father has placed his seal of approval." Then they asked
him, "What must we do to do the works God
requires?" Jesus answered,
"The work of God is this: to believe in the one he
has sent." So they asked him, "What
miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What
will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna
in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" (Ex 16:4-5 Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will
rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and
gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they
will follow my instructions. Ps 78:23-24
et he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the
heavens; he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of
heaven.) Jesus said to them,
"I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has
given you the bread from
heaven, but it is my Father who 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." "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who
believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and
still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven
not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will
of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him
shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
John 6:41-58 At this the Jews began to grumble about him
because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from
heaven'?" "Stop grumbling among
yourselves," Jesus answered. "No one
can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who
listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the
Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you
the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the
manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man
may eat and not die. I am
the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this
man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me
and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because
of me. This is the bread
that came down from heaven.
Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
John 6:59-69 He said this while teaching in the synagogue
in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend
to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit
and they are life. Yet there are
some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the
beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to
say, "This is why I told you that no one can come
to me unless the Father has enabled him." From this
time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
"You do not want to leave too, do you?"
Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to
whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We believe and know that you
are the Holy
One of God.
(aka:
The B
F H)"
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