October 23, 2025 • 19 mins
A free meal draws a massive crowd, but a hard truth reveals true followers. We walk through John 6 as Jesus multiplies bread, refuses a political throne, and then makes a claim that can’t be managed: “I am the bread of life.” That divine name echoes through the story, turning a picnic into a crossroads. Are we chasing the show, or do we really want the Savior?
We trace the whole arc: the sign that satisfies hunger, the storm that stirs fear, and the Savior who steps into the boat and brings them to shore. Then comes the challenge. The people ask for more proof; Jesus redirects them from perishable cravings to eternal life, insisting that the “work” of God is to believe in the One He sent. His language of eating His flesh and drinking His blood isn’t shock for its own sake—it’s a call to receive Him fully, not nibble at His benefits. Many walk away. Peter stays with the line that anchors us when our feelings shake: “To whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Along the way, we unpack why the “I am” statements made religious leaders furious, how signs point beyond themselves, and why Jesus won’t bow to our preferences. We bring the conversation home to modern tensions around truth, identity, and desire. If Jesus is Lord, His words define reality even when they disrupt our assumptions. The invitation is not to perfect understanding but to trusting the character of the One who feeds, rescues, and speaks life.
If this journey helped you think, pray, or see differently, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves the Gospel of John, and leave a quick review so others can find the study. What hard saying has grown your faith most?
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well, hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
(00:20):
Today, John chapter six, andJesus is going to thin the herd
today.
I mean, it is going to beamazing.
It's going to be powerful.
It is going to be convicting.
Jesus is going to verbally slapeverybody upside the head.
And if I were to give today'sepisode a title, it would be
Jesus Doesn't Bow to OurFeelings.
Jesus Doesn't Bow to OurFeelings.
(00:40):
We're going to jump into that injust a moment.
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
are, if you're watching onYouTube, you like this video,
you share this video, youcomment on this video.
I want to know.
I want to know what's going onand how you are growing in the
Lord through this.
If you are listening to this asa podcast, you are my friend.
You are my just my hero.
I love you so much.
Make sure you are leaving us afive-star review.
(01:01):
And I want to know what is goingon in your life?
How are you growing throughthis?
What is what value is God addingto your life as we read God's
word together?
So make sure you're going overto our Facebook group, Bible
breakdown discussion, and let meknow what is happening.
And what my question for youtoday is Have you ever had
someone hurt your feelings andyou later thank them for it?
(01:23):
What an interesting question,right?
Because the Bible says thatfaithful are the wounds of a
friend.
So you ever had someone come upto you and say, hey, listen, I
know this is, I've been prayingabout this.
God's really giving me a releaseto do this.
I need to tell you something,right?
And that's what Jesus is goingto do today.
I'm going to set the scenario orscene for you, and we're going
to jump into this.
This overall book, the gospel,was inspired by the Holy Spirit
(01:45):
through the Apostle John, thebest friend of Jesus.
And the whole goal of the Gospelof John is Jesus is God.
I want to tell you what he said.
And when you hear what he said,you're going to have to make a
decision because he didn't claimto be a good teacher.
He didn't claim just to be ahealer.
He claimed to be God.
And I love that idea that Jesusis God.
(02:06):
And that just means he's tellingthe church.
You know, during his lifetime,he was like, Man, you may have
99 problems, but Jesus ain't oneof them.
He is God.
But here's the thing aboutJesus: He's interested in the
truth.
And he's interested in usgetting close.
And so I'm going to paint what'sgoing on at the moment, and that
is that this is the final yearof Jesus' ministry.
He's been doing miracles, he'sbeen doing amazing things, and
(02:28):
the crowd has grown.
At this point, we're going toread the first part of this.
The crowd has swelled to about5,000 men, plus many of them,
their families.
So once you add uh husbands,then you add wives, then you add
their children, there may havebeen between 13 to 15,000 people
who are now following Jesuseverywhere.
(02:48):
And in that crowd, you're goingto have so many different kinds
of people.
And Jesus is not interested inthe crowds, he's interested in
followers.
And so what he is going to do ishe is going to feed these
people, which is amazing, butthen he is going to challenge
them to see, are you followingme for the show?
Are you following me for thefree food?
Or are you following me becauseyou believe the message?
And here's the thing (03:08):
he doesn't pull any punches.
And it's a challenging word forall of us today.
So we're going to jump intothis.
I'm also going to explain to youwhy the Pharisees flip out every
time he makes an I am statement.
Remember, seven different timesin the Gospel of John, he says,
I am, and then something else.
And he is going to say somethingthat, if I'm honest with you,
when I first realized what hewas really saying, it shocked
(03:29):
me.
And I hope it does for you aswell.
So we're going to jump intothis.
And it's going to be a long one,but it's going to be a good one.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
If you got your NLT Bibles openwith me, John chapter 6, verse 1
says this.
After this, Jesus crossed overto the far side of the Sea of
Galilee, also known as the Seaof Tiberias.
A huge crowd kept following himwherever he went because they
(03:51):
saw his miraculous signs as hehealed the sick.
Jesus climbed a hill and satdown with his disciples around
him.
It was nearly time for theJewish Passover celebration.
Jesus saw a huge crowd of peoplecoming to look for him.
Turning to Philip, he said,Where can we buy bread to feed
all these people?
He was testing Philip, for healready knew what he was going
(04:13):
to do.
Philip replied, Even if we workfor months, we wouldn't have
enough money to feed them.
And then Andrew, Simon Peter'sbrother, spoke up.
There's a young boy here withfive barley loaves and two fish.
But what good is that with thishuge crowd?
Tell everyone to sit down, Jesussaid.
So they sat down on grassyslopes.
The men alone numbered aboutfive thousand.
(04:36):
Then Jesus took the loaves andgave thanks to God and
distributed them to the people.
Afterward he did the same withthe fish, and they all ate as
much as they wanted.
After everyone was full, Jesustold the disciples, Now gather
the leftovers so that nothing iswasted.
So they picked up the pieces,and it filled twelve baskets
with scraps left over by thepeople who had eaten from the
(04:58):
five barley loaves.
When the people saw him do thismiraculous sign, they exclaimed,
Surely he is the prophet that wehave been expecting.
And when Jesus saw that theywere ready to force him to be
their king, he slipped away intothe hills by himself.
Now pause.
He just got through feeding.
Like I said, there's 5,000 men.
You had women and children,possibly between 10 and 15,000
(05:20):
people with five barley loavesand two fish.
You know, always wonder, firstof all, how did they get that
lunch from that kid?
Was that kid willing, or do theyhave to kind of throw an elbow
at him?
I don't I don't know, but theygot a hold of it.
And then after Jesus blessed itand he broke it, they had 12
baskets left over.
And once again, what did they dowith the 12 baskets?
Well, there's no there's noevidence for this, but my my
(05:42):
imagination, I wonder if theygave it to that little boy.
You imagine that little boygoing home that day and saying,
Hey, um, anytime we needanything, let's go give it to
Jesus.
Because he took five loaves andtwo fish, and now I got 12
baskets worth of food.
Wouldn't that have been amazing?
I don't the Bible doesn't sayeither way.
But do you notice that it saidthat when they were ready to
force him to become king, heslipped away.
(06:02):
Jesus wasn't interested inmomentary satisfaction.
He's already the king.
He's interested in savingeverybody from their sins.
And so Jesus always had his eyeon the prize because he knew
what was really going on.
All right, verse 16.
That evening Jesus went down tothe shore to wait.
Jesus' disciples went down tothe shore to wait for him.
(06:23):
But as darkness fell and Jesusstill hadn't come back, they got
into the boat and headed acrossthe lake toward Capernaum.
Soon a gale swept down uponthem.
The sea grew very rough.
They had rowed three or fourmiles when suddenly they saw
Jesus walking toward the boat.
They were terrified, but theycalled out to them.
He called out to them, Don't beafraid.
(06:44):
Then they were eager to let himin the boat, and immediately
they arrived at theirdestination.
Now pause again.
The reason why they would havebeen so terrified is according
to first century tradition,there was this old uh maritime
um idea, this whole kind of kindof old sailor's tale, that if
you ever saw a ghost walk acrossthe water, it was a sign, a bad
(07:07):
omen that your ship was gonnasink.
And so you imagine there, theyknow this old phrase, and now
they see someone walking onwater.
They'd never seen that before.
So they immediately think, ohno, we're gonna die.
That's why the Bible said assoon as they saw what they find
out to be Jesus, they wereterrified because they thought
we're gonna die.
Little did they know the giverof life was on his way.
(07:28):
And they invited him into theboat, and they immediately they
arrived at their destination.
That was another miracle youdon't always think about is that
when he got in the boat, boom,they were there.
That's the way I like to travel.
Here we go.
Now, the rest of this is gonnabe Jesus is now, he's got 5,000
people looking for their nexthealing, looking for their next
free meal.
And Jesus sees this, and he isgonna tell them a hard truth
(07:51):
because he wants to figure outwho is really following me and
who is here to see the show.
So let's get ready for this aswe jump in.
Verse 22.
The next day the crowd that hadstayed on the far shore saw that
the disciples had taken the onlyboat, and they realized Jesus
had not gone with them.
Several boats from Tiberiuslanded near the place where the
Lord had blessed the bread andthe people had eaten.
(08:14):
So when the crowd saw thatneither Jesus nor the disciples
were there, they got into theboats and went across to
Capernaum to look for him.
They found him on the other sideof the lake and asked, Rabbi,
when did you get here?
Jesus replied, I tell you thetruth, you want to be with me
because I fed you, not becauseyou understood the miraculous
(08:34):
signs.
But don't be so concerned aboutperishable things like food.
Spend your energy seeking theeternal life that the Son of Man
can give you.
For God the Father has given methe seal of his approval.
They replied, We want you toperform, uh we want to perform
God's works too.
What should we do?
And Jesus told them, This is theonly work God wants from you.
(08:56):
Believe in the one that He hassent.
They answered, Oh yeah?
Show us a miraculous sign if youwant us to believe you.
What can you do?
After all, our ancestors atemanna while they journeyed
through the wilderness.
The scriptures say Moses gavethem the bread of life from
heaven or bread from heaven toeat.
So once again, they've alreadyseen miracles.
They've already seen what he cando.
(09:16):
They're wanting him toconstantly prove himself to
them, constantly give us anothersign, give us another show.
Uh please us, is what they'reconstantly saying.
Here's Jesus' reply, verse 32.
I tell you the truth.
Moses did not give you breadfrom heaven, my father did.
And now he offers you the truebread from heaven.
The true bread of God is the onewho has come down from heaven
(09:39):
and gives life to the world.
Sir, they said, give us thisbread every day.
Here we go.
I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will neverbe hungry again, and whoever
believes in me will never bethirsty.
But you haven't believed in meeven though you have seen me.
However, those the Father hasgiven me will come to me, and I
(10:02):
will never reject them.
For I have come down from heavento do the will of God who sent
me, not to do my own will.
And this is the will of God,that I should not lose even one
of those that he has given me,but that I should raise them up
at the last day.
For it is my Father's will thatall who see his son and believe
in him should have eternal life,and I will raise them up on the
(10:24):
last day.
But then listen, then the peoplebegan to murmur in a
disagreement about when he said,I am the bread that comes down
from heaven.
They said, Isn't this Jesus, theson of Joseph?
We know his father and mother.
Now, how can he say, I came downfrom heaven?
Now the reason why they werecomplaining, because he said, I
(10:44):
am the bread of life.
Now, if you've read the book ofExodus, then you know that when
Moses was getting ready to goliberate the nation of Israel,
he said, How am I supposed totell them who sent me?
When I say that God sent me,they're like, Well, well, which
God?
You know, because in uh Egyptthey had a polytheistic society.
There were many different gods.
And he's like, You're not you'renot one of the gods, you are the
(11:06):
God, but how can I tell them?
And he and God, uh Yahweh, God,told them, say this.
Tell them, I am, has sent you.
And that phrase, I am, is whatJesus is saying right here.
He is not just making astatement, you know, I am
Brandon Cannon.
He is saying, God.
I am God, the bread of life.
(11:27):
He is using the sacred name ofGod to say, yo, Yahweh, the
bread of life.
He's calling himself God.
When he says, I am the bread oflife, he is saying, I am the God
that liberated the nation ofIsrael.
I am the God of Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob, and I am the bread of
life.
That's why they began to just gocrazy because they were like,
(11:49):
no, no, no, no, no, no.
How can he say that he isYahweh, the bread that came down
from heaven because he's Jesus?
And so he is saying so much morethan just making a personal
statement.
He's claiming his divinity whenhe says this.
And so verse 43 says, But Jesussaid, Stop complaining about
what I said.
For no one can come to me unlessthe Father has sent, uh the
(12:12):
Father who sent me draws them tome, and the last day I will
raise them up.
As it is written in thescriptures, they will be taught
by God.
Everyone who listens to theFather and learns from him comes
to me.
Not that anyone has ever seenthe Father, only I who was sent
from God have seen him.
I tell you the truth, anyone whobelieves has eternal life.
(12:34):
Yes, I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate manna in thewilderness, but they are all
dead.
Anyone who eats the bread fromheaven, however, will never die.
I am the living bread that camedown from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread willlive forever.
And this bread, which I offer tothe world, um, and which I offer
(12:57):
so the world may live, is myflesh.
Now everybody really does gocrazy.
52.
Then the people began arguingwith each other about what he
meant.
How can this man give us hisflesh to eat?
He asked.
So Jesus doubles down again.
Obviously, he's talking about ametaphor.
What he's saying is, is hesaying, just like there was
manna in the wilderness and thatsustained the nation of Israel,
(13:19):
I am the sustainer that you'vebeen waiting for.
He's not talking literally, he'stalking figuratively, but
they're not listening.
Remember?
They just want free food andthey want the show.
They're not trying to understandwhat Jesus is saying.
So, first 53, he says, I tellyou the truth, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man anddrink his blood, you cannot have
eternal life within you.
(13:39):
But anyone who eats my flesh anddrinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise thatperson at the last day.
For my flesh is true food, andmy blood is true drink.
Anyone who eats my flesh anddrinks my blood remains in me,
and I in him.
I live because the living Fatherwho sent me in the same way,
anyone who feeds on me will livebecause of me.
(14:02):
I am the true bread that camedown from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread willnot die as your ancestors did,
even though they ate the manna,but will live forever.
He said these things while hewas teaching in the synagogue in
Capernaum.
Now here we go.
Many of his disciples said, Thisis a very this is very hard to
understand.
(14:22):
How can anyone accept it?
And Jesus looks at them and hesays, He was aware they were
complaining, and so he said,Does this offend you?
Then what would you think if yousee the Son of Man ascending
into heaven again?
The Spirit alone gives eternallife.
Human effort accomplishesnothing.
And the very words I have spokento you are spirit and life.
But some of you do not believe.
(14:43):
For Jesus knew from thebeginning which ones didn't
believe, and he knew who wouldbetray him.
Then he said, This is why I saidthat people can't come to me
unless my Father gives them tome.
At this point many of hisdisciples turned away and
deserted him.
Then Jesus turned to his twelveand asked, Are you also going to
leave?
Simon Peter replied, Lord, towhom would we go?
(15:06):
You have the words that giveeternal life.
We believe and we know that youare the holy one of God.
Then Jesus said, I have chosenthe twelve of you, but one is a
devil.
He was speaking, of course, ofJudas, the son of Simon
Iscariot, one of the twelve whowould later betray him.
So what Jesus just got throughdoing is he was saying, Now I
(15:26):
want to show you who really ismy follower and who is just here
to see the show.
And that is, he uses thismetaphor, and he's saying, in
the wilderness, back in yo, uhNumbers, we just got through
reading as a as a as a grouptogether, you know, they had
manna to eat, free manna everysingle day.
All they had to do was receiveit, and they were sustained.
(15:46):
Jesus has been saying over andover again, if you will put your
trust in me, you can be saved.
You cannot earn it.
All you can do is receive it.
And you receive me freely, butyou gotta receive me.
And so Jesus is using this as ametaphor.
He's not literally saying, eatmy flesh and drink my blood.
He's saying you have to receiveme.
(16:08):
And if you receive me andreceive all of me, you'll
receive life.
Well, for people who are tryingto understand, they got it.
But for everybody that didn'tcare about knowing God, they
just wanted to see the show,they wanted the free food,
immediately they're offended.
And Jesus, I love this wherehe's saying, Does this offend
you?
And he doesn't apologize.
He just simply looks at his 12and says, You guys gonna go too?
(16:30):
And I love that Jesusunderstands that there are hard
things that we're sometimesgonna struggle to receive, but
he loves us enough to tell usanyway.
And there are times when we readGod's word where we go, oh,
that's hard.
But we have to choose.
Do we trust God?
Do we trust his character?
That's what Peter is saying.
He's like, hey, look, I don'tget it.
That seems really difficult, butwhere are we gonna go?
(16:52):
We know that you're God and wetrust you.
And that's sometimes when lifewe have to understand.
Let's get really, reallypractical for a moment.
We live in a culture where somany things are up for grabs.
We have so many things that areso many situations where people
are fighting over how to bestinterpret sexuality.
Is sexuality a spectrum, or didGod really create a man and a
(17:13):
woman?
Is it God's divine decree forholy sexuality, a man and a wife
for life?
Is that easy to believe for somepeople?
What about when it comes totruth?
Is truth objective or is truthsubjective or is truth a
construct?
You know, how how should we dowith all these other things?
There's so many things that areup for grabs that God's word is
(17:33):
very clear on.
And here's the thing sometimeswe don't like it, but we need to
be like Peter and say, you knowwhat?
Sometimes it's hard, but thetruth is you're God.
And since you're God, you cansay whatever you want to say,
and I'm gonna follow it.
And when we do that, we realizethat we can trust his character.
And when God says something wedon't like, we usually find out
(17:54):
in the end he was right allalong.
And so that goes into thequestion of the day.
The whole purpose of the Gospelof John was so that we may
believe, and by believing, wemay have life by the power of
his name.
How does this chapter give uslife?
And that is, when I don't know,I trust, because as I trust the
Lord, I find out he was rightall along.
(18:16):
Let me pray for us today, andthen we'll be done.
Father, thank you so much foryour word.
Thank you, Jesus, that you loveus enough to challenge us.
Sometimes we allow our feelingsto get in the way of your truth.
I love, God, that you love usenough to challenge us, but you
never turn your back on us.
Thank you, God, for giving usthe opportunity to know you and
giving us the patience to bringus along at a pace that we can
(18:38):
stand.
We love that you are God, andbecause of that, you give us
hope every day.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
God's Word says in John chapter30, these things were written
that you may continue to believethat Jesus is God, and that by
believing in Him, you may havelife by the power of His name.
My prayer for you is life andmore life as we dig into God's
(19:01):
Word together.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Johnchapter seven.
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's wordtogether.
Well, hello, everybody.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
(00:20):
Today, John chapter six, andJesus is going to thin the herd
today.
I mean, it is going to beamazing.
It's going to be powerful.
It is going to be convicting.
Jesus is going to verbally slapeverybody upside the head.
And if I were to give today'sepisode a title, it would be
Jesus Doesn't Bow to OurFeelings.
Jesus Doesn't Bow to OurFeelings.
(00:40):
We're going to jump into that injust a moment.
But as always, if you like whatwe're doing here, make sure you
are, if you're watching onYouTube, you like this video,
you share this video, youcomment on this video.
I want to know.
I want to know what's going onand how you are growing in the
Lord through this.
If you are listening to this asa podcast, you are my friend.
You are my just my hero.
I love you so much.
Make sure you are leaving us afive-star review.
(01:01):
And I want to know what is goingon in your life?
How are you growing throughthis?
What is what value is God addingto your life as we read God's
word together?
So make sure you're going overto our Facebook group, Bible
breakdown discussion, and let meknow what is happening.
And what my question for youtoday is Have you ever had
someone hurt your feelings andyou later thank them for it?
(01:23):
What an interesting question,right?
Because the Bible says thatfaithful are the wounds of a
friend.
So you ever had someone come upto you and say, hey, listen, I
know this is, I've been prayingabout this.
God's really giving me a releaseto do this.
I need to tell you something,right?
And that's what Jesus is goingto do today.
I'm going to set the scenario orscene for you, and we're going
to jump into this.
This overall book, the gospel,was inspired by the Holy Spirit
(01:45):
through the Apostle John, thebest friend of Jesus.
And the whole goal of the Gospelof John is Jesus is God.
I want to tell you what he said.
And when you hear what he said,you're going to have to make a
decision because he didn't claimto be a good teacher.
He didn't claim just to be ahealer.
He claimed to be God.
And I love that idea that Jesusis God.
(02:06):
And that just means he's tellingthe church.
You know, during his lifetime,he was like, Man, you may have
99 problems, but Jesus ain't oneof them.
He is God.
But here's the thing aboutJesus: He's interested in the
truth.
And he's interested in usgetting close.
And so I'm going to paint what'sgoing on at the moment, and that
is that this is the final yearof Jesus' ministry.
He's been doing miracles, he'sbeen doing amazing things, and
(02:28):
the crowd has grown.
At this point, we're going toread the first part of this.
The crowd has swelled to about5,000 men, plus many of them,
their families.
So once you add uh husbands,then you add wives, then you add
their children, there may havebeen between 13 to 15,000 people
who are now following Jesuseverywhere.
(02:48):
And in that crowd, you're goingto have so many different kinds
of people.
And Jesus is not interested inthe crowds, he's interested in
followers.
And so what he is going to do ishe is going to feed these
people, which is amazing, butthen he is going to challenge
them to see, are you followingme for the show?
Are you following me for thefree food?
Or are you following me becauseyou believe the message?
And here's the thing (03:08):
he doesn't pull any punches.
And it's a challenging word forall of us today.
So we're going to jump intothis.
I'm also going to explain to youwhy the Pharisees flip out every
time he makes an I am statement.
Remember, seven different timesin the Gospel of John, he says,
I am, and then something else.
And he is going to say somethingthat, if I'm honest with you,
when I first realized what hewas really saying, it shocked
(03:29):
me.
And I hope it does for you aswell.
So we're going to jump intothis.
And it's going to be a long one,but it's going to be a good one.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
If you got your NLT Bibles openwith me, John chapter 6, verse 1
says this.
After this, Jesus crossed overto the far side of the Sea of
Galilee, also known as the Seaof Tiberias.
A huge crowd kept following himwherever he went because they
(03:51):
saw his miraculous signs as hehealed the sick.
Jesus climbed a hill and satdown with his disciples around
him.
It was nearly time for theJewish Passover celebration.
Jesus saw a huge crowd of peoplecoming to look for him.
Turning to Philip, he said,Where can we buy bread to feed
all these people?
He was testing Philip, for healready knew what he was going
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to do.
Philip replied, Even if we workfor months, we wouldn't have
enough money to feed them.
And then Andrew, Simon Peter'sbrother, spoke up.
There's a young boy here withfive barley loaves and two fish.
But what good is that with thishuge crowd?
Tell everyone to sit down, Jesussaid.
So they sat down on grassyslopes.
The men alone numbered aboutfive thousand.
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Then Jesus took the loaves andgave thanks to God and
distributed them to the people.
Afterward he did the same withthe fish, and they all ate as
much as they wanted.
After everyone was full, Jesustold the disciples, Now gather
the leftovers so that nothing iswasted.
So they picked up the pieces,and it filled twelve baskets
with scraps left over by thepeople who had eaten from the
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five barley loaves.
When the people saw him do thismiraculous sign, they exclaimed,
Surely he is the prophet that wehave been expecting.
And when Jesus saw that theywere ready to force him to be
their king, he slipped away intothe hills by himself.
Now pause.
He just got through feeding.
Like I said, there's 5,000 men.
You had women and children,possibly between 10 and 15,000
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people with five barley loavesand two fish.
You know, always wonder, firstof all, how did they get that
lunch from that kid?
Was that kid willing, or do theyhave to kind of throw an elbow
at him?
I don't I don't know, but theygot a hold of it.
And then after Jesus blessed itand he broke it, they had 12
baskets left over.
And once again, what did they dowith the 12 baskets?
Well, there's no there's noevidence for this, but my my
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imagination, I wonder if theygave it to that little boy.
You imagine that little boygoing home that day and saying,
Hey, um, anytime we needanything, let's go give it to
Jesus.
Because he took five loaves andtwo fish, and now I got 12
baskets worth of food.
Wouldn't that have been amazing?
I don't the Bible doesn't sayeither way.
But do you notice that it saidthat when they were ready to
force him to become king, heslipped away.
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Jesus wasn't interested inmomentary satisfaction.
He's already the king.
He's interested in savingeverybody from their sins.
And so Jesus always had his eyeon the prize because he knew
what was really going on.
All right, verse 16.
That evening Jesus went down tothe shore to wait.
Jesus' disciples went down tothe shore to wait for him.
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But as darkness fell and Jesusstill hadn't come back, they got
into the boat and headed acrossthe lake toward Capernaum.
Soon a gale swept down uponthem.
The sea grew very rough.
They had rowed three or fourmiles when suddenly they saw
Jesus walking toward the boat.
They were terrified, but theycalled out to them.
He called out to them, Don't beafraid.
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Then they were eager to let himin the boat, and immediately
they arrived at theirdestination.
Now pause again.
The reason why they would havebeen so terrified is according
to first century tradition,there was this old uh maritime
um idea, this whole kind of kindof old sailor's tale, that if
you ever saw a ghost walk acrossthe water, it was a sign, a bad
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omen that your ship was gonnasink.
And so you imagine there, theyknow this old phrase, and now
they see someone walking onwater.
They'd never seen that before.
So they immediately think, ohno, we're gonna die.
That's why the Bible said assoon as they saw what they find
out to be Jesus, they wereterrified because they thought
we're gonna die.
Little did they know the giverof life was on his way.
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And they invited him into theboat, and they immediately they
arrived at their destination.
That was another miracle youdon't always think about is that
when he got in the boat, boom,they were there.
That's the way I like to travel.
Here we go.
Now, the rest of this is gonnabe Jesus is now, he's got 5,000
people looking for their nexthealing, looking for their next
free meal.
And Jesus sees this, and he isgonna tell them a hard truth
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because he wants to figure outwho is really following me and
who is here to see the show.
So let's get ready for this aswe jump in.
Verse 22.
The next day the crowd that hadstayed on the far shore saw that
the disciples had taken the onlyboat, and they realized Jesus
had not gone with them.
Several boats from Tiberiuslanded near the place where the
Lord had blessed the bread andthe people had eaten.
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So when the crowd saw thatneither Jesus nor the disciples
were there, they got into theboats and went across to
Capernaum to look for him.
They found him on the other sideof the lake and asked, Rabbi,
when did you get here?
Jesus replied, I tell you thetruth, you want to be with me
because I fed you, not becauseyou understood the miraculous
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signs.
But don't be so concerned aboutperishable things like food.
Spend your energy seeking theeternal life that the Son of Man
can give you.
For God the Father has given methe seal of his approval.
They replied, We want you toperform, uh we want to perform
God's works too.
What should we do?
And Jesus told them, This is theonly work God wants from you.
(08:56):
Believe in the one that He hassent.
They answered, Oh yeah?
Show us a miraculous sign if youwant us to believe you.
What can you do?
After all, our ancestors atemanna while they journeyed
through the wilderness.
The scriptures say Moses gavethem the bread of life from
heaven or bread from heaven toeat.
So once again, they've alreadyseen miracles.
They've already seen what he cando.
(09:16):
They're wanting him toconstantly prove himself to
them, constantly give us anothersign, give us another show.
Uh please us, is what they'reconstantly saying.
Here's Jesus' reply, verse 32.
I tell you the truth.
Moses did not give you breadfrom heaven, my father did.
And now he offers you the truebread from heaven.
The true bread of God is the onewho has come down from heaven
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and gives life to the world.
Sir, they said, give us thisbread every day.
Here we go.
I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will neverbe hungry again, and whoever
believes in me will never bethirsty.
But you haven't believed in meeven though you have seen me.
However, those the Father hasgiven me will come to me, and I
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will never reject them.
For I have come down from heavento do the will of God who sent
me, not to do my own will.
And this is the will of God,that I should not lose even one
of those that he has given me,but that I should raise them up
at the last day.
For it is my Father's will thatall who see his son and believe
in him should have eternal life,and I will raise them up on the
(10:24):
last day.
But then listen, then the peoplebegan to murmur in a
disagreement about when he said,I am the bread that comes down
from heaven.
They said, Isn't this Jesus, theson of Joseph?
We know his father and mother.
Now, how can he say, I came downfrom heaven?
Now the reason why they werecomplaining, because he said, I
(10:44):
am the bread of life.
Now, if you've read the book ofExodus, then you know that when
Moses was getting ready to goliberate the nation of Israel,
he said, How am I supposed totell them who sent me?
When I say that God sent me,they're like, Well, well, which
God?
You know, because in uh Egyptthey had a polytheistic society.
There were many different gods.
And he's like, You're not you'renot one of the gods, you are the
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God, but how can I tell them?
And he and God, uh Yahweh, God,told them, say this.
Tell them, I am, has sent you.
And that phrase, I am, is whatJesus is saying right here.
He is not just making astatement, you know, I am
Brandon Cannon.
He is saying, God.
I am God, the bread of life.
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He is using the sacred name ofGod to say, yo, Yahweh, the
bread of life.
He's calling himself God.
When he says, I am the bread oflife, he is saying, I am the God
that liberated the nation ofIsrael.
I am the God of Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob, and I am the bread of
life.
That's why they began to just gocrazy because they were like,
(11:49):
no, no, no, no, no, no.
How can he say that he isYahweh, the bread that came down
from heaven because he's Jesus?
And so he is saying so much morethan just making a personal
statement.
He's claiming his divinity whenhe says this.
And so verse 43 says, But Jesussaid, Stop complaining about
what I said.
For no one can come to me unlessthe Father has sent, uh the
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Father who sent me draws them tome, and the last day I will
raise them up.
As it is written in thescriptures, they will be taught
by God.
Everyone who listens to theFather and learns from him comes
to me.
Not that anyone has ever seenthe Father, only I who was sent
from God have seen him.
I tell you the truth, anyone whobelieves has eternal life.
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Yes, I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate manna in thewilderness, but they are all
dead.
Anyone who eats the bread fromheaven, however, will never die.
I am the living bread that camedown from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread willlive forever.
And this bread, which I offer tothe world, um, and which I offer
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so the world may live, is myflesh.
Now everybody really does gocrazy.
52.
Then the people began arguingwith each other about what he
meant.
How can this man give us hisflesh to eat?
He asked.
So Jesus doubles down again.
Obviously, he's talking about ametaphor.
What he's saying is, is hesaying, just like there was
manna in the wilderness and thatsustained the nation of Israel,
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I am the sustainer that you'vebeen waiting for.
He's not talking literally, he'stalking figuratively, but
they're not listening.
Remember?
They just want free food andthey want the show.
They're not trying to understandwhat Jesus is saying.
So, first 53, he says, I tellyou the truth, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man anddrink his blood, you cannot have
eternal life within you.
(13:39):
But anyone who eats my flesh anddrinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise thatperson at the last day.
For my flesh is true food, andmy blood is true drink.
Anyone who eats my flesh anddrinks my blood remains in me,
and I in him.
I live because the living Fatherwho sent me in the same way,
anyone who feeds on me will livebecause of me.
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I am the true bread that camedown from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread willnot die as your ancestors did,
even though they ate the manna,but will live forever.
He said these things while hewas teaching in the synagogue in
Capernaum.
Now here we go.
Many of his disciples said, Thisis a very this is very hard to
understand.
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How can anyone accept it?
And Jesus looks at them and hesays, He was aware they were
complaining, and so he said,Does this offend you?
Then what would you think if yousee the Son of Man ascending
into heaven again?
The Spirit alone gives eternallife.
Human effort accomplishesnothing.
And the very words I have spokento you are spirit and life.
But some of you do not believe.
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For Jesus knew from thebeginning which ones didn't
believe, and he knew who wouldbetray him.
Then he said, This is why I saidthat people can't come to me
unless my Father gives them tome.
At this point many of hisdisciples turned away and
deserted him.
Then Jesus turned to his twelveand asked, Are you also going to
leave?
Simon Peter replied, Lord, towhom would we go?
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You have the words that giveeternal life.
We believe and we know that youare the holy one of God.
Then Jesus said, I have chosenthe twelve of you, but one is a
devil.
He was speaking, of course, ofJudas, the son of Simon
Iscariot, one of the twelve whowould later betray him.
So what Jesus just got throughdoing is he was saying, Now I
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want to show you who really ismy follower and who is just here
to see the show.
And that is, he uses thismetaphor, and he's saying, in
the wilderness, back in yo, uhNumbers, we just got through
reading as a as a as a grouptogether, you know, they had
manna to eat, free manna everysingle day.
All they had to do was receiveit, and they were sustained.
(15:46):
Jesus has been saying over andover again, if you will put your
trust in me, you can be saved.
You cannot earn it.
All you can do is receive it.
And you receive me freely, butyou gotta receive me.
And so Jesus is using this as ametaphor.
He's not literally saying, eatmy flesh and drink my blood.
He's saying you have to receiveme.
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And if you receive me andreceive all of me, you'll
receive life.
Well, for people who are tryingto understand, they got it.
But for everybody that didn'tcare about knowing God, they
just wanted to see the show,they wanted the free food,
immediately they're offended.
And Jesus, I love this wherehe's saying, Does this offend
you?
And he doesn't apologize.
He just simply looks at his 12and says, You guys gonna go too?
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And I love that Jesusunderstands that there are hard
things that we're sometimesgonna struggle to receive, but
he loves us enough to tell usanyway.
And there are times when we readGod's word where we go, oh,
that's hard.
But we have to choose.
Do we trust God?
Do we trust his character?
That's what Peter is saying.
He's like, hey, look, I don'tget it.
That seems really difficult, butwhere are we gonna go?
(16:52):
We know that you're God and wetrust you.
And that's sometimes when lifewe have to understand.
Let's get really, reallypractical for a moment.
We live in a culture where somany things are up for grabs.
We have so many things that areso many situations where people
are fighting over how to bestinterpret sexuality.
Is sexuality a spectrum, or didGod really create a man and a
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woman?
Is it God's divine decree forholy sexuality, a man and a wife
for life?
Is that easy to believe for somepeople?
What about when it comes totruth?
Is truth objective or is truthsubjective or is truth a
construct?
You know, how how should we dowith all these other things?
There's so many things that areup for grabs that God's word is
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very clear on.
And here's the thing sometimeswe don't like it, but we need to
be like Peter and say, you knowwhat?
Sometimes it's hard, but thetruth is you're God.
And since you're God, you cansay whatever you want to say,
and I'm gonna follow it.
And when we do that, we realizethat we can trust his character.
And when God says something wedon't like, we usually find out
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in the end he was right allalong.
And so that goes into thequestion of the day.
The whole purpose of the Gospelof John was so that we may
believe, and by believing, wemay have life by the power of
his name.
How does this chapter give uslife?
And that is, when I don't know,I trust, because as I trust the
Lord, I find out he was rightall along.
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Let me pray for us today, andthen we'll be done.
Father, thank you so much foryour word.
Thank you, Jesus, that you loveus enough to challenge us.
Sometimes we allow our feelingsto get in the way of your truth.
I love, God, that you love usenough to challenge us, but you
never turn your back on us.
Thank you, God, for giving usthe opportunity to know you and
giving us the patience to bringus along at a pace that we can
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stand.
We love that you are God, andbecause of that, you give us
hope every day.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
God's Word says in John chapter30, these things were written
that you may continue to believethat Jesus is God, and that by
believing in Him, you may havelife by the power of His name.
My prayer for you is life andmore life as we dig into God's
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Word together.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Johnchapter seven.
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