John 6:30-40
"Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?
"Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat."
Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father 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."
Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."
And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
"But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.
"This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

Message:
Ah! It is a text with a hundred sermons! Declarations, doctrines, unsearchable truths...they are all here in our text today. So let's begin.
Jesus had just answered the crowd's question..."What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? And the reply that Jesus gave them..."This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
This is the thing that will be acceptable to God, or which you are to do in order to be saved. Jesus did not tell them they had nothing to do, or that they were to sit down and wait, but that there was a work to perform, and that was a duty that was imperative. It was to believe on the Messiah...and He was the Messiah...the fulfillment of the prophet's promise!

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Two)

The idea of doing something to merit salvation is one of the last that the sinner ever surrenders. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is very clear:
Christ's death on the cross paid the full penalty for our sins and purchased eternal salvation. His atoning sacrifice enables God to justify sinners freely without compromising the perfection of divine righteousness.
"Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:24-26)
His resurrection from the dead declares His victory over sin and death.
"So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(1 Corinthians 15:54-57)
SALVATION IS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ALONE——PLUS AND MINUS NOTHING!
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
(Ephesians 2:9-10)
SINNERS CANNOT EARN SALVATION OR FAVOR WITH GOD.
"So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:8)
God requires of those who are saved no preparatory works or prerequisite self-improvement.
"For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)
Eternal life is a gift from God!
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) So the answer to that seeking crowd, Jesus said: It is not a matter of works, it is a matter of believing on the One that God has sent, and His name is Jesus!

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Three)

The crowd responds with another question: "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?"
"If you are going to ask us to believe in You, then give us a reason...do a sign. What supernatural work have You to show what You can do?"
They had just seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes in the desert, which was sufficient to show that He was the Messiah, and it would seem from the proceeding narrative that those who crossed the lake to see Him supposed that He was the Christ.
Oh! How this exhibits the heart of unbelief!
The Lord said: "Believe." They reply: "Show us a sign, where are your credentials to authorize your mission?"
Does not our own sad history testify that this is true to life? Men are surrounded by innumerable evidences for the existence of God; they carry a hundred demonstrations of it in their own persons, and yet how often do they ask, "What proof have we that there is a God? And too, we believers...we enjoy countless tokens of His love and faithfulness; we have witnessed His delivering hand again and again, and yet when some fresh trial comes upon us--something which completely upsets our plans, the removal, perchance, of some earthly object around which we had entwined our heart's affections--we ask, "Does God really care." And, maybe, we are sufficiently callous to ask for another "sign" in proof that He does?
The crowd explains why they are asking for a "sign."
"Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat" (v.31)
Here is the Old Testament account to which they were referring...it comes from the story of the Israelites in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
"And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Four)

when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.
"And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily."
Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, "At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt.
"And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; For He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we, that you complain against us?"
Also Moses said, "This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord."
Then Moses spoke to Aaron, "Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaints."
Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,
'I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them., saying, "At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God."
The crowd, in requesting a "sign" from Jesus, uses this Old Testament event to give them justification of their request of Jesus.
When the Israelites passed through the wilderness they had problems getting enough food, and the Scripture we have just read tells us that God met their need, sending them each day (except the Sabbath) ‘thin flakes like frost on the ground’ (Exodus 16:14). The name MANNA was given to it (from the Hebrew for the question they asked, "What is it?"), and we are told that it was "white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Five)

with honey" (Exodus 16:31). This daily gift from heave lasted through the forty years of the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16:34-35). The manna was called "bread from heaven" (Exodus 16:4; Psalms 78:23-25).
There was an idea among the Jews that God would send the manna again in the latter days, "It will happen...that the treasury of manna will come down again from on high, and they will eat of it in those years" (2 Baruch 29:8). Very importantly, there was an idea that the Messiah would be associated with the renewal of this gift. "As the former redeemer [i.e. Moses] caused the manna to descend, as it is stated, "Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you (Ex. 16:4), so will the latter Redeemer cause manna to descend, as it is stated, "May he be as a rich cornfield in the land (Psalm 72:16)" (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1;9)
Plainly the Jews who talked with Jesus had something like this in mind. It was the belief that a pot of the manna had been hidden in the ark in the first temple, and that, when the temple was destroyed, Jeremiah had hidden it away and would produce it again when the Messiah came.
In other words, the Jews were challenging Jesus to produce bread from God in order to substantiate His claims. They did not regard the bread which had fed the five thousand as bread from God; it had begun in earthly loaves and issued in earthly loaves. The manna, they held, was a different thing and a real test. The Jews were not content with the "sign" that Jesus had given...they demanded that the "Sign" be the one that they wanted! It is easy to put human limitations on what God must do. We must all learn that God does things His own way, not the way we lay down. We would have thought that Jesus' feeding of the great crowd of people from such limited resources would surely be the kind of miracle that must accredit Him. But quite plainly, the Jews found it insufficient. After all, Moses fed an entire nation, whereas Jesus had given them only one meal.
In verse 32 of our text, Jesus refutes the position they are taking up. Again He begins with the emphatic "Truly, truly"; what follows is important. He points to three errors they had made and He gives the correct position: (1) Moses did not give the gift; God did. (2) God's gift is not only in the remote past; he gives now. (3) The bread from heaven that matters is a spirit

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Six)

ual gift; it is not something physical like the manna. They were in error in looking for such a gift.
It is always a mistake to confuse the divine Giver with the earthly instrument through whom he makes His gift. Moses was a faithful servant of God, but it was not him to supply the manna and in fact he never did. He simply told the Israelites what God would do and passed on God’s commands concerning its use.
"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."
IT IS MY FATHER WHO GIVES YOU THE TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN.
"My Father" indicates a consciousness that Jesus stood in a relation to the Giver that His hearers did not. He assures them not that God once gave the gift of the manna, but that He continually gives. This would provide a difficulty if it were the manna that He continually gives. But it is something more...the word order puts emphasis on "true".
The crowd had followed Jesus because of the loaves they had eaten. But they were quite unmindful of the much more important fact that the Father keeps on giving that bread which is bread indeed.
The crowd did not completely understand what Jesus was saying, but they understood part of it. He was correcting them. The bread they wanted did not come from Moses—it came from God. They understood that, and they understood that he was talking about something a little beyond the material. But they did not completely understand, so they continued to question. In fact, they really led with their chins in verse 34, "Sir, they said, from now on give us this bread."
Now Jesus had them where he wanted them, so He could tell them what He could do for them. There are seven great "I AM" sayings in the book of John—"I am the light," "I am the door." "I am the good shepherd." "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am the way and the truth and the life." "I am the true vine," and here in verse 35.
"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."

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Seven)

What a statement! "I am the bread of life." It is no coincidence that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, "the house of bread," as prophesied hundreds of years earlier by Micah (5:2). The Word became flesh, and we broke it. There is no coincidence about that either. It was all planned by the Lord, for our redemption.
Think with me just for moment of the several similarities between manna and Jesus. The manna typified Jesus, for it was white like fallen snow, just as Christ was without blemish or imperfection.
The manna was a supernatural gift, it was not a product earth, it was not manufactured by man...it came down from heaven. So it is with that which the manna prefigured--the written Word. The Scriptures are the spiritual manna for our souls, and at every point they manifest their supernatural origin. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son." (John 1:14)
Please note the occasion of the giving of the manna is both striking and solemn. After being the recipients of wondrous mercies from the Lord, Israel arrived in the wilderness of Sin. But no sooner had they came thither than we find that the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmuring against Moses and Aaron, saying, "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
A more fearful exhibition of unbelief, ingratitude, and rebellion could scarcely be imagined. The marvel is that the fiery judgments of God did not consume them there and then. But instead of pouring upon them His wrath, He dealt with them in marvelous grace by raining bread from Heaven for them.
Strikingly does this picture the condition of that world into which the Lord of Glory descended!
For four thousand years the temporal and governmental mercies of God had been showered upon the human race, making His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, sending His rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45).
And what had been man's response?
"When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Pro-

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Eight)

feasing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things" (Romans 1:21—23).
Little better was it with Israel, as a glance at their Old Testament history will show. What wonder, then, if God had abandoned the whole race? But no; in matchless, wondrous grace, He sent forth His own beloved Son to a world wherein every human creature had forfeited every possible claim upon His goodness and mercy!
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16)
The place where the Manna fell is also deeply significant. It was in the Wilderness of Sin! Surely it were impossible to select a more fitting title to accurately describe the character of that world into which the Son of God descended.
A wilderness...and Ah! what a wilderness it was. A wilderness...and what is a wilderness? It is a homeless place...no one would think of building a house there! And a homeless place was this world to the Son of God. No room in the inn at His birth; nowhere to lay His head during the days of His public ministry; a borrowed grave for His crucified body sums it all up! A wilderness of sin! Never was that more apparent than when the Sinless One was here.
But did you notice as we read the story about the manna..."and they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud."
This is very striking indeed! It is the first time we read of the appearing of the 'glory of the Lord,' not only in connection with Israel, but in Scripture.
Marvelously accurate is this detail of our type. Not until the Son of God became incarnate was "the glory of the Lord" fully revealed. But when the eternal Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, then, as the beloved apostle declares, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father"..."the glory of God" is seen in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6)
The manna was a free gift from God! No charge was made for this manna. It was neither a wage to be earned nor a prize to be won, but was a token of God's grace and love. It was without money and without price! Ah! Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Nine)

There is another aspect of manna which is very important.
The manna was sent to the Israelites.
"Behold, I will rain bread from heaven FOR YOU; and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota each day." Two truths are here illustrated. First, the manna was God's provision for His elect people, and for none others. We do not read of God raining manna upon Egypt nor upon Canaan. It was given to Israel in the wilderness and to them alone, just as the Pascal lamb was for them, and not for the Egyptians. So, too, Christ is God's provision for those whom He 'ordained unto eternal life."
Listen to His own words in John 17:19: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself" ——set Myself apart unto death. It was for "the sheep" and not for the goats, that He gave His life (John 10:11)
But second, this manna was also sent to a needy and foodless people. Whatever food Israel had brought with them out of Egypt was, by this time, consumed. From the human side, they seemed in imminent danger of starving to death. Had not God met their need they would have perished in the wilderness. But from the Divine side everything was sure. God had purposed to bring Israel to Sinai and His counsel cannot fail. A complete provision did He make for His people. It is the same now! By nature, the elect of God are children of wrath, even as others (Eph. 2:3). Shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin, their lot is indeed desperate. But praise be to God, full provision is made for them. The Bread of Life is their all-sufficient supply. Even before His birth it was announced, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."
The manna came right down to where the Israelites were.
The Israelites were in immediate danger of starving to death, but as we have seen, God graciously made provision to supply their need and now we would notice that no long journey had to be taken in order to secure that which would satisfy their hunger——the manna fell all around the camp! "And in the morning the dew lay round about the host; and when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing." (Ex. 16:13-14). Here we have foreshadowed the blessed fact that, to the sinner conscious of his need and anxious to meet with the Saviour, God says, "Say not in thine heart Who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or,

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Ten)

Who, shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee." And out of this very nearness springs the sinner's responsibility. All around each tent door lay the manna. Something had to be done with it. It must either be gathered or trodden under foot!
Sinner, what are you doing with the Christ of God?
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3:20)
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18)
"The Lord is near to all who call on him; to all who call on him in truth." (Psalm 145:18)
"God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." (Acts. 17:27)
"The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:8-10)
Notice one other matter concerning the manna...it had to be gathered by each individual. "This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating" (Ex. 16:16). It is so spiritually. Receiving Christ is a personal matter. No one can believe for another. There is no salvation by proxy. The gospel of Christ is, "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1:16).
Saving faith is that act whereby each awakened sinner appropriates Christ unto himself. It is true that Christ loved the Church as a whole, and gave Himself for it, but it is also the happy privilege of each member of His Church to say with the Apostle Paul, "Who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
The manna was despised by those who were not the Lord's people.
"And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting, and the children of Israel also went again, and said, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Eleven)

garlic. But now our soul is dried away; there is nothing left at all, beside this manna, before our eyes" (Numbers 11:4-6)
How these words remind us of the language of Isaiah 53--"And when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men " The sin-blinded eyes of the natural man are incapable of perceiving the attractiveness of the Lord Jesus: His wondrous perfections he is unable to discern. So, too. he sees not his deep need, and how Christ alone is able to meet that need. Hence he neither comes to Christ nor desires Him.
The manna was white in color.
We read in Exodus 16:31, "And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna; and it was like coriander seed, white."
This speaks of the spotless purity of our Lord as manifested outwardly in His daily walk. He knew no sin, (2 Cor. 5:21). He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He did no sin (1 Peter 2:22). He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:26). And in 1 Peter 1:19 we are told that He was a lamb "without spot and without blemish." The former expression referring to the absence of outward pollution, the latter to the absence of inward defect. In His walk through this scene of corruption He contracted no defilement.
He only could touch the leper without becoming contaminated. He was "without spot," pure, white!
The manna was ground and baked. "And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it" (Numbers 11:8).
How this speaks to us of the sufferings of our blessed Lord! Such expressions as "He groaned for their hardness of heart," He "sighed" because of their unbelief, He "wept" over Jerusalem, and many others tell of the grinding of the manna. His treatment at the hands of the Jews and the brutal soldiers in Herod's judgment shall show us the beating of the manna. On the Cross we behold Him subjected to the fierce fires of God's wrath. Thus we learn that the manna, ground and beaten, speaks to us of Him who "was bruised for our iniquities "

***PAGE BREAK***
(Page Twelve)

The manna was given in the night.
It was during the hours of darkness that the manna was sent to the Israelites. It is while they were asleep (picture of man's helplessness, for we are never so helpless as when we are asleep) that the bread was given from Heaven. So, too, it was when we were in darkness and unbelief, impotent, "without strength," that Christ came to us. Moreover, it will be at the close of this world's night, when "the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, that the Break of God shall return and give Life to the world!
That manna is now hidden.
In Revelation 2:17 we read, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna." So, too, Christ of whom the manna continually speaks, is now "hidden." Unseen by the eye of sense, He remains in Heaven till that day when He shall be manifested before all the world.
We shall not only see the heavenly manna, but we shall "eat" of it again. Fresher than ever will be our realization of His love and the perfection of the grace which is manifested toward us. It is then in fact, when we come to be there, that we shall have the full enjoyment, knowing as we are known, of all the experiences, which , though they be experiences of the wilderness, yet, wait for the land to which we are hastening to find their full interpretation and blessing. We are enjoying that which shall be our joy for eternity. We are feeding on that which shall be our food forever!

Jesus said, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE!