Sermon
The Gift of Salvation and The Eternal Plan of God
January 27, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and join with me in John's gospel chapter 6; John's gospel chapter 6 beginning to read at verse 30. If you're using the pew Bible it's page 718. We're continuing our study in the gospel of John.

It says, 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."

The setting for our study, we've been over this passage now for the last two or three weeks -- you do not have notes because a couple of weeks ago I gave you a 12 page set of notes, so I'm catching up on some of those in those notes, and thus the reason for no printed notes today. But our setting for our verse is this; yesterday, in accordance with our text, Jesus had fed 5000 and the result was they were so amazed at this demonstration of power that they wanted to make Him king. Jesus thwarted that ambitious effort and He immediately tells His disciples to get into the ship and head back across to Capernaum.

He was going to disperse the crowd, which He did, and then He went up into a mountain to pray. While He's praying, it's about 3:00 in the morning, He sees that the disciples are having a difficult time crossing the sea because of turbulent waves and a violent storm, and so, according to the Scriptures, and we studied about it a couple of weeks ago, Jesus went walking to the disciples on the water. He gets into the boat. They arrive on the other side.

Now the crowd that He's left wonder where He's gone, and so the Bible tells us that possibly during the night other ships were out in that turbulent storm and so they harbored for the nighttime. They were ships from Tiberius, and when the morning came this crowd decided they would get on these ships and head looking for Jesus back over in the city in Capernaum.

When they get to Him, they say, when did You come here? And Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." In other words, your search for Me was not of a spiritual nature. It's selfish. You were fed yesterday, that's why you're seeking Me.

"Do not labor for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. " Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" In other words, Jesus, what is it we have to do to please God?

Verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." And it says, "Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Jesus, if You're requesting us to put our trust in You, will You give us evidence sufficient to prove who You are so we can trust You?

Now remember they've asked this even in the context of a few hours before; they had been a part of a miracle where Jesus fed 5000, and they were a part of that crowd most likely. And yet that miracle wasn't sufficient. They're saying Jesus, show us something greater, and then we'll believe. Can you do what Moses did?

Look at verse 31. Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." In other words, they're saying in essence Jesus, You gave us one meal yesterday; night has come, morning has come, we missed evening supper, we missed breakfast. Moses for 40 years provided food for millions twice a day. Now if You can be as authentic as Moses, we'll believe in You. That's what we're say.

And notice Jesus' response, 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." So what we did last Lord's Day in the closing moments we went back into the Old Testament to find the occasion that they're referencing here, that occasion when God showered manna from heaven.

Let's go back there again today because it's a fascinating passage. It's the second book of the Old Testament -- Exodus. It's page 49 in the red pew Bible. And here's the story that they're making reference to. It's the story of the manna. Notice in verse 1 of Exodus 16: 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, 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.

Remember -- he gives us the date - it's been 30 days almost now since they've been out in the wilderness. It was only 30 days ago they stood before that Red Sea and God parts the waters, a marvelous miracle. They get across the sea. God destroys Pharaoh and his army. They get three days into the wilderness and they're bothered about water and they start complaining. The water is bitter and so God says to Moses take a tree throw it in the water, and he does and the water is drinkable. It's wonderful delicious water.

So they've watched the miracle of the dividing of the sea, they've watched the miracle of taking that bitter water and making it fresh, and now they're another few days into the wilderness and they're saying, I would to God we have stayed in Egypt. At least we had pots of meat and we had food there. Moses you brought us out here to let us die.

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." They were not to prepare, remember, on the Sabbath. They did all the preparation the day before Sabbath. So they prepared twice as much that day.

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?" 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."

So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For the did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat."

Now that's the occasion that this group of people mention to Christ. They're saying, Jesus, You fed us once; Moses fed them for 40 years. Jesus corrects them and says, Moses didn't do it. My Father in heaven did. And then He says, I am the bread of God. Now what He does is something very beautiful. He draws a spiritual picture in the sense, considering the similarities of the manna of the wilderness and Himself as the bread of God, beautiful similarities.

Now I want to take our time today just to go over a few of them. You'll notice that that gift of manna was a supernatural gift. God in His infinite grace and in His glorious mercy showered that bread bake in the ovens of heaven called angel's bread, in Psalms 78. It was supernatural. It came to them in a supernatural way.

When you consider the bread of God -- Jesus Christ -- He comes to us, came to this world in a very supernatural way. He was born of the virgin Mary. Marvelously, as a work of the Holy Spirit, the womb of Mary and the Son of God is born. A supernatural birth. As the manna in the wilderness had a supernatural source so the bread of heaven comes to us in a supernatural way.

And please note the occasion of the giving of the manna. It's both striking and solemn. It was after being the recipients of wondrous mercies from the Lord, Israel had arrived in the Wilderness of Sin, but no sooner had they arrived we find the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmuring against Moses and Aaron, saying, would to God we would have died in Egypt. Now I don't think there's a more fearful exhibition of unbelief and ingratitude and rebellion that could scarcely be imagined. A people who had witnessed only hours before -- such ingratitude, such unbelief, saying all you did was bring us here to let us die.

It should have been there that God would have poured forth His wrath upon them. They deserved it. Did you notice how many times we read that complaint, complaint, complaint, complaint, unbelief, ingratitude, rejection? Well, strikingly does this picture the condition of that world into which the Lord of glory, the bread of God, came. For 4000 years the temporal and the governmental mercies of God had been showered upon the human race making His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sending His rain on the just and the unjust. And you would think that a world now so blessed with the mercies of God, they'd be turning to God, but they weren't.

Paul pictures for us the world into which the bread of God came. Turn in your Bibles to Romans 1, beginning to read at verse 18. And here we have the picture of the scene into which the bread of heaven comes. It's a terrible picture. It's a world in rebellion, a world in unbelief, a world in ingratitude. Paul writes in verse 18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His the eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, the did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile and their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Profess to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man -- birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust one for another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whispers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

That's Paul's description of the world into which the bread of heaven came. 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 set forth His own beloved Son to a world wherein every man, every human creature, had forfeited every possible claim upon God's goodness and mercy. Those Israelites didn't deserved that bread; complaining, unbelief, disbelief, ingratitude, turning against God, and yet in mercy He pours out the manna in their camp. To a world that does away with the knowledge of God and worships the creature more than the Creator, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The bread of God comes to a world filled with sin.

Now, notice the place where this manna fell. It fell 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 what a wilderness it was. A wilderness is a homeless place. No one would think of building a house there. A homeless place was this world to the Son of God. When He arrived they didn't even have a place for Him to be born. As He lived: the foxes had their holes, the birds had their nests, but He says the Son of God had no where to lay His head. And when they buried Him they borrowed a tomb to put Him in.

A wilderness, a world that He created, but a world that so mistreated Him -- a wilderness of sin. Did you notice, when we read the story of the manna, it says, when they looked into the wilderness they'd be held the glory of the Lord? Now, when we go through the Scriptures, this is the first place in the Bible were God visibly demonstrates His glory -- something they could see. And in the giving of that glory, Moses is saying, this is evidence that God has heard your complaints, and they will witness His glory. And they're standing there and I can't imagine the magnificence of that majestic cloud which was the glory of God, and the glory was associated with the coming of the manna.

Consider the similarity of the bread from heaven. It was 2000 years ago a night in Bethlehem's skies, the glory of the Lord appeared and the hosts of heaven shouting and singing, glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men! And the bread of heaven arrives on this earth in the glory of God and the heavens were filled with splendor.

John writes in his gospel in John 1:14, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. And thus, the coming of the bread of God is that demonstration to mankind, God came in His wonderful glory in the person of Christ. Glory surrounded the first manna, and the glory of God surrounded the bread of heaven.

There's something else about this bread. It was a gift. It didn't cost those Israelites a dime. There were no cash registers. I mean, it was a gift. They couldn't work for it. There was no charge made. It was neither a wage to be earned nor a prize to be won. It was a token of God's grace. It's yours -- even though you complained -- I give it to you as a gift. Think with me of the great similarity -- that the bread of heaven is the gift of God. What He gives to the human heart in search and quest for that which satisfies the aching and the longing heart is a free gift.

For by grace ye have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; lest anyone should boast. Thus the manna of the Old Testament was a gift from God, and thus the gift of that manna that feeds the human soul, the person of Christ in all of His love and mercy, comes to us as a gift. You can't earn it. We don't deserve it. It's just a gift from God.

There's something else about that manna. You'll notice that the manna came right down to where the Israelites lived. They were moving along through that wilderness. It's estimated there were 2 million plus so that's quite a camp. And God showered that manna. They didn't even get in the car and go anywhere. It was meals on wheels. That meal was right there at the front of the tent door. The accessibility, the availability was so wonderful. They didn't have to make a journey to get it. It was there before them.

And I think of this in terms of the availability of a wonderful Christ. The Bible says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man will open the door I will come in to Him, and I will sup with him. It's always a marvelous thing to me to watch people who are searching for God and their heart is hungry, and the availability of Christ; I've watch them stand at the altar, time and time again, just raising their hand and with tears flowing and all they say is, Jesus. And He comes to them in the most wonderful gift of grace and mercy, so available, so accessible.

In fact, the Scriptures tell us in the Psalms he says, the Lord is close to the broken hearted and He saves those who are crushed in spirit. The Lord is near to all who call on Him; to all who call on Him in truth. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him, and find Him. Though He's not far; He's not far from any one of us. If you're here today and your heart is hungry for God, He's standing at your door. That's why you're hungry. And all you have to do say, Jesus, here's my heart, here's my life, I accept You.

Now just think though, if that food is in the front of my tent door, I either pick it up and take it into the tent or I have to walk over it. Now that's interesting. Isn't that true of Jesus? If we don't take Him in, we trod under our feet again the Son of God and we walk away.

You've got to do something with Jesus. Neutral you cannot be! For someday your heart will be asking, what will He do with me? Neutral you cannot be. You can't trod Him under your feet. You've got to pick Him up. He's at your tent door. He's knocking and you've got to do something with Him.

You know, I tell you, one of the deepest feelings I carry in my heart as a pastor, standing in the pulpit year after year, preaching, with all my heart, I try to make Jesus just as available as I can, just as clear as I can make it. And yet I hurt when people walk out that door to reject Christ.

Somebody asked me, what are the benefits of pastoring for a long period of time, and what are the negatives? The benefits: after 42 years of being your pastor, they are multitudinous. The lives that we've been able to touch. The families that have become so dear to us; you folks who gather with us. But there's a downside folks: I walk the streets of a city that I've walked for 40 years and I see people who sat in these pews and they came to church, and they walked out, and they're living in sin today treading beneath their feet the wonderful love of God. The manna was placed at the tent door. Christ comes to our door and He's available, and whosoever will may come.

Now there's something else about the manna. In the Numbers passage it says, and the people went out about and gathered it and ground in the mills, and beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. So after I go outside my tent door and I pick up this little round substance. I take it into my tent and now I must grind it with a mortar. I must beat it and I must prepare it for baking. And then when it's prepared for baking I put it in the oven; I put it under the fire; I heat it.

So there needed to be that preparation, that grinding, that heat of the furnace to make it the food that would sustain them. How this speaks to us of the sufferings of our blessed Lord such expressions as, He groaned for the hardness of their heart, He sighed because of their unbelief, He wept over Jerusalem, and many others tell us of the grindings and the meshings through which our Christ went. He comes to His own. They reject Him! They mock Him! They spit in His face! They laugh at Him! They lie about Him! They call Him all kinds of names! Oh what grinding, what grinding went on in the preparation of the bread of heaven.

To feel the pathos of a life. Here's Jesus standing there and He's telling them that He's the bread of life, and they decide between each other this saying is too hard, and the walk out on Jesus. And John, when we get to the end of this chapter, I don't think there's a deeper emotional statement in the Scriptures -- Jesus simply says, will you also go away? What grinding. What rejection.

They bring Him in and they beat Him and they put a crown of thorns, and He moves into that crucible of Calvary and there they nail Him to a cruel cross. He's put under the fiery judgments of God. He became sin for us, who knew no sin, so that He might be the bread of life that provides eternal life for our starving souls.

As those wafers, manna, went through the process of grinding, the weight of that mortar and the heat of that oven, so the bread of heaven went through the grinding of rejection and Calvary for me and for you. Isn't it amazing the similarities between that manna in the wilderness and the bread from heaven? You'll notice another thing about that manna. It was given in the night when they were fast asleep this miracle takes place and the manna is given at night.

You know there's a beautiful parallel, isn't it true that in the night of our sin, packed with all of its burden and its guilt, it's in that night of almost deep anguish and wrestling with even the purpose of life itself that so many of us have come to feast on the bread of heaven. I sat in one of the services here today and I looked across the congregation, and I know the testimony of many.

One sat here today whose life was deeply, deeply gnarled and marked and scarred by the ravages of sin, and in the night of sin's darkness somebody told him about the bread of life. And I see him sitting here today dramatically changed with his family and his children growing up to serve Christ. His night was deep, his sin was dark, that's when the manna of heaven arrived.

Now there's one last thing and then we'll go. You remember when we read all the passage in Exodus? God said to Aaron and Moses, now what I want you to do men is I want you to take a bowl and I want you to fill this bowl with some of that manna, and what I want you to do is I want you to put it into the ark of the covenant. Now were the folks worshiped, right in the holiest of holies, was this ark. Maybe five or six feet long, so wide, so high. And in that ark was Aaron's rod that had budded, the two tablets of stone, and that pot of manna. The three items.

And God said now I want that to remain in there because I want it to be a reminder for all the generations to come that I came to man in his deepest need, and I provided for him, so put that manna in the ark of the covenant as a continual reminder of my provision. Now it's interesting. When you study the traditional stories and some of the legends concerning the ark of the covenant it's fascinating. There are all kinds of stories.

There's one story that tells us that when the queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia and met Solomon and marveled at his beauty, the were married and had children. The queen of Sheba went back to her land, but a couple of the boys were left for Solomon to raise and one of the boys fell in love with Judaism and with that ark. And one day he said, dad, I'm going home, but you've got to let me go home only with one thing; you've got to let me have the ark.

Now Solomon is put in a difficult place so he has an exact replica made of the ark thinking that this boy would take the replica, but the boy understood. Now this is a legend. The boy took the ark of the covenant out of the temple and put the artificial one there, and took off for Ethiopia. And to this day, if you go to Ethiopia, there's a place they will not allow human beings to get near because they say this is where the ark of the covenant is stored.

It's interesting. National Geographic did a tremendous story recently. But there's a lot of Jewish legend about the ark. One of them says what actually happened in the early part of the sixth century when the temple was being destroyed and Jeremiah was in charge, Jeremiah went into the temple, got that little bowl of manna, hurries off to Mount Sinai, finds a cleft in the rock, and he hides it there. So many Jewish people say that bowl of manna is somewhere in a cleft on Sinai. And one of the marks when the messiah comes he will go to that cleft and get the manna, and that will evidence that he's the messiah.

Now come with me to the last book in your Bible, because here's the last reference to this manna. This to me it's fascinating. Look at Revelation 2:17. Messages to the churches, and here's what the message is: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. And once again and manna is reference -- the last time in the Bible. And what's the implied? When you and I get to heaven we shall forever feast on His wonderful presence, the manna of God. Isn't that amazing?

He's hidden today. I do not see Him, but I know He's there. And one of these days the trump will sound, the clouds will part asunder, and you and I will see that bread of heaven, and we'll forever spend eternity in His presence. Now do you see what Jesus meant when He said, not the bread of the wilderness, I am the bread, and if you eat of Me you'll never hunger again? Isn't that amazing?

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, as we sit here today most of us can remember when we were deeply hungry for the meaning of life. We tried so many things to appease that hunger, and all it did was leave us empty. And then, in Your infinite grace, You allowed our lives to be touched by someone who told us about a bread, the bread of life, that would forever satisfy. So we opened our hearts to You, dear Jesus, and You came and now that hunger has been satisfied. We have found our peace, and our contentment, and our satisfaction in You, O wonderful bread of God. Thank you, thank you very much. And everybody said, amen. God bless you. God bless you.