All right. Thank you for the praise team. Again, it's going to take a little bit of time adjusting to preaching to an empty room and leading praise with an empty room. You know, I was talking to a few of my friends who obviously all of them are doing the same thing.

Some of them are preaching in their garage, some of them are preaching at church, some of them are preaching in their living room. And we all share the same sentiment. It's very difficult to preach to an empty room because we don't know the response. And we are getting texts that there's some issues with the sound, so please be patient with us.

Our AV team is working hard to kind of adjust that. So again, you don't all need to be texting in. I think a few of the pastors and the leaders are texting in and saying that. So if you, you know, just be patient with us as we get these kinks out.

And you know, I'm concerned that I may get too comfortable with preaching to an empty room and then I have to adjust when you guys come back. You know, and I'm going to be just preaching too fast or something. The text that we're going to be looking at this morning is in John chapter 6, the whole chapter, chapter 6 verses 1 through 71.

And we're going to be expositing every single word, so obviously not, you know, there's too many verses. We're going to be highlighting, this is a very, very important passage in the ministry of Jesus. And it's going to start us off on the seven "I am" statements of Christ. I don't think I'll be preaching each one each week.

Some weeks I may double up because next couple of weeks we have Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. So we want to make sure that our preaching is appropriate to that. But for today, we're kicking off, and again, this is not a text that many of you should be unfamiliar with.

I actually taught on this probably at least once or twice in the last maybe about four or five years. But again, to kick us off on the right direction. So let me read this, a small portion of it, and then we'll get, we'll jump right into it. Starting from verse 32 to verse 36, "Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.' Then they said to him, 'Lord, always give us this bread.' Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe.'" Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that your Word would go forth and that it would do the work that you have ordained, especially now, Father God, as our lives, our church, the whole world, Lord, has been flipped upside down.

And reminding us, Lord, how weak we are, how finite we are, and how desperate we are to know you, to hear from you, to be guided by you. We need your wisdom more than ever. We need the light of your Word to cut through the darkness so that we may see clearly.

Lord, we desire to love you. We desire to worship you. We desire to believe you. Help us, Lord God, to open our eyes that we may see the true glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that your Word would have its effect, sanctify us, renew us. Bless us this morning, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

And again, it's been a couple weeks. Some of you guys have been, you know, cooped up at home for longer than that, and I know many of you are going to work, especially our health workers, first responders, you know, people who are working in essential things that you're doing.

So it seems like to me, percentage-wise, maybe about half or a little bit more than half are staying home, and then the other half are actually going out and, you know, risking their health to keep the health situation, the hospitals running and tech stuff that's going on. And so know that we are praying for you, and hopefully that it won't last long.

You know, I was thinking about the timing of this, all of this, and it probably was really bad for, you know, a lot of the university students, because you were just about to get into the finals, and then you had spring break this week. And probably many of you had plans to do something, especially you seniors, since this is your last hoorah before, you know, going off into the sunset and getting a job and, you know, living however, right?

And so this was your last hoorah, so I know there's a great disappointment in many of you. Some of you guys who are in the finance industry. I mean, the market just went crazy, and you were disappointed in other ways. Many of you who own businesses, and you're dependent on these businesses.

I mean, what a bad time to be business owners right now, and again, we feel for you, and we'll see how this is going to end up. But again, even with the stimulus package, and I can't imagine the stress that you guys are in. There are actually several couples that I've known outside the church who have canceled their wedding because of this, and again, we have couples in our church.

We have one who's already canceled their wedding, and then we have other couples who is coming up in the next couple months, and they are wrestling right now with whether they need to be moving it back. And so what a stressful time for many of you. In many ways, every single one of us has been affected, and I, you know, for me and my family, it's probably been the easiest.

And again, as I've mentioned, there's been a good blessing to be able to spend more time with the children, but as I and many of us are waiting this out, I feel for a lot of you who are in the midst of a turmoil. And again, it's not just us.

This is going on all over the world. In fact, this week, Tokyo had to finally come out and say that they're going to have to cancel or postpone the Olympics. And to understand the gravity of that, that has only happened three times before, and each of those times that an Olympic was canceled or postponed, it happened because of war, World War I and World War II.

And interestingly, one of those times was also supposed to be held in Tokyo, and they also had to cancel it because of World War II. So I remember talking to a Japanese businessman just a couple weeks ago before all this started, how he was getting information from his company in Japan saying that, telling him that he may not be able to come home, and they were so worried because the Japanese economy was already struggling, and to postpone or to cancel this Olympic would have devastating effects upon their economy.

Obviously, we're all hurting. Every country is hurting, but to have a country to pour billions and billions of dollars preparing for this, hotels being built, stadiums being built, especially in an economy that has already been struggling, and it was a very, very big decision they had to make. So what is going on right now, it is not about individual stuff that's going on.

It's not just one family, one church, or even one country. This devastation is affecting everybody. And I've already shared online that I've been speaking to our Indian pastors, and even in the remote villages, it's getting around. So the government actually shut down even villages, that they're not allowed to go to school, they're not allowed to come out.

And so they've actually put a hard timeline of one month that they can't come out. And so for us, we have online, we can still go to the supermarkets and pick up stuff, but imagine in the villages, if they can't come out, what kind of effects that they're going to be feeling after about a month.

So this is affecting almost every human being alive. And so it requires us to pray, it requires us to really seek God. And I think that's why it's appropriate for us as Christians, that we really focus our attention during this time upon who Christ is. Right now, as the world is looking for answers, you know, who has the antivirus, what country is doing the best job, what hospitals are handling this virus well, what leaders are making the right decisions, and we are looking for all kinds of answers.

And all of these things are necessary. But as Christians, we believe that the answer is ultimately found in Christ and Christ alone. There is no authority, the Bible says, that has been established that has not been established by God himself. So it would be severely short-sighted to simply think that if we had the right leaders, if we made the right decisions, if we had the right money allocated at the right place, that all this is just simply going to go away.

To recognize that what is happening around the world right now is symptomatic of the warning that the Bible has been giving all this time, whether we are living in plenty or whether we are living in want, whether we are socializing with our friends, whether we are living in safety and abundance, the Bible warns us there is a spiritual reality behind all of that that causes us to seek Christ.

You know, the good thing about all of this, even with all the tragedy, is that the facade has been taken away. And the reality of the situation of mankind has been revealed to the world. We are helpless. Even if we find a cure to this virus, even if the businesses go back and the stock market just skyrockets back into where it is, what you and I are experiencing now is something that the Bible has been warning from the beginning of human history, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And so it is now more than ever that you and I diligently seek the glory of God. And that's what these "I Am" statements are. The seven "I Am" statements is Christ connecting Himself to Exodus chapter 3 when Yahweh introduced Himself and says, "I Am that I Am has sent you." How do I introduce you?

How can I go to Israel? How can I go to Pharaoh and say, "This tiny little nation is going to be delivered. Who do I say has sent me?" Tell them, "I Am has sent you." And so we talked about that last week. And so the connection today is it's clear that Jesus' "I Am" statement was not an inconsequential statement.

It's just not the word to be. And He just happened to be using that in just an average sentence. In fact, in the Greek structure, the "I Am" statement is "ego-ai-me." And both words have similar meaning. The both words, the root word is "to be." So if you were to read it literally, Jesus actually says in Greek, "I Am, I Am." And it sounds redundant.

But the reason why He does that is because in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of Exodus, that's exactly how that verse is translated, "ego-ai-me." So when Jesus says in the seven "I Am" statements, He is referring Himself to that same God that Moses met at the burning bush. Tell them, "I Am has sent me." So Jesus says in the seven distinct statements, "I Am the bread of life." These "I Am" statements are telling two things.

One, clearly Jesus is God. In fact, one of the clearest places where Jesus identifies Himself as God is in chapter five. But we're not going to be studying that today. But after He lays that down, He continues on through the book of John, identifying Himself over and over and over and over again.

So a Jew who was paying attention to Him closely would have clearly understood, even with just with one "I Am" statement, Jesus is not simply saying He's a prophet. Jesus is not simply saying that He's a rabbi or He's equal to the greatest of prophets in the Old Testament.

He says He is above all of that. He says He is God Himself. That's the first thing that these "I Am" statements are clarifying for us. But the second thing that He says, along with that, every one of these "I Am" statements tears down Israel's hopes that they put on.

Kind of the religiousness, how they were looking for the Messiah to come and what they imagined the Messiah to be. How they thought the Messiah was going to come and He was going to bring this golden era of peace. That they're going to overthrow the Roman government. They're going to have plenty of food.

And Israel is going to be restored back to whatever glory that they were thinking in their head. Every one of these "I Am" statements are breaking down the false hopes of mankind and making it very clear that if you put your hope in anything else, that you will hunger again and you will thirst again.

And that's why I think it's very relevant for us to study the "I Am" statements of Christ. Now that the outside facade of human history, you know, the curtain has been taken out and we see who we really are, in the end, we are helpless. We're absolutely helpless. That our leaders aren't going to make the perfect decision to make this go away.

Some of us are going to get sick. Some of us may die from that. But whether we make it through this and some of us get hurt by this, one thing is absolutely crystal clear. We will all suffer on our way to death. One hundred percent. One hundred percent.

The only difference between each individual is when this is going to happen. Will it happen when we're young or will it happen when we're old? But in the end, the Bible says, "Inasmuch it is appointed for all men to die once, after this comes judgment." Our hope is found in Christ, in Christ alone.

The first statement, "I am the bread of life." In order to understand the statement that he says later on in this chapter, we need to understand the context. Because Jesus is not just speaking in open air, just talking to anybody. He's talking to 5,000 people who just ate the miraculous bread and the miraculous fish.

There's only two miracles that are mentioned in the Gospels that are repeated in all four Gospels. Do you know what they are? This one and the other one is the resurrection of Christ. Those are the only two miracles that are repeated in all four Gospels. So that tells us the significance of this miracle.

This was not one of many miracles. It happens to be a miracle where the rejection of Christ happens in this chapter. Usually when we think of rejection of Christ, we think about Christ coming in on Palm Sunday and then Him being crucified on the cross. Well, the rejection that happened in mass numbers really happens in this chapter.

Up to this point, if you remember, every time He performs a miracle, He's concerned that His fame is going to spread all over and He would continue to tell the people who experience this miracle and saying, "Do not tell anybody yet. It is not time. It is not time." Well, that time has finally come.

He deliberately performs this miracle to 5,000 adult male and most conservative commentaries will believe that somewhere between 15,000 to 20,000 people were with Him. So this was very, very public. And it took place in the area where He did majority of His miracles. This is about two and a half years into His ministry.

It's about six months or less before He actually ends up going to Jerusalem. So He, after this happens, He's going to transition from His public ministry to His private ministry, primarily focused on His disciples, preparing them to go to the cross. So you can say that this is a turning point in His public ministry to His private ministry.

So again, let's get to chapter 6. Again, I'm not going to go into the details of all of this because I want to give you a broad picture of what happens. Chapter 6, 14 through 15, it says, "Therefore, when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.' So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." Understandable.

Every single one of these people who actually ate the miraculous bread, ate the miraculous fish, they probably heard. Maybe they had a friend. Maybe they had a friend of a friend. Or maybe they just heard that in some remote village, Jesus was performing miracles and a blind man opened his eyes and a lame man was able to walk and He was able to calm the storm.

And the storm has already spread. And maybe there's some scattered people in this room who are firsthand eyewitnesses. But after the eating of the 5,000, every single one of them was able to touch and eat and digest this miraculous food. In fact, Jesus wanted to make it very clear.

After He performs a miracle, how many baskets were left over? Twelve. Now, why do you think there were 12 baskets? And who do you think were carrying them? The disciples. So Jesus was not just only making it clear to the multitudes. Can you imagine the disciples who collected enough to fill 12 baskets and each one of them carrying them?

And so they probably were eating that for the next week or two. And every time they ate it, it was a reminder to them that they were eating something miraculous. It was time. Jesus was preparing to go to the cross and He was declaring who He is. But in the very same chapter, at the end of this chapter, these people who are so elated with Christ wanted to forcefully make Him king.

In chapter 666, it says, "As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore." The same people who wanted to make Him king, just a few verses later in the same chapter, said that because of this, they were no longer walking with Christ.

What is this? What happened in between the feeding of the 5,000 and the rejection of Christ? That is a really important question because this is the turning point of Jesus' ministry. The miracle that leads to the crowds wanting to make Jesus king, it says in verse 14 and 15 again, "They saw the signs.

When the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet.'" Let me stop right there. Remember when Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" And He said, "Some say you're Elijah, some say you're the prophet." And then He turns around and said, "Who do you say that I am?" And Jesus basically says, He's correcting them, "Well, who am I really?" And Peter says, "You are the Son, the Christ of the living God," or "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Well, these people saw the miracles of Christ and they knew He was not an ordinary man, but their faith did not come all the way.

They were waiting for this prophet. They said, "He must be a prophet because a normal person can't be doing what He is doing." So no wonder they wanted to make Him king. They wanted to make Him king because who wouldn't want a king like this? In fact, the king that they had now, Herod, they considered him to be a traitor.

In fact, they didn't even acknowledge him as king. So the fact that Christ comes and He's healing people and He's feeding people, who wouldn't want this as your king? John 26, Jesus sees that they want to make Him king. He knows that they had defected faith and He breaks away from them for a rest and they find out that He's not there.

So they pack up their bags next morning and they cross to the other side of where Jesus is and they finally find Christ. And Jesus, when He sees them coming, instead of saying, "Good and faithful servant, man, you guys went through all of that and grabbed your children and sought after me and you're hungry, let me feed you." Again, instead, Jesus corrects them in verse 26, "He answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.'" In other words, your faith is defective.

You're coming to me because you ate, not because you saw the signs. You see what He's doing here? Because in the previous verse, in verse 14, it says, "They were coming to Him because they saw the sign." Jesus says, "You're not coming to me because you saw the sign.

You're coming to me because you ate bread." Which is it? It seems like a contradiction, right? The difference between what they were doing, what Jesus was saying that they weren't doing was they saw the sign as their final destination. Because the sign is there for the purpose of pointing to where you ought to go.

So if you're driving on the road and the sign says, "To LA, 28 miles," you don't stop at that sign and say, "We've made it." Because the sign only points to where you're supposed to go. So every miracle that Jesus performed, ultimately, was performed for the purpose of pointing to Christ, to lead them to Christ.

They saw the sign, they stopped at the sign because the sign was delicious. In other words, He's saying, "You came to me because you ate," not because you're following what the sign points to. We have to be careful that Jesus doesn't simply become the means to whatever goal that we have established in life.

And this is where, as evangelical conservative Christians, we will look at the health and wealth gospel and say, "These guys are teaching false doctrines. It is not the gospel of Christ. And we make fun of them and it's easy to identify because the kind of cars that they drive and the money that they make." But this temptation to see Christ simply as a means, not as the end goal, is a temptation that you and I all struggle with, every single one of us.

Before we harp on these 5,000 people or 20,000 people, understand what Jesus is saying. Understand where they're coming from. You and I, most of us, have not really faced hunger. Some of you guys who came from, you know, maybe a war-torn country, maybe your parents or grandparents came from, maybe they understand.

You and I who are, most of you are born and raised in the United States, I mean, you are hungry just because you forgot to eat. Or you're hungry because you ate too much before and you're trying to lose some weight. Or you're just hungry because you didn't have an opportunity because you were busy.

But have you ever really been hungry because you had no access to food and you didn't know where the next meal was going to come from? Anybody who's raising children right now, at least that I know of, you know, our difficulties, you know, when our children are younger is how do we get them to eat this food?

So we have to trick them, play games with them. The airplane's coming or your brother's going to eat it all. So the struggle that we have isn't necessarily hunger, it's how do we get this stuff into you? And a lot of these people who are following Christ was not in that situation.

It was not in abundance. It wasn't because the bread that Jesus made was so delicious. You know, it wasn't simply because it was Italian bread that they've never had before and, you know, butter was so delicious, you know, because the Son of God made it so it must be the perfect bread.

And, you know, instead of the, you know, the flat bread that they're used to eating that the Jewish community ate, this was actually very fluffy and delicious. Many of them was for their own sustenance. You know, when they came to hear Jesus and they were sitting there listening to Him and they said, "These people have nothing to eat." Some of them, I think, came to Christ, maybe forgot.

But do you think that maybe many of them were there listening to Him because they didn't have access to food? I mean, think about it. How many of you parents would be so enamored with anything if your kids were hungry? I think many of them were actually hungry. Many of them were probably very poor.

So understandable that they were chasing after Christ because that's where food is. So He's not talking about abundance and, you know, which store you're going to go to and Jesus happens to be the best of the stores. He's talking about eating and living and dying. So before we harp on these 5,000 people, understand the situation that they're in.

Of course, if you're hungry, you're going to be looking for food. I mean, if you're really hungry, nothing matters. And so many of them in that context were coming to Christ because they need to eat, they need to feed their kids. So on the surface, what Jesus is saying seems very insensitive.

You're coming to me not because you saw signs. You're not coming to me because you're coming to me because you want food. So understand the gravity of what Jesus is saying. He is saying that you're coming to me to eat food, but your faith is defective. And the text that we're looking at, it kind of shows.

It says that they saw the sign, they were coming to Him. They wanted to force Jesus to be king. Force Him to be king. Now, that in and of itself is an oxymoron because a king is somebody that forces you to do things. You don't force somebody to be king.

If you force somebody to be king, then you are the king. The king is the one that we submit to. But these people were so desperate. He has to be our king. Why does He have to be our king? Even if we have to force Him to be our king, why does He have to be my king?

Because if He's my king, He's going to feed me. If He's my king, He's going to heal me. If He's my king, He's going to restore our nation to its pride. And I have to have that. And the only person that we can see in the horizon that can possibly give me this is Jesus.

That's why they were trying to force Him to be king. You know, oftentimes we talk about lordship of Christ. You know, a lot of times I recognize this even in my own heart. Lordship of Christ, oftentimes in our lives, if we're not careful, is forcing Christ to do what we want.

Maybe if we establish Him as king, He'll get me a good job. Maybe if we establish Him as our Lord, He'll keep me safe. Maybe if we establish Him as king, He's going to make this virus go away. Maybe if we worship Him, that our children are going to be healthy, that they're going to grow up to marry somebody godly, and they're going to have a great life.

It may seem innocuous, but at the core of what Jesus is pointing out in their defective faith is no different than that. Because it is important to us. Because it is essential to us. For them, if they don't eat, they're going to starve to death. Who wouldn't want a king like that?

And so, if we're not careful, every single one of us can be tempted to make Jesus the means to our goal. And we have to carefully examine ourselves as we are studying the I Am Statements. Is Jesus our destination? If Jesus is our destination, then this virus is also a means to get there.

If Jesus is our destination, sometimes suffering is the means that God uses to get us there. But if Jesus is the means, then He's the means that we use to get to safety. He's the means that we use to get to feeding. He's the means that we use to get health.

And that is at the core of the defect that Jesus is pointing out. The whole reason why He fed them, the whole reason why He healed them, the whole reason why He doesn't feed them, the whole reason why He doesn't heal them is to get them to see Christ as the I Am.

He is. Is this virus causing us to come to Him and seeing Him as the ultimate treasure? Jesus says to them in verse 27, "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life. With the Son of Man, we'll give to you, for on Him the Father God has set His seal." So He's pointing out to them that you're seeking after this, but there's something more important than your food.

There's something more important than your earthly life. It is your eternal life to seek these things. And then John 6, 28-29, they respond, "Therefore they said to Him, 'What shall we do so that we may work the works of God?'" If we want eternal life and temporal life, of course we want the eternal life.

What do we need to do to get this food? "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.'" When you read that superficially, it's like, "Oh, easy. Okay, I believe." See, if He said, "Go read your Bible," I mean, they probably would have all run and done that.

If He said, "Run around this lake 10 times," or if I run around this lake 10 times, even with small children strapped around them, that's going to lead to eternal life? They probably would have done it because they're talking about their life. But what Jesus tells them to do, they can't simply do on their own until God has opened their eyes.

So they're asking Jesus, "Well, what can I do?" Really, the question behind that, the question behind legalism or workspace righteousness, why it's so offensive to God. Because workspace righteousness is basically bartering, bartering eternal life with what we can give. And again, let me give you an illustration. If you're a parent, and even if you're not a parent, I think you can understand this.

If a child that you've raised all your life, right, they become an adult, get a full-time job, and all of a sudden, he wants to become independent, and he doesn't like you telling him what to do, or her, you know, "Don't tell me what to do. I'm an adult, and I have my own paycheck." And so he comes to you and says, "I'm making a lot of money now, you know, and I know you invested a lot of money.

How much is it going to cost to be equal? You spent a lot of money. Let's say you spent $5,000 a year, you know, I live 20-some years of my life, and you calculated all that. How about if I give you $200,000?" Okay, don't be offended. Maybe $200,000 isn't enough.

What about a million dollars? What if I gave you a million dollars, would that be enough to say, "Okay, we're equal"? Okay, okay, a million dollars, now you're offended. Clearly you're offended, right? How about $10 million? If I gave you $10 million, would it be equal? All the work that you put in to raise me, $10 million would be equal.

Maybe the child is a billionaire. $10 million, all I mean to you is $10 million? How about a billion? How about if I give half of what I have? Would that pay for the labor that you put in? There is no amount that a child can say and barter with his parents with the sacrifice that the parent made to raise that child and say, "If you give me this amount," because it was never done because of money.

There is no amount that you could pay to barter with God and say, "How much can I give to you? How hard can I work so that I can gain this eternal life?" God sent his only begotten son to take our place for our sins. So for any human being to come before God trying to barter with God and saying, "What do I have to do to get this eternal life?" is really asking the question, "How much is Jesus' sacrifice worth?

What is it worth? What can I possibly give?" And that's why Jesus says the only way, only way that we can receive this if we humble ourselves and we recognize what God has done. And we come as beggars to the throne of His grace. And every single one of us, whether you lived righteous lives or unrighteous lives, whether you've been doing drugs all your life, or whether you were a good Sunday school child all your life, every single one of us comes before the throne of God humbled.

This virus has humbled every single one of us. Every single one of us are vulnerable. Every single one of us. It is only a glimpse of the reality of the spiritual state that all mankind are under. So when we come before God, "What can I do? What can I do so that this virus doesn't affect me?" Well, if you protect yourself, wear glasses, and don't go out, and you can do all of this stuff, and it can minimize it, but you can do all of that stuff.

Right now there is no cure. And there is no cure for our sins outside of Christ. And that's why He says, "You must believe." And He says it repeatedly over again. In verse 29, "You must believe." Verse 35, "You must believe." And verse 47, "You must believe." And verse 69, "Because they believed." Well, their response, I mean, they're dense.

They're really dense. In verse 31, "Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'" If you want us to believe you, what does He say? Give us some bread. It's almost comical. Right? Again, many of you are raising children who are very strong-willed, you know, and you know what I'm talking about, right?

Once they get their mind set on something, I have a child in my house like that too. What's up? Once they get their mind on something, they just can't let go. I mean, these guys, I mean, they wanted food. Jesus says, "You must believe." And He said, "Well, if you want me to believe, give us some food." So the Jews believed that when the Messiah comes, He was going to recreate that miracle of the manna.

You know, as God fed the Israelites in the desert, He said that the Messiah was going to come and He was going to perform that miracle. And He said, "If you really want us to believe and you're that manna from heaven, give us some bread." And it is in this.

And can you imagine the frustration of Jesus when He says this to them? And if you don't read it in the context, you just kind of read it as like Jesus's glorious statement, "I am the bread of life." But if you read it in context of the conversation that He's having, my guess is, "I am the bread of life!" I'm guessing.

I don't know what kind of personality He had. If He had my kind of personality, He probably would have been, "What have I been telling you? I mean, two and a half years, I've been telling you. Now it's just, I mean, I made it crystal clear. You're coming to me because you want bread.

You don't know." Hey, all of that was to point to me. If you want eternal life, you have to come to me. Well, if you want us to believe in you, give us some bread. I am the bread of life. And He says this repeatedly over and over. Can you imagine the fourth or fifth time He had to say this?

What kind of tone that He must have had? I know some people who are very patient. I'm not one of those people. Pastor Mark is a very patient man. Sometimes I'm amazed how patient he can be. But he has his limits. You push him to a point where he said, "Yes, yes, yes, yes." And I can tell when he's frustrated because he doesn't yell like normal people.

You can see him quivering. And I know, it'll come out, "I am the bread of life." But I can see him quivering. Maybe Jesus was like that. He's a lot more controlled. My guess is, looking at what He did at the temple, right, that Jesus probably had some fire in Him too.

You know, my guess is by the time He said it a fourth or fifth time, like, "You just don't get it. I am the bread of life which comes down from heaven." That's how I read it in context, in verse 35. All the hungering and the thirsting are simply symptoms.

Jesus says, "He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst." Suffering, ultimately our death, are all only symptoms of the real problem, our sins. Jesus is the only antibody who has not been affected by sin. It is only His blood that can cure our disease.

Am I milking that? No. It's a perfect illustration. It's a perfect parallel. It's a perfect parallel. They accepted Him as prophet, but they could not accept Him as God in verse, chapter 6, 41 to 42. "Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about Him because He said, 'I am the bread that came down out of heaven.'" They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?" You know, if you look at the account of the gospels, the very first place that Jesus is rejected is in Galilee, His hometown. We know His father, His brother, His mother, how can He be different than us?

And Jesus says, "A prophet is not honored in his hometown," and that's exactly what's going on. We knew Him. He was too intimate. Now, all of us, we didn't see Jesus growing up. We don't know the intimate details of His childhood, so maybe it's easier for us to see Him as God.

But the longer that we've been a Christian, the longer we've heard the gospel, the longer that we've been raised at church, it has the same effect on us. Even though we say He is God, even though we say He is I Am, when He becomes so familiar that He doesn't sound any different than one of us, then we no longer run to Him.

In Romans 6, 48-51, He says again, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died." Don't just read that over. He says, "You're looking for manna that your father ate, and you want to eat again. You're waiting for the manna to come down to sustain you and your children.

But remember, at the end of all of that, they all died. And this is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die." So the bread that He's talking about and the bread that you want, the difference is death and life.

It is not good bread versus better bread. He says it's life and death, 51. "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread also which I am, I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Everything that He did was to bring them to this point.

See, he who eats the bread of Christ, He says he will never die. Right now, the whole world is afraid of dying. And that's the fundamental difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. Because our death, our death has been purchased by the blood of Christ. He who eats of His flesh and drinks of His blood, He says shall never die.

Not because He will protect us from the virus, not because we will have enough food to eat until we retire, but it says this eternal separation that causes this eternal death away from the author of life, He said you will never die. Jesus did not simply come to feed us.

He didn't simply come to heal us. He didn't simply come to protect us. He came so that we may have life and have this life abundantly. And that's what He says in verse 40, "For this is the will of my Father." How many of us are wrestling right now?

Is it God's will to date this person or not date this person? Is it God's will for me to go to this school or that school? Is it God's will for me to get this job or that job? Is it God's will for me to get this job, buy this house at this time?

But He says clearly, "This is my Father's will, that we recognize Christ as I am. That everyone who beholds a son and believes in Him will have eternal life and I myself will raise Him up on the last day." Again in 52 to verse 53, He's talking to people who just will not get it.

So after about four or five times saying like, "I am, I am, I am, I am," and He finally says to them, verse 52, "And the Jews began to argue with one another saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' So that Jesus said to them, 'Truly I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh and the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.'" Now think how shocking that statement is to a Jew, to anybody.

Even to us today, like eat His flesh, drink His blood? There is nothing more sacrilegious. There's nothing more sacrilegious to anybody, but in particular a Jew, because they weren't allowed to drink even the blood of the animals. Remember that when we started the book of Leviticus? If they came in contact with somebody who was dead, what happened?

They would become unclean. And they would have to be quarantined for a length of time, just in case. But Jesus tells them, "Not only do you have to come draw near to me," He said, "you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood." And He never explains Himself.

Again, if you read that out of context, it's like, "Wow, like who wouldn't turn away from Jesus?" He was talking to a group of people who was just hardened, and Jesus, they just would not believe, and they were committed to their unbelief. He doesn't even explain Himself to them.

If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot have eternal life. And it is at that 66, as a result of these statements, many of them no longer follow Jesus. This is what caused them to turn, as a result of this. See, this, this that He's talking about, is the distinction between Christian and non-Christian, is the distinction between wheat and the tares, is the distinction between somebody who comes to church all of his life, declaring and worshiping and singing the same song, studying the same Bible, but only sees Jesus as a means to whatever goal that they have established in life, and their goal is no different than the world.

It just, they just found that Jesus is the better means than just making money. This is what distinguishes between those who go to heaven and those who are judged in eternity. Because they would not receive Christ, they turned away. How many people in the church turned away from Christ, this Christ of the Bible, but have never turned away from the church?

See, we need to be sober, not simply sober so that we can protect ourselves and get back to what is normal. And that's a statement that we hear all the time, "What is normal? What is normal for a Christian? Was the life that you and I were living before this happened, was that normal?" Like, pursuing things, making money, getting married, having children, for a Christian, is that normal?

No. That's not, that wasn't normal. A lot of the things that God broke in our lives were not normal. It was not consistent with what the Bible taught. It was not consistent with people who claim to have Christ as hope, their eternal hope. It was not consistent. Really what God is doing in our lives is to shake up what we were holding on to that was so normal, and to start something new in Christ, not just individually, but maybe as a church.

You know, this is forcing us to evaluate everything that we're doing as a church. What is normal? What is essential? I remember when Governor Gavin said that, right, "All non-essentials to be shut down." What is non-essential? Is your faith non-essential? Is the church non-essential? Is your walk with God non-essential?

You need to eat. You know, the first thing people did, went to the supermarket and they loaded their baskets with toilet paper, hand sanitizers, and all kinds of food. But was Christ essential in the part of that? Is the love of Christ and the pursuit of Christ, was that essential as a part of all of that?

Right now, you hear the statement, "I am praying for you." I'm praying. I hear that everywhere on the internet. People who mock Christians, you know, clearly they don't believe in God. And yet that statement, "Oh, my prayers and thoughts." Christians are praying because they are desperate, because they have nowhere else to turn.

So if there is God, maybe He'll help me because I'm desperate. If somebody's on their deathbed, who else am I going to turn to? If doctors did everything that they could and they can't resuscitate the person, my prayers and thoughts are on you. Let's be careful that the way that we follow Christ doesn't mimic the world, that we don't cling to Him when we are desperate.

Then as soon as things go back to normal, that we go right back to our old life. Jesus says in John 6, 67 to 69, "So Jesus said to the twelve, after He saw all of them turn away, 'You do not want to go away also, do you?' Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.'" In other words, they don't really understand fully either. And it's clear because when Jesus was going to the cross, Jesus said, "I'm going to be crucified and be raised on the third day." They were so confused with Jesus going to the cross.

And then even after Jesus was raised, nobody went to the tomb. The ladies went to the tomb to take care of His body, even though Jesus made it very clear that this is what He came to do. So the disciples really didn't understand either. But the difference between them and the multitude was, they said, "We believe You.

You have the words of life. Who else are we going to turn to now?" There are a lot of times in our life when things just don't make sense. Maybe there's stuff going on in your life right now. It just doesn't make sense. But the difference between somebody who perseveres and somebody who quits is his faith.

Do you believe that the answer is found in Christ? That was a distinction. And that's what Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12, "I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to Him." What did Paul entrust to God?

His reputation? That is already shot. His bank account? Had nothing. He lost everything. Citizenship? Many churches? No. Remember, this is 2 Timothy. He already said his life is being poured out. I mean, he knows death is coming. So when he says, "I know whom I have entrusted all things," what did he entrust to God?

His very life. His soul. So a man who has entrusted his soul to God is not afraid to die because the most important thing in my life is in His hands. And I know whom I have believed. Let me conclude with this. And I know, and I don't want to be insensitive because the suffering is real, right?

And I've already heard people in our church who've lost their jobs. And I, we're praying for you as often as we can. The health workers, the doctors and nurses and PTs and the first responders and all of you guys that are out there. And I'm watching videos of nurses who are in tears because they're afraid and all of that stuff is real, right?

And it is not to minimize any of that. We are praying for you and we're going to keep praying for you that you would have courage to continue to do what you need to do. But we're also going to pray that God would give you the faith that your response is not like the rest of the world.

That your greatest fear is not that you will suffer. Your greatest fear is not that you may have a shorter life than maybe you could have had. But that your greatest fear is that Christ would not be exalted. That your family and friends who do not know Christ would never confess their faith in Christ.

That that would be your greatest fear. That our life is found in Christ and Christ alone. If Christ came to give us bread, to give us peace, abundance, safety, long life, he could have done all of that from heaven. He could have done that. He created the universe just by his words.

He could have given you a better job from heaven. He could have given you bread abundant for the rest of your life. He could have made you billionaires over and over again from heaven. He wouldn't have had to come down, empty himself of the glory that he was receiving, and become humbled and to suffer, and then be crucified and resurrected, to be rejected, to be beaten, to be scorned, just so that we can, less people would be hungry.

He didn't have to come down for that. He could have easily done that from heaven. He came and walked among us, humiliated and suffered on our behalf, because the only way to deal with our sins was for him to absorb it upon his body. So as this thing continues on, and again, we are praying for you.

We're hoping that it'll be shorter than later. But I want to ask you a question. What if they never find a solution to this virus? What if this is normal now? And I don't mean to scare, and I know some of you guys are genuinely concerned, but I want to post you a real question.

What if they never find a virus? What if, as they say, some of the people say, that there's 70% of people actually get infected, and anywhere between 1% to as high as 20% in some parts of the world. What if that becomes the norm? What if, and there are some rumors going around right now, like in China, that they found another virus, and another 10 people died, and they died from this infection, but it's not related to this.

Again, not to freak you out, but this is not fake news. I'm reading this. It could have been. I'm pretty sure that they have that contained, right, because they know the consequence. What if this is normal? Will your life be devastated? It will be if Jesus was just your means, because your goals have been shattered, and maybe those goals will never come back.

If Christ was our goal, if Christ becomes our goal, all means that gets us to Christ is a good thing, because Christ and Christ alone can give us eternal life. I'm going to ask the praise team to come up, and we're going to sing this final song before we end our service.

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hand than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.

As we sing this song, again, I pray that this would become our confession. Maybe as you're singing this, you say, "You know what? I'm not being honest. This is not exactly how I feel." But as we're singing it, pray to God, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Open my eyes that I may see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ was not my treasure. He was not my goal, but then now I want him to be." So let's sing this song as a confession. Let's sing this song as a prayer and request that this is what we desire of our lives. So let me pray for us, and then our worship team will lead us.

Heavenly Father, I pray for our brothers and sisters all around the world. I pray that this would cause us to see the treasure that we truly have in Christ, that all that we have ever needed and possibly even wanted is found in Christ and Christ alone. And may that truth be even more so now.

So we pray, Father God, that you would lift up our eyes, that our confession will be consistent with this praise song, that we'd rather have Jesus more than silver or gold, more than anything that this world can behold. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

I'd rather be His than have riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hands than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. I'd rather have Jesus than man's applause.

I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause. I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to His holy name than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords.

This world affords today. I want to remind you, we are called. Try to come online as much as we can. And again, we're going to try to be online to try to connect the church. And then next Sunday, remember that at one o'clock that we're going to be having a church information meeting.

And so please try to, you know, make that part of your schedule. Okay? Have a great week. Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we pray, Father God, for the leaders of our country, governors, mayors, the president, vice president, the doctors who are working with him. I pray, Father God, that this divided country would come together.

Lord, you know that ultimately the cure is in your hands. Help us, Lord God, to acknowledge you as sovereign and not simply say it with words but to believe it in our heart. Not only sovereign over this world, over our country, over our city, but our very souls. Help us to confess as Paul did that we know who you are and we know that you are more than capable of keeping unto the day that we meet you, our very souls.

I pray, Father God, that if we have found our life in trivial things in this world, that this will be an opportunity for us to reflect whether our health is truly in danger for our health workers who are in their front line, Lord God, doing their best, Lord, to manage their anxiety in the midst of serving.

Give them courage beyond themselves, Lord God. I pray that your word would become much more sweeter than it ever was, that their value system, Lord God, would be oriented around the foundation of Christ, that our confession of Jesus as the bread of our life would not simply be a doctrinal statement but the testimony of our lives.

Help us be mindful of the people who are around us. Help us, Lord God, to be a resource for people who are in need, physically, but even more spiritually. Let us shine bright, Lord God. Let us be the salt of this world during this dark time. And so now, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship that we truly have in the Holy Spirit and the love of God our Father, ascent your only begotten Son to suffer on our behalf to cure us of our disease of sin.

Protect us, reorient us, revive us, that our hope may be placed in Christ and Christ alone.