The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1960-03-17
Sermonetfe-
John 6:22-7l


This passage is rather long,
and, no doubt, we could CLEAN
several good messages from it,
but it does stress one thought.
Therefore we will attempt to
stimulate your thinking with that
thought. Why do you follow
Jesus? You have joined a
church, or you attend a church
regularly. Thus you profess to
follow Christ. You may even
call yourself a Christian. Why?
Our text is the result of the
miracle of the feeding of the five
thousand. Because Of that in
cident, a large number of people
travelled miles to follow Jesus.
l reply to one of the questions
which was asked, Jesus said, eye
seek Me, not because you saw the
miracles, but because we did eat
of the loaves, and were fed"
They were following Jesus be-
cause they wanted their physical
appetites, their personal desires,
satisfied. They we're not con-
cerned with Jesus Himself - His
person or work. So, today, many
follow Christ because they desire
to advance themselves socially or
economically. It gives them
prestige or standing in the COM
munity to belong to a church.
1t i'll help their business or pol
itical ambitions.
Jesus then challenged them:
"Labour not for the meat which
~perisheth, but for that meat
which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you: for Him hath God
the Father S d." In other
words, there is something more
important in life than the salts
flying of our physical needs.
There is a spiritual need that is
greater, and that can only be sat
isfied in a personal relationship
to Jesus Christ.
The listeners then asked, What
shall we do, that we might work
the works Of God? Jesus an
swered and said unto them, "This
is the work of God, that We be-
lieve on Him Whom He hath
sent" One is not necessarily
doing the work of God by per-
forming charitable deeds or Soc
ial service, nor by going to
church, joining a church, or ser
wing as an officer or even a pas
tor of a church. Jesus brings
that out in His sermon of the
mount = Matthew 1928. No
one is really doing the will of
God if he has not first confessed
his own unworthiness and sinful
condition and surrendered his
life completely to Jesus Christ,
acknowledging Him as Lord and
Savior.
Jesus continued His discourse
by declaring that He Himself is
the dread of life (verse 35).
He will give complete satisfac-
ton. We must realize that "the
bread of life is a Person: that the
source of all human satisfaction
is a Person: that all need finds
its supply in a Person. And that
Person is Jesus, our Lord. Things
cannot satisfy the soul of man.
Neither can one human soul COM
pletely satisfy another human
soul, even as n empty vessel
cannot fill another empty vessel.
Augustine put it this way: Thou
hast made us for Thyself, and our
restless hearts can know no rest
until they rest in Thee"
If bread or any kind of food
is to be of any value, it must be
appropriated. In verse 81 of our
text Jesus said, "Whoso eateth
my flesh. and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life: and I will raise
him up at the last day" Eating
is to satisfy hunger, and drinking
is to quench thirst. How do we
eat of His flesh and drink of His
blood? In verse IS we find the
answer: 81 am the bread Of life:
he that cometh to Me shall never
thirst" If the end to Him is the
end of our hunger, and the be-
lieving on Him the end of our
thirst, then the coming and the
believing are the eating and
drinking. But it is a coming tc
w.. ~ L~,1;o,Gpo IN Him AS