Key Scriptures: John 6:25-51
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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 the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
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Lesson One: Jesus satisfies the hunger nothing else can fill.
• The crowd came to Jesus looking for bread, but Jesus wanted them to see that their deepest need was not physical. They were laboring for things that would eventually spoil while standing in the presence of the One who could truly satisfy their souls.
John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:27, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life…”
Teaching Truths
• Every person has a hunger that physical things cannot satisfy.
• The things of this world can satisfy us temporarily, but they cannot satisfy us eternally.
• Jesus is not simply the One who gives bread—he is the Bread of Life.
• Our deepest need is not something; our deepest need is Someone.
Application
What are you looking to for satisfaction that only Jesus can provide?
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Lesson Two: The bread of life cannot be earned—it must be received.
• The gospel is not about climbing our way to God through effort—it is about receiving by faith what Jesus has done for us
John 6:28–29, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
Teaching Truths
• Religion asks, “What do I have to do?”
• Jesus calls us to believe in what he has done.
• We cannot work our way across the gap between ourselves and a holy God.
• The work of God begins with faith in Jesus.
Application
Stop trying to earn what Jesus has already come to give. Come to him, believe in him, and receive the life only he can provide.
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Lesson Three: The bread from heaven is the only bread that gives life.
• Jesus is the true bread from heaven, and he alone gives eternal life.
John 6:32–33, “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 the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
John 6:49–51, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Teaching Truths
• Manna came from heaven, but it could only sustain physical life for a time.
• Jesus is the true bread from heaven who gives eternal life.
• The bread that Israel received was a gift from God; Jesus is the greater gift from God.
• Every other kind of bread eventually leaves us hungry again—but Jesus gives life that lasts forever.
• The bread from heaven is not ultimately something God gives—it is someone God sent.
Application
Stop looking to temporary things to give you what only Jesus can give. Come to the Bread from Heaven—the only Bread that gives true and eternal life.
