RECEIVING THE MANNA OF GOD FROM HEAVEN IS THE WORLD’S GREATEST NEED TODAY
/
/
A Sunday Message
THE PEOPLE DEMAND MORE MIRACLES TO BELIEVE
The people stood in awe when they witnessed the amazing miracles. They were dazzled by the signs and wonders and even received its blessings. They relished at the feast of overflowing bread and fish multiplied by the Lord to feed their hunger. (John 6:2-13). But when the Lord asked them to BELIEVE IN HIM, they demanded more proofs instead. Unfortunately, they are not willing to trust Him yet (v. 28-29).
JOHN 6:30
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
Obviously, they are not convinced yet. They want more miracles. More evidence. More blessings like the abundant loaves. Not just for days, but for years, for the whole nation perhaps. If they SEE more of that, they will perhaps BELIEVE. No proof, no faith.
JOHN 6:31
“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘he gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
They want Jesus to surpass what Moses did. Manna from heaven rained from the sky during the exodus, feeding Israel everyday for 40 years (Exodus 16). If He can exceed that, they might be willing to believe in Him. One miracle of loaves will not be enough for them after all.
God can graciously bless many people by His providence, and yet their hearts can remain unresponsive to Him. Despite all the benefits of God, they become more demanding, feeling so privileged that they even grumble when God fails to answer.
TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT GOD’S GOODNESS
Whenever God bless us, we tend to perceive it in two ways. The first, is looking at the blessing from a self-centered perspective. From that point of view, man is the rightful object of divine favor. It believes that God’s ultimate reason for mustering His divine goodwill is the accommodation of human needs. It sees human worth as the motivation of God’s kindness. For them, God is simply a heavenly benefactor.
The other way is to see it in the context of the marvelous beauty of God’s grace upon us, bestowed mercifully and undeservingly. GOD HIMSELF, not man, is the CAUSE and REASON for His benevolence.
The first point of view reveals the pride and selfishness in the hearts of unredeemed humanity. The second one, affirms the humility of someone who is personally familiar with God already. It is the mindset of a regenerated soul. Born-again by the Spirit of God.
THE PROVISION OF DAILY BREAD POINTS TO OUR HUNGER
The Lord taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11). Why ask everyday? So that we can recognize our daily hunger and admit our perpetual dependence on the True Provider.
We ask for “daily bread” with the petition for the “forgiveness of sins” AFTER DECLARING that “GOD’S WILL BE DONE” (Matt 6:10-12).
DEUTERONOMY 8:3
3 And He HUMBLED YOU AND LET YOU HUNGER and FED YOU WITH MANNA, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, THAT HE MIGHT MAKE YOU KNOW THAT MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT MAN LIVES BY EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD.
BLIND TO SOUL’S HUNGER AND TO WHAT SATISFIES IT
When the Lord corrected the Jews, their spiritual ignorance and mental blindness was being exposed at the same time.
JOHN 6:32
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but MY FATHER GIVES YOU THE TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN.
It was not Moses who provided the manna for Israel in 40 years. The TRUE SUPPLIER is God, the Father of Jesus. More importantly for all of us, God is providing a much more VITAL PROVISION far more essential and satisfying than that which can only fill the stomach (John 6:26).
Physical bread will last, and our hunger will return everyday because material needs, and provisions are temporal. Our most serious need is spiritual and eternal. Only the TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN can satisfy and sustain it. Now and forever. That is the Bread that the Father gives right now.
Jesus is the Son of God. He is the True Bread from Heaven. Sin cuts people from God’s Life. This separation brought an abiding and disastrous death to our entire being and alienating us from the very source of eternal Life. That is why all men remain in a state of lingering insatiable deep hunger and thirst from within their soul. Without Life from God, he is spiritually dead. (Eph. 2:1; 5:14; Gen. 2:17)
EPHESIANS 4:18
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
HE GIVES LIFE ETERNAL
Jesus Christ can resolve our deepest spiritual hunger. He is the True Bread from Heaven given by God to make us live again and forever.
JOHN 6:33
FOR THE BREAD OF GOD IS HE WHO COMES DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND GIVES LIFE TO THE WORLD.”
GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
God declared through Amos that “days are coming when He will send a FAMINE on the land— not a famine of bread, but of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD.” (Amos 8:11-12)
Every unredeemed soul is now in desperate spiritual starvation. Many are blind and oblivious to its reality. God is supplying the True Bread from Heaven. Proclaim that the offer still stands. If the heart will return to God in repentance and faith to Jesus as the Bread of Life, God will grant the Eternal Life. (John 3:16; Rom. 5:17-21; 6:23)
Train yourself to seek God’s Kingdom before the needs of your life (Matt. 6:33), He promised that He will provide. Pray “YOUR WILL BE DONE” before asking “GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD”.
Refrain from grumbling (1 Cor. 10:10) but always “giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Ephesians 5:20). Always be grateful for the salvation and eternal life you received through Christ. He is a God of providence and graciousness.
May we always remain humbly dependent to God.
Your Pastor (Jay-R Remorosa)
PERSONAL PRAYER
My Father God in heaven, teach me to remain humble before You. May I always recognize Your graciousness and kindness upon my life. Without it I am nothing, will have nothing, and cannot do anything. You are the source of my life and the very purpose of my existence. Apart from you, nothing will satisfy the deepest need of my soul and the longings of my heart.
May Jesus Christ become my Daily Bread, from whom I always find gratification and satisfaction because He sustains, renews, and provides essential nourishment to my soul by the daily work of the Spirit within me.
Give me the zeal to tell people of the Heavenly Bread that is being offered by Your hand for the salvation of those who will accept.
Father, I thank you for giving me Eternal Life in Christ Jesus, my Lord Redeemer. I will always glorify your Holy Name for all that you have done undeservingly and graciously for my sake.
In the Precious Name of Jesus, Amen.