The Bread of Life, Postscript
John 6v25-58
4th July 2025
There's a great deal of wonderful, foundational teaching in John 6v25-58, and we've been studying that passage over the last three weeks. This week, I'd like to summarise what we've seen, so far as one can ever summarise the words of Jesus.
Firstly, Jesus is the bread of life (verse 35). Life without Jesus will always, inevitably be unsatisfying. We were created for relationship with God, and nothing else will ever meet our spiritual, emotional and relational needs.
Secondly, the work God requires of us is to believe in the One He has sent (verse 29). We don't need to do anything to obtain God's favour, but we do need to believe that Jesus is who He says he is, and in the power of His sacrifice of His body and blood on the cross, which pays the penalty for the sins of everybody who truly believes.
Thirdly, Jesus guarantees that everybody who truly believes will have eternal life, and Jesus will raise him up at the last day (verses 37-40).
Fourthly, there is no salvation, no eternal life, without faith in Jesus's atoning sacrifice on the cross. As He says, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life..." (verses 53-54). Jesus said in John 14v6, "No-one comes to the Father except through me".
To enjoy all the riches that God freely gives us who believe, we need to continue to feed on Him by faith, praying, reading the Bible, staying in the fellowship of the church, and breaking bread together. If we don’t do these things, we won’t lose our salvation, but we will lose our joy and our sense of fulfilment.
In the light of all this, may I ask:
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God, come in the flesh? Do you believe that he paid for your sins on the cross? Do you believe that He rose from the dead and by doing so has given eternal life to all who believe? Do you believe that sufficiently that you’ll turn away from your past life, accept His forgiveness, change your priorities, seek His eternal kingdom and live in submission to Him? Then you can be assured that you have eternal life.
As Paul wrote to the church in Rome:
Romans 10v9-10
If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your
heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that
you profess your faith and are saved.