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00:00 Thank you, Corin. So, we're working ourselves through the
00:07 book of John and we come to the sixth chapter. Usually, people come to the sixth chapter, the they're going to be
00:13 focusing on the miracle of the feeding of 5,000. And actually, that's the
00:19 miracle. But the meaning behind the miracle is this passage which has been read and we often not go into that. So,
00:25 today we're going to focus uh on on that itself. Let's uh start with a word of prayer. Lord, we ask that you
00:32 show us the bread of life. Feed us with the bread of life and have this blood of
00:38 the bread of life transform us so that we may enjoy truly and savor eternal
00:43 life. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. Right. So, uh I'm going to divide the
00:49 passage, a huge passage into three uh basic points which are very simple. Number one, uh there's a difference
00:55 between what we desire and what we need. Number two, Jesus is is is all we need
01:02 for eternal life. And number three, the spirit enables us to desire what we actually need. Now, the first point is
01:09 that uh there is a difference between what we desire and what we need. Looking at this particular passage on the
01:16 background, you've got this huge miracle. Never happened before. Uh well, except in the Old Testament where
01:24 they had problems with lunch. Everybody went to the party. Nobody brought any food. Sounds familiar, right? And they
01:31 they attacked one poor little boy who's got some fishes and some loaves of bread. All right. Poor fellow. They they
01:37 grabbed his lunch, but through a miracle that was all provided for 5,000 men. You
01:44 think they come alone? Men never come alone. They can't survive alone. So, they will bring their wives
01:50 and their children and it'll be up to about 20,000 people there. And Jesus had a big buffet. It was so much so there
01:57 was leftover 12 baskets of bread and scraps of food. So we've got that
02:03 miracle in the background. And the next miracle in the background, we we jump into a storm in the middle of the the
02:11 sea or the lake. And uh and and what Jesus does is that he walks on water
02:17 towards the uh boat. The storm doesn't stop. There was an episode before where
02:22 the storm stops when he gets inside, but here the storm continues. But Jesus gets inside the boat with his disciples. And
02:29 what do these two miracles have to do with what he's got to say? Anyway, all right. And we'll discover that later on.
02:35 We've got that in the background. Then we go on to uh the the the people who
02:41 saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who has come into the world." Perceiving
02:46 then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king. Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by
02:52 themselves. Uh we can see in this passage there is a dissonance between
02:58 what we desire and what we actually need. And the first desire that comes out of this particular miracle they all
03:04 got very excited. This a new Pakatan hero we can actually lap lap oursel on
03:10 to he creates a buffet for 20,000 people. Isn't that great? Right. We'll
03:17 make him king and when he comes to become king we'll be prime minister. I'll get the contracts to build the
03:22 bridge across to Malaca or somewhere. Right? So it so here you actually hear what they actually reveals is a desire
03:29 for power that's under that's how they see miracle. That's how they see God.
03:35 This is Bertram Russell who is basically a world famous British uh uh Nobel
03:40 laureate in literature, philosophy, mathematics and he writes about human
03:47 nature. This is his speech uh during the acceptance speech of the Nobel Prize in
03:53 1950. And he writes, "The love of power is closely akin to vanity, but it's not by any means the same thing. Power like
04:01 vanity is insatiable. Nothing short of omnipotence could satisfy completely as it is, especially
04:08 the vice of energetic men. The causal efficacy of love of power is out of proportion to its frequency. It is
04:15 indeed by far the strongest motive in the lives of men. It's power. Drive
04:20 around Sububanga. See all the flags. That's power. You can see so many people vying for power. In fact, we even have
04:28 an independent person coming last week and people were upset, you know, he wants to be independent candidate for
04:33 power too, you know, and some people want to throw him out of the church. So, we we stopped the mob lynching last
04:39 week. So um and here we actually have Jesus Christ talking about political power and
04:46 he says uh in chapter 18 my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of
04:51 this world my servants would have been fighting standing for election right uh that I might not be delivered over to
04:58 the Jews but my kingdom is not of this world. Pilate said to him so you are king. You say that I'm a king. For this
05:04 purpose I was born and for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone is of the truth.
05:09 listens to my voice. Jesus is about the truth, not about the power. This is a
05:16 man who comes from power, Chuck Coulson. He died recently. Uh he was uh an aid to
05:21 President Nixon during the Watergate crisis. Uh and he was sent to jail
05:27 because of his role in the political machinations behind the Watergate scandal. And he writes becoming a
05:34 Christian. He wrote a book called Born Again when I read many many years ago. And he writes, "Human politics is based
05:40 on the premise that society must be changed in order to change people." But Christians understand that it's the
05:46 other way around. People must be changed in order to change society. Jesus Christ is not about the political process.
05:52 Jesus Christ is not about to give in to your quest for power. But Jesus Christ
05:58 is about the truth transforming lives. We actually have the example of Constantine
06:04 first 300 years of Christianity persecuted beyond imagination and one
06:09 day he was going to fight against the emperor of Rome. He saw a sign across
06:15 the sky and the sign says there was a sign of the cross as it were and by this
06:20 you shall conquer and what he did was he immediately became a Christian. So it seemed at that time and he had all the
06:27 soldiers put the cross or the sign of the cross whatever on on their on the shoulder pads and on their shields and
06:33 he actually won the battle and it's 80 years later on when the whole Roman
06:38 Empire became Christian by edict itself persecution stopped so you actually have
06:44 the coalescence of state and faith together the most deadly mixture ever
06:51 why because from there you've got the crusade slaves where countless thousands are being killed. When when faith takes
06:58 the glove of power, when the church and state are one. Uh look at England. King
07:05 Henry VIII wanted to divorce Katherine of Aragon and what happens? He leaves
07:11 the Catholic Church, starts the English Reformation for reasons other than his
07:16 sexual desires, nothing to do with religion. Starts a new church, and he begins to what? He begins to follow
07:23 Constantine and he actually appoints bishops. All right? So you go to England
07:28 today, the the Queen Elizabeth, the one who appoints your archbishop and from him you have a son called Edward V 6th.
07:35 He's Protestant and he starts to persecute the Catholics. When he dies
07:41 the sister comes to the power called Mary the first. They call her bloody Mary because she starts to persecute the
07:47 Protestants because she's Catholic. So when you actually have power and faith together, it's a deadly deadly mixture.
07:55 Look, look at the Anabaptist uh uh persecutions in Switzerland and moving on to Germany, all the rest. Anabaptist
08:02 are the people at that time in the 1500s who discovered that look, we don't come to faith by being baptized as a child.
08:09 We must have believers baptism. So what they do? They go and baptize again. That's why they call Anna Baptist. That
08:16 was really bad. People who were rebaptized again were mercilessly
08:22 clubbed to death, hung, pierced, drowned. Do you know that the number of
08:27 people who died during this persecution in Europe were more than the entire number of Christians persecuted first
08:33 300 years of the after Christ? It's a huge persecution that happened. And in
08:38 fact, if you go to Harlem, you will find one of this interesting stories. Uh this called this
08:44 is a street in Harlem called Durk William Strut. Dirk William was actually
08:49 in Anabaptist. He was actually captured in a castle and they were he was starved there and he he managed to climb down
08:56 like Rapunzel, you know, down the the the the the tower by fashioning together
09:02 all the pillowcases and he escaped. He thought, "Oh, I get away." And he was running across a lake and the lake was
09:09 was covered with thin ice. And the blessing of thin ice for him at a time because he was being starved. He was
09:16 very light. He could skate across the sky. Not so much for the heavy guard in armor was trying to chase him. He chased
09:23 him and he fell through the tit ice. And the Anabaptist had a crisis of conscience. Should I go or should I
09:29 leave? Stay. Because if I go, I save myself. If I stay, I have to save the god. Right?
09:35 And Doug Willm actually because his true Christian stayed he pulled him out of the ice
09:43 somehow skinny guy pulls a gun double his size and he was promptly arrested
09:48 and killed three four days later on and we actually have a street if you go to
09:53 Holland to go to Durk William Strat the story behind that has a lot of persecution when you bring faith to
09:60 power we have a different kingdom then you have to look at another bunch of people uh the same bunch of people in
10:06 verses uh 25 to 26 they found him on the other side of the river of the lake and
10:11 they said to him rabbi when did you come and Jesus answered them truly truly I said to you you're seeking me not because you saw the signs but because
10:17 you ate your field of the loaves you see they come to Jesus and they was
10:22 very kind how are you Jesus oh we didn't know you got here but Jesus looks into your heart you're here for the buffet
10:29 right isn't it is a fact you know why because The average guy at that time,
10:35 not like you and me, got savings in the CINB bank, 85% of that income is spent
10:42 on the day's meal, you know, 85%. So when Jesus provides
10:47 the day's meal, you got an 85% of your income, you know, and that's a good deal. And it's thinking, wow, this is
10:53 great. And they're all coming because suddenly everyone becomes rich. If Jesus gives me 85% of my income, the rest of
10:59 the time I can play golf. So therefore, they're coming. And Jesus knows that it's a materialistic desire to actually
11:05 drive them. They're not very much like like Chinese, you know. You know, they're Chinese always thinking with
11:11 their stomachs. Here is Kylie Kuang. She's Australianb born Chinese. Has no
11:16 idea of culture. She actually had a visit to Taiwan and and China is wondering when I go to China and Taiwan.
11:22 In Australia, they always uh greet me saying what? Good day. In China and sik
11:28 that means Cantonese. Have you eaten? Japa. Have you eaten? and you go and what kind of work do you do one sec look
11:34 for something to eat why the entire Chinese population just focused on something to eat totally materialistic
11:41 and she's born in Australia and wondering why the Australians are wishing each other good day what does it matter the Chinese are more practical
11:48 what have I got to eat that's more important isn't it and what kind of day it is if I've got something to eat is a
11:54 good day all right now Bertrram Russell uh writes again uh uh acquisiveness
12:01 which is materally materialism. The wish to be possessed as much as possible of goods or the title
12:07 to goods is a motive which I suppose has it origin in a combination of fear of the desire of necessities with the
12:14 desire of necessities. I once befriended two girls from Estonia who had narrowly escaped death from starvation in a
12:20 famine. They lived my family and of course had plenty to eat but they spent all their leisure time visiting neighboring farms and stealing potatoes
12:28 which they hoarded. However much you may acquire, you'll always wish to acquire more. Satiety is a dream which will
12:34 always elude you. We never ever have enough. Our desire for material gain.
12:42 This is a study by Robert Whitnau from Princeton University that looked at the
12:47 attitudes of people towards material belongings and you can see how
12:53 conflicted people are. In that survey, 89% believed our society is much too materialistic.
12:60 84% also said, "I wish I had more money than I do." 71% believe being greedy is
13:07 a sin against God. Yet 76% say, "Having money gives me a good feeling to hell
13:13 with a, you know, sin against God. I want to have a good feeling." You see, we're conflicted. same same people, you
13:19 know. Um 69% of people admire those who take a
13:26 lower paying job in order to help with others. 52% want to reduce their work hours. 68%
13:32 will be willing to work longer hours if it meant more pay. 71% says society
13:38 could be improved if people pays less attention on money. And yet 80% admire those who make a lot of money
13:45 by working hard. Here we are totally conflicted because of our desire for
13:51 temptation. The story was told of a salesperson who was already going out.
13:57 This is a true story in the US going out and leaving his family four days a week in order to basically make a living. His
14:04 boss came up to him and said, "You're such a hardworking good guy. I'm going to give you a a raise. You're going to
14:09 be an area manager, but it means going away five, six times a week." And the guy said, "Look, I value my family. My
14:17 family has to have my attention. I need to look after their future." You know what the boss said? Boss run. No, you
14:24 must take this job. You know why? If you really love your family, you must take this job. It takes money to provide a
14:30 future for your family. Your little girl now doesn't need much money. Wait till she goes to Sunway College, you know,
14:36 and or universities overseas. You need money. And so therefore the temptation
14:42 comes to us in that way, doesn't it? All right. I mean, we all focus on the wrong
14:47 thing. Men, for example, was story told uh of a man who had driving a very nice
14:53 car. It's a BMW car. It got crashed and he's running around a CH without a head,
14:58 you know. Oh my god, my BMW it's gone. It's gone. It's it's totally total. I spent so much money buying it, you know.
15:03 And the policeman pointed out to him, no, no, no, no, no. You got the wrong focus. Your arm, your left arm is missing.
15:10 And then he said, "Oh my god, my Rolex, my Rolex."
15:15 Wrong focus, isn't it? Wrong focus in life. And that's what Jesus said, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but
15:22 for the food that endures to eternal life." See, we're all focused on the wrong thing, either the Rolex or the or
15:29 the car, but the thing that endures to eternal life, we're not really interested in it. This is the uh Mount
15:36 Vuvius 8079. There was a big explosion there. Um, and the molten lava came out,
15:42 you know, in a very rapid place and they actually found lots of people encased in
15:47 molten lava. Very interesting case in Pompei. That's right. Uh, found a lady
15:53 and and when they chipped off all the molten lava or the the hardened lava,
15:58 you know what she was holding in the hand? What will women hold in the hand? You think?
16:03 Anybody? If you're going to die, what would you hold in hand?
16:08 Jewels, ma, the one you wearing on your neck, right? All her life has been reduced to what? A bunch of jewels.
16:15 That's what your life is worth. But the jewels transcend your life. The jewels survive, but she didn't survive. You see
16:21 what I mean? Um, so therefore, u do not work for things that do not endure. The
16:27 last one is our desire for control. Here we actually have a huge miracle. And they said to Jesus, "Hey, then what sign
16:33 do you do?" Are you kidding me? What? When we may see and believe you, what work do you perform? And they also know
16:39 how to quote scripture. Our fathers ate mana in the wilderness. As is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
16:46 Here is a whole bunch of 20,000 people fed beyond their wildest dreams, full stomach with leftover, burping all over
16:53 the place. And they're asking Jesus, "Hey, got some more? Can I have another
16:59 miracle?" They're absolutely insatiable. And you know um and Jesus actually says
17:05 this desire for control is reflected. Do not Jesus says in that that in these
17:10 words do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give to you for on him the father
17:16 has set his seal. And they said to him what must we do be doing to the uh what
17:23 must we do to be doing the works of God. You said I mean our desire for control
17:28 is reflected on the fact that we can actually do something to contribute.
17:33 Here we have Jesus Christ creating food for 20,000 people and they say, "Hey, we also want to do that. What must we do?"
17:42 A miracle feeding 20,000 people is an impossibility. And yet these people are saying they're going to leverage what
17:47 they have for what Jesus is going to give them. What must we do? They want salvation by works. Uh and here Jesus
17:54 answers them in Matthew 12. Matthew 12, Jesus actually says he answered them and
18:01 said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation cra for a sign and yet no sign will be given them but the sign of
18:07 Jonah the prophet where Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster. So will the son of man
18:14 be there for three days and three nights in the heart uh of the earth." And Jesus
18:19 is saying, "Look, the biggest miracle and sign you will ever see is one day when I'm dead and I'm going to rise
18:25 again." But the people of that generation like us, they want a video clip of that, the resurrection in and
18:32 out. Every generation needs the same miracle again and again because they want what? They want control. They want
18:38 sensation. They want to dict, you know what they want? They don't want God. You know what they want? They want a genie.
18:44 A genie is what they want. There was a story told of a rabbi who was very
18:49 famous rabbi who who actually comes from a village where he the people are very proud of him because he actually could
18:55 do miracles and another guy from another village came and they asked uh about this rabbi and they very proudly
19:02 proclaim you know our rabbi is very good every time he prays and ask God does exactly what the rabbi tell him to do
19:08 and this other and what about your rabbi in your chai village and you know what this guy said oh my village different my
19:15 rabbi different. My rabbi considers a miracle when God tells him and he does exactly what God tells him to do and
19:21 that's called a miracle. You see, we want to control God. And the problem
19:27 controlling God is that we'll never be satisfied. The human heart is filled
19:32 with desires which are much bigger than what we actually are. Story was told of um bunch of women. They were like single
19:40 women and wives without their boyfriends and husbands. They went to this hotel
19:45 And this hotel is five stories. And in this hotel, a very unique hotel, a very handsome concage greets them say, "Look,
19:52 you can choose which floor you want to stay wherever you want." You know, so all the young single girls like Joyce,
19:57 you want to go there and they go to the first floor, single beautiful girls, right? And then and and ask Joyce uh the
20:04 first floor there's a sign there and it says all the men in this floor are short
20:10 and plain. Joyce, would you stay here?
20:16 Probably not, right? Yeah. I mean, got few more floors to explore. So, she says, "I'll go upstairs." So, go to the
20:22 next floor and then here there's a sign that says, "All the men in this floor are short but handsome." Ah, Susanna,
20:29 will you stay? No. No.
20:35 So, she doesn't mind. So, she stays. Susanna stays at the second floor. But the rest of them move up. And then they
20:40 go upstairs and there's a sign there and says, "Oh, all the men here are tall but plain. Would you stay?"
20:48 Uh, the girls think, "Uh, yes, you're tall and plain can." Okay. So, some
20:54 girls stay, but the rest of them actually don't. They go up to the fourth floor. And here we actually have a sign
20:60 say all the men here are tall and handsome. So, how many girls will stay?
21:08 Most they don't think, "Oh, tall." Hey, but there's a fifth floor, isn't it? So, they decided, okay, let's go to the
21:14 fifth floor. And they go up to the fifth floor. And finally, you see a sign. This is a floor created to show that you can
21:19 never please a woman. They will never be satisfied. Uh and and
21:25 just like human beings, we have a a desire that's insatiable, and that desire seeks to control. Uh and Burham
21:33 Russell actually writes, "All human activity is prompted by desire. There is a holy fellacious theory advanced by
21:40 some earnest moralist to the effect that it's possible to resist desire in the interest of duty and moral principle. I
21:46 say it's fellacious not because no man ever acts from a sense of duty but because the duty has no hold on him
21:52 unless he desires to be dutiful. If you wish to know what men will do, you must
21:58 know not only uh you you must know not only or principally their material circumstances but rather the whole
22:04 system of their desires with their relative strengths. Bertin Russell is correct. We are driven by desires.
22:13 Everything we do is led by what we want in life. And when we come like the crowd, we come to Jesus Christ. come to
22:20 God. We're looking for a God that's molded by our desires. And so therefore,
22:27 we want to have a God defined by our own desires. If we're afraid, we want a Jesus to be your leader. We're sick,
22:33 Jesus has to be your healer. If you are poor, Jesus has to be your banker. If you're lonely, Jesus has to be your
22:40 friend. Jesus is there to meet your desires. But the trouble is that kind of
22:45 Jesus is a cutaway Jesus. You know why? It's a Jesus made after your own image.
22:50 If you have a Jesus made up your own image, then you it's actually a very tiny kind of Jesus. Jesus is much bigger than that, but you want a cutaway one
22:58 and and to keep in your pocket. And the whole idea of human desires that we want to control God. So instead Jesus being
23:05 the bread of life, Jesus is our supplement. We spend thousands and thousands of
23:10 dollars in the United States. We spend they spend $ 35 billion US a year on
23:15 supplements. And so our idea is that we'll do our main thing in life and Jesus is an
23:21 add-on supplement. Doesn't make us a little bit more handsome, you know, a bit more energetic. Jesus is a
23:28 supplement. That's the kind of Christianity which they want. All right. Now, the second point is that Jesus is
23:36 all we need for eternal life. And Jesus points this out. There are four points which should come from this passage.
23:41 Number one, Jesus is God's mana. Number two, he is he does the father's will.
23:47 Number three, he reveals the father to us. And number four, he gives his life for us. There are four reasons why Jesus
23:53 is all we need for eternal life. And the first one is Jesus God's banner to us. He says, "Truly, truly I said to you,
23:59 you're seeking me not because you saw signs, but you ate your fill of loaves. Do not work for food that perishes, but
24:04 for the food that endures to eternal life, for which the Son of Man will give you, for on him the Father, God the
24:10 Father, has set his seal." You see the point is what is a miracle in Greek the
24:17 miracle the word is called simeon is a sign a miracle is a sign you don't get
24:23 enamored by the sign you must look at what the sign is pointing to imagine all of us stand outside this road and
24:29 there's a traffic light and we're standing there oh we love this traffic light it's the it's red oh suddenly it's
24:35 it's it's what oh it's orange and oh suddenly it's it's green I wish I had a traffic light in my house and then you
24:40 go home you you steal this traffic light I put in your house and you stand there a whole day looking at that hey hello
24:46 the sign the significance of signs that points to something else and they actually miss all this there's a sign is
24:53 that the son of man will give you for on him the father god the father has set his seal Jesus is god's manner to us in
25:01 the uh uh old testament commentaries in midash it actually points you shall not find mar mana in this age but you shall
25:08 find it in the age that's coming uh what the first redeemer do he brought down mana. The last redeemer will also bring
25:14 down mana. That sign already shown them and they couldn't actually see it. Okay. And Jesus points out to them truly truly
25:22 I say to you it's not Moses who gave you the bread but my father in heaven. He accredited Moses. Actually Moses didn't
25:29 do it. My father gave you the true bread from heaven. Uh was the one who gave you the bread. But the father gives you the
25:35 true bread from heaven. The bread from heaven is he who comes down from heaven and gives us life to the world. And they
25:40 said to him, "Sir, give us this bread." They misunderstand again. It is actually pointed to Jesus as the mana. And then
25:48 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life. I am the sum total of everything you
25:54 actually desire." Now this I am statement is very important in the theology of John because this is the
25:60 first time he's saying I am. And there are seven statements as you go through the book of John of I am. I am the bread
26:07 of life. I am the light of the world. I am the gate. I'm the good shepherd. I'm the resurrection of life. I am the way,
26:13 the truth, and the life. And I am the vine. There are seven statements. And these statements are very important
26:19 because they're hidden in these statements. Actually, there's a truth. If you look at the significance of statement to understand a little bit of
26:25 it in Greek, there are two ways of saying I am. You can either say a go,
26:30 which is I am, or you can say I, me, I am. So, therefore, I am this and that. In this particular passage and in all
26:37 the seven statements, it goes together. I am I am the bread of life. It's like I
26:43 am. I am a doctor. Are you going to cure me? I am. I am. As if you're unsure. No.
26:49 When you put the two I am, I am together. There's only one other place in the whole of scripture you actually
26:55 see the two together. It's in the Greek Old Testament called a Septugint. And it's in Exodus 3:4. God says to Moses,
27:03 "I am who I am." By saying, "I am. I am." Jesus is identifying with God.
27:11 That's why he's the bread of life. That's why he's the way, the truth, and the life. That's why he's the great shepherd. That's why he will fulfill
27:19 every desire of our lives. Then he says, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes
27:24 to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst." So therefore,
27:30 Jesus is God's manner in a sense that God will fulfill every single desire and
27:37 need in your life. Isaiah mentions this metaphor. Look at Isaiah. Come everyone
27:43 who thirsts. Come to the waters. He who has no money, come and buy and eat. Come and buy wine and milk without money,
27:50 without price. Why do you spend your money on that which is not bread and your labor for which that does not
27:55 satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to
28:02 me and hear that your soul may live and I will make with you an everlasting covenant my my steadfast sure love for
28:10 David. Already in the Old Testament saying that you can't work. You see you can't have food without money. He's not
28:16 trying to imply that that Christians are are basically all for free food. The whole idea is that only God can give you
28:24 something that will satisfy you completely. All right? And so uh you know people
28:30 like Aristotle at the time. What is the purpose of life? The purpose of life is what? Happiness is a meaning and the
28:37 purpose of life and the whole aim and end of human existence. If you believe that then the best thing to do is like
28:43 follow the few hundred thousand people in this country every day. They inject heroin up the you know or ketamine or
28:49 something and then you become very happy right? You can in fact you get marvelously happy. In fact there's a drug called ketamine uh uh which
28:56 actually is called masters of universe. When you actually sniff kitamin it's an anesthetic. It makes you feel as if
29:02 you're the master of the universe. You think oh I'm god you know as it were. Uh if the meaning of life is that then
29:10 every day you should sniff. But that's not true isn't it? Most of us will not
29:15 accept that this is the meaning of life. Others will believe like Ralph Waldo Emerson, the purpose of life is not to
29:21 be happy but to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it to to to make some difference that
29:27 you have lived and lived well. And a lot of people subscribe to that. If you've been following the politics in America
29:33 recently, we have the uh disgraced James Comey, former head of the FBI. He was
29:38 sacked by President uh Trump. He gave an interview in a town hall meeting and we actually shared that uh he was actually
29:46 the opposite. Most people leave government service to private sector. He goes from private sector to government service. He had a great job in a law
29:53 firm. He was a partner. He had a huge house with five rooms. He had everything going for him. And his wife Patrice
29:60 noticed one day that he was actually not happy. Why? He was making money but he
30:05 was not contributing to society. He left uh private practice and became uh a FBI
30:12 director. All right? Because he want to do something with his life. We want we want a cause higher than ourselves. But
30:18 the problem is even if you did that, okay, you come under the problem of the myth of Seisphus, which is a Greek myth
30:25 where where Seephus was actually punished by the gods for something I can't remember. But what he did was his
30:31 whole eternity would be spent pushing that huge boulder right up to the hill.
30:36 And after you finish doing that, yay, it falls back down and you go down and push
30:41 that up and it falls down again. Imagine you do that every single day for
30:47 eternity. That's the problem of the myth of Sephus. And that's the problem that face every human being in the world here
30:54 who says there's no God. You know why? Because whatever you do, you could be FBI director, but you got sacked. You
30:59 know, you could be a lawyer, you could be a judge, you could be something else, but whatever you do is not really going
31:06 to make any difference 100 years from now, a thousand years from now. It's like the rock falling back down again,
31:12 isn't it? So that's the problem of life. You see, uh the only way you can
31:18 reconcile this is uh it was suggested by this chap called Albert Kamu who was the second youngest man to win the Nobel
31:24 Prize. uh and he actually said must you must imagine Cephus happy he's happy you
31:31 know giving meaning to our existence uh by what we do so basically as he's pushing this up he must thinking I'm
31:37 going to be happy I'm going to find meaning in pushing this rock so we give meaning to our own endeavors that's the
31:44 only way out isn't it of life all right now Bertrram Russell says all human
31:51 activity is prompted by desire however much you acquire You will always wish to acquire more. Satiety is a dream
31:59 which will always elude you. Power is vanity is insatiable. Nothing short of omnipotence could satisfy it completely.
32:05 There's something wrong with human beings. We've got desires that are so outsized that it doesn't fit reality,
32:12 isn't it? Something wrong. It's like it's like watching the the movie. How many of you watch Infinity Wars? Many
32:18 many other fantastic show, right? And and you know if I asked all the young people, what would you like to be? You
32:24 know, somebody else, one of the young people there, Brandon, if you had a choice,
32:29 would you like to be Spider-Man or or to? Yeah, all the clever ones say to. Why?
32:36 Because to a great hammer. He loves hammers. All right. Now, he got a X. And if you can look, all of them are human
32:42 beings as it were. Pseudo human beings. Tor is a god. Who've got outsized
32:48 powers. Everyone got different powers. Proomen can has ESP. He he he knows
32:53 where danger is coming from. He can elude that to has got this huge strength. But but see inside the human
32:59 psyche the people who write Marvel comics they actually reflect our desires
33:05 which are far bigger than what we actually are. Isn't it? And next year we're going to see whom? Captain Marvel.
33:12 And Captain Marvel's going to be even stronger than see this is this is a sum to our our
33:19 desires tell us something. And as CS Lewis writes, all our desires, all our human appetites are reminders of our
33:26 ultimate hunger for God. Our sexual desires, our desire for food, desire for meaning and purpose, our work desires,
33:32 all point to a deeper longing to feel God's embrace, isn't it? And so therefore, if you look
33:39 in the in the human psyche, our desires to be master of universe, you know why? It comes from the fact that we are
33:44 created by a God who is the master of the universe. And so therefore we want outsiz things that we could never
33:51 achieve because we are created with the heavens or stars in our hearts as it were. U we'll go back to background. Why
33:58 does this passage occur after the miracle of the feeding 5000 and after
34:04 this Jesus coming inside? Jesus is telling you that I am the bread of life. If you got a difficult situation where
34:11 you got nothing to eat, I'm going to come and do a miracle. I'm going to change the circumstance. And when you
34:17 got a terrible problem with a storm which you're going to die in and the second instance Jesus doesn't stop the
34:24 storm he gets into the boat with you. So in these two miracle he cover all the
34:29 situations you will feel in life. And and who what is the common factor? The common factor is who? Jesus. Either
34:36 Jesus in the storm or Jesus gives you the bread. But Jesus is all you need in
34:43 life. So, we're back to the garden of Eden. You can have the tree of the
34:48 knowledge of good and evil where you're independent and you want control or you
34:53 got a tree of life where you're totally dependent and you're dependent on Jesus,
34:58 the bread of life as it were. Come and whoever believes me shall never thirst.
35:04 All right? So, I'm the living bread come heaven and anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. There's a nuance in
35:11 this particular passage. is always talking about eating Jesus. Why is it Jesus talking about eating Jesus? If you
35:16 look back into the Greek word for for for eating is treor and it actually
35:22 means uh something like this, it's like a cow munching on grass. You know, he
35:28 eats five minutes and go home and does his uh workout. No, no. The cow chews the whole day, right? And after chewing
35:35 the whole day, he swallow. After he regurgitate, swallow, and then he chew again. The whole day is spent chewing in
35:41 a very noisy fashion. I can imagine. You think that the cow enjoys his food,
35:46 right? Yes. It's something that you enjoy and he's doing all the time. It's like me. I recently discovered Sukman.
35:53 If you go to Staling Mall, it's a restaurant called Matsuda on the second floor. A and what happens? You go up
35:59 there and you get these lovely Japanese noodles. Uh and you just have to dip it inside the gravy. And the way you eat it
36:07 is that you put on a big bib. You know why they put a bib? Because to really enjoy it, you must absolutely slurp it.
36:15 And as the noodles go going in, it splashes all the gravy on you. And the
36:21 and the louder you slurp, the better it is. And trying to tell you, Jesus is the
36:28 sukman of life. And you're slurping Jesus up and you're enjoying him, delighting in him. That's what it's got
36:34 to be. That's what Jesus is trying to get across that he's the he's our life.
36:39 And the word life here, you could either use two in Greek. One is bios, which is the length of life. He doesn't use this.
36:46 He uses the word Zoey, which is basically a quality of life that is actually from heaven. You can slurp
36:51 Jesus up continually all the time to enjoy the life, the quality of life
36:57 that's actually from heaven. Now, Jesus is all you need. You know why? Because not only he's the bread of life, he's
37:03 also does his father's will. And he said, and I said to you, you've seen me
37:08 and yet you don't believe. So the people who seen him, he does not and they don't believe. Verse 66, after this, many of
37:16 his disciples turned back and no longer walk with him. It was a difficult situation, apparent failure. How come,
37:22 you know, 20,000 people had a free buffet and they all walk away? And you
37:30 know what? Verse 37. All that the father gives me will come to me. And whoever
37:36 comes to me, I will never cast out. I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent
37:43 me. And this the will sent me that I should lose nothing of all he has given me. Jesus is all you need. You know why?
37:50 When the father gives you to Jesus Christ, the only way you're going to
37:55 fall away are two situations. One, Jesus is unable to keep you or Jesus is
37:60 unwilling to keep you. You see, I mean, he always does his father's will. So
38:05 therefore, Jesus is all that we need. Jesus reveals God to us. The Jews
38:11 grumbled about him because he said, "I'm the bread that comes from heaven." And they said, "Is this not Jesus, son of
38:17 Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say I've come down from
38:22 heaven? This is Jesus. I know him. me was in lick school with my son. Wasn't
38:28 he at the 7-Eleven? Wasn't he in Asia Ja or Asia cafe having cha
38:33 familiarity breeds what? Contempt. Um and and Romans describes the minds of
38:40 human beings. Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. They become futile in
38:46 their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. So that something happens to human beings when they don't
38:51 acknowledge God. And our thinking is changed. An example of this, you claim to be wise, but they became fools. They
38:58 exchanged the glory of the immortal men for images resembling mortal men and birds and animals and creeping things.
39:03 The chain mind of man is changed every afternoon. You know, he goes downstairs to the shining metal object outside your
39:10 house and is polishing it. He's kissing it. He's moving. It's a BMW in front, right? Men are worshiping there. Women
39:17 worship elsewhere. And these things are less than what we are. That's the problem. It is reflective our changed
39:24 minds. Smartest human being ever lived they say was Steven Hawkins. See how his
39:30 mind has changed. You know what he said? Because there is a law such as gravity. The universe can and will create itself
39:37 from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something other than nothing. Why the universe exists. Why we
39:44 exist. It's not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going. Smartest man in the
39:51 world actually says what is responsible of creation the law of gravity not gravity you know the law a law which man
39:59 has devised to describe what's actually happening is actually the source of creation you look at Isaac Newton who
40:05 lived hundreds of years before that and he actually said gravity explains the motion of the planets but it cannot
40:11 explain who sets the planets into motion Isaac Newton was a Christian his mind
40:18 wasn't as clouded as this I uh this is a deliberate attempt to suppress God. And
40:24 Jesus reveals God to us. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. I will raise him up on the
40:30 last day. As written in the prophets, they will be able to be taught by God. Everyone has heard and learned from the
40:35 father comes to me. Not that anyone who has seen the father except he who is from God who has seen the father. So
40:43 anyone who comes to God has to be taught by God. God is one who is going to
40:48 reveal himself to us through the person of Christ and he will teach us directly.
40:54 Isaiah says, "All your children shall be taught by the Lord, great shall be the peace of your children. In
40:59 righteousness, you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from the terror
41:05 it shall not come to you. Your children will be taught by God." When we actually come to God, we're actually God actually
41:12 reveals himself through the pages of the Bible that we can accept him. And lastly, we need to come to God because
41:18 he gives his life on our behalf. Long passage. Basically, he's talking about I
41:23 am the living bread that came from heaven. And anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I
41:29 gave him uh in the in the world is my flesh. A lot of controversy has come
41:35 over this particular passage. Some people take this literally. The Catholics will take this and say there's
41:42 transubstantiation. There's a piece of blood. And when you take this bread afterwards, it actually is transformed
41:48 by magic into the body of Christ. But if you actually look at the passage, it
41:54 doesn't say that. You know why? Because you look on one side here, the bread that I will give you is the life
42:01 of the world is my flesh. My flesh is true blood food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds my flesh and drinks
42:08 my blood abides in me and I in him. Verse 58. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the
42:13 fathers ate and die. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. But if you look back in verse 40, this is the will
42:19 of my father that everyone who looks on the son believes in him should have
42:25 eternal life and raise him on the last day. This is a parallel to this. It
42:30 means the same thing. So actually you don't actually have to physically feed. That's why the early Christians were
42:37 accused of being cannibals. Eating the body of Christ, very very weird is
42:42 actually eating is a metaphor for looking and believing in Jesus Christ.
42:47 Uh so therefore Jesus is all we need for eternal life because he's God's manner. He does God's will. He reveals the
42:55 father to us and he gives his life to us. Finally, the spirit enables us to desire what we
43:04 need. The whole problem in life is what we desire is not what we need. That's
43:10 the biggest problem. There's a dissonance between that and uh and and and that happens in John 6:6-65 says
43:17 when many of the disciples heard it they said it's a hard saying who can listen to it just knowing in himself the
43:23 disciples were grumbling about this said do you take offense at this see whatever Jesus says you get upset they were very
43:30 upset they were they were insulted they think what is this crazy man I got to eat his flesh and drink his blood and
43:36 Jesus said to them you know um you know taking Jes Jesus is not the suki men you
43:42 know it's it's like taking medicine so some of us you know you go to cell group they love it when the sharing time
43:50 supper time they love it Bible study is like this
43:55 it's a fact Bible study is like this I used to be like that only go for the buffet that's why I'm here for for the
44:02 girls as it were but we come to the Bible study it's like this that's why they don't spend much time in Bible study all right because Jesus always
44:09 perceived as what we need, not what we want. That's the problem. So, how do you
44:15 bring what we need and what we want together? Um,
44:20 then what if you were to see the son of God, a man, ascending on where, you know, if you find the words of Jesus
44:27 Christ so upsetting, Jesus says, "Wait till you see the son of man, which is
44:32 himself, ascending to where he was before." For Jesus to go back to where he was before, he's got to ascend, you
44:38 know, and set on what? Anybody know what he rides on? He ascends on the cross
44:44 where you go on the cross. If you can't take this, wait till you see me on the cross. You think you'll be stumbled? You
44:49 will absolutely be stumbled. So believing in Jesus Christ is actually a
44:55 intellectual impossibility. It's actually intellectually impossible.
45:01 That's why 20,000 people left. Um, so how do you actually move from
45:08 Jesus is the one I need to Jesus is the one I want, desire as well as need.
45:15 There's a difference. And the difference comes in the passage. The passage says it is the spirit who gives life. Flesh
45:22 is no help at all. Has zero value at
45:27 all. How does the spirit give life? So here we actually have we always think in terms of our efforts. Verse 28. And they
45:35 said to him, "What must we do to do the works of God?" And Jesus answered them, "It's the work of God that you believe
45:41 in him whom he has sent." You see, we always try to translate what we need to do is to what we we can we can give to
45:48 God as it were. We need to earn our salvation. All right? The flesh Jesus is
45:54 no help at all. They're trying to earn salvation. And Jesus says, "No, no, it's no flesh, no help at all." Because the
46:01 work of God is to believe. It's just to believe. In fact, in John chapter 3, he
46:06 says, "And Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. So must the son of man be lifted up. Whoever believes in
46:11 him may have eternal life." Believing is just like the time of Moses when the people were dying because they were
46:17 bitten by serpents. In a dying breath, they were told to what? Look at the bronze serpent. By looking, you gain
46:25 eternal life. It doesn't take a lot of effort to look. You just have to cast your eyes to gaze and that was it. It's
46:30 not a work. But we're too used to what? Having to work for salvation. And having
46:37 not to work and just believing is totally counterintuitive. And it is a spirit who gives life. The
46:45 flesh is no help. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Which
46:50 means if you actually focus the words that Jesus speaks to us in the Bible are
46:56 the way in which the Holy Spirit will take what God has given us and implants
47:02 in us and regenerates new life. There's a condition though when you read the
47:08 Bible it's suddenly going to come alive. It's produce eternal life. It's going to
47:13 produce all the feelings that come with eternal life. But there's a proviso. The proviso is this is why I told you that
47:20 no one comes to me unless it's granted by the father. Now that's the heart
47:26 saying the of the 20,000 people who were there only 12 stayed behind because of
47:31 the 12 who can come to God because it's granted by the father. So
47:39 Jeremiah 15:16, "Your words were found and I ate them."
47:46 Right? And your words became to me a joy and a delight for I'm called because for
47:54 is because I'm called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts.
47:59 Our desires and our needs coalesce when we are called by God. If you're sitting
48:07 down there and you're actually enjoying the word of the Lord and it's becoming
48:12 like honey to you, that's because you're called by God. If you're sitting down there and you're saying this like
48:17 medicine, it's probably that you're struggling with this issue. You see, very clear. All right. So Paul writes,
48:27 even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, those who are perishing, the gospel is going
48:32 to be like medicine. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing
48:38 the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord with ourselves as
48:45 your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, "Let there let light shine out
48:51 of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." So
48:58 what he's saying is that for many of us who read the gospel, it's like I don't get it. It's boring.
49:05 Doesn't do anything for me. But there's a process in your heart where God said
49:11 let there be light. It's part of creation. When God says let there be light, there will be light. It comes instantaneous. Is the act of God. In an
49:19 act of God, he the light shines in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
49:25 face of Christ. So when we look at Jesus Christ, suddenly Jesus Christ becomes wonderful, beautiful, delightful.
49:34 That's because the lights just went on. And that's the only way it's going to
49:39 happen. You don't do it by trying very hard, obeying a whole bunch. I I was a
49:45 Catholic church from from birth, child birth, and I obeyed all the rules,
49:51 went all to the Sundays, did all the Sunday school bits, got baptized, got confirmed,
49:57 but the flesh is of no value. It never created a desire. If God died yesterday,
50:02 I wouldn't have noticed. That's the difference. It's when the spirit creates a desire in our hearts
50:08 when suddenly the lights come on and you can see wow this is the glory of God in
50:14 the face of Jesus Christ that is the gospel so Jesus Christ is the bread of
50:20 life we need to enjoy Jesus by looking at God's beauty in the face of Jesus
50:26 Christ we get a sense of beauty in our hearts uh this is Psalm 10 uh can I have
50:31 the the the team up 111 verses 1 to3 praise the Lord I will Give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the
50:37 company of the upright of congregation. Great is the works of the Lord studied by all those who delight in him. So in
50:44 order for us to enjoy the Lord, we actually have to study. We've got to put
50:49 time into the word with prayer. So to allow God to just say let the light come
50:54 on and we can actually see the glory of God. And this is how Paul concludes.
51:00 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of
51:06 knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. We're going to come to a stage where Paul says everything else in life is nothing.
51:15 It is Jesus that is worth more than anything else. And let me end with this
51:22 verse. I see towards the end of Jesus' life which we will be preaching on sometime in the future is John 17 and
51:31 John 17 talks about this high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ and when he just
51:37 before he taken prisoner and has to die he he actually has a dying wish. His
51:43 dying wish is actually father I desire that they also whom you have given me
51:50 may be with me where I am which means eternally where he is. You know what to
51:57 see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. The true reward
52:05 for the believer is that one day you're going to be with Jesus where he is in
52:10 order to do what? to play the harp to dance around no to see his glory for the
52:17 glory of Jesus Christ surpasses the beauty of that entire universe you cannot imagine what Jesus Christ is
52:25 you've seen the cross you've seen his love you've seen his he his his passion for us imagine one day thousands of
52:33 years from now our reward is to sit and bask in his glory experience his glory
52:39 and also to be part of That glory that is our reward. That should grip us.
52:47 That should fill our imaginations. And that should give us the power to live
52:53 every day for
