Subject One Hundred Three

THE NEED OF THE HUNGRY

Scripture: John 6:22-37, 47-58, 63

1. The dissatisfied human living
   1. In this passage John recorded that there was a great multitude surrounding the seashore seeking the Lord. The sea is where demons live. It signifies the world corrupted by Satan. The seashore represents the place where fallen mankind lives. The place where fallen mankind lives and the dwelling place of demons are adjacent to each other. Men’s sinful way of living on the seashore is very close to the demons’ life, if not exactly equal to it. In such a sinful living, nothing can satisfy men, and nothing can supply and sustain them.
   2. They were seeking the Lord on the one hand and living a sinful life on the other. They lived in sins, expressing the dissatisfaction of human life. Emphasize that men live in sin and do not feel sinful; they only feel dissatisfied. Give real examples to prove how unsatisfying human living is. Tell them that each and every one of them is not satisfied.
   3. These people who came to seek the Lord felt a need inside, but they did not know what their need was. They thought what they needed was the physical bread. They did not realize that what they needed was the eternal bread. So the Lord spoke to them with many words and showed them that their real need was not the physical bread, but eternal life. Friends, you may feel that you need something, but you don’t know what that something is. Maybe some of you feel that you need a degree, a family, or something else. But even if you get all of these, someday you will still feel empty, because what you need is not these things, but the bread of life.
2. The Lord is the bread of life
   1. That day the Lord’s words were to lead them to realize that only the Lord could supply their need, because their real need was not the physical bread, but the bread of life.
   2. The Lord told them that He was the bread of life which came down from heaven to give life to the world. The real need of man is the Lord Jesus Himself.
   3. The bread of life is the life of the Lord Himself. It is also the Lord Himself coming as the life of man. Explain clearly that man’s real need is life. For example, without life all of the human affairs will be terminated, because all of man’s desires and endeavors depend upon life. Because man lacks life, human living is fraught with shortages. Man’s life is a life of shortage and vanity; it cannot meet the need of man. The life of the Lord Jesus is abundant, eternal, and fulfilling. That is why His life can meet all the needs of human living. Only the Lord’s life can supply man in such a way, so He said, “He who comes to Me shall by no means hunger.” Not to be hungry means not to be lacking or empty.
3. How the Lord gave Himself to man
   1. The Lord is the “bread of life,” which implies that He is for man to enjoy.
   2. Anything to be taken in by man must pass through death. Things such as rice, wheat, and all kinds of vegetables and fruit must first go through death and be broken before they can be enjoyed by man.
   3. For the Lord to become the bread of life, He must also pass through death. So He said, “My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” Flesh and blood being separated signifies death. When the Jews heard that the Lord could be eaten as the bread of life, they were puzzled. But the way the Lord gave Himself to man is by passing through the separation of death. When He died, His blood was separated from His flesh, so that He could be enjoyed by man. Stress the Lord’s death. The Lord’s flesh and blood were separated on the cross so that He could be enjoyed by man on the one hand, and so that His life could be received by man on the other.
4. How to receive the Lord as life
   1. In principle, the way to receive the Lord as life is by eating and drinking. For man to receive any food for nourishment, he must take the food by eating and drinking. For man to receive the Lord as life, he must likewise take the Lord in. The Lord’s flesh and blood were separated so that we may take Him in.
   2. As we believe that the Lord gave His body and died on the cross for us, we are eating His flesh. As we believe that the Lord bore our sins and shed His blood on the cross for us, we are drinking His blood. When we thus believe, we fully receive Him into us.
   3. This kind of believing by eating and drinking is the believing of receiving the Lord as Savior and as life. So in John chapter six the Lord said that, on one hand, he who eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, and, on the other, he who believes in Him shall have life. This points out that to eat His flesh and drink His blood is to believe.