International Bible teacher and evangelist, Dr. Michael Youssef, introducing this episode of Leading the Way Audio. No other than the very one who appeared to Moses at the burning bush. More than seven times in the Gospel of John, Jesus said, I am, I am, I am.
Welcome to Leading the Way and a teaching from Dr. Michael Youssef. Digging into words often called the I am statements of Jesus. Words of Jesus revealing who he is and what he came to do.
This message is called, I am the bread of life. Perhaps there is no greater claims and there's no clearer claims as to the exclusivity of Jesus as we find in the Gospel of John. In the Gospel according to John, you see it and you read it very clearly over and over and over again. Jesus repeatedly reminded his Jewish hearers that he is no other than the very one who appeared to Moses at the burning bush.
Sixteen hundred years earlier than the time of Jesus. More than seven times in the Gospel of John, Jesus said, I am, I am, I am, I am. In the book of Exodus, you remember Moses who took things into his own hands and he thought that he could deliver God's people out of the slavery of Egypt his own way. And then he made a mess of things and then he had to escape and run for his life literally in the wilderness. And there he confronts the pre-incarnate Christ in the burning bush. And there he calls him to go back to Egypt and deliver his people out of the slavery of Egypt.
And Moses was so reluctant he had one excuse after another. And finally he said to him, okay I go, I go, I go, who do I tell them sent me? He said to him, go and tell them I am sent you. Can you say Ega Emi?
Ega Emi. That is the Greek term for I am. This term is the greatest proof as to Jesus' uniqueness, as to Jesus' exclusivity. This is what sets Jesus apart from the so-called founders of religions.
Please listen to me. In this age of inclusivity, in this age of equality, in this age of diversity, do not get so carried away to show that you're accommodating to this evil world by bringing Jesus down to the level of these murderers and thieves and immoral folks who founded so-called religions. Everywhere you turn, in every denomination without exceptions now, every group of so-called Christian people professing Christians, they are denying the exclusivity of Jesus.
Beloved listen to me. Our greatest need is for the younger generation of church folks. I'm talking about church folks. I'm not talking about the atheists and agnostics.
I have other messages for them. I'm talking about church folks. The younger generation of church folks, it is time for them to be waken up from that great lie and that great deception that is so easily buying into by the culture and the pressures of culture we live in. Those who are buying into these biggest lies, they look at it as being loving. I've talked enough people to know that.
That's accommodating. They see it as not wanting to be offensive. Or they want to be inclusive. They don't want to offend anybody. Listen to me.
Knowingly or unknowingly, they are risking their life, their eternal life. Listen to me please. Compromise and compromising in politics may be fine.
In relationships it may be fine. But compromising the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is deadly. When Jesus repeatedly in the gospel of John said, Ego Emme, I am. He is warning us not to fall in the traps of this big lie of mixing him up with all these others. Ego Emme says that he is Yahweh's only Messiah. That he is the only God-man. That he is the only God in human body. That he is the only redeemer and savior.
That he is the only one who can assure us of heaven here on earth. Or to be sure, other religions have founders. Other religions have prophets. Other religions have philosophers.
Other religions have preachers and teachers. But only the Christian faith has God's only Son as the central figure and the only figure. And that very exclusivity of Jesus is what causes the arrogant and the self-serving and the self-sufficient either to reject him altogether or muddy the water so much to the point of no recognition.
And that's what we're seeing with our own eyes today. Sadly, this greatest lie is not only found in the Catholic Church. It's not only found in the Protestant Church. It is now increasingly found in many so-called mega-church evangelical churches.
We become so obsessed with so-called non-judgmentalism, accommodation that we are in danger of obliterating the Christian truth. And that is why I pray to God that this message and these series of messages will penetrate deep into the whole globe, not just in our church. John chapter 6, verse 35, and then again in verse 48, and then again in verse 51. And he repeated it throughout the Gospel of John. I am the bread of life. I am the only life-giving bread. Or I am the only bread that can give you life. This term, I am, is the most important description that Jesus gave himself, that Jesus testified about himself. This is the most important testimony that Jesus could give us about who he is. Not hedging, he was not waffling, he was not accommodating. He says, I am.
And please, please, please remember this. This is not an honorary title. This is not a symbolic title.
This is not a descriptive title. I am is who he is. Today our Muslim friends would acquiesce to any title you want to give Jesus, except for one, the divine only Son of God.
Why? Because Ege Emi is an exclusive title that only God has. Because I am says that he is not just I was, because that would make him only the God of the past. He is not I will, that would only make him to be the God of the future.
But because he is I am, and therefore he is the God of the past, the God of the present, and the God of the future, and the God forever. So turn with me to John chapter 6 please. This claim, I am the bread of life, came immediately after Jesus supernaturally, miraculously, divinely fed 5,000 hungry people with five loaves and two fishes. And don't listen to any preacher, whether in this town or any other town, who says to you what this means is that they all brought their brown sacks with them for lunch, and they shared it.
It is absolutely a life on the pit of hell. They did not share anything, they had nothing to share. Jesus fed them miraculously, supernaturally, divinely with five loaves and two fishes. 5,000 people that he fed in this way. And they could see with their own eyes. It's so miraculous, it's so supernatural.
Beloved listen to me. I have seen with those two eyes as I travel the globe what hungry people can do. I have seen with those two eyes the desperation and the clamor for food by hungry people. Not only that, desperately hungry people would do anything for food.
They would literally bow to anyone who will fill their empty stomachs. And that is precisely why, right after this supernatural miracle, Jesus immediately goes on to claim, I am the life-giving bread. What is Jesus doing?
Listen carefully. He wanted to lift their eyes upward. He wanted them to shift their focus to their eternal life and to the eternal God and to the eternal food. He wanted to elevate their vision beyond their physical needs. He wanted to direct them to what really, really, really, really matters. He wanted them to know and to believe that he is not just a miracle worker. He wanted them to know and to believe that he is far greater than just feeding their stomachs, far greater than just meeting their earthly needs, their physical needs, and that he's the only one who can give them eternal food that gives them eternal life. As important as bread is for sustaining their earthly life, as important as bread is as a staple food, as important as nutrition is for our health, there is a spiritual bread that is far more important. And remember this.
And I know it's very hard for us to comprehend now, and I know that, I understand that. Back then, the average person, which was the majority of people, the average person survived all day on one loaf of bread. That's it. That's all they ate all day. That's all they could get. Think about this with me. One loaf of bread, without that one loaf of bread, a day, they would starve to death. They would starve to death. But Jesus is saying to them a lot more than this. As important as bread was for their life, as important as that loaf of bread for their daily living, the spiritual bread that are only found in Jesus is far more important. Without the spiritual bread, Jesus, you will not only die physically but eternally. Without that spiritual bread, Jesus, there is no hope of heaven. Without that spiritual bread, Jesus, eternity would be spent in suffering and pain. Without that bread of life, Jesus, life becomes slow death and eternal agony. And so Jesus tells the crowd, I am. He says what? But there's something else I really don't want you to miss. I don't want you to miss. Before I get to the heart of the message, this claim of being the only eternal life-giving bread did not even make sense to his disciples.
Did you get that? Until after Jesus was crucified, died, buried, and then rose again. I need to explain that to you. Every Israelite at the time of Jesus, they knew experientially, experientially, every home, they understood experientially how bread is made. They did not go to the supermarket and grab the loaf of bread. They grew up day in and day out watching how bread is made.
And I did too, by the way. I have seen how bread is made on a regular basis. They know how the wheat is crushed in the mills. These are stones, two stones.
There's a bottom stone, there's a top stone. And they pour in the wheat. And the women will go and crush the wheat, and crush the wheat. And even if it comes out a little coarse, they take it back and they push it back in the middle, right in the middle of the top one, and they grind again. And they grind again.
And they grind again. And then when it becomes flour, they will take that flour and they will knead it. They will knead it. They will beat it. And then they'll beat it. And they'll beat it and make it into a dough. And then they take that dough and break it and then put it in a very high, hot furnace to be cooked.
And beloved, listen to me. This is exactly what the life-giving bread had to go through. This is exactly what Jesus, the bread of life, eternal life, had to go through until after the crushing of the crucifixion, after the grinding of the crucifixion, and then after the burial and the resurrection, where his disciples were able to comprehend passages like Isaiah 28, 28. Grain must be grounded to make bread. Only then did they understand, Isaiah 53, 5, he was bruised for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities. So when you talk to one of your neighbors or one of your friends who tell you that Jesus, the founder of our religion, just like Buddha and Krishna and Muhammad are founders of other religions, or that all religions basically lead to the same place, ask them, did any of these founders die for their followers? That will explain it.
Well, even in practical terms. If you ask a Buddhist, why is he a Buddhist? Why is she a Buddhist? He will tell you very honestly, is because they've tried to follow the teaching of the Buddha. But then ask them, did Buddha love you?
Huh? No. Did Buddha die to redeem you? No. Can Buddha live in you? No. Can Buddha guide you in the difficult situations of life?
No. Can Buddha answer your prayers? No, he's dead. Can Buddha transform your life?
No, he's dead. Can Buddha give you peace that does not make sense? No, of course not. Did Buddha know you before the foundation of the world? No, he doesn't know me now. Did Buddha suffer for you? No. Did Buddha rise from the dead to assure you of eternal life? No, no, no, no. He's dead, dead, dead, dead.
I'll rest my case. Please listen carefully. Christ, the bread of life, the life-giving bread, it was broken and crushed for everyone who would receive him as the only bread of life, as the only Savior and Lord, as the only Master and King. And that is why every time we celebrate the Lord's table in this place or any place, we repeat the words of Jesus, this is my body which is crushed for you. This is my blood which is shed for you.
Guess what? Sadly, the medieval church, of course, they lacked knowledge of biblical language. They thought that means that every time they participate at the Lord's table, they're munching on the flesh of Jesus and drinking the blood of Jesus. Both are forbidden in the Bible, by the way.
They're forbidden in the Scripture, the Old Testament particularly. When the Lord was talking about his body being crushed and his blood was shed, it's a symbolic language referring to his death on the cross. It's powerful symbolism.
And we don't take it for granted. We don't just walk there and eat bread and wine and we walk out. No, no, no, we understand what it symbolizes.
It's symbolic nonetheless. And that is why only those who have placed their whole faith, their whole trust for their salvation in that bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, only they should participate at the Lord's table. Because the Lord's table is only for those who have totally trusted in that crushed body and shed blood as their only hope for eternity. Only they can understand the symbolism of the Lord's table. But there's something also very important about this.
Sure there is a moment, sure there is a time when a person comes and says, I receive Jesus as the only bread of life, as the only giver of eternal life. But sadly there's so many people who will do that and then they stop. That is important.
I'm not minimizing that at all. But it doesn't stop there. We must continuously, daily, even moment by moment, feed upon Christ. Feed upon Christ's Word. Feed upon the living Word of God.
How do you feed our spirits on a daily basis? I know somebody said to me once, he said, you know, I'm just so busy. I read the Bible weekends when I have time. I said, don't give me that. If you're honest and ask yourself, how long do you watch television or watch any of this stuff? How many times are you on the phone and all this?
Don't tell me you don't have time. That's a cop-out. Some of you are offended? Good.
Because it's a cop-out. It's like somebody says, you know, I just eat on the weekends. I don't eat all week.
Huh? No, I just read the Bible on the weekends because I don't have time. How do you feed our spirits on a daily basis? By feeding on the Word of God.
By spending time in the presence of God daily, talking to him, listening to him to talk back to us through his Word. Jesus said when he was able to defeat Satan, when Satan was tempting him in the wilderness in Matthew 4, he quoted the Scripture, man does not live by bread alone, referring to the physical bread, but with every word that comes out of the mouth of God. In John 6 32, Jesus said, my Father gives you true bread from him. Did you get that?
My Father gives you true bread. What is he talking about? He's talking about himself.
He's talking about himself. He is the one who did not call himself. He did not just seal vision and started preaching. He was sent by the Father. He is the bread of life that the Father sent, who given by the Father to make us alive with him.
Listen to me. And Jesus, the bread of life, is not genetically modified bread. Jesus is not bleached flowers. He is not empty calories. He's the only food that can save us eternally and every single day.
He will sustain us, sustain us, and he will do that until he takes us all the way home safely. This is Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, and thank you for taking time to listen. Now, in addition to on the radio, you can also listen to Dr. Youssef's content online and with the Leading the Way app and through whatever platform you use for podcasts. Details about all of the ways to listen, to watch, and to connect are right there for you at ltw.org. Now, as this episode comes to a conclusion, the Leading the Way team does want to take a moment to share a brief story about a young man in Morocco, a young man whose life was changed after listening to God's word taught on leading the way.
So please listen closely. He writes, After hearing Leading the Way, I felt led to learn more about the Christian faith. This quest ultimately led me to find the truth. You see, I listened more and eventually reached out to Leading the Way team in Morocco, and they shared and explained the gospel to me. Friends, won't you join Dr. Youssef in reaching people right there in your neighborhood and around the world through Leading the Way? Learn how to participate in the Open Door campaign when you call us at 866-626-4356, or go to ltw.org. That's ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org.
