Sermons of the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Series 18

You will observe that our Lord here speaks concerning himself. He speaks not of his words merely, nor of his offices, nor of his work, but of himself. “I am that bread of life.” And herein he teaches us all to fix our eye mainly upon his blessed person, and to think of himself first and foremost. He is the centre and soul of all. There is a tendency about us all to get away from Jesus, and to look rather to the streams than to the Fountain-head. Why are Ave more taken up with bits of glass that sparkle in the lio-ht than wath the sun himself? That tree of life, in the midst of the Paradise of God — we forget to eat of that; and w-e wander to the borders of the garden, to pluck the fruit of the forbidden tree of the know, ledge of good and evil. I wish that our ministry — that mine especially — might be tied and tethered to the cross. I would have no other subject to set before yoTi but Jesus only. Moses and Elias are well enough in their places; but when they disappear, and Jesus is the better seen, wo are gainers by their loss. If I might dig for copper, silver, and gold, I should think it no deprivation to be obliged to find gold only. It is no loss to lose all but Jesus. You may wander from Dan to Beersheba, and you may not sin, for It is all holy groimcl between the two places; but he is wisest who does not ramble even there, but keeps to Calvary, and is content to speak only of Jesus crucified.

“God forbid,” said one who was a great and a wise man — “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul would have considered it a terrioie calamity if he had become fascinated, or even influenced, by the speculations of the cultured men of his period: he felt that the atoning sacrifice deserved all his admiration, and he had none to spare for anything else.

You know how he fell among certain wise people who wore fond of philosophical disquisitions; and to them he said, “I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” He did not endeavor to please his audience by agreeing with them, but the further they went in one direction, the further he went in the other, the more surely to counteract their error. Because they were so broad he would narrow himself to the one theme of the cross. In these times, when the world has run mad upon its idols of human thought, it may be wise to be more strict than ever, and to stand steadfast in Paul’s determination — “I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

It was lihnself, my brethren, that our Lord set before his hearers as the bread of life; he did not mention anything of doctrine, or of precept, or of ordinance, but himself He says, “I am that bread of life.” Of him, therefore, let us think.

It is of the utmost importance to those of you who have spiritual life that yon should feed upon the Lord Jesus. It is well to know everything that is revealed, for every word of God is good, and has its uses, and all Scripture is profitable; but the daily household bread, the substantial meat on which we must be nourished if we would grow strong for God and holiness, is Christ himself. “I am that bread of life.” We do not get bread anywhere else save in Jesus our Lord. We may find certain minor things apart from him: flavorings, ornaments, and furniture of the table we may get from some other hand; but the bread, the real solid meat, the essence of the festival, is Christ himself. So let us begin -udth him in our disoourse, and continue with him till we close our meditation.

But now, when I have to preach upon a subject like this, I find it necessary to begin a little way from the text. “I am that bread of life.” Bread, brethren — broad is for living men and women, but bread is of no use in the tomb. Bread — shall we bring it to a sepulchre? Shall we roll away the stone? Shall we draw out tJie bodies swathed in linen? Shall we sot them upright in ghastly posture, and shall we put bread upon the table before them? To what purpose would it be? It would be a ghastly mockery. If you leave the bread there, and visit again that loathsome banqueting chamber in twelve months’ time, the bread will remain untouched; for until there is life, there is no use for bread. And so, at the opening of my discourse, some of you might say, “Bread is intended for living persons; it is for men and women who are quickened. How can we feed upon Christ, for we arc dead in trespasses and sins?” You speak most truly; but yet I have a marvel to relate which meets the case. Hearken! That would be a strange kind of bread, would it not, which being put into a dead mail’s niouili, would make him live? Yet such is the bread that came down from heaven, whereof if a man eat he shall live for ever.

The Lord Jesus Christ is living bread. Bread such as we get from the baker is in itself dead; and if you put it to dead liys, there are two dead things together, and nothing can come of the contact. But our Lord Jesus Christ is living bread; and when he touches the dead lip of an unregenerate sinner, life comes into it. He brings life even to those who are dead in sin. He says, “Young man, arise,” and he sits up upon the bier. He takes a little girl by her hand, and says, “Talitha cumi — Alaid, arise,” and she sits up in her bed. He calls to Lazarus, who by this time stinketh, and he says, “Lazarus, come forth,” and he comes forth, wearing his grave-clothes. He has shuffled down from the niche in the cave, and he has made his way out of the damps of the cold sepulchre. Oh, what a wonderful Christ this is, who is not only bread for the living, but life for the dead 1 Pray, you who can pray, that he would come here just now, and be life to those who are in the darkness of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, that they may live. When they live, then how gladsome will my text be to them, for life needs bread whereby it may be sustained! The first thing that we want, if we have life, is something for that life to feed upon; and here comes in the text

“I am that bread of life.” Your newly-discovered

necessities Jesus can meet. Your newly-begotten wants Jesus can supply. Your hunger and your thirst can all be met, not by fifty things, but by one thing, by Jesus Christ himself, in whom there dwells in fulness all that the spiritual life can possibly require. L AVith that to start with, I now make the first observation upon the text itself, which is this — Jesus Christ exactlf meets all the wants of the kew life. When a man is born again to God, and gets a new life, he has new wants, new desires, new pains, new longings. He enters upon a novel condition, full of new needs and cravings; the Lord Jesus Christ exactly meets the new case. As the key fits the wards of the lock, so does Christ fit the new heart and the right spirit. He knows how to touch the secrets of our soul, and supply our most mysterious necessities.

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