"BREAD OF LIFE OR BREAD OF DEATH"

MF Blume
January 23, 2000 am

Gene 2:16-17  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Luke 15:11-13  And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to [his] father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth [to me]. And he divided unto them [his] living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Luke 15:17-20  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luke 15:23-24  And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill [it]; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.


Adam was told he would die if he sinned and ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
• The prodigal son left home, returned and was said to have died and come alive again.
• To die and come alive again is to resurrect from the dead.
• Similarly, Adam did not physically die, but spiritually died.
• Eph 2: 1 says that we are dead when we are in trespasses and sins, and all resurrect into newness of life when they unite to Jesus death, rather than remain in their own deaths, and rise with Him in resurrection power.

The item that “killed” both Adam and the prodigal son were the one and the same fruit.
• The knowledge of good and evil.
• The fruit of death.
• Literally, a dead person is physically insensitive.
• They are a non-entity as far as the world is concerned.
• And those who are in sin are insensitive to the things of God!

Mankind ate the bread of death and left Father’s home, the Garden.
• Walking out of the Garden into the world away from God was a road straight to the pig-pen.
• (Recall that demons possessed pigs when they could not possess men)
• The bread of death leaves one hungry and starving.

Jesus spoke about waters to drink from that would leave a person to never thirst again.
• There was abundant supply of His waters.
• He had food to eat whereby a man will never hunger again.

Jesus came to give us life and He called it the bread of life.

John 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

John 6:48  I am that bread of life.

Adam did not eat of the fruit of Life, but ate from the fruit of death, so to speak.
John 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
The thief was the devil and the “bread” he offered to Adam and Eve was bread of death.
• Bread of life or bread of death.
• Everyone is eating from these two loaves.
• Satan, the thief, offers bread that KILLS.
• God told Adam that the forbidden bread would kill him.
• And since Satan offered Eve that fruit, He came to kill her.

The prodigal became hungry and starved after eating the bread of death.
• He commented how that his father’s servants had bread to spare, and they were only servants!
• Jesus said that He gave life, and that eating from His bread would make one hunger no more.

Everyone here today is eating from Bread of Life or Bread of Death.

Jesus commented on the two breads.
• In Matthew 16, He rebuked the Pharisees who questioned Him to show them a sign from Heaven
• He said no sign would be given but Jonah’s sign.
• (Three days and three nights in the earth and a command to repent.)
• Then He told the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
• Their doctrine was throughout their teachings.
• Like Leaven throughout bread, their evil spirit was throughout all their teachings.
• Their’s was the BREAD OF DEATH

In the same portion of the Bible, Jesus said this:

Matt 15:25-26  Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast [it] to dogs.
He was giving children’s bread, while the Pharisees’ leaven was handed out in their counter version of bread.
• Jesus had bread of life.
• He came to give life and spoke of having the children’s bread.
• The Pharisees had bread of death.

The Pharisees’ hearts  were so filled with the bread of death, knowledge of good and evil, that they were totally blinded to what Jesus had to say.
• He often spoke in parables and referred to a person’s heart, yet they were puzzled as to what He meant..
• Jesus told His disciples to not regard the Pharisees for they were blind leaders of the blind.
• He performed wonders and yet they asked Him to show them a sign from Heaven.

But the problem was that the disciples had a bit of that bread of death in them, too.
• There were times when they could not understand His words.
• And He commented to them, in those times, for their unbelief.

 What Jesus did and taught was considered bread of life, for we read that the miracle the woman of Canaan wanted, a pagan and heathen, descended from the Canaanites who dwelt in the promised land, was bread for the children, not meant for dogs.
• And the words Jesus taught were bread of life, John 6:63.

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
The state of our hearts is going to be godly or ungodly, depending on what bread we are feasting upon.

Faith is a result of the bread of life.
• The Canaanite woman said she, like a dog, would eat crumbs fallen from the table of the Children who dropped them.
• Throughout chapters 14 through 17 we read of the disciples being rebuked for unbelief and the Pharisees and their blindness and hypocrisy.
• We see Jesus multiplying bread and fishes, referring to the bread of the children, and warning the disciples about the leaven in the bread of the Pharisees’ doctrine.
• We see Jesus saying parables and their meanings that the disciples questioned Him about.
• They are dropping more than crumbs!
• They are missing entire meals!

Notice the trend throughout chapters 14 and 17.

BREAD: 14:19 - multiplied.
BREAD: 15:2 - eating with unwashed hands
BREAD: 15:26 - children's bread
BREAD: 15:36 - multiplied bread again
BREAD: 16:5 - disciples forgot to take bread.
BREAD: 16:6 - beware of leaven of pharisees
BREAD: 16:23 - "savourest" things belong to men

CHAPTER 14.
John the baptist is beheaded and Jesus goes to a mountain and many follow Him to be healed.
• They are there for some time, and He heals them and then the disciples tell Him to send them away so they can eat.
• He multiplies bread and fish to feed them.
He sends the disciples away by ship and goes to pray.
• Later a storm hits the ship on the sea, and Jesus comes walking on water.
• Peter asks Jesus to tell him to walk on water if it is Jesus.
• Peter walks on water.
• Then sinks and Jesus asks him why he doubted.

They come to land and people spread the word everywhere, and have so much faith that they only seek to touch the hem of his garment ot be healed and they are healed.

CHAPTER 15
Pharisees ask why his disciples do not traditionally wash hands and then eat.
• Jesus rebukes them for their hypocrisy and questions them as to why they twist Moses’ law to dishonour father and mother and claim they honour them?
• He explains that the PERSON is defiled when the mouth defecates evil.
• The disciples ask what he meant.
• Jesus comments on their lack of understanding.
• They cannot put things together and get His point.
• He explains that He referred to the true filth of a person that is evidenced by the filth from their mouths due to a filthy heart, rather than filth leaving the body from food in the belly.

A Canaanite woman is more sensitive to His words than they are.
• He tells her he cannot cast the devil out of her daughter
 because it is children’s bread, and she is a dog.
• But she says the dogs eat crumbs that fall from the children’s table.
• He Tells her how much faith she has and delivers her daughter!

He sees another multitude follow Him for three days and speaks of feeding them.
• After this happened once before, and he multiplied the bread an fish, the disciples ask where He would get the food.
• These guys are really dumb acting.
• He multiplied the food again.

CHAPTER 16
Enter the Pharisees again and ask Him to show a sign from heaven.
• He rebukes them and says they’ll only get the sign of Jonah... three days and nights and then a command to Repent.
• He leaves and the disciples leave with Him recalling they forgot bread.
• Bread keeps popping up in this portion.
• He tells them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and they are so worried about forgetting a supply of bread for their journey that they figure He referred to their lack of bread.
• He rebuked them, asking them why they forgot about Him multiplying bread.
• And He told them the DOCTRINE of the Pharisees was His concern.
• Their unbelief was His concern.
• They were eating Bread of death.
• Unbelief.
• He that believeth not shall be damned.
• Then he checked them out.

Who did they feel he was?
• Only one eating bread of life could get revelation from God.
• People can go to Church all their lives and yet be feasting on bread of death.
• They never put things together spiritually and get the point of the preaching.
• So much unbelief is in their hearts.
• They see miracles and then begin doubting God the very next day.
• But every now and then they break into spirituality.
Peter received revelation from the Father

Matt 16:16-17  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
But then moments later, when Jesus speaks of the cross, Peter urges Jesus to forget about suffering.
Matt 16:21-23  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me:...
And Jesus makes a comment that has a lot to do with terms used when talking about FOOD, and in our case, BREAD.

... for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

SAVOUR: Quality in relation to TASTE.
• Peter savoured the things of people.
• Bread of knowledge of good and evil.
• Bread of death.

CHAPTER 17
Jesus is transfigured and Peter is so carnally minded that he wants to build three temples, for Moses, Elijah and Jesus.
• God’s voice speaks and instructs Peter to LISTEN TO JESUS’ WORDS.
• That is what God wanted.

When asked if Elijah should come before Jesus resurrects and is known as Messiah to all, for He often told them to keep things quiet until He resurrected.
• Jesus corrected told them that Elijah already came in John the Baptist.

A man runs to Jesus telling Him His disciples could not cast the devil out of his son.
• Jesus again rebukes them for their unbelief.

Peter is asked by a tribute collector if Jesus paid tribute.
• Peters said yes, without knowing.
• Jesus corrected peter and told him that King’s children do not pay tax, but Jesus would pay to not offend them.
• Peter finds a silver coin in a fish’ mouth.

Again and again we see the disciples and Peter rebuked for carnality.
• They have much knowledge of good and evil in them that blinds them from faith and the things of God.

Then chapter 18 comes in which Jesus nails down a very important issue.
He speaks of those who offend His little ones.
• Please know that all of God’s children are His little ones.
• And He warns HIS disciples against offending one of the brethren.

The worst thing that the Leaven of the Pharisees can do is work against one of God’s children.

Matt 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
We are all His little children in this story.
Matt 18:6-8  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast [them] from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
In speaking about offending a little child, Jesus says a strange statement.
• But He is still talking about offending one of His children.
• When a person is in the body of Christ and offends his brother or sister, Jesus compared that one to a hand or foot that offends the Body.
• That person or member of the body is to be cut off.
Matt 18:9  And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
He said the same thing using the eye.
• A part of the Body that offends should be cut off or plucked out.
• And He clarifies that by then saying:
Matt 18:10-11  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Everyone in the Church Body is a little one.
• And a very interesting note is mentioned here.
• It does not say the Son came to save those who are lost.
• It says the Son is come to save that which WAS LOST.
• But if it WAS LOST then it is NOW FOUND.
• And we who are FOUND are being saved.
• Until we go up in the rapture we cannot say that we are completely saved yet.
• Christ did all the work for us on the cross, but there are temptations and offences that may cause us to give up.
• And one who offends someone whom Christ is saving, does a very evil deed.

Everyone in this Body is a soul whom Jesus deeply loves.
• There is not a one of us who would be lost again whom Jesus would not go out and try to recover that one and rejoice more over that one renewed than of the 99 who remained in the fold.
• So He is very clear on one of us offending another one of us.

There is no such thing as once saved always saved.

Matt 18:14  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Otherwise there would be not point in speaking this entire discussion.
• It would not be possible to offend a brother.
Matt 18:15-18  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell [it] unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
When one does offend, Jesus told us to go to that person and warn them and tell them to repent.
• If they refuse, then take one or two more.
• And Jesus is so strong on this that He said He gives authority to the Church so that if two or three of them succeed and bring that person to repentance who has offended, whoever they BIND TO THE BODY on this earth will be BOUND IN HEAVEN, IN GOD’S EYES.
• And whoever they cannot reach and declare to be a publican and a heathen and is loosed from the body.... CUT OFF, like a hand or foot that offended, will be considered as LOOSED in heaven, also.
• If the BODY considers that one LOOSED from itself for refusing to repent, Jesus said that there is so much authority He is giving to the Body that God considers that offender to be loosed.
Matt 18:19-20  Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Jesus is so clear on this that He said that if those two or three, who try to recover that brother do not succeed due to that person’s refusal to repent, agree that the person is cut off and a publican and a heathen, then it is done for them by the Father.
• Wherever two or three are together and are in Jesus’ name, and represent His body, it is as good as Jesus having cut off that offender Himself.

Do we have the bread of death in us that would cause us to offend a brother?
• Its one thing to miss truths.
• Its one thing to doubt miracles.
• But it is another thing to offend a brother or sister.

Now, Peter made many blunders from chapter 14 to 17.
• CH. 14 He walked on water coming to Jesus and sank due to doubt.
• CH. 15 He was rebuked by Jesus for not understanding the parable Jesus spoke concerning that which goes into the man not defiling him, but that which comes out.
• CH. 16 He got a revelation of who Jesus was and then told Jesus to not suffer in Jerusalem and die, and Jesus rebuked him and called him Satan.
• CH. 17 He saw the transfiguration of Jesus and offered to build three temples, when God’s voice rebuked him telling him to rather HEAR THE WORDS OF JESUS.

Now, in chapter 18, Peter hears of Jesus’ words concerning offending little ones and what should be done to such people.
• Peter is worried.
• If Peter blew it like he did in chapters 14 to 17, and now Jesus mentions offending brothers and sisters, Peter felt for sure he would offend someone sometime in the Church wrongfully.
• Maybe even offend God and sin beyond recovery.

Matt 18:21  Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
I have a feeling Peter put himself in the shoes of the one who sinned against his brother seeking forgiveness seven times.
• What about the one who sins and knows he is wrong and wants forgiveness?
• What about the one who sins and yet did not intend to hurt anyone?
• What about the one who is so sorry and would never think to refuse to repent when asked, but rather GOES TO THE PERSON HE OFFENDED and asks forgiveness?
• The one who does not give a chance for the person to come to him to tell him he is wrong, but who goes to them admitting error and asking forgiveness?
Matt 18:22  Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Someone asked me about sinning wilfully this week.
• What is wilful sinning?
Hebr 10:26-27  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Hebrews then reads:
Hebr 10:28-29  He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
He is speaking about THOSE WHO DESPISE THE THINGS OF GOD.
• Many people make mistakes but do not DESPISE the things of God.
• Many do not count the blood of Jesus as an unholy thing, but simply made a mistake.
• And you know their heart is right by one thing.
• SEEKING FORGIVENESS from those they hurt.

One unrepentant sin is enough to cut you off from the Body.
• You better be concerned about what the PEOPLE of God think when you offend and refuse to repent.
• God counts you cut off if you offended someone and you are cut off by the members.

To one filled with the bread of death, one sin is as good as one million.
• Such a person is considered lost.

But to the one whose heart has bread of life in it, there may be some bread of death that God is working on, and God is in the process of saving the person who WAS LOST.
• But if there is bread of life being eaten, and the offences and sins are MISTAKES, and those people’s hearts really are true and godly, they WILL ASK FORGIVENESS, and if they make 490 mistakes compared to ONE SIN of the stubborn proud soul, forgive them 490 times and DO NOT DARE TO CUT THEM OFF.
• Jesus is feeding us bread of life and they are eating it!

BUT ITS MORE THAN A MISTAKE IF THE PERSON REFUSES TO SINCERELY SEEK FORGIVENESS.

The prodigal son admitted he sinned.
• When he did that, his heart ate a bite of eternal life, and a dead son resurrected into life again.

Luke 15:21  And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
He was right about one thing and needed to admit it.
• He sinned.
• He had to admit that.
• But his admission showed that HIS HEART WAS RIGHT.
• But he was wrong about not being a son again!

HOW DO I KNOW I AM SINCERE?
• DO YOU TRULY SEEK FORGIVENESS?
• ARE YOU TRULY SORRY?
• How much of an effort do you make to ask forgiveness?

Who have you offended?

If you are able to admit you are wrong, and repent and ask forgiveness, you are feeding that much on bread of life!