It's wonderful to be here with all of you today, and we welcome
you to the assembly and we're glad that you're here.
And we have several of our number that are traveling and
perhaps that are ill and some that are up north at the Labor
Day meeting, the church meeting up north.
That's every year. And so, as I mentioned last
time, because of that, we're going to deviate from our series
and that is on the last 40 days or the 40 days that Jesus spent
with his disciples from the time that he rose from the dead until
the time that he ascended to his father for the last time in Acts
chapter 1. So we're going to deviate from
our series for just a week. Pick it up next time, next
Sunday. But what I thought I would do is
I thought I would talk on one of the seven I am statements of
Jesus. It was the very first one that
he made in the Gospel of John. And you might remember that I
gave this series several years ago.
In fact, it was quite a while ago before I even got sick.
I began this series on the seven I am statements of Jesus, and
this is the first one. Now, what I've done is I've kind
of reworked and redone this sermon.
I've actually studied it a little deeper and came up with a
few more things, and perhaps these things would be edifying
and encouraging to you. What's interesting is in John
chapter 6 and verses 28 through 35, which is our introductory
text, it goes back. That is actually the New
Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy or the Old
Testament picture or background found in Exodus 16, Deuteronomy
chapter 8, and Psalm 78. And I'm saying all that to say
this, the whole Bible is about Jesus.
The Old Testament is about Jesus.
And all of those prophetic types or pictures or shadows in the
Old Testament, they were all fulfilled by Jesus Christ
himself. And when it comes to the bread
that come down from heaven, Jesus was the ultimate
fulfillment of that. And we're going to study that in
our lesson this morning. John chapter 6, beginning in
verse 28. Then they said to him, What
shall we do that we may we may work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that
you believe in him whom he said. Therefore they said to him, What
sign will you perform then, that we may see it and believe you,
what work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the
desert, as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat. Then Jesus said to them, Most
assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from
heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives
life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord,
give us this bread. And Jesus said to them, I am the
bread of life. He who comes to me shall never
hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
Just a little bit of a background here of this dialogue
and in context, Jesus is talking to Jewish people that
misunderstood. He was talking to Jewish people
that many of them were following Jesus.
And I'm just going to say it like this for the wrong reason.
And you know, sometimes people can follow Jesus today even for
the wrong reasons. And one of those reasons that's
wrong is when you're just trying to get something for yourself.
There were many that were Jewish people that were following Jesus
back then. And this is the set, this is the
setting of the narrative. They were following Jesus
because he fed them. And in particular, how about the
5000 when he fed 5000 with five barley loaves and two fishes?
So Jesus did that a long time ago, and there were a lot of
people that followed him for the wrong reason.
This is very shocking, though. This is the end of the Galilean
ministry of Jesus. Jesus taught Jewish people in
the synagogue in Capernaum, and now he's going to call himself
with this phrase, I am the bread of life.
As I mentioned in our introduction, this is the first
of the seven I am statements of Jesus, and here's all of them.
In the Gospel of John. He said I'm the bread of life.
Then he said I'm the light of the world.
He said I'm the door or the gate.
He said I am the Good Shepherd. He said I am the resurrection
and the life. He said I am the way, the truth
and the life. And finally, the last one, He
said I am the true vine. OK.
This was not the only time though, that Jesus called
himself I am or use that phrase. And I'm going to be very brief
about this because we just studied this when we talked
about when Jesus was arrested in the garden.
I'm just going to mention something and I'm going to throw
it out there first because I want to make a point.
This is what we already know and what we've already studied.
Then I want to make a point about that notice.
Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops and
officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with
lanterns, torches, and weapons. This, we understand, is when
Jesus was arrested, and here comes Judas Iscariot, the great
betrayer. He makes a deal with the devil.
He said whosoever I kiss, that's him.
Lay hold on him. We all know the story, right?
Well, here comes Judas out in front, and he comes with a
detachment of troops. Hold that thought for just a
moment. He also came with officers from
the chief priests and the Pharisees, which really could be
summed up as the temple police. And they're coming to arrest
Jesus, and they're coming with lanterns and torches.
Here's the irony. In search of the light of the
world. And they came with weapons in
search of the Prince of Peace. What a tremendous
misunderstanding and misinterpretation of who Jesus
was. Notice this phrase.
Detachment of troops means Roman cohort.
Now Roman armies were made-up of legions and one Roman legion was
10 cohorts and 10 cohorts was 5000 men.
SO1 cohort that came for Jesus that day was about 500 men.
And like one scholar said one time, that's a whole lot of guys
that are coming to look for a Galilean Carpenter and his
friends. And I say it like that, not by
way of disrespect to the Lord. I'm saying it that way because
that's all they recognize Jesus was when they came to arrest
him. All right, here's my point.
When they came, notice what happened.
Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him,
went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus said to them, I
am he. And Judas who betrayed him also
stood with them. When he said to them, I am He,
they drew back and they fell to the ground.
Notice in the original this word is not there.
The word He and the word he in this verse 2, it's an italics
meaning it was added by the translators.
It doesn't do any injustice to the context because it's
referring to Jesus. But in the original, it doesn't
say that Jesus says I am he. In the original it says I am.
How about that? And when he said that, they drew
back and they fell to the ground unfazed.
They get bad. They bounce right back up.
By the way, here's the point I'm trying to make.
There's something that's obvious here, and there's something that
is not obvious. Here's the obvious point.
The obvious point is Jesus was protecting his disciples.
How do I know that? Because in the very next verse,
Jesus asked them again after they picked themselves up off
the ground, He said, I'm asking you again who you're looking
for. They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus says I already told you that I am.
And because of that he said, let these go.
So the obvious part is he was protecting him them.
What's the nuts obvious part? He was protecting them with the
name of God, the power of the name of God.
Here's another example too, by the way.
Remember when Jesus says I'm the light of the world?
When Jesus says I am the light of the world, when he said I am,
it means I am deity. I am God the Son, not meaning
not God the Father, but God the Son.
When he said I am the light of the world, that means I am the
Messiah. You put those two together.
What do you have? Jesus said I am the divine
Messiah. OK, so the I am statements are
efforts on the part of the Lord to make clear that he is deity,
that he is God, and he uses metaphors to describe his nature
and his work. So in our sermon, he's talking
to Jewish people and he presents a very important claim number 1.
He says I am from God. And #2 He said, if you want
eternal life, you have to eat my flesh and you have to drink my
blood. I'm going to ask you to do
something for me. Please, please do not draw a
conclusion as to what Jesus meant when He says you got to
eat my flesh and drink my blood. We're going to get to that
later, I promise, in great detail.
But whatever thoughts are going through your mind about what you
think that might be, maybe just set that aside for now and we
will get to that. What did the Jews understand?
Number one, they understood the concept or the idea or the
thought of eternal life. Here comes Jesus and he says I
am the only means of eternal life.
In John 6 and 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in
me shall never thirst. OK, Jesus took Old Testament
background of of bread for God's people and now he claims to be I
am the bread of life. OK, I got to say, if I were to
ask anybody in this audience, where was Jesus born, everybody
knows the answer. Everybody knows it's Bethlehem.
But you know what the Hebrew, what Bethlehem means in Hebrew,
Bethlehem means House of bread in Hebrew.
I don't think there's an exact there that's an exact an
accident at all. I don't think that's a
coincidence whatsoever. Notice Jesus says I am the bread
of life. He says I came from heaven, but
He was born in a place that was actually called the House of
bread. I don't think that's by
happenstance or coincidence at all.
OK, so here we go with our sermon in John chapter 6,
beginning in verse 32. There's a very long narrative, a
very long passage that Jesus preaches, but it can be divided
in two very familiar components #1 divine provision of the
bread. What do we mean by that?
And by the way, in our lesson, so don't get scared.
I'm not going to continue my speech until midnight, OK?
We're going to spend the majority of the time on the
divine provision of the bread. That's number one.
So when we spend a lot of time, we finally get to #2 we're
actually getting toward the conclusion of our lesson.
Notice two things, The entire narrative, and we'll stretch out
this narrative and look at this narrative, but #1 the divine
provision of the bread #2 the human appropriation of the
bread. What does that mean?
Appropriation. It's a fancy word that means
taking something for one's own use.
In other words, devoting to a special purpose.
So God's provision of the bread, that's God's part.
But man has to do something with the bread in his life in order
to apply it and have the benefits of it.
OK, so let's first look at the divine provision of the bread #1
and that's God's side. That is the heavenly side.
This is God's provision. Now notice some several features
about the bread. Number one, the bread is
divinely pre existent. In John chapter 6 and verse 32
it says Jesus said to them most assuredly I say to you, Moses
did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you
the true bread from heaven. OK, in verse 33 it says for the
bread of God is he who comes down from heaven.
And finally one more passage. Jesus says I have come down from
heaven. What's my point here?
What my point is this Jesus has always existed.
Jesus was pre existent. And you can just picture this.
Here's the Jews, the Jewish audience and they're listening
and all of a sudden they're wondering how in the world could
this be? How could it be as they grumbled
because they wondered how a man whose parents they knew could
come down from heaven? But every time we see this in
fact repeated over and over we find the pre existence of Jesus
Christ Noticed in in John chapter one in the beginning was
the Word. So in John chapter 1 Jesus is
referred to as the word. Here in John chapter 6 Jesus is
referred to as the bread. What do they have in common?
They were in the beginning with God in in John chapter 1 it says
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Jesus has always existed.
Why am I making a point about that?
In fact, he came up with a conversation recently with
someone. Some people believe that Jesus
was created. Jesus was not a created being.
It says in the beginning. Was the word Jesus existed in
the beginning in Genesis chapter 1, when all the creation was
made, it said let us make man in our image after our likeness.
That was God, that was Jesus, that was the Holy Spirit, and
they existed in the very beginning.
Somebody asked me just the other day, well, how can that be?
Everything has to have a beginning.
How can you wrap your mind around the fact that there is no
beginning when it comes to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
You know what my answer to that is?
I don't have to wrap my head around it.
Faith is the evidence of things that are not seen.
It is the substance of things that are hoped for.
I don't have to know how to wrap my head around it.
I don't have to understand it. I just know it's always been.
And by faith, I believe it. We had a great study the other
night and we were talking about the very idea, the very concept
that I know in my heart that Jesus is God's Son, that he was
on this earth, that he died for our sins, and yet I never met
him while living in this life. And I know it to be not a
theory, not an idea, not a fun thought.
I know it as a fact. And we believe that by faith,
Jesus has always existed. So therefore, when it comes to
the bread divinely preexisted, notice this.
He is pre existent with God, He is coexistent with God.
He is self existent with God eternally, that is Jesus Christ.
OK, going back to John chapter 3 and verse 13 here, there's a
helpful statement that our Lord makes in his conversation with a
man by the name of Nicodemus. No one has ascended to heaven,
but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of man
who is in heaven. I'm going to make a couple of
points about this. OK, first of all, who's this
talking about? Jesus says no one has ascended
to heaven. You're going to find out why I'm
making this big point in a minute.
No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from
heaven, that is who That is the Son of Man.
Remember the phrase Son of Man is found 80 times in the
Gospels. It's referring to the Messiah,
but it's referring to the human side of the Messiah.
OK, We already said He was born in the flesh in Bethlehem a long
time ago to a virgin, OK? In the flesh becoming the Son of
Man, not meaning he had earthly parents, but by meaning that our
Messiah was fully human, He has always existed in that He is the
Son of God, meaning He is fully divine, our Messiah fully
divine, our Messiah fully human. So what did Jesus say?
Nobody ascended to heaven but the one that came down from
heaven. That is Jesus the Messiah who is
now in heaven. OK, Please remember this anytime
somebody says, or you read a book where somebody wrote a book
that said that they went to heaven, they took a trip to
heaven and then they got some information from God and then
they came back and told everybody about it.
You can find books like that. And listen folks, I'm not trying
to make fun. I'm just saying I want to look
to the word of God. I know there's a lot of well
meaning people. I also know there's a lot of
deceiving people and people that are being deceptive of others.
I get that too. But I really do believe that
there are people sometimes that are well meaning that just
misunderstand. All that being said, Jesus says
nobody ascended to heaven but the one who came from heaven.
That is the Son of man who is in heaven.
OK, you might say, no, wait a minute, wait a minute, preacher,
wait a minute. Didn't I read something about
Paul? What about Paul?
Now, what are we talking about? We're talking about somebody
that says they went to heaven, saw God, got information, came
back and told others about it, maybe wrote a book.
Right? So you're saying what about
Paul? When Paul wrote the Corinthian
letter, the apostle Paul says I knew a man in Christ.
I knew a man about 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of
the body, I don't know. The Lord knows, right?
He said that same man, he was talking about himself.
He said that same man was given a view into the 3rd heaven.
That's where God is. Did he come back and tell us a
bunch of stuff the Bible says? Paul said, I can't even speak of
the things that were there. He was given a view into the 3rd
heaven and he couldn't even speak the things that were
there. They were inexpressible words.
And by the way, interestingly, the guy that actually was given
a view up into heaven wasn't very good for him for the rest
of his life from a physical standpoint.
He was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
buffet him, right? He had nothing to return and
nothing to say regarding that experience.
Just remember, it is only Jesus that was the one that did that.
Nobody has gone to heaven and come back to instruct us except
Jesus. Here's further proof in John 6
and 46. Not that anyone has seen the
Father except he who is from God.
He has seen the Father. OK, again, this is exclusive to
the preexistent 1 and that is Jesus Christ.
So there's divine preexistence in the coming of the bread, but
secondly, there's divine purpose.
There's divine purpose that's tied to eternal preexistence and
involved in divine planning in verse 32.
Notice my Father, who gives you the true bread from heaven.
OK, that's a fact. There's a purpose in verse 38,
for I have come down from heaven not to do the will, my own will,
but the will of him who sent me. And I want to make a point about
this, please. Have you ever known somebody
that everything in their life in terms of their theories,
philosophies, what they think, what their desires are, what
their wishes are, their mental state, it is all about them.
You ever known anybody like that people that absolutely
everything about them is just about them narcissistic about
them. You're a stop to consider this
also came up in a great Bible study the other the other week
last week that living the Christian life isn't about you.
I'm going to clarify, say we're not involved and say we don't
get something from it. I'm saying the motive behind the
ACT isn't in our service to God. What we are going to get.
There's a lot of people that everything that they do
spiritually is based upon. What do I get?
Like a feeling? A lot of times people come to
worship and they say, you know what?
I just wouldn't get anything out of it.
Here's my answer. What were you putting in it?
When we worship God, for example, remember this, we are
the participants and God is the spectator.
That's what we do when we worship God, we are putting God
in that position. It is all about that.
Well, when sometimes in our life and I and I got to say something
too, I get it. At some point in time, all of us
could be even accidentally. We don't really mean to, but it
could be that all of us, at some point, it does become about us
in our life, about things. I get it.
That's called human nature. We think about us, We think
about #1 right, We get that. I'm just saying this.
If you want the greatest example of someone who it wasn't about
them and understood it, it's Jesus Christ is the one that
paid the greatest price of all. He said I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.
It was all about God with Jesus. What a great example.
What was God's promise? What was God's purpose?
What was God's plan that Jesus would be the sacrificial Lamb of
God to die for the sins of the world.
That was his purpose and known unto God are all his works even
from the beginning. And Jesus knew that.
So when Jesus decided that I'm going to fulfill what God said
and submit to what God said, he came to this earth and said, you
know what, it's not about me, it's about God.
Wow. God purposed to send his son,
but he also purposed what his Son would accomplish when he
arrived. Verse 40 And this is the will of
him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the
last day. So have you ever stopped to
consider what God's purpose is ultimately for everybody.
Now I want to make a little side point here.
OK? I do believe that God uses every
individual Christian for his glory based upon the talents and
abilities that they've been given.
I do believe that. And I also believe that we have
the power of God in the hands of man, which is the word of God.
And I also be believed, as the apostle Paul says, we are
nothing but clay pots, but we got the treasure.
That's what Paul said, and the apostles had, and the treasures,
the word of God. I get that too.
And I do believe that specifically in our life we may
have, God may be using us in our life.
I do believe that, absolutely. That's called Providence.
I'm a preacher of the gospel. Jesus says ask and you shall
receive, seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open to
you. Does that mean if somebody's
asking, seeking, looking, that God puts me in their life?
I don't know and I don't care, but you know what?
I'm good with that. Does that mean that that person
is brought into my life? Maybe.
So what about you? What about every individual
person in your life? In life, you have somebody you
have an influence over. OK, all that being said, what
about God's purpose in general? I'm going to sum it up in three
ways. So those are specific ways and
specific things that God can use you for His purpose.
But what about in general? For everybody #1 obey Jesus #2
have eternal life and #3 be raised to be with God eternally.
That is God's eternal purpose. Have you ever stopped to
consider why or one of the reasons why God hates sin so
much? Now sin is ugly and God can't
even look at sin and God can't even lie and all those things
are true. But have you ever stopped to
consider that one of the reasons that God must hate sin so much
is it's the one thing that will keep man from Him for eternity?
That's why such a great price was paid.
It's God's will that we obey Jesus, have eternal life, and be
raised in the last days so we could be with Him.
Look at verse 44. Now no one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up the
last day. I want to make a point about
this word draws because it's misunderstood.
OK. Some people believe in the
doctrine of, and maybe you've heard of this doctrine, the
doctrine of predestination. Let me just tell you what that
means. The doctrine of predestination
is this, that God predetermined a specific people or number
another words, specific people in life like you, you, not you
or whatever that are going to get to go to heaven.
And part of that is a misinterpretation of what this
word means, draw. Some people believe what this is
saying is you can't get to the Father except God chooses you.
You know what we got to do? All we got to do is find out
what the word draws here means and we're home free.
We know exactly who gets to come to the Father.
The word draw here means taught. That's what the word means.
So let's just spell it out like this.
No one comes unto me unless the Father who sent me taught him.
You know that fits the Old Testament too.
Jesus quotes this tonight in verse 45.
He said it's written in the prophets.
What is written in the prophets? What am I about to say?
And that's in Isaiah 54 and 13, He said, And they shall all be
taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has
heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
That doesn't sound like God hand picked an individual to go to
heaven and somebody else that he didn't pick.
You know what that tells me? He picks anybody that is taught
and decides to come to Jesus, gets to go to heaven.
How is it? He purposes the sun, He set the
sun. Who is the bread?
We are taught by God through means of the gospel, through
means of the Word of God. So in summary of this point, the
Son receives the people, He keeps the people, and He raises
the people from the dead to fulfill the Father's plan.
OK, so the bread is divinely preexistent and also fulfills
divine purpose. But thirdly, it has divine
promise. And This is why we want the
bread. What does the bread do for us?
And I really think all of us. It's kind of like in sales, you
know, there's always a price. And I get it.
When it comes to Christianity, Jesus says there's a cost.
You got to count the cost. There's always a price, always
when it comes to selling, you got to know the value.
What am I going to get for it? And then you're willing to spend
it to have it. The promise here, I want to talk
about that for us. What do we get?
Verse 33 for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world. You know, there's two Greek
words for life. One of them is the Greek word
BIOS, which is biological life. And that's not what we're
talking about. We're talking about this, the
bread of God, which is Jesus Christ came down from heaven to
give spiritual life. That's the Greek word Zoe.
That's what you get. Spiritual life may notice also
some phrases that are used to describe this in verse 51.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give
for the life of the world. Notice some phrases contain
connected to Jesus living, live and life.
That's what we get. Those are things that we get now
verses 53 and 54. Then Jesus said to them, most
assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of
man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I
will raise him up the last day. OK, as I said, as I said, please
don't draw a conclusion as to what it means to eat the flesh
and drink the blood. And maybe you're thinking, well,
has that made to do with community?
Tap the brakes. No it doesn't.
Stay with me. OK, going to get to that in a
minute. My question is how do we get
eternal life into mortal bodies? The only way that we get eternal
life into a mortal body is by coming in union with Jesus
Christ. Let's go to the Bible, Galatians
chapter 2 and verse 20. Notice I have been crucified
with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me. So if I want to have eternal
life, spiritual life, and I'm still living in my fleshly body,
I've got to figure out how I come in union with Jesus.
Because when I come in union with Jesus, he's the bread of
life. He's the one that gives life.
I have to have Him living in me. I've got to have him living in
me. But Jesus is not in US.
Please get this. If you get nothing else, please
get this. Jesus is not in US unless we are
in Him. In Galatians 327 For as many of
you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
One passage says Christ is in us.
Here we're baptized into Christ. One translation says in terms of
putting on Christ, it actually says have clothed themselves
with Christ. In other words, we are in Christ
and Christ is in US. OK, years and years and years
ago, I gave you this little example.
I don't even know what sermon it was that I used to use this in,
but it's an old example of a preacher who had a little boy.
And I think this really fits what I'm trying to say.
And the little boy is walking along with his father on a
Monday along the shore. And the little boy says to his
dad. He says, Dad, I've always heard
you say that Christ has to be in US, but yesterday in your sermon
I heard you say that we have to be in Christ.
He said, how can that be? How can I be in Christ and
Christ be in me at the same time?
How is that possible? The preacher was very impressed
by his very good question from his little boy.
And all of a sudden they're walking along and they see an
empty bottle on the shore. And he picks up that empty
bottle and he said, son, look over here, see this empty bottle
that represents us? He said, watch this.
He walks over to the water. He takes the bottle.
He submerges it completely in the water all the way under and
he pulls it back up and he said, look, there's water in the
bottle that represents Jesus. He said the water is in the
bottle because the bottle got in the water.
And that's exactly what happens when you're baptized for the
remission of your sins. When you're baptized for the
remission of your sins, you get in the water and Jesus Christ
gets in you. That's how both can happen at
the same time and start your relationship with God.
All right, but there's more. And I said after we were going
to preach about 35 minutes, we're almost done.
OK, let's talk about the human appropriation on our part.
Now, what's our responsibility? Because that's really what
really matters in our application in our life.
We've set the groundwork and we have to do that.
But now what is the human appropriation?
First of all, let me just say this.
You can't have it on your own terms and you can't do it your
own way. You got to do it God's way.
What's our responsibility? Is our responsibility to just
kind of sit around and hope it happens?
Does that make any sense at all? Notice in verse 35.
And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me shall never hunger, and who who believes in
me shall never thirst. First of all, the word come.
Jesus said that very thing. Remember Jesus gave a parable
and he said all the invitations went out, but people were just
too busy. One after another after another.
And it was a shot at the children of Israel.
It was. What did Jesus say in that
parable? He said it's the marriage of the
King's son. And he says, you go out and you
invite whoever will, whoever will come.
So the first thing a person has to do is come to Jesus in order
to have Jesus. That's the first requirement.
But then there's a second requirement in verse 40.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees
the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up in the last day.
All right, What does the word see mean?
The word see comes from a Greek verb meaning scrutinize, study
and gaze on. In other words, it's not just a
passing glance. Why do I make that point?
I make the point folks, because I do believe and kind of sadly,
we live in a very non committed society.
First of all, I'm going to tell you when people say today we
live in a godless society, that is not true.
I don't believe that at all. I believe there's a lot of
people in the world in the United States of America, let's
get specific that are seeking and searching for God.
Somebody might say what about all the sin?
Well, there's always been sin. How about how about Genesis 6?
The thoughts of man's heart were ever evil continually and God
destroyed the whole world with the flood and ain't that bad
yet. I'm sorry for the word ain't.
This is how a dog. It's not that bad.
Yet we don't live in a godless society.
We live in a non committed society and people want God on
their own terms and in their own little dose.
In other words, I don't want to change anything.
Here's a frank ISM as Diana Camarillo says.
She calls it a frank ISM. Just want to add a little Jesus
to it. That's the Frankism, I guess,
and that's what a lot of people want to do.
Jesus says you got to come to me.
And then he says you got to see that scrutinize, study and gaze
on. That's commitment.
You got to decide, wait a minute, what's this going to do
to change my life? That's why Jesus said when he
talks about counting the cost, he said a man builds a tower out
in a vineyard and he decides I don't have enough to finish it.
He goes about, you know, people are going to say, oh, he didn't
have enough to finish it. So what's a man got to do?
You got to sit down and count the cost.
There is a cost. It's part of scrutinizing,
studying and gazing on and decide, will I be committed to
Jesus in order to have it? Two things.
If I want Jesus, I want eternal life.
I got to come to him and I have to see him by way of what the
word of God says. How is Jesus going to change my
life? There's another very critical
word that's very much misunderstood and is found in
verse 35. And Jesus said to them, I am the
bread of life. He who comes to me shall never
hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
First of all, going back to the metaphor of bread, we want to
ask ourselves the question though, what is believing mean?
What does it mean to believe? We go to verse 50, and by the
way, beginning in verse 50 is really the invitation to this
masterful sermon. The Lord preaches.
He says this. This is the bread which comes
down from heaven, that one may eat of it and never die.
So let me ask you a question. What is believing in context
here? Believing.
Is eating OK? It's going to make sense in a
minute, I promise. Then eating then, is taking in,
receiving and appropriating for your own use in your life.
Everybody has to make that choice.
Then in verse 51, I am the living bread which came down
from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he
will live forever. Notice that's a pretty great
statement, right? If you eat this bread, you will
live forever. OK.
And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I give for
the life of the world. A very powerful metaphor.
In other words, Jesus is saying you have to take me in.
So it's not enough to come and listen.
It's not enough to admire, to get some information.
You got to receive it. You got to take it in and you
got to eat it. But there's more beginning in
verse 53. Then Jesus makes this statement
that so much misunderstood. Jesus said this most assuredly.
I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I
will raise him up the last day. For my flesh is food and deed,
and my blood is drink. Indeed, he who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood abides in him and bites in me, and I in him.
You know, this must have been very shocking for this Jewish
audience. You know why?
In the synagogue that day when they would have heard Jesus
preaching, I'm surprised that it didn't cause a riot.
You know why? Because Leviticus 17,
Deuteronomy 12, and Deuteronomy 15, it forbade drinking blood.
And here comes Jesus. He says whoever eats my flesh
and drinks my blood has eternal life.
The question is this or the point is this.
Jesus is not talking about drinking literal blood, and he's
not talking about the communion, and he's not talking about the
Lord's Supper. The word blood is a fancy word
here, a metonomy. What's that mean?
A metonomy is when one word is used to describe something else.
When Jesus says blood, the word blood is a metonomy for my
sacrificial death. That was his point.
So blood is not used literally to drink.
Blood here is used as a metonymy or a word used for another word
to describe his sacrificial death.
Why is that important? The Jews didn't believe, oh,
they believed that Messiah was coming, misunderstood the
Messianic Kingdom. They did believe in Messiah was
coming. You know what they didn't
believe in? That the Messiah could actually
die or be sacrificed. And they didn't understand that.
And that's exactly what Jesus was preaching.
He says you got to accept exactly what's going to happen
to the Messiah to me. So we've got bread here and
we've got blood. What does it represent?
Jesus as bread nourishes us spiritually.
As blood he cleanses us OK spiritually, how does he do it?
Acts 2216 and now why are you waiting?
Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the
name of the Lord. We contact the blood of Jesus
when we're baptized for the remission of our sins and we are
cleansed by His blood. We are nourished at in the fact
that He is the bread of life. We are cleansed in that He has
shed His blood for the sins of the world.
The human appropriation is my obedience to the gospel.
To be baptized for the remission of sins, to have my sins washed
away. All my sins from before are
gone. But what about moving forward
first, John 1:00 and 9:00. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness again, After you contact the blood of Jesus
at baptism, in the future, when you ask God to forgive you and
you confess that sin to God, the blood of Christ washes that sin
away too. It's a beautiful thing to be a
Christian. That's by confession and prayer.
So in other words, eating the flesh and drinking the blood is
this. Here it is.
You have to be willing to eat His flesh in the sense that you
take Him as the one who nourishes the soul.
That's done so by obedience. And you have to be willing to
drink his blood in the sense that you accept his sacrificial
death on the cross and all that comes with that.
How do you do that? Romans 6, beginning in verse 3,
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death, therefore we are
buried with Him through baptism into death.
That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, Even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Now let me just say this about hunger for just a moment.
Eating is our response to hunger.
We get that it's an aching of the heart from a spiritual
perspective, though, for spiritual hunger of one who
knows he's empty. To take in the bread of life is
personal and transformational, but not everybody's willing to
do that. And you know what?
Nothing is new. Look at verse 60.
Therefore, many of the disciples when they heard this, said, this
is a hard saying. Who can understand it?
Verse 61 when Jesus knew in himself and his disciples
complained about this, He said to them, does this offend you?
Then in verse 66, from that time many of his disciples went back
and walked with him. No more.
Sometimes people see the cost and the price and they say
that's just too much in my service to God and they walk
away. Remember last Sunday afternoon I
talked about when people drift, they drift from the Lord.
Please get this. This is another perfect example.
That's exactly what happens. They walked away from Jesus.
Finally, 67 and 68. Then Jesus said to the 12, do
you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Where are we going to go?
Jesus has the words of eternal life.
There is no choice when it comes to that.
Maybe the Lord is asking you today, but your life, maybe
you're not a Christian. Maybe you have never taken
advantage of what we're talking about this morning.
The invitation to become a Christian, though, is very
simple. You got to hear the Word of God.
Romans 10/17. So faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. After hearing the word of God,
we have to believe with all our heart.
Hebrews 11 and 6. Without faith it's impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and
that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Then what? We got to change some things,
got to repent of our sins. Acts 17 and 30.
Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands
all men everywhere to repent. Then we must be willing to make
the greatest statement we will ever make, and that is to
confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Acts 837 That Philip said, If you believe with all your heart,
you may. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and then must be
baptized for the remission of our sins.
Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Is it necessary for salvation first?
Peter 321 the like figure where the even baptism does also now
save us, not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Maybe you've never taken those
steps of obedience to become a Christian.
If you've never taken those steps, we would love to assist
you in that and become a child of God today.
Be baptized for the remission of your sins and rise to walk in
newness of life. Contact the blood of Jesus that
we talked about in this lesson. Maybe you have though.
Maybe there are some things in your life that are not what they
should be. Then just repent of that.
Confess that. We'll pray with you and for you,
and God will forgive and restore.
If you want to be the class, come forward while we stand
while we see.