John chapter 6. This will be
the second message in the Christ is series. And tonight we'll
be looking at Christ is the bread of life. Christ is the bread
of life. John chapter 6, we'll be looking at verses Reading verses 6 or
44 to 58. 44 to 58. Our main text will be 47 to 51. 44, no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. and I'll raise them
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the
Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. Now note that word, Isn't that
wonderful? Hath everlasting life. I am that
bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. Now he's talking to the Jews
here and he's bringing back some history of what happened when
they wandered in the wilderness and manna came from heaven. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die." So
the Israelites, they ate the manna in the wilderness, but
they still died, right? Now Christ is saying right here,
He's contrasting Himself to that manna, and how He is the bread
of life. He's told us in verse 48, I am
that bread of life. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven, Christ, that a man may eat thereof and not
die. I am the living bread, verse 51. which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. Notice he shall. It's not a question. And the bread that I give is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now a
little comment on the world there. The Jews believed in the Roman
Empire believed that they were the world. Everyone else was
just heathens. So that's the context of that.
Gil brings that out really good in his commentary on John 3,
16, that the world, when they say world there, it doesn't mean
everyone in the world. Oh, but we know that Christ did
give his life for all his people, all his people, Jew and Gentile,
right? Everyone, all his elect of all the ages. The Jews therefore
strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. And we know the Lord's
not talking about cannibalism here. This is spiritual He's
talking about. He's talking about spiritual
things here. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the
Father, so that he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which come
down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead. He that eateth of this bread
shall. There's another one of them words.
Shall. This is the master saying this.
This is God incarnate in the flesh. Shall live forever. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the believer's food and drink. And we feast upon him in the
gospel. When we sing praises to him,
we are fed, we are fed through this word. This is sheep food. And it's all about Christ. It's
all about him. So we feast on the, when we eat, When it says, he that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood, we feast upon him in the gospel,
don't we? We feast in the green pastures
of his word. And we're fed. And being fed,
we're nourished. Gives us strength. Gives us joy. So we feast. upon Christ, and
are fed through the preaching of the Word, and by the reading
of the Word, and by the studying of the Word. Now in ancient Egypt,
this is something that I always marvel at. Now the Lord, this
is the Lord of Glory, the Ancient of Days, right? God incarnated
in the flesh, and He uses everyday metaphors even that we can understand
now, but even more for them during the Israelite times, even more
for them, bread was an absolute staple in their diet. It was
an absolute staple. In ancient Israel, the food eaten
by the ancient Israelites during a period of over a thousand years
from the beginning of the Israelite presence in the land of Israel
at the beginning of the Iron Age until the Roman period, The
dietary staples were, number one, bread. Wine and olive oil. It also included
grains and fruits and vegetables, dairy products, fish and meat.
But when he's telling them that he's the bread of life, bread
is a staple for them. The Roman legions, I remember
reading a book on the Roman legions and they would riot when they
couldn't get their bread. One time one of the leaders was
giving them some meat instead of bread and they rioted. It meant so much to them. It
was an absolute staple. They'd rather have that than
meat. Now religious beliefs prohibited the consumption of certain foods.
So this shaped the Israelite diet, didn't it? And bread, as I said, was a main
component of that diet. So when our master proclaims,
let's look again at 47 to 51 here. When our master proclaims
that he was the bread of life, he was using a metaphor, a word
picture, which was understood by them and easily understood
by us too. John 6, 47-51, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
I am that bread of life. Verse 49, Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not
die. I am the living bread which come down from heaven. If any
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that
I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world." Now, they may not have understood the spiritual aspect,
and they didn't, did they? Because we see that in the text.
That must be revealed, that Christ is the bread of life. But they
knew when He said, I'm the bread of life, they knew how important
bread was. They knew that. They knew that.
And our Lord makes it quite clear from Scriptures that He is the
bread of life. We know from verses 41 and 42. Look at 41 and 42. The Jews then
murmured at Him because He said, I am the bread which cometh down
from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph? whose father and mother we know,
how is it then that he saith that I come down from heaven?
They didn't have a clue what he was talking about spiritually.
They had no idea. No idea. No idea what he was saying. So
the natural man in his unregenerate state does not know Christ. He
must reveal himself to us. He must. And we see it right
there in that text. Right there. They didn't understand. They heard him say that he was
the bread of life and that they must eat him, but they were offended
thinking carnally and not spiritually. And look at further down in our
text here. Many who followed him were offended
at his words. Look at John 6 in verse 60 to
66. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this
offend you? What, and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up
where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh prophet of nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Now, remember earlier today
in John four, we saw him say to the Samaritan women that that
those his people would worship him in spirit and truth. But there are some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning. Look at that.
Look at that, beloved. Oh, my. For Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray
him. And he said, therefore, I said,
said I unto you that no man can come unto me except that we're
given him of the father of my father now. And then it says
from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. That's the same as when we proclaim that you can't
come to Christ by your own doings and people just walk away. Nothing's changed. No. Salvation's a miracle of
God's grace. Miracle of His grace. He regenerates
us and draws us to Christ. The Holy Spirit does, and we
flee to Christ. And He manifests Himself to us,
doesn't He? Through the Scriptures. And then He keeps manifesting
Himself to us. And we grow in the grace and
knowledge and truth of our wonderful Savior. So our Lord Jesus used
simple metaphors all through the scriptures. All through the
scriptures. Just like the one set before
us, as him as the bread of life. He also said that he was the
door. How many times do people go through doors every day? In order to get out to the vestibule
and outside, we have to go through two sets of doors, beloved. Christ
said, I'm the door. In order for me to go out the
front here, there's no other way for me to go except out front,
is there? Now I can go out the back, but if I wanna go to the
front and stand on the porch, I got to go through these two
doors and go out and stand out there. Christ said, I'm the way
to the Father, I'm the door. There's no other door. Simple
metaphors. They said, I'm the vine and the
branches. They knew what that meant in ancient Israel. They knew what that meant. And Paul pens that he's the head
and we're the body. We can understand that, can't
we? The head has the preeminence and the body does whatever the
head tells it to do. See, simple metaphors. And then
we just marvel at that. This is Jehovah, the self-existent
one, bringing things down to such a level. But unless the
Holy Spirit shows us, we'll never see it. We'd be just like those
who left. My. And he says, we saw tonight
and Brother Jim's read, he's Paul says other foundation can
no man lay. We saw last week in our study
last week in the Christ is series that that that he's the foundation. He's the foundation can't lay
any other foundation other than Christ, and then the buildings
built upon that foundation. Everyday metaphors. They knew
what that meant. They laid foundations down then. Precious truth. Precious truth. Simple metaphors. Precious truth.
But it must be revealed to us. It must be revealed to us by
the Holy Spirit of God. And when we're born again, we're
given an understanding of who Christ is, who Christ is, what
he's done, and where he is. That's a gift. That's a gift
from God. If that's being revealed to you,
rejoice. Because it's not revealed to everyone. And then, Vicki
and I were talking about today, you just stand in awe. Me? This is being revealed to me?
I don't deserve this. I don't deserve redemption. I
don't deserve to be redeemed. But it's all according to the
good pleasure of his will. What, what, what mercy. And then, we live a life of constantly
looking to Him. Constantly resting in Him. Constantly
reposing in Him. I saw Brother Calvin in that,
in that, in that casket. And I said to Roy, I said, He's
reposing. He's at repose. That's what they
say when folks are, have died. They say they're at repose. He's
resting. Now that's just the shell of
Brother Calvin. But that's what it means to cease from your labors
and to repose in Christ and him alone for salvation. You don't
do anything. You rest. Rest and you trust
in him for your salvation. That's why we gospel preachers
say rest and repose in Christ. Just just rest and repose in
him. Now, bread. is some kind of either
corn, rye, or wheat, or barley that's been thrashed and ground.
It's been thrashed and ground. It's been kneaded and baked,
and then it's food for us. It's been thrashed and ground,
kneaded and baked, and then it's food for us. And we eat it, and
we're nourished by it. We're nourished by it. So Christ
is for the believer, our spiritual bread. He's our spiritual bread,
beloved. Let us remember, turn if you
would to Luke chapter 24. Let us remember that our Lord
was thrashed and ground in His suffering and dying. He was thrashed
and ground in His suffering and dying and it was necessary in
order for His being made bread for us. He gives His flesh. Look at Luke 24, verses 45 to
47. He must die upon Calvary's cross. He must. Why? To redeem His people
from their sins. He must. He must. He must be
thrashed and ground. Oh, and think of the wrath of
God's justice poured out upon our mighty Savior. Look at Luke
24 verses 45 to 47. Then opened he their understanding.
That's what he must do for every believer in Christ. He opens
our understanding born again that they might understand the
scriptures. If he doesn't open up the scriptures, we won't understand
nothing. Look at this though. And said
unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ. This was necessary. Thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. It says it behooved Christ to
suffer. It was necessary. It was necessary in order to
satisfy God's justice. Otherwise, there would be no
redemption, no justification, no propitiation, and no satisfaction. It behooved Christ to do this. Because His whole reason for
coming here was to redeem His people from their sins. And this is why it is absolutely
vital, every time a man gets in this pulpit, or down preaching
Sunday school, or teaching Sunday school, to preach Christ, to
teach Christ, and Him alone. We must preach Christ crucified. It's absolutely vital. This was
the main subject of Paul's preaching. He preached Christ and Him crucified. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
2, verses 1-5. Look at what Paul writes here,
the Apostle. He doesn't use fancy language. He preaches Christ and Him alone. And he is a learned man. Look
what he says here in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1-5. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech." Now, he was learned. He could have spoken excellency
of speech. We know that. He sat under one
of the most famous teachers before he was saved, although he counted
that all but done. But still, he knew oratory. He had oratory skills. He could
speak. not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I am
determined not to know anything among you. Look at this. Save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words. He didn't use fancy words. of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and the power.
That your faith should not stand. Look at this. Now, this is the
preacher's right here. This is our hope. That your faith
should not stand in the wisdom of man. It's not based upon what
you do. Now, look at this. But in the
power Christ is the power of God and the salvation. He's the
only one I can point you to. The only one. I, like Paul, I
preach Christ and Him crucified. That's the one charge for the
preacher. Preach Christ and Him crucified.
Somebody told Brother Henry one time, they said, all you do is
preach Christ. He said, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Never preach Christ too much.
Turn, if you would, over to John chapter 12. Our Lord proclaimed
that He must suffer to give us life. He said He's the bread
of life, right? He must suffer. He must... Just like that bread need to
be thrashed and ground, He must suffer. He must suffer in our
place. Look at this. This is... This is a wonderful little portion,
two verses, John 12, verses 23 to 24. Look at this. He proclaimed that he must suffer
to give us life. And Jesus answered them saying,
the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified. Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a corner of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. He's talking about his suffering.
He's talking about what he must do. Here he compares himself
to a single corn of wheat, the choicest. One commentator
said, for the choiceness and excellency of it above all other
grain. And think of that in light of
him being the cheapest of 10,000. He also compares himself To the
corn of wheat, Gilcommon says, John Gil says this, for the purity
and cleanliness of of it being even in his human nature, pure
and free from sin. And for its fruitfulness, he
being fruitful in himself, in himself. And the cause of all
fruitness in his people. And for its usefulness for food,
he being the bread of life and the finest of wheat." End quote. Finest of wheat. So, we know that wheat must be
thrashed and ground and sifted and kneaded and baked before
it is fit for food. All this expresses the sufferings
and death of Christ in order for Him to be proper food for
His people. And also note that here our Lord
compares Himself to a single corn of wheat. Notice that. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat. A single corn. Because He was of little account
among men. Little or nothing was expected
of Him. He was turned away by the who's who of religion, right? And here He's comparing Himself
to a single corn of wheat. which has reference to the fact
that he bore the wrath and justice of God alone for his people. Alone. He must die in order for us to
live. And let us take note that this
corn of wheat falls to the ground, which signifies the death of
Christ And let us take note of this. He willingly went to that
cross. He willingly went to the cross.
He willingly went to his death. It was not on accident. It wasn't
plan B. He willingly went to the cross
and the Father willingly sent him from eternity. God himself becomes a man, willingly,
to die to redeem his people from all their sins. In John 6, 51,
keep this in mind with this, the son willingly dies for his
people. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. He shall live forever. And the
bread that I give is my flesh. That is, which I give for the
life of the world. He is sent willingly by the Father. John 6, 57, it says this, look
at John 6, 57, as the living Father has sent me, he was sent
by the Father. He came willingly, but he was
sent by the Father. And I live by the Father, so
he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. Christ's death was designed and
determined in the councils of eternity, beloved. In the councils
of eternity. In the purposes of God. And it
was all to give God and bring God glory. Glory. It was for God's glory alone
that the Lord Jesus Christ left. He says he's the one who come
down from heaven. He left the glories and splendors
of heaven for the glory of God to save his people, to redeem
his people, to purchase his people from all their sins, to pay the
price that not one of us could pay. God demanded that to be
paid. We're ruined by the fall, aren't
we? Dead in trespasses and sins. No hope. Christ comes down from heaven to die upon the cross for His
people, to purchase us, to redeem us. Marvel, beloved of God, Christ
speaking here of His death when He says, I'm the living bread
which comes down from heaven. Any man eat of this bread, he
shall live forever. And that bread that I give is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Now think
of this, beloved. Think of this. Christ speaking here of His death.
You're one of His. And He's speaking this for all
His sheep saved and lost. It was for you. It was for me. It was for all who believe upon
Him. May we leave this place in awe
of His mercy towards us. Everything that has life must
have food. Everything that has life must
have food. We cannot live without food.
And we see in our text that Christ is the bread of life. Food. He's
the believer's food. He's our substance. Substance. And without Him, take Him away.
What happens? We perish. We perish. Colossians 3, verses 3 and 4
says this. And think of this in light of
take the food away and you take the life away. Take Christ away
from the believer and we have no life. Colossians 3 verses
3 and 4 says this, for ye are dead and your life is hid with
Christ in God. Verse 4, when Christ who is our
life, He's our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory. Take away Christ, and we have
no life at all. No one will ever do that. Because we are in Christ, kept
in Him, by Him, by Jehovah, the self-existent One, the Eternal
One, is the One who keeps my soul. That's why we say, trust
in Him, trust in Christ, flee to Christ. He's the only hope
for any sinner. Any sinner. Your sin be blocked. flee to Christ. He saved this
sinner. He saved other sinners. And He
will not turn away anyone who comes to Him. Oh my. So let us note some things
about Christ who is the bread of life for believers. Let us
note a few things. And we see so far in the text
that Christ willingly became the bread of life for his people.
So let us consider Christ, who is the bread of life, is given
bread. Given bread. Look at John 6,
32 to 35. He's given bread, beloved. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore, give us this bread. 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. Christ,
who is the bread of life, is given to His people by God the
Father. The Father gives His people Christ
freely, according to His own will, according to His own purpose,
without our asking. Oh, my. Or without our seeking
Him. Now, when we're made willing,
we seek Him, and we cry out to Him, don't we? But before that,
Any of us who are saved here, I ask you, and I know it's true
for me, I did not seek God before He called me. Is it so for you? Oh, when He made me willing.
Oh, I ran to Christ. So the Father gives His people
Christ freely and according to His own purpose. All according
to God's will. It's His choice. And Christ is
God's unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9.15 says this,
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. And that's Christ. That's
Christ. So may we marvel, we who believe,
marvel in the grace of God shown to His people in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Now Christ delighted to do the
Father's will. And it was the Father's will
that Christ would be the bread of life. for His people, and may we marvel,
and may we say, what wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my
soul, that the Lord Jesus Christ would
go to Calvary's cross and redeem my eternal soul, would pay for
all my sins by the shedding of His precious blood and by His
perfect atoning work. And that's what He did. That's
what He did. As I said today earlier this
morning, let us publish and proclaim his mighty works. That's why
Paul said I preach Christ and him crucified. There's no other
hope for us. No other hope for sinners. The
second point is Christ is the living bread which comes down
from heaven. Look at John six fifty one. I
am the living bread which come down from heaven, all the condescension
of our great God and king. Other bread is a dead thing,
but this bread Christ the bread of life is living bread Living bread Christ was alive And then he
died And he rose from the grave He's a living bread He's living
bread, and he's the living bread which came down from heaven Turn if you would to Revelation
chapter 1. He died upon the cross and He
arose and He lives forevermore right now, beloved. He lives
forevermore and because He lives, we will live also. We who believe
because he lives we will live also look at this revelation
chapter 1 verses 1 or 17 to 18 look at this and when I saw him
I Fell out his feet as dead And he laid his right hand upon me
saying fear not I am the first and the last I Am he that liveth And that was dead, and behold,
I am alive forevermore. Beloved, he's the living bread. And have the keys of hell and
of death. He's the living bread, beloved.
He's the living bread. And do you know that he lives
to make intercession for us? Hebrews says this. But this man,
Christ, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him He's able to say whoever comes to him To
the other One preacher said to the gutters whatever whatever
situation you come He's able to save the vilest sinner, and
I know because he saved me He is Wherefore he is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them He lives to make intercession
for his people And he is the living bread he's alive he came
down from heaven Third point is this bread is the bread of
life and it is Christ. Look at John 6 48 to 51 and This bread is the bread of life
and this bread is Christ. I am that bread of life. Verse
48. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. They died. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and
not die. I am the living bread which cometh
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. This
bread, Christ, is not only living bread, but it's a bread which
gives life. It's the bread which gives life.
Other bread maintains life. But he gives life. This bread
gives life. This bread gives life. It makes
those who were dead alive. This bread gives life. Christ alone is the living bread. Christ alone is the living bread.
And he that eats this bread by faith, who looks to Christ, which
is a gift of God, shall never That's the words of the master. Fourth point is this bread of
life is the true manna which come down from heaven. Manna
was the bread which God gave the Israelites from heaven fresh
every morning. It came down in a dew. It was
small, round, and white in the time of gathering It was the
morning, and this manna was a type of Christ, beloved. The true
manna, Christ who is the true manna, come down from heaven
for his people. One commentator mentions this.
As that came down from heaven, as the manna came down from heaven,
so did he. That in a dew, he is in the dew
of the gospel. As that it was little round and
white, so is he. Little in his humiliation. Round in his eternity, without
beginning of days or end of days. White in his spotless innocence. He was perfect. He was spotless. As for the time for gathering,
that was in the morning. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth. and it fed the Israelites well
in the wilderness. So the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ feeds our soul. Christ feeds our soul. Well,
we are in the wilderness of this world. Praise God for Christ, who is
the true man of heaven. Look at John 6, 655. Last point is Christ is the believers,
meat and drink. Look at this. John 6, 55. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. Beloved, he was not a shadow
of the meat. Christ is the substance. The
substance. The believer is meat and drink.
We feast upon him. Through the preaching of the
word, through studying the word, through hearing the word read,
Through fellowshipping with one another. When we talk about Christ, does
not your heart burn within you? Oh my. So every creature is sustained
with food that is suited to it. Every creature is sustained with
food that is suited to it. Christ is the believer's sustenance.
He alone is our spiritual meat and drink. He alone. He alone. As spiritual beings, right, we're
born again. We must have spiritual food. The scriptures. The gospel. Christ. Christ. Christ. Give me more of Christ. Here are two things that our
souls have need of. Two things that our souls have
need of. Righteousness and strength. Righteousness and strength. And
where are these to behead? Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter
45, verse 24. Isaiah 45, verse 24. Where are
these to behead? Nowhere but Christ. Nowhere but
Christ. Only in Christ. Look at Isaiah
45, 24. Surely shall one say in the Lord, Have I righteousness? I confess
before you that the Lord Jesus Christ is my righteousness. I do not depend on anything in
myself, but only in the righteousness of Christ and what he's done. Surely, shall one say in the
Lord, have I righteousness and strength? He is our strength,
isn't he? In our weakness, he is strong.
He's strong. Even to him shall men come. and all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed." Everything in Christ is sweet to a believing
soul. His promises, His pardons, how
the fact that all my sins are pardoned and forgiven, all of
them, all of them. His offices as prophet, priest,
and king, they bring me great joy. His ordinances, all our joy and all our comfort
is in Christ and Him alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. And His word is sweeter than
honey. His love is sweeter than wine. And His presence is sweeter
than anything. And beloved, God is satisfied
with Christ. He's satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. And in Christ, the believer finds
full satisfaction for our souls. He's meat and drink to us, beloved. He alone is what? All our righteousness. All our righteousness. He alone
is our strength. He alone is our redemption. He
alone is our sanctification. He's everything to us. Psalm 36, eight says this, they
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house.
Psalm 36, eight, they shall be abundantly satisfied. God's people
are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Christ
Christ in him alone. And thou shalt make them drink
of the river of thy pleasures. Oh my beloved. In Christ the
believer is abundantly satisfied. Abundantly satisfied. Oversatisfied. Satisfied and satisfied again. My. And it's all in Christ. It's all in Him. And the believer
feasts on Christ because he's the bread of life. He's our bread. We feast upon him when we study
his word. We feast upon him listening to
the preaching of the gospel of God's free grace. And we eat
daily upon him, don't we? Turn, if you would, to Matthew
5, 6. Matthew 5, 6. Look at this. Speaking of the
believer in Christ. Matthew 5, 6. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. The believer in Christ hungers
and thirsts after righteousness, the justifying righteousness
of Christ, which is imputed by God the Father and received by
faith. To hunger and thirst after righteousness
is to be taught of your need for Christ. Your need of this
righteousness which is only found in Christ in Him alone, the perfect
justifying righteousness of Christ, and then to feast upon it continuously. I'm clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And to hunger and thirst after
His Word, God's people are thankful that they have this thirst and
hunger, as none but Christ can satisfy this hunger and thirst.
And in Christ, the one perfect righteousness which satisfies
God is imputed to His people, and it is perfect, beloved, and
it's pure, and those clothed in it are complete in Him. of
pleading Him. And as Matthew 5, 6 proclaims,
filled, we're filled in our desire and our hope. If you do not know
Christ, if you do not hunger and thirst after righteousness,
oh, our prayer is that God, the Holy Spirit would create in you
a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. And all we know that all who
are born again by the Holy Spirit of God have this hunger and thirst. Have this hunger and thirst.
So let us close with this. The believer is clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. And there's not a stitch of it
that's our doing. It's all His perfect work, His
perfect obedience. And the believer is clothed in
the righteousness of Christ. And what does this bring? This
brings great joy to us because we know we're just saved sinners.
It brings us great peace. And as we feast upon Christ,
who is the bread of life, we receive strength. Well, we're
here upon this earth. What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ the Lord. Gracious Heavenly Father, oh,
we come before Thy throne just in awe of the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ condescended and came down from heaven willingly
to die upon the cross for His people and that You sent Him and that
your love was set upon us from eternity. It leaves the soul
in awe to ponder, to consider, to meditate upon these great
and precious truths. And oh, Lord, while we're here
upon this earth, may we who are believers just feast upon thee,
Lord Jesus, in your word and in the preaching of your gospel,
and we'll give you all the glory and honor and praise in Jesus'
name.