It's good to see you this morning.
Let's take our Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel according
to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. I'd like to continue in our study
in this blessed book as we go verse by verse This morning I'd
like to deal with verses 48 to 51. I've entitled this message,
Eating the Bread of Life. Let's read these verses and then
we'll ask our Lord's blessing. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread. coming down from heaven that
a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which
came 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. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so thankful
that we can be here today. And Lord, I realize that it is
by your great mercy that we're able to sit under the gospel
and hear and be fed. Lord, I pray that Christ might
be honored. Lord Jesus, thank you that you
have redeemed your people. Teach us today, Holy Spirit, Christ's sake. Amen. There's something that is truly
blessed to remember. Verse 45 that we looked at last
time, I was looking at this this morning just going over and considering. The Lord said in verse 45, it's
written in the prophets. shall be all taught of God. Every
man, therefore, that has heard and has learned of the Father
cometh unto me." This is not something that just
came on the scene. The Lord said, this has been
recorded. The Scriptures has set forth
this truth. They, that is all that the Father
has everlastingly loved. All that the Son surely redeemed. All that the Spirit of God will
call out of darkness. All from God's elect. They shall
all be taught of God. Now you know, will you stop for
a minute and think about that. How many of God's elect are going
to leave this world untaught? None. None. I think to myself as I look out,
I think here's the miracle of God's grace. Look at this crowd
of folks that's here this morning. By the grace of God, The Lord
has raised up a people. God Almighty has promised in
His Word they're all going to be taught of God. And I think
to myself, Lord teach me. Lord help me. Lord open our eyes
today. Lord teach your people. Save your people. This is a message
This is a message that I know has got a certain end. They're all going to be taught
of God. Every man therefore that has
heard and has learned of the Father cometh unto me. I know this whenever one comes
to Christ. I'm talking about when I say
this I mean Coming to Christ means to the exclusion of everything
that a man can do of himself. I'm not talking about coming
to the church. I'm not talking about coming
to the Lord's table. We've created the Lord's table. And I thought to myself, what
a blessed privilege But there's no salvation in that little piece
of bread, that glass of wine. We remember, we're taught, no
salvation in baptism. There's salvation in a profession
of faith. Salvation is in Christ. We profess
Him in whom we believe. Christ is our hope. Christ is our salvation. Coming
to Him means to the exclusion of everything. Everyone's learned.
Heard, learned, comes to Christ. Now, this morning, coming to
the Lord. What is set forth by our Lord,
not only in these verses that we look at this morning, but
we have considered and will consider. I read a little bit ahead. And
I am amazed, thankfully amazed, at what He continues to talk
about concerning Himself as the bread. What the Lord says about
Himself. And I think to myself, Lord,
help me today. Help me again. Lord, help me
to understand. Teach me of Yourself to my heart. The establishment of a sinner's
hope is absolutely stated in that first verse we read this
morning. I am that bread of life. I am the sustenance. I am the
food. There's nothing else. No other
hope. I am that bread. The bread that
is absolutely necessary. It's the food that's at home.
I got up this morning and ate breakfast. Why? Well, I was hungry. I was hungry. I needed something
to eat. I don't want to leave the house
and be hungry. But I think to myself, the soul
that He has created in me, that new man, that new life, regeneration
from above, it has to eat. How do I know it has to eat?
He told me it does. What does the new man eat? He
eats of the bread of heaven. I am, I am that bread of life, whenever
Moses was He's going to be sent into Egypt, the Lord told him.
He said, you go tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Who shall I
say sent me? He said, you tell them that I
am that I am. You tell them the self-existent
one. Almighty God, the holy God of heaven. And here our Lord
uses those very words, I am. That's right there. Or to just
stop and say, Lord, teach me that again. Lord, I can hear those words
and I'm so prone to them. How quickly do we forget hearing
like we just read it. I am the bread of life, my friend.
Lord, if you don't teach me that, I'll not be calm. I am the bread
of God, verse 33. which cometh down from heaven."
It's not talking about a type that was found in the wilderness. It's not talking about the shadow
that was eaten of those who perished. He said, your fathers did eat
man in the wilderness, they're dead. That was a picture, that
was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And most in the desert
saw nothing. The one that that tithe revealed. They died. They perished. You say, how sad. How many here
today? How many will hear today and
leave this world? I know this. Unless the Lord
gives a heart, unless they hear, unless they're called to God,
they'll not come to Christ. They'll continue to come to religion.
They'll still come to it. But coming to Christ alone. Almighty God who said forth,
I am the bread. A bread of life. A man that eats
of Him shall never hunger. Every believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ hungers for nothing else but Him. You couldn't drive to
go back to that false profession. You couldn't convince them no. Why? They're taught of God. Taught
from above. This, verse 50, is the bread
which cometh down from heaven. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness. They're dead. They saw the type. They didn't see Christ. They
placed all their faith. in everything but him, and they
died. This, verse 50, is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat their love
and not die. We eat bread, food. That's what he was talking about,
the bread, the food. We eat bread produced by our
own hands. It sustained our temporal life
for a while. But even as I read this, It just
appears good even gesturing to himself when he said, pointing
to himself, this is the bread that cometh down from heaven.
A man may eat thereof and not die eternally. I am, verse 51,
the living bread which came 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
is the bread that came down willingly, that came down according to purpose
at the servant of Jehovah, eternally. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, eternally. the surety, eternally a representative,
eternally the priest, always. He who came down from heaven, any man that eats of this bread,
eats of this food, is going to live forever. I know that statement right there
according to our Lord right here if any man eat of this bread
he shall live forever I want to live forever with him I want to be where he is I want to be like him I want
to see Him by sight. Right now, I see Him by faith.
I want to be in that place that He's prepared for me. I want to be seated with Him
in the heavenly. I see through a glass doctor
right now. And I know that even while I'm preaching, even while I'm preaching, There
is a side of me that still wars against what I'm hearing right
here. Wars against my flesh. And ask me, that old man, that
flesh that will never be anything other than flesh, and it said,
you really believe that? Do you really believe that? And my new man said, yes I do.
Yes, I do believe that. I know it. How do you know? Because his spirit bears witness
with my spirit. That I'm his. Paul says, I know
whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which he has committed unto me. Yes, that day. In that
day, When I shall stand before God, all my hope by the grace of God
will be this. He's my life. He's my hope. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. Lord could it be that you've
come down from heaven this sinner on your heart, living
before God's holy law, answering every charge against me. Lord, could it be that you show
mercy to me? This is all my hope, that I would
have desire to eat of him, and the bread that I will give I know this. I didn't earn it.
I know that. I didn't earn it and I can't
keep it. Thanks be unto him that he didn't
entrust it to me to keep that which he's done for me. Our salvation according to the
grace of God is reserved in heaven. Kept by the power of God. Through faith. Not that faith
is my salvation. Faith believes God. Faith tells me. By faith I know I'm kept by God. Kept by the power of God. Through
faith. Ready to be revealed in the last
days. I know this. If Almighty God were to mark
iniquity. I've never sinned. I couldn't
sin. I was already fallen. He had
called me out of darkness and entrusted my salvation. Now you
walk, you walk to me. But if you sin one time, I've
already lost it. Today he called me out of darkness. I lost it. The bread that I will
give is my flesh. He gave himself willingly into
the hands of wicked men to crucify according to God's eternal purpose
of redemption. The bread is himself as the atonement. The bread that I give is my flesh. This is what we eat. Talking
about faith in the Lord's supper. That piece of bread represents
just exactly what he's talking about right here. The bread that
our Lord gave us as the example, as that ordinance, What a blessing to be able to eat. We're eating this morning. We're eating
of Him spiritually. Tasting of Him. The bread that
I give is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world. According to his word, that it
is not for every person without distinction. I know that. How
do you know? Well, John 10, 15. I'll just
read it to you here. John 10, 15. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
Is everybody a sheep? No. How do you know? Because
God says so. If that's just my opinion, you
know, everybody's got one. But he said, when a group of
Jews asked him, why don't you talk to us plainly? Why don't
you tell us plainly what you're saying? Why don't you quit beating
around the bush? That's what they said to him.
He said in John 10, verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you,
And ye believe not. The works that I do and my Father's
name, they bear witness to me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
them to them eternal life. They'll never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Based on the authority
of God's Word, You let every man be a liar, and you let God
be true. Almighty God has said, I have
sheep. And what I'm doing this morning,
in obedience to His command, He said, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. My heart is drawn often to praise
this assembly. And thankfully, I can pray according
to His Word in Ezekiel 36, where the Lord promised, He said, I'll
increase your borders. And I'll ask, Lord, would you
increase the borders of Katy Baptist Church according to Your
will, according to Your will? It would just thrill me If somebody came up to me and
said, you know what? The Lord has revealed to me what
you've been saying. I believe God's revealed himself
to me. I believe the Lord saved me. I've been sitting here for
years and I didn't know it. You know what I'd say? I rejoice
with you. Thanks be unto God you didn't
leave this world. But I know this, if Almighty
God is going to save a people, He's going to do it one way.
He's going to do it under the preaching of the truth. We're
setting forth God's Son, God's message, God's truth. How necessary it is that we set
forth. I can stand here and I know I
know if I've heard other men say I didn't come up with this
next statement I'm about to make. I'll be the first to tell you
that I absolutely am one who will admit that he does not
preach the gospel I'm sure because of the frailty of my flesh as others can. But I know this
according to this Word. I preach the only message that
God's going to bless to the salvation of His elect. Christ is the bread. Any man
that hears, learns of the Father comes to Him. Eats of Him. Knows of Him, He is the life,
He is our substitute. Here's my question in closing. Do you desire to feast by faith? Would I say it's impossible to
please God. Do you have desire to feast only
upon Him? To the exclusion of anything
else I'm talking about don't look back. Don't look back. Now you look back, well I know
when I was 9, when I was 15, 27. If you're looking back to
something that you did, salvation is right now. Today is the day
of salvation. Everything that you look back
to, that you've done, that you've done, you will find a false hope
in anything. You say, well, yeah, but I believe
the Lord, in fact, believe it. How thankful I am for that. Are
you believing right now? It's the bread of life, the living
bread, His broken body, His shed blood, by grace, And I'm glad
to give you that Almighty God looks to Christ alone for satisfaction. Christ alone for satisfaction.
Not to you, but to Him. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. Has the Spirit of God given you
a heart to say, He's all my hope. And being found in Him, He's
my life. He's my breath. Is faith in him
alone your only hope? All my hope is that when he dies
after this center right here, truly eating of the bread, set
forth, that all former works of self-righteousness are considered
done. If I stand before God Uncondemned,
I shall stand before Him uncondemned, totally by grace. Eating of this bread means I
trust Him alone. May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts. May Almighty God teach us of
Himself, for Christ's sake.