In John chapter 6, in the first
part of this chapter, Jesus fed 5,000. He gave them bread. And there was so much left over
that there was an abundance. This was not by accident. Everything
that was said that we know about that, that Christ gave them bread,
that they came to him and he gave them that bread, and that
they had an abundance. And it was a place where the
men sat down on grass, and all the context there was a setup.
As I began this entire chapter, it was a setup. It was the object
lesson that is given, the text, if you will, of the scripture
that's given for Christ to expound the message of that scripture.
And that message, of course, is that we, as those 5,000 men
plus women and children, are those who come to Christ. And
the reason we are to come to Christ is for the bread that
He gives. And there were those who came
to Him at that time, they got the bread, and then they followed
Him after He went across the sea to the other side, they followed
Him to that side also. And that's where it begins in
verse 26 that Jesus said, that you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
So he makes an assessment. He makes a distinction between
the reason they came to him at this time across the sea wasn't
because they believed him, but because they ate the bread that
he made. And of course, that was wrong because there's no
point in just coming to Christ to eat bread, physical bread,
even though they did and they were benefited for that one meal. And there's no reason to chase
him around the earth in order for him to do that for us again.
Because the point in that miracle was not to get fed in our bodies,
it was to be fed in our soul and in our bodies for everlasting
life. So that sets it up. There were
those who didn't believe on Christ, they followed him to eat the
bread. Clearly, they were saying by that, that he was the one
who gives the bread. And as it goes further on, he
says to them, In verse 27, don't labor for the meat which perishes,
but for that meat which endures to everlasting life. So you're
laboring. And so that word labor and work
entered into their minds. As they're listening to this,
don't labor for that bread, that bread that you just ate, that
I gave to you. You're chasing me around. You're
trying to get something that's perishing. It's not going to
last. It's not going to give you life that lasts. It's going
to perish, and you're going to perish after you eat it. But
labor for, he says in verse 27, the meat that endures, the food
that doesn't dissolve when you eat it. You know how food is.
We take it into our body, it dissipates. And it becomes part
of our body, and it doesn't last. And neither does the energy from
it last, the life doesn't last. It all goes away, because it's
not the bread of God. It's not the bread that endures
to everlasting life, so don't seek that. And he says that not
just to deal with physical bread made of wheat and so on. But
is it gathering together all of the Old Testament signs and
symbols and history and figures and types and the laws itself? that men would exercise themselves
in and apply themselves to and continue in with a hope that
somehow in following after those things, in their own personal
obedience to those laws or by partaking of those feasts or
eating that manna or going through the motions of the ceremonial
law, all those things somehow that they would have life. Everything
like that is perishing, and it doesn't last. We know the law
was done away in 2 Corinthians 3. The law was abolished, and
the gospel is what the law was building up to. The work Christ
would do, but these men were chasing around just like the
Israelites in unbelief were chasing around to keep the law. to keep
the feast. They thought that in doing these
things they had life. And Jesus said in John 5 39,
but you will not come to me that you might have life. We eat bread,
we drink because we don't have that kind of life in ourselves.
If a baby doesn't drink and eat, it dies. If we as adults don't
eat and drink, we die. No one can live without food
and drink. It teaches us in a very tangible and familiar and physical
way the truth of what's spiritual. And that's the point of this
text. Christ alone is the bread of
life. We must, we must have him for
our life, all right? And so he says, which the son
of man shall give you in verse 27, Christ must give us this
bread of life. It doesn't come any other way.
It has to be given to us. He himself gives it to us. And he says, for him hath God
the Father sealed. In other words, God has sealed
him to this purpose, has given him as the bread, sealed him
as the bread, and given him the authority to give his people
this bread that endures unto everlasting life. He's sealed
him by his spirit, sealed him with his word to tell us the
truth of it, and then sealed him most especially in laying
down his life in order that he might give us this bread. All
of it is included in this seal that God the Father gave to him.
And so they picked up on this word labor, and they said in
verse 28, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? So labor was in their mind, work
is the question they ask, what work do we need to do? And the
Lord Jesus Christ defines the labor and the work he was talking
about in the next verse when he says, Jesus answered and said
to them, this is the work of God for you. that you believe
on Him whom He has sent. This is the work. In Hebrews
chapter four, if you want to turn there. The children of Israel
lived 40 years in the wilderness. They came to Canaan. They wouldn't
go in because of unbelief. They were forced to wander in
the wilderness as a consequence, and they all died who didn't
believe God. And so Hebrews chapter 3 and
4 is saying they died in the wilderness. They perished in
the wilderness. They did not enter into Canaan,
the promised land, because of their unbelief. And then chapter
4 opens this way. Hebrews 4, chapter 4, verse 1.
Meaning that promised rest in Canaan, which represents our
rest in Christ. and the eternal life and eternal
glory given to us because of Christ. He says, lest a promise
be left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem
to come short of it. For unto us, notice, was the
gospel preached. The people in Israel had a promise
of God of coming to Canaan. And he said, this is the message
that was given to them, but in type then, now it's unfolded
to us, unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them.
But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it, for we which have believed
do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. And then look at verse 10. And verse 9 says, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God, for he that is entered
into his rest He also has ceased from his own works as God did
from his. So what work are we to do? Jesus
said, this is the work, believe on him whom he has sent. And
then notice this in verse of the same chapter. He says
in verse 11, right after the one
I just read, let us, notice there's the word, labor. Let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example of unbelief. What does it mean to labor? According
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the work that we are to do is to
believe on Christ. He did the work, and that work
is finished, and it is our rest to rest in the promised inheritance
given to us by Christ's work alone, not by our work. As Brad
read in Galatians 2.16, knowing that a man is not, not, not,
not, three times it's used in that verse, not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ. Okay, back
in John chapter six then, he says, this is the work. that
you believe on him whom he has sent. And so they said, all right,
so faith is the issue then? And we have to believe you? So
they said in verse 30, what sign showest thou then that we may
see and believe? What do you work? And they suggest
a work. Our fathers ate manna in the
wilderness. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. They were stupid, spiritually
stupid. It describes us. It describes
us. The first thing required for
us to be given the bread of life is to be proved and shut up to
the total lack of bread and life that we have in ourselves and
that we have in anything else except what Christ is, you see. Don't labor for that, labor for
this, Christ, the bread of life. So they suggest that he do a
miracle. What work? I'm going to tell
you now. This is what he's saying here.
He's going to give them the work. I'll tell you the work. It's
not making bread. It's not breaking physical bread
and fish and giving it to a crowd on a hillside. It's breaking
my body. and giving that for the life
of God's elect throughout the world. Not just the Jews, but
Gentiles, not all Jews, not all Gentiles, but all Jews and Gentiles
chosen by the Father throughout the world. It's a successful
gift. He gives it, they have life,
as he says in the next verses. So they said, our fathers did
eat, in verse 31, our fathers did eat manna in the desert,
as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven
to eat, You know, scripture, he gave them bread. Jesus corrects
their mistaken notion of who gave them bread. It wasn't Moses. He said, verily, verily, I say
to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven. But my Father
gives you the true bread. He immediately jumps from the
typical bread to the real bread. We don't have to stop. We don't
have to keep laboring over that bread of manna. That wasn't real
bread. This is the real. This is the
true. This is the substance of that
shadow. The true bread is the bread my
Father gives you from heaven. 4, verse 33, the bread of God, this
is it, is he which came down from heaven and gives life to
the world. Why is he bread? Because he gives
life. Why is he bread? Because God
the Father sent him. Where did he send him from? Heaven.
How did he come from heaven? Did God move from heaven to earth? No, God is everywhere. But he
assumed our nature. He became incarnate. He was enfleshed. God became man and remained God
while being forever man. There's a man on heaven's throne.
He came from heaven as God. He stooped. He first descended,
and this was a stoop of infinite humility, a stoop in which he
lived in humiliation. And in love, it was a humility
and humiliation, giving himself in love, he first descended. And so he says, the bread of
God is he which comes down from heaven, him, Christ. God gave
his son, Christ is the son of God who became Christ according
to the eternal will of God in order to give his life according
to the eternal will of God. Verse 34, they said to him, Lord
evermore give us this bread. Okay, you're the bread, well
give it to us then. They're still thinking in terms of something
else. They don't get it. So you want the bread? Let me
give it to you. And he speaks the word that reveals
the bread in order to give the bread. He says, and Jesus said,
I am the bread of life, and he that comes to me shall never
hunger. He that believes on me shall
never thirst. Here we see the equivalence between
coming and believing. The coming to Christ is what
these men did physically. They came to the hillside. They
were fed. They came across the water. They
wanted more food. Sorry, you guys came for physical
bread. That's not coming in faith. That
is not coming to Christ. You might be here now. You might
have come to me, but you haven't come unless you believe me. You
see, that's what he's saying here. Those who believe on me,
They shall never hunger, and the one believing on me shall
never thirst. That's what he's saying in verse 35. I am the
bread of life. My father sent the bread from
heaven. The bread of heaven gives life
to the world. I am that bread. You see how
clear it is? And then they said to him, and
then he said, but I said to you, in verse 26, he had said this,
now I'm gonna say it again. But I said to you that you also
have seen me. and believe not. Again, he's
clarifying the fact that these men did not believe him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Here again, you see the definitions
now. If in verse 33, he was given
by the Father as bread to give life to the world, here he delineates,
he distinguishes. Those who come physically but
didn't believe, they are not the ones given this bread. All
that the Father gives me shall come to me. giving to Him in
order that He might save them, giving to Him, believing on Him. So the faith of believing Christ
is given to us when the Lord brings us to Christ. All that
the Father gives me, not any failure here, no exception, all
come, all the Father gives to me come. So therefore, if you
don't come, then the Father didn't give you. But if you do come,
then you were given by the Father. It's all God. God gave the bread. God brings us to the bread. The
bread is Christ. And Christ gives himself. He's
the bread. And if all who come to me, verse
37, I will then know why is cast out. They're not going to be
left ever. They're going to be held to the
very end. I'll raise them up, which he expounds. He says in
verse 38, he's expounding this now. I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. What
was that will? Well, he's gonna explain it.
The will of God who sent Christ was to be the bread to give life
to his people. And that bread would be such
that he would not only give them bread that gave them life in
the moment or even in their whole life, but it would be life that
would endure to everlasting life. It would include the whole man,
spiritual life and physical life after death. I'll raise them
up, he says in verse 38. Then verse 39, we know who those
who were given by the Father to Christ, this is the Father's
will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing. Christ is successful. He came
to give His life for the life of the world, and He did give
life to all those He came to give His life for. They are all
those given to Him by the Father, and all given to Him by the Father
all come to Christ, and He gives all of them life. They all believe
Him. That's what He's saying here
in verse 39. I won't lose one of them. I'll
raise them up at the last. From first to last, they were
given to Christ to save. They shall be saved. Verse 40,
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the sun and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. Verse 41, then the
Jews murmured at him, because he said, I'm the bread which
came down from heaven. Okay, it's beginning to sink
in now. I'm the bread, you came down from heaven. I don't think
so. They said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he saith, I came down from heaven? They couldn't get
it. They didn't believe him. They
didn't believe his words. They had seen miracles. God did
those miracles by him. Clearly, if God was with him
and approved of him, then what he said was also God's words.
And clearly, if it was God's words, he was sent of God. God
approved of him. And yet they would not believe
him. So when he says things, I came down from heaven since
they didn't believe him, can't accept that. And besides the
fact, if you come down from heaven, that's a stoop. And we don't
like stooping. We don't like people who stoop.
unless they're serving us. Come on, make some bread, serve
us. But no, Christ descended stooping, coming from heaven
and giving himself as the bread. That's a stoop of humility and
utter humiliation. That doesn't sit well with the
pride of man. Verse 43, Jesus therefore answered
and said, murmur not among yourselves. Whenever we try to figure out
things, we're gonna be lost. God has to make it known. I think
about this a lot. I've even said it before, but I don't know anything that someone
hasn't told me. I haven't figured out anything
on my own. I just haven't. I'm not a creative person. I'm
not an analytical person. I just happen to retain things
that people have told me. And this is intensely and infinitely
true with respect to spiritual things. We know nothing unless
it's given to us by God. So they're murmuring among themselves
because that's what they did in the wilderness. Murmur, murmur,
complain, whine, groan. I can't figure it out. God is
bad. He's mean and harsh. Oh yeah, He's given us this bread.
He's given us this water. I don't like this light bread.
We don't have anything. Whine, complain, and bellyache.
You're not going to figure it out that way. You're going to
have to come to Christ, the bread of life. And so he says, no man
can. It's not possible. You're unable. You cannot come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all, they shall be all, all, underscore, all
those given were taught of God, therefore they come. They've
heard, they have learned, they come to me. The lesson, come
to Christ. They learn it. Why? God the Father
taught them. They're all, without exception,
the children of God. You can read about that in Isaiah
54. All right, in verse then, verse
46, not that any man has seen the Father, save he which is
of God, he has seen the Father. In other words, I'm of God, I've
seen the Father, you haven't, no one else has, that's why you
need to come to me. Because no one can know the Father
except they know him in me. Verse 47, I said unto you, verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me has everlasting
life. That's the conclusion here. Believing Christ, we have everlasting
life. Now, he has already said, By
the miracle, I'm the one who has to give the bread. By the
miracle, I have to break it. And I give it to you by giving
it first to my disciples who then distribute it. And there's
so much, there's an abundance, there's leftover, there's plenty
in Christ for the entire crowd. There's an abundance of life
in Christ to all who come to him. It doesn't matter how many. But here he's explaining now,
not only am I that bread of life, Not only was I sent by the Father,
God the Father sent me to be the bread, he sealed me to this,
and I have to give this bread to you, the Son of Man, which
gives it to you. But the one who comes to me,
believing me, is the one who is given that life. So he says
it plainly here, in the most emphatic terms, he defines what
eating and drinking is in this word, verily, verily I say to
you, he that believeth on me has present possession everlasting
life. And then he says, I am that bread
of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. So that was typical bread, perishing
bread. It doesn't do any good for you.
But listen to this. Verse 51, now we're beginning
here. That was all introduction. Now
we're beginning this sermon. He says, I am the living bread,
which came down from heaven. That bread was dead bread. This
is living bread. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And notice, the bread that I
will give, and here's what pops at this point in the text. This
is like he's building up to this now. The bread which I will give
is my flesh. which I will give for the life
of the world." What is he talking about? That's what they ask.
What are you talking about? That's gross. I'm offended by that. I'm a more
polite person than to talk about eating flesh and drinking blood.
That's macabre. It's just weird. You know what
he did? He didn't soften what he said,
he emphasized it, he amplified it, he brought the greatest contrast
to it. He says in verse 52, the Jews
strove among themselves, how can this man give us his flesh
to eat? Then Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, except
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you. That would offend these people,
wouldn't it? It did offend them, so much so that they left, and
many of his disciples left too. What did he just say in verse
47? That believing is eating. But they didn't know what that
meant. Believe what? Jesus came into the world. He
was sent by the Father. He took on flesh. He grew up. He preached the gospel. He was tempted. He overcame that
temptation. He spoke the word of God. He
did miracles. He was transfigured. God sent
his spirit and announced him, this is my son in whom I am well
pleased. If at that point in his life,
if he would have then ascended back to the father, none of us
could live. Because the bread of God is not
Christ come down from heaven. But Christ come down from heaven
crucified, risen, and ascended back to heaven. It's not just
Christ, it's Christ crucified. And it's not just Christ crucified,
it's the living risen Christ who was crucified that we must
take by faith. We depend, we rely on all of
our life. on the living Christ who gave
himself for our sins. That's why he was given. His
body was broken because of our sins. Look at Hebrews chapter
9. This is so important that we
understand this, that it's It is the gospel how that Christ
died for our sins. That was the breaking of his
body. That was the giving of his flesh and believing him who
gave himself for us and rose again in triumph and victory
is the eating and taking of him. Verse chapter nine, Hebrews nine. He says, for then must he have
often suffered. For then must he often have suffered. What he's saying here is if he wasn't like the high priests
in the Old Testament, they offered sacrifices every year, every
day, every week, but he didn't enter in like those priests with
the blood of others. I'm sorry, chapter nine, verse
25. Not with the blood of others. He didn't enter into heaven with
the blood of others. He didn't make a sacrifice with
the blood of others. If he had, then he would just
be those priests who offered often and repeatedly without
end, never making any dent in our sins. But verse 26, for then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now once, once in the end of the world hath he appeared. Notice these words. Memorize
these words. Think on these words. Believe
these words. Take these words to God in your
heart. Eat on this. He appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's the flesh that
we must eat. Christ from heaven giving himself
and offering to God for our sins that we might live, that he might
justify us from our sins. It's so emphatic, isn't it? Christ,
what did he offer? He offered himself. Why? To put away our sins. Now, there's
so many things in scripture that are said that are physical that
sometimes we use those physical things to describe the spiritual
things and we don't even We struggle to describe the spiritual things
because we're so used to using those spiritual things to put
away our sins. We think of it or to wash us
from our sins. We imagine some kind of a detergent
or a washing of water or something. We still don't understand it.
But what he's saying here is that Christ had to offer himself
in satisfaction to God's justice, so that God would justly see
no sin on His people, His death of substitutionary sin-bearing
And wrath bearing for us would be the removal of our sins. He
would put them away by the sacrifice of himself. He stooped. He descended. He gave himself for us. He loved
us and gave himself for our sins. Eating on that, believing him,
taking this, this is mine. Oh, the love that sought me. Oh, the blood that bought me.
Oh, the grace that brought me. to the Lord. That's what our
song we were just singing is all about. Look at Galatians
Chapter 2 where we read before the service, Galatians Chapter
2. See, it's about Christ, but not just Christ, but about Christ
who gave himself for our sins, who offered himself to God to
put our sins away, who actually put them away. He actually with
His blood actually washed us. He justified us, laying His life
down with our sins in offering to God in satisfaction, actually
established an everlasting righteousness. And faith takes this, Him who
gave Himself for us and lives upon Him. And the one who does
that has been given by God to Christ, has come to Christ, has
eternal life, and the life they have is Christ. He is their life. Look at Galatians chapter two,
verse 16, again, knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, not by what we do. The law was not given
for us to keep it. In fact, those who teach that
we must keep the law in order to live are teaching us to sin. You can't do it. The law was
never given for that purpose. That's why he says here, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ. We're gonna get to that in a
minute in John 6. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that
we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Not by the works
of the law, not by what we do, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we do, we ourselves also are found sinners because
those who hear us tell how that we can only be justified by what
Christ did, they'll say, well. What you're claiming then is
that you are a sinner and you haven't kept the law because
you're forsaking the law for your own righteousness, you're
trusting in Christ. That's not keeping the law. Yes,
we're found sinners in that way. We're saying the law doesn't
justify. We are not trusting in it. We
are not trying to be justified by the law. And therefore, in
your estimation, yes, we're sinners. Is Christ the minister of sin?
No, God forbid. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. If I go back
trying to keep the law in order to be justified, then I prove
myself, I'm just a sinner. For I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live to God. Explain on that, expound
on it. Verse 20, I am crucified with
Christ. There's our union. I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, though I was crucified
with him, I live." You see, Christ is not dead. We don't believe
a dead Christ. We believe a living Christ who
was crucified and rose again. I am crucified with Christ. It
has happened. The body of my sins was put away
and died and buried. Nevertheless, I live because
Christ rose. Yet not I, this life that I live,
is not a life in me that I produce, not a life that I just have naturally.
It's Christ. Not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now the light shines so brightly,
my life is Christ. Christ in me is my life now. I didn't have life before, now
I have it. What is it? Is Christ. Christ
is my life, and the life which we know is Christ, which I now
live in the flesh, Christ in me, I live by looking to Christ,
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God." Notice these words, if righteousness come by the
law, by my personal obedience to what God has said and not
Christ's obedience, then Christ died in vain. How does righteousness
come? It doesn't come by me. It doesn't
come by my law-keeping. How does it then come? He says,
if it does come by me, then Christ died in vain. Therefore, how
does it come? It comes by Christ, by His dying. How are we made
righteous? How does God justify us? Through
the death of His own Son. He justifies us by His blood. Romans 5, verse 9, and this verse
here. If He died for nothing, I mean,
if we're justified by something other than Christ crucified,
then He died for nothing. That's what He's saying. Can
God kill His Son for nothing? No. Are we justified in any other
way? No, otherwise He died for nothing,
therefore we're justified by Christ. He made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. There it is. Christ substituted
himself in our place for us, died with our sins, and that
was the obedience unto death that produced the everlasting
righteousness imputed to us by God. And so in verse 21 of the
next chapter, chapter three, he says this, is the law then
against the promises of God? Is the law against the promises
of God? No, God forbid. For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily, righteousness should
have been by the law. But there was no law that could
have given life, no law given. But the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, the gospel in Romans chapter eight tells
us that what the law could not do and that it was weak to the
flesh, God did sending his own son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, in his flesh and
therefore condemned it in our flesh because we were joined
to him, crucified with Christ. Back in John six. Verse 53, Jesus said to them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you, unless
you believe Christ The risen Christ, who was crucified to
put away the sins of His people, and by His death, not by their
laboring, not by their obedience, but by His obedience unto death,
justified them. Unless you believe Him for the
cleansing of your sin, for the clothing of His righteousness
for your obedience, and for your life from God, unless you believe
Him for that, you don't have any life. You're not alive and
you cannot be alive because you don't believe Him who died to
put away the sins which were the reason for death. If we live, then we can't have
any sins because sin brings death. And the only way we can live,
therefore, is if Christ puts away our sins. If we live, then
we have to be righteous because only the righteous live. Therefore
Christ had to fulfill our righteousness in his death. That is the bread
of life he's talking about here, believing him. Verse 54, whoso
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood has eternal life, and
I will raise him up at the last day. I want to point out one
thing here to you, very important. In verse 51, notice he says this,
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And then
he says in 53, except you eat the flesh. You notice the way
the word eat is spelled, E-A-T? That means it happened at a point
in time. It may have been past, it may
have been a moment ago, but it happened. But notice in verse 54, whoso
eateth my flesh. And it's not just an old King
James word to say, well, that's the way they talked about things
in a different way. They added the E-T-H. It's trying
to help us understand the difference in the two words in the original. One means it happened one time. The second one, eateth, means
it's continuously happening. It's a present activity. You
see that? And it's talking about the person
who's believing, in verse 54. In verse 51 and 53, it's talking
about the person who believed. So they're both verbs. It's an
action that we do. One of them is an event, an action
that we did once. The other one is an ongoing action.
So when we first believe, then we have life, until we first
believe we don't have life, not spiritual life. But those who
have life go on believing, they continue eating my flesh and
drinking my blood, so that when it is God-given faith, we don't
just believe once, though we do, but we keep believing. You
see, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him. Abide in me, Jesus said. So this helps us also to understand
the word labor back in verse 27. Labor not. Because when we believe on Christ,
It seems like a breakthrough, doesn't it? We're looking for
all sorts of satisfaction. We realize that we're under the
wrath of God because of our sins. We can't produce the righteousness
required to be a Christian, to have life. Then we realize from
the gospel, Christ did it all. And suddenly, for the first time
in our life, we believe, we believe. But then, but then, we wonder,
OK, now that I believe, what should I do? Labor. Well, labor
how? Believing. You see, laboring
implies a continuing at something. If you labor, it's because you
continue to work. You labored then, but you're
laboring now. So it is with faith. The work
is believing Christ. Laboring that we might enter
into his rest means we continue in the faith. It's not like we're
out trying to work in order to keep some semblance of being
true believers. No. We continue to look to Christ
just as when we first believed. And unless we do that, we do
not have life, we never had it, and we won't have eternal life.
But in looking to Christ, which God gives us His Spirit to do,
Through the gospel, we have eternal life and I will raise him up
at the last day. My flesh is meat indeed, my blood
is drink indeed. You see, Christ crucified and
risen is our food to life. He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood dwells in me and I in him. If he was a dead Christ,
we couldn't be with him, could we? We couldn't live in him,
but he's a living Christ. And now verse 57, as the father
has sent me, Did the Father send His Son? Yes. And I live by the
Father. How did He live by the Father?
How did the Lord Jesus Christ live by the Father? Well, He
depended upon Him. To do what? He depended upon
Him to do His will. He depended upon Him for the
life needed to do His will. for the words, for the wisdom,
for the faith. Christ depended on his Father,
that was faith, but for everything else in order that he might fulfill
the work God gave him to do. And that desire of Christ And
that dependence of Christ upon his father was drawing that life
from his father with the purpose and the goal and the aim of doing
what his father gave him to do, because that was the life, that
was his satisfaction. That's why he lived. That's why
he came to do that work. So he depended upon his father
and drew that life from his father to do his father's will. That
work of His Father's will was to finish our salvation in the
offering of Himself to His Father. And but He says here, He that
eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, as the Living Father
has sent me, and I live by the Father, so He that eateth me,
meaning the Living Christ, Even He shall live by me. How do we
eat? Believing. He came to do the
Father's will, and we live upon the living Christ, depending
upon Him who gave Himself for our sins, who did His Father's
will. You see? See how it all ties
together? It's directing us to God the
Father. His will and His work of sending
His Son and His work of teaching and causing His people to know
and come to Christ and drawing them to Christ and giving them
to Christ. This is all God the Father's
work. It's a work from eternity and it is a work that was also
occurring in time when He drew them. I've loved you with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. But now here we see that as Christ lived upon his father
in order to do that saving work, so we also in believing Christ
live upon Christ that we might have what he worked out, what
he did. He depended upon his Father to
do the will of God. We depend on Christ for having
done the will of God. Does it make sense? Do you see
that this is actually a living dependence for life and for salvation
and for the cleansing of our sin and for the clothing of our
righteousness in Christ's own obedience unto death? Do you
see this? That this is all. We don't have any food. We can't
live without food. Christ is that food given for
us. Amazing grace. Eternal life,
unfailing, successful Savior. He did the work. We rest. We
rest. We do not pick up anything. We
are absolutely passive. We look. We believe. We wait. We watch as the Lord
fights the battle and completed the work and put to death our
death and our sins and gave us his life through his righteousness. I wish we could just continue
on and on, but we can't. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your great gift of your son. to give him to be our life, and
not just as a living, but give him to give himself in death
to take away our sins, to fulfill our righteousness, to earn for
us that everlasting life you determined to give to us by him,
and also to give himself to us The Son of Man giving Himself
to us as the Bread of Life in this life-giving Spirit of God. through His Word, trusting Him,
finding our all in Him, and every time we come to the end of ourselves,
coming again for everything, finding such emptiness and such
lifelessness and such great need in ourselves, but knowing that
Christ is all. You have taught us, Lord, we
can't leave Him. No one else has eternal life,
no one else has these words, but the Lord Jesus. What a great
revelation to us that we live by His life in us. And by that
life, we know and are persuaded and depend upon Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us. What grace, in Jesus' name we
pray, amen.