Welcome to God's Word to Our
Nation, with our host, Pastor Albert N. Martin. We believe
that the Bible is God's Word, and the Gospel is a message of
new life and liberty. So keep your Bible open for this
broadcast, because as Pastor Martin preaches, he would like
you to see the truth in your own copy of the Scriptures. But
you'll need more than an open Bible. You'll need an open heart.
ready to receive and obey the Word of God. At the end of the
program, we will be giving you some information about the church
that sponsors this broadcast. But for now, open your Bible
and open your heart, and join us for today's sermon. Will you follow, please, in the
scriptures as I read? A portion of the sixth chapter
of the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter six. The opening section of this chapter
records our Lord's feeding of the five thousand on one side
of the lake or sea of Galilee. And then the record of our Lord
visiting his disciples in that night watch as they crossed from
one place to another. And then in verse 22, John picks
up the narrative. On the morrow, the multitude
that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was
no other boat there save one, and that Jesus entered not with
his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away
alone. Howbeit, there came boats from
Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after
the Lord had given thanks. When the multitude therefore
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they themselves
got into the boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. And when they found him on the
other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Work
not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides
unto eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give you. For
him, the Father, even God hath sealed. They said therefore unto
him, What must we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto
him, What then do you do for a sign that we may see and believe
you? What are you working? Our fathers
ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, He gave them
bread out of heaven to eat. Jesus therefore said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, it was not Moses that gave you
the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true
bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that
which comes down out of heaven and gives life unto the world. They said therefore unto him,
Lord, evermore give us this bread, Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life. He that comes to me shall not
hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you that you have seen me, and yet believe not.
All that the Father gives me shall come unto me, and him that
comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I am come down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all that which He has given me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. For this
is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholds the Son
and believes on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise
Him up at the last day. The Jews therefore murmured concerning
him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of
heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does
he now say, I am come down out of heaven? Jesus answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to
me except the Father that sent me draw him, and I will raise
him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every one that is heard
from the Father and learned comes unto me. Not that any man has
seen the Father, save he that is from God. He has seen the
Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in
the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes
down out of heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down out of heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever, yes, and the bread which I will give is
my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews therefore strove
one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh
to eat? Jesus therefore said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you have not life in yourselves. He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
or true meat or food, and my blood is true drink. He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood abides in me, and I in him. as the living Father sent
me, and I live because of the Father, so he that eats me, he
also shall live because of me. This is the bread which came
down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He that
eats this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum." All that the Lord Jesus ever spoke
was truth, undiluted, unmixed, pure, unsullied truth. This had to be so because he
himself was conscious that he spoke only that which his father
gave him to speak. He asserts this many times, particularly
in the Gospel of John, and one of the clearest statements of
this is found in John chapter 12, verses 49 and 50. I spoke not from myself, but
the Father that sent me. He has given me a commandment
what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment
is life eternal. The things therefore which I
speak Even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak." There
is a negative word, there is a positive word, and then an
explanative word. What is the negative? Jesus said,
except you eat. And a form of the verb is used
which points to a once for all eating. Except you may once for
all eat of my flesh, And except you once for all drink of the
blood of the Son of Man, eat His flesh once for all, drink
His blood once for all, you have no life in yourselves." Now imagine
how this staggering statement must have fallen upon their ears.
They're very much alive. They have crossed over from one
part of the lake to another in order to be where Jesus is. Their
physical life had been sustained by His miracle the day before.
He says, you ate of the loaves and you come again because you
want your bellies filled. You haven't seen the significance
of what happened. They were very much alive. eating,
breathing, looking, talking, yet Jesus says, except you eat
once for all the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink once for
all of His blood, you are utterly devoid of life. That's what He
said to them. That's what the text says. That's
the essential substance of the first part of this Word to those
to whom He spoke. But then there is the positive.
Look at verse 54. Jesus goes on then to say, he
that eats, present tense, and he uses a different word. There
is a standard word for eat in the New Testament. It is used
literally dozens and dozens of times. But here our Lord uses
a word that is found four times in this context. Here in John
chapter six, it's found in verse 56, 57, 58. So with its presence here in
54, four uses, only other two uses in the New Testament, Matthew
24 and again in John 13. And it's a word that means literally
to munch. It means to nibble. It means to crunch. It is a word
you would use to describe ravenous animals who continually tear
and tear and tear and consume the flesh of the animal which
the predatory animals have downed and killed. And Jesus here is
saying, He who is continually feeding upon my flesh, And again,
the present tense, he who is continually drinking my blood,
and now he says two things of such, has eternal life. Those who continually crunch
and munch and nibble and feed upon my flesh and continually
drink my blood, two things are true of them. They have, right
now, eternal life. Eternal life is their present
possession, their infallible possession. They now possess
and will continue to possess into the endless eons of eternity
that quality of life that is called in Scripture eternal life. And secondly, Jesus said, all
who continually feed upon My flesh, continually drink My blood,
I will raise him up at the last day. Then he gives an explanative
word in verse fifty-five. Four. With that little particle
of logical connection. Four. Why is all this true? For
my flesh is meat indeed. My flesh is true food. Real food. And my blood is real
drink. He is saying. Whatever you may
have known of any kind of food that has satisfied your physical
hunger, whatever your fathers may have known of that supernatural
food sent down from heaven in the wilderness called manna,
Whatever you may have experienced of the food that came from my
hands yesterday, the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, all
of that food, in terms of the issues that really count, is
non-substantial. At best, it meets an immediate
need and points to greater needs and to greater fulfillment of
need But all that I've said to you, Jesus said, is true, because
for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink." Now
that's the substance of what Jesus said. But you say, Pastor
Martin, you haven't... No, I haven't explained. But
I've tried to just open up briefly what those words would have conveyed
if you were sitting there when Jesus spoke them. Now before
we move on in the third place to consider the basic meaning
of these words, I trust something is happening in your own mind
and heart. If it isn't, either I have failed to open up the
seriousness of the issue, or you failed to receive the right
impression of the issues. If Jesus is truth incarnate,
speaks only the words of His Father, speaks only truth, Do
you see the implication for you sitting here today? If you do
not eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life, according
to Jesus. Yes, but, no, no, stop, back
off. It's not a matter of what it means. Do you feel the weight
of His words? You are spiritually dead. and
you will remain dead through life and in death and know the
pangs of the second death unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of God and drink His blood. You have no life in you. What is the heart? What is the
very soul? What are the central issues to
a right understanding of these words? 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 yourself." Don't you want to
understand what those words mean? I'm looking out in some people
who are dead, utterly dead. You have no life in you. Why? Because you've never once for
all eaten of His flesh, nor drunk of His blood. There are others
who profess that once for all you've eaten of His flesh and
drunk of His blood, but you're not continually masticating His
flesh. You do not feed upon His flesh. In the ongoing living dynamics
of persevering faith, you are not drinking of His blood, and
according to Jesus, any hope you have of everlasting life
and a blessed resurrection is ill-founded. Dear people, may
God help us to come with a heart that says, Oh God, teach me what
those vital words mean. It is a matter of life and death
to my soul. My friend, you have no life unless
you eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. And that means
that you come to embrace from the heart, it is Christ crucified
who is the life and the nourishment of the soul. not Christ merely
sent down out of heaven, Christ as sealed by the Father, verse
27, Christ as manifesting grace and power in the feeding of the
multitudes, but Christ in His flesh given for the life of the
world. You see now why he says, unless
you have eaten once for all my flesh, and drunk my blood, no
life in you, all life is in a crucified Savior. Outside of Him there
is nothing but death, present death, continued death, the horrible
specter of eternal death in the lake of fire. You want to put
forth endeavor to do what God requires of you and that which
will please God? Believe under one He sent. You don't need to
know a word of Greek. You hardly need to know much
of the English language. Believe on Him whom He has sent. That's what God requires of you. The Lord doesn't stop there.
Verse 35, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that
comes to me shall not hunger, and he that believes on me shall
never thirst. How is soul hunger met and soul
thirst met by believing upon this One who stands before them? Verse 40, this is the will of
my Father that everyone that beholds the Son and believes
on Him, now note carefully, should have eternal life and I will
raise Him up at the last day. What is promised to all who believe
on Him? Two things. They possess eternal
life. They will be raised at the last
day. Now turn over to verse 53, and I think the picture will
begin to come into sharp focus. Truly, truly, I say unto you,
except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
you have not life in yourself. He that is continually munching,
feeding upon my flesh, and continually drinking my blood, what two things
are said to be true of Him? He possesses eternal life. He
has eternal life. And, I will raise him up at the
last day. You see the strict parallel between
verse 54 and the verse that we looked at, verse 40? Who has
eternal life according to verse 40? The one who believes on Him. He has eternal life. Who will
be raised up at the last day? The one who believes on Him.
What is it to believe on Him? Unless you come up with Jesus
teaching two ways of salvation. Some people would get saved by
eating Jesus' flesh and drinking His blood, whatever it means.
Other people just get saved by trusting in Christ. Take your
pick. If you want to plumb some mystical
heights and depths and get involved in great convoluted mysteries,
you go the former way. But for me, no. Jesus is not
teaching two ways of salvation, only one. And when He promises
precisely the same two things to two different activities,
obviously the activities are one. What is it to eat His flesh? What is it to drink His blood?
It is simply to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to do
what the ancient Israelites did with the manna. There they were. In their destitute state, no
means of setting up an agricultural economy as wanderers in the wilderness. And in their unbelief, they want
to go back to Egypt, kill Moses, and change the thing, but God
mercifully, He provides manna. They are destitute. They are
utterly unable to meet their own need. What does God do? In
His love and pity, He sends bread out of heaven. Now what did they
have to do? Did God say you got to go out
every morning and you got to go through 15 different mantras?
And then I'll send down a little bit of manna? Do 30 more, I'll
send down a second piece of manna? Do 50 Hail Marys and 75 Our Fathers
and I'll give you a dozen manna? What did they have to do to get
the manna? Nothing. God sent the bread out
of heaven. You remember how many times it's
emphasized in the passage? This is the bread. Yes, it came
out of heaven. But it was pointing to a greater
reality. What did they have to do? Just
go out and gather it. They couldn't stand around in
circles and jump for glee and say, oh boy, manna this morning,
done to make your mouth water, done it look good. They'd starve
and perish. They had to reach out with the
hand, take it, Put it into the mouth. Chew it. Let the saliva
mix with it. Swallow it. Let the gastric juices
work upon it. And what did it do? It sustained
life through the wilderness. Now Jesus said, you want to know
what it is to believe on me? You do with me, my person, as
the God-man, crucified for sinners, do with me what they did with
the manna. Behold me. as God's gift out
of heaven to destitute humanity. Jesus said, eat this bread and
you'll live forever. Eat of me! You'll live now and
you will never cease to live. And I will raise you at the last
day. Again, verse 47, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believes has eternal life. Dear people, can God make it
any simpler or plainer? It is Christ received, and listen
carefully, and fed upon by faith, who is the life and nourishment
of the soul. Unless you eat my flesh and drink
my blood, you have no life in yourself. And I trust God has
helped some perhaps for the first time to see how simple the gospel
is. Do you see it is Christ himself
who is food and nourishment four times. I am the bread, I am the
bread, I am the bread, I am the bread sent down from heaven. It is Christ in the uniqueness
of his person. I am come out of heaven, out
of heaven, out of heaven. Don't think of me as just another
mortal. Yes, He is one of us in the reality
of incarnation, but He was wholly other than us from eternity.
The eternal Word made flesh. And do you see that it's Christ
crucified who is the true food and nourishment of the soul?
And are you one who, having eaten and drunk, is yet eating and
drinking of Christ? If you have never, never known
what it is to eat and drink of Him, He stands before you this
morning in the only way He will stand before you until the Second
Coming. He stands before you in the Word
and by the Spirit and offers Himself to you as the Bread of
Life. Do you feel the solemnity of
that? I do as I preach. I will not
see Christ in any other way until the second coming, other than
the way I see Him in the Word by the Spirit. You will never
know Christ in the graciousness of His invitation of life in
any other way than you know Him this morning. Don't wait for
some overwhelming feeling and goosebumps up and down your spine
or anything else. Christ says, I am the bread of
life. He that comes to me, he that
eats of me shall have life. Except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life. Will you go
on trying to find life on the junk food of this world? Will
you go on trying to find life in the sand and marbles and gravel
of the lust of the flesh, in the pursuits of that which dishonors
God? When the One who came out of
heaven stands before you and says, I'm the bread of life,
and I'm bread to be eaten, and my blood is that drink which
gives nourishment to the soul, May God grant that these precious
words of the Lord Jesus will not cause us to murmur, nor cause
us to stumble, let alone never cause us to turn back. But may
we say, Lord Jesus, I do eat of your flesh. I do drink of
your blood. That brings us to the conclusion
of this week's message. You've been listening to God's
Word to Our Nation. This program has been brought
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