A Hard Saying or Sweet Bread To Eat

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus as the bread of life?

The Bible identifies Jesus as the 'bread of life' in John 6, emphasizing that He provides spiritual sustenance and eternal life. In John 6:48-51, Jesus declares Himself to be the bread of life, explaining that this bread comes down from heaven and offers eternal life to those who consume it by faith. This statement underscores that physical sustenance, like the manna eaten by the Israelites in the wilderness, cannot guarantee eternal life—only Christ can provide the spiritual nourishment necessary for salvation. Jesus contrasts Himself with the manna by stating that while the manna fed the body, it did not confer eternal life; He, however, is the living bread that, if eaten, bestows everlasting life. This essential doctrine reveals Christ's role in the believer's life as the ultimate source of spiritual sustenance.

Q: How do we know that faith in Christ is essential for salvation?

Faith in Christ is essential for salvation, as affirmed in John 6:37, where all the Father gives will come to Christ and never be cast out. The necessity of faith in Christ for salvation is clearly articulated in John 6:37, where Jesus states, 'All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.' This verse illustrates the divine initiative in salvation, emphasizing that faith is a response to God's calling. Furthermore, throughout the gospel and the entirety of Scripture, belief in Christ is presented as the means through which sinners attain eternal life. John 6:40 reinforces this, indicating that everyone who sees and believes in the Son will have everlasting life. Therefore, faith is not merely an act of human choice but a divine enablement that allows individuals to accept the grace offered through Christ.

Q: Why is the death of Jesus necessary for our salvation?

The death of Jesus is necessary for salvation because it serves as the perfect atonement for our sins, ensuring eternal life for believers. The necessity of Christ's death is rooted in the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, where Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, dies in the place of sinners to satisfy divine justice. John 6:51 states, 'The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' This sacrifice is paramount for believers as it allows them to receive life through faith. Without His sacrificial death, there could be no forgiveness of sins, as Hebrews 9:22 emphasizes that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Thus, Christ’s death not only provides the means for our justification but also enables a personal relationship with God, where believers draw sustenance and life from Him.

Q: What does it mean to eat and drink the flesh and blood of Christ?

To eat and drink the flesh and blood of Christ means to believe in Him and fully partake in His sacrifice for salvation. In John 6:53-56, Jesus emphasizes the necessity of eating His flesh and drinking His blood to have eternal life. This metaphor signifies a deep, personal faith in Christ and His sacrificial work on the cross. By stating this, Jesus conveys that spiritual sustenance comes from an intimate connection with Him—believers must fully accept and internalize His sacrifice as their only means of salvation. Thus, to partake in Christ is to trust wholeheartedly in His redemptive work, recognizing that it is through this faith that we dwell in Him and He in us, culminating in a spiritual union that grants eternal life.

Q: Why do some people find the teachings of Jesus difficult to accept?

Some find Jesus' teachings difficult because they challenge human understanding and traditional beliefs, seeking spiritual rather than physical satisfaction. In John 6:60, many of Jesus’ disciples responded to His teachings about eating His flesh and drinking His blood by declaring, 'This is a hard saying; who can hear it?' This reaction reflects a common struggle when spiritual truths clash with human logic and preconceived ideas. Many people approach faith expecting physical or empirical evidence, and when confronted with spiritual realities, they may resort to interpreting these concepts through a carnal lens. This was the case with the crowd that followed Jesus, who primarily sought physical sustenance rather than genuine spiritual fulfillment. Christ's teachings demand a level of faith that transcends mere intellectual acceptance, inviting believers into a deeper relationship with Him.

Our text will be John chapter
6, verses 48 through 60. Here in this sixth chapter of
John's gospel, after feeding 5,000 men with five loaves of
bread and two small fish, the Lord Jesus amassed a huge following. Multitudes followed him. But
the multitudes that followed him didn't trust him. They weren't believers. They
weren't converted. They just wanted more religious
excitement. That's all they were looking
for. They ate the loaves and the fish. And they wanted some
more. They just wanted to see the Lord
Jesus perform another miracle. They were interested only in
getting some more free bread. And so the Lord Jesus taught
these men and these women the necessity of faith in him. You have that in verses 27 down
through verse 36. In that passage, he shows us
the necessity of trusting him. and proclaims to them and to
us the blessed freeness of His grace and the certainty of salvation
for all who believe on Him. Come to Him and you have life. Believe on the Son of God and
everlasting salvation is yours. Believe Him right now and that
life is yours right now. He tells us plainly in verse
37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out I will not at any time for any
reason under any circumstances cast them out come to me and
life eternal is yours for I came down from heaven not to do mine
own will but the will of him that sent me And this is the
Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Then in verses 44 down to verse
47, the master declares the utter inability of man and the blessed
sovereign efficacy of God's free grace in saving sinners. And
beginning at verse 48, the Savior declares himself to be the bread
of life and explains that faith in him, trusting him is like
eating bread and living by the bread that is eaten. Let's read
our text together. Verse 48. I am that bread. 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 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. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Do you reckon they really thought
that's what he was saying? How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? Would he have us to be cannibals?
They talk the most ridiculous language in the world, comes
from religious folks who are fools with regard to the gospel. How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? Verse 53, 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 drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
me, even he shall live by me. And this is that bread which
came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and
are dead, but he that eateth this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught at Capernaum." Now, after that, After seeing the
miracle, watching our Lord multiply the loaves and fishes. Can you
imagine this? Folks just kept coming, he kept
giving. He's multiplying loaves and fishes. Enough for one little
boy's lunch feeds 5,000 men and their wives and children. After
seeing the miracle, after eating the bread and eating the fish
until they were all filled, after they heard our Lord's discourse
about the necessity of faith, and heard Him declare the freeness
and the certainty of salvation for all who come to Him, after
hearing Him speak of their own inability and of God's saving
efficacy, after the Lord Jesus uses this simple illustration,
this is what faith is, eat my flesh and drink my blood. Eat
that which I give for the life of the world you take by faith
This Savior and all that he's accomplished and eat that and
you live by him Then in verse 60 look at this Many therefore
of his disciples Those folks who followed him on their feet
and They didn't follow him in their hearts. They followed him
on their feet. They followed him over here to Capernaum. They
were his disciples. By act, they said they were,
but they weren't his disciples at all. When they heard this
said, this is a hard saying. Do you know what that word hard,
do you have any idea what that means? I can't tell you how many
times and preaching, I'll get responses like this from folks.
That's hard. That's mean. That's rough. That's offensive. That's difficult. That's callous. That's the word. Means all those
things. These fellows heard, they heard
these things spoken by the Son of God, the most simple, gentle,
easy declarations of gospel truth to be found anywhere in scripture.
And they said, this is a hard, mean, offensive saying. Who can hear it? Who can hear
it? Does our Lord's doctrine in this passage sound like hard
saying to you? I hope not. The title of my message
this morning is a hard saying or sweet bread to eat. And I
promise you what I had to say will be one or the other. Either
a hard saying or sweet bread for your soul. And I want to
give you my message in five very plain statements. Five very plain
clear statements. The only way they will be confusing
to anyone is if you willfully shut your eyes to that which
is before you. The only way that will be confusing
to anyone is if you stick your fingers in your ear and refuse
to hear. The only way that will be confusing
to anyone is if you just will not believe what God states in
His Word. All right, here's the first.
Jesus Christ, our Savior, is God. Now let it sink in. Not just
a representative of God, though he's that. Not just the revelation
of God, though he's that. Not just the spokesman for God,
though he's that. Not just a creature of God, and
that he is not. But Jesus Christ, the man, Our
Savior is himself God, and there is no God but Jesus Christ, our
Savior. In him dwells all the fullness
of the triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is himself
God. Turn back to Exodus chapter 3.
In verse 48, when our Lord Jesus says, I am the bread of life,
He uses these two words, I am, to speak of himself. Back here
in Exodus chapter 3, Moses sees and hears the Lord God speaking
to him out of the burning bush. And he comes to the bush and
he asks the Lord God who sends him to deliver Israel out of
Egyptian bondage, what's your name? God spoke to him out of
the bush and revealed himself as he had never revealed himself
to anyone before he reveals himself as I am the great eternal self-existent
living one Exodus 3 verse 14 and Moses said unto God Behold
when I come into the children of Israel and they and saying
to them the God of your fathers has sent me unto you and they
say to me What is his name? What shall I say to them? And
God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto
you. When our Savior said, I am the
bread of life. He uses these very words. I am
to identify himself as the great Jehovah, the one appointed of
God to come and redeem and the one who is God come to redeem. He is the one who appeared to
Moses in the bush and sent Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt,
typifying his own deliverance of his people by the sacrifice
of himself. Now remember, John's gospel was
written specifically to show us the divinity, the deity, the
Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ. John's purpose in writing is
to show us that Jesus Christ is God. So it shouldn't be surprising. to discover that throughout the
gospel of John, all the way through this gospel, John is inspired
by God, the Holy Spirit, to use these two words constantly as
they fell from the lips of our Savior to describe him. He says,
I'm the bread of life. He's I'm the water of life. I'm
the light of the world. I am. I am. I am. He says throughout
this epistle to make us know he is himself God. Jesus Christ
our Savior is Jehovah incarnate over all God blessed forever
over in John 10 verse 36 Our Lord Jesus declared himself to
be the Son of God. I Am the Son of God Now you will
have fellows with black satchels knock on your door occasionally
on Saturday morning and they'll come and tell you that Jesus
Christ is the The Son of God, that means He can't be God. If
He's the Son of God, then He can't be God. But the Jews understood
exactly what our Lord was saying. Our Lord Jesus declares and asserts
His divinity. He asserts the certain plurality
of persons in the Godhead and the unity of the divine persons.
But as He does so in this epistle, in this 10th chapter of John
particularly, our Lord asserts Himself to be God. And in verse 33, they took up
stones to stone him because he, being a man, made himself God. They understood with crystal
clear clarity what he was saying. This man is declaring himself
to be God. That's exactly right. That means
if we worship him as God, we are worshiping God in truth or
else we're worshiping an idol. There's no in-between ground.
If he's God, he's God. If he's not, he's a fake. If
he's God, he's worthy of worship. If he's not, trusting him is
foolishness. All right, here's the second
thing. John 6, 49. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. The manna, of course, was typical
of and portrayed our Lord Jesus. Christ Jesus is the bread by
which we live. He's the bread by which we live. Now, the manna in the wilderness
didn't give anybody life. The Old Testament writes and
pictures of our Savior were not themselves acts of grace by which
sinners live before God. I have a letter I'm waiting to
answer. A friend wrote to me who's been
somewhat influenced by Presbyterian teaching with regard to infant
baptism and covenant family and such as that. And she writes
and asks questions as though circumcision somehow Really conveyed
grace it didn't in the Old Testament and it sure doesn't today. It
sure doesn't It was only a picture of grace conveyed. And this manna
in the wilderness, eating the manna did not convey grace. It did not convey salvation.
It only pictured Jesus Christ by whom grace is conveyed to
the soul. The manna didn't do anybody any
good except to feed them for the day while they walked in
the wilderness. Those who drank water out of
the rock, which was Christ Jesus our Savior again, typified. did
not find anything saving in the rock or in the water. They simply
drank the water and were refreshed as they went along the way. That
becomes obvious if you look at Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3, verse 17. With whom was he grieved 40 years? These folks walked along in the
desert for 40 years, eating manna from heaven. drinking water flowing
from a rock that followed them through the desert for 40 years.
And God's agreed with them. With whom was he agreed? Was
it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest,
but to them that believed not. So we see that they could not
enter in. They could not enter in. They couldn't go into Canaan.
They couldn't enter into the land of rest because of unbelief. Christ describes himself here
as the bread of God. He is the bread who is God. He is the bread who comes down
from God. He is the bread God gives to
men. He is the bread which satisfies
God himself. Our Lord God speaks from heaven
and says, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
And he is the bread by whom God satisfies the souls of his people.
Christ Jesus is the bread. Look at verse 32. Then said Jesus
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 The Lord Jesus
said unto them. I'm the bread of life He that
cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. I Now here's the third thing,
and let me spend a little time here. Before we could live by Christ,
before we could live by this bread, Christ had to die. There's no way he could be life
to our souls except first he die in our stead. John 6 verse
50. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. If a man eats the bread of life,
he has eternal life. He will never die. Eating Christ,
the bread of life is believing on him. It is receiving him. Believing Christ is expressed
by eating because eating is the way we receive food into our
bodies. It is food received for the sustenance
of our physical bodies, for the sustenance of our flesh, so that
we can walk in life in this world. And receiving Christ by faith,
we draw life from him. Now let me state a few things
crystal clearly. Nobody gets life by eating the
bread of life. Nobody gets life by eating the
bread. You remember when your children
had their first bite of food? They were already living, were
they not? Their eating is the means by which life is sustained. They continually draw life from
the food they eat. But life is given before eating
begins. And we eat Christ by faith. We feed upon Christ by faith
because God has given us life in the new birth. The new birth
is not something in which we participate. The new birth is
not something to which we make a contribution. We are given
life sovereignly by the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, who
opens the windows of heaven and drops into our souls by omnipotent
grace, causing the dead to live. And when the sinner lives, he
begins believing. He begins believing. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. We believe
on the Son of God and trusting him, entering in by faith at
Christ the door, coming to Christ, bowing to Christ the King, looking
to Christ the Lamb, all those things which are emblems of faith,
laying hold on eternal life. All these things are receiving
him. to as many as received him, to
them gave he the power, the authority, and the right to become the sons
of God. You and I who believe have right
to come to God and address God as our Father, claim our place
as the sons of God in the house of our Father, believing on the
Son of God. And that's the only way we can
do so. But we could never draw life
from Christ had he not first died as our substitute. Look
at verse 51. He became to us the living bread
by dying in our stead. 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. And I will give that which I
will give for the life of the world. Bread is made from the
flour of corn or wheat or rye or barley or some other grain.
But the making of the bread involves the thrashing of the grain and
sifting it, beating it and winnowing it, grinding it and sifting it,
sifting it and kneading it and baking it. And until those things
are done, it's not suitable bread to set on the table. And thus
it behooved Christ to suffer for our sake. He who is our savior
is life giving bread of God, the lamb of God slain from the
foundation of the world by whom we live. The flesh and blood
of the son of God Refer to the sacrifice which he made in our
room instead when he died upon the curse tree For you and me
he's talking about that sacrifice of his life of obedience rendering
perfect complete satisfaction to the law and justice of god
in our stead it is only by Christ the crucified lamb. He who bear
our sins in his own body on the tree. Only by him satisfying
the wrath and the justice of God's holy law for us. Only by
him bringing in righteousness and putting away sin by the sacrifice
of himself that he became the living bread by whom we draw
near to God. Hold your hands here again and
turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. There is no coming to God but
by blood. No remission of sins but by the
shedding of blood. No forgiveness except by blood
atonement. Blood atonement made by Jesus
Christ, God's Son. Hebrews 10 verse 18. Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Oh, get hold of that, child of God. Get hold of that. God Almighty, by the sacrifice
of his son, Ron, put away our sins. And when your sin darkens your
heart and your sin seems to lay so heavy on your soul, your first
instinct, the first instinct Let's do something to make up
for it. Where remission of sin is, there
is no more offering for sin. Either he put it away or he didn't. There's no in between ground.
My sins, past, present, and future. Your sins, past, present, and
future. People all the time yakking. Religious folks are just, oh,
it's amazing how ignorant folks can be with a Bible in their
hand. They say, well, God forgave your sins up to the time you
believed. Those committed after the time
you believed, you've got to do something for those. Immediately when you
believe, your sins are forgiven. No. They were forgiven a long
time before you believed. Your believing won't cause God
to forgive your sin. Your believing won't make up
for your sin. Your believing won't make atonement for your
sin. Christ is the forgiver. He accomplished redemption. He
brought in forgiveness by his blood shared as the lamb before
ever the world began. Brother Don, are you saying our
sins were forgiven before they were committed? No, I wouldn't.
I'm not fool enough to say that. I just read it in the Bible.
That's what the book says. forgiven before they were committed, forgiven
forever. And where remission of sin is,
there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore, having
therefore brethren, boldness, the word is confidence, freedom,
ease of heart and mind. Most of us can relate to this.
Brother Lindsey can't, because most of us run down the highways
a little bit beyond what the speed limit sign says. If it
says 55, we run about 63. If it says 65, we run about 73. If it says 71, we run about 78.
I mean, that's just instinct. We all do it. And when you do, You kind of get tired because
you're always watching. You're always watching. You're watching
for that unmarked car that looks suspicious. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. But the lens he drives down the
road, he don't give a hoot whether there's one around or not. Because
if it says 55, he's running 54. Is that accurate, Diane? He doesn't care who's sitting
there because he's not guilty. He has no reason to fear because
he's got no guilt. Hear me, believing sinner. You've got no reason to fear
going naked before God with nothing to hide, laying bare your heart,
confessing your sin with confidence because there's no guilt to the
sinner who trusts God's Son. Did you get that? Did you get
that? No guilt. Look at this, that
we may have bold. Let us therefore have boldness
to enter in the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You can't get
it any other way. You try mixing your works in
there. You won't have any. You try mixing your goodness
in there. You won't have any. You try mixing your efforts in
there. You won't have any boldness. But you come to God with nothing
but the blood. Why did you come off in the first
time you came? Nothing but the blood keep coming just that way.
And you come with confidence by a new and living way, which
he had consecrated for us through the veil. That is to say, his
flesh, my flesh that I give for the life of the world, my flesh
that I give for the sins of my people, wherever they are in
the world. My flesh and having a high priest over the house
of God, Let us draw near with a true heart. What a word. In full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. Now, if you get reason to go
by one of these religious trinket shops they call Christian bookstores
and You get past the idols and trinkets they sell and you want
to pick up a book on assurance. Go pick one up. I don't suggest
that you do, but if you do pick it up and I will guarantee you
the source of assurance. I'll guarantee you the source
of assurance. It is having full assurance of works. And full
assurance of obedience. And full assurance of experience. And full assurance of emotion. But it's got nothing to do with
faith. Assurance doesn't come by your obedience. It doesn't
come by your good works. Well, Brother Don, you can't
have assurance unless you read enough or pray enough or go to
church enough or give enough or sacrifice enough or experience
enough or hurt enough or mourn enough or go. Assurance. Is faith
in Jesus Christ, the Lord. I come to God, trust in Christ,
and I got nothing else to break, nothing else to break. The full
assurance of faith right now. Having our hearts sprinkled from
a guilty evil conscience. And our bodies, our lives washed,
sanctified with the pure water of his grace in his spirit. Back
to John six, verse 52. Here's fourth statement. Faith in Christ. is an intensely
personal thing. A spiritual act of the heart. With the heart, we read in Romans
10, man believeth unto righteousness. That is not to say that we obtain
righteousness by believing, but with the heart We believe with
reference to righteousness accomplished by the Redeemer. And this faith
is intensely personal. These Jews here in verse 52,
like Nicodemus, were trying to interpret spiritual things in
a carnal way. The Jews, therefore, strove among
themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Multitudes there are. who like these Jews at Capernaum
vainly seek to make faith and worship carnal things. The papist will tell you that
the bread and wine of what they call the Holy Eucharist or Holy
Communion. Anytime you hear fellas put that
word holy as an adjective in front of something, Be a little
suspicious. This is Holy Communion. This
is the Holy Eucharist. This is the Holy Church. Be a little suspicious. They
make the bread and wine, or they think they make the bread and
wine, when the priest does his little mumbo-jumbo magic act
and pronounces it blessed, now this bread and wine is the body
and blood of Christ. and eating the bread and the
wine, you actually are eating Jesus Christ. And that's what
he meant here. That's gross. It's idolatrous. It's pagan. But folks, believe it. I never
will forget the first time I visited you in Mexico. Your dad took
me down to Is that where they got the big cathedral down there?
It was one of their holy days. And we decided to go in so I
could see firsthand. And those poor peasants on their
knees crawling to a man like themselves to put a piece of
bread on their tongue and sip a little wine out of his hand. But there are multitudes of Protestants
who are just as guilty of the heresy. For they would tell you
that though the bread and wine of the Lord's table are not really
the body and blood of Christ, they are spiritually the body
and blood of Christ. And by these, what they call
sacraments. By these sacraments. A few years
ago, I was going down right after Skip Gladfelter and his wife
Sandy came here. We went down there. You'll remember
the trip down to Mexico. Brother Cody asked me, he said,
Brother Don, can you lecture at the preacher's school on the
ordinances? He said in Brother Mahan's commentaries,
whoever translated them, translated the word ordinatia, the word
ordinance rather than ordinatia, to Sacramento. And it caused
a lot of confusion because the word means means of grace. In other words, somehow, if you're
in the right spirit and in the right frame of mind and you're
You've prayed up enough and confessed up enough and you've whatever
enough is and you come to church and you eat the bread and drink
the wine and you've got, you know, the right attitude and
you're humble enough and you really concentrate. Then when
you eat that bread and drink that wine, you're spiritually
eating and drinking Christ and it becomes to you a means by
which grace is imparted to you. Always fear the influence of
papacy. It is always evil, not good. Well, Brother Don, what are the
ordinances then? They're ordinances by which Christ is portrayed
and remembered. In believers baptism, we symbolically
fulfill all righteousness, showing how that righteousness is fulfilled
by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as our substitute,
so that we died and were buried and raised again in him. Eating
the Lord's Supper, we show the same thing identically and how
we receive it by faith. The bread's just bread. The wine's
just wine. But we eat the bread and drink
the wine in remembrance of Him. by whom we live before God. And just as we physically eat
the bread and drink the wine and it becomes part of us, so
the believer receives Christ and continually receives Christ
and continually receives Christ and draws from him all life. We live by him and we live upon
him. Christ is this bread. Man tries
to make religion a matter of forms and ceremonies, of doing
and performing, of sacraments and ordinances, of sight and
sense, because fallen man despises that which really is spiritual. We're living in this day when
everybody talks about spiritual stuff. Now you know you're in
bad shape when folks in Hollywood start talking about spiritual
stuff. And folks on the television start talking about spiritual.
Oh, it's so spiritual. That was such a spiritual thing.
That means that some dirty fellow over in Pakistan or Indian, Indian
was sitting down naked on the ground, long beard, and maybe
a white sheet over him. And he's, after some hours, he
went, oh. Came to a vision and told folks
what it was. No, that's crazy. That's crazy. You shouldn't poke fun at people's
religion. Why not? It's the funniest stuff in the world. Saddest,
but the funniest. I mean, that's crazy. That's
just crazy. Spiritual has to do with faith
in Christ. Everything else being called
spiritual is witchcraft and idolatry and sorcery. Everything else. Brother Don, that's pretty strict, isn't it?
That's pretty strict. That which makes the heart the
principle thing is spiritual, and that's faith in Christ. Man
labors to keep everything on his own level. And I'll tell
you what man's level is. I can touch it, and I can feel
it, and I can taste it, And I can do it. Anything else he hates. I got
to move on. Verse 53. Then said Jesus 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. Whosoever eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." I just looked up, and I believe
I'm preaching to more people related to preachers today than
I've ever preached to in my life. That's just my family. That's
just Darwin's daughter. That's just Milton and Walter's
family, Cody and Wynton's family. Oh, that gives us something,
doesn't it? Nothing. Nothing. Great privileges. Oh, but great responsibilities.
Well, my daddy, if I had a half a cent for every time somebody
found out I was a preacher and said, well, my daddy was a preacher,
I'd be a rich fella. Ah, my daddy preacher, that gives
me something. Nothing. Nothing. Oh, but he
was a good preacher. Nothing. But he believed the
gospel of God's free grace and preached it till he died. Gives
you nothing. Nothing. Because faith in Christ
is intensely personal. I left one out, there's David's
son. Oh, David's grandson, excuse me. Gives you nothing. Nothing. Your only access to
God is through Christ the mediator, not daddy the mediator, not mama
the mediator, through Christ the mediator. You can't get any nourishment
for your life by the bread that I eat. You've got to eat for yourself. You can't get any nourishment
for your soul by me feeding on Christ. You've got to feed on
Christ yourself. You must trust the son of God. J.C. Ryle said just as there
is no was no safety for the Israelite in Egypt who did not eat the
Passover lamb in the night when the firstborn was slain. So there's
no life for the sinner. who does not eat the flesh of
Christ and drink his blood. Our only hope of life is Christ
Jesus the Lord. Personal faith in the Son of
God. Look at verse 56. Here's the
fifth statement. And I've deliberately left this
so I won't have much time to say much about it because I don't
know much about it. The life we live by faith in Christ. You write this down, I've chosen
my words deliberately. The life we live by faith in
Christ is a life that is inseparable from Christ's own life. Now that world's most wondrous
mystery I've ever discovered. Our life can't be separated from
His life any more than His life can be separated from the Father's
life. Let's see if that's what it says. Verse 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me. He abides in me and I in him.
Well, if I dwell in him, how can he dwell in me? I don't know,
but he does. Is that what it said? He dwells in me and I dwell
in him. as the living father hath sent
me, and I live by the father. That is, I live by virtue of
the father living. I live beside the father. I live with the father. So he that eateth me, even he
shall live by virtue of me. beside me, with me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead. Oh, no, we're not talking about
the physical thing now. We're talking about something real.
He that eateth this bread shall live forever. These things said
he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live not by my faith in the Son of God, no,
but by the faith of the Son of God, by his accomplishments. who loved me and gave himself
for me. Now what does that mean? Our
life is inseparable from his life. His existence, his fullness,
his completeness as our mediator is inseparable from ours. He partook of our nature and
now he's made us partakers of the divine nature. He has His
being with us from eternity. When He stood forth as our surety
from the beginning, His delights, what did He say? Were with the
sons of men. He had His being with us from
eternity. And we have our being with Him
from eternity. As long as he's had being, we
who believe have had being in him, accepted in the beloved
from eternity. As the Father and the Son are
one, so we are one in the Son with the Son. I in them and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou
hast loved me. What does this union mean? It
means that what he is, we are. What he has done, we have done. What he possesses, we possess. And where he is, we are. Many, therefore, of his disciples, when they had heard this, They
said, this is mean, hard. It's rough. It's hard saying. Who can hear it? I can't tell you how I thank
God that I hear it. Do you? Oh, it's not hard saying. This is sweet bread to eat. Oh,
Christ Jesus. for every sinner who's tasted
that he is gracious is sweet, satisfying bread. I love those sweet bread you
ladies make, you know, banana nut bread and lemon poppy seed
bread and carrot bread and all that stuff, all the sweet bread.
Oh, I love them. I love them. But they never satisfy. They just, I get done, I could
eat a cake of it and be about to pop, and I still want something
else to eat. They never satisfy. Here is bread. Sweet to the taste
of the hungry soul. And if ever you taste this bread,
you will never want any other bread. Amen.

A Hard Saying or Sweet Bread To Eat

What does the Bible say about Jesus as the bread of life?

How do we know that faith in Christ is essential for salvation?

Why is the death of Jesus necessary for our salvation?

What does it mean to eat and drink the flesh and blood of Christ?

Why do some people find the teachings of Jesus difficult to accept?

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A Hard Saying or Sweet Bread To Eat

What does the Bible say about Jesus as the bread of life?

How do we know that faith in Christ is essential for salvation?

Why is the death of Jesus necessary for our salvation?

What does it mean to eat and drink the flesh and blood of Christ?

Why do some people find the teachings of Jesus difficult to accept?

Sermon Transcript

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