6. Breathe. Verse 48. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat man 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? Then Jesus 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 no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers that eat manna and are
dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Let's pray. Lord, we're so grateful for the
living bread. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name. That you will be pleased to give
us this bread that we may eat of it and drink of it. Lord, that's beyond the power
and energy of this flesh. We pray that you would meet with
us. We pray that we would hear your
voice. We pray that our sins might be
forgiven. We pray that we might be found
in your son. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together, Lord, we pray for our. Friends of this
congregation that are sick, we pray for your healing hand upon
them according to your will. We pray that you would pour your
blessing upon this assembly for Christ's sake. And what we pray
for ourselves, we pray for all your people, wherever they meet
together, except our Thanksgiving. We're so thankful for the Lord.
In his name we pray. Amen. I am the bread of life. Think of that statement. I am
the bread of life. Now you and I are either spiritually
dead or we have spiritual life. Christ says, I am the bread of
life. If you have spiritual life, you
have to eat. You have to eat. Just as physical life is maintained
by eating physically. You have to eat spiritually. And the Lord tells us, I am the
bread of life. In Adam, all die. That's why you and I were born
into this world. Spiritually dead. Dead men cannot hear. Dead men cannot see. Dead men
cannot smell. Dead men cannot feel. Dead men
cannot taste. Dead men don't eat. By one man
sin entered the world and death by sin. So death passed upon
all men in that all have sinned. Now the end of physical death
is Eternal death, the wages of sin is death, but living men
eat. This is what I want us to think
about. Living men eat, they must eat. I must eat. If I do not
eat, if I do not drink physically, I'll die. If I do not eat and
drink spiritually, it's because I have no life in me. Living men eat and spiritual
life is sustained by eating that we're reading about in this passage
of scripture, this glorious passage of scripture. Now, when someone
is born from above, born of the spirit, A new life put in them that was
not there before. A new heart, a pure heart, a
clean heart. The new birth, that which is
born of the spirit is spirit. Isn't that a mysterious thing
that if you have spiritual life, God birthed you into the kingdom
of heaven. Spiritual life. If you have spiritual
life, you must eat. And the Lord tells us, I am the
bread of life. Look in verse 33. of John chapter 6, for the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto
the world. Now this is one of several times
in this passage of scripture he said he came down from heaven.
I love it when he says that. I'm sure the people were incredulous.
You came down from heaven? Do you believe that about yourself?
Yes, he did. He came down. He's preexistent
bread. He's eternal. bread. Look in verse 32. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
He's given bread, given by the grace of God. He's the living bread. Verse
51 of the same chapter, I am the living bread which came down
from heaven. He is life-giving bread. Look
in verse 49. Your fathers did eat man in the
wilderness for 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 he is satisfying bread. Look in verse 35. And Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall
never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. You will find satisfaction in
this bread. You won't want anything else. You know, when you believe on
Christ, you don't want anything else. He's all you want. He's all your desire. You don't
want to hear anything but him. Now, if you don't feel that way,
it's because you don't have spiritual life. Someone who has spiritual
life finds complete satisfaction in being saved by Christ only. They're not looking for anything
else. They're satisfied with Jesus Christ. They need nothing
else. The bread of life. Now, verse 49. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. They ate that manna that came
down from heaven called angel's food in Psalm 78. What a miraculous
thing that must have been to get up every morning and see
that bread that had come down that night is due on the ground.
They pick it up, eat it for 40 years. But you know what? All
of them are dead. I know it was miraculous bread,
but all of those people are dead. Verse 50, this is the bread which
cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not
die. Now he's saying I'm the bread
that this man typified. I came down from heaven. And
if you eat of this bread, you really will not die. You will
live eternally. And this is talking about the
life of God in the soul. This is talking about spiritual
life. This is talking about the new
heart that he gives. A heart that'll never die. You're
gonna die physically. But if you have this new man,
this new nature, that is never gonna die. It's gonna be in heaven
beholding his glory. Now look what he says in verse
51. 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." Now, this is what it means to eat this bread. He says,
the bread that I give is my flesh. He's talking about his humanity. There was a time when he did
not have a body. He came down to this planet in
a body. He said, a body has thou prepared
me. And he came down in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. What a glorious mystery that
is. The word made flesh. Now why
did he become flesh? Because man sinned in the flesh. And sin must be paid for. And
he came in the flesh born of a virgin. He didn't have Adam's
corrupt nature. He came born of a virgin and
in the flesh he did what no one has ever done. He never sinned. Perfect motives, perfect thoughts,
perfect obedience. He never sinned in thought, in
word, in deed. He kept God's law perfectly in
the flesh. Now, what's he talking about?
My flesh I give for the life of the world. What's he talking
about in this perfect humanity? As my substitute, he took my
sin in his own body on the tree. All the hellish sin that I have
committed, he took in his own body on the tree. That's why
he was nailed to a cross. He had no sins of his own, but
my sin became his sin and it became sin of his own in that
sense. He took my sin. He took the sins of the elect,
all those the father gave him. He took the sins of all of his
people in his own body on the tree, and he suffered and he
died as the sinner's substitute in his flesh. He bore the sin
of his people. Now, it's called substitution. Substitution. 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 21, for he hath made him. We ought to tremble when we even
think about this. For he hath made him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, The only thing that I find spiritual
satisfaction in, where I'm not looking for anything else, is
his sacrifice. That's it. Nothing else? No. No. I love what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
2. I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. The only thing that gives me
confidence, the only thing that gives me assurance, the only
thing that gives me satisfaction, the only thing that gives me
joy and peace is what He accomplished on Calvary's tree. That's what
I eat on. His flesh, His blood, that is
my necessary food. He is the bread of life and I
don't get assurance from anything else. Now, that's it. Can you say that? You know what
I'm saying? The only thing you have confidence
in is who He is and what He did. And the only ground of your acceptance
before God, it's not your experience, it's His experience. Your desire
is simply to be found in him and you do not want anything
else. Now verse 52, the Jews therefore strove among themselves
saying, how can this man give his flesh to eat? All they heard
was cannibalism. That's all they heard. This is
gross. He's saying we're supposed to
eat his flesh and drink his blood. Why? That's ridiculous. We don't
believe this. I couldn't help but think of
the Lord's table. Do you remember what the Lord said? Take, eat,
this is my body broken for you, this do in remembrance of me.
That cup with wine, take, drink, this
is my blood shed for you, this do in remembrance of me. The
Lord's given us two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's table,
and they're both of critical importance. Is there any saving
efficacy in either one of them? No, but they're commands of the
Lord. Baptism and the Lord's supper.
And he says, when you eat this bread, drink this cup, you're
commemorating my death. You show forth the Lord's death
till he came. But that in that simple illustration, Of course,
there's no saving efficacy in me eating the bread or drinking
the wine, but here's what I'm saying. His perfect righteousness,
His shed blood is everything in my salvation, and I find peace,
comfort, acceptance in what He has done. Now, I realize the
Catholic Church has taught what they call transubstantiation,
where the bread literally turns into the body of Christ, and
the wine literally turns into the blood of Christ, and you
actually take these things in your body. No, that's ridiculous. And it's making Christ have to
suffer over and over and over again. Every time somebody takes,
he has to suffer again. No, he offered one sacrifice
for sins. There are no others. He accomplished
salvation. And this is what we live on.
And an unbeliever can't understand this because they're always,
isn't there anything more? There's got to be more than this.
You've never tasted. If you ever taste, there is nothing
more. Verse 53. Then Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I love the way he says this. They're incredulous when he says,
you got, you're going to eat my flesh and drink my blood.
Look what he says after they give their objection. Verse 53,
then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except
you, you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Is he speaking of physically?
Of course not. Spiritually. You can't have life without eating
and drinking, can you? If you don't eat, if you don't drink,
what's going to happen? Life is not going to be preserved.
You're going to die. And the spiritual life that the
believer has is found in eating and drinking the flesh and blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His flesh is his righteousness.
His blood is his sin payment. His flesh is his life. His blood
is his death. And that quite frankly is my
salvation. It's not what I do. It's not
what I think. It's not what I believe. It's
not what I feel. His life, his death is my salvation. You believe that? You rejoice
in that. Is that all you find nourishment
from? His life and his death, the true
spiritual food and drink. This is all you can live on,
his blood, his righteousness, his perfection. I'm not asking
anybody to make an audible response, but is this really, is he all
to you? And I'm not even talking, he
ought to be all in every aspect. And he is all in every aspect,
but what I'm saying more than anything else is this all in
your salvation, who he is and what he did. Is this all you
can live on? That's what's being taught here.
Except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you. Verse 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. You know who has eternal life?
And I'm talking about the life of God in your soul. I'm talking
about a new man, a new nature, that pure heart, that new heart,
that clean heart. You know who has that eternal
life abiding in their soul? Only those who find their only
way of living, their only ground of acceptance in the life, the
death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I've got nothing else. I don't have anything else right
now while I'm talking to you. I don't have anything else. He
is my all in all. When I say I don't have anything
else, I've got everything. I've got everything. I don't
have the minimum. I have the maximum and everything
in between. That is what it is to eat his
flesh and drink. This is my only meal. This is
the only thing that saves me, his flesh, his blood. And he assures us I will raise
him up at the last day. There's a last day. This life
is so transient, so it's gonna be over soon. Whether you're
young or old, it's still gonna be over soon. But here's the
promise. I will raise him up at the last
day. Verse 55. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink. Indeed, and the word indeed means
true, my flesh, what I accomplished in my flesh in keeping the law
and my taking the sins of my people and putting them away. That's what's true. That's the
true meat. That's the true drink. And if
I can't see this, and like I said, I'm not asking you to make any
kind of verbal response. But I'm asking you to look within
your own heart, is this your only flesh and blood? Is this
your only meal? Is this the only thing you can
live on? The life, the death, the resurrection, the righteousness
of Christ, being my only righteousness before God, what he did in his
flesh, that's my righteousness before God. His shed blood, that's
all I can live on. And most religious people can't
see that. They can't see that. A believer
does. Every believer does. Every believer
sees their only meal that gives them satisfaction is Jesus Christ
and him crucified. That's mealtime. Anything that does not have this
as its sum and substance is not true. My flesh is meat indeed. My blood is drink indeed. This
is the truth. And anything that doesn't have
this as its summoned substance, as underneath everything that's
said, it's not true. My flesh is the real meat. My blood is the real drink. Verse 56. Look at the way he
keeps repeating himself. Repetition's good. Repetition's
good. Being boring's not good. Saying
things in a dry, repetitious way is not good. But repetition
of the spiritual truth of the gospel is good. And he repeats
this to us again so it'll get into our head and our heart. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood, look what he says next, dwelleth in me. You know what the evidence of
you being in Christ is and me being in Christ is? I eat his
flesh and drink his blood. That is dwelling in him. And that's what John meant when
he said, abide in him, abide in him. And the Lord said, abide
in me. Now, here's a real simple illustration. We're in a room.
If all of God's blessing is in this room, And I'm not talking
about scarce blessing, I'm talking about all the fullness of God.
Every blessing there is, is in this room, and nothing but wrath
outside of this room. What room do you wanna be in?
And you think, won't I get bored in that room? No, no, no, you
won't get bored. Not if you're in Christ, there's
nothing boring about this. You say, well, just one place
to be? Yeah, there's just one place to be in Christ. I want
to be in this room with all of God's blessings. And you know,
I'm not talking about this physical room. I'm trying to give this
as an example. If all of God's blessing is in this room, this
is where I want to be. And I don't want to be anywhere else. He says, he that eateth me or
he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me. And
here's the reason you dwell in him. He dwells in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. The only reason, listen to me,
the only reason you want to only be found in him is because he's
in you. Now, if you're a stranger to
this, he's not in you. But if your only desire is to
be found in him, like Paul, oh, that I may win Christ and be
found in him. We're all of God's blessing,
we're all of God's mercy, we're all of God's grace is. Oh, that
I may Christ to be found in him, not having my own righteousness. I don't want my thumbprints on
anything. I simply want to be found in him so that when God
sees me, all he sees is Jesus Christ. That's it. If you feel that way, it's because
he's in you. That didn't come from your flesh. That didn't
come from your efforts or your understanding. That's the work
of God's grace in you. And this is what our Lord is
telling us. 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. Jesus Christ is God equal to
God because he is God. You remember they said you being
a man make yourself God? Well, he was a man, but he is
God, the God-man. And do you know the God-man lived
in complete dependence upon his father? He believed God completely. He trusted his father for his
next meal. I'm glad for the financial prosperity that is
in this country, and not many of us are worrying about our
next meal. But I wish the Lord would enable us to be totally
cognizant of the fact that our next meal, our next breath, is
dependent upon him. He said, I live by the Father.
As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father,
so that he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. That's how
he lives. Same way I do. Complete dependence. This is the bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers that eat manna and are
dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now that's eternal life. And
it's not just the longevity of the life. It's the life of God
in my soul. It's the new man. It's the new
creature in Christ Jesus. It's the clean heart. It's the
pure heart. It's the new heart. And this
is what I love to think of. And this shows how we have to
live by faith and not by sight. The same nature that I'm going
to have in heaven. I have right now. Can you see
it? No. Do you believe it? Yes. Yes. That is eternal life. And this this also lets us know
how much a sinful nature drags us down because we can't see
that. But we believe it because God's word tells us. Now this
is what I want to eat. This is who I want to eat. This
is who I want to drink. This is my only meal. This is
the only thing that satisfies me. Don't you hate going to a
restaurant and paying for a meal that you didn't even like? You
think, why did I spend that money? I'm irritated two or three days
sometimes after that happens. I just think, I spent that money
on that? Got some of that garbage can better than that, you know. But oh, what satisfaction there
is in looking to Him only, eating Him only, drinking Him only. I am the bread of life.