I've never heard several of those
verses. That was beautiful. That song was written by Jane
Bonar upon the passing away of her husband. He died and she
wrote that song. This evening we will not be having
services. I've entitled the message, but this morning eating His flesh
and drinking His blood. Verse 53, 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. Now I want us to put ourselves
in their place. He gave no explanation for this. He didn't say, well, here's what
I'm talking about. He said, except you eat the flesh
of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Now, can you imagine how confused
they would have been by this statement? Incredulous? What do you mean
by that? How are we supposed to eat your
flesh and drink your blood? What do you mean by that? And
I can see where many would have thought he's crazy. That makes
no sense at all for him to tell us that we are to eat his flesh
and to drink his blood. eating his flesh, drinking his
blood. If I was going to select a passage
to preach from to people who'd never heard the gospel, one of
the first things that would come to my mind is this sermon the
Lord preached in John chapter six, known as the Sermon in Capernaum. And after he finished this message,
Everyone except the 12 left him. Look in verse 66. From that time, after the preaching
of this message, from that time, many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him. I try to imagine that scene in
my mind. Remember, these people had eaten
bread that he created that very day. And when they heard this message,
they went back. They said, no more of this. We've
heard enough. We do not want to participate
in this. And they left him. And I can't help but also think
about this. When they left him, he didn't
say, let me rephrase that. Let me explain what I meant.
He watched them leave. And then he said to the 12, will
you also go away? after this particular message. The message actually began in
verse 25. These are the people that he
had fed miraculously and sent them away The next day they're
hungry again, 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 the miracles, but because you did eat of the
loaves and were filled. You're not seeking me because
of any conviction with regard to my person, but because you've
got your bellies filled. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the
Father sealed. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? We considered
that last week. Give us something to do. Give
us a list. 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 sign showest thou then? Well, they'd just eaten them.
Bread miraculously created. Wasn't that enough of a sign
if they needed one? But here they go. Give us a sign. They
obviously didn't believe him in the first place. What does now work? Our fathers
did eat man in the desert as it's written. He gave them bread
from heaven to eat. And they're saying, our fathers
were provided bread from Moses. You do the same. You do the same. Now, he's referring to Exodus
chapter 16, where manna from heaven, it didn't find its origin
here on earth, it was manna from heaven, came down every single
day in the wilderness for 40 years. You get up in the morning and
it would melt by noon. You had to get up in the morning,
gather enough just for that day. If you gathered two days worth,
you know what would happen? It would breed worms and stink
the next day. All you could get was bread for
that day, which illustrates to us so beautifully what faith
in Christ is. I look to him today. I don't
look to yesterday's experience. I don't look for what's gonna
happen tomorrow. I look right now to Christ as all I have. And tomorrow, I'm gonna be doing
the same thing. And it's my prayer that when
I take my last breath upon earth, it will be looking to Christ
only. That bread that came down from
heaven. I'd never noticed this before,
but the instruction with regard to that bread on Fridays get
two days worth, so you won't have to gather any on the Sabbath
day. That was given before the Sabbath commandment. This is
talking about that perpetual rest that's in Jesus Christ.
The Sabbath day is not making a work out of not working. The
Sabbath day is not working. Salvation has never been by works. It's always been in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Every day, manna from heaven
for 40 years. And what I think is so amazing
about this manna, they're soon going to say with regard to this
manna that came down from heaven, Our souls loathe this light bread. Had the bread changed? Had the
composition of the bread changed? Had the taste of the bread changed? They had changed. Our souls loathe
this light bread. this light bread. 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. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from
heaven and giveth life to the world." This is one of seven times in
this message the Lord speaks of coming down from heaven. This bread, they didn't grow
it here on earth, did they? It came down from heaven. And
Christ says, I am the bread that came down from heaven. Look in verse 38. For I came
down from heaven. Verse 41. The Jews then murmured
to him because he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven.
They didn't understand this. 42. And they said, Is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
that he saith, I came down from heaven? Now you put yourself
in their place. You would be just as nonplussed
and confused as they were. You came down from heaven. We
remember your birth date. We were there. And you say you
came down from heaven. Look in verse 50. This is the
bread which cometh down. from heaven, verse 51. I am the
living bread which came down from heaven, verse 58. This is
that bread which came down from heaven. Verse 59, these things
said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore
of his disciples when they heard this said, this is an hard saying. Who can be expected to listen
to this? Now put yourself in their place. Except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And I'm
sure in their minds they were thinking of cannibalism. They
were thinking, you're telling me I'm supposed to chew on your
flesh and drink your blood as I would water? Can you see why
they had a hard time with this? The Lord didn't give them any
explanation either. He didn't say, here's what I mean. He gave
this truth. And then he tells them, I've
come down from heaven. What do you mean we know your birthday?
We know your mom and dad. We know your brothers and sisters.
And you say you came down from heaven and they ended up leaving
him. Verse 50, 66 from that time after
this message in Capernaum, after this message in Capernaum, many
of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him." Now,
in this particular message, the Lord clearly set forth what is
known as the doctrine of grace, the doctrine of grace, and I
hesitate to use this. As a matter of fact, I generally
avoid using this term because I don't like this term, but it's
what people have mistakenly called the five points of Calvinism. Why do I not like that term?
Because it's putting a man's name on divine truth. I do not like the term, the five
points of Calvinism. I guarantee you John Calvin wouldn't
have liked it either. Christ preached this long before
Calvin existed. Now when we're talking about
these five points, here they are. They can be memorized by
the acrostic tulip. Men are totally depraved. You know what that means? You can't save yourself. You're completely under the dominion
of sin. That's T. U, unconditional election. God chose who would be saved
before time began. The reason the word unconditional
is used is because most people think, well, God looked down
through the telescope of time and he saw who would believe
and he chose them. That's foolishness. God's not
a time traveler. He ordained, he selected who
would be saved before time began. That's the U. L stands for limited
atonement. What does that mean? When Christ
died. It was limited to the elect.
It was not universal. He died for his elect and accomplished
their salvation. That is the L. I don't particularly
like limited because I know what people think. They think that
limits the ability of Christ's blood. No, his blood is not limited
in its ability, but he died for the elect. He didn't die for
all men. Without exception, he died for
the elect. The I stands for irresistible grace. That means God's grace
can't be resisted. His grace is not an offer. He's
offering you His grace, and it's up to you to take it or leave
it. No, He gives you grace. You're saved. And you will, this
is what the P stands for, you will persevere all the way to
the end. Now, all five of those points
are taught in this sermon. Long time before John Calvin
ever came around. This is the gospel. You cannot preach the gospel
and not preach this. And we're going to consider that
in depth, Lord willing, next week. Where the Lord preached
this to these people. TULIP. Let's go on reading. Back to John chapter 6. 34, this is their response, for the
bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life
unto the world. They said unto him, Lord evermore, give us this
bread. We're interested in this. We had a good meal yesterday.
We'd like to have another one today. And we'd love to have
this food again. They had no idea what he was
talking about. Verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. Now this is before he said, except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.
But he said, I am the bread of life. The construction of this
statement, I am, goes back to where the Lord gave his name
to the children of Israel, or to Moses. When he first appeared
to Moses, and Moses said, what am I gonna tell them your name
is? He said, I am that I am. Now when the Lord says, I am
the bread of life, they knew what he meant. As a matter of
fact, in John chapter eight, verse 24, he said, if you believe
not that I am, you're gonna die in your sins. And they knew exactly what he
meant. I am the one who spoke to Moses. I am that I am. You remember when the Jews said,
you're not yet 50 years old. How do you say Abraham is senior
day? He said, before Abraham was,
I am. When they came to arrest the
Lord, they came with a great multitude of people. Some say
500 people with clubs and staves. He said, whom seek ye? They said,
Jesus of Nazareth. I am. They went backwards to
the ground. He's letting them know, I'm no
victim here. I'm not in your hands. You're
in mine. And my will is being done. I am that I am seven times in
the book of John. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door. I am the good
shepherd. I am the resurrection and the
life. The resurrection's not an event.
I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. I am the true vine. This is who he is, the great
I am that I am. The bread of God is the bread
of which God himself is the bread. 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. Now, I am the bread. of life. Remember, He's going
to be saying to them, you're going to have to eat my flesh
and drink my blood. And He's giving us some idea
as to what that means when He says to these people, I am the
bread of life. Now He is pre-existent bread. Look in verse 33. For the bread
of God is He which cometh down from heaven. Before He came down
from heaven, He is the pre-existent bread. He was in heaven as the
eternal son before he ever came down to earth. Do you remember,
I've already quoted this, when the Pharisees objected to the
Lord saying, you're only 50 years old and you've seen Abraham before
Abraham was? I am the eternal pre-existent
one. They knew exactly what he was
saying when he made that statement. Turn with me for a moment to
Colossians chapter one. I want to look at this scriptural
statement with regard to the preexistent bread, the bread
that existed beforehand. In the beginning was the word.
The word was with God. The word was God. The same was
eternally. The same was Colossians one verse Fifteen. Who is, speaking of Jesus Christ,
who is the image of the invisible God? All, you know what that
means? All you and I will ever see of
God is Jesus Christ. God is spirit. All you and I
will ever see of God is Jesus Christ. He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him. and for him, and he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. He's the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence,
for it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell. That's what pleases God. If the Christ that you believe
does not have every attribute of God, he is a false Christ
who cannot save you. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. He's the preexistent Christ.
Now look in verse And we're going to come back to this at the end
of the message. And 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. But
I said unto you that you've also seen me and believe not. Now he looks at these people.
He's speaking to you. You see me and you do not believe. There's some who will believe.
Verse 37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out for I came down from heaven. There's that
word again, not to do my 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 has given me, I should
lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. It's God's will for me to save
the elect, and I will not lose one of them. Verse 40, 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. Well, the Jews then murmured
at him because he said, I'm the bread which came down from heaven.
I can understand this murmuring. And 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? Look in verse 48. I am the bread
of life. Your fathers did eat man in the
wilderness. They're 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. I'm the true manna. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I'll
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? Put yourself in their place.
You'd be saying the same thing. I'd be saying the same thing. 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. Now you and I know that he's
not speaking of cannibalism. He's not talking about chewing
on his flesh and digesting it and drinking his blood as you
would drink water. When the Lord said, take eat,
this is my body. drinky all of it, but this is
the blood of the New Testament which is shed for the remission
of sins. He's not saying that the bread
and wine turn in to the physical flesh and physical blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is what is taught in
the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. It means when you take the wafer
and when you drink the wine, it turns into the literal body
and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that belief is taken from
this passage of scripture. And if that's the case, you know
what? Christ has to suffer every single day. He doesn't have to
suffer every single day. He suffered once and he put away
the sins of all for whom he died. Now, let's think of this thing
of eating and drinking. Physically, what do you need? You need to eat and you need
to drink. And what will happen to you if
you do not eat and drink? You will die. No man can live who does not
eat and drink. These are utter necessities for
life. And you cannot live spiritually
without eating and drinking spiritually. Now, when you eat the flesh of
Christ and drink his blood, You find the person and work of Christ
all you can eat. You're a picky eater. I think of that raven that left
the ark. He didn't come back. Why? Because
he could find satisfaction on the rotting flesh of dead works. The dove couldn't eat that goody. All a believer finds spiritual
nourishment in is the flesh and blood of Christ. What he did
in the flesh. In the flesh he kept God's law
perfectly. In the flesh He suffered and
died under the wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute. And
the only thing that I can eat that preserves me, that gives
me life, is eating his flesh and drinking his blood, his broken
body as my substitute, his shed blood as my sin payment, his
perfect righteousness that he worked out in the flesh. That's
all I can eat on. And if you give me anything else
to eat, it won't work for me. I must have his flesh and his
blood. Why did he die? There's one reason for death,
sin. He hath made him to be sin. For us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's my meal. That's all I derive nourishment
from. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His flesh and His blood, His
person and work, His sin atoning death. That's my necessary food. Look in verse 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day. It's only those who eat his flesh.
They look to what he did in the flesh only as the only thing
that will keep them alive. That's their spiritual food. Look back in verse 35 for a moment. I am the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. In my self, as long as I'm a sinner,
there's a sense in which I'm always going to be hungry. And that's a blessed thing. Blessed
is he that hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness. In my experience,
there's a sense I realize in which I shall always hunger. But in Christ, I'm not hungering for anything
else. I'm not thirsting for anything
else. His body that I eat, His broken
body, His perfect righteousness, having His righteousness as my
personal righteousness before God. I'm not looking for anything
else. I am completely satisfied to
have His righteousness as my personal righteousness before
God, and I'm not looking for anything else. I don't know how many times I've
heard people say to me, there's got to be more. Well, you just
ain't ever heard them. You're satisfied with him. You
find perfect satisfaction in his right. You find perfect satisfaction
in his shed blood as all that is needed to make me holy and
perfect and without blame before God. I'm not looking for anything
to add to that. I'm not looking for a dessert.
I'm not looking for something better. There isn't anything
better. his broken body and his shed
blood as my meal, as that which keeps me alive before God." What
does it mean to never hunger and never thirst? It means to
look nowhere but to Christ alone. Okay, somebody says, how do I
eat his flesh and drink his blood? What does that mean? to eat his
flesh and drink his blood. Give me some help on that. Well,
I can't give you any help, but the Lord tells us in verse 35,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. How do I eat his flesh and blood?
By coming to him. What do you mean by that? How do I come to Him? He's not
here. It's not like I can make a geographical
dip from point A to point B. How do I come to Him? What do
you mean come to Him? Well, when you come to Him, that
means you're leaving someplace else. You leave salvation by
works and you come to Him. You leave any hope of being saved
by yourself and you come to him. And this is what he was referring
to when he says, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. Now
I got that down. I see it's leaving someplace,
but give me something else. We'll look in verse 35 again. I am the bread of life, he that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst." What does it mean to come to Christ? It means to
believe on Him. What do you do when you believe
on Him? Number one, you believe who He is. He's the Son of God. He's God's Christ. He's the one
the Father sent. You believe who He is. You know,
if you believe who He is, you do not believe that He's capable
of failure. It's not possible for Him to
shed His precious blood for you and you not be saved. Do you
believe that? Ah, it's a thing impossible. If He died for you
because of who He is, you must be saved. You believe who He
is and you rely upon Him to save you. You don't have anything
else. You're relying on Him only to save you. And all your eggs
are in that basket. is salvation. Now you believe
who He is, you believe what He did is all that's needed to make
you accepted, and you actually rest your soul upon Him right
now. Now if you've never done it before,
do it right now. Trust Him to save you. What if I'm not one of the elect?
Trust Him to save you. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, Him that cometh. You leave salvation by works,
you look to Him only. Look in verse 40 of this same
chapter. And this is the will of Him that
sent me. that everyone which seeth the
Son." Now, I don't see Him physically, and you don't either, but I see
who He is. He's the Creator. You believe
that? He's the Creator. He's God the
Son, the second person of the Trinity. He's the Lord. He's God's Christ. He's God's
prophet. He's the Word of God. He's God's
priest. The priest God has provided.
If he represents you before God, you must be saved. He's God's
King. He can cause you to believe.
He's King. His will is always done. He that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him. You trust Him only as everything
in your salvation. He may have everlasting life
and I will raise Him up on the last day. Now, all who see the
Son believe. If you don't believe, you've
never seen Him. You just write that down. You've never seen
him. If you ever see who he is, you will believe. Now, are you satisfied with that? Then you've eaten his flesh and
you've drank his blood. That's exactly what that means.
You eat his flesh, drink his blood. What I eat, what I drink.
Now, you can take everything away from me that I have. You
can take my clothes, you can leave me with nothing, you can
take everything away from me that I have, but something that
I eat and that I drink, you can't take that from me. It becomes
part of me. And that's what happened with
the Lord. Let's look in these, in closing, verse 55. He says, for my flesh is meat
indeed, my blood His drink, indeed, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him." That's speaking of
the union of the Lord and His people. You're in Him. He's in you. That's what happens
when we eat His flesh and drink His blood. He's in me. I'm 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. What do we live by? Him. Him. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers that eat man and are
dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Well, these things said He in
Capernaum in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. May God give us the grace right
now Not to wait for something to happen. Don't wait to get
better. Don't wait till you understand
more. You know, I'm sure when the people
left and they didn't understand what he's saying, I'm sure Peter
thinking, well, I'm not sure what he's saying either, but
I believe him. I believe him. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's blessed
name that we might, by your grace, by your spirit, eat of your flesh
and drink of your blood, finding your flesh, your perfect righteousness
as our complete satisfaction that you're satisfied with and
we're satisfied with. We ask that we might find in
drinking the blood of your son as our only way of our sin being
put away. Lord, cause that to be the only
meal we ever want. The broken body and shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray.