Alright, you open your Bible
with me to John 6. And our Lord said in verse 48,
that's where we'll start our message. John 6, verse 48. He says, I am, I am that bread
of life. Our Lord reveals himself as Jehovah
God. I am. Every time he uses this
word, I am, He's declaring unto us that he is the eternal, almighty,
living God. When they came to arrest him
in the garden, the soldiers, with their weapons and host of
people, they said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. He asked them, whom
seek ye? They said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I am. And that fell backward. The whole
host just fell backward before that declaration, I am, I am. The translators added he, but
he said I am. He said if you believe not that
I am, you're dying your sins. He said I am the good shepherd.
I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he'll
be saved. Go in and out, find pasture.
I am the resurrection and the life. Moses said unto God, listen,
Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and I say unto them,
The God of your fathers hath sent me, and they shall say to
me, What's his name? What shall I say? And God said to Moses, I am. that I am. Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, I am sent to you." So over here he says, I am Jehovah
God. And he says, I am that bread
our Lord reveals himself as being essential to our salvation. He uses an essential element.
Without bread, we can't survive. I am that bread of life. I am meat. He said, I am the
water of life. I'm the light of the world, the
sun. You can't survive without those three things, food, water,
and life, sunshine. And I am the bread. I am the
water, I am the light. And then he reveals himself not
only as Jehovah God and as essential to life, but he reveals himself
exclusively. He said, I'm that bread. Verse
35, back there in verse 35, he said, I'm the bread of life.
I'm not a bread, a kind of bread, I'm the bread. And here in verse
48, he says, I am that bread. And in verse 51, he says, I am
the living bread exclusively. There is no other. There is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. John 14, 6, he said, I am the
way, the only way. I am the truth. No man comes
to the Father but by me. None other name unto heaven.
Jehovah God, the essential one and the exclusive one. And then
he reveals himself here as a gift. Where did we get this bread?
Now look back at verse 32. Our Lord said in verse 32, I
say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread. My Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. It's a gift of God. Verse 33.
The bread of God is he which cometh down from the world and
giveth his life unto the world. It's not something we earn. The wages of sin is death. That's
what we earn. The gift of God is the bread
of life. Verse 32, all that the Father
giveth me will come to me. This is the gift of God. Gift
of God. All who receive Christ. This
is what I'm saying. All who receive Christ receive
him as the gift of God. All who lay hold of eternal life
do so with an empty hand. The top lady captured it in that
song, in my hand no price I bring, except it to the cross of Christ
I cling. All who come to the table of
the Lord bring nothing but their hunger. As the hymn writer said,
let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he required is
to feel your need of him. It's a gift of God. All right,
look at the next verse, verse 49. Your fathers, and they had
reminded him about Moses and the manna, he said, your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness, and they're dead. They ate that
bread in the wilderness, and they're dead. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, which that a man may eat thereof
and not die. The manner God gave Israel had
no saving power or spiritual power. It was only a picture
of Christ. It was material. It was an element
God gave them. And these were some of the characteristics
of that manner. Let's read about it, though,
in Exodus 16. Let's read about the manna, and
then I'll give you some characteristics of that manna. And as we read
it, remember this manna in the wilderness, this bread in the
wilderness, is a picture of Christ, a type of Christ. In Exodus 16,
verse 11, and the Lord spake to Moses, saying, I've heard
the murmuring of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying,
At even you shall eat flesh." He gave them the quails, you
know, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and
you shall know that I am the Lord thy God. And it came to
pass that at even, in the evening, the quails came up and covered
the camp. That's pretty good eating. And we used to hunt quail,
that white breast, delicious. And in the morning the dew lay
round about the host, and when the dew that lay had gone up,
the whole upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small
round thing, as small as the whorefrost on the ground. And
the children of Israel, when they saw it, they said one to
another, What is it? It is manna. What is it? That's
what that word means. It's a portion. It was not what
it was. And Moses said unto them, This
is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. Now what are some
characteristics of that bread that make a picture of Christ? Well, number one, it was prepared
in heaven and sent down to earth. They didn't do a thing. They
didn't contribute anything to this matter. It was prepared
in heaven. It came down, sent down. Christ, the body thou hast
prepared me. My father sent me. Secondly,
it was mysterious. They said, what is it? Never
seen anything like it. Couldn't explain it. Mysterious.
Christ Jesus the Lord. Mary said, how can I have a son?
I don't know a man. That can't be. A virgin can't
have a son. What is it? Mysterious. The angel just summed up Christ's
incarnation and miraculous birth this way. That holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Thirdly,
manna was a gift. It cost nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just eat it. If you've got an
appetite, you're hungry, eat it. It was plentiful. Plentiful. Nobody lacked. Nobody had more
than needed. You don't need more of Christ
than he gives. He's everything. And nobody lacked. Nobody had
a crown. Somebody else had a straw hat.
No, they all had the same thing. They all had life. And it was sweet. Over in Exodus
16, it says in verse 31 about this manna, in Exodus 16, 31,
the house of Israel called the name thereof manna. It was like
coriander seed. What did it taste like? I'll tell you what it tasted
like, like wafers made with honey. Mike, we love that, don't we?
Mike just smiled. He's a honey eater. He's a bee
chaser. He loves honey. I do too. Oh,
what is better than wafers with honey? And it was sweet to the
taste, as is Christ. But like every... You know, our
Lord says here, though, in verse 49, your fathers did eat this
manna and they're dead. Now here's the problem with manna. It's a picture of Christ, but
there are ways in which it's not a picture of Christ. Number
one, this manna was bred only for the outward man, the flesh.
He couldn't do a thing for the spirit. And that goes for any
relic of religion or any type of religion or any candle burning. The Jews did this. Israel, when Moses lifted up
that serpent and they looked and they lived, you know what
they did? They took that serpent down and
some carpenter built a box for it. and lined it with beautiful
velvet and put that thing in the box. And they put it in the
temple and worshipped it. And Hezekiah became the king
and he ground the thing to powder. He said, it's a worthless piece
of brass. Yeah, but Moses built it. It's a worthless piece of
brass. Yeah, but Moses lived and lived. It's a worthless piece
of brass. It's like the cross that they
have on their churches. It's a worthless piece of wood.
It's like all the crosses that they use and the crosses that
they show and all this sort of thing. It's a worthless piece
of wood. But Christ died on it. It's a
worthless piece of wood. He died on it and saved his people.
You could die on it and go to hell. And that's true of any relic
you find that has a religious significance. And that goes for
going to the Holy Land and walking behind these preachers. You pay for your trip, they get
a free one to take you. You know that, don't you? and
get paid so much for each one they take and take them around
and look at those relics and play in front of them. Waste
of time. That manna had nothing to do
with the inner man, just the outer man. Number two, it spoiled
after a day. Some of them tried to gather
the whole lot in the morning and put it in the closet and
it went in there and it stunk the next day. The Lord told them
not to. Give us this day our daily bread." Christ is eternal. You can fill your heart full
of Christ and he'll be just as sweet tomorrow as he was today.
But that bread stunk after a day. Thirdly, it was only found in
the morning. You couldn't, if you got hungry in the afternoon,
you just had to wait on the quail because it's not there. Let me tell you. Anytime that
you have a hunger, you come to me and drink. You come to me
and eat. You feed on Christ 24 hours a
day. Bob, when you're driving down
the highway at 3 o'clock in the morning trying to get home, you
know, just call on him. He's there always, isn't he?
Always there. Not like manner, only in the
morning. I'll tell you another thing. When they went into Canaan,
the manna ceased. No more manna. When they crossed
Jericho, crossed the river Jordan, the town of Jericho, went into
the, no more manna. But I tell you, when I cross
the river Jordan and come into Canaan, he's going to be on the
throne. My Lord, my manna sweet to the
taste. They ate and they're dead. But
now look at verse 51. Now you listen to our Lord. Four powerful
statements. This is so important here. Verse
51. I am the living bread. I am the
living bread. Because I live, you live. The
living bread. He said I'm the living stone.
I'm the living word. I'm the living hope. I am life. He said in Revelation 1.8, I
am he that liveth. I was dead, but behold, I am
alive forevermore, and I have the keys of hell and death. I'm
the living bread. And then secondly, I came down
from heaven. I was with the Father, I came
from the Father, I'll go back to the Father. No man hath ascended
into heaven except the Son of Man which came down from heaven,
which is in heaven. I came down from heaven. Listen,
if any man eat of this bread, he'll live forever. I'm telling
you, this is as certain and as sure as God's throne. Our Lord
said, if any man eat of this bread, he'll live forever. If he eats, he lives forever.
That makes me mighty interested in what eating this bread is. He'll live forever. Well, what
is it? Here it is. And the bread that
I'll give is my flesh, which I'll give for the life of the
world. Now this is a key. Listen closely. This bread, if
a man eats that, he'll live forever. And this bread, That I will give
is my flesh, my human body. We're talking about his human
body. That's right. Remember that. I'll show you
that in several scriptures. Now first turn to Luke 22. Luke 22. What is it to eat his
flesh? We're talking about his human
body. Drink his blood, his human blood.
Just keep that in mind. He said this, this bread is my
flesh. Not apart from his deity now,
he's God, I know that, but the God-man, he's a man. All right,
Luke 22, verse 19 and 20. And he took bread, and gave thanks,
and baked it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, This is
my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.
Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the
new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. is my body, human body. This wine is my blood, human
blood. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10, and reading these scriptures helped
me to understand what it is to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16, Paul said in verse 15, I speak
as to the wise men, judge you what I say. Verse 16, 1 Corinthians
10, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The blood of Christ? This bread
which we break, is it not the communion or fellowship of the
body of Christ? His human body we are talking
about. Christ as God has no body. God has no body. God is spirit. But Christ said, this bread is
my body, this blood is my blood, blood in this body. Turn, if
you will, to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared made." God prepared Christ a
body. Verse 10 of that same chapter,
Hebrews 10, verse 10. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
As I said, not apart from his deity, not apart from His soul
being made an offering for sin, he offered himself a sacrifice
for sin. But this we're talking about
here is Christ crucified. Christ in his body, wounded for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement
of our peace upon him by stripes. You can't put stripes on a soul
or a spirit, you put stripes on a body. by stripes will heal. It's Christ crucified that's
the object of our faith. It's Christ crucified. Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. I determined to know nothing
among you, say Christ in Him crucified. We preach Christ in
Him crucified. His stripes were here, his body. So he says here in verse 51,
I'm the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat this bread, he'll live forever. And the bread that I give is
my flesh, my body. I saw one hanging on a tree,
wrote Newton, in agony and blood. He seemed to fix his languid
eyes on me as near his cross I stood. Sure never to my latest
breath shall I forget that look. He seemed to charge me with his
death, though it was not a word he spoke. But a second look he
gave me, which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for
your ransom paid. I died that you may live. O can it be, upon the tree, the
Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled, my heart
is filled to think, he died for me. Peter said he suffered the
just for the unjust. Suffered the just for the unjust,
he might bring us to God. And so the Jews ask this question,
verse 52, which I ask as my text. The Jews therefore strove among
themselves, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? They
understood what he said. Bread is my flesh. This bread
is my body. They understood that. And so
they came to this conclusion, like Nicodemus said, how can
a man be born again when he's old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's world? He knew Christ was talking about
a new birth. And they knew Christ was talking about his body and
his blood. And they said, well, how can
he give us his body to eat? And he answered, verse 53. Jesus said unto them, Truly,
truly, I say to you now, except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. What's
he mean? Well, Christ became a man of
blood and flesh to redeem us. The scripture says by man came
death. By man, flesh and blood and bones
came death. By man, flesh and blood and bones
came life. And the word to eat his flesh
and drink his blood is a spiritual receiving of Christ the man,
Christ the God-man by faith. Not just believing that there's
a God, Not just believing that God, who is Spirit, is almighty
and sovereign and safe, but believing that God actually came down here
in the flesh, in a body of flesh and blood,
and that he obeyed the law and he went to the cross, and that
body, that flesh, was bruised and broken and bleeding. God
in human flesh actually died for my sins. put away my guilt,
my hand would lay on that head of thine, all my sins, and there
confess them on that body. It is to believe that Jesus Christ
came in the flesh, is truly a man, and as a man went to the cross
and bled and died for my sins. That's what it is, to eat his
flesh to receive the God-man. Like to satisfy your hunger and
your thirst, you drink water or eat bread. To satisfy my spiritual
emptiness and inability and wickedness and sin and hunger and thirst
and to know God is actually to take in that man, his body and
his blood. Turn to 1 John 4. This is what
John is saying right here, 1 John chapter 4. It's spiritual eating. But it's the spiritual eating
of a million of flesh and blood. I cannot be saved by just believing
there's a God. The devil believes there's a
God. I'm saved by believing that God
became a man, like this man, bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh. He came down from heaven in the
flesh. and did everything that the law
required, that justice demanded, that God required, that heaven
demanded, and I'm he, and he is us. 1 John 4, verse 2 and
3. Hereby know we the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh Every spirit that
confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God. This bread is my flesh. That's
what he said. This bread is my flesh. Remember
what he said over in 51? This bread that I give is my
flesh. And that's what I believe. He's
come in the flesh. And if a man doesn't believe
that, he's not of God, he's an Antichrist. His blood is shed for our sins,
and we partake of and enjoy all the spiritual blessings purchased
by him through his broken body and shed blood. Through our union
with him we have redemption. I have pardon and peace and life.
And as day by day as I feed on Christ, this is what we are doing
now, we are growing in grace. How? We are feeding on Christ. This is the word of Christ. the
promise of Christ, this is the gospel of Christ. And just like
our children eat properly and drink properly and they grow
properly. And this feeding upon Christ increases our knowledge
of him and produces a growth in grace and this is our food
and drink of the spiritual man. His life maintains that spiritual
life. Does that help you? It helped
me so much. In verse 53, I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man. That's who saved
me. The key is the Son of Man. The
Son of Man. Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of God, the Son of God got no flesh. It's the Son of Man. He became a man. He's declared
to be who he is, but he was made what he was, a man. But that's
how he saved me. Without that, I'm not saved. I've got to have a sacrifice
and atonement. Verse 54, listen, And whoso eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, he has life, he has eternal life. He has the
nature of life. He's a partaker, Peter said,
of divine nature. He has the giver of life. Christ,
who is our life, shall appear. He has the hope of life. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. He has the pledge of life, the
Holy Spirit is our earnest, our pledge of life. He has a promise,
promise. He said, I'll raise him up, I'll
raise him up at the last day. Now verse 55, you've got to see
this. Verse 55, here's the reason,
here's the reason, let me read 54 and then Whoso eateth my flesh,
the Son of Man, drinketh my blood by faith spiritually, he has
life, and I raise him up far, because my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed." What's the word indeed mean?
Truly. What's he referring to? The manna? It's bread, but not
bread indeed. Bread in tithes. My flesh is
meat indeed. living meat. My blood is drink
indeed, living water. In opposition to that which is
typical, you find the rock that Moses smoked. If you do, put
it out in your garden. Ain't no water coming from that
rock now. But my blood is drink indeed. Find the manna. No power. Find all those sin offerings
under the law. Find the Ark of the Covenant,
the mercy seat, and all those things of no use. The reason if you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you have eternal life is because my flesh
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that
eateth my flesh, verse 56, and drinketh my blood, he dwells
in me. He dwells in my heart. I love him. He dwells in my hands,
and no man can pluck them out of my hands. He dwells in my
arms, the everlasting arms. He dwells in my body, I'm his
head. He dwells in me as the branch, and I the vine. He dwells
in me as his mediator. He dwells in me on the cross,
in the grave, and now in heaven. He dwells in me, and I dwell
in him. Any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he's none of his. Faith is not the cause of Christ
dwelling in me. Faith is the means by which I
receive him, though, in my heart, and by which I have communion
with him. Now watch this, verse 57. As
the living Father hath sent me. Who prepared Christ the body?
The Father. He said, the body you prepared.
Who indwelt that body by the power of his Spirit? God said
to John the Baptist, on whom you see the Spirit descend, he's
the Son of God. Who sustained him? He said, Father,
glorify me that I may glorify you. Who sustained him and kept
him? The Father. Who raised him from the dead?
The Father. Who called him to glory and seated
him in his right hand? The Father. Who gave him the
promise, your enemies are your footstool? The Father. As the
Father has sent me. And I live by him. Jesus Christ
is the promise of the Father and the product of the Father. Even so, he that eateth me, he'll
live by me. As a man, he had his human life
from God. He was preserved up hell by the
Father. He laid down his life at the
command of the Father. He committed his soul to the
Father. He was raised and exalted by the Father. So he that believes
on me, Christ said, shall live by me. I have my life from Christ. He is my food and my drink on
which I live. By him each day I am upheld,
I am preserved, and by him, and only by him, by his will I be
brought to glory. So he that eateth me, he liveth
by me. This is the bread which came
down from heaven. Now, not as your fathers did
it, mine are dead. He that eats this bread will
live forever." What was the response of the people? Twofold. Many, therefore, of his hearers,
when they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Nobody
can understand this. And our Lord knew in himself
that these people murmured, and he said, Does this offend you?
Wait till you see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before.
If you think the things of God that he does with us and in us
and for us down here are glorious. Paul said, I went to the third
heaven, I heard things I can't even tell you. I can't even tell
you. You wouldn't believe it. You
couldn't imagine it. And that's what he's saying to
them. But it's the spirit that gives understanding, that quickens,
that gives life. The flesh doesn't profit anything
anyway. You could get your seven degrees from the greatest universities
in the world and still couldn't understand the scriptures. That's
right. And yet you can have a third
grade education just able to read it. Or let somebody read
it to you, no education at all, just let somebody read it to
you. And if the Holy Spirit reveals it, you'll understand. You'll
know what it is to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Everybody
that has the Spirit of God will walk out of here this morning
knowing exactly what it is to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
And folks that go out confused came in that way. That's right. These people came in confused.
And they went out confused. But some of them didn't. Verse
64, there are some that believe not, for Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray
him. Therefore he said, I said unto you that no man can come
to me except that it were given him of my Father. And from that
time they just left, walked no more with him. Then he turned
to the twelve and said, will you go away? Simon Peter answered
for all of us, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of life. This is the word of life. He's
the Word, He's the Bread, He's the Water, He's the Life. And
we believe and assure you that Christ is the Son of the Living
God. You're a man, you're a man, a
Redeemer, but you're the Son of God. All right, that's it,
that's it. That's what it is to eat his
flesh and drink his blood.