These words which fell so often
from the lips of our Lord when He walked this earth in human
flesh. These words go back to Exodus
chapter 3. I am, our Lord said, I am that
bread of life. And I know that these Jews, these
Old Testament scholars, had as much sense as I have. And I'm
sure that they knew what he was saying when he said, I am. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am
the way. I am the truth. I am the life. If you believe not that I am,
You'll die in your sins. And if you look at Exodus chapter
3, and keep your hand over there in the book of Exodus for a little
while, Exodus 3 verse 13, Moses said unto God, Moses said unto God, Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath
sent me unto you. And they shall say to me, What's
his name? What's his name? What shall I
say unto them? And God said to Moses, I am, I am that I am. And he said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, hath
said thee." Our Lord said, I am. One time when they came to arrest
him, the soldiers came into the garden and our Lord said, Whom
seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And they fell backward to the
ground. When he pronounced that name,
I am, they all didn't fall forward to worship him, which we will
do. They fell backward, stunned,
astonished, taken aback. I am that bread of life, the
only bread. John 6, 48, I am that bread which
gives and sustains life, and the only bread. I am that bread,
that bread, that bread which every sinner
needs and without which every sinner will perish. I am,
I am. Verse 49, your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness and they're dead. I am the bread which cometh down
from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. Now the manner, let's go back
to Exodus 16. I told you to wait there with
your hand in Exodus 16. The manner that God gave to Israel
in the wilderness was only a picture of Christ, a type of Christ. And it was a picture of Christ
in several ways. Let's read about it here in Exodus
16, verse 11. The children of Israel were in
the wilderness, the desert. The desert yields no food, nothing
for them to eat or drink. So the Lord provided, in verse
12, Exodus 16, verse 11, the Lord spake to Moses saying, I
have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, and I speak
unto them, saying, At even you shall eat flesh, in the morning
you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am
the Lord your God. And it came to pass that at evening
the quails came up and covered the camp, in the morning The
dew lay round about the host, and when the dew that lay was
gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness, there lay
a small round thing, as small as the hoarfrost on the ground. And when the children of Israel
saw it, they said one to the other, it's manna. What did they
say? They said, what is this? Manna
is, what is it? What is it? Manna was strange
and mysterious, as was the birth of our Lord, born without a father,
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of a virgin, mysteriously. What is it? The angel called
it that holy thing. What is it? Manna from heaven,
bred from heaven. He was prepared in heaven and
sat down, even as this manna was prepared in heaven and sat
down. And Moses said to them, verse 15, This is the bread which
the Lord God hath given you. The Lord Jesus Christ, like manna,
is mysterious. He is from heaven, and He is
given freely. This is the bread the Lord God
hath given you. You don't plow and plant and
raise this. He gives it to you freely. This is the manner God gives
you. That's how he's a picture of Christ. This is the thing
which the Lord hath commanded, verse 16, gather of it every
man, everybody that's hungry. And they all were. And that's
Christ, it's for all who are hungry, rich or poor. young or old, male or female. Gather of it every man according
to his eating. Are you hungry? Gather it. And
over for every man according to the number of your person.
Take ye every man from them which are in his tents. And the children
of Israel did so, and gathered some more and some less. Look at verse 31 of Exodus 16. was not only strange and mysterious
as Christ's birth of the Virgin, not only prepared in heaven and
sent down as our Lord was, not only a gift that cost you nothing,
not only free to all who are hungry, but sweet to the taste. Verse 31, Exodus 16, And the
house of Israel called the name thereof Manna. And it was like
coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made
with honey. But there are many ways in which
this bread, like our Lord said in verse 49, back to my text,
John 6, 49, your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness,
and they're dead. Now there are many ways in which
this manna was not a picture of Christ. No type is perfect. Because a type is an earthly
occurrence picturing a heavenly gift. And there's no way that
this can picture that. So manna was food for the outward
man only. Christ is food for the inward
man, spiritual. Manna could give no one Continuous
life. These people ate manna and died. All of them. You don't eat Christ
and die. Manna was only found in the morning.
Christ is found all the time. Morning, noon, and night. Every
day the same. When they entered Canaan, the
promised land, the manna ceased. no more manna. When we enter
glory, it will be to be with Him. Christ today, tomorrow,
and the subject of our psalm. So your fathers, verse 49, did
eat the manna that you're talking about. And they're dead. This bread, this is THE bread. I am that bread. which cometh
down from heaven, that if a man may eat thereof, he'll never
die." Now, eating his flesh. Verse 51, I am the living bread. Our Lord's manner wasn't living
bread. In fact, if you left it overnight,
it rotted. No good. Our Lord's the living
bread. He's the living stone. He's the
living God. He begets in us a living hope. He said, because I live, you
live. He ever lives who was dead. He
lives and gives life to sinners. I am the resurrection and the
life. I'm the living bread which came down from heaven. Now then,
if any man eat of this bread, he'll live forever. Skip down
to verse 52. The Jews therefore argued among
themselves. They didn't understand what he
was saying. And a lot of people, when we
preach this today, when Brother Dan read it, there could be some
even in here that say, I don't understand this eating his flesh
and drinking his blood. Well, let me see if I can help
you. These Jews had the same problem. They said in verse 52,
How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said,
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. So it's
mighty important, isn't it? Alright, when the Jews were in
the wilderness, they were people with an appetite and a need.
They had to have food. had to have water. They could
not survive without food and water in the wilderness. And
when they passed through this wilderness, the wilderness yielded
no food, none whatsoever. Everything they ate and everything
they drank came from heaven. And when they ate this bread
and drank this water from the rock, they received it in themselves. They received the bread. They
received the water. It gave and sustained life. Going through this world, this
wilderness of sin, it'll provide you no spiritual food. It'll
provide your soul no life and no strength. You need bread and
water. You need life and that which
sustains life and Christ said, I'm that bread. And when we eat
his flesh and drink his blood, it speaks of believing on him
and receiving him into our hearts and into our souls, even as these
Jews received the bread and lived. Some of the time, part of the
time, and then died later. But if you eat Christ and receive
Christ, you never die. You understand that? That's eating
his flesh and drinking his blood. It's receiving Christ into ourselves. It's believing Christ. As a person
receives food and water to give and sustain life, we receive
the life of God who is Jesus Christ. Now verse 51. So I'm the living bread. If a
man eat this bread, receive me, he'll live forever because I'm
life. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh." Now what's he saying there? He's saying this, to give
his flesh is to offer himself a sacrifice for sin. Our Lord
Jesus Christ went to the cross in the flesh, bore our sins in
his body, took them upon himself, and died on that cross. And he,
through his death, gave us life. And it's the crucified Christ
that's the bread of life. It's the crucified Christ. It's
the blood of Christ and the life of Christ. That's how we don't
receive Him as a martyr, as an example, as just a teacher. We receive Him as a Savior. See what I'm saying? A sacrifice,
an atonement. So I receive Christ Not just
as a good man, or a healer, or a moralist, or an example. I receive him as my substitute,
my sacrifice, my sin offering. That's it. All right. And I will
give, which I will give for the life of the world. Not only the
Jew, but the Gentile as well. Now, look down at verse 54. So
therefore, I watch these two verses, 54 and 55. Whoso eateth
my flesh, whoso receiveth the crucified Christ, the sin offering,
the substitute, God's atonement, and drinketh his blood, receiveth
his sacrifice, his blood that atones for sin, he hath eternal
life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. You know, you go back to my message
this morning, four times here in these few verses, our Lord
said, I will raise him up at the last day. In the day when
I shall return, in the day when the world shall end, in the day
when God will destroy heaven and earth, melt with a fervent
heat, there'll be a new heaven and new earth. In that day, I'm
going to raise from the dead certain people. And he gives
us four, he says that four times. Back here in verse 39, he said,
This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I'll lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. I'm going to raise up. All that
the Father gave me. All right, verse 40. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone who sees the
Son with eyes of faith and believes on Him as Lord and Savior and
Redeemer may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at
the last day. Verse 44. No man can come to
me except my Father which sent me draw him. And I'll raise him
up at the last day. Those that have given me, those
that believe on me, those who are taught of the Father, and
this verse, those who eat my flesh and drink my blood, receive
the crucified Lord by faith, lovingly, willingly, personally, Unchangeably, I raise him up
at the last day. For, listen to this, my flesh
is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. That's not just eating
and drinking which nourishes a man physically. These Israelites out there in
the wilderness possibly could have found something to eat.
but it would have killed them. They might have found some water
to drink that would have killed them. So it's not just eating
and drinking that nourishes a man physically, it's eating and drinking
good food. And a man, a person eats poison,
he'll die. It's so spiritually. A person
receives a false Christ and a false Messiah and a false doctrine
and that which is not true According to the Scriptures, you'll perish. But Christ said, my flesh is
meat indeed, truly. My blood is righteousness and
life indeed, truly. There's none other name. Everything
else is poison. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Christ Jesus. So that's what he's saying
here, in verse 56, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood,
he dwells in me and I dwell in him. He dwells in me, listen, as the
living Father sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
me, receiveth me, believeth on me, even he shall live by me.
This is a divine union. with Christ. This is what he's
talking about over here in John 17 that we read this morning. Listen to it. Turn over there
a moment. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth
in me, and I dwell in him. Listen to verse 23, John 17. Verse 22, he says, And the glory
which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be
one as we are one, I in them, and thou in me. That they may
be made perfect and one, that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and Father, you have loved them even as you love
me. That's what he's saying here
in verse 56, He that eateth my flesh, Crucified Christ drinketh
my blood which was shared. This is my blood which is shared
for the remission of sins. We demonstrate this when we come
to the Lord's table and take the wafer and the wine. The bread
is broken. His body was bruised and broken
on the tree. And the wine which is the blood
and the bread and the wine is separate. When the body is separated,
or the blood is separated from the body, that's death. And he
said, this is my body broken for you, this is my blood shed
for you, this do in remembrance of me. And when you take the
bread, it's symbolic of having received Christ. When you drink
the wine, it's symbolic of having received Christ. And this is
bread indeed. Meat indeed. And my blood is
drink indeed. Nothing else but poison. It's poison. Man's not saved because he believes
something. He's saved when he believes Christ. Man's not saved because he's
got a Savior. He's saved because he's got the
Lord Jesus Christ. Man's not saved because he's
got religion. He's saved if he dwells in Christ
and Christ dwells in him. And notice what he says in verse
57, 56. He that eateth. That means constantly feeding
on Christ. He doesn't say everybody who
ate, my flesh, and drank my blood, he eateth my flesh." I receive
Christ again today. I believe on Christ again today,
and tomorrow, and the next day. If I ever quit believing on Christ,
I'll perish, just like if the Jews ever quit eating the manna,
they're dead men. We feed on Christ, eateth and
drinketh, eateth and drinketh. We live by His blood. We live
upon His grace. We live in His love. We live
through His person. We never live without Him. In verse 58 and 59 is a summary
of this whole chapter. This is the bread which came
down from heaven. Not like your fathers did eat
man unto dead. That's just a picture. He that
eateth of this bread shall live forever. And these things said
He in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. So what was their
response? And we need to get busy determining
our response. What was their response? All
right, verse 60. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
these were followers. These were the people we read
about in the early verses. These were the people that he
fed. The five loaves and two fishes. These were the people
attracted to him by the loaves and fishes and by the miracles.
We can see that they were just temporary, temporary followers
because one day they were going to make him king and the next
day they were leaving him. One day they were impressed with
his miracles and the next day they were mad at his message. And so it says, when they heard
this, they said, this is a hard saying. What you've been preaching here
is a hard saying. What do they mean, hard saying?
Who can hear it? Do they mean they couldn't hear
it? No, they heard it. They heard it. Look back at verse
41. Same chapter, John 6, 41. The
Jews murmured at Him because He said. They didn't murmur at
Him because He fed them. They murmured at Him because
of what He said about Himself and about them, about God, about
salvation. And this over here, this is a
hard saying. Who can hear it? They didn't
mean they were hard of hearing. They didn't mean that they didn't
hear what he said. They heard what he said and they flat knew
what he said. It was not that the message was
unintelligible and hard to understand. No, they
understood it. Listen. The reason they rejected
it. Listen to me. It was irreconcilable
with their religion. Their religion was a religion
of works. Their religion and righteousness
was a righteousness of their deeds and not His. Of their merit
and not mercy. And when they said that's a hard
doctrine and a hard saying, they mean this. It's irreconcilable
with my religion. And that's what's wrong with
today's religion when you preach the sovereign grace of God. They
say that's a hard saying and a hard doctrine. Who can hear
it? It's not that they don't hear
it. It's not that they don't know what you're saying. They're
saying this, that what you're saying doesn't fit in with what
I believe. It doesn't fit in. It won't fit
my picture that I'm painting. No, it flat won't. It won't. It's offensive. Oh, it meets the need of a sinner.
It meets the need of a helpless sinner. It meets the need of
a woman like Mary Magdalene, like Zacchaeus, a man like Zacchaeus,
a leper, a thief on a cross, a helpless, hopeless sinner.
It meets his need. But a religious Pharisee, it's
a hard sin. It's just irreconcilable. It
won't fit my religion, therefore I won't have it. And our Lord
answered these people when they said that. He said, verse 61,
when He knew in Himself that these followers murmured at His
message, His gospel, He said, does this offend you? When I
talk about all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, does
that offend you? And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven, not
to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. This is the
will of him that sent me, that of all that you've given me,
I'll lose nothing. This is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, who he is, what he did,
why he did it, where he is, now seeth the Son by faith and believes
on him hath everlasting life. Does this offend you when I say,
no man can come to me except my Father which sent me? Draw
him. And I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in
the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. And every man
that heareth and learneth of the Father cometh to me. Does
that offend you when I say, I'm the bread from heaven? That bread,
I am. Ah, listen, he said, verse 62,
what? That offends you? What and if you should see the
Son of Man ascend up where He was before? You talk about the
glory of the gospel offends you. What would you do when you see
the glory of His person? If the glory of God taking all
the credit and praise and glory for saving sinners, wait till
you see His kingdom All of it in Christ. For the glory of Christ. Surrounding the person of Christ.
On the throne. Christ on the very throne of
God. What would you do then? He didn't
say they were going to see it. He said, what if you did? They're
not going to. We are. We're going to see the
Lamb on the throne. When He comes, we're going to
see Him as He is, not as He was on a cross, in a manger, in a
tomb, on the throne. King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now, this little bit of preaching that shuts me in up to the grace
of God's offensive, well, you see Him where He was. Verse 63, it's the Spirit that
quickeneth. It's the Spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. Our Lord presses upon these people
what He declared previously. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me drawing. No man has the ability, nor the
desire, nor the inclination. It's the Spirit that quickeneth.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak to you,
they're spirit, they're life. The natural man won't receive
them. And as some of you that believe not, he knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not, who would betray
him. And he said, therefore, I said unto you, no man, no man,
whatever his intellect, whatever his talent, whatever his heritage,
no man can come to me, believe on me, receive me. be included
in my grace and kingdom, except it were given unto him of my
Father." And boy, from that time, you know, rather than saying,
well, Lord, give us your grace. Like the leper who fell on his
face at the feet of Christ said, Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Make me whole. Canaanite woman,
he said, I didn't come to, I didn't come, I came to save the Jews,
the children, Abraham and Isaac. She never left, she stood there.
He said, it's not right to give the children breast to dogs.
She said, well, I'm a dog, I'm your dog, brush them crumbs off. I'll eat the crumbs. No, they
left. From that time, they went back
and walked no more with Him. They walked no more with God.
They walked no more with the church. They walked no more with
believers. They walked no more in the way
of life. They walked no more in the paths of righteousness.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll fear no evil. Thou art with me, but He's not
with them. They walked no more with Him.
You reject my Lord's gospel, you reject the Lord. You reject
his word, you reject him. And you walk no more with him.
And then our Lord turned to the twelve. This crowd started off
with about five thousand. It's down to twelve now. And
he turned to the twelve. And he said, would you also go
away? And Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Shall we go to the law? Shall
we go to the Pharisees? They don't have anything. Shall
we go to the temple? Deion of thieves? Where shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and we're sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. We're not going away. And our
Lord answered them, I've chosen you twelve, yet one of you is
a devil. He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, who should betray him. May the Lord bless this
word to our hearts. I'm grateful for his word. which
rejoices the heart and the soul, gives confidence and comfort
to every believer.