Come, Eat and Drink Jesus

[0:00] I'll take your Bibles, please, and go to John's Gospel. John chapter 6.

[0:15] John chapter 6, or in that black Bible in a chair in front of you. Go to the back and find page 76 of John chapter 6. John 6, we're going to study 49 to 59.

[0:28] John 6, 49 to 59. John 6, 49 to 59. I'm going to read, actually I'll start in verse 48.

[0:44] It kind of gives us a good context here. Starting in 48 of John chapter 6. I am the bread of life, Jesus speaking.

[0:58] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread who comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.

[1:11] I am the living bread who came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread also which I shall give is my flesh on behalf of the life of the world.

[1:27] Therefore the Jews argued with one another saying, How is this one able to give to us his flesh to eat? Therefore Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.

[1:48] The one who munches my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food.

[1:59] And my blood is true drink. The one who gnaws my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father.

[2:13] So the one who munches me, this one, this one, even this one, shall live because of me. This is the bread who came down out of heaven.

[2:24] Not as the fathers ate and died. The one who munches this bread shall live forever. These things he said in the synagogue.

[2:36] Teaching in Capernaum. NDTVfood.com Gave the top ten favorite American foods of all time.

[2:53] Ready? Ready? Here you go. Number ten. Breakfast sausage. Dutch is all yeah. Number nine.

[3:05] Chocolate chip cookies. Should be in the top ten. Sorry, Michael. Not oatmeal. Number eight. S'mores.

[3:18] Number seven. A cronut. It's a croissant and a donut put together. Oh my goodness. Who thought of that idea?

[3:29] I'd like to give them a hundred bucks. Number six. Chicken and waffles. What?

[3:40] That's disgusting. I just, what they said? Chicken and waffles. I'm just reading it. Number five. Pancakes.

[3:51] Number four. Mac and cheese. Really? Oh.

[4:03] Number three. Hot dogs. Number two. For Carolyn. Cheesecake.

[4:14] Oh. Oh yes. That's for you, Michael. Yes. High five. And number one. The hamburger.

[4:25] Of course. Commercial. Make sure you sign up as you go outside for the July 4th fellowship. Commercial. It's a unit. Perfect. We love food. Not just because we love the taste.

[4:38] Although that's true. But there's something about staying alive which is good. That's sarcasm, folks. We cannot go without food.

[4:51] We take it in. Or the word is assimilate it. Assimilating means to take in. We assimilate it into our body so that we can have energy.

[5:04] So we can move. So you can breathe. Your heart will beat. Your organs will work.

[5:15] Blood will flow. You need sustenance to live. And Jesus astutely, profoundly took this concept of eating and drinking, directing it to himself.

[5:34] And we've been looking at, you work for the true food, the true enduring food, which is Jesus. He's the true bread.

[5:45] Come to the bread of life. He satisfies. He satiates your quench. He quenches. He quenches that thirst, I should say.

[5:56] And today we'll see, come, eat and drink Jesus. Come, eat and drink Jesus. Come, eat and drink Jesus.

[6:11] The living bread and the living water. If you eat and drink Jesus, you'll live forever.

[6:44] Be raised by Jesus. Be raised by Jesus. And remain in him in intimate fellowship with him. It can only be found in him.

[6:59] He will make this connection of eating him and drinking him. And when you do, you'll live forever. Life is only found in him. He'll raise you.

[7:11] And you'll remain in him. There's intimate fellowship and connection and communion with Jesus. And the connection of eating and drinking Jesus is believing Jesus, is coming to Jesus, is seeing him and believing into him.

[7:33] And he'll be found in him. And he'll be found in him. And he'll be found in him. So we eat him and his work for us on the cross, which is how he gives his flesh, how he gives his blood for us to eat.

[7:46] And when we eat him, when we drink him, we live forever. And only in eating and drinking Jesus do we have intimate fellowship with Jesus.

[8:03] Only in him are we given eternal life. And then what is it? What is it that adequately depicts this act of believing into Jesus?

[8:21] Of eating and drinking Jesus? What is it that we do that Jesus gave to us? A vivid illustration of actually coming to him.

[8:32] Believing him. Taking him. Eating him and drinking him. An act that best illustrates our eating and drinking Jesus and his work is this.

[8:45] The Lord's Supper. It depicts tangibly for you what it means to believe in Jesus.

[8:58] Because it's not just simply one belief or just I believe today but I don't believe tomorrow. Tomorrow it's a life of faith. Because it's relational.

[9:11] It's personal. It's intimate. It's communion. Which is why the Lord's Supper at times is even called communion. Communion. Because you're dining.

[9:21] Because you're dining. You're remembering who he is. You're remembering what he's done. Jesus has called us to work for the true enduring food.

[9:37] Which is himself. The true bread of God. Who comes down out of heaven. Come to this bread of life which satisfies hunger. Come to this drink. He'll quench your thirst.

[9:48] Come to this bread for life. But only certain ones will come. Come to this bread. No one is able to come to him unless the Father sent me draws him. We look at that last week. And now the climax of his identity.

[10:03] All are invited to come and eat him. Eat his flesh and drink his blood. And Jesus. He's going to push the imagery.

[10:15] Of this eating and drinking. Farther and farther. Directing his readers. Hearers. Readers. To the cross. To himself. And a person who comes to Jesus.

[10:27] And believes into him. Eats his flesh. And drinks his blood. And there's satisfying life in him alone. His flesh and blood give life.

[10:40] Meaning his sacrificial death on the cross. The illustration of this act of our Lord for us. Is the Lord's Supper. It's the illustration of our eating.

[10:52] Jesus. And drinking. Jesus. And by the way. John did not give this part. Of Jesus teaching.

[11:03] As a way to teach his readers. The Lord's Supper. Because in John's Gospel. There is no Last Supper. You only find in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

[11:16] But John doesn't do this to give us. An aspect of the Lord's Supper. He doesn't do that here in John 6. But the Lord's Supper. Helps us to better understand.

[11:27] What Jesus meant by this teaching. And this teaching about Jesus. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It's only found in John's Gospel. You won't find it in Matthew, Mark and Luke. So he gave his life.

[11:43] To give us life. Which is what we remember. And commemorate in the Lord's Supper. We eat the bread. We drink the juice.

[11:53] To remember. And commemorate our love for him. Our intimacy with him. That we're united to him. We remain in him.

[12:03] We have communion with him. And that we're satisfied in him alone. So let's unpack the text.

[12:14] 49 through 59. And first Jesus is going to do a comparison. He's going to do a comparison between natural bread. Versus from heaven living bread.

[12:26] And he's going to show us that natural bread brings death. Verse 49. 48. I'm the bread of life. 49.

[12:37] Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they died. 49. Yes. They brought up. The manna.

[12:48] Remember they said that. A couple weeks ago we looked at that. Our fathers ate the manna in the desert and the wilderness. But Jesus said that yet they still died. That manna was not sufficient for true life.

[13:04] Natural bread. This natural bread brings death. It doesn't give you true life. It's sustained natural life.

[13:16] For sure. But Jesus spoke of something deeper. Eternal. More meaningful and significant.

[13:30] Their death showed a better, final, eternal bread was needed. To have true, spiritual, eternal life.

[13:45] See the manna was point. The manna was meant to point the nation of Israel to their true need. To be sustained forever.

[13:56] That's the point. The manna was to point them to Jesus. To point them of their need. Which is why Moses said man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

[14:10] That's why Moses said that. We need God's word. We need the word. So you have this natural bread versus from heaven living bread.

[14:24] Here he says natural bread brings death. And then the second part to this. The from heaven bread alone gives life. Verse 50. This is the bread which or who comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.

[14:42] In contrast to the manna bread. That bread. The natural bread. This from heaven bread. Who comes down from heaven. You eat of this.

[14:55] You won't die. So Jesus. He's driving that food imagery farther. Deeper in this way. You eat this bread.

[15:05] You won't die. Well how do you receive this life? You have to eat this bread. This type of bread. The from heaven bread. And then look at what he does in verse 51.

[15:20] I am the living bread. This living bread is Jesus who gives life. I am the living bread who came down out of heaven.

[15:35] If anyone eats of this bread he shall live forever. I am the living bread. I'm the one who came from heaven.

[15:46] So if you eat him, this bread, you'll live forever. This true bread, true manna replacing the manna of Exodus 16. It's fulfilled in Jesus.

[15:59] He's the only one who can give this eternal life. Because he is the true living bread. There's no other way to gain true life. There's no other way.

[16:11] It is only through the person and work of Jesus that we have eternal life. So he does this comparison.

[16:23] Natural bread versus from heaven living bread. Natural bread brings death. The from heaven bread alone gives life. And then he says this living bread is Jesus who gives life.

[16:38] It's me. And then he transitions here into this next point. The living bread is Jesus' flesh and blood. You must eat this flesh and drink his blood for this life.

[16:55] Because look at what he says in the last part of verse 51. And the bread also which I will give is my flesh. He's driving the imagery even deeper.

[17:12] More shocking would this be. God provides life in the sacrifice of his son. The bread I'm going to give is my flesh.

[17:27] The bread which he gives is his flesh. Which directs us to the cross. His sacrifice. That's what he means. God provides life in the sacrifice of Jesus.

[17:42] Who sacrifices his flesh and blood on behalf of the gift from the father. Jesus died for the ones who will come and believe into him.

[17:54] This takes us back to the first part. And the second part that we looked at in chapter 6. All the father gives to me. Will come to me. And I'm going to give my flesh for them.

[18:09] It's for these whom Jesus died. This shows us the truth of definite atonement. Jesus died for his people. For the gift that the father gave to him.

[18:21] Because notice what he says. On behalf of. The numeric and standard says for. It's hupere in the Greek. On behalf of the life of the world.

[18:33] In the very person of Christ. Death is conquered. And life is offered. When a person eats him. Any person eats him. But it's not just for Jews.

[18:46] It's for the world. It's for Gentiles too. Life for Jews. And for Gentiles. Notice what happens.

[19:00] Verse 52. People are picking up on this. Verse 52. Therefore. The Jews. Argued with one another. Saying. How is this one able to give to us his flesh to eat?

[19:14] They were challenged by Jesus. And now. Not only did they grumble. Verse 41. Remember that? But they argued.

[19:26] And tested Jesus. They're arguing with one another. But they're actually arguing and testing Jesus. Almost. Mockingly. Rebuking him. Because to Jews.

[19:39] This would be preposterous for them to hear. This would be shocking. How can this guy give us his flesh to eat? They're almost mocking. Come on. What's the matter with you? Really?

[19:50] Really? Really? They were acting. Just like the people did in Exodus 16. With Moses. Doing the very same thing.

[20:05] What Jesus. Went even further. With the imagery. Verse 53. Therefore Jesus said to them.

[20:17] Truly truly I say to you. Listen up. Listen up. This is important to hear. This is significant. This is authoritative statement. If you do not eat the flesh of the son of man.

[20:28] And drink his blood. You have no life in yourselves. Boom. Here's the climax of the food imagery. You must eat his flesh. And drink his blood for life.

[20:41] Period. The blood. The flesh. Of the son of man. And so this would not only be shocking to the Jews. It would be downright offensive to them.

[20:53] Because they were forbidden to partake of blood. Jesus spoke scandalously here. No. Actually he spoke purposefully.

[21:07] He did this to direct his hearers. His readers. To his sacrificial death. See. When one eats. And drinks.

[21:18] The flesh. And blood of Jesus. One receives the benefits. Of the cross. Coming and believing. Is eating and drinking Jesus.

[21:28] It's an act of faith. A life of faith. You assimilate him. And notice. Of the son of man. He doesn't say. Me.

[21:39] He now. He specifies. In terms of the son of man. And he does this on purpose. Is to speak not just about his humanity. But his deity. That he's the Messiah. That he has all authority.

[21:50] To judge. And to raise. It's only found in the son of man. The son of man is going to judge. The son of man is going to raise. Raise people from the dead. He has the power.

[22:01] He has the authority. It's given to him from the father. Remember John chapter 5. Salvation rests only in the God man. Or one like the son of man.

[22:13] So to depend upon the son of man. Is believing who he is. As the son of man. As the God man. And what he's done.

[22:24] He died for me. Jesus gets more aggressive. There's 54. The one who. Munches my flesh. And drinks my blood.

[22:34] Has eternal life. And I'll raise him on the last day. This word. And I translated it for you there. You have it in a numeric standard. Eats. But the word actually means.

[22:45] To munch. Or to gnaw. You munch. Gnaw. Which is. This is likened to seeing.

[22:57] And believing. Into Jesus. Go to verse 40 again. This is the will of my father. That all the ones who see the son. And believe into him. May have eternal life.

[23:08] And I myself will raise him on the last day. Look at the connection with verse 54. The one who munches my flesh. And drinks my blood. Has eternal life. And I'll raise him on the last day.

[23:18] It's mirroring each other. So to see. And believe in Jesus. Means you eat. And drink him. Which means you gnaw.

[23:32] And drink him. You munch. And you drink him. If one sees and believes into Jesus.

[23:44] That person is gnawing. And drinking him. And when a person responds like this. You'll be raised on the last day.

[23:54] And the ones raised. They're the gift from the father. They're the gift from the father to the son. And they're the ones who are going to believe. They're the ones who are going to gnaw.

[24:06] They're the ones who are going to drink him. Because they're drawn from the father. You must eat his flesh.

[24:16] And drink his blood. The living bread. Is Jesus flesh and blood. You must do this. And now Jesus gives us three reasons why. Why must we eat and drink Jesus.

[24:28] There's three reasons. You'll see them. They've already been said. Stated in different ways. But Jesus lists them out. 55, 56 and 57. First reason. Because he's true food and true drink.

[24:43] He says verse 55. For. The reason. My flesh is true food. And my blood is true drink. As opposed to the sign that he did.

[24:55] In John 6. Distributing bread. Thousands of people. He fed the 5,000. As opposed to the manna from the desert.

[25:06] This. This. This. Is true food. His flesh. This. Is true drink. His blood.

[25:17] The food he gives. Is himself. It's real. It sustains. It gives life. It brings true eternal life.

[25:28] It brings true eternal life. And of course. This directs us to his body and blood. Given at the cross. It's the person and work of Christ.

[25:40] That gives us eternal life. There is no other food. There is no other drink. It rests in Jesus. He is true food. He's true drink.

[25:50] That's why we must eat and drink him. He is true food and true drink. Reason number two. Because in them. Food. Drink. Flesh.

[26:01] Blood. Is true intimacy with Jesus. Look at what he says in verse 56. The one who gnaws. Or munches my flesh. And drinks my blood.

[26:11] Remains in me. And I in him. Coming and believing. Gives eternal life. Eating and drinking.

[26:22] Gives eternal life. And this begins. A relational. As Klink says. Mutual indwelling. In me.

[26:34] I in him. Only eating and drinking. Can make this possible. An intimate relationship with Jesus.

[26:46] An intimate fellowship with him. This word remains. Or stays. Or abides. Very important in John's gospel.

[27:00] Because it defines the relationship within the Trinity. And between believers in Christ. To remain.

[27:12] Is to be identified with Jesus. To stay as a Christian. To stay in true saving faith. To stay in a life that's transformed by the Spirit.

[27:28] And. What is the way. That. Or a thing. That we do. To describe this relationship.

[27:40] The Lord's. The Lord's Supper. That's why we do this. It's a way to. Vividly give you something to touch.

[27:54] And you. Taste. The intimacy. The connection that you have with Jesus. It illustrates that for us. It gives us a vivid tangible example.

[28:06] Of what it looks like to take Jesus. And it's not just. An act of faith. It begins there. It's a life of faith.

[28:17] Life of communion. Life of intimacy. Life of fellowship. With him. Which is why. You don't get baptized. Five billion times.

[28:29] You're not supposed to. Baptism. Is the beginning. Of our life with Christ. You died. There's a new Travis.

[28:42] You died. New Duane. New Dutch. New person. New Catra. There's a new person.

[28:53] The Lord's Supper. Depicts. You're continually. Remaining in Christ. And it's the reason. We come to the Lord's table. We examine ourselves.

[29:06] We come with repentance. And humility. And we remind ourselves. As we come with humility. Examine ourselves. Saying Lord. Thank you. I come. And I know you've forgiven me.

[29:19] I rest. In you. And your promises. And I remind myself. Of our communion. And our intimacy. Once again. I renew that.

[29:31] I love you. And I know you love me. You're in me. And I am you. You are in me. And I am in you. I am in you.

[29:44] Why must we eat. And drink Jesus. He's true food. And true drink. Because in him. True intimacy. In them. Excuse me. Is true intimacy. With Jesus.

[29:55] Third reason. Because true life. Is only in eating Jesus. He said that. Over and over. And he says it again here. Verse 57.

[30:05] And notice. The number of times. He says life. Or living. As the living father sent me. And I live because of the father. So. The one who munches me.

[30:16] Even this one. Will live. Because of me. The living father. Sent Jesus. Who's the living bread. Who lives.

[30:29] Because of the father. Remember chapter 6. Jesus. Jesus. Is living. He has life. In and of himself. Because he's from the father. The father's life. In and of himself.

[30:41] If you eat Jesus. You also will live. And this life. Is. As one writer puts it. Connected to the quote. Trinitarian identity. Of God the father.

[30:52] Through the son. Cooperating with the spirit. So. Jesus. He's given us. A small little window. And it's going to open up.

[31:02] Bigger and bigger. This window. Into his relationship. With the father. And what's even more amazing. How we share. In that life. Because when we take Jesus.

[31:16] We give him life. We remain in him. He in us. The father in us. True life is only in him. And it's. Forever. It will never end.

[31:29] That's a promise. That we have. To him. That we have. It will never end. It will never end. So now. Jesus sums it up here. In verse 58. The from heaven bread.

[31:39] Versus the natural bread. He does it again. I just want to make sure. This is clearer. To all of you people listening. To me. All you people reading. From heaven bread. Versus the natural bread.

[31:51] Natural bread. Brings death. Only the from heaven bread. Gives life. this is the bread which came down out of heaven verse 58 not as the fathers ate and died the one who munches gnaws this bread will live forever Jesus offered them true real food true real bread true real life their fathers ate and died eat this bread you'll live forever he purposely repeated here what he said earlier verse 49 and verse 50 it stands in stark contrast to the man in the Old Testament and to the Jews they highly revered the man in the Old Testament and they used it as a way to judge Jesus yet they failed they failed to see that their response to Jesus here is the same way their fathers responded to Yahweh in Exodus 16 it's the same exact way verse 59 these things he said in the synagogue teaching in Capernaum he taught in the synagogue

[33:06] God came down to invite them to come and believe into a son to believe in him and so rejecting this bread is rejecting Jesus which means you're rejecting God will you eat this bread and live will you assimilate him remind yourself of the sacrifice to give you life and your communion with him will you come and repent and trust in Jesus alone to save you having died for your sins will you come we cannot get past this concept of eating Jesus flesh and drinking his blood because it centers us upon the person and work of Christ and he Jesus he perfectly pulled together this imagery of hunger and thirst with bread and water with his flesh and blood to show what it means to receive him and not simply to receive him but to stay in him to remain in him for it's at the cross that Jesus offered himself and he gives us life as the song goes by his death I live again so I must take him be united to him remain in him and we assimilate him like eating and drinking displayed in the Lord's Supper only in eating and drinking Jesus do we have intimate fellowship with Jesus and we're given true eternal life true satisfying life it's only in him if you eat and drink Jesus you'll live forever you'll be raised by Jesus and remain in him in intimate fellowship with him it's only found in him so come eat and drink

[35:02] Jesus the living bread the living water we're going to take the Lord's Supper and this is why I wanted to save it for this passage because John's not teaching us the Lord's Supper here but the Lord's Supper is the perfect example of what it means to eat his flesh and drink his blood because we remember what he's done how he gave his body how he shed his blood and it reminds us of our intimacy with him which is why why non-Christians shouldn't take this someone who doesn't love Jesus shouldn't take this and really in essence if you haven't been baptized you shouldn't take this because when you're baptized you begin your life with Christ that's why we as Baptists is why we believe that it should be in the right order and it's other reason why I have said to you if if you have something against someone else whether it's a Christian or non-Christian for that matter especially a believer if you are taking the elements as a way to show your intimacy with Christ and yet you have an issue with another Christian or non-Christian and your intimacy and fellowship is broken well how can you have this when this is broken see so that's why

[36:27] I say to you each time we have the Lord's Supper deal with this so that way you can deal with this and you remind yourself of this so you can go don't take the Lord's Supper you say Lord I need to deal with this because this affects this my relationship with other people members in this church it affects my relationship with Christ right that's why I say that so I want to encourage you come to the Lord's table and we'll do it like we do before we'll sing a song and then you can come and pick up the elements make sure you take both cups the juice and the bread and we'll go sit down we'll take it together which and again that's a sign of us being together we're one we're the gift remember going back to John 6 37 the Father gives a gift to the Son these are the ones who will believe these are the ones who are drawn by the Father so they will believe they'll be raised on the last day so we take the bread together and we eat drink the juice together we do that together because we're the gift we're one we're fellowshipping together as we fellowship with our Lord and with the Trinity does that make sense let's take a moment let's pray and we're thankful

[37:50] Father for the truth that we've seen here from John 6 encouraging us to munch to gnaw on Jesus and to drink his blood his sacrifice it was for us we want to assimilate him take him in as we take in food and sustenance to live Jesus we take you to live not just live to live to live to live to live forever to be truly satisfied oh spirit remind us of that remind us that we get to dine with Jesus and with you and the Father remind us of the promises of justification forgiveness adoption mercy and compassion remind us of grace remind us of this covenant love covenant love born within the blood of Jesus remind us spirit of this we pray so I would encourage you take these next few moments examining your heart throwing yourself upon the cross reminding yourself of the intimacy that we have with Christ renewing your love and that fellowship with him once again of course there will be repentance there will be conviction repentance but know the the forgiving grace and love of God which is in Christ

[39:52] Jesus our Lord know that promises they're for you please take these few moments to do that would you please peace toным insurance is going in in it you you you you you you you you you you you you you