[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:14] You're about to read some of the wildest verses in the Bible, and I hope that you'll enjoy them, and I hope you'll learn what they mean before you go home tonight. Look at, if you would, or this morning, John 6, 52.
[0:25] The Jews strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
[0:43] Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my drink is drink indeed.
[0:56] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
[1:09] This is that bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever. These things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.
[1:21] I'll be honest with you. I did not want to preach this on a Sunday morning. I was looking at how I preached through there. I was trying to shorten up some verses and lengthen out some verses so this wouldn't fall on a Sunday morning.
[1:35] Because this has got to be one of the wildest passages in the Bible. You know that the early church back in the day when Jesus had just died and been buried and rose again and gone to heaven, the accusations that ran around Rome was that the Christians were cannibals.
[1:50] They got together, and the word was they ate his flesh and drank his blood, and they had these nighttime meetings when they did this Lord's Supper thing, and there was a whole lot of wild accusations going on about them.
[2:03] Well, the truth is they didn't eat his flesh, and they didn't drink his blood, and we're not cannibals, and that's not what's going on, and that's not what's meant. But, buddy, when you read these verses, how many times did you just hear, drink his blood, eat his flesh?
[2:16] How many times did you just hear, drink his blood and eat his flesh? It sounds weird. What's really funny is Jesus has just finished talking to them, and he said, and I am the bread of life, and you're going to have to eat my flesh.
[2:30] And when they heard that, they said, oh, that's ridiculous. How could you eat a man's flesh? We don't eat people. That goes against Jewish tradition. That goes against human beings. We don't do that.
[2:40] And he said, oh, so you think that's a little hard to get. Well, let me just make it harder. Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me. You do not have eternal life.
[2:51] They were like, wow, this is the wildest thing we have ever heard. By the way, when he finishes this passage of Scripture, the very next passage of Scripture, they all leave.
[3:02] Everybody's like, we're getting out of here. We're getting out of Dodge. Everybody's been liking following Jesus while he's feeding 5,000. Everybody's been liking following Jesus when he's walking on the water. Everybody's been liking following Jesus when he did everything else.
[3:15] But this is ridiculous. He has gone too far now. He's wanting us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. But the real issue here is Jesus is talking to a Jewish audience that refuses to believe that he is God and can give them eternal life.
[3:33] The real issue is that they refuse to believe. They're against eating flesh. They're against eating people. They want to take a spiritual, allegorical, symbolical message and make it into a literal message and walk away from it.
[3:49] By the way, it's nothing new that Jesus would use. These terms that can sound like something you don't understand unless you take it from a spiritual point of view. And these Jews, they seem to have a problem with that.
[4:01] If you remember in John chapter 3, if you remember in John chapter 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus and he says, Hey, we know you're a man sent from God or you couldn't work these works.
[4:12] What do I got to do to go to heaven? He said, you got to be born again. And Nicodemus is like, born again? Well, good night. What do you want me to do? Crawl back up in my mother's womb and be born again?
[4:22] How could a guy go about doing that? And Jesus is like, boy, you are really slow, aren't you? You mean to tell me you're a teacher in Israel and you can't understand something that simple? Because Nicodemus is going, born again?
[4:35] Get back in the womb? I wouldn't fit anymore. That don't work. And so you're probably doing that right now about drinking the flesh and eating the blood, aren't you? You're all sitting there going, hey, man, got to get out of this church quick.
[4:47] They're going to fix and ask us to eat some blood or drink some blood and eat some flesh. And if you remember another time, he was talking to a woman at the well in John chapter 4. And he said, hey, lady, how about give me something to drink? The lady looked at him and said, get you something to drink?
[4:59] You're a Jew. You're talking to me, a Samaritan? He said, lady, if you knew who you're talking to, you'd ask me. And I'd give you living water and you'd never be thirsty again. She said, oh, man, give me that. I'd never have to come draw water anymore. He wasn't talking about water, water.
[5:11] And so now he's not talking about flesh, flesh. Or blood, blood. So you hang on. And I think you're going to enjoy what the word of God says. But when you want to reject Jesus and what he teaches, you'll find plenty of reasons, won't you?
[5:26] This teaching is just like that new birth, just like that water. And if you want to reject Jesus, you'll find plenty of reason to do just that. All right. Take your Bibles down. Let's go back to John chapter 6.
[5:37] John chapter 6. And I do rejoice in all Jesus has done. Amen. And I hope that you have. And we worship him today and magnify him. John chapter 6.
[5:49] Verses that sounded like cannibalism. Verses that sounded like eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And that sounds kind of unusual. If you have your Bible and a sheet of paper and you'll follow along, I think in just a moment, you'll fully understand that.
[6:03] He gives promises here. He gives promises to what happens if you eat his flesh and drink his blood. Let's look at those promises. I think it'll help you understand what's going on.
[6:15] Look at verse 54, if you would. The first thing he says, if you eat my flesh and you drink my blood, you'll have eternal life. Look at verse 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
[6:31] In this passage of scripture, you've got to understand. Look this way just a second. Now listen. You've got to understand they don't want to accept that he's God. They don't want to believe that Jesus has the right to say that they can be saved.
[6:45] They can be forgiven. They can go to heaven when they die. They don't want to believe that he can really give them eternal life. That's really what the problem is. And they have rejected him at every turn.
[6:56] And so now he comes with these extremely bold statements saying, no, I am God. I am God. Nobody can grant you eternal life but God.
[7:08] And Jesus said, well, I'll just tell you, if you'll eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life. Just a little note for you. So you need to put a circle around eternal life because some of you are dealing with the issue about, are we really forever saved?
[7:23] The very word eternal life, eternal. Life means not death. I mean, you can say amen right there. I mean, life and death are like opposites.
[7:35] If you're alive, you're not dead. And if you're dead, you're not alive. And he said life, eternal life. And then the word eternal means forever. And sometimes the Bible puts it as this, everlasting.
[7:47] And so when you have everlasting or eternal life, that means you have life that lasts forever. You have life that lasts forever. He said, if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have life that lasts forever.
[8:03] So I can know that I'm saved forever through what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. Now, eat my flesh, drink my blood, you have eternal life. And then the second thing he says in that same verse, if you look at it, he said, I will raise him up in the last day.
[8:17] Now, they knew they were going to die a physical death. He knew they were going to die a physical death. It's appointed unto man once to die. And after this, the judgment. But here's what he said. If you eat my flesh and if you drink my blood, if you're really in, you will have eternal life.
[8:31] And in the last day, I will raise you up. I will resurrect you. You will live forever. Ever. Look at another promise he says right here in these verses. Go to verse 56 if you would.
[8:41] He says, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. There is an intimacy with him when you are fully committed, when you take the stand to eat his flesh and drink his blood.
[8:56] He said, you'll be in me and I'll be in you. You'll be in me and I'll be in you. He said, there'll be this special bond. I do want that relationship with him. I happen to have that relationship with him.
[9:08] Do you really want a personal, intimate, close walk where Jesus lives in you and you live in him? If you do say amen. Then we're going to figure out what this eating and drinking the flesh means here in just a minute.
[9:21] They go with me if you would to verse 57. As the living father has sent me and I live by the father. So he that eateth me shall live by me. If you eat me, you will live by me.
[9:34] And so if you eat me, your whole life revolves around me. I am the source of your life. I'm the food of your life. I'm what keeps you alive. You will live by me.
[9:45] Look at verse 58. It says, this is that bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth that this bread shall live forever.
[9:57] He said, all right, now regular food, you die. If you eat regular food, you die. He said, there was this angelic food. There was this spiritual food. There was this supernatural food in the Old Testament.
[10:08] There was bread that came down from heaven. And they called it manna. Manna actually meant, what's this? When they saw it, they were like, what's this? And that's what that word meant. And they were eating that food. He said, and you guys are very impressed with the manna that came down from heaven.
[10:22] And you say, man, you know, God provided food. He said, well, when you ate manna, you died. But when you eat me, you live. When you ate that bread, you died.
[10:32] That was dying bread. And I am living bread. And when you eat me. Now then, if you want to go with me to verse 53. Verse 53. If you do not eat him, you do not have everlasting life.
[10:45] Look at verse 53. Then said Jesus unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. Underline this.
[10:56] You have no life in you. So I don't know what's going on in this passage. Really, I think I do. But anyway, we don't know yet what's going on. But here's what he said.
[11:06] I'm not playing games. If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have everlasting life. You have no life in you. If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, if except you do that, you have no.
[11:18] In other words, if you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you're going to hell. And there's all kind of promises if you do. Now here's what's going on. Number one, you ought to have seen there's all these promises.
[11:31] But I want you to see that when you tell the truth, it causes arguments and fights. Go into verse 52. John 6, 52. Whenever you tell the truth, it causes arguments and fights and discussion and disagreements.
[11:47] Look, if you would, in verse 52. The Bible says, in John 6, 52, the Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
[11:59] They said, How in the world could he give us his flesh to eat? I don't get that. That doesn't make a lick of sense. And so they began arguing. Now he had just finished the passage where he was talking about the bread of life.
[12:11] He just finished that passage and they're already arguing. Look in your Bible, if you would, John 6, verse 48. Down to verse 51. So you know why they're arguing? In chapter 6, verse 48, he says, I am that bread.
[12:24] I am that bread of life. Your fathers that eat man in the wilderness are dead. This is the bread which is coming down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
[12:36] If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. Now watch this. They're going to argue now. He gets through that statement. Men are all sitting over there arguing.
[12:48] They're not even paying attention to him. This is impossible. What's he talking about? How can a man eat his flesh? I don't get what's going on here. That doesn't make a lick of sense. He's the bread of life. Man, it didn't save people. He does save people.
[12:58] You can eat his flesh and you can live forever. I don't get this. Doesn't make a lick of sense. Did you know that what we say when we tell people about Jesus doesn't make a lick of sense? When you tell people the things that we preach in this church, all they can think is they're a bunch of nuts.
[13:15] They believe that 2,000 years ago somebody came down from heaven, lived here on the earth for 33 and a half years, died on a cross, was buried and rose again and lives forever.
[13:26] Now he's up in heaven. Now he's praying for them. He's going to save them. All of them are going to disappear and go to heaven. That is ridiculous. Now they're all happy if you want to talk about a good prophet and a good teacher.
[13:37] And they're all happy if you want to talk about all of us learning to be good, moral, upright, upstanding people that pay our bills and treat people right. They're all very happy about that. But don't get into that Jesus stuff too much.
[13:49] It sounds weird. It sounds kind of fruity that somebody came down from heaven and they were already grown. And then they became a little baby and were in a womb and his Christmas sounds really nice.
[14:01] And then he lived and he worked miracles. And then he died and then he was buried. And somehow if that guy 2,000 years ago could take away my sin, hard to believe. Most of us when that happens, we've got to try to soften it.
[14:15] Our attitude is, it's not like that. Calm down. You don't have to get all upset. I mean, it's, you know. And then we try to soften this thing about Jesus.
[14:26] We try to, we don't want to say, well, you're a wicked, dirty sinner that's going to go to hell when you die. We don't want to say that because that kind of offends people. And we don't want to say if you don't accept Christ, you're going to hell.
[14:37] We kind of say you won't have joy and you won't have peace and you won't have, we try to soften that. That's just not how Jesus did it. He was not trying to make a palatable religion.
[14:47] He was not trying to do that at all. Instead, he said, guys, I'm the bread of life. If you eat my flesh, you'll live. If I give my life for the world, he said, I come down from heaven.
[14:59] And he said, I'm not going to soften it. Instead of softening it, look what he says in verse 53. Are you believing this? They're over there. Now watch, you got to understand. He said, I'm bread. You got to eat my flesh. I give my life for my flesh for the life of the world.
[15:12] They're over there having a discussion. Now I'd have been sitting here. I'm a Baptist. I try to get people to come to my church. I do not try to run them off. I mean, I try to soften things up and be sweet and make it palatable.
[15:23] It's just kind of like being a preacher. And then modern day preachers were like, oh, come on, man. You can believe it. Just hold one eye closed and lift your tongue. And you know, whatever. Do something and believe this. That's not how Jesus was.
[15:34] They're over there going, ah. We know him. We know his mama. We know his daddy. We know where he lived. We know he's a carpenter's kid. He says he comes from heaven.
[15:45] Says he's bread. Says you got to eat him. This is ridiculous. So he looks at him and says, let me explain what I mean. So y'all can understand it. Now read it. Verse 53. You ready?
[15:56] He says, then said Jesus. All right. I'll tell you the truth. Verily, verily. I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man. And drink his blood.
[16:06] You have no life. Now, Lord, they were having a hard time understanding eating bread. I mean, that was kind of bothering them. That was kind of like a stumbling stone.
[16:18] And they didn't like that. Could you soften up a bit? Could you make it easy to accept? Could you make it easy to understand? He says, I'll make it easy. You're going to drink my blood and eat my flesh.
[16:30] Or you're going to hell. You like that one. By the way, by the time he finishes this message this morning, thousands will leave him. He will look at his apostles and say, are you guys leaving too?
[16:46] Instead of trying to soften the truth, he told the truth. Now, the confusion's over a spiritual truth or illustration. Not a literal truth.
[16:56] Not something physical. I already mentioned this to you, but just remember, he uses what sounds like a physical thing to explain a spiritual thing.
[17:06] He's talking in John chapter 3. In John chapter 3, Nicodemus comes to him and Nicodemus says, what must I do? And he says, you must be born again. And Nicodemus thinking like a human being, Nicodemus not trying to think in figurative terms.
[17:21] Nicodemus looks at him and says, well, how could that ever happen? I'm 57 years old. How in the world would I go back and be born again? And Jesus is like, good night, boy.
[17:32] You are a teacher in Israel and you don't understand something that simple. And he says, flesh is flesh and spirit, spirit. That is born of the flesh is flesh. That's born of the spirit, spirit.
[17:44] I tell you, you have to be born again. Nicodemus will get born again. We know that from the Bible, but Nicodemus is kind of like, ooh. Can you imagine him when he gets home at night talking to his wife?
[17:54] Honey, what did Jesus say? Honey, he said I was going to get born again. Well, how would you do that, honey? I don't know.
[18:05] I've been to college. I've taken calculus and physics and I've taken all kinds of classes and I can't figure it out myself. The very next chapter, he's sitting talking to a woman at the well.
[18:15] And the woman comes up to him and says to him, hey. He says to her, he said, give me some water. And she says, you're a Jew and you're asking me to give you water. And Jesus said, lady, if you knew who I was, you'd be asking me for water, living water.
[18:30] That would be inside of you like a spring springing up and you'd never be thirsty again. And that woman immediately thinks, man, that'd save on work. That'd be great. You mean I'd never get thirsty again?
[18:41] I'd never have to come back to the well and draw water? That would be wonderful. You mean I'd have all the water I need with me wherever I go? She didn't understand. Now Jesus says, I am bread and you must eat of me or you can't go to heaven.
[18:53] And they're like, oh boy, third time he's bringing these weird comparisons. We don't get them. He said, you don't get that one. How about this one? Eat my flesh and drink my blood.
[19:04] I would like to stop and say to our church, we don't need to soften truth. We don't need to fit in. We don't need to de-emphasize that people are sinners. We don't need to de-emphasize that they're going to go to hell when they die.
[19:19] They need to know that Jesus won't just make everything right. We need to quit worrying about feeling strange in this world. You know, we do kind of feel strange.
[19:31] You know, there are churches that fill up stadiums because they leave off all this stuff like this in their message. I mean, they're not going to talk about eating flesh, drinking blood. And they're not going to talk about bread coming down from heaven and you've got to eat it.
[19:42] And they're not going to talk your sin nature or your sin is just your self-concept. And that's how they're going to say it. We're just going to say flat out what happened. They look at us like strange. Why do y'all get baptized?
[19:54] And why do you still have to do it under a whole bunch of water? I mean, everybody else has figured out all you got to do is put a couple of drops on it. Why are y'all so weird? You got a big old tank of water in your church. Why? And we try to figure that.
[20:04] Why do y'all do the Lord's Supper like that? Why do y'all give so much money? Why do y'all send missionaries? Why are y'all so fanatical? And we say, I don't want to look like a fanatic. I need to fit in. And we look for ways not to be embarrassed.
[20:18] We're more concerned about what people think than what the Lord thinks. But Jesus is just the opposite. He said, you think I'm strange when I tell you to eat bread, living bread, my flesh that's bread.
[20:33] You think that's hard. Okay. Let me help you with that. Eat my flesh. Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. By now. I mean, these guys are freaking out.
[20:43] They are saying this is weird. We can't get along with it. You ought to quit being embarrassed by spiritual truth. You ought to quit being embarrassed by spiritual truth. So what's he referring to?
[20:55] What's it mean to eat his flesh and drink his blood? So let me just give you some things. And you might want to note these down for later. Number one, it's not the Lord's Supper or communion. It's not the Lord's Supper or communion.
[21:07] This is not about taking the Lord's Supper or taking communion. That's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23 through 26. And maybe you might look that up right quick and make some notes. It's not talking about that.
[21:18] But in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23, Paul said, The first time he does the Lord's Supper is the night he's betrayed.
[21:30] He's not betrayed yet. In verse 24, he said, And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take eat. This is my body. This do in remembrance of me.
[21:41] He said, I want you to do this in remembrance of me. Verse 25, he took the cup and he said, The cup is the New Testament in my blood. And often as you do, drink it in remembrance of me. And then in verse, good night.
[21:55] In verse 26, he said, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, You do show the Lord's death till he come. He said, so I want you to do it in remembrance. I want you to do it in remembrance. I want you to show the Lord's death until he come.
[22:08] That was what was going on in the Lord's Supper. So let me stop real quickly. We take the Lord's Supper here. When we take the Lord's Supper here, We don't literally eat his blood or drink his blood. We don't literally eat his flesh.
[22:19] It was a symbol. Just like being born again is a symbol. Just like drinking living water is a symbol. Just like eating the bread of life is a symbol. It was a symbol. And we do it in remembrance of him.
[22:30] That's what it said in 1 Corinthians 11. Do this in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of me. We do it as we do it. Remembering that he died for us. We do it. Remembering that his body was broken for us.
[22:40] We do it. Remembering that his blood was shed for us. We do it as we remember thinking he's coming again. And the next time he wants to eat this supper, He will eat it with us in heaven.
[22:51] We do that Lord's Supper that way. That's not what's the story that's being told here. The story that Jesus is using today. And I'll tell you why it's not. Why would he be discussing such a special time of fellowship between God's people and God with unbelievers?
[23:06] Everybody's listening. They're not even saved yet. They have no desire to remember him. They want to kill him. They have no desire to look for his coming. They want him going. They have no desire to tell people about his death.
[23:17] They don't even understand that. They certainly don't understand that Jesus is going to die and be buried and rise again and come back from heaven. That's not the Lord's Supper. It's not communion. It's not mass.
[23:30] He has not even shared the Lord's Supper or truths with that about the Lord's Supper with his disciples yet. Let me say this to you. Jesus is no more present with us when we take the Lord's Supper than he is when we're not taking the Lord's Supper.
[23:47] He is ever present with us. We are his body. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Can you say amen right there? He is here with us today in this service. He is here when we take the Lord's Supper.
[23:59] We do not eat his flesh. We do not drink his blood. Literally, those are symbolic things just like being born again, just like living water.
[24:10] Those are symbolic things. But they are an expression of our faith. And eating and drinking is essential to eternal life, just like the Lord's Supper would be an expression.
[24:23] Look at verse 53. John 6, 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.
[24:35] Let me just tell you real quickly. You need to know this. I hope you understand. We're going to talk about what that means in a second, but you need to understand something. Salvation is a God thing. And it's not about something you do.
[24:48] It's not about, did I take the Lord's Supper or didn't I take the Lord's Supper? Did I take the Lord's Supper right or didn't I take the Lord's Supper right? Did I get baptized or did I not get baptized? Did I read my Bible enough or did I not read my Bible enough?
[25:00] Did I tithe enough or did I not tithe enough? It's not, there's nothing in your Bible that's going to put the pressure on you to do to be saved. You don't do to be saved.
[25:12] You trust him and what he did to be saved. The story is told, the little girl that comes running in at the end of the service, and she said, I want to get saved. And the preacher said, service is over.
[25:23] She said, well, what can I do? He said, lady, it's too late. You can't do anything. And she started crying. So I want to get saved. I want to get saved. Tell me what I can do. And the preacher said, there's nothing you can do. It's too late. And she said, what do you mean?
[25:34] It's too late. He said, it's already been done. So you don't have to do anything, but if you'd like to just believe on what he did, you can be saved. We're saved. Not by what we do, but by what he did.
[25:46] Let's stop and listen a second. Religion likes to take all these stories of eating his flesh and drinking his blood and living water and getting baptized. And they'd like to give you a list of things you do to get saved.
[25:59] But you are saved by the grace of God. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works as any man should boast. None of us are ever going to get to heaven and stand around heaven going like this.
[26:13] Well, I took the Lord's supper 9,243 times. The other guy said, we think that's something I was at 10,100 before I died. No, we're not going to get to heaven like that. We're not going to get to heaven and say, I got baptized by 10 Baptist preachers.
[26:26] We're not going to get to heaven and say, I gave a million dollar submissions. We're going to get to heaven and say, and when it's time to talk about how we got there, we're going to say, man, I was a dirty, rotten, filthy, wicked sinner. I did not deserve to come here. And Jesus paid the price for me.
[26:38] And nobody's going to do any bragging in heaven. Nobody's going to do any bragging. Well, one guy's going to do some bragging, the son and the father. They're going to brag about how they saved worthless people like us.
[26:51] Can you say amen right there? So don't take this and think, man, okay, now we're going to go figure out how to get all of his body and eat it. So let's take the Lord's supper a lot. Now we're going to go drink it. That's not the point here.
[27:02] That's not the point. They do not literally become the body and blood of Jesus. They are symbols. Eating and drinking food means you take it in and it becomes a literal part of you.
[27:14] Eating and drinking food means you take it in and it becomes a literal part of you. There's some truths you can learn. If you think about this comparison, do you realize that food's useless unless you eat it?
[27:26] Do you realize that all Jesus did on the cross of Calvary is useless unless you believe it? Food's useless unless you eat it. And all he did on the cross of Calvary is useless unless you believe it.
[27:38] And you are commanded to believe and it's your decision to trust Jesus Christ. Don't blame it on anybody else. Don't blame it on any other thing. You decide you will or not believe.
[27:49] We eat because we're hungry. And when you're hungry and thirsty and needy enough, you'll believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Eating involves trust. You know, you don't eat food unless you trust it.
[28:01] You don't eat food unless you trust it. There are restaurants you went to one time and got sick and you simply will not go again. There are restaurants that you went to one time and saw a hair in your food and you will not go again.
[28:14] There are things that you ate that made you sick and it really didn't make you sick. It was something else. People used to kind of purr all the time. And they say, we ate that proven food and got sick. I said, how are you going to live here? And maybe that one plate got you sick.
[28:26] Maybe another plate did. Maybe that really wasn't what got you sick. Maybe you're sick from something yesterday. No, no, no, no. In our heads, we're like, uh, uh, and here's what happens is when you trust Jesus, you take him in.
[28:38] Let me just, um, maybe give you one other thing before I ask the main question. You realize what eating and drinking is? It is a complete and utter and total commitment to G to Jesus.
[28:52] So I'll ask you the last question. I guess two questions. First, have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your personal savior? There. Salvation is all of God, but you will have to accept the gift.
[29:09] It's not just going to happen to you. Say, man, you see, what happens is God says, I paid the price. I did the jerk, the work. I, I, I paid your sin debt.
[29:20] I've done everything, but I know that's why the Holy spirit of God has to convict you and show you you're a dirty center and show you that it's the truth. Nobody would ever believe what we believe if it wasn't a God work.
[29:30] I believe this because God worked in my life and showed me my sinfulness and show me my need of him and everybody else that saved. That's how it happened. 635. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread.
[29:43] He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me. Look at that. Underline it in the verse. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. So, so hunger, thirst, believe, eat my flesh, drink my blood, believe.
[29:58] That's the story from the very beginning. John 1, 12, but as many as received unto them that gave you the power to believe on his name. It's believing and trusting what Jesus did on the cross.
[30:09] Chapter six, verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. He that believeth on me in these verses, faith is expressed in several different ways.
[30:21] In verse 35 is coming to him. Look at verse 35. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall never hunger. He that believes on me shall never thirst.
[30:33] Do you believe God enough to come to Jesus? If you won't come to Jesus, you don't believe in verse 40. It's looking unto him or seeing him.
[30:44] And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which sees the son and believes on him, sees the son and believes on him may have everlasting life. In verse 45, it's hearing and learning.
[30:57] In verse 45, it's written in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned. Faith should be as real to you as literally eating and drinking.
[31:09] Now listen, I want to tell you, listen, change the illustration. You realize that we fully understand that in just a few minutes, most of us are going to get in our car and go home or go to our restaurant or do something.
[31:20] And we're going to go get something neat. And buddy, that's real. That's real. We see it. We feel it. We come to it. We hear it. We consume it. But when we talk about the things of the Bible, you're like, I don't know.
[31:33] It's some thoughty, ethereal thought that floats around in my mind, but I don't understand it. And here's what Jesus is saying. Well, this is real. Food in your belly is not near as real as spiritual food that saved your soul.
[31:48] What happens when you have real faith in Jesus? You'll be certain of your salvation. Your life will be completely transformed. You will have seen, heard, come and believe the truths to change your life.
[32:01] Here's the bottom line. Eating and drinking implies complete commitment. You wouldn't compare a half-hearted faith to eating and drinking his body and his blood. Here's what Jesus said.
[32:12] All you guys like me and all you guys follow me and all you guys are with me. When I'm making food, you're happy. When I'm healing people, you're happy. When I'm walking on water, you're happy. Everything's all great, isn't it?
[32:22] All right. If you really want to follow me, eat my flesh, drink my blood. Whoa, whoa, whoa. There are limits to my faith. Jesus said, then you don't have real faith.
[32:36] Then you don't have real faith. See, eating his flesh and drinking his blood, that's like complete commitment. It's like being consumed with Jesus and his truth.
[32:48] It eats you alive as you eat it. I want to tell you that in just the next, the next set of verses, many of his disciples went back because they weren't his disciples.
[33:00] Many of us love Jesus, but not really. It's like when you got married for better or for worse, you said, I'm getting married for better or worse.
[33:11] You didn't really mean that worse part. And some of you believe Jesus, but you're not eat up with it. Did you know in the Bible, the thought of being a believers or a disciple, a true disciple is that you hate your mama and your brother and your own life.
[33:27] And Jesus is more important than everything. There's no super spiritual pastor level. There's no super spiritual missionary level. There's no sub super spiritual deacon level.
[33:39] And the rest of you are just like, we're just hanging out of here. That's not the way it is. You're either in or you're out. You're either eating the flesh or you're not. You're believing or you're not believing. You're a hundred percent in or you're not. True believers eat the flesh, drink the blood consumed with it.
[33:54] It is an essential part of you. It's an essential part of you. Often joking, cut up with the guys and say, if you are stabbing me, world evangelism would bleed out.
[34:07] I'm full of world evangelism. I'm full of Jesus. And here's the facts of what he's saying. Eat my flesh, drink my blood. Be so full of me that it's oozing out of your pores.
[34:18] Be so full of me that you love me more than life. You love holiness and righteousness and serving God and doing right. Eat my flesh and drink my blood.
[34:30] It is being completely and fully surrendered to God all the way in and no turning back. Is that true about you?
[34:41] You see, most of us have a half-hearted Christianity and there's no such thing. There's no such thing. There's no such thing in life as, I'm kind of a halfway believer.
[34:56] You married? Kind of halfway. What? You alive? We're kind of halfway. You love Jesus? We're kind of halfway. No, no, no, no, no. I'll be honest with you.
[35:07] You, had you been there that day with the thousands. There were probably, I don't know if 5,000 men and women and the kids and maybe 15 or 20,000 people are following him.
[35:18] He can't go anywhere with the crowds are everywhere. And he turns around to him and he says, you guys only follow me because I feed you.
[35:29] You don't even follow me because I do a lot of miracles. He's kind of exasperated. He's kind of frustrated. He's kind of aggravated. He says, all right, you like the bread.
[35:41] Let me tell you, Moses gave y'all bread from heaven, but you died when you ate it. Well, I am the living bread. I'm the true bread. I came down from heaven. And if you don't eat my flesh, you're not saved. They're like, whoa.
[35:54] It's getting weird. Now we don't mind eating the bread and the fish, but don't be trying to make good night. You want to talk about being all in. This is too much. He said, oh, you think that's all in. Let me just tell you another way.
[36:05] Eat my flesh, drink my blood, or you have no life in you. Whoa. We're leaving. Next verses. Jesus is going to say, you guys leaving too?
[36:21] Because you see true Christianity is not happening. Half hearted. True Christianity is not a true believer. A true disciple is not kind of in and kind of out.
[36:34] By the way, that's what America is full of today. It's full of name only Christians. It's full of people that do not love God with every fiber of their being, but true disciples love Jesus.
[36:50] Is that true about you? Are you born again today? Are you just religious? Are you here because he can feed you? Are you here because he can answer your prayers and give you more food to eat and put food in your belly?
[37:06] Are you here for the wrong reason? Are you here because you know there is no other place you can go? There's no other person you can ask. No one else has the words of truth.
[37:17] He is really, really who he said he was. Just a few verses below this. Jesus says, are you guys leaving?
[37:29] And Peter says, you have the words of life. Where would we go? And then Peter says, and then Peter says, and we believe that you are the Christ, the son of God.
[37:46] But as these are, these that are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, Peter got it. And Peter proclaimed it.
[37:57] Do you, do you really believe that Jesus was not just a man, not just a prophet, not just a teacher, not just a religious leader, that he was sent from God, the heavenly man to die on a cross, God in human flesh, the Christ, the son of God.
[38:18] Do you believe that? If you don't, you're not born again. You're not going to heaven. You have not eaten his flesh and drank his blood.
[38:30] And if that's revolting to you this morning, it speaks volumes. Father in heaven, I pray you'd work in the hearts of your people. I pray you'd save those that don't know you.
[38:44] God, I pray that we would have real salvation where we've really trusted Jesus and what he did on the cross. And I pray God, that we go tell people about you and not be embarrassed about what you've done.
[38:55] I pray God, you just show your power in our lives. God, I give you glory and praise for what you do. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[39:08] For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com