Please remain standing, if you would, as we read the Word of God, we'll stand in reverence.
God, reveal your glory through the preaching of your Word. That's our prayer this morning.
We're back in the Gospel of John, John chapter 6, this morning.
We'll remain standing as I read from 51 through the end of the chapter this morning.
Jesus says,
And drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.
Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said,
This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them,
Do you take offense at this?
Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the Spirit who gives life.
The flesh is no help at all.
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.
For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.
And he said,
This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
So Jesus said to the twelve,
Do you want to go away as well?
Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
Jesus answered them,
Did I not choose you, the twelve?
And yet one of you is a devil.
He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
For he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
This is God's word.
If you would, let's be seated and go to him once more in prayer.
Father, it is your spirit that gives life.
The flesh is no help at all.
So we pray now that through the preaching of your word,
that the spirit would give life this morning.
That you would feed us spiritually as we open up your word and feast by faith on the Savior Jesus.
We pray in Christ's name.
Amen.
What were you doing ten weeks ago?
It's hard for us to remember what we were doing yesterday,
much less ten weeks ago if you're like me.
But that is what we're asking you to do this morning as we take a pause,
take a break from the book of Psalms,
get out of David's head and place ourselves back in the book of John,
back in John's head this morning.
And I hope that we'll get ourselves caught up quickly this morning.
You may remember John's gospel.
It was written to answer one big question.
Do you remember what it was?
This is the biggest, most important question that anybody in the room could answer,
anybody to settle in their minds.
John writes to answer the question,
Who is Jesus?
Not just who do we want him to be,
who do we think that he is,
who is he to me,
but who is he actually,
and how will we respond to who he is?
And so he tells us in chapter 20, verse 31,
this is his thesis statement for the book of John.
He says,
I have written these things that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name.
That's the point of the gospel of John.
Life through faith in the Son of God,
Jesus,
the Christ.
And it's not only the point of the whole gospel of John,
it's the point of our passage this morning.
If I had to sum up our passage this morning in one sentence,
I would do it like this.
It said,
Jesus has come to give life to all who believe.
Jesus has come to give life to all who hear his words,
and listen by faith and believe.
But as we see in our text this morning,
not all listen to the words of Christ.
Not all receive him for who he is.
Not all believe what he says.
Ten weeks ago,
we left Jesus in the middle of a conversation.
And Jesus has been explaining how anybody might be saved.
It's not by our doing.
It's not by our natural birth.
It's not by our personal accomplishments.
It's not by anything in us at all.
We are saved simply by hearing and believing the words of Christ.
But some of the words of Christ are not easy to hear.
For example,
our passage this morning,
look there to chapter 6,
verse 51.
Here's what he says.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever.
And the bread that I will give for the life of the world
is my flesh.
Now when you say something like that,
inevitably there are going to be questions.
And so our passage this morning is structured around three questions.
These are three questions that must be answered
if we are to have spiritual life.
Three questions that must be answered
if we are to have eternal life in Christ.
The first question is asked by the Jews here in verse 52.
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
You know,
sometimes I think we forget that Jesus was a real person.
I just want you to place yourself in this situation for a minute.
How would you respond if you heard somebody say these words?
If I went and stood in Walmart
and stood up and I said these words,
these things that Jesus is saying here,
if anyone eats this bread,
he'll live forever.
And the bread,
by the way,
is my flesh.
How would you respond?
You would ask some questions,
I would hope.
You would wonder,
what in the world is this man talking about?
If anybody eats this bread,
he'll live forever.
The bread he's given is his flesh.
How is he going to give us his flesh to eat?
What does that mean?
This is a rational,
logical question to ask.
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
But Jesus doubles down here in verse 53,
doesn't he?
He says,
truly,
I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
unless you drink his blood,
you have no life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
Do we understand this?
That a necessary condition of our salvation,
a necessary condition of our future hope
and our resurrection to come,
is that we would feed and drink
and consume the body and blood of Christ.
You all wonder why sometimes people think
Christians are strange.
We believe some weird stuff,
don't we?
The Bible talks about some very strange stuff.
I mean,
just imagine if you had no knowledge of the Bible whatsoever.
If you're here visiting with us for the first or second time,
just imagine if this is your first sermon that you're sitting through,
and you're like,
y'all eat Jesus.
What does he mean by this?
Is he advocating for some sort of religious cannibalism?
What is this?
How do we eat his flesh?
How can he say this?
Well, to set the record straight,
I hope that it's clear,
I think it's meant to be clear,
Jesus is not speaking in physical terms here.
Nobody in the history of mankind
has ever physically,
actually eaten the body and blood of Jesus.
He's speaking literally.
He means what he's saying.
If you don't eat and if you don't drink,
you have no life in you.
But he's not speaking physically.
And this was the Jews hang up here,
isn't it?
They're seeing and they're hearing,
they're listening to Jesus's words
through a purely physical filter.
And they cannot get past that physical lens
to get to the spiritual point
that Jesus is trying to make.
But as he often does,
this is exactly what Jesus is doing.
He's taking a physical object,
a physical lesson,
a physical experience
that each of us experience day in and day out.
And he's drawing from it a spiritual point.
What's the point?
Verse 55 tells us.
He says,
My flesh is true food.
My blood is true drink.
It's a comparison.
Comparison.
Think about this with me.
Just as physical food,
it gives us physical energy.
So feasting on Christ gives us spiritual energy.
Just as food gives us physical nourishment,
feasting on Christ gives us spiritual nourishment.
Just as food and drink is necessary for physical life,
so this true food is necessary for spiritual life.
If we go physically famished for long enough,
we will die.
If we are spiritually famished,
we will truly die.
Just as food and drink,
it satisfies desire.
It meets a need.
It satisfies a craving.
So feasting on Christ satisfies true desire,
ultimate desire,
ultimate need,
in a way that nothing else ever can.
I wonder if you caught the lesson from your breakfast this morning.
You know,
the way that our bodies crave and desire
and need physical sustenance,
it's meant to teach us of our true need,
not for food,
but for true food,
for Christ himself.
Here's one more.
Just as what you eat,
in a sense,
becomes one with you,
you ever heard,
you are what you eat?
It abides in you.
So,
verse 57,
he says,
whoever feeds on my flesh
and drinks my blood
abides in me
and I in him.
Do we realize
what a glorious invitation that is?
if we can,
if we can grasp the depth
of what Jesus is extending to us here,
we are,
we are invited not just to benefit from Christ,
but to share in the very life of Christ.
We're invited not just to receive something from him,
but to be united with him.
He in us
and us in him.
This is,
this is right at the heart of the gospel.
Track with me here.
Because too often we treat our relationship with God
as if we simply receive something from him.
We come to God to get forgiveness.
We come to God to get peace.
We come to God to escape from the wrath of God.
We come to God to escape from hell.
We come to God to get heaven.
These are glorious gifts,
but they are byproducts
of the central gift of the gospel.
You know what it is?
God himself.
That we are united with Christ.
It's union with Christ himself.
This is the only way anyone is saved.
Christ comes down from heaven,
is born in the likeness of man,
lives perfectly where I have failed,
where you have failed.
He dies in our place.
He rises from the grave and says,
if you come to me,
I will take what you have earned.
You can have what I have earned.
Not just have it,
but become it.
2 Corinthians 5, 21.
He made him who knew no sin
to become sin for us,
so that in him,
in him,
we might receive the righteousness of God.
No.
In him,
we might become the righteousness of God.
That's union with Christ.
And this is why Jesus says in verse 57,
as the living Father sent me,
and I live in my humanity,
in the humanity of Christ,
because of his obedience,
I live because of the Father.
So whoever feeds on me,
he also will live because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven,
not like the bread the fathers ate,
that manna from heaven and died.
Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
The Christians are those who share in the life of Christ.
Why?
Because we are in Christ,
and Christ is in us.
We are one with him.
And so,
because we are one with Christ,
we have peace with God.
God.
Because we are one with Christ,
we have joy that transcends all circumstances.
Because we are one with Christ,
we have forgiveness that he has earned,
not us.
Because we are one with Christ,
we are justified,
declared righteous on his record,
on his merit,
not ours.
Because he is righteous,
not because we are.
Because we are one with Christ,
we will be raised up on the last day
because we share in his life,
his death,
and his resurrection.
Because we are one with Christ,
we have every blessing of the gospel.
Union with Christ is the fountain
from which every other blessing,
every other benefit of the gospel flows.
So how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Well, he does so by dying on the cross.
How can he give us his blood to drink?
He does so by pouring it out on behalf of sinners.
By dying, not for his own sin,
but for the sin of all who will come to him in faith.
How do we receive his sacrifice?
How do we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man?
And we do so by faith.
By feasting on him.
By faith.
John Calvin.
He says,
Faith is the mouth and the stomach of the soul.
If you want to consume,
if you want to receive what Christ has done,
we do so
by coming to him daily
by faith.
Church,
is your soul satisfied in Christ?
Do you seek to satisfy the hunger and longing of your soul
with a life-giving satisfaction of Christ
or with earthly bread?
Do you listen and receive his words?
Do you consume them as life to your soul?
Do you constantly fill yourself
with the body and blood of Christ
broken and poured out for you?
If you don't,
ask God right now to do a work in you.
To cause you to hunger and thirst
for that life-giving sacrifice.
And if you do,
then praise God.
Because that did not come from you.
We see that in our second point this morning.
The second question.
Question number two.
Who can listen to this?
Who can listen to it?
We see this in verses 60 through 65.
His disciples now have a turn to ask a question.
The Pharisees responded.
The Jews responded.
His disciples were listening to his message.
And verse 60 says,
When many of his disciples heard it,
they said,
Jesus,
this is a hard saying.
Who can listen to it?
That's a good question,
isn't it?
Because this message,
this gospel message,
is not naturally comprehended.
The message of the gospel is beautiful,
and it is good,
and it is simple,
and it is true,
and it is offensive to sinful flesh.
Sinful flesh hates what Christ is presenting here.
The very fact that we need salvation
is offensive to a sinner,
isn't it?
Who, me?
I need salvation.
You're telling me I need salvation?
The Jews here,
as they hear this,
they think their standing with God
is clean,
is pure,
is fine,
based on their lineage.
They belong,
they're children of Abraham.
Who are you to tell us
that we need to be saved from anything?
How different is that from anything today?
When we share the gospel with our friends,
with our family,
with our neighbors,
I need to be saved?
Who are you to tell me I need salvation?
It's offensive to sinners like us
that we are all spiritually dead
apart from the grace of Christ.
Jesus says,
unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood,
you have no life in you.
And that's our condition,
apart from Christ.
We can't wrap our minds around this
in our flesh.
How hard is it for somebody
who is living, breathing, thinking, acting, doing,
to tell them you're dead,
spiritually dead,
in the trespasses and sins
in which you walk?
You have no life in you.
Who can hear it?
Not only this,
but the method of receiving salvation
is offensive to sinners like us,
isn't it?
We want to earn our salvation.
If salvation is possible,
we want to play a part
in making it happen for us.
We are far too proud
to receive something freely from God,
so we want to work up our strength,
be good enough,
balance out the scales
in the favor of us
with our deeds,
with our thoughts,
with our actions.
But look what Jesus says.
He says,
whoever believes
has eternal life.
Everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in Him
should have eternal life,
and I will raise Him up.
The beginning and the end
of our salvation
is simply through faith in Christ.
We cannot earn it.
It's offensive to sinners like us.
Not only this,
but the exclusivity of salvation
is offensive to sinners like us,
isn't it?
Jesus says clearly
and without apology,
if you come to me,
you have life.
If you don't come to me,
you have no life.
And there is no third option here.
In North Myrtle Beach,
I was invited,
I was invited to speak one year
at a Lenten service,
a community Lenten service
in preparation for Easter.
And the church had invited
several pastors
from the community
to come speak.
I knew a couple of the pastors.
I knew them well.
I knew that they preached the gospel.
But I also knew
some of the other pastors
that were going to be there
and some of the other churches
that were going to be represented there,
including the church
that was hosting the event.
And I knew that
they were universalists.
Do you know what that means?
Meaning they believe
everyone at the end of the day
goes to heaven.
Everybody,
it doesn't matter
what you believe,
what you do,
what you say,
what you think,
who you follow,
what religion you claim
to be a part of,
who your savior is,
universalists.
At the end of the day,
everybody winds up in heaven.
And so knowing this,
I thought carefully
about the text I would choose
and I landed on Acts 4.12,
which says this,
there is salvation
and no one else.
For there is no other name
under heaven
given among men
by which we must be saved.
I preached on the exclusivity
of salvation in Christ
and Christ alone.
no other name.
Salvation in no one else.
Thankfully,
no one revolted.
I made it safely
to the end of the sermon,
but I was not invited back.
But I hope the message was clear.
Our salvation is,
as the famous
Reformation doctrine summary goes,
is by grace alone
through faith alone,
in Christ alone,
according to the scriptures alone,
to the glory of God alone.
And this is hard
for modern ears to hear,
isn't it?
But modern ears need to know
that we don't get to stand
as judge over the words of Christ.
Do you hear that?
We don't get to stand
as judge over the words of Christ.
Quite the opposite.
Look there to verse 61.
It says,
Jesus, knowing this in himself,
that his disciples
were grumbling about this,
said,
Do you take offense at this?
Then what if you were to see
the Son of Man
ascending to where he was before?
In other words,
you are treating my words
as if they were up
for your examination.
You are treating my words
as if they were on par
with the words of any other man.
You are sifting through them
to see what is acceptable to you
and what is not.
What is up to your liking
and what is not.
What is hard and what is easy.
You are treating my words
as if they were the words
of any other teacher.
If you only knew,
if you could only see
who I was,
who it is that is speaking
these words to you,
you would know that
my words are not subject
to your evaluation.
You don't rule over
the words of Christ.
Christ's words rule over you.
How tempting is it
when we share the gospel
with our friends,
with our family,
to be worried,
so worried about
how it might be received
to the point where
maybe we just soften it up
a little bit.
Maybe we just alter it
just a bit.
Maybe we keep all the good parts
and leave out
all the hard parts.
We try to make it
more palatable for them
so that maybe they would
just come to faith
and get all the hard stuff later.
How tempting is it
even as a pastor
to stand week in
and week out,
open the word of God
and attempt to appease a crowd
rather than deliver
words of life.
Jesus says,
that is not how anyone
will hear my words.
It's not by our curating
of the word of Christ.
How then will we hear
the words of God?
Verse 63.
He says,
the spirit must give life.
The flesh is no help at all.
If you would have spiritual life,
it must come from the giver
of spiritual life.
Your flesh
and all your goodness
and all your efforts
and all your accolades
and all your accomplishments
and all your works
are worthless.
And how does the spirit
give this life-giving
spiritual life
is through
the words of Christ.
Jesus says,
the words that I've spoken
to you are spirit
and life.
But,
Jesus says,
even still,
there are some of you
who do not believe.
Have you ever wondered
why,
how it could be
that two people
can sit in the same room,
listen to the same,
text,
hear the same sermon
in the same place
at the same time,
and one person
receives the word
and the other person
rejects the word.
What's the difference?
What happened to you
when you believed
the word of Christ?
What happened to you?
What happened was
the spirit gave you life.
The spirit,
it says,
no one can come to the father,
no one can come to Christ
unless it is granted
to him by the father.
And if it is granted
by the father,
then at the right time,
at the exact moment,
ordained and arranged
by God
before eternity began,
the spirit will take
the words of Christ,
take them into your ears,
take them into your brain,
take them down
into your heart
where they will be
for the first time
believed and cherished
as life for you.
Do you remember
what that was like
for you, believer,
when that happened to you
for the first time?
I do.
I remember reading
the book of Romans
and all of a sudden
I'm seeing Christ
like I've never seen him before.
All of a sudden
I'm seeing my sin
like I've never seen it before.
I remember studying
the gospel of Mark
with some men
who discipled me
in college
and all of a sudden
I'm hearing things
that I've heard
my whole life.
I'm hearing stories
of Christ
that I've read as a child
up until that point
in my life
but all of a sudden
for some reason
I am seeing
the glory of Christ
like I've never
seen it before.
All of a sudden
this everything
to me,
the spirit
had taken the words
of Christ
and lit them on fire
in my soul.
Has he done that
for you?
That's what has happened
if you are in Christ
but not all belief.
Jesus wasn't guessing
about the spiritual state
of his followers.
He knew
that there were some
there hearing his words
who did not yet
truly believe.
Verse 64
says he knew
from the beginning
who those were
who did not believe
and who it was
who would betray him.
Verse 70
says that he chose
the twelve
knowing full well
that one of them
Judas
would betray him.
this should sober us
church
that we can be
so close
to Christ
we can
be directly
under his word
we can hear it
week in
and week out
claim to be near
to him
and yet not
truly
believe
which leads
to our third
and final question
this morning
question number three
this time
it's Jesus' turn
to ask a question
do you want
to go away
as well?
Look there
to verse 66
it says
after this
many of his disciples
many
not a few
many of his disciples
turned back
and no longer
walked with him
so Jesus said
to the twelve
do you want
to go away
as well?
I don't know
how many
disciples
left Jesus
that day
it seems like
his message
was too much
for them to bear
you know
it's interesting
to me
as I read this
that if Jesus
preached this sermon
at a Sunday service
in a lot of churches
in America today
he wouldn't have a job
on Monday
Jesus
by modern
church standards
church planting
standards
he would be a terrible
church planter
he just drove
the crowds away
didn't he
I think it's clear
Jesus wasn't
interested in
simply drawing
a crowd
he was interested
in delivering
the words
of life
and then putting
the impetus
on us
to say
well what are you
going to do
about it
here's who I am
here's how
eternal life
is given
how will you
respond
we don't get
to judge
the words
of Christ
but we all
must respond
to them
all of us
this morning
have heard
the word
all of us
this morning
have heard
my flesh
is true
food
my blood
is true
drink
whoever feeds
on my flesh
and drinks
my blood
abides in me
and I
in him
we have all
heard
forsake your
sin
turn to Christ
and you
will have
eternal
life
we've heard
it
and the
disciples
have heard
it
my part
is done
how will
you respond
to the
word of
Christ
do you
want to
go away
as well
Peter
as he often
does
he speaks
up first
doesn't he
it's always
a gamble
with Peter
he gets it
right about
50% of the
time
but this
time
he gets
it right
he speaks
the response
of a true
disciple
of Christ
listen to what
he says
in verse 68
Lord
to whom
shall we
go
you have
the words
of eternal
life
and we
have
believed
and have
come to
know
that you
are the
holy one
of God
is this
your response
to the word
of God
where else
can we go
Lord
where else
can I go
with my
anxiousness
you have
the words
of eternal
life
where else
can I go
with my
troubled
marriage
Lord
where else
can I
go
you have
the words
of eternal
life
where else
can I
go
with my
suffering
with my
sickness
Lord
where else
can I
go
with my
sin
we've
tried
the world
I've
turned
there
I've
been
affirmed
and wrapped
up
and spit
up
and chewed
out
by the
world
I've
turned
to myself
and found
it
lacking
I've
turned
everywhere
else
tried
every
flavor
of bread
the world
has to
offer
none
of it
satisfies
where else
can we
go
Lord
you
alone
have
the
words
of
eternal
life
is that
the desire
of your
heart
a few
years ago
Amanda
took up
a new
hobby
somebody
had given
her some
sourdough
starter
bless them
whoever
that was
and for
a season
our house
was filled
with bread
loaves
of bread
big round
I don't even
know what
you call
them
just bricks
of bread
rounds
of bread
she made
sourdough
cookies
everything
was sourdough
and it
was unreal
I'll tell you
what I never
heard said
in my
house
thanks for
the offer
I'm gonna
go to the
store
get my
own
bread
no we
we
wisely
said I
I want
more
when
when can
I have
more
give me
another
taste
of that
that's
the good
stuff
give me
some
more
why
would
I
settle
for
less
church
the bread
of life
has come
down
from heaven
all
satisfying
life
giving
true
bread
why would
we settle
for anything
less
feast your
souls
on Christ
he offers
himself
fully
to you
this
morning
are
you
satisfied
in
him
let's
pray
Lord we
can't even
begin
to
fathom
the
depth
of the
ways
that
you
nourish
our
soul
when we
come
to
you
so
we
pray
father
for
those
who
have
never
turned
to
you
who
have
never
trusted
in
Christ
we
pray
now
would
be
the
moment
the
spirit
gives
life
and we
pray for
us
who
are
constantly
drawn
towards
other
things
Lord
even
as
we
just
sang
we're
prone
to
wonder
Lord
I
feel
it
prone
to
leave
the
God
I
love
here's
our
heart
Lord
take
and
seal
it
we
pray
help
us
to
trust
in
Christ
every
moment
and
feast
our
souls
on
him
we
pray
in
Christ
name
amen