WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.000
 When it comes to food, we've all got different tastes, haven't we? But there are some things that are universally revolting to eat.

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:29.000
! People laugh, don't they? If you watch that trashy TV programme, I'm a celebrity, get me out of there. We laugh, don't we, at celebrities as they take the challenge to eat and chew and bite and swallow nasty things, insects and grubs and stuff.

00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:41.000
 It's revolting, isn't it? And yet, perversely entertaining. I wonder what your nightmare dish is, that if you were served it, you'd have to politely decline.

00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:51.000
 Jesus brings a dish out of the kitchen that would make any bush tucker challenge look like a dream.

00:00:51.000 --> 00:01:03.000
 It is a dish that is universally difficult to swallow. And it's very, very hard to keep down. It is an acquired taste. Let's have a paper dish.

00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:20.500
 This is great. It's a bit of a drink. It's so good. It is an acquired taste. But once you've eaten it, and once you've received it, you will never want anything else.

00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:33.400
 Do you remember where we are in John's Gospel? Jesus has just fed the 5,000. And Jesus has steered the conversation onto the subject of food, hasn't he?

00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:45.260
 We're looking at the bread of life discourse here. And he agrees that human beings need physical food to live, and he's just met that need in a miraculous way.

00:01:45.260 --> 00:01:53.680
 But more importantly, he says, you and I need another longer-lasting kind of food, which only he can give.

00:01:54.540 --> 00:02:01.580
 I am the bread of life, he claims. And he's going to carry on unpacking what that means.

00:02:02.600 --> 00:02:13.020
 And in our passage today, he describes the meal in more detail. He describes what he is going to produce to give us eternal life.

00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:22.340
 It's like the chefs do, isn't it, as they describe their dishes. I'm going to cook panseed salmon on a bed of celeriac puree with samphire and a lemon sauce.

00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:24.760
 But it is not at all like that, is it?

00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:31.379
 What he is about to serve is something that seems utterly revolting to us.

00:02:32.480 --> 00:02:33.420
 It's shocking.

00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:37.500
 Look at verse 51 again in your Bibles.

00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:40.099
 I am the living bread.

00:02:40.460 --> 00:02:41.780
 Look at the end of verse 51.

00:02:41.979 --> 00:02:47.439
 And the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh.

00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:50.199
 Gross.

00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:55.360
 He lifts off the colosh, doesn't he, off the plate.

00:02:56.780 --> 00:02:57.219
 Voila.

00:02:57.219 --> 00:03:01.319
 But it's not the dish we at all expected.

00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:04.259
 It's not the meal we imagined or asked for.

00:03:04.740 --> 00:03:06.599
 And we politely decline.

00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:07.740
 No thank you, Jesus.

00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:11.719
 That is how the disciples respond in verse 60, isn't it?

00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:13.639
 This is a hard saying.

00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:15.419
 Who can listen to it?

00:03:16.259 --> 00:03:18.960
 Who can stomach the food that Jesus gives?

00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:23.599
 Who can stand to eat at Jesus' dining table?

00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:29.539
 And I think this is probably our last week in John's Gospel for a little while.

00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:32.500
 We'll take a break from it in the next few weeks.

00:03:32.579 --> 00:03:34.400
 But I want us to see two things here.

00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:41.000
 I want us to see what is actually on the dinner plate of this food that brings eternal life.

00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:45.400
 And secondly, why it is so hard for us to swallow what is on the dinner plate.

00:03:46.519 --> 00:03:48.859
 So first of all, what is Jesus serving?

00:03:49.079 --> 00:03:50.219
 What is on the dinner plate?

00:03:50.219 --> 00:03:56.360
 Jesus says that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood.

00:03:57.539 --> 00:04:01.800
 And the big question, of course, is, is Jesus some kind of cannibal?

00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:10.659
 Is he saying that the disciples for this eternal life need to eat his literal physical body?

00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.460
 Kind of slice a piece off his leg and cook it and eat it?

00:04:15.579 --> 00:04:18.339
 That idea is repulsive to us, isn't it?

00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:23.119
 And that seems to be what some of his audience think he means.

00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:24.899
 That's what they say in verse 52.

00:04:25.479 --> 00:04:28.179
 How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:29.919
 It's a really good question.

00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:31.939
 It's a revolting thing, isn't it?

00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:33.159
 It's a hard thing.

00:04:34.919 --> 00:04:42.199
 Commentators and theologians have argued for two kind of main ways to understand what Jesus is saying here.

00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:46.060
 Some think that Jesus is speaking metaphorically.

00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:48.259
 He's using picture language.

00:04:48.740 --> 00:04:50.479
 He's using figurative language.

00:04:51.719 --> 00:04:57.099
 Others think that he's talking about the church sacrament of communion.

00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:02.259
 Where Christians eat bread and wine, symbolising his body and blood.

00:05:02.259 --> 00:05:07.099
 And I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

00:05:08.719 --> 00:05:18.060
 On the one hand, I want to say to you that primarily, I don't think Jesus here is speaking about the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:19.139
 Primarily.

00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.599
 I don't want to get too technical with you.

00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:28.220
 But the context of John 6 just doesn't lead to that natural reading at all.

00:05:29.340 --> 00:05:35.260
 And one of the big reasons that I say that is that eating this flesh, whatever that means and we'll come to it,

00:05:36.280 --> 00:05:40.260
 absolutely and unquestionably leads to eternal life.

00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:42.040
 That's what Jesus says.

00:05:42.320 --> 00:05:42.920
 Verse 50.

00:05:43.840 --> 00:05:50.840
 This bread that comes down from heaven, if you eat it, the one who eats it will not die.

00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:57.879
 That is an absolute, unambiguous, categorical promise, isn't it?

00:05:59.919 --> 00:06:03.259
 In other words, people who don't eat this flesh will die.

00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:06.399
 And those who do, won't die.

00:06:07.799 --> 00:06:12.139
 But when you look at the rest of the teaching of the New Testament on the sacrament of communion,

00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:18.639
 that categorical, absolute promise of life is not made.

00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:26.279
 It is possible to take communion if you go to church and not have eternal life.

00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:33.039
 And on the flip side, there are people who have come to Jesus and received eternal life from him,

00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:37.319
 who've not taken the Lord's Supper and have not had the chance to do that.

00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:40.360
 Now that is not normal, is it?

00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:44.280
 That is very rare for that to happen, but it is possible.

00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:49.280
 So Jesus is not talking primarily about the Lord's Supper here.

00:06:50.080 --> 00:06:53.560
 The Apostle John, he doesn't mention the Lord's Supper at all here.

00:06:55.080 --> 00:07:00.860
 And if he was talking about that, it would be easy for Jesus to clear up the misunderstanding in a word, wouldn't it?

00:07:00.860 --> 00:07:05.379
 He's saying, you must eat my flesh as part of a sacrament.

00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:07.420
 But he doesn't do that.

00:07:08.460 --> 00:07:10.439
 So that is not the subject that he's on.

00:07:11.080 --> 00:07:16.620
 If you want to talk with me about that afterwards, I'd be really, really delighted to kind of pick that open with you if you're not clear.

00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:26.319
 The context of John 6 shows that Jesus has a wider, more fundamental dining experience in mind.

00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:32.800
 He is not thinking about you just going to church and having some bread and some wine,

00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:37.160
 and that in itself giving you this life that he speaks of.

00:07:38.340 --> 00:07:45.220
 He's talking about the more basic action of taking this life that he gives by faith.

00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:47.500
 Think about it.

00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:51.399
 Up until now, Jesus has already described this process.

00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:59.019
 He's used words like coming to him, in verse 35, and believing and receiving.

00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:06.100
 And so eating is another way, it is a richer way of describing that same thing.

00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:15.399
 What he's asking for here is not that you go through some ritual as if that in itself could give you life.

00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:21.179
 He's asking that you believe and hope in him for this life.

00:08:22.739 --> 00:08:23.799
 Don't get me wrong.

00:08:24.099 --> 00:08:30.159
 It is true, isn't it, that the sacrament of communion is given and it's commanded by Jesus for his people.

00:08:31.039 --> 00:08:33.019
 He commands us to take bread and wine.

00:08:33.019 --> 00:08:40.720
 But that command is to help us to do what he's asking us to do here in John 6, without bread and wine.

00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:48.620
 It is a means to help us feed on Christ by faith and to trust in him, and that is the most important thing.

00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:58.799
 And so we can receive by faith what we are given in the sacraments without receiving the sacraments.

00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:11.639
 So this is really important, isn't it, for those of us who are maybe just going through the motions, and we are going to church, if that's you, and we see the importance of communion.

00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:19.699
 But maybe you are thinking that the bread and the wine, in and of itself, will give you eternal life.

00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:24.140
 And it becomes, doesn't it, a kind of superstitious magic.

00:09:25.660 --> 00:09:34.500
 Doing communion, actually without doing what he's saying here in John 6, without trusting in Jesus, you're not actually receiving this food at all.

00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:39.419
 You are eating physically, but not by faith.

00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:44.419
 And you've missed the point of what Jesus is commanding here, and actually you've missed the point of communion.

00:09:45.940 --> 00:09:50.399
 To eat him is to come to him and believe in him and trust in him for life.

00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.240
 And he tells his listeners to start doing that right now.

00:09:55.159 --> 00:10:03.179
 Even before a single grape has been fermented, or a single grain of wheat has been milled.

00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:05.899
 And you can do that now.

00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:10.239
 Even though we have no bread and no wine in this meeting.

00:10:11.459 --> 00:10:15.479
 To eat his flesh is an act of faith of receiving him.

00:10:17.419 --> 00:10:21.000
 And so, we kind of breathe a bit of a sigh of relief, maybe, don't we?

00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:27.120
 Surely that takes the offence out of what Jesus is telling us to do.

00:10:28.459 --> 00:10:28.899
 Phew.

00:10:30.019 --> 00:10:32.319
 We're not talking about cannibalism.

00:10:33.179 --> 00:10:35.539
 We're not talking about some empty ritual.

00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:38.679
 We are talking about spiritual eating by faith.

00:10:39.479 --> 00:10:40.599
 So, we're in the clear.

00:10:42.479 --> 00:10:50.299
 But, John is adamant that what Jesus is saying here is difficult to swallow.

00:10:50.299 --> 00:10:59.679
 If you read on in John, immediately after this passage in chapter 6, some of Jesus' followers, who've been with him all the way,

00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:03.859
 at this precise point, decide that they can't carry on with him.

00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:06.839
 A line has been crossed.

00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:09.879
 And they can't stomach Jesus.

00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:13.819
 They can't swallow what he is serving.

00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:20.200
 The food that gives life is too challenging for them to eat.

00:11:21.700 --> 00:11:22.980
 I'm a disciple of Jesus.

00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:23.840
 Get me out of here.

00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.480
 So, we ask, why?

00:11:27.540 --> 00:11:29.600
 What really is the problem here?

00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:32.379
 We've seen what Jesus is serving.

00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:34.759
 But why is it hard to swallow?

00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:41.379
 Well, if you're reading through John's Gospel, you might get stuck on something like this.

00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:45.259
 It is a section where it's difficult, isn't it, to know what Jesus is saying.

00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:51.100
 But actually, there is a section in John's Gospel that has all of the answers to the puzzles.

00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:56.100
 It's like the page at the back of a crossword book, isn't it, that has all the answers.

00:11:56.100 --> 00:12:01.220
 Except John's answer page is at the front of his book.

00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:02.980
 It's what we call the prologue.

00:12:03.220 --> 00:12:05.960
 It's the first 18 verses of the Gospel.

00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:13.639
 And pretty much everything in the whole Gospel is there in seed form in the first 18 verses.

00:12:13.779 --> 00:12:15.180
 You might want to turn there.

00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:21.399
 It's good to know, isn't it, that Jesus is on the readers, John is on the reader's side.

00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:26.079
 And he gives you the answers to the puzzles before you get to the puzzles.

00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:30.939
 So what do we learn about this word flesh?

00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:35.340
 What is Jesus talking about when he says, eat my flesh?

00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:44.500
 Well, flesh, in John's Gospel, to make the point again, it is never used, or anywhere else in fact in the New Testament,

00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:46.740
 in talking about the Lord's Supper, communion.

00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:49.980
 The word body is used, but not the word flesh.

00:12:49.980 --> 00:12:52.680
 John has something else in mind.

00:12:53.920 --> 00:12:59.259
 You might remember John on his answer sheet, in verse 14, says,

00:12:59.420 --> 00:13:04.060
 the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we've seen his glory.

00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:09.620
 He's talking about the Son of God becoming a human being.

00:13:10.539 --> 00:13:11.759
 The incarnation.

00:13:12.980 --> 00:13:15.820
 The fleshification of God, if you like.

00:13:15.820 --> 00:13:19.240
 He's talking about God becoming a man.

00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:27.220
 And so flesh, for John, is a word that describes the Son of God and his humanity.

00:13:28.680 --> 00:13:32.660
 It describes the totality of Jesus' human existence.

00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:34.020
 It's flesh and blood.

00:13:34.760 --> 00:13:36.820
 It's flesh and blood like we have flesh and blood.

00:13:36.820 --> 00:13:41.120
 And so Jesus is saying in John 6,

00:13:41.760 --> 00:13:49.700
 I am going to give my human life, my flesh and blood, to you, in sacrifice.

00:13:51.180 --> 00:13:57.540
 And it's that sacrifice that you have to accept and receive, that you have to chew on.

00:13:57.539 --> 00:14:04.980
 There is an unsavoury stench about this dish and in Jesus' kitchen,

00:14:05.299 --> 00:14:07.339
 but it's not the stench of cannibalism.

00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:09.019
 It is the stench of death.

00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:11.759
 It's actually much worse, isn't it?

00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.139
 A little earlier in the conversation,

00:14:15.319 --> 00:14:19.559
 John tells us that the day of the Passover festival was coming up.

00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:25.679
 And on that day, the Jews remembered how God rescued them from slavery in the land of Egypt

00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:29.979
 through the death of a substitute of a lamb.

00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:34.299
 God told the people to sacrifice a lamb to kill it

00:14:34.299 --> 00:14:38.579
 and then to eat the lamb before being led into new life.

00:14:39.319 --> 00:14:40.219
 It's interesting, isn't it?

00:14:40.219 --> 00:14:44.959
 It wasn't enough for the lamb to be killed as a substitute.

00:14:45.199 --> 00:14:46.779
 They had to take it in.

00:14:46.779 --> 00:14:52.579
 They had to eat the lamb and apply the death to themselves.

00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:57.579
 They had to watch as a lamb would have been killed in each household

00:14:57.579 --> 00:15:00.100
 and then eat that dead lamb.

00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:03.259
 They had to consume the dead lamb.

00:15:05.339 --> 00:15:08.039
 And so Jesus says all of this with that in the background.

00:15:09.579 --> 00:15:13.679
 Eating Jesus' flesh is to take into yourself his death.

00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:17.859
 It is to accept and trust in his death

00:15:17.859 --> 00:15:19.859
 and to live in response.

00:15:22.059 --> 00:15:24.559
 If you were at the carol service a few weeks ago,

00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:27.979
 do you remember we heard the angels telling the shepherds

00:15:27.979 --> 00:15:32.559
 the sign of who this king, who this saviour was going to be

00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:34.979
 to find a baby wrapped in cloths

00:15:35.819 --> 00:15:37.219
 and lying in a manger.

00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:37.959
 Do you remember?

00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:42.460
 A manger literally means feeding trough.

00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:48.780
 It is not an accident that when the Son of God takes on flesh,

00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:54.900
 the first place that he fills in this world,

00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:56.820
 when his feet touch the ground,

00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:01.540
 the first place that he is in the world is in a feeding trough.

00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:05.000
 It illustrates the point, doesn't it,

00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:06.079
 that Jesus says to us,

00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:08.759
 I've taken on flesh in my birth

00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:12.959
 to be food for the world in my death.

00:16:14.959 --> 00:16:16.199
 As you walk down the street,

00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:18.159
 I love the poetry of the fact that

00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.620
 there is a shop in Ealing that sells bread

00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:23.740
 that has the same word in its title

00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:25.539
 that is used to show the shepherds

00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:26.980
 where to get the living bread.

00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:29.079
 Manger, isn't it?

00:16:29.219 --> 00:16:29.959
 Pret a manger.

00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:32.259
 Pret a manger.

00:16:33.180 --> 00:16:35.879
 It means, in the French, ready to eat.

00:16:36.920 --> 00:16:39.080
 Every time you walk past it, remember.

00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:42.120
 Manger, and think of Jesus.

00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:47.580
 The one who comes to be food for your life

00:16:47.580 --> 00:16:49.160
 in his death.

00:16:51.100 --> 00:16:52.379
 My three-year-old son,

00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:54.840
 one of the ways of getting in to eat something

00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:57.600
 is to shape it into something that is attractive.

00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:00.960
 So we found these cereal bites

00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:02.220
 that are shaped as letters,

00:17:02.420 --> 00:17:03.060
 and he loves them.

00:17:03.220 --> 00:17:03.840
 Alpha bites.

00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:06.960
 Or there's alphabetti spaghetti, isn't there?

00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:08.500
 Or there's pom bears.

00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:09.940
 Or there's animal biscuits.

00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:13.900
 And kids love fun-shaped food.

00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:18.600
 But the problem with the food that Jesus offers us,

00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:20.759
 it's not fun-shaped, is it?

00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:23.440
 It's cross-shaped.

00:17:24.560 --> 00:17:27.320
 And it has the smell of death about it.

00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:32.039
 And as we look at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,

00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:35.399
 and as we see his humanity butchered,

00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:38.319
 and his life draining away,

00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:41.099
 and his blood literally draining out of him,

00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:42.879
 God is saying to us,

00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:43.460
 voila,

00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:46.139
 dinner is served.

00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:51.840
 And this is the only way that you are going to live.

00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.259
 This is the only way to live.

00:17:55.380 --> 00:17:58.080
 It is to accept his death.

00:17:59.040 --> 00:18:01.300
 And to consume the death of Jesus,

00:18:01.560 --> 00:18:03.400
 and to live in accordance with it.

00:18:04.900 --> 00:18:05.680
 And so,

00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:08.280
 what is so unpalatable for the disciples,

00:18:09.380 --> 00:18:10.600
 and for those who leave them,

00:18:10.660 --> 00:18:12.000
 is that they begin to realise

00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.180
 that Jesus' food is not fun-shaped.

00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:16.460
 It's cross-shaped,

00:18:16.580 --> 00:18:17.620
 and it's death-shaped.

00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:21.240
 Preacher Spurgeon said that

00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:23.660
 there are no crown-wearers in heaven

00:18:23.660 --> 00:18:27.220
 that are not cross-bearers on earth.

00:18:29.120 --> 00:18:31.720
 And that is why it's so hard to swallow, isn't it?

00:18:33.320 --> 00:18:36.279
 Those who end up leaving Jesus in John 6,

00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:38.440
 they love a Jesus who gives them bread.

00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.360
 They've been with him up until this point.

00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:41.580
 They've followed him.

00:18:41.660 --> 00:18:43.360
 They've travelled across the Sea of Galilee

00:18:43.360 --> 00:18:44.060
 to get to him.

00:18:44.059 --> 00:18:44.960
 They love that Jesus.

00:18:46.339 --> 00:18:48.519
 They love a Jesus who gives them life.

00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:51.819
 But they don't love a Jesus who dies.

00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:55.339
 They don't love a Jesus who calls them

00:18:55.339 --> 00:18:56.700
 to follow in his footsteps.

00:18:56.700 --> 00:19:06.340
 But the Christian life is lived,

00:19:06.340 --> 00:19:07.140
 cross-shaped food.

00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:10.220
 Of trusting in Jesus' cross,

00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:12.240
 and of taking up ours.

00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:15.039
 Self-denial of service,

00:19:15.620 --> 00:19:17.059
 and of submission to Christ.

00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:18.059
 And maybe that is why, if you're honest,

00:19:18.059 --> 00:19:20.980
 that is why, if you're honest,

00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:23.359
 some of you here today might say,

00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:24.819
 that is it.

00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:28.379
 That is the line that I won't cross.

00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:31.620
 I can't go any further with Jesus.

00:19:31.620 --> 00:19:37.620
 Because I see now that Christianity stinks of death.

00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:44.500
 Paul says to the Corinthians that those who are perishing,

00:19:45.379 --> 00:19:49.199
 Christians, and the Christian message is the stench of death.

00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:53.080
 But he says to those who are being saved,

00:19:53.740 --> 00:19:55.559
 Christians, and the Christian message,

00:19:55.700 --> 00:19:57.920
 are the aroma of life.

00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:01.960
 And this is true life, Jesus says.

00:20:02.740 --> 00:20:04.779
 But if you're prepared to swallow it,

00:20:04.860 --> 00:20:06.240
 verse 55 he says,

00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.299
 This flesh is true food.

00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:11.640
 It is true drink.

00:20:12.779 --> 00:20:15.039
 And whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

00:20:16.140 --> 00:20:16.880
 He says, doesn't he,

00:20:16.940 --> 00:20:18.319
 If anyone would come after me,

00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:21.500
 he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:24.640
 And whoever would save his life would lose it.

00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.819
 But whoever loses his life for me and the gospel

00:20:28.819 --> 00:20:30.500
 will save it.

00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:32.279
 You will live.

00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:36.299
 It is the paradox of the gospel, isn't it?

00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:42.079
 That true life is ironically found in the death.

00:20:44.099 --> 00:20:47.399
 So Jesus is calling you this afternoon.

00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:52.319
 He calls you to receive and to trust the death of the Lamb.

00:20:53.539 --> 00:20:56.220
 And going forward, if you are a believer,

00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.740
 he gives you church sacraments to aid you in doing that.

00:21:00.740 --> 00:21:04.720
 But he says to you, don't wait until that moment.

00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:05.720
 Do it now.

00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:09.940
 Accept that you need Jesus and his death.

00:21:10.859 --> 00:21:13.440
 And feed off him by faith in your hearts.

00:21:13.900 --> 00:21:18.240
 And eat and live by this cross-shaped food.

00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:19.920
 Let's pray.

00:21:20.360 --> 00:21:20.500
 Let's pray.

00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500


00:21:20.500 --> 00:21:20.500