Eat My Flesh, Drink My Blood 9-12-21

Well, good morning. Everyone is so good to see you. It's good to see you. Lot of people here today. And, and I have really enjoyed studying, John chapter 6, and that's where I'm at. Again, here this morning. I think, in John chapter 6, we've come to one of the harder parts of the chapter. Probably, maybe one of the hardest parts of the Gospel of John to take, because Jesus says some pretty crazy stuff here in this part of John chapter 6. Now. I've been working on this for a few weeks and then building up to this. And in a lot of ways. Jesus is going to say the same thing here, at the end of the chapter, as he did Throughout the chapter, but he's going to use a different word picture and this different word. Picture picture is going to really, really freak out the Galilean Jews who were listening and these words will freak out, a lot of people. Who listen to this? Now? If they don't understand what Jesus is saying? The most important idea here is that Jesus is God and believing in him leads to eternal life. Jesus says it over and over and over again, in John chapter 6. Now, last week. I talked about Jesus, referring to a belief in different terms. Different words. Jesus talked about coming to Jesus, come to Jesus. Look on Jesus, Behold Him. Listen to Jesus, learn from Jesus, all of these many words. I was thinking about that song. We were saying, I am resolved and there's so many words in that song that are similar to what Jesus talks about here coming to Jesus. I'm going to learn from him. I'm going to trust him. All of those words are exactly what we're talking about. Did you know that the song that Jenette, saying, come to, Jesus cry to Jesus, sing to Jesus dance, for Jesus? We do all that because we have a promise that we can fly to Jesus. Right? All of this is about belief and trust in Jesus. Now, a lot of people would say, we're okay. We're talking about Jesus and trusting in Jesus. That's what we do. That's what we talked about it, at church all the time friends. I don't think we can talk about this enough. I don't because in all the stages in life and all the trials in life and all the, the wonderful things in life. We are always transitioning between faith and disbelief, as we talked about last week. We're always struggling like that man who came to Jesus and said, would you heal my son? And Jesus says, hey, let's talk about belief and the father says, I believe, help me with my unbelief. We always need help with our unbelief, because our fundamental problem is that we don't fear love and Trust Jesus. And if you don't recognize that friends, please please hear this. That is all of our greatest problem. We don't fear love and Trust Jesus. Jesus said that he is the way the truth and the life. Our response to that is to trust his word to believe in it. Or another way to say it is to point our trust at Jesus, to go all in on him to say. Yes. Jesus. You are my life to believe in. Jesus means to bring all that he is into myself to receive him fully, right? Is Jesus is not my life. Then I'm toast, I'm dead. There's nothing for me to stand on. There's no anchor. My trust is in him alone for my life. Colossians says, when Christ, who is your life appears and you will appear with him and Glory, when Christ, who is your life? So if Jesus is not my life, what have I got, right? I've got Bupkis , right. I have nothing. I have absolutely nothing to hang onto and this world. So like the world says, well, all you got is eat drink and be merry 'cause tomorrow we're going to croak, right? So go live it up. But if Jesus Is Something to Believe In to trust in that, we have an anchor and talked about before, how how the Christian goes on the same trip as Jesus does, the bible talks about this, Jesus died? He rose again and he ascended to heaven. In baptism Christian, you die to your sins. You're resurrected to walk a new life. And in Ephesians chapter one says that you are a Ephesians two says, you are seated with Jesus. In The Heavenly places. You go on the same trip as Jesus. Did he came from Heaven? He died on the cross, he rose from the dead. And he ascended to heaven. And, and we had this same thing in a spiritual sense for now, but we also have a promise that you have a physical bodily, resurrection that you can count on. That's your hope. That's why Jesus is your life. I count about 9 times or so, In this passage where Jesus talks about living forever, eternal life or being raised up on the last day. Did the Galileans had this miracle bread from Jesus? Say they, that Jesus fed the 5000 and they thought they had received the really the true Miracle Jesus made all this bread. This food for us, just like the fathers received the Manna in the wilderness, but there's so much more. Jesus is the bread of life. Don't just work to find temporary food. Jesus said, believe in Jesus. Who is the life bread. Who is the bread of life? Jesus said, this is John 6:47, truly, truly. I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I, am the bread of life. So this believing this trusting in, Jesus means counting on him fully, right counting on him for everything in life. Not just a provision of everyday food, but for the Forgiveness of sins, and for eternal life friends, there is no other way. There is no other trustworthy person in the universe that you can go to, for. All of that. Jesus is your life. Now, in the passage, we talked about all this so far, but Jesus going to turn a corner here. After verse 48, he's going to use another phrase or word picture to talk about believing or trusting Jesus. And Jesus going to absolutely scare them to death. He's going to freak them out. He's going to say throughout the rest of this passage that believing, or trusting in Jesus means to eat him. Yes, to eat him. And yes, that is freaky. That is weird. It's bizarre. And the Galileans thought the same thing. Jesus is putting belief on equal terms with devouring or eating Jesus. He's going to say it in different ways. In each verse from verse 50, all the way to verse 58, This is the bread that comes down from heaven. So that one may eat of it and not die. Verse 51. 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 verse 50, 51 there, just the warm-up here. He's going to make the imagery, even harder to take. Starting in verse 53, as I've talked about, as I've worked through this passage. Jesus is confronting their unbelief. They don't believe Jesus words. So they asked for more signs. What sign will? You do will Jesus doesn't give them more signs and he doesn't soften this confrontation of their lack of faith of anything. He makes his own words harder to believe and I think that Jesus is doing this. Because Jesus wants you to understand that internalizing him, receiving him as your life is. What belief is all about. Like I said, earlier, our big problem is that we don't fear love and trust God. And if we don't fear in love and trust God, then we don't have Solutions. All we have is more problems. Have you noticed that the world as we even get more technological devices and technologically, savvy and more sophisticated as world. Have, you noticed that we continue to have more problems? You know, remember in the old Star Trek TV shows technology had solved every problem of the world. And so now it's going to outer space and drive around explore and find out what we can find out because we solved every problem on the planet technology has done that. That was the premise of that show. Well, have you noticed that the more technology expands the more problems. We have. We have problems as a people because we don't fear love, and trust God. And when you fear and love and trust God, it's an all-or-nothing deal. He is everything or he is nothing and the world, has decided that God is nothing. Now, if you and I as Christians, if we waver in our fear love and Trust as we are going to do, there is an answer. What do we do? We go to Jesus words, and we listen to them and we learn from them and we hear them and we say I'm not sure if I totally buy that but I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to live like it's true. And you know what we find out. Eventually, it is true. Right? That's what it means to trust. Jesus to hear his words. His promises. That's the anchor because Jesus is life up to this point. In the, in the conversation, John chapter 6. Jesus has said some crazy stuff, but they still been in the conversation. But in verse 51. Jesus is going to turn the corner. He's pointing ahead to his to his death on the cross. And he starts to talk about himself, his body, his death on the cross, as the life of the world. How was Jesus The bread of life? His body will pay the death price of sin and so become the life of the world. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. His body is the bread. Now, Does that sound familiar? Yeah, it should sound familiar, Right? Started this study of John chapter 6 because I was studying the New Testament and the Lord's supper and what it means. And while Jesus is not specifically instituting, the Lord's Supper here. He will do that later. I think what that his words do connect us with the Lord's Supper because in the Lord's Supper, we trust the word of Jesus. When Jesus says, this is my body and this is my blood right? We trust those words and we can stay most emphatically in the Lord's Supper to believe in Jesus. To receive him is to eat, and to drink Jesus, to completely take him into your life. So in verse 52 the crowd gets really, really upset with this statement that Jesus has made, right? And they begin disputing among themselves. Saying, how can this man? Give us his flesh to eat. This is a nasty disgusting stuff. How can this man here what they're saying this, man? This dude, this guy that we know, we know his father Joseph. How can this man? Give us his flesh to eat. See, remember that. The response to Jesus word is trust and belief. When Jesus says the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Well, the all the sudden they're like a two-year-old with broccoli. Right? And I'm not putting that nasty stuff in my mouth. There's no way, no. How that is not happening. They don't want to receive Jesus as their life because they don't trust his word and they're really bothered by this apparent Cannibalism that Jesus is talking about how in the world can this man? Give us his flesh to eat. Now Jesus doesn't answer that question directly, but throughout the passage. He does explain what he means. He does explain how he can give us his flesh to eat. I'm going to say this over and over because I do not want to be misunderstood here. Okay. Eating Jesus In this passage is one in the same as believing him. Trusting him fearing loving and trusting. Him. Jesus is using a word picture, a very harsh. One of our difficult, one to take, but that is what he's doing. He's not saying something different than what he has said before. He saying the same thing using a different word picture. Let's talk about this how or why you can eat the Flesh of this, man, or in other words, how you can fear, love and trust him, and it. All goes back to who Jesus is. We've been talking about this that Jesus is teaching about his identity as the Son of God, throughout this passage. Let's start with this. You can eat Jesus, the man because he is not just a man. He is the god man. He is the god man. Jesus uses his favorite designation for himself, twice in this passage. It's an Old Testament phrase in the Book of Daniel, the Messiah, or the anointed one. The Christ is called the son of man. Now, with just a few exceptions in the New Testament. Jesus is the only one who uses that phrase, the son of man. He uses that phrase to talk about himself and everybody else in the New Testament will call Jesus, the son of God, very rarely will someone else use that phrase, son of man and those exist. In those times. They're actually referring to Psalm 8 referring to the Old Testament. When people are talking about Jesus by my count. No one ever calls Jesus, the son of man, except for Jesus. And I think that's significant. We use the word Son of God, to talk about Jesus, but Jesus, most often called himself The son of man. You see this in verse 27, you do not work for the food that perishes for for the food that indoors to eternal life, which the son of man will give you. In the Gospel of John the son of man descends from heaven. Does his earthly work and then ascends back to heaven. So Jesus is not just another man. He is the god man or we can say he is the son of man may be the best way to say is that this phrase, the son of man. Capital S Son a man, right? Is the biblical title for that man Who is God in the flesh? Now, I want to unpack this just a little bit more for you because I think when you see the significance of this, you will appreciate even more this claim of Jesus to be God. Jesus as we understand him in the New Testament is 100% God. And he's 100% man. I don't know how that's possible. But that's who he is. He is the Son of God and the son of man, now people get tripped up by that phrase Son of God because in our language in our culture to be the son of means to be a different person than the parent, right? We are individuals . I don't want to be known as my dad. You know, he hear people say stuff like that, right? I don't have any connection to him. But in that language and that culture To be the son of meant to be one and the same as remember earlier in the, the passage here in chapter 6, The galileans. This is verse 42. They said, Jesus, you can't be from heaven. And then that this is their reason we, you can't be from Heaven because you're the son of Joseph. You are Yeshua Ben Yosef. That is who you are. You are the son of Joseph. You're the same person as that man, Joseph. Remember, when Jesus later on would ride into Jerusalem and what did they say about Jesus? They said Hosanna to the son of David. This is the same man As David. David is riding into town to be proclaimed King. To be the son of meant the same thing as. Jesus did say that he was the son of God. You read that throughout the Gospel of John saying that he is the Son of God. It's completely outrageous. Because here is a man claiming to be one and the same as God. People all the time. Say that Jesus never claimed to be one the same with God and they just aren't reading the New Testament. When the Jews had Jesus, handed over to the Romans to be crucified. They very clearly said. It's John 19. They said he ought to die because of blasphemy. He made himself, the Son of God. He said he is one in the same with God. That was why the Jews hand him over to the Romans be crucified. It's blasphemy. The crazy thing about all this is that Jesus called himself, the son of man, many many, many more times and he called himself the Son of God. When Jesus says, he's the Son of God. He saying, I am the one one and the same as God. When Jesus says, I am the son of man. He's saying, I am one and the same as you. I'm one the same as Humanity. Now, any man could say that any one of us could say I'm a child of man of humanity, anyone could say that, but Jesus is not just any man. It is one thing for a man to claim to be God. But it's quite another thing for God to claim to be a man. Why would God why in the world would God? Say that he is the son of man. Because that's God's plan to fix the Brokenness of sin. God made a promise all the way back in Genesis chapter 3. That it would be a human being born to a woman, who would kill Satan and fix the Brokenness of sin, it would be a human being born in the family of Abraham that would bring blessing to the entire world. It would be a human being. A prophet born from among you my brother's Moses said to the Israelites. That would have the very words of God in His mouth. It would be a human being born, in the line of King. David who would sit on David's Throne forever. Daniel saw in his vision. With the Clouds Of Heaven. There came one like a son of man from Heaven, comes the son of man. He came to the ancient days. That's God himself was presented before him. There is Jesus work. In Daniel, right there. In, just a nutshell, he comes from Heaven. He is the son of man. He does his work and then he sends back to Heaven, presented to God. See the son of man is not just a man. He is the god man, and that's why you can't trust him. That's why you can eat his flesh. So to say it's a very Jewish and Messianic thing to say this phrase, the son of man. Jesus. The man says he is the Son of God Jesus. The God says he is the son of man. Both of those are true and Jesus says this over and over. Jesus says the same thing in verse 53. Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you unless you eat the Flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. In other words, you can fear and love and trust this man. He's not just a just a spirit a God floating around in the, at the real Universe out there somewhere that we can't understand. He has flesh and blood. Jesus statement is so absolutely astoundingly stunningly shocking to this job because they don't believe him. If Jesus is a mere man. Then his words are nonsense. And this guy is if we give him the benefit of the doubt, he is cuckoo. He's crazy. If we don't give him the benefit of the doubt, as many people said he's just demon-possessed because a person would not say these things in their right mind. But Jesus is not a mere man. A mere man Can't give us his flesh to eat. But the one and only God man, that's a different story. And the different story involves the suffering and sacrifice of the god man. Listen to this on behalf of mankind that God claims to be one and the same with Have you ever considered what God himself? Set aside? So that he could be the sacrifice for your sins. All the glory of Heaven As Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. He went into that water and he became and absorbed. All the dirt and grime and filth and nastiness of humanity as Jesus hung on the cross. He absorbed all of the guilt of sin for all Humanity, including you, including me. That's who Jesus. The son of God. The son of man is Jesus adds another shocking phrase and verse 53 and repeats it a few more times. You can also eat Jesus because he is the sacrifice, for sin, right? He is the only sacrifice for sin if it isn't crazy enough to talk about eating, Jesus flesh. Jesus adds to it drinking Jesus's blood. Now, then you're going to really get this Jewish crowd stirred up drinking blood was a really disgusting, obscene thing to say, Once again to be clear, Jesus is talking about believing in him and all that entails to eat. Jesus flesh, and drink. His blood means to trust in the sacrifice that he makes for you. That he makes for you on the cross. Jesus. this is verse 53 again. So Jesus said to them, truly truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. He'll say the exact same thing. A few more times verse 54. 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. My blood is true drink, whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks. My blood abides in me and I in him. Did you notice he says it four times in a row, he's not. Not trying to hide anything. If anything he's he's making his words more clear. He says it over and over again, feed on my flesh, drink my blood. I think the connection to the Lord's Supper becomes even more Clear here. He's using the word picture of eating and drinking to challenge us to call you to Faith to call you to fear and love and trust him. We trust him for our daily bread, but even more so we trust him to be a sufficient sacrifice. For sin. I lied. I stole. I cheated. I I hurt my brother. I hurt my sister. I did these things. Jesus Paid that sin price with his very blood. When Jesus said this to the galileans, they could not take it. It was too bizarre to out there. At the end of chapter 6. We read that many who were Jesus disciples. They said, we're done, we're out of here. No further. No, no more. Right? A lot of what Jesus said up to that point. They can handle. When Jesus said, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. They could get behind that. When Jesus said, whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks, my blood that is just so filthy, and obscene and disgusting. There's no way that we can take that Jewish. People did not eat Peoples flesh. They did not drink blood. You could go back to Leviticus, Leviticus 17. This is a commandment from God to the Israelites. If anyone the house of Israel, The Strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood. God says, I will set my face against that person who eats blood. I will cut him off from among his people, for the life of the flesh, is in the blood, and I've given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls for it, is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Well, there it is. The galileans knew their Old Testament law that they knew that Jesus cannot obviously be from God because he's contradicting God. The law says we don't eat blood here. Jesus says, eat my flesh. Drink my blood. They couldn't understand. Jesus was talking about this very thing about sacrifice that Jesus would make for them. That his blood would be the atonement for their souls. His blood would literally be poured out on the ground like a drink-offering.

So we can fear, love and Trust Jesus, because he is the sacrifice for your sins, in your place, paying your sin debt. Now, it's important to know that Jesus is 100% God and he's one hundred percent, man. Jesus has all the Holiness of God, to be a sufficient sacrifice and he as a human has all the flesh-and-blood needed to give for the life of the world. Jesus. The son of God is Holy and blameless and without sin. Jesus The son of man is just like one of us with flesh bone and blood when Jesus adds drink my blood to eat my flesh. He's carrying us forward to the Cross, to sacrifice in your place, as your substitute. It's become faddish. I think in modern Christianity, to not believe that Jesus died as a substitute for the sinner. There's lots of other theories on this. That Jesus died is an example of the wrath of God. What this all kinds of stuff like that. The idea is that Jesus didn't pay your sin debt specifically, right? That's the idea. They're well, I think you're really missing the point of the whole thing. If that's what you believe, the whole concept of sacrifice in the Old Testament. Is that a of blood That pays the dead blood covers, the cost of sin against the holy God. When Jesus says, drink my blood, eat my flash. He's calling you to fear love and Trust his sacrifice in your place. Is that hard to take? Sure it is. Jesus is The Impossible Man, trusting. His word is what this is all about. Right? So go back to the question. How can this man gives his flesh to eat? Its answered, by the fact that Jesus give his blood to drink. He died on the cross and Spilled his blood for you, because Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice and then rose from the dead to prove his victory over sin, that the father approved His sacrifice because of all that you can eat and drink Jesus, you can fear love and trust him. I think there's even more to this mystery. What Jesus is talking about? You can eat Jesus. The man because his flesh is True Food and his blood is true. Drink. True Food true drink. Now Jesus said again, verse 54 again. 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. Seems like verse 55. There is just a repetition what he said earlier, but let's pause on verse 55, think about that for just a minute. Jesus, has emphasized throughout all this passage is that he is the living eternal bread and that the galileans had eaten, temporal bread. And they went to find him to get some more of that temporal bread. He fed them for the moment. Jesus says, that same thing again here, later on the passage verse 57 as the living, father, sent me, and I live because of the father whoever feeds on me. He will also 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 emphasis is on what is life-giving and eternal? Versus what is temporal? You work for food? You came to find me work for food that perishes, but my flesh is True Food. My blood is true drink. I am true life for you to have eternal life well, here's how it happens. Fear, love, and Trust Jesus. I think the ESV does a better job translating verse 55 for us. Than the NIV and I'm emphasizing this, because the NIV lot of people have says, my flesh is real food. My flesh is real drink. It almost makes it sound like, Jesus is kind of referring to cannibalism. The emphasis is not on real versus pretend, the emphasis is on Eternal versus temporal or what is true and Lasting and ongoing versus what is false. What seems to us like, it's Eternal, but we put our so much trust into what's the temporal right now, right? The emphasis here is to eat and drink Jesus, as your life, giving sacrifice for eternal life. That is true, Eternal food. Jesus said, nearly the same thing in John chapter 4 to the woman at the well, you might remember that. Jesus said that to her, if you would have asked me I would have given you living water, and Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks, this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. Again, the water, I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. Saying the same thing. It's a difference between true and Lasting versus. What seems to be true? And is temporal. I know this. All seems so mystical and deep. But it's actually rather simple. Jesus doesn't just give you daily bread to keep you alive. He does that he's the Creator. He's God. He's a provider, he cares for you. He doesn't just do that. He doesn't just give you daily bread. He also as the god-man. He lays himself down on the table before you like a sacrificial lamb.

And it gives you the knife.

And he says receive me. And in this very difficult, Wayward picture of understanding and he says, eat me. Eat my flesh. Drink my blood. In the Passover meal. The lamb was completely consumed so that nothing remained. In the Passover meal. The blood of the Lamb was poured out and collected to use as a mark on the door that God's judgment will pass over the house. So we read the New Testament did Jesus is our Passover Lamb?

No, I want to wrap this up by Leading us directly into the Lord's Supper. But before we do that. I just want to ask this question. Would you receive this?

Would you receive? All that Jesus is. Into your life so that you as you go through everything that you do, whether you're crying or singing or dancing. That you would say, Jesus is my life. My life is in him to this point. if suddenly, you found out that this whole story, Was false. By the way, you're not going to find that out cuz it's true. But if if it did, if you found that out, would your life be any different? That is right now.

I think that we would all wither up and die. I think the sun would go out. I think the Earth will dissolve into dust. Because Jesus is life. And in every way our trust is in him for every moment of life, whether it's in this life or the next. So, my question to you is to you is, will you receive him? Or will you be there like that? Little two-year-old says, I ain't sticking that my math. That's who we are so many times.

I think if we receive the Lord's supper right now. I hope that you will do this. Recognizing who Jesus is and recognizing that he is your life. The spur take right. Now, in the Lord's, Supper scripture says, hopefully you will trust these words. What I received from the Lord. What else are delivered to you? That on the night when he was betrayed he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it. And said. This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance to me?

In the same way. Also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the New Covenant in my blood and do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Or is often as you eat this bread. And drink the cup you proclaim, the Lord's death until he comes.

Oh, mighty God.

Thank you that you give us your word.

So that we can pointer trust at you. Thank you for my brothers and sisters to her here.

And I pray that you would help us to trust you in all the trials and difficulties and even the joys and successes of life. Father, because we don't fear you. We don't love you. We don't trust you. I'm not in yet. You gave yourself build your blood. So that we could.

Father, I think you would you help us to receive you. Not just a nice moments, but in every moment of life.