Well, if you have your Bibles, please reach down and grab them and open them up with me to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Today we'll be looking at John 6 verses 52 through 59. John 6, 52 through 59. This is the word of the Lord. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats 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 he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever. These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are the bread which came down from heaven, offered freely to the world. And we thank you that we can feast upon you, that we may eat your body and drink your blood, Lord, even today. God, we know that this text says some things that to our ears that are still struggling with the flesh sometimes sounds strange and confusing. But we know, God, that there is no confusion in you. There is no confusion in your word. There is no confusion from your spirit. And so God, if there's any within our minds or hearts, open them now, clear away the fog, and let us hear from you directly. God, let me say that which is true. If I begin to stray, Lord, please put me back on the correct path. Please, Lord, just keep me focused on your gospel, on your truth. God, pierce our consciences now and draw us to renewed faith in you. In Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. Last Lord's Day, we looked at the 10 verses in John chapter 6, which come immediately before our text today. We saw how Jesus was humble, how he was sovereign over our salvation. We looked at how the natural man cannot on his own come to Christ, but how all that the Father draws will, in fact, come in faith to Jesus. They will, in fact, be saved. They will persevere in the faith, and they will be raised bodily on the last day. We talked about the importance that Christ places on our bodies and how that impacts how we treat our bodies and the bodies of others. Even though the soul is the principle and most important part of man, the body is still truly a part of us, part of our identity, something that has an eternal purpose, namely to glorify God. And the Jews, they've had a hard time understanding all of this. I feel like I've said that 10 times. since we've been in John 6. The Jews just aren't getting it here. At first, the crowd was amazed by Jesus's miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes, and they wanted to crown Jesus King right then and there, even if they had to do it by force. But then, after he really had their attention, and at least in an earthly sense, in a fleshly sense, he really had their devotion even, they're hanging on everything he says, they're following him wherever he goes. After all that, Jesus then began to teach them about the bread from heaven. And this bread, he tells them, it's different from the manna which your fathers ate those many years ago in the wilderness. This bread, when you eat it, it gives you everlasting life. The manna was good food in every way. We could even say, to use a modern term, that it was a super food or like a super, super food. It had everything that the Israelites needed to be content, to have all the nutrition they needed for their daily lives. For 40 years, all they ate was manna and they were fine. They were probably in great health. Today, the so-called experts tell us that superfoods are things like kale or sweet potatoes or avocados, but the Bible continually puts forward bread as the one food essential to life. So Jesus highlights bread here. Everything that is needed is in this bread from heaven for us. But even though this manna was a superfood, and even though it was from heaven, it was still only a physical and even by nature, earthly food. Just like all the other bread that we could eat, it was food that went into your body, it was food that came out of your body, and it was food that after you ate it, you got hungry just a few hours later and had to eat again. However, This bread from heaven, not the manna, but this bread from heaven that Jesus is calling our attention to here in John 6, this is quite different. This bread is the bread that when you eat of it, you get everlasting life. It's not going to run out on you. You're not going to need to search for something else once you've eaten this bread. The Jews say, well, give us this bread, Lord. Give us this bread always. We want it. So Jesus tells us in verse 51, he says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. And if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. And the Jews, number one, they did not understand what he was saying. And number two, they didn't like what he was saying. So Jesus keeps repeating himself over and over throughout John chapter six. He keeps repeating himself. Now he doesn't say the same exact thing, worded the same exact way over and over and over, but he does keep presenting the same concept, the same truth with just slightly different elaboration or emphasis. Isn't that so loving of Him? We might wonder why so many times in this one chapter do we see the same phrases come up over and over and over? Why do we keep hearing the same things talked about, the same things preached on? But this is so loving of Jesus that He will do this to us. For the parents here, think about how many times you have to tell your children the same things every single day. and children, you might think sometimes, wow, mommy and daddy really give the same instructions a lot. But remember, as we can see in John six and in several other places, this is how our Lord deals with us. So that's why parents do this over and over and over again. This is how the Lord has designed it that we might learn and that we might learn obedience. Jesus reminds us day after day through His Word, through His church, through our parents, through the inner witness of His Spirit. He continually reminds us who He is, what He has done for us, and what our duty is to Him. He teaches us how we are to obey Him. And even through our disobedience, He patiently teaches us again and again and again, even when we forget, even when we turn away from Him, even when we get confused and say, I know you've explained it many, many times. Can you tell me one more time what you mean by that? Jesus is still long-suffering and merciful and slow to anger. He's abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. We can see this here in our text today. Even with a crowd that we learn a little bit later, well, almost all, almost everyone in this crowd will reject the gospel. He's still patient in presenting to them. He takes his time. Now in our sermon text for today, John 6, beginning in verse 52, we see that not only are the Jews confused and unhappy with him, with Jesus, for saying that he's the bread of life, but they're also irritated at each other. They're all listening to the same sermon. They're all listening as Christ tells them that the bread that he shall give is his flesh. But immediately when he says this, they begin to quarrel amongst themselves. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Some of the crowd, I'm sure, believed that Jesus meant one thing. Some of the crowd believed that he meant another. And they began to fight amongst themselves. Some of them claimed that others were misunderstanding or that they misheard. Or, no, no, no, Jesus didn't even say that. You're confused. Regardless of what exactly was said in this large crowd, what we see here is that God's covenant people are presented with a teaching that they don't understand right away. And what do they do about it? They begin to fight. Sadly, this still happens even today. Even among Bible-believing Christians, it's amazing how quick in our flesh we can form opinions. Even if we have only heard part of a teaching, overheard from another room, for the first time ever in our lives, it is amazing how fast we can form an opinion about it. And not only can we form an opinion quickly, but boy, can we dig in our heels and get ready to fight and defend our view quickly as well. This isn't the main point of our text today. It's not the main point of our sermon, but I think this is, there's such an important practical lesson for us here. If you don't understand something, especially something that directly relates to God and his word, then do your best not to form an ironclad opinion right away. Rather, think first, where is this teaching coming from? What's the source of this new doctrine that I'm unfamiliar with? If you're encountering a new aspect of theology, a new to you aspect of theology, but it's coming from a God-ordained authority in your life and one that acts with biblical integrity, then you should not start with an attitude of suspicion just because you can't grasp everything all at once. These people were learning doctrine from Jesus Christ himself. And yes, they did not understand that Jesus was God. They were not saved, but they knew he was an authority. They called him teacher. They tried to make him king. They suspected he was a prophet, maybe even the prophet that Moses promised. They knew in their hearts that he was an authority from God, but they fought against the doctrine. But today, if you encounter something in the Bible that you don't understand, you are still bound, called, commanded, and required to believe it without any reservation. That's what we're called to do. But what about though, James, what about if this teaching that's new to us comes from a different source? It's not a direct quotation of scripture, but just some other aspect of theology that I'm not familiar with. Well, if it is from your husband, your father or your mother, your pastor, or one of your elders, then you should begin with an attitude of humble trust. Now, beginning with an attitude of humble trust does not mean blind faith. Rather, you should be like the Bereans. They are our scriptural example here of how to deal with a doctrine that confuses us. This is what God's word says about the Berean Jews when Paul and Silas arrived and began to preach in their synagogues. And you stay where you are in John 6, but this is from Acts 17 11. Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. The Bereans were not suspicious of the apostles. They humbly received their teaching with eagerness, but they didn't have blind faith in what these teachers were saying either. They also diligently confirmed that what Paul and Silas said lined up with the inerrant, infallible word of God. And Luke tells us because of this in the very next verse, as a result of this eagerly receiving of the apostles' teaching and diligent study of the scriptures, many of them believed. So you start with something new that you have not heard, that you're confused about perhaps. But if you start with humility and a desire to hear from God in his word, you will end up hearing from him. And in fact, it may be the means of your salvation or your growth in holiness and love for your Lord. But sadly, the Jews in John 6 are not like the Bereans at all. They don't understand. They don't receive this teaching with eagerness. They are not humble. They don't go to the Scriptures to seek clarity. Instead, they just start to quarrel among themselves as if their opinion was the ultimate authority. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? I don't understand it with my human reason, therefore it can't be true. And my particular interpretation of how it can't be true is obviously better than yours. They're thinking very arrogant, but it's how we all in our flesh snap to thinking automatically. Beginning in verse 53 though, Jesus answers them. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus says, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats 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 he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. He who eats of this bread will live forever. Jesus is at his absolute clearest here of all that he's been in John 6 so far. He really nails it down and says, this is what I'm talking about. He's restating and elaborating on what he has been saying over and over for the past 30 verses. Most assuredly, he says, or verily, verily, as the King James puts it. Meaning there's no doubt whatsoever about what I'm about to tell you. This is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you. Without this eating and drinking, you are spiritually dead. There is no other possibility for living eternally. Jesus uses the word unless here in verse 53, unless, or it could also be translated as except. There's a temptation among preachers and teachers and even ordinary Christians who love their Bibles to focus so meticulously on individual words and load them with meaning that perhaps was never intended to be there. They just get dialed in on a word study and they think, oh, what all could this word mean? Let me unpack every single possibility that could mean for us. It's a temptation that We need to be aware of, to load a word with meaning that's not supposed to be there. But on the other hand, there's another temptation that I think is much easier for us to fall into when we're reading God's word. It's not to concern ourselves with the very words of scripture, so long as we have the sense of the text or the meaning or the heart of the words that the words are really getting at. To varying degrees, this latter temptation has led many so-called evangelicals down the slippery slope of liberalism. Well, we don't need to focus on the exact words. We just need to get to the heart of what Jesus is saying. Well, the only way you get to the heart of what Jesus is saying is through the words. So it is a slippery slope. We wanna avoid both errors when we're diving deeply into a text. But here before us, we have this little word, unless, unless. I'm not saying this word has any unusual or super spiritual meaning. I don't think it does at all. But we notice this contextually. Whenever Jesus uses this word, unless, at the beginning of a sentence or a phrase throughout all the Gospels, he tends to then say something of immense importance to his hearers. This is when he drops his theological truth bombs, when he opens up with an unless or an except. I got a couple examples here, Luke 13 three, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That's very important. Matthew 18, three. Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become his little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Or John three in verse three that we went through some months ago now. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. These are dealing with heaven and hell, eternal destination, unless. So here, just like in John 3, we have a most assuredly, or verily, verily, or truly, truly, and an unless. Jesus is saying, this is an essential truth that you absolutely have to understand. If you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you cannot have life, no everlasting life. Now we might think to ourselves, okay, I get it. This is important. I believe you. I'm tracking with you. But what exactly does he mean by this? Eating flesh and drinking blood. In one sense, Jesus is being very clear. But we're still struggling with that natural man, Romans 7. And sometimes that causes us to be darkened to spiritual realities. What does this mean? And we can get confused. We might ask, just like the Jews did, how can we eat this man's flesh and drink this man's blood? And if you're asking from a humble heart, that's a wonderful question to ask. Jesus does not turn away those who ask humbly. He invites us to ask him questions. He wants us to understand this. Commenting on this passage, 19th century Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle writes this. He says, few passages of scripture have been so painfully rested and perverted as that which we have now read. He said there are few places in the entire Bible that have been twisted so awfully as what we read here in John 6. I think he's right. Many, many people have read these words from our Lord and have interpreted them to mean something that they most emphatically do not mean. What is that? What is this strange interpretation that has been so ubiquitous everywhere in church history? Namely, many people throughout the centuries have argued and taught that Jesus here is talking about the Lord's Supper. That when Jesus says, you must eat my flesh, he's referring to the bread that he would later break at the last supper and say, this is my body. And when he says that you must drink my blood, he's referring to the wine that he would later call the cup of the new covenant in his blood. Now, if we aren't well-versed in Scripture or in the various debates that have raged over the Lord's Supper for the past 2,000 years, then this might sound compelling at first. But there are a number of serious problems with this understanding that Jesus here is referring to the Lord's Supper. list a few of them for you. First, if Jesus is talking about the Lord's Supper here, then that would flatly contradict other portions of Scripture, and it would damn many of God's children to hell. Remember, Jesus says, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. If this was referring to the Lord's Supper, then that would mean that no one could be saved without eating the communion bread and drinking the communion wine. But Jesus says so plainly here in John 6, just 13 verses earlier. He says, this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. or just as clearly a few verses later, John 6 and verse 47. That's the text we worked through last week. Jesus says, most assuredly, there's that phrase again. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. That's it. Believe on Jesus and you have everlasting life. look unto Christ and live. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. To say that anything aside from a true and living faith in Christ, which is evidenced by repentance and confessing that Jesus is Lord, to say that anything besides that is necessary for salvation is against scripture and against the gospel. But if Jesus were talking about the Lord's supper here, then that would mean that those who had not received communion could not be saved. This would shut out from heaven the thief on the cross, who was repentant, who Jesus said, today, you'll be with me in paradise. That was a promise from Christ of his salvation. This doctrine would shut out from heaven all those children who die before coming to the Lord's table, infants and young children. Yet we know the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. This would shut out of heaven anyone who confesses Christ on their deathbed. But scripture is clear. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not all who come to the communion table. On the flip side, related, there's another problem created by this false doctrine that Jesus is referring to the Lord's supper here. And that is that it would admit into heaven many who do not truly trust in Christ. If we were to believe that all you had to do was eat the bread and drink the wine, then it would open wide the gates of heaven for many who are not truly born again. Jesus says, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Now I'll raise him up at the last day. That language isn't quite as strong as when he's warning the Jews of damnation in the previous verse, but it's no less clear. has eternal life, objective reality. Christ is opening wide heaven's doors. Whoever eats and drinks, anyone who eats and drinks, everyone who eats and drinks has eternal life. Well, if what Jesus means here is that everyone who takes communion goes to heaven, He would, again, be flatly contradicting other Scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul warns the church with these words. He says, This is talking about communion. but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. which is a way of saying many have died. Paul says, don't just let anybody who walks in off the street, eat the bread and drink the wine. Why? Why not just open it up to everyone? Because there is such a thing as partaking in an unworthy manner. There's no light business here. Paul says that if anyone does come to the table of the Lord unworthily, then he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Instead of the sacrament being a means of grace, it will become to him a means of condemnation, drinking and eating judgment to himself when he does not discern the Lord's body. Sometimes God even shows his displeasure, Paul tells us at this profaning of his table, by killing the unworthy participants. Now, how could all of that be true? If what Jesus meant here in John six and verse 54 was that anyone who physically partakes of communion will certainly be saved. How could those things be true together? They could not be. We know that our bodies, even though they are very important to God and are destined for resurrection and glorification, we know they have no immediate direct role in obtaining salvation for us. Simply eating and drinking cannot gain salvation. Paul tells us that in Romans 14. He says, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Eternal salvation absolutely affects our bodies as it secures for them the resurrection of the just. But eternal salvation is essentially a matter of the spirit. So no, physical or bodily eating and drinking at the Lord's table cannot save you. Further, there are many examples of people who have taken communion who do not have living faith in Christ. And many of them will even admit this. Maybe you know someone in your own life who has taken communion and is either an out and out unbeliever or just shows absolutely no signs of saving faith. just because someone eats the bread and drinks the wine does not automatically mean they are saved. Then the final problem I'll point out today that is created by believing that Jesus was speaking of communion here in John six is that it naturally leads us to the heretical doctrine of the Roman Catholic Eucharist. Roman Catholics often appeal to John 6 when arguing in favor of their view of communion. This is a very important text for them. I've debated with them and heard them go straight to John 6. That's where they go, John 6. In the Roman Catholic Church, they believe that when the priest says at the communion table, this is my body, or hoc est corpus meum, that's the Latin phrasing, that when he says these words, they truly believe, you can ask a Roman Catholic priest, that the bread is transformed into Christ's actual physical body. This is called the doctrine of transubstantiation. The fact that the loaf continues to look like bread is merely an appearance. It's not what's actually there. It just looks like bread. It's not bread anymore. The same with the wine and Christ's blood. The cup may look like it's holding wine. When you raise it to your lips, it might taste like you're drinking wine, but it's really the blood of Jesus. So in the Roman Catholic mind, when you come forward to receive communion, you're not receiving bread and wine at all. You're receiving the true physical body and blood of Christ. This is all completely wrong. Christ's body, we say it every week, where is Christ's body? It's in heaven, seated at the right hand of God the Father. When is he going to come again to earth bodily? at the last day when he comes to judge the living and the dead. He's not going to be here physically, bodily again until that day. He's here spiritually, but he's not here physically. Also in much more serious and where the worst heresy comes in is in what this transubstantiation really means and why it is important. Roman Catholics believe that the Eucharist, that's what they call the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, is a sacrifice unto God that atones for our sins. Remember, they think that the priest is actually turning, by the agency of the Holy Spirit, through the words of institution, turning the bread into the body, turning the wine into the blood. After he does that, then listen closely, after The priest supposedly performs this transubstantiation and makes the bread into the Lord Jesus Christ. The priest then breaks Jesus Christ in half. Think of how troubling that sounds, that he breaks the body of the Lord anew. It's tantamount to re-crucifying Christ. His body is broken yet again. His blood is shed yet again in the cup. And as you partake of this broken body and shed blood, your sins are atoned for yet again. Of course, this atonement is not sufficient. It's not all encompassing because before next Sunday rolls around, you will have committed more sins. And guess what that means? You need his body broken again. You need his blood shed again because those sins won't be atoned for until Christ is sacrificed again for you. This is abominable. This is terrible. To have Christ's body broken over and over and over is a great insult to our Lord's perfect and sufficient work on the cross. Hebrews 7.27 says this, Jesus does not need daily as those high priests, he's referring to the high priests under the old covenant, and he's contrasting those earthly high priests with our perfect high priest Jesus, says Jesus does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the other people's. For this he did once for all when he offered up himself. Hebrews is saying Jesus doesn't need to keep sacrificing Himself. He did it once for all. Once for all. Never to be repeated. For the world. He paid for all the sins of all of His people on the cross. And after He had made this perfectly sufficient sacrifice, Christ said on the cross, it is finished. No more sacrifice. No more shedding of my blood paid in full. No more sin debt for God's elect people. No more atonement will ever be needed once for all. That's why the sacrifices are gone. That's why the veil was torn in two. That's why we don't go to the temple. We don't need more sacrifices. And after his resurrection appearances to his disciples, Jesus ascended into heaven and he sat down. When does a man sit down after the task is done? He doesn't, Jesus does not quit halfway through. He doesn't go take a many thousands years rest. He ascends to heaven after he has done his bodily work on earth. Now there's still much spiritual work that he's doing by his spirit, but bodily he's done and he sat down. The Roman Catholic mass makes a mockery of Christ's death, of the power of his blood, of the priesthood of Jesus, of the doctrine of salvation, so on and so on. And this is central to their theology. Maybe your rank and file Catholic friend may not know all of this, or maybe he knows it, but he's too embarrassed to admit it when you ask him. But it's essential to their system of worship and to their doctrine. So central, in fact, that opposing this specific false doctrine of transubstantiation, opposing this specific thing, is what got many of our reformers burned to death. I'm gonna actually read an excerpt here from a work called Light from Old Times. This is Ryle again says, but I pass on to a point which I hold to be one of cardinal importance in the present day. The point I refer to is the special reason why our reformers were burned. Have you ever thought about that? I've heard that many of the reformers were martyred for the faith. Why did the church do that? What was the reason? Ronald tells us. He says, great indeed would be our mistake if we suppose that they suffered for the vague charge of refusing submission to the Pope or desiring to maintain the independence of the church. Nothing of the kind. The principal reason why they were burned was because they refused one of the peculiar doctrines of the Romish church. on that doctrine in almost every case hinged their life or death. If they admitted it, they might live. If they refused it, they must die. The doctrine in question was the real presence of the physical body and blood of Christ in the consecrated elements of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. Did they or did they not believe that the body and blood of Christ were really, that is corporally, literally, locally, and materially present under the forms of bread and wine after the words of consecration were pronounced? Did they or did they not believe that the real body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, was present on the so-called altar so soon as the mystical words had passed the lips of the priest? Did they or did they not? That was the simple question. If they did not believe and admit it, they were burned. There's a wonderful and striking unity in the stories of our martyrs on this subject. Some of them, no doubt, were attacked about the marriage of priests. Some of them were assaulted about the nature of the Catholic Church. Some of them were assailed on other points. But all, without exception, were called to special account about the real presence. And in every case, their refusal to admit the doctrine formed one principal cause of their condemnation. And then Ryle goes to list several of our Reformers who were burned, and some of the last things they said were a denial of Christ's body and blood, literally and physically, being present at the communion table. The first one listed, the first Reformer burned for this, is the one who y'all are descended from, John Rogers. These are his words here. John Rogers says, I was asked whether I believed in the sacrament to be the very body and blood of our Savior Christ that was born of the Virgin Mary and hanged on the cross really and substantially. I answered, I think it to be false. I cannot understand really and substantially to signify otherwise than corporally. But corporally, Christ is only in heaven. And so Christ cannot be corporally in your sacrament. Therefore, he was condemned and burned. And Ryle goes to list on. John Hooper, Roland Taylor, Hugh Latimer, John Bradford, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Cranmer, over and over and over again. Why were our reformers burned, especially under Bloody Mary? It was because they held to the biblical doctrine of the Lord's Supper. that Christ is not physically present in the bread and wine, that the bread is not mysteriously changed from bread to the body of Christ. Many have sacrificed for this doctrine. So if we don't think when first hearing the sermon, oh, this is, we might think, how can this be important? None of us are Roman Catholic, maybe we're not, but it's Roman Catholics far outnumber us. And this doctrine is insidious and downstream. There are many dangerous things at play here when you start to accept this superstitious and false doctrine about Christ. The natural man would love for this teaching to be true. that Jesus is talking about the Lord's Supper here in John 6. That's what he really means. That the bread and wine really become Christ's body and blood. Why is that? Why would the natural man love that? Well, first of all, the natural man is by nature natural. He's in his sense. He's not spiritual. He only understands natural things. To be sure, he wants his religion to have a veneer of the mysterious and the heavenly and the awesome, but ultimately he wants its substance to be natural. Oh, I eat this body of Christ. I drink this blood of Christ and my sins are forgiven. Great. No need for a changed heart. No need for heart religion. No need for the new birth. The natural man wants desperately for the kingdom of God to consist in eating and drinking. But brothers and sisters, that is not how God's economy works. He is looking for a people, Jesus tells us, who will worship him in spirit and in truth. not in pomp and show and in forms and ceremonies. So at this point, we might think, okay, well, that's a lot about what Jesus does not mean here. Are we going to get to what Jesus did mean? I'm glad you asked. It's a lot simpler. It takes a lot less time because Jesus is not a God of confusion. He's very clear. When Jesus says that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood, what he means is that we must receive within ourselves his life and his death. That's what it means. We must receive by faith, claim for ourselves his life and his death, the merits of his life, the merits of his death. We must believe that Jesus is God who has existed from all eternity, who came to earth as a man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, who took upon himself the nature of a true man. who lived a perfect life under the law and before God and man, and who died a once for all perfectly satisfactory death as a sin offering for us on the cross. We must believe that this Jesus rose again bodily from the grave and he ascended bodily into heaven where he sits enthroned as the everlasting God-man who gives life to all who come to him. To eat of the body and blood of Christ is simply to believe that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Remember from earlier in John 6, Jesus says in no uncertain terms, the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst. So what is eating the bread of life? It's coming to Jesus in faith. When we come to Christ in faith, our souls are truly fed on his body and blood. John 6.55, our text today, Jesus says, my flesh is food indeed, and my body, my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. He who eats this bread will live forever. The body and blood of Christ are true and real food and drink, but they are not physical food and drink for our physical bodies. For something to be true and real, it does not have to be physical. Christ's body was a real physical body. His body is still a real physical body, but we do not get the merits of his physical body by eating it. We get the merits of his life and death by believing on him in our heart and soul. The new birth, remember, Jesus has already explained this. The new birth is something that happens spiritually to us. Nicodemus was even confused about this. He ends up converted, but he, like these unbelieving Jews, was confused at first. He's thinking like a natural man in John 3. He says, wait, wait, wait, to be born again, do I have to crawl back in my mother's womb and be born a second time? Of course, the answer was no. Why are you thinking about the flesh? Why are you thinking this way, Nicodemus? You have to be born from above, Jesus says, born spiritually. Your new life in Christ is spiritual, and you cannot secure or sustain spiritual life with physical things. No, you need spiritual food, which is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in your soul. Well, perhaps some of you are still thinking, but it sounds like communion. I mean, we might still think that, but certainly it sounds like communion here. There's gotta be a relationship. We pass out the bread and wine each week and we physically eat it and drink it. And we say things like, this is my body. This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. What's that all about? Christ's body and blood are truly present in the sacrament of communion. but they are not physically present in the elements. And that's the difference. Jesus' body and blood are truly present in the sacrament, but they are not physically present in the elements. Rather, when we reach out and take the bread and the wine in communion, God's spirit draws us and calls us yet again to reach out from the depths of our soul and claim the body of Christ that's broken for us and claim the blood of Christ that is shed for us. And all who eat and drink with the mouth of faith do have eternal life. Jesus is talking about something absolutely necessary for eternal life here. Faith in Christ's body and blood. But he's not talking about communion in John 6. Instead, it's the opposite. It's the exact opposite of him talking about communion here in John 6. He doesn't want his listeners to think about the need to take communion in order to be saved. Rather, he wants his listeners to be awakened to a true and living faith and therefore feed upon him and be saved. So when Christ spoke of the lesser thing later on, when he spoke of communion, Jesus absolutely had in mind the greater thing, feeding spiritually on Him. When Jesus would later speak about the Lord's table, He absolutely had John 6 in mind. But when He spoke here about the greater reality in John 6, He did not want our minds to go wandering from reality to the reminder. He didn't want us to look at Him and then think about the Lord's table. It's the reverse. He wants us to look at the Lord's table and think about Him. We don't wanna switch from reality to remembrance. The remembrance is enormously important, very important, but it's the substance behind it, not the physical substance, the spiritual substance that matters most. The Lord's Supper should call our hearts and minds back to the truth of this text. But when we read this text, we don't wanna just focus so much on the Lord's Supper. Now I wanna close with a few words of personal application. first to the children in our congregation, especially those who are not yet taking the Lord's Supper. Jesus does not love you any less. if you have not come yet to the table. When you hear Jesus say that you have to eat his body and you have to drink his blood to be saved, let that remind you that you must have faith in your heart. You must come to Jesus in here, in your heart, and believe that his body was really broken for you and that his blood was really shed for you. Baptism and communion are very important, but the reality to which they point is the most important. Secondly, to those who are professing faith in Christ, who have laid hold to the reality of Jesus's body and blood, who do partake of the bread and wine, when you receive the elements here shortly, children, adults, everyone who received these elements, don't put your assurance of salvation or your faith in the sacrament itself. But as you eat and drink, remember the true feeding in your soul. Believe that just as surely as you eat the bread and drink the wine, that Christ's body and blood truly and certainly sustain you to everlasting life. Remember that just as you eat food every day, so you should be feeding on Christ's body and blood every day, not just once a week when you're at church. And then thirdly, If you do not find within yourself a hunger for the body and blood of our Lord, pray, even right now, as we're closing our message, pray that God would give it to you, that he would give you this hunger. Pray that he would give you a craving even for his love, for his gospel, for the benefits of his life, death, and resurrection. Pray that God would make you cry out from the depths of your soul, bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I lack no more. Feed me till I lack no more. Let's pray together. God, we thank you so much that you are the bread that came down from heaven and that we, every single one of us in this room, Lord, are receiving, Lord, the offer of your body broken for us and your blood shed for us, that we can feed truly, really, spiritually on your body and blood today. Lord, that you can pour grace into our hearts, that you can transform us, that you can sanctify us, that you can draw us to renewed faith and love for you. We thank you, Lord, that you broke your body for us, that we don't have to break it anymore, that we don't have to look for another sacrifice. We thank you, Lord. And Lord, even though there is confusion abounding, on what's happening in the Lord's table, we thank you so much for this continual reminder. We thank you that you've given us these wonderful tokens of your love where we can, by the Spirit, commune with you, truly and really, as we join together as one body of Christ. We thank you, Lord, for your love and for your reminders. In Christ's name, amen.