I'd love it if you would turn in your copies of God's Word, the Gospel of John. Be looking this morning at John 6, 52, John chapter 6, verses 52 to 59. And Lord willing, you can find that on page 1,772. if you're using one of the chair variables. Again, this morning we'll be looking at John 6, 52 through 59. And last time together, two weeks ago now, we looked at John 6, 41 to 51. And there you'll remember we saw our Lord reprove the murmuring of the Jews, explain to them why they had not and could not receive Him and His teaching. And then once again, clearly, proclaim himself to be that true bread which has been given to and for men that they may live forever. And you remember we learned primarily from that that no one, no one can come to Jesus unless they are drawn by the Father. And now this morning from verses 52 to 59, we'll see our Lord as He did with Nicodemus, okay? And I want us even this week in your family worship guides to really remember the connection with John chapter 3 here and what we said about that. But we'll see our Lord here in John 6, 52 to 59, as He did with Nicodemus, speak of spiritual realities using earthly figures. And this in order to teach the absolute necessity of faith in Him for everlasting life. And the primary lesson for us this morning from our verses is that unless one feeds on Christ, He cannot have everlasting life unless one feeds on the Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot have everlasting life. And so with that, beloved, let's hear God's word. We'll begin in verse 26, where our Lord's discourse begins, and we'll read through verse 59. This is the word of God. Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures. to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. Then they said to Him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he sent. Therefore they said to him, What sign will you perform then that we may see it and believe you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And 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. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the father who sent me that of all. He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And 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. The Jews then complained about him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he says, I have come down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said to them, do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me, not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 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. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? And 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. Well, beloved, this ends the reading of God's holy word. May, as always, he be pleased to bless it, and especially the preaching of it to our hearts and minds this morning. Oh, beloved, before we start to open up verses 52 through 59. I want us to remember, especially since it's been two weeks now, but because also of the importance we noted concerning it, of verse 51. and what our Lord there taught. And specifically how we saw that what Jesus says in verse 51, it's very similar. It's in essence the same thing that he says in John 3, 14 to 18, and John 12, 32. You remember we made the note from John 6.51 that Jesus, when He's speaking of the future from His day, giving of His flesh for the life of the world, He's very clearly, based on those other passages, speaking about His giving of His life on the cross, His being lifted up on the cross for sinners so that whosoever would believe in Him should have everlasting life and not perish. And so we saw there that our Lord in verse 51, we have already seen this, that He was speaking figuratively about His atonement on the cross. And children, you know what is meant by the atonement, Christ's satisfaction of God's justice by His suffering and death as a substitute for sinners. He's speaking about His sacrificial death on the cross and the saving and life-giving benefits which flow to sinners of all nations through His death and through faith in Him. So that's our Lord's train of thought in verse 51, and that's important to see as we get into verses 52 through 59. This is what our Lord has been speaking about, faith in him crucified for sinners. But, but, as we've seen at least three times in John's Gospel so far, so we see here again. His hearers did not get it, did not understand the figures of speech, did not understand the spiritual realities of which our Lord was clearly speaking. They could not grasp the nature of His speech. And so, verse 52, we're told that they quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? I submit to you that verse 52 here is so very critical to rightly understanding the verses that follow. And we see that when we notice the similarities between Verse 52, and the Jews' response there in three other places that we've already seen so far in John's Gospel. First, we remember John 2, verses 19-21, which there say, where our Lord said to the Jews, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But then the Jews said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days? But then what are we told? But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Disconnect. by their unbelief, darkened, unable to grasp the true meaning of what Jesus was speaking about. John 3, 3-4, and this one has the most overlap. Our Lord's interaction with Nicodemus, you remember, we read, Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Okay? So unless one's born again, he can't enter the kingdom. How did Nicodemus respond? Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? He couldn't get it. He couldn't understand the true nature of the figure of speech that Jesus was using to teach him about a life-saving spiritual reality. There was the disconnect. Jesus said, you must be born again. Nicodemus says, how can I climb into my mother's womb and be born again? He didn't get it. He couldn't get it. He could only interpret our Lord's words due to the blindness of his mind in a very wooden, physical and literalistic sense. Then lastly, the Samaritan woman, John 4, 10 to 11. We read, Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Now, we remember living water was very common speech. It was a common analogy drawn. Speaking about water, it wasn't stagnant. Living water was running water. But Jesus is teaching about a spiritual reality of the gift of the Holy Spirit. He says, He would have given you living water. What does she say? The woman said to Him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do you get this living water? She also thought she couldn't get that he's speaking about a spiritual reality. She says, how are you going to get down there and get that living water? You have nothing to draw with. And so what we see with the Samaritan woman is really that the issue of not understanding the true meaning of the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's not ethnic, but it's spiritual. It's not just a problem that the Jews have. It's a problem of unbelief and of the darkening of the mind that cannot understand the true meaning of the Scriptures because it has not the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. And so we see again that unbelief, it causes the mind to take Jesus' spiritual teaching and it can only understand it. in some wooden, physically literalistic, vague, confused manner. And the reason, beloved, the reason that it's so critical to understand this, to see this concerning the misunderstanding of the Jews and to see that the issue here is that of unbelief and is that of taking our Lord's words the wrong way as it is in those other three passages. The reason it's so critical to understand verse 52 is because it teaches us that contrary, contrary to the Roman Catholics who say that Jesus was indeed in John 6 speaking literally and physically, and that the issue with the Jews was basically that they were like Protestants who just couldn't get, that Jesus really was speaking literally and physically about literal physical eating of his body. We see that the truth is not that, but is rather that the Roman Catholics are as the Jews who mistakenly took our Lord's teaching in a physical and literal sense and could not and would not understand the true spiritual meaning of His words. And so we see, beloved, that verse 52's similarity to the verses we've just mentioned is absolutely critical to a right understanding of all that follows. And it shows us conclusively at the outset of this portion of our Lord's discourse that he is speaking of spiritual realities using earthly figures, which his heroes, due to darkness and blindness of unbelief, could not understand and could not accept. But as with Nicodemus, just as with Nicodemus, our Lord presses on with a very similar response. Here he 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. Again, very similar to his response in John 3 after Nicodemus asked about climbing again into his mother's womb. There Jesus says, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom And so likewise here, and then verse 54, our Lord just simply gives the other side of the coin. 53, whoever does not eat of my blood, eat and drink of my flesh and my blood cannot have life. Whoever does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, at this point, beloved, just as we did with John chapter three and the whole issue of whether or not water baptism was being taught in John chapter three, we're going to pause here at this point so that we can gain further clarity on just what Jesus is saying and what Jesus is not saying. Because as it's already been noted, Roman Catholics use this passage, they use John chapter 6 as a strong proof for their doctrine of the Mass, which is the Lord's Supper, for their doctrine of transubstantiation and that which flows from it, sacrificial continuation. Transubstantiation, just so we're all a little bit clear on what is meant like that, the best kind of crude illustration I've seen or heard concerning what the Roman Catholics mean by transubstantiation is, you can think of a football. You think of a football because what they aren't saying is that the bread and the wine are transformed as if they take some other form. They still in form are bread and wine. So you think of a football, right? You can touch it. You can use it. You can see it. You can throw it. But if you take the air out of the football and you replace that air with helium, you've changed the inner reality. You've changed the, if you will, not the form of the football, it still looks like a football, walks like a football, talks like a football, acts like a football, but you've changed the inner reality from air to helium. You've changed what gives form and function to the football from air to helium. In a similar way, for our purposes, That's what the Roman Catholics teach about the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, that the bread and the wine, like that football, they look like bread and wine, they taste like bread and wine, they act like bread and wine, but the inner unseen reality that really makes it what it is, is changed from bread and wine to the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And from this teaching of transubstantiation flows their doctrine of sacrificial continuation. That it's actually the body and blood of Jesus Christ that a Roman priest consecrates and offers up to God, continuing the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and continuing to provide propitiation, satisfaction of wrath for the sins of His people. That's what they mean. That's what they defend vigorously from John chapter six, okay? And this, along with some words we'll come back to later, this is my body, this is my blood. These are their bedrocks concerning their belief in the mass. And so we'll spend some time today proving that that's not true and then coming back around to it at the end of the sermon. And I don't want you to think that that's a wasted time or too much of an emphasis on doctrine from this passage, because in our confession, beloved, we confess that the popish sacrifice of the Mass is most abominably injurious to the finished work of Jesus Christ, and that it is the cause of manifold, many, superstitions. And so this issue of the Lord's Supper and of transubstantiation and of sacrificial continuation, it is a gospel issue. It is a hill not worth dining on or worth fighting on, but a hill worth dying on because their view Shadows over, corrupts, denies the sufficient saving work of Jesus Christ that is received through faith alone. And that's why we use such strong language in our confession concerning this abominable teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. And so as with John chapter 3, In water baptism, we need to ask of our passage here in John 6, is our Lord talking about the Lord's Supper in this passage primarily, partially, or not at all? And as with John chapter 3, so here the Reformed view of John chapter 6 is that Jesus is not speaking about the Lord's Supper at all. at all, not even a hint, not even a little bit. And we'll give a few reasons for that in addition to the contextual reasons already mentioned from verse 52 that the Jews' response is correlated with their misunderstandings in other passages, what we've already said about verse 51, What we've already saw again from verse 29 that Jesus says, there's one work that my Father demands of you and that's that you believe in me. We assume here that Jesus is adding another work here. There's all sorts of reasons for believing. that our Lord's not speaking at all about the Lord's Supper in context. But then additionally, consider that as in John chapter 3, with water and with washing, with wind and with blowing, so as we've seen from Ezekiel 34, so as we've seen from our passage, right? Verse 27, speaking about food which endures to everlasting life, speaking about never hungering or never thirsting through what? Faith in Him. We see that these ideas, these concepts of feeding, eating and drinking are used figuratively in the scripture and are used figuratively in the exact context within which we find ourselves. So here in context, feeding, Eating and drinking signify the spiritual feeding of the soul, the soul's receiving and applying spiritual benefits as the body receives and applies physical benefits from physical food. That's the point of the figure, that's the point of the analogy. Jesus is not trying to confuse His hearers, but trying to help them see that faith in Him is appropriated by the body and His saving benefits are appropriated by the soul in a manner similar to how your body receives and then appropriates and grows from and makes use of physical nutrients. Jesus is clarifying things, not darkening things here, and this is what he wants us to understand. He's speaking figuratively in an act of condescension to help us grasp what we receive and how we receive it. Second, the language here of flesh and blood is common language used in the Old Testament in Leviticus to refer to the Old Testament sacrifices, which again, just simply is another confirmation of our view that what our Lord has in mind is not His future institution of the Lord's Supper. Rather, He's drawing back from the Levitical system of sacrifices, telling His people that that all looked forward to Me and that it's through faith in Me and My sacrificial death for you, that you are saved, that you receive everlasting life. And so again, what is in view is not a physically literal eating of Christ's physical body in the Lord's Supper, but a spiritual receiving and applying of the benefits of Christ's sacrificial death. Third, and perhaps most damning, to the Roman view of John 6, as with John 3, so here, we see that our Lord's words, our Lord's words imply necessarily an absolute, unqualified, and necessary condition for salvation. Which means, If the Lord's Supper is in view at all, at all, even 1%, then no one, our Lord is teaching that no one can be saved apart from partaking in it. Period. End of story. And so as with John chapter three, concerning water baptism, just as if our Lord there was teaching the necessity of regenerative water baptism for salvation, so here. This would kick the thief on the cross out of heaven. Jesus said after he spoke these words to him, because of his faith in him, that that day he would be with him in paradise. And the Catholics feel this pressure and so they come up with another false doctrine about the baptism of desire and all of these other wonky things to make sense of their false teaching. And they'll say, well, the thief on the cross, he was baptized with the baptism of desire and so on and so forth. One false teaching begets another. But this would kick out the thief on the cross. Again, this would destroy any hope of elect infants being saved. How could they be? How could an infant in the womb who dies partake of the Lord's Supper? They can't. And yet the Bible teaches the salvation of elect infants. Also, this destroys the Bible's clear teaching that we've been seeing in Sunday school, that we saw in the Sola series on justification through faith alone. That doctrine can't be true if John 6 is speaking at all about the Lord's Supper. At all. Then we aren't saved through justification alone. Period. Period. It also would destroy any continuity of the plan of salvation between the Old Testament and the New. Now we're saved in a different way. It's not been grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone from the fall to the return of Christ. It was something else and now it's a little bit of faith, a little bit of the Lord's Supper, a little bit of baptism, a little bit of priestly confession and a couple of indulgences sprinkled in and then we might get there. It would destroy the one plan of salvation. if John 6 is speaking about the Lord's Supper at all. And lastly, if this passage is at all about the Lord's Supper, then we have to acknowledge the absurdity that our Lord was speaking to a people about a thing and reproving them concerning a thing that was absolutely necessary for their salvation right then and there, but wouldn't actually be instituted until about a year or so later. It would make no sense. It would make our Lord's words here absurd. So, beloved, for these reasons and more we'll even see later, we as Reformed Christians deny and should continue to deny that our Lord is speaking about the Lord's Supper at all in John chapter 6. Rather, we believe again, as we've previously noted, that not the Lord's Supper, but what the Lord's Supper signifies is what our Lord is here teaching on in John chapter 6. Again, and namely, His sacrificial death in the life that comes to sinners through His death by faith in Him. So while John chapter 6 certainly informs our theology of the Lord's Supper by teaching us what it signifies, nonetheless, John 6 is not about the Lord's Supper. Now one more point from verses 53 to 54, which reinforce what we've been saying and further clarifies what our Lord is teaching, is saying here. Note the similarities between verse 54 in John 5.24 and John 6.40. Okay, John 5.24. I encourage you, just keep your eyes on verse 54 here and listen. John 5.24, He who hears my words and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life. Faith equals having everlasting life. It's not something which needs to wait to be gained by participation in the sacrament. And the similarity of language has everlasting life. But then even more clearly, chapter 6, verse 40, we read just earlier in this exact discourse that the one who what? sees the Son and believes in Him, and then notice the words are the same, may have everlasting life, may have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day, and I will raise Him up at the last day. And so we see by the parallelism, Between those verses, we see clearly that feeding on, eating and drinking of Christ are again earthly figures and metaphors for receiving and believing on Jesus Christ, not for partaking in the Lord's Supper. And so, beloved, I hope we've seen clearly that John 6 is not, indeed cannot be speaking at all about the Lord's Supper, but rather is and must be, must be speaking about what the Lord's Supper signifies, again, the sacrificial and atoning death of Jesus Christ and the life-saving, soul-saving blessings and benefits that believers receive through faith in Christ crucified for them. That's what he's speaking about. And so with that, hopefully seen and settled, we can move and we will move rather swiftly through the rest of our passage. Verse 55, okay, the word indeed has the sense of a truly, okay, that's what it means. And so it's a reference back to verse 32 and just pause one more time and say that everything he says in 53 to 58 is a reference back to something he's already said in the discourse, which shows us that the subject never changes from beginning to end. Atonement, faith in Christ. There's no switch. There's no change of subject ever, ever. Nevertheless, 632, our Lord is saying that He, as the bread of life, is the heavenly and spiritual archetype, ultimate pattern, which the manna was only a type, copy, and shadow of. Jesus is the true bread which our souls need if they would live. Verse 56, our Lord says that he who eats his flesh and drinks his blood again, that is, he who spiritually believes on and receives our Lord through faith, is intimately united to Him. They abide in Him. He abides in them. Through the instrument of faith, they receive the nourishment of all of the blessings and benefits that He has for them. And this, beloved, this we can be sure of. This we can be sure of, that through faith in Christ, we receive eternal life. Jesus says we can be sure of this because as the living Father sent His Son, and as the Son lives because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Christ can be sure they will live because of Him. Jesus is making the same point, same logic here, as we saw back in John 5, 21 to 26. There, you'll remember, our Lord grounds His ability to grant life, to communicate life to whomsoever He wills. He grounds His ability to do so and our certainty in His ability to do so in the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father. Okay? So how can we be certain that Jesus can give us life? Because from all eternity, the Father has granted Him life. Because from all eternity, the Father has communicated life to the Son, unchangeably. Okay? And so, what we see from the Scriptures, what we see taught in John 5 and here, no eternal generation, no regeneration, no salvation for sinners. because of the eternal generation of the Son, because from all eternity, the life that it is in the Father has been granted to the Son, because that is true of our God. Because our God is an eternally life-communicating God, He can and does communicate life in time. Remember that we said no other God can save except the Trinity. Allah is just Allah. Static, dead, not life-giving in and of himself. And neither is any other system. Only the Trinity can be one and yet be life-giving from all eternity. No Trinity, no salvation. That's what Jesus is saying here again. Okay, same point, same point. He assures us, it seems very heady, but beloved, you can't be saved unless this is true. You can't be unless from all eternity the Father is communicating life to the Son and the Father and the Son are communicating life to the Spirit. Our hope is in vain and we're dead. We're dead. OK, so Jesus assures us. of the promise of our eternal life by appealing to the Father's eternal communication of life to the Son. Again, because of the eternal generation of the Son, the eternal communication of life from the Father to the Son, we can be absolutely certain and assured that we live and will live forevermore because of Christ. Verse 58, our Lord simply repeats once more what He said, rounding out this discourse by again showing His superiority, superiority of Him as the bread of life over the manna, okay? Those all died. All who ate of the manna died, but the one who feeds on and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will live forever. And we're told that He said these things. in the synagogue of Capernaum. So beloved, we've just seen our Lord, as he did with Nicodemus, speak of spiritual realities using earthly figures in this in order to teach the absolute necessity of faith in him for everlasting life. And so again, The primary lesson for us this morning, unless one feeds on Christ, the primary truth of our text is that unless one feeds on Christ, he cannot have everlasting life. And since we understand that feeding on Christ, as we've hopefully shown, is essentially synonymous with believing in Christ, I hope it's not a teaching that needs much confirmation. But nonetheless, John 1, 12 and 13 beautifully brings together, as John was doing in his introduction, kind of giving us truth in seed form that he then unpacks later. John 1, 12, and 13 brings together, both John 3 and John 6, says nothing at all about water baptism or the Lord's Supper. Says there, "...but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right." to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. Necessity of faith. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. but of God, necessity of new birth and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then John 1, I'm sorry, John 3, 14 to 18 teaches us clearly again that if one believes, they have life. They are justified, pardoned, accepted as righteous, but if they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they're condemned already. They're condemned already because they've not believed in the Son. So, beloved, it's a plain truth of God's Word that unless one feeds on Christ, he cannot have everlasting life. And now in making use of our passage and applying it, I told you we'd come back around because I think it's really important, okay? Want to deal with what the most likely objection you would hear to everything we've said this morning concerning John 6. Some will object and say that our belief that John 6 is about faith in what the Lord's Supper signifies, they'll say this cannot be correct. It cannot be correct because Jesus plainly says, in the institution of the Lord's Supper, of the bread, He plainly says, is my body. And of the wine, he plainly says, this is my blood. And so they will say, no matter all the gymnastics you want to do, a literal interpretation is necessary. Our Lord's words demand it. He says the bread and the wine are his body. And so when we partake in the sacrament, We are literally, physically eating and drinking His body and blood. The priest is really offering Him up. All of these things are literal because Jesus says, this is my body. But a few brief points. I trust, beloved, refute this and further confirm our understanding. First, OK, the Lutheran view plays into this as well. But the Lutheran view is a little different, but nonetheless, any view. Of the Lord's Supper. That claims. That the bread and the wine. Become Jesus physical body. It denies the true humanity of Jesus Christ. It is, frankly, a Christological error. What does the scripture say about Jesus, that he became flesh? And we know that God alone is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. God alone can be everywhere. But as to His human nature, Jesus can only be in one place. Human nature is finite, changeable, and temporal. Children, you can grasp around your head about how silly this doctrine of the Lord's Supper is that claims Jesus is physically present. You know that you can only be in one place at one time. And so such a view denies what the Scriptures say about human nature and what they say about the location of our Lord. Colossians 3, 1-4 teaches us that according to Christ's human nature, He's in heaven. He's in heaven and Acts 3, 21 says that heaven must receive Christ until the times of the restoration of all things. It doesn't say that heaven must receive Christ until the priest consecrates the bread and the wine, and then he comes back for a little bit, and then he goes back again, and he keeps doing this until he returns again. No, his human nature remains fully and completely in heaven until he returns again to restore all things. And so to say that Christ's human nature is physically present in heaven and on earth is a denial of the true humanity of Jesus Christ and commits grievous Christological errors. Second, the word is. When Jesus says, this is my body, this is my blood, it in no way requires a physically literal understanding. No way. Just for one example, think of Galatians 4, 24 to 25 that makes the signification that word can have, express in evidence. We're speaking of the free woman Sarah and the bond woman Hagar. We read, which things are symbolic, for these are two covenants. And then this Hagar is Mount Sinai. No one in their right mind thinks that Hagar is literally the mountain of Sinai. Or that Hagar and Sarah were literally two covenants. They signify two covenants. They signify two mountains. And so it is, beloved, when the Lord says, this is my body, this is my blood. He's saying this bread and this wine signify my body and my blood. And lastly, this is confirmed by the Bible's express teaching. from Romans 4.11, Exodus 13.9, that the sacraments are what? Signs and seals. Signs and seals. And that the Passover, which is fulfilled in the Lord's Supper, was a memorial. And then also 1 Corinthians 11.26, which tells us that likewise, the Lord's Supper is a memorial, a commemoration unto the remembrance of Christ's death. And it's a visible proclamation of the cross. And so all of this, beloved, confirms our understanding of John chapter 6 and of the Lord's Supper in general, that it is not a transubstantiation nor a sacrificial continuation, but rather a commemoration, a spiritual oblation, that is an offering of praise, our praise in Thanksgiving, not an offering of Christ again for sins. Commemoration, spiritual oblation, a proclamation of our Lord's death and a spiritual application of the life-sustaining grace which comes to our souls through faith in Him. No transubstantiation. No. sacrificial continuation. And beloved, I know that was a lot of teaching this morning. But again, in light of the importance, and I hope you can see the importance of taking the time on this. People swim the Tiber and people go to Rome over this issue. And like I said, it's a gospel issue. If you believe that, And you'll believe how important it is to think rightly about John 6, about what our Lord says when he says, this is my body. And you understand that the Roman Catholic teaching is an affront on the gospel of Jesus Christ, period. And so with that, though, beloved, a few brief exhortations to close. I just encourage you in light of what I just said, to believe what I just said, and to stand up as if this is a hill to die on, speaking the truth in love, but speaking and teaching boldly on the true meaning of John 6 and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and not being deceived by the Roman Catholic Church which attacks your beloved Savior and keeps you in bondage, okay? So the Roman doctrine of the Mass, believe this, it's not a side issue, okay? It's not a side issue, and I just call you again to see it that way and to speak of it in that way, that it's a central issue. Second, beloved, keep feeding on Christ. Keep feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ daily, weekly, monthly. Daily, feed on the Lord Jesus Christ through reading His Word. Reading His Word by faith and prayerfully. And if you struggle to do that consistently, to feed on Christ, one little help that may be of a help to you, certainly this isn't the only reason that you are consistent with coming to public worship. But think about what it is that helps you come to public worship consistently. A consistent time and place. Same time, same day, every week. And you can imitate that with your private and family devotions by setting a time and place. At 7 a.m., I will sit in my chair in my living room and read my Bible for 10 or 15 minutes. After dinner, each night, the family will gather in the living room for family worship. Set a time and a place, and it will help you be more consistent with daily feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ. Continue to feed weekly on the public means of grace, morning and evening, Don't neglect the feeding on Christ. Don't neglect the feeding on Christ. Your soul needs it. Just like you need more than one meal a day, right? You need, beloved, and it's offer. And he offers it to you and he always invites you and calls you to come. and feed again, feed again on the Lord Jesus Christ. So feed weekly and then feed monthly. Regular attendance on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Beloved, having that grace sealed to your soul that what you hear preached is true unto you. And so, beloved, feed daily, weekly. monthly on the Lord Jesus Christ. Third for you believers, very briefly, I just want to hammer this every time we see it. Be reminded of the main teaching of this discourse in John chapter six, that through the once for all finished work of Jesus Christ and faith in him, you have everlasting life. Never tire of hearing that. Never tire of telling one another that, that you have it. And you have it for certain. You have it for certain. And if you have not fed on the Lord Jesus Christ, if your mind is darkened and blinded by unbelief, if you're one who labors exclusively for the food which perishes, then the Lord Jesus Christ invites you today to come and to feed on Him this morning, to turn from your life of sin and to turn to Jesus Christ and to believe on Him that your sins may be forgiven and that you may have everlasting life, for you have these infallible words from our passage, that he who eats this bread will live forever. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, you who have given us your bread, your only begotten and beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ, given him as a substitutionary sacrifice on the cross to satisfy your justice against sin, that you can be both the just and the justifier, both merciful and just at the same time. And so that through faith in Christ, all, any who would believe on him shall not perish, but will live forever. We thank you, Lord, for these truths. We pray that you would protect our hearts and minds from errors, such grievous errors that would corrupt the cross, that would turn our minds from the sufficiency of the cross of Jesus Christ to anything else whatsoever, even a holy and blessed sacrament that is the Lord's Supper. That signifies something. It isn't what saves us. Christ is. And so, Lord, let us hold fast this truth this day, and I pray that you would protect us and keep us from being destroyed by lack of knowledge. Hear our prayers in Christ's name.