Living Bread Come Down From Heaven

Transcript

GR 354
3/23/1980
Living Bread Come Down From Heaven
JOHN 6:41-59
Gil Rugh


We're going to be in John chapter 6 this morning, John chapter 6. It's a special treat for me to have my parents here this morning. They wouldn’t want me to say anything, because it might embarrass them, but they have a lot to do with my being here. Why don’t you just stand up where you are? No, you’ve got to do what your son tells you once in a while. There they are.
Now we’ll talk about that at lunch.

John chapter 6 in your Bibles this morning, John chapter 6. We’re in the midst of this great discourse by Jesus Christ on the subject of the bread of life, where he identifies Himself as the Bread of Life, the point being that He is the source of life. He is the one sufficient to meet every need, the basic need being eternal life, and that’s found in Him and Him alone. This discourse is based on that miracle that he performed where that great multitude of 5,000 men were fed by Him. Drawing attention to the fact that He is the sufficient one, He is the one in whom you find life, the source from which life is given. It's upon that miracle that he bases this discussion. Now He’s attempted to make the transition for the Jews, so that they stop thinking about physical things and focus their attention on spiritual things. They followed Him because their stomachs were filled.

In verse 26, Jesus had told them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled." but "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which is of eternal significance, that which endures to eternal life." Don’t invest your life in temporal things, everything which you can see, everything that you can acquire is of temporary existence. Devote your life to those things which have eternal significance. Focus your attention on the spiritual rather than the physical.

They ask Him then, 'You talk about eternal life, what good works could we do to be pleasing to God and have this life that you talk about?” And Jesus said in verse 29 "This is the one work of God, that you be those who are believing in Me, the One whom He sent." We noted the work of God implies two things, one, this is the only thing that we can do which is pleasing to God, that is to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is also a work that God accomplishes and brings about in our lives, this is the work that God is doing. Its purpose, and that's the expression there, "in order that you might be believing in the One whom He sent."

Down in verse 37, we're told "All that the Father gives me shall come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out." What this verse does is explain their unbelief. He had told them in verse 36, "you do not believe, but the Father is doing a work in gathering a group to Me, that do believe, so all the Father gives Me shall come to Me." They will not come because of their unbelief, because of their sin, because of their rebellious spirit, they are unwilling to believe in Jesus Christ. But in the eternal purpose of God, He has set down a plan in which there are those who will come to Him, this is the doctrine of election. In a couple of weeks we're going to spend a study looking at some of the details of this very basic doctrine, of the sovereignty of God as it pertains to our salvation.

Verse 39, "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." We noted tied to the doctrine of election where God has sovereignly given a group to Jesus Christ to believe in Him is tied to the security of that group. Because it was God the Father's work in giving them to God the Son, it is also God the Father's work to guarantee that they will be secure in Christ. It's the will of God that Christ not loose anyone that the Father has given Him. So I am destined to spend eternity in God's presence, not because of my faithfulness, but because of His faithfulness, not because of what I do, but because of what He does. I am secure because of Him, He won't lose me.

So verse 40, "This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise Him up on the last day." Repeated through this discourse is the promise TI will raise Him up on the last day' that is guaranteeing that I will experience the completion of my salvation, I am destined to be glorified in the presence of God because I have believed in Jesus Christ. The resurrection being the glorification of this body which suits it for eternity in God's presence in heaven.

Now this clear presentation of what is involved in eternal life, rather than being settling to the Jews, rather than being a comforting instruction causes them turmoil. They begin to grumble, to complain about what Jesus has been saying.

In verse 41, where we pick up with our study today, "The Jews therefore were grumbling about Him". This expression "the Jews" is used in John's Gospel usually to refer to the Jewish leaders in Judea, in the region of Jerusalem. Here it refers to the Jewish leaders in the synagogue at Capernaum, because we're told in verse 59, "These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum." Now it could be that He is moved to that setting with verse 41, from talking to the multitudes generally in the synagogue setting or it could be they've been in the synagogue all along and the Jews now, the leaders come to the four expressing their feelings to one another and to the group. "The Jews therefore were grumbling about Him, because He said 'I am the bread that came down out of heaven.'" Remember that we said the Jews were unable to make the transition from physical things to spiritual things. And when Jesus talked about the bread of life that gives eternal life to the world they had said 'Oh Lord give us this bread', that's their desire, verse 34 "Lord, evermore give us this bread." But the problem comes when they find that Jesus Christ is the bread, it's the same kind of issue which exists today. People want eternal life, you want to go to heaven when you die. Is there anyone who doesn't want to go to heaven when they die? Oh, yes I do, that's why I go to church so faithfully, that's why I'm so religious, that's why I'm so good. But you must believe in Jesus Christ and that's where the point of tension exists. I want eternal life, but I don't want to have to believe in Jesus Christ. "Lord, evermore give us this bread that will bring eternal life." and they grumbled when they found out the bread was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the point of tension, He is the issue.

And they develop it, verse 42, "And they were saying, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, "I have come down out of heaven'?" Problem, we know who His mother is, we know who His father is, doesn't speak to the issue of whether Joseph is still living or not, he may be, he may not be, but the fact is the Jews were familiar with his earthly parents. Now how can He say He came down out of heaven? We know He came from Mary and Joseph, or so they thought. And so they have a problem here. Remember Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in His own country" and that's an illustration of this fact here. Jesus' response is very much to the point and very striking, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." Now that's a strange answer and yet it's a very direct answer, they are grumbling about His claim to come from heaven and Jesus says, 'the real problem is you have your ears closed to what God would teach you, and you are unable to come to me. 'The real problem you have is not my origin, not the fact that my father is Joseph and my mother is Mary, humanly speaking.’ You note He doesn't go in to try to give them a discourse on the virgin birth. This is a prime time for Him to try to clarify the fact, that He is not the son of Joseph He is the son of Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, He doesn't even mention the fact, because that's not the problem. The problem is their ears are closed to what God would say.

Verse 45, "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." What is the implication? You haven't heard or learned anything from the Father, that's why you don't come to Me. The problem isn't about my origin, the problem isn't about my earthly parents, the problem is about you relationship to God, you are closed to what He has to say. Your rebellious, sinful character refuses to allow you to listen to the words of God.

But verse 44, "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him" then he gives that guarantee "and I will raise him up on the last day".
"No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him". Now you note the context here, the Gospel has been presented, the good news of salvation in the person of Christ has been presented. They will not believe that message, and so He tells them, "No one can come to me" unless God does a super natural work. Why? The opportunity was here, but in their rebellious sinful condition they are unwilling to come to Him, they refuse to come to Him. In verse 36 He said 'You've beheld Me, but you do not believe' because of their sin, because of their rebelliousness against God. But, God in grace does a supernatural work with certain rebellious sinners, He has said in verse 37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me". Now in verse 44, He tells us 'That those the Father has given Me, He draws to Me, and the only ones who come to Me are those that the Father draws to Me.' Interesting concept, you know we as human beings like to think that we're independent, that we had something to do with it, and here Jesus says that it was all God's doing. No one comes to Jesus Christ unless the Father does a work of drawing Him. This word "draw" is an interesting word. It's only used a few times in the New Testament, all but three times it's used in the Gospel of John. It has the idea of drawing against resistance, of overcoming resistance to draw something or someone. Remember last week we talked about being a fish on the end of a line, and we're being reeled in and we're battling all the way.
The problem is we weren't battling to get to God we were battling to get away. That fish isn't battling to get into the boat, he's battling to get away. But God winding us in, basically is what He's doing, that's the picture here in the drawing. He's drawing us by overcoming our resistance and compelling us to come. Look at the way it's used several times in the New Testament. Over in John, chapter 21, John's Gospel chapter 21, so you get something of the feel for this word. In verse 6 of John 21, "And He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right hand side of the boat, and you will find a catch.' They cast therefore, and then they were not able to haul it in". And that word haul is the word translated draw in John 6:44. "No man can come to Me, unless the Father haul him in" we could translate it, to be consistent. 'To haul it in.' and you note there is the resistance there, they have to overcome the resistance, and so they call for help to do that. Down in verse 11, it's used again, "Simon Peter went up, and drew", and there's our word again, translated 'drew', "the net to land, full of large fish". Again that pulling and overcoming the resistance to get the net to land.
Look over in the book of Acts chapter 16, Acts, chapter 16, verse 19. Paul and Silas have cast the demon out of the girl who was able to do fortune telling by the power of the demon. "But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged", there's our word, "dragged them into the market place before the authorities". So we can translate John 6:44 "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me drags him". That gives the idea, doesn't it, we weren't fighting to get there we're kicking to get away. Look over in Acts 21. The Apostle Paul spent a good portion of his life getting dragged to places he didn't want to go and here we find him in Acts 21 verse 30, getting dragged along again. "And all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together; and taking hold of Paul, they dragged him out of the temple;'1. That word 'dragged' is the word we're talking about again. So you get the idea of overcoming resistance, so when Jesus says the Father draws him, it implies overcoming the resistance that we put up, that my natural reaction is to rebel against God to reject what God would want to do in my life. But in grace He has reached down and dragged me to Jesus Christ. And I thought I was kicking and fighting to get to God all the time, and here I found that I was kicking and fighting to get away. Just like these Jews, if you had asked them why they had devoted their lives to the pursuit of the Law and to religious things, 'Oh, we want to get to God' and Jesus in effect is saying 'You're fighting to get away from Him', but in grace He is drawing some. Now there's one verse we left out, because it's too hard, but we'll stop on the way back, it's back in John chapter 12. You know when you do a series of verses you always leave out those verses that don't fit what you want to prove and John 12, some of you would be thinking about, verse 31 and verse 32. We do the details of this but we'll mention it now, "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out." "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men to Myself." Now, I wish this was a different word 'draw', but it's not, it's the same word. 'I will drag all men to myself', so I'm familiar that verse is there, let's go back to chapter 6. No, let me just make a comment on it, we'll do the details when we get to chapter 12. It's the same word, now some have taken from this verse that it means that when Jesus Christ is lifted up and that expression always refers to the crucifixion in John's Gospel. When I am crucified then I will draw all men to myself. Some would say then that all are drawn to Jesus Christ, but some resist Him. William Barclay, very clearly marks out this word, it always implies resistance to being drawn, but some men are able to resist the drawing of God, that is not Biblical. This verse is not talking about drawing all men to salvation. What is verse 31 talking about? Now judgment is upon this world and when Christ is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself in judgment. We’ve looked at this in detail in chapter 5, all humanity will be drawn before Jesus Christ for judgment. John 12:32 is not talking about salvation, it’s talking about judgment. The context makes that clear, so the emphasis is still the same, everyone is going to be hauled before Jesus Christ. Gathered before Him, dragged before Him if you will, fits especially the Great White Throne, where those who would flee are unable to flee, they are dragged before Jesus Christ. So as a result of His being lifted up, He’s been appointed judge of all humanity. Again we saw that in chapter 5, and the result is all humanity is drawn before Him to be judged.

So come back to Chapter 6, so you have a clear statement. Now, you note the process, God has given a group to Jesus Christ, He guarantees the glorification of that group, they will be raised up on the last day. Now, the in-between part, they will come to Him. How do they come to Him? The Father draws them. There are certain ones that God in eternity past has determined to overcome their resistance and do a supernatural work of drawing them to Jesus Christ, so that they might believe in Him. The song that we sang just before the message, fits this very well, “I Know Whom I Have Believed” and the 2nd and 3rd stanzas go 'I know not how this saving faith to me He did impart, nor how believing in His Word brought peace within my heart, I know not how the Spirit moves convicting men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in Him’. That's good theology, I don't understand the entire process, but a supernatural work occurs when the message of God is presented and God takes that and opens the eyes of a person’s understanding and causes them to believe in Jesus Christ. That’s why some are saved, we are all equally sinful, but God has determined to draw some among sinful, rebellious men to Himself. That's an act of grace. Here we have men and women who are rejecting Him, rebelling against Him, but God in sovereign grace overrules their will. And we'll elude to this in our discussion on election, but the freedom of the will is a misnomer. No one has freedom of the will from the stand point they are neutral. Because he that sins is a slave to sin and Romans 6 makes clear you either are the slave of sin or the slave of righteousness, there are no non-slaves. Because the unregenerate men is a slave of sin, he always rebels against God, until God in sovereign grace overpowers that will and drags him to Jesus Christ, and causes him to believe.

Now the explanation given in verse 45 of Chapter 6. "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." Now some would say, and incidentally the prophets is in the plural, indicating that He's quoting the general tenor of what the prophets would say, rather than a specific passage. The passage most similar to what is quoted here is Isaiah 54:13, but other passages give the same idea, like Jeremiah 31:33-34, in the context of the New Covenant. "But some would say they shall all be taught of God", again this means that everyone has the work of God accomplished in their lives and some respond to that and believe and some resist and don't believe. The problem with that, if it means every single person will be taught of God the last part of the verse says, "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me", you would be a universalist. If everyone is taught of God, if everyone learns from God, then everyone must be saved, because everyone who hears God and learns from God, comes to Christ. And yet we know the Bible is clear, not everyone will be saved, not everyone comes to Christ. Now part of it will be cleared up if you go back and read Isaiah 54:13 and we won't take time to do that. The 'all' here in Isaiah 54 says "all your sons shall be taught" and the same tenor in Jeremiah 31:33-34, it is believing Israel that is in view, it is the elect of the nation Israel that are being taught by God, and thus come to believe in Him. So the ones here that He is dealing with are those who will believe. What you have is a clear explanation of how God draws men. They hear the message, because you must hear the message. Romans 10:17 says, "That faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God", you must hear the message that Jesus Christ died for you before you can believe and be saved. But when that message is proclaimed, the Spirit of God in a supernatural way, takes that message and causes a person to comprehend it for the first time, I realize Jesus Christ died for me, and causes them to believe in Him, and the new birth occurs. They have been taught by God. It is God who caused them to understand. Why can you present this simple basic message to some people over and over and over and over and over, and they don't comprehend it. You say this is so simple, we've got kids that are in our youngest departments who hear it and believe it and here we've got intellectual adults who it just goes right on by. You know what? Their sinful character won't allow them to listen to that message, but God in grace overrules and causes them to understand and believe. So that everyone that God does that work of enlightening their minds of teaching them, they are the ones who believe. So that's the pattern that happens, the Word of God is proclaimed and the Spirit of God takes that Word and causes a person to comprehend it and believe it and the new birth occurs. So you must have two things for salvation to occur, you must have a presentation of the Word, a person must hear the truth, but then you must have the work of the Spirit to take that truth and apply it to the life so the person can understand it and believe it. If it's not for the work of the Spirit you can proclaim the Word of God indefinitely and there would be no results. God uses the Word. So that's what verse 45 is explaining, how this drawing occurs, it occurs when the Spirit opens the understanding. Now in effect what He's telling these Jews is, they have never heard God, they have never learned from God. 'You religious leaders, you so called spiritual leaders, you have never learned anything from God, because if you had heard and learned from God you'd come to Me, you'd believe in Me.'

Now, a word of explanation, a clarification, "Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father." The same kind of clarification that has gone on consistently in John, no one gets their message directly from the Father, except the Son, no one has direct insight from the Father except the Son. So don't stand and say 'Yes, God did tell me this, I did learn this from God.' The only one who has ever seen the Father is God the Son, there is no other person among humanity who has ever seen God the Father, only God the Son has seen God the Father. This is a verse that helps us understand that all the appearances of God in the Old Testament were really appearances of Jesus Christ before the incarnation. Because the only one among humanity who has ever seen the Father is the Son Jesus Christ. What does this mean? He is the One who can reveal the Father. He is the One who can tell us about the Father. He is the One from whom the truth of the Father is given. He is the source of knowledge and understanding about God the Father. So being taught by God the Father, involves hearing the message through God the Son as well, then that supernatural work of God using that message. Isn't that what we're doing? What are we doing 2000 years after Jesus spoke this discourse? We are learning about God the Father, from God the Son, because that's still the source of information. There is no new material being given regarding the person and character of God. The Son has revealed Him, He has declared Him as we had in Chapter 1, He is the only one who can, because He is the only one who has seen Him.

The message in verse 47, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who is believing has eternal life." The one who is believing, in the message that's being proclaimed here, has in his possession, present tense, eternal life. Now, let's get back to the bread of life here. He's told them why they don't believe their own sinfulness. The way that belief occurs is a result of the supernatural work of God. Now let's get back to the basic issue that they were grumbling about, verse 41, was that He claimed to be the bread of life. Now, verse 48, "I am the bread of life.", let me reiterate that, "I am the One who is from the Father and let Me tell you I am the bread of life." ’The bread of life’ meaning "I am the source of life." "When you partake of Me, you partake of life." "This bread, this food when you eat of it will enable you to live forever." Same concept as we’ve mentioned where people looked for a fountain of youth, when you partook of that fountain you would have youth. Well here is bread, and when you partake of this bread you have life, eternally. Now He contrasts it, with the bread that they were interested in. Because you remember earlier in this discourse, back in verse 31, they had talked about the manna that Moses had given them. Again, physical things was the key issue. "Your father's ate the manna in the wilderness and they died" let's face it that manna was great, but it really didn't have any eternal significance as far as sustaining them, because everyone who ate of the manna died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. Now you have to admit there is a vast gap in the significance and importance of the two breads. You eat the one bread you die, you eat the other bread, you live forever. Now you see what He's done, He's made the transition again to spiritual things. We're talking about spiritual life primarily that will issue an eternal physical life as well. They ate of that bread and died, you eat of this bread and you'll live forever. But you know what happens? They get so entrenched in their religious traditions that, that's what gets enshrined and they missed the message but they still had the shrine, they still talked about the manna and the greatness of it's significance, ignoring Numbers 11, that when the manna was given, they were grumbling. You know people do the same thing today. How many people have enshrined Martin Luther? John Calvin? John Wesley? But they don’t comprehend or understand the basic message that these great men believed and proclaimed. They are so absorbed in traditions that have some external, insignificant attachment to these men that they've missed the basic message that was proclaimed. And the Jews are doing the same thing. The manna was significant, it pointed to the bread that God would ultimately provide from heaven, but they were so absorbed in the tradition they had that they missed the message. And we are the same today, we enshrine our traditions and we missed the heart of the message, eternal life is found only in the Son of God.

Verse 51, "I am the bread of life, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh." So you see here, the ’bread’ and the ’flesh' that's the analogy. And how will this flesh of Christ become the living bread when it's crucified on the cross?
What happened? The penalty for sin is what? Observing religious traditions? No, misses the point doesn't it? The penalty for sin is death. Now, Jesus Christ is going to take my place on the cross, die for me, so in effect I can have life, by virtue of His finished work. He becomes life to me, I partake of what He does, I share in what He does. Just like you do food, so He's the bread of life. "And the bread which I shall give, it's my body, given for the life of the world." So here you have a clear statement of His coming crucifixion that the life of the world will be found in the giving of my flesh. Now, you know it amazes me, we often assume that if the message was presented more clearly that would be the difference and I believe that the truth of the Word of God must be presented as clearly and accurately as possible so that the Spirit might use that message. But when it comes down to it, it's not ultimately the clarity of the message that makes the determination. Here you have the Son of God Himself preaching the Good News of salvation through faith in Him and the result is men argue among themselves. If anyone could ever preach the Word of God clearly enough to compel belief it would have to be Jesus Christ. And here He preaches as clear a message on eternal life as could ever be proclaimed and the sum total of it is, men argue among themselves. Now if that does anything, it shows you how sinful we really are. That Jesus Christ the Son of God Himself has been the preacher and the result has not been faith the result has been men argue among themselves, because they don’t want to believe what He says. The problem isn’t, ’Oh, too bad He didn’t say it more clearly' the problem is their own sinfulness. They don’t want to hear what God has to say, they don’t want to listen to what God has to teach them. In their sin they have determined not to believe and they don’t want anything to change that. You can appreciate the sovereign grace of God that’s going to reach down and save some in spite of themselves. He hasn’t saved any of us because of ourselves but in spite of ourselves and here’s a clear evidence of it.

"The Jews therefore began to argue with one another, saying, ’How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’" Now He’s already told them, but they have demonstrated their unwillingness, their sinfulness, their rebelliousness. So you note what He says, they are puzzled by this, they’re debating this, so what should Jesus do? Clarify it, so He does.

Verse 53, "Jesus therefore 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 yourselves.”' Now they were having a problem up to this point, ’How can we eat His flesh?* Let me drive home this point, ‘You are totally without life, unless you eat My flesh and drink my blood.’ This is getting more difficult, not easier. Let us reinforce it.

Verse 54, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." You note again the resurrection, He keeps driving home, is the culmination of our salvation where we’re glorified in His presence.

"For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink." Now you can appreciate the turmoil that these Jews are being thrown into now. They were having a hard time 'How can we eat His flesh?' 'Let Me add to this, you've got to drink my blood too.' You know what? 2,000 years later, people are still confused over John chapter 6. Some are reading this, reading the communion service into it. Jesus is not talking about the communion service here. He's talking to unbelievers, the communion service is limited it is for believers to remember the death of Christ. He's talking about unbelievers here, what is necessary for their salvation. It is still the same problem for those who believe in transubstantiation, where they believe that the elements in a communion service actually undergo a change to become the actual body and the actual blood of Christ, so that you have a perpetual sacrifice being offered. It's called the sacrifice of the mass. That's the same error of the Jews they could not make the transition from the physical to the spiritual. They thought that they had to partake of the physical body. And this is repulsive, eating flesh, drinking blood for life? What can this all mean? Well He's explained it. You'll note, verse 54, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life" compare that with verse 40, "This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life". Now you mark that out, both verses talk about having eternal life. One says "behold and believe and have eternal life" the other says "eat and drink and have eternal life". What does it mean? Obviously to eat and drink of the Son is to behold and to believe in Him. Because both result in eternal life and you can't do two different things to have eternal life there's only one thing that can be done. And you partake of the Son of God, you eat His flesh, drink His blood, you partake of Him and His work when you believe in Him. What He has done is appropriated by you and you share in it, just like you do food. I enter into all the benefits of His death. Just like when I partake of a meal, I enter into all the nutritional benefits of that food. So the analogy is there. But they were so hung up on the physical, after this whole discourse they still have been unable to make the transition. Jesus is going to go into this in more depth in the section we'll be looking at next week.

Just jump over to verse 63, where He says "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." Do you get the point? The issue is not eating literal flesh and drinking literal blood, it's the spiritual truth I am conveying to you, you must believe in Me and enter into the benefits of My work on your behalf to have eternal life, that is the sum total of having eternal life'. We have the same problem today. We look and say, 'Well how could they miss it, it really is simple isn't it?' But the sinful person is blind. We still think that the spirit, well I can't grasp it, but the physical things, going through my traditions, going through my rituals, that's what is necessary, that's where I find comfort and security. But it's a false hope, Jesus has made clear. Who has eternal life? The one who believes in Me, the one who partakes of Me. But I've been baptized. But he who believes has eternal life, the one who partakes of Me has eternal life. But I've been confirmed. But it's the one who partakes of Me. But I joined Indian Hills. But it's the one who partakes of Me. But I give. But it s the one who partakes of Me. How simple could it be? You can see how sinful we really are. 2,000 years later, we're still running around wondering which good works we could do to be pleasing to God, to have eternal life. And the Son of God Himself has said, 'you must partake of Me' that's it.

Verse 36, "He who eats My flesh, drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him". You see what He's doing 'these who have chosen to in their sinful condition to reject the truth, He simply continues to drive home that which is such an irritation to them, which they have no hope of comprehending because they reject Him, they cannot comprehend the truth then that comes from God. 'You must partake of My flesh, drink of My blood, the one who does abides in Me and I in him." There is a mutual abiding and we're going to see this when we come to John chapter 15. Some have misunderstood the concept of abiding in scripture. Every Christian abides in Jesus Christ at every moment of every day. When you do the most awful sinful things you every do, you do it in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. That's why Paul tells the Corinthians that immorality is such a vial sin. You take the parts that are part of Christ and join them to a whore and that is awful, because we abide continually in Him. There's a mutual abiding, we share in Him and He shares in us. We have a mutual relationship, eternally unending. Just like when you partake of food and it's assimilated into your body, becomes part of your body so that you become part of the food and the food becomes part of you. There's this intimacy in our relationship, now I belong to Him and He belongs to me, we are together in an eternal, inseparable relationship that ties to my security again. I abide in Him and He abides in me- that's security.

"As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father", I take it He's talking about the same thing when He says 'I live because of the Father' as He did back in verse 26 or chapter 5, "Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself". We noted 'life' is an attribute of deity, it's a statement of the deity of Jesus Christ as well as the harmony within the persons of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So here He has life because of the Father, by virtue of that relationship with the Father. "So he who eats Me shall also live because of Me" just as the Son has life by virtue of His mutual abiding relationship with the Father so we have life by virtue of our relationship with Him, it's that simple. John develops this in the first chapter of his first epistle as well where he talks about God being life and light.

"This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever," You know here it is, the sum total of what all religions of the world are about, 'How can I be sure of life after death, of eternity in the presence of God?' It's all summarized, this simply- 'You must partake of Jesus Christ. It's amazing the complicated systems the world has developed 'How can I have eternal life?' 'How can I know I'm going to heaven?' 'How can life have any meaning and purpose?' 'How can I know there's something beyond this life, something more, something else, something real?' It's all found in the person of Jesus Christ, just that simple and yet we're so wretchedly sinful that we determine that we'll not have it that it will not be that way. 'I'll trust my church.' 'I'll trust my baptism.' 'I'll trust my good works.' 'I'll trust chance.' Boy, I tell you, you talk about a bunch of losers, we're it. Praise God for sovereign grace that He overruled when I was saying 'No thanks, I'll take my chances.' 'No thanks, it doesn't make any sense.' and He's winding in. I'm kicking, 'that's all right I'm making it' and winding in. Praise God for grace. Then when I get there I finally say, 'Boy I finally struggled here and made it.' 'God and I together, we finally did it.' God and I nothing, if it wasn't for His grace and reeling me in I'd still be kicking out in the water. That's sovereign love and grace. They say 'Your here, have you ever believed?' 'Have you ever partaken of Christ?' 'Have you ever believed in Him?' You say well look, maybe He's not reeling me in. Let me give you a note of hope. I believe you're here this morning because He's doing something with you. You say 'Well I just happen to stop in.' Nobody happens to stop in, in God's plan. 'Well you know it was just a chance, I just thought I'm going to Indian Hills this morning.' You know why you did that? God's reeling. You say 'Oh, this is interesting.' You know why you came. God brought you here so you could hear the Word. Now I can't say He's going to save you. There's going to be people that came to Indian Hills that aren't going to believe and their own stubborn sinfulness will not allow them to believe. But if you came, I believe it's an indication of God's dealing with you. Why don't you believe? The opportunity is there, you've heard the message, Jesus Christ died for you, the penalty has been paid. He doesn’t ask you to do anything, all He asks you to do is believe in His Son Jesus Christ. And the moment you do that, you have eternal life. You know that’s a secure feeling, ’I have a relationship with God which will go on for eternity, life, death, heaven, hell, angels, nothing can separate me from that relationship, it’s eternal. What security. And you and I as believers ought to rejoice every day in the very fact of the great sovereignty of God that has saved us. That it wasn’t me at all. Praise God that He’s under control. Praise God that it doesn’t depend upon my preaching. Praise God that it depends upon His grace and using the Word in the lives of those who hear.