Amen, indeed. Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter six. We’ve been focusing the last several weeks here in John chapter six on the sovereignty of God in salvation. And if you think I’m just riding a hobby horse, Trust me, I’m just following the text. This is a section of the Bible, John chapter six, where you just cannot get around it. Jesus keeps bringing it up.

As you remember in John chapter six here in verse 37, he says, all that the father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will never cast out. And then in verse 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. and I will raise him up on the last day. And then again in verse 45, everyone who has heard and learned of the Father comes to me.

And while that can seem to be the singular focus of the text, the truth is that while Jesus does emphasize God’s sovereignty in saving his people, God’s work in the lives of those whom he saves, Jesus also throughout the Gospel of John highlights the offer of salvation to all. The offer of salvation to all who believe. And whenever we begin to focus on God’s particular work in overcoming the spiritual deadness and blindness and rebellion of sinful people, We ought never to lose sight of God’s broad offer of salvation to all, to the world, and his readiness to save and forgive all who come to him. We’ve seen this already in the Gospel of John. In chapter one, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God who is the only one who can take away the sin of any person in the world.

Then we saw John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We saw with Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well and the Samaritans.

In John chapter four, verse 42, they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard ourselves and we know that this one is truly the savior of the world. And then even in this sermon that can seem to focus solely on the sovereignty of God, John said in verse 33 here of chapter 6, for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So the offer of salvation, the offer of the gospel to all people is also a theme, not only John’s gospel, but of Jesus’ preaching.

And this truth will be repeated in our text again today. And that is the theological tension that we see in scripture and the very motivation for our bringing the gospel to the world. Because while it is true that God sovereignly, he foreknew and predestined and elected and called and justified, he is sanctifying and will glorify each one who believes, He doesn’t tell us which ones those are. But just like Jesus did, we are to take the truth of the gospel, the truth of who He is and what He has done, to all the world. And all those who are His will respond in repentance and faith. All those that the Father gives will come to me.

And what we see in our verses we will cover today is Jesus winding down his sermon to these crowds, the ones who he has already told about God’s sovereignty in salvation. And he’s already told them why it is that some of them do not believe, why it is that some of them cannot believe.

And yet, he still keeps preaching the gospel. He still keeps presenting the glorious truth of who he is and what he came to do. In the first section of this sermon on Jesus being the bread of life, Jesus presented himself as just that, as the spiritual food that they need. And in this last section of the sermon, he urges these people to come and eat of him. to eat of this bread of life, this spiritual food that he is, and to do that personally by faith in him, by believing in him and receiving eternal life.

This passage we’ll cover this morning, verses 47 through 58, includes Jesus’ confession of who he is and what he came for, and then the Jews’ confusion over what he told them, and lastly, the gospel’s consequence. Jesus’ confession, the Jews’ confusion, and the gospel’s consequence. So allow me to read for us this morning our passage, John chapter six, verses 47 through 58. This is the end of Jesus’ sermon on being the bread of life. John chapter six, verses 47 through 58. This is the word of the Lord.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Then the Jews began to argue with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you. Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 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 eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever. This is the word of the Lord.

First thing we see in this section of scripture is Jesus’ confession. confession he makes in this sermon to this crowd. Jesus says three times in just these five verses, verses 47 to 51, that he is the bread of life. You add that to verses 33, 35, and 41 where he says it earlier, that makes six times so far that Jesus tells them he’s the bread of life. And what is important for us not to miss here is that Jesus does tell them exactly what he means by that. He tells them in plain terms what they need to do in order to benefit from the bread of life.

Being the bread of life is a metaphor. And as he will go on to continue the metaphor of eating and drinking of him to the benefit of this bread, or to benefit from this bread, But this passage of scripture, unfortunately, has led to a lot of confusion. And it leads to confusion with these people. But we’ll come back to the confusion in our next point, so put a pin in that.

But first, Jesus begins his confession with the clear statement of what he means, of what they need to do, what he’s asking them to do. In verse 47. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. That is it. It’s belief. That is how they benefit from this bread of life. This bread that came down from heaven to give life to the world, you receive that life by belief in him. He starts right off with a plain statement. Anyone who believes anyone who believes in him has eternal life.

Yes, we believe that is true This is the truth whoever believes and unfortunately that is often the Rebuttal or argument against the sovereignty of God and salvation Those who are of more of a, we’ll call a free will perspective. They will often challenge the idea of God being completely sovereign over salvation by saying, but it says whosoever believes. And he who believes in him, anyone who believes. And the challenge is that if you think God is the one who chooses and elects, that means you deny that he offers it to all. And that’s simply not true.

I believe that whosoever believes will have eternal life. I believe that he who believes in him has eternal life. I believe that with all of my heart. My Lord and Savior said it, so I believe it. But this challenge misses the whole point of the discussion. Because it’s not about whoever believes has eternal life. That’s true, of course. The point is, why do they believe? Why is it that some believe and some don’t?

And that is where the sovereignty of God in salvation answers those questions for us. But that in no way denies the free offer of the gospel to all people. The gospel is for all. And the gospel must go out to every tribe and every tongue and every nation. We must make disciples from every nation.

That’s what our master told us to do. And that is what he says here, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes, everyone who believes has eternal life. And this is the point of everything that he’s about to say next. What he’s saying is they must believe. What they need to do is believe. And that must inform how we understand the remainder of this text because in the next verse, he begins the metaphor again. In verse 48, he says, I am the bread of life. He who believes has eternal life, period. I am the bread of life. In verse 49, your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.

So Jesus is bringing it back full circle to Moses again. Remember chapter five, look back a few verses at the end of chapter five. You have to flip back a page. In verses 46 and 47. Jesus’ challenge to these Jews, for if you believed Moses, which of course they do. They’re the leaders of Israel. Moses is their guy.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? So that’s how chapter five ends. And then chapter six starts with Jesus showing that he’s greater than Moses. He says, if you believe Moses, you would believe me. Then he demonstrates, you ought to believe in me because I’m greater than Moses.

Moses prayed to God for bread, for the multitude in the wilderness. Jesus multiplies bread himself for this multitude in the green pastures. Moses parted the Red Sea so they could cross. Jesus walks on top of the sea and crosses with his disciples. The generation in the wilderness grumbled about God’s provision. This generation grumbled about Jesus’ provision. And now Jesus hammers the point home in his preaching.

Remember back in verse 31, they asked him for bread like the generation in the wilderness got. Well, Moses provided bread. Why can’t you do that for us? Verse 31, our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Hey, make us bread like our father’s got. And Jesus says, you want that bread? That type of bread is what you’re seeking after? Your fathers ate that bread. They’re not here anymore. Your fathers ate that bread and they died.

That’s the type of bread you’re asking for. It didn’t do anything for them other than satisfy their temporal hunger, but they were hungry again tomorrow. And you will be too if that’s all that you’re seeking after. But instead of that, Jesus offers them something much better because he continues. Verse 49 says, your fathers ate the bread in the wilderness and they died.

Verse 50, this is the bread which comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. The manna, the bread that God provided their fathers in the wilderness, sustained the Israelites’ physical life for the day, but it could not give them eternal life. Jesus is the true bread from heaven, which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Anyone who eats of this bread will not die.

And now we start to get deeper into the metaphor. Because not only does Jesus say he’s the bread of life, now he’s saying you have to eat him. You have to eat of this bread. Which again is clearly part of the metaphor, which is important to remember as we’re reading about the bread of life.

It refers to metaphorically believing in Jesus as he had just said. He just prefaced all of this with believe. Believe in me and receive eternal life. So this eating here clearly means believing in him. Faith alone is what rescues sinners from death.

As I studied this passage and the meaning of this bread of life metaphor, there’s a lot opinion out there on what this means. But one of the explanations that I really enjoyed and liked the way he explained it was the way Dr. John MacArthur laid this out. And he pointed out five truths about Jesus comparing himself to being the bread of life or this spiritual food, five parallels about Attaining spiritual truth. Five reasons why Jesus’ metaphor was a good one. Five ways that bread, or spiritual food, and Jesus are alike. Let me explain what he pointed out here.

He said, first, just as food is useless unless eaten, so also spiritual truth does no good if it’s not internalized. Hearing spiritual truth Doesn’t do you any good unless you do something with it. Unless you apply it. Unless you do what you’re told. Be a doer of the word, not a hearer only. And then secondly, eating is prompted by hunger. Those who are full are not interested in food.

And the same is true spiritually. Sinners who are satisfied with their sin have no hunger. for anything else, no hunger for the things of God. But once God awakens us, opens our eyes and our ears, and makes us new, gives us a new heart, then we have this spiritual hunger for this bread of life. Thirdly, the food people eat becomes part of them. And the same is true with spiritual truth. When you apprehend spiritual truth, it becomes part of you.

People may admire Christ and be impressed with his teaching and even feel sad about his death. But unless they believe in him and trust in him for salvation, all of those facts do them no good. Fourth, eating involves trust. The very act of eating implies that food is edible. And the same is true with this bread of life. Believing in Jesus for the benefit that He is. The giving of eternal life.

And then lastly, he pointed out that eating is personal. You cannot eat a meal for another person. And the same is true with belief in Christ. You cannot believe for someone else. Your faith does your family no good. They need faith too. There’s no such thing as salvation by someone else. You need to come to Christ in faith for salvation.

I think those five things are really helpful in understanding Jesus’ metaphor of being the bread of life, the ways that we apprehend and benefit from Christ as spiritual food. In Jesus’ last phrase of this confession, verse 51, he explains, and also, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

This is where the Jews really begin to get tripped up. It’s one thing to compare yourself to bread. When you actually start speaking about your flesh, eating my flesh, this is when it gets weird. This is where they start to really get offended because Jesus really gave his flesh for sinners. His body was really broken and bruised and torn apart at his crucifixion. It is Jesus’ offering of his flesh that pays the price of redemption.

It makes reconciliation between sinful men and a holy God possible. As Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3, clearly explaining what Jesus is talking about here. 1 Peter 3 verse 18. It says, For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.

He really was put to death in the flesh. It was His flesh that satisfied the wrath of God for those who believe in Him. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. Flesh had to be given. That was the penalty. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he gave his flesh. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. There is no forgiveness. There had to be a flesh and blood payment. And Jesus became that for us. Jesus became the substitute for us. He truly is the Lamb of God, sacrificed and slain to take away the sin of the world. His death was for all who did believe and all who would believe in Him. And God accepted that payment for sin.

As I read earlier in the service, in Romans 3, it explains the need for this payment and then the acceptance, that God accepted this payment. Reading Romans 3, just verses 25 and 26, Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as the propitiation, the satisfactory payment in His blood, through faith without the shedding of blood. There is no forgiveness. In his blood through faith for a demonstration of his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over sins previously committed for the demonstration of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just. And the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Jesus’ sacrifice of his flesh for sin is what makes God just.

He had to. This had to be the payment. The wages of sin is death. Someone had to die. And because of the sacrifice of his flesh, Full pardon was provided for all who believe, all who eat his flesh and drink his blood, all who come to him by faith. That is what he said. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life, has what this payment gives. He who believes benefits from the flesh and blood sacrificed by Christ. That is Jesus’ confession to these crowds. In this sermon, his confession to these Jews. But secondly, we see the Jews’ confusion. The confusion at what he said in verse 52.

Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, how can this man give us flesh to eat? How can he give us his flesh to eat? Come on. This is getting ridiculous. But Jesus is obviously not talking about cannibalism when he spoke of eating his flesh. He’s giving a physical illustration of a spiritual truth. He’s giving them something they can understand so that they can see what he gives them, what his spiritual benefit is to them.

But once again, these Jews demonstrate their spiritual blindness. and they completely miss the point of Jesus’ statement. And as a result, they begin to argue with one another. And the sad fact is that these Jews are not the only ones who miss the whole point of this passage.

Those even today who believe in the doctrine of what’s called transubstantiation, see Jesus’ confession the same way these Jews did. Transubstantiation is the false teaching that the body and blood of Christ are literally present in the bread and juice of communion. That the bread actually turns into Jesus’ flesh in your mouth.

And the same with the juice. And there are many today who believe this. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox and many others believe in transubstantiation. And they believe that you must view the elements this way. You must view the bread and the juice this way or you are not saved. Because if you don’t, you’re not partaking of him as he said.

In fact, a few months back now, We met a man at First Friday where we go down and evangelize and spread the gospel downtown on the first Friday of every month. And we met a man that came up to our tent that had this very problem with us. He saw Fellowship Baptist Church. Kyle and I think Heath and Carl and Marilyn and I can’t remember if anyone else was there, but several of us were there when this man came up to us. He was a very angry Eastern Orthodox priest. And he came right up to our booth with his finger out wagging at us. I’m not kidding. He walked right up to us.

You know what problem I have with you people? That’s how he started. Do you know what problem I have with you people? We responded, no. But it’s nice to meet you. What’s your name? And he said, I’m Father Boniface. And everything within my flesh wanted to respond to the first thing that came to my mind, which was, oh, we’re using our made-up names now. I’m Spider-Man.

But I did not say that because the Holy Spirit held me back, I’m pretty sure. and I did not want to insult someone at the beginning of our conversation, at least not at first. But his problem with us was that he just had to come up and talk to us about, was our view of the Lord’s Supper. It was a bizarre conversation. His problem was that we don’t believe that the bread and the juice is literally Jesus’ flesh and blood, and therefore we cannot be saved.

And we talked about it, we talked back and forth with him. And he specifically brought up John chapter six. This is where he went. And he said, Jesus said, you must eat my flesh. And as we talked to him, one of the things I kept pointing out to him and bringing him back to is that he was making the same mistake these Jews were.

You’re missing the metaphor. You’re making the very same mistake that caused them to stumble over it. And I asked him, why do you think it is that these Jews were arguing with each other about what Jesus said? It’s because they missed the metaphor. They thought he was being literal, just like you do. And we talked back and forth for a while and eventually he walked away upset. But we had this back and forth conversation about this very passage. Because a lot of people see this the way that these Jews saw it.

And they miss the metaphor that Jesus is presenting them. And those who see transubstantiation in this verse, They miss this metaphor. They react differently than the Jews did. The Jews were offended and thought it was disgusting. Those who accept transubstantiation just aren’t disgusted by the proposition. But don’t miss the metaphor.

This passage is not speaking about the Lord’s Supper at all anyways. First of all, Jesus hadn’t instituted it yet, so they would have had no idea what he’s talking about. If he was talking about the Lord’s Supper when he says this, that would mean that partaking of this ordinance is what saves you. Because he says, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life. As though that’s the means of salvation. And so if that’s what he meant by that, then it’s the Lord’s Supper that saves us, not what Jesus just said, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

That’s what he led with, so that we don’t miss the metaphor. A few verses later, in a passage we’ll come to in the coming weeks, in verse 63 of John chapter 6, Jesus specifically says, the Spirit is the one who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. It’s not about the flesh. And he continues, the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. It is his word that saves. Belief in his word.

So when we come together for communion at the end of the service today, don’t be thinking John 6, unless you’re thinking about the metaphor correctly. And salvation comes through belief in him. And eating His flesh and drinking His blood means coming to faith in Him and being fully satisfied in who He is and what He has done for us in our salvation.

But that was the Jews’ confusion here, is that they missed the metaphor. And it’s still a confusion today. And lastly, we see… After Jesus’ confession and the Jews’ confusion, we see the gospel’s consequence. The gospel’s consequence. And you might be thinking now, okay, Jesus, you’ve really offended them. Time to tone it down a little bit. And you’d be wrong. Because in verse 53, he continues.

So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.

Even though Jesus is confronted with their spiritual blindness and ignorance to what he’s saying, He doesn’t tone it down. He doesn’t soften or clarify his words. Because his words are not offensive if you understand what they mean. He doubles down on what he said to further reveal their blindness. He didn’t say, calm down guys, it’s just a metaphor.

Instead he made his teaching even harder. for them to swallow, pun intended. But he adds the element of drinking his blood. Not only do you need to eat my flesh, but you need to drink my blood. Well, now he’s gone too far. That is strictly forbidden. Leviticus chapter 17 verse 10, any man from the house of Israel or from the sojourners who sojourn among them who eats blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. Blood was strictly forbidden. That cannot be done.

This guy needs to watch what he’s saying. But of course, Jesus was not speaking of literally drinking his literal blood. No more than he was speaking about literally eating his flesh. Both are metaphors, and they speak of the absolute necessity to believe in Jesus’ sacrificial death. that He did give His flesh and shed His blood for us, and unless you come to Him to benefit from that sacrifice, you have no life in yourself. But this idea of the crucified Messiah, that the Messiah was going to come and die? What? That’s not what we want. This is not the savior that we asked for.

We see this in John 12. John 12 verses 32 through 34. Jesus says, and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. But this he was saying to indicate the kind of death by which he was about to die. The crowd then answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ is to remain forever.

And how do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is the Son of Man? What are you talking about? You keep saying that the Messiah needs to die. We don’t want him to die. We want the Christ to live forever. This is not the Messiah we were hoping for. Stop saying that you’re gonna die. That’s what John 12 is showing us.

And the cross was always a stumbling block for the Jews, because it’s not the Messiah they wanted. And we see this throughout the New Testament, how the cross itself was a stumbling block. What do you mean the Messiah had to die? And what do you mean he was crucified? That makes it even worse. But Jesus knew this is how it had to be. This was the only way.

And it’s only through his death and resurrection, and through our eating and drinking his flesh and blood, or believing in him, that we get to experience the blessings that He promises here. The consequence of the gospel, the promises He gives us here in these verses, that by believing in Him, we have life in ourselves, that we will have eternal life, that He will raise us up on the last day, and that we will abide in Him and He in us. Those are the consequences of the gospel. All of those benefits come through Christ.

Through coming to Him, and He says, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, or as He explained from the start, He who believes in Me has eternal life. He who believes in Me has all of these things. He who believes in Me has the consequences of the Gospel. Yes, I believe that. Because my Lord and Savior said it. As the living Father sent me, I live because of the Father. So he who eats me, he also will live because of me.

This is the bread which came down out of heaven. Not as the fathers ate and died, he who eats this bread will live forever.” That is the gospel. He who eats this bread will live forever. He who believes will have eternal life. We will live forever with Him. Jesus begins this section and ends it with the same statement said in different ways. He who believes has eternal life. He who eats this bread will live forever. It’s the same thing. Eating this bread is believing. Believing in Him. We will live forever with Him. We will see Him as He is. This is the hope.

If you are in Him, if you are not in Christ, if you do not yet know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need to come to Him today. You need to come and eat His flesh and drink His blood. And no, I’m not talking about the communion we’re about to gather and partake of together. I’m talking about believing in Him. You need to come and believe in Him.

Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer before we come to the Lord’s table this morning. Our God and Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truths that are impossible to comprehend without your wisdom, without you opening our spiritually blind eyes and deaf ears and ignorant understanding and giving us that by your sovereign hand. We thank you for communicating your word to us, for giving us your spirit to help us understand and apprehend this amazing truth. God, you are so good to us, more than we deserve, as we are about to recognize here in this ordinance you’ve given us to remember the Lord’s death until he comes again. God, we are so grateful. for the sacrifice of your son, for the very thing that makes us your people through faith in him. We praise you and glorify you and worship you this morning. And we pray this in Jesus’ precious name, amen.