Receiving The True Bread

I used to sing rock and roll. I like singing about Jesus. A lot better.

Let's open our Bibles this morning to John chapter 6. We're going to spend some time here. We're going to get a little earlier start. We have the Lord's Supper and then we'll take, or we'll have a feet-washing time.

I always enjoy teaching on this subject here. Now, we've been teaching through John 6 and we've jumped ahead and picked up a number of verses and brought them back into the earlier part of John 6. So what I'd like to do today is take a big jump and look at verses 41 and John 6 all the way down to verse 58. In verse 53 down through verse 56, he talks about eating the flesh and drinking the blood.

So when we get down to that area there, we'll just jump right into the Lord's Supper and have communion. And then I'll share a little bit on feet-washing and we can do that also. So we've been talking about the living bread.

Many, many times here the Lord mentions, I am the living bread. I am the bread of life. And there is a comparison woven throughout this entire chapter of that bread that came down from heaven in the Old Testament when God led the children of Israel through the wilderness.

He fed them with manna from heaven and that manna came down. It came down from heaven. It was as a coriander seed.

They woke up in the morning and it was on the ground and they went out early in the morning then and gathered together enough for their household and God fed them. And that was simply a symbol or a picture of something that was far more important. And Jesus says here in John 6 many times, I am the living bread.

Not like Moses who gave you that bread from heaven because when Moses gave you that bread, it only sustained them for a short time but they ended up dying in the wilderness. But this bread, the true bread that I am going to give you is going to allow you to live forever. That is the true bread.

And that Old Testament bread was simply a picture and a type of the true bread that Jesus would also come down from heaven. That He would give life to the world. Eternal life.

And so you see this analogy. And I want to give you another analogy here that we are going to look at this morning is this analogy of eating. Those people went out and they needed to gather the food and to open their mouths and put it in.

And you and I also need to receive the living bread. You need to receive it. If it is going to benefit you, you need to receive the bread that comes down from heaven.

That in your heart. You can picture a mouth eating that bread that came down from heaven, that coriander seed and how that bread went in the mouth and down into the stomach and it was digested and that bread became a part of that person. In the very same way, you and I must receive the Gospel.

We must receive the truth that Jesus died, was buried and He was resurrected the third day. And that truth must go in us and it must become a part of us. It must become a reality.

It must be like Peter said here in the end of John chapter 6. He says, I am sure and I believe without a doubt that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That reality is what gives a man bread that will keep him alive forever. And so that is what we're talking about here in John chapter 6. This bread, this living bread.

This bread is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is what we call the Gospel. And I mentioned this two weeks ago in verse 51.

He says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

And so the bread that he's talking about that you need to eat so that you can live forever is his flesh. Jesus gave his body on the cross to die and to suffer and to be resurrected. And so this is that bread, the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is the Gospel. And this is important before we jump into these verses. I want to reemphasize this.

It is very important to understand that the Gospel is what saves your soul. It is the Gospel. It is not works.

It is none of works. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and I'm going to read a number of verses today, so labor with me here. But moreover, brethren, verse 1, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. This is the Gospel that you have received, and by this Gospel you stand, and by this Gospel you shall be saved. The Gospel is what saves a man's soul.

And that is why I shared this last time we are asked to do the Lord's Supper, because this is so important to remember. Do this in remembrance of me. This is where salvation hinges.

Salvation does not hinge on a head covering. Salvation does not hinge on giving to the poor. Salvation does not hinge on your church membership.

Salvation hinges on your faith in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is why a man on a cross beside Jesus can believe the Gospel and have no works and yet go to heaven. Because salvation has nothing to do with works.

Salvation has everything to do with faith in the Gospel. Not only does the Gospel save you, but the Gospel keeps you. Colossians 1 says that the Lord wants to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel.

And that is the important part of your salvation. The hope of the Gospel. I want to draw something on the board here.

Well, I probably won't get that off there. I might not even get something written. We're going to let this circle represent God who has all life.

And then down here there's going to be another little circle. That's me. And if I want life, I need to be connected to the one who has life, to the source of all life.

And that connection is given to us through the Gospel. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1 verse 10 that life and immortality have come through the Gospel. In other words, you've probably seen this illustration before.

You have a cross there. And that cross is what connects you to life. Your obedience does not connect you to life.

That cross, the Gospel, is what connects you to life. And because of that Gospel or because of the cross, God is able to give you the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit comes to you or flows to you through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, once that happens and the Gospel flows to you, we start having good fruit. Someone mentioned this morning in the reading that God has prepared us to good works and to good fruits. But those good fruits don't give you life.

Those fruits are simply an evidence of the fact that the life is flowing into you. And so for you to think, well, I'm saved by the Gospel, but now I'm kept saved by my works, is a lie. You are kept saved by looking unto Jesus.

The Bible says look unto Jesus, who is the author and the what? Finisher of your faith. You don't get authored by believing the Gospel and finish it by doing good works. He is the author and finisher of your faith.

And so these fruits here are simply evidence of the salvation that you have, that you're connected to a source of life. And all of nature teaches you this, and I'll just give you one other simple illustration. You take the apple tree or any tree or any plant, and all of us know that the source of life for that tree is down here.

The source of life is the root system in the ground. It is drawing its life out of the ground. And so what happens once that tree starts drawing life from the ground, it starts producing fruit.

Now what keeps that tree alive? The source under the ground that it's drawing life from or the fruit? No, the apple tree doesn't at one point in its existence say, okay, I don't need the root system anymore. I don't need this ground. I'm going to start living off my apples.

And the apple tree starts consuming its apples to survive. It doesn't do that. The apple tree always requires the source coming from the ground.

These apples on the tree are simply evidences that it is drawing life from the ground. And so someone says, I was saved by the gospel. Now I need to keep saved by my works.

That's a lie. You are saved by the gospel, and you are kept by the gospel. And it's always the gospel that saves.

We are saved by the gospel, and we are kept by the gospel. And as I think Ike mentioned here this morning in Ephesians 2, salvation is not by works, lest any man should boast. Can you imagine me in heaven, Brother Chris, and I walking the streets of Galt, and I say to Chris, Chris, I'm sure I'm glad that Jesus died on the cross for me, but I'll tell you what, I'm glad that I was able to do good works because I had my half that I had to do, and I'm here because of my half too.

Chris will probably slap me over the face. You better be quiet about that because there's no boasting for man in heaven. Salvation is totally by the grace of God, lest, as Ike said this morning, any man should boast.

There will be no boasting in heaven. He is the author, and He is the finisher of our faith, and our responsibility is to look to Him. And so life, all life, comes from the source.

Life comes from the root system. Life comes from the gospel, and out of the gospel flows fruit. So the gospel is the source of eternal life, and the fruits of the works that come out of your life are evidences.

They're not the source. So salvation is always going to be by grace through faith. I can come to this tree, and I can trim off a few branches.

I can take some fruit off of that tree, but I'm still going to have that source coming up into that tree. But I guarantee you this. You go and you cut off that root system.

You cut that thing down, clear down to the ground, and you're going to end up with dead trees because the source of that tree is in the root, and the source of your life is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as you look to Jesus and believe the gospel, the Spirit of God can flow into your life, and you're connected to him. So one thing you need to be careful of is not to depart from the faith, not to turn yourself from the hope of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So let's jump in here. I know that we've talked about some of these verses already, but I want to run down through them and share some thoughts with you from each of them, and then we'll take the Lord's Supper as we get down here close to the end. Verse number 42, or verse number 41.

The Jews then murmured at 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? Evidently, possibly Joseph was alive, and Mary obviously was alive. How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Now these Jews had a hard time understanding.

When Jesus said he came down from heaven, how is it that you have come down from heaven? We know your mother, and we know your father. We know Joseph, and we know Mary. So you say that you've come down from heaven.

Now I'm amazed, and this is human nature, but 30 years prior to this was this thing called the virgin birth. 30 years prior to this, there was, you know, sounds going throughout all of Israel. You've got a virgin has conceived, or so they said.

You've got Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, being dumb for six months, and finally when the child is born and the name is given John, John speaks, and the people are amazed at what's happening. You've got the shepherds telling of the vision of the angels the night that Jesus was born. You've got the slaying of thousands of little children by Herod, two years old and under.

You have a very dramatic time in Israel's history, and yet 30 years later, maybe things didn't get around to everybody's ears, but 30 years later, they don't even know who this is standing before them. That this is the very Jesus who was born of this Mary, who was, as it was reported, a virgin. All these things were in the rear view mirror, and you know how it is.

Life goes on. 30 years is a long time, and those things oftentimes are forgotten. Well, Jesus was born much different than you and I are born.

You see, I had a father. His name was Ronald. I had a mother.

His name was Eileen, and they came together, and they conceived me back in 1959, March. Well, I was born March 21st. They conceived me before then, but I was conceived by a mother and a father, but the Lord Jesus was not conceived that way.

I want to read you some very familiar verses that you're all aware of. In Luke 1, how Jesus was conceived, it says, In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Verse 30, Verse 34, No, not a man.

Here's the miracle of conception. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, Mary, and therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And so the Lord Jesus, literally, he came down from heaven.

He was not born as you and I are born, but he was born by the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God came down and overshadowed Mary. And Mary conceived miraculously.

Jesus was a miracle. Some people call it the immaculate conception. He is both the Son of Man born of Mary's womb, but he's also the Son of God conceived by the Holy Ghost.

So these people were blinded. In many cases, they were blinded of who Jesus was, and they had not a heart to understand and to seek the truth. You know what caused that? Cares of life, deceitfulness of riches, lust of other things, sin, 30 years of that.

Maybe these men who are 40, 50 years old were 15, 20, 25 when they heard about, hey, have you heard a virgin is conceived? Hey, have you heard about Zechariah the high priest, how he hasn't been able to speak for six months? Hey, have you heard the river about the angels who saw the vision, or excuse me, the shepherds who saw the vision of the angels? Have you heard all about this? But through sin, cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, here are men 30 years later who have the Son of God standing before them and they cannot even see who it is. So Jesus says here in verse 41, I came down from heaven. I like that.

I came down from heaven. It reminded me of James 1.17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of life. Amen? Everything that is good is coming down from the Father.

And the greatest gift of all, Paul said thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That gift also was sent down from heaven, that unspeakable gift. And so there's much in the Bible.

We don't have to read all the verses. One was right here this morning, that salvation is the gift of God. The very fact that Jesus came down from heaven and offered to humanity salvation is the gift of God.

God didn't have to save humanity. God did not save the angelic world when they fell. And a third of them followed Lucifer.

And many of them are perverted and corrupt and distorted. They're demons now. They are offered no salvation.

But Jesus came into the human problem. He came into humanity and He's willing to offer redemption to human beings. The psalmist said, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Why did you redeem humanity and not the angelic world? Oh, it's awful to think about going to hell and rejecting the offer of Jesus Christ and salvation and spending eternity with the devils who are perverted and maligned and just are wicked.

But hell is a place for a creation, whether it's angelic or whether it's human, that have rejected the Lord, that have rejected their creator, who are rebelling against Him. And oh, we have such a great salvation. The Bible says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation that God has been willing to offer to humanity a way out of His predicament? I sometimes wonder, God's offering humanity that way out because the devils actually, or the demons who fell, stood in the presence of God.

I mean, they saw God with their own eyes. And they served Him and they worshipped Him right in His presence. And then they rebelled against that light.

Here, you and I were born into a world where we don't see God. And it's a perverse world, a dark world. And God is trying to, we'll see in a little bit, trying to bring us to Himself.

But don't make the mistake of neglecting the Lord and ending up dying and going to hell forever. Well, the gift of Jesus Christ came down from heaven. So these people, how are you saying you've come down from heaven? I know your father.

I know your mother. Well, let's keep reading here in verse 43. And Jesus therefore answered and said to them, murmur not among yourselves.

No man can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, one of the greatest gifts that we have is right here in this next verse, talking about a gift that came down from heaven, and that is the gift of repentance. Only God grants to man repentance.

By the way, you don't decide one day, you wake up and say, I'm going to repent. God is the one who grants your repentance. The Bible says there are certain times when God will not give men repentance.

Hebrews chapter 6. God grants repentance. God grants the ability to turn from darkness to light. It is not in any one of us.

Only God. You and I are so corrupt and so enabled that we cannot on our own choose to follow Him. Romans chapter 3 says there is none that understands.

There is none that seeks after God. Do you realize today that if God would leave us alone and would not draw us and try to bring us to Himself, that not a single one of us would be here? Not a single one of us would seek Him? God is the one who grants people repentance. It is God who is wooing you.

It is God who is convicting you. If you take that wooing and convicting away, you are lost without hope. So God is the one who grants you repentance.

One of the greatest gifts that God has given is repentance, and I would say to you, if you feel convicted, you ought to thank God for it. If you feel the fear of God in your heart, you ought to thank God for it. Any inclination that comes to you to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and to turn away from sin, you ought to thank God for it because it is a gift that is coming down from above.

It is a gift from God. The ability to see, the ability to desire to turn from sin is given to you by God. God is in the business today of drawing men.

Verse 44 says, No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Some of you know how to fish. Brother Ruben used to be a good fisher.

You know what it's like. You want to draw the fish to the hook, and so you put some things on that hook to draw the fish in. Maybe the fish smell it.

Maybe they see it, but that worm is to draw the fish. Now, you have an evil intent. You want to eat that fish sometimes.

God has good intent. He wants to save your soul. Some of you who hunt, you sit up in that tree stand and you make banging noises with those antlers.

You put corn out. You do those things to try to draw the deer in. God is trying to draw humanity in.

He is wooing you. He is convicting you. He is trying to bring you to himself.

I love that verse in the Song of Solomon. Solomon says, Draw us, Lord, and we will run after you. So, one of the greatest gifts this morning that God is giving you is the gift of repentance.

A desire to turn from your sin and turn to Him. Hold your finger here and look over to John chapter 12. You say, how does the Lord draw us? Right here it is in John chapter 12, verse 32.

One of the best ways that the Lord draws us to Himself is John 12, verse 32. It says, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. You know what draws people to the Lord? That is the cross.

The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel message, His love to us. Love always draws. Can you acknowledge that this morning? When you know that someone loves you, doesn't that draw you to them? Yes, it does.

And so God showed His love toward us. And He is drawing us through the gospel. He says, look at that cross.

My son is lifted up. And that ought to draw your heart to Jesus Christ. You ought to come to the cross and see the love of God for your soul and bow your knee and cast off all your sin at His feet and then stand up and say, Lord, I want to serve you the rest of my life.

Paul said, the love of Christ constrains me. And so God is drawing all men through the gospel. He has prepared a great feast and He has invited, He has sent His servants out to invite all who will to come to this great feast.

Let's keep reading. John 6, verse 44, No man can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Oh, I didn't put anything in my notes about that, but He says this oftentimes.

Don't you want to be raised up on the last day? Brother John mentioned this morning when Jesus returns and the graves are open and you're going to be awakened and arise and stand before God and go out into eternity together with Him. You want to rise. Verse 45, It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.

Every man therefore that has heard and has learned of the Father cometh unto Me. I just want to mention that idea of all of us being taught of God. You know, everyone hears.

Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Why do we go out and preach to the thousands at a time? Why did we go to the big bang and boom down in Columbus this week? Why did we go to the conference? Why did we go to college campuses? We go there because all need to be taught of God. All need to hear the gospel.

That doesn't mean that all are going to come to the feast. But it's the heart of God that everyone would hear, that everyone would have an opportunity because God is using the message of the gospel to draw all men to Himself. That is why I think it's important just to get out there and share the gospel and point people to the cross.

That draws men and women to Him. Well, it says here in verse 45 that they were all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, oh, there's a lot of people that hear, and hath learned of the Father comes unto me.

Hearing is good. Hey, folks, hearing is good. But learning is better.

You know, a lot of people hear. The Bible says they hear the Word. Sometimes it falls on hard ground.

They hear it. But the devil comes immediately and snatches it away. Some fall on stony ground.

They hear it. It shoots up and then it's burnt by the sun. Some fall on thorny ground.

They hear it. And yet it brings forth no fruit. Others, they hear on the good ground and they understand and bring forth fruit.

Some 30-fold. Some 60-fold. Some 100-fold.

It's not just enough for you to hear, but you need to understand. It needs to get down into the depths of your heart. How do you understand? Listen, here's how you understand.

You turn your heart to the Lord. Listen, if your heart is in the world, if your heart wants to go your own way, all that you hear is going to do nothing for you. That's why people can sit in church year after year after year after year and they're the same person.

Sometimes they're even worse after 10, 15, 20 years of hearing and hearing and hearing. Because they hear, but they don't understand. It doesn't get into the depths of their heart.

The Bible says when a heart turns to the Lord in truth and sincerity, it turns away from the world. It turns away from money. It turns away from vehicles.

It turns away from houses. It turns away from all the things that we pursue in this life. And our heart gets to the place where I want Jesus Christ.

I don't care if I have anything else. And that heart, when it comes to the Scripture, it'll be taught of God. And it'll understand.

Many people today don't understand. I think it was Brother Clee, six months ago or a year, stood up here and said, listen, we hear a lot of good preaching, but how much is it affecting our life? How much is it moving us into the image of Jesus Christ? A lot of hearing says they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard and has learned cometh unto me.

Well, I hope you have heard and I hope you've learned. You've learned of the Father, His love, His mercy, His forgiveness. He has eternal life.

And you will come to Him. The reason why people don't come is because they don't see clearly. They don't understand.

There's a lot of Bible passages that deal with this, but I think a couple there, 2 Corinthians, it says that had the princes of this world knew when they crucified Him, had they known, they would have not have crucified the Lord of glory. If they didn't know, you see, people do what they do because they don't know, they don't understand. How many of you believe that if any human being on the face of the earth truly believed in his heart that he was going to go and spend an eternity in hell and be tormented day and night forever and ever and ever in a lake of fire and that Jesus Christ has come to save him from that torment? How many of you who believe that any human being would willingly and joyfully accept that salvation? I have no doubt that when a person dies and he goes to hell, he wants to be saved then.

As a matter of fact, we have the story of the rich man. He wants mercy. He sees it now.

He understands it now, but it's too late. The problem with humanity is we don't see. We don't understand.

We're not gripped with the reality that eternity is awful for the lost. It doesn't grip us. 2 Corinthians 4 says that Satan has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the glorious light of the gospel of Christ should shine unto them.

And I think of the example of Jesus as he's on the cross. He understands all of this because he sees eternity. He says, Father, forgive them for what? They know not what they do.

Can you imagine these people don't understand? If they would have known who I was and seen clearly, they wouldn't do this. And all sin is that way. If the homosexual, if the murderer, if the rapist, if the liar, if the thief would know and believe and see clearly, they'd repent and come to Jesus.

The only problem is that people love sin. They love darkness rather than light. They choose blindness.

They choose to love this world. Therefore, they can't see. And they don't grow.

And they don't go forward. I believe this. I believe the greatest cry in hell.

If some of you go to hell, you're going to hear this cry resounding throughout the walls of eternity forever and ever and ever. These words, if I had only known, if I'd have only known, if I'd have only seen the truth, I wouldn't be here. I agree with you.

But your eyes are blinded because you love sin. You love this world and you can't see the truth. If I would have only known.

Well, verse 46. Let's keep reading. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

You know, we learn of the Father not by sight. I don't see the Father, but I learn of the Father by faith. Someone says, if God would just show Himself, God, just show Yourself to me.

I hear that all the time on a college campus. Why doesn't God do something to show us that He is real? You go back and read the Old Testament, you see God showing Himself, He's real. You got a mountain out there shaking and quaking and lightning and the sound of trumpets and incredible sights.

You have a pillar of fire by night, a cloud by day. You have God manifesting Himself in a very real way that people can't see Him. And what do they do? Turn back in their hearts toward Egypt.

You have Jews standing at Lazarus' grave and he stinks. Four days he's been in this thing and he stinks. And these Jews are standing there and they see Jesus say, Lazarus, come forth.

This guy comes out with his grave clothes on. The Bible says they turn and go to kill Him. Listen, the Lord can do many, many miracles.

He can manifest Himself. But still people love their sin. They love their sin.

Men love darkness rather than light. They love it. The pleasures of sin.

And so, yes, the cry is, does God just show us something, show us a sign that we might believe? You know what the Lord said to them? I'll show you a sign. I'm going to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth just like Jonah was. That's your sign right there.

You're going to kill me and I'm going to be raised from the dead. If you'll believe that, you'll see God. If you believe the Gospel, then you'll see Him.

Well, even His resurrection wasn't good enough. God is the invisible God. God is the Spirit.

Yet God manifested Himself in a human body. Hold your finger and jump ahead to John 14. John 14, verse 6. Jesus saith unto him... He's talking to Thomas here.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also.

Look at this. And from henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. You say you want to see the Father, Thomas? Philip? You guys here? Listen.

If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. Verse 8. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. And Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long a time with you? And yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.

And how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? You want to see God? You want to see God? You see Him in the face of Jesus Christ. You see Him. Some of you think God is some mean, angry, wrathful, Old Testament type God.

God is Jesus. You see God in Jesus Christ. That's the God of the Bible.

Jesus says if you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. Verse 47. Let's keep reading.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me has everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Listen, I'm going to tell you this here this morning.

Those of you who take that bread, we're going to do this in just a minute. And in your soul, your soul says, I believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. That's my life.

It's what I believe. And I believe in taking that cup of wine that Jesus Christ, I believe without any question, died and He shed His blood for the forgiveness of my sins. I'm going to say that you have everlasting life.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead.

This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. This is the bread that if you take it into your soul and eat it, you will never die. The soul will never die.

You'll never spend eternity in the lake of fire the second death. You'll never face the wages of sin, which is death. You'll be free from the penalty of sin.

That's why it's so very important for you to believe the gospel. Because that's the connection to life, eating His flesh. Well, let's keep reading here.

We're going to get to this passage here. We want to look at the Lord's Supper. Verse 52, The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Now, they're thinking He's teaching cannibalism, that Jesus is teaching that you needed to eat His physical body and drink His physical blood.

And this offended many of His disciples. Verse 60, Some of them went back. Walk no more.

Verse 66, With Him. But I'd like you to look over there. Verse 61, Just jump in here.

When Jesus knew it Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, prophets nothing. The words, notice this, that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life. In other words, these words do not deal in a fleshly sense.

These words are Spirit. These words have to do with the hidden man. They have to do with the soul of man.

Now, we see this throughout the Bible. Jesus spoke about seeds, didn't He? He wasn't talking about a seed. He was talking about the Word of God, the spiritual application.

Jesus talked about a harvest, but it wasn't the harvest out there in the field of wheat or grain or soybeans. It was a harvest, a spiritual harvest of souls. And oftentimes, Jesus would talk about physical things, but what He really meant was something deeper, something spiritual.

He talked about water with a woman at the well, but He was referring to living water, that which is on the inside. Eating His flesh is not teaching cannibalism, but the crucifixion. By the way, I just want to share this with you.

The era of Catholicism, very similar to what the Jews were facing. Catholicism teaches a concept called transubstantiationism. Big word.

Transubstance. Trans meaning across, you know, transcontinental from one continent to the other. Trans means across, and substance means matter or substance.

So what transubstantiationism teaches is that the substance, that bread wafer that they pray over, is actually changed into something else. It's changed into the literal body and the juice into the literal blood of Jesus Christ. So you have a priest up there and some Latin liturgy, and he and the people believe that this regular bread and this regular juice, when they take of it, it actually becomes the very flesh and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So in many ways, they still think that they need to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Now, here's something I think is very important for us to remember, and it happens. Men do this a lot.

And I get a little stirred when I see this, but you know what that does for the Catholic people or for the Catholic leadership? If you have the power to change this bread and juice into the literal blood and body of Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that you have to eat the literal body and blood of Jesus, do I then have control over your salvation? I'm the only one that can change it. And if I give it to you, you can be saved. If I keep it from you, you're going to be lost.

So they rule the people because they're the ones who can change the body or the bread and the wine into what you need for your salvation. So the people have to come to the Catholic priest to be saved to eat of the real flesh and the real blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, now I'm under the control of the Catholic church, and the lever to control me is the Eucharist because without the literal body and blood of Jesus, I'm going to perish.

Well, that's in human nature to control the Lord over God's heritage, and that's happening all over the place. The Bible talks about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, Nicolaiti, Nico to rule, laity the people, to rule the people. There's a lot of false doctrines where the authorities have control, and the Catholic church is definitely one of them.

So we're not talking about cannibalism here. These words are spiritual. They are spirit.

So here in verse 53, Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. I've shared this with you before, but that word eat has an E-T-H on the end, and that word drink has an E-T-H.

It means these are present continuance. I am eating and drinking, and that's why we take the Lord's Supper to remind us that our salvation is not in our works. It's in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Never forget, always keep in memory what saves your soul and what delivers your soul. So I want to take the Lord's Supper here this morning, and now as we're thinking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, I'm not talking about eating this way. You know, you put something in your mouth and then you chew it up and it's digested.

It becomes a part of you. I'm talking about going deeper, spiritually speaking, in every one of your hearts. I receive the gospel.

It is the gospel into my heart, into my being. Jesus' death and shedding of His blood. That is my hope of eternal life.

And these things are only symbolic. So with that in mind, I'd like to consider and remember here the Lord's death by eating that which is symbolic and drinking that which is symbolic. So if I could have a couple of brothers come here this morning and we can prepare to pass out the bread and the wine, feel free to come.

A couple of brothers can come and we'll take these. And let's turn our songbooks to number 158. And while you pass those out, we'll sing and then we'll eat and drink together.

158. Man of Sorrows, What a Name. 158.

What a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rude. In my place condemned He stood.

Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah. What a Savior.

Guilty, violent, helpless, weak. Spotless Lamb of God was He. Full of condemnation.

Hallelujah. What a Savior. Lifted up was He to die.

Did His finish was His cry. Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah.

What a Savior. When He comes, our glorious King. All His ransomed home to bring.

Then a new, this song we'll sing. Hallelujah. What a Savior.

Brother John, would you have a word of prayer for the body? Can you look at that piece of bread there before you take it and just say, Lord, I believe with all my heart, with all my heart, all my being, that it's your death on the cross that saves and forgives my soul. You believe that with all your heart, take that in remembrance of Him. Well, He not only said to eat my flesh, but He also said, whoever drinks my blood.

The crucifixion not only involved the death of the body of the Lord Jesus, but also the shedding of His blood. It's a very bloody scene. Excuse me.

Moses said in the Old Testament, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. When you slayed a lamb in the Old Testament, you had to cut the throat and shed the blood. It was the blood that was placed upon the lintel of the door in Egypt that angel passed over when he saw the blood.

So let's remember that through the shedding of blood, the Lord Jesus' blood, that we have the forgiveness of our sin. So let's have the brothers come here. We only have one tray, but maybe we can work around that.

We'll take a little more time. Let's turn in our songbooks to number 141. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins.

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that blood lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunged beneath that blood lose all their guilty stains.

This is a very precious time for the Lord. There was a church at Corinth who took this time and made a mess of it and ate and drank and were drunken. And God judged them very severely.

It's a very important time for the Lord. This is at the center of all He's done. His death on the cross, His suffering.

So let's take it very seriously. Verse 2. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Verse 4. E'er since my faith I saw the stream, my floating wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my thing and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die.

Shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my thing and shall be till I die. Then in another sweeter song I'll sing my power to save.

When this poor listening, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave. Lies silent in the grave. Lies silent in the grave.

When this stammering tongue lies silent in the grave. Can you just see all these disciples? I'm not washing Peter's feet over here. I'm not washing Nathaniel's feet.

I'm not washing Peter's feet over here. After that, he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. And so one by one, he goes and starts washing their feet.

And so one by one, he goes and starts washing their feet. Then Jesus answers in verse seven, Jesus answered, and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And I don't know all that's in there.

I do know we're going to learn here that the washing of each other's feet is one of the representations that the Lord is going to give is one of the representations that the Lord is going to give is the willingness to forgive each other, to wash each other, They cleanse each other, and Jesus knows that Peter is going to deny Him three times that night, and that Peter is going to need a washing, a serious washing. Verse 9, Simon Peter said unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Maybe some of you would say that today, hey, just go ahead and take the whole thing.

But then the Lord gives him a response here that helps us to understand something that is very important. Verse 10, Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. That's all you really need.

I have forgiven you. I have cleansed you. Now all you need to do is just keep those feet washed.

But you're clean every which, and you are clean, but not all. Verse 11, for he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, you are not all clean. Now the cleanliness here is talking about forgiveness.

Judas was not forgiven because he was an unbeliever. So Jesus says you are all cleansed except for Judas. But those of you who are cleansed, and we're talking about us here, you need to keep washing each other's feet.

You need to wash and cleanse your brother and sister and forgive and love and keep each other's feet clean. Verse 12, so after he had washed your feet and had taken his garments and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? You call me master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

You know, washing of feet is a representation of just keeping each other cleansed. The acknowledgement that I have failures, I have faults, will you forgive me? You know, Peter learned, had to learn a lot. Peter came to Jesus one day and said, how long, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? The Lord said, Peter said, seven times in a day.

The Lord said, no, 70 times seven. You need to wash your brother's feet. The Lord has cleansed you, but you know, back then they wore sandals and in the dusty environment of Judea and Samaria, their feet would get dirty.

So as we walk through life, as we interact with each other, as we rub shoulders and sometimes there's friction, there needs to be a willingness to wash each other's feet and to forgive. Peter said it this way in first Peter four, eight and above all things, have a fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover or cleanse away a multitude of sins. So first of all, here this morning, when you wash your brother's feet, what you're saying is this, I have a heart to forgive you.

I want to wash you. I want you to be clean every wit, forgiveness. You know, I think, and I know this is a struggle.

I don't think that we should have any doubt in our hearts and minds or any stirring in our hearts and minds to wash anybody's feet in here. If they're your brother or sister, they ought to be able to wash their feet. Well, not to say I'm not going to wash that person's feet.

No, no, no, no. I'm not going to wash that person's feet or that person's feet or this person's feet. I'm going to avoid them.

There's something wrong with that. There's some, there's some defilement. There's not all clean.

So here this morning, when you look around at your brothers and sisters, can you look around and say, it doesn't matter, I'll wash everybody's feet. My heart is free with all. And all my brothers and sisters, I have cleansed their sin, I'm free, I've forgiven them.

There's no bitterness, there's no resentment, there's no frustration in my heart. They are cleansed. John 13, verse number 13, you call me master and Lord and you say, well, for so I am.

If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do and I have sent to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. Neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

In other words, if I did it for you. I'm going to wash and cleanse you. You cleanse and wash each other.

If I'm your Lord and master and I'm doing this for you, you ought to certainly be able to do it one for another. Verse 17, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. You know what makes people happy? Is willing forgiveness.

You know what torments people? Bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment amongst brothers and sisters. I want to read one verse to you, then we'll spend a little time here this morning, washing feet, Galatians chapter five. And I'll close with this Galatians 5, 13.

How do you serve your brother? Galatians 5, verse 13, for brethren, you have been called into liberty. Only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love, serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

But if you bite, devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. Can you wash your brothers and sisters feet? Are you clear with everybody here? Or do you say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to wash so and so, no, I'm not going to wash that young lady or that young man or no, I'm not going to do this or that, no, no, no, no, no, I just got a certain group of people I'm going to wash. There's a problem in that heart.

These are all God's children, those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our hearts ought to be in a proper place toward all of them. So let's take some time here this morning to.

Wash one another's feet, Brother John. You have those bowls here. You want to bring them out, we'll set two over here, what we're going to do is we'll set two, maybe the boys can get up here, you all can maybe move.