We've all been physically hungry to one degree or another. It's the innate sense of discomfort that prompts us to eat something. Alastair Begg explains that spiritual hunger is just as real as physical hunger, and it's also experienced by everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike. We'll find out what it is and how it's satisfied today on Truth for Life. Uh Our scripture reading this morning is from the sixth chapter of John.
Reading from verse fifty-two. through to verse fifty nine. I invite you to Turn to it and follow along as I read. John chapter 6. And verse 52.
The Jews then disputed among themselves, 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 you. Whoever feeds on 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? Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me He also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not like the bread the fathers ate and died, Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue. as he taught.
at Capernaum. Thanks be to God for His word. Blessed Lord. Who has caused all holy scripture to be written for our learning. Uh grant us.
That we may In the light of that wisdom, hear them. Read Mark. Learn. and inwardly digest them. that by patience and the comfort of your holy word.
We may embrace and ever hold fast. the blessed hope of everlasting life. which Thou hast given us. in the Lord Jesus Christ. in whose name we pray.
Amen. That prayer, of course, again comes from the Anglican Prayer Book. And um It's a very helpful prayer. I also want to begin as we turn to John chapter 6 and verse 52 with a quote from another Anglican. Uh long gone, uh Bishop J.
C. Ryle. And in his comments on the section that I have read and that we're about to consider. He introduces them. by saying this, few passages of Scripture, have been so painfully rested and perverted, as that which we have now read.
The Jews are not the only people who have striven about its meaning. A sense has been put upon it, which it was never intended to bear. Fallen man in interpreting the Bible has an unhappy aptitude for turning meat into poison. The things that were written for his benefit. He often makes an occasion of falling.
So that really sets the context for us. There's a silence as I read it, and understandably so, because we have come to our text for this morning, eventually to the truly, truly that we have been anticipating for a number of weeks, 53 of John 6.
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 you. 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 you.
Now the way in which I have endeavored to Deal with this in my own study and in seeking to present it to you now. is to First of all, consider the setting in which this comes. then to consider the statement itself, and then to give consideration to the significance of it as we seek to apply it to our own lives. If you're familiar with Venn diagrams, It's one of the few things I remember from mathematics in England, first of all. There was some significant about the way you drew these three circles where they interacted with one another, and the real key to it all was where all the three circles conjoined.
I think that was supposed to be. And so I'm giving you these three words: the setting. the statement and the significance. You must deal with your own Venn diagram here. Because as you listen to me work through the text, it may not, you say to yourself, I'm not sure if we're in setting or significance right now.
Don't worry about that, because I won't be sure myself. That's why you have a Venn diagram. And just the pieces that you don't know what to do with, just put them in any circle you want, all right? But uh that's the way we're going to approach it. We began to look at John chapter 6 as we have looked at each of the truly, truly statements, in light, first of all, of the context that is set by John's explanation of the purpose of his gospel, which we read at the end of chapter 20.
Where he says, you will remember, there were more things than I have recorded or any of the Gospels have recorded in terms of the life and the teaching and ministry of Jesus. They would need to be very big books to contain it all. But he says, these things are written. In order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Messiah of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name.
So, when we read the Gospel of John all the way through, we realize that John, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, as he lays out this Gospel, this good news story, he does it in such a way that he is assuming that people will be encountering the evidence. that the evidence will provide a basis for their consideration. and perhaps for their faith. and that in finding faith in Jesus, they will then discover life that is truly life.
Now The eating and the drinking, you will notice from your text. Are the means to eternal life? That's what it says. They are the means to eternal life.
So clearly, it is vitally important that we understand what that means. If the issue of eternal life is at heart, then we can't, we daren't get this wrong. And that's why we've been taking our time, working our way through the setting, working our way through the chapter. We haven't done this for any of the other truly truly's. And the reason I said at the beginning when we began to work our way through it was for this very reason.
That we would be saved from misunderstanding and misapplying this truly, truly, when we finally reached it. And so we have now reached it. And when you read John chapter 6, you realize it's been quite a couple of days. All the drama that is contained in the events and then in the dialogue. Are directly tied to a question, a very straightforward question that was posed by Jesus Himself.
You remember he was teaching the crowds at the beginning of the chapter. They were all present. And Jesus poses a question. He says to his friends, Where are we to buy bread?
so that the people may eat. It's a very practical question. It's a very important question. People don't want to go without food, especially if it's been a long day, especially if they're tired.
Now John tells us that it was actually a test that Jesus was posing. You can see that right there in the text, if you look. And that's why it's important to have a Bible and to look. Verse 6, he said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was about to do. Not only did he know what he was about to do, but he knew also what he was about to say.
And as I read and re-read chapter 6 this week, I realized there's a tremendous amount about bread in it. Not only is it about bread, but it's also about belief. And Jesus is actually addressing the matter of spiritual hunger throughout the entire chapter. That's important for us to understand. Ha how can I have my hunger satisfied?
Let's just pause and acknowledge this. Spiritual hunger. is not unique to a few individuals that choose to study their Bibles every so often. Spiritual hunger is a reality for every person in the whole world. It is as much a reality as is physical hunger.
And the reason we know that is because God made us for Himself. We can't live by bread alone. but only by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
So whether people understand it or not, The deep-seated longings of a life, of a heart, the positioning of ourselves to try and make sense of our existence. is ultimately tied to the fact of our spiritual hunger. And that's why Jesus says to them in verse 27: don't work for the food that perishes. He doesn't mean don't go to work. Don't earn an income.
No, he says that's not where you're going to find the answer. Don't work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.
Well, where do you get that kind of food? What do we have to do? To make sure that if that is what we need to be working on, what should we work on? And Jesus says in verse 29, this is the work of God. that you believe in him.
whom he has sent. These things were written. In order that you might believe? And that by believing. You might have life in His name.
Imagine we went out this week and just decided to take a poll amongst our neighbors and our friends and said, You know, what do you think God wants us to do? If we're going to do what God wants us to do. You think of all the things that people would say. I guarantee you, no one, unless they were here this morning, would answer in terms of this verse in John chapter 6: to believe. to believe.
It almost seems too simple, doesn't it? Focus on the food. That endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
Now I want you to know I counted up twenty or so breads, but look at all the beliefs just for a moment so that we're not in any doubt about the recurring emphasis. Let's start in verse 35. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall not thirst.
Verse 36: You've seen me, and yet you do not believe. Believe. Verse 40: This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him. You can go down to Vorse. Forty-seven.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. Verse 64. Um But there are some of you who do not believe.
Well that fits some of us this morning, doesn't it? And verse sixty-nine. You have the word, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed.
and have come to know. that you are The Holy One. of God. And Jesus has been making this clear throughout this entire dialogue, all starting with this amazing miracle that had taken place. He is calling people to believe in the One whom the Father has sent.
And classically, in verse 51, he has said to them, I am the living bread. that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. and the bread that I will give for the life of the world. is my flesh.
Now once again you see the reaction of the people. As before in verse 41, It is to resist what he's saying. In 41, when he had said, he's the bread of life, you raise him up on the last day, they grumbled about Jesus. They said, who does he think he is, that he can say this? It wasn't so much that he had done a great miracle.
They liked that. They fancied the idea of some more food. Many people are interested in Jesus if they can get from him the kind of material encouragements for which they long. But that wasn't what it was about.
Well, how can he say? that he is the one who came down. from heaven. And again, look here, I am the living bread. That came down from heaven.
This is Incredible. Incredible. We are to We have to pause and say Really? Jesus must have been the most egocentric preacher that ever lived. We don't like egocentricity.
You don't want me or any of my colleagues to be explaining what I believe or myself or really anything about me at all. It's largely irrelevant. It's almost completely irrelevant. But the fact of the matter is Jesus is all about I, me and mine. I am, I am, this is about me.
This is what I will do. I will do that. I will do the next thing. Who says such things? Who makes such claims?
But you see The miracle with which the entire encounter begins That establishes the power and reality of Jesus as the very Son of God. Once we have come to the determination that Jesus is who he claims to be, Then the miracles don't present any kind of difficulty at all. I mean, the difficulty would be that if God were to step down into time and He didn't do something dramatic, people would have said to one another, Do you think He has really stepped down into time? But Jesus has done this. And the people's ears have been pinned back, if you like.
There is no difficulty to these things once we are brought to the understanding that Jesus is. who he claims to be. He came down to earth from heaven. Who is God? and Lord of all.
and his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall. What we're dealing with here is the doctrine of the Incarnation. Not only does he step down into time, move into our neighborhood as it were, but he steps down into the reality of the cross. He was handed over so that we might be set free. Yeah.
Now In verse 52, When the do the Jews dispute amongst themselves, It's no surprise. Because Jesus has actually just made it almost impossible for them To reconcile what they're hearing with the reality of their own framework of understanding. And so they disputed among themselves. Jesus had said that he would give his life for the world. I'm putting together a little cult.
I'm trying to get together a few people, a few hundred people like Jim Jones in Guyana. And we're just going to live by ourselves and believe certain things on our own. No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to give my flesh for the entire world. And so they said to one another, you kidding?
How could that possibly be?
Now he ops the ante on them.
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. Enyu.
Now what is Jesus saying there? Where is his flesh given for the life of the world? At the cross. He knows that he is moving inexorably to this point. He understands that he is the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah, from whom we have read this morning.
That he is the very embodiment of the song that we've been singing, that he is a man of sorrows. That he has come in order to seek and to save the lost. That his design and his desire is that men and women might come to know God through Jesus. And we've never understood the gospel at all, and we've never understood Jesus at all, or what he's come to do if we'd miss this point. At the core of the gospel is the reality of redemption.
You read that in the letters. In him, we have redemption through his blood. That we have been set free. We have been redeemed from our old way of life. Jesus is anticipating how that will all take place.
When the writer to the Hebrews identifies it in Hebrews chapter nine, he says, He, that is Jesus, entered the most holy place once for all time, Not by the blood of goats and calves, But by his own blood, having obtained eternal. Redemption.
So let's come back to it. Anyone who eats of the bread. will live forever. What Jesus is actually pointing out. Is that he is going to do something for us on the day he dies?
So that he can do something for us on the day we die. I'm going to give my life.
So that on that day Since I am, as we will see later, the resurrection and the life. What I have done for you in that place. is going to make all the difference in the entire world. when you pass through the valley of the shadow. of death.
So Jesus is not referring. to a physical process. He is not referring to a physical process. He is clearly not doing so. The misunderstandings are a feature actually of John's Gospel.
And this is perhaps the one that holds the greatest potential for misunderstanding amongst those who are listening to him. You remember in chapter 2, the great misunderstanding, when he says, Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. And the people said, Well, you can't do that with a temple. He wasn't talking about the temple in Jerusalem, he was talking about his body. They didn't get it.
Here's another misunderstanding. He's using physical things in order to explain spiritual truths.
So when you come to verse 53, Don Carson, whom we all greatly respect for his work, says, Any dullard could see. that Jesus was not speaking literally. No one would suppose Jesus was seriously advocating cannibalism. and offering himself as the first Miro. Jesus doesn't backpedal.
He takes it up a notch, maybe. Verse fifty-four. Whoever feeds on my flesh And drinks my blood. has eternal life, and I will raise him up. At the long stay.
Unless you eat. That's what's so staggering about it, isn't it? Unless you eat. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Because the life that is Yours is only in union with me.
Now think about this for a Jewish person. The law of Moses had so much to say about blood. You couldn't even eat the meat unless it was drained of the blood.
So the idea that Jesus was saying to them. It's like it's the most abhorrent notion possible. We have nothing we are Jewish people. We have nothing to do with plot. How could we possibly drink blood?
And then in 54, he states it positively. In 53, he says: unless you do this, you're stuck. And then he says in 54, whoever does this Actually has eternal life and I will raise him up. on the last day. You're listening to a message titled Bread of Heaven on Truth for Life today with Alastair Begg.
We'll hear the conclusion on Monday.
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or call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for joining us today. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and are able to worship with your local church family. When Jesus said, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Was he advocating cannibalism?
On Monday, Alistair explains why that's not how we should understand what Jesus is saying here. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
