Appropriating Christ

John 6:52-59

 

INTRO: The last half of this chapter emphasizes the importance of believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  The significance of this is brought out in verses 29, 35, 37, 40, 47, and 51.

Jesus cannot save you unless you receive Him.  Jesus is the Bread of Life (vs 47).  “He is that bread of life– not His words, not His doctrine, but He Himself” (Gaebelein 132).  You must receive Him; you must believe in Him to be saved.  Those who believe on Christ have everlasting life (vs 47).  Jesus Himself uses several expressions explaining how we receive Him as the Bread of Life: “He that believeth on me;” “He that cometh to me;” “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.”

 

I.        VS 52, STRIVING OF THE JEWS

A.       In verse 51, Jesus had said: “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.”  This speaks of the broken body of Christ as we have symbolized in the Lord’s Supper.

B.       Because of what Jesus had said, these orthodox Jews began to strive among themselves.  Their striving was due to misunderstanding of the spiritual truth that Jesus was teaching.

1. These Jews knew that there was a divine prohibition against eating human flesh or any kind of blood (Lev 17:10, 19:26).

2. Their thoughts must have ranged from, “This man has gone mad,” to “How can this be, eat His flesh while He is alive?”

C.      We must remember that unbelief never understands the mysteries of salvation.  Unbelievers are always ready to scoff and make excuse.

 

II.       VS 53, CHRIST REPLIES TO THE JEWS

A.       This verse amplifies what the Savior said in verse 51.

1. Soon the Lord would offer Himself as a substitute for sin; His body would be broken by the whip; the crown of thorns would pierce His brow; and the nails would puncture His hands and fee.  His blood would be shed upon Calvary that men might receive Him as Savior and live.  He came to put away sin (Heb 9:26).

2. Unless men partake of the Lord spiritually, they will go to hell.

3. You must take the life of Christ into the very center of your being.  We must feed our hearts and souls on His humanity by so doing we are filled with the life of God (I Jn 4:2-3).

B.       Unless a man receives Christ, he has no life in him.

1. To have life, you must believe that Christ died for your sins (Gal 2:20).

2. “No life” means that a man abides in spiritual death: “a state of condemnation, moral pollution, and hopeless wretchedness into which sin has brought him” (Pink 346).

3. Receiving Christ means being made alive spiritually.  It means passing from spiritual death unto spiritual life (Eph 2:1, 4-5; Jn 5:24).

C.      The picture of eating reminds us of what happened in Genesis.  When man ate the forbidden fruit, he died spiritually.  When man believes on the Lord Jesus, when man eats of the Bread of Life, he is made alive spiritually.

 

III.      VSS 54-59, FEEDING ON CHRIST

A.       Vs 54, “Coming” and “believing” (vs 35) means the same thing as “eating” and “drinking.”  They have the same blessing.

1. “Coming” and “believing” include things that “eating” and “drinking” do.

a. Both imply an appetite.  Spiritual eating and drinking begin with hungering and thirsting (Mt 5:6).

b. Both imply feeding.

1- To be nourished by meat, we must feed upon it.

2- To be nourished by Christ, we must feed upon Him.  We must believe on Him.  To have spiritual hunger satisfied, you must feed on thirst.

2. This verse speaks of our need to continuously feeding on Christ.

a. In vs 53, “except ye eat,” the verb is in the aorist tense speaking of a once and for all act.

b. In vs 54, “Whoso eateth,” the verb is perfect tense, denoting a continuous action.

c. Verse 53 speaks of salvation; while verse 54 speaks of feeding upon Christ daily as food for the soul.

d. At the first Passover, the Israelites first applied the blood of the Lamb.  This blood protected them from death.  Then they, protected by the blood, fed upon the lamb itself.

3. The believer has the promise of the resurrection because he “hath eternal life.”  It is because He is risen, because He lives that we can face tomorrow and eternity.

B.       Vs 55, What is it that we must believe on Christ (vs 53).  It is not the act of eating that saves.  It is what we eat that saves.

1. To have eternal life, we must believe on Christ (vs 53).  It is not the act of eating that saves.  It is what we eat that saves.

2. There is only one way to be saved and that is by the blood of the Lamb.

a. Eph 1:7; 2:13.

b. Col 1:21-22; Heb 10:19-20.

3. We are cleansed from sin and restored to fellowship with God when we partake of Christ’s sacrifice by faith.

C.      Vs 56, It is through the death of our Lord that we are brought into the relationship of sonship.

1. The word “dwelleth” refers to the communion with Christ.

a. To have sweet fellowship with our Savior, we must commune with Him.  We must talk with Him and walk with Him daily (I Jn 1:7).

b. Every saved person has the relationship fo sonship, but not all of God’s children are in fellowship with Him.

2. “It is only the one who ’eateth’ and ‘drinketh’ constantly that abides in unbroken fellowship with Christ” (Pink 348).

D.      Vs 57, We are to be dependent on Christ.

1. “As the living Father hath sent me...”  This speaks of the incarnation.

2. “I live by the Father.”

a. Christ lived His life in dependence upon the Father.

b. When Christ was tempted in the wilderness by the Devil, He replied to the tempters words by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”