Feast on Him

John 6:35 ESV

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Jesus, God the Son, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is the one speaking here. He is our sustenance for life; for eternal life with God. He gave his life up for us so that we could have life with him forever. He died that we might live, but first of all we must die with him to sin so that we can live to him and to his righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).

Whoever comes (is coming) to him will never hunger spiritually. We will never be wanting. We will not be without resource, or comfort, or joy, or peace, or help, guidance, direction, strength, power, courage, and wisdom to help us through life’s situations, good or bad. He will give us all that we need if we are daily coming to him for help, but also in obedience and surrender.

As well, whoever believes (is believing) in him shall never thirst spiritually. For, we will have the Living Water, the Spirit of God within us empowering, strengthening and guiding us in the way that we should go, and speaking tenderly to our hearts when we begin to go the wrong way, too. He, too, will give us words to speak, and courage to face difficult situations. And he, too, will fill us with the peace of Christ when we put our trust in the Lord, and not in ourselves, and when we rest in him, and we don’t give way to fear.

But, we have to be believing (a continuous action) in Jesus. Daily we must deny self. Daily we must take up our cross and follow (obey) Jesus. Daily we must die to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness, if we want to have victory over our flesh and walk in freedom from the control of sin over our lives, and if we want to have the peace of God in our lives.

John 6:36-40 ESV

“But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Whoever is coming to Jesus he will not cast out. Again, this involves continuous action. And, it has to do with us drawing close to him, obeying him, listening to what he says, spending time in his Word, getting to know him, fellowshipping with him, praying, witnessing and serving him. And, it has to do with us, too, forsaking our idols, our sins, and leaving our former lives behind us so that we can pursue our Lord and his righteousness.

We are commanded in scripture that we are to be holy as God is holy. And, to be holy means to be set apart (unlike, different) from the world, because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. So, being conformed to Christ’s likeness is part of this coming to him, as is us being unlike the world and no longer conformed to its ways (actions, attitudes, and values, etc.).

If we are becoming like Jesus, then he will be our model, too, for how we should be living our lives. Since he came, not to do his own will, but the will of the Father, who is the one who sent him to the earth, then we, as well, should not do our own will but the will of God. And, it is the will of God that we live righteously for him, that we live lives which are holy and pleasing to him, and that we say “NO!” to sin and “YES!” to God and to doing his will.

If we want to have eternal life with God, we must be believing in him, too, which again involves continual progressive action on our part. As well, our belief in Jesus is God-given and it is divinely persuaded as to God’s holiness and righteousness, and of what Jesus did for us on that cross, and of the necessity that we die with Christ to sin so that we can live righteously, and so that we can have eternal life with God, too. But, this is not a one-time thing here. This is the process of the Christian life.

John 6:51-58 ESV

“I am the living bread that came 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.” 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.”

So many people, if asked, will say that they believe in Jesus. Some of this belief will be intellectual only, or it may be a mere acknowledgment that he existed at one time. Or, it can even be an acknowledgment of his death, his resurrection, his ascension back to heaven, and even of his coming again one day. They may even agree that Jesus is the Son of God, and they may even confess with their mouths that Jesus is their Lord and Savior.

But, Jesus makes it clear in what he said here that our belief in him goes much deeper than just some surface acknowledgment of him, or some one-time decision to believe in him, or some sinner’s prayer that we prayed at one point in our lives. And, the people listening to him understood this, which is why so many who had been following him deserted him at this point, because they said his teaching was too hard.

So, let’s take a moment here to think about Jesus’ words here and what they really mean. Jesus’ blood is what was shed on that cross for us so that we could die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 6:1-23). His flesh is what was put to death on that cross, and went through all that pain and suffering so that we could be rescued from our bodies of death and so that we could live with him for eternity (Rom. 8:1-17; Isaiah 53).

So, Jesus’ blood and flesh represent the death he was about to die for you and for me. When he hung on that cross, he became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Co. 5:21). In his death he put sin to death, and in his resurrection, he conquered sin and death so that we might have life in him, and live for his righteousness.

So, if we feed (feast) on his blood and flesh, this means that we partake (participate) with Christ in his death to sin and in his resurrection to new life. We share in his sufferings and in his death, not just in what he did for us, but in what he requires of us, too. He put sin to death on that cross so that we can put sin to death in our own lives, not just one time, but all the time. We share in his sufferings, too, that we might also share in his holiness, becoming like him.

All this is about us abiding in Christ, walking with him daily, living to him and to his righteousness, repenting of our sins, putting them to death, and walking in victory over darkness and in the light of Christ’s love and truth. For, if we walk (conduct our lives) according to our flesh, we will die in our sins, not live with Christ for eternity. Therefore, we must put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature, and we must put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Col. 3:5-10; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Tit. 2:11-14; Lu. 9:23-25; Gal. 6:7-8).

For Our Nation 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/112351857

Monday, December 3, 2018