Consuming Christ for the Nourishment of Eternal Life

Well, thank you for your singing. Please open your Bibles to John chapter 6. We are at the end of this Bread of Life discourse now. the last point Jesus is going to make. If you remember, he began the bread of life discourse declaring that he is the bread of life. That's the main point, which is why it's called that. And then we saw how he taught that only those who the Father has given him will come and partake or eat of him.

And now we finish with Jesus focusing on the eating of that bread of life, the eating of him for that nourishment that is better than physical nourishment. And so as I read, I want you to notice how each verse almost talks about eating and feeding and the implication is nourishment. So let us read the text together in John chapter 6 verses 48 to 59. I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that 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 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 them 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 that's 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 that the fathers ate and died, whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he was taught at Capernaum. Let us pray. well father with your word open up before us with jesus revealed right before our very eyes and i pray god that you'd give us eyes to see and a heart to receive lord it is so easy for us just to simply see the physical before us and be enamored by it and be distracted by it and not see that it's all meant to point to something deeper greater to jesus and the relationship we can have with you if we only eat and be satisfied with him. So Lord, I pray that each one in this room, you would supernaturally work in their hearts and minds to receive the bread of life this morning.

And I pray, God, that you would work in me to teach your word in a way that's understandable and use it to edify the saints and cause the sinners to repent and believe and find joy in Jesus Christ the Lord. So God, help us, for we are needy people, and we are so often dull in spirit. But by your good Holy Spirit, Lord, we know that this can be made effectual for salvation.

So it's to him we rely, and we know that you will do the work you promised to do. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, in the 90s, when I was a boy, I would oftentimes watch sports with my father, and he was one of those sports guys where he would watch a team play even when there's no hope for them to make the playoffs. I think I mentioned that before. The Tigers were awful in the 90s.

I'm from Michigan. I'm sorry to tell you. But the Tigers were awful in the 90s, and he would still watch them day in and day out, even to the end of the season when there's no hope for a playoff run. But the Red Wings were different. The Red Wings in the 90, they were a powerhouse, and they got to the playoffs all the time, and oftentimes they would win their conference, and they even won a few Stanley Cups.

I remember around this time of the year watching, or later in the year, I suppose, I remember watching the Red Wings play all the way to the conference championship, and they won. And the captain, Steve Iserman at the time, the trophy for the conference champs, so you got the conference championship and then you have the Stanley Cup, which is the championship. The trophy for the conference championship was right there.

And he just basically went up, skated, and shook hands with the commissioner or whatever. And then he grabs the trophy as if he really didn't even want to, but he kind of had to. Skated around a little bit with it, and then that was it. And I remember it was very anticlimactic. We just watched this conference champion. We were excited, and he acted like he wasn't very excited for that award there.

And I remember asking my dad, as a young boy, why did he treat it like that, barely kind of focusing on it. And he said, because it's kind of a tradition now at this point where your eyes are set on the Stanley Cup, that you've won that conference and the Red Wings are winning it constantly, and now they're looking to the Stanley Cup. And so they don't want to be distracted, so to speak, with that lesser award, their reward.

And the crowd if you remember would do well to exhibit some sort of philosophy like that Because if you remember Jesus has fed them with the lesser reward so to speak of bread And they are obsessed with that bread. And so obsessed with that bread that they even command or demand of Jesus, if you remember, give us more of this bread, as if the whole purpose for Jesus was to come down on earth and give more physical blessing. and we see the point that Jesus has made is that he is the bread of life and the point of that is that he came to bring something much better that they should put their eyes upon that they were failing to put their eyes upon he contrasts himself with the physical blessings of bread and manna in the wilderness that they were wanting again as Jews and he says I am the bread of life the better that you should seek. And if you remember, just to kind of set the stage, that's not just a them problem that we can read as a dusty textbook and say, we don't have that issue.

Any time that our eyes are focused on the transient, the things that will disappear, we are not satisfied with the eternal that Jesus can give us as the bread of life. And unless if you're super Christian, each one of us struggle in this life to keep our eyes upon Jesus in light of the physical blessings instead of just looking at the physical blessings as if that's all there is. And so this issue that the crowd is facing is the issue we face each and every day.

And so Jesus gives this great contrasting statement at the beginning and again here in verse 48 in our text. He says, I am the bread of life. He's saying, I am better than any physical blessing the Israelites, your fathers, got in the wilderness. Jesus is better than any physical blessing we can receive. And Jesus is going to prove this now at the end of this discourse by teaching that Jesus provides the better nourishment at death.

He's going to teach that Jesus provides better nourishment at presence before we die. and the need to abide with Jesus if we're going to be nourished by the better thing that he's came to give. So let us first see the better nourishment that Jesus provides and how he locates that as he's a better nourishment at death. Look at verses 49 and 51 again. He says, I am the bread of life.

To prove that he's better, he says, your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. But this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. See, you see that contrast there, right? The bread that you're so seeking, Israel, Jews, that your fathers received for 40 years, they ate that bread, that manna, but they died.

You know, and Jesus isn't saying, you know, that didn't matter. Who cares about that blessing? Who cares about that physical blessing in the wilderness? No, that was a great display of God's care for his people to provide a blessing like that to them. But the problem is, is that blessing that God provided did not enable them to live forever. But they all died in the wilderness.

You see, the lack of nourishment that lesser blessing gave to them is revealed in the fact that they died in the wilderness. and the fact is that no matter how much we look and put our eyes upon the things around us the physical blessings that God has given us which is very good and wonderful that will not nourish us unto eternal life not one of them will do that it's never meant to do that it won't do that and so Jesus as he is contrasting his better nourishment with the nourishment of the physical blessings, namely the manna in the wilderness, he says they ate of it, but you got to see they died. In fact, there's something more though than the physical death that they received. If you actually look at the account of the wandering Israelites in the wilderness as they ate the manna for 40 years miraculously by God, they also died spiritually in the wilderness. that, you remember, these are people that murmured all the time, complained all the time.

These are people that when Moses took a little too long on the mountain receiving the good law of God, they built a false god and said, this is our God who has led us out of Egypt. Breaking covenant. This is the same people who, when they sent spies to spy out the land, they heard of how difficult the promised land will be to take, and they disbelieved and they did not want to go.

They wanted to go back to Egypt. This is the same people that the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 3, 16 through 19. He says, obedient, so see, they were unable to enter because of unbelief. So what Jesus is saying is that they were nourished with the bread that you so desperately want, but do you not see that they died physically? And do you not see that that bread did not stop them from dying spiritually, i.e. in wrath to God?

That bread did not enable them to have a close relationship with God, but only judgment befall them. So why, now think of in Jesus' head here, why are you coming to me for wanting something that was not able to give them the full nourishment that they needed? It's the same kind of thought we need to have. Why would I want Jesus to give me a nourishment that does not give me a relationship with him?

Why would I want to accumulate more stuff for me that will eventually just be my physical death and no spiritual life with him? Why would I want such a thing I want more of Jesus is what he highlighting And this is what he contrasts with here moving forward He says that was the nourishment of the manna in the wilderness But look what he says about the nourishment that he provides in verse 51. It's a nourishment.

In verse 51, he says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Oh, I'm sorry, in verse 50, this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die you see they died you eat of this you won't die in verse 51 he even continues he says i am the living bread that came down from heaven and anyone eats this bread he will live forever see that great contrast between the blessings now i know what you're thinking right now i know what you're saying there's been what, 2,000 years of church history of people believing upon Jesus, consuming Jesus, relying upon Jesus, and you know what happened to each one of those people? They all died.

So what does Jesus, what is Jesus, what is John talking about here as he's recording Jesus' words when he says that the greater nourishment I give you is life forever? Well, what he's referring to is the second death. You see, there is this life that we have now in which everyone dies physically, but then you either go to judgment to God and wrath and full fury upon you, which is your second death, that is eternal, or you escape that second death and have life with God eternal.

And so when Jesus says, I'm the nourishment that will give you life forever, he's referring to the fact that even though you may die, you do not die. It's actually a highway to spiritual full life with the Father. That's the nourishment that God can give that the manna could not. We see this second death kind of language in Revelation, which is written by the same author here.

It's worthwhile to look at it. Look at Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. Go there with me, please. this is when all things of all of history is wrapped up and the apostle John highlights the final judgment and he describes it as the second death Revelation 20 verse 11 then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence earth and sky fled away no place was found for them and I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were open.

You understand that you are there. You are before him. Like you need to understand that you will face this right here. Then another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead and all who were in it. In other words you can't hide from this judgment.

Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each of them according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 21 contrasts those who experience the second death and those who don't.

Look at Revelation 21, verses 5 through 8. And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning, the End. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I'll be his God, and he'll be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for the murderers, the sexual immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Interestingly enough, in the beginning of the book of Revelation, in chapter 2, verse 11, Jesus says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. So what's being said here? The fact is that those who are thirsty for the spiritual drink and food that Jesus provides, he will give you the nourishment of life forever. That although you physically might die, it is only a highway to have closeness and union with the Father that will never end.

Life eternal. So this is what Jesus is referring to back in our text. That the manna for the Israelites, the physical blessings, provided life for a time, but it did not provide spiritual life forever to be in closeness with God. But he says, I am the bread that if you eat of me, if you consume of me, if you're hungry and eat, if you're thirsty and drink, you will live forever.

You will be near to God forever. It is a remarkable thing that as Christians we can escape the fear of death. and the reason why death is so scary is because it is the culmination of god's wrath against you unless you eat and consume and are nourished by jesus it becomes a highway to greater relationship and unity with god this is the nourishment that jesus provides for us at death life forever how does jesus he moves on now provide better nourishment how does he do this for us and in verse 51 he describes how he does it he says i am the true living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats this bread he will live forever and here's how he does it and the bread that i will give for the life of the world is my flesh so you got to understand that jesus is making he's taking a physical reality and he's making a very potent spiritual point that they wanted to eat food so badly and he says you need to be eating spiritual food that is what i did and what I going to do in my body and what he saying is how Jesus can give you life forever is is because of what he has done with his flesh the son of God eternal God from before time began he did this remarkable thing that we cannot quite fully comprehend he took on flesh you got to understand how remarkable it is that true God took on true flesh. And then it gets even more remarkable is that in that true flesh, he didn't come and destroy us on our level, right?

You know, like get down on our level so he can just wreck havoc, right? Wrath and death just fully given to us. But the love of our God was revealed in the fact that he took on flesh and he died in that flesh to forgive you of your sins if you would consume him and have life eternal. This is what 1 Peter 2, 24 makes very clear in such a beautiful little one-sentence way.

He says, he that is the Son of God, that is Jesus, he himself bore, he took on our sins in his flesh, or on his body, in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And it's by his wounds you have been healed. so by his wounds you can be healed of your sin and have life eternal with God. Jesus in the flesh died on the cross so that our sins would be cleansed and we would be found righteous.

That is that we would not experience the judgment and second death from the Father. Think about how beautiful this is. How much of our lives we are tempted to complain and worry about the temporary physical blessings that are happening around us. Think about how much energy you put into worrying about all the physical blessings. Am I going to get enough of it?

Will I get what I want? Am I going to be healthy? Is my child going to be healthy? It is endless. But when it is all said and done, the only thing that is going to matter is what Jesus did at Calvary 2,000 years ago. That's all that's ultimately going to matter.

Now, in another sermon, I would say this life does matter and the physical blessings do matter. But ultimately, what matters is not the things that we like to just expend so much energy and worry and anxiety. All that's going to matter when we face the judgment seat of God is what Jesus did 2,000 years ago. And your relation in conjunction with that act of our God. is that your consumption or has the worries and cares for the riches of this world choke that has it choked it out of you has your attention upon what christ has done so that you can escape death but we see moving forward now that it's not just the nourishment jesus gave is better because we escape second death or we escape death we live forever but jesus's nourishment what he gives us by his work is better because he gives us life right now.

It's not just a life that we wait for, although it is, and praise God for that, but it's a life that we receive even today, right now. And this is what he goes into next. But you see, it's kind of set up first before we get to that point. And the way that it's set up is by the confusion of the crowd. The crowd's going to be very confused by what Jesus is saying.

And then Jesus is going to respond to that and really highlight that the nourishment he gives is life now. Now let's look at that confusion first. Look at verse 52. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? They heard what Jesus just said, right? I can give you life by my work on the cross, and all they could hear was, how is he going to give us his flesh to eat?

You see, this crowd is so enamored and obsessed with the physical, that whenever Jesus uses the physical to make a spiritual point, it just is dead on them. And I used to think this is pretty much comedy. It is kind of funny if you read it, right? Like, you know, Jesus is making this powerful spiritual point, and they're like, wait a minute, how are you going to give us your flesh to eat?

It's like they completely misunderstood it. And it's almost funny if it wasn't so utterly tragic. You see, the crowd's inability to understand Jesus' spiritual point revealed to their dead spirit. The fact that they are so ignorant to what he's saying reveals that they are a dead people. Now, they've already been revealing that, right? Give us more food.

And they don't care anything about the spiritual bread that he has to offer. But this is just another example of their inability to even see or understand the spiritual Jesus is referring to because they are spiritually dead. we see in first corinthians chapter 2 12 through 16 that there is spiritual truth or teaching that the dead the spiritually dead just don't understand paul says now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from god that we might understand the things freely given us by god and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. But the natural person, the one who's not spiritual, the one who's dead spiritually, they don't understand or they don't accept the things of the Spirit of God.

For they are folly to him. And he's not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so to instruct him? but praise be to God, we have the mind of Christ. You see, this is a sin problem that we're seeing in the crowd, that they are so spiritually dead that when Jesus makes a spiritual point of life that he can offer by their belief in him, it is completely not understood.

And this is the problem with humanity as a whole. And we've kind of already addressed this, but it's worth addressing again here, is that our issue in sin is that we are then cut off from seeing the full reality of the spiritual world. For example, a spiritual and non-spiritual person can experience the sunrise. Both parties, the one who is consuming Jesus and awakened, and the one who has not and is dead, they can both experience a beautiful sunrise.

And the non, the one who hasn't been nourished by Christ, they say, that's a beautiful sunrise. And it is, it's true. But the one who knows Jesus and is spiritually alive, they say, wow, God, you are amazing. Look how beautiful you are and powerful and majestic and beautiful. You are constant. And they all of a sudden go into this spiritual rapture of worship because they've been awakened to see the spiritual world that is before them.

You know, the atheist will say, I just need more evidence. The fact is, the evidence is there. They're just spiritually dead. That's why they don't see it. Or even what's going on here, right? What are we doing here?

There's a lot of spiritual things, I hope, going on here. But the unbeliever will come in and they yawn. I don't get it. Why would you do that? Why do you sing these old hymns? Why do you open up that old dusty book?

Hopefully it's not dusty, but it's old. Why do you do that? It's because there's spiritual things going on here that the natural person cannot see. and what this crowd is experiencing here is that they have been told this truth spiritual truth and all they can see is the physical how can we eat his flesh we live in a society that has denied the spiritual even exist and then wonder why everyone is miserable and depressed the spiritual is a major component of our existence and to deny it or not understand it is a fatal flaw and the reason for our misery.

The people's inability to understand Jesus is not Jesus's fault and it's not comedy, it's straight up tragic. They are spiritually dead. So how does Jesus respond to that? Well, I want you to notice two things in the way Jesus responds, okay? The first thing I want you to notice is that Jesus does not stop talking spiritual truths in physical ways that's making them scratch their head.

In fact, he exemplifies it. He's using that physical thing of eating to make that spiritual point, and they're saying, how am I going to eat you? And he doesn't say, okay, okay, you don't get it. Let me change tactics and stop teaching that way. He actually exemplifies it or he furthers it. And then the second thing I want you to notice is that in intensifying his language, he also reveals that the nourishment that he can provide by eating him is life that he can give the crowd now, which would overcome their hardness of heart, inability to understand, their dullness in their spirit.

Life is not just in the future, but it's now, which is exactly what this crowd needs. Look at what he says in verses 53 through 55. Look at his response. He says, so Jesus said to them, after they show their ignorance, truly, truly, I say to you, and look at the how he exemplifies or how his language gets even more intense 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'll raise them up on the last day for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink jesus just makes it even more intense because he's revealing you need me desperately to consume me with everything within you he intensifies that language to reveal you are so dead and the only way you can wake up is if you consume me and eat me showing the nearness and closeness we need to have with jesus if we're going to have life at all but i want you to notice how the nourishment goes from in the future to actually a nourishment of life now do you notice that Look again at what he says So Jesus said to them in verse 53 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.

And so the point that Jesus is making at this point is it's not just life that you'll have forever, but it's a life that you can have now that can then overcome your dullness of spirit and make you alive, and you wouldn't be saying goofy things like, how can we have his flesh to eat? You would actually be awakened to the spiritual things around you. You wouldn't be dull to it of what's going on around you.

And this has to be encouraging to you. It has to be encouraging for you, for anyone who struggles with spiritual dullness. If you are an unbeliever, you are spiritually dead. If you are a believer in Christ, you have officially become someone who struggles with spiritual dullness. And it's encouraging for us. You can open up the scriptures and all you see are words on a page.

You go to church and if you were to be honest, you could think of a million other things you'd rather be doing. Things that used to be so filled with spiritual vibrancy and life. You saw God everywhere. And now all you see is what's simply before you. Jesus Christ has the nourishment of life now. When you consume him.

Do you know that's a promise for you? You who are struggling. Me who struggles with spiritual lethargy. That his nourishment begins now. When you consume him. Not just the future.

Although blessed be him. It is the future when we escape judgment. But he can give you the nourishment of spiritual life. Now. No matter what your situation is. You have the son of God. who has done all things well in the flesh to provide you spiritual life, spiritual nourishment, the greater now.

Because, he says in verse 55, my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. What he's saying there is he's saying what your forefathers got in the wilderness, that wasn't true food and drink. It was food and drink. It was great, wonderful, beautiful, what God did for them. But you want true, eternal, spiritual food and drink? I am he.

And you need to consume me in order to receive that life. And it starts now. Now, this is a good transition to Jesus' last point that he's going to make here, and that is how do you know if you are nourished by Jesus now? How can you know if you are nourished by Jesus right now? How can you know if you have life right now? What does it look like?

And what we see moving forward to finish off is the need to abide with Jesus if we are to be nourished by him. We can know that we are truly being nourished by Christ and having life now as if we are abiding with Jesus right now. Look what he says in verses 56 and 57. He says, Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me. Underline that word abides.

That's his new main point there. And I abide with him. And as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he will also live because of me. Jesus is saying, as I am here and I have perfect life in union with the Father, so when you consume and abide with me, you receive that same life with the Father that will last into eternity, forever escaping judgment.

And so the word becomes abide. How do you know if you're nourishing Jesus and having life right now? Are you abiding with Jesus? do you abide with him abide means to continue to remain to dwell to not leave to remain with him to eat and drink jesus means to continue to abide remain in faith and trust to him think of it like you are think about like stranded at the sea okay In the ocean you about to die because you cannot float above the water much longer, you're exhausted.

In the Navy, I had to be tested for it, I lasted like seven minutes and I almost died. I would not last in sea. Let's say you're out there for a couple hours, you're tired, you're about to die, death is all around you, but then all of a sudden a buoy just randomly appears. You think about how hard are you going to grab hold of that buoy? How hard are you going to grab hold in your exhaustion that buoy is going to keep you up?

And imagine on that buoy there's like a walkie-talkie that you can, or whatever it would be, and you actually can call for help. And they know exactly that location. They say, we'll be there in two hours. Are you going to go off that buoy anytime soon? No, because surely going off that buoy, there's death waiting for you. And so we need to understand that abiding in Jesus means that I know that everywhere else there's death, and so I'm going to grab hold of faith, in faith in Jesus, to Jesus in Christ, and not let go.

Because there's certain death if I do. To abide with Jesus is to remain to him, to cling to him, to not leave him, as he will not leave you to be near to him. For your Christ is the only hope for survival and life with the Father. 1 John 4, 13-16. Go back there. Just go back to 1 John.

Or go to 1 John real quick. Go to chapter 4, verses 13-16. Again, we're in the same author there. And he talks about this abide word he uses several times in this letter. And we'll get a flavor of what it looks like to abide with Christ. he says in 1 John 4 13 through 16 he says by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit and we have seen and testified that the father has sent his son to be the savior of the world and so whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God God abides in him and he in God so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us God is love and whoever abides in his love abides in God and God abides in him.

Notice what we do in order to abide in Jesus. We do not physically eat his body or anything weird like that. To abide in Christ means that we confess him to be the son of God, the savior of the world. The one who can take care of our sins and forgive us of our iniquities. So to begin to abide in Jesus, you must confess your sin, confess that you are a sinner and deserving of wrath and say, Jesus is the only way that my wrath can be done away with.

He is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Savior of the world. Cry out for the Spirit to come and give you understanding to your dullness of heart. Confess that Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God, that can cause you to abide with the Father forever and believe that they have revealed love to you in Jesus Christ and not judgment and not to push you away believe that Jesus has offered to you for salvation but then abiding with Jesus is the initial blessed act of repenting of your sins and believing upon him saying I no longer will live in my sins but I will follow the Lord and this is what John says in 1 John 3 24 he says whoever keeps his commandments that is Jesus's abides in God and God in him and by this we know that he abides in us by the spirit whom he has given us you see the spirit not only allows us to awaken to our sinful condition to see the son of God and say he's my only hope but then he allows us he enables us to say and I will follow him and obey him forever.

This is what it means to abide in Jesus The one abiding in Jesus is the one who daily relies on the Holy Spirit to turn away from sin and turn to new mercies renewed each day in the Son of God. Are you abiding with Jesus? And it's by the same gracious power that you strive to obey Jesus and all of his wonderful commands he has for you. And when you fail, guess what happens?

It's beautiful. The cycle begins anew, over again. Oh, Lord, forgive me of my sins. Give me life, please. Cause me to walk in your ways because of the mercies of Jesus. And then he promises to help you.

And when you fall again, guess what happens? It happens again. It goes around and around. Until finally, one day, at judgment, He says, welcome my son, my daughter, and you go into the eternal kingdom. Is your life a pursuit of the things of this world? Surely there's many blessings around to be had.

Or is your life a pursuit of Jesus, enabled by his grace? Whether you have never consumed Christ for spiritual life, or you have but have become distracted with the things of this world, hear the words of Jesus and believe and live. 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.

Let us pray. Oh God, thank you for Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you God that in a life in which it's so easy for us to be distracted with the things of this world, we have Christ Jesus beckoning us to come to him. Lord and he beckons us not as an act of judgment wagging his finger at us but as an act of grace and mercy he offers his hand for help Lord would you help none of us here be distracted by the worries of this world by the blessings that you've given us in this world but yet we treat it like as if it's everything to us would you help us to repent of the sin of idolatry would you help us to see that our only hope of life is not found in these things that are temporary that will be gone the moment after we breathe our last but our only hope for life is to be near and close to abide with you oh father and you've done all things well in jesus christ for he has offered himself to forgive us of our sins and awaken us to this spiritual wealth of life we can have in him.

Oh Lord, awaken us. For there are those before me, I'm sure, who have never done this. And they, even now, are living as if the world is everything that they need. But yet they find themselves miserable each day and they wonder why. Would you cause them to see it's because they don't have Christ and they're missing the main ingredient of their whole existence, that is to enjoy you forever in him?

And Lord, would you help those who are believers in you, are followers of you, but yet have fallen into sin? They have believed the lie of Satan for a moment, that their true happiness is found in disobedience and the things of this world. And would you cause them to look up and see not an angry Savior, but a loving Savior who has given up himself for those sins so that as they believe upon him, they're strengthened to follow him and obey him and receive the life of being near to you because of his power.

Oh, Lord, we thank you for these good things we have laid up for us in Jesus. And let us rejoice in those things, even as we repent of our sins and follow him today, this week, and into the future, all the way to judgment when you will say, Welcome, son and daughter. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.