Unless You Eat My Flesh and Drink My Blood - Jesus' Most Outrageous Sayings Part 5

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
You know, one of the great things about going to the
Holy Land is you get to see allthe places up close that you
have read about in the Bible forso long.
And it kind of makes your Biblereading come alive.
It kind of makes it becomethree-dimensional when you come
back.
One of my favorite places in theHoly Land is found on the
northern shore of the Sea ofGalilee.

(00:25):
It's a little town calledTogpha.
And here, years ago, excavatorsfound a church from the 4th
century A.D.
So today, almost 1,600 yearsold.
And when they unearthed all therubble underneath, they found a
mosaic floor that was there fromthe original building of the
church that was still intact.

(00:45):
The focal point of that mosaicfloor is what I'm going to show
you on the screen now.
And you say, Lon, what is that?
It looks like two fish and likea basket of something.
Well, that's right.
It's a basket of bread becausethis is the site where Jesus
took two fish and five littleloaves of bread and fed the
5,000.
And we're going to talk aboutthat today because it was right

(01:08):
here in connection with thismiracle that Jesus said one of
the most outrageous thingsanybody has ever said.
Remember, we're doing a seriescalled Jesus's Most Outrageous
Sayings.
We've covered four already.
Remember what we're doing.
We're going through the NewTestament, looking at the most
radical things Jesus ever saidand spending a week on each one,

(01:32):
asking the question, well, sowhat?
And if you missed any of thosefour, you can pick up the tape
or the CD in the bookstore.
Today, we're ready foroutrageous saying number five.
And so if you brought yourBible, I'd like to ask you to
open it to John chapter six,Matthew, Mark, Luke, John in the
New Testament, chapter six.
If you did not bring your Bible,I want you to reach under the

(01:53):
armrest right next to yourchair.
If you're here in our mainauditorium and you'll find a
copy of the Bible, we're goingto be on page 755, page 755 in
our copy, John six, in yourcopy, and we're going to start
right at the beginning of thechapter, verse 1.
So here we go.
John chapter 6, verse 1.
Sometime after this, Jesuscrossed to the far shore, that

(02:17):
is to the northern shore of theSea of Galilee, where Togpah is
today, and a great crowdfollowed him because they saw
the miracles he had performedfor the sick.
Verse 5.
And when Jesus saw the greatcrowd, he said to Philip, where
shall we buy bread for all thesepeople to eat?
Verse 7.
Philip said, Lord, what are youkidding?
Eight months wages would not buyenough bread for every one of

(02:41):
these people to have a bite.
Verse 8.
Another of his disciples,Andrew, spoke up and said, well,
you know, there's a boy herewith five barley loaves and two
small fish.
But Lord, how far will this goamong so many people?
Verse 10.
Jesus said, have the people sitdown.
So the men sat down, about 5,000of them.

(03:02):
And Jesus took the loaves andgave thanks.
And distributed to those whowere seated as much as they
wanted.
He did the same with the fish.
Gave them as much as theywanted.
And when everybody had hadenough, all they could eat, He
said to the disciples, Gatherthe pieces that are left over.
And they filled twelve basketsfull with the pieces left over.

(03:26):
Now you understand, of course,what happened here.
Jesus took those five littleloaves of bread and those two
fish.
And He prayed and He said,Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu.
Or, Or, And after blessing thefood, Jesus started handing out

(03:50):
pieces of bread and fish to thecrowd.
He kept on handing it out moreand more and more until there
was so much food that nobodycould eat anymore.
As a matter of fact, the Greekword here that we translated
everybody at had enoughliterally means they had gorged
themselves.
These people porked out, if youunderstand what I mean.

(04:12):
And there were still 12 basketsof food left over.
Well, I can relate.
Maybe you can.
You know, I took a cruise withmy wife a number of years ago.
And the thing I love about thesecruises are the meals.
Because you can get as much asyou want.
And so one night we had lobstertail and filet mignon for

(04:32):
dinner.
And I had cut through the casinoon the way to dinner and watched
all the people for a momentplaying blackjack.
And so every time my plate gotempty, I knew exactly what to
say to the waiter.
I just said, hit me again.
Hit me again.
Hit me again.
I had five complete meals oflobster tail and filet mignon.

(04:53):
I had dessert too that night, Iwant you to know.
And I walked out of therefiguring I had had somewhere in
the range of$200 worth of food,maybe more.
And I felt like I had beat thehouse Do you understand what I'm
saying?
It was wonderful.
Well, I don't know if you'relike I am, but when somebody is
offering me free food, myappetite, I find, kind of just

(05:14):
jacks up about six levels.
And these people Jesus wasfeeding were the exact same way.
Jesus is offering them anall-you-can-eat buffet, and they
sat down and ate until theyliterally could not hold any
more food.
The only reason that Jesusstopped handing out bread and
fish is because nobody could eatany more.
He could have fed 5,000 millionpeople if he wanted to that day.

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You say, Lon, how do you explainthat?
Friends, I don't explain it.
It's a miracle.
It's a suspension of the naturallaws of nature in this world.
And you know what?
God made those natural laws soif Jesus is indeed God in human
flesh the way he claimed to be,for him to decide to suspend
them is not a problem for me.
Maybe it's a problem for you.

(05:59):
It's not a problem for me.
It's a miracle, pure and simple.
Now, that evening, Jesus walkeda few hundred yards down the
shore of the Sea of Galilee tohis headquarters town,
Capernaum, and spent the nightthere.
Verse 24, and in the morningwhen the crowd realized Jesus
was not in Togpah anymore, theywent to Capernaum in search of

(06:21):
Jesus.
And Jesus said when they foundhim, you're looking for me
because you ate the loaves andhad your fill.
Jesus said, I know why you'relooking for me.
You want more food.
Do not work for the food thatspoils Jesus But for the food
that endures to eternal life,which I, the Son of Man, will
give you.

(06:41):
Jesus said, work for the foodthat will bring you eternal
life.
In other words, you should bemore concerned about the food
that gives eternal life, guys,than you are about the food that
gives physical life.
And this is not the first timeJesus has ever said this.
He said in Matthew 16, what goodis it if a man gains the whole
world and loses his own soul?

(07:02):
But the people here were notsure what Jesus said.
They were a little confused.
They said to him, how do we dothis?
And what do we have to do towork for this kind of, what kind
of work do we have to do forthis eternal life food?
So Jesus answers and says, verse29, the work of God for this
eternal life food is this, tobelieve in me, the one whom God

(07:25):
has sent.
How do you work for the foodthat endures to eternal life?
Jesus said, what do you have todo to get eternal life?
Jesus said, it's very simple.
You have to Look down at verse40.
Jesus said, everyone whobelieves in me shall have
eternal life.
Look down at verse 47.
Jesus said, the person whobelieves in me has eternal life.

(07:48):
But friends, the problem is thatthis word believe is one of
those easy to misunderstand whatit really means words.
I mean, what kind of believingexactly does a person have to do
in order to activate Jesus'spromise of eternal life?
Well, Jesus goes on to answerthat question.
He uses the miracle of thebread, the multiplying of the

(08:11):
bread.
He uses that as a teaching toolto explain to these people what
kind of believing they've got tohave.
Watch now.
He says, verse 48, I am thebread of life.
I am the living bread that camedown from heaven.
If anyone eats this bread, me,he will live forever.
This bread is my flesh, which Iwill give for the life of the

(08:34):
world.
Verse 52, then the Jews began toargue sharply among themselves,
saying, how can this man give ushis flesh to eat?
And Jesus said to them, verse53, here it comes, one of the
most outrageous things thatanybody has ever said.
Verse 53, Jesus said, unless youeat the flesh of the Son of Man,

(08:55):
meaning himself, and drink hisblood, you have no eternal life
in you.
Verse 54, whoever eats my fleshAnd drinks my blood has eternal
life.
And I will raise that person upat the last day for my flesh is
real food and my blood is realdrink.

(09:19):
You say, wow, Lon, that's kindof a really weird thing for
somebody to say.
In fact, Lon, that's kind of adisturbing thing for somebody to
say.
Well, you're right.
In fact, you're not the firstgroup of people to feel that
way.
You're not the first group ofpeople to have trouble with what
Jesus said here.
You know, between the death ofJesus in 33 A.D.

(09:40):
or so and the conversion ofEmperor Constantine in 312 A.D.
during those 300 years, as youknow, the Roman Empire
persecuted Christiansmercilessly, tortured them,
killed them.
And one of the excuses, one ofthe justifications that the
Roman government gave for why itwas doing this is that it said

(10:01):
that Christians were cannibalsbased on this verse right here
in John chapter 6.
It accused the Christians in theRoman Empire of getting together
in their secret clandestinemeetings and eating the flesh
and drinking the blood of oneanother, especially their own
children.
And they told the Roman citizensat large, if you allow these

(10:24):
Christians to survive and youallow them to gain power,
they're going to take yourchildren.
They're going to eat yourchildren, too.
That's why we're killing them.
You say, well, that'sridiculous.
That isn't what Jesus Jesusisn't talking about being a
cannibal here.
Well, I know.
So what is he talking about?
You say, well, I know what he'stalking about.
It's easy.
He's talking about communion.

(10:45):
He's talking about theEucharist.
He's talking about the Lordsuffer where we symbolically eat
his flesh and where wesymbolically drink his blood.
Isn't that right?
No, that's not right.
You say, why not?
Well, friends, look, whateverJesus is talking about here,
when he said, eat my flesh anddrink my blood, whatever he

(11:07):
means, it's clear that thepeople standing here in front of
him in John chapter six could doit right then and there, right
at that moment.
Well, you know what?
The Eucharist and communionhadn't been invented yet.
It happened at the Lord'sSupper, which is a couple of
years down the road.
They couldn't take the Lord'sSupper standing here.
The Lord's Supper didn't exist.

(11:27):
That is not what Jesus istalking about.
You say, wow.
Well, if that isn't what he'stalking about, then what is he
talking about?
Well, let me explain that toyou.
Follow me carefully now here.
Look at the connection Jesusmakes.
In verse 29, in verse 40, and inverse 47, we just saw it, Jesus

(11:48):
Believe in me and you will haveeternal life.
Correct?
Okay.
Now, in verse 54, Jesus says inthe same chapter, eat my flesh
and drink my blood and you willhave eternal life.
The point is, whatever Jesusmeans by eating his flesh and
drinking his blood, it issynonymous in Jesus's mind with

(12:12):
believing in him.
Or to put it in other words,Jesus uses this phrase, eat my
flesh and drink my blood.
to explain to these peoplestanding there, to elucidate for
them, to amplify for them, toclarify for them exactly what
kind of believing he's talkingabout, exactly what kind of

(12:33):
believing you and I have to doin order to activate God's
promise of eternal life.
Does everybody see that?
Y'all see that?
You sure?
Because I'll go back and startover.
We all see that.
Okay.
Now, you say, Lon, I do seethat, but that leaves me with
one other question.

(12:54):
And my other question is, ready?
One, two, three.
So what?
Ron, so what?
I see that.
I follow your thinking, but Idon't understand what difference
in the world does that make tome?
How does that touch my life atall?
Let's talk about that for amoment.
Remember what I said earlier.

(13:14):
I said earlier that the wordbelieve is one of those easy to
misunderstand what it reallymeans words.
You see, Jesus knew that one ofthe ways of understanding the
word believe is to understand itas strictly a head thing, as
strictly a an intellectualthing.
In other words, a person couldstand around and say, look, I

(13:35):
believe that Jesus was born.
I believe that Jesus was the Sonof God.
I believe that Jesus died on thecross.
I believe that Jesus is theSavior of the world.
In other words, I believe allthat in my head.
But friends, that isn't the kindof believing that Jesus is
talking about here in John 6.

(13:55):
That isn't the kind of believingthat brings people eternal life.
That is not saving things.
That is not redeeming faith.
Jesus said I'm talking about akind of believing.
Follow me now.
That's like eating.
You say, Alon, I don't get it.
What do you mean by that?
Well, when we eat food, what dowe do with food?

(14:16):
We ingest it.
We digest it.
We absorb it.
We take it not just into ourhead, but we take it into our
very being.
We assimilate it.
We break it down and wedistribute it to every cell in
our body.
It gives life to every cell inour body and it becomes an
inseparable, indistinguishablepart of us.

(14:40):
That's what we do with food.
the point is that ourrelationship with food is not an
intellectual relationship ourrelationship with food is an
experiential relationship anintensely personal relationship
Now, at least it is for me.
I love food.
I've had a weight problem all mylife.

(15:01):
I was raised in a dysfunctionalfamily and I learned to eat my
pain away.
You know, I remember one time Iwas watching The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson and EdMcMahon.
And, you know, Johnny was alwaysskinny and Ed was always not
skinny.
And they were talking aboutthis.
Ed was on another diet.
And Johnny turns to him andsays, Ed, you know what your

(15:24):
problem is?
I'll tell you.
There are two kinds of people inthe world, Ed.
There are people who eat tolive.
That's me.
And then there are people wholive to eat, Ed.
That's you.
And that's why you have a weightproblem.
Well, could I just tell you, I,Lon Solomon, am in the same
category as Ed McMahon.
I live to eat.

(15:44):
You know, as soon as I getthrough with breakfast, I start
thinking, what's for lunch?
And the minute I get throughwith lunch, I'm thinking, what
are we doing for dinner?
And after I eat dinner, when Igo to bed, I'm already planning
breakfast.
Now, Maybe you're not like I am,but that's how I am.
And that's why 15 years ago, Iballooned up to 215 pounds, 35
pounds more than I am today.

(16:05):
And so I decided I was going tolose 35 pounds.
Wow.
Was that hard?
Oh, my gosh.
I tried every kind of diet youcould think of.
I tried the slim, fast shakes,you know, those things.
And, you know, actually, I foundout they weren't all that bad.
In fact, they go great withnachos.
I found out that They werewonderful.

(16:29):
So anyway.
Then I tried one of thesestarving yourself with one meal
a day sort of diets, you know,where you cut out all snacks,
all junk food, all sweets.
And I had a friend, she told me,she said, you know, Lon, after a
week, you won't even noticeyou're hungry.
Well, that's not true.

(16:50):
Friends, after a week, I washallucinating after a week.
And by God's wonderful grace,right at that moment in time, I
had the doorbell ringing and atthe front door was a Girl Scout
selling cookies.
And I said, And I said to her,ooh, young lady, I think you're
going to win the trip to NewYork right here today.

(17:10):
Now, why did my weight go to 215pounds?
Why did I have to put myselfthrough that?
Let me tell you why.
Because I do not have anintellectual relationship with
food.
Who wants an intellectualrelationship with food?

(17:31):
I mean, you can sit at a tableand say, wow, I purchased the
food.
I prepared the food.
I smell the food.
I see the food.
I can touch the food.
I know the food would tastegood.
But friends, all of that's inyour head.
For the food to do you any good,what do you got to do?
You got to eat it, which I'mgood at.
You know what Jesus said?

(17:52):
Jesus said, you want to believecorrectly?
This is exactly what you got todo with me.
You can look around all day andsay, I know Jesus came.
I know he died on the cross.
I know he was the Savior.
I know his blood paid for me.
But friends, until you eat that,until you ingest that, until you
digest that, until youassimilate it into every part of
your being and make it aninseparable part of you, Jesus

(18:14):
says, you have not believed theway it takes to get eternal
life.
And that's why Jesus talkedabout eating his flesh and
drinking his blood.
He was trying to communicate tothose people and to us what the
kind of believing is you and Ihave got to do to really grab
eternal life.
We've got to take Jesus in theway we take food in.

(18:38):
Now let me say, if you're heretoday and you've never trusted
Jesus in a real and personalway, this is really important
for you to know what I'm sayinghere today.
You can go to church all yourlife.
You can read your Bible all yourlife.
You can go through everysacrament in the world.
You can sit around all day andconfess with your head that
Jesus did everything the Biblesays He did.
But until you ingest Him, digestHim, assimilate Him, and make

(19:02):
Him an inseparable part of yourbeing and your life, until it
gets that personal You have notbelieved in the way that brings
eternal life.
This is why here at McLean BibleChurch, we talk about having a
personal relationship with JesusChrist.
This is why we talk aboutinviting Jesus personally into
your life, taking him in likefood.

(19:26):
And if you've never done that,my friend, it's a simple thing
to do.
Maybe nobody's ever told you youneeded to do that.
Well, I'm telling you heretoday, I'm not telling you.
Jesus is telling you.
He wants you to get to the placewhere you can say Jesus isn't
the Savior.
He's my Savior.
Jesus wants to get you to theplace where you say He didn't
die for the world's sins.

(19:47):
He died for my sins.
Jesus wants to get you to theplace where you don't say Jesus
came to redeem the world.
Uh-uh.
He came to redeem me.
Because I have taken Him insideof me, ingested Him into my
life, assimilated Him into mybeing.
I'm His now and He's mine.
We're so separate You can't tellone from the other anymore.

(20:09):
If you've never done that, myfriends, I urge you.
I urge you to do that.
All you have to do is bow yourhead, close your eyes in a few
minutes when we're done and askJesus to come in like food.
Now, you know, though, if you'rehere and you're a follower of
Christ, there's somethingwonderful in John chapter 6 for
you and me as well.
And that is, here in Johnchapter 6, Jesus tells us that

(20:31):
he intends this kind ofintimate, personal ingestion,
connection of Christ, not justto be a salvation experience
that people have, but rather heintends this to be an everyday
experience for every follower ofJesus Christ.
And how does he make that point?
He makes it by comparing himselfto the manna that the Israelites

(20:56):
ate in the wilderness in the OldTestament.
Watch verse 49.
Jesus says your forefathers atemanna in the wilderness and they
died.
But I am the living manna.
I am the living bread that camedown from heaven.
Remember in the Old Testament,Exodus 16, God would drop manna

(21:16):
from heaven every single day forthe Israelites to eat and they
would go out and gather it everysingle day.
And remember the story.
Sometimes there were Israeliteswho tried to store a bunch of it
up and it wouldn't store.
No matter how much you stored itor how well you stored it, the
next day it was always moldy androtten and smelly.
In other words, God was tryingto teach the Israelites a point.

(21:39):
He was trying to teach them youcan't live on yesterday's manna.
You need fresh manna everysingle day.
And that very same thing is truefor us as followers of Jesus
Christ.
Just remember the story.
Just as the Israelites had togather fresh manna every single
day, as followers of Christ,friends, we have to ingest a
fresh supply of Jesus, theliving manna, into our lives

(22:04):
every day if we want to bespiritually healthy.
As followers of Christ, we can'tlive on yesterday's manna
either.
We need a fresh filling of theHoly Spirit every day.
We need a fresh experience withthe living God every day.
We need to eat a fresh meal fromGod's Word every day to get the

(22:26):
strength we need to love ourspouse, to love our children, to
live biblically, to actrighteously, to hate sin, to
love righteousness, to pursuepersonal holiness.
If we don't feed ourselves onfresh manna every day, let me
tell you what happens.
We become like old Samson.
You remember him in the Bible,the guy with the long hair?

(22:47):
You know, Samson's problem wasevery once in a while he would
And in between, he would try torun on fumes.
And as a result, his lifedemonstrated the kind of
spiritual instability, the kindof spiritual inconsistency, the
kind of spiritual failure thatcomes from only eating spiritual

(23:09):
food on an occasional basis.
Remember what Jesus said in theLord's Prayer.
He said, give us this day ourwhat?
He didn't say weekly, did he?
He didn't say monthly.
He didn't say quarterly or twicea year bread, did he?
Give us our daily bread.
And friends, if you're here andyou're a follower of Christ

(23:30):
today, the comparison Jesusmakes with manna is critical.
He's trying to tell you and methat we need, just like the
Israelites did, to go out and weneed that intimate, personal
eating of Christ every day inour life as well.
We can't be like NASCARChristians who try to run on

(23:50):
fumes to the last possiblemoment.
Friends, in the written Word ofGod, the Bible, Jesus serves up
spiritual manna every day and weneed to be eating it every day.
On our knees in prayer, Jesusserves up His personal presence
and power to us every day and weneed to be ingesting that every
single day.

(24:10):
And so as we close today, ifyou're a follower of Christ
here, I've got a question foryou.
My question is, how is yourdaily time with the Lord?
You say, all on.
Now, buddy, you've gone frompreaching to meddling, friend.
Well, that's my job.
My job is to meddle in yourlife.

(24:31):
That's why you come here is forme to meddle in your life.
And if I'm stepping on yourtoes, well, God bless you, it's
probably because you're in thewrong place.
That's my job.
So let me go back to myquestion.
How is your daily time with theLord?
How is your daily Bible reading,your daily prayer time, your
daily connection with JesusChrist.

(24:53):
My question is, are you runningon new fresh manna every day?
Or friends, are you trying torun on yesterday's manna?
Last week's manna?
Last month's manna?
Last year's manna?
Well, if your life as a followerof Christ exhibits spiritual
instability, if your life as afollower of Christ exhibits

(25:15):
spiritual inconsistency, if itexhibits spiritual failure more
than you want, I can tell youone of the reasons why that's
probably true.
It's probably because you're notrunning on fresh manna every
single day.
And you know, there's a lot offolks who come to church once a
week and they try to take in allthe manna they need for the
whole week.

(25:36):
They try to put it in a big jug.
You know, here's Monday's lawn,Tuesday's lawn, Wednesday's
lawn, Thursday's lawn.
And friends, that won't work.
That gets rotten and smelly andbad.
You can't run on Sunday's mannaon Thursday.
You can't do that.
And I really find there are somany of us as followers of

(25:58):
Christ who get so much in ahurry and our priorities get so
out of whack and we have so muchpressing in on us that the thing
we sacrifice is the thing weneed the most, which is a fresh
pot of manna every day from theLord Jesus.
Otherwise, the rest of itdoesn't get done right.
And so I want to challenge youhere.

(26:19):
I want to remind you thatabiding in Christ is a
moment-by-moment, day-by-dayexperience.
And if you don't do it that way,your Christian experience and my
Christian experience will notwork right.
So I want to challenge you totake a hard look at your
priorities here today, a hardlook at your schedule here
today, because I suspect thatfor many of us, we need a course

(26:42):
correction in our schedule, acourse correction in our
priorities.
This is a nutty town.
This town goes a thousand milesan hour.
You know that.
I know that.
And if you're not careful, thepace of life in this town will
rob you of the manna you needevery day to live in a
successful way for Christ.
Don't let that happen, friends.

(27:03):
That's what Samson did.
And you know, he met Delilah.
You don't want to meet Delilahin your life.
Whatever he or she looks like,or it looks like.
The way to do that is stayconnected with Jesus daily.
So I want us to take a moment.
Let's bow our heads, if we will.
Let's close our eyes.
And if you need to do businesswith God in these couple of

(27:25):
moments, I want you to do it.
If you're here and you're not afollower of Christ and you want
to take Jesus into your lifelike food today, this is your
moment.
You tell the Lord that.
You invite Him in.
And if you're here today andyou're a follower of Christ and
you need a course correction inyour schedule and your
priorities, then you take amoment and tell God that and ask

(27:45):
for His help in beginning thatchange starting tomorrow
morning.
Let's take a moment and talk tothe Lord.
Lord Jesus, remind us what yousaid in John 15.

(28:30):
of real spiritual value.
Lord, those are haunting wordswhen you live in Washington.
When you live with the pace oflife that we live, to take the
time every day to abide inChrist, to take the time every
day to spend time in the Word ofGod and in prayer and eating

(28:50):
fresh manna is a challenge, abig challenge.
But Lord, You know, it'sinteresting to me that the Bible
never changes.
You don't change your rules forpeople who live in Washington.
Your rules are the same.
Abide in you and you'll abide inus.

(29:10):
And so I pray today that many ofus here, this will be the
beginning of a whole new way ofliving.
A whole new lifestyle and awhole new schedule.
One that has fresh manna everyday as the non-negotiable event
of the day.
Everything else can go, but notthat.

(29:33):
Lord Jesus, teach us that wecan't live on yesterday's manna.
Lord, help us to stop trying.
And crown our lives as we dolive on fresh manna with the joy
and the power that you want togive us each and every day as
your representatives in thistown.
Change our life because we werehere today, Lord.

(29:55):
Change the very way we live.
And we pray these things inJesus' name.
And God's people said, Amen.
Thanks for being here.
Bless you guys.
See you.