agrogersTable of Contents
Joh 6:53-56 ESV 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. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
To consume Jesus’ body means belief and much more. The parachute analogy is appropriate here. A person may generally believe that a parachute can save him. But it does him no good if he doesn’t put it on. And if the plane is crashing, he must trust his life to that parachute and leap from the plane into the unknown.
So too consuming Jesus means much more than simply mental accent to the truth of the Gospel.
1. It means to ‘believe’ in Jesus
Joh 6:47 ESV Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
2. It means to ‘come’ to Jesus
Joh 6:37 ESV All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Joh 6:35-36 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. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
3. It means complete dependence on Jesus
In that we cannot live without food or water, so we cannot live eternally without Jesus’ body and blood. Life can be found in one source only – Jesus.
Joh 6:53 ESV 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.
4. It means to go on believing in Jesus
This is not a one-and-done activity. It involves continuing to believe in Jesus.
Joh 6:54 ESV Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
5. It means more than just ‘belief’
We are to take Jesus life into our own life. We are to identify with him.
Identify with His death
Luk 9:23-26 ESV And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
2Ti 2:11-12 ESV The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;