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         John 6:51-58
      (Sermon for the week of August 20th)

Gospel
Jn 6:51-58

Jesus said to the crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.

”The Jews quarreled among themselves,
saying,“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,“Amen, amen, I say to you,unless you eat the 
flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life 
within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal 
life,and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true 
food,and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks 
my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father 
sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one 
who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread 
that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and 
still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

SERMON:

This Gospel message needs to first have a written act of 
Thanksgiving before I begin this sermon. "Lord Jesus, thank you 
for your sacrifice in order to cover my unrighteousness, Lord 
thank you for suffering an unbelievably painful torture and 
crucifixion by this world in order to save those who would have 
the courage and faith to learn what You did and why You did it. 
Lord thank you. Lord thank you for the right of communion."

In these verses, Jesus is announcing to the CROWD OF PEOPLE (plenty
of witnesses here) the same instruction that he gave to us at the 
Last Supper which is an event that HAS NOT taken place yet. This 
is another instruction of communion given by the Messiah, Jesus 
Christ. It is an instruction to make those realize who dare to hear 
that Jesus is the one who gave the Jews in the desert the 
manna to eat AND it is Jesus who was the One who gave the Jews 
the instructions of the Passover. Jesus in the verse we just read 
is foreshadowing the event that will grant believers eternal life, 
the event Jesus is foreshadowing will come soon...His crucifixion.

There is a lot to talk about in this one chapter of John, so I want 
to talk about just two important points in this one short reading: 
the significance of the blood and flesh and the right of taking 
communion.

First, why is Jesus speaking about blood and bread as flesh? 
The Jews in this verse who are listening to Jesus hear Him give 
an order to eat His flesh and blood and are put off by His 
words. These people are thinking "Who is this man...Jesus"? 
They fail to remember that Jesus just fed 5,000 people with 2 
loaves and 5 fish the day before and thousands witnessed this 
miracle with the Twelve Apostles.

BUT remember that the Twelve Apostles have not yet sat and had 
the Last Supper with our Lord. The Jews listening to Jesus fail 
to recognize Jesus as the One who gave the instructions of the 
Passover. In the book of Exodus, Passover was an 
instruction to the Jews that if followed, prevented the 
Angel of Death from killing the firstborn by "passing" over their 
house and not killing the firstborn inside that house. 
The blood on the doorway was the mark that the Angel of Death saw, 
recognized, and promptly passed over. The flesh of the sacrificial 
lamb was feasted on in order to give them strength for their 
upcoming ordeal.

I wonder how many of the Jews present which we read about in 
John 6 realized who Jesus was when they listened to Him that day. 
Would we know to recognize Him today if we heard these same words?

THE BLOOD
Christ's blood symbolizes the blood covering of Jesus's sacrifice 
which was shed at the crucifixion. Jesus is the Son of God who is 
the first manifestation of the Father. Jesus who is the Creator 
of all things seen and unseen, saw that all men and women could 
not follow the 10 Commandments PERFECTLY and thus could not enter 
heaven because of their unrighteousness. The Pharisees and 
Sadducees were the religious righteous of their day and they 
weren't getting into heaven because they were not worthy. 
Our Lord poured his Own blood out on this earth so that His blood 
could serve as the ultimate and final blood sacrifice in order 
to cover all of our past, present and future sins as long as we 
"believeth" or act in faith"ing" in Jesus. Our works are nothing 
without Him, we are nothing without Him, and we surely are not 
getting into heaven without Him!

The blood of Jesus covers your sin so that the Father can 
see you...the Father cannot see unrighteousness and without the 
covering of your sin by the Blood of the Son of God whose name is 
Jesus...you are unseen and unrighteous. 
TAKE NOTE AGAIN that the Gospel message we just read in John 
chapter 6 is before the crucifixion and BEFORE the Last Supper...
the Jews don't know that the wine would be the chosen symbol of 
which we drink the blood of Jesus as an act of faith in which we 
remember how Jesus died, why Jesus died, and most importantly, 
what that means to us! The wine is symbolic of the blood Jesus 
spilled through suffering and torture in order for the men and 
women who come to Him may have eternal life!

THE FLESH
Christ's flesh was sacrificed on the cross in order for us to 
have eternal life. It is to be remembered that Jesus the Son of God
(who IS ALSO the anticipated Son of Man to the Jews but not 
recognized as such by these Jews)... gave His life for us. 
His body was sacrificed as the perfect sacrifice. No more Passover 
feasts will be necessary after His sacrifice because these feasts 
mean nothing. The One who instructed the Jews in the original 
Passover in the Book of Exodus is here in front of them preparing 
to become the ultimate and final sacrifice. His flesh is the 
perfect sacrificial flesh as the flesh of the sacrificial lamb 
is no longer worthy. He is replacing the Passover, the crowd 
assembled around Him right now don't realize it.

Again, this is BEFORE the Last Supper, but Jesus tells us at this 
time what the chosen symbol will be for his bodily sacrifice on 
the cross, it will be bread. The bread will be a remembrance that 
the Son of God Jesus, had to come down here to give His life for 
you in order to grant you the opportunity for eternal life.

The bread will serve to remind those who partake that he died and 
suffered greatly...one in ten survived a Roman scourging...
one in ten survived a Roman lashing...He endured that and more in 
order to become the only worthy sacrifice for YOU TO HAVE THE 
ETERNAL LIFE.

THE RIGHT OF COMMUNION
Those who take communion need to know one thing...they need to 
understand that Jesus is the Messiah and is the only BRIDGE to 
heaven. They need to understand why it was necessary for Jesus to 
die for us. They need to understand that blood is the only worthy 
covering for sin, and Jesus covered our sin with His blood. 
They need to understand that Jesus sacrificed His body in 
replacement of the sacrificial lamb and the wine and bread 
symbolize this Truth.

HOWEVER, Communion should not be refused to anyone who wants to 
take it...for we all are growing in faith"ing", and no one is 
worthy in God's eyes but Jesus is worthy! The act of communion 
is between you and God. It is personal and a worthy act of faith. 
There is absolutely no reason to go to a church, a priest, or any 
human in order to take communion unless you want a fancy chalice 
and "blessed" wafers. 
Communion is a personal act of faith that should be done within 
the home just as the Jews practiced Passover in their own homes. 
I understand that the fellowship of church allows those who belong 
to a church to celebrate communion together BUT this belief that 
communion should only be performed in a church is erroneous.

Some can't take communion unless they are members of the church, 
or get only bread during the communion and not wine, or are 
hospitalized and can't receive communion without the permission 
of the governing board of the church! Satan knows how to interfere 
with acts of faith and communion is obviously one of his stomping 
grounds!


Jesus said: "This is my body"
Jesus said: "This is my blood"
Jesus said: "Do this in remembrance of Me"


Take a cup of wine and some kind of bread. If you want to follow 
instructions, take unleavened, broken bread and red wine. But, you 
are not going to be saved because you drank wine or grape juice 
or even orange juice. If that would be true, ask for a gallon of 
wine at the next communion in your local church and drink it all! 
This will allow you to figure out if red wine saves you or not. 
What you use is not important as much as consciously knowing why 
you are taking communion and what communion means to you.
Your focus on Jesus Christ is what is important. 
Jesus is your Savior...

READING 2:
1 Corinthians 11:24-29

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; 
this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance 
of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, 
saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as 
often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you 
eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death 
till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this 
cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body 
and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let 
him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and 
drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, 
not discerning the Lord’s body.

How does someone eat the bread or drink the wine in an unworthy 
manner? You are already a sinner...you must know that you are a 
perpetual sinner...but not knowing why you are taking communion 
makes this act of faith unworthy...and it is not a ritual to be 
repeated mindlessly.

DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE ONLY LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

God bless you and your families this week.
(Sermon by John H.)

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