WEBVTT
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.719
It truly is a joy to gather with the body of Christ.
00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:06.719
Are you excited to be with the body of Christ?
00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:08.400
Yes, come on.
00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:09.199
Let's go.
00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:10.080
Let's go.
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:25.519
I know you all have been, if you've been here with us any length of time, you will have probably, more than likely, hopefully, been wondering when on earth are we going to make it through John chapter 6?
00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:30.079
And I want you to know that today is that day.
00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:30.960
Yes.
00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.719
Yes, we're going to make it through today.
00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:39.679
So I need everyone to buckle up because here we go.
00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.880
We're going to start, just we're going to jump straight into the word.
00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.520
We're in John chapter 6, starting in verse 52.
00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:54.159
And I know y'all have not seen me preach 18 verses on a single Sunday in a long time.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:56.079
So here we go.
00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:00.079
Starting in verse 52, this is what the word of the Lord says.
00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:08.480
The Jews then disputed amongst themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:17.200
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.
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:24.959
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.359
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:36.319
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.
00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:43.200
If you are in the business of highlighting things or underlining things in your Bible, you go ahead, highlight, underline that one right there.
00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:48.319
As the living Father sent me, verse 57, and I live because of the Father.
00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:53.680
So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.280
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.
00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.519
Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.920
Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.
00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:13.520
When many of his disciples heard it, this is the crowd of disciples.
00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:15.360
We would say these are more so the followers.
00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:22.479
These are the people that followed Jesus on Instagram and his speaking engagement was happening at the synagogue.
00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:23.840
So they showed up.
00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.960
These aren't the twelve, these are the followers.
00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:31.599
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying.
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.039
Who can listen to it?
00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:34.000
Amen.
00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:43.439
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, Do you take offense at this?
00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:48.960
Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.120
It is the Spirit who gives life.
00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.840
The flesh is no help at all.
00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.080
What he's saying is, hey, if you really saw who I am, you would not be so upset at what I'm telling you.
00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:04.719
You would just kind of sit down and you would listen and you would receive it.
00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:12.240
But since it's not fully, you're not fully understanding, you're gonna, you're a bit bent out of shape.
00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:18.319
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, and there are some of you who do not believe.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:26.879
For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who did who it was who would betray him.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:34.159
And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to the come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.
00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:40.080
After this, many of his disciples turned back and walked no longer with him.
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:45.680
So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to go away as well?
00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:51.599
Simon Peter said, or answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
00:03:52.080 --> 00:04:02.080
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.080
I want you to go back, this is your homework for this week.
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:13.599
I want you to go to John chapter 1, and I want you to read John chapter 1 and see the overlay.
00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:26.319
I can't help but think that as John was reading, or as he was writing this, and as he was writing his letter, his epistle, 1 John, he could not help but think of this moment here.
00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:30.160
I'll let you figure out why that is when you read that this week.
00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.199
And Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you the twelve?
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:37.680
And yet one of you is a devil.
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.199
Dun dun dun.
00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.480
He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:51.839
John is just, he's, he doesn't mind spoiling the plot because he his point of his gospel is so that you might believe, not that you would be entertained.
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:59.199
He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:01.360
Let's pray.
00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:11.759
Father, I ask in these next moments as we approach your word, God, that it would not be the words of Caleb that shine through, but it would be the words of God that shine through.
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:24.000
Lord, I pray that you would help us to fully receive your word today, that we would not become like people that just heard Jesus and then walked away and said, you know, that was pretty nice.
00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:32.800
But Lord, I pray that we would be people that hear your word, are convicted by it, and live a changed life because of it.
00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:38.240
Lord, would you be honored and glorified in this time and would you receive it all as worship?
00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:39.199
Amen.
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:46.879
Now I grew up in a house, I could probably say this if my mom my mom is not here, but if she was here, I would still tell this story.
00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:54.240
I grew up in a household where seasoning things was salt and pepper, and that was it.
00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:12.000
Something was fully seasoned with salt and pepper, and uh that was that was okay, but when it came to hamburgers, I really got hit with the double whammy as a kid because my parents were both PTs, and so they they believed that everything should be cooked well done.
00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:14.319
So that you don't get sick.
00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:15.839
Everything must be well done.
00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.959
Uh, and then I got older and determined that I would rather risk it.
00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:19.519
It's okay.
00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:21.680
Medium rare is just fine with me.
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.920
But so we at times we would have these hamburgers that my mom would make.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.720
They are cooked well done, they're seasoned with uh just salt and pepper.
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.480
Needless to say, these hamburgers were extremely dry every single time.
00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:44.720
Uh but the rule was that if you wanted to, if you wanted dessert or if you wanted to get up from the table, the the food had to be finished.
00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.199
You had to finish what was on your plate.
00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:54.959
And so I decided that I would scarf down my hamburger.
00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:57.360
I I typically, it typically waited until the end.
00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:03.040
But I would scarf down this hamburger because I wanted I wanted to just be done.
00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:11.519
But the problem is that when you scarf down a dry hamburger and then you try to scarf down more of a dry hamburger, it does not end well for you.
00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:17.839
You have more of this dry ground beef in your mouth, and you're just trying to finish it, and I could never do it.
00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:26.160
And so inevitably, I would wind up with all this ground beef in my mouth, and I'd have to go spit it out.
00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.480
Which would really make my mom super pleased, super happy.
00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:37.519
No, my mom would be incredibly frustrated because she's trying to be a good mom, and she's trying to make sure that I've eaten my food.
00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:49.519
She wants to make sure that I grow up and I have strong bones and strong muscles and all that, and honestly, I would give anything for my mom to pay for the ground beef that I purchase in a given week nowadays.
00:07:49.759 --> 00:08:01.600
But right, so I was she was trying to help me grow, and the I thought to myself, well, the plate is cleared, so it's all good.
00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:13.439
I have I have partook in the hamburger, I've partaken in the hamburger, but the problem in doing so was that I did not receive any of the benefit from the hamburger whatsoever.
00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:18.560
Because I did not ingest the hamburger in its entirety.
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:30.319
The protein that was in the hamburger never became a part of my body, it never got into my muscles because it was sitting in the bottom of the glade trash bag in the pantry.
00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:38.399
I was failing to grow in strength because I did not fully ingest the food that was given to me.
00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.639
And the same is true in our relationship with Jesus.
00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:44.799
The same is true when we come to Jesus.
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:54.320
If we fail to fully receive Jesus, we will continue to live with no hope for eternal life.
00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:59.200
This is the point that John has been making for 70 verses straight.
00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:07.840
Is that in order to truly believe in Jesus, we must receive all of Jesus.
00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.519
We cannot just pick and choose.
00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.639
Blindness produces an outraged person.
00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:36.480
We see this group of this, we see this crowd, and we've walked through the progression of this crowd, that they've gone from they're excited, they're eager and following Jesus, they've wondered where he is, they've gone searching and seeking for Jesus.
00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:47.919
Then they've come up to Jesus, they've met him, they've asked him some questions, and Jesus kind of offers them a quick little rebuke in saying that, guys, you're only you're only here because I fed you.
00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:49.120
That's it.
00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:51.679
And so they get a little grumbled.
00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:54.320
He gives them a teaching about being the bread of life.
00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:01.360
He's explaining what was supposed to, what they were supposed to understand at the beginning of the chapter when he fed the 5,000.
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.039
But since they didn't get it, he's explaining it to them.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.279
And they begin to grumble amongst themselves and mumble and murmur.
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:11.440
Oh, Jesus is out here.
00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:12.639
They're murmuring.
00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:13.919
They're angry with Jesus.
00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.200
They're angry with Jesus.
00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.600
And now we get to verse 52, and it says, the Jews, and these are not just all Jewish people, okay, these are religious leaders.
00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.159
These are the religious leaders of the time.
00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.799
And it says that they disputed.
00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:34.480
They are outraged with what Jesus is saying.
00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:45.360
And what we see in this, what we see in this crowd is that blindness is the starting point for all people before we come to Jesus.
00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:50.720
We all kind of miss it when we are encountering Jesus.
00:10:50.879 --> 00:11:01.600
The Jews in this day, the crowd that is disputing with Jesus, they missed it in the sense that they thought religion was just pragmatism.
00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.519
That following God was just about following the rules.
00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:18.960
It was just about making sure that you only took 10 steps on Sunday or on Saturday, technically, making sure that you had the right sacrifice and making sure that you didn't eat all the wrong things.
00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:22.639
They wanted to do the works of God, these people.
00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:27.440
They were looking to work for their salvation.
00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:37.600
But when Jesus comes along and through feeding the 5,000, he's communicating that I don't just want you to receive something.
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:43.279
I don't want you to just do something, but I want you to believe something.
00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:56.159
And when Jesus spoke of eating his flesh, this crowd, be it that their eyes are blinded and they're kind of missing the full purpose of Jesus' teaching, they they lose their minds.
00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:06.799
Because Jesus is asking, he says, in verse 52, he says, they say, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:13.919
They are baffled, bamboozled by the fact that Jesus would say such a thing.
00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:22.000
And the point that Jesus is trying to make is that he's trying to make the point of his sufficiency for them.
00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:32.799
He's trying to explain to them what it truly looks like to be dependent upon God, that he is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament law.
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:46.159
If they were supposed to be satisfied and dependent upon God for all that they were to receive, this is simply a fulfillment of the Old Testament.
00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:55.039
The point of the law is not so that you can keep all the rules, it's to show you that you desperately need a savior.
00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:02.080
In the end, this crowd is spiritually blind to the reality of consuming Christ.
00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:08.480
I don't want to belabor spending time on the crowd because we have unpacked the crowd a number of times.
00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.080
But I just want you to take with you today.
00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:18.240
What are you going to do when you approach Jesus and He says something that offends you?
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:23.360
What are you going to do when His Word makes you go, ugh?
00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:26.639
I don't like that.
00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:40.720
Are you going to lean in and you're going to allow the Word of God to change you and transform you and to correct your thinking and to renew your mind around what Jesus declares as truth?
00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:54.480
Or are you going to fall into the pit that many people have fallen into over the last 2,000 years of just taking scripture and adjusting it and saying, well, Jesus didn't really, he didn't really mean that.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:59.120
What he actually meant was this.
00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:08.639
Outrage often reveals that what you think, or often reveals that you still think you have Jesus all figured out.
00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:14.000
The moment we have God completely figured out is the moment that he ceases to be God.
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:22.960
If the God that you believe in is quite simple to understand fully, then you're just believing in another man.
00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:26.960
You're probably believing in a God that you made up.
00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:34.159
Secondly, we see that belief produces a satisfied person.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.200
Belief produces a satisfied person.
00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:46.559
We must believe the testimony of Jesus to receive salvation.
00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:52.879
We must believe the things that he is saving, saying, in order to receive salvation.
00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:59.360
And in this passage, we see that believing means fully eating and receiving him.
00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:04.879
And I believe the way the reason that Jesus uses, because this is weird.
00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:06.240
This is a weird analogy.
00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:12.879
It's a weird thing or a weird simile to use to describe yourself.
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:20.159
I have never once described myself in such a way that Jesus is describing here.
00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.879
But I believe that Jesus uses this, he uses the object lesson of the bread.
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.600
And he brings it full circle for these people.
00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:40.320
He's trying to explain and help these people truly understand what it means to believe and receive God by using bread to do so.
00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:46.639
The reason he does this is there is no such thing as halfway eating.
00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.840
There is no such thing as halfway eating.
00:15:53.120 --> 00:16:09.200
Meaning, never have I thought, when I roll up to Texas Roadhouse, that I cannot wait to get my hands on some rolls and just go and then put it back in the basket.
00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:19.120
Okay, I don't know if y'all are anything like me, but when I go to Texas Roadhouse, I might as well just ask for two baskets when they sit me down, okay?
00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.559
Because I am going to get after it.
00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:31.039
No one ever sits down at the Texas Roadhouse table and has a taste of the rolls and goes home and talks about how good the roll were.
00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:42.480
The classic Texas Roadhouse example is that I went to Texas Roadhouse, and by the time my steak came, I had already filled up on the rolls entirely.
00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:49.440
There is no way that you can halfway eat something.
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.639
Either you eat it and you fully receive it.
00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:58.639
And when you receive it, when you eat it, when you digest it, it becomes a part of you.
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:00.960
You receive the protein.
00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:05.839
And if my favorite category, the carbohydrates, you receive all of those things.
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:14.000
And they become part of your body, and your body uses those for energy and to sustain life.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:20.319
Receiving him fully means accepting all parts about him.
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:22.400
Even the challenging parts.
00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:30.720
It means accepting the challenging parts that we talked about last week when we're reading, and Jesus says, No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.799
And we go, what does that even mean?
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.400
How does that work?
00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:42.240
How can it be that we both have the free will to choose God, but he is also sovereign over all things?
00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.319
How do those two things work?
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:57.519
When we fully accept him, it means I would say that we fully receive him on all the primary fronts.
00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:04.319
There are primary fronts, meaning there are super important teachings about who Jesus is.
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:12.720
Super important statements that Jesus made about himself, that if you deny those statements, then you don't really believe in Jesus.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:20.640
If you believe in a Jesus that celebrates the sin that you choose to partake in.
00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:55.680
When we are, if we are just wanting a taste of something, think of it with in regard to our eating analogy.
00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:00.000
Thinking about eating is not the same as eating.
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.319
I was on the golf course the other day.
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.799
And bro, I was I was hungry.
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:05.839
I was hungry.
00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:08.880
I had just been to the I had just been to the dentist's office.
00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:10.400
I got my tooth filled.
00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.400
And I think I was on hole two.
00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:17.839
And I I said, I said, man, I'm hungry.
00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:19.200
I could go for some food.
00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:23.279
I'm gonna have to get some food at this turn, at the turn, from going from hole nine to hole ten.
00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.799
It's by hole five, I'm thinking to myself, I could really use a hamburger.
00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.519
It's by hole six, I'm saying out loud, I could, golly, I could go.
00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:33.200
I could go for a hamburger.
00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:34.799
I might go for a bag of chips too.
00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.119
I might even well get a soda while I'm in there.
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:43.279
And then we get to hole number nine, and it results in, dude, we're gonna have to stop.
00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:47.359
We're gonna have to stop for this hamburger or something.
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:53.200
And we stopped for a hot dog, and after I had that hot dog, I talked from hole 10 to 18.
00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:54.799
I was talking about when I got home.
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:57.519
Best hot dog I have had in years.
00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:18.000
But thinking about that moment, thinking about the moment that I walk into the pro shop and the lady hands me my hot dog in tin foil is not the same as partaking in a beautiful hot dog that has been is it's in a Texas toast bun and it has been buttered on both sides and toasted, it's got ketchup on the top of it.
00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:20.880
I mean, I was so hungry, I almost got messed up and got mustard on it.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:22.400
Like it was so good.
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.160
It was super good.
00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:30.640
Thinking about that moment is not the same as actually eating it.
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:40.160
If I was to flip over the bag of chips that I had purchased, my my everything chips, which were fantastic.
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:45.039
It's it's like barbecue and salt and vinegar and all that, all in one.
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.319
Really great chip.
00:20:46.559 --> 00:21:03.519
If I had sat there and read the nutritional facts on the back, read the ingredient list, which honestly is probably longer than it should be, but if I was reading the ingredient list, that would not be the same as cracking that bag of chips open and actually eating the chips.
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:11.759
Sitting back and thinking about, okay, I have this rumble in my tummy and I'm hungry.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:26.160
And once I go and I eat this food, it will go into my stomach and it will begin to be digested, and then it's gonna go into my large intestine and my small intestine, it's gonna be absorbed into my body.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:37.680
I could know how it works, does me zero good until I actually eat the food that I purchased.
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.079
Mind you, worth every penny.
00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:42.000
Worth every penny.
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:45.839
The same is true with Jesus.
00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:55.519
Thinking about God, having some thought of a higher being is not the same as believing in God.
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.759
Knowing theology, reading all the books, you've heard me.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.799
Tell it a bunch of times.
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.720
Going to seminary does not make you a more holy person.
00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:12.640
Honestly, in some of my frustration and writing and procrastination, it gave me a lot to repent of.
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.039
Seminary does not make you more holy.
00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:21.440
You could know everything there is to know about God in a human sense and still miss out on believing.
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:33.759
You'll hear a lot of pastors say that you could, most people miss heaven by 12 inches, which is, or 18 inches, which is the difference from your head to where your heart is.
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.200
Understanding how someone is saved.
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.559
I mean, you could sit back, you could read the Romans road.
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.559
You could say, yes, I believe.
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:45.279
Yes, mm-hmm.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.920
Yes, I know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:49.039
Yes, I believe that.
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:50.079
Yes, I do.
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.440
I certainly do believe that all who call upon the name of the Lord are saved.
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:54.319
Yes, I believe that.
00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:55.359
Yes, I believe it.
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:59.279
I know it's a, I know that it's a full, uh, that it's a gift of God.
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.160
It's not by works, so that no one may boast.
00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:03.279
I know that.
00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.559
This is not the same as believing.
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:15.359
You only get into Christ by believing him fully.
00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:22.000
I only receive the benefit when I receive Christ.
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:39.839
You can clean your life up, you can do all the right things, you can follow all the rules, and never truly have believed and partaken, never believed, consumed Jesus.
00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:44.319
The question for us today is not, do I have all the information?
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.079
It's do I have the heart that has chosen to believe?
00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:55.599
Have I decided, have I placed my whole stake on Jesus?
00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:02.000
Today, some of us need to stop settling for a taste of Jesus.
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:07.359
And we need to actually partake and fully believe in who He is.
00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:09.519
So examine your life.
00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.680
Am I just thinking about Jesus?
00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:14.079
Am I just trying to clean up my life?
00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.000
Am I just trying to live a life that is morally upright?
00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:23.599
Am I just trying to live a life that when people look at me, they think to themselves, yeah, he's a pretty good person?
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.079
Good guy, great dude, good homie.
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.640
He does a lot of good things, takes care of a lot of people.
00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:36.160
Consider, am I only accepting the parts of Jesus that I like?
00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.839
Or have I fully received Christ?
00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.599
There is no halfway, zero halfway.
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:52.720
Thirdly, we see union with Christ produces an alive person.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.119
Union with Christ produces an alive person.
00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.720
Now y'all bear with me.
00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:09.599
Because this whole passage, 70 verses, fourth longest chapter in the Bible, is all about union with Christ.
00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:18.400
And that would be a tall enough task if I was going to preach this single point right here and tell you what this entire passage was all about.
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:20.480
That would be enough undertaking.
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:28.160
I I had to cut it short just with how the timing works out in terms of, I wanted this to be its own sermon, but it just didn't work out.
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.200
So y'all just, again, just buckle up.
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:42.559
That would have been a tough enough task, but what is even tougher is the fact that this is the entire narrative of the New Testament.
00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.359
Is being in union with Christ.
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:54.400
Union with Christ, and we're gonna I'm gonna unpack that, is the ultimate goal of our faith.
00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:01.839
If the goal of our faith is anything other than union in Christ, then we are missing the point.
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:14.880
If the goal of your faith is to just become a better person or to just be happier, you have missed the point of, you have missed the point of the Christian faith entirely.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:27.440
Saint Augustine said this, you made us, talking about God, you made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.
00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.440
When you ingest food, it becomes a part of you.
00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:36.559
And when you are united with Jesus, your deepest longings are satisfied.
00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:42.000
And this is what Jesus has been trying to explain from verse 1 of chapter 6.
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:51.359
In the same way that food sustains you and satisfies you, so Christ sustains and satisfies your soul.
00:26:51.519 --> 00:27:02.079
And so, as we examine this text, as we look through it, we should be asking, what are we looking for to satisfy our soul?
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:07.119
What are we clinging to for satisfaction?
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:12.240
The end goal of our faith is union with God in heaven.
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:28.240
The beauty of this is that the scripture gives us a picture of this in numerous places, but God also has provided a way for us to understand this here on this earth.
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:41.039
We see that in the narrative of Scripture that in marriage it says that they will leave their father and mother, and they will cling to one another, and the two will become one flesh.
00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:42.559
Beautiful analogy.
00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:46.000
Beautiful spiritual reality of two people.
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:51.119
Now coming together and becoming one entity.
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:52.960
Beautiful.
00:27:53.440 --> 00:28:04.160
But what makes marriage even more beautiful is that it is the way that Christ describes his relationship between his chosen people and himself.
00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:09.519
Understanding union with Christ is a massive undertaking.
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:19.119
Again, I could probably write a whole doctoral dissertation on union with Christ, and it still would not do it justice.
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:27.279
William Keynes calls union with Christ, the doctrine of union with Christ, the sum of our salvation.
00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:37.839
Sinclair Ferguson also says, the truth to which the New Testament constantly returns to is that we are united with Christ.
00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:48.319
So much so that Paul uses this phrase in Christ 164 times across the New Testament.
00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:55.359
In our salvation, God justifies us, adopts us, sanctifies us, and glorifies us.
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:02.079
Those are the four basic categories of what we can boil salvation down to.
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:12.640
But within that, there is even more: election, redemption, calling, faith, forgiveness, perseverance, and ultimately the fulfillment.
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:24.559
Ephesians 1, verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:41.279
In the first verses of Ephesians, Paul is saying, everything that you need for your salvation, every sort of reward, every sort of benefit that comes from following Christ is in Christ.
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:48.160
Union with Christ means that what is true of him is now true of you.
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:56.880
If we were to boil union in Christ down, it is this that what is true of God becomes true of you.
00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:59.119
And it doesn't mean that we are God.
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:01.839
That's what we would call heresy.
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:04.319
Just clear the air.
00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:08.079
But that what is true of God is true of you.
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:17.920
When you become married, it is no longer my money and my spouse's money.
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:20.079
It is our money together.
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:26.400
More importantly, it is not just my debt, but it is also my wife's debt.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.480
We are both on the hook for one another.
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:40.960
The decisions that I make or the decisions that Braylee makes have a great impact on us because we are one unit.
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:47.200
The same is true in a number of relationships in life.
00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:57.279
You think, okay, well, where does where does one person call the shots for or the actions of one person affect a large group of people?
00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:03.680
The military is a great way to understand this.
00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:14.000
When President Trump says, hey, we are going to go and bomb these people, or we're at war with these people, or we're kind of at war, but we're not really at war because you don't call it that.
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:14.960
Whatever.
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:21.200
But when that happens, that affects everybody.
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:23.680
Everybody's posture changes.
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:30.559
Everybody's responsibility changes because the decision of one person.
00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:40.240
Scripture gives us this picture of marriage, of uh, this picture of union continually.
00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:46.000
We see it in John 15, 5, where he talks about the vine and the branches.
00:31:46.720 --> 00:32:02.160
We see this in Ephesians, where Paul talks about that we are the household of God that is built on the apostles and the prophets, that they are the like they are the foundation of the house, and that Christ is the cornerstone.
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:10.480
We see this with Saul on the road to Damascus as he is riding on his donkey to go persecute some Christians.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:14.400
He is ready to go throw some cats in jail, and God shows up.
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:24.079
Jesus shows up, knocks him off his donkey, and he says, Saul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:25.839
Now Jesus is up in heaven.
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:28.240
He's not, I mean, he's not down on earth.
00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:38.319
But it is like he is being persecuted because the body of Christ is, the church is the body of Christ.
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:50.240
In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, it says, We are all baptized by one Spirit into one body, and by this spirit we obtain union with Christ.
00:32:50.960 --> 00:33:01.680
Rory Schreiner, commentator, uh biblical commentator, he says that union with Christ is best understood in terms of an airplane.
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.799
So John's wife, Priscilla, is in Oklahoma.
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:08.240
She's getting ready to come back today.
00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:10.640
She's gonna be flying on a plane.
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:17.440
Hopefully, our desire is not that she flies under the plane.
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:24.079
I mean, she's if she's grabbing onto the wheel well, it will not go well for Priscilla.
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:36.400
We would hope that she is not behind the plane when it takes off because she'll be a little popsicle and you know, melted in thruster exhaust.
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:37.839
This would not be good.
00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:46.000
We hope that she's not on top of the plane because when she gets off the top of the plane, it will be a long fall.
00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:54.880
Our hope is that when Priscilla boards the plane, she boards inside of the plane.
00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:03.519
We hope that when she's at the airport, she is not just inspired by the plane.
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:08.000
She just sits there and she goes, wow, that's a that's a that's a very big 737.
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:11.039
That's I mean, that's a lot of thrust power, that's a heavy plane.
00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:13.360
That plane can do a lot of lifting.
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:16.960
And she just sits there on the runway and watches it take off.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:22.400
We hope that she is inside of the plane.
00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:32.320
And if Priscilla is inside of the plane, what is true of the plane, man, you can go home and tell this sermon's all about Priscilla, it's crazy.
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:38.639
If Priscilla is inside of the plane, what is true of the plane becomes true of Priscilla.
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:48.960
If the plane crashes, Lord forbid, somewhere in Missouri, then we would say Priscilla crashed somewhere in the fields of Missouri.
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:56.639
If she lands safely at Norfolk International Airport, we would say Priscilla landed safely at Norfolk International Airport.
00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:59.599
The same is true of our relationship with Christ.
00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:05.119
If we are in Christ, what is true of Christ is now true of us.
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:16.639
It is no longer that I have to work and generate all of this righteousness on my own, but the righteousness that is true of God is now true of me.
00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:26.480
The eternal destination of Christ in heaven, I don't have to work and try to get my way there, but it is now true of me because it is true of Christ.
00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:28.960
I now have an inheritance in heaven.
00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:38.480
I am a son or a daughter of Christ because that is of God, because that is true of Christ, and if I am in Christ, that is also true of me.
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.360
There are two implications of this union with Christ.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:51.840
If we are united with Christ, we are no longer bound or enslaved by sin.
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:59.599
Romans 6.11 says, for the death he died, he died to sin, once for all, for all people.
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:02.159
But the life he lives, he lives to God.
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:09.440
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:18.400
Meaning, if you are in union with Christ, the attitude of the believer to say, I will always struggle with this sin.
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.920
Things will always be like this.
00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:24.480
I will always struggle with this anxiety.
00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:26.400
I will always struggle with this depression.
00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:30.559
I will always have this struggle between me and this sin.
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:34.320
Friends, that is an ungodly way to think.
00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:38.079
Because it is not true.
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:49.760
It does not mean that we do not struggle, but the language of it will never happen any other way is downright blasphemous to say.
00:36:51.280 --> 00:37:00.719
Second implication of this union: all believers are of equal value and equal position before God.
00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:09.840
I will tell you, I think, I think purchasing, I think purchasing a first-class ticket, I know I'm a small dude, I don't have super long legs, okay?
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:13.760
But I think purchasing a first-class ticket on a plane is just kind of silly.
00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:15.119
Because it's a lot of extra money.
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:22.079
I know there are people that say once you fly first class, you'll never do anything else, but okay, maybe if I'm going like 15 hours, maybe.
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:27.840
But at the end of the day, we're all getting there.
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:35.920
They did the people in first class do not get there any faster than I get there.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:41.199
The people in first class, they they fly the same speed through the air that I fly.
00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:43.360
I am not worried about it.
00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:48.639
Even thinking, if the plane crashes, they're gone first, okay?
00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:52.480
Like, it's not that much more beneficial.
00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:58.079
We are all of equal value if we are in Christ.
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:05.679
If you believe you are united with Christ, and if you are outside of Christ, he is of no value to you.
00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:12.639
Jesus is of no value unless you are inside of Christ.
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:16.880
If you do not have union with Christ, he is of no value to you.
00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:25.920
Friends, we need to stop aiming for lesser goals as followers of Jesus.
00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:30.719
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just getting to heaven.
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:34.960
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just not going to hell.
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:39.679
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just becoming better people.
00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:44.559
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just being happy.
00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:50.000
And we just need to rest in the reality that you are in Christ.
00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:54.320
Whatever is true of him is now true of you.
00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:59.679
And we live out of the overflow of that union.
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:08.800
We live out of that peace that we are with God, that we are united with God, and there is nothing that we could do to shake that.
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:14.880
In summary, blindness produces an outraged person.
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.960
Secondly, belief produces a satisfied person.
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:26.719
And thirdly, union with Christ produces an alive person.
00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:37.119
So today, as as we wrap up, I want you to consider in this response time, what are you feeding your soul on?
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:44.239
What are you looking for to satisfy your soul?
00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:53.119
Maybe we should ask, are we are we even alive?
00:39:54.880 --> 00:40:02.079
Have we truly come to embrace and believe and feed on Christ for all that He is?
00:40:05.280 --> 00:40:15.039
See, in those Texas Roadhouse rolls, the great tragedy of Texas Roadhouse is that you can eat all the rolls you want.
00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:30.880
You might have had it all together and you properly paced yourself, and your 16-ounce steak and sweet potato and you know mashed potatoes come, and you're able to eat that and you're able to go about your day or your night.
00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:31.519
Maybe not.
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:33.840
Maybe you just sit on the couch the rest of the night.
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:40.480
But by the time the next day rolls around, you are going to be hungry again.
00:40:41.280 --> 00:40:45.039
The honey butter does not sustain very long, friends.
00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:48.800
But this is not the case with Christ.
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.920
He is all satisfying.
00:40:54.159 --> 00:41:01.760
And in this miracle of feeding the 5,000, and as Jesus is unpacking it for this crowd, he's saying, you guys do not get it.
00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:04.960
I don't want to just satisfy you physically.
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:10.480
I want to satisfy you spiritually, and it is so much better.
00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:16.800
Won't you allow him to satisfy you spiritually?
00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:18.159
Let's pray.
00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:23.039
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for today, Lord.
00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:27.280
I thank you that you are always faithful.
00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:36.239
God, even when we are faithless, you are faithful, God, because your word says that you cannot deny yourself.
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:50.480
Lord, I pray that in these next moments as we respond in worship, God, that you would help us to not be people that just hear and forget, but God, that you would help us to be people that hear your word and do.
00:41:50.960 --> 00:41:53.119
God, that you would help us to act.
00:41:53.840 --> 00:41:57.440
Lord, I thank you for your many blessings.
00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:01.440
God, I thank you for the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus that we have.
00:42:01.519 --> 00:42:06.320
God, that we have everything that we need for a godly life in you.
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:12.960
And Lord, I pray that as we go about our day today and as we continue in our time of worship, God, that you would be honored and glorified.
00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:14.639
And it's in Jesus' name I pray.
00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:15.360
Amen.
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.719
It truly is a joy to gather with the body of Christ.
00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:06.719
Are you excited to be with the body of Christ?
00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:08.400
Yes, come on.
00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:09.199
Let's go.
00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:10.080
Let's go.
00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:25.519
I know you all have been, if you've been here with us any length of time, you will have probably, more than likely, hopefully, been wondering when on earth are we going to make it through John chapter 6?
00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:30.079
And I want you to know that today is that day.
00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:30.960
Yes.
00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.719
Yes, we're going to make it through today.
00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:39.679
So I need everyone to buckle up because here we go.
00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.880
We're going to start, just we're going to jump straight into the word.
00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:47.520
We're in John chapter 6, starting in verse 52.
00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:54.159
And I know y'all have not seen me preach 18 verses on a single Sunday in a long time.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:56.079
So here we go.
00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:00.079
Starting in verse 52, this is what the word of the Lord says.
00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:08.480
The Jews then disputed amongst themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:17.200
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.
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:24.959
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.359
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:36.319
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.
00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:43.200
If you are in the business of highlighting things or underlining things in your Bible, you go ahead, highlight, underline that one right there.
00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:48.319
As the living Father sent me, verse 57, and I live because of the Father.
00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:53.680
So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.280
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.
00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.519
Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.920
Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum.
00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:13.520
When many of his disciples heard it, this is the crowd of disciples.
00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:15.360
We would say these are more so the followers.
00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:22.479
These are the people that followed Jesus on Instagram and his speaking engagement was happening at the synagogue.
00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:23.840
So they showed up.
00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.960
These aren't the twelve, these are the followers.
00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:31.599
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying.
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.039
Who can listen to it?
00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:34.000
Amen.
00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:43.439
But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, Do you take offense at this?
00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:48.960
Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.120
It is the Spirit who gives life.
00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.840
The flesh is no help at all.
00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.080
What he's saying is, hey, if you really saw who I am, you would not be so upset at what I'm telling you.
00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:04.719
You would just kind of sit down and you would listen and you would receive it.
00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:12.240
But since it's not fully, you're not fully understanding, you're gonna, you're a bit bent out of shape.
00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:18.319
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, and there are some of you who do not believe.
00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:26.879
For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who did who it was who would betray him.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:34.159
And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to the come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.
00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:40.080
After this, many of his disciples turned back and walked no longer with him.
00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:45.680
So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to go away as well?
00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:51.599
Simon Peter said, or answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
00:03:52.080 --> 00:04:02.080
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.080
I want you to go back, this is your homework for this week.
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:13.599
I want you to go to John chapter 1, and I want you to read John chapter 1 and see the overlay.
00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:26.319
I can't help but think that as John was reading, or as he was writing this, and as he was writing his letter, his epistle, 1 John, he could not help but think of this moment here.
00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:30.160
I'll let you figure out why that is when you read that this week.
00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.199
And Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you the twelve?
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:37.680
And yet one of you is a devil.
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:39.199
Dun dun dun.
00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.480
He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:51.839
John is just, he's, he doesn't mind spoiling the plot because he his point of his gospel is so that you might believe, not that you would be entertained.
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:59.199
He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:01.360
Let's pray.
00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:11.759
Father, I ask in these next moments as we approach your word, God, that it would not be the words of Caleb that shine through, but it would be the words of God that shine through.
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:24.000
Lord, I pray that you would help us to fully receive your word today, that we would not become like people that just heard Jesus and then walked away and said, you know, that was pretty nice.
00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:32.800
But Lord, I pray that we would be people that hear your word, are convicted by it, and live a changed life because of it.
00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:38.240
Lord, would you be honored and glorified in this time and would you receive it all as worship?
00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:39.199
Amen.
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:46.879
Now I grew up in a house, I could probably say this if my mom my mom is not here, but if she was here, I would still tell this story.
00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:54.240
I grew up in a household where seasoning things was salt and pepper, and that was it.
00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:12.000
Something was fully seasoned with salt and pepper, and uh that was that was okay, but when it came to hamburgers, I really got hit with the double whammy as a kid because my parents were both PTs, and so they they believed that everything should be cooked well done.
00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:14.319
So that you don't get sick.
00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:15.839
Everything must be well done.
00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.959
Uh, and then I got older and determined that I would rather risk it.
00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:19.519
It's okay.
00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:21.680
Medium rare is just fine with me.
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.920
But so we at times we would have these hamburgers that my mom would make.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.720
They are cooked well done, they're seasoned with uh just salt and pepper.
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.480
Needless to say, these hamburgers were extremely dry every single time.
00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:44.720
Uh but the rule was that if you wanted to, if you wanted dessert or if you wanted to get up from the table, the the food had to be finished.
00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.199
You had to finish what was on your plate.
00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:54.959
And so I decided that I would scarf down my hamburger.
00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:57.360
I I typically, it typically waited until the end.
00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:03.040
But I would scarf down this hamburger because I wanted I wanted to just be done.
00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:11.519
But the problem is that when you scarf down a dry hamburger and then you try to scarf down more of a dry hamburger, it does not end well for you.
00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:17.839
You have more of this dry ground beef in your mouth, and you're just trying to finish it, and I could never do it.
00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:26.160
And so inevitably, I would wind up with all this ground beef in my mouth, and I'd have to go spit it out.
00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.480
Which would really make my mom super pleased, super happy.
00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:37.519
No, my mom would be incredibly frustrated because she's trying to be a good mom, and she's trying to make sure that I've eaten my food.
00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:49.519
She wants to make sure that I grow up and I have strong bones and strong muscles and all that, and honestly, I would give anything for my mom to pay for the ground beef that I purchase in a given week nowadays.
00:07:49.759 --> 00:08:01.600
But right, so I was she was trying to help me grow, and the I thought to myself, well, the plate is cleared, so it's all good.
00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:13.439
I have I have partook in the hamburger, I've partaken in the hamburger, but the problem in doing so was that I did not receive any of the benefit from the hamburger whatsoever.
00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:18.560
Because I did not ingest the hamburger in its entirety.
00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:30.319
The protein that was in the hamburger never became a part of my body, it never got into my muscles because it was sitting in the bottom of the glade trash bag in the pantry.
00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:38.399
I was failing to grow in strength because I did not fully ingest the food that was given to me.
00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.639
And the same is true in our relationship with Jesus.
00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:44.799
The same is true when we come to Jesus.
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:54.320
If we fail to fully receive Jesus, we will continue to live with no hope for eternal life.
00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:59.200
This is the point that John has been making for 70 verses straight.
00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:07.840
Is that in order to truly believe in Jesus, we must receive all of Jesus.
00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.519
We cannot just pick and choose.
00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.639
Blindness produces an outraged person.
00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:36.480
We see this group of this, we see this crowd, and we've walked through the progression of this crowd, that they've gone from they're excited, they're eager and following Jesus, they've wondered where he is, they've gone searching and seeking for Jesus.
00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:47.919
Then they've come up to Jesus, they've met him, they've asked him some questions, and Jesus kind of offers them a quick little rebuke in saying that, guys, you're only you're only here because I fed you.
00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:49.120
That's it.
00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:51.679
And so they get a little grumbled.
00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:54.320
He gives them a teaching about being the bread of life.
00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:01.360
He's explaining what was supposed to, what they were supposed to understand at the beginning of the chapter when he fed the 5,000.
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.039
But since they didn't get it, he's explaining it to them.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.279
And they begin to grumble amongst themselves and mumble and murmur.
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:11.440
Oh, Jesus is out here.
00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:12.639
They're murmuring.
00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:13.919
They're angry with Jesus.
00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.200
They're angry with Jesus.
00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:21.600
And now we get to verse 52, and it says, the Jews, and these are not just all Jewish people, okay, these are religious leaders.
00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.159
These are the religious leaders of the time.
00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.799
And it says that they disputed.
00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:34.480
They are outraged with what Jesus is saying.
00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:45.360
And what we see in this, what we see in this crowd is that blindness is the starting point for all people before we come to Jesus.
00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:50.720
We all kind of miss it when we are encountering Jesus.
00:10:50.879 --> 00:11:01.600
The Jews in this day, the crowd that is disputing with Jesus, they missed it in the sense that they thought religion was just pragmatism.
00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.519
That following God was just about following the rules.
00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:18.960
It was just about making sure that you only took 10 steps on Sunday or on Saturday, technically, making sure that you had the right sacrifice and making sure that you didn't eat all the wrong things.
00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:22.639
They wanted to do the works of God, these people.
00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:27.440
They were looking to work for their salvation.
00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:37.600
But when Jesus comes along and through feeding the 5,000, he's communicating that I don't just want you to receive something.
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:43.279
I don't want you to just do something, but I want you to believe something.
00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:56.159
And when Jesus spoke of eating his flesh, this crowd, be it that their eyes are blinded and they're kind of missing the full purpose of Jesus' teaching, they they lose their minds.
00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:06.799
Because Jesus is asking, he says, in verse 52, he says, they say, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:13.919
They are baffled, bamboozled by the fact that Jesus would say such a thing.
00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:22.000
And the point that Jesus is trying to make is that he's trying to make the point of his sufficiency for them.
00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:32.799
He's trying to explain to them what it truly looks like to be dependent upon God, that he is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament law.
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:46.159
If they were supposed to be satisfied and dependent upon God for all that they were to receive, this is simply a fulfillment of the Old Testament.
00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:55.039
The point of the law is not so that you can keep all the rules, it's to show you that you desperately need a savior.
00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:02.080
In the end, this crowd is spiritually blind to the reality of consuming Christ.
00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:08.480
I don't want to belabor spending time on the crowd because we have unpacked the crowd a number of times.
00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.080
But I just want you to take with you today.
00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:18.240
What are you going to do when you approach Jesus and He says something that offends you?
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:23.360
What are you going to do when His Word makes you go, ugh?
00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:26.639
I don't like that.
00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:40.720
Are you going to lean in and you're going to allow the Word of God to change you and transform you and to correct your thinking and to renew your mind around what Jesus declares as truth?
00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:54.480
Or are you going to fall into the pit that many people have fallen into over the last 2,000 years of just taking scripture and adjusting it and saying, well, Jesus didn't really, he didn't really mean that.
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:59.120
What he actually meant was this.
00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:08.639
Outrage often reveals that what you think, or often reveals that you still think you have Jesus all figured out.
00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:14.000
The moment we have God completely figured out is the moment that he ceases to be God.
00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:22.960
If the God that you believe in is quite simple to understand fully, then you're just believing in another man.
00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:26.960
You're probably believing in a God that you made up.
00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:34.159
Secondly, we see that belief produces a satisfied person.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.200
Belief produces a satisfied person.
00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:46.559
We must believe the testimony of Jesus to receive salvation.
00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:52.879
We must believe the things that he is saving, saying, in order to receive salvation.
00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:59.360
And in this passage, we see that believing means fully eating and receiving him.
00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:04.879
And I believe the way the reason that Jesus uses, because this is weird.
00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:06.240
This is a weird analogy.
00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:12.879
It's a weird thing or a weird simile to use to describe yourself.
00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:20.159
I have never once described myself in such a way that Jesus is describing here.
00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:26.879
But I believe that Jesus uses this, he uses the object lesson of the bread.
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.600
And he brings it full circle for these people.
00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:40.320
He's trying to explain and help these people truly understand what it means to believe and receive God by using bread to do so.
00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:46.639
The reason he does this is there is no such thing as halfway eating.
00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.840
There is no such thing as halfway eating.
00:15:53.120 --> 00:16:09.200
Meaning, never have I thought, when I roll up to Texas Roadhouse, that I cannot wait to get my hands on some rolls and just go and then put it back in the basket.
00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:19.120
Okay, I don't know if y'all are anything like me, but when I go to Texas Roadhouse, I might as well just ask for two baskets when they sit me down, okay?
00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.559
Because I am going to get after it.
00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:31.039
No one ever sits down at the Texas Roadhouse table and has a taste of the rolls and goes home and talks about how good the roll were.
00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:42.480
The classic Texas Roadhouse example is that I went to Texas Roadhouse, and by the time my steak came, I had already filled up on the rolls entirely.
00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:49.440
There is no way that you can halfway eat something.
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.639
Either you eat it and you fully receive it.
00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:58.639
And when you receive it, when you eat it, when you digest it, it becomes a part of you.
00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:00.960
You receive the protein.
00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:05.839
And if my favorite category, the carbohydrates, you receive all of those things.
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:14.000
And they become part of your body, and your body uses those for energy and to sustain life.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:20.319
Receiving him fully means accepting all parts about him.
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:22.400
Even the challenging parts.
00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:30.720
It means accepting the challenging parts that we talked about last week when we're reading, and Jesus says, No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.799
And we go, what does that even mean?
00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.400
How does that work?
00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:42.240
How can it be that we both have the free will to choose God, but he is also sovereign over all things?
00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.319
How do those two things work?
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:57.519
When we fully accept him, it means I would say that we fully receive him on all the primary fronts.
00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:04.319
There are primary fronts, meaning there are super important teachings about who Jesus is.
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:12.720
Super important statements that Jesus made about himself, that if you deny those statements, then you don't really believe in Jesus.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:20.640
If you believe in a Jesus that celebrates the sin that you choose to partake in.
00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:55.680
When we are, if we are just wanting a taste of something, think of it with in regard to our eating analogy.
00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:00.000
Thinking about eating is not the same as eating.
00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.319
I was on the golf course the other day.
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.799
And bro, I was I was hungry.
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:05.839
I was hungry.
00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:08.880
I had just been to the I had just been to the dentist's office.
00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:10.400
I got my tooth filled.
00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.400
And I think I was on hole two.
00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:17.839
And I I said, I said, man, I'm hungry.
00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:19.200
I could go for some food.
00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:23.279
I'm gonna have to get some food at this turn, at the turn, from going from hole nine to hole ten.
00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.799
It's by hole five, I'm thinking to myself, I could really use a hamburger.
00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:31.519
It's by hole six, I'm saying out loud, I could, golly, I could go.
00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:33.200
I could go for a hamburger.
00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:34.799
I might go for a bag of chips too.
00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.119
I might even well get a soda while I'm in there.
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:43.279
And then we get to hole number nine, and it results in, dude, we're gonna have to stop.
00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:47.359
We're gonna have to stop for this hamburger or something.
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:53.200
And we stopped for a hot dog, and after I had that hot dog, I talked from hole 10 to 18.
00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:54.799
I was talking about when I got home.
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:57.519
Best hot dog I have had in years.
00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:18.000
But thinking about that moment, thinking about the moment that I walk into the pro shop and the lady hands me my hot dog in tin foil is not the same as partaking in a beautiful hot dog that has been is it's in a Texas toast bun and it has been buttered on both sides and toasted, it's got ketchup on the top of it.
00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:20.880
I mean, I was so hungry, I almost got messed up and got mustard on it.
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:22.400
Like it was so good.
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.160
It was super good.
00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:30.640
Thinking about that moment is not the same as actually eating it.
00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:40.160
If I was to flip over the bag of chips that I had purchased, my my everything chips, which were fantastic.
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:45.039
It's it's like barbecue and salt and vinegar and all that, all in one.
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:46.319
Really great chip.
00:20:46.559 --> 00:21:03.519
If I had sat there and read the nutritional facts on the back, read the ingredient list, which honestly is probably longer than it should be, but if I was reading the ingredient list, that would not be the same as cracking that bag of chips open and actually eating the chips.
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:11.759
Sitting back and thinking about, okay, I have this rumble in my tummy and I'm hungry.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:26.160
And once I go and I eat this food, it will go into my stomach and it will begin to be digested, and then it's gonna go into my large intestine and my small intestine, it's gonna be absorbed into my body.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:37.680
I could know how it works, does me zero good until I actually eat the food that I purchased.
00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.079
Mind you, worth every penny.
00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:42.000
Worth every penny.
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:45.839
The same is true with Jesus.
00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:55.519
Thinking about God, having some thought of a higher being is not the same as believing in God.
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.759
Knowing theology, reading all the books, you've heard me.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.799
Tell it a bunch of times.
00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:06.720
Going to seminary does not make you a more holy person.
00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:12.640
Honestly, in some of my frustration and writing and procrastination, it gave me a lot to repent of.
00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:15.039
Seminary does not make you more holy.
00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:21.440
You could know everything there is to know about God in a human sense and still miss out on believing.
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:33.759
You'll hear a lot of pastors say that you could, most people miss heaven by 12 inches, which is, or 18 inches, which is the difference from your head to where your heart is.
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.200
Understanding how someone is saved.
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.559
I mean, you could sit back, you could read the Romans road.
00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.559
You could say, yes, I believe.
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:45.279
Yes, mm-hmm.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.920
Yes, I know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:49.039
Yes, I believe that.
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:50.079
Yes, I do.
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.440
I certainly do believe that all who call upon the name of the Lord are saved.
00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:54.319
Yes, I believe that.
00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:55.359
Yes, I believe it.
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:59.279
I know it's a, I know that it's a full, uh, that it's a gift of God.
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.160
It's not by works, so that no one may boast.
00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:03.279
I know that.
00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:08.559
This is not the same as believing.
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:15.359
You only get into Christ by believing him fully.
00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:22.000
I only receive the benefit when I receive Christ.
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:39.839
You can clean your life up, you can do all the right things, you can follow all the rules, and never truly have believed and partaken, never believed, consumed Jesus.
00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:44.319
The question for us today is not, do I have all the information?
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.079
It's do I have the heart that has chosen to believe?
00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:55.599
Have I decided, have I placed my whole stake on Jesus?
00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:02.000
Today, some of us need to stop settling for a taste of Jesus.
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:07.359
And we need to actually partake and fully believe in who He is.
00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:09.519
So examine your life.
00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.680
Am I just thinking about Jesus?
00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:14.079
Am I just trying to clean up my life?
00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.000
Am I just trying to live a life that is morally upright?
00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:23.599
Am I just trying to live a life that when people look at me, they think to themselves, yeah, he's a pretty good person?
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.079
Good guy, great dude, good homie.
00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.640
He does a lot of good things, takes care of a lot of people.
00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:36.160
Consider, am I only accepting the parts of Jesus that I like?
00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.839
Or have I fully received Christ?
00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.599
There is no halfway, zero halfway.
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:52.720
Thirdly, we see union with Christ produces an alive person.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:57.119
Union with Christ produces an alive person.
00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.720
Now y'all bear with me.
00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:09.599
Because this whole passage, 70 verses, fourth longest chapter in the Bible, is all about union with Christ.
00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:18.400
And that would be a tall enough task if I was going to preach this single point right here and tell you what this entire passage was all about.
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:20.480
That would be enough undertaking.
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:28.160
I I had to cut it short just with how the timing works out in terms of, I wanted this to be its own sermon, but it just didn't work out.
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.200
So y'all just, again, just buckle up.
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:42.559
That would have been a tough enough task, but what is even tougher is the fact that this is the entire narrative of the New Testament.
00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.359
Is being in union with Christ.
00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:54.400
Union with Christ, and we're gonna I'm gonna unpack that, is the ultimate goal of our faith.
00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:01.839
If the goal of our faith is anything other than union in Christ, then we are missing the point.
00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:14.880
If the goal of your faith is to just become a better person or to just be happier, you have missed the point of, you have missed the point of the Christian faith entirely.
00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:27.440
Saint Augustine said this, you made us, talking about God, you made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.
00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.440
When you ingest food, it becomes a part of you.
00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:36.559
And when you are united with Jesus, your deepest longings are satisfied.
00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:42.000
And this is what Jesus has been trying to explain from verse 1 of chapter 6.
00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:51.359
In the same way that food sustains you and satisfies you, so Christ sustains and satisfies your soul.
00:26:51.519 --> 00:27:02.079
And so, as we examine this text, as we look through it, we should be asking, what are we looking for to satisfy our soul?
00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:07.119
What are we clinging to for satisfaction?
00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:12.240
The end goal of our faith is union with God in heaven.
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:28.240
The beauty of this is that the scripture gives us a picture of this in numerous places, but God also has provided a way for us to understand this here on this earth.
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:41.039
We see that in the narrative of Scripture that in marriage it says that they will leave their father and mother, and they will cling to one another, and the two will become one flesh.
00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:42.559
Beautiful analogy.
00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:46.000
Beautiful spiritual reality of two people.
00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:51.119
Now coming together and becoming one entity.
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:52.960
Beautiful.
00:27:53.440 --> 00:28:04.160
But what makes marriage even more beautiful is that it is the way that Christ describes his relationship between his chosen people and himself.
00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:09.519
Understanding union with Christ is a massive undertaking.
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:19.119
Again, I could probably write a whole doctoral dissertation on union with Christ, and it still would not do it justice.
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:27.279
William Keynes calls union with Christ, the doctrine of union with Christ, the sum of our salvation.
00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:37.839
Sinclair Ferguson also says, the truth to which the New Testament constantly returns to is that we are united with Christ.
00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:48.319
So much so that Paul uses this phrase in Christ 164 times across the New Testament.
00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:55.359
In our salvation, God justifies us, adopts us, sanctifies us, and glorifies us.
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:02.079
Those are the four basic categories of what we can boil salvation down to.
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:12.640
But within that, there is even more: election, redemption, calling, faith, forgiveness, perseverance, and ultimately the fulfillment.
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:24.559
Ephesians 1, verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:41.279
In the first verses of Ephesians, Paul is saying, everything that you need for your salvation, every sort of reward, every sort of benefit that comes from following Christ is in Christ.
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:48.160
Union with Christ means that what is true of him is now true of you.
00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:56.880
If we were to boil union in Christ down, it is this that what is true of God becomes true of you.
00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:59.119
And it doesn't mean that we are God.
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:01.839
That's what we would call heresy.
00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:04.319
Just clear the air.
00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:08.079
But that what is true of God is true of you.
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:17.920
When you become married, it is no longer my money and my spouse's money.
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:20.079
It is our money together.
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:26.400
More importantly, it is not just my debt, but it is also my wife's debt.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:30.480
We are both on the hook for one another.
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:40.960
The decisions that I make or the decisions that Braylee makes have a great impact on us because we are one unit.
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:47.200
The same is true in a number of relationships in life.
00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:57.279
You think, okay, well, where does where does one person call the shots for or the actions of one person affect a large group of people?
00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:03.680
The military is a great way to understand this.
00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:14.000
When President Trump says, hey, we are going to go and bomb these people, or we're at war with these people, or we're kind of at war, but we're not really at war because you don't call it that.
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:14.960
Whatever.
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:21.200
But when that happens, that affects everybody.
00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:23.680
Everybody's posture changes.
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:30.559
Everybody's responsibility changes because the decision of one person.
00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:40.240
Scripture gives us this picture of marriage, of uh, this picture of union continually.
00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:46.000
We see it in John 15, 5, where he talks about the vine and the branches.
00:31:46.720 --> 00:32:02.160
We see this in Ephesians, where Paul talks about that we are the household of God that is built on the apostles and the prophets, that they are the like they are the foundation of the house, and that Christ is the cornerstone.
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:10.480
We see this with Saul on the road to Damascus as he is riding on his donkey to go persecute some Christians.
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:14.400
He is ready to go throw some cats in jail, and God shows up.
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:24.079
Jesus shows up, knocks him off his donkey, and he says, Saul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:25.839
Now Jesus is up in heaven.
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:28.240
He's not, I mean, he's not down on earth.
00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:38.319
But it is like he is being persecuted because the body of Christ is, the church is the body of Christ.
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:50.240
In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, it says, We are all baptized by one Spirit into one body, and by this spirit we obtain union with Christ.
00:32:50.960 --> 00:33:01.680
Rory Schreiner, commentator, uh biblical commentator, he says that union with Christ is best understood in terms of an airplane.
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.799
So John's wife, Priscilla, is in Oklahoma.
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:08.240
She's getting ready to come back today.
00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:10.640
She's gonna be flying on a plane.
00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:17.440
Hopefully, our desire is not that she flies under the plane.
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:24.079
I mean, she's if she's grabbing onto the wheel well, it will not go well for Priscilla.
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:36.400
We would hope that she is not behind the plane when it takes off because she'll be a little popsicle and you know, melted in thruster exhaust.
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:37.839
This would not be good.
00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:46.000
We hope that she's not on top of the plane because when she gets off the top of the plane, it will be a long fall.
00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:54.880
Our hope is that when Priscilla boards the plane, she boards inside of the plane.
00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:03.519
We hope that when she's at the airport, she is not just inspired by the plane.
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:08.000
She just sits there and she goes, wow, that's a that's a that's a very big 737.
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:11.039
That's I mean, that's a lot of thrust power, that's a heavy plane.
00:34:11.360 --> 00:34:13.360
That plane can do a lot of lifting.
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:16.960
And she just sits there on the runway and watches it take off.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:22.400
We hope that she is inside of the plane.
00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:32.320
And if Priscilla is inside of the plane, what is true of the plane, man, you can go home and tell this sermon's all about Priscilla, it's crazy.
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:38.639
If Priscilla is inside of the plane, what is true of the plane becomes true of Priscilla.
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:48.960
If the plane crashes, Lord forbid, somewhere in Missouri, then we would say Priscilla crashed somewhere in the fields of Missouri.
00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:56.639
If she lands safely at Norfolk International Airport, we would say Priscilla landed safely at Norfolk International Airport.
00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:59.599
The same is true of our relationship with Christ.
00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:05.119
If we are in Christ, what is true of Christ is now true of us.
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:16.639
It is no longer that I have to work and generate all of this righteousness on my own, but the righteousness that is true of God is now true of me.
00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:26.480
The eternal destination of Christ in heaven, I don't have to work and try to get my way there, but it is now true of me because it is true of Christ.
00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:28.960
I now have an inheritance in heaven.
00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:38.480
I am a son or a daughter of Christ because that is of God, because that is true of Christ, and if I am in Christ, that is also true of me.
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.360
There are two implications of this union with Christ.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:51.840
If we are united with Christ, we are no longer bound or enslaved by sin.
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:59.599
Romans 6.11 says, for the death he died, he died to sin, once for all, for all people.
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:02.159
But the life he lives, he lives to God.
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:09.440
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:18.400
Meaning, if you are in union with Christ, the attitude of the believer to say, I will always struggle with this sin.
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:21.920
Things will always be like this.
00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:24.480
I will always struggle with this anxiety.
00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:26.400
I will always struggle with this depression.
00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:30.559
I will always have this struggle between me and this sin.
00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:34.320
Friends, that is an ungodly way to think.
00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:38.079
Because it is not true.
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:49.760
It does not mean that we do not struggle, but the language of it will never happen any other way is downright blasphemous to say.
00:36:51.280 --> 00:37:00.719
Second implication of this union: all believers are of equal value and equal position before God.
00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:09.840
I will tell you, I think, I think purchasing, I think purchasing a first-class ticket, I know I'm a small dude, I don't have super long legs, okay?
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:13.760
But I think purchasing a first-class ticket on a plane is just kind of silly.
00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:15.119
Because it's a lot of extra money.
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:22.079
I know there are people that say once you fly first class, you'll never do anything else, but okay, maybe if I'm going like 15 hours, maybe.
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:27.840
But at the end of the day, we're all getting there.
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:35.920
They did the people in first class do not get there any faster than I get there.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:41.199
The people in first class, they they fly the same speed through the air that I fly.
00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:43.360
I am not worried about it.
00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:48.639
Even thinking, if the plane crashes, they're gone first, okay?
00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:52.480
Like, it's not that much more beneficial.
00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:58.079
We are all of equal value if we are in Christ.
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:05.679
If you believe you are united with Christ, and if you are outside of Christ, he is of no value to you.
00:38:06.719 --> 00:38:12.639
Jesus is of no value unless you are inside of Christ.
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:16.880
If you do not have union with Christ, he is of no value to you.
00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:25.920
Friends, we need to stop aiming for lesser goals as followers of Jesus.
00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:30.719
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just getting to heaven.
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:34.960
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just not going to hell.
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:39.679
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just becoming better people.
00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:44.559
We need to stop aiming for the lesser goal of just being happy.
00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:50.000
And we just need to rest in the reality that you are in Christ.
00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:54.320
Whatever is true of him is now true of you.
00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:59.679
And we live out of the overflow of that union.
00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:08.800
We live out of that peace that we are with God, that we are united with God, and there is nothing that we could do to shake that.
00:39:10.559 --> 00:39:14.880
In summary, blindness produces an outraged person.
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.960
Secondly, belief produces a satisfied person.
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:26.719
And thirdly, union with Christ produces an alive person.
00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:37.119
So today, as as we wrap up, I want you to consider in this response time, what are you feeding your soul on?
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:44.239
What are you looking for to satisfy your soul?
00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:53.119
Maybe we should ask, are we are we even alive?
00:39:54.880 --> 00:40:02.079
Have we truly come to embrace and believe and feed on Christ for all that He is?
00:40:05.280 --> 00:40:15.039
See, in those Texas Roadhouse rolls, the great tragedy of Texas Roadhouse is that you can eat all the rolls you want.
00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:30.880
You might have had it all together and you properly paced yourself, and your 16-ounce steak and sweet potato and you know mashed potatoes come, and you're able to eat that and you're able to go about your day or your night.
00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:31.519
Maybe not.
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:33.840
Maybe you just sit on the couch the rest of the night.
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:40.480
But by the time the next day rolls around, you are going to be hungry again.
00:40:41.280 --> 00:40:45.039
The honey butter does not sustain very long, friends.
00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:48.800
But this is not the case with Christ.
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:53.920
He is all satisfying.
00:40:54.159 --> 00:41:01.760
And in this miracle of feeding the 5,000, and as Jesus is unpacking it for this crowd, he's saying, you guys do not get it.
00:41:01.840 --> 00:41:04.960
I don't want to just satisfy you physically.
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:10.480
I want to satisfy you spiritually, and it is so much better.
00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:16.800
Won't you allow him to satisfy you spiritually?
00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:18.159
Let's pray.
00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:23.039
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for today, Lord.
00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:27.280
I thank you that you are always faithful.
00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:36.239
God, even when we are faithless, you are faithful, God, because your word says that you cannot deny yourself.
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:50.480
Lord, I pray that in these next moments as we respond in worship, God, that you would help us to not be people that just hear and forget, but God, that you would help us to be people that hear your word and do.
00:41:50.960 --> 00:41:53.119
God, that you would help us to act.
00:41:53.840 --> 00:41:57.440
Lord, I thank you for your many blessings.
00:41:57.760 --> 00:42:01.440
God, I thank you for the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus that we have.
00:42:01.519 --> 00:42:06.320
God, that we have everything that we need for a godly life in you.
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:12.960
And Lord, I pray that as we go about our day today and as we continue in our time of worship, God, that you would be honored and glorified.
00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:14.639
And it's in Jesus' name I pray.
00:42:14.880 --> 00:42:15.360
Amen.
