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Proverbs 16:1-10
1 The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the
tongue is from the LORD.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits.
3 Commit your works to the LORD, And your
thoughts will be established.
4 The LORD has made all for Himself, Yes, even
the wicked for the day of doom.
5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go
unpunished.
6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for
iniquity; And by the fear of the LORD one
departs from evil.
7 When a man's ways please the LORD, He makes
even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is
a little with righteousness, Than vast revenues without justice.
9 A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD
directs his steps.
10 Divination is on the lips of the king; His mouth must not transgress in
judgment.
Father God, we pray for a healing of those we love whether
family, friend, or neighbor. Heal them physically and spiritually. Let them be
a testimony to your Greatness! In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Gospel of John 6:46-59
NKJV
This week’s lesson has Jesus preaching
about Himself, the Bread of Life. It is repeated several times in various ways,
but sadly not being understood by the Jewish people. They can’t think
spiritually.
We left
off last week with this verse; John
6:45 It is
written in the prophets, 'AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD.' Therefore
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
Verse 45
and the opening verse 46 go together. Jesus is adding here that no one has seen
the Father but all are taught by Him through His Spirit or Son.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from
God; He has seen the Father.
Not that anyone has seen the
Father; Jesus is trying
to get these people to understand that a lost sinner will learn about God by
spiritual means, to fully comprehend and understand the Father. The Holy Spirit
will convict and teach a lost soul and they will turn to God in repentance.
This isn’t something where a person will sit down and God will appear before
the person and teach them; it is all spiritual.
Except He who is from God; He
has seen the Father;
This of course speaks of Jesus and He fully comprehends and understands the
Father because He is part of the Trinity and is God. Jesus is telling the Jews,
that despite all of their talk about God, they really know nothing about Him.
In reality, had they known God, they would have known Jesus.
47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has
everlasting life.
Believe
what? One must believe that Jesus is the Saviour, and that He will save all who
come to Him. John 3:16
This is God’s promise to us if we believe and continue to believe. Everlasting
life becomes effective the moment a person acknowledges Jesus as the Saviour
through repentance.
48 I am the bread of life.
I am; By
using the words “I am,” Jesus plainly identifies Himself as the Jehovah of the
Old Testament. Exodus
3:14
And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said,
"Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'
The bread of life;
As men eat natural bread to sustain the physical body, they also have to eat
the Word of God (John 1:1)
daily to sustain their spirituality. The symbolism is intended to express the
idea, that physical bread is to be eaten constantly; likewise, the Believer is
to feed on Jesus constantly.
In
the remaining verses of this Chapter, Jesus tells us how this can be done.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Jesus
is telling these people that even though God supplied the Israelites food, it
was only food to sustain physical life; it only satisfied temporal wants; it
didn’t provide eternal life. The most distinguished temporal blessings will not
save one from death. Wealth, friends, food, clothing, will not preserve life. Something
more than earthly blessings is needed and that being Jesus, the bread which
gives everlasting life, which cometh down from heaven.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may
eat of it and not die.
Can
you visualize Jesus making this statement and while He is speaking it He is
pointing with His pointer finger to His chest?
Again
He is speaking of spiritual life and not physical life, His body that was to be
sacrificed on the altar of the Cross for all mankind.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone
eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My
flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
I am the living bread which
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; As stated previously Jesus gives eternal
life when one fully comprehends the reason Jesus went to the Cross for us and
believes in His resurrection from the grave.
And the bread that I shall give is My flesh; Meaning His body would be offered as a
sacrifice for sin. “This is my body which is broken for you,” 1
Corinthians 11:24. The
word “bread” in Hebrew also means “flesh” in Syriac and Arabic.
Which I shall give for the
life of the world; Meaning
that sinners might, by his atoning sacrifice, be recovered from spiritual
death, and be brought to eternal life; of Him giving Himself freely on the
Cross as a Sacrifice for us to believe on. He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not just ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.
To
eat living bread means to accept Christ into our lives and become united with
him. We are united with Christ in two ways: 1) by believing in his death (the
sacrifice of his flesh) and resurrection and 2) by devoting ourselves to living
as he requires, depending on his teachings for guidance and trusting in the
Holy Spirit for power.
52 The Jews
therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"
The Jews therefore quarreled among
themselves; This phrase
tells us that maybe some of these Jews understood what Jesus was saying since
they were quarreling. So we have some believing and some not believing.
Saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat; Those that are saying this are only
thinking in the physical realm of life as do many of today think. Despite all
their claims of knowing God, and their boasts of being God’s chosen people, in
reality they did not know God, meaning being saved, and consequently could not
think in spiritual terms.
A
person that is not saved struggles with Bible Scripture in understanding it, I
can testify to that. Before I was saved I couldn’t understand the true meaning
of the Bible. After I repented of my lifestyle and accepted Jesus, the Holy
Spirit lifted the veil from over my heart so that I could comprehend what was
being stated. Unredeemed man, despite all his intellectual loftiness, cannot
think as God thinks despite education and self-improvement. Man has difficulty
thinking beyond the things of this earth.
53 Then
Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no
life in you.
With
this verse and the next one many of those that were following Jesus abandon Him
because they couldn’t grasp what Jesus was saying. They could only think in the
physical sense and not the spiritual sense Jesus was speaking of.
Jesus
is talking about His body that would be offered on the cross as the ultimate
sacrifice for sin, and would be raised up from the dead and received into
heaven. It is to fully believe in Him and what He did for us is what He means
here; however, this Verse tells us the degree of believing that is required; it
refers to the Cross being the total object of one’s belief; failing that, there
is no Life.
Jesus
sacrifice on the Cross for us is the same as the sacrifices of the OT, but only
had to be done once, whereas those of the OT had to be repeated over and over
and over. The meat of the animal sacrifices was eaten as part of the sacrifice.
The meat Jesus is speaking of is spiritual meat, “faith” in the sacrifice on
the Cross. So how do we eat this flesh Jesus is talking about? It is by
consuming the Word of God, living by every dot and tittle in the Bible, placing
our faith in Jesus, repenting and living for Jesus, etc.
54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
Whoever eats My flesh; This
was a figure of speech, speaking of His body that He would Sacrifice on the
Cross at Calvary. His Body was given as a Perfect Sacrifice, because it was
perfect, and, consequently, that which God could accept, and, did accept! When
one partakes of that by Faith, at that moment God gives the Believer Eternal
Life on the basis of what Christ did for us (Acts 3:16; 4:12;
15:9; Romans 3:24–25; 5:1–11; 10:9–10; Galatians 2:16–20; 3:1–26; Ephesians
2:8–9; I Peter 1:5–13).
And drinks My blood has eternal life; Again this is a figure of speech, which
speaks of one placing their trust in the blood shed by Jesus at Calvary’s
Cross, which washed away the sin of man. Upon Faith in that great act, God
grants to the Believer the benefits thereof of a life that is Justified and Sanctified
(I Corinthians 6:9–11).
And I will raise him up at the last day; This is the fourth time this is spoken
by Jesus. Therefore the Believer has a fourfold assurance of being raised up on
the last day.
55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
The
idea is, that Christ’s Flesh and Blood stand in the same relation to the true
life of man that food and drink do to the physical life of earth (Reynolds).
Some
may find it repulsive that Jesus used “My Flesh” and “My Blood” as a way to
describe a very spiritual experience, but the union with Christ that one
obtains upon Salvation, can best be described in the exact manner that Jesus
uses here. Our Salvation was not purchased as Peter said, 1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your
fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot.
56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I
in him.
To
abide means to be intimately connected. To dwell or abide in Him is to remain
in the belief of His doctrine, and in the participation of the benefits of His
death. Jesus dwells in believers by his Spirit and doctrine. We have to be
rooted in the Bible and draw the nourishment we need to sustain spiritual
everlasting life from the Word of God just like a plant draws the nutrients
from the soil for life. John
15:1-6
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the
vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;
and every branch that bears
fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean
because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in
you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide
in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and
throw them into the fire, and
they are burned.
Jesus is telling these
Jewish people and us that His life had to become our life in all aspects, but
they and many of today cannot accept this concept. People would rather believe
and practice the doctrine of man instead of what Jesus says in the Bible. One
must take up the Cross of Christ daily to abide in Him. Luke 9:23 Then He
said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the
Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
Jesus lived for His Fathers
will and did it perfectly. Just as Jesus did this and lives, we are to live
according to Jesus will, and live. Galatians
2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself for me.
58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your
fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live
forever."
Again Jesus points to
Himself as the true means to gain access to our Heavenly Fathers Kingdom. He
Alone, is the True Bread of Life and gives Eternal Life, to those who “eat of
this Bread”, which means to accept Him as for Who He is and What He would do. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me.
59 These
things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
This
that Jesus was teaching was the first time anything like this was taught in the
synagogue. Sadly it was rejected by the majority just as it is today.
Next week we will conclude this chapter.
It is sad the rejection of the things Jesus says and He even questioning the
Apostles to see if they wanted to remain with Him.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that
are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
The Lighthouse
Full Gospel Church
Sinners Prayer; Pray this, and if you
believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus I know I am a
sinner. I confess my sins to you; I am
sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a sinful
lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John
3:16,17; Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8;
10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10;
1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10) (Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal.
5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-7)
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