Soul-Satisfying Bread

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John 6:34-35

Then said they to him, Lord, ever more give us this bread.…

I. THE LORD JESUS IS TO BE RECEIVED BY EACH ONE OF US PERSONALLY FOR HIMSELF. Bread which is not eaten will not stay hunger. Water in the cup may sparkle, but it cannot slake thirst unless we drink it. How do we receive Christ.

1. By coming to Him, which represents the first act of faith. We return to the Christ from whom we have been alienated with a motion of the heart performed by desire, prayer, assent, consent, trust, obedience.

2. Believing on Him, in the sense of trusting Him.

3. Eating and drinking Him. It is monstrous that this should be taken literally, for what greater crime could there be than to eat the flesh of our Saviour? What He meant was receiving Him into our hearts. Now, in eating —

(1) The food as a whole goes into our mouths; so as a whole Christ is received into our belief and trust.

(2) We masticate it, and even in this way the believer thinks of Jesus and discovers His preciousness.

(3) It descends into the inward parts to be digested; so Christ is to dwell and rest in the affections till His comfort is fully drawn forth.

(4) The food is next assimilated; so the great truths of Christ are inwardly received till our whole nature draws from them satisfaction and strength.

(5) As a man who has feasted well, and is no more hungry, rises from the table satisfied, so we feel that in our Jesus our entire nature has all it wants.

(6) The two points about Christ which He says are respectively meat and drink are —

(a)  His flesh, i.e., His humanity. Our soul feeds on the literal historical fact that "God was in Christ," and was made flesh and dwelt among us.

(b)  His blood, which clearly refers to His atoning death.

II. WHERE JESUS IS RECEIVED HE IS SUPREMELY SATISFYING —

1. To our highest and deepest wants, not to mere fancies and whims. Hungering is no shame; thirst is not sentiment.

2. Christ meets the hungering of conscience, which feels that God must punish sin, but is appeased as it perceives that it has been punished in Christ.

3. Men, when awakened, have a hunger of fear, but when they find that Christ has died for them, fear expires and love takes its place.

4. The heart has its hunger, but in Christ its roving affections find rest.

5. There are vast desires in us all, and when we are quickened they expand, and yet are satisfied.

6. This perfect satisfaction is found only in Christ.

(1)  Some have tried to be satisfied with themselves.

(2)  Some have gone to Moses.

(3)  Some have dosed themselves into a torpor with the narcotics of scepticism.

(4)  Many stave off hunger by indifference, like the bears in winter, which are not hungry because they are asleep.Conclusion: All believers bear witness that Jesus Christ is satisfying to them.

1. They never seek additional ground of trust beyond Christ.

2. They never want to shift their confidence.

3. Christ satisfies in the hour of death.

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