Preached at Trinity Baptist Church on December 4, 1994, this sermon takes 1 Corinthians 11:26 as its text and argues that every celebration of the Lord's Supper is an act of gospel proclamation directed to unsaved hearers present. Martin organizes the gospel proclaimed at the table into three concentrations: first, that a provision has been made for needy sinners in Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection; second, that this provision is freely and sincerely offered to sinners as sinners, without condition of prior awakening or renovation; and third, drawing extensively on John 6, that the provision must be individually received by personal faith -- a spiritual eating and drinking of Christ that no parent, spouse, or proxy can perform for another. The sermon closes with a tender pastoral address to children of believing parents, countering misuse of election as an impediment to coming to Christ.
Primary Texts
menu_book
1 Corinthians 11:26The text from which the entire sermon is developed: the Lord's Supper as a proclamation of the Lord's death until he comes.
menu_book
John 6:35-54The bread of life discourse, used extensively to establish that eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood means personal, individual, appropriating faith -- not sacramental eating.
menu_book
Luke 24:45-47The risen Christ's commission to preach repentance and remission, cited to define the gospel as announcement of what God has done rather than instruction about what to do.
The Cross at the Center of All Saving Revelation3:00
The Lord's Supper as Gospel Proclamation to the Unsaved7:36
First Point: A Provision Has Been Made for Needy Sinners10:00
Second Point: The Provision Is Freely and Sincerely Offered15:21
Third Point: The Provision Must Be Individually Received19:53
Pastoral Application and Closing Appeal30:38
Key Quotes
“God has made the truth of Christ crucified for sinners the central issue of all of his saving revelation.”
“Christ died for our sins. That's not a word of direction. It's a word of glorious announcement.”
“God can now announce to the world. I have made provision in my son. Suited to and adequate for. The neediest and the vilest of sinners.”
“As often as you drink the cup. You proclaim. You preach. You preach the Lord's death till he come.”
“This is what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus, to come to the Lord Jesus. It is a spiritual eating of him, a spiritual drinking of him, an individual spiritual eating of him, an individual spiritual drinking of him.”
“You don't know if you're given. But you do know that you're welcome to come. And it comes, I will in no wise cast out.”
“Come for the feast is spread. Come for the feast is spread. That's the gospel, Matthew 22. All things are ready.”
“A provision has been made for you in Jesus Christ. A provision adequate for all of your needs.”
Applications
All listeners
Every baptized member who partakes of the Lord's Supper becomes a gospel preacher to the unsaved sitting in the room. Believers should approach the table with awareness of their evangelistic role.
When presenting the gospel, lead with what God has done in Christ, not with what sinners must do. The gospel is an announcement before it is an invitation.
No sinner should disqualify themselves from the gospel's offer on the grounds of being too vile or too needy -- the provision is suited to and adequate for the neediest and vilest.
There is no corporate or proxy participation in the gospel. Parents cannot receive Christ on behalf of their children; each individual must personally appropriate him by faith.
Boys, girls, and teenagers must personally eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood -- that is, personally believe on him -- or they have no spiritual life, regardless of their family background.
The gospel offer is made to sinners as sinners -- not to awakened, seeking, or partially renovated sinners. Every person present qualifies simply by being a sinner.
Children troubled by the doctrine of election should not use it as an excuse not to come to Christ. Election is never revealed to be an impediment to coming; the promise 'him that comes unto me I will in no wise cast out' is the word to act on.
Believers returning to the table do not come to a different source of spiritual life than that by which they were first saved. The ongoing life of faith is still faith in the Son of God who loved and gave himself -- the table renews what began at conversion.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 145 paragraphs, roughly 37 minutes.
Machine transcription
Introduction: The Text and Its Setting
The message was delivered on Sunday evening, December 4th, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn with me in your Bibles to a portion of the Word of God that no doubt you will be asked to turn to again when we come to the table. And I refer, of course, to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I would ask you to focus all of your attention upon the very familiar words of verse 26, usually the last verse that we read when we read the words of institution at the table. The Apostle having said that what he now delivers is what he had received from the Lord. The Lord Jesus, and therefore these words are the words of Christ, either quoted by the Apostle Paul and not found in the Gospels, or given by the Lord Jesus to the Apostle Paul as the Word of Christ through his inspired Apostle. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup. You proclaim the Lord's death till he come.
As often as you eat this bread, that is ordinary bread that has been set apart for this supper of remembrance to symbolize the body of Christ, which he assumed for us. The body in which he carried out his perfect obedience under the law on behalf of his people. The body according to Peter in which he carried our sins up to the tree. He tells us as often as you eat this bread.
Bread set apart to symbolize the body taken for us. The body in which he obeyed for us and died for us and rose again from the dead. As often as you eat this bread. The body according to Peter in which he carried out his perfect obedience under the law on behalf of his people.
And drink the cup. The cup that contains the fruit of the vine. Now set apart to symbolize our Lord's blood shed in a voluntary death. His life poured out upon the cross as a sacrifice on behalf of sinners.
As often as you drink the cup. You proclaim. You preach. You preach the Lord's death till he come.
The Cross at the Center of All Saving Revelation
God has made the truth of Christ crucified for sinners the central issue of all of his saving revelation. Now lest you just regard that as a preacher's attempt to write an opening word for his introduction. May I repeat it? God has made the truth of Christ crucified for sinners the central issue of all of his saving revelation.
This is indicated in many parts of scripture. Perhaps nowhere more forcefully than in this very epistle where the apostle tells us in the first chapter. That the very essence of his gospel. The very essence of his gospel.
His good news to a lost and cursed world. Centers in the cross of Christ. Verse 17. Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel.
Not in wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made void. And here he equates the gospel. With the cross of Christ. Verse 23.
But we preach Christ crucified. Unto Jews a stumbling block and unto Gentiles foolishness. But unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks. Christ the power of God.
And the wisdom of God. And all who know anything of the saving power. And wisdom of God. Will know it only as it is funneled to them through the cross.
Now it is not the cross in isolation from those two great truths that flank it. Namely the incarnation on the one hand and the resurrection on the other. The cross would have no virtue. The one who died were not the unique person that he was and continues to be.
He is Emmanuel. God with us. This same apostle said had the rulers of this world known his true identity. They would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
And it is who he is that gives worth to what he did. If he were just a mere man. And I say it reverently. Even a mere man kept sinless.
There would not be enough virtue in the death of a mere man. To have anything left to dispense to needy sinners. It is precisely because Christ is who he is. As he was constituted the God man in Mary's womb.
That there is an infinite worth in what he did. When he died upon the cross. And his death upon the cross is never to be contemplated. Apart from the other flanking truth.
That of his resurrection. And it is by his resurrection that God validates his identity. And the worth of his work. In Romans 1 we read that he is declared son of God with power.
By the resurrection. From the dead. And in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul establishes. That had Christ only died and not been raised from the dead.
We would still be in our sins. And so when I state to you that God has made the truth of Christ crucified for sinners. The central issue of all of his saving revelation. I say it with this biblical mindset.
Percolating my own thinking that it is not the cross. In isolation from the incarnation or the resurrection. But having said that central to the saving revelation of God. Is the doctrine of Christ crucified for sinners.
The Lord's Supper as Gospel Proclamation to the Unsaved
Therefore in giving an ordinance to his people. By which to remember him. It should not surprise us that in that very ordinance. The Lord himself intends to underscore in red ink.
That central truth of his saving revelation. And when the people of God gather in this supper of remembrance. The apostle says they not only engage in an activity. In which they remember.
They remember the Lord Jesus. And remember him. In the giving up of his body unto death. And in the pouring out of his blood.
As the blood of the new covenant. But in terms of our text. As often as the people of God gather to eat this bread. And drink the cup.
They are proclaiming. They are preaching the Lord's death. Till he comes. And in the few moments of our meditation this evening.
I want to speak very kindly. Simply and straightforwardly. To every unsaved boy, girl, man, woman. And anything in between.
I want to speak to every one of you. Who does not have a saving attachment to Christ. And attempt to answer for you. From this proclamation of Christ at his table.
Just what is that gospel that we proclaim. For our text says. As often as you eat this bread. And drink the cup.
You proclaim the Lord's death. Till he comes. Those of us who partake of the bread and of the cup. Become a company of gospel preachers.
And what is the gospel we proclaim to you. Our children. Our grandchildren. Our sons and daughters.
Our relatives. Our friends. Our visitors. Who sit among you.
What is the gospel that we proclaim to you. As a company of gospel preachers. When we eat this bread. And drink this cup.
First Point: A Provision Has Been Made for Needy Sinners
Well it is a gospel that has three very simple concentrations. Concentrated lines of affirmation. And I give them to you in that way. Number one.
It is a gospel that states a provision. Has been made for needy sinners. A provision has been made for needy sinners. When we come to the table tonight.
The bread is already there upon it. The fruit of the vine is already in the cups. We are not asked to come. And to create flour.
To create some meal. And to make our own loaf. We are not asked to create grapes. And to crush them.
And take the fruit of the vine. And fill the cup. No. We come to a table.
In which some ones have gone before us. And made adequate preparations. So there is bread to eat. And the fruit of the vine to drink.
And so it was in that upper room. Preparations had been made for the Passover meal. And the bread and the fruit of the vine were there in place. In that first institution of this supper of remembrance.
It says our Lord Jesus took bread. And he took the cup. The provision was already made. And surely this is the foundation.
This is the base note. On which the chord of the gospel is founded. The gospel is primarily an announcement. That almighty God in the person of his son.
Has made a provision for needy sinners. In Luke chapter 24. The Lord Jesus himself makes this abundantly clear. As do the other biblical writers in many places.
In Luke chapter 24. After his resurrection. We read in verse 45. Jesus interacting with his apostles.
Then he opened their minds. That they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto them. Thus it is written.
That the Christ should suffer. And rise again from the dead the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins. Should be preached in his name among all the nations.
Beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. The gospel is an announcement. It is good news.
It comes not telling us what we are to do. But that which God in mercy and grace. Has already done for needy sinners. And that which it announces.
Is nothing more or less. Than this central affirmation. That God in Jesus Christ. Has provided a way.
Where by sinners might be righteously pardoned. May be justly accepted as righteous. Because in Jesus Christ. He punished the just for the unjust.
In the Lord Jesus. He made a substitutionary curse bearer. And having vented the full fury. Of his righteous wrath against his son.
God can now announce to the world. I have made provision in my son. Suited to and adequate for. The neediest and the vilest of sinners.
The gospel is not. An announcement that concentrates. On telling you what you are to do. It concentrates on declaring the good news.
Of what God has done. In Jesus Christ. That's why Paul in the 15th chapter. Of this same first Corinthian epistle.
Can say. I made known unto you. That gospel that I received. By which you are saved.
If you hold it fast. Christ died for our sins. That's not a word of direction. It's a word of glorious announcement.
Christ died for our sins. And this is the gospel we proclaim. When we come to this table. We come to a table.
That has already. Been covered with the provisions. And the gospel we preach to you. Our children and grandchildren.
Our friends and visitors. This gospel concentrates. On this glorious announcement. That a provision has been made.
Second Point: The Provision Is Freely and Sincerely Offered
For needy sinners. But then secondly. This gospel we proclaim. Is this.
That the provision made. Is freely. And sincerely offered. To needy sinners.
The provision made. Is freely. And sincerely. Offered.
To needy sinners. As surely as in a few minutes. The prepared bread and cup. Will be distributed.
And offered to all. That the people of Israel. Offered to all. That the people of God.
In this place. So. In that original institution. Jesus said to his own.
Take. And eat. He offered the bread. To them.
He offered the cup. To them. He did not say. They symbolize.
The blood of the new covenant. The bread symbolizes. My body. And then hide it away.
In some inaccessible place. And say. Now. If you can find it.
It is yours. He says. The things. Which it represents.
Are freely. And sincerely. Offered. To you.
And in the same way. God says. In the gospel. I have made.
A provision. For needy sinners. A provision. Adequate.
For the filest. Of sinners. I have satisfied. All the righteous.
Demands. Of my law. For every. Sinner.
I have made. A provision. For any. Sinner.
Who will rest. The weight. Of his soul. Upon.
This provision. In my. Son. In his.
Death. And in his. Resurrection. And that.
Provision. Is freely. And sincerely. Offered.
To you. In the gospel. So the gospel. Is not.
Only. A proclamation. With a. Take it.
Or leave it. Attitude. It is. A proclamation.
Is. Issue. Or issues. In.
An earnest. Entreaty. That you. Would.
Embrace. That. Offered. Provision.
All. Could. Say. Because.
God. Has. Done. What.
He. Has. Done. In.
Christ. Second. Corinthians. Chapter.
Five. As. Reconciled. To.
God. In. First. Committee.
One. Fifteen. We. Are.
Told. This. Is. A.
Faithful. Say. Worthy. Of.
All. Acceptation. That. Christ.
Jesus. Came. Into. The.
World. Sinners. To. The.
Old. Testament. God. Likens.
Himself. To. A. Street.
Walker. Who. Is. Going.
Down. The. Village. Streets.
And. By. Ways. And.
He. Is. Saying. Home.
Everyone. Thirst. Come. To.
Me. And. Drink. As.
The. Scripture. Says. He.
That. Belongs. To. Me.
And. The. World. Is.
A. Faithful. To. The.
World. And. The. World.
Is. A. Faithful. To.
Me. And. Think. And.
Talk. To. Any . blonde.
Państwo. Of. Your. Life.
All. The. Gold. Season.
Of. War. Year. Because.
Of. My. Wife. How.
Or. A. David. Offered.
To. My. Family Or. Or.
Third Point: The Provision Must Be Individually Received
offered to needy sinners. But then the third strand of gospel preaching that we engage in at this table, and it is a crucial element of the biblical gospel, is this. The provision made and offered for sinners must be individually received by every sinner who would profit from it. The provision made and offered to sinners must be individually received by sinners if it is to profit them in the original institution. Jesus said, take, and he did not say take and look upon it, write poetry about it, compose hymns about it, write cantatas about it. No, he said, take and eat this is my body take and eat. And when he gave the cup, he said drink, all of you drink of it. There could
not be a corporate drinking, there had to be. As with my sip of water, my thirsty mouth must engage the water personally. No one can drink for me. No one can drink for me. There is no proxy participation in the gospel. And how clearly that's indicated when we come to the table. How do we preach the Lord's death till he come? We preach it by saying when each one of us takes his piece of the bread and each one of us opens his mouth and each one of us places the bread within his mouth and chews it, masticates it, mingles it with saliva, breaks it down, swallows it, and eventually assimilates it into his or her body. We take
the cup and we do not hold it up to admire the color. We do not hold it up to meditate upon what it signifies. We take and we drink of it. There is an act of eating and an act of drinking and by this the Lord Jesus is setting before us in the institution of this supper and we are echoing this strand of gospel truth that the provision made and offered must be individually received by needy sinners or it will not profit them. The best commentary upon this truth is our Lord's discourse in John 6 where he speaks of himself as the bread of life. And here in John 6 and verse 48 listen to his words. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the man in the wilderness and they died.
This is the bread which comes down out of heaven. You see our Lord's solution to the incarnation. He did not have his beginning in Bethlehem. He came down out of heaven, took to himself a human soul and body in Mary's womb and was brought forth, Emmanuel, God with us in our nature.
He is the one who comes down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. It's not enough to believe that as the living bread he came down from heaven that he is true nourishment to the soul. No, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live. You notice the individuality. If any man, woman, boy, girl or child, whoever you be, if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. Yea, and the bread which I will give is my flesh.
For the life of the world. He says the true bread will not be simply my person as incarnate, but my incarnate person as crucified.
My flesh given for the life of the world. This caused a great disruption among those who heard him. The Jews therefore strove with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have not life in yourselves.
Whatever it means, sitting here tonight, boys, girls, teenagers, men and women, listen, according to Jesus Christ, unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you do not have any spiritual life. This is what he said. Whatever he meant, this is what he said. He said, He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Well, how do we eat his flesh and drink his blood? Well, if you look back earlier in the chapter, our Lord has already answered the question. Verse 37, sorry, verse 35, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
He that comes to me shall not hunger. He that believes on me shall never thirst. I say unto you, you have not seen, you have seen me, and yet believe not. All that the Father gives me shall come unto me, and him that comes unto me I will in no wise cast out.
And I am come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, and this is the will of him that sent me. But of all that he has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholds the Son and believes on him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. What's the condition of being raised up at the last day to a resurrection of glory and bliss? It is beholding on and believing on him. And yet a short while later, Jesus says in verse 54, he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Do we have two ways of salvation? One that we can have by eating so-called consecrated wafers that are now made sacrificially the body of Christ and the fruit of the vine that is actually made his blood so that we have salvation by cannibalism and salvation by faith? No!
A thousand times no! A horrible hellish, damning lie of all sacramentalism is not what Jesus is talking about. Knowing how dull and sick we are, he takes the simple truth of the necessity of personal appropriating faith, and he brings it home to an activity that we engage in many times every day to accommodate himself to us. Everyone here knows what it is to eat, and you know what it is to drink. In eating you take that which is objective to you, external to you, and by the process of chewing and swallowing you make it your own. You take that glass of milk or orange juice, whatever it is, external to you, you bring it to your lips and you swallow and you assimilate it into yourself. This is what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus, to come to the Lord Jesus. It is a spiritual eating of him, a spiritual drinking of him, an individual spiritual eating of him, an individual spiritual drinking of him. You see, boys
and girls, mom and dads will take some of the bread when it passes, and you'll notice that dad doesn't nudge mom and say, mom, I'll take a double portion and eat for both of us. No. Though your mom and dad are joined in marriage and the two have become one, unless mom and dad individually feed upon Christ by faith, they do not have eternal life.
See how individual it is, kids?
Dad can't take an extra big piece and say, Lord, I'm eating for the child to my left and the child to my right. God knows if we could do that.
God knows that I'd eat the whole loaf if by so doing I could bring salvation to your heart. No, no. Just as surely as each believing member of this assembly and those members of other assemblies sitting with us, not under the correct discipline of those assemblies as you partake, what gospel are you preaching? You're preaching!
You're preaching the gospel that says the provision made and offered must be personally, individually received to profit my soul. And I have personally individually appropriated to myself the Lord Jesus in the virtue of His death, His body given, His blood shed. And so as we come to the Lord's table tonight, the text says that we will all become a company of gospel preachers. And what is the gospel we preach to every man, woman, boy or girl in this place who is not a partaker of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Christ? Here's our gospel. A provision has been made for you in Jesus Christ. A provision adequate for all of your needs.
Pastoral Application and Closing Appeal
A provision freely and sincerely offered to you not as an awakened sinner, not as a seeking sinner, not as a partially renovated and partially fixed up sinner, but it's offered to you as a plain old sinner. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world not seeking sinners to save, awakened sinners to save, convicted sinners to save, just plain old sinners. Surely, surely, you know you fit that category.
Boys, girls, men, women, teenagers, you know, you know you're such a person. And the gospel proclaims that Christ in all the plenitude of his saving power is freely and sincerely offered to you as a sinner. But that provision made and offered must be in the individual received by him. But you see, Pastor, you just read a little bit of those that all that the Father gives me should come to me.
I don't know if I'm given. No, you don't know if you're given. But you do know that you're welcome to come. And it comes, I will in no wise cast out.
But you see, I know from my training in the home that unless God is pleased to give me a new heart, I will not be unable to partake by faith of Christ in true repentance. Dear children, God never revealed the truth of election to be an impediment to your coming to Christ. He's revealed it to be a humbling glorious source of comfort to those who have come and to those who preach and labor in his name and would see others come. But as you sit here tonight, a sinner exposed to the wrath and anger of God with no shelter for your state as a sinner, you should have one thing and one only in mind tonight, and that is this. A provision has been made for needy sinners. That provision is freely and sincerely offered to you as a needy sinner. And that provision made and offered must be individually received by you. If it
is to profit you, come for the feast is spread. Come for the feast is spread. That's the gospel, Matthew 22. All things are ready. Come for the feast. And would God that even tonight as we become a company of gospel preachers and as we break off our pieces of bread and eat it, some of you sitting there will hear that gospel with the ears of your soul and say Lord Jesus, what mom and dad are doing that I can see. I now see what they seek to do and only your eye can see it as they take bread into their physical mouth. So Lord Jesus, I would take you with the mouth of the soul to be mine. I would
drink of the virtue of your death for sinners. Lord Jesus, I would come to you as the gospel is preached in the breaking of bread and in the drinking of the cup. And you'll notice in the passage, dear child of God, we do nothing materially different when we come to the table because the Lord speaks in the present tense and says he that continues to eat of my flesh and continues to drink of my blood is the one who is continually abiding in me. And we are saying as we sit and remember the Lord's death till he comes, having made that initial approach to him and that initial taking of him by faith, we are here announcing that we do not live at some different source of spiritual life, but the place where we received it is the place where it is nurtured. It is the Son of God who loved me and died for me who is the object of my faith as I live. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth 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. And so may our hearts feed afresh upon the glorious
simple and yet profound and amazing truth of the gospel which together we proclaim. Provision has been made, provision is offered, provision must be personally appropriated. Let us pray. Father we thank you that in your wisdom you have established this simple ordinance in which we take bread, break it and eat it.
In which we take the pressed fruit of the vine and we drink it. And we pray that as together in so doing we not only become a company of those who remember our Lord Jesus with tender affection and with renewed actings of faith. Oh we pray as we become a company of gospel preachers. Lord would you not tonight make that gospel your instrument of power unto salvation. Oh may some sinner eat and drink of Christ tonight even as they see the gospel preached as we come to the table.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors.
It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
1 Corinthians 11:26
The text from which the entire sermon is developed: the Lord's Supper as a proclamation of the Lord's death until he comes.
John 6:35-54
The bread of life discourse, used extensively to establish that eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood means personal, individual, appropriating faith -- not sacramental eating.
Luke 24:45-47
The risen Christ's commission to preach repentance and remission, cited to define the gospel as announcement of what God has done rather than instruction about what to do.
Texts Expounded
auto_stories
The controlling text: 'As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he come.' Martin exposits this as a charge to the congregation to preach the gospel through the act of communion.
auto_stories
Paul equates his gospel with the cross of Christ: 'Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel, not in wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made void.'
auto_stories
'But we preach Christ crucified' -- cited to establish that the cross is the very essence of the apostolic gospel.
auto_stories
'Christ died for our sins' -- Paul's summary of the gospel received and delivered, cited to show the gospel is an announcement of what God has done, not a directive about what we must do.
auto_stories
The risen Christ opens the apostles' minds to the scriptures and commissions them to preach repentance and remission of sins -- cited as confirmation that the gospel is an announcement of what God has done.
auto_stories
'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day' -- read as the content of the gospel announcement the apostles were commissioned to preach.
auto_stories
'I am the bread of life. He that comes to me shall not hunger. He that believes on me shall never thirst.' -- equates coming to Christ with believing, providing the interpretive key for eating and drinking his flesh and blood.
auto_stories
'All that the Father gives me shall come unto me, and him that comes unto me I will in no wise cast out.' -- cited in pastoral address to children uncertain about election as the warrant to come.
auto_stories
'Everyone that beholds the Son and believes on him should have eternal life' -- cited alongside John 6:54 to establish that eating his flesh means personal appropriating faith, not sacramental consumption.
auto_stories
'I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.' -- the opening of the bread of life discourse used as the best commentary on individual reception.
auto_stories
'I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.' -- the individuality of salvation emphasized by the phrase 'if any man.'
auto_stories
'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have not life in yourselves.' -- confronted directly to refute sacramentalism and interpret as personal faith.
auto_stories
'He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' -- interpreted as spiritual, individual, appropriating faith, not physical sacramental eating.