John 6:52-59

Until John, we have been using older manuscripts of Ryle's Expository Thoughts. Just recently, though, EP Publishing has put out a lightly updated version of Ryle's work, which I am now working from. If you are interested in a physical copy of the Expository Thoughts, you can find it HERE.

John 6:52-59

1. Let us first consider carefully what these verses do not mean.
2. Let us next consider carefully what these verses do mean.

"Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are holy sacraments and mighty blessings, when rightly used, but it is worse than useless to drag them in everywhere and to see them everywhere in God’s Word."

"Whenever a person, feeling their own guilt and sinfulness, lays hold on Christ and trusts in the atonement made for them by Christ’s death, at once they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood. His or her soul feeds on Christ’s sacrifice by faith, just as their body would feed on bread. Believing, they are said to eat. Believing, they are said to drink."

Questions:

1. We have considered this difficult expression of eating body and drinking the blood of Jesus. Ryle gives three reasons why this cannot be literal. First, it would have been utterly revolting and is against the command of the Lord in other places. Second, it places an act other than faith and repentance as a requirement to be saved, something the Bible speaks plainly against. And third, it would involve serious blasphemous and profane consequences, namely, that someone dying on their deathbed would be kept out of heaven for not doing so, and many others who do not believe could be saved. Are these reasons helpful as we consider this difficult passage?
2. The point Jesus is making throughout this passage is that to believe in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for our sins is to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Ryle lays out 3 important truths. First, believing, as we see in the rest of Scripture, is necessary for salvation. Second, believing in Christ's death and resurrection unites us by the closest possible bonds and entitles us to the highest privileges. Third, it is a personal act, a daily act, and an act we can feel as it strengthens our faith and gives us peace. Do we know these things to be true?