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The Fourth Sunday in Lent.
The
Collect.
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RANT, we
beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve
to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
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he Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I
am the bread which came down from heaven. 42 And
they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? 43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur
not among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written
in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.46 Not that any man hath seen the
Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 48 I am that
bread of life.49 Your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any
man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. (John 6:41-51)
The Collect
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GOD, who knowest us
to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the
frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength
and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Men hunger and raven after
the bread of this world but remain soul-famished for the Bread of Life which
comes down from Heaven in the form of our Lord and Savior. But all whose diet
consist only of earthly bread will die as the
Children of Israel died in the Wilderness after being provided Manna. There is
only one Divine Bread that gives life and satisfies forever, and that is the
Bread of Heaven. Please bear in mind the words of Christ in which He said: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35) To know Christ in saving faith is to
never hunger again for the Bread and Water of Life continually is replenished
in abundant profusion. The power of God’s attraction
will not allow is to slip from His grasp. We were drawn there by that invisible
Cable of Love, and Love never lets go.
Perhaps you will aver you came to Christ on your own terms. Not so! You were drawn there. “No man can come
to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” He is the
Sovereign who disposes – not YOU! No commoner (which the sinner is) can
approach the throne of a king without the approval of the king. As a matter of
fact, we would never dare to approach the Throne of a
Great King without a summons. Ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16) If you still believe the choice was
yours, please tell me with which words of the Lord you disagree!
Have we not known the old
military maxim, “Familiarity
breeds contempt?” Such contempt for our neighbors who receive high honors is
not only expressed by acquaintances and friends, but even find expression from among those
of one’s very family. We find that even the brothers of Jesus resented His renown: Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His
brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy
disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these
things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in
him. (John
7:2-5) There are four brothers
listed in Matthew 13:55 (James, Joses, Simon, and Judas). This alone makes the argument of the Romans regarding the Immaculate Conception
quite fallacious. And
his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these
things? (Matthew 13:56). Even the Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims
translation contains these verses! One
salient point jumps out at us in this text at the
very beginning: We must see Jesus Christ, not simply in bodily form as all
doubters of that day saw Him, but with spiritual eyes to view Him as Lord and
Savior. Our spiritual eyes should be just as adapt at
seeing His Person as those of the ancients. Those Jews of His day doubted when He told them that He
came down from Heaven. His miracles gave evidence of His divinity (and they wanted
to see His miracles) but did not desire to believe that He came from Heaven. To know Him for the Lord that He truly is will
result in a metamorphic change from death to life. Just as the unsightly cocoon
transforms into a beautiful butterfly, so will the
life of man change from a hopeless despair to light and hope in Christ.
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the
bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? When men lack spines to speak, they murmur against a greater presence. They made an eternal
error in making a false presumption – that Christ was the son of Joseph. The same great error is
even being engineered into modern translations to create doubt as to the Divinity of Christ. See how the Received Text states the case of
Joseph: And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things
which were spoken of him. (Luke
2:33) now contrast
this verse to the deceit of the same in the NIV: The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Did you note that the KJV did not refer to Christ as the
son of Joseph, but the NIV did make that erroneous designation? Little eyes, be careful
what you read……..Jesus is not the son of Joseph, but the Son of God.
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. Are you one to
murmur? Or do you let speak in simple truth: But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for
whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. (Matt 5:37) I have heard
men murmur to themselves even against God. To whom do such men address their
murmurings? No man can
come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: I remind you
here that you did not choose Christ, but Christ chose YOU in the first place! (John
15:16) The sinner, of his own
volition, cannot come to Christ and be saved. This does not mean that men and
women who strongly desire to come to Christ for salvation are barred from
coming, but it does mean that the very desire to come
to Christ is born of the conviction of the Holy Ghost working to draw that
person to Christ. When we are drawn to, and accepted by, Christ, then we shall
have life in the Eternity hereafter: …..and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets. Do you know what is written in the prophets? If you do not know, you will
also fail to see Christ in a more perfect light. But, you say, the Holy Ghost
will teach me all things! Then what meaneth this verse? But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John
14:26) How can the Holy Ghost
bring any point of scripture to your remembrance if you have not even taken the
interest to read and study it? And
they shall be all taught of God. This is a
reference by Christ to Isaiah 54:13. The first step in coming to Christ is to be taught of Him. There are a good number of
churches of our day who are winging it as far as truth is concerned. They
seldom make reference to Scripture for the authority they claim. How can we be
taught of God unless we have read and studied His Textbook
– the Bible? Christ is the very Word and Teacher!
Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of
the Father, cometh unto me. Have you truly LEARNED of the Father? Have you
been so enamored by His Word that you cannot resist going to that Fountain of Life time and again in a day? Do you
thirst for the Water of Life and the Bread of Heaven? If so be it, you have
also come to Christ! “Not
that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the
Father.” No man has descended, OR ascended,
from Heaven but Christ. We know the Father because we KNOW the SON!
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me
hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Christ emphasizes, through repetition,
those points most needful for our souls to know.
Please remember that it is He who is the Bread of Life – not Moses, not some
powerful king, and not a favorite preacher – it is CHRIST! From what source do
we acquire earthly bread? By the planting of seeds of wheat. The seed fall into the earth, are buried, and die to themselves
in springing forth the shoot of life. That shoot strives to grow through the
dark soil to the brilliant light of the Sun. It will then proceed manifold the
original seed. Those wheat seed are harvested,
crushed, milled, and baked in the fires of an oven until whole bread is
enjoyed. Christ is that Seed of Heaven who’s planting (death and entombment)
has resulted in life eternal for us. He rose from the darkness of the Tomb into
the Brilliant Light of His Resurrection. His death
and resurrection is producing fruit in the hearts of those who believe. The
Church is His Body. Bread, also, in the Lord’s Supper, represents His Body
broken for us. But we, too, have become a tiny bit of crushed grain of that Body – and all the saints before us. With what great
reverence must we approach the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and with what
understanding of its magnitude of meaning!
All of the lambs, goats,
oxen, doves, etc. that were sacrificed as a shadow of
that efficacious Sacrifice to come did not result in any other than a life
limited in time and space. So the Manna that came down from Heaven was not the
fulfillment of the prophecy of God in sending His Son as the Bread of Heaven.
It was only a shadow to teach us the real Light. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. The Manna of the
wilderness did not offer life eternal. The Manna of God in the form of the
Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, does offer life eternal if we will but consume that Bread. Have you done today? This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from
heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for
the life of the world. The bodies we
drag about from point to point are dead, or dying, bodies. But the defeat of
death by Christ on the Cross and at the Tomb, promises that these bodies can be
changed into glorified bodies in Christ. As Paul
says, So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it
is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural
body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first
man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1
Cor 15:42-45)
At that general
resurrection morning, how shall you be raised – to damnation on which the
second death has force; or to a redeemed and glorified body that shall never
see death.?
