Sermon Illustrations

Jesus stated, “Unless you eat the flesh . . . and drink His blood, you have no life in you” (v. 53). Eating flesh and drinking blood sounds like the Lord’s Supper or Communion, where Jesus spoke of the bread as his body and the cup as his blood (Matthew 26:26-28). Warren Wiersbe tells us, “I do not believe that Jesus had the Communion in mind when he spoke these words . . . Jesus made it plain that this eating and drinking were ‘absolutely essential’ for eternal life. He made no exceptions. If, then, he was speaking about a church ordinance, then everybody who has never shared in that experience is spiritually dead and is going to hell.” Jesus was not speaking of the Lord’s Supper. Wiersbe tells us that what Jesus was saying was, “Just as you take food and drink within your body and it becomes a part of you, so you must receive me within your innermost being so that I can give you life.” Jesus was speaking about partaking. Jesus is the bread of life only to those who partake. We must ingest Jesus, and partake of Jesus to have life.

From Damian Phillips’ Sermon: Life Giver #3: Life in the Son