Beloved friends, we greet you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus, our Savior, and we welcome you to the ministry of God's precious word. It is a great privilege and also an honor to represent the Savior, and by His grace and help, speak of the one who is the Lord of creation, but greater still, the Savior of sinners. I pray earnestly that you will profit from God's word as we contemplate a study of some words the Savior spoke in John's Gospel. We read from chapter six, verses fifty-three and fifty-four. These words were spoken by the Lord during his earthly ministry. Listen to them carefully. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you, Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. I am sure that these words may possibly sound very strange to some. In fact, many of the people who heard them spoken in the days of Jesus thought so, for it is recorded that many of his disciples said, This is a hard saying. Who can understand it? Preceding these verses, Our blessed Lord had told the Jews that he was the bread from heaven, that if a man may eat thereon, he would not die. Now that stumbled then, so that they argued about it. They raised the question, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Now that is correct, this false impression right away. For common sense will tell us, this could never be. For there is a deeper meaning of greater importance, not related to physically eating and drinking, but related to our inner being, the soul. The mention of eating and drinking is symbolic, describing spiritual transactions of which the soul alone is capable. My beloved friend, have you ever realized the need? Yes, the great need of your soul. that body of yours and this body of mine, it is but a temporary house of clay, one that some may vary carefully and generously feed with necessary nourishment. However, when we are finished upon the earth with the outward frame of our humanity, that inward part the soul and the spirit continues on forever. Now if we may seek to care for the body, is it not even more important to make certain of the soul's condition. And only Christ can be the spiritual food for the soul. In our sixth chapter of John, you will find the Savior telling, in verse thirty-five, I am the bread of life. And even in verse thirty-three, he said, I am the bread which cometh down from heaven. In verse forty-eight, once again the Savior said, I am that bread of life. In verse fifty-one, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. Furthermore, in the same section the Lord refers to this fact, in verse fifty-seven, so that ye that eateth me, even he shall live by me. And again in verse fifty-eight, this is that bread which came down from heaven. Now does your fathers dig eat manner in the wilderness and are dead. For he that eateth of this bread shall live forever. So we may emphatically say, the Lord Jesus declares, He Himself is the bread, as He calls Himself the bread of life, and implying, life forever, yes, eternal life, when one eats of Him. But again we repeat, this bread is not for the body, but for the soul. It is the soul, my beloved, the inward being, not the outward body, that must feed upon Christ. The soul's appropriation of Christ as the bread of life is necessary. Have you ever done anything, my friend, about your soul, or is your soul perishing because you never have sought Christ and tasted and assimilated him as the bread of life for you? Please let me give some suggestions how this should be done. Now listen very carefully, whether believer or unbeliever. First, it has to be done personally. My beloved friend, I cannot do it for you. Neither can you do it for me. Each one of us must do it individually for ourselves. Second, it must be done willingly. No one will ever be made, compelled to eat or drink, against their own will. Please remember that. Third, especially if we are saved, if this should be done continually, not just once for all, but day by day. The enjoyment of feeding upon Christ, just as the body needs and receives this daily bread, so should the soul. receive its spiritual food. For it should be done completely, not just taking this part and that part about Christ. Ah, but, beloved, may I suggest, when we feed upon the Word of God, there is so much to learn of Him, and to go on and on and on, knowing more of His person, not just alone learning of His teaching and His example. not just alone his sacrificial death, which is necessary, of course, and his resurrection, his ascension, his glorification in heaven now, and even of coming glory forever. My beloved, may I give you this suggestion? There is so much in the Word of God to feed upon Christ which the believer can continue to enjoy and completely go on forever. But now we would like to concentrate upon the introduction of our theme, feeding upon Christ. For our Savior in the text, in John six, fifty-three and fifty-four, which we have introduced, and shall by God's grace study, it mentions eating and drinking. Now this is something with which we all are very familiar, for we do this physically every day. If we do not feed physically, we know that the body would starve and ultimately would perish. Yet, symbolically, the Lord implies something of greater importance we should be doing. Feeding the soul, again repeating with emphasis, not feeding the physical man, but the inward, the spiritual. And this feeding has to do, in fact, Indeed with all of us. Now my beloved friend, if you have totally neglected Christ, may I suggest, weigh them out of very seriously. You are neglecting the most important part of you. And that is the spirit and the soul. That immaterial, that eternal part. The body will perish, for it is appointed unto men once to die. Let us remember that. But my beloved friend, your soul and mind will go on and on forever. For God has created us to be an eternal soul. But let me present a lesson regarding the importance of the soul. A lesson from the teaching of the Savior. You can find it in the Gospel of Luke chapter twelve. You will read of a parable that is called the parable of a rich fool. This man, as the parable declared from the lips of Jesus, had more than he needed. So did he said to himself, I will say to my soul, So thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine eat, drink, and be merry. Now this was his decision. Very favorable was his situation. He had much material possessions. He had enough to retire on and live and be easy and enjoy eating and drinking and to be merry. But when you read the parable, you that may have read it, do you remember what happened that very same night? God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be? which thou hast provided. You may read this in Luke twelve, chapter twelve, verse nineteen and twenty. God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? My beloved friend, if you run safe, lovingly and earnestly and sincerely, I would say don't be a fool like that. Well, whether you are rich or whether you are poor, both need the bread of life for the soul, and that bread of life is Christ. And I hope that you will be listening for our consuming messages when we shall consider what it means, when the Savior said and listened to his words as we repeat the premise of the text again, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. My beloved friend, as we close, if you are unsaved, may I plead that you will consider right now the need of your soul. Christ only can meet that need of eternal salvation, and you must come to him for that. Do not procrastinate. Please, may I state, how can you say? Do you know if God will say the night, Thou fool, this night thy soul should be required of thee. One is well stated, and I quote the words, With an old saying, To lose your wealth, is much. To lose your health is more, but to lose your soul is such a loss that nothing can restore. Think of the words of the Lord Jesus on another occasion. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? My beloved, consider the theme. God willing, follow it with us as we take it up each day, feeding upon Christ. Father in heaven, by the power of thy spirit, sanctify the truth to every heart of both Satan's sinner in Jesus' name for his glory. Amen.