September 29, 2024
The Valley of Sin
John 6:47-55
So far during this sermon series, we have looked at some very painful valleys. We have looked at a very dangerous valley and we have even looked at a valley that seemed comfortable on the outside, but this morning we will be finishing off our sermon series by looking at the deadliest valley we will ever face in our lives and that is the Valley of Sin. It’s in this valley that everyone is stuck (Romans 3:23). some don’t realize they are stuck in the valley because Satan has blinded them to the reality of this valley (2 Corinthians 4:4), but others' eyes have been clearly opened to that fact (Psalms 51:3). Being stuck in this valley will lead one to an eternal death (Romans 6:23). The horrible reality is that this is a place where all of us are trapped and there is nothing we can do ourselves to get out. Sure most people have their own ideas of how to escape the valley. Some people will even try to convince others that they know the way out and will shout their ideas louder than anyone else, but all the while they themselves are still stuck and will eventually succumb to this valley. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. You can be a king, a queen, a CEO, a billionaire, a pauper, a president, a citizen, a mom, a dad, a child, or a grandchild. No matter who you are, you will have to deal with the Valley of Sin and its consequences. Even though there is nothing WE can do ourselves to get out of this Valley of Death, someone else did something to save us from our sin — that someone was Jesus. Jesus saves us from this valley not by telling us some spiritual ideas or encouraging us to have an emotional or “spiritual” experience, or even telling us that we need to obey some set of rules or a progression of rules to escape and avoid the valley’s consequences. Instead, Jesus Himself came into that valley to rescue us. Now you must understand that Jesus did not sin so He would have never been in this valley Himself except He chose to because of His love for us. He didn’t even have to come to our rescue. He could have just let us experience the consequences that we deserved. As Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, Jesus became sin even though He never sinned so that we might become the righteousness of God. Our only hope to get out of the deadly Valley of Sin is through Jesus. He is the one we celebrate every Sunday here at FBC Bloomfield and every week we remember what He did for us to bring us up out of the Valley of Sin and that’s what I want to talk about this morning. I want those of us who are saved to remember what Jesus did to bring us out of the Valley of Sin and if you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, I want you to know what He can do for you because whether you know it or not you are still stuck in that Valley and the consequences are coming. I want to start by sharing with you an event that happened. Not in the metaphorical Valley of Sin, but rather in the literal Wilderness of Sin which is located just outside of Mount Sinai right outside of Egypt. In Exodus 16 we are told it was in this Wilderness of Sin that the Children of Israel found themselves after their miraculous exodus from Egypt and it was also in this wilderness that they were all sure they were going to die. The thing was they were not overreacting (as they would do from time to time) about the dangers of this wilderness. They would have perished there unless God intervened, and He did. God provided them with exactly what they would need to be saved and survive in that wilderness and beyond as they would ultimately reach the land God had promised them. All they had to do to be saved from the mortal danger of the Wilderness of Sin was to partake in what God provided to not only survive but also thrive. God provides us with the same thing that He provided for the Children of Israel with. He provided manna in the Wilderness of Sin for the Israelites to save them, and He provides manna in the Valley of Sin to save us today. The word “manna” in Hebrew literally means “What is it?” and that’s a question that the children of Israel asked and that’s a question we might ask as well. Like we said before, it’s Jesus that saves us. He is that manna and that’s what I want to look at briefly this morning as we look at John 6.
Jesus is the Bread of Life. - John 6:47-52
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.” Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
At this point in John’s Gospel account, Jesus had just fed 5,000 people the previous day. Those who had seen that miracle were now seeking Him out because of the power He had displayed to all of them. Jesus knew they were just looking for earthly food, but what He was bringing was heavenly food. When the crowds found Him, Jesus starts to share some very hard teachings that will eventually cause many of his followers to desert Him. It’s during those teachings that Jesus shares about the manna that God provided so that we could be saved from the Valley of Sin and Death. He does so by sharing the first of seven “I AM” statements that John records in his Gospel. He tells those who have gathered that “I AM the bread of life”. This is the foundational “I AM” statement upon which all the other “I AM” statements of Jesus would be built upon. That in and of itself makes this a very important statement, but all the “I AM” statements of Jesus share something in common. They are very powerful because it’s through these statements that He is equating Himself with the great “I AM” who is God, the one that revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. Jesus is revealing to everyone each time He declares “I AM” that He is God. This declaration of divinity is very important especially as Jesus explains the meaning of this first” I AM” statement to the crowd. He explains its meaning by going back to a story that all of those in attendance would have been familiar with. It’s the account that we spoke about earlier as we talked about the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sin recorded back in Exodus 16. He tells them that it was in that wilderness that God provided Manna for their needs then and it was now God again who was providing for their needs (remember Jesus just declared Himself to be God). Although all of those who ate the Manna in the wilderness died, those who eat the new manna which God has now provided would never die. What Jesus was saying was the manna that was now provided would solve the problem of the sin in our lives once and for all (Romans 6:23). What was this manna? Jesus said it was His flesh that would be freely offered so the world might live. God had provided again. He had provided Himself as an offering in order that we might be saved out of the Valley of Sin, but just like the children of Israel to be saved by what God offered we must partake of it. The children of Israel cooked and ate what God provided. To partake of the “Bread of Life” that is Jesus Christ, we cannot do the same, but rather we must do exactly what Jesus said in verse 47. We must believe in Him. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the World that He gave His one and only son that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have everlasting life”. That’s how we get out of the Valley of Sin. That's how we are saved from the consequences of our sin. We do so by putting our faith in Jesus Christ to save us. When we do so, we are saved. We are pulled out of that Valley of Sin and Death. We are cleaned up and clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. We are adopted into His family. We are set free and tasked with telling others how they too can be saved from the Valley of Sin and death. However there is something else Jesus says here that we must understand as well when it comes to our sin. It’s something that those in attendance would have known well and it’s something we are told in Hebrews 9:22. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.
Jesus is the Wine. - John 6:53-55
So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
It was established in the law that blood must be shed as a sacrifice and an offering for forgiveness for sins. This went on and on because it was an imperfect system. This was the Old Covenant. Even while the Old Covenant was in place, God promised a New Covenant that would be coming, and Jesus is the one who brought this Covenant. When Jesus came as the “Bread of Life” he was also coming to bring a blood offering for our sins. The writer of Hebrews says this in Chapter 10:11-18. “Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There He waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says, “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.” This is what Jesus was talking about when He tells those He was teaching that they must drink His blood. They must, by faith, accept the offering He made by the shedding of His blood. That’s the two parts of the covenant that Jesus wants us to remember — “The Bread of Life” broken for us and the “Blood of the Savior” shed for our sins. That is what we do today as we observe the Lord’s Supper.
