Tasting The Blood

National Little Britches Rodeo... 09/18/11 …..................Tasting the Blood

The other day my daughter and I were coming home from church and we are cutting up and listening to the radio. There is a preacher on there and he is talking about blood and how when animals get a taste of it they are never the same. And he goes on to say that about some people too, remember Mike Tyson he bit that fellas ear in a fight. But he was telling a story about how when he was a kid growing up he had an uncle that fought pit bulls. As I am listening to him tell his story my wheels started turning in my pea size brain. He says his uncle used to have a pit bull that he would feed raw steaks to. And when he said steaks he had my attention cause this fat boy likes a good steak. But I am thinking man why waste a good steak on a dog, I mean my dogs get table scraps but not a whole streak. The man goes on and says that once the dog got his first taste of the blood from this raw meat that he was never the same. The dog craved that meat and when the dog got it in his mouth there was no getting it back. He would lock down on that steak and devour it. And when his uncle would fight the dog he would have to use a crow bar and stick it between the dogs mouth and the other dog to pry him off. Cause once he bit the other dog and tasted the blood he wasn't letting go.

I don't know about you but I am kinda like that pit bull when he gets a hold of a steak.. I like my steak bloody too. I like it cowboy style hand rubbed with a good seasoning and cooked medium rare. Where there is some juice and blood mixed in it and it just gives it such a good flavor. Man that makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

So as we are driving and my little wheels are turning it hit me. The way I like my steaks bloody and juice, well that satisfies my taste buds and it fills and satisfies my stomach. But it does absolutely nothing for my soul. And then I realized hey dummy there is a blood that can satisfy all our souls. And I was like man we should be that way with the blood of Jesus. You see his blood should taste so good that we thirst and hunger for it the way we do a good steak.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the bread of life, that His blood covers a multitude of sin. That his body is true food and his blood is true drink. And that by His blood we can have eternal life. In the Bible there is a lot about the blood of Jesus. But this morning I want to share a specific scripture with you that comes from the book of John chapter 6. To give you a run down on whats going on here The Jews were arguing amongst themselves and with Jesus whether or not He was from Heaven. Because Jesus had told them He was the bread which came down from Heaven. He had explained to them that He was the living bread and that anyone who eats of this bread shall live forever. But they didn't get it. So He went into greater detail in versus 53-58.

John 6:53-58

“Jesus said to them, I tell you the solemn truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven: it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.

Man can you imagine the looks on those non believers face when Jesus said that. Eat my flesh drink my blood. I wonder this morning how some of us react and feel when we hear this scripture. Does it make since to you? Do you understand what Jesus is saying. He is not telling us that we physically have to eat and drink his blood. He doesn't want us to be some sort of cannibals. He wants us to know that His blood has life. It has an eternal life in it. And if we drink it or accept it by accepting Him then we can taste how good His blood really is.