All right, brethren, we're gonna
begin. Our text this morning is John
chapter six. John chapter six, and we're gonna
begin in verse 27 and work our way down to verse 37. John chapter
six, 27 to 37. There's some men in this passage that are speaking
with Christ. They had to look for him. They
had to search him out and find out where he had gone, because
where they last saw him, he no longer was there, but had gone
on to the other side of the sea. And they were looking for him
not because they saw the miracle. That's what our Lord himself
said to them. You search for me not because
you saw the miracle. And the miracle being his feeding
of the 5,000 men plus women and children that were there also.
They knew it was a miracle. They did recognize that it was
a miracle, but the Lord is pointing out to them, you're searching
for me. You're seeking for me for fleshly,
carnal reasons. They did not see their need of
Christ as a savior. They didn't recognize him as
their mediator between God and men. And so they weren't looking
for salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, not in a spiritual sense. They saw him as one who could
help them physically to overthrow the dominion that Rome had over
them. They looked at him and thought,
he's a help. He would be a great aid. He's
a teacher. He's a prophet. He speaks according
to the oracles of God. And they even recognized this
man as king material. He's somebody that the people
would rally behind that could lead us into battle against the
Romans and then pass through the hospital and heal those in
the bed that were sick and wounded from the day's war. but they
did not see him as their savior. They had no need of him as the
mediator between God and men, the one who establishes peace
between us and holy God. They had for their salvation
zeal. They had a zeal for God, but
not according to righteousness. They had Moses and the law that
they could look to for their righteousness, for their personal
salvation. They were trusting in Moses.
So what need did they have for a savior? One who could deliver
them from their spiritual bondage in sin and in death. And you
know, most people today, that's how they see Christ. They see
him as an aid. They see him as a help, as a
guide, as a signpost, as a good luck charm, right? Many wear
Christian symbols, as they think they are, around their neck,
thinking that this is their help. This is something that God will
look to to help them. But we as men and women, we don't
see our complete need of his salvation. We just don't see
that naturally. And it's not about having a part
of Christ. It's not about including Christ
with your hope of salvation. We need him completely. He's
all our salvation, or he's none of it. And that's what he teaches
us in the heart, that he's everything. He makes himself everything to
his child. So in our text, Christ, we're
going to see Christ declares, in the first part of it, he declares
three critical truths for all men to hear. All hear this. Everyone
who ever sits under the gospel will hear these truths. One, that our self, our confidence
in self, our works that we do, the good things we do versus
the bad things, they cannot save us. He also teaches all men who
sit under his gospel. He gives them to know the law
of Moses cannot save us. They will not deliver us from
our sin. And he also says very clearly,
very plainly that he is the Christ and that in him is salvation
alone. He makes those three points very
clear to those people. But there's also a fourth thing
that we'll see in the final point. The last thing that we'll see
is that he shows us God makes a distinction in the hearts of
his people. His people hear and know that
it's God who must make this effectual in our hearts for us to hear
it and believe it. and not only must he do it, he
does do it. It's our God who does make his
salvation effectual in our hearts. So I've titled this, God's Distinction
Made in His People. And so the first point, we're
just gonna look at the reality of our works, the saving of ourselves
by our works, or looking to the law to save us from our sin. All right, so our Lord had just
said to these men over there in verse 27, John 6, 27, he says,
labor, work not for the meat which perisheth. They were laboring
hard to find Christ. They were seeing him, recognizing
this is a useful man to our cause. And they went to great lengths
to find him. They labor. They had to labor
and toil to get from one side of the sea over to the other
side of the sea and look for him. But all their searching
and all their working and all their labors fell far short of
what they needed. They needed salvation. They needed
deliverance from their bondage and that's not why they were
searching after him. They hadn't a thought for their
own eternal souls. They weren't thinking about what
their need was and that Christ was the one that could meet it.
They were on a religious expedition searching for Jesus. They were
looking for Jesus on a religious expedition, but it was not for
the salvation of their souls. It's like men today with TV shows
searching for a tomb or something like that, or the cross of Jesus. They're on a religious expedition,
but it's not for truth, it's not for salvation by the Lord
Jesus Christ. They don't see Christ as the
giver of eternal life. And he said this to them. He
said, you're searching for me, but for all the wrong reasons.
You should be searching, he says in verse 27, for that meat, that
food, which endureth unto everlasting life. which the Son of Man shall
give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed." God the Father
has sealed him, meaning he's given him authority to give life
to whomsoever he wills to give it. He has the authority to do
it. Here's where Christ makes it
known to all that we cannot save ourselves. So he's gonna declare
this truth to them, so they hear it. Verse 28, then said they
unto him, what shall we do? That we might work the works
of God. These men were ready to get doing. They were ready to busy themselves
with the work of God. They were listening. They were
saying, all right, focus us in. Zero us in right on what it is
that God requires of us, what he needs to see from us. We'll
do it. We'll get busy doing this work
to please our God. And the natural thought of man
is that he's got to do works. There's something that has to
be good and right about him if he's going to be received by
God. That's what we think in the natural flesh, that I've
got to somehow demonstrate to God that I'm worthy of his grace,
that I'm worthy of his kindness and mercy toward me. And so we'll
do any work, we'll do the good works. We'll do what we hear
a man say that God requires of us to earn his favor and blessings. But in the gospel, We know that
we're confessing our sin. We confess that we are sinners.
And to the natural man, he's thinking, if I want the blessing
and mercy of God, why am I gonna come out and tell him I'm a sinner? Why would I expose my sin to
God? If I'm trying to get him to like
me, why am I gonna start telling him all the things that I've
done? The truth is God already knows our heart. He knows our
sins better than we know the sins of ourselves and of our
own heart. He knows everything. There is
nothing that we could say to God that would be new to his
ears or surprising to him in any manner. And so man is, they
think that if they confess their sins, God's not going to accept
them. or receive them, but that's exactly
what the Lord brings his people to do, to know that we are sinners,
that we cannot save ourselves, that our works are but filthy
rags in his sight. He shows us that's not your salvation,
because you're good. Your salvation is found in my
Son, whom I've sent to give you life, to redeem you, to cleanse
you, and deliver you from your sins. And so if I stood here
and I gave out a list of things that you could do, the natural
man would gladly hear it and start doing it. They'd be happy
because now they're finally able to do something to earn their
salvation. And when a natural man says,
just tell me what I got to do and I'll do it, it sounds good
to the natural ear. It sounds like a sincere, honest
person wanting to do their best to please God. But, well, you
know, most of us have a grandparent or have had a grandparent that
we've known and spent some time with. And you know with your
grandparents, they usually have less than we have. And yet they
never ask us for anything, right? Has your grandparent ever said,
much, they don't ask for much, but when they do, you're ready
to do it, because you know if I don't do it for them, nobody's
gonna do it for them, and they're not gonna be able to do those
things that they need. But by that readiness, when it
comes to the Lord, if we're ready to do a work, it's because we
think we can do it. If we believe, God, if you just
tell me what I gotta do, I'll do it, we're saying, I can do
it. And the Lord is actually teaching
his people, you can. There's nothing you can do. Your
goodness will never overcome the evil that's in our heart
and the rebellion that's in us. So Christ says to them, no, you
don't do God's work. God does God's work in the hearts
of his people. And so what the Lord works in
his child is a heart believing on Christ, resting in him, trusting
and believing him. That's the heart that he's revealed
in every one of his children. You that believe him, that's
your heart. Lord, you've provided everything
in your son. Verse 29, Jesus answered and
said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent. So the Lord tells all men plainly
that you and I, we cannot save ourselves, but rather God himself
saves his people through faith, which is revealed in his children
by his spirit and power, looking unto the Savior. the Savior whom
he's provided, Jesus Christ. But their hope was not founded
upon faith in Christ. That's not what they were hoping.
And this is now exposed. This is in the open that they
were searching for Christ for all the wrong reasons and not
because God had revealed faith in them. They were looking for
Christ to consume what they could upon the lusts of their flesh. Verse 30, they said unto him,
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? You're telling us that we cannot
save ourselves. You're telling us to trust in
the sacrifice of another. You're telling us that we are
redeemed and delivered by another. What are you gonna do to validate
this? How do we know you have the authority to say this and
that this is so, that this is exactly what God requires of
us. Now, faith wasn't an entirely
new thing. If they knew Abraham, if they
read the things concerning Abraham back in Genesis, they would know
that Abraham, as Paul says in Romans 4.20, Abraham was strong
in faith. He was strong in faith. And he said in verse 21, that
Abraham was fully persuaded, this is Romans 4.21, being, Abraham
was fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able
also to perform. And so, Abraham looked to Christ. He looked to the seed that God
had promised to save his soul. And that's why all the children
of promise are children of faith. their children of the seed of
Christ and we believe we live on that faith which our God has
given to us looking to his salvation trusting that Anything my God
requires of me is all met in His Son. It's all provided by
His Son. And so Christ validated faith
in our hearts as He reveals to us, beholding Him who hung on
the tree, who hung on the cross and put away my sins. And God
has established that faith in my heart's believing. That is
my very hope. He is my justification. His blood
avails for me and cleanses me from all sin. But these men,
they wanna see a miracle, and they're looking to the works
of Moses. They're hearkening back to the
law. They're gonna bring up something
Moses did, they say, that established the law as being their righteousness,
all right? They say, you say, we can't save
ourselves, but what about the law? which was established by
the hand of Moses with miracles. With miracles. Verse 31, our
fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he
gave them bread from heaven to eat. They're saying, master,
you gave us one meal. You gave us one meal. This man
fed the people for 40 years in the wilderness. He did all that
for him, and he gave us the law. The Lord declares again, no,
Moses didn't give you that bread. My father in heaven is the one
who gave you that bread. And be it known, their forefathers,
they ate that spiritual bread, Paul calls it, spiritual bread,
but they all died in the wilderness, having the law. trying to keep
the law, trying to practice that law. You're forgetting that they
all died, he says, in the wilderness. They didn't live by the law. Verse 32, Jesus said unto them,
verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. Even Moses said it was of the
Lord, that God gave him the bread. He said back, In Exodus 16, 15,
this is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. And so
they didn't obtain what they sought for under the law. Even
having eaten that spiritual bread which God gave, their bodies
fell. Their carcasses lay in that desert
place, picturing that they didn't reach the promised land. They
didn't reach the end goal that they were searching for by the
law. That's not our salvation. He's
showing us that we feed and live upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
going to have to look higher than Moses and higher than the
law for righteousness. Our righteousness must exceed
that of the scribes and Pharisees if we're to be received and accepted
of God. And that's by the blood of Jesus
Christ. He is our salvation and our hope. So Christ tells these men. And
anyone who sits under the gospel hears those two truths. Man cannot
save himself, nor can he save himself looking to the law for
righteousness. Even if you shrink that law down
to just the moral law and say, well, let's remove the ceremonies,
let's remove the civil law and just focus on the moral law.
That's what God wants us to do now. Nope. We're not going to
do it. We trying to do that are going
to fall, our carcasses are going to fall in the way just like
Israel did in that wilderness. We're not going to be able to
do it. And so all men hear these truths
declared by Christ and they continue to be declared in the gospel
to this day. Let's look at the second point
which focuses on Christ being declared as our salvation. Our
Lord tells them one more truth regarding this bread from heaven
in verse 33. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. He's saying man does not earn
life by his doing. Man does not receive life by
the law. The law doesn't give life to
anyone. It just declares what we are and it declares we're
all sinners. It shuts us up. as all being
guilty. He's saying that the bread of
God whom he sent down from heaven, he is the one that giveth life
unto the world. This is what our Lord declares
to us in the gospel. And you've probably experienced
this at some point. When you declare, when you're
blessed and enabled by his spirit to declare plainly what Christ
has accomplished to a person, A lot of times their eyes light
up. There's a time where they hear
it and they say, you know, I've never heard it like that before. I've never heard what Christ
has accomplished for me. And they're interested for a
time, for a very brief time, sadly. Their eyes are open and
they go right back down. The next time you see them, there's
nothing there. There's no life there. And we
see that reaction in verse 34. That sounds wonderful. That's
wonderful. That's glorious. He's my life.
He's the life that God gives to me it's in him and him
alone and everything I need is found in him that response actually
is a lot like the the woman at the well her response in John
4 verse 15 she said sir give me this water that I thirst not
neither come hither to draw and until Christ is until he gives
us spiritual life, everything said, even in the true gospel,
is heard by man with just a carnal ear. It's still a doing. They can't receive it. They don't
believe Christ. They don't hang on to him. He hears it as something that
he yet has to receive. There's something he yet has
to do. There's something he yet has to put into practice in order
to obtain this mercy from God. Verse 35, Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Our Lord saying that you which
believe Christ, you that hear Him and rest in Him, you are
assured in your hearts by the Spirit of God that you shall
never want for another thing spiritually with God. It's all
provided in full, completely in your Lord Jesus Christ. You
hear it. A lot of people hear it and don't
believe it. Christ means nothing to them,
but you hear it. That's a blessing. It's declared
plainly for all to hear it, but all don't hear it with that spiritual
ear. But the Lord tells you, he's
shown you there's nothing you need to, I don't mean anything
further from you. There's nothing more I need from
you. My son has provided everything for you in him and you are as
righteous as he is in my sight. You have the kingdom. You're
mine. I love you and you dwell with
me forever and ever. So they heard Christ declare
this in the gospel. They heard it from the greatest
preacher that ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't
get anyone more exact and precise and truthful and spiritual and
glorious than the Lord Jesus Christ. They heard him and they
did not believe. So salvation truly is a miracle
of grace. When the Lord opens the eyes
of a sinner, and they believe Christ, beholding he's everything
I need, and the Lord keeps him right there, that's a miracle
of the grace of God. And so we declare it, and we
declare it over and over, these three things in the preaching
of the gospel. You cannot save yourself by your works. You cannot
save yourself by looking to the law and practicing it as perfectly
as you can, and Christ alone is salvation. He alone is the
giver of eternal life. I can say it, you can hear it,
but only God makes it effectual in your hearts. Only he. And
that brings us to our third and final point that it's God who
makes the distinction in His people. Our Lord reveals to you
His children. He reveals this salvation, the
Lord Jesus Christ, in your hearts. Some hear and believe that Christ
is their Savior and their only hope, while as others hear the
same exact message and yet don't believe it. And Christ means
nothing to them. To you, He's all. To you, He's
everything. and you're so thankful and every
time you're reminded you're thankful and then there's others that
hear it and it means nothing to them. It's just an empty,
empty vain words to them. After Christ declared to these
men that they are sinners incapable of saving themselves or saving
themselves by using the law, he said plainly, I am the bread
of life. I am the salvation of my people,
they shall never want for anything else. They'll never want for
anything spiritually. I'll provide everything for them
and appear for them over and over gloriously again and again. And so he tells them plainly,
it's God that makes a distinction in his people. It's the Lord
that makes the distinction in the hearts of his people by revealing
Christ to them, by revealing faith in their hearts. He's the
one that does it. John 6 36. But I said unto you
that ye also have seen me and believe not. That's the testimony
of every man and woman and child left to themselves without grace
attending that word to their hearts and carrying that into
their heart and giving them life by the seed of Christ, by the
preciousness of His blood. That's what we all do left to
ourselves. We see Him and we don't believe. We behold Him in His gospel,
we hear what He says and don't believe it. He hears, He sees,
and believes it not. God has not given that one faith
in Christ. God hasn't given them life. Our Lord hasn't sent them the
Holy Spirit whereby Every one of you, his people, are regenerated,
given spiritual life, born again to hear and believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. God makes the distinction in
the hearts of his people of them that are his. These who heard,
these that were standing there with Christ and heard him speak,
this truth is said of them, and so it is with everyone who hears
and doesn't believe. Matthew 13, 14, and 15. Matthew
13, verses 14 and 15, Christ quotes Isaiah 6, where it says,
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing
ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, it's full of fat, it's heavy, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time
they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and
should understand with their heart and should be converted
and I should heal them. That's a terrifying thing, and
they should fear who don't hear and don't believe on Christ.
But the good news, the good news for you, his people, is that
there is a people that hears. There is a people that are delivered
from the bondage of their sin and that prison of darkness,
They're delivered, they're brought out by the Spirit and the power
of Christ. It's a good news which comes
to our ears as gospel, as the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ,
for whom he has accomplished our salvation, done everything
necessary. Not only did Christ put away
our sins, but he reconciled us to his Father. And he didn't
just leave us in darkness, but he actually makes this known.
He calls us by his gospel, and we hear it differently than we
ever heard it before. We hear it and say, Lord, that's
my salvation. He's exactly what I need. He is the salvation, the deliverer
you provided, and Lord, I see him. I believe you. And we trust
him. We're made to trust and believe
all that he says and has come to do. Verse 16, I'm sorry, Matthew
13, 16, I didn't read this, but he said, after he said that word
regarding the others, the Jews that heard him but didn't hear
him, he turned to his disciples and said, blessed are your eyes,
for they see, and blessed are your ears, for they hear. It's a blessing. Our Lord gives
life to his chosen people, and they will never want for anything
in salvation. never again. He provided it all
and continues to make that known in our hearts that it's all provided
in him. And then he says in John 6 37,
our final verse, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. There is a people who hear and
believe. If Christ is your salvation and
your only hope of salvation, it's because God revealed that
in your heart. He revealed that faith, looking
to Christ, resting and believing him. I pray he makes that distinction
of faith in the heart of every child of his in this body. I believe he's done it and is
doing it over and over. in our hearts. I pray the Lord
bless that word to your heart. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you for your grace. We thank you, Lord, for the distinction
of grace that you've made in our hearts, whereby we hear,
whereby we believe and know that you require nothing more from
us. It's all provided freely in grace,
abundantly in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to overflowing. Thank you, Lord. Keep us ever
looking to Christ, not to ourselves, not to the law, help us to hear
your word and continue to be blessed in it. It's in the name
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.