John chapter 6. Lord willing, this morning I
want to be looking at verses 26 and several places throughout
the remainder of this chapter. For this is one discourse that
the Lord had with these men and with His disciples. The scripture
says in verse 25, let's look at that first. And when they
had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when camest thou hither? After Jesus' great display of
compassion in feeding these 5,000 men with the five loaves and
few fishes, He perceives that these men were to make Him king. These men desired Him to be their
king. And what natural carnal man wouldn't? It was a free meal ticket for
them. That's what they're looking at. They thought He would make
them be able to eat without having to go to work. And because they
would make Him king, Jesus hid Himself from them. The Scripture
tells us that in verse 15. It says, "...when Jesus therefore
perceived that they would come and take Him by force and make
Him the king, He departed." Now, is that not opposed to all carnal
reasoning of man? Surely, the religious world of
our day, surely Jesus Missed out on a great opportunity. Isn't
that what the religious world would say? That he surely made
some kind of mistake. Why would Jesus perform such
a great miracle of compassion and then leave just before they
made Him king? Well, the answer is given to
us. Jesus gives this answer. He feeds His 5,000, perceives
they're going to make Him king, and then He leaves. Him and His
disciples, they leave for the other side. These guys wake up
the next day, and they find their meal ticket has left. So what
do they do? They take ships, and they sail
across the sea to find Him, and they found Him. They say, Rabbi,
why did you leave us? Jesus gives the answer in verse
26. He says, Truly, truly, I say unto you, you seek me not because
you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves and were
filled. Is this not the heart of most
so-called Christians in our day? They only desire Jesus for what
He can do for their flesh. These so-called believers are
only interested in the power of God to fulfill their lusts. And they do not seek Him to be
a complete Savior. In Romans chapter 16, Romans chapter 16 and verse 17, The apostle says, Now I beseech
you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. Is that not a good instruction
in wisdom? You said you mark those people
who are contradictory to the message of God's free and sovereign
grace. You mark them out and you avoid
them. You leave them alone. For, this
is why, for they are such For they that are such serve
not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good
words and fair speeches deceive the heart of the simple." Is
that not so? The simple. The ignorant are
the only ones deceived by them. The foolish. The apostle also
mentions it in Philippians chapter 3, And verse 18, he says, for
many walk, of whom I told you often and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end
is destruction, listen, whose God is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame. Is that not the religious world
of our day? The glory is in their shame? Look at me. I'm so tolerant.
I'm so tolerant. I tolerate all kinds of people.
Just come on in. We'll accept you. We'll accept
you. We won't try to make you see
that you're a sinner whose God is their belly, whose
glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. These men
were minding earthly things. But look at the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at what He did for them. He was so long-suffering with
them that He even preached to them the gospel. Look at this
in verse 27. He says to them, "...labor not
for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For Him hath God the Father sealed."
What a message of grace. What a message from the lips
of the Savior Himself. Forsake the labor of the things
of this world. What is He saying? He's not telling
them to quit their jobs. He's not telling them to stop
providing for their families. No, we should supply for our
family's needs. We should take care of the necessities
of life. But Jesus is declaring unto them
the same thing Solomon said. Listen, vanity of vanities, all
is vanity. Emptiness of emptiness, all is
empty. Labor not for the things which
perish. Isaiah said, Wherefore do you
spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. The things of this life are nothing
but vanity. Empty. The things we think will
satisfy us lead us only to be disappointed and to grief. We say in our hearts, if I could
just have blank, then I would be happy. Now, if you've not
said that, you're not human. Something's different about you
than the rest of the human race, because I'll tell you, that's
what we've all said in our hearts. If I could just, then I would
be happy, then I'll be satisfied. When everything's in line, then
everything's going to be well with me. Well, none of these things have
satisfied us and none of these things will satisfy us. Why? They're temporary. They're temporary,
they're not lasting, they're fleeting and vanishing away. Jesus said, what doesn't profit
a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? What is it that you cherish so
much that you would exchange for your mortal soul? Therefore, Jesus tells them not
to labor for the meat that perisheth, but which endures to everlasting
life. Jesus is now pointing them away
from the world. He is pointing them away from
the things of this life, and He is pointing them to Himself. Labor not for that which perisheth,
but look at Me. Look unto Me. Jesus is pointing to Himself,
for He is the bread of life. Jesus alone can give everlasting
life, for Him hath God the Father sealed. What does that mean? That God the Father hath sealed
Him. That means from eternity, God set His seal, His kingly,
divine authority, His appointment, His anointment upon Jesus Christ. He hath chosen Christ to be the
Savior of His elect people. God said of Jesus from eternity,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. And in another
place He said, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus said, Stop looking to the
world, stop looking and going after your lusts, and look unto
Me. God has sent Me to be the bread
of life, so that whosoever believeth in Me shall not perish, but have
everlasting life. This is the message that Jesus
Christ was telling. This is the message of the Gospel.
Behold, Jesus is the Christ, the anointed of God, and He alone
is sealed to be the Savior of sinners. Jesus said this in His first
message we have recorded that He preached. He says, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon Me, because God hath anointed Me. God hath
sealed Me. to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of the
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Jesus came as the
anointed of God to preach the gospel to a certain group of
people. Who are they? Poor? Captive? Blind, dead, ignorant sinners. That's who He came to preach
to. Do you qualify? Does any one
of those fit you? If that fits you, then I've got
a great message for you. I've got a great message. Come
and eat. Everlasting life. He that eateth
shall not hunger or thirst. He shall not die. Is that not
a good message? That's a great message. To who? Poor captives, broken hearted
sinners, bruised and broken by the fall. The gospel of Jesus
Christ is preached truly to all men. I'm preaching this message
in a general sense, but truly it is intended for only sinners. Only sinners. Poor in spirit. These men, by their answer to
the message concerning Himself, these men proved not to be any
of those things. Look at what they said. Verse
28, Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? Man, if you're not going to give
us any bread, what can we do so that we can give ourselves
bread? This is the same thing that every self-righteous person
says. Jesus said, I am the bread. He said, I'm the message. I'm
the salvation. And then the self-righteous says,
okay, well then what do we do? What do we do to earn it? How
is it that we can work the works of God? Religious, self-righteous
men are those whose God is their belly. They're not poor. They
believe they're rich before God and think they can do the work
themselves. So they ask Jesus, what can we do to do the works
of God? How is it we can save ourselves?
Isn't that what men are seeking? Men are wanting me to tell them
how they can do something to marry God. I ain't got a message
like that. No true gospel preachers ever
had a message like that. And if they've got one, they're
not a gospel preacher. The truth is that all men are
poor and bankrupt of all goodness and righteousness. Do you hear
me? All men are bankrupt. Not that you have a zero balance.
Friends, you've got a negative balance. You think our national
debt is bad. We're born with a greater debt
of sin that we owe to God. We could never pay. We could
never pay. Our father Adam, who was rich
in holiness, has ruined our heritage. Has ruined our race. We are all
become bankrupt. We are corrupt from the womb,
and thus we came forth from the womb speaking lies. Thus there
is no hope in ourselves to obey the law of God, no goodness,
no power, no spark. You've heard that before? Heard
that nonsense? That men have some spark of life
left in them and all the preacher's got to do is just Light the spark. No. I can't light your spark.
You don't have one. You don't have one. There's no spark of goodness
in man by nature. In Romans chapter 3, it's very
clear that there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. And listen to this. There's none
that seeketh after God. You hear that? There has never
been one of Adam's race that has ever sought after God. Never. Never. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Salvation is in
no way or part by the works or will of man, but salvation is
completely and absolutely the work of God alone. Did you hear
me? Salvation is completely and absolutely
the work of God alone. This is what Christ tells them.
They said, what can we do to work the works of God? And Jesus
said, you can't. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. I want us this morning to see
that salvation is a threefold cord that is not easily broken. That's what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
4 in verse 12, he said, the threefold cord is not easily broken. What
he was saying is that God is the one who works salvation. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. First of all, The election of
sinners to salvation is the work of God the Father. From all eternity,
it was the purpose and will of God the Father to save a chosen
people, an elect people, a remnant of Adam's fallen race that He
would set His love on, that He would present to Himself wholly
and without blame. There is an elect people that
God has purposed to save. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. I can't quote it to you, but
I prefer to read it to you. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who? God the Father hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. In who? In
Christ. According as He, the Father,
hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love having
predestinated us. unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. Believers see the necessity of
the election by grace. For had God not chosen a people,
there would be no salvation. Without election, there is no
salvation. God had not predestinated us
unto the adoption of sons, had He not chosen us in Christ, then
none of us would have been saved. Had God not willed to show mercy,
there would be no mercy shown. I will give you the illustration
of the angels. When the angels fell, there was
no mercy given. You see, mercy is God's right,
not your entitlement. You hear that? Mercy is God's
right, not your entitlement. Because God had purpose to save
some, because God has set His love on some, because God purposed
to show mercy, now there is hope for sinners. Without this, there
would have been no hope. But now that God has chosen a
people, there's hope. There's hope. Isaiah says this,
Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a small remnant,
we should have all been as Sodom, and we should have been like
as Gomorrah. You see, if God had not left a remnant, there
would have been none saved. None. This is why we preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not because we have any confidence
in ourselves. But because we have confidence
in God. Every week I prepare a message.
I study. And I do the very best that I
can do. And I know that that's not enough.
I know it's not. You see, I'm not trusting in
me and my study. I'm trusting in God who promised
to save His people from their sins through the foolishness
of preaching. God has promised to save. God
has a people that He purposed to save, and He will save them. He said all spiritual blessings
are ours in heavenly places in Christ, and God will give all
of those spiritual blessings to who? To those He has chosen,
to His elect people. What did our God say to Elijah
when he felt like he was alone? Believer, do you not feel sometimes
that we're... We've got such a small group,
but do we not feel sometimes we're alone? We do. We feel alone. We feel that there's
a remnant, but it seems so small. Well, God told Elijah this. He
said, I have reserved 7,000 men for myself. that have not bowed the knee
to Baal. 7,000 out of close to 2 million
people at that time in Jerusalem. He said 7,000. God has always had a remnant
of people and God always will because He has chosen a remnant
for Himself. Why does God choose anyone? For
Himself. God did it. According to the
good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace. Even so, at this present time,
believer, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace there is no more of works, otherwise
grace is no more grace. And if it be of works and not
of grace, then work is no more work. You see that that changes
the whole definition. Salvation is either or. It's
either by the free grace of God in God choosing a people or it's
by your works. It can't be a mixture. It's not
a mixture. Salvation is the work of God. This is the work of God. that you believe on Him whom
He has sent. And I'll tell you, only those
who were chosen by the Father will believe. Will believe. Number two, salvation is the
work of God the Son in substitution. As these wicked lost men could
not hear the gospel, was the work of God Those also who are
blinded to the truth that God's salvation was right in front
of them. These men were blinded to the
truth of God's salvation and yet there He was. He was talking
with them. God's salvation was speaking
with them. God's salvation was there and
He told them, stop laboring for that and look to Me. I am God's
Savior. I am God's salvation. Jesus was
the one sealed in sin of the Father, and He was the one to
whom all the elect were given. And all spiritual blessings of
the elect were given to them in Christ, as they were given
to Him to be their representative and substitute. Look over here
in verse 35, Jesus tells these men, He says, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, he that believeth on me shall never thirst. The elect of God are born sinners. Is that not so? The Scriptures
are plainly clear about this, that all of us were born dead
in trespasses and sins. Not one of us escaped it. The
elect were born sinners of Adam's race, but only the grace of God,
only by the grace of God do they, are they aware of their need
for Christ. Is that not so? The only reason we know we have
a hunger for righteousness is because God Himself has planted
that hunger in us. He's made us to see what we are
by nature. Our God demands absolute righteousness,
perfect obedience to His law that we cannot provide. Is that
not create a necessity? Is there not a need there? Yeah,
I know my need. Therefore, God in grace has given
us to Jesus Christ to be our representative, to do for us
what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus Christ came into the world
to do the will of the Father. That's what He said. He said,
But I said unto you that ye have seen Me and believed not. Listen,
All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. Because I come down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. Oh, that sounds so wonderful, doesn't it? Jesus
said, I came into the world to do the Father's will. What was
the Father's will? To have mercy on the elect. To
redeem the elect. This was the Father's will. Jesus
said, I've come to do the Father's will. And this is the will of
Him that sent me. That of all which He hath given
me, I should lose nothing. Jesus came to fulfill the law
that we could not fulfill. He came to honor it, to magnify
it, to lift it up, to exalt it. Oh, man could not do that. We
could not do that. Only Jesus Christ said, I came
not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it and accept your righteousness,
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall
in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus came into the
world to fulfill the law. for all that the Father gave
Him. And not only to obtain our righteousness,
but by His one sacrifice, He came to put away our sins. This is the work of God. This
is the work of God the Son to fulfill our righteousness and
to put away our sins. To sacrifice Himself Jesus said, I came to give my
flesh in verse 51. He says, I'm the living bread
which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh. My flesh. He'll give his flesh
as a sacrifice. God could not die, therefore
he became man, so that he might die in our stead. Scripture says He, in Hebrews
chapter 10, I believe it's verse 14, He said, By His one offering
He hath perfected. Believer, you want to be perfect?
You are. You are perfect. You are perfected
by His one offering for sin. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Hear the words of Jesus Christ.
This is the will of the Father, that all He hath given me I should
lose nothing. Did Jesus Christ accomplish the
will of the Father? He either did or He didn't. Isn't
that right? Is that true or false? It's a
simple answer. Either or. Which one? Did He
save all that the Father gave Him, or did He lose some? The
Scriptures are clear. He said, I'll lose nothing. I'll
lose nothing. Will He lose any of those that
God gave Him? No. No, because His sacrifice
was accepted. Accepted. Victorious. He is risen from the dead. And
even now, He is drawing His people to Himself. And this is the third
work of God in salvation, the work of God the Holy Spirit. Look in verse 41. Jesus then,
after He had said concerning what He was sent to do, the Jews
murmured, Because He said, I am the bread
of life which came down from heaven. Is it not here that men
begin to murmur and say, ah, you destroyed my free will. I've
had someone call me and tell me that. Everything you said just destroyed
my free will. Absolutely. Absolutely. You don't have free will. Free
will is an illusion. It's not a truth. It's a deception. Men murmur because the Word of
God destroys all their works. In other words, their works has
no merit before God. He said, you're saying that I
cannot have my part in salvation. That's exactly what Christ is
saying. This is the work of God. This is the work of God. That
you believe on Jesus Christ. Friends, faith is not a product
of man's will. but the work of God. You believe,
you believe on Christ, I'll tell you what, that is not, that's
a miracle. You want to see a miracle? Look
at a sinner who believes on Christ. That's a miracle. Faith is not
something that's common. Faith is not common among God's
creation, among God's human nature. Matter of fact, faith is a miracle.
It is a gift of the Holy Spirit. You must be born from above. You must be born again. Faith
in Christ is not a product of free will. Unbelief is a product
of free will. Unbelief is a product of man's
will. Rebellion is a product of man's
will. But faith is a result of God's
grace. You believe? That's by grace.
That's by grace. It's not by your works. For by
grace you are saved through faith, and that faith is not of yourself. It, faith, is a gift of God,
not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast. Isn't that what free will is?
Isn't it just boasting? It's boasting. That kind of religion
is just boasting. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk." Do you not see that this whole thing
is of God? This whole thing, right down to the last minute
detail, is the work of God. Look what Jesus said in verse
42. Verse 43, Jesus therefore said
unto them, murmur not among yourselves. What do we say to false free
will works religion that complains? Don't fret yourself about it.
Don't murmur among yourselves. No man can come unto me. Do you get that? No man can. Now I'm not an English scholar,
but I know can has to do with ability. Ability. No man has the ability to come
unto me except the Father which hath sent me. Draw him. Draw him. This word is like drawing
a sword from a scabbard. If I were to have a sword on
my side, and were to expect the sword to draw itself? No. Except the Father draw Him. Except the Father create something
that wasn't there before. Isn't that what happened to us?
We were made willing in the day of His power. I'm willing. I'm willing to follow Christ.
I'm willing to come to Christ because He made me willing. You
see, I get no glory in this. I get no glory. Salvation is
completely and absolutely the work of God. Now let me ask you
this, verse 61, the Lord Jesus Christ knew that his disciples
murmured. And he asked this question, doth
this offend you? Does this matter of salvation
being the work of God offend you? You see, the matter of grace
only offends the self-righteous. Those who think they have something
wherewith to claim God's favor, they are offended. I am not offended because I have
nothing to offer. And these disciples went away. They said, this is a hard saying.
And after he said, therefore I said unto you, no man can come
to me except it were given him of my father. From that time
many of his disciples went not back and walked no more with
him. Now I say to you who believe, will you go away also? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. This matter of salvation is completely
Your work. It's Yours by election, it's
Yours by redemption, and it's Yours by calling and keeping
me. I am sure that Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Hath not I chosen You? Jesus said, I've chosen You. Is that not comforting? Is that
not comforting? May God, by His grace, continue
to point us to this truth. This salvation is the work of
God. And the work of God is this,
that you believe on Christ. And all who believe are safe. I like that word safe. Just as safe as Noah was in the
ark. Just as safe as the firstborn
was in the house with the blood on the door. You are just as
safe as Jesus Christ is on the throne. How safe is that? It can't get no safer. Your salvation
is a work of God. It's a miracle. Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice. Salvation is of God. The stand
will be dismissed in prayer.